Hanni doesn't respond for a moment, darting her eyes away.
'Ah, I see...' Minji thinks
When Minji, gently tugs at her face to make her look back at her and searches her eyes, Hanni finally answers her with a meek, "Yes..."
The frown on Minji's face afterwards made Hanni's heart drop. "Oh..." Minji trails off, seeming to be pondering. "What did I do then?"
Right. What did Minji do? What did she do that was so wrong that made Hanni so upset?...
... Nothing.
All Minji did was work. Work. Work. Work. That's all she does. Hanni hates it. But was it wrong? No.
"Hanni?" Minji lets out when Hanni has gone quiet.
"You're too busy," Hanni says, there is hurt in her voice when she tears her eyes away from Minji's. "You're always so busy... You... You don't seem to have time for me... anymore."
Hanni holds her breath. She doesn't know how Minji would react, to be honest. It feels good that she has finally told Minji how she felt... But at the same time, she felt awful? She feels terrible, and stupid, as though she's being a brat and complaining about how Minji isn't doing a good job at being her girlfriend.
Which isn't true. Minji is great. She has been nothing but sweet to her. She is just... Extremely busy recently. And felt a little cold. Maybe it was because Hanni wasn't used to not having her attention.
Hanni is very clingy after all.
Would Minji think that Hanni was being unreasonable? Call her childish? Will she be
defensive and get mad? Will they end up fighting over this? Hanni waits, her heart pounding nervously.
Minji doesn't say anything at first, and Hanni dare not look at her, her eyes casting downwards.
"Minji..." she mutters meekly, going to play with Minji's hands. "Say something?"
To her surprise, Minji pulls her into another hug.
"I'm sorry," Minji breathes once again.
Hanni doesn't know what to say. She hadn't expected Minji to apologize. Minji the lawyer,
who's quick-witted and knowledgeable and always right. Minji who finds joy in debating with others and spewing sarcastic remarks just to prove a point. The woman who always has a logical explanation for everything she does.
Hanni doesn't know why she feels more frustrated than relieved. Except this time, she thinks she's more frustrated at herself.
"I know I haven't been spending a lot of time with you recently and... I-I really wish I could but... A lot has been happening at work so I just..." She sighs.
"I'm sorry..."
"Minji..."
"I know, I know it's getting out of hand and I know I don't tell you enough but just... Just hear me out... I..."Minji takes a deep breath.
"I want to tell you how I'll be more free starting next month, but then again, to be honest, I really don't know if I'll be able to spend more time with you in the near future, at least not for the next couple of months for now..." she sighs. "I mean I know I come off as a workaholic to everyone but sometimes I want a break too you know," she tells Hanni a matter of factly. "Like it'd be nice if I could take a week off and go on vacation with you or something, and I have been thinking about it... A lot..."
"R-really?" Hanni asks, surprised that Minji would even think about leaving her work for a week. The great lawyer Kim Minji. Leaving her work. For a whole week. That in itself seems bizarre and unbelievable. Although, Minji including Hanni in plans like these makes her really glad.
"Yeah," Minji says. "But I... I can't because... there's this stupid case going on which I took up, foolishly thinking it was a minor one. But then it got complicated and became a big serious one and it has been dragging on, and will probably still drag on, for a while along with the few other things I'm handling which is... It's just a total mess." Minji raises a hand to press at her temples at the
thought of it and Hanni eyes her sympathetically. "It doesn't help that the firm also just expanded so mentor has been trusting me with more responsibilities and I have to deal with all the junior lawyers and the interns too. And Yeji keeps bothering me about her cases because I'm her senior and she is so so annoyingly precise about checking every single detail with me and I just-" she pauses, noticing how Hanni had gone quiet, just listening to her with her head tilted upwards as her chin rests on Minji's chest. There's this look on her face that Minji can't really decipher and she wonders if her rambling has made Hanni bored. "I... I'm sorry I shouldn't be going on about my work on a weekend... Not when you just woke up with a hangover-"
"Oh no no Min, it's fine," Hanni says tightening her hold around Minji's wais
"You can go on..."
