Matching Rings, Always

All Yoohyeon could think about is how today will go. Would it be possible for this day to be the best day ever or would it be the worst day possible she has experienced ever? Well, as she slowly opens her eyes, the answer to her question in her mind was the former. The lovely eye smile that had greeted her the moment she had woken up and the soft pair of lips that brushes on the tip of her nose makes her heart bloom a blush on her cheeks. 

The beautiful sight that greeted her confirms how today would go. It will be the best day ever for sure. 

“Good morning babe, have you slept well?” The raspy morning voice that delighted her ears makes her grin widely and she nods, stating a yes for her girlfriend to know. 

“That's nice to hear, Yooh. Breakfast?” She does another nod and her girlfriend lets out a soft chuckle before moving to stand up but gets halted when Yoohyeon holds her down to the bed with her arm. 

“Minji, babe, would you mind if you hug me for five more minutes?” And immediately without wasting any second to respond, Minji lays back down on the bed and snuggles close in Yoohyeon’s arms. 

They took their time to get comfortable in each other’s arms. The soft breathing of Minji makes Yoohyeon’s heart swell, it was too hard to resist falling for her girlfriend deeper if she was like this. All cuddly and loving, the calmness she has in her only comes in when she's with her. It was nice to be able to become Minji’s source of comfort. It made her feel so special. As if she's the most precious person in Minji’s world. 

And she is truly the most precious person in Minji’s world. 

“I love you so damn much,” Minji says as she presses her lips on the crown of Yoohyeon’s head. The smile on her lips can be felt with the kiss and it makes the younger one blush harder. 

“Happy anniversary, my love.” 

All it takes were four words to make today the best day ever. Yoohyeon takes Minji’s cheeks in her hands and pulls her in a kiss that could tell everything she has in her heart. The unsaid ‘I love yous’ were there. Every single feeling she has for Minji was there. Everything she has to offer for her was there. 

All it takes is a kiss for Yoohyeon to tell Minji that she cherishes her with her whole heart. 

Yet, when Minji pulls away and gets out of the bed only to bring something back with her to give it to her, everything just makes sense in her world. Minji never fails to make her feel she's the most precious person in her world. 

A ring. 

Her mouth falls agape. It's not that she really expected this to happen but Minji proposing to her first? That's something quite unbelievable if you were in Yoohyeon’s position. 

Ten years ago, it was Yoohyeon’s slip up that made her confess her feelings to Minji who unexpectedly (half-expectedly) accepts her and confesses to her as well. 

Three years ago, it was Yoohyeon who decided to take Minji on a trip to Europe when their group was given a month break for their seventh anniversary as Dreamcatcher. 

A year ago, it was Yoohyeon who had moved into Minji and Siyeon's room in exchange for her and Bora’s room. It only took the main vocalist to agree because of the bribe she was given–a month free coupon for a restaurant, that is. (Also, it was an advantage for her since she's been longing to be in Bora’s arms every single night–Yoohyeon being their greatest protester.)

Although it might be a lot, it's still lacking for Yoohyeon. The leader of the group, her girlfriend, had already done a lot for her and their group. It was all because of her that even ten years into their career, they're still living in the same dorm without any problems. That is, because of Minji’s excellence in leading and managing the group. 

“You're proposing to me?” Yoohyeon asks, her mouth still agape. She hears Minji chuckle and takes her hand to put the ring on her pointer finger which makes her look at her more confusedly. 

“Huh?”

“Silly baby, it's a matching ring! Look, I have one too.” Minji shows off her hand, pointing to the ring she has that apparently is matching to the one that’s on her finger as of the moment. 

Yoohyeon’s face suddenly darkens, she's so embarrassed for even thinking that her girlfriend would be the one to propose to her. Silly her, of course it would be expected for her to do, not Minji. 

“Did you expect too much? I’m so sorry… forgive me please?” The pout on Minji’s face makes Yoohyeon panic, her hands fumbling to make their way to hold the pout upside down by pulling it upwards–it makes her laugh loudly because of how cute Minji is right now. 

“I love you, my Minji,” Yoohyeon says before pressing a soft peck on the pout that she was holding which makes her girlfriend give up and smile widely at her. 

“The ring is perfect, babe, I love it. Don't worry, I’m not mad at you for making me expect. I love you still and nothing would ever change that.” Another peck was placed on Minji’s lips which makes a pretty pink blush appear on her cheek. 

“Let's come out for breakfast, shall we? I heard Bora is making your favorite meal.” Minji grabs Yoohyeon's hands that were holding her cheeks and intertwines them with hers before pulling her up with her. They make their way out of their room and get greeted by a hug from their delighted maknae. 

“Minji unnie! Yoohyeon unnie! Happy anniversary!” Gahyeon squeals in excitement as she tightens her arms that were wrapping both of her unnies. The tallest of them just laughs and ruffles the maknae’s hair with her free hand before saying, “Thank you, Gahyeonie.”

“Oh? You two are finally up? Come here! Bora just finished up the sauce. Pasta will come in a few!” Siyeon takes a peek from the kitchen and shouts out before disappearing once more from their sight. 

“Is Bora cooking more than what she told us?” Minji asks and earns a nod from their maknae who soon lets go of the two of them, making her way back to the couch as if nothing had happened. 

“Let's go before Bora gets mad, hmm?” 

Minji leads her and Yoohyeon to the dining table, not forgetting to pull out a chair for the younger to which was received carefully when she sits on it and presses a soft kiss on the leader’s cheek. 

“Happy anniversary to my two favorite lovebirds aside from me and Siyeon! Hey, where are Yubin and Handong? Gahyeonie! Come get them!” Bora says as she puts down the main dish on the table with Siyeon doing the same with the side dishes. 

The maknae, Gahyeon, stands up from the couch and barges into Handong and Yubin’s room only to find one of them still sleeping and the other just playing on her phone. She scolds them for not going to the dining table to have their breakfast that Bora had told them beforehand. All she got were groans and protests from her two unnies. 

All Yoohyeon could do was smile and chuckle at their rowdiness. It seemed like Minji was doing the same too since the hand she was holding was squeezing and pinching hers from time to time, an indicator that she is happy and smiley. 

The breakfast goes nicely which was a surprise to Yoohyeon. Would this day be really the best day ever? It usually is wild that Minji has to stop eating for a few minutes before the members could read the room. Now, instead of being noisy about random stuff, all their topics were about her and Minji. It was weird but she just goes with it since it's their anniversary and the members are being nice with it. 

“Kim Minji, my oh so loving–same aged–precious–did I say loving already?” Siyeon nods and Bora continues, “Ehem, anyways to continue–leader, would you mind if you share your favorite memory of our dear Yoohyeonie?”

“You could've asked it normally unnie!” Gahyeon says and earns a bite on the shoulder from Bora to stop her from protesting further. The maknae pushes her away, making the main dancer fall into Siyeon’s arms that catches her carefully before she looks back to Minji, anticipating what her response would be. 

Minji, who was asked a question that can be answered with a ‘every moment I have with Yooh is my favorite’, looks for an approval from her girlfriend who nods at her to silently let her know that she’d be here for her no matter what happens. (By means, being tackled into a big hug that she wouldn't be able to escape from for at least 10 minutes from Bora.)

“Well, when we first debuted as five, everyone knew except Yooh that I liked her already. I knew she liked me too but I wanted her to be one to confess–”

“I guess your favorite memory of her was when she confessed three years after? That's boring, unnie, we need more juicy details!” This time, it was Handong that asked, feeling the same anticipation that Bora has. 

“You didn't even let me finish!” Minji says while the blush on her cheeks starts to blossom and her hands playing with the new ring Yoohyeon has in her pointer finger. 

At her peripheral vision, she sees Yoohyeon’s soft smile and that's all it takes for her to continue. “To be honest, that was really my favorite memory of her but! Shush with all the banters, guys, I’m going to share another memory instead.” 

With that, she earns nods and cheers from the other members which delights her as much. She looks briefly at Yoohyeon, searching for her eyes that were coincidentally looking at her already. Those same eyes that held the universe she has in hers. Those same eyes that could calm the burning flames in her. Those same eyes that could wash away all of her worries. 

Those same eyes that she fell in love with at first sight. 

“My second most favorite memory of her was when she sang a song for me indirectly one time during trainee days. It wasn't meant for me, sure, but her gaze was on me while she sang. As if her confidence came from me–”

“Boring! Next memory please.” Minji snickers at Siyeon who just laughs at her. Heaving a sigh, maybe this interrogation won't end if she doesn't share what they want to hear from her anytime soon. 

“Fine, if you really want the juiciest and most ear wrenching memory of Yoohyeon that I admire the most, I’ll give it. Here it goes.” Minji proceeds to tell the juiciest and most ear wrenching memory of Yoohyeon that she admires the most while her girlfriend watches her group mates' reactions. 

The reactions and cheers suddenly become mute to her ears, the only thing her mind focuses on are the rings on each member’s pointer finger–the same one on hers. She averts her attention to Yubin who was sitting next to her on her right and grabs her hand. She audibly gasps, everyone’s attention now on her, the conversation about Minji’s favorite memory of her now long forgotten. 

“What's wrong, babe, do you feel hurt somewhere?” Minji asks, her hands squeezing Yoohyeon’s arms to look for somewhere she had possibly hurt herself. The taller girl shakes her head and puts out her hand instead, Minji’s gaze landing on the very ring she had given to her earlier this morning. 

“The ring. Does everyone have the same one too?” Yoohyeon asks, her eyebrows now furrowed when she hears Minji’s chuckle.  

“Yeah? Is there any problem with that, Yooh?”

And with those words, she can confirm one thing. 

Today’s going to be the worst day ever. Or perhaps, the worst anniversary ever. She had expected too much from Minji. She curses herself in her mind for being too prideful to even think that Minji was considering gifting her a matching ring with her only. It was always her that would get out of her way to give something to the leader. She was more into giving material things while Minji was more of the emotional giver, a person that would be there for Yoohyeon when she’s at her lowest and highest, a person that would love her wholeheartedly and appreciate every single gift that she receives from the younger. 

