Probably the only thing Hongjoong liked about starting work at 8am was that she had to take the bus. Not because she loved buses, which she didn’t, but because every day without fail, the most absolutely gorgeous woman she had ever seen would get on the bus exactly two stops after Hongjoong did.
It had been pure coincidence, the first time it happened. Usually Hongjoong would take the next bus, about 20 minutes after the one she took now, but one day Mingi decided they should go to the studio earlier “since, you know, the kids will start primary school soon, we all need to get used to the new schedule”. So they tried it one day, to see how it went.
Wooyoung, Hongjoong’s daughter, had already started school the year prior, but Yunho had been driving her to school every morning, since she worked nearby. But after leaving that company for another one in which she was not discriminated against for being a woman and she was actually taken seriously for her work (they all cheered), it was just impossible for her to be the one driving the kids to school.
Now, even if they had had to change their schedules to adapt to Yunho’s new work, Hongjoong was extremely grateful for the help she had the previous year. Actually, for the help she had had since even before Wooyoung was born.
Hongjoong was sure nothing she ever did would compensate for how much her friends had always helped her raise Woo. Being a single mother was hard, even if she didn’t regret a single second of it, but having a support system had saved both of their lives. She had always had the best friends anyone could ever ask for, even if they were a pain in the ass sometimes.
It also helped that Yunho and Mingi had Sannie a little more than a year after she had Wooyoung. It made it all much easier, even if their situations were completely different. Yunho and Mingi had San because they were completely settled. They both had good, stable jobs, they were married, already had bought a house and they had been saving for years to start Yunho’s pregnancy journey. Hongjoong had Wooyoung because she got knocked up by a random dude one night when she was out partying with Yeosang and Jongho and she was sad because they were so in love and she never seemed to find anyone who could make her happy. And blame it on the alcohol or on the fact that she (sadly) likes men too, but when a guy she deemed pretty enough to fuck asked her to spend the night together, she left all common sense behind and went with her. It turned out to be both the worst and the best decision she had ever made; the worse because she got pregnant at 26 with no job and living in a shared (and very small) apartment with her best friend and her best friend’s girlfriend. Not ideal at all. But the best because it gave her Wooyoung, who was her biggest luck, pride and joy.
To this day, she still doesn’t know what made her keep the child. But the thought of ending the pregnancy never crossed her mind once. Maybe it was her gut feeling, telling her this child would be all she needed in her life.
Her friends had been nothing but supportive, and they had continued to be throughout the pregnancy and the 6, soon 7, years of her baby’s life. As soon as they knew about it, Mingi had helped her get a job at the company she was working at. It was a small job but she knew, despite the bad luck she had been having so far, that Hongjoong was a genius producer, and that they would love her work so much that soon she’d have a good position in the company. Not even Hongjoong herself had so much faith in her talent as Mingi did. Yeosang and Jongho had agreed to keep living together even when she had the child so she wouldn’t have to pay so much rent by herself, letting her save up enough money to get herself something for both of them soon. She was truly blessed.
And it had gone like that. She started working, and as Mingi had said, they loved her work so much that soon enough she was earning a good salary, which allowed her to save up enough money to get herself and Wooyoung a little apartment. Small but big enough for the two of them (and even a third person, in case she ever found a partner) to live comfortably. Then Yunho and Mingi had San and everything suddenly became easier. Even when they had to do extreme things in the name of love, like waking up 20 minutes before every day to take their daughters’ to school, everything was easier.
That’s when it happened. The first day they tried going a bit earlier to work to accommodate their daughters’ schedules, Hongjoong took the 7:10 am bus, and when she was on the second stop, the most beautiful girl she had ever seen got on the bus.
After that day, she never even dreamt of going back to taking the later bus. Even during school holidays, when Wooyoung had no school and she could go into work a bit later, she still took the 7:10 bus. It was her little moment of joy, something she had for herself and for herself only.
