Jessica was in a meeting with Tiffany, her co-worker/best friend, when a delivery man knocked on the door. Being closest to the door, Tiffany opened it, “Hello umm is a Ms. Jung here?” The delivery man read off a card.

Jessica looked at the object the postman was holding and she had a hunch who sent her sed gift, “That would be me.”

Smiling widely the man handed off the bouquet of flowers to the beautiful business woman, “Here you go miss.”

Once the delivery man left, Tiffany shut the door and gave her friend the most cringe-worthy face, “Gah  she is so romantic! Your cheesy little lover is always doing the sweetest things. I am starting to get jealous Ms. Jung.”

Jessica sniffed the flowers before rolling her eyes at Tiffany, “Oh please. It is just Taeyeon being Taeyeon. I can’t remember a time she wasn’t sending me flowers.”

“It isn’t just the flowers. From all the stories you told me, she is by far the most romantic person I know. I wish I had someone to sweep me off my feet every day like she does for you. Too bad Taeyeon is together with the most unromantic soul.”

“Unromantic?!” Jessica protested after putting her flowers in a vase, “To let you know, I am just as loving towards Taeyeon as she is to me.”

Taking a seat across from Jessica, Tiffany crossed her legs, “Oh yea? Name one thing. As long as I have known you, Jessica Jung is not romantic.”

Sitting back onto her chair, Jessica furrowed her brows as she thought over the 6 years she and Taeyeon were together, “Oh! I have one. She loves the lacey...”

“Woah woah hold on there. I think we should take any and ual fantasies off the table. That is lust, a different form of expressing love. I can only guess that Taeyeon is satisfied physically due to well your umm figure? But romance is all about the emotional. Romance is showing your love with little gestures and not with how hot your body is.”

Jessica bit her pen cap as she thought a bit harder, “I – am sure I did something...my m-memory is just not that great.”

“Jessica just admit that you are not romantic towards Taeyeon. It isn’t like your lack of sweetness makes Taeyeon love you less or that you don’t love her as much as she does. You just don’t understand romance. I mean Taeyeon does enough for the two of you combined.” Tiffany justified.

Leaning back in her chair, Jessica sighed, “I love all the cheesy things Taeyeon does for me, but when I think of doing it...it chills me through the bone. Or like my skin is crawling. Being romantic...makes me uncomfortable.”

“I smell a wager.” Tiffany leaned forward in excitement.

“Oh no. I am not betting on my love life.”

“Come on let’s have a little bet. Without assistance, do one romantic gesture towards Taeyeon. It can’t be anything Taeyeon has done for you before.”

Being romantic towards Taeyeon isn’t a bad thing, “Ok. Fine. I accept the challenge but what is on the table?”

“Let’s see...how about a raise?” Tiffany said hopefully.

“No way! I propose if I win, you take down all your pink items in the office.”

Tiffany hated the idea of taking out all the color in her space but she was sure Jessica wasn’t capable of such affection, “Ok, but if I win, I get to redecorate your office anyway I want!”

Jessica knew that meant all Tiffany’s pink was going to seep into her room. There was no way in hell she would let Tiffany touch her office, “Fine. When is the deadline?”

“I will give you a week. You will set up a dinner date after a week. If you did do something over-the-top romantic, I am sure Taeyeon will gush about it at dinner. However, if you did nothing, she will eat like normal and admit your defeat.” Tiffany suggested.

To make their bet official, Jessica reached out her had to shake, “You got a deal.”

Tiffany smiled as she made the bet, “Good luck.”

“I will get a garbage ready in a week,” Jessica threatened.

“I have a new interior design set already.”

Each woman was very confident about their win. At least for now.

------------------------

Taeyeon sat up in the bed reading the news on her tablet, “Oh it is going to be warm this weekend. Did you want to do anything outdoorsy?”

Jessica finished wiping her face before entering the bedroom, “Sure. Have something in mind?”

Taeyeon shrugged, “Not really. We could just hike? You know I just like spending time with you.”

Climbing into bed, Jessica snuggled up to Taeyeon, “Humm me too. Hiking sounds nice.”

Taeyeon smiled widely as she closed her tablet to set on the table, “Great! We finally can wear our couple hiking boots!”