Minji rarely talks about her work like this, it was always Hanni who had been sharing about her job and Minji would just listen to her quietly. She had no idea Minji was this frustrated and had been bombarded with these many tasks. No wonder she always seems so... tense.
"It's okay, I don't want to bore you with my-"
"You're not," Hanni tells her, her eyebrows furrowing. Was that why she never talks about her job?
"You're not boring me Minji, it's just... It's the longest I've ever heard you talked about
work and..." Hanni mumbles the next part out, "the longest I've actually heard you spoken... in a while now."
That made Minji feel extremely bad.
"Oh... I..." Minji wants to apologise again. She feels
awful. Had she really been neglecting Hanni this much? She didn't mean to. She feels like a terrible girlfriend. "I'm so sorry Han I-"
"No no... it's okay..." Hanni says. "I... I'm sorry too, I didn't know you were dealing with so much... Just... Just keep talking, please... I want to know what's been going on with your job anyway, you know since they keep stealing you away from me," she huffs.
"And besides..." she mumbles out the next part shyly. "I... I just really miss hearing your voice Min."
Minji stares at her girlfriend in a daze. "Oh..." she says feeling her heart flutter at the
confession.
"Oh... Okay um... well..." she went on telling Hanni about why she had been working overtime so much recently and why her schedule had changed to even having to work on Saturdays. Some stuff was rather technical and others even related to some politics in her office, and Hanni listens to her, nodding understandingly.
When Minji was done, Hanni lets her continue to hug her as she tried to digest her words. "So... You're saying you probably would still be this busy... Until probably a couple of months later..." Hanni repeats.
"Yes... Unfortunately..." Minji tells her. "I mean, I'll try to wrap things up earlier if possible but... I hope you won't be too upset... Or think that I'm ignoring you on purpose. Because I'm really not, and I'm so sorry if I ever made you feel neglected babe... I-"
Hanni cuts her off when she pulls away from her abruptly.
Hanni wants to say it's alright... Wants to tell her that it's not a big deal. But to be honest it was.
With her personality, she's not okay with it, despite now being more understanding about it since she has a clearer picture, and she probably will not be until Minji becomes less busy again...
But she can only suck it up and make do with however much time Minji had to spare at the moment... At least until her bigger cases were over and the new firm has settled down, according to Minji's explanation.
"Han?" The older girl wonders what's going on when Hanni moves away from her. She almost looks nervous which would have been hilariously cute if they weren't in this situation.
Minji is seldom nervous after all.
Hanni takes a deep breath, pondering for a moment.
"Minji," Hanni says.
"Y-yes?"
"Are you... free today?"
Despite her headache, Hanni wants them to go out. She wants Minji to spend quality time with her, to have her attention on her, not on her work, even if it was just for a day. It's been a while since they went on a date after all, and it seems that Sunday was now the only day where she had Minji to herself.
So out they went.
They got out of bed, washed up, and got dressed comfortably. Minji is in a white crop top, a thin loose flannel outerwear draped over her shoulders and tight denim jeans clad to her skin. Hanni matches her in a pretty floral white off-shoulder top and skinny jeans. By the time they got out of the house, it's already past noon.
Minji drives them out in her beloved red Porsche 911 Carrera towards... Hongdae?
"What do you wanna do there, love?" Minji wonders as they made a turn.
"You'll see," Hanni says happily, her mood already lifting.
The streets of Hongdae were narrow and bustling with people. Hanni takes the opportunity to cling onto Minji's arm as they walked.
Hongdae brings back a lot of happy memories for Hanni.
Through high school to university, she used to visit Hongdae all the time with her friends after classes were over. They'd window shop, go for karaoke and play with those claw machines.
In the evenings they would hang around to watch street performances and share delicious street food.
However, a memory she was most fond of here was one she had with Minji when they had just started dating.
Minji was always taking Hanni to expensive places for dates and Hanni had just wanted to do something simple for a change, so she brought Minji to Hongdae once.
That was a while back though... Hanni wondered if Minji still remembered.
They grabbed a quick bite from one of the street food stalls, strolling along the shopping street for awhile.
