Chapter Two

 

She was a runaway.

 

Moonbyul coughed. Foreign and familiar feelings swirled into a disconcerting mix. She was back to where she once wanted to be.

 

Not anymore, but she had to deal.

 

Jetting off from Korea alone, with the promise of stellar grades and a great college, unsettled her. The jitters wouldn’t go away, even though English soil wasn’t something that alien to her. She questioned her decision often, whenever pangs of emptiness or overwhelming sense of loss rampaged.

 

She could persuade herself a million times but ripping those pretty yet flimsy excuses was easy. Because, there was only one true, albeit childish, driving force.

 

Kim Yongsun

 

And so, she chose to be a runaway after graduating from high school.

 

New environment, new people, new Moon Byulyi.

 

No friends, no family.

 

No Kim Yongsun.

 

 

***

 

Fast forward time, things got better, she warmed up to people and her surroundings, while sporadically chiding herself about treating what transpired with Solar as a huge deal.

 

Move on. Don’t be such a kid.

 

Still, it was hard.

 

She had many acquaintances and people liked her, naturally. But she kept most of her relationships as a touch and go thing.  

 

In a sense, she was scared. Emotional investments would probably stretch her thin when bits of her still rest with Solar.

 

"Boyfriend."

 

"Huh?" Moonbyul turned to Song Qian, or better known as Victoria, one of those whom she could actually hang out with. For the past year, this group probably had five people, max.

 

"Or girlfriend, since you're giving me this what the hell you're saying look." Victoria shrugged, fingers curling into an ‘okay’ sign and lips curving into a knowing smile. Moonbyul’s expression switched to incredulous. "What? Moonbyul, it’s okay, I'm fine with girls liking girls."

 

Moonbyul choked on her own breath. Victoria was wonky batty crazy.

 

"No, Vic. No! Why did you even bring this topic up?"

 

"Because you're attractive and my friend asked if you're available?"  

 

Moonbyul grimaced. Victoria was habitually blunt. She spoke her mind and saw no values in playing games. Moonbyul liked that but now it seemed like  a double-edged sword.

 

"Do I wanna know who?"

 

"Over there, at that corner."

 

Guided by Victoria’s wiggling finger, Moonbyul narrowed in on a small group.

 

One of the girls seized her attention instantly. She wasn’t doing much, just drinking a smoothie and nodding along. She seemed cold, like ice. Perhaps a glistening ice sculpture would fit her better.

 

Moonbyul couldn’t take her eyes off her.

 

Yes, she was that pretty.

 

"Her?" Moonbyul tilted her chin towards the girl who commanded her full attention.

 

"I knew it, you are an attractive lesbian," Victoria laughed hitting Moonbyul lightly. "No, him. But I'll tell him he's got no chance."

 

“Vic, please. Sto-” Moonbyul protested but was mercilessly silenced by a dismissive wave and a scoff.

 

Moonbyul sighed. To the left of the pretty girl was a guy in a tattered vintage jacket. She had a feeling that he was the one Victoria’s talking about. Floppy hair and dramatic gestures, he said something and the entire group, sans the pretty girl, guffawed. There was a particularly loud laughter, coming from a girl in the group.

 

"That's Soojung if you're interested. She's Korean, like you. She’s a close friend."

 

Victoria winked suggestively, to which Moonbyul hastily shook her head. This Soojung was pretty, that was all. Rather, Moonbyul was still slightly reeling from Victoria kicking her out of the closet.

 

She stole another glance at Soojung. Solar’s face pop into her head without warning. She winced, surprised by her memory’s sneak attack on her.

 

No.

 

The next thing she knew, Victoria was no longer by her side, happily eating a weird mix of fruits. She had taken the chance to go over to Soojung while Moonbyul was distracted by the Solar, who only lived in her head now.

 

Moonbyul waved wildly, signaling at Victoria to return, very nearly screaming.

 

It was too late.

 

Soojung made eye contact while Moonbyul was stupidly clawing at air.

 

Moonbyul’s face sunk into her palms.

 

Yongsun, what am I to do with this life.

 

Yet, at the end, she still turned to Solar.

 

***

 

Hi, I’m Krystal.

 

Two days after the squirm worthy encounter, Moonbyul would occasionally replay that scene in her head. Although she was kind of more concerned about her own stupid gaping mouth than the way Soojung, or Krystal, had tilted her head cutely when introducing herself. She had lost all her cool. She had believed that she was smooth, especially together with Solar.

 

Scratch that. Moonbyul groaned slightly and forced Solar out of her head. One year and counting, she was still failing miserably at escaping.

 

Only physically here, she was still trying to tear everything else away from Korea.

