Two minutes and fifty-four seconds.

Six seconds left before the three-minute mark.

Three…

Two…

And―

She moved.

Finally. Or not.

And Moonbyul swore that never in her years of existence did she experience her heart increase so unbelievably fast that the beating pace made her feel like she had finished a number of laps around an oval sprinting at the best of her might; the sound of her surprisingly rapid breaths, along with the sound of footwear making uneasy contact with the floor caused by the woman in front of her’s sudden, small, steps, permeated the once reticent room.

“I-I’m sorry. I think I did stare for too long,” The woman spoke with a wavering voice, and she did really seem apologetic, Moonbyul thought, carrying the full responsibility of breaking the quite awkward atmosphere between them.

“No, it’s okay. I was actually looking from behind. And I’ve seen that a lot already. No big deal.” Moonbyul replied with reassurance, hoping that she made her really feel that it really is just fine.

More than fine, actually.

“Still. I feel like I really need to apologize.” She paused to look at her. She made a little smile, the type that makes the cheeks a little more fluffy, but not warm enough to reach her eyes. “It’s just too....beautiful, don’t you think? Beautiful is an understatement, to be honest. I don’t really have a wide range of vocabulary, but I guess you know what I mean. Right?” She asked, obviously waiting for a reply.

But she was met by none.

“You don’t think it is?”

“W-what?” Moonbyul blurted out, startled by the sudden change in her tone. She had to admit that she was too busy studying how it was possible for her hair to have such long, powerful, yet soft, ocean-like waves and how her shoulder was able to cradle every strand perfectly.

“Oh. I just said it’s beautiful.”

You are.

“And it speaks to me deep within. You know how you just stare at it for a very long time and it starts communicating with you? It’s like it has its own soul, and it made me feel like our psyches met and hugged each other. Weird, isn’t it? Or am I the one weird?”

“That can happen. But as I’ve told you earlier, I’ve seen this before. Not to mention a lot. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just like that. When you see something beautiful over and over, it kinda burns out. Well, for me it does. Waking up early to see the sunrise everyday would later turn out to be just waking up at 6 AM. Or for a couple who never missed to say it any day, “I love you” would just be like a mantra they’re obliged to memorize and repeat every single day. It slowly loses the effect it had the first time you experienced it. It wears out for me.”

“I hope it doesn’t for me.” Was all the woman can reply after hearing words delivered in an almost poetic manner by the seemingly wise stranger she just met today.

“I hope so, too.” Moonbyul said, lips forming into a little smile.

“Yeah. By the way, I really have to go. You can go ahead and look at it more. It was nice meeting you.” The woman said hurriedly, and Moonbyul noticed that she was looking for something, hands rummaging her aqua blue sling bag.

“Yeah, nice meeting you, too. If it’s not rude to ask, can I know what’s your na―”

“Ah! And I do visit here often. Almost everyday, actually.”

I know.

“Only when I do have the time, though. It’s weird because I’m a regular here, but I’ve only seen you today. And you mentioned that you’ve seen this one a lot. Well, who am I to know, right? Maybe the next time I visit I could use some of my time to teach you to appreciate art properly. If you’ll come, though.” She said, beaming with pride.

She did a little wave before trudging her way towards the exit, and Moonbyul wasn’t sure if there exists a word to describe the way that she walked, for it seemed like a cross of walking, running, and a little hopping. She smiled to herself, thinking that whatever that word is, it’s definitely going to sound cute. Because she is.

Her regret of not being able to know her name was replaced by relief, thinking that she really is fortuitous to find her nameplate that fell from her bag when she was looking for something earlier lying on the floor.

Yongsun.

And if it isn’t serendipity, she wouldn’t have known what to call her unforeseen luck today, then. It doesn’t only carry her name, but also the place where she must have possibly went for work.

Moonbyul stood after picking the nameplate up and averted her gaze to face the painting in front of her. It had always been so vibrant, screaming with a thousand mixture of colors. She pondered for a minute, thinking about how special this one was for that woman, and thought harder on why she lied earlier, for this one definitely is special for her, too.