personally, i feel like this chapter is messily written. but i want to get over this quick, and start writing for others. so, i hope you enjoy!

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Today is moving day!

Seungwan whistled as she packed the last box filled with her personal stuff she’s going to bring with her to Joohyun’s home. She looked around her bedroom that has started to lose her personality; there’s only a plain king size bed and big boxes neatly put near the door.

A lot of things happened inside this bedroom. But the only thing Seungwan remembered was when she proposed to Joohyun, unplanned.

In her defense, it just happened and her brain somehow came up with the idea. 

They were just done having their usual in her bed when it struck Seungwan how nice it would be to always have this everyday in her life. Not only the (although it was one of the main reasons), but this—whatever this is currently going on between the two of them.

She turned her head to the side, looking at Joohyun who was still in the middle of her post- state. Some of her hair stuck on her forehead thanks to the sweat, her eyes were closed, her swollen lips parted and heavy breaths left from between the gaps. Her skin was glowing thanks to the moonlight, with the marks she planted on her neck down to her sternum starting to turn into deep purple.

Joohyun looked absolutely gorgeous and it tugged something inside Seungwan, making her start wanting this stay forever in her life.

It's not like after all this time of interacting with her, she just realized recently that Joohyun is actually a beautiful woman. Seungwan already knows she's painfully attractive ever since she met her in her office for the first time as her new secretary. Her allure intensifies when they start this ual arrangement happening between the two of them.

But this Joohyun is different. This Joohyun is pretty, is charming, is beautiful—is everything Seungwan ever asked for.

That's why when the word came out from her lips, she knew she wasn't playing around.

"Marry me."

Her secretary tiredly turned her head to the side, watching her with half-lidded eyes as her eyebrow raised in confusion. "Pardon, Ms Son?"

Seungwan fixed her position on the bed to let Joohyun know she was totally, absolutely dead serious with this. Her poor secretary only watches her in total confusion as Seungwan sits politely on her side of the bed, in her still state. "Bae Joohyun, will you marry me?"

The asked one blinked her eyes. "Did you accidentally hit your head when we were doing improper action earlier, Ms Son?"

"Your choice of words will always surprise me. Just say ," snorted Seungwan in disbelief while Joohyun fixed her position on her bed, covering her body with her blanket. As if Seungwan hasn't seen it all. "And no, I did not hit my head when I'm ing you earlier. I'm completely serious right now."

Joohyun looked at her like there was a horn growing on her forehead right now. "I thought Chairman Son is not pestering you to get married?"

"No, he is not," Seungwan sighed, this conversation is going to take a long time. "It is the thought that suddenly comes up inside my brain earlier, and I guess I'm at the age where it is a good time for me to settle down with the prospect of forever. So I guess it is not a really bad idea, after I give it a second thought."

She did not give it a second thought.

"So you think of marrying me just now, after we are done with our miscellaneous activity?" asked Joohyun, wanting to make sure she doesn't misheard, probably. "Is that what you are telling me, Ms Son?"

"You can say it like that," shrugged Seungwan. She just wants to finish this conversation quickly. "What do you think?"

It's another round of silence, another round of Joohyun staring at her like she needs to be put in a mental ward. She breaks the silence with a disbelief chuckle, wiping her face to probably let her know that this is not a dream. "I'm sorry, Ms Son, but I just don't understand what you asked me earlier. Why? Why marriage? Why is it suddenly marriage? Why is it so sudden? Why now? Why me?"

"Why not?" Seungwan shrugged again, this time Joohyun didn't hold back with her side eyes. "You don't want to get married?"

"That is not what I mean," sighed Joohyun tiredly. Not surprising for Seungwan though, considering how many rounds of they did on this day alone. In her office, in the meeting room, in the toilet, in her penthouse. "We are not even dating each other, Ms Son."

"Joohyun, we had basically everyday for years now," snorted Seungwan in disbelief. "I think we are past the dating phase."