Not that she didn’t talk about it, because oh she did. Mingi was probably sick of hearing about the beautiful stranger on the bus. And so were Jongho and Yeosang, and Yunho probably too. She could not shut up about her, really, but that’s what happens when you see a goddess. Is this not how religions are created? You see a woman so beautiful it feels like a miracle, and you make your whole life about it.
But Hongjoong was nothing but a coward at heart, never having the guts to just go and talk to her.
Even Wooyoung and San, being as young as they were, had joked about Hongjoong’s little crush on the stranger on the bus. They had asked, multiple times, if Woo was getting a new mom, and when it had been clear that Hongjoong was too much of a coward to talk to the beautiful woman, they would make jokes out of it.
The two kids were getting to that age in which all nice and sweet children become pure evil. It terrified their mothers.
But she couldn’t blame them, not really, because she did spend a lot of time talking about the bus goddess and absolutely no time talking to her. So there was that. In her defense, she had to say, that woman was way out of her league. She didn’t think any human being could be in her league, to be fair, but especially not Hongjoong. Little gremlin Hongjoong with a woman who could contest every model that has ever existed on the planet? She didn’t think so. It was okay to dream. Fun, even, but she didn’t want to dwell on it too much because she knew it was impossible. It was okay to joke around, to imagine how it would be, but she didn’t want to give that crush too much importance because it would hurt a bit too much when the realization hit that she could never have a woman like that.
This, though, didn’t stop Hongjoong from looking at her every time she got on the bus, admiring her from afar. The woman always seemed to use the bus ride to do her makeup. Hongjoong found it fascinating, really, how she could get her makeup so perfectly done in a moving vehicle. She was absolutely gorgeous when she got on the bus, but every time Hongjoong saw her once she was done, she felt like the world should stop so every living creature could admire the work of art she was.
She had to admit that it had become her favorite activity on the bus, waiting for her to get on it, and when she did, look at her once or twice and then pretend she was unfazed by her beauty so she wouldn't spend the whole bus ride staring and being creepy (or worse, making a fool of herself). Although it had been close, once, when Hongjoong forgot to be normal and stared at her for too long. The woman had turned her face towards her, probably sensing a pair of eyes fixated on her face, and smiled. Hongjoong almost died right there.
That day she had been looking particularly beautiful, wearing a gray suit and a white button up. Her dark, wavy hair framed her face beautifully, with soft strands gently brushing her cheeks. When she looked at Hongjoong, her big boba eyes were shiny and Hongjoong swore she saw stars in them. The vibrant red of her recently applied lipstick contrasted beautifully against her flawless skin, and when she smiled, Hongjoong almost fainted. She was probably as red as the woman’s lips, every cell in her body embarrassed from having been caught looking longer than it was permitted.
That had been all the interactions they had ever had. Not a single word exchanged, barely a look and a smile that had fueled Hongjoong for the rest of the week.
To say Hongjoong looked forward to her bus rides was an understatement. She felt pathetic, really. She hated to admit that Wooyoung was right and that her love life was so embarrassingly lame that she had developed a real crush on a woman she only saw for about 30 minutes 4 days a week, since Hongjoong worked from home on Fridays. In her defense, she doubted not everyone on this bus had a crush on her. But still pathetic nonetheless.
So there she was, approaching the second stop and her heart filled with anticipation. But when the bus reached the stop, she was not there. Hongjoong’s heart dropped to the floor. She knew it was stupid, there were a million reasons why the woman would not be there. Maybe she was on holidays. Maybe she could work from home too, and maybe she worked from home on Fridays but Hongjoong didn’t know because she also did. Maybe she had to change her work-from-home day because of whatever reason. Maybe she was sick, which Hongjoong hoped was not the case, or maybe, and she really didn’t want it to be the case, she had stopped working where she was working and now took another bus to go to work. Her head wouldn’t stop spinning, trying to find a reason for her absence that was logical enough even if she knew absolutely nothing about her.
