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Description

Minji Kim was a focused woman. One had to be, to become a senior partner at Stanley Catcher Investments. In the day-to-day, she was relentless when pursuing leads, an absolute machine when crunching numbers, and surprisingly knowledgeable about her coworkers' and underlings' lives (useful for both networking and arm-twisting when necessary). Beyond that, she was always looking for her opportunities to move up the ladder. For a woman like Minji, success was simply a goal in and of itself. She would earn prestige through hard work and no small amount of sacrificed morals.

All those were costs Minji had been willing to pay since she decided on her path in the first summer internship at university - when she had seen the CEO being practically worshipped by her line manager. She knew everything she'd given up would be worth it. There would be no regrets once she was basking in riches and power.

Well, at this stage in her life, there was one regret. She often had to stay late in the office, and by the time she was home, she would often have already eaten her boxed dinner on the train so was ready to collapse immediately into a three-hour power-nap.

Which left her very little time to spend with her wife.

Siyeon understood, of course. They had fought a few times in their early years about how what Minji did was 'immoral' and 'alienating the proletariat from the surplus value of their labour'. She had made it clear where her red lines were, though, and Siyeon had respected that. And it wasn't like she begrudged Siyeon her views! In fact, she loved her independent-musician wife's utterly unique creativity and outlook on life, and her fierce determination to make a change in the world. It just wasn't what Minji was on the earth to do. And it wasn't as though Siyeon was mad that Minji brought in millions of won a year that allowed her to live a comfortable life.

It wasn't ideal, no couple's arrangement was, but it was good. It gave Minji a loving embrace to come back to, and gave Siyeon a life she could live freely.

So the only problem was that they only really got a few hours a week together.

At least, that was all how Minji thought for the last four years.

But today her thoughts had been annoyingly focused on reassessing that balance. All day, she had failed to keep her train of thought together in meetings and calls. People below her were saying she looked distracted! And it hurt even more that they were right!

Because Siyeon had just bought her a new pair of glasses.

Minji was the breadwinner in their marriage. Always had been. She made the sacrifices so she could keep her pride as being the provider, the serious, driven source of the household's resources. Sure, Siyeon got her stuff for birthdays and anniversaries and New Year, and she loved whatever little handicrafts she would make or songs she would write. But there was no reason for these. And they were designer as well. They looked good, dammit!

Like, she knew it was not a big deal. In fact, she should have been happy that Siyeon's latest album had clearly got enough streams to make some cash. But it still felt like an unnatural tipping of their largely-comfortable balance.

Because Minji was the moneymaker for a reason, right? She dressed up. She worked hard. She put in the long hours. She dealt with the office drama. She sucked up to her elders juust enough. She networked, dammit.

And there was her beloved Siyeon, lounging around the house with one earphone in and the other dangling beside her unbrushed hair. Siyeon, who would only get dressed in the morning to change into another pair of pants which were basically pajamas anyway. Her wife, who didn't need to eat meals while walking between meetings and commute for two hours a day. Who could sleep in.

It wasn't fair.

But... it sounded kinda nice.

In fact, by the time she'd finished the roundtable with investors (which that up-and-comer Gahyeon had bravely taken the lead on when she realised her boss was clearly out of it), she was no longer seething over the injustice of it all. No, she was just thinking about her wife, with her silky dark hair falling in a slightly-frizzy mane around her face. How her cute little sweaters somehow hugged her amazing figure as well as Minji's fitted jackets did. And how her bare face was just so cute with her thin little lips and her amazing deep brown eyes...

Yeah, basically, Siyeon was absolutely perfect. It didn't really do her justice to just imagine her in loose trousers and baggy shirts and lensless glasses with her cute blue dip-dyed hair. She needed to be with Siyeon more, and look into those beautiful eyes herself.

That was what was really important. That was what she'd been missing all this time.

And, heck, it wasn't like what she was doing was that fun either. Sure she looked good in her pantsuits and jackets. But she would be so much more comfortable just wearing one of Siyeon's band tees and joggers. And Siyeon would still think she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

They had vowed to spend their lives together, after all, so really it only made sense that Siyeon's opinion was all that mattered.

And if Siyeon could get money through her music, did Minji need her job. The status wasn't that important when she already had a wife she loved so much, right? All that mattered was that they could afford their apartment and keep well fed and afford Siyeon's equipment and Minji's...

Actually, Minji didn't really have any hobbies...