Afterwards, Hanni drags them over to the arcade.
Minji's eyebrow raised at the loud noises the moment they enter the place, feeling a little overwhelmed at the sounds.
"Babe," Hanni tiptoes, speaking into Minji's ear fighting against all the noise.
Minji silently thanks the venue they were at. If the place wasn't so obnoxiously noisy, the lawyer would have easily been turned on by the way her girlfriend's warm breath was grazing her earlobe. "I'm going to go change some coins, okay?"
Minji stares at Hanni in a daze, Hanni looks really nice in that off-shoulder top. The younger woman was too occupied to notice the look in Minji's eyes, rambling on about how Minji had to wait by the dance machine she wanted to play, so that "no one else will steal the spot"
when she gets back. "So you can't go anywhere else okay? Unnie? Minji unnie! Did you hear what I was saying?"
Minji nodded at her, patting her head and going to signal an okay to Hanni. Satisfied, the tinier girl went off.
Minji stares fondly at Hanni's back view until the younger woman disappeared, then she turned her attention to the bright lights on the game machine. It reads Dance Dance Revolution Nova and Minji scoffs at how new it looked compared to the simpler and older version she used to play.
Despite the deafening noises, Minji couldn't help feeling nostalgic when her eyes met the many blinking lights. A long time ago, when she was still a student, these sounds felt much less foreign and annoying to her as she used to frequent the arcade too. In fact, the music and buzzing of the various machines would've made Minji felt so alive.
She remembers a point in her life where she was practically only studying all day wanting to do well for her examinations, wanting to prove that she wasn't just some spoilt rich kid who lived off of her parents' money.
Regardless of how the media portrayed her family, with all the wealth, glitz, and glamour, Minji grew up with a lot of pressure on her shoulders. The whole world seemed to be watching them constantly, it was suffocating.
One mistake and they'd make it seem like it's the end of the world. Minji has an older sister, and they used to be close until she seemingly decided to flee overseas and never intended to come back.
Her parents? They were both always busy being somewhere else and were never there. The silence in her huge house was deafening, while everywhere else and everyone else was far too noisy. The arcade became her escape then, no one bothered her when she was there. There, it was a different kind of noise. She used to like how it's noise would drown out her flooding thoughts, as the pounding beats from her favourite dancing game numbed out the heavy feeling in her chest at times.
Minji loved to dance. At least she used to, back in high school. It was one of the few things that made her happy and allowed her to connect with a few interesting people who later became good friends of hers.
She hadn't stepped foot into one of these places much after getting into law school, and needless to say, she stopped indulging in hobbies like these once she started working.
"I'm back!" Hanni says beaming at her, snapping her out of her thoughts. Minji found her excitement endearing.
Hanni couldn't wait to slot the coins into the machine so she could watch Minji dance.
She knew how much Minji secretly enjoyed this game... No matter how much she pretended like she didn't.
Hanni got onto the podium, kicking off her shoes to the side, preparing herself. "Come on, Minji!"
she yelled when Minji just stood there. There were a few people casually gathering around to watch, which was a norm when someone started the game. As expected, Minji shook her head smiling shyly.
"You play, I'll just watch-" but Hanni is clicking her tongue, already pulling at her arms, dragging her up. "Oh come on Min!"
The moment Hanni inserted the coins, Minji's eyes lit up at the bright sounds of the machine.
Hanni secretly smirks when she notices how Minji was already preparing herself, a hand holding onto the giant n shaped metal bar at the back for support, her shoes taken off and placed neatly at the side.
When the music starts Minji's eyes are glued to the screen.
Hanni misses the first couple of notes from glancing at Minji too much, but she quickly refocuses on the screen too.
It's fun and Hanni shrieks each time she almost misses.
She can hear Minji laughing beside her as her feet tapped at the arrows swiftly and accurately. Hanni likes this feeling, the feeling of Minji having fun next to her and not being stressed out over work. It feels nice. Light.
Carefree.
They both pass the first couple of songs of medium difficulty, with Minji almost perfecting most of it.
"Let's play competitive mode this time?" Hanni suggested as she placed more coins into the machine when they ended the first set.
