Tzuyu was seven years old when she first met her. 

It was summer, and Tzuyu was visiting her grandmother who lived in a beach house, hundreds kilometers away from Tzuyu’s house in the city. Her parents had made it into their annual ritual, and Tzuyu was more than happy to come. Her grandmother was dotting, even more so than her parents. She loved the beach house, and the old, comfortable smell that settled in it. She liked to hide behind the big vases by the second floor, or making a fort between the sofas in the living room. She loved the food that her grandmother made, the smell of the kitchen in the afternoon, and the busy noise of it when her family filled in to cook the dishes. 

Tzuyu usually helped her parents to prepare the table at the terrace, where they would have their dinner every evening during their visit. And the memory that little Tzuyu imprinted in her head —the most vivid of them all —were during those quiet  moments on the porch, where she would be alone, staring at the quiet view of the sun dipping low on the horizon. 

While Tzuyu was not crazy for the ocean, she could say that she loved to stare at it. Especially when the sun began to descend, bathing everything in pink and purple. In the back of her mind, even when she barely understood the life itself, Tzuyu always felt like there was something in the glow of the darkened sky, of the hue of rose gold and blue, whispering a tale of a forgotten story from the past. 

Maybe it was her mother’s fault. Tzuyu, right before she slept, has always listened to her mother reading stories about the magical lore, or in her mother’s words- children stories; of mermaids, princesses, and tragic loves. Thinking back, some parts of Tzuyu really believed that the tales were true. She often reenacted the events that she had learned from the books, sometimes she became the princess, other times she took the role of the prince, but her favorite was always to become the villain. 

Based on Tzuyu’s observation, the villain became what they were because of a misunderstanding, or other times they became so because of their insecurities. Tzuyu related herself to the two qualities. Oftentimes, at school, Tzuyu was mocked by the other kids for being different, she was quiet, and had a hard time to express herself, it also didn’t help that she was taller than most, even compared to the boys at school. Tzuyu stood out; skinny and lanky, and it made her an easy target for the bullies. 

The only one who could understand her were her parents, and her dog, Gucci - a long haired chihuahua. He was small, but to Tzuyu, Gucci might as well be her guardian angel. He was there when she was sad, always happy, and maybe a little bit crazy, but Tzuyu loved him the same. Gucci loved to walk, particularly at the beach, and Tzuyu was more than happy to walk him in the morning, when it was breezy and the sting of the sun was more forgiving.

One day, different than most days, when the sun was shielded by the cloud, and the day was almost over, Tzuyu was walking Gucci along the strip of the beach. They passed the crowd, where other people came lounging in their bathing suits, and came to a secluded part, where the trees reached the edge of the water. 

Before Tzuyu could turn around to walk Gucci home, the chihuahua suddenly picked up his pace and zoomed in front of her. The leash, which Tzuyu was holding, slipped from her grip. Tzuyu, panicked, rushed to follow Gucci, calling his name. The dog ran still, and went inside the looming trees. 

Although scared by the unfamiliar place, Tzuyu decided to find Gucci. The deeper she went, the more afraid she was. There were times when the strayed branches brushed her skin, and it made her want to give up and return. But then she thought about Gucci, and how afraid he would be if Tzuyu left him alone in the forest, and so, against her better judgement, she tried to ignore the anxiousness, and ventured deeper inside the mangrove forest. 

She was anxious, and It didn’t help when Tzuyu noticed that the sky had darkened, the cloud became heavy and bleak, and to her misery— soon it was pouring. 

Tzuyu didn’t know how long she was running and navigating her way through the shallow water and the trees, but when she finally caught up with the little dog, Tzuyu realized that she didn’t know where she was. She found that she was in a little lagoon, and there was a humble bungalow by the sandy part, surrounded by the trees. Tzuyu held Gucci and dashed toward the bungalow, taking shelter underneath the wooden roof of the terrace. 

