INEVITABLE

Chapter 4

Yuri enters her wife's study room to look for a pen. She opens one of the desk drawers and finds a red rope bracelet.

"Boo, you still keep this?"

"Hmm? Keep what?" her wife answers from the bedroom.

"This bracelet you bought during our honeymoon."

There was a sound of a body getting off the bed and footsteps that follow. Ryujin appears in the study room, looking comfy in her pajamas. "Ah that. Yes, I still keep it. Why?"

"Awe. Aren't you sweet?" Yuri smiles. "It has almost been two years now since you got this, right?"

Ryujin presses her lips together and nods. "Well... yeah... it's a memento... from our honeymoon..."

"You wanna go back there for our second anniversary? You wanted us to celebrate there last year, right?"

Ryujin raises her brows. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Consider it as a gift, since I had an emergency flight schedule on our first anniversary."

"You... are you sure you're okay with us going back there?"

Yuri closes in and cups her wife's cheeks. "Of course. Especially now that I've proven, my wife has developed a fixation towards that resort. Why not?"

Ryujin relaxes and smiles. "I love you."

"I love you too. I'm curious, why do you want to go back there?"

"First, the place is a paradise. You loved it yourself, remember?" Ryujin asks. Yuri nods. "Second, I want to visit the souvenir shop where I got this." She takes the bracelet from Yuri's hand. "The owner there is a nice ahjumma. I want to check how she's doing. I also want to visit a specific coffee shop there. I love the coffee I had that morning when I strolled there alone."

Yuri hums. "This doesn't involve any woman, in particular, right?"

Ryujin gave her a surprised look. "You've known me since we were students. I don't flirt."

"That's correct." Yuri wraps her arms around her wife's neck. "But a lot of girls have been flirting with you since then."

"Come on. You know I only have my eyes set on you, miss flight stewardess."

"Oh. I truly know that, miss cartoonist. I'm glad the only competition I have with you are those manhwa characters you've been crushing on."

Ryujin laughs. "Right."

"Oh. There is this female character again..." Yuri points at the drafts on the table. "Long black hair, fair complexion. You've been drawing this girl since we were in high school, remember?"

That seems to have made Ryujin speechless. "Oh. Was I?"

"Yeah, you said you keep dreaming about these specific features, but you can't find a story to fit her in," Yuri says. "I know it's her because the features are the same, even your drawing has improved. You even said it could be me, but looking at her now, she doesn't look like me."

Ryujin remains silent while Yuri checks the other drawings of the same character.

"She's gorgeous, huh..." Yuri turns back to her wife. "Are you finally publishing a new story with her in it? What's it about?"

"I am still waiting for Chaeyoung to finish the entire story. But it's about two women meeting unexpectedly and falling in love right away."

Yuri nods. "Sounds cliché."

"I know. But you know how good Chaeyoung is with twisting the story and executing the scenes perfectly. I'm pretty sure this will turn out great."

"So, have you finally decided to put a name to this character whom you seem to be crushing on since we were teenagers?"

Her wife smiles, and thinks, before saying, "it's Julia."

---

Yuri wakes up to an empty bed. She's sure her wife's gone out to stroll alone, like the last time they went to that resort for their honeymoon.

It isn't a new thing for her and her wife to do something like that. Ryujin appreciates strolling alone on the streets or at night because it helps with her creativity. And Yuri, being the supportive partner she is, gives Ryujin that alone time.

But what bothers her is when Ryujin comes back to the hotel room, looking upset.

"Boo, what's wrong?" Yuri asks after Ryujin plops down the bed, face buried into the pillows.

"The souvenir shop is no longer there," Ryujin says, her voice muffled.

Yuri always finds an upset Ryujin cute. She ruffles her wife's hair. "Well, did you at least order a coffee from that coffee shop you talked about before? Was that Gilda's Coffee Shop?"

Ryujin turns her head aside to face Yuri. "It's a different coffee shop now. I don't know what happened to the previous one. They also remodeled the place. It's far from how it looked two years ago."

"Awe. That's sad." Yuri hugs Ryujin and kisses her temple. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Ryujin smiles and stares at her. Knowing her wife for years, Yuri is sure there is something Ryujin's not telling her about.

But before she could even ponder over it, Ryujin's words erased all possible doubts that may arise.

"I love you, do you know that?"

Yuri smiles back. She kisses her wife one more time before saying, "I know. And I love you too."

They celebrated their anniversary together, trying all the activities the resort offers.