Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Yuqi woke with a start, feeling like her heart had suddenly been electrocuted.

Must’ve been a nightmare.

She clutched at her chest as she tried to get her breathing under control. She’d only just managed to calm down when her phone alarm blared out beside her.

“Ah—giving me a heart attack—stupid alarm!”

She continued her useless muttering as she forced herself out of bed. Shutting off her alarm, she sluggishly checked her notifications.

One new message.

And just from seeing who the sender was, a smile found its way to her face. She opened the text and felt her morning immediately get a hundred times better.

[BossLady<3]

Rise and shine my eternal sunshine :)

I woke up thinking about you today, missing you already

“Why is she so cute?” Yuqi practically squealed. She checked the timestamp and noticed that the message had come in ten minutes ago. How did her girlfriend know that she’d wake up grumpy today and need this extra boost of happy? Was she psychic or did they just know each other that well?

It’s always like this—like soulmates.

So Yuqi excitedly texted back, smiling ear-to-ear.

Can I call you right now? I wanna hear your voice :’)

The response wasn’t quite what she wanted though.

[BossLady<3]

Maybe later, you have to get ready for work

Hey, I can multi-task!

[BossLady<3]

No you can’t and you know it haha

I’ll call during your lunch? How’s that?

Fine…….

[BossLady<3]

Stop sulking baby

I love you <3

Yuqi’s pout melted away into a smile. Her girlfriend knew just what to say to make her feel better. And she was right, Yuqi couldn’t multi-task to save her life. So she sent off one last message before putting away her phone.

I love you always <3

And she practically sprang to her feet after that. She felt suddenly energized—like she could do anything and everything. But she knew she had to channel that into doing just one thing right now. She had to get ready for work.

--

Yuqi stepped out of her apartment with her briefcase in one hand and her packed lunch in the other. Her girlfriend had made a week’s worth of food before she’d left to go back home over the weekend. She’d complained about how Yuqi was always wasting her money on delivery and how she could use a homecooked meal every now and then.

And Yuqi wholeheartedly agreed. She couldn’t wait to dig into her girlfriend’s wonderful cooking during lunch.

She walked briskly down the street, checking her watch to make sure she was still on time. She was, but she could still use a little pep in her step. She stopped at a crosswalk and diligently waited for the light to change.

And that’s when she started noticing that something was… off.

The pedestrian lights had changed overnight. Instead of the usual red stickman that signaled ‘No Walking’, there was a red skull and bones lit up across the street. Yuqi raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked at the guy beside her to see if he had noticed it too. But—

The guy beside her had no head.

Like he was completely headless. There was a body and shoulders and a neck—but on top of that? Nothing.

“Whoa! That looks so real!” She exclaimed in surprise. “How did you make it look so real? I can’t see any mirrors or anything.” She tilted her own head from side to side as she tried to figure out how his incredibly lifelike costume worked.

The guy’s shoulders turned towards her in what could’ve been either surprise or disgust. It was actually pretty hard to tell without a head. But he didn’t share his secret with her. Instead, he walked off across the street along with the rest of the crowd that had been waiting.

Okay, maybe that was kind of rude but he could’ve still told me.

Yuqi pouted and crossed the street before the lights could change back. Halfway across, she glanced up to see that the ‘Walking’ signal had been changed too. It was now a white bat with both of its wings unfurled in flight.

Huh. Maybe there’s a Halloween convention in town.

--

Yuqi entered her private practice in a whirlwind. She hung up her coat beside the door and carefully wiped her shoes against the doormat.

Her secretary greeted her with a smile from her desk.

“Morning Doctor. Enjoy your weekend?”

“Did I ever!” Yuqi smiled just thinking about it. She walked past the empty waiting room and stopped at her secretary’s desk. There was a cup of coffee and a stack of files already waiting for her. “But of course, work waits for no one.”

“Of course,” her secretary replied. “How’s the Boss Lady? Still nagging you about your meals?”

“Yep and you know what?”

“What?”

“I love it!” Yuqi laughed at herself as she picked up the files and coffee. “Wouldn’t trade it for the world!”

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” the secretary cooed, her hands folded underneath her chin. “You guys make me believe in love.”

Yuqi took a sip of her coffee and let out a satisfied groan. “And then you come into work and have your soul crushed by the yawning despair of failing relationships.”

