Chapter Text
“Come on, Megan!” Lara complained, “We’re gonna be late!”
Megan groaned, being roughly pulled by the arm.
“Do we have to go?” Megan whined, reluctantly keeping up with her best friend’s hurried steps.
“Yes! It’s the party of the century!”
“You’re just saying that because Sophia’s hosting it…” Megan grumbled, checking her reflection in her phone camera. (Lara dragged her out mid makeup routine. It was bad. Eyeliners and brushes were flying. Brutal.)
“I- what? No! That’s-“ Lara chuckled, slowing down a bit now, “That’s insane! Who’s- who’s Sophia?”
The duo stopped, and Megan turned to her; unimpressed.
Lara turned red, looking anywhere to avoid Megan’s eyes.
Megan’s line of sight shifted to something behind Lara.
“What’s that?”
Lara turned around, confused.
“Oh, that? It’s some exhibition thing. Connecting the world, or whatever.” she shrugged, “Come on! Let’s go!”
Megan didn’t hear her, her gaze locked in on something.
Or rather, someone.
It was the prettiest girl she had ever seen.
She was sitting at the bottom right corner, leaning against a tree and sketching something in her book.
Megan was entranced.
The wind blew slightly, wherever she was, making her hair drift in the breeze. She had a calm expression on, though it changed slightly.
Megan watched as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, turning back to grab an eraser and rub it furiously on the page.
“Megan? Megan? Come on! What are you looking at?” Lara snapped, waving a hand wildly in front of her face.
Megan blinked back into reality.
“What city does it show?”
“What?”
“The portal window thing. What city?”
“What? Why does it matter? Uh, okay, whatever- Seoul, I think. Now let’s go!”
Megan let herself be dragged along again, eyes not leaving the girl that captured her attention.
And just before the screen was hidden behind the gathering of people, the girl looked up-
And looked directly at her.
Time slowed down at that moment. It was only a few seconds- less than a second, actually- but it felt like eternity for Megan.
She couldn’t even see her eyes that well, due to the distance and screen quality, but she already knew.
Those were the prettiest eyes she’s ever seen.
“Yoonchae! Let’s go! Please? I want to see the exhibition!” Hinari pleaded, holding onto Yoonchae’s arm firmly.
“What’s so exciting about it? It’s just a screen.” Yoonchae asked, uninterested; focusing on her sketch instead.
She tsked as a line she drew was a few millimetres off, grabbing her eraser and erasing it frustratedly.
“Don’t be such an introvert, YC.” Karlee laughed, “Let’s go out. Come on.”
“Don’t call me that!” Yoonchae snapped, glaring at her.
“Fine then, Yoonchae.“
“Thank you.”
“Let’s go! Come on, five minutes. You don’t even have to do anything. You can just draw, or whatever.” Nayoung reasoned.
“Then what’s the point of me coming?”
“Bonding experience.”
Yoonchae sighs, softly closing the cover of her sketchbook.
“Fine.”
Her friends cheer as she stands up- from where they were previously crowding around her on the couch- rolling her eyes as she grabbed her coat from the chair.
Yoonchae arrived trailing behind her squealing friends.
What was so special about this? It’s just… a video call. Is it not?
She inhales deeply, enjoying the fresh air and looking up at the scenery at the park before her.
At least it was a nice day outside.
She sighs one last time at her friends, who ran to the screen with no hesitation- waving at the people on the other side of the screen, before sitting herself down at the very edge of the exhibition.
Luckily, there was a tree just beside the barrier- which laid out the section which was visible to the other people- allowing her to relax while keeping sight of her friends.
She wondered briefly about what country they were connected to, before realising she didn’t really care.
Yoonchae pulled her sketchbook out of her satchel happily, before continuing her previous work.
It was a sketch of a skyline, the view from her apartment’s balcony. She couldn’t get the power lines quite right, and it was ticking her off.
She continued to draw, not paying any mind to the bubbling excitement of the surrounding visitors- until she sees a blur of pink in the corner of her eye.
