#White Style

Kisum

세상은 너의 무대야
이미 시작인 거야
당당히 보여줘
Show off your White style

The world is your stage, this is the start
Be strong and show me, Show off your White style

--

#FFFFF0

They met over a drink the colour of ivory.

It was a blistering Wednesday afternoon, and the local coffee shop was packed. Half the town must've been in here for the air conditioning and a nice glass of something cool to escape the scorching sun. While the blue skies seemed to paint nothing but good vibes on most patrons, Ahn Hyejin tapped her foot impatiently. Her meeting had gone poorly just half an hour before, and the frustrations of human interaction and paperwork had sent her on her routine coffee trip exactly four minutes early. Even with the added time, she only had nineteen minutes to her break, ten of which had been spent in-between sweaty bodies and muffled noise. She stood restlessly, listening to the sounds of inane conversation and incompetent baristas. A low growl added to the soundscape when it seemed like no amount of glowering could summon her drink.

She had ordered her favourite concoction, an off-menu creation she had drilled into the barista’s heads every Wednesday afternoon, and there would be no mistaking it when it was called. She glanced down at her watch as another minute inched past the white surface.

Then the magic words came: “Iced venti soy crème-base blended half-sweet white mocha black tea with a splash of half-and-half and whip?” The barista called with rehearsed precision, followed by a victorious grin that soon gave way to confusion as he finished reading the cup. “For...Wheein?”

His eyes met Hyejin’s in sheer horror, but quickly gulped it down and put the drink on the counter so he could to go back to work behind the bar before she noticed. So he had hoped.

It was too late. Hyejin cut through the crowd like a shark in the water, and wore the look of murder when she reached the bar. She opened , but her attention was abruptly cut when a blur of orange-sunrise nearly toppled her over. She barely managed to step out of the way when the ends of copper hair brushed across her cheeks.

“What the f—”

“Oh, me! I’m here! I’m Wheein!” The voice chirped. This reckless, unapologetic drink-thief—Hyejin reached for her shoulder with every intention to spin her around and let her have it. But the girl beat her to it: she held the drink in her hands and turned to meet Hyejin’s eyes through long lashes.

She may have been a reckless, unapologetic drink-thief, but damn she was cute. The anger Hyejin felt only moments ago seemed to melt like the drink in her hands. She shook her head, spared a quick glance at her watch—seven minutes left—and frowned when she felt the girl’s gaze on her as still and unwavering as an oasis.

Hyejin narrowed her eyes, but the cute stranger simply stood there appraising her, her drink—her drink—sweating in her hands from the condensation.

She bit her lip. Hyejin watched. “This,” she said with a sheepish smile, holding up her cup with a charming flash of her dimple, “should be yours, shouldn't it? I hope you don't mind that I copied your order. It just sounded delicious. I was behind you, so this should be yours anyway. I stood behind you and wondered what a beautiful woman like you would drink. Wow, that sounded like a pick-up line. Maybe you didn't need to know that...well, it's too late. A-anyway, you seem like you're in a hurry, so maybe you can have mine. If you want to. Ugh, I'll shut up and stop wasting your time now. Here! I'll get the next one.”

She pressed the cup into Hyejin's hands. Her fingers were cold, but they seemed to burn against her own.

Hyejin took in the girl’s bright eyes, then let her gaze travel down from the loose-fitting white, cotton T-shirt to the far-too-short jean shorts, and finally down to her white sneakers before flicking back up to her pink face. She wondered how young she was, and whether she had the same kind of courage when she was her age.

The girl shifted uncomfortably, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her lips. “I-I’ll wait for the next one,” she repeated.

“Hyejinssi!”

Both Hyejin and the girl snapped out of the charged bubble that had developed around them, and turned to look at the barista.

He grinned, oblivious. “Got your iced venti—”

Hyejin held up a hand. The barista pressed his lips together, and withdrew almost imperceptibly. But Hyejin noticed, and smirked. “I got my drink, Chandong,” she said with a wink, holding up the plastic cup with Wheein’s name scrawled on the side. “Give that one to the next girl you see with a cute dimple. Don't forget my drink next Wednesday.”

Then, with a flick of her long black hair, the other bodies closed in and she was gone.

#F7F7F9

Hyejin saw her again under the blue sky, painted with wistful white clouds lined with silver edges.

It was Wednesday.

She stood in front of the cafe with her head tilted up, one hand shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun while the other held the strap of a brown leather bag. Hyejin stopped when she recognized the girl, and her lips could not fight the instinctive tug of a smile.

She looked older today, with her grey slacks, long blazer, and heels. And possibly cuter than Hyejin had remembered, even though she had been flitting around in her mind all week.

