☉ TEASER TWO
PEARL CENTER ☉ PREPPING THE BOATS...waaaaa !! here is the second teaser ! i have had so much inspiration for pearl center recently,, so the teasers are coming out so quickly... while this one is definitely lengthy,, i hope it isn't too boring for you guys ?? :") let me know your thoughts,, im a bit nervous about this one... ALSO congrats to kishibe !! i have decided after beginning to plot the direction of this story, that i will be choosing son jisung ! so please also include interactions with him in your apps, as he is a part of the main cast ! thank you so much to all of you who have applied so far,, and don't forget deadline is july 21st @ midnight est!
song this time is 短夜 by pearl center x kan sano... before anyone asks,, yes this is the band that inspired the title HAHAH
song this time is 短夜 by pearl center x kan sano... before anyone asks,, yes this is the band that inspired the title HAHAH
she has been here before.
the water is spreading out all around her, as far as she can see. land is so far away that the dock has disappeared from view. she’s a little cold, a little frightened, but she feels consoled by the presence across from her. their face is hazy, a patch of fog just perfectly obscuring them from view. a part of her is grateful that she can’t identify the other person… something tells her that it hurts less because of it.
she is wrapped up in an old, thick-cord cardigan that was quilted by her mother. her sundress is too light for the grey day, too thin to withstand the mist that hangs over the water. she huddles into herself, curling inwards away from the waves that seem to want into the little rowboat. she is seated on one of the rowboat benches, facing the other person, looking out across the sea to the curve of the horizon. the sun is hidden behind dense grey clouds, the sky melting into just one large indistinguishable mass.
is this a dream?
“are you still afraid of the water?” the other person asks, voice ringing in her ears and bouncing off the top of the waves.
“yes,” she replies, voice coming out quieter than she would’ve liked. “can we go back to land soon?”
“the ocean is nice,” the person turns their head, staring out at the expanse of water. “i think it’s like my second home…”
she stares at this other person, with their head swirling in the fog. the other person is contemplative, quiet… unexpected for them, but not unwelcome. the two of them sit in silence for a bit, before they pick up once again.
“so let’s start with what’s scary about the ocean,” the other says, leaning forward toward yugyeong, their knees touching. “if we figure out what scares you, then we can find ways to make it.. not scary!”
she stares at their knees, fingers tightening into balls around the hem of her skirt. the wind lightly whistles past her ear, carrying with it the faint smell of smoke but also the lingering smell of seaweed and salt. simdong feels so far away, but so close, still just within her reach if she extends past the fog. despite this closeness, she still feels as though this little rowboat is the only thing existing on earth right now. the ocean is the entirety of her world.
it feels particularly unsettling.
when it comes to putting into words exactly what yugyeong finds terrifying about the sea, it feels like a difficult task. looking out at the dark waves, she can feel the creeping chill down her spine. as a girl, she would hate the way the ocean seemed to chase her up the beaches, nipping at her ankles and slapping against the back of her knees. as an adult, she could hear the roar of the sea in the back of her mind, dreams always full of those same foreboding waves that seemed to follow her everywhere.
yes, when it came to the ocean.. it was more a question of: “what isn’t scary?”
so she tells the other person just as much. they laugh, shaking their head and extending their arm.
“come on then,” they say. “i’ll show you that the ocean isn’t that scary.”
they reach for one of the arms yugyeong has tightly wrapped around herself, fingers slowly weaving in between the gaps of yugyeong’s own hand. their fingers are warm and so-very-much alive. she finds her hand goes limp against their touch, seeking the comfort of that warmth. they pull yugyeong over to the side of the rowboat, careful not to shift the weight too much, allowing the boat to settle once they have scooted close to the edge. yugyeong feels her whole body tense up as she stares over the edge at the black waves below her. she cannot see her reflection. there is only the darkness of whatever lies beneath.
“let’s do something easy,” the person says. “we’re gonna get you to be in love with the ocean, for sure!”
she’s not as convinced, but the other person takes her hand and slowly brings it close to the water. every fiber of her being is screaming at her to back up, take the oars and paddle frantically back to the shore... but the other person is warm and inviting. they murmur encouragement as her fingertips get closer and closer to the surface of the water, holding the back part of her hand and gently coaxing it downwards.
“i don’t think i can do this,” she says, voice almost caught in . “i really can’t do this.”
“you’ve got it, yugyeong!” they are smiling at her even through the fog. “we’ll do it together.”
and gently, gently, gently….
yugyeong’s hand breaks through the surface of the water and glides down into the sea. she immediately flinches--the water is so cold and it sends a whole shock throughout her entire arm--but she finds that the warmth of the other hand is still so clear despite the cold. their hand is still holding onto her tightly, slowly moving her hand back and forth under the water. with their guidance, the water doesn’t feel as suffocating or as cold. with their hand, she doesn’t feel as though she will be into it and dragged below.
it feels remarkably uneventful to have her hand in the water.
the other person pulls both of their hands out, gently patting yugyeong’s hand dry in their old t-shirt.
“see? not so bad,” the other person grins at her. “right?”
yugyeong presses the cold hand into her warm one. the warmth of her hand is not quite the same, but it still slowly revives the hand that was under the water.
“it’s because you’re here,” she’s a little too honest for her liking, but she can’t help the words that spill out. “the ocean would be too big without you.”