The secretary sighed and nodded in acknowledgment. “You’re absolutely right. It’s like a warzone in there.” She cast a haunting look towards the waiting room, as if she was remembering every beleaguered couple that had ever set foot in this place. “Today’s going to be pretty bad too. You’ve got two pretty heavy cases around lunch.”

“Just two?”

“Oh, just wait till you read their files,” the secretary said with a look filled with warning.

“Yikes.”

And so Yuqi kept walking into her main office, taking careful sips of her coffee as she moved. She placed her briefcase, files and lunch on top of her desk and then plopped down into her chair. She instinctively reached for her phone when a thought suddenly stopped her.

“Hey,” she called out to her secretary through the open door. “Is there a Halloween convention happening or something?”

The young girl’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Not that I know of, why?”

“No reason, just—” Yuqi felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw the familiar contact pop up on the screen. And her mouth split into a smile. “—just… wondering…”

She didn’t notice when her secretary got up and graciously pushed her office door closed, saying, “Tell the Boss Lady I said hi.”

But Yuqi was already focused on the text that had just come in.

[BossLady<3]

Did you make it safely to work?

Did you remember to bring your lunch?

Do you know that I love you?

Yes to all three <3

[BossLady<3]

Good haha

Work hard today too <3

And with that vote of confidence, Yuqi found the strength she needed to start tackling her work head on. She grabbed the folders on her desk and dove right in.

She had two couples scheduled to come in today. Both had been together for quite a long time—decades actually. And as her secretary had warned her, the files were a doozy. The questionnaires that the couples had filled out were unlike any she’d ever seen before. She didn’t know if they hadn’t understood the questions or if they were writing in some sort of code she didn’t know. They wrote in prose that was difficult and obscure—

Who even says ‘wherefore’ anymore? This isn’t Romeo and Juliet.

—and they exaggerated even the tiniest details.

How did you meet? In the bowels of hell after her tragic death.

Like… What did that even mean? How was Yuqi supposed to use any of this to prepare for their appointments? She had to call her secretary in to help her parse through some of it, but even she didn’t know how to explain it.

Yuqi huffed. “Hell? As in an unpleasant experience maybe? Like college or a job or—”

“Or maybe actual hell?” Her secretary offered, but was shot down by an unamused glare.

So, in the end Yuqi decided to just wing it. She could just ask the couples themselves when they came in—that would probably be more productive than banging her head against the wall trying to understand their files.

The first couple arrived promptly at 11 am.

Seo Soojin and Yeh Shuhua.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The first thing that Yuqi noticed about Soojin and Shuhua was that they were practically attached at the hip.

They walked into her office holding hands and with bright smiles on their faces. Shuhua was the talker. She was loud and a bit blunt and had probably been the one to make the appointment judging by how excited she was to meet Yuqi. And Soojin was the more laidback of the two. She stood almost behind Shuhua and only exchanged pleasantries when they first walked in. For the rest of the introduction, she was mostly silent.

“Why don’t you two have a seat?” Yuqi offered, gesturing to the couch in front of her desk. Once they were all seated, Yuqi flipped open their case file in front of her. It was mostly for show though, since there wasn’t very much in it that she could understand. But, yet still, she smiled at the two of them. “So what brings the two of you here today?”

“Um…” Shuhua spoke up first, as Yuqi had expected her to. The pale girl glanced back at Soojin before saying, “It was my idea, actually.”

I knew it!

“But I agreed when Shuhua brought it up,” Soojin cut in with her uber quiet voice. Her mouth barely moved while she talked. “We’re originally not a couple with very many problems…”

“That’s not to say we don’t fight or anything,” Shuhua continued at a much more robust volume. She brought a hand up to help express her point and Yuqi noticed how Soojin’s hand was gripped tightly around her upper arm. But it didn’t look like it was merely there for support. It looked like Soojin was hanging on to the other girl for dear life. “We’re a very healthy couple,” Shuhua insisted. “We share chores and we communicate a lot and we visit each other’s parents all the time—though your family’s always a bit harder to get to during the holiday season, but we try our best anyway.”

Soojin nodded in support. “They appreciate it.”

