Chapter Text
Chaewon was in love with sounds. The calming sound of nature (especially when the blue waves touched the sandy shores); the sound of the city that kept her busy, the faint white noise at her apartment whenever she had trouble falling asleep… you name it.
Sometimes, she could see sounds. To her, people’s voices, the music on the charts, and any noise around her often had colors. And, if she closed her eyes, her mind would associate a sound with a face of someone unknown to her. It was like a natural talent. An ability she naturally knew how to use.
They were all created by her senses. “I just know, you know?” was the standard answer to questions strangers and friends asked about how she was sure this color, and that face, matched a sound.
Chaewon wasn’t lying. If she was, her honest face would expose her on the spot.
It was just as simple as that.
But.
Questions were raised when she began hearing something in her dreams.
No, not “something”. It was someone. A beautiful sounding woman with a slightly lower register and a mysterious essence to her voice. The stranger was unlike anyone she had encountered before.
She was very distinct, for lack of a better word.
For the first time, she couldn’t paint a picture, a face, with that melodious sound. Her senses didn’t seem to work at all.
During the first few nights, she shrugged it off with the reason being: “It’s probably from lack of sleep.” Except she heard her even on nights she was at peace on her empty bed, and that reason was no longer valid. Not only that, but this unknown voice would talk to her in a distant, monotone voice; calling her name, speaking sweet sentences she understood.
Chaewon, you look so beautiful.
Chaewon, I think I’m falling for you.
Chaewon.
She woke up with a suffocating feeling, eyes darting left and right in panic. There was no one. (How could there be when she lived alone?)
A part of her feared for her life. And the other?
The other part was falling for the bearer of that beautiful voice.
If she had to confess, she made Chaewon melt like a pineapple-flavored popsicle on a bright, yellow summer day. Her heart pounded loudly as if it was going to make an escape from the prison that was her ribs. Butterflies in her stomach weren’t merely fluttering around. They made so much noise - a red, boisterous roar.
Months later, she was no longer in her mind.
She was everywhere. At Chaewon’s favorite spot at the beach that was hidden from the crowd. At the hustling and bustling city she lived in. At the various rooms in her apartment.
Chaewon sighed in frustration. “Listen, I don’t know who you are. But get out of my head, will you?” And maybe come to me instead, she thought. The whole situation felt silly, and yet, it was all so real.
Come to me. The beach, the voice said. Chaewon almost had a heart attack. Was someone actually listening? Did someone place a tiny device on her or inside her ear somehow?
Rule #1: Don’t follow strangers.
Her mom, teachers, friends all taught her that. But being the curious soul she was, she clearly broke that rule. All because of an infatuation she had with that damned voice. All because her senses enjoyed the indescribable sensation. All because she had been single for quite a while and it had been so long since she last felt anything quite like it.
Chaewon scolded herself internally, “You don’t even know what this person looks like! Jesus, Park Chaewon. Get a hold of yourself,” her nails dug into her soft palms. “What if it’s a trap? You can still turn around.” And yet, her feet continued walking towards the beach, completely separate from the almighty controller that was her brain.
It didn’t take her long to arrive. Taking a deep breath, she took small, cautious steps to the place she found solace in. Her eyes were widely focused and shaky at the same time.
“Hey.” The sun had began setting. The warm orange light shone on an actual human being. A girl with long dark hair that was dyed a light shade of brown at the tips. The way this “beautiful stranger”, as Chaewon would describe, stared at her gave her chills. Piercing blue electrical waves zipped and zapped her all over.
Chaewon didn’t know her in the slightest, and yet, everything felt highly familiar. Nostalgic. Like they had met once in a cycle of their past life and the universe brought them together again.
This “stranger-who-could-totally-kill-me-right-now” looked stoic, so cold like a dark winter’s blue and a steel grey. Except she was feeling the same exact emotions Chaewon was going through at that moment.
“Chaewon,” she took a step forward as she called the name, making the other literally weak on her knees. “I’m Hyejoo.”
Hyejoo sat on the ground with her.
“What’s going on? Are you real?” Chawon’s voice was shaky, almost inaudible.
“Legend has it that the voice you hear is the voice of your soulmate. For you, anyway.”
She couldn’t believe it. “You’re playing. How did you know my name? How do you know about my favorite location? How do you know me?”
Hyejoo chuckled in a way that made Chaewon see a soft, velvety red. “That’s the thing, right? I just know, you know? The universe is full of shit but it told me you’re the one for me. And to follow that up, the legends once sang: “You’re my ecstasy, you’re the one I need”.”
It got silent for a short moment… until Hyejoo laughed at her own song reference, and Chaewon’s world became sunset-tinted.
Warm. Comfortable. Heavenly.
The explanation continued. “Thing is, I’m not even aware you could hear me. And I guess it’s the same for you: You’re not aware that I could literally see you, and things related to you, everywhere. Then I’d reach out to you, only to realize you weren’t really there. Until today, I had a vision of you and this place.”
It was so hard to process, harder than the branches of physics combined. How did she not hear about this? Was it a one-in-a-billion situation? Did everyone experience love differently? She soon snapped out of her thoughts and scooted closer to the seemingly-familiar person.
Naturally.
“You would tell me I’m beautiful and that you’re into me,” Chaewon could barely look her in the eyes. “... I’d be lying if I said I felt nothing from hearing that special voice of yours.”
“And I’d be lying if I said those words weren’t true. Because the moment I started seeing you, my dark world became brighter.” Not wasting her chances, she leaned in closer to her right ear and whispered, “Chaewon… you look so beautiful and I’m in love with you. I’ve always been, even in our past lives.”
Both of Chaewon’s ears turned a flushed pink hue. She was unable to hide her smile. Not that Hyejoo minded. “I’m in love with you too, you beautiful stranger.”
The previously orange sky changed into a weird yet visually satisfying pastel mixture of red, blue, purple, and pink. Everything felt surreal, like the majestic view was from a million dollar painting and they were in some indie film.
It all started with that voice.
The voice that made her see rainbow, rainbow, rainbow.