Most times Sana is very much energetic, she’s a person full of happiness, a ball of sunshine, one may say. In the morning when she wakes up, after eating lunch (she becomes grumpy when she’s hungry), every afternoon when she jogs, even when she’s sleepy, her smile never fades, it amuses Mina how bubbly she is, and that makes her love Sana more.
But there are times that the sun shies away from the world, sometimes no matter how much it wants to shine and give warmth to people that depend on it, the clouds simply take over and make everything gray and dark, a phenomenon that even the sun can’t do anything about, time can only tell when it’s going to shine back again.
That is exactly what’s happening to Sana, she’s been feeling under the weather lately, it’s almost like she’s always nervous about something, and Mina can’t help but notice it, how can she not when it has been three days that she had not heard her laugh with that distinct high pitch tone of hers. Usually, she’ll laugh at anything that peeks her humor, there was a time where she laughed for fifteen minutes because of a tissue paper, their friends think it’s weird, but for Mina, it’s adorable. Now that she hasn’t seen her adorable baby smile so wide in a while, it started to bother her.
“Babe, do you want to watch Harry Potter tonight?” Mina asked whilst cooking dinner, hoping it would cheer the other up.
Sana tilted her head in confusion, it was a bit unexpected for Mina to initiate a movie night, she's more of sleep early, wake up early type of person, “Hmm are you okay?”
Mina nodded her head as a response, “Are you?”
“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Sana giggled.
That giggle bothered Mina even more, if it was three days ago, she’s sure Sana would be jumping out of her seat and go straight to hugging her just to prove that she is in fact, okay, but today is different and it makes her think hard if she’s just overthinking things — how ironic.
It urged Mina to drop everything that she’s doing, dinner can wait, she thought. She dramatically turned to Sana, “Stay here”, Mina said, leaving Sana puzzled.
***
The tub filled with warm water, lavender-scented candles, and relaxing music playing from the mini speaker, Mina had an idea that a relaxing bath might be able to help Sana even just a little bit, she honestly has no idea what’s going on, so she only hopes her efforts will work.
She returns to the kitchen only to see Sana scavenging for food inside their refrigerator, Mina finds her girlfriend cute, there’s something about Sana that melts her heart even with the simplest antics that she does. I’m never letting this person go, Mina thought to herself.
“Satang”, Mina called her attention... which is a mistake. She made a mental note to never call anyone’s attention while they’re halfway through being swallowed whole by the refrigerator.
Sana felt like her body took a screenshot from the shock she got, she bumped her head and almost knocked everything out if not for the miracle of her sudden quick reflex. “Mina ya! You startled me!” she nagged amidst her laughter.
Mina joined in putting the toppled jars back to its place, “You’re so uneasy these days babe, I figured you might want to relax for a bit, go take a dip in the tub I prepared it for you, leave this to me”, she said and gave Sana quick peck on the cheeks to assure her that it really is okay.
Her girlfriend’s reaction did not disappoint, she felt a smile curved on her lips, “You’re not joining me?” Sana teased.
“I thought you’re hungry? I will cook here, then you go take a bath, I’ll call you when the food is ready”, Mina answered casually, she knows what Sana is doing and she has no intention of giving in.
Sana smirked, “I don’t mind eating dessert first”, she added a hint of a flirty tone for flavor.
But to no avail, Mina just pushed her playfully outside the kitchen, “I’ll call you later, go relax.”
***
After half an hour, Mina finished preparing dinner and called Sana to join her. Another hour and they’re done eating.
If there’s one thing that they cherish the most in their relationship, it’s whenever they eat meals together, especially when Mina is the one who cooked, Sana is much more vocal with her feelings while Mina shows her love with her efforts so the older makes sure to give the other praises with how great of a cook she is, saying “You know, Gordon Ramsay would be ashamed of his cooking if he tasted your pasta,” or “Why will I call for delivery when you’re a much better cook than them??” by these little things, she manages to make Mina’s heart swell with warmth and joy. It is safe to say they’re both whipped for each other.