As sudden as the rain was falling, the sky cleared up, and Tzuyu watched as the sun peeked beneath the cloud, the light descended along with it, coloring the sky and the sea with gold and orange. The fear which previously settled began to disappear as she watched the view in front of her, and she didn’t realize that she was holding her breath when she noticed that there was something different in the leaves and the sand. They were glowing — pink and lavender. Tzuyu had never seen something as magical. 

Thinking that her eyes were playing tricks on her, she came down and touched the wet sand, feeling it with her palm. 

“Hello?” someone called, and Tzuyu dragged her eyes from the floor to find the owner of the voice. First she saw their feet, then Tzuyu’s eyes climbed still to the fabric of their clothings; white, red, and gold. Then she finally met the owner of the voice. 

The first thing that came to her mind was, how ethereal the woman looked like, against the glimmer or the water and the sky; her hair, as if blended with the scenery behind her, was the color of the sunset, and her skin was fair and unblemished; her lips — quivering — were the shade of bright rose petals. Tzuyu stared, mouth ajar, surprised and unmoving. 

(She thought the woman looked like the princesses from the books that her mother read to her) 

“Are you crying?” The mysterious woman asked. 

Tzuyu didn’t realize that she was. She felt her cheeks and they were wet. Maybe it was the rain, she thought, but seconds passed by and she realized she was trembling, and her tears were falling. Gucci came trailing beside her, and Tzuyu picked him up from the sand, suddenly wanting to hug the chihuahua, trying to find comfort in things that were familiar to her. 

“I don’t know why I am,” Tzuyu said, wiping her own cheeks with her free hand. Her chest churned unpleasantly, she clutched at it to stop it from hurting too much. 

As if trying to give comfort, Gucci her nose. Tzuyu cringed but didn’t push away. 

Upon hearing Tzuyu’s voice, the woman froze, then her face slowly broke into a smile. 

(Tzuyu felt as though her breath was taken away from her)

“You can hear me,” she said, as if the realization just dawned on her. Tzuyu nodded, confusion etched on her face. 

“Of course I do, you’re right there.”

The strange princess parted , as if stunned, and for a moment they were staring at each other, then the woman walked closer, the fabric of her clothes followed behind her, leaving soft trails in the sand. “You’re hurt.”

Tzuyu turned to see for herself, she had skinned her knee without knowing. She grimaced, watching a tiny trickle of blood sliding down her shin. Once she saw how bad the wound was, Tzuyu started to feel the pain that came with it. 

“I can heal it.” The woman said, kneeling beside her. They were eye level then, and Tzuyu, in an odd way, upon seeing the genuine worry in the woman’s eyes, felt an immediate comfort grew from within her. 

“It’s okay, I need to go home,” Tzuyu said, suppressing the need to wince as she moved her leg. “My parents are probably looking for me, besides I’m not supposed to be talking to strangers.” For a brief while, Tzuyu could see hopelessness written in the woman’s pretty face, and Tzuyu wondered — once she had seen the furrowed brows and the small frown — of why it would affect her so. 

“Can you please, at least, let me heal you? It won’t take long,” she asked kindly, and Tzuyu could feel the sincerity in her words. Tzuyu was still unsure though, she was never used to making her own decisions, her parents were the ones who usually made it for her. She squeezed Gucci, as if by doing so she could get an approval. 

In response, the dog stuck out his tongue, unbothered. 

“I don’t know,” she finally said with a whisper. 

With a tilt of her head, the woman looked at Tzuyu, there was a thoughtful expression on her face. “Maybe I should become like you, so you’ll feel more comfortable.” 

“What do you mean?” Tzuyu asked, and she didn’t get a chance to question more when the woman began to change. A glow appeared in front of the woman’s chest, then it became bigger, until it enveloped her whole body. Tzuyu squinted, and when the glare of the light became too much to endure, Tzuyu closed her eyes. 

“How about now?” 

Tzuyu opened her eyes, and met face to face with a kid— a girl, about Tzuyu’s age. Tzuyu would have thought that she was imagining things, except the strange girl looked at her with utmost expectation, as if she was urgently waiting for Tzuyu’s reaction. 

