on the day the mirror broke . kth

04 | GLITTER LIPS

Taehyung was frozen stiff.

Every breath he took let out a white puff, but he didn't bother covering his nose. He had snakes in his bones and the longer he thought about where he was about to go, the more he paced, regretting ever saying yes.

It's a few minutes before six and he was waiting for Sumin to show up. The hum of a vacuum floated out through the large windows behind him as Sweet Life Cafe closed for the night.

Just near the cafe was the Main St roundabout, with three trees growing from it. Taehyung didn't know what type they were, with their long, drooping boughs, but he could smell them - a strangely pleasant mix of sweet and gummy. He remembered Sumin saying something about them, but he forgot what exactly.

And then his phone pings.

Sumin
hey taehyung, you there yet?

Taehyung
Yes, I'm here
seen

Sumin
cool cool, be there soon :P
seen

Sure enough, he sees someone turn the corner at the far end of the street. When they get closer though, he realises that it's not Sumin, but rather a woman with short hair and bold makeup. Taehyung keeps waiting, but then he notices that the woman has reached him and is standing next to him.

"No 'hello'?" The lady has her eyebrows raised, eyes sparkling with amusement. "'Kay then, I'll greet you. Hello Taehyung, how are you?" Taehyung snaps his head to the woman, pupils blown up.

"How do you know my name?" What if Elrae sent her? What if she forces me to-

"What? Taehyung, it's me, relax. Sumin?" He just blinks as she looks worriedly on. "From your class?"

"Oh." Taehyung relaxes, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Sorry... I didn't know you cross-dressed, Sumin."

She had shiny, thick-soled, red Dr Martens pulled over black fishnet stockings, a tight black skirt reaching her mid-thighs and held up with a black belt, and a red-sequinned jacket over a clingy white tank top. She had a ring in one ear, and a shiny bar hanging from the other, and it swung lightly as she cocks her head at him. Her smoky eyes looked sultry paired with lipstick the colour of her jacket - with glitter to match - even more so when she blinks slowly at him in surprise.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she tells herself not to laugh, but a little smirk slips out. Then a giggle, then a snort, building until she was doubled over, hand braced on the window of Sweet Life as Taehyung looks on warily. She wipes an imaginary tear from her eye as her laughter dies out. "Taehyung, don't tell me you went this whole week thinking I was a boy?"

Taehyung gripped the hem of his jacket, fiddling with it and trying to wet his suddenly dry tongue. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or—"

She stops him with a wave of her hand. "Hey, it's fine, it makes for a good story. I sorta get why you'd think that, so it's all good." Sumin gives him another sweet grin and sweeps her eyes over his figure.

Taehyung had on a colourful, portrait-print shirt that was loosely tucked into black jeans with rips at the knee. A thick, white jacket hung on his frame, and his hair was pushed back with a black-and-red bandana. Since his hair usually hung over his forehead, this was the first time she could see his strong eyebrows, and it made his eyes seem clearer, deeper.

There was an almost invisible swipe of coral-pink that shimmered on his lips and drew her eyes to his pretty mouth, but she snapped her attention back to his eyes the second the thought occurred. "Taehyung, you look great!"