Chapter Text
Haewon can still remember it vividly: the first time she saw Lily. The first time she saw Lily’s bright smile as she introduced herself in slightly broken Korean.
“Hi! My name is Lily! What’s yours?” Lily grinned with her hand held out towards her. Haewon stared in awe at the girl. She was enamoured. Lily cleared her throat, “Uh, hi?”. Haewon blushed, “Oh! S-sorry! My name is Haewon.”. Lily giggled, “That’s a pretty name!”.
“Haewon? Whatcha thinking about up there?” a soft voice draws Haewon out of her head. She opened her eyes to stare up at her girlfriend, leaning into the hand that was petting her hair. She hummed softly and sat up, moving her head, which was lying in Lily’s lap.
“Just about the first time we met,” she says with a fond smile. Lily laughs softly at the memory, recalling how she introduced herself to the younger girl, “You were so red! It’s adorable to think about.” Haewon makes an exaggerated pout: “Unnieee, don’t make fun of me! If I knew you would be my future girlfriend, I would have made a better impression. Besides, remember how you asked me out for the first time?”
Lily groaned, “I try not to. I messed that up so bad!”. The older girl, ever the romantic from the books she had read, had bought Haewon a bouquet. Only to find out that Haewon was allergic to them.
Haewon laughs at Lily’s exaggerated grimace, “It’s funny now, but I felt so bad about it!”. They laugh together until a comfortable silence settles around them.
Lily breaks the silence with a soft question- “Haewonnie, how do you feel about marriage?”.
Haewon shoots straight up to look at the older girl. “What? L-like in what way?”- Both of their faces are bright red. “I don’t mean right now!” the older girl quickly clarifies, her hands waving frantically. There’s an awkward silence in the room for a moment before Haewon clears her throat. “I- I mean we’re still young.” Lily turns her head away. “Yeah…”
“But! If we-uh if we think long term… it would be ok.” Her voice is nearly inaudible when she finishes speaking, and her face is impossibly redder. Lily, on the other hand, is practically bouncing where she sits. Haewon just grumbles at her enthusiasm and buries her head in the pillows. Lily lies down behind her and buries herself in the back of Haewon’s neck. She can feel Lily’s grin as she drifts into sleep.
“I think Lily-Unnie proposed to me last night.” Haewon drops when she’s alone with Jinsol. The younger girl’s jaw drops, and Haewon laughs at her expression. “What?! What do you mean!?” Haewon shrugs. “She asked what I thought about marriage…” Her ears are red as she recalls the memory. Jinsol blinks slowly, “Well, what’d you say?”.
Haewon clears her throat and flushes harder, “I told her that if we thought long term, it might be nice.”. Jinsol grins at the older girl's redness, but her expression eases into a soft smile. “So what’s the problem? You normally keep this kind of stuff to yourself.” Haewon shifts in her seat and mutters something. Jinsol raises an eyebrow, “Say that again?”.
Haewon groans, “I want to get her a promise ring… She wasn’t there when I woke up this morning, and I’m worried that she thinks I didn’t take her seriously.”. Jinsol nods in agreement, an overly serious expression on her face. “You should. Let’s go.” Haewon nods before fully processing her words, “Wait, right now?”.
“What about this one?” Jinsol holds a ring up to the light and turns to Haewon. She takes the ring from the younger, squinting at it. “It’s nice. But…”. Haewon’s sentence trails off as something catches her eye. She pushes by Jinsol, ignoring the girl’s noises of protest.
The ring is simple but extravagant. A thin silver band twisted together with a thicker gold one. The two meet holding a small chunk of iridescent opal. Something about it is so perfectly Lily to her.
“This one.” Haewon smiles softly as she hears Jinsol call over an attendant. “It’s perfect, Unnie. She’s going to love it.”. The ring is costly, but anything as beautiful as it would be. Haewon can’t find it in herself to care how expensive the ring is. She leaves the store a happy woman and an even prouder girlfriend.
Lily sits on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with her hands as she waits for Haewon to come to sleep. The younger girl had been gone almost all day and was distant with her when she finally got back.
As soon as Lily hears the click of the door opening, she fires out her questions. “Are you mad? Did I make you uncomfortable with the whole marriage thing? Was it something else?” Haewon looks shocked at the rapid-fire of questioning.
Her demeanor softens when she sees how fidgety Lily is. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable at all, Unnie. I promise. I was just busy today.” Haewon moves to sit next to Lily. “I um I bought you something.”.
Haewon gets up and grabs a small box from her bag. Lily raises a brow at how flustered she looks, “Oh? What’s that?”. Haewon shifts on her feet and clears her throat.
“I know that last night I may not have seemed as enthusiastic about everything as you, but I do feel the same. So I- um went and got a promise ring. Now I know that they aren’t very common anymore, but I wanted to prove that I’m serious about this. If you don’t like it-“
Her rambling is cut off by a pair of lips crashing onto her own. She recovers from the shock and quickly kisses back. They’re both breathless when they separate.
“Oh Haewon, I love you!” Lily is grinning widely as she grabs the box from Haewon. Her grin somehow grows when she sees the ring Haewon chose. “It’s perfect.” Haewon feels all the doubts she had leave her body as her smile grows to match Lily’s.
“It’s a promise, then. One day, I’ll make you my wife!” Haewon can’t help but laugh at how red Lily gets at her words. “I love you, Lily.” The older girl showers her face with soft kisses, “I love you too, Haewon.”.