Cozy Living [Mina x Sana]

Chapter 4: Cozy Christmas, Part 1

Exactly one week before Christmas, Mina woke up to find a tiny velvet box on her chest. She picked up the black box and examined it carefully for a moment, and then she promptly froze.

Mina's eyes quickly darted over to Sana's side of the bed, not realizing her girlfriend was already wide awake and observing her every reaction with an affectionate twinkle in her silent gaze. The younger girl's heart started to race. Anyone who saw the kind of box that she was holding would've reached the same conclusion: this was an engagement ring box.

But it couldn't be an engagement ring, could it?

Over the last few weeks, Sana had slowly started bringing up the topic of life after college. The discussions were largely about their careers--Mina's as a lawyer and Sana's as an elementary school teacher--and potential areas of Japan they could move to that would lead to work for both of them. The topic of marriage had also inevitably come up, but they skirted around the topic without actually discussing it, mutually agreeing to wait until after graduation at the end of next semester to talk more seriously about how they felt about the enormous commitment.

"So then..." Mina thought to herself nervously, "why am I holding an engagement ring box right now?!"

"...what is this?" Mina asked Sana cautiously.

Sana smiled back, her mischievous eyes shining more brightly than a night sky full of stars. "Is that how you greet your girlfriend after you wake up? Where's my morning kiss?"

Mina tried to return the smile, but it was a feeble attempt with her heart threatening to explode from anticipation. "Sana, seriously. What is this?"

"It's... It's an early Christmas present. It's my way of telling you how much I love you," Sana replied sincerely. "Open it."

Mina held her breath and opened the box. Her eyes fell upon a tiny piece of folded paper nestled inside, her intense anticipation dissipating into intrigued curiosity. She unfolded the paper and read it out loud.

[Make breakfast in bed for Mina]

The paper was outlined in red and green and Mina could see a tiny disclaimer written in Sana's neat handwriting at the bottom:

[Expires December 19, 2018]

"A Christmas coupon?" Mina asked with amusement, turning back to Sana.

The older girl nodded brightly. "And not just any Christmas coupon! This one comes with an expiration date."

"I see that," Mina smirked, noticing the expiration was less than a day away. "And it's a very short expiration date. You really wanted to make me breakfast in bed this morning, huh?"

"I did," Sana admitted. "Now that the crazy semester is finally over and we have some time to ourselves, I wanted to spoil you a little. Is that OK?"

A gentle smile tugged at Mina's lips as she gazed at Sana's adorably earnest question. "It's definitely OK," Mina replied, leaning into Sana with a marshmallow kiss that melted between their soft lips. "But Sattang... Did you really have to give me a Christmas coupon in THIS kind of box?"

"Hmm? What's wrong with this box? It's the perfect size, don't you think?" Sana asked innocently, as though she didn't realize that she had almost given Mina a heart attack this morning. Mina really couldn't tell if Sana was feigning innocence or not, so she let the topic of the engagement ring box slide as Sana announced the breakfast menu of pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

Sana leaned into Mina and gave her a caramel kiss, a slow forehead kiss that was almost more intimate than a kiss on the lips, one that left Mina feeling soft and gooey inside in the best possible way. She then got up and headed to the kitchen while Mina relaxed in bed.