Her secretary became silent for the nth time that night, Seungwan lost count. Joohyun stared into her eyes like she wanted to find something inside. Seungwan was about to ask her what happened when she beat her to it. "Do you even have feelings for me?"

"Oh? I didn't expect you to be a romanticist," teased Seungwan with a -eating grin. "A hopeless one, in fact."

"Please be serious for a while, Ms Son, because I'm not joking with my question," stated Joohyun after she rolled her eyes from her childish comment. "I don't know if you shared the same sentiment, but I found marriage as sacred—something I wish will happen to me just once in my life. My parents marriage were wonderful; even both of them leave this world together and force me to live and grow up alone without their love and care. And I aspire to have a loving relationship like both of them if I ever to be married with someone, because it's one of the legacy they left me. That's why I asked you, Ms Son—do you have feelings for me?"

This time, it was Seungwan who stayed silent. She doesn't know anything about feelings, she doesn't know anything about love. Being the only child of the richest family in the country making her doesn't know what it feels like to be loved by her parents. They changed now, sure—but back then, Seungwan never even gotten a warm hug from her mother whenever she comes back from school. Her father never tells her that she did a great job everytime she got the perfect mark in a test.

Love is such a foreign emotion for Seungwan to understand.

"Honestly? I don't know. Hell, I don't even know what love is and what one feels whenever they are in love," started Seungwan, decided to tell Joohyun the truth. "But when I look at you, I started to have this desire of wanting you by my side whenever I wake up. I want to see two toothbrush in the toilet, two aprons in the kitchen, two slippers in the front porch. I want to see you cook, to have you sitting by my side as we watch a movie together. I have tons of women in my past but you are the only one that make me think about the future, Joohyun. And I can only see you there, being the person who will grow old with me together."

Seungwan asked for her hand, patiently waiting for Joohyun to accept it. It took her a while, but when she finally wrapped her fingers around her hand, Seungwan couldn't help but to smile from the contrasting difference between their hands.

Her secretary has a smaller hand compared to Seungwan, so she could easily engulf Joohyun's hand in a tight hold without much effort. Yet they fit perfectly when they interlaced their fingers, as if they were made for each other. As if they were the perfect match for each other.

"You know how much of a mess I am on your first day working for me. I smoke, I drink, I sleep recklessly, and I always make you clean my when it's not written in your job description," sighed Seungwan, gently her knuckles that felt too bony for her liking. "Things changed when we started doing this. I stopped smoking, I only drink occasionally, I stopped sleeping with girls who want to share their bed with me. I'm not implying that you are the one who changed me-"

"You kind of imply that I'm the one who changed you, Ms Son," Joohyun cut her with her usual straight tone and a raise of her eyebrow.

"What I want to say is I have a really good life in front of me right now, and I want to spend it together with you," continued Seungwan with finality, ignoring what Joohyun just said to her earlier. "We have no reason to be together apart from work, but I want this, and I hope you do too."

There, Seungwan passed the ball of making the important decision to Joohyun. She had spoken what she truly felt, what she truly thought inside. All Joohyun has to do right now is either accept or reject her.

"Okay," Joohyun nods, somehow making Seungwan nervous. "Buy me the ring first. If I wear it for the whole day, that means I accept your proposal."

"Deal," smirked Seungwan as she pulled Joohyun in for a kiss, slowly pushing her back to bed again and hovering over her body with her elbows on each side of her head. Somehow it doesn't worry her over the prospect of Joohyun rejecting her proposal. There's no way she will. "Now let's have our last round for tonight. Do you know how y you look, covering your body only with my blanket?"

Joohyun only rolled her eyes and didn't bother to answer her, because Seungwan quickly shut her up with a kiss and made her scream her name again for the last time that night.

On the next day, Seungwan didn't waste her time to buy the perfect engagement ring for both of them and give it to Joohyun when they were about to start working in the morning. It was perfect because it fits around Joohyun's finger like a puzzle and Seungwan has never felt prouder with herself before for choosing the ring in one try.

