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.

"And Mittang?" Sana asked, turning back briefly. "I'm giving you a coupon every day up until Christmas, so it'd be best to not let yourself get too worked up every time you see that box!"

Mina narrowed her playfully eyes at Sana's retreating back. Sana was definitely teasing her.

The next morning, Mina woke up to find the same little black box on her chest while Sana watched her mischievously again. Remembering the contents of yesterday's box, Mina knew what to expect this time. Sure enough, when Mina opened the box, another Christmas coupon sat inside.

[Affectionate shower with Sana]

Mina paused for a moment at the obscure word choice before turning to look at her girlfriend. "'Affectionate shower?'" she repeated blankly. "Is this a coupon for shower sex with you?"

Sana blushed slightly under Mina's blank look. "Yes, but I wanted to make it sound more romantic than just 'shower sex'".

Mina burst into laughter as Sana whined. "What's wrong with shower sex? I spent a lot of time thinking of things we haven't done with each other in a while! This is supposed to be romantic, not funny!"

Shower sex was one of their favorite activities when they first moved into the apartment together. Sex was still new to them at the time, which led to a variety of experimental sex in different places and positions and discovering that yes, two people could fit into their tiny little shower at the same time and yes, it was very enjoyable to have sex in the shower. But the practice of shower sex was very short lived, suspended soon after it began after one heated session that ended with Sana severely bruising her elbow against the shower wall.

"I'm not laughing at your idea, I swear," Mina insisted between fits of laughter. "You're just so adorable sometimes that I can't help it."

Mina gazed at Sana with a pure kind of happiness in her eyes that Sana hadn't seen since before their chaotic senior year started. Sana was admittedly a little sulky that Mina was still laughing so hard at today's Christmas coupon, but it was worth it when Mina seemed so happy.

"Look," Sana said with playful annoyance, "this coupon's only good until tomorrow morning. So if you're just gonna lie there and laugh about it, I'm gonna give this to someone who actually wants to use it."

It was probably the emptiest threat that Mina had ever heard in her life. She couldn't help but laugh even harder as Sana plucked the coupon from her fingers and got out of bed as though she was on her way to deliver the coupon to its next recipient. But even though Mina knew there was no one else in the world that Sana would've given that coupon to, Mina couldn't help but be a little possessive of her impossibly sweet girlfriend.

She reached out and grabbed Sana's hand before the older girl could get too far, pulling her back and catching Sana in her waiting arms.

"Where do you think you're going with my coupon?" Mina asked, her voice low and dangerous within Sana's ear. Sana was already shivering even before Mina hugged her tightly from behind, one hand slowly climbing up into her shirt as the other ran down her inner thigh. The older girl let out a small gasp as Mina placed a jelly kiss onto her shoulder and she felt the sharp sting of Mina's teeth against her skin.

"Don't you dare tell me that you have another woman in mind, Minatozaki Sana. I won't stand for it."

Mina rarely displayed this kind of possessive behavior, but Sana absolutely loved the feeling of belonging to Mina whenever the younger girl hit a jealous streak. Sana bit her lip and threw her head back with a soft moan as Mina traced gentle cotton candy kisses all over the throbbing bite marks on her shoulder.

"There's no one else in my heart but you," Sana murmured, feeling Mina's smile against her neck. "It's only ever been you, Mittang. It'll only ever be you."

"Good girl," Mina whispered, and the gentle praise set off another shiver of delight through Sana's body. Her fingers trailed to the waistband of Sana's underwear and dipped inside. "Now if we do have shower sex, are you going to lose control and slam your elbow into the wall again?"

A cheeky smile spread across Sana's lips. "Only if you make me come that hard again."

Mina laughed and hugged Sana protectively. "No shower sex unless you can promise me that you'll behave. I don't wanna see my pretty Sattang getting hurt again."

Sana gasped as Mina nibbled her ear gently and she fought back the urge to collapse from the stimulation and revealing how much of a klutz she might become during shower sex. "I-I promise!"

"There's my good girl," Mina murmured, sliding her fingers deeper into Sana's underwear as a reward. She removed her other hand from Sana's breasts, snatching the coupon back from Sana's right hand before pressing it firmly into Sana's left. "I'll take one 'affectionate shower', please."

Sana giggled softly as she shivered under Mina's touch, already drenched even before the shower had even started. "Coming right up."

The third day of Christmas coupons found Mina and Sana curled up affectionately on their tiny sofa with a book of poetry.

[Read a book together], the coupon said, and so they did.

"I can't even remember the last time we read together," Mina mused wistfully as Sana snuggled up into her on the sofa. Sana was the little spoon within Mina's arms, keeping their worn copy of Stallworthy's "A Book of Love Poetry" propped up so that Mina could read it out loud for them.

It was such a throwback to their teenage years and the countless afternoons they spent in Mina's bedroom, snug against each other under the covers with Mina reading poetry out loud from the very same book. This was the era after their first lollipop kiss and well before their first chocolate kiss, a time where neither of them truly understood what love meant yet. Their lack of experience and understanding was evidenced by notes they had scribbled into the margins of the poetry book as teenagers, questioning the meaning behind many of the love poems in the collection; notes that they now giggled at as adults.

Sana felt impossibly warm and cozy in Mina's arms with Mina's soothing and lyrical voice in one ear while Mina's steady heartbeat pounded away in her other ear. Her elbow was still throbbing after a minor mishap in the shower yesterday in which she slammed her elbow into the wall yet again, (and the practice of shower sex was also suspended yet again), but Mina was gently rubbing the sore area for her as they laid on the sofa.

"This is heaven," Sana thought to herself, listening to Mina finish up Lord Byron's "She Walks In Beauty", one of Sana's favorite poems. "Life doesn't get any better than this." And then Sana felt Mina's lips press gently against her forehead in a warm and gooey caramel kiss and she decided that Mina had just proven her wrong.

"I think I finally understand what all these love poems are talking about now," Mina murmured, humbled by the simple joy of having Sana lying on her chest in the middle of the day in their tiny apartment. "I know what love is."

"Is it this?" Sana wondered softly, her consciousness drifting off into a lazy afternoon nap. "Is it me falling asleep in your arms?"

Mina smiled and held Sana closer, feeling that this mundane moment somehow captured the complex intricacies and simple nuances of their love perfectly. "It is."

"Good," Sana said with a sleepy smile. "Then I know what love is, too."