Chapter Text
She found her.
It had happened in a very eventful, very extra, very much like Kim Yongsun way. She never thought she'd see her again.
But lady luck is smiling upon her, if she can high-five Jesus, she probably would. Moon Byulyi, is over the moon—pun intended—when she saw Yongsun on the field, playing volleyball as the Setter on the enemy team.
That in itself is weird enough. In the duration that she had known the girl, it never occurred to Byulyi that Yongsun was the least bit athletic. Nope. The girl was lazy as fuck. She was restless but tired, she was passionate but burnt out. Yongsun was someone who can do so many things but couldn’t because she was held back by a lot of things.
One of them being lazy.
Byulyi was staring way too hard. If she don’t stop gaping at Kim Yongsun's every move she might not finish taking pictures and get her job done on time. Which she will not do. Because as much as enthralling Yongsun is to watch, Byulyi wanted to get things done.
But she won’t stop staring.
Fortunately, the focus of her admiration is too preoccupied winning to notice her piercing gazes.
Unfortunately, her bestfriend Sandeul saw and won’t stop teasing her.
“Is it love at first sight?” Junghwan, or Sandeul as they call him, accused. Wiggling his brows maliciously at Byulyi, who looked at him in disgust.
It wasn’t.
Or maybe it was.
But how can Byulyi say that this wasn’t her first time seeing Yongsun?
She wouldn’t. No. She would not jeopardize Yongsun's security just to appease her bruised ego—no. Byulyi can’t do that. Not to her.
Besides, she doesn’t really sit well with calling it love at first sight. Because no, she wasn’t in love.
But that was Yongsun. She can have any feelings, evoke every emotion she’d want from Byul and the latter would gladly give it to her.
But she wasn’t in love with her. The attraction is just palpable. It was there. It was stronger than before because Yongsun had that ethereal glow now that she was out of the hospital. Her cheeks are fuller, rounder, squishier and her eyes finally had a spark of life. She looks healthy. Seeing that, Byulyi can’t blame her why she just disappeared without a word.
At some point she thought Yongsun had died.
But boy was she glad to find her now, looking fine—borderline snack-like even.
Byulyi just glared at Junghwan and ignored him. She will not entertain any questions regarding a certain brown-haired beauty, enemy Setter. Which brings her back to the one of the millions of questions she has for the girl: why was she playing volleyball at the Psychology division's team? And she was going to school again? In Byulyi's college? Since when? How did she not know?
Byul sighed. She suddenly remembered their first meeting. There was a music room in that hospital and no one goes there except for the eccentric patient who got into an accident and had a few broken ribs and head concussion. Byulyi was quick to judge and thought that the person was crazy.
What she didn’t expect was that person was crazily beautiful and talented.
Of course, Byulyi would also be in the music room all day if she can play the piano as exquisite as the girl can.
So she stared. Her jaws slack and her eyes wide. She only snapped from her trance when she heard someone chuckling.
The pretty girl stood up from where she sat and made her way to Byulyi who seemed to be rooted on her spot behind the door.
“You can come in and not stare like a creep, you know?” The girl said with her low yet melodic voice.
Byulyi shivered.
“You play really well.” She rubbed the back of her neck, a habit she has when she’s shy.
The girl smiled toothily. “Thanks,” but her eyes that stared back at Byulyi's were empty.
“If you’re looking to pick up girls, that one won’t work,” the girl teased and Byul was both offended and embarrassed. She turned red and pouted like a kid in front of the stranger she just met. She doesn’t even know her name! The audacity this crazy, pretty, brunette has!
Byulyi blew raspberries at that. “I wasn’t. It was a genuine compliment.”
“I was just joking, but if it makes you feel better you’re kinda my type.” The girl winked with a light laugh when Byulyi turned ten shades of red in mere seconds. “I think you’d look good on purple hair.”
That was how Byulyi ended up with purple hair as of the present.
Which coincides with this sports fest. It was a strange yet pleasant coincidence. She dyed her hair purple just yesterday and now she finally saw Yongsun again after what. . . five months of nothing? If that was the sign the Lord has given her then she was oblivious of it.
“You’re too smitten with Solar, it’s disgusting,” Sandeul commented.
“Solar?” she asked.
“The girl you’re eyeing. Dude, you’ve been looking at her like she’s your sun or some shit and you don’t even know who she is?” Sandeul was pushing his luck and Byulyi is not having it so she punched him in the gut without remorse.
Solar . . . huh? So she goes by that nickname now. Byulyi thought with bitterness. She was the one who came up with that nickname because she’d always thought of Yongsun as her sun. Who knew the girl would actually use it? Not that Byul would call her that, no.
Yongie is more intimate.
She sighed again, not minding that Sandeul was dramatically clutching his stomach in her peripherals.
Watching Yongsun play so calculatedly sends electric jolts to certain places in Byulyi's body. The girl was shorter than her and yet she can jump that high for a block, set a ball so terrifyingly accurate to the left wing and succeed in their attacks. Her vision of the whole field scares Byulyi because the thought came to her; she can see me.
That. Or she’s just delusional.
Anyway, it’s not just Byulyi who’s so enraptured in Yongsun's performance. Everyone else in the court is screaming her jersey number, 21. She’s so beautiful even with sweat and hair sticking all over her face.
Byulyi has once again confirmed, that Kim Yongsun's whole existence captivates her. She is in awe of Yongsun.
When the buzzer rings, as soon as the Psych division's spiker's feet touched the ground from that last hit, everyone cheered. Psychology division won the first match against Info Tech, Byulyi's major. Which should’ve made Byul bitter and sad for their loss, but dang it, who can hate Yongsun, really?
