One Summer's Night

One Summer's Night

Gahyeon was woken up in sheets that weren't hers, on a morning she couldn't quite place and by a voice she swore she had only heard in her dreams. 

“, I forgot the 10am lesson.”

The mattress rose and fell as a weight shifted and lifted away to rummage through drawers in a more or less discrete manner. The steps went back next to the bed cautiously, stopping close to Gahyeon. Her heart started pounding for some reason, before a soft hand came to graze her cheek and put back a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Sleep tight. I'll make you breakfast when I'm done,” the voice whispered and the girl was certain she had heard it the night before. 

A pair of lips pressed lightly on her forehead, then left her with only the feel of their touch lingering on her skin. The door shut with a small click, leaving the woman alone in the bed. 

So last night wasn't a dream, huh? 

 

***

 

When Gahyeon opened her eyes again, the sunlight was piercing more brightly through the curtains. She glanced at the alarm clock sitting on the opposite side of the bed and saw that it was barely noon. 

This time she opened her eyes to take in the state of her mistake. Her clothes were folded on a chair near the door. She was pretty sure she had just tossed them as soon as she entered the room last night. Or the other woman had tossed them for her. Honestly, she couldn't remember. She couldn't remember her name either. 

. 

She wasn't even drunk when they got to the woman's apartment. But she had never done a one night stand and wasn't really planning on doing one, to be honest. She had to blame Han Dong for throwing her in that y woman's arm in the middle of the dance floor. Sure, Gahyeon had been staring at her for the whole night but that didn't mean that she had to… 

A melody resonated outside the room. A succession of notes played on a piano, with one hand first, then the second joined, bringing a second melody that ran free but met with the other on certain cords like two streams that crossed paths but still went their own ways. She couldn't say where, but Gahyeon had heard that melody before. It probably wasn't live though, because when the melody soared in a multitude of clear notes falling like rain, it gave her chills like she had never experienced. 

Her mind was lulled by the rhythm until the final notes echoed and she finally remembered she needed to get out of this room at some point. 

 

Downstairs she was welcomed by the spicy smell of food and the beaming smile of her host sitting in front of a grand piano that ruled at the center of a really large living room. 

“Good morning, Sunshine! I'm afraid breakfast turned into lunch. I made spicy pork chops.”

“G–Good morning,” Gahyeon blurbed out shyly. 

How could she not remember the name of that woman when she was, literally, warmth incarnate?

The pianist rose from her seat to greet the young woman properly. Her raven hair was tied in a messy bun, but when she wore it it was nothing but elegant. The woman's eyes fell on Gahyeon who couldn't, for the life of her, stop staring at the taller one's plump lips. 

“The name's Siyeon,” her host said without any trace of resentment or judgment. “Are you alright?” 

Her hand rested a brief moment on her guest's shoulder but went away for fear of overwhelming her. 

Gahyeon's eyes went blank. Why did this question sound so meaningful? 

 

“You're nervous. Should we stop?” 

“No!... No. It's just that… it's my first time with a woman.”

A doubt passed over Siyeon's features but her eyes focused again on the girl under her. 

“I'll go slow. But if you feel uncomfortable at any point, tell me and I'll stop. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to. Okay?” 

She stared intently at Gahyeon, expecting an answer. Her partner lost herself in those eyes, breath taken away. 

“Okay,” she blurted. 

Siyeon kissed her avidly, taking her breath for real this time. 

“You're so beautiful, Gahyeon,” the woman almost growled in her ear before starting a trail of wet kisses that went progressively lower. 

 

The girl face-palmed internally. Really, Lee Gahyeon? You had to say that out loud?

“I'm fine. It was… it was perfect,” she answered with blushing cheeks.

Siyeon nodded, her face lighting with a relieved smile, muttering a barely audible “that's good.” 

Gahyeon hadn't seen it before, but her host was actually as anxious as she was. Her lips curled up as well at the realization. 

“So you mentioned lunch?” she added brightly to change the conversation. 

Siyeon jolted slightly as if she was suddenly coming back to reality. 

“Yes! Please, follow me.”

 

They both sat and ate relatively quietly, although this time it was a more comfortable kind of quiet than before. Gahyeon munched on her food with much content while Siyeon mostly watched her with literal stars in her eyes. 

Then her phone rang. 

The woman let out a tssk when she looked at the screen but still picked up whispering a shy “I'm sorry” to her guest who just waved her hand to communicate she didn't mind. 

