She gets reprimanded for the second time that day.

There are no raised voices to pierce her ears, nor derogatory words to lash at her pride, her manager speaking to her lowly and sternly about caring for herself and the dangers of the outside world (as if she wasn’t well aware of those) before shooing her out of the car and to the salon with a weary sigh.

Sooyoung already has her makeup done by the time she’s sitting down, their hair stylist unnie already at work, applying product and touching up locks of fiery red, almost as if she were playing with fire - though not as dangerous.

Red suits the younger woman to the tee, her personality - dangerous and unpredictable, but at the same time, passionate and fiercely protective - embodies the symbolism of the vibrant color, and Seulgi can’t imagine ever finding someone who could equal Sooyoung’s flames.

They suit each other solely because of their polar opposite identities, making up for one another’s flaws, filling up the holes in their personalities, hot and cold, so Sooyoung doesn’t burn out and Seulgi doesn’t freeze.

“Manager oppa nag your ear off?” Sooyoung says, her eyes remaining shut so long lashes flutter along her cheekbone.

“Not a lot.”

“I swear, he could beat my grandma in a nagging contest.”

When Seulgi glances to the side again, Sooyoung’s staring at her with mischief in her eyes and teasing along , long fingers wiggling her phone back and forth, and she knows she’s in for trouble.

“So, first date, huh? Who was the lucky girl? You guys get to third base yet?”

Seulgi almost hits her, but Sooyoung’s yelp of pain stops her in her tracks, leaning back into the chair, satisfied, when she realizes what had happened.

“, Unnie! My hair!”

“Watch your mouth, Joy, and stop bullying Seulgi.”

The pretty hair stylist unnie sends a playful wink her way, and Seulgi can’t help but offer a smile of her own, hearing Sooyoung grumble about unfair alliances and ‘why does everyone hate me’, rubbing the side of her head where her hair had been unceremoniously yanked.

“But seriously, how did it go?”

Seulgi thinks back to last night.

Joohyun had led the two of them to a car parked at the end of the street, a shiny vehicle that looked as new as if it had been bought straight off of the dealer, a black shell, but pristine, white leather seats on the inside.

Seulgi remembers wondering if Joohyun’s obvious affiliation for the theme of black-and-white has some kind of backstory attached to it; a fairy tale that no one knew about. However, the woman had ushered her along into the passenger seat before she could venture off into the subject, while opening up the trunk and sliding in beside her at the wheel a few moments later, lacking the easel and canvas, but with the brown satchel still clasped in her hand.

During the ride home, Seulgi couldn’t help but scrutinize the bag resting so naturally along Joohyun’s lap. It looked like it had seen better days, a bit worn and off-color, although there were no tears on its surface, and surprisingly, no splotches of paint to be seen.

“My father gave it to me, years ago as a graduation present in high school,” Joohyun had said without sparing a glance at her. “I carry it with me always, even if I do happen to leave it behind from time to time.”

Seulgi’s lips were stuck on mute, not knowing what to say when there was something in Joohyun’s voice that spoke of past pains and leftover wounds, still too tender to touch, and yet to heal.

“You remind me of him.” Seulgi remembers startling at the statement, head whipping around to gape openly at the woman, and Joohyun shaking her head softly in reassurance. “Not in a weird sort of way. There’s a reason why you caught my eye, you know. I saw the way you hold yourself. Like you wear armor that no one can pass through, as if you’re daring anyone to come close enough to face your defenses. But you’re not like that because you want to be, are you? You’re afraid. You’re afraid to let people in because you’ve been hurt one too many times before. You’re afraid to bare your vulnerabilities to the world. You struggle with your words, fight to express yourself. It’s all in your eyes, your movements. I know, because my father was like that. And he was a sweet, gentle person, like I know you are. You just need a bit of assistance. And I just want you to know, that I understand you.”

Then, the car was cruising to a stop, its engine dying down with the gentlest of hums, and Joohyun was turning to face her, eyes darker than the night sky pooling with something Seulgi didn’t want to begin to understand.

And Joohyun had been right, about her being afraid, because she had run as soon as it registered that the car was at a full stop, flung open the door and stumbled in haste to escape the rattling in her chest, her armour stripped away and leaving her , too open, too vulnerable, and she couldn’t take it.

She hadn’t even given a ‘thank you’ before turning tail and sprinting away.

“I made a mistake.”

Seulgi lifts her hands to bury her face into the darkness of her palms, but they get pushed aside by the makeup artist who throws a warning look her way.

“Joy!” hair stylist unnie barks suddenly, making Seulgi jolt in her seat as if electrocuted.