“Did you just..transform?” Tzuyu asked, incredulous. Her eyes were searching for signs, then later, finding clues in the color of the bright hair and the clothes that the girl wore. She read tales about how humans could magically change into other beings, or sometimes, transformed their appearance. Naively, she thought she was witnessing an example of it. 

(Little did she know, she was looking at something entirely different.) 

The girl gave her a small, thin smile. “Are you scared?”

In a curious, inexplicable way, Tzuyu found that she was not. “That was cool, can you change into something else?” she asked instead.

“I can’t, but I can change how I look, age wise.”

“Awesome,” she offered, earning herself a toothy grin. “My name is Tzuyu.”

The girl beamed, her honey colored eyes twinkled. “Tzuyu..” The girl repeated with a soft exhale of her breath. A blush adorned her then chubby cheeks. “My name is Sana,” she introduced, bowing down. 

“Are you a witch?” she blurted out, and regretted it once the question escaped her lips, for Sana seemed to be taken aback by the question. Sana sighed and kneeled in front of her, casting her gaze down to the sand. 

“I’m not, but-“ Sana brushed Tzuyu’s injured knee with her thumb, “-I guess I have magic in me now.”

There was warmth radiating from Sana’s hand to Tzuyu’s skin, and gradually it became hotter, until there was no more, and when Sana removed her palm, Tzuyu’s knee was as good as new. 

“It doesn’t hurt anymore!” Tzuyu announced, staring at her leg in wonder. 

“I’m glad,” Sana said, then sat on the sand. 

“Thank you,” Tzuyu said excitedly.

There were voices whispering in the breeze of the wind, and suddenly, as queer as it was, Tzuyu felt an urge to go home. She thought about her family and the dinner that she was supposed to be having, and to top it all off, her stomach grumbled, signalling to her that it was her meal time. “Did you hear that? Is it the wind?”

“The wind? I don’t hear it.” Sana asked, tilting her head. 

Tzuyu thought hard, maybe she was mistaken. Tzuyu was often wrong about things. “I’ll be going now, do you happen to know the way back?”

Peculiarly, even when Tzuyu didn’t elaborate on where she was supposed to go back to, Sana seemed to understand just fine. The girl nodded, her light copper hair bounced as she did so. “Right that way,” she pointed at the tallest tree, its droopy branches waved as the wind passed through the mulberry colored leaves. 

“Do you live here?” Tzuyu asked abruptly as she set Gucci down on the sand. 

“Yes,” the girl replied simply. There’s a sad look in her eyes as she watched Tzuyu begin to walk toward the direction that she pointed to. 

“Then I’ll see you later!” Tzuyu exclaimed, waving her hand from afar.

Sana stood up, her lips curled up into a hopeful smile. “Really?” she asked in disbelief. 

“Really!” Tzuyu yelled, she almost reached the tall tree by then and Sana was leaning, as if she was about to follow. “I’ll come by tomorrow!” Tzuyu said and with it, she stepped past the tree and suddenly she was in front of her grandmother’s house. 

“Oh woww!” Tzuyu yelled, surprised. She looked back and found no trace of the lagoon and the lavender colored trees. In wonder, Tzuyu quickly sprinted back, and found that there was no magic. The sky was dark, unlike where she was seconds ago, in front of the bungalow, with the sunset on the horizon. Tzuyu stood frozen, looking back and forth, from the beach to her grandmother’s house. 

“Tzu!” 

Tzuyu looked up to her mother, the woman had her head stuck out from the threshold of the porch, a frown on her forehead. “Where have you been?! Dinner is ready!” her mother chided. 

Although confused, Tzuyu grinned. She followed Gucci who had taken a lead inside the beach house. “Mom!” she called, terribly excited. “You won’t believe what just happened!!”

To her dismay, her mother didn’t believe her and so did her father. Instead they exchanged looks, as if they knew something that Tzuyu did not. Unlike the days before that night Tzuyu didn’t get her nightly fairytale. Tzuyu sulked, planting her face onto the pillow — frustrated. Gucci curled up beside her, offering comfort. 

