Chapter Text
Sumiko felt her breath catch in her chest when she first saw her.
The epitome of beauty and elegance, with her doll-like features—big yet sharp teal eyes surrounded by thick dark lashes. Her nose, small and button-like, placed perfectly in the middle of her face. Sharp dark brows framed her face, and her lips… small yet plush, lightly tinted rosy red that complemented well against her fair, translucent skin.
She looked exactly like those China dolls that her grandma used to have or those divine, beautiful models that she had seen in magazines or on her social media. Although she knew in those, filters were applied to distort the idea of what makes someone beautiful.
But she was real. She had to be.
“Excuse me, miss?” the cashier called out gently, “Is there anything else you'd like to order?”
Sumiko flinched; the voice had pulled her out of her thoughts that she had unknowingly slipped into when she saw her after making her payment. Feeling the heat of embarrassment rising on her cheeks, Sumiko quickly stepped away from the cashier, casting an apologetic look at the disgruntled customer behind her. “Sorry,” she said bashfully before turning her face back to the girl that had caught her eyes.
But instead of focusing on her laptop like she had done earlier when Sumiko had noticed her, her teal eyes were peering over the black screen, catching Sumiko’s crimson eyes with a deadpan look on her face.
The heat on her cheeks grew further as they made eye contact. ‘Did she know?’ Sumiko wondered as she turned her gaze away, missing the glint of amusement in those teal depths. Sumiko felt ashamed at being caught staring at the other girl. She forced herself to look around the small café, searching for a seat. ‘Aishhh. This is so embarrassing, but…’ Her eyes flickered over to the raven-haired beauty once more as she whispered under her breath, “She's so beautiful…”
She slipped onto the first seat that was available—no, it was not because it was in line with the table that the beauty was sitting at— ‘it’s closest to the counter for me to collect my drink, yes,’ she reasoned to herself as she placed her backpack onto the empty seat next to her, her hands working on unzipping her backpack and pulling out her laptop. Despite trying to focus on the simple task, Sumiko couldn't help but let her eyes flicker back to the girl.
Now with a different angle, Sumiko could see how the inky black strands had ended with teal tips that started at her mid-back. ‘Curious hair colour choice. Is that even allowed in school?’ Sumiko thought as she set up her laptop, switching it on while her eyes searched for a power socket. She spotted one, but it was against the wall, adjacent to her table, where she needed to lean in and go under the table to plug her charger in.
Just as she managed to push the plug in place, a loud voice called out her name, startling her and causing her to bump her head under the table.
“An iced mocha with extra chocolate drizzle for Sumiko!”
“Ouch…” Sumiko muttered to herself as she pulled herself from under the table, a hand already gently massaging the sore spot on her head. She straightened herself, running her hand over her ponytail and down her khaki uniform pleated skirt before standing up to pick up her drink.
Picking up her drink with a soft “thank you,” to the barista, she reached over to grab a straw from the canister. As she did so, her eyes flickered instinctively over to the girl, and once more, they made eye contact. Widened crimson clashed with mysterious teal. She felt her breathing hitch as the heat of embarrassment stained her cheeks once more at being caught looking. She quickly grabbed the straw and turned, scuffling back to her seat. She plopped onto her seat and immediately hid her face behind the screen of her laptop as her manicured fingers worked on removing the straw from the wrapper and shoving it into her mocha.
She could feel the warmth on her face spreading down to her neck. Again. She was caught again. That beautiful girl was going to think of her as a stalker. She groaned softly, covering her face with her hands as she closed her eyes. It was a futile attempt to comfort herself, but it helped to soothe her nerves—somewhat.
She had never behaved like this before. ‘Well, no one has caught my eyes like her before,’ she thought. Sure, she had found people of the same gender attractive, but it was never to the extent that she wanted to gawk at them. She pulled her hands away from her face, only to gasp when she looked up and a shadow loomed over her.
It was the girl. Backpack slung over her shoulder, hands in her uniform jacket, standing near her table. Sumiko found herself checking out the uniform. It was not one that she was used to seeing around. The checkered pattern on the navy skirt told her that perhaps, this girl went to a private school instead of a public school like she did.
Another customer had blocked her path by looking at the retail display of the café merchandise. With a bored expression on her pretty face, she barely spared a glance at Sumiko as she said, “Excuse me.”
The voice was soft, yet assertive. The firmness in that melodic tone had a shiver run down Sumiko’s spine.
Not only did she look good, but she sounded good too.
The customer jolted out of his thoughts and quickly stepped back for the girl to walk by.
Sumiko’s crimson gaze followed obsessively, her eyes widening slightly as she watched the girl push the door to the café open, only to talk to someone who was standing outside, hands in a similar vest to the one the girl wore. The same inky black hair with teal ends tied up in a ponytail. It was then she realized that the girl was a twin—when the first girl spoke and the second twin suddenly turned her gaze into the café, meeting Sumiko’s eyes directly through the perfectly clean glass.
Fuck.
Sumiko quickly tore her gaze away and focused on her laptop, her hands shaking as her neat fingernails tapping away on her keyboard.