She stands up from her seat, ignores the calls of her name from literally everyone and walks to her and Minji’s room, not forgetting to lock the door behind her. She buries herself under the covers, her nose prickling at the oh–so–familiar scent that Minji gives off. She lets out her frustrations with a scream, her mind filled with hundreds of thoughts that blames herself for thinking such things. 

Today is her tenth anniversary with Minji. This month is her tenth anniversary with Dreamcatcher. Of course, she wouldn't be the only one to expect… right?

She decides not to talk to anyone for today, even Minji, who just silently hugs her from behind when she managed to open the door with Gahyeon’s lock-picking skills. Yoohyeon had her back facing the door so all Minji could do was to hug her and wait for her to talk despite her saying countless sorrys the moment she got onto the bed. 

Thankfully, they were given a week break to celebrate their group’s anniversary for themselves before the day itself since they have an event for that to share with their fans. If Yoohyeon’s sulkiness lasts longer than a day then Minji has all the time to think of countless ideas to make it up for her girlfriend. 

Such sulking is a very usual occurrence. It's usually because of Yoohyeon's insecurities and prideful thoughts taking over her, not because of Minji’s lack of understanding for her wants and needs. (Well, maybe there's at least a quarter of her that expects a lot from Minji. She just doesn't tell everyone because of her guilt of not being able to live up to the name of being the bestest understanding girlfriend ever–she named herself with that.)

The time passes by quickly and it's already evening. Yoohyeon is still sulking, her thoughts still eating her up so all Minji does is to be there for her to wait with her to be able to be brave enough to fight off those thoughts. For now, the leader had brought in some of Yoohyeon’s favorite soup for them to share after noticing that the younger one had been trembling too much. It might not work but at least she's trying–that's something Yoohyeon would love to thank her a lot for. 

Even after ten years of being like this, Minji never left her side. Even if she had to miss an important event or had to put down commercial brand deals, she would always choose Yoohyeon over anything. Of course, it wasn't a one-sided thing. Yoohyeon would always get out of her way to buy gifts for Minji when she was feeling down, offering her hugs for the leader to fall on and she would always be ready to catch her. 

So, Minji understands Yoohyeon for being like this. It's normal and shouldn't be judged for it. Besides, it only happens once in a while. The only time it happened that lasted for so long was two years ago during Yoohyeon’s birthday and it never happened again. (It lasted at least a month and not once did she talk to anyone that time, even if their anniversary and the group’s anniversary coincided with her sulking.)

“Yooh, babe, come sit up for me please? I have soup for you.” Minji says as she puts down the tray with the soup on the bedside table before she comes to Yoohyeon’s side to pat her on the head. 

“Yooh… You’ll get sick if you don't eat. I had to stop Bora from getting inside our room because she was scolding me for not feeding you on time. Come sit up and eat with me, please?” Minji tries one more time and gets no response still from the younger. She softly smiles and presses a kiss on her ear, knowing Yoohyeon would react because it tickles her. 

And truly did Yoohyeon react. Only with a groan though. At least, there was a reaction. Minji’s smile only grew before she pressed more kisses on that particular spot which she earned more groans from and soon, Yoohyeon had turned around to face her. 

Her eyes are the prettiest ones Minji has ever seen in her life and seeing them all puffy and red, her heart breaks, knowing Yoohyeon had been suffering by herself again and not letting anyone in to help her. It’ll take a while for her to get rid of those thoughts but it's alright, Minji will be here. Always. 

“There we go, thank you for letting me in. Now let's eat?” Minji wipes the dried tears away on Yoohyeon’s face before she assists her to sit up. She holds the younger's cheeks on her hands and makes her look at her in the eyes. Minji smiles before pressing another kiss, this time on the lips. It was a quick peck but she understands, Yoohyeon isn't ready for a longer one anytime soon. 

The leader proceeds to grab the tray with the soup and takes the first bite, testing if the soup is good and warm. With her other arm wrapped around Yoohyeon’s waist and her other hand offering spoonful bites of the soup, the younger had no choice but to eat as Minji was too hard to resist. 

“You're doing great, babe. Next mission is to finish all of this and you’ll get a reward if you do. Are you up for it?” Minji had her free hand offered for Yoohyeon to take so they could shake their hands to commemorate the mission. The younger one heaves a sigh before shaking her girlfriend's hand to accept the challenge. 

“I'm so proud of you, y’know? Even after all things that we've been through, you're still here with me and never left my side. I love you with all of my heart, Yoohyeon.” A ruffle on her hair and a soft pair of lips on the tip of her nose were what Yoohyeon had received from her girlfriend, Minji. She finally smiles but she still hesitates, still unsure if she's ready to fight her negative thoughts away this soon. 

Minji sees the hesitance in Yoohyeon’s eyes so she presses another peck, this time on the beautiful smile her girlfriend has. “Don't worry, I’ll be here, alright? Always. Let's finish this up hmm?” The leader continues to slowly feed her with the soup until she finishes it all. 

The proud smile Minji has on her face makes Yoohyeon proud of herself. Usually, it would take her hours to even finish one meal if she's going through something like this. 

Even if she considers this as their worst anniversary ever, Minji is trying her best to make it better with all she can. 

And she'll forever be grateful for her girlfriend for doing her best for her. 

She promises to make it up to her once she gets better. 

For now, she settles on snuggling close to Minji so she can sleep comfortably despite her mind telling her otherwise. She holds Minji's hand that has the ring on it and keeps it close to her chest, letting the leader know that her heart only beats like this for her. 

Despite her blaming herself a lot for expecting too much, she still wanted to thank the leader for giving the members matching rings for their tenth anniversary as Dreamcatcher. So silently, with the sound of her heart talking instead, she lets Minji know how thankful she is. 

“Sleep tight, baby. I love you very much.” 

With that, the two lovebirds fall asleep comfortably in each other's arms despite the younger one not talking for hours already. It's alright, Minji says. It’ll pass by and soon, Yoohyeon will be alright again. 

When morning arrives, Yoohyeon is still the same and all Minji does is to continue doing her best for her beloved one. 

After tucking Yoohyeon in for an afternoon nap, the leader decides to head to Bora and Siyeon's room to ask for some advice on how to help regarding the circumstances her girlfriend is going through. 

As soon as she got inside, thankfully the two were just watching a movie while huddled on the floor, the first thing she asked was, “Can I ask for help? I think I’m the one in the wrong this time, that's why Yoohyeon is drowning in her thoughts. What can I do to make it up for her?”

After settling down on the floor with Siyeon sharing some of the snacks they've been sharing with Minji, Bora is the first one to ask the oldest with, “Leader-nim, have you ever thought about bringing Yoohyeon to a date that you've totally prepared for her?”

Minji thinks about it and shakes her head after analyzing her thoughts. She's never thought of it, not even once as Yoohyeon would always be the one to plan everything for the both of them to share. 

“How about asking her for a simple walk outside of the dorms? Just holding hands and not caring about the world around both of you?”

Another head shake. 

“Gifting her flowers?”

“No, she would always be the one to give me some.”

“Well, how about chocolates?”

“That's too cringe, Singnie. Why would I even think about getting her some?”

“Then how about asking her to run some errands with you?”

“Never in my life would I bother her to run errands with me. It's my responsibility as a leader, not hers.”

“How about bringing her home in Daejeon with you? She's been bugging me to leave Seoul even just for a while.”

“We're too busy with our promotions lately to even plan a nice vacation outside of Seoul, Bora.”

“You're really in the wrong here, Ji.”

“Hey!! I know, that's why I asked for some help, not to get called out for everything I haven't done.”

The pout on Minji’s face just keeps getting lower and her eyes are starting to prickle, tears threatening to fall out anytime soon. 

“You know the problem already and you're still here asking us the obvious. Do all of the stuff we’ve mentioned and see how it goes. If Yoohyeon doesn't get better by the time of our next schedule then propose to her!”

“Propose?! Do you really believe I’m ready for that?” 

“Pfft, you're asking the obvious? Of course you are ready! Just seeing you with lovestruck eyes every time Yoohyeon is in the room or you're thinking about her proves that you're ready for the next step,” Bora pauses to take Siyeon’s hand in hers to show off the ring Minji had given for the group to share. 

“Besides, I could really sense she's ready for the next step too, Ji. The look on her face yesterday when she realized that you had bought the rings for the whole group to share was too obvious. Maybe she had expected too much from you to change things up for once. Y’know, for the both of you to do things equally.” 

“You're talking too much again, love, but you're right. I’ve also noticed that Yoohyeon would like you to depend on her too, not just her depending on you. Relationships are meant to work equally.” Siyeon 

“Yeah! And most of all, it's ten years since you've been officially together. It's good to talk about your plans for the upcoming years, Ji. And for sure, I’ll be the maid of honor for the wedding!” Bora chants out and giggles, already imagining how things would go if there would really be a wedding that'll happen between the two soon. 

“Who told you you're going to be the maid of honor? Of all people, I think I should be the one to take that position. Beat my more than fifteen years of friendship with Minji first, love.” Siyeon says and lets go of Bora to cross her arms to show she's annoyed (teasingly and lovingly).

“If you think that way then maybe we should just break up!” Bora banters back and does the same as Siyeon while facing her back at her. All Minji could do was to heave a sigh, the couple in front of her really loves teasing each other until one of them gives up because they can't resist each other. 

“Anyways, Ji, we might sound like we're kidding but it really seems like Yooh wants you to propose instead. I mean, if I were her, I would've really wanted you to do it but since I’m not her, maybe she's blaming herself right now for expecting too much from you. She wouldn't have reacted like that yesterday if she didn't expect. Doesn't that make sense?”

“Love, calm down please? Let Minji process all the things we've said. It's mostly your chit chats but anyways, let's give her some time.” Bora continued to bicker with Siyeon but everything was a blur to Minji now. 