“Right—so we’re doing okay. But…” And here Shuhua faltered a bit. Her brows furrowed as she contemplated how to express herself. “I guess this is something that’s just been building for a while and it’s hard for us to—we can’t really agree on what’s the best thing to do, so…”

“We thought an outside opinion could help,” Soojin concluded with a tight smile.

Oh, that’s surprisingly mature of them.

Yuqi nodded along sagely. “Well, I’m glad that you chose to come see me. Sometimes it’s easier to talk through your thoughts with a third party than with your partner—especially when it’s something that might cause conflict.” She picked up her notebook and settled back into her chair, pen at the ready. “So, let’s see if I can help you, shall we? What kind of problem are we looking at here?”

Shuhua warily glanced back at Soojin before saying, “We can’t be away from each other.”

And Yuqi just blinked. She waited a few more seconds to see if Shuhua would continue, but that seemed to be all she was willing to share. And Yuqi could only chuckle—a little confused, a little amused.

“That’s not usually a problem my clients have,” she remarked. “It’s usually the other way around.”

“Well, this one’s different,” Shuhua groused. “And we wouldn’t wish this on anyone else.”

Yuqi raised a curious brow. “Oh? How so?”

Shuhua looked conflicted about how to explain their case. Like there was some big secret she had to be careful not to reveal. And that just made Yuqi curiouser and curiouser. This was definitely a strange one.

Finally, Soojin broke the silence with a sigh. “I stole Shuhua’s heart when we first met.”

But that… doesn’t sound like a bad thing?

Yuqi was now back to being terribly confused. “You stole her heart?”

“Yes,” Soojin nodded. “When she died, Shuhua was sent to the Underworld where my family lives. That’s where we met…” And Soojin gave Shuhua a sweet smile which didn’t at all match her very creepy words. And Shuhua, for some strange reason, smiled right back. “She was just a lost soul in a sea of lost souls, but I noticed her right away. We fell in love… but she was Judged as a good soul, so she couldn’t stay… so I ripped her heart out of her chest.”

Yuqi felt like she’d definitely heard her wrong. Or maybe there was some metaphor there that she wasn’t fully grasping. Because… what?

“You… ripped her heart…?”

Shuhua eagerly nodded and sat up in her seat. And then she pointed at her chest—right where her heart should be. “Yeah, there’s nothing there now, see?” And then Shuhua pressed against her shirt, but instead of meeting resistance, her hand? Just kept going right through?? “No heart.”
Yuqi’s jaw fell open in shock and she didn’t even notice when she dropped her pen on the ground.

“You don’t have a heart,” Yuqi repeated, because she still didn’t believe it. She half-wanted to ask Shuhua to open her shirt so she could see it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but she was scared of actually confirming it. At least now, she’d be able to say it was just a trick of the light and Shuhua pushing her entire hand straight though her body was some… some very fancy magic trick.

Shuhua pulled her hand back out and fixed her shirt that had been crumpled through the gaping hole. “It’s kinda funny, really. I feel so much better now than when I was actually alive,” she said with a bright smile.

“And h-how… how are you alive?” Yuqi asked, her voice cracking halfway through.

“She technically isn’t,” Soojin said. And then she carefully lifted a hand to help straighten out the wrinkles in Shuhua’s shirt. But not once did she relinquish the tight grip her other hand had on Shuhua’s arm. Now that Yuqi thought about it, she couldn’t think of a single moment when the two women had been physically separated since they walked into the room. “Without a heart, she couldn’t go through Judgment. The powers that be didn’t like that, but Shuhua refused to take her heart back…”

“Of course I refused,” Shuhua practically shouted. Her enthusiastic response brought a smile to Soojin’s face. “I didn’t want to leave my JinJin and she didn’t want to leave me, so—”

“We were banished from the Underworld... The upside is that now we can be together forever. But now…” Soojin’s smile melted away into a frown. “Now we literally have to be together—all the time.”

Yuqi noticed how Soojin’s hand gripped Shuhua’s arm even tighter. And the two women shared a forlorn glance.

Soojin continued, “Shuhua doesn’t have a heart, so if I let her go then…”

“Then I die for real,” Shuhua said. Soojin looked away in anguish, but Shuhua consolingly patted her hand. “But it’s not instant or anything. One time we rolled away from each other when we were sleeping and I was fine.”

