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the cafe, though not as big and famous as other gig venues, was already packed to the brim. the café wasn’t new to wendy - if anything, it was a familiar sight. this place has seen its fair share of her caffeinated college self, often with a stack of books in tow as she made use of her remaining hours before finals as crunch time despite having already studied the material weeks before. but this time was different. now, she stands on the platform in the corner of the cafe, often used for gigs like this one.
wendy never really thought she’d be doing this, gigs left and right. she had a day job as a pre-school teacher after all. but when her friend, joohyun, had asked her to perform at one of her dance gigs, it seems she hasn’t stopped. she played weekly gigs here at café soshi velvet, and would sometimes get booked by other venues across the city. she had even played at a wedding once, albeit it was at her friends’. chanyeol and baekhyun had insisted that she sing a duet with kyungsoo at their wedding that she couldn’t turn them down.
wendy’s girlfriend wasn’t any less supportive either. seulgi would always go to every gig, quietly cheering from the back as she swayed along, following the rest of the crowd.
today wasn’t any different. seulgi sat at the table in the farthest corner, making sure to give everyone who wanted to watch the space to be in front. after all, seulgi had the privilege to go home with one of the performers every night.
as wendy started to get ready for her set, seulgi watched the crowd with their cups of iced coffee and hot tea. they were mostly regulars, having seen a majority of them in other gigs that wendy had played at. she already knew some of the artists that have shared the stage with wendy, their names often plastered on the freedom wall by the entrance of the café. the duo, joy and yeri, who had actually gone to college with wendy was one of them. they had even gone to their apartment before, jamming with wendy. if she remembered correctly, they even talked about writing songs together. at least that’s what seulgi thought they said.
soon enough, seulgi started to see the people cheering, signaling that wendy was ready. seulgi couldn’t see much as there were groups of people ahead of her, but as soon as wendy had pointed at her, she knew wendy had just finished her opening spiel. it was the same almost every time so seulgi had practically memorized it, reciting it to herself while imagining what wendy sounded like.
“good evening, everyone! welcome to the soshi velvet! i hope everyone’s having a good time so far, especially with all the wonderful artists that played before me. as always, i dedicate this set to my wonderful girlfriend, seulgi!” wendy would smile, pointing at the girl in question, with the crowd settling down as she begins the set.
seulgi watched as wendy strummed a pattern on her guitar, a little different from her usual opening songs. she thought about how the crowd doesn’t see it, but wendy had practiced hard for this set. it was the first time that wendy was playing one of her originals, and seulgi had cheered her on at home, making sure that wendy rested and drank water. this song had been one of seulgi’s favorites out of all that wendy had written. seulgi remembered the way the words formed on wendy’s lips, and how she would smile in between.
the crowd seemed to enjoy the song, swaying along to the music and seulgi couldn’t help but follow suit. she was glad to see wendy having fun, and she couldn’t help but feel nervous. seulgi had been preparing a surprise for wendy for a while now and she was hoping that she could pull it off.
soon enough, wendy had strummed the last chord of the song the she usually did, resting her palm on the strings followed by the applause and cheers of the audience. seulgi watched wendy’s grin grow as she waited for the applause to die down before introducing her next song.
the set ended after a few more songs – all covers of songs that she loved and others that had been requested from previous gigs. wendy stood from the stage and bowed, gesturing to the next performers before packing up her on guitar and heading to where seulgi sat. seulgi quickly gave her two thumbs up before wendy sat down and gave the other a quick peck on the cheek. wendy’s hands slipped into hers, feeling the calloused fingertips against her own.
seulgi rested her head on wendy’s shoulder, closing her eyes and focusing on how wendy’s body felt pressed against her side. it was commonplace for them to watch the rest of the performers before heading home. wendy’s head nodded to the music, and seulgi felt her humming along to some of the songs and the steady rise and fall of her head on wendy’s shoulders, indicating the other girl’s breathing.
every now and then, wendy would do the thumb thing as she liked to call it – rubbing circles onto the back of seulgi’s hand with her thumb. one, two, three… seulgi counted the number of circles wendy would make, dozing off while doing so.
after a little while, wendy patted seulgi’s knee, waking her up. wendy nodded towards seulgi with a small smile, telling the older that it was time to go. the two stood up and waved at yoona, the barista on shift before walking back to their apartment that stood about ten minutes away from the café.
seulgi had moved in with wendy after finishing her studies. wendy had finished ahead of her on the account that seulgi was held back during her first few years of elementary school. it wasn’t that she was a bad student, it was just difficult to be in a system that wasn’t meant for people like her.
the two walked hand-in-hand at a steady pace, both used to the comfortable silence that fell over them. even with wendy’s hand in hers, seulgi couldn’t help but feel her own hands clamming up, trying to keep herself from getting too nervous about her surprise for wendy.
it wasn’t long before the two reached their building, only then letting go of each other as seulgi reached for the keypad to open their door.
they both fell into their usual routine after a gig, with wendy using the shower first, seulgi patiently waiting on their couch. after wendy finishes, seulgi would feel a quick kiss at the top of her head, signaling that it was her turn in the shower.
after that, wendy would wait for her in bed, and seulgi would come after. this time, however, instead of seulgi cuddling up to wendy, she sat cross-legged in front of her.
wendy looked at her with curious eyes, wondering what she was about to do.
“there’s something i’ve been meaning to tell you.” seulgi signed with her hands, looking at wendy with wide eyes. wendy felt her heart drop, fearing the worst before seulgi held her hands, reassuring the younger girl that it was nothing bad.
seulgi had been preparing this for the longest time, signing herself up for weeks of speech therapy without wendy knowing. seulgi just wanted to be able to say it to her girlfriend confidently. clearing her throat, seulgi opened her mouth and shakily spoke out the words “i love you” with a croaky voice.
wendy felt tears at the corner of her eyes, clasping at seulgi’s hands tightly before practically tackling her into the bed, kissing her girlfriend. wendy felt seulgi’s soft lips against hers, smiling into the kiss before hugging her girlfriend tightly. it was the first time that wendy had ever heard her girlfriend’s voice outside of the small sounds she would make when she’s concentrating on something or her giggles when wendy would show her something funny.
wendy sat up and signed “i love you too” while speaking it as loudly as she can, even though she knew the other girl couldn’t hear her. the world ought to know, anyway.