“You saw her too, right Gucci?” she whispered to the dog. The chihuahua only looked at her and didn’t respond. 

As soon as they day broke, Tzuyu went to the dining room to have her breakfast, and after, she insisted for her parents to come with her to the beach. She was determined to show them that she was telling the truth. They complied, albeit apprehensively, but when they got to the edge of the mangrove forest, her parents stopped. 

“You went in there?” her father asked then, worry evident in his voice. 

“Yes, Sana lived there, all alone, the princess witch!” Tzuyu said. 

Again, her parents traded looks. Her father took her from the ground and walked them back to the direction that they came in. Tzuyu protested, and maybe gave a bit of a tantrum, however no matter how much she tried, her parents wouldn’t relent. They told her that she was imagining things. Tzuyu, on the other hand, believed what she saw, but she had no way to prove it, and her parents were not willing to listen. 

They wouldn’t let Tzuyu go to the beach anymore, not after her story of meeting a strange woman. It didn’t matter that Tzuyu cried and begged, her parents retaliated by grounding her to her room, and that was the end of that. 

Years passed, and Tzuyu was ten years old when they came back to her grandmother’s beach house. By then, her parents had forgotten the event, and Tzuyu, after much persuasion, finally believed that she might have imagined the whole thing. At some point, Tzuyu had stopped talking about it and her parents, in turn, had ceased trying to convince her. 

There was a part of her that still wondered if she could, at least, revisit the lagoon. And so, on the last day of the visit, Tzuyu came to the beach alone, without her parents’ approval. She knew that it was not something that she should do, but against her logic, she decided to go anyway. 

The mangrove forest was still as intimidating as the first time she came upon it, but still it didn’t deter her to explore. Much to her pleasure, she reached the other end of the edge of the forest easily, and once she stepped onto the sand, the color spilled from the bottom of her feet to the edge of the water, and then more, until it filled up her whole vision. The sun, seemingly frozen with its everlasting amber glow, streaking pink and lavender onto the expanding sky. Tzuyu was stunned, amazed by the unearthly transformation. 

She ventured forward with slow hesitant steps. First, she noticed the unchanging bungalow by the edge of the sand, then she saw a wooden boat by the water, which she didn't remember seeing the first time she came to visit. She stared at it, watching the tiny waves bobbing it carelessly in the water, and for a while she was trembling. She gradually realized that the memory that she had of the lagoon, the pink sands, and the purple leaves, were not an illusion as her parents told her to be.

“You came back!” 

Even before the girl showed herself, Tzuyu felt her heart quickened. With a tap on her shoulder, Tzuyu spun in place to the sight of the little girl with her bright orange hair and a blinding smile upon her face. 

“You’re real!” Tzuyu shouted, her knees almost gave way. 

“Of course I am!” Sana said, grinning. “I thought you wouldn’t come back,” she added, her voice trailed as her eyes glazed over.

“My parents, they didn’t believe you exist, they didn’t believe me. So they didn't let me go here."

Sana gave a long, heavy exhale, then she reached out, her hand hovered close to Tzuyu's cheek, as if afraid that the other girl would reject her, and when Tzuyu didn't back away, Sana brushed the stray tears that had escaped Tzuyu's eyes. 

"Are you crying again?" Sana asked with a hushed voice.

Tzuyu rubbed the center of her chest, it hurt, but not in a way that she could explain. She recalled the way she felt when she got nagged by her parents or when the kids at school for her height and tanned skin. It was almost like they were the same pain, except there was something else in there mixed in it. 

"Why does this happen every time I come here?" Tzuyu asked herself, thinking out loud, and Sana pulled her hand away. 

"It’s this place, it gives you loneliness and sorrow," Sana answered calmly, gesturing to the lagoon, as if it would explain everything itself. 

"What is this place anyway?"

Sana didn't immediately answer. Her lips formed into a pout instead. "Why don't we go inside? Do you want some food?" Sana started to walk away, then a few steps later she spun to see if Tzuyu was following her. 