“You were not fine,” Soojin hissed. “Your lips were blue and you didn’t wake up for at least an hour after I touched you again.” She took in a deep breath. “Which is why I think we should just forget this whole thing and—what’s wrong with how we’re living now? It works just fine.”

“You know that’s not true. You barely go out and you’re always worried about me instead of enjoying yourself.”

“And how am I supposed to enjoy myself when you’re literally dying?”

“I’ll be fine—at least for a few hours—”

“It’s just not worth the risk—”

And finally Yuqi had had enough. She suddenly sprang to her feet. “Hey guys,” she cut in, trying to sound like she wasn’t completely freaking out. Because she was. “How about we just, um, let’s just take a breather? Alright?” She glanced between the two of them and then a thought popped into her head. “You… you do breathe, right?”

Shuhua nodded with another one of her bright smiles. She really did seem wholly unconcerned with the fact that she was essentially a zombie. Maybe she’d made peace with it by now since apparently she and Soojin had been together for decades.

Decades… How old even are they?

“Okay, that’s good. Just excuse me for a few seconds.”

Yuqi walked away from her desk and over to her large window. She took a deep, fortifying breath in and tried not to start panicking.

What the fuck is going on?

No wonder the case files hadn’t made any sense to her before. This wasn’t some elaborate metaphor or coded language or anything. Soojin and Shuhua actually believed that they were… what? Soojin was some kind of devil who was banished from the Underworld because she fell in love with a human? And Shuhua was an undead zombie with no heart.

Okay.

… No, not okay.

None of this was okay. But Yuqi couldn’t just say that. These were her clients and she was duty-bound as a licensed therapist to help them. She couldn’t just kick them out because they were absolutely batshit crazy. Well, she could, but… she’d never live down the guilt. And just listening to how they talked, it was obvious the two loved each other despite their very eccentric beliefs.

Yuqi closed her eyes and just barely stopped herself from groaning out loud. There really was no debate—she had to help them.

Okay, Yuqi. Forget about all that, just focus on the case.

This was basically a case of separation anxiety at its very core. And she’d dealt with many of these cases before. She knew how to handle this, she’d just have to adapt her methods to this very unique situation. She could do this, she could do this.

Yuqi opened her eyes and nodded at her reflection in the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a few of the people walking on the street below had on various costumes like the headless guy from earlier. Actually, there were more costumed people than not, and nobody else seemed to care about how realistic some of them looked. But Yuqi tried not to think about the outside world right now—she had more important things to deal with.

Yuqi cleared her throat and focused in on what she had to do.

She turned around and casually walked back over to her desk. Soojin and Shuhua were smiling at each other on the couch, playing with each other’s hair and fingers. Like two little lovebirds. And Yuqi had had cases where the couples she counselled had absolutely hated each other. The fact that these two loved each other so much was already a win in her book, no matter how crazy they actually were.

“Usually, at this point, I’d recommend we switch to one-on-one counselling instead,” Yuqi said. She noticed the immediate frown that graced Soojin’s face and the hopeful smile on Shuhua’s.

“But we won’t do that, right?” Soojin insisted.

“Actually, I think we should still give it a try,” Yuqi replied.

“But we can’t—”

“I know what you’re concerned about, but I think…” Yuqi didn’t want to tell her that she was crazy to her face, so instead she settled on, “If what Shuhua said is true, then a few minutes shouldn’t hurt.”

Shuhua eagerly nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

It took at least a dozen more reassurances before Soojin was comfortable enough to let go of Shuhua’s arm. And then a fair amount of literal begging from both Shuhua and Yuqi before the self-professed demon agreed to leave the room.

But as soon as the door clicked shut, Yuqi knew she was on a timeline. She’d probably get five minutes alone with Shuhua, if she was lucky. So the therapist decided to make every second count.

“So Shuhua… how are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m pretty fine actually,” the girl relayed with her now trademark smile. But Yuqi could already notice the differences from earlier. They were subtle, sure, but they were there. Somehow Shuhua looked even paler without Soojin by her side. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but even her smile seemed to be weaker. She definitely looked more zombie-like now.

“No nerves or anything? Anxious thoughts, doubts—anything that feels off?” Yuqi pressed. And when all she got in response was a stubborn shake of the head, she decided to be more direct. No time to waste, after all. “Well, now that you’re free, so to speak… what do you want to do?”

And that question seemed to stump Shuhua completely.

