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Ring ring ring! says the telephone.
Shuhua was laid back on her couch—which was rather very comfortable, creamy white color and cushions that felt like clouds grazing against her porcelain skin—whilst she ate from the bowl of vegetables sat on her living room table. She was dressed in her usual strawberry spotted sleepwear, and her hair had been tucked into pink hair rollers.
She simply sat there, enjoying her life as she tuned into music a friend of hers had recently made. Everything was great, but the telephone started to ring.
Who could be calling me at this time of the day? Shuhua thought to herself, mildly infuriated that she had to be interacting with yet another person during her peaceful alone time. The phone wouldn't stop ringing—the caller would be patiently waiting at the other line. To her, the ringing started sounding like it was impatient and it wanted to be answered immediately.
She immediately sat up and went up to finally face the object disturbing her tranquility.
"Hello?" She's the first one to speak. However, no one says anything for at least a few seconds. Dead silence emerged, so quiet it was already uncomfortable.
"You're speaking to the cute and adorable Yeh Shuhua, wanna get your nails done or something?" she added, figuring the person might've panicked or forgot who they'd dialed. She was close to hanging up, until—
"You really are cute and adorable, huh." the caller says from the other end.
"Well, as always, you hadn't changed at all." they added.
"Wait a minute..." Shuhua mumbles to herself. This voice—soft and delicate, tone and pitch sounded of a woman's—was familiar; it was ringing through her ears as she tried to process it like an old, run-down robot taking hours to read an input.
"Is this you, Soojin-unnie?"
"Who else? Don't tell me you'd forgotten about me," Soojin spoke, almost in disbelief.
"Ah, n-no! It's not like that, I," Shuhua stumbles all over her words, her cheeks and ears heating up and reddening when she realizes she's on the phone with, at least once, the love of her life. "It just... took me a second. What made you call?"
"No reason, I just felt like it. Can't I talk to you every now and then?" Soojin replied. Even on the phone Shuhua could feel the wealth behind her voice—gold necklace, gold earrings, gold curtains, gold everything—and smell the richness of her perfume that always reminded her of cherries.
Shuhua may not be with Soojin right now, but she could clearly see the red lipstick on her lips, the signature mole under her eye, and the small tattoos, hearts and words, scattered all around her body. Behind her neck, behind her arm, behind her hand.
"No, of course you can—I just missed you, that is all. I didn't expect you to call at this time either." She sounded like a stuttering highschool girl whose jock crush is right in front of, and she hated it. Shuhua knew she was confident and didn't act so small in everything, but, just why, does Soojin make her fold so quickly?
"I know, I missed you too. That's why I called, wasn't it?" Soojin laughs. Despite the rather commonly terrible sound quality of the telephone, her laughs seemed clear as day to Shuhua like the times she could hear them in person.
"If you say so, then yes," Shuhua hummed. "How have you been doing?"
"Seriously, Shuhua, stop acting like we're a separated couple who hasn't seen each other since the husband left 5 years ago for his career. We just talked like, what, two days ago?" Right. Soojin is still feigning cold-heartedness. Classic, Shuhua giggles to herself.
"Wow, I just asked how you've been and this is what I get," she laughs. "Taking that as an I'm okay then."
"Mmmhmm," Soojin sounded out. "Well, I'll call you back. I have some things to tend to."
"Wait!" Shuhua nearly shouted.
"What now?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
Soojin sighed behind the phone. She knows what this is about, and she really is getting a bit tired of answering and denying (and hiding?) over and over again. It's not that deep, but— Shuhua is just... a bit too perseverant on her goal.
"What is it?" Soojin replied. She has hopes that this might have nothing to do with that.
"Is Sunflower about me?" Shuhua asked. She's giggling, smiling, and blushing, her finger twirling an untuck strand of her hair close to her ear.
"Didn't I tell you to stop asking if it's about you?" Truthfully, the only reason she kept denying and straying away from the question was to obviously not let Shuhua know it was for her. But, then again, she's finally being cornered by the person who'd inspired her song.
"You never gave me a specific answer—it's a yes or no, Soojin!" Shuhua retaliated.
"Ugh, I—" Soojin sighed.
"Okay, fine. Maybe it is, maybe it is." she replied, nearly shy and embarrassed.
Sunflowers had always reminded her of Shuhua. Probably because they're yellow and vibrant, parallel to Shuhua's energetic and happy personality. Or maybe it's because she's kept that specific photo of a sunflower field as her phone's lock screen and hasn't changed it in two years. A lot of things, actually—these are just one of the few.
"Alright!" Shuhua celebrates and lightly bumps a fist in the air. "That's all I wanted to hear. I'll see you around then! Bye unnie!"
"Bye," Soojin lightly says. Shuhua had always been the happy girl she was whenever she was around, like she claimed. Just before the younger hangs up, she speaks,
"Love you and miss you." she added, a kiss sound following before she puts the phone down.
Actually, Soojin checks up on her every now and then. Almost every single day since she got back into the spotlight—and Shuhua's always happy to see (or hear, perhaps) her. Yes, she said she called for no particular reason whatsoever, but...
After she got back, Soojin figured she had recently received a voicemail waiting to be opened by her. It had her pondering—she heard her phone ringing from the garage when she was parking her car.
She picks up the phone.
"Baby, can you call me back?" Shuhua's voice goes through the speaker. "I miss you.. it's so lonely in my mansion."
Soojin lightly smiled. She got too busy and hasn't thought of calling her, so she starts pressing the buttons to dial up a number. Guess she did have a reason to call after all.