Minji nods, taking off her flannel outerwear, going to tie it around her waist. "Oh, someone is getting serious now aren't they?" Hanni teases, as she secretly admired Minji's toned arms and defined abs. Minji lightly pushes her. "Shut up..." Hanni laughs and insists that Minji picked the next song. "Choose a difficult one, Min!" So Minji lets her fingers glide over the buttons to pick a song.
_______
Hanni screams throughout the song as she struggles to catch up, failing to hit many of the notes because the multiple arrows seem to suddenly fly at lightning speed towards the top of the screen.
"EEEK! Minjiii! This is too fast!"
Minji laughs at her holding onto the bar behind as she played the game like a pro.
"MINJI!!! I'm losing!! Help!!!"
"Hahahha stop screaming Hanni-ah, you're distracting me!!" Hanni complains while laughing, clearly enjoying what was happening.
As expected, Minji passes the song with a decent score.
Hanni on the other hand failed miserably... Which was the whole point; Hanni wanted to play competitive mode, knowing she would lose. She wanted to lose so that she could opt out of the next round and just watch Minji play instead.
"You're not going to continue?" Minji asks her when Hanni starts putting on her shoes.
Hanni shook her head. "I wanna take a break," she says. "You have two more songs, I'll watch you play," she tells Minji with a smile.
"Alright then," Minji shrugs, going to continue choosing a song.
Hanni pats her girlfriend's butt playfully before stepping down from the podium. She stood at a spot where she has a good view of Minji.
Minji was exceptional at the game. Hanni inwardly pats herself on the back for planning to lose just so she could watch because standing beside Minji to play and watching her play from the side was two totally different experiences.
Hanni decides that she'd much rather watch Minji play from the side because the view was just... perfect.
Minji looked so carefree while having fun, making her resemble an excited kid.
Hanni couldn't help but take out her phone to snap a picture of her girlfriend, wanting to keep the memory.
When Minji finishes the final song, Hanni cheers as though she was a fan of hers and
Minji playfully bowed. "We still have some coins left, do you still wanna play this game or?" Minji asks her.
Hanni shook her head. "Nah, you can continue playing if you want, Min." Seeing how happy Minji was when she danced, Hanni didn't want to play anything else. Just watching her play was enough. It was obvious that this was Minji's favourite game and they seldom had time to visit an arcade so Hanni wanted Minji to use up all the coins to play another round before they left the arcade to go do something else.
"Are you sure?" Minji asks her in surprise. "I thought you wanted to play one of those claw machines?"
Hanni only grins at her, "Hehe I changed my mind... To be honest, I just wanted to watch you dance," she confessed.
"Oh..." Minji blushes. She didn't think that Hanni would bring her to an arcade only to end up watching her play.
"Well okay if you don't want to use the coins then... I'll continue playing then. Ah but..." Minji trails off gesturing to her throat. "All this dancing is making me really thirsty, could you go get me a drink please?"
Hanni nods, "Of course, baby." And with a kiss to her cheek and a thank you from Minji, Hanni went off to buy a bottle of mineral water while Sooyoung started another round.
______
Hanni returns with an ice-cold bottle of water in her hand somewhere along the middle of the second song.
She's surprised to find that a small crowd has gathered to watch Minji play. Not only that but... Someone else seems to be playing with her.
It became a dance-off of some sort, some girl taking Hanni's spot previously to play against Minji. Except, the said girl, who was really decent looking and seemed about Hanni's age, was also a pro like Minji and they were both actually taking the game very seriously.
Hanni sighed, even when they were on a date, she had to somehow share Minji with others.
How annoying.
'Oh well. It's only a game,' she tells herself as she tried to find a good spot among the small crowd to watch her girlfriend.
The second song ends with Minji winning the other girl.
The girl seems to be a good sport and seems friendly... too friendly. She congratulates Minji with a pat on the back and a quick one- handed friendly hug which made Hanni's eyes widen as she tries her best not to be annoyed.