"Yeah," Tzuyu answered, catching up with the shorter girl into the bungalow. 

The inside of the hut was simple; a mattress with pillows and blankets on one side, a wardrobe by the other end, a small dining table by the opposite side of the beddings, and finally a small kitchen, facing the window. The design was somewhat familiar, and Tzuyu concluded that it was due the similarity that she had seen in books, historical books, and a museum that her parents brought her to, except everything seemed brand new, and not at all worn like how it was in the museum. 

After asking Tzuyu to sit, Sana went to the kitchen to prepare their meal, her short feet made muffled noises as she went back and forth to get the cutleries. Tzuyu watched as the girl brought back empty dishes and glasses to the table. 

"You're taller," Sana said, sitting down. It sounded more like a statement than a question. The topic was somewhat sensitive to Tzuyu, having been teased endlessly at school about it, however she didn't find Sana's remark as offensive, because Sana said it in a way that sounded more like a compliment. Having never received one, Tzuyu didn't know how to respond to it, so she gave a faint smile instead, hoping that it'd satisfy the strange girl. 

“You’re smaller,” Tzuyu replied, not knowing what else to say. 

“It’s not me who got smaller, it’s you who got taller, how old are you now?” Sana asked. The girl gathered her big sleeve with one hand, and with the other she motioned above the empty plates and cutleries, and when she was done, the table was full with food. 

(Tzuyu let out a surprised squeak.)

“I’m ten,” Tzuyu answered distractedly, already eyeing the steaming egg soup. Sana saw her and smiled. “Please,” she said, gesturing to it. 

They ate in silence, and while they did, Tzuyu’s eyes roamed to the ceiling, then later to the floor, and lastly to the disarrayed kitchen. On the wooden counter, were flowers, and they were arranged and placed neatly inside a small blue vase. Tzuyu felt like she had seen it somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember when and where. It was an odd feeling, but it was an oddly pleasant one - having to see something familiar in the otherwise alien-looking place. 

Tzuyu took another bite.

“Do you like it?” Sana referred to the food, her cheeks puffed as she chewed.

“It’s my favorite,” Tzuyu answered, nose flaring as she took a sip. 

Sana nodded with a satisfied smile. 

During the time that they spent together, Sana asked Tzuyu a lot of questions, and they were mostly about something obvious, like how the outside world looked like (Tzuyu answered— “Just the usual”), or what year it was (“2009, don’t you have internet?” to which Sana countered with— “What’s internet?”), Tzuyu explained as best as she could, and even then Sana didn’t look satisfied. 

“So, what is this place?” Tzuyu eventually came back to her own question. 

“It’s magic,” Sana said with a forlorn gaze.

(Tzuyu wondered why such a pretty girl would be sad.)

“Must be nice to see such a view everyday,” Tzuyu offered, trying to cheer up the girl. 

Sana gave a tight lipped smile. “I do like to swim,” she said. 

“I don’t,” Tzuyu said, frowning. “I can’t swim, my Mom made me take lessons but I just can’t.”

“You can’t?” was what Sana asked, there was an edge to her voice that made Tzuyu want to explain more. 

“I barely can float,” Tzuyu shrugged, and Sana seemed disappointed by the information. The fact was, Tzuyu was afraid of the ocean — and therefore —couldn’t swim. However, a tiny part of her wanted to impress the other girl so she only let out half of the truth. 

Thinking that she needed to redeem herself, somehow, Tzuyu added- “I like the sunset though.”

The twinkle in Sana’s eyes came back, and Tzuyu couldn’t stop staring at them. 

(She thought Sana looked best when she was smiling.) 

Later, they came to the beach, and they began to talk while they sat down on the sand, facing the sunset. From the conversation Tzuyu learned that Sana was from another country, somewhere far, and the clothes that she wore were called kimono and the belt was an obi (It was all very foreign for Tzuyu). Sana said she was brought to the island when she was younger, all to assist a noble lady. 