Everything is starting to complete the bits in her mind that's totally unaware of what she hasn't done and what Yoohyeon would want her to do for her. 

Has Yoohyeon always been in charge of organizing their shared activities throughout the course of those ten years? What about date nights? Gifts? Everything? Tragically, the answer is yes. Her expression darkens as she realizes how harsh she is being to Yoohyeon and how ashamed she is of herself.

Has she been the two of them's emotional rock since the beginning that she never had the chance or time to realize this at the time? It's disappointing, she's very disappointed in herself. 

But why didn't Yoohyeon voice her displeasure at least once during that ten-year period? She didn't have the heart to tell her, so was she too in love with her to do so? Or were their expectations for one another, which were never discussed, too high for her?

She heaves a sigh for the nth time today, she totally needs to make it up to Yoohyeon for the things she's done for the past ten years for her. As to how she'll do it, the only solution is to start with a proposal for their marriage. 

Dreamcatcher’s career is stable and even the members’ individual careers are great. Getting promotional and commercial deals from time to time, mostly it being Bora because of her sense of humor.  Maybe it's really time for her as the leader to take the first next step for their career–to be the first one to get married in the group. 

It also makes it easier for them to come out as lesbians because their group has always been well-known among sapphics and because of the fandom ships that their fans have created for them, of which half are true.

Hopefully, because the nation is still not totally accepting despite years of battling for equality, accepts them wholly and won't make her regret this decision.

So, when a groggy Yoohyeon comes in sight at the frame of Bora and Siyeon’s door, Minji stands up and takes her hand in hers to take her back to their room. The younger was about to lie back down on the bed to cuddle but was halted when the leader put out a luggage bag on the floor. 

“We're going to Daejeon today. No buts, just come with me.” Yoohyeon looks at her confusedly but still complies by starting to pack their things as well. It's not like she’s going to talk anyways as she's still too fragile to fight off her thoughts this soon so she just obliges to whatever plans Minji has in her mind. 

Now on their way to the nearest train station by foot, Minji and Yoohyeon walk side by side with their hands intertwined and their hearts feeling warm. The older one had decided to take the train instead of driving to spend more time focusing on her girlfriend rather than on the road. 

“Want some?” Yoohyeon nods as she watches her girlfriend deshell the eggs she bought at the convenience store before getting on the train. As Minji finishes, she lets her take a bite before doing the same. They share some snacks all throughout the train ride and when they're done, Yoohyeon settles on letting Minji sit on her lap and wraps her arms around her waist to secure her in her hold. 

The comforting music playing through their shared airpods calms their mind and the serene view by the window makes their hearts feel at peace. It has been a long time since they’ve gone outside of Seoul because of their busy schedules and their back to back practices for the fan meeting next week. 

Yoohyeon wonders why Minji had suddenly decided that they’ll come to Daejeon, the leader’s hometown, unplanned. She lets her be and decides to ask about it next time but Minji had beaten her to it–now explaining herself without anyone making her. 

“Maybe you're wondering why I suddenly wanted to go home,” Yoohyeon nods as snuggles her head close to Minji’s nape. “I’ve realized we haven't gone home for a while now and I’ve missed Cherry a lot,”

Minji plays with the ring on Yoohyeon’s finger, the specific ring that is the reason why her girlfriend has been acting like this. “I wanted you to focus on me too since, well, you're sulking again and I just want you to focus on me and yourself instead of having a lot of people around you.”

She lets go of Yoohyeon’s hands in hers and cups the younger’s cheeks instead, her body almost falling off her lap if it wasn't for Yoohyeon who suddenly gained fast reflexes to catch her. 

“I love you so damn much and I want to remind you that I’m here. Let's fight those thoughts of yours together, hm?” She presses a soft kiss on her lips and Yoohyeon returns her with a smile which Minji grins widely to. 

The train ride to Daejeon takes another hour so Minji decides to sleep in the comfort of Yoohyeon’s arms wrapped around her. The younger falls asleep soon after, the couple now sound asleep together comfortably as the train continues its tracks to Daejeon. 

Minji was the first one to wake up, her hand looking for her phone to check the time, it's almost six in the evening and looking at the view outside, it's very familiar now. They're almost there, just a few more minutes before the train stops at the station at Daejeon. 

She decides to let Yoohyeon sleep more, the light snores from her makes Minji awe at the sight. Her girlfriend truly deserves the world and she will make sure to give her just that. With a grand plan in mind to do so, hopefully it all goes well. 

After a few more minutes, Yoohyeon stirs in her sleep and accidentally hits her head on the window which makes her jolt awake to react to it with an “Ow!”.  Minji chuckles at her and proceeds to pat the part of her head that hurts. She doesn't forget to press a soft kiss on it too, as if it's going to make the pain go away in an instant. 

The pout on Yoohyeon’s face makes Minji grin widely at her, trying all her best not to laugh so that she won't make the younger sulk further. As the older one was about to say something, the train comes to a stop and an announcement of “Daejeon Station” makes Minji stand up immediately and pull Yoohyeon with her who almost forgets the luggage that they had brought together. 

As soon as they were on the road again and Minji had decided for them to just walk home since it's only a ten minute walk, Yoohyeon had her hand holding the older’s tightly while her other hand was dragging the luggage beside her. 

While they were walking down the street of Minji’s home, the leader had suddenly come to a stop that made Yoohyeon almost talk to voice out her confusion but she just looked at her girlfriend confusedly instead.

“Babe, I need you to go first. You already know the code for the door, right? I just need to buy something, I forgot Dad has been texting me about it for months already.”

Yoohyeon just nods and lets Minji be as she scrambles through her bag to look for her wallet. As soon as she finds it, she smiles at her one last time before hopping up the street that they’ve walked on earlier to go buy that something she's supposed to buy. 

Heaving a sigh, Yoohyeon continues to trek down the street while pulling the luggage with her. As much as she would like to talk out her feelings with Minji, she's still too scared. What if Minji takes it the wrong way and be like her–not talk to her for days–instead? What if Minji breaks up with her just because she's not ready for marriage? She knows Minji wouldn't just break up with her for that reason but still it shouldn't be ignored as there is still a possibility for her to do so, even if the percentage is small. 

What if Minji doesn't understand her point and regard her that marriage is not very important and dating is enough for her? This question doesn't make sense but she really doesn't know the answer to any of her questions today. They don't even talk about marriage nor their future like… ever. They just go with the flow, love or fight or whatever couples do in the present and just dwell there. Past or future, it's not a very usual thing for them to talk about. 

She decides to push these thoughts away and let it pass so that when the time comes, she’ll be ready to fight these off her mind completely. 

Now in front of the main door to Minji’s house, she types in the code to the door and opens it, revealing a white fluff ball that greets her with all her heart. 

“Cherry,” She manages to say out loud, surprising herself with how raspy her voice has become after not talking for about a day already. She mentally heaves a sigh, this isn't good as she has a fan meeting to attend next week. She needs to maintain her voice as the group’s lead vocalist. She’ll just receive a lot of scolding from their vocal teacher if she doesn't. Or worse, receive a scolding from the main vocalist instead. 

She shivers at the thought of Siyeon scolding her. A mad Siyeon is something she would like to avoid but it's not like she has any other choice. She's still too much of a coward to stop blaming herself for thinking such thoughts of marria–no, let's now ban the word in Yoohyeon’s dictionary–such thoughts about the m word. 

She proceeds to carry Cherry and move the luggage inside the house so that she can settle themselves at Minji’s room that's upstairs but a thought suddenly comes to her mind. 

Why hasn't Minji’s parents greeted her yet?

She looked around the house, it was so quiet and peaceful. Maybe her mother and father (in law) had gone out to buy groceries?

She then lets go of the luggage after putting Cherry down on the floor and walks to the kitchen to check if the fridge is empty but it wasn't which makes her wonder. Aren't they usually here around this time of the day? She shakes her head to ignore the stress that is starting to build up in her. Now heading back to the living room to pick up Cherry and the luggage, she decides not to think about it further and probably they just went out for a walk or something. 

After settling on the oh–so–familiar bed and scent of Minji in her room, she relaxes and allows her body to rest as it had been a tiring sudden trip down to Daejeon. She tries to think of any reason as to why Minji had suddenly decided to come home after months of not doing so because of her persistent nagging that she needs to focus on their career but her mind has completely shut down from exhaustion. 

Sparing a quick glance at the window, she sees the sun has already set down so she decides to take a nap first while waiting for Minji or her parents to come home. Cherry settles next to her and she pats her fur ‘till both of them fall asleep–her arm drapes on the dog’s body as she naps. 

Well, until Yoohyeon suddenly jolts awake when she hears the door slightly creaking but sighs in relief when she recognizes the face that’s now smiling at her widely. Thankfully, it wasn't some kind of intruder or she wouldn't have known what to do. 

Taking a peek on her phone to check the time, it has only been ten minutes since she napped and Cherry is already greeting the person who just came in. 

“Cherry! I missed you so much, how have you been?” Yoohyeon melts at the sight, Minji’s eyes start to tear up and Cherry keeps licking her face to tell her that she missed her a lot. This makes her miss her own dog too but that's fine, she can visit Pie another time–Cherry is the priority right now. 

“You’ve been napping with Yoohyeonie? That's cute, Cherry-ah, I’m glad you still know her,” Minji turns to Yoohyeon’s direction and her smile widens, now she's making her way to sit beside her on the bed. 

“You've been napping too? Sorry if I left you abruptly earlier, I really needed to buy that thing,” The leader puts down Cherry on the bed and grabs her bag to look for something. Yoohyeon just watches everything unfold in front of her, not knowing what to do or react with because all she can think of doing is to smile at her girlfriend’s antics. 

“I happened to pass by a new flower store nearby and thought I should buy you some. To change things up a little bit, hm?” Minji says as she puts out the small tulip she had bought for the younger and gives it to her, not forgetting to press a peck on her cheek. 