She couldn't hold back her smile when she realized Joohyun had been wearing the ring for the whole day when Seungwan was about to go back to her penthouse. That means, Joohyun accepted her proposal. And Seungwan is beyond ecstatic she ended up staying the night in Joohyun's home because they had all night long, and making both of them unable to go to work the next morning because of tiredness.

The sound of a ringing bell breaking her out from her trance of walking down the memory lane. Seungwan practically skipped towards the door; she can't wait to finally leave this place and live together with Joohyun.

"Most of the boxes are in my bedroom, but you can pick up the ones near the counter first," instructed Seungwan after she opened the door, didn't check who was standing behind the frame as she pointed out the places where her boxes exist. "Please be careful when you pick up the boxes in my bedroom and-"

Her words stopped when she turned around and finally saw who was actually ringing the bell. Seungwan's expression went from serious to genuine surprise, and then changed into a deadpan in just a mere second.

"Mom, Dad," she let out a sigh, "what are you doing here?"

"Obviously visiting our daughter," scoffed Mrs Son as she walked past Seungwan just like that and allowed herself to enter the penthouse. Seungwan rolled her eyes from her mother's behavior as she stepped aside to make a space for her father to follow her. Her father gives her an apologetic smile on behalf of her mother, Seungwan can only sigh. "Until we find out you are moving out from this place. Where are you moving in?"

"Joohyun's home, to live with her," shrugged Seungwan while she walked towards the counter to move the boxes and place them near the front porch.

She didn't miss the way her mother's eyes sparkled brightly from the mention of her fiancee. As if Joohyun is her real daughter instead of her. "How is she? Has she found a wedding dress for the wedding?"

"Great and no," answered Seungwan, quick and simple. She continued when she saw her mother was about to lay her protest like how she usually is in things like this. "We are very busy right now with work, Mom. We have no time to prepare for wedding stuff at this time. Just ask Dad, he will tell you how busy we are."

Her mom immediately sends a judging glare towards her dad, who can only accept his defeat. "Three months before your wedding, Seungwan. Surely you need to start preparing for things now."

"I know, Mom," sighed Seungwan as she stacked the boxes to make it easier for the helper to take it to their truck. "But I can't do anything about that with how busy my work is."

It was a round of silence between the three of them. Seungwan thought the conversation was over and her mom decided to give up on talking about her only daughter's wedding. But when the bell rings to tell Seungwan that her helper has finally arrived in her penthouse, Mrs Son decides to drop the bomb.

"We will go to Joohyun's home with you."

"No," deadpanned Seungwan as she welcomed the helper she hired to help her move her stuff and pointed to the boxes they needed to bring with them. "Why do you even want to go to her home?"

"Talking with my daughter-in-law?" answered Mrs Son with a loud scoff like she was offended with the question, while Seungwan didn't find it in her to correct and tell her that they are not married yet. "Your dad and I will be waiting for you downstairs. I am not accepting a no."

Seungwan grumbled under her breath as she watched her parents leaving her and her helper alone in her penthouse. Once her mother stated that she is not accepting a no as an answer, that means there is nothing she can do to change her mind. She can only accept the fact that her parents will come with her to Joohyun's house for the first time.

And that was enough to make Seungwan forget to inform her fiancee that her parents are coming with her.

---

"I didn't expect you to arrive this late," said Joohyun behind the main door of her home after Seungwan rang the bell to notify her secretary about her arrival. "And it's the weekend. Is there any pro-"

Her words of ramble stopped when she finally opened the door and saw the middle-aged couple who were standing behind Seungwan like she wanted to give her a surprise. It would be a fascinating thing to see her expression change from annoyed to shock in such a quick time. But she can only let out a defeated sigh when her eyes turned menacing as Joohyun glared at her like she was about to kill her.

