Chapter Text
The sun is about to set and the time is well within the afternoon.
“Erm-- Ivan-nim” Acorn said, entering the scholar's room. Ivan looks up from his parchment and sets his bamboo brush aside,
“Yes?” he asks calmly
“Your lady is here to see you”
“My- right, of course, let her in.”
“Right this way Mizi-si” Acron moves aside, letting her in. Mizi walks in as the afternoon breeze flows through her braid and the heat from the sun shines across her skin, giving her a warm glow
“Ugh- I can’t believe they call us that-” Mizi shivers in disgust, contrasting from the warmth of the afternoon
“Hey, it’s not that bad, consider yourself lucky-- you know how many people would want a piece of this?” Ivan gestures to himself playfully
“Ugh- you’re insufferable, I thought you already liked tha--”
“What did you need anyways?” Ivan interrupts
“Have you seen my fan? The custom made bamboo one? I’ve been looking all over for it-”
“The fan? Ohh- that fan, maybe you would know if you didn’t run off into the wind, leaving that girl by herself” Ivan retorts, scoffing
Mizi blushes remembering that lady. How her dark green braid slung across her shoulder and her pale porcelain skin shined in the moonlight. The way her purple eyes complimented her lilac hanbok and--
“Shut up- The summer festival is tonight and I need it-” Mizi said, shaking herself out of those thoughts
“Right… you think you’ll see your girlfriend there?” Ivan teases
“I don’t even know her!”
“You will soon…” Ivan nudges her, smirking
“Whatever, are you ready yet? Excited to see a certain someone…?” Mizi teases back
“Haha.. I have no idea what you're talking about.” Ivan says sheepishly.
“You know…”
“Oh- we should sneak out soon if we want to be on time!”
“You can’t avoid the subject forever!”
“Watch me-” Ivan side eyes her and holds the door open for her, changing his persona, back into the ‘childhood arranged marriage, scholarly, to be husband’, his face stoic.
Mizi rolls her eyes before dusting off her hanbok and walking out the door, with her tight smile. Ivan follows her out, holding her waist, bowing slightly at passerbys. Before they leave Ivan’s home, a voice rings out
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ivan’s mentor demands
“I’m just spending time with my… wife-to-be.” Ivan states, the last part of his sentence slightly tense
“Did you finish your calligraphy?”
“Yes sir.”
“And your poetry.”
“Yes sir.”
“And-”
“I’ve completed everything sir, now may we depart?” Ivan asks calmly, interrupting him.
“Hmph, Acorn will accompany you. You are dismissed.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Sua arrives at the place of the summer festival, in her same simple lilac hanbok, holding the bamboo fan in her delicate hands. Despite herself, she finds herself looking around for the owner of the fan, although she tells herself it’s to be wary of potential dangers. Her shoes lightly scrape across the hot gravel as she looks around the crowds of people starting to form for a certain pink-haired lady.
She walks past the vast stalls with treats and bright decor and children running around happily, the sounds of laughter, running and traditional instruments spreading through the festival. She looks at the stage up ahead as a light breeze blows past her. She turns, and for the briefest moment, she finds herself hoping to see the pink haired lady up on the stage once more when she turns. She clutches the fan tighter in her grasp and continues to wander, in search of Sang Mizi.
“Ivan! I told you to look harder!” Mizi shouts, looking around frantically, “You better not have stolen the fan!”
“You have to go on stage anyway just to find it after the performance.” Ivan complains
Sua overhears this conversation and looks up at the trio of Ivan, Mizi and Acorn, looking back at the fan in her hand. It clicks to her at this moment, this was her chance. Maybe seizing the brightest star wasn’t several miles from her but just a few feet away.
“U-uh, Sang… Sang Mizi-nim…?” Sua stammers approaching her.
The three of them whips around, Acron and Mizi blushing slightly when they see her. Mizi, recognising the gentle voice immediately and finds herself face to face with the beautiful lady from before. The same dark green hair, the same purple dazzling eyes, the same pale skin. The same small smile from that first conversation… goodness… Mizi knew at that moment that she had never felt this way before. She looked just as mesmerizing as when she first saw her.
“The fan, it dropped when you ran away from our first encounter. I was hoping to see you again, to return it….. And maybe see another one of your performances.”
“O-oh, thank you. I was hoping to meet you again as well. I truly am grateful for you returning this, I do need it for tonight.” Mizi tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear. In a single second, she had reverted to that blushing mess she was four nights ago.