Yoohyeon had hesitated to accept the flower but the look on Minji’s eyes was genuine and there's no way she would ever do anything that will ruin this moment for her. The smile on her face just grows and she decides to pull Minji in a hug to silently thank her a lot for getting out of her way to buy her such a thing. 

“I love you, my Yoohyeonie.” Minji blurts out as she lets the tears that she has been holding since forever flow down her cheeks. The guilt of not doing this sooner makes her cry, seeing Yoohyeon so happy that she did something that she would usually do instead makes her melt. It was such an endearing sight, indeed. 

She wraps her arms around Yoohyeon tightly, as if this will suffice for her words that she's not able to voice out–the guilt of not being a good girlfriend for the younger one. For now, she settles on hugging her girlfriend instead, she will let her know about this once Yoohyeon is ready to fight off her insecurities and such. 

The two of them now have guilt for each other for two different reasons–Yoohyeon being guilty for expecting too much from her and Minji being guilty for not doing things equally. 

“This was what I was supposed to buy,” Minji starts as they separate from the hug and Yoohyeon cups her cheek to look at her lovingly, her own eyes teary because of her crying. 

“I wanted to make it up to you, so you can fight off your insecurities sooner,” The leader holds Yoohyeon’s hands and caresses her thumb there, her tears flowing nonstop and soon both of their hands are covered in tears because of her. The younger one just smiles and holds her securely, as if silently she was telling her that she’ll try her best to be better soon. 

“Also I just realized that not once did I buy you flowers or anything in general,” Minji continues and her fingers make their way to the ring on the younger's pointer finger. “Well, except this one but it's different… The tulip is different, right?” She looks at Yoohyeon and sees her nod, she smiles through the tears. 

“I just want to let you know that… I love you so much and we’ll be together through anything, alright?” Minji decides to assure Yoohyeon first before slowly letting her know of her guilt for not being fair to her. This is enough for now, everything will be better once Yoohyeon decides to be brave for herself. 

“Would you like to grab dinner outside now or let's continue your nap instead and eat at a convenience store later at midnight?” The older one asks, already expecting the younger not to respond but Yoohyeon wipes her tears away before grabbing her phone to type something and suddenly she receives a text from her because of her phone lighting up the same time her girlfriend put down her phone back on the bedside table. 

Nap and eat later. Too tired, rest first. I love you. 😘

Minji chuckles at Yoohyeon’s antics and she pulls her down to the bed, not forgetting to place the tulip on the bedside table before she spoons her girlfriend’s body with her arms and legs. 

“You're too cute, Yooh, be my girlfriend?” Minji giggles at her own joke but gets taken aback when Yoohyeon turns her body towards her and kisses her on her lips, as if she's saying yes to her joke. 

The kiss was soft, gentle, and full of love and Minji feels overwhelmed with the emotions Yoohyeon is pouring into the kiss. The younger one is silently telling her through the kiss that she loves her as much as she does dearly, that she’ll be here as well for her always, that she cherishes her as much as she does, that she’s saying yes to her proposal even if they're already girlfriends or whatsoever. 

When Yoohyeon slowly pulls back to breathe in some fresh air, the bright smile on her lips makes Minji cry again. Oh how she loves the younger one so much that anything she does for her makes her cry. Yoohyeon could only panic and pressed kisses all over Minji’s face to try to make her stop crying–it only made the older one cry even more and make the younger one panic even more, too. 

“I’ll stop crying now,” Minji announces and presses one last kiss on Yoohyeon's lips before wiping her own tears away. The younger one sighs in relief, the panic in her now slowly dissipating and her arms slowly wrapping Minji closer to her so her calm breathing could lull her to sleep. 

“I love you, Yoohyeon, see you in my dreams.” Minji says one last time before snuggling close to the younger’s shoulder to lay her head so she could sleep comfortably in Yoohyeon's arms. 

Her eyes were still heavy yet with her stomach growling loudly, she couldn't help but let go of the arms all tangled up around her to sit up and look for her phone to check the time. 

1:13 am.

Yoohyeon heaves a sigh as Minji stirs in her sleep, now noticing the long gone arms wrapped around her. As much as she’d like to sleep more to get more cuddles from the older, she’d love to alleviate her stomach’s discomfort first. Seeing Minji now rubbing out the sleep in her eyes before slowly sitting up to meet her and cup her cheeks in her hands makes her smile. 

“Hungry?” Yoohyeon nods, awing at the sight of Minji being groggy and her raspy voice is music to her ears.  

“Okay, let's have some late dinner somewhere as we've previously agreed on,” Minji gives Yoohyeon’s cheeks a light squeeze before taking her hand in hers and her other hand grabbing her phone and wallet that was placed on the bedside table. 

Now walking side by side on their way outside of the house, both of them were all smiles and had their hands intertwined together while swinging it lightly. After locking the door behind them, Minji moved her hand from Yoohyeon’s hand and hugged her by her waist to keep her close, her head resting on the taller one’s shoulder. 

As they walk through the street to look for a convenience store nearby, the only sound that both of them can hear was Yoohyeon’s humming, it was the song Minji first wrote for her back then. Alldaylong. 

“You really love that song huh?” Minji says and her smile widens when Yoohyeon hums in reply, continuing to hum the song afterwards. 

“And I love you too.” Pressing a soft peck on Yoohyeon’s nape, all Minji could think about was how her girlfriend is slowly getting better which was a relief. It's not like she's pressuring the younger to get better in an instant, it's just that she misses Yoohyeon talking to her so badly. She misses the random “I love yous,” the random rants about her game, the random gifts, the random sounds of confusion and many, many more. She just misses Yoohyeon so badly even if she's right beside her. 

Her grand plan comes to mind again and she smiles at the thought of Yoohyeon being happy about it once it happens. For sure, the younger one would be braver by that time and fight off her insecurities. If she still wouldn't be brave by then, that's alright, all Minji gotta do is wait for her and support her all the way. Besides, it's all worth it. It's Yoohyeon we're talking about here. Never would Minji love anyone the way she loves Yoohyeon and thinking about it makes her feel giddy. Her love for her girlfriend is truly endless. 

“Finally,” Minji says as they spot a neon sign of a convenience store about twenty meters away from them. Her hometown has changed a lot from the years she's not been able to come visit. All the familiar stores were all gone and seeing the store they're looking for right in front of her eyes, she smiles wider and urges Yoohyeon to walk faster to which she delightedly does. 

“Ramyeon?” The older one asks once they were inside the convenience store to which the younger one nods, grabbing her cup of ramyeon after and handing it to her girlfriend. 

Minji does the same and heads to the snacks section, grabbing whatever she’d like to eat and place them in the basket, all while holding Yoohyeon’s hand to make sure she doesn't get lost (It happened one time back then where Minji was too excited to buy some snacks and Yoohyeon had suddenly vanished–she went out of the store to buy some flowers at a store nearby).

When they're done paying, with Minji urging Yoohyeon not to pay and let her pay for them instead, they went ahead and opened their cups of ramyeon and prepared theirs for one another. While waiting for their ramyeon to cook, Minji opened a sandwich that she had bought and took a bite, letting Yoohyeon take a bite as well soon after. 

Yoohyeon hums in delight, truly happy for how delicious the sandwich is and how endearing this moment is right now. Suddenly, it feels like they're just ordinary people and not idols. Just ordinary people having a midnight date outside at a convenience store, sharing their food with one another while talking about random things. Oh how she would love to be brave enough to be strong for herself but she thinks she's not quite ready yet to face the problem at hand. One thing she's sure about is that it won't take much longer for her to continue being mute. She doesn't like this habit of hers herself so she'd like it to be done quickly. 

With the ramyeon now cooked, both of them proceeded to slurp on their meals silently. Just having each other’s company and eating together is enough for the both of them. Anything that's shared between them is worth enjoying and rewarding. 

“May I?” Minji asks as she points her chopsticks at Yoohyeon’s ramyeon to which the younger pushes her cup closer to her girlfriend in reply. Having a taste of the other ramyeon was nice. It's actually quite endearing considering that they had a lot of differences. Yoohyeon loves her ramyeon extra spicy while Minji loves her ramyeon with soggy noodles, they still manage to share their food together without any complaints or whatsoever. Just sharing their food was very special for them and despite having many more differences in other things, they still manage to make everything work. 

Now almost done with their meal, Yoohyeon suddenly stands up and confuses Minji, making her grab onto the younger's wrist to stop her. 

“Ice cream?” Minji asks softly and Yoohyeon nods in response, the elder's grip on the younger’s wrist slowly letting go. 

Once Yoohyeon was out of sight, Minji proceeds to clean up their table so she can do something instead of staring at nowhere while waiting for Yoohyeon to come back. After cleaning, she grabs her phone from her pocket to check her notifications if there's any: there were thirty plus messages from Bora, probably wanting to know all about their vacation and a few messages from the other members telling her to take care and bring home some presents from Daejeon. She types her reply for every single message as she usually does and once she's done she checks the time. Ten minutes since Yoohyeon left to get ice cream, where is she? 

Heaving a sigh, she probably went out and bought more gifts to surprise her, she guesses. Buying ice cream wouldn't take long, doesn't it? She decides to do the next step of her plan, buying chocolates for Yoohyeon. Even though this was too cringe, she still has to do it as her girlfriend would usually do this as well.  Now checking out the chocolates available in the convenience store, almost all of them were cheap and were too basic. She believes getting more expensive gifts than what Yoohyeon gives her would be better as she's trying her best to make it up to her.

Another sigh was heaved and Minji had no choice but to grab a handful of whatever chocolate she could grab and pay for them. She just hopes Yoohyeon likes any of these. 

Speaking of Yoohyeon, the bell on the entrance of the store chimes and there reveals a disheveled tall girl who’s trying to catch her breath. She makes her way back to the table and finds it empty but when she averts her gaze by the cashier, she sees Minji grabbing the plastic full of stuff she doesn't know of and thanks the person behind the cashier before meeting Yoohyeon in the eyes. 