Just the same old days in their relationship.

"Yeah, they're the problem," deadpanned Seungwan, cocking her chin towards her parents which cost her a hard hit on the back of her head from her mother.

"Chairman Son, Mrs Son," muttered Joohyun with genuine shock on her face. "I didn't know you two would come."

"We are so sorry that our arrival is so sudden, Joohyun," apologized her mother in such a fake tone, Seungwan needed to hold back her grimace from such a terrible act. "We were about to visit this kid in her penthouse today, only for us to find out she's moving into your home when we have no idea about it!"

"Really?" responded Joohyun, judging Seungwan simply with her eyes alone. "I'm so sorry for that, Mrs Son. I should have informed you about Ms Son's planning to move in with me."

"It's okay, Joohyun," chuckled her mother while dismissing her apology, her first laugh of the day. "Can we come in?"

"Oh, of course," nodded Joohyun, stepping aside from the entrance to make space for them to walk into her home. But when Seungwan was about to do so, Joohyun stopped her by grabbing her arm tight. "Please make yourself comfortable inside, Chairman Son and Mrs Son. I'm just going to talk with Ms Son for a minute."

Her mother gave Joohyun a nod as she entered her fiancee's home together with her father. The helper also joined them to put her boxes inside Joohyun's home. Seungwan can only sigh as she passed the box in her arms to one of the helpers so she could have a proper talk with Joohyun. 

"What?"

Joohyun rubbed her face tiredly, as if what just happened earlier literally drained her energy battery down to thirty percent. "Can't you tell me before you came here, that your parents were also coming together with you?"

"Look, I'm as surprised as you when I opened the door, expecting it was my helper who just arrived, only to find out it was both of my parents," answered Seungwan, trying to defend herself. But when she saw Joohyun wasn't having it from her facial expression alone, Seungwan didn't have any other choice except to apologize. "I'm sorry."

She let out a sigh from what sounded like a half-hearted apology. "What am I going to do? I have nothing to properly welcome your parents right now."

"My parents are chill, it's fine," assured Seungwan as she lowered herself slightly to level her eyes with Joohyun. "Mom just wants to catch up with you, and Dad is just coming along with her. Everything is fine, okay? We got this under control."

"Fine," sighed Joohyun, accepting the condition she needed to handle. Even though Seungwan knows, deep down, her fiancee is cursing her endlessly.

Seungwan smiled from the grumpy reply she just got. That's more Joohyun-like behavior than the panicked one she saw earlier. She leaned forward to give her lips a quick kiss, and Seungwan couldn't help but to smile when Joohyun replied back the gesture by chasing after her lips and kissing her. "Shall we go inside? Mom will hit my head again if I keep you outside just for myself any longer."

"And you deserve it," snorted Joohyun as she walked past Seungwan to enter her home and leave her alone outside. Seungwan simply chuckled from her behavior before she joined the three of them inside after she paid the helper for helping her move her stuff.

---

She really doesn't know why Joohyun was beyond surprised and panicked when she finds out that her parents are also coming along with her to her home, when she interacts just fine with her mother. 

In fact, it looks like their bond is much tighter than what she has with the woman who gave birth to her. Here they are, all giggling and attached to the hips as they cook their lunch in the kitchen. Seungwan is not wrong when she assumes that her mother considers Joohyun as her own daughter, and loves her more than her own blood.

It is not a surprise that her mother likes Joohyun very much. She had shown that behavior when she met her for the first time in her office years ago, when her mother pays her an impromptu visit just to know how she's been holding up. Joohyun is the only secretary who manages to have a normal conversation with her mother, and it makes her adore her new secretary back then so much.

So when they announced their engagement, her mother was the only person who was beyond ecstatic with the news. Although her dad was happy too. He just doesn't show it as much as her mother.

"Have you found any wedding dresses yet, Joohyun?" asked her mother in the middle of their lunchtime, deciding to not waste anymore time and just go straight to the bush.