The girl’s brow furrowed in thought and, if Yuqi hadn’t already been told that the girl was practically undead, she would’ve started to suspect it by now. She didn’t move or breathe or so much as flutter an eyelash while she sat there.

It was kinda creeping Yuqi out, to be honest. And a secret part of her worried that Shuhua had literally died in front of her eyes. So she cleared her throat and asked again, “Shuhua? Do you have any plans for what you want to do? What are your hobbies?”

“I don’t… have any.”

Yuqi blinked. “What, no hobbies?”

Shuhua shook her head, her face falling into a confused pout. “No. I don’t think…” The girl shook her head again, but the action looked almost mechanical this time. Like she was forcing herself to. And her next words officially pushed Yuqi right out of her comfort zone. “I don’t have any thoughts. I’m trying to think but it’s not working… I don’t think it’s working.”

Yuqi’s smile froze on her face in an awkward place. And she let out a nervous chuckle. “What do you mean you can’t…”

“It’s not working,” Shuhua dully repeated. She raised her hands in front of her face as if it were the first time she were seeing them. And then dropped them back to her lap with a sigh. “I’m not working anymore.”

Yuqi was at a loss for words. In the span of a few minutes, her once vibrant client had done a complete 180 and become a shell of her former self. This wasn’t a normal case anymore—Yuqi was mentally flipping through every diagnosis in the book to try and figure out what was going on. Depression? Schizophrenia? Stockholm syndrome? Early onset Alzheimer’s?

She couldn’t think? What did that even mean?

And shamefully, the only thing that Yuqi could think to offer was, “Should I, um… should I call Soojin back in?”

That seemed to finally kick some sense back into the girl. Shuhua’s eyes flicked up, a hint of recognition on her face. “Soojin. She stole my heart.”

“Yeah.” All Yuqi could do was nod. What was once a crazy story now seemed like the only viable explanation. “She did. Do you want it back?”

“No,” Shuhua immediately responded, shaking her head with a bit more life. “She did it for us.”

“Shuhua…” Yuqi leaned forward, completely abandoning her notebook and pen. “I think what she took from you was more than just, you know…” She gestured uselessly, trying to explain it. “A heart isn’t just like a battery pack, it’s more important than that. It makes you who you are.”

“Soojin makes me who I am.”

Shuhua had spoken with so much conviction that it stunned Yuqi into silence. Even now—even as incapacitated as Shuhua was right now—she was still willing to defend her relationship. Unconventional and dangerous though it may be, she still believed in it.

“Without your heart, you could die. Do you understand that?”

Shuhua nodded solemnly.

“Without Soojin… God, this is crazy,” Yuqi couldn’t hold it in any longer. She wiped a weary hand down her face as she gazed at the paling girl in front of her. “Soojin is your heart,” Yuqi announced with a helpless shrug. “This is so unhealthy, you’re too dependent on her. But the only way to fix that is to, I don’t know, get you a new heart or something? But then you’d have to die, right? They’d whisk you away to be judged or whatever. So either you stay in love forever or you die.” She shook her head in disbelief at the words she’d just uttered. She couldn’t believe this was really happening. And Shuhua’s utterly confused expression only helped solidify the fact that this wasn’t a prank. The girl couldn’t understand her because she couldn’t think because she didn’t have a heart. “Good lord, I’m going to lose my license—”

The door suddenly flew open and Soojin stormed back in, a worried look in her face.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait much longer because I know how—” She practically flew to Shuhua’s side, hands frantically grabbing at the girl’s cheeks. “Fuck, look how pale you are, you’re so cold, and your eyes—can you see me, baby?”

And it was like a switch was flipped. Shuhua’s face brightened like… well, like she’d just gotten her heart back.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry.” Amidst her flood of reassurances, Shuhua turned back to Yuqi, beaming uncontrollably. “I did fine, right? Didn’t die or anything—tell her.”

And Yuqi had no idea what Shuhua expected her to say, but she had nothing. Did the girl even remember what had happened just now? Did that even matter to her?

“So… how was it?” Soojin eventually inquired of Yuqi too, even as she continued to smother Shuhua with attention and life-saving touches.

“Um, just excuse me for a couple of seconds. I need to—just one second.”

Yuqi practically ran away from her desk and back to her window. She needed more than just a few seconds to sort out her thoughts, but any amount of time would have to do.