Minji grins widely  and that's all it takes for Yoohyeon to collapse back down on her seat, still catching her breath. The leader comes to her aid and puts down the plastic bag she was holding on the table before wiping her girlfriend's sweat with the sleeve of her shirt. 

“Where did you go? Did you run?” Yoohyeon nods and presses a soft kiss on Minji’s cheek now that her breath is starting to get normal. She smiles, gives Minji the thing she had bought and pulls her into a hug despite her still drenched in her sweat. 

“Yooh… you didn't have to..” Minji hugs Yoohyeon back tightly, trying to suppress the tears that are starting to threaten to fall. She really didn't expect Yoohyeon to still buy her some gifts when she's too scared of her own thoughts. It never happened once and this is the first time it happened so she doesn't know what to do. Blame her for being too emotional because of Yoohyeon, everything about her girlfriend makes her emotional and she loves every single thing about it. It just proves how much love she has for the younger. 

The bouquet of flowers filled with roses and tulips makes her pout when Yoohyeon pulls back from the hug to see her reaction. She chuckles at the blush appearing on the older one’s cheek and presses more kisses, not minding that they're in public. 

“I bought you chocolates,” Minji says as she puts down the bouquet on her lap and hands Yoohyeon the plastic bag filled with chocolates she had bought earlier. 

“I wasn't sure what you liked so I just bought a whole bunch and–” A teardrop appears on Yoohyeon’s cheek and Minji panics, oh how the tables have turned now. 

“Why are you crying? Oh my god, you're going to make me cry too!” Minji says as she wipes Yoohyeon’s tears with her hands cupping her cheeks. The younger one breaks into a chuckle, making Minji smile at her widely before pressing a peck on Yoohyeon’s forehead. 

Yoohyeon puts out her phone to type in something, probably her replies to the endless questions Minji had in her mind. When she's finished, she shows the screen to the leader and she tries to suppress the tears that are building up in her eyes. She doesn't want to cry and break down here, it would be too embarrassing if some fan sees them here. 

I love you so bad that my insecurities wouldn't be able to stop me from showing my love to you. Always, Kim Minji. I love you always. 

P.S. I want to hurry and talk to you but I’m still hesitant. Would you wait for me, as always?

“Of course I’d wait for you always, silly, why’d you have to ask when you already know?” Minji asks and watches Yoohyeon mouthing a ‘It’s because I love you,’ and that's all it takes for her to realize that she is now truly ready for the next step in their journey. Fuck her guilt for not being equal to Yoohyeon. From now on, she'll do her best to make it up to her and give her the whole world she deserves. From now on, her mission of being the bestest girlfriend ever starts. It's what Yoohyeon deserves, after all. 

“Let's go home?” Minji offers her hand for Yoohyeon to take while her other hand grabs the bouquet that was on the table. The younger one shyly accepts and blushes when Minji placed a peck on her lips before pulling her with her outside of the convenience store. 

Now walking on their way home, Minji realizes that there's only two more things to do before the grand finale. Running errands and going on a luxury date. She smiles to herself while Yoohyeon was looking at the stars above, she's proud of herself for slowly being able to make it up to her girlfriend. First thing she did with Siyeon and Bora’s suggestion was to take Yoohyeon home to Daejeon, next up was to buy her flowers and chocolates and now, taking a simple walk outside without caring about the world surrounding them. 

After all of these, she promises to herself that she’ll do her best to lean on Yoohyeon and do random things with her like a normal couple would do. This is unexpectedly fun and she wonders why it took her ten years to realize this. 

As they get greeted by Cherry once again when they come inside the house, Minji carries the dog onto her arms and brings both Yoohyeon and Cherry to her bedroom to chill. It's weird why she's not yet sleepy but seeing her girlfriend yawn constantly, she decides to get in bed with her after they showered (Not together but they were still at the bathroom at the same time–Minji taking a shower first while Yoohyeon brushes her teeth and alternating later with Minji doing the same as Yoohyeon takes a shower).

With the flowers from the bouquet now displayed in a vase on the bedside table, Minji once again tears up at the sight of how beautiful and special those flowers are to her at this moment. Whenever Yoohyeon gives her a gift, she would always tear up but this time is different. It's too special for her and all she wants to do is truly give her best for Yoohyeon. She deserves everything in this world. 

Yoohyeon notices how Minji was slightly trembling so she takes her by her waist to make her body face her so that she can see what's happening to her girlfriend. Meeting the sight of Minji tearing up again, she grins cheekily and decides to press a kiss on the older one’s right eye to help her calm down. 

Minji almost misses it because of her blurry vision due to her tears but Yoohyeon mouthed her an ‘I love you’. She smiles sheepishly and decides to move closer to Yoohyeon and wraps her arms around her nape so she can breathe in the oh so familiar scent her girlfriend gives off before she leaves a kiss on the younger's shoulder. 

Yawning once more, Yoohyeon closes her eyes after getting comfortable in Minji’s arms with hers also wrapped around the older’s waist. She hears Minji whispering a ‘good night,’ softly before her mind went blank, now heading to dreamland after a great night filled with tears with her girlfriend. 

After what seemed to be an hour but in reality was ten hours of sleep, Yoohyeon had finally woken up from her slumber and noticed the empty spot beside her. She rubs her eyes to try to get the sleep out of her but fails miserably when it starts to droop again, tempting her to fall asleep again. It really sucks when you get to sleep for too long, you get more tired instead of getting more energized after waking up. 

She closes her eyes once more, too lazy to even think of where and what Minji could possibly be doing. She assumes that she's just doing some random errand her parents would ask her to do.

Well, she wasn't completely wrong as Minji, on the other side of the house, was scrolling on her phone to look for a perfect dress for her mother who asked her to buy one for her. While doing so at the same time, moving from one app to another, Minji was looking for fancy restaurants in Daejeon that would be perfect for the date she’s planning for her and Yoohyeon tonight. She already had one place in mind but unfortunately it closed down when the pandemic happened and has not opened again ever since, so now she had to look for another restaurant while hoping it would be perfect for her plan. As she was scrolling on her phone, her other hand was playing with the small box she had in the pocket of her coat. 

While Yoohyeon was in her deep slumber a few hours ago, she left the house to look for a jewelry store around the area so she could buy a new ring–one that was meant for her marriage proposal. The ring she was currently wearing was the one she had bought to match with her members and it brought a little bitterness in her as it reminds her that it's the main reason why she had to resort to having an abrupt plan for her proposal. 

She wasn't even sure if Yoohyeon was ready for this next big step but she would like to be selfish for once and let this moment make her forget about her guilt. If Yoohyeon were to accept her proposal, she’ll do everything she can so she could be the best fiancée ever, possibly the best wife ever in the future as well. If Yoohyeon were to reject her proposal and tell her she needs more time then that's fine with her too as she’ll also do everything she could do to be the best girlfriend ever. 

She knew she wasn't able to be the best girlfriend Yoohyeon needed for their ten years of being together as she wasn't really fair for the both of them. Realizing all of the things she could've done to make their relationship better, she's now determined to do all of that just to give her and Yoohyeon the whole world they deserve. Besides, after ten years of their relationship, it's safe to say that they deserve each other… right? Well if anybody says otherwise then she will have to make them think otherwise of the otherwise, if that makes sense. 

Chuckling softly at her own thoughts, she pushes the handle of the glass door to the jewelry store she finally found after almost ten minutes of walking around the neighborhood. She arrives inside and awes at the sight, all kinds of jewelry greeting her delighted heart. She couldn't contain her smile as she looks through the rings displayed at one section of the store. 

“Any ring that got your eye already, Miss?” One of the workers asked but Minji is hesitant to answer because she still doesn't have any idea what she would buy for her Yoohyeon. Would a simple ring be good or would a ring with a huge diamond in the middle be better? She heaves a sigh before deciding to ask the worker instead of stressing herself with this by herself. 

“Would you recommend some rings? I’m planning to propose to my girlfriend tonight,” Minji says and gets a smile from the worker before she walks back to behind the counter to open the display. 

“Of course Miss,” The worker paused, not knowing what Minji’s name was so the aspiring leader of Dreamcatcher told her name for the worker to know. “JiU,” She says her stage name instead and earns a nod from the worker. 

“Miss JiU, hm, sounds familiar. Do you happen to be in a K-pop group?” 

“Yeah, actually. How’d you know?” 

“Dreamcatcher, right? I’m a fan, I’m honored to assist you with your proposal.” 

Minji lets out a hearty chuckle as she looks back on the rings on the display. Who would've expected to have a fan assist her with finding the perfect ring for Yoohyeon. 

“Well, would you happen to be able to look for a perfect ring for Yoohyeon?” The worker, now known as a fan, smiles and nods before putting out a batch of rings from the display onto the table next to them. 

“I trust you to keep this a secret before I have to announce it publicly.” Minji says as she takes a seat offered to her as the worker nods to her. 

“It's my pleasure to assist you, Miss JiU. Your secret is safe with me,” The worker says and moves the rings closer to Minji so she can take a closer look at them. 

It takes her a while to make a decision on what would be perfect but with the help of the worker, she finally comes to a final decision of choosing a simple silver ring with a very small diamond in the middle and with the suggestion of the worker to have something engraved in the inner side of the ring, she settles with one word to finish up the ring. 

Always. 

After what seemed like an hour but was really just a few minutes, the worker came back with the ring in a small box and gave it to Minji to let her admire it for some time.

Her heart screams in joy, her grand plan is almost done and all she can think of is how happy Yoohyeon will be after all of this. She's so excited to see her girlfriend’s reaction to her doing and she's very much excited as well to hear Yoohyeon speak again. After their impromptu date last night, she's expecting the younger one to be brave enough today to fight off her insecurities and negative thoughts. 