Jessica snickered at the thought. Taeyeon liked subtle couple items and would go out to buy them any chance she got, “Good night love.”

Jessica smiled into their goodnight kiss before turning into her side for a restful night of sleep.

The next morning, the couple went off to the nearest mountain to hike. If they were to finish the trail, it led up to the Buddhist temple, but it wasn’t an easy hike.  The couple was similarly un-athletic so they chose an easier route up that would take 3 hours to complete.

“Baby did you put on suntan lotion? I don’t want your fair skin to burn.” Taeyeon stopped to lather Jessica’s arms that weren’t covered.

“Here, let me get your cute little nose,” Jessica playfully dabbed the white solution on Taeyeon’s nose.

“Thank you baby,” Taeyeon smiled as they finished preparing for the hike.

For the most part, the couple traveled up hand in hand talking about various subjects. Taeyeon worked as a kindergarten teacher so she always had funny stories to tell. Jessica was laughing so hard that she nearly forgot her mission for today.

A romantic gesture. What could Jessica do on a hike that was very romantic? A picnic would be nice, but Jessica didn’t prepare for that. Maybe picking lots and lots of flowers? No...that is something Taeyeon has done for her before. How about cutting a deal with the monks? Is that really practical?

Jessica was so caught up in her thoughts, she started ignoring Taeyeon, “Baby? Baby are you ok?”

“Huh?”

Taeyeon looked at Jessica with worried eyes, “You were zoning out. Are you tired? We can rest.” Taking off her pack, Taeyeon set it on the ground, “Baby sit here. I have some water.”

Jessica bit her lip guilty that she was distracted by her mission, “Water would be nice.”

Taeyeon smiled as Jessica took the water, “We can eat too! I brought us a little lunch.”

Hearing Taeyeon do so many kind things made Jessica’s eyes water.

“Baby are you ok? Are you hurt? Why are you crying?”

Jessica shook her head, “Y-you are too sweet.”

Knowing Jessica was safe, Taeyeon looked at Jessica sympathetically, “you are sweet too baby.”

Jessica leaned in to give her lover a bear hug which Taeyeon reciprocated with the same amount of force back, “You are always so good to me. I wonder how I can repay you.”

Taeyeon chuckled as they ended the hug with a light peck on the lips, “who says you need to repay me? Your love is enough, now come on and let’s finish the mountain!”

Seeing Taeyeon mumping around gave Jessica the energy she needed to continue their hike up. For now the bet was forgotten but that was only for the weekend. When Jessica returned to the office on Monday, a certain coworker was there to greet her.

“Have a sweet romantic weekend?”

Jessica frowned as she knew she didn’t make any progress the past two days, “Bartaloni’s Bistro 6pm Friday.”

Tiffany snickered, “Ok but from your face, I can see I am still winning.”

Shoving her friend aside, Jessica marched past Tiffany and into her office where she spent most of the day thinking of little things she could do to show her love for Taeyeon. If anything, Taeyeon was the sweetest over the weekend. The hiking trip turned out to be very fun and on Sunday they spent most of the day in because Jessica’s legs were sore. Of course Taeyeon rubbed her tired legs...”Damn that midget is too sweet! How can I find something Taeyeon hasn’t done for me when she is a natural romantic?”

Jessica grumbled to herself some more until the day turned to a close. Clearly this bet was affecting her work, but Jessica was focused. She will get Taeyeon to feel her love!

“So you have 1 day left.”

Jessica folded her hands over her eyes, “Yea...”

Jessica’s friend Yoona joined her for lunch as her distressed friend called her for an emergency meeting, “What have you been doing till now? There had to have been some chances to squeeze in a simple gesture.”

Taking a sip on her iced coffee, Jessica continued to pout, “There were but I blew it.”

Yoona cocked her head, “How so?”

“I feel like every time I thought of something, Taeyeon would do it first and Tiffany stated that I couldn’t do anything Taeyeon did before. Picnics, massages, cute messages, flowers....Taeyeon has done those all.”

Yoona rubbed her chin in thought, “From what I hear, Taeyeon is cheesy and cute 24/7 so I can understand your frustration. I think you just need to vocalize how much these things mean to you. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, but instead an acknowledgement that you know Taeyeon does these things and it means the world to you.”

