"Late at night
At the break of dawn,
Hours past twilight;
I still wait to see the morn'.

When the darkness
Isn't as much as it is
Inside of me,
When my room
Will again be filled,
With the scent of strawberry.

When things are back
To the way you refreshed me
And my heart's black.
My friend,
My groom;
I hope to see
Those peonies bloom,
Again..."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

"Beauty has no limit, my love." The definition of love was hard to explain, differing from person to person, situation to situation. Love was never a constant and concrete term. It's like a free flowing fluid which takes the shape of the mould it's kept in.

And so was beauty. People had different explanations of beauty which would change yet again from person to person and situation to situation. Someone would call a Black man the worst looking person, and then again, someone would treasure him as much as the bees crown their queen.

Society was like clay, which doesn't take the shape of the container. Although, with adequate amount of pressure, it was easier to mould.

And it's exactly the society which tells one what to do and what not to. People get stuck in the societal trap of conditional norms. Not many realise the harm they do to themselves.

The society isn't completely to blame. Some day it was made to protect the archaic mindset but now, it had become an obligation. An oppression.

"I don't feel beautiful. Even if it has no limit, no body type, no colour; I don't feel the beauty you always talk of." She suppressed a cry. Her bodice linen fabric was covered in plotches of paint, that she got on herself while painting that one bunch of peonies she saw in the market.

"And why would my queen feel ugly?" He cupped her face with his large hands which appeared enormous to her little round face.

"I don't know. I have acne, I have freckles. My dry hair is greasy and messy. All my clothes, they appear nothing but debris. Just what I am." She sniffed as she narrated him her story of cruel beauty standards.

"You know, you acne is natural. You're 16 and I don't expect your sebaceous glands to not secret sebum in your hair follicles, which happens due to hormonal changes." His knowledge in science busted shots of wise words at her, which were unaffectable.

"What about my scars? My stretch marks?"

"Girl, you make me race up and down your race track, mad in love with you and your stupendous beauty." His cheesy dialogue made her chuckle a tiny smile. Seeing her lips curve, was like touring through paradise to him. Cause love wasn't conditional.

"And if you still don't believe in that, here I got you something." He softly tied a blindfold around her eyes and bent down in the bushes to pick up a bunch of scarlet and magenta garlands.

"What?" She asked.

"Open!" He pushed the little wristlet sized garlands on her wrist, the largest one on her neck. She gasped in awe as he decorated her with several of the flowers.

"And a crown..." He crowned his Queen with a garland and planted a kiss on her forehead. "A crown of peonies."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

"Jungkook? What are you doing there in the garden?" I heard Bangchan call out for me. He had gone to the cheerleaders' green room to inform the girl, called Jennie, what Lisa had asked him to say. While he was gone, I noticed a beautiful place near the fountain, surrounded by a garden of peonies.

"Nothing! Just looking around at the scenic beauty." I said.

"Alright. Let's go around, shall we?"

"Yeah!" I responded. We started walking down the bricked path, around the whole campus. He narrated me how he hadn't looked around the whole University even after studying here for 4 years. He was a multilingual student and the way he confused in languages, occasionally made be giggle.

"And that building is the Dance school. Yugyeom, Lisa and BamBam are Dance majors. And oh! That one. That one is Vocal school. Ten, Jennie and Felix." I nodded to him as he explained all the short cuts from the canteen to my college building.

"And that's the Acting school. Jisoo, Eunwoo and several from the group are Acting students."

"Are you all in the same year?" I enquired.

"Nah! Some of us are seniors and some of us are juniors. Like Jake, Jay, Felix are juniors and Jennie, Antonella, Johnny and all are seniors."

"I see... By the way, when's your next class?" I asked. Their company wasn't bad but I felt him more exhilarated about touring the campus than me.

"We have the same class timings." I pretended to have forgotten about that and laughed, trying to ignore the awkwardness. He showed me around every corner I needed to know and I must say, I actually dragged my uninterested body along with him.

We walked further through and I was already worn out. He seemed to enjoy socialising with people. Most students knew him and shared a chat or two as he tried introducing everyone to me. I had already forgotten about the group members and here he's expecting me to remember all the strangers.

"Hewo!" Antonella's temerariously loud voice rang like a reverberating echo, as she crashed her palm on Chan's. I greeted her with a smile, I couldn't genuinely find a reason as of to why.

"Kook? What you doing around?" She ruffled my hair.

"Made friends." I spoke, barely audible.

"Ouw! Well, where's Y/n?" She channeled the question to Chan.

"I don't know. In the library, I guess." He replied.

I looked at her with pleading eyes that begged to be taken away from Bang Chan, atleast for the time. No, he's not a bad guy but my introvert heart doesn't want to mingle around so fast. I was getting anxious and that wouldn't take long to turn into a panick attack.