"Like a princess?" Tzuyu asked curiously. 

"Somewhat so," Sana answered after a moment of thought. "She was of blue blood." 

Tzuyu only understood half of what Sana said but she nodded anyway. 

"What happened after that?"

"She fell in love, but it wasn't to who she was supposed to be with," Sana said, her eyes had a faraway look to them, recalling the event. "It was to another girl." 

"Another girl?" Tzuyu tilted her head, the idea was new to her. 

Sana hummed in response. "But the other lady didn't love her back, not in a romantic way, she cared for my lady like a sister would." 

Tzuyu had never been in love. She couldn't even imagine, let alone related herself to the story, however, just like the lullabies that her mother had told her when she was younger, Tzuyu felt herself terribly drawn to the story. 

"So, where were you, when all those things happened?" 

Sana's cheeks burned red, much like the distant sun against the rippling water in the background, and Tzuyu assumed — as she watched the color bloomed across Sana’s face — that the girl was embarrassed. 

"I fell for the same person that my lady did, and for that I am cursed." 

"Cursed how?"

Then Sana told her the rest of the story. The lady, hurt and betrayed from learning that Sana fell for the same person, had put a hex on Sana, causing the girl to be stuck in the lagoon for all eternity. Unfortunately there was no break to the spell, or if there was, the lady never disclosed it to Sana. 

Sana seemed miserable, and Tzuyu could feel the sorrow from her words. It made her want to cheer up the girl. 

The light shone on Sana’s copper hair, making it shine and gleam. Tzuyu, while listening to Sana’s voice, pondered if it would feel as soft as it looked. So she brushed it, seemingly without thinking. It made Sana pause. 

(Tzuyu thought Sana must be surprised) 

“I’m sorry, I’ve never seen someone with such hair,” she stammered. 

Sana combed her tresses with her fingers, untangling them. “It’s weird is it?” 

On the contrary, Tzuyu thought that it was gorgeous, but being awkward as she was, she said something else entirely. “Not everyone has them.” She nodded. “At least not anyone I know.”

“I don’t always have them,” Sana said. “I used to have the same hair color as yours.”

Tzuyu hummed. She concluded that It must be the magic then, just like everything else in the lagoon. “Black hair is boring, everyone has them, unless you’re old, like my grandmother.”

That made Sana laugh, the sound of it made the corners of Tzuyu’s lips quirk up in delight. She decided that she liked how Sana laughed. 

Soon, it was time for Tzuyu to go home. She bid Sana goodbye with a wave of her hand, then, as she was about to walk away, Sana called her name. 

“Will I see you again?” the girl asked, sending her a puppy eyed look. 

Tzuyu grinned. “Of course,” she said, certain of her own words. Sana returned her smile with one of her own. “Promise me!” the girl said, excitement apparent in her voice. 

“I promise!” Tzuyu said then. 

When she returned to the beach house, she couldn’t wipe off the smile from her face. She managed to make a new friend, a pretty one at that. Sana was her first friend. It didn’t matter that no one would believe her, what mattered for a ten years old Tzuyu was how Sana made her feel accepted, and that was more than enough. 

That night, Tzuyu slept, dreaming of a strange girl with brilliant hair and a kind smile on her face. 

-

The following years, Tzuyu found herself returning to the lagoon, over and over again. Sana and Tzuyu were good friends then, having spent most of their time together whenever Tzuyu came to visit her grandmother's town.

And as Tzuyu grew, Sana mirrored her in appearance. The chubby cheeks became less so, and her shoulder length hair grew longer. Sana became taller, but never passed Tzuyu’s height, she was always the shorter of the two. Once, in a harmless kind of way, Sana confessed that she liked how Tzuyu was taller, she said being tall had made Tzuyu even more beautiful.

Tzuyu assumed that Sana was giving her baseless compliments, because to her, other people seemed to disagree with everything that Sana had told her.

Tzuyu was fourteen, and much to her chagrin, she had grown taller, her hair became longer, but she was still the same awkward girl that she always had been. Her peers at school were unchanging, always teasing her for the color of her skin, her height, and her oddness. 

