Chapter Text
“Yunah, come ooon!”
Goodness. Yunah let out a long huff, her reluctance evident. The light breeze of the Academy of Arts’ grounds tousled her hair; the field was vast and had various groups scattered around chatting. Her eyes flickered over them absently, then down at Wonhee’s animated expression, then back up. She’d heard this same phrase about a million times in the last half hour of her trying to convince Yunah to come watch her in the academy’s mid year music show.
Wonhee was in her first year, studying music performance, and this was her first “proper” show at the college - or, that’s what she said. She’d actually done some before now, but Yunah knew from experience that bringing that up wouldn’t do anything to budge Wonhee in what she wanted. However, to Yunah, the only difference was that they were in the main Academy hall rather than the slightly smaller one.
Pfft. Big difference.
Plus, this wasn’t even the real thing— like, yes, there was gonna be a whole bunch of people there, but this was essentially just a practice for the end of year academy performance, for the music majors to get an idea of what it’s like to perform in a supposedly more nerve wracking environment, in a larger space with a larger audience.
“Please! For your little sister! Come ooon,” she pleaded, dragging out her words. “It won’t be boring, I swear!”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yunah!”
“I might fall asleep halfway through…”
“Shut up!”
“My snoring might be louder than all the actual music, and—“
She was cut off as she felt a blow to her arm and looked down to see Wonhee pouting sulkily. Yunah grinned, pleased at her work. Somehow Wonhee always fell for Yunah’s teasing, despite it having been a lifelong occurrence— and Yunah enjoyed herself every time.
“You’re so mean to me,” Wonhee grumbled.
“Eh, call it character building.”
They walked in a semi-comfortable silence for a few minutes before Yunah began to feel eyes burning into the side of her head. She didn’t even have to look at her to know exactly what face Wonhee was making — that puppy dog look that she’d used all through their lives to get something she wanted, and the look that had always made Yunah crumble.
She was slightly ashamed of how easily she gave in.
“Ugh…” She mumbled, sighing, and Wonhee had known Yunah for long enough to know that, in these kinds of situations, whatever wasn’t a definite no meant yes. Yunah forced herself to bite back the smile that was threatening to form onto her face as Wonhee’s face lit up.
She squealed, letting out a series of rushed “thank you!”s before fumbling for her phone and starting to type frantically, presumably to update Iroha on the news, though almost dropping it in the process.
Iroha had hung around the two as long as Yunah could remember. When they were younger she’d often visit their house as soon as she was old enough to, and Yunah practically considered her a second sister. Well, Yunah could say for sure that she had similar, if not the same, protective instincts over Iroha that she did Wonhee, and the pair definitely whined to her enough about things to make sure of Iroha’s ease around her.
It was sweet really, and Yunah couldn’t deny the soft spot she had for the two of them, despite their very very frequent complaints. Even their families were close. With Iroha and Wonhee being three years younger than her, on top of the fact that Iroha was an only child with parents that worked a lot, Yunah was regularly the one who took them places and picked them up from school and clubs. So naturally Iroha was like family to her.
Yunah sighed and continued to walk with Wonhee as she texted until the bell rang for class, when they waved their goodbyes until later.
—
The day of the music show rolled around faster than Yunah had expected. Despite her agreement to come, dread still lingered in the back of her mind. She remembered the many other ones of Wonhee’s music performances she’d been to before… where Wonhee had only been onstage for a tiny section of the entire thing. And yes, she realised there was probably a little tiny difference between a high school and a college performance, but still. It would drag.
In the evening, Yunah’s dorm was chaos. Wonhee had insisted on getting ready for the show with her sister, to “calm her nerves” and, of course, Iroha had to tag along as apparently they were stuck together like glue.
They had barrelled in almost an hour ago, armed with a bag each of clothes and essentials for getting ready. Though those bags quickly ended up being pushed onto Iroha’s lap as the two girls squeezed onto Yunah’s painting stool in front of her desk, which Wonhee had propped a mirror up onto and claimed it to be a vanity. They were chatting energetically, and every now and then Wonhee would let out yelps of exasperation when Iroha nudged her accidentally (or on purpose? Who knows).
In short, they didn’t seem to be paying any mind to the fact that it was 7.30pm and there was, more likely than not, people in the rooms next door trying to wind down for the evening.
Amongst the bustle, Yunah’s roommate, Moka, was sat on her bed next to her, eyeing the two girls with amusement.
“What do you think? They gonna keep the entire corridor up?” Yunah mused jokingly, observing Wonhee smacking Iroha’s hand away from touching her hair, hollering something or other about how she’d “spent forever on it”, in turn leaving Iroha pouting and mumbling something to herself.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Moka murmured, a small smile on her face.
“And we’re gonna be the ones they hate for this…” she grumbled.
Just when it seemed like everything was calming down a bit, a new problem would arise. Wonhee’s current issue? The fact that she “kept messing up her makeup”, regardless of Iroha’s repeated reiterations that she looked absolutely perfect.
“Yunahhh!” Wonhee groaned, hiding her face in her hands dramatically. “I keep messing up! I can’t do this…”
“You look fine—“ Iroha insisted, tugging her arms away from her face.
