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It was a sunny day in London - a not so rare occurrence, despite what one might believe -, and the city was starting to get less crowded as January came to its end, allowing locals and tourists to move around without saying and hearing apologies for bumping into each other on a constant basis.
Covered by the blue cloudless sky, the couple walked slowly, hand in hand, in the surroundings of the Tower of London, stopping occasionally to better appreciate specific details of the scenery that caught their attention. Their cheeks were rosy, more due to the cold air than to the hand-holding, since they had been more than used to having their fingers entwined at most times by now. If tourists close by took some of their time to look at them, which none really did for they were too busy with their own sightseeing, they would notice how very happy the two girls were.
Right now, the long haired one was laughing at something the taller one had just said to her.
“It didn’t!” Nayeon’s expression was incredulous and amused at the same time.
“It did, I swear.” Jeongyeon had been telling her about how her friend, who spent three months in London to study English, had the key to the dorm where she was staying stolen by one of the ravens that inhabited the Tower. “She left her purse open on a bench for like two minutes to take a picture. When she looked back at it, the raven had its head inside it. She tried to shoo it away and, well, it worked.”
“It flew away.”
“Precisely.”
“Carrying her key.”
“Carrying her key.”
Nayeon laughed even more and shook her head at Jeongyeon’s friend’s unlucky visit to one of England’s most important buildings.
Jeongyeon felt sorry her friend had gone through being locked outside of her dorm for an hour until someone arrived and opened the door for her, not to mention scolded by the landlady for “losing” the key, but she was glad she had this story to tell Nayeon, for one of her favourite things in the world was making the girl laugh. Specially when the laughter didn’t come with Nayeon hitting her arm, which was the case this time, gladly.
Jeongyeon was mentally thanking not only her friend for providing such narrative, but also the prophecy, created centuries ago, that announced the departure of the ravens that lived at the Tower of London, if ever made to happen, would cause the British monarchy to fall, which led the birds not only to be very well kept at the building but also to steal distracted visitor’s shiny belongings from time to time. However, her thoughts were interrupted by the cold biting the palm of her hand that right up until now had been so warm.
Nayeon had unlaced their fingers.
Jeongyeon instinctively grimaced and was ready to whine and try to hold Nayeon’s hand again - when had she become so explicitly touchy-feely? -, when she noticed the girl had done so in order to fumble with her pocket, from where her phone now emerged.
“Let’s take a picture?” Nayeon was glowing. Every bit of her showed how much she loved being here.
“Sure. Since no ravens are around.” It was a silly remark, since they didn’t even have their purses with them where the animals could find interesting items to fly away with, having chosen to leave the hotel only with their phones and credit cards - although some pound bills and coins were brought too, just in case - in their pockets, but it made the older girl chuckle anyway. Jeongyeon just kept getting more and more cheerful.
Smile still on her face, Nayeon went to open the phone camera but, in her excitement, tapped the screen on the wrong place and got to the camera roll instead. When she was about to move her finger to find the right app, her eyes caught the pictures they had taken a few hours ago, and unconsciously lingered there for a bit.
They went to Hamleys in the morning, and spent quite a considerable time in there. It amused her to think about how very them it was, a toy shop - the oldest and largest in the world, but a toy shop still - being one of the first places they ever visited in London. Without much thought, she opened a picture that showed a delighted Jeongyeon, smile reaching her eyes as far as it possibly could, posing next to a human-sized, entirely made of Lego, Queen Elizabeth II.
Nayeon wanted to scream at how cute her big nerd of a girlfriend was. So cute she was the only one able to replace Kookeu as her phone wallpaper - although that wouldn’t be necessary, considering Nayeon, being very good at taking pictures without being noticed, had a photo of Jeongyeon happily playing with the dog on her lap on her lockscreen.
“Why are you smiling at your phone?” Jeongyeon’s question made Nayeon’s head shoot up, startled.
She felt her cheeks get warmer and hoped it wasn’t visible.
“Am I?”
“Yes. Been for a minute.” Since Nayeon didn’t answer, Jeongyeon smirked and added, “Bet you were looking at yourself on the front camera.”
Nayeon raised her eyebrows, affronted.
“I might as well had been, I’m aware I look specially good today.” She told Jeongyeon, who rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. “But I wasn’t. It was your fault I got distracted, actually.”
