White steam | Kang Mira 

"Everything fine there, Noona?"

Beomgyu peaks at me behind the train's window. It's left hanging ajar, and autumn rays blossom into the compartment as I shuffle my cloak, checking if I have fell anything behind.

"Seems fine to me."

"Your ticket? Water bottle? Tissues?" Soobin asks timidly, and arranges his hat. "Do you need me to fetch anything for you from the stores?"

"There's no need, Soobin dear."

"Okay." Soobin turns a little red and looks away to hide his face. Beomgyu watches me through his starry eyes.

And it suddenly hits me, the fact, that all of the brothers share such pretty eyes. Eyes that capture the divine beauty of nature, and keep it locked in their gazes. The bright hues of Beomgyu's eyes share harmony with the same dazzle of Soobin's eyes, and their eldest brother, Yeonjun, seems to have the mix of both of those.

"Noona, Noona." Beomgyu hums, and rests his chin on the window rest. "I will miss you."

"Me, too." Soobin avoids my gaze.

"Boys, it's not like I'm going away! It's just going to be a week or even less than that." I lean forward to stroke Beomgyu's cheeks, and pat Soobin on his head lightly. "Don't miss me too much, okay?"

"Okay, okay!"

"Now, now, the train's about to leave, how about you two get to a safer range?" I point at them earnestly clutching onto the window to watch me. Beomgyu slowly lets go off his hands and retreats.

"Noona, please, bring us some cookies! Or chocolates!" Soobin waves his hands, as the whistle starts ringing, the wheels rattle, and steam engulfs the station. Beomgyu steps on his tiptoes and shouts at me.

"And tell our brother that we hate him!"

"You two will never change!" I burst into giggles and start waving back at them. The train begins leaving the station, Soobin howls, Beomgyu screams, I can't hear what they are saying, but their faces explain it. The pouts on their lips and ceases on their brows look painful to me, and the saddened look on their eyes, it hurts.

"Love you." I murmur under my breath, as the station finally leaves my sight.

"Madame, want some peanuts?"

My gaze whiskers away from the window. An old woman is standing in front of me, her back slightly hunched and pores scattered on her cheeks like brown grains. I shake my head politely.

"No, but thank you."

The lady nods and leaves the compartment. My eyes fall back to the open window. Cold wind rushes inside.

"Madam, are you going to Cheol-nam?"

A soft, glassy voice breaks my attention. I turn my gaze forward, and find a curious pair of round, pensive eyes staring back at me. The shimmer of golden between them catches me off guard. I grasp my shawl and nod.

"Ah, I'm also getting down there, was just curious." the man smiles a little. I find it warm, cosy and heart warming. He returns back to reading his newspaper.

Before I can turn around, he lowers the paper and asks again,

"I'm sorry, but can I ask your name?"

I blink at his words, then answer. "Kang Mira."

"Pretty name." he mutters in an awed tone, then blinks swiftly and scratches his neck. He takes a breath, then reaches out his right hand at me. "I'm Miran Slyke. Nice to meet you, Ms. Kang."

What a name.

I hide my bewilderment and lean forward to shake his hand. I can feel the warmth coated on his palm under my hand gloves.

"Are you going to Cheol-nam for vacation?" the man named Miran asks again. He fixes his posture, from which I can guess that he has taken a liking towards me.

"Not really, I'm going there to accompany my husband." I answer. The man's smile drops a little. 

"This is very personal for me to ask, please, forgive my curiosity, but- are you married?"

Where is this conversation leading to.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh." Miran leans backward, his eyes widened. "Oh."

"May I ask why are you heading to Cheol-nam?" I question timidly.

"I'm going there on a business trip." the man answers. He looks away from me.

That probably means the ending of this conversation.

The whistle goes ringing. Steam covers the compartments, as the wheels come to halt. The foggy image of a blurry station outside the window emerges before my eyesight.

"Well, Mrs. Mira, it was nice to have a short talk with you." Miran folds up his newspaper, and smiles. "Please, thank you."

"It was nice to talk with you, too." I get up to my feet and clutch my suitcase, while bowing at him. "I hope we can meet again."

Miran takes of his hat and bows back at me. Following my suit, he leaves the compartment, then gets vanished into the submerging crowd, and I lose sight of his lewd figure.

I look down at the watch Beomgyu gave me for the journey. Half past six, it shows. Darkness has already fallen over the sky. The stars are twinkling through the mists swirling in the air. As I get down from the train, chilly wind washes over my feet and makes my cloak sway.

"Now, where's he..." I mumble quietly, turn around, and start searching for a familiar tall figure wearing a coat. I know Yeonjun by his back by now. It is not hard to recognise the streaks of golden on his hair which is unlike any shade of golden I have ever seen.

A huge crowd of people passes by me. I feel a tug on my cloak, and I turn beside immediately. A feeling of hopelessness surrounds me.

Let's head toward the exit.

I whirl around, and a pair of hands covers my eyes. I freeze, my hands already up in the air to kick whoever is standing behind me-

"Yah, Mira! Do you really want to hurt my pretty face?"

There he is!

"You..." I put my own hands above them, sighing deeply. "Yeonjun, you are going to give me a heart attack so soon!"

"Are you that much weak hearted, Mira?" Yeonjun murmurs near my ear. A tremor spirals down to my spine.

"You scared me!" I put his hands down and turn around, my face pouty. Yeonjun laughs and steps back several feet as he sees me balling up my fists. But I stop again after looking at him. 

Wait, his hair?

"Your..." I mumble in a shocked tone and point at his hair. Instead of the silk, golden locks, I can see a shade of deep red hues. Yeonjun has done something on it, the hair doesn't fall down on his forehead like before. Instead, it is swept upward, only one or two strands falling over and some peeking behind his neck.