"Oh! Kook, you have one more class today and that's with me. Wanna accompany me to my cabinet?" She asked.

"Of course, I would love to." I was excited to go to her cabinet and although she's annoying and talkative, atleast I wouldn't need to see a bunch of students.

"I thought Y/n was your company today." Said Bang Chan. He didn't seem to be upset with me cancelling him and trailing with her.

"She was supposed to. But I don't think she'll be able to make it early. Doesn't matter, it's my brother replacing me afterall." She claimed my security.

"Alright. I have english now, so... ByeBye man!" He raised his hand for a high-five and I banged my hand against his, trying to remain as normal as possible.

Antonella beckoned me to start walking towards the distance she came from, and I abided by obediently.  She stood there some while until Bang Chan was out of sight, and caught up with me. Her little feet made walking with me equal to running a marathon.

We reached the photography institute and entered the building. Walking up quite some flights of stairs, she reached the 4th floor, where the cabinet doors were labelled as 'Assistant Director', 'Junior Superintendent' etc, in gold.

She turned the knob of the brown door and let me in her office. It was painted in orchard colour with a contrasting white design. Several photos hung on the wall which showcased the numerous trips her group had travelled.

"Have a seat." She said, pulling a chair, opposite to hers. She sat down on her rotating chair and took her glasses off. I sat infront of her and heaved a sigh of relief. My heart was pounding the whole time.

"Thanks, girl. I was so nervous to be around all those students I don't even know."

"So that's the thing that bugged you throughout your tour around the campus?" She enquired with a mocking tone.

"What else? Bang Chan is okay, good guy. But he speaks so much. I don't even match his energy."

"It's okay. Jennie, Ten, Mark... They were all like this. Many of them were. Bang Chan is one of the heaviest factor why they're all so confident now. Anyways it's good to know that you could atleast manage to speak with some of them."

"Umm... What was my task, again?" I inquired her.

"There's nothing as such. I need a model to participate in the photoshoot. All the modelling students are rejected. They have to try harder with their skills." She reported.

"Model for what?" I asked, pulling my hands closer to hers.

"For the freshers' party, the campus and also the university."

"And what do I do in that?"

"Well... You don't look bad. You look soft and young just like Y/n so, I was wondering if you could pose for me. It's easier for me to scold incase you fail. I can't even get my frustration off on them." We both chortled at how I was basically her goat. But this was way better than being with people.

"And what about my class?" We breathed deeply. Our stomachs hurt from laughing at eachother.

"Wouldn't be a matter since I appointed you. You'll do from tomorrow. Come on, let's dress you." She said.

I walked with her to another room, labelled as the 'Green Room'. It was full of dresses of all sizes. I sat down infront of the mirror as Antonella scanned through the hangers to pick something interesting for me.

"Whoop! Y/n-ah!" I peered over my shoulder to look at my classmate, dressed in a red, silk dress. Her hat with that black mesh, hid her face yet her beauty, had captured the limelight.

"I was getting ready for the shoot. Shall we start?" She blinked her eyes like a kid, making her look cute in a fierce dress.

"Great then. I just appointed Jungkook to be my male model. Yah! Get here." I got up from my seat and stood next to them.

"You're wearing this blue shirt." She threw me the shirt and pulled it over me. Blue always flaunted my complexion and she knew that. The shirt was pretty slick and my pants matched them like bread and butter.

"Come on, it'll just be you, Y/n and I in the room. Don't panick, you're doing great." She encouraged me while pushing open the large shooting room. She had a board on the wall that showed the time when she had reserved several students.

"Okay?" She asked, pulling both of us near the white wall, where we posed like the popular kids. She snapped her finger on her camera. After 10-15 shots from different angles, we walked to the auditorium to click for the freshers' party.

The good thing about this was that, no one was touchy, no one was commanding and no one expected me to act very different from myself.

"Done?" Y/n ran to take a look on her camera.

"Yeah. Just one more shoot with Rosie and Mr Marianna Trench Voice." I was able to recognise Rosie for being Rosé but who was that Marianna Trench person?

"We're done with class?" I asked, wanting to go home.

"Yeah." Replied Y/n.

"Get changed and you both can leave. Y/n he's unaware of the roads. Take him home. ByeBye." She left the green room and Y/n waited outside. I changed quickly and came out, to find her done with changing already. She was smarter and more confident than I imagined her to be.

"Okay Mr. Jeon, let's take the subway back, 'kay?" She said, opening her locker, which was right next to mine, and took her bag out.

"Mhm." I hummed.

___________________________________

Hey Rosairises!
Pretty boring Chapter, ain't it?

But hey! It's just the beginning. I'm sure you'll like it soon.

Please hang in there.