A glance at her watch told her she had fifteen minutes left in her break, but the thought couldn't be pushed back further when she closed in on the girl watching the sky with a lazy smile.

“What are you looking at?” Hyejin asked, unable to contain her grin when the girl jumped at the sound of her voice.

“H-Hyejinssi!”

“You remember my name,” Hyejin said with a raised brow.

“Oh! Yeah, um, it was on the cup and everything, so, yeah. Is that weird? It was kind of hard to forget...ah, I just made it weirder didn't I?” the girl went on, expressions flickering across her face faster than Hyejin could catalogue them.

Finally, Hyejin touched her elbow. “Relax, Wheeinssi, I remember you too,” she said with a chuckle.

The moment lapsed into awkward silence as they looked around them, wanting to speak but failing to find the words. Something told her she would see this girl again, perhaps even at this exact time and date. If she had to, she would've searched the whole world to see this girl again, so she really should've been more prepared. There was so much Hyejin wanted to say, and even though she thought she'd filed them all neatly in her brain throughout the week for this inevitable meeting, nothing came out. As they soaked up the faint thrum of the neighbourhood, she found the cement beneath her heels far more interesting than the mess inside her head. 

“By the way,” Wheein cut in softly. She paused for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure how to continue, but she in a breath and pushed forward. “Um, you’re very pretty today!” She said, wincing at how loud her voice came out, “You're...You’re smiling today. It’s nice. I...this side of you is very pretty.”

Hyejin felt her cheeks warm, and silently hoped that her long, black hair and makeup would be sufficient in hiding her embarrassment. “Thank you,” she whispered in a voice so small that it was almost--much to her horror--shy. Her beauty and confidence meant that She was no stranger to compliments, but Wheein’s earnest delivery and bashful half-smile sent her mind spinning. “I was in a bad mood last time. I'm...sorry we had to meet like that.”

“N-no, um, you were really cool!” Wheein cringed once more. "You...have a very cool vibe and you're not afraid to get what you want...and stuff...I guess?

“Thanks. For the drink. And for that,” Hyejin narrowed her eyes at her own inability to form a sentence. She sighed and tried again. “You were really cool too. You're very bold. I admire that.”

Wheein's eyes widened. A full ten seconds must've passed before she mumbled her thanks.

They soon fell into uncomfortable silence, each contemplating their own fears as the distant sounds of cars and people seemed to bounce right off them.

It was Hyejin who cleared to ease the tension. “So you never answered my question,” she said.

Wheein blinked. “Question?”

“Yeah.” Hyejin looked up, and held her hand above her eyes. “What were you looking at?”

“Oh!” Wheein blushed. “Um, it's kind of embarrassing.”

“I promise I won't laugh.”

“Well...that cloud up there,” she said. Hyejin followed her finger up across the sky. “It looks like my cat.”

Hyejin hummed and squinted, but, in the end, she simply turned back to Wheein with a blank look. “I don't see it,” she said.

“Eh? It's right there,” Wheein cried, jabbing at the sky with her pointer finger. “See the ears there? The tail?”

Hyejin shook her head, but Wheein’s eyes were still trained to the silver-white clouds. Instead, she pulled lightly at her elbow, and said, “Why don't we go inside?”

Wheein snapped her attention to Hyejin. Startled at the sudden intensity of her gaze, Hyejin dropped the hand at her elbow like it was made of hot coal. “Hyejinssi,” Wheein said severely, “could it be that...you…”

Hyejin swallowed, as if Wheein had just figured out parts of her psyche that even she was not aware of. Surely, she had nothing to hide. Her intentions were friendly, she thought, even if she did find the girl highly attractive, and her smile somewhat addictive. 

“Could It it be that you've never went cloud-gazing before?” Wheein said. Hyejin gaped, but the crooked eyebrows and the parted lips told her that this girl was entirely serious.

“O-of course I have!” Hyejin said. “I used to do it all the time. When I was younger.” As soon as she said it, she realized it may have been a lie. She had spent her youth chasing grades and climbing metaphorical ladders. There was no way she would waste an entire day staring at clouds.

“You're lying.”

For a moment, Hyejin couldn't tell whether Wheein had just read her mind. Her eyes widened, but the girl simply smiled. “You'll have to come with me some time, Hyejinssi. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Well then,” Hyejin said with a smile, “you’ll have to let me get your drink today to thank you for your future services.” She nodded to the cafe door behind her, and something warm blossomed in her chest when Wheein lit up.

“Would it be alright to get your usual? I enjoyed it very much,” Wheein said, turning toward the door. But before either of them could reach the door, she stopped. Hyejin did not react, her eyes settling instead on the way she chewed her lip so thoughtfully.