"I told you we are busy, Mom," Seungwan answered instead, after she caught a signal from Joohyun to be the one who gave her the answer. "Job has been very hectic recently. We can't focus on anything other than our responsibility for the well-being of the company."

"Surely a day off will not make the company go bankrupt, yes?" her mother fights back after she took a bite of her lunch. "Your wedding is in three months. You need to start preparing now."

"Everything is handled by the wedding organizer we specifically hired for this occasion," replied Seungwan again, deciding to be the one who is controlling the steering wheel of the conversation. "Most of the important things are already in our control. Safe to say everything will be fine when the day arrives."

"But you can't just ignore the others," countered her mom with no sight of backing down in this talk. "Wedding dress is as important as everything else. It's one of the crucial pieces of your wedding."

"We understand your concern, Mrs Son," Joohyun has finally decided to join their conversation. "But right now, everything needs to wait until our work is settled."

Seungwan almost scoffs when a simple reply from Joohyun is enough to stop her mom from continuing the conversation, although there is an obvious pout present on her face right now. But after years of being her daughter and living together with her, Seungwan knew she still has the last blow she has yet to release.

"Next weekend," her mother paused for a while, pointing her index finger towards Joohyun, "you will come with me and we will search for a wedding dress together for you."

That sentence made Joohyun choke thanks to her lunch. She sent her a death glare when Seungwan replied with a simple, "Deal."

"Great!" her mother cheered, along with an excited clap. There is a big smile on her face, Seungwan knew it would not be erased from her expression until the day of searching for Joohyun's wedding dress finally came. "Now that we agreed on this, shall we go back home, my love?"

Her dad sighed as he watched her wife leave the dining table while humming happily to put her and her husband's dirty plate inside the sink. He gave Seungwan a signal to call their family's driver and told him to pick them up in Joohyun's home, before looking at Joohyun with an apologetic expression on his face. "I'm really sorry for my wife's behavior."

"It's okay, Chairman Son," answered Joohyun, trying to dismiss her boss's apology. "I do understand her concern."

He gave her a smile, and allowed them to go to the kitchen to start washing the dirty dishes. Maybe Seungwan just has the task of drying the wet dishes, but it was enough to be an excuse for her to be able to speak with Joohyun without her parents (her mother) trying to listen to their conversation.

"Mom really likes you, by the way," whispered Seungwan after Joohyun gave her another plate for her to dry. "You will be okay when you search for a wedding dress next week with her. She won't bite."

"Really?" asked Joohyun to make sure if she didn't just say that to calm down her anxiety about interacting with her parents and the prospect of spending time alone with her mother on the next weekend, because there's no way her mother will allow Seungwan to go together with them for the sake of 'surprise'. When Seungwan answered her with a simple hum, she let out a relieved sigh. "Good to know."

"Both of them actually like you, ever since I introduced you as my new secretary back then," Seungwan sighed, putting the plate inside the rack that started to be filled with clean dishes. "They like you more than me, if we are being honest."

"Well," Joohyun paused as she cleaned her hands and wiped it dry with cloth, before flashing her a smirk, "that is not really a surprise, actually."

Seungwan raised her eyebrow from the cocky reply and changed behavior before she let out a chuckle. If Joohyun can do that, that means she has become relaxed even when there is the presence of her parents between the two of them. She was just done with drying the dishes when her parents informed them that their chauffeur had arrived.

Her fiancee was busy talking with her mother, and Seungwan couldn't help but be interested in what they were talking about. She was just going to join them when her father called for her to have a private conversation with her.

That's odd. Even in the workplace, it's rare for her to be called to the Chairman's office.

"How are you, daughter?" her father asked the question he rarely asks her, which caught her by surprise because Seungwan totally didn't expect that. And her father probably easily read the confusion on her face, because he quickly revised his own question. "Are you ready for the wedding?"

She gave him a shrug. "I guess? Nothing bad has happened yet with the preparation so far."

