“..there’s a really stupid looking coral over there..” Jinu points out, walking next to you as you both stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling tank, watching as the fish of different colors and sizes swam inside the water. The light through the water turning everything blue around their surroundings, as the crowd gathered around and went in the opposite direction, following the tour guide around the aquarium, their indistinct chatter slowly fading the farther away they walked, their conversations now indistinguishable.. however the both of you stayed in the same place. Your feet glued to the floor.

Jinu occasionally let out a laugh every time he saw a fish or something in the water that looked silly, his eyes scanned throughout the waters until.. he spotted the most beautiful thing in the aquarium.

You.

He nearly forgot to breathe as the way the light shone on you, illuminating your beauty on your face.. how your eyes excitedly lit up whenever you saw something in the tank that caught your eye. How you giggled and smiled, laughing to yourself. Jinu looked like an idiot right now. Staring at you like a stupid deer caught in headlights.. but seriously, you were hypnotizing. Not in the ‘their soul might be tasty’ kind of hypnotizing.. but.. you had him wrapped around your finger.. the captivating kind of hypnotizing. He chuckles, before quickly realizing he had been staring at you for uncomfortably long time. He looks away..

Before slowly looking back down at you, looking down at your long sleeves - a reminder of what you had to hide your whole life, always hiding, always in the corner, pretending to be something you’re not. He understood. He was the only one who could.

He gently grabbed your wrist, rolling your sleeve up, revealing the patterns that hid underneath, he gently stroked your arm.. when his hand made contact with your skin, your patterns and his glowed under the dim lighting of the aquarium. “..You know..” he starts, his voice soft and kind. Far from the cruel faithful servant of Gwi-ma’s. “..when we’re alone together.. you don’t have to hide your patterns from me.” He says, looking up at you tenderly.. it was a cruel trick of fate. To intertwine two worlds that clearly didn’t belong together.

He sighs softly, a small smile creeping onto his face. “..you don’t have to hide from me.” His voice becomes quiet, he bends down slightly, his eyes gazing up and down your face.. his nose nearly touching yours. “..You’re perfect. Either way. Patterns or no patterns.” He whispered.. getting even closer to you… his face inching towards yours.

“You’re just as beautiful with the cracks showing.”

And soon, Jinu closed the distance between both of you.. sealing your lips with a kiss, his hand instinctively went from your arm to your cheek, his thumb caressing your face. No.. what was he doing?! He mentally scolded himself as he pulled away immediately, staring at you with an expression mixed with guilt, shock and anger. “..I..” he starts, wanting to say something to make you completely forget about what happened.