 

The scraping of chair against the granite floor caught her attention. She looked up.

 

It wasn’t Krystal.

 

“Hi? Moonbyul?” The unknown girl asked, tone cautious.

 

Moonbyul winced. Yes, it was her nickname, nothing really wrong. But the terrible recollection of her bumbling through her self-introduction to Krystal surfaced again. She had choked, overwhelmed by Krystal’s presence, and left out the ‘Yi’ in her name. Wonderful.

 

Moonbyul nodded and the girl sat down.

 

She looked somewhat familiar.

 

“I’m Soojung’s friend.”

 

She was one of them at the table, Moonbyul searched through her mental database and registered her as the one with gasping laughter.

 

“Hello, um nice to meet you?”

 

“Same. I’m Wheein by the way.”

 

This Wheein was staring at Moonbyul, any trace of the gasping laughter girl had been wiped clean. For a second, Moonbyul doubted her memory. But the reddish-brown hair clicked perfectly with the image in her head, a vivid recollection of how it had swung around when the girl was laughing.

 

“Soojung sent me. She can’t make it and she lost your number.”

 

“Oh…” Moonbyul scratched her cheeks, awkward. She wasn’t hoping for anything but that tinge of disappointment was unavoidable.

 

Wheein cleared , looking equally out of her element. “She loses stuff all the time. It’s nothing. Anyway, I’m just her messenger.”

 

She got up, mumbled her goodbye and left Moonbyul all alone.

 

Now, this surpassed awkward.

 

Why did she sit down if she was just gonna leave?

 

***

 

“Vic unnie, you shouldn’t have done that.”

 

“She was busy. It was too spontaneous, let’s try again!”

 

“I don’t need a date!”

 

“Oh yes you do, you mopey star. What kind of star are you when you look darker than, i don’t know, Darth Vader, sometimes?”

 

Moonbyul glared at Victoria, partly due to the bad play of words on her name. The telling signs of an argument blared when Moonbyul had told Victoria to cease her attempt to hook her up with Krystal.

 

Victoria was way too set on this and Moonbyul found it hard to convince her without the resorting to yelling.  

 

“Look, I’m not rea-” Moonbyul wanted to say how her heart was with someone else, but she held her tongue. Victoria’s motherly side would kick in and she would have to spill everything. And Moonbyul wasn’t ready for that.

 

She couldn’t talk about Solar without risking a tear or a complete meltdown.

 

Victoria cocked her eyebrow, hinting at an impending interrogation.

 

“Hey, Vic unnie, Moonbyul!”

 

Krystal saved the day and reduced Moonbyul into a gaping idiot again.

 

“Um hey… hey!”

 

Victory smirk on Victoria’s face when Krystal strolled up to them, with Wheein, was the respite Moonbyul needed. She would take looking stupid over talking about Solar any day. Solar sat too close to her heart, scratching it and reopening wounds, sometimes leaving new scars.

 

“I heard you ran from the da-” Victoria thankfully took the hint and swerved away after a vicious nudge from Moonbyul. “-meet up?”

 

“I heard you skipped out too.” Krystal smiled knowingly and pointed at her friend. “Wheein, my spy, told me.”

 

Wheein shrugged, while sending waves of unfriendliness to Moonbyul.

 

Truly mystifying.

 

Moonbyul wondered if she had accidentally killed Wheein’s cat or drowned her puppy. She chanced a friendly smile but  was stabbed by a thousand daggers from the girl’s eyes in that split second. Moonbyul immediately shifted her interest to a nearby pillar, loserishly intimidated.

 

At the same time, Victoria’s scheming tune played beside Moonbyul. “I discovered this cool place recently and they sell all kinds of unique bread and cakes! Let’s go!”

 

An excited chorus of ‘Yes’ answered Victoria, Krystal seemed more like a child, the cool and chic impression faded somewhat. Naturally, Moonbyul was unable to reject Krystal’s enthusiasm and the date was sealed.

 

***

 

For four months this matchmaking business went on, Moonbyul couldn’t fathom why Victoria was so insistent. She had tried to wiggle away from Victoria’s grasp by either keeping to herself or blending in with other groups. But Victoria always had her ways to locate her. It was half a step from creepy and a call away from an official social protection.

 

Unfortunately, in these four months, Moonbyul actually saw Wheein more often than Krystal.

 

Maybe that’s why Victoria wouldn’t relent; she probably didn’t want to stomach this matchmaking failure.

 

"Krystal can't make it, I know. And, wow surprise, Victoria as well, " Moonbyul responded flatly at Wheein's sole presence. This was routine -- Victoria skipping off cheekily, Krystal turning up with maybe a ten percent chance and Wheein appearing the rest of the time with her sour expression.