Figuring it was just the screen glitching, she ignored it. She was sitting directly next to it, anyway.
But she couldn’t help but shrug off the feeling of being watched.
She lifted her head, thinking it was her friends making fun of her for being boring, until she realised they were dramatically waving at people.
Yoonchae turns towards the screen, and sees something.
Someone, rather.
A girl, with pink highlights in her hair, was staring directly at her- before getting pulled into the crowd.
Puzzled, her eyes lingered at the spot where the girl was, before she feels a hand in her hair.
“Mmh!” she whines, glaring at whoever was ruffling her hair.
“Come on, you unsocial hermitcrab. Let’s go.” Nayoung tilted her chin to where Hinari and Karlee were running off, hand in hand.
“You messed my hair up.” Yoonchae grunted, pushing herself off of the ground and dusting the back of her pants off.
She took one last look at the screen, before following Nayoung and the others.
“One last drink! Trust!”
“No, Lara, I’m leaving.”
“Why?”
Megan sighed, pinching her nosebridge in annoyance.
“Because this sucks.”
“You’re just mad that no one catches your eye. Four people have come up to you already!” Lara exclaimed, exasperated at her friend’s pickiness.
“Yeah, exactly.” Megan huffs, “The drinks here aren’t strong- because your girlfriend-“ she jabs a finger at Lara’s chest,
“-insists that we stay safe, so I’m not drunk, the music is mediocre- you know, I’m surprised you even allowed this. Knowing you, you would’ve shoved the DJ out of the way-!”
“Shut up!” Lara hissed, glancing around, “Sophia might hear you.”
Megan groaned, throwing her hands up in the air.
“I can’t even find anyone for me to flirt with!”
Lara hums, scanning the area around them.
“What about him?” she points at an area behind Megan, making her swivel around to meet Lara’s line of sight.
“Emo boy? Yeah, no. I’m leaving, Lara.”
Megan turns in the direction of the doorway.
“Fine! But you’re picking me up!” Lara calls out.
“If we’re both lucky,” Megan drawls, looking back at her, “I wouldn’t need to pick you up.”
Lara sticks her tongue out at her, before quickly straightening when Sophia comes up behind her.
Megan shakes her head fondly at the two, watching as Lara desperately tries to aura farm- probably hoping that Sophia didn’t see her immaturity.
She totally did, but if anything, Sophia’s ten times worse.
“Bye, Soph!”
Megan isn’t really sure where she’s going. She isn’t drunk, so she’s driving herself to goodness knows where.
In fact, she’s barely even tipsy.
Thank you, Sophia Laforteza. For your stupidly correct and smart morals.
For some reason, she ends up driving to the place from earlier- the exhibition.
She parks her car on the sidewalk, hissing as the cold night air bit into her skin.
She should’ve brought a jacket.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she looks around.
Unsurprisingly, the park is empty at eleven o’clock at night.
Earliest Megan has ever gone home after a party, but whatever.
She sits down on the grass, watching the quiet bustling of the people of Seoul.
The sun over there is just starting to set, the orange of the Sun tinting the sky.
Megan checks the large clock stationed just above the screen:
16:23
Oh. That’s, what- 17 hours? Damn.
She smiles to herself, proud that she was able to calculate that without her phone.
She looks around. For her limited vision of the park she sees, Seoul looks beautiful.
Megan’s breath hitches, seeing something that’s arguably more beautiful than the city’s Golden Hour.
The girl.
The girl from earlier.
She can’t help but stare- watching the girl’s lips turn downwards in a scowl as she scribbles angrily.
Megan softly giggles to herself, finding her frustration cute.
But then, the girl pauses.
Megan tilts her head a bit, wondering what caused the sudden interruption.
Then, her head snaps towards her- making Megan jump.
She’s looking at her. Looking at her with question, with curiosity and…
Slight annoyance?
Megan smiles sheepishly as they both look at each other.
‘I guess you can feel staring, even if it’s through a screen.’