It took fifteen minutes for them to wash the dishes and clean everything up before they settle down on their sofa to watch Harry Potter as suggested by Mina a while ago.
“Babe,” Sana called.
“Hmm?” Mina hummed as she focused on typing each letter of the movie on their tv.
Sana paused for a second, uncertain but still asked anyway, “Do you really want to watch movies tonight?”
“Yep, why?” Mina answered, still concentrated on the screen.
Sana didn’t answer her question, instead, she scooted closer to Mina and gave her a big warm bear hug, catching the younger’s full attention.
Mina adjusted her body on the couch for Sana to comfortably lay onto. “Are you not in the mood to watch?” she asked so gently it was almost a whisper.
Sana closed her eyes fully embracing their warmth, there’s something so comforting about the nights like this, when everything is still, no intense feelings, just the two of them in their own little bubble, silently vibing together, when the both of them are in peace, and content with just being next to each other. “Cuddles?” she pleaded with her puppy eyes.
“Shall we go to our room instead?”, Mina hugged her tighter before letting go, “Go ahead, I’ll call someone first, is that okay?” she asked, she only got a nod for an answer.
Once Sana is out of the vicinity she dialed her best friend and also Sana’s co-owner in her candle business, three rings before the call was picked up.
“Mina?”
“Hello Jihyo, may I ask you for a favor?” Mina asked shyly.
“What’s with the tone? Also, I can’t play Minecraft with you right now, I’ve got this paperwork to work on.” Jihyo answered, whenever Mina calls, most of the time it’s her checking up on Sana if she had eaten lunch already or if she's still working this late, or if not, she's calling to ask if Jihyo is available to play video games with her. Since Sana is already home, Jihyo guesses it's the latter.
“No, uhm it’s about Sana, I just called if you’ll be busy tomorrow or if there’s something important you two need to do,”
“Tomorrow? Hmm let me check,” Mina heard rustling papers from the other line, she must be looking through their schedule, after a minute or so, Jihyo spoke again, “We don’t have much on our plates tomorrow, just a couple of deliveries, why, is Sana not coming tomorrow? Is she sick?” there’s a concern in her voice.
“No, no she’s not, but she might not come to work, but if you two are okay with it of course”
“It’s fine with me, Sana needs some rest from time to time too, did you ask her already? You know how stubborn she can be when it comes to work,”
“I haven’t yet but I’ll tell her later don’t worry. By the way, do you know a place where I can take her? Somewhere she can relax or somewhere she likes?”
“Aigoo Minari you still suck at these things?” Jihyo laughed, but still kind enough to help a friend out, “Take her to a place that is special for the two of you, it doesn’t have to be grand, what matters the most is you two are together, I’m sure Sana will appreciate that very much.”
“I will remember that thanks Ji! I’ll go now, Sana is waiting for me and you must be busy, go rest too, you deserve it as much,” Mina said her goodbyes.
After the call, she messaged some other friends first before following suit to Sana inside their bedroom.
***
Mina gently opens the room, and inside, Sana was already comfortably laying on their bed scrolling through her phone waiting for her.
“Finished the call?” Sana asks.
“Yep, it’s Jihyo,” Mina mentioned.
A small crease started to form on Sana’s brows.“Is she okay?” there’s a worry in her voice that Mina caught up.
There she is again, the Sun, no matter how much the clouds try to cover her up, in one way or another, she’ll find a way to shine through, and Mina respects Sana so much for that.
“She’s fine don’t worry, but she’s still working on some paperwork she said,” Mina assured.
“Oh, this late? I should help her tomorrow then .”
Mina sits quietly next to Sana creating a dip on their bed, “About that… I was wondering if you might want to take a day off tomorrow?" a bit hesitant, but she managed to blurt the question out.
She looked back at Sana and all she got was a questioning look, a look that says "what's with the sudden plan?" but she kept quiet instead.
"Well if it is okay with you, I asked Jihyo if you two are going to be busy and she said there's only a couple of deliveries coming in tomorrow, so maybe we can go for a date or I don't know whatever you want to do that doesn't include working?" Mina explained, she doesn't know why she's nervous about asking her girlfriend out on a date when they're living together for almost two years now, they're basically "married" minus the papers and ceremony.
