“I really can’t lose her, Dad, not when she is all that I ever wanted.”

***

“The matchmaking between Ilhoon and I need to stop.”

Mr Bae raised a brow, looking at his wife, then back at his daughter. Unimpressed he was, though he figured that his flesh probably had a reason.

“And you need to tell his parents that I’m not going to meet them when they come back to Korea for the new year.”

“Reason being?”

Even a simple question like such was enough to send chills down her spine. That was how much authority her dad possessed in the family, over her. She looked at her mum who seemed to catch on where the conversation was going. A loving smile was all she needed to calm herself down again.

“I-I.. I’m seeing someone else already.” 

“I knew it!” Her dad let out a half relived, half annoyed laugh. “How long has it been? 3 months?”

“Almost a quarter over two years…”

“Two years?!” 

The sudden raise in volume made her jumped in her seat, head low without daring to maintain any eye contact, not even with her mum.

“I don’t appreciate that, Joohyun. You said you had nobody at your cousin’s wedding and that’s why I started to matchmake you! You could have saved us the trouble.”

“I didn’t say I have nobody to you, Dad. I only said there wouldn’t be any wedding soon.” 

Mr Bae slammed his palm on the table. 

“How dare you play the game of words with me now?”

“Dear, let’s hear her out first, should we?”

Irene quietly thank her mum with a timid look, guilty that she lied to her parent when she was asked awhile back. 

“Fine. So when are you going to take him home to greet us? That rude child, how can he date someone else’s daughter for more than two years without thinking of greeting her parents?”

“Actually, you have all met already…” 

“That’s ridiculous! Have you ever thought-” Mr Bae paused. “Are those bruises… On your neck?”

The youngest in the house had her eyes widened, hand reflectively reaching to her neck. She had completely forgotten about the fresh love bites that Seulgi had marked on her the night before. 

“Don’t give up on me please Seul…”

Seulgi could only kiss the shoulder of the sobbing girl she was cradling, hands running up and down the back in an attempt to comfort. When the crying only seemed to worsen, her kisses were more rapid. She made gentle marks along the jawline, before going in for a kiss on the lips. 

“I only want to be yours, just yours..”

Irene declared, desperately wanting to salvage their terms. Seulgi couldn’t bring herself to comment on anything, just her way to the neck and bit slowly into the milky white flesh, marking Irene as hers. 

“You better explain yourself, Bae Joohyun!”

Mr Bae stood up from his seat, face turning red at the thought of a rude brat staining his daughter without making himself known and when they were still unmarried. His mind just couldn’t accept the fact. 

“You two had done it all, didn’t you? You gave him your first time?”

She remembered the morning after their first ion.

It felt colder than usual, yet warmer as two bodies were entangled into one. 

Seulgi had been watching the girl in her arms sleep for the past hour with an unfading smile. 

The way Irene latched onto her the whole night made her felt like she was so dependent, and she made a vow in her heart to always protect her favourite human being on earth for as long as she lives. 

Shortly after the sun rose, Irene was stirring from the soothing touches on her cheek, about to awake from her sweet rest in the embrace of who she loves. 

The smile on Seulgi’s face only widened when Irene rubbed her eyes like a little child, slowly adapting to the sunlight shining into their room. 

“Good morning.”

In return to Seulgi’s greet was a gentle kiss on her lips and a closer snuggle. Running her fingers through Irene’s hair as the latter was still sleepy, Seulgi could feel so much bliss in the air. 

“So..” Irene began, head still in the crook of her neck. “It happened..”

Without having to see, Seulgi knew Irene was now fully awake and recollecting their intimacy from the night. She kissed on the forehead, then the ear, before whispering. 

“Yeah, yeah it did.” 

Figuring from the tone that Irene was being shy as usual, Seulgi pulled the blanket further up to cover their bodies entirely. Irene looked Seulgi in the eyes, hand cupping the face. 

Leaning in closer until their foreheads touched, lips hovering each other’s, Seulgi felt her heartbeat accelerated. 

“Thank you,” The warm breath against her lips tickled. “For being so gentle and patient with me.” 

Seulgi was so ready to seal Irene with kisses but she let the latter finished with her words.

“I love you, Seulgi, so much.” 

Flipping on top of Irene, Seulgi only let her actions speak for herself once more. 

“Bae Joohyun! Answer me, did you or did you not give him your first time?”

Breaking away from her trance, Irene could only fearfully nod at her fuming dad before she received one of the hardest slaps she had ever gotten in her life. 

The stinging sensation was just about to spread when the next came showering down. Three is a charm they say, because a third one came straight after the second, leaving her with no reaction time to duck. 

“Stop it! She is your daughter!” 

If it wasn’t for Mrs Bae, she would have been struck for god knows how many times more. 

Warm tears rolled down her cheeks not because of sadness but because of the physical pain. 

He was that hard on her. 

Hand still on her neck, her fingers could feel the dents of the bite and unknowingly, she ghosted a smile, knowing that it was Seulgi’s way of claiming possession. 

“You are an unmarried girl for god sake! And here you are walking on the streets with those bruises on you? Are you two even going to get married? Are you?!”