“good thing i’ll always be here,” the other person laughs. “so don’t worry, okay? you can always just come and get me when you’re scared.”
is this a memory?
with that, the other person picks up the oars once more and slowly turns their boat around. the waves are receding away from the edges of the rowboat, falling beneath them as they begin to journey back to shore. yugyeong watches their path in the water behind them.
the fog moves in thicker with each push of the oars. the other person is slowly becoming further and further away. the barrier is thick between them and she feels a pang in her chest. this is not the first time they have been divided, and she doesn’t know what will happen if she is divided again. she leans forward through the fog, reaching reaching reaching to try to seek out that warmth again…
...and the world slowly shifts back into focus through her bleary eyes. the lights of the drinking hut are a little too bright for her, the clamor of the fishermen and farmers ringing a little too loudly in her ears. the side of her face is pressed against the cool wood of her table, one arm stretched across the length of the surface while her other hand is holding the table’s edge. her fingernails are almost touching the filled-to-the-brim shot glass next to her. there are two empty soju bottles near her forehead, and one bottle half-empty next to the shot glass.
her clothes feel suffocating. she had foregone the slip that her mother had laid out for her upon her arrival, instead still wearing her clothes from the city. these clothes are meant for the harsh hustle of the capitol, not so much the sea breeze that coasts off of the distant waves, breezing over the sweat beading along the line of her nose and softly pushing the strands of her hair that are beginning to stick to her forehead. her feet hurt in her city flats. she misses the smell of her mother’s soap on her skin, her clothes… she can only smell the stench of alcohol in the air, of the sweat and grime of the end of the day.
yugyeong knows it’s about that time, the time where she needs to peel herself off of the table and make her way back to the hanok. her mother is probably already asleep, a pot of tea left steaming on the table in the tea house, a note telling yugyeong to drink up so she doesn’t nurse a headache in the morning. she wants to will her body upwards, but she is seemingly stuck to the surface. there is something wet moving from the corner of her eye into the loose strands of her hair.
was it a dream? or was it a memory?
“yugyeong.”
a voice pierces through her muddled thoughts. her eyes are on the verge of closing, so she opts to look through her eyelashes at the speaker. she can make out a blob-like figure standing in front of her table.
“hello…” she manages, syllables all slurring together. “sorry...i’ll be up soon..”
“yugyeong…” the figure laughs a bit, but it’s a little too dry and harsh.
the voice feels like something familiar, but this tone is…
“come on,” the person says. “let’s go home.”
and so he’s lifting up yugyeong’s limp body from the table and hoisting her up onto his back. he gives a quick wave to mrs. yi, who is worriedly glancing in their direction.
“she’ll be okay!” he calls out. “don’t worry, i’ll get her home.”
“i trust you, i trust you,” mrs. yi waves him off, laughing. “it’s good to have you home again.”
shuffling yugyeong up once more, he slowly pads out of the drinking hut, barely avoiding a few drunken hollers from the men around him. readjusting his bag that’s resting on his hip, he holds yugyeong and his luggage all in one grip.
as the tent flap claps shut behind him, the sound seems to completely disappear. as he stands outside, there are only a few faint chirps of crickets in the grass, the dull hiss of the waves. the moon is high in the sky, illuminating the dirt path through town. readjusting yugyeong once again, he sets off down the trail.
he stays silent for the most part, only asking if yugyeong’s okay when she mumbles out something against his neck or begins to slide over too far to one side. as he maneuvers past all the shops and restaurants, he feels an odd sensation run throughout his body. it’s not quite nostalgia, but it’s not quite melancholy… it’s almost a sort of homesickness, despite being back. and with yugyeong on his back like this…
have things changed at all? it almost feels as though they’re frozen in time.
in seemingly no time, he’s reached the front entrance of yugyeong’s tea house. slowly toeing open the front door with his foot, he somehow manages to squeeze in with everything he’s carrying. despite the darkness covering the entirety of the tea house, he has been here so many times before. he could walk through this completely blindfolded and still find his way.
he creeps through the tea house, slowly navigating to the back door where he can make it into the courtyard. he makes the descent down the patio painfully slow, but there’s not much he can do to keep balance when both of his arms are occupied. he pads across the courtyard (even this is still frozen in time, he notes. simdong truly never changes.) and toward yugyeong’s hanok, positioned in the back corner. he’s lucky her door is still open, so that he doesn’t have to jostle yugyeong around to slide open her door.
he plops her down onto her sleeping mat, gently placing her down with minimal issue (his bag almost hits her in the face and he frantically attempts to balance everything to minimize injury). she mumbles out something incoherent, her face almost completely obscured by the dark tendrils of her hair. the moon perfectly shines through the doorway, illuminating her in a way that is only seen in movies.
it stirs something within him, something buried in the deepest parts of his chest.
he can’t stay here.
noting that she has been delivered safely, quickly propping her up on her side with some pillows and placing some spare towels nearby justy in case, he turns back toward the door. just as he’s about to step out onto the patio--
“jisung..? you came back?”
he feels his throat tighten, looking over his shoulder at yugyeong sprawled out on her sleeping mat. he hasn’t heard her voice in so long.. it makes him feel like he’s sixteen all over again.. she really hasn’t changed. but for him…
he’s not the same boy who would go around catching lizard tails.
he wants to stay with her throughout the night and make sure nothing bad happens to her, but he knows deep-down that even if yugyeong seems like the same girl from his childhood, things are not the same between them.
and so, he turns away from the door and slowly pads out of the hanok and back outside. there’s a tightness in his chest that won’t quite go away. the air carries the smell of old herbals and the faint sea spray. it is familiar, but with each breath he feels a sort of weight upon his shoulders.
was it a mistake to come back?
Like this story? Give it an
Upvote!
Thank you!
PC ☉ hello hello !! so,, there has been a change in plans.. i will be reaching out to those i have questions for... otherwise, pls anticipate the cast releasing here soon !!! sorry for my silence... my gears have been running tho i promise !
Comments