Sana is amused. That's all she is after Mina's wordy explanation. This might be the only time that she heard Mina talk longer than a three-second sentence. Maybe that was an exaggeration, it probably is, but it sure did give pure joy to Sana. At this point, she's already convinced to take a break, apart from any other reason she had in mind, but right now, she doesn't have the heart to refuse her girlfriend.
She patted the side of her bed urging Mina to lay down, the younger followed and automatically clings onto her.
"Okay then, let's go take a break tomorrow, where are we going?" Sana asks in a hushed voice while clinging onto Mina as if her life depends on it. Note: she's the big spoon.
"Wherever you want to go, as long as it's not your office, we'll go there."
When Jihyo said Mina still sucks at these types of things (surprises and last-minute planning stuff), she's not wrong, for Mina, it takes at least three days of planning if she's going to do such a surprise, doing this rushed plan is making her butterflies run around her gut like crazy, she doesn't go diving straight down deep waters. But because it's Sana who's she's talking to, she's more than willing to dive, and who cares about how deep it is, fuck the waters what's not to risk as long as she's with Sana.
Good thing the water is not that deep, "We can stay here at home, do things together, we can build a lego set, or maybe you can teach me how to play that lego computerized version-"
"Minecraft babe,"
"Yes, Minecraft, then we can cook together, teach me how to so that we can beat Gordon Ramsay's restaurant together," Sana answers enthusiastically.
Mina was surprised with how laid back Sana's answer is, she's expecting something crazy, she's almost sure they'll be going to fly somewhere else, but then, whatever Sana wants, she will deliver. So a stay-home date it is.
"One last thing, can we go eat outside tomorrow?" Sana shyly said.
"Sure, tomorrow is your day, we'll do whatever you want okay?"
And so they did.
Morning
It was a breakfast in bed type of morning, a great way to start their day right. Mina cooked scrambled eggs and bacon for Sana, she also made freshly squeezed orange juice for her drink.
They ended up watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone after, God forbid they start their morning watching the Deathly Hallows, even though it is the only one left (technically two) that they haven't watched yet.
Once the movie finished, Sana insisted to build Mina's new Harry Potter lego set, it was Hagrid's hut, a gift from one of their friends but somehow Mina didn't have time to build it so here they are now.
The two made a bet to be as quiet as possible while building the set, the loser has to wash dishes.
Guess who won.
Lunch
They moved to the kitchen, Mina helped Sana in cooking her very first rosé pasta. They were doing pretty well until they weren't.
At first, it was going according to their plan, they boiled the right amount of noodles, their ingredients were complete and were cut safely (no hands were harmed). But in some weird way, the noodle water overflowed and while they're at it, they forgot that they were roasting garlic, as everyone expects, it got burnt. Good thing that everything is salvageable except for the garlic so they still did have a decent lunch.
"What’s the place called that we're going to later?" Mina asks when she remembered.
Sana looked up to her as if she was caught red-handed, "W-why? I forgot the place," she stuttered.
"Eh? how are we going there then?"
Sana shrugged, leaving the younger confused.
Mina thought hard about it while washing the dishes.
Afternoon
Because of Mina's competitiveness, she made another bet, whoever got the least score in Just dance has to drive going to and fro from the place. Sana agreed, confident she'll win.
Mina is a ballerina but she shouldn’t have underestimated Sana, not when she's part of a champion dance group way back then.
By just four points, Mina lost.
"Ha! I still got them grooves babe!" Sana jumps up and down on their sofa, triumphant from her win.
Mina lost again but deep in her heart, she felt like she'd also won. She looked at Sana with all her admiration, by the split second that she faced her, Mina captured her beauty, her fair skin, flushed cheeks, and hazel eyes. How perfect can this person be?
Since Sana has no choice because she lost, she was forced to remember the location of the place they'll go to later and send it to Mina.