Once, Tzuyu came to the lagoon, tears streaken, just like how she always was whenever she visited the magical beach, except, unlike her previous visits, at that time she was aware of the cause of the tears. 

“What happened?” Sana fretted when she found the sobbing girl by the beach. 

Tzuyu pulled out papers out of her bag, showing a printed screenshot of her twitter account, (There was no signal and the technology didn’t work at the lagoon, but Tzuyu had taught Sana about the latest gadget and the intricate way of social media and the peer pressure that came with it. Sana couldn't grasp half of what Tzuyu mentioned to her but she, at least, understood the main idea of it) and Sana read the crude words that people directed at Tzuyu. 

“I’m ugly,” Tzuyu mumbled, hiding her face behind her hands. 

Sana flared, voice laced with anger. “Nonsense!” she yelled. “You’re pretty now, and you’ll be gorgeous later.”

Tzuyu disagreed. She hated the color of her skin, and her skinny, boyish body. Having to hear insults almost on a daily basis, she had come to believe that she was never going to become pretty. 

“How do you know?” she asked, sniffling. 

“I just do,” Sana said, hugging her. Tzuyu sank her head in the crook of the girl’s shoulder. “You’re my only friend,” she said. 

Sana pushed away gently. “But I don’t have to be your only friend, you can have more, out there, in your world.” 

Tzuyu didn't want any other friend, she only wanted Sana. Sana who was never judging, and who, in an effortless kind of way, always understood her. With Sana, Tzuyu didn't feel like she was odd, she felt normal, just like any other teenager. With other people, Tzuyu felt like she had to adjust herself, and most of the time she couldn't bring herself to, because whenever she tried to, she ended up making a fool out of herself.

Tzuyu's mom once advised that when people said something it didn't always literally mean a certain way, there could be an underlying message to it, and Tzuyu should learn how to read them if she ever wanted to make new friends. It was too confusing. Being with Sana, on the other hand, was easy, and Tzuyu preferred it to be that way. 

"I don't know how to," she confessed, looking away. 

"Well," Sana began, tucking a stray strand of Tzuyu's hair behind the taller girl's ear. "We became friends because you came to me, not the other way around. Maybe you should approach them first?"

Tzuyu harrumphed. "There's no way I can do that. Who wants to be friends with an ugly person like me?"

There were rare moments when Sana was mad, and one of those times happened to be on that day. Sana stood up, cheeks puffing. "Stop blaming yourself. How many times do I have to tell you that you're pretty?!"

"But I'm not, have you seen my skin?" 

"Yes, and it's nice."

Tzuyu felt blood rushed to her face. It happened sometimes, when Sana was being overly nice and clingy to her, but it never happened when Sana complimented her. 

Tzuyu brushed it off. 

"People at school think that my skin is too dark."

"So? What's wrong with dark skin??!"

"And my hair is frizzy."

"Nothing that a brush can't fix."

"People said I look mean."

Sana leaned in, her face was inches away from Tzuyu. With a hard squint, Sana studied Tzuyu's face carefully, searching for a fault which she couldn't find.

(Tzuyu squirmed in place at the scrutiny, but she didn't dare to move away.)

"You know what, I know something that can help."

And so, all too happily, Sana dragged her to the bungalow, where she brandished things that Tzuyu couldn't recognize. Then Tzuyu realized, when Sana descended on her with an odd looking tool (which resembled more of a chopstix than anything else), that Sana was doing a makeover. It happened that Sana was an expert at beauty, having to be a lady in waiting for quite some time in her life. She plucked Tzuyu's eyebrows despite the taller girl's protest, and then when she was done with it, she put some colors on Tzuyu's cheeks and lips. After, Sana parted Tzuyu's hair, revealing her-then- hidden forehead.

"There you go," Sana said, admiring her work. "I don't even need to put anything else." 

Tzuyu went to the front of the mirror to see for herself.

She was..fine, definitely not ugly. Tzuyu was pleased with what she saw. 