“We can’t.”

A buzzing noise resounded in her ear upon the forth slap. 

“You can’t? You can’t but yet you gave him all of you?"

Mr Bae's hands on his waist, eyes full of anger. 

"He better come here right now, at this moment to ask for your hands, Bae Joohyun. He is sure marrying you.”

“We can’t.” His eyes enlarged at her defiance. “We can’t legally get married, at least not in Korea.” 

She watched her parents spot different expression each.

Her mum seemed to know more than she thought she knew, while her dad was having a moment of confusion. 

His brows furrowed, unable to instantly understand her words. 

“Why can’t you? Is he a criminal on the run? That’s why for more than two years he chose to remain quiet while dating my daughter?” 

She wiped her dried tears away, exhaling a rather loud sigh as she prepped herself. 

She may be terrified at the next happenings, but she was more afraid to lose Seulgi. 

“You have already met the person at the wedding, at my place, even here for the past years, Dad.”

“Joohyun, maybe not today.”

Mr Bae stared at his wife before Irene spoke again.

“It’s true that I have given my all to this person, and we can’t get married here for another decade, at the very least."

Her entire body was shaking in trepidation and she knew she can still turn back from this confrontation but she refused. 

She refused to let her timidity ruined herself and refused to compromise Seulgi any further.

She will never, never forget how painful it felt to hear Seulgi said things have to end. 

And with that pain etched in the back of her mind, she confessed to her greatest fear.

"How can we, if we are both girls..?”

It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders, only to be pulled down by another one when her dad cursed aloud at her, hands unbuckling his belt, a motion too familiar. 

When she was in grade three, she was whipped by her father with his leather belt, all because she was caught copying a classmate’s math homework. 

It was just one question but being the soldier who couldn’t stand anything morally wrong, he corrected his daughter with the harshest way possible. 

“Who the hell are you talking about?!” He cursed again. “It’s Kang Seulgi? That sly !”

“Don’t you dare call her that!”

If she thought that the previous four slaps were the hardest she have had, the fifth and sixth ones washed the record new. 

She could taste blood at the corner of her lips, but she regretted nothing. 

“We treated her like our own and this is what you two do to us? You let somebody three years younger manipulate your life into a wreck and disgusting state?” 

“Dear, I think-”

“Get into the room now, I got this." When there was no movement, he screamed. "Now!”

“You better stop with the hitting.” 

Mrs Bae tearfully caressed her daughter’s wounded cheek after she warned him, muttering apologies on behalf of her ill tempered husband while showing wordless acceptance with her smile before she left like she was commanded. 

“You are just confused, Joohyun.”

“Confused?” She simpered. “For almost my entire life, I know how I feel and you think it’s just confusion?”

Mr Bae ignored her comment. 

“I will arrange for your marriage with Ilhoon as soon as possible.”

“Dad! Are you even listening to me?”

Her head felt as if it was going to burst from all the frustration she was accumulating from the lack of direct responses to her words. 

“I don’t understand what you are saying, Joohyun. Seulgi has her own chap and you have Ilhoon too so if this is a stupid excuse to avoid marriage then it’s not working.” 

“The chap is non-existence! She is mine, solely mine!”

She exhausted herself with all the hollering, voice hoarse and cracked.

“Enough of this nonsense.”

“I asked her to move in with me after her graduation because I see her in my future.”

Mr Bae clinched his fist. “Shut up.”

“She makes me so happy.” 

I told you to shut it! Get your life together and throw this stupid out of your mind!”

“But Dad,” She wore a smile that made Mr Bae sick in the stomach. “She is my life.”

A whip came right at her face and defensively, she raised her arms, earning herself a huge strip of red burning mark. She landed on the sofa with her arms first, putting pressure on pain. Quickly nursing herself, her back was against her raging father. 

“I’m giving you a chance to wrap things up with her now, and you better grab at it. I will not tolerate any of my children to disgrace the family name! Dump her away, dump the disgusting thoughts you have!”

“No, no way.” 

Irene glared with her reddened eyes. 

“She wanted to end us! She is going to leave me and I can’t lose her!”

She grabbed at her dad’s sleeves.

“I need to do something about it because I love her so god damn much!”

Her cheeks were once again wet from her running tears, this time out of horror of losing Seulgi. 

“Do you know how disgusting that sounds?!”

“I really can’t lose her, Dad, not when she is all that I ever wanted.”

“Ilhoon has everything for you, and Kang Seulgi probably knows it too, that’s why she ended this stupid game you both have been playing.”

“Our relationship is not a game and I only want her, not Ilhoon, not anyone else!”

Furious, Irene pointed at her father who was forcing Ilhoon on her.  

“Your words and Ilhoon’s existence humiliated her so many times and I failed to defend her!”

She took another step forward, angering her father more than he already was, challenging his authority.

“But from now on, I’m going to be brave for her, to protect her.”

“Stupid girl.”

Mr Bae hissed and she pushed his limits more.

“I will never give her up.”

Another strike came at Irene for but she knew it was all worth it.