She was just beyond proud.
The person who hated sports and working out before suddenly became so athletic she wins an entire court of people because of how great she played.
How can Byulyi not be proud of that character development?
Smiling, Byulyi peers through her camera and zooms in on Yongsun's beaming face. She rarely smiled in the past, and now that she openly does, it makes Byulyi's heart soar. She just wanted her to be happy, and to be able to witness this, is an achievement for Byulyi.
Content in just taking pictures of Yongsun from afar in different angles, when suddenly the brunette turned to her direction and looked straight at her and even with the camera on her face, she feels like Yongsun can see through her soul.
Her heart starts hammering inside her, threatening to burst. As if her ribcage would be broken if her feelings combusts.
She slowly drops the camera from her face and stares back at those light-brown orbs she's always found mesmerizing.
Yongsun has always been good in hiding her emotions, but for a second, Byulyi saw her perfectly crafted façade break, just for a moment, Yongsun's face showed an emotion too deep for Byulyi to comprehend. Relief? Contempt? Sadness? Happiness? Or was it a mix of all that?
And then nothing again.
Yongsun just stared, and proceeded to ignore Byulyi's existence all over again.
Byulyi expected this. That five months of silence from the other girl probably meant that she did something wrong, or if she didn’t, it means Yongsun would avoid her like the plague. Even though she knew this, it doesn’t mean it hurt any less.
But Byulyi is nothing if not persistent.
If Yongsun is adamant on ignoring her, she will make sure the girl would notice her.
Sure, let’s start over again, Kim Yongsun. From now on, we don’t know each other.
“The fuck, is it love at first sight?” Heeyeon sneered while scrolling through the five hundred pictures of just one Psych Setter that Byulyi has been rummaging through her laptop when she connected her camera. The latter had the decency to look sheepish.
“Why does everyone say that? No, it’s not love at first sight . . . she’s just . . . pleasing to the eyes,” she mumbled and Heeyeon's brows raised.
“I thought you said you’re not interested in dating.”
“When did I say I want to date her?” Byulyi mutters, but deep down she knows she wanted to. But they’re strangers now. Not someone who spent an entire different past from the one they have now.
“But you’re attracted to her?” Heeyeon questions, still.
Byul sighs in exasperation and levels Heeyeon with a stern glare. “Do you deny she’s attractive then?”
Heeyeon shrugs with a smug smirk. “Touché.”
“Just because you think a cake is delicious doesn’t mean you’ll taste it.” Byulyi rolls her eyes and continues to edit the photos she captured from the game. Truthfully, Byulyi was sporty. She wanted to join the Volleyball team in their department but the old Dean had asked her to document the whole sports fest. Which she loathed and loved at the same time. She wanted to play for their team, but she can’t pass up something that’d make her resumé look good. Besides, who else other than her team in photography club would do it?
So, in cahoots with the Journalism club, Byulyi, the golden child of the photography club was set to take pictures and document for the school page and newspaper.
She hated doing it at first, but when she saw Yongsun, decking their whole department . . . let’s just say, her whole five hundred photos of the girl speaks for itself.
“That’s some impressive self-control there, then. Because if it was me, I'd eat the cake,” Heeyeon says with a smirk. Eyeing Yongsun in a way that irks Byulyi.
“If it’s not your cake, you don’t have permission to eat it,” she deadpans and forcibly took the mouse back from her friend who’s constantly pushing her buttons in the wrong way.
“Woah—okay then, lover girl.” Heeyeon's eyes went wide in surprise. “You don’t have to be so mad about it.”
“Just shut up and edit these pics, we have a deadline to meet.”
With a shrug, Heeyeon just went back to her post and proceeded to do her job.
Byulyi sighed, after working three hours straight editing pictures for the fest, she indulged herself in a little break.
She glanced at Heeyeon somewhere in their office and noted that she was too busy to see whatever Byulyi's up to, delighted, she took her phone out her jacket pocket and opted to open her Facebook app, but accidentally she pushed the messages app and saw the last text she sent Yongsun before.
If the girl changed her number, Byulyi doesn’t know. But her last text was left on read and when she tried to call her, the automated voice said that the number didn’t exist.
Didn’t exist huh.
Just like the last text she sent Yongsun.
Ghost – Justin Bieber.
Read √
Byulyi closed her eyes and allowed herself to reminisce. It’s what they always do. They don’t exchange ‘good mornings' and ‘goodnights’, never said cheesy lines through texts, never said their thoughts on chat. If they have anything to say it’s either they call, or Byulyi will inadvertently show up in front of Yongsun's ward (in visiting hours of course) and they will lay down all their raw, unfiltered, true self for the other to see. No matter how ugly and unhinged it might seem.
Byulyi always found Yongsun perfect.
But not in a lovesick kind of way. She found her perfect because she’s not perfect. She has flaws, she's broken, too damaged to the point of no return, but still, Byulyi thought she was perfect.
And it’s sad because Yongsun doesn’t see it.
So they send songs.
They send little love letters through music, just the title and the singer. No other words needed. Because if you listen to the whole song, the message will be there, no matter how little it may be, no matter how unnoticed it is—Yongkong Byulkong always understands the exact feelings, the exact meaning the other wants to convey.
A ping! along with the vibration of her phone in her hand woke her up from her reverie.
And God, the hammering of her heart went back twice as much as it did earlier as she gasps loudly, earning Heeyeon's attention across the room.
And it didn’t surprise her that one message from the person she’s been longing for makes her feel so happy and nervous yet wanting to run away and punching said girl at the same time.
5 months ago.
Ghost – Justin Bieber.
Thursday, March 03.
I miss you too.