Music Hyperlink: Come Out, Let's Walk by 20 Years of Age.

“Something good must have happened, huh?”

Yena was lying down on her balcony, reading her book in the darkness with a penlight between her teeth. These were her favourite nights: toying with the bell wind-chime like a cat, listening to Yuri sing with only her guitar for accompaniment, savouring every word jotted down in the short story anthology she consumed with a hunger. Yuri’s songs, like Yena’s heart, had grown lighter over the week, almost playful. “Something good happen?” Yena repeated, her words muffled by the penlight.

“Yeah!” Yuri exclaimed, her voice all joy, a lone sun - Yena’s sun - shining in the middle of the night. “Grandma’s getting better, she might be able to go home soon. That’s what the doctors say, at least.”

Yena smiled at the excitement in Yuri’s voice. She recalled Yuri talking about her grandmother during one of their nightly talks, about how her grandmother had essentially raised her throughout her childhood back in Busan until she fell sick. Her grandmother had decided on staying in their home in Busan, where she would be comfortable with taking regular trips to the clinic, but Yuri had insisted on dragging her to Seoul for better treatment at a larger, more reputable hospital.

“That’s good to hear, I’m sure she can’t wait to go back to Busan.”

“Yeah, she’s been saying that she’s finally going home after so long,” Yuri agreed, giggling. “But you sound pretty happy too!” 

Yuri’s words took Yena by surprise. She closed her book and set her penlight aside. “I do?”

“Yes, of course. Your voice…” Yuri hesitated, seemingly to find the words most appropriate to express her thoughts. “You’re like a lotus flower. When we first met - if that is the right term - you sounded more tired, as if thick mud weighed upon you like a burden, and you were faced with a vast but empty land. But now a lotus flower has bloomed in the midst of the mud, all pretty and pink, a beautiful flower born through the sun - that’s you, Yena.”

“A lotus flower.” Yena cracked up, howling at the analogy. “Yuri, if we ever meet, you’ll know I’m nothing like a lotus flower. I’m not graceful, I’m not delicate; I’m probably the complete opposite of who you think I am.”

“That’s my impression of you, at least,” Yuri said, sounding mildly affronted.

“Alright, alright,” Yena snorted and wiped away the tears of laughter that were already forming in her eyes. “Well, if I’m a lotus flower, then you’d be the sun that brought me out of hiding, Yuri.”

Yuri started coughing rather violently, and for a moment Yena rushed to her feet, peering over the balcony in concern. “Yuri?”

“Yena, are-” Yuri cleared . “Are you flirting with me right now?”

“Am I? Should I?” Yena’s voice dropped to a lower register, teasing. “Do you want me to?”

Silence. Yena took a seat, tugging at the red string on her balcony. The wind-chime tinkled its tiny tune. When Yuri failed to answer after a prolonged period of time, Yena leaned over. “You don’t have to answer that, I was-”

“Maybe.” The answer came in a very small voice. Yena had to strain her ears to pick it up, but when she did, a flirty grin spread across her face.

“Sorry, can you say that again? I couldn’t hear you.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Yuri refuted loudly. “Anyway, moving on.”

“Alright, alright,” Yena chuckled. It really was this easy to tease Yuri; Yena loved it. “When’s grandma going home?”

“Tomorrow or the day after. I’ll be going back to Busan with her then.”

“Going back?” Was Yuri leaving? Yena shot straight into panic mode. “You’re going back to Busan?”

“Just for the week,” Yuri was quick to reassure her. “I’m not going to leave forever, Yena, I still have uni classes to attend here in Seoul.”

“Thank goodness.” The relief in Yena’s voice was evident as she sank to the floor, a hand over her heart. “Whatever would I do without you, my sun? I, a simple flower that craves your light, would never be able to beautifully blossom.”

“Are you admitting you’re a lotus flower now?” Yuri asked, amused.

“I-” Yena huffed and rolled over. “Fine, you win this round!”

Cackling, Yuri struck up a tune on her guitar, a cheerful melody that had Yena brightening the second she recognised the song. It was a simple song, simple and lovely, just about a couple taking a late-night stroll outside. Yena briefly wondered what it would be like to be able to do that with Yuri. One day, she told herself. One day they’ll meet, and Yena would see Yuri glow under the yellow street lights with a guitar in her arms and a beautiful smile on her face.

“Do you sing, Yena?”

“Yeah,” Yena answered without thinking.

“Then sing with me.”

#

For the first time in a long while, Yena woke up with a smile on her face. The sunlight that peeked through her blinds and warmed her bed up in rows of slits made her think of Yuri. It really was strange, Yena knew, to be so easily reminded of someone she hadn’t even met yet. Strange and silly - that was Yena in a nutshell. Thinking back to the previous night, singing a duet with Yuri, Yena started giggling. She flailed around in bed, squealing like a lovesick schoolgirl.

It was their first duet, and Yena sincerely hoped it wouldn’t be their last.

Oh, to be in love! - or not. Yena was sure she wasn’t in love with Yuri. She didn’t even know what Yuri looked like, for goodness’ sake; for all she knew, Yuri could be anywhere between a small waif and a thick queen. Not that it mattered, of course, but Yena was the sort of person who would very much prefer knowing who the other party was, inside and out, before claiming anything presumptuous.