"What about my hair?" Yeonjun stiffles a laugh, silently enjoying my bewildered reaction.

"It's red!" I exclaim in wonder. "You dyed it red?"

"I thought of matching with you, Mira. How's it?" Yeonjun laughs and runs his fingers through his hair, giving me a wink through his battling eyelashes. "Does it look good?"

Can't he be a little less cuter? My heart. 

"Yeonjun." I mutter again, still can't believe my eyes. "You dyed your hair from golden to red? Red?"

"Is it that bad?"

"No, it- it looks as good as your lips." I blurt out. No shame, no shame. 

Yeonjun chuckles. Even though I have said such a darn thing, I don't feel a little ashamed. He wraps his hands around my waist, takes the suitcase from my hands swiftly and places a peck on my forehead.

"There's something better than my lips waiting for you, Mira." he smirks, again with those pretty eyes. 

When we arrive at the hotel, it's nearly eight of the evening.

"You are checking that watch too many times." Yeonjun looks down at me to catch my gaze. "Is anything troubling you?"

"No! I'm just... praising its beauty." I sigh, tucking my hands under my shawl. "Beomgyu gifted me this watch. Don't you think it's pretty?"

"It is. Though they are little squirrels, they still have decent shaped brains." Yeonjun pushes the door open and leads me inside the hotel. "Didn't they want to come here with you?"

"You have no idea how much." I pout sadly as I remember the hurt faces of the Choi brothers. "You are so mean sometimes, Yeonjun. You should had let them come."

He gives a me look.

"Me? Mean?" Yeonjun scoffs while narrowing his gaze. He stops in front of the counter and faces me, his hands on his hips. "Do you know how much patience I need to have to deal with them? Or the level of energy? They are always bickering and- oh, hello, Ji-hyeong! Can you pass me the key to my room?"

A tall, slim woman with straight black hair and centipede eyes stares at me. And rather dark maroon shawl draped over her figure. After hearing Yeonjun's voice, she turns at him very slowly, stops, and looks at him from head to toe even more slowly, as if she's arranging her words.

"And the woman?" 

"That's Mrs. Choi, Ji-hyeong."

I muffle a rather vibrant cough. Woah, Mrs. Choi. That sounded good, coming from his mouth. 

"My apology, sir. I seemed to be too stunned to speak." the woman backs down and pulls out a drawer to pass Yeonjun a single key. She still gazes at me with no less wonder and stars in her eyes. "I didn't know Mrs. Choi would come here to accompany you."

"I made a surprise for myself." Yeonjun chuckles at her and bows curtly. "Off we go then, Ji- hyeong. Let's see you in the... noon, I guess?"

Noon? What's he gonna do all the morning? 

Nonethless, as Yeonjun takes my hands and starts walking toward the stairs, I release the breath I was holding unintendedly and turn to ask him. "That stare was intimidating. Why are people always looking at me like that?" 

"Mira, that's only because you are too pretty."

"Save your breath." I mumble, a tinge of red coating my cheeks.

"No, I won't." Yeonjun stops and puts the key inside the keyhole as he smiles knowingly. "I will repeat telling this again and again. Pretty, pretty, pretty-"

"Stop it now, won't you?"

"So pretty, so pretty." the suitcase lays forgotten as Yeonjun pulls me toward his arms and lifts me of the floor. A shriek leaves my mouth, more like a muffled scream but that does not stay for long. The door closes beind us, he attacks my face with feather light kisses, on my eyes, my nose, my cheeks, my chin. "You are so pretty, Mira. So, so pretty."

"Is that why you brought me here?" I whisper, my cheeks turning warmer and warmer as Yeonjun places his lips on my forehead. "To tell me how pretty I am?"

"And to show you." Yeonjun laughs while cupping my face with his big hands, as his back falls on the bed, making me hover on top of him. He catches his breath slowly, silently, and my heartbeats skyrocket, it's not because he looks so majestic just now, it's because he manages to take my breath away every single time.

"Now." his tone drops an octave after he has regained his breath, and looks up at me, his eyes swirling with an unknown glitter I can't decipher. "Mira..."

"Yes?"

"You shouldn't be on top of me. Get down." Yeonjun says nonchalantly. Before I can react, he pulls me downward and his other hand throws the shawl away. I blink, my eyes widening and widening, the soft bedsheet underneath me feeling so foreign. Yeonjun flips over, seeming to be satisfied. "Now okay."

"What's okay?"

"You being underneath me is okay."

"Which is?"

"You really like talking, don't you?" Yeonjun exhales a sigh, and brings his hand toward my lips, his fingers start tracing over them as he states in a demanding tone. "Let's take care of that first."

"Wh--"

He grabs my chin and pulls me into a fervent kiss, his fingers grazing on my cheeks as he pushes himself on top of me. My back presses harder against the mattress. His body stays inches apart from crushing with mine, as he rears my chin upward, his lips not reenacting for a single second. 

It feels foreign.

The way his lips ravage against mine, it feels so foreign. Every time he kissed me before, felt light and feathery, warm and cosy, soft and sweet.

But now, when his fingers weave through my hair, unclasp my hair clip and wrap the long, red strands around them, I can feel a new side of him unveiling.

I can feel longing in Yeonjun's act.

As if he has been thriving for it. Each day, every single morning, each evening, every single night. That thirst was left in dark, and there were times when all of it would rush at him with full force. A lion prying on a deer, but refusing to devour it before the dusk. So he kept waiting, waiting, and waiting...

"Take off your shirt, Yeonjun."

... until the deer was weak enough to call him by herself. 

26.12.23.