The sun has finally set.

Seulgi didn't come.

The weather suddenly feels much colder.

'You can never hurt me. You can never hurt me. You can never hurt me,' Joohyun chants in her heart. Everything is fine. It's been years since Seulgi confessed her feelings for her. The woman has seen more of the world since then, perhaps finding better options out there. What matters is that she tried. She told Seulgi what she felt. It didn't work out and that's fine. That's life.

She gets up from where she was seated and walks slowly towards a decorative blue paper propeller near the abandoned house. The colour has changed to a darker shade than what she remembers. It seems like it's broken because the wind is blowing rather strongly and the propeller is staying still. It's actually quite sad to see how time changes even inanimate objects - just like human beings who get weaker as they get older. She remembers how fascinated she was when she saw the thing spinned the first time she came here with Seulgi many, many years ago. It was so beautiful and she wishes to see it again. She could of course spin it with her hand but it's not the same. We shouldn't force something that's not meant to be.

She sighs. It's getting colder now that the sun has disappeared. She zips her coat all the way up to her neck and puts her furry hoodie on. Maybe it's best that she go back to the hotel. She should allow herself to grieve and let her feelings out. Then tomorrow - tomorrow is a new day and she has to move on. Seulgi has made her decision and she should respect it. She loves her and what's best for Seulgi is what's best for her.

She blows hot air to her freezing hands and rubs them together. She needs to go, but her legs are not agreeing with her. She regrets driving here. Now she has to drive all the way back by herself. It feels pathetic.

Everything seems so bleak.

She feels like crying.

"You can never hurt me," she whispers to herself. The wind blows the sound away.

She looks at the blue propeller again, curious. Her forefinger is about to touch the corner of the thing when she hears it.

"Joohyun-unnie!"

She freezes, not allowing herself to turn around to where the sound came from. She's afraid of imagining things, hearing things. Terrified of disappointing herself.

"Thank God you're still here. I've been calling you," the voice gets closer and sounds slightly breathless.

That's too real to just be her imagination, right?

She braves herself to turn around slowly, pulling down the hood of her coat, and there Seulgi is with rather messy hair and untangled scarf. The younger woman notices her staring and immediately fixes herself up.

"Where did you come from? I didn't hear you," she asks, as if that matters, as if there aren’t more other pressing questions.

Seulgi looks behind her and points to the main road. "Down there. I took a cab and told the ahjussi to drop me there so that he wouldn't see you.. in case you were even still here," she explains.

“Oh.” She can only nod. Truly in lost of words.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Seulgi says, fixing her breathing. "I was stuck inside the airplane for almost an hour after landing. There was a problem with our designated gate or something. I called you.. multiple times."

“Oh. Sorry, I left my phone in the car.” She her head to the white rental Hyundai parked not that far from the house.

“How long have you been here? Your lips are turning blue,” she points out, looking concerned.

“I’m fine, Seul. I was about to go back but I was distracted by this,” she says, pointing to the blue propeller.

Seulgi looks at it with a certain fondness in her eyes. A picture of this exact propeller she took many years ago is hanging on the wall of her study room. The same picture was also used by Joohyun as her phone wallpaper for a long while. Yerim once asked them the significance of the thing but they just shrugged her off.

There isn't any, really. They just both really like looking at it. It's the colour of the propeller, paired perfectly with the colour of the sky that day, the fresh breeze and of course, the company. It was a great day with them ticking off stuff to do in their itinerary before deciding to walk aimlessly to the point that they got lost and accidentaly found this place. And there was something platonically romantic about that at the time. Walking without looking at the maps, without caring where you're heading to, while sharing stories and laughters. You won't understand unless you're there.

"You were about to go back?" Seulgi questions her softly. "You really thought I wasn't coming?" There's this look in her eyes, a little bit of disappoinment mixed with guilt.

“You came..” she says, finally registering it in her mind, relieved yet somehow still in disbelief.

Seulgi flashes a small smile, slowly approaching her. "For someone who used to claim to know me so well, apparently you don't know me that well."

She ignores the teasing and pulls Seulgi into a hug. As soon as she's in the younger woman's arms, warmth spreads through her cold body. She thinks she fits perfectly in Seulgi's embrace. It's all about the height difference and their body sizes. It's as if they're two pieces of a puzzle that are meant to be put one next to another.

She tries enjoying the warmth Seulgi's body is transferring to hers for a little while before pulling away and finally asks the important question. “Does this mean..” She leaves it hanging.