“But you like her.” That was Chaewon, sipping at her mint chocolate drink as she eyed Yena. They were sitting at their usual table by the window at their regular cafe, one of the few days where they were free enough to hang out, and Chaewon was unsurprisingly wary about Yena’s new favourite friend. Putting her drink aside, she leaned over the table. “You don’t even know her, Yena. You’ve never met this stranger.”

“But she sounds like a nice person,” Yena argued.

“Having a pretty voice doesn’t mean squat, Yena. Don’t you think it’s kind of suspicious that you’re constantly keeping in contact with a person who you only recognise by the sound of their voice?”

“Nah, I think it sounds pretty romantic,” Yena admitted. “Something out of a drama or a novel.”

Sighing, Chaewon massaged her temples. “This is ridiculous. I don’t understand how you work, but you know what?” She held up her hands in surrender when Yena pouted. “I’m not going to interfere in your, what? Pursuit of this mysterious girl of yours? I just want you to be careful, Yena. I don’t want to see you get hurt for no good reason again.”

Yena patted Chaewon’s hand in reassurance. “Don’t worry, Yuri is a good person. She’s my sun, after all.”

“Her name’s Yuri.”

“Yeah.” A lightbulb went off in Yena’s head. “Oh, you might know her! She said she goes to Enozi University as well, as a music major of some sort?”

Chaewon shook her head. “Yena, do you seriously think I would know every single person in this university? And even if we were doing the same major, that still doesn’t mean that I would know-”

“-Yuri, second year from Busan, voice like melted chocolate, like a crackling fire on a winter day, filled with sorrow and joy and all the emotions of lifetimes before and after-”

“-this person that I guess I have apparently heard of,” Chaewon completed her sentence. She tapped her chin in thought and pursed her lips. “Jo Yuri, huh? So she’s your neighbour.”

Yena lit up. Perhaps Chaewon could sneakily introduce her to Yuri somehow. “That’s right!”

“Jo Yuri, the piano child prodigy, is your neighbour. Have you heard her play the piano before?”

Yena cocked her head in confusion. “Uh, no? Why, is that her major?”

“Not at all, actually.” Chaewon chuckled darkly. “There’s a rumour that Jo Yuri, vocal major, has a dark past regarding the piano.”

Yena raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were one for rumours, Chaewon.”

“I’m not.” Chaewon leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “But if it concerns someone who you’re interested in, then I will pay more attention. Rumours don’t appear from thin air. Keep that in mind, Choi Yena. And please, be careful.”

#

“Be careful,” Yena muttered to herself as she walked back to her apartment. She understood where Chaewon was coming from, but really? Yuri wouldn't hurt a fly - or at least that was the impression Yena had of her. 

She stopped short at her door. There was a post-it note, the colour of a warm sunset, stuck to it, with child-like drawings of a flower in full bloom under a sun. Yena grinned. 

"To lotus flower, 

I hope I got the right apartment. It would be very awkward if I didn't. Grandma wanted to go back to Busan today, all of a sudden, so I had to rush and pack without saying goodbye to you or leaving a parting song. To make it up to you, I've tied something to our bell. I hope you like it. 

From, your sun.”

Plucking the note off the door, she dashed towards the red string that tied the wind-chime to her balcony, burning under the hot sun, and yanked it up. Tied to the other end of the string was a small duck plushie holding a flower and another note.  Her eyes widened in amazement; of all things, a duck. Even without realising it Yuri had chosen the best toy of them all. How did she do it?

(Mysterious connections, quiet understandings, mere intuition - or a mix of all three.)

Yena wrangled the note out from the duck’s grasp and opened it. There, in the same handwriting as the post-it note in her hand, was a series of numbers. An afterthought was scribbled under it: “For lone nights under dark moons.”

She stared at the paper in her hands, tracing each number out with her gaze. A long second passed. Yena blinked and quickly pulled out her phone to input the numbers. With a rapidly beating heart, she held her phone to her ear, listening to the monotonous beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-

“-Yena?”

If her heart could leap out of her chest, it would have done so at the sound of Yuri’s voice, all low and husky and sleepy. Yena’s hand fluttered to as she fought back a smile. “Hey, Yuri. Sleeping?”

“Yeah, we’re on the train to Busan.”

“Be careful of zombies,” Yena joked. “Don’t want to lose you like how we lost Gong Yoo and Ma Dong Seok.”

Yuri chuckled. “Don’t worry, grandma’s fierce enough to scare them off.”

“I’m sure she is.” Yena paused for a moment, listening to Yuri breathe on the other end of the line. “Yuri…”

“Hm?”

Yena hesitated. She wanted to ask about the rumours that Chaewon was talking about, but the words were stuck in the back of . Rumours, Yena strongly believed, were just rumours; and besides, Yuri was in such a good mood that Yena didn’t have the heart to potentially ruin it. 

“Yena? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just… I miss your voice.”

Yuri snorted. “We just talked last night, and we’re talking again right now.”

“It’s not the same over the phone,” Yena complained. “The quality’s nowhere near as good.”

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Yuri assured her, laughing. 

Her chuckle made static crackle over the phone, made the pink flower in Yena’s heart unfurl a little more. “I can’t wait.”