Do I report them to the police? The psych ward?

Yuqi squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Jeez, do I report myself?

“I was thinking, while I was outside…” Soojin’s whispered words floated up to Yuqi’s ears. And it brought her attention back to the seated couple in her office. It sounded like they were speaking quietly to each other now. “Maybe I’ve been too clingy, you know?”

“You’re not,” Shuhua adamantly denied, her voice not even attempting to be quiet.

“I don’t want you to think that I don’t trust you. I do trust you.”

“I trust you too.”

“I just want you to be safe,” Soojin’s voice trickled off into nothing. And then a deep sigh followed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

And it was like a lightbulb suddenly went off in Yuqi’s head. She opened her eyes as she realized the other part of the situation that she’d been missing. It had been so shocking to see Shuhua so affected by Soojin’s absence, that Yuqi hadn’t stopped to think how Soojin must’ve felt too. As much as Shuhua had been lost, Soojin had been just as lost on the other side of the door. She must’ve been crippled in worry, desperately counting down the seconds before she could see her partner again. She couldn’t even wait.

Because Soojin had been without her heart too.

Maybe space and time apart wasn’t the answer, after all.

With newly-found resolve, Yuqi turned back to the couple she had sworn to help. And fuck it, she was going to help them. License be damned.

“You know what you two need?” She asked as she confidently walked back over to her desk. At the curious looks she received, Yuqi revealed, “Absolutely nothing.”

A long moment of silence passed before someone finally said something. And it was Soojin who raised an eyebrow and uttered an incredulous, “I’m sorry, what?”

“No, you heard me right,” Yuqi insisted, getting more fired up as she spoke. “Nothing’s wrong with you guys. You love each other and you’re super considerate of each other’s needs and you communicate incredibly well. You’re almost like a textbook example of a perfect couple. You’re literally perfect.”

“But…” It was Shuhua this time. “She doesn’t hang out with her friends—”

“And neither do you, Shuhua,” Yuqi replied. “So if you want Soojin to go out, why don’t you go out too? You know, together? Do a double-date or something. That way you’re not constantly worried about each other.”

Shuhua still didn’t like that though. “But she deserves to have her own things too. Without me.”

“I don’t want anything without you,” Soojin suddenly interjected. She looked down when she realized she’d drawn everyone’s attention, but she soon pressed on. “The only thing I want is you. Just you, Shuhua.” She glanced up at the girl beside her, sliding her hand down her arm until their fingers were intertwined. And they stared at each other like that for a moment. Utterly in love and unafraid to show it. “Nothing but you.”

And finally, Shuhua conceded. Her smile was brighter than ever as she asked, “How come I love you so much when I don’t have a heart?” She pulled their joined hands to her lap. “It’s impossible, you must be fate.”

All Yuqi could do was smile as the impossible couple reconciled in front of her. They thanked her profusely as they left, promising to put in a good word for her with their friends. The therapist had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from declining—she didn’t know if her heart could take another session like this.

But she bid them farewell with a smile.

And as soon as the door closed, Yuqi flopped down into her chair in utter exhaustion.

“Yuqi, you worked hard today,” she told herself as she spun idly in her seat. “Yuqi, you’re the best therapist ever—the best in the world. Yeah… that’s right.”

As she slowly decompressed from the appointment, she found herself itching to pull out her phone. She wanted to call her girlfriend. More than anything, she just wanted to hear her voice right now. A perfect balm for her frayed nerves. But she was probably way too busy now to talk—

Her phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket.

[BossLady<3]

Suddenly thought about you

Have you eaten lunch yet?

You’re not working too hard again are you :(

And there was no stopping the smile that lit up Yuqi’s face. Her girlfriend really was just so… so perfect. She found herself repeating Shuhua’s words in her head as she typed out her response. You must be fate.

Going to eat now, don’t worry about me

I’m strong!

[BossLady<3]

The bestest, strongest, smartest girlfriend

That’s you hehe

Am I being too cheesy

No you’re perfect :)

The silly smile on Yuqi’s face didn’t disappear all throughout lunch. And neither while she reviewed the files for her next appointment. She felt rejuvenated, ready to tackle anything.

Which would end up being a good thing because her next couple would end up being just as challenging as the last:

Cho Miyeon and Kim Minnie.