Which, when she thought hard about it, was a good thing! She could dedicate herself completely to supporting her beautiful wife! She really hadn't done that enough. And why hadn't she, really? It wasn't as if she didn't like Siyeon's music. Sure, rock wasn't really her own style, but it was good. Really good actually!

And she'd been basically ignoring it so she could pursue ever more money she didn't even need.

... It was kinda sickening when she thought about it too hard.

She really needed to make it up to Siyeon. She couldn't settle for just going home and staring into her strong, unique, utterly one-in-a-million-most-beautiful-being-on-earth gaze. She needed to do stuff for her. Yeah, she needed to get her something on the way home... maybe some new headphones? Yeah! Siyeon would love that!

And then she could try to cook them dinner.

No, maybe not. She didn't want to poison her wife.

She would learn to cook dinner later. For now, she'd pay for takeout! But, like, the good kind.

... But she still had a lot of debt to pay off. Maybe she would run Siyeon a warm bath, or give her a hand massage, or just...

Okay, it was decided. This was her last month on this job. No more glory-chasing for her. She'd thought about it long enough. This wasn't right.

What was important was spending her days with her beloved. Long, long days where they didn't go out, and just wore their old hoodies as they snuggled on the couch while Siyeon let her creative muscles flow, and Minji... And Minji just did whatever would help her wife feel more comfortable. Whatever she asked.

It did kinda feel like she was making herself the household maid. Basically Siyeon's personal servant.

But when she thought about her love's eyes lighting up and her utterly incomparable smile... Then it didn't seem so bad to be doing her bidding.

So it was decided. Minji was already almost home, ready to take off her jacket and give herself fully to her new controller in life. The one woman who should have been in that position all along.

And it felt a bit like for the first time in a decade she was truly happy.

----

This image was meant to be animated, I even have every frame made, but can't get them to go together right, sooo expect an animated version to appear soon.

Anyway, this some truly flash fiction from ol' Mauri. A certain very important someone had a stressful day, and I know she was chagrined when I chose not to use this source image on a previous occassion, and she loves a little bit of 'wholesome'/de-pomposification (I just made up that word right now!). So here. It. Is!

Hopefully this has been a useful exercise for me to practice off-the-cuff writing, and an enjoyable short read for my audience!

Description

Minji Kim was a focused woman. One had to be, to become a senior partner at Stanley Catcher Investments. In the day-to-day, she was relentless when pursuing leads, an absolute machine when crunching numbers, and surprisingly knowledgeable about her coworkers' and underlings' lives (useful for both networking and arm-twisting when necessary). Beyond that, she was always looking for her opportunities to move up the ladder. For a woman like Minji, success was simply a goal in and of itself. She would earn prestige through hard work and no small amount of sacrificed morals.

All those were costs Minji had been willing to pay since she decided on her path in the first summer internship at university - when she had seen the CEO being practically worshipped by her line manager. She knew everything she'd given up would be worth it. There would be no regrets once she was basking in riches and power.

Well, at this stage in her life, there was one regret. She often had to stay late in the office, and by the time she was home, she would often have already eaten her boxed dinner on the train so was ready to collapse immediately into a three-hour power-nap.

Which left her very little time to spend with her wife.

Siyeon understood, of course. They had fought a few times in their early years about how what Minji did was 'immoral' and 'alienating the proletariat from the surplus value of their labour'. She had made it clear where her red lines were, though, and Siyeon had respected that. And it wasn't like she begrudged Siyeon her views! In fact, she loved her independent-musician wife's utterly unique creativity and outlook on life, and her fierce determination to make a change in the world. It just wasn't what Minji was on the earth to do. And it wasn't as though Siyeon was mad that Minji brought in millions of won a year that allowed her to live a comfortable life.

It wasn't ideal, no couple's arrangement was, but it was good. It gave Minji a loving embrace to come back to, and gave Siyeon a life she could live freely.

So the only problem was that they only really got a few hours a week together.

At least, that was all how Minji thought for the last four years.

But today her thoughts had been annoyingly focused on reassessing that balance. All day, she had failed to keep her train of thought together in meetings and calls. People below her were saying she looked distracted! And it hurt even more that they were right!

Because Siyeon had just bought her a new pair of glasses.

Minji was the breadwinner in their marriage. Always had been. She made the sacrifices so she could keep her pride as being the provider, the serious, driven source of the household's resources. Sure, Siyeon got her stuff for birthdays and anniversaries and New Year, and she loved whatever little handicrafts she would make or songs she would write. But there was no reason for these. And they were designer as well. They looked good, dammit!

