Fairy Fountain | Kang Mira

"Yeonjun," I blurt out, breathless as I look at the ceiling above my head. "I think we really should get out of this hotel room now."

"Hm, you think so?" I hear him shuffling closer to me, and second later, his face emerges in front of my view; he was all sweaty and panting. "Yeah, I also think that we should."

Four days. Since my arrival here, we have been stuck inside this room, doing nothing but- sessions. Yeonjun says it is nothing impure- moreover, this will help me regain good health. I always stare at him when he says that, with narrowed eyes.

"You think- this- this can help me gain some pounds?"

"Precisely." he ducks his head out of the messy covers, and puts his face on his palms, smiling brightly. "Haven't you seen those newly married couples- the woman ones who were skinny before marriage, turn into healthy rabbits after some days? That's because of this. Sex."

My face turns immediately red, furious red. I hit him with the pillow, he dodges it, and grabs my wrist to pin me down. All of these happen so fast; the warm feeling of his lips grazing my shoulder leaves me panting, shivering, choking and moaning.

Which is why, after one of this- sessions- I finally call out to him. I want to go outside. No way I just spent four days inside this spacious room doing nothing but-

"Then let's grab dinner outside." Yeonjun gets up and ruffles his hair, trying to give them a decent style. I stare at him, mesmerised, looking at his long fingers as they weave their way through the red locks. His eyes divert to mine and I turn away, feeling frustrated to my core.

"Mira, I can't do this." Yeonjun shifts next to me and lowers his head, pointing at his even more tousled hair. "Can you arrange it?"

I let out a sigh, and grab his head softly to move it closer to me. Yeonjun sees this as a green signal; he goes one step forward and drops his head on my chest. I swallow a bit nervously, and try to flatten down his fluffy hair.

"Don't you have a comb or something?"

"No." he mumbles groggily. "Your hands are better."

A beat.

"My hands are better?"

"Yeah, better than anyone else in this world."

"You know other hands?"

Another beat. Yeonjun jolts up and catches me off guard. I glare at him, my eyes turning into slits. He stares at me incredulously, blinks, and slowly- bursts into a fit of laughter.

"You're jealous, Mira!"

"I'm not!" I deny furiously. Yeonjun continues to laugh, and I fume up even more.

"That figures! You're already so good at this- so-"

"Good at what?" he manages to choke out some words through his pleasant giggles. At other times, they sound so harmonious to me- but now- they itch me even more.

"You're good at flirting- and- and-"

"And?"

"Attracting me, I guess!"

"Oh, Mira." he controls his laughter and wipes a tear out of his eyes, coming forward and cupping my cheeks. "Jealousy looks so cute on you!"

"I- am- not- cute!" I struggle to break free from his hands, but they are too soft for me to writhe away. Yeonjun holds me close, so close to his body, so that I can feel the heat and musky scent of his sweat. My heart calms down, gaze becomes unfocused. He places a soft peck on my lips and backs away.

"Let's go, you are hungry- right?"

A sombre feeling fills my chest. I can not whisk it away, because of how the lights went off inside his eyes when he looked at me.

It's vibrant. The way lanterns light up the streets and bakery shops radiate a sweet, flowery scent of baked cookies. The starry sky reflects upon the water of a large fountain beside us; it's a pretty sculpture of a fairy watering plants in a garden. I look back and forth, my face distinguised under the rays of colorful lamps, eyes drinking in everything that passes by.

"Wait, Mira." Yeonjun comes over, stopping me and pointing forward. "I'm gonna make a phone call."

"Phone call?" my eyes perk up in curiosity. "You mean long distanced calls?"

"What else?" Yeonjun has already rushed to a telephone booth, which is tiny in space and surrounded by glass doors. A note attached on top, 'Please pay before you call!'. "I haven't sent a word back at home. They're extremely pissed."

"But... aren't phone calls so costly?" I follow Yeonjun to the booth, and enter the crammed space. "Or..." I stare at the handful of coins Yeonjun has already taken out from his coat, and grimace at his grinning face. "You're too rich to notice that."