Wheein looked down at her own fingeris as she softly pulled at the hem of her jacket. “If you...if you have time today,” she began again with a ferocious blush, “I...I have an interview today in a couple of hours at the studio down the block. I just...I just thought if you had time, maybe you'd like to…maybe you'd like to go cloud-gazing with me a-after we get some drinks? I mean, I also understand if you are busy and stuff, but you...y’know. If you want.”

The brief mention of time led Hyejin to spare a look at her watch for the first time since she rounded that corner. Its silver hands told her there were only three minutes left in her break. She pictured the pile of paperwork on her desk and her crowded schedule for the day. Hyejin bit the inside of her cheeks, all the while shifting her gaze from Wheein’s expectant eyes to her fidgeting fingers. Finally she sighed and shook her head with a resigned smile. “Let me just call my secretary.”

Something told her this wouldn't be the last time she said those words. At least, she hoped it wouldn't. She even felt sorry for her secretary for the briefest of moments, but when Wheein took her hand with that shy, tentative smile, she really didn't care.

#F7FDFF

At the end of the white-blue waves, where water bled into foam, was where they spent their first anniversary.

Hyejin stood at the edge of the water, looking out at Wheein, who waded deeper and deeper into the blue. “Hyejinnie, aren't you coming?” She heard over the low roar of the sea. But Hyejin found herself transfixed when she looked on at the way the sun was playing on Wheein’s hair, and the way the droplets rolled and glittered against her sunkissed skin. Her white bikini was simply sinful, yet her white smile was as innocent as always. Even the lily in her hair couldn't compete.

“Hyejinnie?”

The concern seeping into her voice shook Hyejin out of her trance. “Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, her own voice sounding scratchier than she remembered. She splashed closer and closer to Wheein, ripping up the water on either side in her impatience, until she was at the exact level of closeness she wanted: arms wrapped tight in spite of their sticky skin, and lips against lips, drinking in the sunshine and saltwater she had spent the morning admiring.

“You're beautiful, Wheeinie,” Hyejin murmured against the smile of her lips.

Wheein giggled, and put her breath to Hyejin’s ear, “Your secretary is watching.”

Hyejin cast a long look at the shore, where her secretary sat typing furiously on her laptop under a large umbrella. She turned back and pressed a kiss into Wheein’s jaw. “She’s busy,” she whispered, trailing more kisses down her neck.

Wheein shrieked and laughed, playfully pushing Hyejin back with a slight splash. “She's watching! It's weird!”

“Wheeiniiiie,” Hyejin whined, kicking at the water around her.

But Wheein just laughed and stuck her tongue out. “Your fault for bringing her!”

Hyejin sighed, wondering how she ever became so whipped between two women. This was, conveniently, a business trip she was fully taking advantage of, but her secretary had insisted she tagged along to keep her on schedule. By now, she was more than familiar than Hyejin’s tendency to lose time around her free-spirited partner. And though Hyejin had complained endlessly, she had to admit she would probably be kicked off the board if not for her secretary. Sometimes she wanted to slash her paycheque in half for coming in between her and Wheein, but her soft heart knew that a big raise was in order.

Still, she could not help but want to escape from her secretary’s watchful gaze.

That was when an idea struck her--something that could buy her an entire day with Wheein unsupervised. She pulled Wheein in by the elbow and whispered something into her ear. Wheein’s giggles quickly exploded into a full-blown cackle. They met the secretary’s eyes with a mischievous smile, bursting into another wave of laughter when an eyebrow shot up from the frame of her secretary's sunglasses and into the brim of her straw hat. 

When they returned to the hotel that night, Hyejin set her plan into motion. She dragged Wheein to the hotel bar, where her secretary doggedly followed. She had been here before on previous visits, and was always happy to see the dashing bartender who never failed to helped her forget her long days with boring, balding suits with her charisma.

The lounge was quiet. She took the stool closest to where the bartender stood, and was quickly met with a wide, charming smile. “Hyejinssi! You're back again this summer!” She said, throwing her arms open as if asking for a hug despite the length of the bar between them. “And I see you've brought some lovely ladies with you this time. Our little workaholic is all grown up now, isn't she?”

Hyejin laughed. “This is my beautiful girlfriend, Wheein,” she said, throwing an arm around her waist protectively, “so paws off, unnie.” Wheein grinned, extending her hand for a handshake, but the bartender gently held her fingers, turned her palm over, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

“It's a pleasure,” she said with a grin.

“Unnie!” Hyejin cried, tugging Wheein’s arm back. Wheein, who had been holding back as best she could when she saw the expression on Hyejin’s face, fell into a fit of giggles.