 

Rinse and repeat, nothing new.

 

Constant, like Wheein’s standard irritable look. Moonbyul was curious about that attitude but she never had the guts to ask Wheein.

 

Actually, with this figurative great wall between them, even making simple conversation was hard.

 

They sat in the uncomfortable silence after her failed attempts at squeaking out an interaction. Pathetically reduced to avoiding eye contact by locking eyes with her iced mocha, Moonbyul could feel Wheein’s burning stare on her as she counted the second.  

 

Wheein was taking far too long. Her uneventful and whirlwind departure usually happened within the first five minutes. Moonbyul grasped her cup, tilting her head up to drink, thinking it was the perfect excuse to spy on Wheein.

 

She met Wheein’s eyes, and realised that her iced mocha had a straw and tipping the cup made her look dumb. Moonbyul quickly averted her gaze.

 

A soundless groan of shame exploded like firecrackers in her head.

 

As her count approached the sixth and three-quarters minute, a muffled ‘bye’ shattered the balance. It was very much like the first time they met, when suddenly, a burst of unprecedented courage rushed through Moonbyul’s veins.

 

"Hey, Wheein. Did I choke your puppy by mistake? Or kicked your turtle? If I did, I apologise. We can strike off this grudge you have. I’ll buy you a new turtle, puppies are too expensive, though. So I hope it’s the turtle I kicked," Moonbyul ran without thinking.

 

Did the barista spike her mocha? Moonbyul immediately regretted her impulsiveness.

 

Unexpectedly, Wheein, with her back turned to Moonbyul, halted her departure prematurely. All Moonbyul could see was her slightly shuddering frame and that seemed like bad news.

 

Very bad news.

 

"Oh god. No no, I was just talking trash, just ignore me as usual okay. Don't get mad. I don't think I can deal with that."

 

Wheein was scarier than the icy looking Krystal.

 

"Really, please, please ignore me, I didn't mean to offend you. Just, um, walk away now. Don’t turn back, uh don’t hur-hurt me… Uhhh- " Moonbyul stuttered in her panic as Wheein’s shuddering intensified.

 

Help.

 

It looked to her like the one getting choked or kicked would be her and not Wheein’s non-existent pets.

 

“My turtle is…” Wheein began, voice shaking. Moonbyul trembled, could she have kicked her turtle, for real?!

 

“I’m so sorry. Whatever happened to it I’m sorry okay? I’ll give it flowers, just don’t-”

 

“...totally fine.”

 

With that last word, Wheein squatted down and broke out in a fit of gasping laughter. It was dramatic enough for the entire café to focus on the two girls. Wheein was uncontrollable, her high pitched wheezing laughter had Moonbyul stupefied and suffering from awful secondhand embarrassment.

 

“Jeez, Wheein!” Moonbyul complained as she pulled the girl up and forcibly lugged her out. Besides, what exactly was so funny?

 

Wheein continued to be mystifying but that scary element was gone, inhaled by that random laughter eruption.

 

“So that turtle…”

 

“His name is Kuku!”

 

Moonbyul narrowed her eyes at the girl, not entirely sure of what to make of that.

 

“What?”

 

“Kuku. Wanna see him?” Wheein beamed, eyes disappearing into squinty happiness and Moonbyul belatedly caught herself staring at this absolutely adorable transition from scary Wheein.

 

Wheein was far from scary, that’s for sure now.

 

The dimple on her cheek was so deep, Moonbyul had to resolutely stomp the thoughts of poking them flat.

 

Maybe Wheein would allow her to poke them when they get to know each other more.

 

“O-okay.”

 

Wheein led Moonbyul to her dorm, just a short distance away. In her room was a sizeable tank containing an extremely fat turtle, lazily munching on lettuce.

 

Wheein’s eyes twinkled. So that was the legendary Kuku.

 

“Hi, Kuku,” Moonbyul waved at the animal hesitantly.

 

“Isn’t he cute?”

 

“Yep, totally. I’ll buy him food next time.”

 

Actually, Moonbyul was swept away by the overwhelming cuteness flowing from Wheein. Probably amplified by how hostile she was previously, but the undeniable fact remained -- Wheein was actually a ball of fluff.

 

“Yay! He loves apples too! Sometimes he eats flowers, he’s weird. Hey, Kuku say thanks to Moonbyul!” Wheein reached in and tried to make Kuku wave his thanks. But Kuku was expectedly uncooperative, retreating into his shell at the slightest touch.

 

She’s probably kinda weird, too.

