“Miyoung, there you are. Come quick, join us.”

The approaching young woman flashes the friendly smile she is well known for and takes her seat at the round table. “My apologies for being late. My father had something to tell me just as I was about to leave.” All eyes are on her. She keeps up her smile knowing very well the object monopolizing their attention hangs from her ear lobes. “My brother just got home yesterday and gave them to me. He got them from a land far south.”

“How exquisite. Are they made of seashells?” asks her friend from across the table.

Miyoung turns her head so that Sooyoung gets a clearer view of her earrings. “Yes, they are. Tropical, very far south.” She extends her smile to the younger woman, one year her junior. Among the ten ladies seated at the table (including herself), Sooyoung is one of the kindest, in her opinion. She hails from a wealthy family but does not carry airs and is warm to people around her. She also involves herself in non-profit groups that help those in need, an act few women of similar stature would be caught doing. Miyoung admires Sooyoung for her pluck and wishes her father would allow her to take such liberties as well.

“I heard that they are much poorer in the south and resort to making jewellery out of scraps they pick up from the ground.”

The other eight ladies look between Miyoung and the lady two seats from her. Miyoung looks as well, taking in the vision of luxury. Covered from head to toe in expensive silk and accessorized by precious stones, Hyexi is one such woman. Eager to find a suitable husband to marry, she would not associate herself with people of a class she deems to be lower than respectable. Precisely the kind of company that Miyoung prefers not to keep too close.

“All raw materials come from the ground or that which grows on it. Diamonds, emeralds, jade. The rice we eat is harvested from the ground as well. It is the workmanship that makes it truly incredible, taking a piece of nature and beautifying it so,” states yet another young woman seated at the round table.

Seohyun. The youngest among the ten, but also the brightest in the academic sense. Her parents encourage and support her acquirement of various talents like singing and playing of music instruments, in addition to providing her with home education in various subjects. Miyoung smiles. It would be just like Seohyun to provide a purely neutral rebuttal to what is otherwise a spiteful comment borne of jealousy. If there is anything that Seohyun needs to learn, it would be the impurities that reside in many men and women.

“Anyway, it’s pretty and that’s all that matters,” says Hyoyeon with an air of casualness that only she can project with such ease. The other ladies murmur their agreement to that statement and the tension ebbs as the subject changes.

“Have any of you heard about the new artist in town?” asks Yuri.

Miyoung looks at her with interest. An artist? “Where did you hear the news from?”

“Some people at the market. I was running around yesterd—”

An unladylike snort cuts her short. “Your father won’t be pleased to know that you’re running around again. As it is, your skin is tanned enough to send your mother scurrying around to find ways to make you fairer.”

A curl of Miyoung’s lips come unbidden. Soonkyu and Yuri. Forever the squabbling pair. Also forever together. Soonkyu is more likely to defend Yuri’srunning around than to criticise it in front of people in the outer circle but here in the inner circle of friends, Soonkyu enjoys ribbing Yuri, knowing that her friend will not get into any trouble for it.

Yuri rolls her eyes—yet another act that her parents would frown upon—and says, “You’re only saying this because you’re jealous I heard of it before you did.”

Soonkyu giggles, a pretty, tinkering sound that is known to be enamouring in the ears of men. “Not only have I heard of the artist, I even know where the artist is residing at the moment.”

Fabrics rustle as the ladies lean forward in curiosity, Yuri included. Soonkyu wears her lips in a smug slant for a moment, basking in their unrivalled attention.

“Where is the artist staying?” asks Minji, leaning into Yuri to be closer to Soonkyu, the source of the coveted information.

Still wearing the same smug smile, Soonkyu points up.

The collective gasp that follows would have attracted a few stares from other tables had they been seated in the common area. Fortunately, the status and wealth of the ladies afford them the luxury of a private room, hidden from the eyes of the common public.

“How did you find out?” asks Yuri, eyes wide in wonder.

The tinkering giggle makes a comeback. “There are finer ways to gather information than running around in the marketplace, Kwon Yuri.”

Yuri sticks her tongue out at Soonkyu who promptly returns the favour and the rest of the girls can only shake their heads at their childish antics.

“What’s the big deal with the artist anyway.” Hyexi again, with the negativity. Sometimes, Miyoung wonders how Hyexi made it into this circle of friends. She is nothing like the other nine of them. Oh yes, she is Hongsu’s cousin. That’s how. And there’s little they can do about it now.

“This artist is famed for his moving pictures of nature. They have a calming effect on your soul and word has it that wealth does not guarantee the commission of a painting from him. Not only that, this artist is also capable of producing portraits of uncanny resemblance to the model. Down to your finest hair.” Again, it is Soonkyu with the answers. Seohyun may have all the answers from books, but Soonkyu’s extensive answers from the streets are just as important and useful, if not even more so.

“All that is simply hearsay. Has anyone seen the artist produce a painting yet?” Hyexi continues to rain on the parade.

“Hearsay from a family friend from a town two days west of us. Their family is one of the fortunate ones who managed to commission him to paint their daughter. Her parents described the painting as a mirror image of their daughter. A more beautiful version at that.”

“How can a mirror image be more beautiful?” questions Seohyun, ever the sharp analytical mind.

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