"Right." he turns around and puts the coins inside the metal box, placing the large phone on his right ear and dialing the numbers with other hand. Now him and I are practically jammed together inside the booth, like two slices of bread packed with a portion of cheese inside.

Unknowingly, I stare at the telephone with an odd interest. If a thing like this was in my village, then maybe- Ryumin would not have died. Maybe, mother too, my sister, and others...

"Wait, does this mean you have another set back at home, right?" pushing the sadness off my chest, I ask Yeonjun with a drowning realization. "I never saw it!"

"It's in the living room." he mutters, still dialing. "Why those punks won't pick up..."

Cring!

Yeonjun immediately straightens up and coughs. "Well, hi." he blurts out with immense force, seeming like he did not want to say it in the first place. "My c-cute... brothers."

Silence. After a good five minutes, a voice speaks up.

"So, so..."

It is Beomgyu's. I scrunch my face, knowing all to well that Yeonjun has messed up.

"Our lovely, charming, filthy, attractive, pig faced, handsome and coward Prince Choi Yeonjun has finally decided to contact his long forgotten family, hasn't he?"

"I-I was busy." tension is visible in Yeonjun's face as he answers. I stiffle my laughter with immense self control.

"Oh! I guess your date was going a little too well?"

"What date?"

"Oh! You- don't- know?" Beomgyu is mocking him hard, and slaying it totally. "What a date is?"

"Look, that's none of your business-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT'S NONE OF OUR BUSINESS, CHOI YEONJUN?"

I jump in fright, my eyes widened and ears ringing dangerously at the outburst. Yeonjun quickly picks up the telephone that has fallen from his grasp, arranges himself from the first wave of shock, then speaks up quietly,

"Okay, listen-"

"FOUR DAYS!" Beomgyu is yelling at top of his voice, he sounds like an angry squirrel whose nuts have been stolen. "YOU DISAPPEARED FOR FOUR DAYS WITH YOUR SWEET LITTLE WIFE, AND NOW YOU CALL US, YOU MORON-"

"I apologise!"

"HUH? HUH? HUH? NOW YOU APOLOGISE? Okay, SOOBIN HYUNG-"

There is a click over the phone, then seconds later Soobin speaks up. "Yeonjun hyung, how are- ugh, Gyu, stop biting my arm!"

"Has he gone senile?" Yeonjun asks in a horrified tone. "Is he that mad?"

"Precisely. He loves you a lot, you see." Soobin sighs quietly. "How have you been? How's Noona?"

"I'm fine, Mira's fine. We just had dinner." Yeonjun breathes in relief while looking at me. "How's everyone at home?"

"Ah, nothing much. Beomgyu burned his new slippers, and his operation spider has come into halt." Yeonjun shivers at the mention of spiders. "Because his own hands itch and he has rashes all over his elbows."

"Didn't you give him any medicine?"

"Yeah, but it will take time. Apparently, it was a giant Tarantula that bit him."

Yeonjun shivers again and grasps the phone tightly. "Well, we're returning tomorrow."

"Oh!" Soobin sounds  cheerful suddenly. "Bring some souvenirs for us!"

"What do you wanna have?"

"Hm... let's see... I would like to have a cat bell. You see those cute bells wrapped in bows? Those ones. I recently found a kitty on the streets, I will show you when you come back."

"Anything else?"

"And some chocolates, lemonade mixes, chocolate cookies from Han's bakery shop!"

"And that moron?"

"Oh, Beomgyu? Wait, I shall call him." there is a crack from the other sound as Soobin calls his younger brother. "Hey, Beomie- what do you-"

"Tell Mira to bring me some good, handwriting quills. Not Yeonjun Hyung."

Yeonjun gives me a look. He passes the telephone to me, which I take in surprise.

"H-hello, Beomgyu?"

"Noona!" Soobin and Beomgyu immediately cheer from the other side, and exclaim together in a high pitched tone. "How are you? We miss you!"

"Me too..." I reply shyly, looking down at my fingers then grabbing the telephone with both of my hands. "Are you mad at us?"

"At you? Never! Noona, enjoy there as much as you can!" Beomgyu replies in a cheerful tone. "Tell our brother to take you to the local shops. They sell good quality of hand knitted scarfs, I saw them on displays!"