Seulgi smiles and confirms, “Yes.” She then takes her scarf off and wraps it on top of the scarf Joohyun is wearing, doubling the warmth. "I took time to think and reflect on everything. It wasn't a hard decision, honestly. You're the woman of my dreams, always have been. You have no idea how crazy I was for you back then. Oh, maybe you had pretty good ideas considering what happened." She smiles cheekily. "I was so excited to come here. By the second week I've already made up my mind and was already wanting to call you. But I held myself back, so we can have this.. cinematic moment.." she says with playful exaggeration. ".. that we can look back to one day fondly - a fun story to tell to anyone willing to listen. I was counting down to today. You have no idea how childish it made me. Every morning I woke up, I was counting down. 10 more days, 5 more days, 3.. 2.. tomorrow."

Seulgi's honesty never fails to amaze her. How easy it is for her to really open herself up and bare it all. It's something that she has to learn from the younger woman moving forward. She'd like to be as honest to Seulgi as Seulgi is to her, because hearing everything Seulgi has just said makes her very happy. To know how much you mean to someone, how much they like you, how crazy they are about you. It's very flattering. It's sending her up to cloud twenty nine.

A sudden thought brings her down a level for a moment. "But.. what about that person you've been seeing?"

Seulgi has an immediate and firm answer to that. "I've ended it with her. I explained things carefully and she seemed to understand."

"Oh.. that's.. great."

The raven laughs at that. "Why are we suddenly so awkward? Have we ruined things before we even started?" She questions playfully.

She laughs along, finding comfort in Seulgi's attempt to salvage the situation. "No, we're not gonna be awkward. I was just.. you know, attempting to find out if we're on the same page, that's all."

Seulgi smiles, once again rubbing Joohyun's shoulders in an attempt to keep her warm. "Unnie, let’s get inside the car. You’re gonna catch a cold at this point.” Her thumb brushes her lips very lightly before her hands go back to her shoulders.

The gesture makes her shiver and it's not because of the cold. “Warm me up then,” she says, in a suggestive yet respectful way, as confidently as she could.

There are sparkles in Seulgi's eyes. This 36 year-old Seulgi is no longer the pure, innocent and shy Seulgi she knew from before. She definitely gets what she meant and she didn’t even flich one bit at that verbal advances. Her gaze is sharp and her eyes show confidence.

Seulgi initiates it by leaning in. They meet in the middle as Joohyun nervously closes the distance. 

They have kissed before. Three times actually. The second one was basically a dare and the third one was for a Pepero game. The first kiss, on the other hand, was a memory that she desperately wants to bury hundred feet under forever. It was a kiss full of fear, then guilt, then countless of nightmares.

This time, it's the opposite of those feelings. She doesn't know how to even begin to describe it as she wraps her arms around Seulgi's waist and Seulgi's hands are cupping her face to deepen the kiss.

If a feeling can be described using colour, it's definitely purple - her favourite.

It's delicate.

It's soothing.

It feels like a breath of fresh air.

It's a pair of lips she wants to kiss forever.

It feels.. more than right. As if those lips were made only for her. As if they're made only for each other.

Soulmates. She truly believe they are.

A strong wind blows as they're kissing and Joohyun hears a curious flapping sound coming from behind her. She breaks the kiss to look at it. Her eyes light up in an instant. It's like she has been given a sign from the universe.

An approval of their love for each other.

A blessing for this new beginning.

The blue propeller is spinning.

-

"Unnie.."

"Hm?"

"Were you scared when you first realized your feelings for me?"

She takes her time to ponder the question while enjoying the crisp crackle of the firewood. They're at a place she discovered about two years ago when she was driving aimlessly by herself. Seulgi accompanied her to check out of the hotel she had been staying for the past two days before they moved here. It's a secluded complex of private cabins near the woods in the South of Jeju. The place intrigued her and she did her research online, finding that each cabin comes with its own fireplace. She has wanted to stay there ever since but her coward never dared to spend the night in a cabin at a secluded area by herself. But now she has Seulgi. With Seulgi, she feels like she's able to do anything, to go anywhere. Oh, to think about the great adventures they are going to have together.

"No," she finally responds to the question. "I felt a lot of things, fear is not one of them."

"That's good to know." Seulgi stretches her hands nearer to the fire, seeking warmth. They're lying down on a mattress on the floor, in front of the fireplace.

She looks at Seulgi, hand travels to caress her cheek softly. "It was really hard for you back then, wasn't it?"

The woman turns to her with a comforting smile. "Don't start, Unnie. It's all in the past now."

"I was wondering if you ever going to ask me."

"Ask you about..?" Seulgi raises her eyebrow.

She moves to lie on her back. "Was it you or Sooyoung