“Anyway,” Hyejin huffed, shooting Wheein a look. She gestured to the woman on the other side of her. “This is my secretary. She is babysitting.”

The bartender didn’t miss a beat. “What she is is gorgeous,” she said with a wink.

Hyejin’s secretary blushed crimson.

It took almost no time at all for the velvet-voiced bartender to distract her secretary long enough for Hyejin to escape with Wheein.

They burst into their shared hotel room hand-in-hand, holding onto each other for support as giddy laughter shook their bodies. As soon as the door closed, their lips found each other like magnets, swallowing the sound of each other’s laughter with each beat. Before she knew it, Hyejin found herself sitting at the edge of their shared bed with Wheein on her lap, legs wrapped around her waist. With increasing fervor, she tugged Wheein’s shirt out of her shorts, dipped her hands low to reach for the hem with all the intention of exploring her way under the fabric, but a hand stilled her wrist for a moment and Wheein pulled back. Her eyes were clouded, her lids heavy, but the shy, tentative smile stopped any ounce of frustration it its tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Hyejin asked, dropping her hands on either side of Wheein’s hips.

“I...Sorry,” Wheein mumbled. Her chest rose and fell to the same quick rhythm as Hyejin’s, but she shifted her eyes to look at something behind Hyejin’s head. “Ah, it’s nothing. It’s embarrasing.”

Hyejin brushed a finger under Wheein’s chin and smiled. “You can tell me anything, Wheeinie.”

“It’s just…” Wheein bit her lip. Hyejin craned back to follow Wheein’s gaze, landing right on the still white numbers of the digital clock. 12:03am.

“Are you worried about the time?” Hyejin said, turning back. She shifted her hold on Wheein’s hips, and  pushed her just a bit closer. “We have all night.”

Wheein shook her head. “No, it’s just...it’s midnight.” Expectant eyes urged her to continue. “It’s midnight and that means it’s officially been one year since I asked you to go cloud-gazing with me,” she said with a soft smile that melted Hyejin’s heart. “I guess I’m just really happy right now, and I’m really happy that we’re...I don’t know...here? I never would’ve expected myself to be here a year ago, and I just love you so much, Hyejinie. I wanted to say that right at midnight, but we got a bit carried away. Thank you for making my life, for making me, better. You make everything better, and I love you so much for that. Oh gosh, don’t cry Hyejinie. I’ll cry if you cry!”

Hyejin, startled at her own tears, could not think of anything better to say except, “I love you too.”

Later, in the silence of their bedroom and the rushing of waves outside, Hyejin laid in bed and recounted all the wonderful things that Wheein had given her. Her memories scrolled by like a series of stills, and at the end of it, she pictured a white-gold ring, encrusted with diamonds, on Wheein’s finger. She smiled that night, and looked forward to all the days to come.

#FFFFFF

They stood together under the flower-woven arch in pure, white dresses, under the white-glow of the sun.

The ceremony, though small, was filled with the kind of joy that would ring in their memories for years to come. They would remember the salty winds as they stood on the pale, soft beach of their first anniversary. Their guests would remember the cloudless blue skies, the white pews, and the crisp, melodic voices of the brides as they serenaded their vows.

When they went to sleep that night, fingers entwined, rings brushing gently, they dreamt about the blank page in their next chapter, and they smiled, holding each other close, like they had all the time in the world.

END

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Notes: Hello everyone~ I don't know why this chapter took me so long to write. I will, as usual, make changes over the next few days, so please stay tuned! I researched the hexadecimal system and a bit about colour theory for this story (it was completely useless, but fascinating), and I had a lot of fun figuring out Hyejin's drink at the beginning. 

I have not tried her drink, but if any of you dear readers do try it out, please let me know how it tastes (and what colour it is)! I was adamant on creating an ivory-coloured drink, and that is what I came up with using my expertise from being a barista years ago. Originally, it was going to be an "Iced venti blended soy half-shot dirty vanilla chai tea latte," but I double checked with some old co-workers and was told that it was delicious, but very brown. Thus, we now have a drink that contains both soy and half-and-half! 

I have several projects queued up in the back of my mind, and I will continue to try and finish Freedom-bound, but I admit that this comeback period makes it difficult for me to function sometimes. 

Please stick around until then!

Side note: Most of you moomoos probably know Kisum through her collaboration with Hwasa in Love Talk, but please also check out her new song. Believe it or not, it's called "The Sun, The Moon, In Love." If I recall correctly, she's a friend of Moonbyul. Perhaps we have a famous Moonsun shipper on our hands. 

Also: did the secretary and the bartender seem familiar? I hope it was obvious enough even though I intentionally left out names and appearances. Hopefully you can picture them too! This is the power of fanfiction!