Chapter Text
She stared at herself in the clear river, the summer breeze chilling her spine, and her neatly braided pink to blue hair ending with the vibrant purple daengi in her hair staring back at her. A beautiful woman stared back at her but all she saw was the broken girl she knew she was. The girl not good enough for her family. The girl unable to live up to her family’s expectations. The girl that was supposed to marry her best friend. Before she knew it, her eyes grew glassy and her green eyes grew blurry. The chirping of crickets around her soon filled with soft shaky sobs to heavy heaves of air. The air felt tense around her, the edges of her world grew dark, her hands started to tingle, she had to move, she had to get out of this, and soon. She stood up, feeling her hands, unable to stop the makeup from running, her world caging in. The words of her family came in, the possibilities of what could happen if they found out about--
“Sang Mizi-nim, It's almost time for you to get on stage!”
“Yes Durian-si, I- I’ll be right there” Mizi catches her breath and fixes her bright red lipstick and eye makeup in her now calm reflection in the river. She takes a moment to herself, reciting the story to herself again before heading onto the stage.
Mizi came out on the stage with her clematis adorned bamboo fan, the colors captivating the children in the front row. Her navy blue hanbok graced the stage as she moved and her loud but graceful voice captivated everyone passing by; her stories of the ghosts flowing with the wind of the night. The stars were especially bright that night, speckled lights all throughout the dark sky over their heads; almost like a spotlight for the dazzling star on stage. Mizi’s performance was passionate and awe-inspiring. By the time it ended, the audience was star-struck with amazement. The claps and applause rang out, clearing her thoughts of doubt from before. She stood there, smiling and bowing, feeling calm and proud of herself.
After the performance, Mizi went behind the stage to the river clearing and noticed Durian and Ivan speaking together, “I think I will go home early tonight, my mother is expecting me.”
Durian responds back “Will you be here next week for the summer festival Mizi-si?”
“Of course!”
“Another great performance presented by the one and only Sang Mizi!” Ivan teased, wrapping his arm around her shoulder
“You never change, do you?” Mizi deadpanned
“Aw, is the great Mizi offended that she was outshined by her one and only friend?”
“I have other friends, you know”
“Oh, really? How so?”
“Well, there's Durian- and.. Till I suppose”
“Didn’t you say you think he hates you?”
“Well, yes but-”
“Oh please, you wouldn’t last a week without everyone’s favorite Ivan”
“Quiet- I should be heading home now, I don’t want to keep my mother waiting any longer than she has.”
“Allow me to walk you home!” Ivan offered, loud and cocky
Mizi slaps her bamboo fan across his shoulder, "Don't speak like that, I don’t want people to think we're in a relationship.”
Mizi grimaced at the thought. He rolls his eyes and leads her towards the noble's palace, holding her waist.
As they continued to walk, they both noticed a beautiful lady approaching them. The lady was adorned with a lavender hanbok, though… not like Mizi’s. This lady's handbook appeared worn out, dirtied, and quite plain and simple. However, this factor was quite unrecognizable due to the woman’s appearance. The woman smiled sheepishly towards Mizi. Mizi couldn’t help her eyes tracing the woman’s dark green hair, the thick braid across her shoulder, to her captivating purple eyes, her perfect smile. Her light pale porcelain skin to her thick dark eyebrows and lashes.
“You’re blushing” Ivan teases her in her ear, nudging her side slightly
Mizi blushes harder and steps on his foot.
“Pardon me for your disturbance, but are you perhaps the p’ansori performer that was just on stage?”
Goodness, her voice sounded like silk and honey, Mizi thought to herself
“I wanted to compliment your performance. I was greatly impressed with your story and how you portrayed it. The story you chose today actually is reminiscent of a tale from the stars above.”
“O-oh! Well, thank you.” Mizi responded,
Mizi’s thoughts were a mess. She was a mess. She felt almost giddy getting complimented from this beautiful woman, absolutely swooned by this mysterious lady’s beauty. Mizi couldn’t help but smile wider, then the thought started to seep and spread in like dark blood soaking a pure white cloth. The thoughts right before her performance. From the river. The clear glass-like water, turning to wine in her mind. The thoughts of failing the family she oh so loved, of being a disappointment.
“Well, I- um, I must be on my way now, uh thank you again… for the- uh- compliment.”
Without another thought, the blood consumed her and Mizi ran. Ran from the beautiful woman, or maybe… her own fears. Looking back meant coming face to face with the failed version of herself.
“Mizi! Wait for me!” Ivan shouted as he ran after her.
The lady stood there, in the grassy path, enchanted from meeting the performer face to face. Once she got a hold of herself, she looked onto the ground, there lay a bamboo fan, the same one that had first captivated her from the talented p’ansori performer. She gently crouched down to pick it up and dusted it off with her delicate hands. As she opened it, she saw the paper colored with clematis flowers and a green norigae with a jade ring attached. She looked at the engraving on the wood of the fan.
“Sang Mizi”
That was her name.
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Mizi ran, her hair spilling out of the perfect braid she had tied before, stray hairs sticking out in places she didn’t want. Her face was flushed as she felt the wind slash her face and thought back to the previous encounter. But for what? She had only seen a beautiful woman, no? A woman too beautiful to be a reality. Out of nowhere she felt a pull backward.
“MIZI ARE YOU OKAY???” Ivan pulls her back and shakes her shoulders
“Huh, Ivan?!” She was still flushed and catching her breath, blinking rapidly
“You almost got run over by a cart on the main road!” Ivan exclaimed, shaking her harder, hopefully shaking some sense into her too.
“Oh.. I just.. really need to get home.”
“Sure you do” Ivan sighs “Are you okay? It seemed you were startled out of nowhere. Next thing I know you’re off and running.” he calms down and lets go of her
“I’m fine, I’m just tired. I mean it.” She rubs her shoulder, now calm as well
“Let me walk you home, I don’t want you getting actually run over.” He holds her waist gently “At least not yet”
A brief thought about arguing back hits her, but decides against it.
Mizi and Ivan continue to walk to Mizi’s home.
“Mizi? Ivan? It took you both a while to get here. And what happened to your hair, it’s a mess.” Mizi’s mother lectured them, sighing as she walked to open the gate.
“The streets were quite busy after sundown and we ran into some of my old classmates from my scholarly days,” Ivan said, as Mizi walked into her home.
“Come in, and Ivan- Acorn was waiting by the entrance to take you home.”
“Alright, goodnight Mizi, and to you to Ma’am” He bows respectfully and walks over to Acorn
“Head home safely,” Lady Sang calls out.
As Ivan and Acorn left together, Lady Sang turned around to see her daughter on the porch, zoned out.
She walked towards Mizi and stood next to her.
“It seems you’ve had a long night, huh? Why don’t you head inside and wash up.” Lady Sang said endearingly, the hint of suspicion in her voice.
All Mizi could do was quietly comply. She nodded and bowed respectfully as she made her way to her room. She walked through the hall and a light breeze made her pause, she looked out to the bright moon in the sky from the open hallway. However, this breeze was different from the one before her performance. She knew something had changed, whether it was, that lady, or the change in the weather. Or maybe it was the mess of her hair, the mess that she had never experienced before.