"That is not what I mean," her father chuckled, Seungwan somehow can start to see how age has shown up in the features of his appearance. There's wrinkles on the corner of his eyes, on the corner of his lips. His hair starts to have strands of white and he doesn't even bother to cover it. "Marriage is a serious step of your life that you will take in a few months. You can't play around or back down recklessly if your marriage went wrong in the middle of your journey of living together."

"I know," nodded Seungwan, her expression started to change into something serious. "I'm serious about this, I'm serious about spending the rest of my life with her. I will not give up just like that if things went wrong."

He nodded from her answer, before he flashed her a genuine smile. Her father took a step closer and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a tight grip. "I'm proud of you, kid," he said, before he left her stunned self alone to join her mother who was already waiting for him near their car. 

Seungwan blinked her eyes as the words her father just said kept repeating inside her head over and over again. Small smile gently appeared on her face, before she chuckled and joined Joohyun to send her parents goodbye. She hooked her arm around her shoulders and gave the top of her head a kiss. Seungwan ignored the weird gaze coming from Joohyun as she kept smiling wide towards her parents.

"You better take care of her right, Seungwan!" screamed her mother before she stepped inside the fancy car her family owned.

"I will!" Seungwan screamed back, tightening her hold around Joohyun.

She needed to hold back herself from making her smile wider than ever when she felt Joohyun secretly circled her arm around her waist, hugging her back without her parents knowing. "Be careful on your way back, Chairman Son and Mrs Son."

Her mother smiled, giving her fiancee a flying kiss and yelled, "Just call me Mom, Joohyun!" before she closed the window. Seungwan grimaced from the cheesy act, while Joohyun simply laughed and nodded out of politeness. They stayed there until the car disappeared from their point of view; until it's all silent and they realized there's only the two of them in this place right now.

"I didn't expect you to show our PDA in front of your parents," said Joohyun as she broke the ice between the two of them before she turned around to go inside.

"Why?" asked Seungwan, towing her from behind. "You don't like it?"

"I'm just surprised, that's all," sighed Joohyun as she waited for her arrival after Seungwan closed the door. "You were just talking with Chairman Son and suddenly you-"

In Seungwan's personal opinion, Joohyun was talking too much. That's why she shut her up with a kiss and gently pinned her to the wall. Although, a part inside of her does admit she has been dying to do this to her fiancee ever since she arrived at her home.

Wait, their home.

"God, that feels like ages," admitted Seungwan just right above her lips before she kissed her again. Joohyun's lips are just so addicting and Seungwan can't find it in herself to stop or take a break. They are just perfect for her to kiss, it's making her crazy.

Joohyun craned her head to make it easier for Seungwan to kiss her neck. "You still have tons of boxes for you to unpack."

"I will do that later," responded Seungwan while she easily picked her up and guided her slender legs to wrap around her waist. Joohyun was used to the surprise gesture so she quickly adapted to the new position. "Right now, I deserve my dessert."

"ert," scoffed Joohyun before Seungwan closed the gap between the two of them, while her legs brought them both to the bedroom they will share together from this day until the end of time.

"You like this ert," Seungwan raised her eyebrow, challenging her.

"I do," Joohyun sighed in defeat, opening the door of the main bedroom to allow Seungwan to bring them inside. "I even love this ert."

Seungwan smiled from what sounds like a forced declaration, when she knew Joohyun was actually genuine with her words. She kissed her lips again while kicking the bedroom door closed. Keeping them locked inside and staying on the bed until the Sun goes down and the room smells like once again.

Like it's theirs to share.

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oh my god I WILL MEET RED VELVET TOMORROW!

anyway, this chapter was done this quick because i just want to share that with you guys btw LOL (i even upload this from my phone) but i'm actually satisfied with the outcome and i hope you guys too! sorry if its a bit messy to read 🙏

thank you for reading and see you in the next chapter!