The girl stands idly at the podium because she lost the round and Hanni wondered why she didn't want to get off if she wasn't going to continue playing. Minji had 1 more song left since she won. Before she chose the next song she turns around, spotting Hanni at the side.
She waves at Hanni, and Hanni smiles at her, going over to hand her the drink.
"Thanks baby," Minji says. She drinks the water quickly, gulping it down as the machine counted down the remaining time she had to choose a song. "Hey slow down unnie," Hanni giggles.
Drops of water slips from Minji lips then, dripping down her neck as she did so and Hanni couldn't help but stare. She instinctively reaches a hand out to wipe at Minji's neck... suddenly she had the urge to press her lips against it.
Hanni snaps out of her thoughts when Minji hands the bottle back to her, ruffling her hair with a grin. "That was refreshing."
The younger woman clicked her tongue in feigned
annoyance. "Yah!"
"Hehe, I have one more song left," Minji told her sweetly.
"Wait for me okay?"
Hanni nods, stepping away to let Minji continue her game.
She couldn't help but noticed how the girl, along with the crowd, was still there, obviously anticipating Minji to continue playing.
Hanni frowned.
To Hanni, Minji had looked so cool, swiftly tapping all the arrows with her feet. The other people watching seem to have similar thoughts as they cheered when Minji had kept her perfect combos.
Hanni wonders how many times she used to play this as a teen for her to be this
good...
But cool wasn't the only word to describe Minji killing it at the game. Because the more
accurate word to describe her, Hanni realised, would be the exact opposite; hot.
Minji was hot. And that's why as the final song reaches its end, Hanni found herself wanting to quickly pull her girlfriend away from the unwanted attention of the audience that had unknowingly started to form.
Hanni would be lying if she said she wasn't glad to be able to shamelessly stare at her beautiful girlfriend dancing while the bright lights from the arcade illuminated her gorgeous profile nicely.
Minji had a pretty face as well as the body of a goddess, and the tight denim pants and
cropped top she was wearing wasn't doing a good job at hiding that fact at all.
Which was precisely why Hanni was starting to feel irritated. While she was glad to be staring at her girlfriend, she wasn't happy about the bunch of random people that were also standing around to watch her too. Especially since their eyes were obviously also ogling at her girlfriend.
Hanni glances around to confirm her deductions and unfortunately realises that she was right. She was baffled. One of them even seems to be staring at Minji's butt. Hanni wants to punch the guy. How dare these people rake their eyes up and down Minji's perfect body.
She was in the middle of an internal rant when she turned her attention back to look at Minji.
The song had just ended and Minji seemed to have worked up a small sweat from finishing the game. Her chest was heaving up and down, the abs on her toned stomach looking extra defined.
Sweat trickled lightly down her neck as she lifts a slender wrist to wipe at the side of her face.
And... Was that her bra showing through the fabric of her shirt?! Hanni's heart leaped at the sight, her throat going dry.
She could see the straps clinging to Minji's skin which naturally brought the image of her girlfriend with her shirt off to her brain.
The younger woman was both turned on and worried at the same time. Yep, she thought as she swallowed a gulp, there's no doubt that Minji is extremely attractive. She always has been.
Even more so after playing dance dance revolution. Heck, she practically looks like a model that came out of a dancing commercial. But no. Nope. There's absolutely no way in hell Hanni was going to let these bunch of strangers continue staring at her girlfriend like this.
Especially not that girl that was still standing next to her on the podium with her mouth hanging open slightly.
God, can they be any more obvious? No wonder she refuses to get down even after her turn.
Minji moves to stretch and her crop top travels higher and higher, making Hanni's eyes widen even further. One of the guys near her let out a whistle at the sight. Minji didn't hear it. But Hanni did.
And she is furious. She turns to glare at him before storming towards the podium.
"Hey Hanni, did you see my high score-" Minji lets out excitedly, wanting to tell her but before she can even finish Hanni is untying the flannel outerwear tied to Minji's waist. "Huh what are you do-" Hanni drapes the clothing over her and rushes her to put on her shoes. Confused, Minji does so anyway, and soon she found that Hanni is clinging onto her arm, hurriedly tugging her out of the arcade.
________