Shimmer

Moonbyul sometimes wondered why Solar was allowed to walk on this world. She was too captivating, almost angelic. And so, Moonbyul would sit in an awkward position, chin resting on the couch, staring as Solar padded around their shared apartment. Solar seemed to sense Moonbyul’s lingering gaze at times, and she’d turn to return it, but with a look that said ‘are you nuts’.

Sometimes, Moonbyul thought that everything was because she liked Solar so much, that Solar shimmered and glowed like her name. That it stung her eyes when she stared too hard.

Their gaze met again and this time Solar held a questioning look.

“Nothing,” Moonbyul mumbled, unusually sombre.

An obvious flicker of surprise and a hard blink of her eyes later, Solar shrugged. The usual routine was for Moonbyul to spew some greasy garbage from that mouth of hers.

‘Nothing’ was really really not like her.

But Solar didn’t seem that bothered as she turned to walk into the kitchen again.

“I just like to stare at you, it’s… therapeutic?”

Solar’s back was all Moonbyul could see now, her hair draped down the first third, a short distance past the shoulders. It moved, swayed just a tiny bit, with every step Solar took.

Picture perfect.

Maybe it was just the sunlight spilling in. Or the way she tilted her head a little. The angle of it.

Actually, it didn’t matter, anyway.

Solar could steal her attention and more in any setting.

“You’re dumb and strange, Byul.”

Solar’s words, swirling in an almost unnoticeable giggle, floated into her ears and Moonbyul buried her face into the couch.

“Yeah, so are you. Dumber and stranger,” Moonbyul tried to sound cheeky or mocking, but her muffled voice was somehow glossed with a layer of adoration.

Solar didn’t respond and Moonbyul let it rest and fade. Both would chalk it up as another brief exchange in their lives.

But was it, really.

Moonbyul felt a twinge in her chest and wondered if Solar ever felt that too.

Would she have felt anything similar?

Moonbyul brought her eyes up from the security of blackness the couch provided. Solar was humming an indistinct tune, looking at the fridge, lost in her world.

Cute.

That twinge hit her again, but so did a gentle warmth.

A small smile on her lips.

This much is fine.