Yongsun woke up to the sound of nothingness in her room. She huffed for its rebound to subdue since she has gotten used to waking up at dawn after rounds of with yet another nobodies. Yongsun then brought the duvet at her hip closer to her face, shaking off the coldness, feeling too lazy to put her clothes on. She tried to avoid the inevitable after this kind of occurrence as she shut her eyes before the feeling came in. And she decided she could not, only after a few minutes. She huffed yet again as she roamed around to find her phone on the bedside table the last time she remember it being on. Once found, Yongsun dismissed every other notifications from her colleagues, friends, etc to save one. She opened the chatroom and typed.

02:39
Byul

After a few seconds of waiting, it was read. Soon came in the reply.

02:40
Good morning, Yongsun-ah.

She looked wearily in the midst of expecting another sentence. To her dismay, nothing came.

02:42
Are you still in the workshop?

02:45
As always.

What woke you up?

She used to think thoroughly first before sending her reply. She used to, but the many times that these questions had been in the air, she replied with the first answer she had in mind.

02:46
Cold

And too silent.

As per usual, Byul wouldn't have replied after her last text. But as Yongsun was prepared to go back in slumber, her phone lighted up with a call. She picked up almost immediately.

"...Byul?"

At first she heard the distant sound of loud music, some laughters and a guitar being played. Afterwards Byul's voice saying incoherent words sounding cheery was heard.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

"Were you asleep?"

"About to be."

"How about I come over to your place now?"

Yongsun did not expect the casualty and the second question. She stayed silent, taking in Byul's proposal as the images of throwing herself in Byul's arms subsided.

"Yongsun?"

"Sure."

Her ringer buzzed quite sometime later around 3 am. Yongsun confirmed it as she saw her digital clock on her bedside table. She got up from her bed and grabbed a robe from her hanger quickly. She proceeded to her door and buzzed Byul in.

"Hi."

Byul greeted as she stepped in with her helmet in one hand, taking off her shoes with the other.

"Hey..."

Yongsun stepped back to give Byul some space to enter. Byul settled down her helmet on an end table close to her door. She put down her bag on Yongsun's couch and the woman with pink hair followed through. 

"Can I borrow your shower?"

Byul said from the other side of the couch, to which Yongsun nodded while rubbing her arms out of coldness.

"Ah, go back to your bed, it's kinda freezing out there. I wouldn't want to stay another minute without a hot shower either."

Byul ped her bag, looking for her clothes, Yongsun stayed in her spot still, watching Byul got ready for a shower. After the blonde was done, she looked up to the pink haired and sighed, smiling.

"Back to bed, Yong."

She looked at Byul for another second before nodding and moved to reach her bed. Once she has laid down, she stared at the ceiling for a moment, until she heard the voice of the running water in her bathroom. She closed her eyes, paying more attention to the sound of Byul scrubbing her body with soap. After she decided that it was creepy to do so, she stopped listening and turned to her side. Her phone was in sight as she turned and so she took it to pass time before expecting for Byul. She thought playing a game would distract her well so she opened one. Minutes of listening to Byul showering and the game's music stopped as Byul came in her bedroom with a towel on her head. Byul had a loose T-shirt on and a pair of boxer that hugged her thin legs. Yongsun trailed her view from her head down to her tattoo latched arms and thighs with the drawing of stars. She remembered why her left arm's said "swerve". She stopped at the scar on her left thigh, it was a mind-boreing sight to see the origin of the scar at the workshop back then.

"Scoot."

Byul said as she was done drying and putting away her towel. Yongsun snapped out of her thoughts and she moved further to the other side of Byul's on the bed. The blonde laid down and hid under the duvet, shrugging the coldness off her skin. Yongsun leaned in her arms, not hesitating for another second, not giving a care even if her robe slid down her shoulders. Byul took her in and shut her eyes. Yongsun could smell the scent of her shower gel from Byul's chest. She leaned closer and intake the scent that somehow smelled better when it's on Byul.

"Aren't you sleepy now that it's not as cold?"

"I am."

Truth was, Yongsun felt better off to stay awake in Byul's arms than to see her leaving only a few moments after she woke up in the morning. She decided to get Byul to talk to her for this moment to last longer.

"How's Im Sarang doing?"

"As scary as a predator would be. She worked me out just last week and didn't give me a chance to recover. You know winter days, I called in sick last Friday and she punished me with more special request ones. Hence I got off work hours after she went home."

It's always been fun talking about Byul's boss. But she liked how Byul's guitar turned out after Im Sarang's extreme pushes. She even had one in her apartment that Byul made under a special request.

"How's the pack?"

Byul smiled at the question and replied.

"As loud as you could hear on the phone."

Yongsun returned the smile as she remembered what she meant.

"They could pass up as a comedy band"

"That'll do."

Byul cackled and Yongsun hugged her tighter. They stayed silent for a bit as they closed their eyes. Now listening to each other's heartbeats that soothe them.

"It's insanely cold in here, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well... It'll get better as morning comes..."

Byul's words trailed off in the air, as she drifted off to dreamland. Much to Yongsun's dismay. Sleep is catching up on her, yes. But she wished that morning never came, despite its warmth would better the scene by much, especially now. But if only Byul would stay as another night falls, just so she could feel this again.

Months ago, she took Byul in during one of those nights after she had her heart broken. Byulyi fulfilled her needs to be laid and to be held on to tightly. Although, it wasn't about the the moment she realized what the void was about with Byulyi. It was this embrace. The feeling of how easy it was for her to be nestled in her arms and how Byul held her like she won't ever let go to keep her safe and sound. After that encounter, she would helplessly return to the club where she first met Byulyi, in hope that she would come again and hold her as she would feel lonely at most nights. But she never did return. At the end, Yongsun would bring more and more unfamiliar faces to bed. She became more and more in despair because she couldn't seem to find Byulyi anymore. Mostly it'd only be about then, because she figured that only Byulyi stood out as the odds in her lonely nights. Could she blame the latter? No, she knew better that she was just a fling. A fling that lingered. Tormenting her even more after her broken heart. But in between those, she felt hope. She felt security. She felt affections.

Out of curiosity, this bartender spoke up to her one night and led her to a very as desperate and lone looking Byulyi. They had like they hadn't had any in years that night. The longing was shared, they were aware, but neither spoke of it. Either they were too scared of losing the other or were too scarred to make a commitment, no one will ever know. So instead of making it a regular, Yongsun would return to her old habit of sleeping with the unknowns during lonely nights and Byulyi would be gone. Until she decided that the loneliness is too much to bear.

"If this loneliness stays with me for every night as it fall, would you always come to usher it away from me? Would you have stayed here with me for a time if I told you that I yearn for you, Moon Byulyi?"

Yongsun quietly whispered at her face as she watched the blonde slept soundly. She caressed her sleeping face as Byulyi breathed in a steady rhythm. As she confirmed that Byul had fallen in deep sleep, she gave in to the gravity as it pulled her to rest as well. Tears welled up in her eyelids unconsciously as she falls to sleep. Unbeknownst to her, Byulyi wiped a tear that fell from her eye.

"For you, I would."