There’s suddenly a hand circling her wrist, tugging her forward, Sooyoung’s signature scent of expensive perfume, that was named something in French, draping around her like a blanket, and a head full of red is all she can see.

“Holy crap, Unnie! What the hell? You never told me about this!” Sooyoung yells, her voice scraping at Seulgi’s eardrums like nails to chalkboard.

The bruises are as bad (or maybe even worse) than yesterday night, the purple and black against otherwise pale skin clearly painting the imprint of a large hand around her forearm like a grotesque tattoo.

“I did,” Seulgi murmurs, shifting uncomfortably at the close proximity and attempting to loosen Sooyoung’s weirdly strong grip. “I told you I got a bruise.”

Sooyoung looks mortified, the hand holding her wrist captive tugging upwards so Seulgi’s forearm is at eye level and put on a pedestal for everyone to gawk at.

“Yeah, but you made it sound like it was tiny!”

Seulgi doesn’t know what else to do but shrug, turning to the stylist unnie who looks like her soul had left her body, her eyes locked on Seulgi’s arm that’s trapped in Sooyoung’s titan grip, and her makeup brush dangling in midair as if by magic.

“Could you cover this? Somehow?”

Three pairs of eyes burn holes into her skull, and Seulgi feels the need to do something, so she plucks at the hem of her t-shirt with her free hand as if to wake it up from slumber and protect her from the unwanted attention.

Stylist unnie finally speaks, her tone the sweetest Seulgi’s ever heard it to be. “Do I look like a magician to you, Seulgi?”

Seulgi feels like it’s a trick question, but she answers it anyway, uncertain. “ . . . No?”

“Well, there’s your answer.”

~

Seulgi is in the arms of a man she’d only first laid eyes on two seconds ago.

The sweater-dress she’s wearing barely makes it down to her mid-thigh, and they only continue to creep upwards even as she yanks it down every chance she’s got. At least the sleeves drop over her hands and only end at the tips of her fingers so her bruises don’t have a chance to pose for the camera, or anyone else for that matter.

It doesn’t help that the man who holds her like he owns her is a sleazy looking guy who looks as if he’s already stripped her with his eyes, body pressed much too close for an innocent, winter clothing line photoshoot, and his hands lower than they should be.

He’s in a simple sweater and jeans that Seulgi knows has to be far more comfortable than her own outfit that covers bare minimum, and it makes Seulgi want to vomit when he looks down at her and smirks, as if it’s supposed to make her swoon and kiss his feet.

“Alright! That’s good! Good work, you two!”

Seulgi moves to tear herself away from the man, but she doesn’t get far, his hand at her waist dragging her back and pulling her closer to him, and his mouth lingering at her ear, whispering something about wanting to take her home and how unbelievably hot she looks.

She really doesn’t need this right now, she’s already burnt out from last night, and she knows she’s going to snap.

“Hands off, or I’ll call security,” she announces loudly, her voice steady and amplified for once.

All eyes swivel to scrutinize them and the man backs away as if threatened by the point of a gun, expression suddenly meek as he slinks away, hands pushed into pockets. Seulgi squares her shoulders, unwilling to look as defeated as she feels, expression masked as she walks towards her dressing room, head high and steps long as if she’s walking down a runway.

She’s tired.

She’s been tired for a long, long time, but this is the first time she wonders if she has to be.

~

Seulgi nearly breaks her phone for the second time in the span of five days.

But this time, Sooyoung’s next to her, and she’s catching it before it can fall, flicking it back up and glancing at the screen before she’s cackling like a hyena, doubling over in the middle of the lobby with Seulgi desperately dragging her into the elevator that slides open just in time.

“Aphrodite! Oh my god! You put her as Aphrodite!” Sooyoung screeches, leaning against the shiny metal wall for undeserved support.

“Stop laughing! What do I do?!”

She holds the phone like it’s a bomb waiting to go off, the vibrations harsh against her already shaky fingers, and she thinks it’s a miracle she’s even able to support anything in them right now. But then it’s being snatched away and the vibrations are put to a stop, abruptly feeling familiarly cold glass pressed harshly against her ear.

“ . . . Hello?”

It’s been three days since she’s heard that uniquely husky undertone to a light melody, and Seulgi thinks that it’s completely possible that she’ll faint from the sheer uncertainty on its own, Sooyoung prodding her side and mouthing incoherent words to her, although the suggestive wiggle of her brows tell her all she needs to know.

Seulgi has always been a coward, and predictably, she hadn’t been able to send so much as a text Joohyun’s way, chains of fear coiling around her fingers and rendering them immobile until she had to give up and make do with torturing herself with thoughts of a smooth voice and a gaze that made her feel like she was floating in space, no control in how her body moved and making her vulnerable.

