You don't know about Us - A MewGulf AU

Epilogue 2: Us

There was a knock on the door of Gulf's changing room. It was muffled and soft, barely breaking the nong's slumber. Was it not for him waiting for his phone to buzz, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. Opening his eyes, he sat up a little straighter and turned towards the doorway.

"Come in," he said, his voice sleepy. There was a faint pillow-like taste in the corner of his mouth, and he grabbed the water bottle neatly placed next to containers of make-up from the table to sip it away.

As the doorknob turned and the door opened, the first thing Gulf saw was a big bouquet; several spring flowers (to match the current season) topped off with the typical sunflowers in the middle. The bright colours instantly made the room feel less stuffed – the waiting room had simple black chairs, a big mirror with bright lights above it and white walls, no window in sight – and Gulf visibly perked up at the familiar smell of sunflowers.

He held out his hands, eagerly reaching for the bouquet to be deposited into them. His manager, barely stiffening his laughter, did so for the nth time. Gulf couldn't help it, he smiled as he held the bouquet, basking in the smell and the feelings it came with. His heart skipped a beat, like always. However much he was used to receiving these kind of gifts; it felt special every single time. Especially when it came from him.

He was so occupied with the sunflowers and his beating heart, he didn't even notice as someone else entered the room. "You'd think he gave you a ring instead of flowers, with that expression."

The voice made Gulf look up, meeting nong Art's wistful look. Right, he suddenly remembered, he'd invited nong Art to come take a look at his shoot today. Something about her looking for inspiration for her next book. Actually, it was just an excuse for them to hang out in between Gulf's busy schedule.

His eyes trailed down to her left hand, where an actual ring was reflecting the mirror lights in its silver glory. She'd claimed it wasn't an engagement ring, a promise ring, and it had given Gulf many ideas for his and Mew's future. She caught him looking and smirked.

"It's a promise as well," Gulf averted his gaze back to important things, such as the flowers in his hand. "Can you take a picture for me?" He brought up the bouquet a little higher and moved into better light, easily posing for the camera.

"For you, for your fans or for your faen?" The question didn't need an answer, nong Art already snapping several shots in quick succession before handing her phone over so Gulf could send them over to himself. They were uploaded on social media less than half a minute later.

Seeing the likes come in, the comments of his friends and fans, and eventually that special one's reply and private text, Gulf finally acknowledged his female friend in the room. She'd taken a seat and started scrolling through her own phone while waiting, seemingly totally unbothered by Gulf's priorities. "For all three," he finally answered her question.

Nong Art nodded, looking up from her phone. "The flowers are pretty, you look pretty as well." She sounded proud as she said this.

Gulf hummed. Once, he might've found it uncomfortable to be called pretty, but that thought had long changed. Gulf knew he could be pretty, handsome, sexy, sweet, or pretty much anything he wanted and required to be. "It's the make-up," he explained. "And outfit," today's shoot had a pink cherry blossom theme, the set resembling the hanabi picknicks famous in Japan.

Everything was pink; his clothes, his make-up, his shoes, the set, even the highlights in his hair had slightly pink tones in between the casual curls and choppy bangs. Cute, pretty, were both good adjectives.

Nong Art shook her head. "That's not it," she looked at him, really looked at him in a way that was ignoring all the decoration and piercing his heart and brain instead. In a way only real friends could do. "It's because you're in love."