“No, no I don’t, look! You haven’t seen how bad the stage lights are, Roha!” Wonhee exclaimed, gesturing vaguely at herself and at the air above her. “And--“ She stood up. “Does my outfit look okay? They said formal, but to make sure you’re comfortable because we’re going to be up there for a while. So, you know—“
“I like it.” Moka suddenly piped up, studying Wonhee carefully, who fell silent for the first time in a while. Moka was a design major, this was her forte, and she looked in her element talking about this. Yunah couldn’t help the grin that appeared on her face as she watched Wonhee’s mind drift further and further away.
After a while, Iroha checked her phone. “Won, it’s almost 8. We should probably go soon, if you want to get there early to set up,” she reminded, pulling at Wonhee’s arm gently.
Wonhee jumped in her seat. “Really? Really? Already? We gotta go—“
With that, the two were hurrying out the door, not bothering to tidy up the mess they’d left, and the time after that blurred together a bit. Yunah and Moka hurried to catch up with the girls, Moka swiftly ditching her to lock up the room.
They made their ways down into the foyer, where luckily wasn’t too many people yet— mainly just the orchestra, singers and other performers filing into the hall. The four girls followed suit, shuffling in behind the others.
Admittedly, Yunah had only been in this hall a couple of times. It was reserved for special occasions, and before Wonhee started here she had no reason or intent to attend them unless it was required of her to. It was a considerably sized hall, with intricate detailing on the walls and towering beams stretching upwards. Even the ceiling wasn’t spared; it was complete with ornate carvings and images that were impossible to make out properly in the dull lights. Rows and rows of seats bordered the room, lined with expensive-looking red fabric. They were all faced toward the stage which, presently, had curtains drawn across, though Yunah could hear the buzz of hasty chat coming from behind it.
Soon, Wonhee had to part ways with the group, and those remaining went to find their seats. Iroha was babbling excitedly into Yunah’s ear, who was only half listening, mostly occupied with the task of finding the right row.
Eventually, they found their seats, and as more people started to trail in, Yunah felt an intense gratitude to the fact that they got early access to their seats— people were climbing over each other left right and centre in order to get to their places.
Though, that didn’t mean the same wasn’t happening to them.
But sooner or later, everything settled (which Yunah was also incredibly grateful for, because it wasn’t exactly fun being clambered over every five seconds) and the lights dimmed. The hum of general chatter slowed to a stop and the curtains veiling the stage slowly opened. The orchestra was sat near the back of the stage, lights focused on them, and a group of people could just be made out sitting to the sides in the dark, presumably waiting for their turns. Yunah scanned to find Wonhee, however, the subtle tug on her sleeve from Moka told her all she needed to know, and she followed the girl’s pointed finger to where Wonhee was playing.
The elegant sound of instruments filled the room, and to be completely honest, it did move Yunah. At the beginning, anyway. It sounded amazing and Wonhee was playing to perfection. A glance at Iroha confirmed that she was thinking the same, maybe more, with the way she was gazing down at the stage.
The orchestra played for a long time. Who knows how long for. They sure had a lot to play. Occasionally some instruments would break while others had the chance to shine, and sometimes they’d play altogether. It sounded nice, but… maybe it wasn’t so much Yunah’s style.
Just as Yunah felt herself starting to drift off, the people sat to the side moved. They lined up just in front of the orchestra, which fell silent for a moment, before they started playing a new, slower song. The line of new people started to quietly hum to the song.
Then, there it was.
Someone stepped forward. A girl.
She began to sing.
The spotlight focused on her, focused on her long brown hair which was tucked behind one ear, and her voice filled the hall. It was beautiful, and Yunah found herself wide awake all of a sudden, watching this new girl, switching her attention to be entirely on her radiant voice. She sang uniquely to anything Yunah knew, a slight cursive edge to her voice, as if tracing every syllable with care and meaning. As if she felt every word that came out of her mouth deep in her soul. She overpowered harmonies just enough to keep herself from drowning underneath the sound, but also to make sure the song flowed smoothly. Her voice seemed to put Yunah under a spell.
The girl’s eyelids fluttered shut as she sang the longer notes, and even from her length away, Yunah outlined all the curves of the girl’s face with her eyes: the soft arch of her nose, the way her lips moved as she sang, the gentle tapping of her foot to the rhythm.
Yunah hadn’t realised that she’d instinctively leant forward in her seat before Moka nudged her, jolting her out of the trance-like state she was in. She turned to see Moka surveying her with raised eyebrows, and that glint in her eye that always made her feel like she knew something that Yunah didn’t.
“Lean back, it can’t be that interesting,” she whispered quietly.
Yunah leant back into her seat. “Who— who is that?” she hissed, ignoring the sarcastic statement from Moka.
Moka shrugged, but Yunah didn’t fail to notice the flicker of a smile on Moka’s face for a split second, before she turned back to the performance.
Much to her dismay, the girl seemed to be singing her final note, and she bowed low to the crowd, who erupted into applause. Yunah joined in, and, embarrassingly, she found herself trying to clap over everyone else. She wanted this girl to somehow notice her over the onslaught of applause from everyone else in the room. And, unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. The curtain fell back into place, leaving Yunah captivated.
She needed to find out who this mystery girl was, and she needed to do that immediately.