“H-Hi,” she says, her tongue tripping over syllables and her voice trembling.

There’s a punishingly sharp jab between her ribs and Seulgi yelps in surprise, managing to get a hit in on the taller woman’s shoulder, before her attention’s being whisked away again by a concerned voice on the other end of the line.

“Seulgi? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Sorry.”

Sooyoung’s leaning back against the elevator’s railings, arms crossed and a Cheshire grin plastered on her face, and Seulgi thinks she’d like nothing better than to strangle her.

“Come on, Princess. You can do better than that,” she says lowly.

Seulgi throws her a dirty glare, but Sooyoung only sticks out her tongue, completely unfazed by her strongest weapon in her arsenal that lacks any sort of variety.

“I was just wondering if you were okay. And I wanted to apologize for crossing the line that night, for making you uncomfortable.”

“No! I mean, you didn’t - I was just - I didn’t know what to say or do, and, uhm, I’m sorry for running away and not saying - for not thanking you, for the ride, I mean.”

Sooyoung’s already laughing again, her cackles bouncing off the walls of the elevator and echoing, until it’s smoothing to a stop and the doors are opening, the tall woman stumbling out, gasping for air, with Seulgi trailing behind her.

“Oh, no. It’s alright. I was worried I scared you away,” Joohyun’s voice becomes smaller now. “That . . . I wouldn’t be able to see you again. That is not the case, is it?”

Seulgi’s quick to dissuade the uncharacteristically meek tone with jumpy sentences, uncomfortable with knowing that she’d managed to hurt someone like Joohyun. “No. It’s not. I promise.”

There’s an outtake of air that Seulgi can clearly hear, and for some reason, it makes the corners of her lips twitch just the slightest bit upwards, though hopefully not enough for Sooyoung to pick up on and for.

“I would have contacted you earlier, but as I’m sure it’s obvious, I was afraid.”

Seulgi wonders how someone can sound so confident admitting to their fears, Joohyun’s voice as steady as she remembers it being the first time they’d met, the veil of mystery beginning to make its descent once again along with the solid confidence.

Seulgi’s voice is quiet when she says, “You don’t have to be.”

She can hear the sound of breathing through the phone, and Seulgi isn't sure she can take much more of the silence, she’s already regretting the cheesy, film-worthy one liner that had escaped her lips, and she’s resisting the urge to end the conversation there and now out of sheer embarrassment.

But she can’t bring herself to do that to Joohyun, so she waits.

“Thank you.”

Tension seeps out of her muscles and leaves her limp, but relieved, keeping her fingers closed tightly around the cell phone, suddenly unwilling to end the call just yet.

“I’m free tomorrow night,” Seulgi ventures to say, albeit shakily.

She ignores Sooyoung’s obnoxious wolf whistle and vomit-inducing wink, turning so she doesn’t have to watch, and focusing on Joohyun’s voice instead.

“Then tomorrow it is. Shall I pick you up?”

The question brings blood rushing to her head, and she fails to hide the red tint in her cheeks from Sooyoung who begins to laugh so hard she can’t make a noise, wheezing with her hand against her stomach, and the other scrabbling at the wall, and Seulgi sincerely hopes she chokes.

Her response is timid, hoping the red in her face doesn’t seep through the phone. “Yes.”

“Not a problem. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Would six-thirty suffice?”

“Yes.”

“Copy that. Have a good night,” Joohyun says, and Seulgi can hear her smile and it makes whatever it is doing flips in her stomach double its efforts.

“Good night,” she squeaks.

The call clicks to a close, and as soon as she’s lowering the phone from her ear, Sooyoung’s dragging her down the hall and into her room, not allowing her time to process what had just happened, before she’s suddenly sitting on the edge of Sooyoung’s bed with her weird, green sheets under her.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Seulgi murmurs, picking at the fabric of her sweater and avoiding eye contact.

“I have never heard you stutter that much in my life,” Sooyoung says, plopping down beside her so that Seulgi bounces a little and she has to throw out a hand to steady herself.

“I stutter all the time.”

“No, you don’t. You just talk like a caveman, there’s a difference.”

Sooyoung’s pulling Seulgi’s hand away from the threads of her sweater and rolling up her sleeves with rare tenderness that has her relaxing, allowing the younger woman to reveal the bruise she’d been hiding away beneath cotton and wool for days.

It’s turned into a more subtle yellowish green now, and it doesn’t look too much like the broad expanse of a man’s grip anymore, though it still hurts if she moves it the wrong way or accidently presses too hard.

“You never told me exactly how you got this,” Sooyoung says, her thumb brushing gently over her arm, her lips pursed. “You never tell me anything, actually.”