I can only grin. As I dulge more into the conversation, Yeonjun starts locking his feet with mine absently. I spare him a swift glance, full of confusion, then get back to talking.

"Then, Noona, I think we should hang up now. Will we see you tomorrow?" Soobin asks while Beomgyu lets out a frustrated groan.

"Of course!" I exclaim in joy. "Let's see you all soon. I also miss Sarang, Nizi and Kikifushi!"

"Nizi won't stop talking about you. He's actually leaving early to my mother's, the day after tomorrow." Soobin answers humbly. "And Sarang's been quiet lately..."

After a few more talks, they bide me goodbye and hang up. I turn to Yeonjun, who was staring at me with peak interest.

"What?"

"Nothing." he leans toward me and cups my cheeks, grazing his thumbs on them softly. "They like you so much."

"Is that something like a golden deer?"

"Absolutely yes." he lets go of my face and grabs my waist instead, leading us out of the booth. "The only woman they ever liked was our mother."

And the night seems endless.

Loaded with bags, we stumble into our hotel room. Yeonjun locks the door and falls face to face on the bed. I put down several bags on the floor and start arranging them right away. He gets up after a few minutes to see me already sitting in the middle of piles of gifts we have bought for everyone.

"We should wrap them up!" my voice is full of enthusiasm as I pick up a box and shake it. "With bows and stuff, people like cute things now!"

"You can, but you alone will have to do it, because I'm terrible at this." Yeonjun stands up and grabs his towel from the suitcase, and heads straight to the washroom. "Come on, Mira! Do that later! Don't you want to freshen up?"

A beat. I turn around almost comically, my gaze turned smaller and judging. Yeonjun tries hard to keep a normal expression- which he fails miserably.

"You think I still haven't got a hold of your intentions?" I glare at him then return to sort out the gifts. "Go, wash yourself."

"I can make you join me, but I won't do that." he shouts behind me. "Because I care about your legs!"

In shock, I turn back to throw him with the nearest thing I have got in my hand- a cushion- but he's way faster than me and slams the door shut.

"That man..." I mutter under my breath, and start peering at the contents around me. Six boxes of chocolate chip, strawberry and orange flavoured cookies and donuts for Sarang and her family, and a personal gift from me to her- which is a pair of butterfly earrings. They are pale blue with golden strings, which dazzle when I put them in front of light.

A set of handwriting quills for Beomgyu. I have no idea what he is going to do with these. Is he a study person, at all? I never saw him reading back at home, so...

I also bought him a book, mostly for pranking purpose. Tactics For Learning Phrasal Verbs. I am quite sure he is going to be traumatised for next few weeks, trying to comprehend the runes and rules of English language. 

For Soobin, oh well- we have got everything he wanted- and also something extra- a book of beverage recipes. Yeonjun is thrilled to see how Soobin and cooking books are going to turn out- either both of them will die or both of them will live.

Loads of shirts, pants, jumpers and sweaters for Nizi, and a pretty collar for Kikifushi, also some dog foods. Not to mention the several scarfs Yeonjun has bought for me. I think I can fill up my closet from head to toe with these.

After wrapping up all the gifts, with little notes attached on top and their price tags torn apart, I finally stretch out my shoulders. Yeonjun opens the door at the exact moment.

"Gosh, you're done already?" he mutters in astonishment to see the gifts neatly arranged at a corner. "Mira, you're so good at this!"

"Ah... I want to sleep." I mumble quietly, yawning loudly while looking at the clock. It is already half past ten.

"Don't you want to wash up?"

"I really want to sleep..."

Like word like work. I dive for the messy bed, not caring about smoothening it, kick off my shawl to a side and unhook the belt around my waist. My body sinks further into the sheets. Lavender scent hits my nose as I dip my face into the pillow, closing my eyes in comfort.

Slowly, the bed creaks, and Yeonjun drops next to me. There is a moment of peaceful silence, then he shuffles, and seconds next I feel him pressing his face on my chest, and inhaling softly.

"I'm all sweaty, Yeonjun."

"Doesn't matter."

Yeah, nothing else matters when I am with him.

a / n  : do you like the story? let me know ^_^

03.04.2024.