Jessica leaned back in her chair thinking of Yoona’s words, “I got it. Thanks Yoona!”

Quickly getting up from her seat, Jessica ran out of the restaurant because she had something big to prepare tonight. Jessica finally knew how to make Taeyeon feel loved.

It was late at night when Taeyeon came home from work. She was exhausted but the thought of cuddling up to her favorite person gave her enough strength to walk through the door. However, when the door opened, all the lights were still off, “Sica? Baby?” Reaching for the switch, Taeyeon nearly turned the lights back on, but an arrow glowing in the dark caught her eye. Looking down at the arrow, Taeyeon cocked her head to the side as she picked up the pencil with the end chewed off, “What the?”

Curious, Taeyeon found another arrow but this time, it pointed to some childish rings that one would pay out of the vending machine. One by one, Taeyeon followed each arrow that led to a closed door. Smiling to herself, Taeyeon knew who was on the other side so she slowly opened it revealing Jessica holding a simple rose, “Here is your last one.”

Taeyeon was grinning ear to ear as she took the rose from her lover, “Baby what is all this?” The older girl asked holding up all the small objects.

Jessica stepped forward to take a look at what Taeyeon had in her hands, “Well this is the pencil I nearly chewed off the end because I was so nervous to talk to you in Math class. You with your dorky smile made me crush on you madly and I took it out on this poor pencil.” Jessica saw her sap of a girlfriend already tearing up, “Oh these rings. How could you forget these baby? We were so poor in college that we chose these as our couple rings, but later that year, you bought us the most beautiful ones which I still wear today.”

Taeyeon’s line of sight went to the ring on Jessica’s fingers. Sometime over the years, that ring seemed to always be on Jessica’s fingers and the significance long lost, “Sica...”

Going through the various objects one by one, Jessica summed up their relationship over the years. For not being very romantic, Jessica was able to pour out her feelings to Taeyeon one object at a time. By the time, the couple got to the last object, Jessica had to wipe away the tears staining Taeyeon’ s face, “and this rose was something I got from you a few days ago. You always send me flowers at work to cheer me up. For that I love you too.”

Taeyeon was a blubbering crying mess with the last line, “Baby...I *sniff* love you too...but how did you keep *sniff* all these things?”

Jessica quickly reached to get Taeyeon a tissue, “I always had these things. My best memories are locked away in my head but these objects hold onto the special moments I had with you. I love every day we have been together and I treasure all my memories with you.”

Taeyeon was about to lose it again but Jessica was quick to kiss her girlfriend and stop any more tears from flowing, even if they were tears of joy.

It was clear that night, Taeyeon found the hidden romantic in Jessica’s heart.

Tiffany looked at the couple across from her in the diner, “So how have you two been? Anything good happen this week?” Watching the couple carefully, Tiffany noticed a sinister grin on Jessica’s face and a very very wide grin on Taeyeon’s, “Crap!” Tiffany nearly threw her fork across the table, “My precious pink!”

Jessica laughed while Taeyeon looked at Tiffany and Jessica confused, “Sica what is she upset about?”

Patting her girlfriend’s hand, Jessica shook her head, “Nothing baby. She is just upset that the new rules at work don’t allow pink in the office.”

“Oh that is too bad Tiffany. Rules are rules right?”

Tiffany sobbed quietly in her chair saying goodbye to her pink items that she would have to get rid of at work.

Jessica smiled back triumphantly, “Yes Tiffany rules are rules.” Leaning over to her girlfriend, Jessica rewarded her girlfriend with a kiss on the cheek.

“What was that for?” Taeyeon said happily.

“Just as a thank you.”

“Did I do something?”

Jessica smiled sweetly at her girlfriend, “More than you will ever know.”

Eyeing out the sweet couple, Tiffany stood up, “having just one acting sweet all the time was bearable but two?” Tiffany shivered from all the sweetness before leaving.

“Why did Tiffany storm out?”

“Oh don’t mind her Tae. She is just lonely and jealous of what we have.”

Taeyeon mirrored the bright smile Jessica gave her, “Jealous that I have the sweetest girlfriend ever?”

“Maybe more that I have the most romantic girlfriend ever.” Jessica stated right before giving Taeyeon an even sweeter kiss on the lips.

~END~