Not to be dramatic, but her day was ruined. She was worried, which made no sense, because she didn’t know the woman, so why would she? But she was, and she hoped nothing bad had happened to her.
While she was having her hopelessly pathetic mental breakdown over a stranger, they reached the next stop. Seconds after they were moving again, someone sat on the empty spot by her side. The air was instantly filled with the sweet, enchanting scent of vanilla and strawberries. It smelled so delicate yet intoxicating that it made Hongjoong pause her internal breakdown, her breath catching slightly as the aroma enveloped her senses. She found herself irresistibly drawn to it, mesmerized by how something so simple could be so utterly captivating, and when she turned her head to see where the smell came from, she almost choked on her own saliva.
There she was, the most beautiful woman on earth. Of course it had to be her, of course she would smell so irresistibly good. Hongjoong’s heart did a backflip. Maybe her day wasn’t ruined after all. Or yes, because how was she supposed to act normal now that she had her sitting in the seat next to her? She was so close, she smelled so good, and Hongjoong was just a woman.
She sat there, not paying attention to her surroundings and not noticing the way in which Hongjoong was staring at her, and started to look through her bag. It was obvious, even to a complete stranger (which Hongjoong had to remind herself that this was what she was to the woman, despite her silly crush), that she was stressed. The longer she looked inside her bag, the more visibly upset she was and when she started cursing under her breath, it became obvious to Hongjoong that there was something wrong.
Gathering all the bravery she could find in her little body, Hongjoong cleared her throat.
"Are you okay?"
The other woman turned to the direction of the voice when she realized she was being spoken to.
"Yes. No. No, actually I'm not okay. Today's a very important day and I was late and missed my stop and had to run to the next stop and to make it even worse I forgot my makeup at home and how am I supposed to go to work looking like this?" She gestured vaguely at her face, as if she didn't look divine even without makeup. But Hongjoong was definitely not going to say that to a woman she didn't know. Especially not to that woman, who she had been secretly crushing on for months now. It was embarrassing enough that her friends knew she was a pathetic simp, the beautiful woman didn’t need to know it. Not yet, at least.
Something clicked in Hongjoong’s brain.
"I... uh-I don't wear makeup but... I mean it's probably not going to be of any use but..." Hongjoong started rambling while taking out of her bag a small white case with roses painted on it. "Here, see if there's something that you can actually use?" She asked more than said.
Hongjoong had talked what seemed to be too many times about the fact that “stunning bus girl” did her makeup on the bus and about how beautiful she looked when she was done, because Wooyoung had ever since developed a great love for makeup. Needless to say, it was encouraged by her aunts, who took her to the mall and bought her makeup to last a decade. And not to be her mother, but Hongjoong thought she had turned quite talented at doing hers and other people’s makeup, despite only being 7.
That, and the knowledge of how much of a loser her mother was for being so smitten with a woman she had yet to talk to, only made Wooyoung more insistent in the fact that her mother needed to put on makeup to look pretty for the pretty girl. It had been a struggle, trying to convince her that it was not a requisite to wear makeup to be pretty. The little girl still wasn’t exactly convinced, if the makeup case she had left in her mother’s bag a while ago was any indication of it.
Hongjoong couldn't believe that, if this worked, she would have to thank her daughter for being stubborn with the makeup thing. And even worse, she would have to thank her friends for buying all that stuff and encouraging Woo to annoy her and be so insistent with the need to wear makeup. It was a terrible situation, actually, having to admit that it had been useful to have the little case in her bag... she would never hear the end of it.
She handed the small case to the woman, who looked as confused as Hongjoong was nervous. The taller woman looked from the case to Hongjoong a couple of times.
"What is this?"
"Well... my daughter left this makeup case in my bag with the hope that someday I will actually use it. It will never happen but I don't have the heart to take it out." She laughed with an endearing smile on her face. "Anyway, it's kids' makeup so maybe it's not what you need but yeah..."