“I don’t believe I ever officially introduced myself, My name is Lee Sua.” She bows slightly, smiling
“Lee Sua…” Mizi mumbles under her breath, her ears turning red
“Well Sua-si, it's a pleasure to officially meet you. I am Shin Ivan.” Ivan replies, bowing
“And I’m Acorn- you might not remember me, but I saw you at the market” Acron adds, bowing as well
“Oh… yeah, right. pleasures all mine.” She bows tensely and glares at the both of them
“Well… Mizi, your performance starts in around 30 minutes, I'll be over there--” Ivan says, pulling Acron with him
“Huh-? Yeah- yeah, sure--” Mizi says, distracted
Ivan rolls his eyes before going to stand in the front row. As he walks over to the front row, he bumps into someone.
“Hey- watch where you’re going-” The gray-haired noble, wearing a gray hanbok looks up, rubbing his shoulder. The light afternoon sun makes his features almost… lit up, lighting the space around him… well, at least to Ivan.
“Till-si- ” Ivan’s eyes widen
“Ah-- Ivan-nim… uh- What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same, Till-si…” Ivan said back
“Well, if you must know… I came here to watch Noble Mizi-nim.” Till mumbled, glaring at Ivan
“Oh.. not me?”
“Why would you need me to look at you, there are literally three women who have been following you and giggling for the past 10 minutes. In addition, rumor says you’re engaged to Mizi-nim, no?”
“I don’t see how that information is beneficial in any way for you….” Ivan says a bit too quickly.
Despite his best effort to conceal his emotions, beneath his stoic features his eyes glimmer with what Till can see as a hint of what seems like… sadness? He decides not to press on it any further.
“I shall be on my way to the stage to see Mizi.” Ivan responds coldly.
“Right-- I guess I’ll see you around then.” Till says, bowing slightly.
Everyone settles in their spot in front of the stage. As performances went by, filling the stage with music and liveliness, the sun started to set gently in the sky, resting halfway, as Mizi gracefully walked upon stage, the trail of her hanbok following her. She whipped her fan open and started her performance, her confident singing ringing out. From the front a perfectly half-setting sun on the horizon shining a tint of orange behind her and the clouds matching in color as Mizi’s long braided hair.
Sua's eyes sparkle as her eyes travel along the stage, her purple eyes now lighting up with the pink and blue from the sky, and the elegant star upon the stage. The first time being so close to a star, the most dazzling star lighting up not only the stage, but what once seemed like her closed off universe seemed much bigger. As Sang Mizi walked across, for once, Sua didn’t need the small speckles of light that once comforted her in her dark world, because for once, her world was no longer dark.
Just a few seats from her, sat Till, also captivated by her performance.
Till looks upon the stage, slightly smiling as Mizi’s powerful voice fills the area. He had always thought about how kind and gentle she is. Mizi was pretty. She had long pink to blue hair and a dark blue hanbok that perfectly captured her beauty. He wondered a lot about her and her relationship with Ivan…. It wasn’t exactly jealousy or envy, but he yearned for something of the sort.
While the crowd seemed captivated by the elegant performer, Ivan couldn’t help his eyes flicker back to the noble across from the stage. The light that shone from the sun, the same sun that shone Mizi for others, brightened up the features of the gray hair noble. His sharp eyes that were usually glaring at him, seemed.. Younger… more youthful and calm. The perfect scholar that Ivan had performed was tearing at the seams. Deep inside, he knew this was wrong, he knew the stack of perfection he had cultivated over the years was slowly getting ruined. Like the ink that seeped and stained the parchment of perfection he was so careful about presenting.
Eventually Mizi’s performance came to an end and the three found her afterwards.
“Uh- the performance was really good Mizi… ” Till grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck
“Ofcourse the performance was great, it was done by Mizi herself” Ivan said proudly.
Sua glares at the two boys, then back at Mizi, her smile spreading softly, “It seems your performances are getting better and better Mizi-nim…”
Mizi grins and blushes slightly, thank you everyone-- Ivan and I should be going home now-”
Before realizing it, Sua gently grabs her wrist.
“...Will I see you again?”
Flustered and brightly blushing Mizi stammers, “I-uh- maybe? I hope so.”
Sua gently smiles back and wishes her a safe walk home, bowing gently.
Sua stands rubbing her wrist as she sees Mizi, Ivan, Till, and Acorn walking home while Mizi is waving back as the sun continues to set. And once again, her world went back to normal, the stars comforting her, yet… she felt the lingering warmth within her.