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully, to which Sana brushed off with a wave of her hand. 

"Honestly, I barely did anything, I just helped accentuate your features." 

Tzuyu studied her reflection, and for the first time in her life wondered if the answer was in the makeup. 

With the thought in mind, Tzuyu learned the craft, and became slightly obsessed with it. From the internet Tzuyu copied some of the videos that she found, and when she mastered it, she moved on to how to style her hair. Despite trying her best, she made mistakes, but as the year went by, Tzuyu, too, made progress. It was only later, when she was selecting an eyebrow pencil at a store somewhere in the city— when a stranger gave her a compliment — that she realized that she had made it. It was said in passing, but to Tzuyu, it felt like receiving an award. 

/

She came back to the lagoon a year later. At that time Tzuyu was fifteen and completely transformed. She came to love the warm tone of her skin, and she found ways to work with it to enhance her look. Sana, slacked-jawed upon seeing the new Tzuyu, welcomed her with a warm hug. 

“It’s been a long time,” Sana said, eyes trailing all over Tzuyu’s face, apparently still quite struck. 

“It’s only been a year,” Tzuyu said as Sana dabbed the tears that managed to escape the taller girl’s eyes. Sana shook her head in response, disagreeing.

(Tzuyu felt like Sana stared at her an awful lot more that summer.) 

“I’m still the same awkward girl that I am,” Tzuyu admitted. “And I won’t be able to do any of this if it weren’t for you.”

In response, Sana beamed, pink cheeked, her honey colored eyes sparkling against the ray of the sun as she did so. 

Tzuyu brought her own personal collection of makeup kits to the lagoon, and Sana, after letting out excited noises at the sight of the new items, immediately experimented with them. 

Sana was always grateful whenever Tzuyu brought new things from the outside world. Tzuyu brought some clothes, and when she could, she brought snacks, books, and board games. They would hang out that summer, spending the day basking in the sunset, eating chips, and playing games. Sometimes Sana would swim, and Tzuyu would wait and watch from the boat. Sana would smile the brightest then. The sound of her laughter would explode in between harmless jest. 

(If Tzuyu could, she would save the sound of Sana’s laughter in her mind.)

However, there was no such thing as forever. Whenever the time was near for Tzuyu to return to the city, Sana would get quieter, as if trying to supress the sadness. Sana didn’t show it, but Tzuyu knew nonetheless. So Tzuyu always returned, because she knew loneliness better than anyone, having to experience it herself. In her mind, if she could help ease it by spending her time with Sana, then she would do just that. 

/

Tzuyu was sixteen when she made new friends. She was recently transferred to another school because her father accepted a job at a different part of the country. 

Awkward and anxious, Tzuyu tried her best to avoid any interaction with her peers, that was until a girl plopped next to her seat and introduced herself to Tzuyu. 

“I’m Son Chaeyoung,” the girl said, offering her hand. Tzuyu noticed the messy doodles spread all over the girl’s wrist and the inside of her arm. At the back of her mind Tzuyu wondered if the girl had drawn them herself. 

"Hey there," Tzuyu managed to stutter out, and grab Chaeyoung’s hand to shake it. 

“You’re so pretty!” The girl said, as if it had always been a fact. “Right Dahyun?” Chaeyoung asked, tapping the girl who was sitting in front of them. 

Dahyun turned around, blushing, the color of her cheeks were such a stark contrast against her fair skin. “Yeah, hi there, I’m Kim Dahyun.”

“Chou Tzuyu,” she said nervously. 

The two girls seemed to take a liking to Tzuyu. She knew because suddenly her days would be filled with Chaeyoung and Dahyun. After class they would drag Tzuyu to the game center, or to eat corn dogs at food stall vendors. Other times they would come hang out at each other’s places, studying, playing games, or watching videos on youtube. 

Chaeyoung and Dahyun were pretty well known at school because they sometimes performed at school festivals. Chaeyoung could rap and sing, and Dahyun could play piano and had mean skills at video editing. Their youtube c