When the woman took the case, Hongjoong couldn’t help but notice that she had the most delicate hands. Her mind started going to places that were not decent for the time of the day and definitely not appropriate for a public space.
The voice of the other woman brought her back from... wherever her mind was.
"She actually has quite a collection here, I wouldn't call this kid's makeup at all."
"She's a bit spoiled by her aunts you see..."
The woman laughed, "tell her i say thank you. She saved my life today."
She used the basics, a bit of blush and eye makeup, enough to make her look more alive and not so stressed as she had appeared to be when she got into the bus. Hongjoong actually had no idea what she was using, she was just in awe of how beautiful and skilled she was.
Once she deemed her makeup done, she turned to face Hongjoong again. "How do I look?"
"Perfect"
It just came out. Hongjoong didn’t even have time to process what his brain was thinking that she had already said it. She blushed deeply as she felt her soul leave her body. What was all that about not wanting to embarrass herself in front of the pretty lady? Yeah.
But the other woman giggled. She fucking giggled. And Hongjoong swore it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
"Sorry. I mean, good. You look... good. Yes." In her mind, she was banging her head against the window.
"Thank you,” the woman said, with the sweetest smile on her face.
Hongjoong understood then why men went to war.
“Oh wait, here,” she handed her the little bag back, “your stop is coming soon.”
“My...? Oh yeah, how do you...?” Hongjoong’s brain was static noise. Did she just...?
“I always see you here.” She smiled and added, “well not always, you don’t take this bus on Fridays, do you?”
Hongjoong stared at her as if she had just seen an alien. Did she really just admit on having paid enough attention to Hongjoong to know where her stop was?
The silence stretched for what was probably too long, making the other woman embarrassed. “Wait, is it creepy? That I know this?” Her cheeks were slightly red at the realization of what she had just said.
Hongjoong shook her head, not trusting her voice.
“Good,” she sighed, visibly relieved, “because I’m not, you know, a creep.”
It wasn’t that funny, really, but Hongjoong laughed at that, making the girl laugh too.
The whole interaction had been surreal, and Hongjoong felt in a daze. If it hadn’t been because the other woman pushed the stop button, she would have probably missed her stop. She would have probably stayed in the bus the whole day in a complete state of confusion. The best kind of confusion, though.
Right when she was about to walk to the door to get out of the bus, the woman carefully grabbed her wrist and made her stop. “I’m Seonghwa, by the way.”
“Hongjoong.”
And then the doors opened and she was out of the bus and she could hear her own heartbeat, completely unable to believe what had just happened to her. In fact, she was quite convinced she had just made this whole conversation up in her mind. But it had happened, as unreal as it felt, it had happened.
She walked to work with the silliest smile on her face, feeling as if she was on cloud nine.
She told Mingi when she arrived at work, who immediately told the rest of the group. They all cheered like she had just won a national championship, which is someone where to ask Hongjoong, she would have said that she did. With the cheers came the teasing, but she didn’t care. She would gladly get teased for the rest of her life if it meant that she got to talk to Seonghwa again.
---
The next couple of days had been hectic for Hongjoong.
Wooyoung had been ill for the better part of the week. It was nothing serious, she had a tendency to get ill at school, catching every single virus going around, and this time it had been a cold. For some reason, though, it had taken her quite a few days to recover, so Hongjoong had to work from home the next four days after talking to Seonghwa on the bus.
The weekend had come and gone quite uneventfully and Wooyoung was feeling better. Not good enough, if you asked her, to go to school the next Monday. And who was Hongjoong if not a weak woman who couldn't say no to her daughter’s pleading eyes. Little Wooyoung had mastered the sweet puppy eyes, something that, as a mother, she found both endearing and a curse.