Now as she finishes reminiscing how she had her moment earlier, she finally decides on where she should buy the dress her mother was asking for and which restaurant they should dine at later this evening. After making a reservation at the restaurant, she stands up to wake Yoohyeon up so that she can finish the third to the last thing she has in her plan: doing errands with her girlfriend. The date she’s planning and the proposal are now the only things left unmarked in her list. 

When she arrives inside her room, she visibly awes at the cute sight of Yoohyeon and Cherry sleeping on her bed. She smiles and gets in bed with them to take pictures of them before lightly tapping Yoohyeon on her shoulder to wake her up. 

“Yooh, wake up, come with me to do something for mom,” She hears Yoohyeon groan as she stirs in her sleep, now facing her back to Minji. The older one heaves a sigh before resorting to her usual routine to make Yoohyeon face her, placing kisses near her ears as she knows it tickles the younger. 

Groaning once more, Yoohyeon turns around to face her girlfriend with her eyebrows furrowed and her nose scrunched, looking a little annoyed at the disturbance but her face relaxes when Minji presses a peck on her lips taking her aback. 

“Hm?” Yoohyeon manages to let some sound out of her mouth to show her confusion to Minji and she receives another kiss pressed on her forehead afterwards.  

“Let's have lunch anywhere you want after doing this errand I need to do.” Minji smiles at Yoohyeon softly when her eyes slowly open to see her clearly. 

The sight takes her breath away, not only does Minji look so pretty looking down on her like that, the eyes that are staring right back at her makes her squirm and hide her face that's starting to feel warm because of the growing blush with the pillow nearby. 

“Hey, Yooh, come on… You've been sleeping for ten hours already! It's time to stretch out those long sexy limbs of yours.” Minji says as she grabs a hold of Yoohyeon’s arms and tries to pull them to make her sit up–she fails and ends up getting tangled around the arms she’s holding. 

“Not even reacting when I called you sexy?” With one last groan, Yoohyeon finally decides to sit up slowly and pulls Minji with her. She hugs her girlfriend for a few more minutes before standing up from the bed and grabbing her phone to type something. 

Minji could only shake her head at her girlfriend’s silliness. She decides to stand up as well and walk towards Yoohyeon to wrap her arms around her waist from behind, her head resting on the younger's shoulder to take a peek on what she's doing. 

I know I’m sexy, that's why you fell in love with me. 

The older one chuckles and plants a kiss on the younger’s shoulder before saying, “Half true. You know I fell in love with you because of how genuine you are, right?” 

She feels Yoohyeon nod and sees her type more in her phone, her eyes averting their gaze there almost immediately. 

I’m still so groggy, I’m embarrassed to go outside looking like this. 

Once finished reading, Minji takes a peek at Yoohyeon’s face, a little puffy but still pretty as ever. She smiles before planting a soft kiss on the younger's collarbone. 

“You're the prettiest in my eyes though, Yooh. I’ll buy you ice cream once we're done.” And yet again, Yoohyeon proceeds to type her reply on her phone as Minji patiently waits for her to finish. 

Fine… Only because you're buying me ice cream.

Minji tries hard not to burst out laughing at Yoohyeon’s snarl before the younger turns her body around, now facing her with her eyes staring at her lips. Yoohyeon proceeds to press a peck on her lips and on her forehead before slipping out of her arms by sitting down to get free so she could now go take a shower. 

Once both of them are ready to go, with Yoohyeon complaining once more of not wanting to go still and Minji literally pushing her outside of the house, they finally made it at the mall to look for the store they're supposed to go to. 

It takes them a few more minutes to find the store and when they do, Yoohyeon awes at the sight. Fancy dresses and gowns all over and she wonders, why the hell does Minji’s mom want her to buy her a dress?

“It's for a college reunion, she says,” Minji says as if she reads Yoohyeon’s mind and they walk inside the store hand in hand afterwards. 

Scanning through the hundreds of dresses inside the store, Minji had her eyebrows furrowed together all throughout and Yoohyeon fights off the urge to tug those eyebrows away from each other to relieve the stress that's building up inside her girlfriend. 

She absolutely knows that Minji is such a perfectionist when it comes to fashion and shopping. Her and Handong would always spend at least ten hours in the mall because of the stress of not finding the perfect thing they were supposed to find. 

And knowing that fact, she could completely understand why Minji is acting like this. It's for her mother, after all, and knowing her, she loves to give her best for her. Well, Minji would always give her best to everyone, even those who were logically wrong to her. 

“Aha!” Yoohyeon feels a squeeze on her hand and her gaze lands on the dress Minji is now holding to get a better look. Wait, why does it look like nothing compared to her mother’s style?

“Yooh, try this on,” Minji holds the dress close to Yoohyeon’s body to see if it does fit her and she smiles in approval despite the confused look on her girlfriend’s face. 

“It's so you can do something while I look for a dress for mom, silly, try it on and let's see if I’ll buy it for you.” Fishing out her phone from her pocket, Yoohyeon yet again types what she wants to say to Minji. Once done, she shows her screen to her. 

I will try it on but you won't pay for it if you like it. I will pay and no buts, I won't accept any bribes. 

“Would've been better if you verbally said that,” Minji whispers under her breath, which Yoohyeon almost misses but didn't, so now she feels bad for being like this. 

Noticing the sudden change in the atmosphere, Minji was quick to apologize and pull Yoohyeon into a hug while whispering I love yous in between soft kisses on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean it... It just slipped out of my mouth, it wasn't supposed to be phrased like that…” The silence was eating her up but she takes this chance to continue her apology as she feels Yoohyeon lightly tugging on her shirt. 

“I meant that, I miss talking to you and I’d like to hear your voice again… but I’m not pressuring you at all, I’ll be here waiting, always.” 

It was quiet for a while and all she could hear was the typing sounds coming from Yoohyeon’s phone. She decides to put the dress back in its original place and have the taller one’s head rest on her shoulder. 

She mentally curses herself for being inconsistent. Despite her doing her best to make it up to Yoohyeon, her old habits die hard. It's hard for her to keep her words to herself and almost always the reason for a misunderstanding between them. She reminds herself to try and focus on herself as well so that her actions can be equal to her own feelings. 

“Min… ji..” The surprise takes Minji aback, making her push Yoohyeon away from the hug and hold her shoulders to look at her as if her girlfriend was fragile as glass and it would shatter any moment from now. 

“Yoohyeonie? Can you call me again?” Her eyes prickle again and tears are threatening to fall for the nth time this week already. The taller woman shakes her head and shows Minji her phone screen instead so she can read what she has typed for her to read. 

I want to be strong for you, that's why I’m taking a long time to get better.

“No… I can always wait for you, Yoohyeon.” Said woman shakes her head once more and nudges Minji to continue reading the text on the phone screen. 

I am slowly getting better thanks to your continuous support. You've been surprising me a lot these days and I can feel that you're really doing your best to make it up to me. I love you so damn much that it's only you who I can trust to hold my heart with me. Please wait for a little longer, your precious Yoohyeonie will be back sooner than you know. 

“I love you, much more than you know,” Was all Minji could say as she tried her very best to stop the tears from flowing and ruin Yoohyeon’s shirt inside the store. The younger one plants a kiss on her lips before taking her hand, her phone placed back in her pocket, and takes her around the store once more so she could finish her errand as soon as possible and return home to give Minji all her love. 

Once they found the perfect dress for Minji’s mom and one for her (even if Yoohyeon convinced her girlfriend that she’ll pay, Minji was much faster to swipe her card before she could even grab her wallet from her coat’s pocket), they’re now walking hand in hand on the streets while heading home. Minji’s mom was so happy that her daughters had found the most perfect dress for her and as a reward, they were fed with Kalguksu. 

“Yoohyeonie, will you wear the dress later this evening if I took you out on a date?” Minji asks after she had eaten a spoonful of noodles from her bowl and waits for Yoohyeon to type her response on her phone. 

Date? Isn't bringing me down here in Daejeon a date already?

“No, silly, this is called a vacation. I haven't even taken you on a date like ever. So, answer my question please?”

Well, I suppose I have no other choice. Where will you take me?

“It's a secret, Yoohyeonie, why would I spoil something I’m doing for the first time in forever?”

Just nothing illegal please…

“Of course! In our ten years together, well, fifteen if you count our trainee days together, I have never once done anything illegal.”

Really? Well, if I had to list down every single illegal thing you’ve donehbshjdjd

“Hey!” Minji snatches the phone from Yoohyeon and places it on the other side of the table so her girlfriend wouldn't be able to get it from her anytime soon. Her lips fall into a pout and her arms cross each other to let her girlfriend see that she's pissed with her teasing. 

Yoohyeon could only shake her head before continuing to eat, not minding the annoyed huffs from Minji as she's too proud for winning the teasing fight they just had. Minji is really funny to tease and in the end, it's always her who loses because of her getting annoyed at Yoohyeon's constant teasing.  

The taller woman stands up from her seat all of a sudden, making Minji fall out of her stance and watch Yoohyeon walk up the stairs. She won the teasing fight, why did it feel like it was her that was defeated? 

Well, her thoughts were cut short when Yoohyeon’s figure appeared again from the stairs and her hands were now holding a piece of paper and a pen. When she sits back down beside Minji, she proceeds to write something and the older one immediately realizes that this was an alternative way to talk to her as her phone was taken away by her. 

You gotta stop pouting like that or I’ll kiss you all day and make you forget about the date you planned for tonight. 

Minji’s face immediately turns into a crimson shade and Yoohyeon just laughs at her for being too cute. 

“I- Uh, that's not a bad idea? You sneaky baby, you're going to let my efforts go to waste!” 

I’m no baby!

“You are in my eyes!”

“Girls, you're too loud– oh, is it Yoohyeon’s time of the month again?” Minji’s mom suddenly appears in the dining room and places seven boxes on the table which gains her confused looks from the couple in front of her. 

“I might forget to give you these before you two go back to Seoul so I wanted to give it now but I might've interrupted you two with your bickering.”

