all was golden in the sky

into the clouds

The morning sun seeps through the sheer curtains, slanting over the pots of plants littered through her apartment.

Haebin settles for reheating some leftover soup, washing rice to put into the rice cooker.

Outside the early birds are singing, the sound of their flapping wings breaking the silence in between.  

Haebin sets the rice cooker on just as there’s a knock on her door.

There’s not a lot of people who visit her, or any at all.  So she’s weary as she walks up to the door, tip toeing to see through the peephole.

She can make up the top of someone’s head, dark hair, the person slightly bowed.

Haebin opens the door with hesitation, just enough to get the other to look at her, a young looking girl in her school uniform.

“Hi,” she says, voice pitched a little lower than expected, offering a small polite smile, “I’m looking for Xiening?”

Haebin opens the door a little wider with the name, suddenly intrigued.

“Xiening?” she asks.

The girl nods.

“She doesn’t live here,” Haebin answers, “she’s one floor up.”

“Oh,” the younger girl says, “I know.  It’s just she’s not home and I remembered she mentioned you.”

“She knows where I live?” Haebin asks, some sort of hopefulness and uncertainty rising in her.

“Xiening-unnie?” the girl at the door shakes her head, laughing a little, “no, she just mentioned your name and it doesn’t really take a genius to look at the mailboxes to see which apartment is yours.”

Haebin feels a blush rise up her neck, dusting over her cheeks, her eyes land on the girl’s collared shirt and she clears , “How old are you?  Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Me?” the girl doesn’t answer, instead offers her hand, “I’m Cho Hyeyeon, Xiening-unnie might have mentioned you.”

“Han Haebin,” she says, taking the other girl’s hand, shaking it slowly, “Xiening hasn’t mentioned you at all.”

This doesn’t seem to dither the younger girl at all, who laughs, and leans forward, “so do you know where Xiening-unnie went?”

“No,” Haebin shakes her head, “not really.”

“That’s alright,” Hyeyeon smiles widely, “I’ll just wait here with you.”

Haebin can’t think of anything to do but open the door.

She offers Hyeyeon some of her breakfast, serves her half of the leftover soup, a bowl of rice.

She bows in thanks, eating quietly, looking at her phone.

Haebin doesn’t speak to her, unsure of what to say, unfamiliar with the other girl.

She’s almost done with her breakfast when there’s another knock at the door.  Two knocks in one day is more than Haebin has had in the past year.

She opens it without looking to see who it is and is surprised (stupidly so) when she’s looking at Xiening’s wide eyes.

“Hello,” Xiening says gently, bowing, “I am here for Hyeyeonnie?”

“Unnie!” Hyeyeon’s answering cry is louder than expected, she pushes past Haebin, settling next to Xiening, “I met Haebin-unnie!”

Xiening smiles at that, Haebin notices the faint soft pink rising to her cheeks.

“I told you to wait,” Xiening’s accent becomes a little stronger, “up there,” she points at the ceiling.

“That’s no fun,” Hyeoyeon grins, “besides now I know how Haebin-unnie really is.”

“Sorry,” Xiening’s blush has darkened, turning to face her, “Hyeyeon is still a child.”

“Am not!’ Hyeyeon pouts, “if you’re going to be mean I’ll leave.”

They watch as she walks to the end of the hallway, waiting.

“Sorry,” Xiening repeats, “thank you for...not getting mad.”

Haebin waves her off, “no problem...see you around.”

There conversation is abrupt, even in their past stilted conversation there is something unsatisfying about this one.

She watches as Xiening smiles at her, walks towards Hyeyeon.

Their conversation does not sound like Korean, from the limited studies Haebin has had it sounds more like Cantonese.

Hyeyeon, surprisingly responds in the same way before saying almost quietly, “you mean beautiful?  It’s beautiful in Korean.”

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corinneniix
#1
Chapter 4: Came across this on AO3 and decided to re-read a little because it's so cute omg
corinneniix
#2
I'm loving this! It's a lovely fic I can't wait to see how the story progresses :)
corinneniix
#3
Chapter 4: OMG CUTIE HYEYEON HAHAHA and obviously she'll eat Haebin's breakfast. Hahahahha
Sammeup
#4
Chapter 4: Ohh I love Hyeyeon here! She wants to get to know the girl Xiening's been talking about (and possibly has a crush on at the moment) so she makes an excuse to visit Haebin. Thank you for updating :D
I'm also curious about Haebin in general. There have been implications where she had more friends, but seems to have become estranged from them.
lalelulelo09
#5
Chapter 4: it is so good... sad that its complete already but it is really good ;___;
Sammeup
#6
Chapter 2: Your writing is so fluid, I can easily see each action the characters are doing! I also love the fact that you wrote a gugudan fic, the group needs more love.
yurirene
#7
Chapter 2: IM LOVING THIS omg this couple is really cute