Why not tell her, anyway?
“Eh?” Jeongyeon blinked.
As if she didn’t know her natural ability to make Nayeon swoon.
“Yeah, you and your goofy face next to that silly Lego queen.” She showed Jeongyeon the picture, and appreciated that it was now the younger girl’s turn to have her face a little more pink.
“Are you calling the queen of England silly?” Apparently this was Jeongyeon’s way to change the attention from herself before she blushed even more. She even pretended to look aghast, and her voice came in a whisper. “Right here, a place full of the most competent security the Crown could provide?”
She finished the dramatic endeavour pointing to the entrance of the Tower, where a uniformed member of the Royal Guard was standing, as if he could hear them and lock them up in a dungeon inside the castle for what they had been saying.
“The Lego queen of England. Not the real one.” Nayeon made sure to sound as unimpressed as she could.
Jeongyeon let out an outraged gasp.
“Are you calling Lego silly?”
“Are you sure you want to hear the answer?”
“Not really. I know you love them.”
I do when you’re looking all happy playing with them, you dork, thought Nayeon, containing a smile. She just wasn’t going to tell Jeongyeon that, because it was funny teasing her about her most beloved hobby.
“The picture, then, remember?” She changed the subject back to the reason why she got her phone out of her pocket in the first place, shaking it in front of Jeongyeon.
“Right!” Jeongyeon’s eyes going a little bigger showed she had also forgotten what they were supposed to have done minutes ago if not for this whole banter.
They took some selfies with the portion of the Tower of London it was possible to fit in the phone camera behind them, faces squashed together. When both of them were satisfied with the result, Jeongyeon immediately took Nayeon’s hand in hers again, making warmth return to their fingers.
“It’s such a perfect place for a date, isn’t it?” Nayeon sighed, looking around and squeezing Jeongyeon’s hand fondly.
It certainly was, thought Jeongyeon. From where they stood, they could also see Tower Bridge, its blue details matching the sky perfectly. The cold but not harsh weather, the different kinds of architecture that could be spotted around them, the Thames, the tourists and even the pigeons that were being contentedly fed - everything made her feel so much gratitude, a comforting kind of happiness spreading throughout her body. All was calm, all was beautiful, and she truly couldn’t wish for more.
“It is.” Jeongyeon agreed, giving Nayeon a tender smile to match the one she was receiving. She could have told the girl that she was just as mesmerising, and maybe even more, than the sights provided by the capital of England. Could even have pointed out how stunning she looked, with her dark hair flowing gently with the wind and the contrast between her red jacket and the ageing plain colours of the castle. But this was Jeongyeon, so what came out of her mouth was “How many people do you think died here?”
Nayeon grimaced without a word, although What?! in most indignant letters could be clearly read in her expression. Of course the younger girl would say something like that instead of just pulling her close(r) and giving her a kiss on a perfect day in a perfect place in a perfect city.
“Can we please do romance just once?” She managed to ask, one part of her wanting to laugh, the other to glare at Jeongyeon, to what she ended up doing a bit of both.
Jeongyeon chuckled.
“What could be more romantic than cold-blooded murders and public executions?”
Nayeon was in the middle of opening her mouth to name at least seventy-six more romantic things she could think of right now, when the kiss suddenly came, and she realised she didn’t mind the moment it took to happen at all.
Jeongyeon was, in fact and not so deep down, a romantic soul, the type to start crying when watching movies that showed a couple having a happy ending, and the one friend everyone guessed would fall the hardest when finding the right person - a hypothesis quite confirmed thanks to the girl she was currently kissing. Hence, she was very capable of romance, to the extent of being a master in the sappiest kind of love confessions when she truly wanted to.
However, although feelings and words were becoming easier and easier to be put together when it came to writing songs, they were considerably harder to deal with when being said directly to someone she so thoroughly adored. Responding to possibly romantic situations with funny retorts, or by taking action instead of talking, or both, was much easier than verbalising how helplessly in love she was, even with this condition being common knowledge to anyone who knew her and Nayeon.
The result of all this was Jeongyeon being a specialist at saying the most non-romantic things possible when the opposite was expected of her, and that’s why Nayeon wasn’t all that shocked when, right after being reminded of historical British beheadings, she was getting kissed - and kissing back - in such a way that made her feel all the affection they had for each other enveloping them.