“It's fine mom, Yoohyeon is just playing with me. By the way, what’s this?”

“Oh, my gifts for all of you for your tenth anniversary. I might not have a chance to give these on the day itself as all of you would be busy. I planned to give these after the event even if it's late, well, that plan is now canceled because you two suddenly decided to travel down here.”

Yoohyeon flips the paper she’s holding and quickly writes something on it again. She flipped the paper so Minji’s mom wouldn't see what she just wrote for only her girlfriend to see and she would be too embarrassed if she did see it. 

Once done writing, she holds the paper up in the air for Minji’s mom to read and it takes a while for the older woman to process the writing. 

It's Minji’s decision to come down here all of a sudden. Well, not that I’m complaining but it was too rushed for me to even process that we're really here. Thank you so much for the gift, I truly appreciate it and I’m sure the other members would feel the same. 

“I almost didn't understand a single thing, Yoohyeon-ah,” Minji chuckles and Yoohyeon glares at her, the older woman just shakes her head before continuing, “It's truly a surprise but you two are welcome here anytime. Besides, your dad would always clean your room whenever he can because he wants it ready for you if you ever come home.” 

“Thank you, mom, for the gift and this meal.”

“Of course, sweetheart. It's the least I can do for my daughters.” 

Minji stands up from her seat to take her mother in her arms and immediately Yoohyeon comes to squish them together in her arms as well. The group hug lasts longer than what they expected as neither of them three wanted to let go of this endearing moment. 

Despite not wanting to let go, Yoohyeon opens her arms wide enough for both Minji and her mother to set themselves free from the hug. Soon after, Yoohyeon finds herself trapping Minji in her arms as her girlfriend has moved closer to her. 

“I’ll let you two have your fun, thanks for being great kids.” Now that Minji’s mom is out of sight, Yoohyeon cups the older’s cheeks in her hands and plants a kiss on her lips before grinning widely at her. 

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Minji asks and Yoohyeon just shrugs before letting go of her to sit back down on her chair to finish her meal that's now cooled down. 

Settling beside Yoohyeon once more, they both take their time finishing their meals before they start to prepare for their date later tonight. Yoohyeon was the first one to shower so now she's doing her makeup while Minji is showering. Before Minji went into the bathroom, all she said was, “Put on makeup and be pretty as usual, we're going somewhere fancy.”

While doing her makeup, Yoohyeon tries to think of places where Minji might possibly bring her tonight. There were too many places to take in consideration and the fact that she doesn't know Daejeon very well makes it harder for her to come up with a conclusion. She was too busy thinking that she didn't notice Minji grabbing the lipstick she was holding and putting some on her own lips before pressing her lips for a few seconds on Yoohyeon's lips. 

“There we go, finally you're out of your trance and your makeup is finished with my help. Want help with dressing up too?” Yoohyeon is still busy processing what the fuck just happened but gets halted because of Minji pulling her up from her seat and starts undressing her. 

“You being lost in your thoughts is very cute, Yoohyeonie,” Minji says as she clasps her bra from behind and now, putting the dress over her head for her to wear it by herself. 

“I could totally hear you saying in your mind that you could've dressed up by yourself but I insist, Yooh, I’d love to treat you better.” 

Minji’s jaw drops to the floor when Yoohyeon finishes putting on the dress properly and turns around to show her look. The dress truly did wonders as her tall girlfriend looks even prettier and she can't resist touching her so she pulls her in a hug to let Yoohyeon feel her heartbeat getting faster and faster to the point it's so close to ripping out of her chest. 

“It fits you so well,” Minji says as she clutches on the fabric of the dress, trying to make herself stable and not let her legs give up on her. “You're so… gorgeous and pretty and oh my gosh, what has happened to me?”

Yoohyeon notices her girlfriend trembling, a normal occurrence whenever she dresses up in clothes that Minji bought for her, so she holds her carefully, her hands caressing her skin from time to time to help her calm down. 

If only she could talk, she could help Minji get out of her trance quicker but for now, she settles with letting her get her composure back by herself with her too little support. 

“I can't believe I love you so much that I react like this when you put on clothes that I bought for you, like, what normal person does that?” Minji could rant all day about herself and never would Yoohyeon get tired listening to her. Now noticing the trembling is slowly coming back to normal, she decides to carry Minji in her arms and place her on the bed so that she could dress her up as well. 

“I love you, Yoohyeon,” This surprises the taller girl, completely not expecting hearing that from Minji at this very moment. She grins widely before planting a kiss on the older’s lips before mouthing an ‘I love you’ as well. 

It took them almost half an hour before they finished getting ready and waited for the cab Minji had booked for them. Now sitting inside of the cab hand in hand, Minji takes out her phone to take pictures of them as she’d like to keep this forever in her memories. 

There's one last thing in her plan and that was the proposal. She's suddenly getting nervous as they're getting nearer to their destination. Immediately noticing the developing tension, Yoohyeon squeezes Minji’s hand that she was holding and smiles at her to let her know that she's really loving it so far, even though nothing has happened yet. 

After a few more minutes, they arrived and Yoohyeon was faster this time to bring out cash to pay the driver which earned her a playful smack on the shoulder once they got out of the cab. 

“Reservation for Kim Minji.” Minji says to the lady by the entrance and once their reservation was confirmed, they were led to their tables and let them settle down on their seats with both of them sitting next to each other. 

“Wow, this place really lives up to its reviews,” Yoohyeon nods as she looks around, she wonders how Minji found this fancy place and why she chose this place for a date despite the many other places they could go to. A waiter comes to their table to serve them complimentary bread while they decide what to order with the menu given to them. 

“Would you like steak? Medium rare with lots of mashed potato?” Minji asks and hears Yoohyeon hum in response while she browses through the drinks section of the menu. 

“I’d like to get grilled salmon with the soup of the day and then for my girlfriend right here, she'll get medium rare steak with extra mashed potato and gravy. Make sure to put lots of mashed potato and uhm, Yooh, are you done choosing a drink?” Minji turns her attention to Yoohyeon and sees her pointing something on the menu. 

“She’d like to have a mango shake and I’ll get whiskey. Is it possible for you to serve a bottle of red wine for later after our main dish?”

“Yes, it is possible, Miss Minji. Which bottle would you prefer to be served?”

“Whatever’s the most popular wine would do, thank you.”

“All is noted, Miss Minji. I shall come back in a while with your orders. For now, please enjoy our complimentary bread.” The waiter collects the menus from them before making her way back to the kitchen to call out their orders. 

Once the waiter was out of sight, Minji took a piece of bread and smeared some of the pesto given on top of it before she took a bite on it and let Yoohyeon take a bite as well. She watches as the younger one types something on her phone, probably she has a lot to say since it's taking too long for her liking. 

Minji, babe, why’d you bring us here? This is hella expensive and it makes me feel bad… Plus you also bought me this dress earlier and it was expensive as well.. This is too much for me and your wallet, I’m pretty sure there's one less zero on your card because of all of this expensive stuff you're giving me all of a sudden. 

“Yoohyeonie, look at me,” Minji says and takes Yoohyeon’s hands in hers before giving them a light squeeze. “In our ten years being together, not once did I spend anything for you. I feel bad for realizing this just recently and I want to make it up to you. If I were to tally all the things you bought for me, the flowers, chocolates, or just anything you spent your money with for me, this wouldn't be equivalent with all of that,” Removing one of her hand from Yoohyeon’s hand, she brings it up to the younger’s cheek to caress it softly.  

“I want to be better for you, Yoohyeon. I want to be fair with you and I want you to be fair with me too. We don't really talk about the future that much but I realized I really need to talk to you about it because it's full of uncertainties and I want to know what thoughts and plans you have for us,” Pausing to take a deep breath before continuing, “I want to spend my forever with you and that's only possible if we’ll be fair and be open to each other. You lean on me and I lean on you too, you buy me gifts and I buy you gifts too. I hope you're getting what I want to say…” 

It takes a while for Yoohyeon to respond or in other words, type her response on her phone. Minji decides to wait for her to process everything she had just said and eat the complimentary bread for the meantime. 

Well, she expects Yoohyeon to respond just a few minutes after her sudden long speech but it's been more than ten minutes and she sees the waiter about to serve their meals so she just heaves a soft sigh before smiling at the waiter. 

Now with their meals in front of them, Minji hesitates to talk again because of Yoohyeon’s sudden silence. Her girlfriend was just eating quietly and her expression was so unreadable that even if Minji knew her inside out, this expression is not very familiar to her. She decides to just stay quiet and rethink her thoughts, maybe she said something wrong that's why Yoohyeon came back to square one? She could feel that she was so close to being brave to fight off her insecurities but this… was it her fault again?

While she eats, Yoohyeon suddenly fishes out her phone once more to type something. Not to get her hopes up, Minji just continues eating her salmon and not expecting too much that she'll get a response from Yoohyeon. 

The younger one suddenly stood up and was quick to show her phone screen for a few seconds to Minji and walked away. 

I’ll be back. Promise. Wait for me, alright? I’ll just have my steak be reheated later even if it’ll taste nasty. I’ll be quick. 

With that, Minji gets left all alone in the middle of a fancy restaurant with two meals in front of her. She lets out a sigh, Yoohyeon is truly unpredictable. She just hopes her girlfriend isn't mad at her for the things she said and is walking away to calm herself down because of her not wanting to express her anger in front of her. She just hopes Yoohyeon will be fine. She just hopes she’ll be back in good shape. 

Yoohyeon thinks this is stupid. Crying while dressed in fancy clothing, as if she had just ran away from a suffocating fancy party, is stupid The tears are ruining the makeup she had on, she's grateful for that because no one would be able to recognize her now, but having to cry because of Minji’s genuine words was too much for her. 

It truly made her too emotional and she didn't want Minji to see her crying like this and at that fancy restaurant. It would be too embarrassing if someone were to take pictures of them, of her crying and Minji trying to comfort her. It's possible to have articles of them being on bad terms because of that so she decides to run away, even if her steak would be too soggy once she finds her way back. 