Sooyoung sounds sad, almost, but Seulgi doesn’t understand why, all she knows is she doesn’t like it.

“I do,” she counters, although it sounds weak even to her ears. “I was walking, and this man grabbed me, and Mr. Choi and Joohyun saved me.”

Seulgi braces herself for another bout of teasing, Sooyoung’s specialty that never seemed to run out, but it never comes.

“ . . . You must’ve been scared. Did you cry?”

Her response is automatic despite the spontaneity of the question, too used to the taller woman’s unpredictable ways to be taken aback.

“No, of course not.”

She almost did cry, but Sooyoung doesn’t need to know that.

Sooyoung chuckles. “Of course not. That’s definitely something you would say.”

Seulgi frowns, shoving the tall woman with all her strength, though she only laughs and barely moves an inch, raising a brow and mocking her for her lack of power. Stupid giant with her stupid muscles.

“That’s not how you hit people, Princess.”

Then, Seulgi’s being knocked backwards onto the mattress with hair tickling her face and Sooyoung hovering over her, one hand planted next to her head, staring down at her like she’s about to devour her, and Seulgi moves to get up and retaliate, only for a hand to press against her chest, not enough to inflict pain, but enough to leave her as immobile as a rock.

“This is why you get hurt, Unnie. If I can do this to you, imagine what a guy could do. And they’re not as nice as I am.”

Sooyoung’s never been the type to express her feelings in conventional ways, and Seulgi’s always been on the receiving end of her worry and concern. So, Seulgi’s experienced it enough to translate the hidden messages behind her rough housing, “be careful”, “don’t get hurt”, “take care of yourself”.

“Fine.”

There’s mutual understanding between them and Sooyoung lets go of her and rolls away, sprawling on her back while Seulgi stands, scowling as she brushes down her clothes, freeing them of wrinkles, then kicking the giant’s dangling leg for good measure, only earning a giggle and not the sharp cry of pain she was aiming for.

“Bye, Princess.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Love you, too.”

~

Sooyoung insists on meeting Joohyun.

They’re standing in the lobby five minutes earlier than they’d promised because Seulgi feels like her heart’s about to jump out of and her palms are going to drown in a pool of her own sweat.

Sooyoung keeps trying to throw an arm over her shoulders, “But I have to give her the talk, Princess” and Seulgi has to dodge and slap her away with the taller woman gagging every time her wet palms land on her skin.

She’s torn between anxious and grateful for Sooyoung’s presence. Sooyoung’s not someone to be trifled with, especially when it comes to people who hold a place in her heart, particularly since she has the tendency to be extremely protective and a tad aggressive, though Joohyun doesn’t seem the type to be intimidated by something like that.

When her phone buzzes, Seulgi knows that it’s Joohyun letting her know she’s here, and Sooyoung gives her a knowing smirk, Seulgi well-aware of the gears running in the tall woman’s evil mind.

And then, the rotating doors fashioned as an entrance to the apartment are revealing a woman dressed in black and white, carrying a brown satchel and pushing back waves of black from a porcelain doll face.

Seulgi doesn’t realize she’s let out an audible gasp until Sooyoung’s arm is circling around her shoulders, her lips next to her ear.

“Oh, wow. Well she definitely passes the hot or not test. Are you sure she’s not a celebrity?”

The apartment they live in is on the higher end of the price spectrum, and many people tend to look out of place in the lavish building of white marble and gold lining, but Joohyun looks like she owns the place.

She locks eyes with Joohyun a moment later, sees the black orbs pull away to glance at Sooyoung and the giant’s arm around her shoulders, her expression faltering for a split second before she’s walking towards them, steps as confident as Seulgi knows them to be.

“Hello, Seulgi.”

Joohyun’s voice is warm, so warm that she feels like she’s melting, but Sooyoung’s arm is suddenly looping around her neck as if she’s about to throw her into a headlock, and Seulgi’s busy tugging at the giant’s limb in haste to stop her.

“What’s up, the name’s Joy. Nice to meet you.”

“Bae Joohyun. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

There’s tension in the air, so thick that she’s sure she can cut it with just the tip of her fingernail, but then it’s gone when Sooyoung’s arm slides off from the slopes of her shoulders and the crevice of her neck, and Seulgi can breathe again, only to choke on air at Sooyoung’s next words.

“So, before you take my princess to bed, I’m going to have to ask you a couple of questions, whether you’re Aphrodite or not. I’m sure you understand, right?”

~

A/N: Things are only just beginning, so I hope you're ready for what's to come. Thank you for those who took the time to upvote and comment. I really, truly do appreciate it, and it helps in the motivation aspect of things. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, until next time!