 

A huge smile made it’s way to Moonbyul’s face, only halted by how her thought naturally drifted to Solar.

 

Yongsun, I’ve met someone really cute and pretty interesting…

 

Kuku poked his head out, Wheein squealed and Moonbyul cracked a laugh.

 

This spelt the end of the rinse and repeat cycle, hopefully.

 

***

 

Ever since that chunk of ice between them melted, a different happiness trickled into Moonbyul’s life.

 

She couldn’t really spell out what exactly Wheein did to her. She was a wonderful existence, really random and conversations with her flowed naturally. Also, she was immensely cute and bouncy.

 

By the time she noticed, Krystal was no longer a major concern.

 

“Vic,” Moonbyul cleared . “This thing with Krystal…  she’s obviously not interested. And, actually, I’m not either. She’s a wonderful pictorial and pretty inside out, but I can’t date her.”

 

Victoria put down her book and frowned. “She seemed genuinely interested when I told her about you?”

 

At the sound of that, Moonbyul couldn’t stop the sarcastic quirk of eyebrows. Interested? Unimaginable and impossible.

 

“She showed up maybe three times. I saw Wheein more. I’m willing to bet five times more. ”

 

“You’re exaggerating.”

 

“I’m not. I appreciate it but… let’s just leave it at that okay?”

 

Victoria grumbled but relented.

 

“Wheein’s the girl that’s always with Soojung, right? I thought she dislikes you, hmm.”

 

"Right?! Exactly what I thought too! But she's like a puppy instead of the grumpy Oscar... " Moonbyul was equally baffled.

 

Surprisingly, even with their very friendly relationship now, Moonbyul hadn’t thought of asking Wheein about that at all.

 

Maybe it was high time to do it.

 

***

 

"Wheein, why are you so weird? " Stiff from crouching down, Moonbyul stretched and asked. “You’re like the weirdest person, ever.”

 

"What?! Why the you lying, why you always lying?! "Wheein sing-songed and succumbed to a round deeply amused chortle. Moonbyul laughed along, well-conditioned to Wheein’s antics.

 

“Stop laughing! I’m not weird! You’re weirder!”

 

"Right. Why you always lying? Honestly, try telling me this isn't weird."

 

By this, Moonbyul meant their little paper stick figures cut outs. More specifically, Moonbyul's wriggly stick figures and Wheein's cutely drawn characters. She obviously was the more artistically inclined one out of the two.  

 

"It's not weird, we're just bored. "

 

"Bored enough to make a stupid play for Kuku. Hey, you lazy turtle, show some appreciation!"

 

She pressed her face to the tank. The turtle was spying on the scene from within the safety of its shell.

 

"Rude. Appreciation of the Arts is good for his development. Kuku the turtle artist, amazing like his owner. "

 

Moonbyul cackled.

 

Interaction with Wheein involved unpredictable elements since she had a tendency to say strange stuff. Logically unsound but cutely amusing.

 

"Just admit that you're weird. Like Kuku."

 

"Why are you hanging out with a weirdo then?" Wheein pouted. There was something about that pout and her dimples, something unreasonably attractive to Moonbyul.

 

Yongsun.

 

Wheein reminded her of Solar sometimes, although she knew that it was probably her mind tricking her into nostalgia. Or maybe it was her heart urging her to retrace her steps, back to Kim Yongsun.

 

"So?"

 

Moonbyul stared at the pout, in a lost.

 

"I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy," She laughed humourlessly. "Which reminds me, why were you so scary and hostile previously?"

 

Wheein looked equally speechless. She took a sharp breath, like she was preparing an immensely difficult answer but it all dissolved into a thin line of tightly pressed lips.

 

She kept her silence and answer a secret, until she finally threw up her arms and flailed them. "I don't know either!"

 

“Really?” Moonbyul waved her lousy paper cut out in front of Wheein.

 

The younger girl nodded but Moonbyul wasn’t convinced. It wasn’t that simple, Moonbyul could tell without training proper mind reader training.

 

So she decided to tease Wheein. Well, why not?

 

“You like me. That’s why you were so awkward and that transformed into hostility.” Grinning, Moonbyul waited for one of those hilarious reactions from Wheein. It sounded ridiculous and childish even to her.

 

“I do. I like you.”

 

The sudden confession left Moonbyul shocked and stumped, clever words fled from her brain. Stuck in her daze, she waited for more, for Wheein to add a ‘got you’ or a ‘as if that will happen’ to it.

 

But, no, Wheein simply fixed her gaze on Moonbyul.

 

Then, Moonbyul recognised the look in Wheein’s eyes. How could she not, when those were so damn similar to the way she had looked at Solar.

 

Yongsun…