What neither of them had suspected was that Wooyoung’s babysitters would cancel at the last minute on Monday morning, leaving her with no other option than to take the kid to her workplace. Hongjoong liked working from home, but she had an important meeting that day and to be honest, she had been stuck home for almost a whole week and she feared she would go insane if she didn’t see another grown up soon.
Wooyoung was delighted by the news as she loved her mom’s workplace and because she knew Mingi was going to be there. Hongjoong, on the other hand, was a bit stressed even if she knew it was not really a problem. Hongjoong had called her boss that morning and explained the situation, to which her boss told her that it was fine as long as she was there on time for the meeting they had first thing in the morning. Wooyoung was a good child, she was mostly harmless (mostly) and Hongjoong knew she would behave.
In the office, that was, because she definitely did not behave in the bus.
Hongjoong was stressed about having to bring Wooyoung to work and wondering who was going to look after her while she was at the meeting. Mingi was not an option, since she was supposed to be at said meeting too. She definitely would not do the meeting with a 7-year-old child… And on top of that, Wooyoung had one of these days where she would not shut up for anything in the world. So, to say her head had been all over the place during that bus ride was an understatement.
That explained why, when Seonghwa immediately sat by her side when she got into the bus, Hongjoong didn’t say a word to her.
If it hadn’t been for Wooyoung (once again), who was seated on Hongjoong’s lap so as to not occupy an extra seat, she would have probably never noticed that Seonghwa was there. But Wooyoung was anything but subtle, and as soon as the beautiful woman locked eyes with her, she let out a loud “waaaah”. That made Hongjoong look at her daughter and follow her line of sight. And there she was, looking as beautiful as ever.
Seonghwa smiled the most beautiful smile Hongjoong had ever seen, her eyes shining like those of a kid seeing the Christmas lights for the very first time, “hi, you.”
Trust her, she was trying so hard to connect her brain cells to make her utter a word, a simple hi, anything. But her brain was pure mush, nothing to find in there. And she would have stayed like that, simply staring at Seonghwa, still shocked over the fact that she was talking to her again, that she remembered her after a week, that she seemed happy to see her again, if it hadn’t been for her angel-demon child on her lap.
Hongjoong should have been faster in answering her, not because Seonghwa seemed upset about her lack of response (she did very much not), but because Wooyoung’s mouth sometimes ran faster than her brain.
“Don’t mind my mom, she panics when pretty people talk to her.”
That made Hongjoong come back to earth.
“Oh my God, Kim Wooyoung,” she said, covering her daughter’s mouth with her hand. She could feel the embarrassment showing in her face. “I’m so sorry, she’s... I’m sorry. Hi.”
Hongjoong sighed, looking anywhere but at Seonghwa. She was smiling though, clearly endeared by the situation.
“You must be her daughter, then. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Seonghwa smiled again. God how could a human be so gorgeous.
Wooyoung smiled at that, a smile that had Hongjoong a little bit afraid of what was to come for the rest of the bus ride, and extended her little hand to Seonghwa. “Good things, I hope.”
Seonghwa laughed and shook her hand, “very good indeed.” Hongjoong was glad she was not a cartoon character, because seeing the woman of her dreams interact with her daughter had her feeling like a puddle. If she had been a character she was sure she’d be surrounded by hearts and rainbows and fireworks. “Thank you for the makeup, by the way.”
Hongjoong tensed, and the way Wooyoung’s face changed when she understood what that meant, was almost comical. Wooyoung was definitely too smart for her age, and as proud as that made her, she could not have chosen a worse time to show off her intellectual skills.
“YOU ARE THE BUS CRUSH?” Wooyoung said, way louder than necessary.
Hongjoong could not believe her ears. She looked from Wooyoung to Seonghwa to Wooyoung again, horrified and ready to throw herself out of the bus. There were many adults she trusted to take care of Wooyoung, she was sure her daughter would have a good life. The silence that came after the question was suffocating. But when Hongjoong dared to look at Seonghwa, she saw her blushing and softly asking, “the what?”