Another reason why she ran away is because she wanted to find a jewelry store so she could propose to Minji whether the time is right or not, whether she is ready or not, she just wanted to get over it as she’d like to express her love verbally already to her girlfriend. 

Minji is too hard to resist and she knows that fully. It's frustrating that she had to resort to not talking because of her insecurities and such when the sign is already in front of her. She truly loves Minji with all her heart and it's just right if she would be the one to propose to her. Yeah, expectations and insecurities aside, she shouldn't have let herself be like this when Minji is really trying to give her best to make her feel loved and special. 

“She wants our relationship to be fair when it has always been fair to me ever since,” Yoohyeon mutters to herself while she wipes her tears away in front of the jewelry store. Her voice was so raspy to the point that she wasn't able to recognize her own voice. Such a consequence comes for not talking for a few days, silly her. This is all too silly and all she wants to do is be fair with Minji as well by talking to her when she comes back and propose to her, even if the location and date of the proposal is too weird and unexpected. 

Now heading inside the jewelry shop, she immediately goes to the rings section and quickly scans all the rings until she finds the perfect one for Minji. 

“Hey, I’d like to have this one in size 17. Is it possible to have something engraved on this?” Yoohyeon points to a ring and the worker quickly puts it out on the display before responding, “What would you like to be engraved in the ring?”

“Always.”

“Alright, kindly take a seat while I prepare the ring.” 

The moment she sat down on the couch provided for the customers, she fiddled with her fingers as the realization suddenly hit her and her negative thoughts eating her up again. 

What if Minji doesn't like the ring? What if the ring doesn't fit Minji and she’ll assume that she has an affair because she got the sizes wrong? Or, what if Minji rejects her proposal just because? The fiddling of her fingers stops as her last thought was completely irrelevant and silly so she chuckles to try to ease the tension in her. 

“I’m so fucked up…” 

“Miss, the ring’s ready.”

That was quick, like literally. It just took the worker to engrave the one word she had in her mind. Always. 

She’ll always love Minji even if things turn out to be different from what she had expected. She'll always love Minji dearly as she could always feel the same amount of love from her. 

After paying and grabbing only the box with the ring even if the worker insisted to put it in a bag, she now makes her way back to the restaurant and ignores all the stares from the people around her as she’s now recognizable due to her dried tears and makeup erased already. She hides the ring in her purse and quickly makes her way to the entrance. 

“Kim Minji. There, I was here a while ago.” She says as the lady at the entrance asks her for her reservation and as if she and Minji had telepathy, the older one raises her hand and waves at her with that sweet smile of hers. The lady lets her inside the restaurant for the second time this night and she settles back down beside Minji who was looking at her with concern. 

“Oh? Your makeup’s ruined. Let me fix it for you,” Minji grabs her purse and takes out a few wet tissues to wipe Yoohyeon’s face clean before moving quickly to fix her makeup with precision.

“There we go, looking prettier than ever.” Minji cups Yoohyeon’s cheek and plants a soft peck on her lips before raising one of her hands to call a waiter to have her girlfriend’s steak be reheated. 

Yoohyeon still remained silent all throughout the meal, with only the cluttering of the utensils with the plate the only thing the both of them could hear. She's too nervous as the pressure is starting to get to her. Now's not the time to be nervous but she wouldn't be able to just stop herself from feeling that. It's stupid, she knows, but the soft hand on hers while they share a glass of red wine slowly makes her feel relaxed. 

As soon as they were done with their meals after sharing a dessert that was perfect with the red wine, they're now walking back home hand in hand after Yoohyeon insisted (with her phone as she's still too nervous to talk but she has already fought off her insecurities a while back) for them to walk so that they can enjoy the night’s breeze. 

Minji finds a bench by the river and urges them to quickly move so that they can settle down after the long walk they just had. The older one links her arms with her girlfriend and the both of them just admired the view of the river with the stars looking pretty up above. They remained silent for a while to just enjoy this moment together as they don't really have time to always go on dates like this due to their schedules. 

“Yooh–”

“Minji–”

And with their great telepathy, they both talk at the same time but Minji reacts more because Yoohyeon has finally talked properly for the first time in those few days that she wasn't brave enough for herself. 

“Yoohyeonie? You called me?” Minji quickly takes Yoohyeon’s hands in hers and squeezes them lightly to try to make her comfortable in talking again. 

“Minji, I love you.” The younger one gets squished in a tight hug in an instant and feels her shoulders getting damped in tears already. She wraps her arms around Minji’s waist and rests her head on her shoulder to feel all the love from her in her hug. 

“I missed you, I missed hearing your lovely voice calling my name,” Minji hugs her more tightly and lets her tears just flow down her cheeks and fall onto Yoohyeon’s bare shoulders. 

“I missed talking to you too, so badly that I was so close to screaming your name for the whole country to hear,” Minji laughs loudly at Yoohyeon, her humor never gets old and she's finally back. Her precious Yoohyeonie is finally back. 

“Yoohyeonie,” The older one calls out as she moves back from the hug to cup the younger’s cheeks in her hands. “Will you marry me?” 

“Huh? No–wait, yes! I said yes? No!! Why did you beat me to it?!” The panic in Yoohyeon’s face makes Minji laugh out loud once more so she takes this chance to get the ring from her purse and hold it for Yoohyeon to see. 

She watches as Yoohyeon’s eyebrows form one line and she proceeds to fumble the things in her purse looking for something and when she finds it, she holds it for Minji to see too. 

“I bought this just earlier because I thought you wouldn't propose to me since you're expecting me to do it,”

“No? I bought this earlier too while you were still asleep because I thought you're expecting me to change things up and propose to you instead, is that not right?” 

“Minji…”

“Yoohyeon…”

They both burst into laughter as they both come to a realization that they are both stupid, and cute, of course. This coincidence was so unexpected that it takes both of them aback and when they both open the box for each other at the same time, they both scream loudly and thank the heavens above that it's alright nighttime and no one would judge them for being too rowdy. 

“How did you.. How did we…?”

“Same thoughts here, babe, what's gotten into us?” 

“You probably saw the ring earlier that's why you bought the same one and engraved the same word, did you not?”

“I did not! If I did, I wouldn't have rushed outside all of a sudden just to buy you the same one.” 

“You would've totally done that, Yoohyeonie, you're fooling no one here.”

Yoohyeon crosses her arms and pouts, Minji just laughs at her before taking her left hand to slip the ring onto her ring finger. 

“There we go, it fits perfectly,” Minji smiles and tries to wipe the now dried tears from her face but soon realizes that it's no use already since her makeup is now ruined. 

“I haven't even answered your proposal properly, what if I didn't want to marry you?” 

“After days of not talking, you're really deciding to bicker with me instead of making it up to me for making me worry?!” 

“I’d love to marry you, Minji, always have been.”

“Now you're deciding to answer my proposal after making fun of me–”

Minji gets silenced with a kiss on her lips. Yoohyeon kisses her softly at first but she deepens it after putting the ring boxes to the side to pull Minji closer to her and letting her straddle on her lap, her lips never leaving Minji’s in the process. 

The kiss was the answer to all of Minji’s worries in her mind. It was silent yet loud ‘yes’ to her proposal and truly, she wouldn't trade this moment for anything as this is the best moment she has with Yoohyeon, defeating all of the mentioned favorite moments she shared a few days ago with the other members. 

Before the kiss gets heated and dirty, Minji slowly pulls away to admire Yoohyeon’s beauty and watch her slip the ring onto her left ring finger, the same thing she did to her a little while ago. 

“I’m so happy, like really, I never expected you to talk to me this soon plus you proposing to me at the same time as I had planned to.”

“Well, would you like me not to talk to you again?”

“No! Of course not! But if it's inevitable then that's fine but if you're doing it on purpose… I will kill you with my own hands.”

Yoohyeon chuckles and intertwines her hand with Minji’s hand that both had their matching rings, the ones that only the two of them share and not the one they share with the other members. 

“The reason why I had to resort to not talking is because I didn't want to let my disappointment get ahead of me… It wasn't because of you but it was because of me and I didn't want to let it all out on you or anyone so.. I did my best to slowly fight it by myself,” Yoohyeon starts to explain her thoughts on the recent happenings to the both of them and takes a deep breath before continuing, “I totally did not expect you to buy matching rings for the whole group to share and because of that I expected it to be between the two of us only.. and when I soon knew about the others having the same one, something in me broke, y'know?”

“I truly wanted to thank you for bringing me here back in your hometown. It helped me a lot to get better sooner and with all of your efforts, it did add up to the speed time,” Yoohyeon pauses to press a peck on Minji’s nose and she continues, “Now that I’m back, your precious Yoohyeonie is back, I will do my best to live up to your expectations. We will lean on and catch each other anytime and buy each other gifts from time to time. A relationship should be fair and open, right? If we're going to be together forever, we should talk about things like these more often so we could be a better couple than before.”

Minji nods and holds their intertwined hands with her other hand to squeeze Yoohyeon’s hand. This moment is such an endearing one, with Yoohyeon and Minji slowly talking more about their plans and thoughts for their relationship, they will truly live up to their words. 

“I love you so fucking much, Kim Minji, I’m willing to live the rest of my life loving and cherishing you as mine.”

“Fuck me? Yeah, let's do that when we get home,”

“You're so dirty minded! Ugh, maybe I’ll take all of my words back.”

“Hey! I love you, Kim Yoohyeon! It's now imprinted in my mind and you can't erase that from me.” 

“I love you the most, my Kim Minji. Always and forever, we’ll have these matching rings together.”

“Yeah… matching rings, always. I love you, more than you ever know, Kim Yoohyeon.” 

And with that, they live happily ever after. Well, that was expected but still, Minji and Yoohyeon will always have matching rings from now on and nothing would ever compare to that. Nothing, it's only possible with them. Only possible with Kim Minji and Kim Yoohyeon.