“What is it, unnie? Well I did, actually. I'm still with her now. It's fine. I sensed the emergency from here, so just spill. And what did you do? Kim Bora, I'm so disappointed in you right now. Huh-uh? And how do you feel? Then just tell her! Did I know about it?” –Siyeon scoffed– “Unnie, you're the only person in the universe who hadn't noticed at this point. Please do that. And bring pastries too, because you really ed this up. I know. Good luck, unnie. Send me a text if you're not dead. Byyye.”

She put the phone down letting out a loud sigh and glanced at Gahyeon to see if she was done eating. The girl looked at her with curious eyes and a question on her lips. 

“It was my friend from last night at the club,” Siyeon answered it for her. 

“The drunk one who got into your other friend's car?” 

The older woman closed her eyes in shame, just remembering the event. And Minji had to too… 

“Yes, this is the one,” she breathed out. 

“So they weren't actually together.”

Siyeon blinked. Were they that obvious or was Gahyeon just that perceptive? “No, they aren't… weren't. It's complicated.”

She pinched her nose, already feeling the headache coming if this conversation lasted. Her guest laughed. 

“They're lucky they can count on you.” 

“You have no idea…” the other agreed. “And what about your friends? Shouldn't you keep them updated?” 

“Oh my God, you're right!” 

Gahyeon jumped from her seat and started to rush upstairs, but stopped right before the first step. 

“Oh, and… can I take a shower here?” 

Siyeon smiled at the care free attitude. The young woman wasn't afraid to stay at a stranger's place apparently. 

“Sure, I’ll show you where everything is.”

 

***

 

Gahyeon came back after an hour or so, wearing one of Siyeon's loose t-shirts. While her host was waiting for her, she sat back at the piano to play the same melody as before. The girl listened until it was complete and asked quietly:

“What's the title of this piece? I think I heard it somewhere.”

“'One Summer's Day', from Spirited Away. One of my students is really into Ghibli movies,” the pianist chuckled, needlessly embarrassed to admit she liked animated movies as an adult. 

“I really like them too,” Gahyeon said to help her. 

This small fact gave Siyeon the confidence she needed to enter her full piano nerd mode, as she called it. Or the mode when she gave thorough details about a song that only she cared about. 

“This piece is about the two main character's love for each other and their memory that will never leave their heart even if they forget them. It is at the center of the movie and is meant to be as soft as the breeze on a hot summer day… ”

She realised she was rambling. Yet Gahyeon hadn't interrupted her. 

Siyeon took that time to study the other girl better. There was something inherently magnetic about her. It wasn't just her curves, or the way she smiled, or her cunning eyes that seemed to discern everything. It was a whole. It had struck Siyeon the second their eyes met the night before. Now that she was seeing Gahyeon wearing her shirt, that feeling growing in her chest was only getting bigger. 

“... But anyway. I think we should talk about something else first. It's already four.”

The girl widened her eyes. She hadn't realised how far in the day they were already, and how unusual it could be for a simple one night stand. Although, theirs wasn't exactly simple, wasn't it? 

“You're right,” she blurted. “I don't really know how this works. Do you…? Should I just…? God, I don't know.”

Siyeon watched the girl darting her eyes everywhere but on her, trying to find the right words but failing. She should have seen that coming, really, considering what the younger one had told her the night before. 

The woman rose from her seat and placed her hands on the other's shoulders to calm her down. 

“Well, first, there isn't one way to do it,” Siyeon stated in a mildly patronizing tone. “And second, it doesn't have to end the way it started,” she added a little more shyly. 

Gahyeon looked at her surprised and confused until the implicit statement reached her at last. 

“Would you… want to meet again?” she asked, not exactly confident. 

“Would you?” the other woman asked back. 

The girl thought about everything that had happened. How that woman treated her, softly, with constant checks, and her warmth, her lips, her skin, everything that touched her…

“Yeah, I'd like that.”

Siyeon let out a heavy breath of relief. All her muscles stretched as if stress had kept them cramped. In one surge she cupped the other's face in her hands and looked deeply in her eyes with a pure smile.

“Can I kiss you?” 

It sounded so unnecessary with all the things they had already done but it meant so much more now than just a few hours before. 

Gahyeon tip-toed to reach the other's lips and took them between hers, gently, before pulling back. 

“Anytime,” she whispered. 

 

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I went back to my ultimate ship: Gahsing, loves of my life, everytime I write them they're soft. For those who read all the bingo drabbles, you may have found out a not-so-hidden easter-egg. For the others I suggest reading the drabble just before this one ;)

Thanks for reading, take care and see ya!

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