Wooyoung, completely oblivious to the mortification of her mother, proceeded. “Well you see, my mom always talks about this super pretty lady on the bus. Sannie and I always say she has a crush but she has never admitted it. And the other day we heard Sannie’s moms talk about how the pretty bus lady had talked to my mom thanks to my makeup!”
Something changed in Seonghwa’s eyes. Her face lit up with the understanding of what was probably going on, and an amused smirk formed on her lips. Hongjoong saw the exact moment the other woman decided to shoot her shot. “And what does your dad think about your mom having a bus crush?”
Wooyoung shook her head, “I don’t have a dad.” She said with a smile on her face. It made Hongjoong so proud to see how unapologetically proud of their little family Wooyoung was. Despite her young age and the amount of times other people had tried to make fun of her because of it, she had never been ashamed of her very much untraditional upbringing. She always answered with her head held high that it was just the two of them and that they were a perfectly happy family, that “you don’t need a dad when you have a mom that loves you to infinity and beyond”. But despite her daughter being so sweet most of the time, being Wooyoung’s mom was a rollercoaster. Hongjoong was in a constant state of never knowing the next insane thing her daughter would say that would make her question everything she thought she knew about the little one. The smile on Woo’s face turned into a smirk, too evil looking for Hongjoong’s liking, and that’s when she knew something wild was about to happen. “I mean, there was a man involved in my creation, you know. You kind of need a man to participate in the crhgh-” Hongjoong quickly put her hand on her daughter’s mouth, stopping her from continuing the sentence.
“WOOYOUNG”
The kid laughed and she was so perplexed that she even forgot to feel embarrassed by the fact that her 7-year-old daughter was talking about her sexual adventures with a random dude 8 years ago. To her crush. In a public place.
Being a mom was hard.
“What? Aunt Yeosang told me how it worked!”
Hongjoong sighed, “I’m never leaving you with her again, you two together only give me headaches.”
“She said she’s just teaching me life stuff.” Wooyoung shrugged, looking at her mother like this was the most normal conversation one could have with their aunt. “She said that probably, in another life, I am the one teaching her all about life!”
Hongjoong raised an eyebrow. She could only imagine one thing that would be worse than Yeosang teaching Wooyoung about life, and that was Wooyoung teaching Yeosang about life. She loved her friends and the babies to death and she wished to be with them in all her lives, but she was already worried for the poor Hongjoong that had to deal with that scenario.
Wooyoung tried to not laugh at the face her mom made, hiding her smile behind her hand. “Aunt Mingi was there too...”
Hongjoong rolled her eyes. “Of course she was…”
Being a mom of a 7-year-old was hard, but being a mom of four grown adults was even worse.
With that, and taking into advantage the distraction this conversation had provided her with, Wooyoung turned to Seonghwa with the exact same diabolical smile she had had early on and said, “so, anyway, I don’t have a father. Or another mother, as a matter of fact,” and winked at her. Or tried to. She hadn’t mastered the art of properly winking, which made her 10 times more adorable and therefore 10 times more dangerous.
Seonghwa laughed. “Oh, sorry to assume,” she said, clearly not sorry at all, “your mom is too beautiful to be single”.
With a complicity that should not have been there given the fact that they had just met not even 15 minutes ago, Wooyoung said, “I think you can change that.”
And that’s how Hongjoong was, once again thanks to her child, handed a golden opportunity to finally do something about the crush she had been harboring for the past 6 months. Somehow, without knowing exactly how, she ended up mustering the courage to ask Seonghwa on a date. She agreed immediately, hopefully by her own will and not forced by a pair of sweet pleading eyes (or four, really), batting eyelashes and the cutest little pout a human could possibly make coming from a 7-year-old Wooyoung.
