They stepped into the gallery and his breath caught at his photograph of her. Her eyes were alight from the glow of sunlight, a light grey that he knew, first-hand, had been the colour of gold. Her hair was framing her face, the shadows concealing the dips and the turns of half of her features. But it was never enough to completely obscure the glint of moisture on her lips or the faint dust of tiny hairs on her ass and the sliver of lace of her panties. Her figure was masked in darkness for the public gallery, but any idiot would see that the full picture was anything but clean.
A sinful picture of a siren that sang to his soul. A siren that he'd wronged so many damn times.And his breath caught in his throat. He was lost at the size of the picture, at the way her image seemed to speak to his soul.
"This is mine!" Ha-Eun chirped and JieMi's eyes danced to the picture of another man, a faceless student with muscles and abs. His bottom-half was scantily clad in Calvin Kleins that revealed a fuzz of hair and he was all corded muscles and rippling thighs. He knew what she was doing. She was showing him that because he'd picked another, she'd picked someone that had none of his insecurities. Perfect abs, zero fat, skinny waist. He averted his eyes from the picture. "It's a good photo, isn't it?"
"Yeah," he mumbled, trying to keep his eyes away from the picture of Amber.
"Shame that you couldn't be my partner," Ha-Eun said, with a sniff. "But I suppose this is for the best since we get to experience the exhibit as well. I want to see the picture she took of you."
"S-she hasn't sent it to me yet." JieMi fibbed, a stutter on his lips.
She had, but he didn't want Ha-Eun to see it. Not with how his eyes had looked in that picture, not with how vulnerable he seemed to be. He felt strangely naked in the pictures Amber had captured. His eyes were just all wrong. Wide, trembling and in awe as he stared up at the mysterious photographer. It made his heart skip a beat, it made him feel warm.
It made him feel weird.
Ha-Eun shrugged, looking over at his picture and he found the urge to hide it. To stand before the lifesize photograph, in all its glory and shield Amber from her gaze. Oh, Amber didn't deserve the animosity that Ha-Eun shot her way. She didn't deserve the anger. And JieMi hated how he'd pulled her into their mess, hated how weak he was.
He hated himself for being so fucking stupid, for denying her words. For being a pussy. For causing her almost-death. He could have just admitted the truth that day. Yes, Amber was his soulmate. He could have, he should have. But he was confused then with the memory of Ha-Eun in his head, with her tears and the knowledge of what had just happened.
He had been in denial, reciting that same phrase in his head that he didn't know Amber. He didn't know her but he knew Ha-Eun. He knew Ha-Eun would break if she knew about Amber. He knew that Ha-Eun would—
"Oh, that's so fucking slutty." Ha-Eun snorted, rolling her eyes at his picture. "The girl should have worn more clothes, does she think we're filming for porn?" And JieMi was struck with the need to ask Ha-Eun that very same question. The picture that she'd sent him was one where she'd been clad in nothing but a thin cloth that had revealed the silhouette of her nipples. Their professor should have failed her for that image, but surprisingly he hadn't."Ew!"
And JieMi's heart boiled; a tornado of heat in his aching chest.
"For boudoir, it's better if she dressed like this," he found himself saying. "It adds to the intimacy of the picture." Ha-Eun's eyes narrowed into slits and she turned her eyes to him. His heart jumped then, panicked and afraid.
"You instructed her to do this?"
"N-not exactly." And his confidence plummeted.
"She's trying to get into your pants," Ha-Eun snapped, stabbing his chest with a manicured finger and he cowered, his soul hot and throbbing. "Don't fucking let her. Don't fucking cheat on me. You know what happens if I catch you." She hissed and he grew only colder. If she knew Amber was his soulmate, JieMi didn't know what Ha-Eun would do to her. Her and him, and—
"I-I'm not! I just—"
"Oh, hello! How are you doing?" And his girlfriend was off, tittering to her friends with a bright smile. A group of senior celebrities who had known her since her trainee days. They smiled back, laughing as she goofed off, always the social butterfly. JieMi had once been drawn to how carefree she seemed, drawn to her comedic humour, to the way she seemed to light up the mood of the room with her jokes and her antics. She'd made him laugh so much once that his cheeks hurt, but that was all in the past.
Now he felt a little disgusted, wondering why she could change so quickly.
"Hello, JieMi!" One of the celebrities smiled kindly at him and he smiled back. "You two came here together?" JieMi opened his mouth wanting to speak.
"Of course, needed someone to carry my stuff for me!" Ha-Eun laughed, shaking her head. "You know how needy I am. Need someone to help me finish my food when I can't finish it, gotta have my boyfriend help me carry my crap because I'm weak from a diet."
"JieMi's so nice, isn't he?"
"Oh, he may seem like a hunk but when he doesn't feel like it, he gets sucked into his own world. I feel like I'm speaking to solid stone sometimes. He just doesn't talk at all!" And JieMi was stung again by her words, hurt by how openly she was complaining about him to her friends. It wasn't his fault he couldn't find things to say to her, not with the hostility that burned in the air. Not with the tension that spun within them when he said the wrong words.
He didn't want to say the wrong words, not with what she threatened him with.
"I do, I just I have to think to myself sometimes," JieMi said and her eyes flashed with her warning.
"Oh, is this a lover's spat?" Her friends teased. "Don't make us the reason for your fights!"
"Oh, don't worry I forgive him all the time because he's sweet. Anyway, let's talk about my new clips! Have you seen—"
JieMi stepped back, the words caught in his throat. He stood at his corner watching her talk to her friends. People that he hung out with, people that he thought were his friends too, and for a moment he felt so alone and so lost that he didn't know what to do. His heart pounded and tears burned at the back of his eyes. Oh—
And there it was. That smell.
Apples and pie, the scent of something buttery and delicious. He wanted to press his nose to it, he wanted to inhale it. He wanted to taste it on his tongue, lick it all up and—His cock hardened in his pants, pushing against his fly, so painful that he almost couldn't bear it. It was her. She was here.
His breath of sunshine.
Amber stood in the gallery, a smile on her lips as she strode in with a small group. A masked guy, his face carefully concealed behind a pair of sunglasses, mask and a hoodie. A girl tagged along with them, red hair bouncing as she smiled. They stopped at his picture and there was a small commotion as they started to tease his Amber. The red-haired girl laughed, cackling as she took pictures and JieMi watched as Amber blushed and squirmed.
And JieMi was lost in the colour of her cheeks, dusted red and pink, like sunsets and peonies.
The guy knelt, a hand pressed protectively against her lower back and from afar JieMi could see him, pulling down the mask to give her a gentle kiss on the lips.
Casper.
He'd been so close to admitting everything to the elder boy, so close that it scared him. He dreamed of it sometimes, his mind conjuring thousands of different scenarios if he said the truth. He was the least angry of the lot, the one who would still talk to him about non-work related things. Ask him if he was okay and if he needed anything, if he needed to talk. He was his older brother in everything but blood.
And JieMi found himself walking, he found himself moving and then he was there standing close to them, but not too close. Casper seemed to have caught his eye or at least spotted him from the corner and he grew stiff. Then he nodded, pulling the red-headed girl away he gave his excuses. Something about grabbing a coffee for Amber, something about a secret present. And then it was just Amber standing before his picture.
JieMi strode forward, a zombie following the scent of his greatest lust.
"Hi," he whispered and she turned surprised. Her eyes were as gold as he remembered them to be. And then she smiled and his heart raced in his chest, so fast that it could have sprouted wings and taken off into the sky.
Euphoria flooded him.