Like, she knew it was not a big deal. In fact, she should have been happy that Siyeon's latest album had clearly got enough streams to make some cash. But it still felt like an unnatural tipping of their largely-comfortable balance.

Because Minji was the moneymaker for a reason, right? She dressed up. She worked hard. She put in the long hours. She dealt with the office drama. She sucked up to her elders juust enough. She networked, dammit.

And there was her beloved Siyeon, lounging around the house with one earphone in and the other dangling beside her unbrushed hair. Siyeon, who would only get dressed in the morning to change into another pair of pants which were basically pajamas anyway. Her wife, who didn't need to eat meals while walking between meetings and commute for two hours a day. Who could sleep in.

It wasn't fair.

But... it sounded kinda nice.

In fact, by the time she'd finished the roundtable with investors (which that up-and-comer Gahyeon had bravely taken the lead on when she realised her boss was clearly out of it), she was no longer seething over the injustice of it all. No, she was just thinking about her wife, with her silky dark hair falling in a slightly-frizzy mane around her face. How her cute little sweaters somehow hugged her amazing figure as well as Minji's fitted jackets did. And how her bare face was just so cute with her thin little lips and her amazing deep brown eyes...

Yeah, basically, Siyeon was absolutely perfect. It didn't really do her justice to just imagine her in loose trousers and baggy shirts and lensless glasses with her cute blue dip-dyed hair. She needed to be with Siyeon more, and look into those beautiful eyes herself.

That was what was really important. That was what she'd been missing all this time.

And, heck, it wasn't like what she was doing was that fun either. Sure she looked good in her pantsuits and jackets. But she would be so much more comfortable just wearing one of Siyeon's band tees and joggers. And Siyeon would still think she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

They had vowed to spend their lives together, after all, so really it only made sense that Siyeon's opinion was all that mattered.

And if Siyeon could get money through her music, did Minji need her job. The status wasn't that important when she already had a wife she loved so much, right? All that mattered was that they could afford their apartment and keep well fed and afford Siyeon's equipment and Minji's...

Actually, Minji didn't really have any hobbies...

Which, when she thought hard about it, was a good thing! She could dedicate herself completely to supporting her beautiful wife! She really hadn't done that enough. And why hadn't she, really? It wasn't as if she didn't like Siyeon's music. Sure, rock wasn't really her own style, but it was good. Really good actually!

And she'd been basically ignoring it so she could pursue ever more money she didn't even need.

... It was kinda sickening when she thought about it too hard.

She really needed to make it up to Siyeon. She couldn't settle for just going home and staring into her strong, unique, utterly one-in-a-million-most-beautiful-being-on-earth gaze. She needed to do stuff for her. Yeah, she needed to get her something on the way home... maybe some new headphones? Yeah! Siyeon would love that!

And then she could try to cook them dinner.

No, maybe not. She didn't want to poison her wife.

She would learn to cook dinner later. For now, she'd pay for takeout! But, like, the good kind.

... But she still had a lot of debt to pay off. Maybe she would run Siyeon a warm bath, or give her a hand massage, or just...

Okay, it was decided. This was her last month on this job. No more glory-chasing for her. She'd thought about it long enough. This wasn't right.

What was important was spending her days with her beloved. Long, long days where they didn't go out, and just wore their old hoodies as they snuggled on the couch while Siyeon let her creative muscles flow, and Minji... And Minji just did whatever would help her wife feel more comfortable. Whatever she asked.

It did kinda feel like she was making herself the household maid. Basically Siyeon's personal servant.

But when she thought about her love's eyes lighting up and her utterly incomparable smile... Then it didn't seem so bad to be doing her bidding.

So it was decided. Minji was already almost home, ready to take off her jacket and give herself fully to her new controller in life. The one woman who should have been in that position all along.

And it felt a bit like for the first time in a decade she was truly happy.

----

This image was meant to be animated, I even have every frame made, but can't get them to go together right, sooo expect an animated version to appear soon.

Anyway, this some truly flash fiction from ol' Mauri. A certain very important someone had a stressful day, and I know she was chagrined when I chose not to use this source image on a previous occassion, and she loves a little bit of 'wholesome'/de-pomposification (I just made up that word right now!). So here. It. Is!

Hopefully this has been a useful exercise for me to practice off-the-cuff writing, and an enjoyable short read for my audience!