Orange.

She was much too old, thank you, to be acknowledged as an ‘orange’ girl.

Orange reminded her of fruits- full of vitamin c and antioxidants- bubbly, lovely, energetic, optimistic. Youth.

Her ambitions, and the attraction that came with it.

She went through an orange phase in her life, but that was years ago, when she had long hair and sang girlish songs about crushes and innocent love. She wore glitter liners under her eyes and glosses on her lips.

Jieun glanced at the reflection of herself on a mirror nearby, taking notice of her shortly trimmed hair and the toned down burgundy red on her lips. She allowed herself to smile because she quite liked what she saw. Almost wistfully, she scribbled in her note- change of preference. Lipsticks, short hair, and…

Jieun fiddled with the button on her blouse.

Buttons on outfits.

“How’ve you been doing?”

Jieun looked up in unexpected surprise at GD standing in front of her, gaping. “GD oppa? How did you know where to find me?” She was at her shop, getting her hair done for the event she was scheduled to participate in for tomorrow.

“I contacted your manager.” He clicked his tongue, and a flicker of haughty annoyance danced through his eyes. “He was adamant that you needed rest for your schedule tomorrow, but I managed to convince him to spare me a minute with you.”

Her brows furrowed. “I’m sorry you went out of your way to help me with my album.”

But she was, of course, secretly pleased.

GD didn’t have to go through this extent to help her- he agreed on featuring, and some of lyric writing. But for him to make time amidst his packed schedule, fish out her manager’s contact for approval, and visit her at this time- at her shop, no less- well, this surely meant this was more than business. She was more than business.

“Anything for you,” he said, and made himself comfortable on the guest couch next to her. “I just wanted to see your draft, so I could come up with a feature that compliments it.”

Jieun looked at him nervously, burden creeping on to her shoulders. “I haven’t started on the draft yet. I’m sorry- I really should start picking up the pace.” She glanced at him a few more times, cautious of the change in his facial expression.

“It’s fine,” was all he said, and rather nonchalantly. He pulled his black beanie off his head, and ruffled his hair, giving it a disheveled look. “Are you hungry? We can go out and eat, if you want.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Just us, alone? At this hour?”

“Problem? I know a place that serves the best soondae soup.”

Jieun burst out laughing at his coy smile. Here was GD, an international, Gatsby- like millionaire superstar, asking her to have dinner with him- and soondae soup, nonetheless. He looked like the type who dined only on medium rare steaks and red wine. She couldn’t believe how approachable he actually was.

“Is this a date?” Jieun asks, and immediately gives herself an internal scold. She meant to deliver it as a joke. Only it wasn’t funny enough to be not taken seriously, and they weren’t close enough to make lame jokes and laugh it over. She coughed out a few weak laughs to smooth over the potential awkwardness.

GD arched his left brow. “It is if you quit calling me ‘GD’.”

“Jiyong… oppa?” Jieun tried not to sound so bashful. She couldn’t believe how wrong his name sounded, coming out of her.

GD Jiyong bit his upper lip, as if trying to stifle a laugh. “Follow me to my car, yeah?”

Jieun was busy staring at Jiyong the whole time to truly focus on her meal. He was so elegant, the way he ate.

She was talking perfect table manners- etiquette, and the whole bit. He splashed not a drop of soup on to the table. His soup was not stained red, despite him incorporating the side dish of pickled cabbages on to his spoon (into a bite sized portion), before he put that in his mouth.

Jieun didn’t know anyone could eat soondae soup this gracefully.

It made her extremely self conscious about her eating her food. She has a nasty habit of chewing like a rabbit. She carefully loaded some rice onto her spoon, along with a side dish of pickled radish.

Jiyong looked at the amount of food that was left in her bowl. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you didn’t like soondae soup. I should’ve asked.”

Jieun looked at him, slightly alarmed, and most definitely flustered. “No, I do like soondae soup. I was just-“

She was just too busy watching him eat.

Well, she couldn’t very well tell him that.

Feeling very hot and flushed, Jieun took a big spoonful of soaked rice and soup and shoveled the load into , as if to prove her point.

Jiyong, watching her trying to be nonchalant, snorted out laughter in amusement, slightly shaking his head.

This caused the heat in her cheeks to burn hotter. When she finally swallowed the big spoonful, she offered him a girlish smile. “I really do like soondae soup. I have an adult –ish taste when it comes to food.”

His eyes perked up at that. “Really? So do I. I prefer rice over pasta, seafood over meat, and wine over beer.”

“It means we’re getting old,” Jieun says, laughing, but the laughter gradually dies when she notices Jiyong wearing a dark look, his eyes cloudy with impenetrable thoughts.

It fades away at once when she stops laughing, and Jiyong is now smiling. Jieun smiles back, as if she hadn’t caught on. But come on, she’s been staring at him the whole time since he arrived at her shop.

“Let’s go, if you’re done. Your manager must be crazy worried about you.”

They were supposed to head back to the shop immediately- the number of miscalls from her manager flashed big alert signs-

But it was absolutely beautiful tonight outside. The dark sky was pecked with specks of brilliant white, and the crescent shaped moon was smiling at her, peeking through translucent clouds.

“It’s really rare to see so many stars in Seoul,” Jiyong muses, peering at the sky. “Pretty, isn’t it?”

Jieun murmurs in agreement, her eyes fixed on the stars for a while, and then to Jiyong. She mentally traces the outline of his forehead to his defined nose to his sharp jaw line.

His head was angled toward the sky.

His lips were slightly apart, curved into a relaxed smile.

His eyes were like embedded stars, twinkling against the dark of the night.

Jieun captures this scene, storing it in heart to treasure forever.