Even before the bus ride was over, they had agreed on a day, a time and even a place. All thanks to Seonghwa, obviously, because Hongjoong could barely utter a word, too surprised and still in complete disbelief of what was actually happening before her eyes. All these months secretly pining on a beautiful stranger, pathetically crushing on her without being able to so much as look at her directly in the eyes, much less to talk to her, and all it really took was her daughter being the little menace she was to make her dream happen. She was going on a date with Seonghwa. It was not a dream.
They agreed on seeing each other that same Friday, for dinner. Needless to say, Hongjoong spent the rest of the week completely mortified, embarrassed and extremely clumsy every time Seonghwa stepped on the bus and reminded her of their future date. At home, things were no better, since Wooyoung had decided to spend every waking moment reminding her that she was having that date thanks to her. At work Mingi took Wooyoung's place, and on the group chat they all shared, Jongho was in charge of making fun of her because of it. They were all overjoyed when Mingi had shared the news on the group chat. Hongjoong would love to say that they were so happy only because she was finally going on a date with someone she really liked, but in reality, that was only part of it. The fact that it had happened the way it had happened made her the perfect target for endless teasing, something her group of friends took pride in being experts at.
It had been a while since Hongjoong had gone out with another adult that was not strictly family or one of the girls so Seonghwa had been the one to recommend the place. The date went better than anyone expected, both Hongjoong and Seonghwa included. Turns out, despite being very different, they had way more things in common than one would think. To say the night went smooth was an understatement. As soon as they sat down at the restaurant, it felt like they already knew each other. Their connection was immediate and the conversations flowed effortlessly, going from one topic to the other without feeling forced. Even the silences were comfortable, not an ounce of awkwardness to be found between them.
That night was the first night they spent together. The first of many, many more.
When Hongjoong walked Seonghwa home, she asked if she wanted to go in with her, drink the last glass of wine of the night. Hongjoong almost refused, but mare minutes before Seonghwa had asked, Yunho had sent her a message telling her that Woo would be staying the night at their place. Apparently, Wooyoung and San had insisted that Woo stayed at their house so the next morning they could go to the mall together, because “Sannie doesn’t have nail polish, aunt, and this is criminal”. And with Wooyoung sleeping at her friend’s house, what excuse did she have (other than being terrified of messing it all up because she hadn’t slept with anyone in ages) to not want to spend the night with the woman of her dreams?
Seonghwa, sensing her doubt, told her it was okay to refuse, but as soon as the other woman said the words, and Hongjoong realized that refusing meant leaving her right at that moment, a shiver went down her spine. They had spent 4 hours together and it had felt like they had always been meant to be, so who was Hongjoong to interrupt something that the universe had so clearly intended to happen? So she leaned in and kissed Seonghwa on her lips.
“I’m gonna take this as a yes.”
“Good, because it is a yes.”
They went inside, drinking wine and shyly stealing kisses. Until kissing became less innocent and more urgent and lead them to bed. Even if Hongjoong had never really believed in soulmates, after that night she was quite sure Seonghwa was hers. If someone had asked her, she would have sworn that this was definitely not their first life together, because the understanding they had of each other’s bodies and souls was not to be underestimated.
After that night, they tried to take things slow. They really did. But why would anyone take things slow when they are so, so sure of what they want? Seonghwa blended perfectly both in Hongjoong and Wooyoung’s little family as well as in Hongjoong’s group of friends. It was as if she had been the puzzle piece that had been missing all along. Not only in Hongjoong’s life but in everyone’s. So they threw caution to the wind and did what felt right.
When they got married a few years later, Wooyoung had made sure to make everyone know that they were there, witnessing the union of her two mothers, thanks to her and her stellar matchmaking skills. Seonghwa still cried when Wooyoung referred to her as her mother, even if he had been doing it since almost day 1. Hongjoong, on the other hand, asked a little too loud for Wooyoung’s liking, that if her matchmaking skills were so good, how come she and San were not dating already? To the surprise of absolutely no one but themselves, Wooyoung and San got together that night and Hongjoong started writing her own speech for when they, inevitably, got married when the time was right.