And, exactly as the day and the place and the city, it was perfect.
“You’re very talented,” Nayeon’s first words after they broke out of the kiss - a necessary measure to allow them to breathe, both asking themselves when would humankind adapt to not needing oxygen in order to survive because, really, it could be quite bothersome sometimes - made Jeongyeon look at her with a confused expression. Nayeon started smoothing the younger girl’s trench coat lapels. “Not everyone’s able to woo someone by talking about public executions.”
Jeongyeon laughed.
“You’re probably the only one who’d go with, but it’s always good to discover a new skill.” She looked at Nayeon’s hands that were still working on her coat for a moment, then focused on the girl’s face and pretended to be scared. “Wait, are you trying to tell me I’m dating a psychopath?”
“Hey! You started with the subject!” Protested Nayeon, amused, giving Jeongyeon a slight push between the collarbones. “I’m the one who should be concerned.”
“Are you?”
“Nah, you’re too nice.”
Jeongyeon just wanted to kiss her again.
“That’s exactly what a psychopath would want you to think.”
“You’re even nice to snails, Jeongyeon.”
“Snails are cute!”
“See?”
Jeongyeon felt she should probably defend the poor animals from being referred to as unworthy of being called cute, but oh, who cared.
She gave Nayeon a peck on the lips.
(She did care about the snails, though. Nayeon was getting convinced of their loveliness sometime later.)
A quick touch was the best option at the moment, for too much kissing at once would probably leave them with being teased by certain seven girls about why exactly their lips looked swollen in all the photos they sent to their group chat.
When Jeongyeon pulled back, she got to add to her enjoyment the fact that she had, once more, caught Nayeon by surprise.
“Am I going to get kissed every time we talk about something slightly repulsive?” Asked Nayeon, trying to sound exasperated but failing terribly, since not only the tone of her voice but also the big smile on her face gave her away. Just a peck, and the girl was left looking like this. Jeongyeon loved her smile, and even more so when she was the one who had caused it to appear.
“Who knows?” Jeongyeon pinched Nayeon’s cheek playfully, and then added, honestly, “I just really wanted to kiss you.”
Nayeon blushed. She had been expecting Jeongyeon to bring up some other subject she found disgusting or disturbing, like sashimi and possessed plush toys. Not this straightforwardness. Proficiency certificate in being romantic when no one was expecting, definitely.
Thankfully, she knew Jeongyeon wouldn’t notice her flushed complexion, for she was currently squishing Nayeon’s face with both hands, covering the new layer of pink that was added to the one caused by the cold weather. She just didn’t want to receive a smirk right after being the one that had gotten a great opportunity to be doing the smirking. Which she would, if it wasn’t for her mouth being squashed between her cheeks thanks to Jeongyeon.
“You know...” Started the younger girl, finally leaving Nayeon’s face in peace, and looking at their surroundings, taking in the view. After a few seconds, she turned back to Nayeon, grinning. “We’re in London.”
An obvious statement, sure, but it made Nayeon realise she had practically forgotten where they were, amidst their kissing and teasing and laughing. There was a whole city she wanted to visit since forever all around, and Jeongyeon was able to make her forget about it just by being there next to her, being herself. And Nayeon knew she had the precise same effect on Jeongyeon, both of them completely aware of how mutual and true their feelings were.
A few years ago, Jeongyeon, looking taken aback, told Nayeon what a big dream it was, wanting to go to London. She was even more amazed when Nayeon told her she was part of her dream. If by then Jeongyeon had had any doubts of how much Nayeon wanted her to be always close by, they were all gone now. They simply adored each other. That one thing was clear.
What actually still amazed not only Jeongyeon, but also Nayeon altogether, was that they really, actually were in London. With all the work and appointments and everything else that made their schedules so busy, they had managed to be here. Side by side.
Repeating Jeongyeon’s motion, Nayeon looked around them, grinning as well and settling her gaze upon the girl’s face afterwards.
“We are.” She confirmed. “We really are.”
And then, with Nayeon wrapping an arm around Jeongyeon’s waist, they both resumed their walking, the Tower of London next to them and their happiness just as clear as the great blue sky.