Afternoon 2 hours to 7 pm
The pair took a bath after their intense cardiovascular activity earlier, they had so much fun dancing they forgot the time.
45 minutes to 7 pm
"What’s with the rush? I checked the GPS, the location is near, we have enough time before our reservation," Mina calmly said as she checked her pockets for the car keys.
"Just hurry up babe!"
15 minutes to 7 pm
They have already arrived at the place, they just need to find where their reservation is.
A server guided them to where the reserved room is, it's just the two of them yet they reserved an event room, none of them questioned.
Sana turned to Mina before going inside the room, "I'm nervous," she said,
"Me too," Mina didn't question why, but she's also feeling the same.
The server slowly opened the translucent glass door.
7 pm
“Dul, set,” all of their friends jumped out from behind the chairs once the door opened while holding letter balloons that says:
W I L L Y O U M A R R Y M E
Dead silence…
Both of them showed no reaction, almost expecting the other to be surprised or something, in all honesty, that is more surprising.
“Surprise!!” Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung exclaimed anticipating a reaction from the two. They heard Nayeon and Jihyo shush them.
"I knew it, I should have driven here instead," Mina heard Sana whisper to herself.
Even though confused, Mina continued her plan. Shakily, she knelt before Sana and took a small black velvet box from her purse.
"Hi babe hehe," what a way to start a proposal, Mina, she thought to herself quite disappointed, it is NOT what she practiced in her head, nevertheless she still carried on,
"You know I'm not good with these things so please bear with me. Even from the start I already knew that I wanted to spend every waking day with you, I was never a risk-taker, but with you, I gained courage. With you, I never second guess. With you, I am me, I am my utmost self."
Mina's monologue was cut off by someone sniffing, they turned their heads and saw Momo crying, "go on," she said in between her sobs, after the others settled down from giggling, Mina continued her speech.
"Earlier, I had to ask you where we were going, it's because I prepared this for you literally just last night, but it doesn't mean that the thought of marrying you came to me last minute also, I've thought long and hard about this. Last night though, or shall I say the past three days that I was so worried about you pushed me to do this, I have seen you at your best, I have seen you shine, but then I saw you become vulnerable too, and all I can think of is I want to be there for you whenever the days get cloudy, I may not be much of a help but, I want to be with you every day, for the rest of my life, may it be sunny or rainy, I’ll be by your side," Mina opened the box, and the gasps echoed throughout the room even though they all know why they’re there for in the first place, "So, will you let me?"
At this point, Sana is already a crying mess, she wiped her tears with a tissue Tzuyu handed her before she finally spoke.
Sana started with a chuckle, "Before I tell you my answer because I think you do know what my answer will be, I hope you do, I just want to say, HOW DARE YOU BEAT ME TO THIS MYOUI MINA!" she jokingly exclaimed, gaining laughter from their friends, while Mina, is shocked and confused," this was supposed to be a surprise FOR YOU, I prepared these days, weeks, I even called them to free this night just for this," she looked at their friends, and Jihyo laughed, "She called us too" referring to Mina.
"The reason I was so uneasy these past few days is that I was nervous about this! What will your reaction be, will you be happy, what would be your answer,"
She pulled out a diamond ring from her pocket, almost identical to the ring inside Mina's box," I was supposed to propose to you right now but look who got proposed to instead, and now, I forgot what my speech is, you literally made me speechless,” then her voice mellowed, “But yes, the answer is yes, I love you so much that I physically, mentally, and emotionally can't lose you. Let's be together, for the rest of our lives Myoui Mina."
And with that, Mina stood up and placed the ring onto Sana's right ring finger. The older one did the same.
Their night was spent with their friends, celebrating and catching up, they explained to the two how their surprises coincidentally overlapped and how tempted they all are to just spill it to the other.
Their laughter filled the room until it was almost midnight and they had to leave. They bid their congrats and goodbyes to each other before going inside their own cars. It was indeed a great night.
Even though both Mina and Sana failed successfully at their attempted surprise, it will surely be an interesting topic to talk about in the future.
A future that has both of them together.