Rising Stars

V - To New Experiences

"Luxanna Crownguard. The only other person besides Seraphine who could handle my bullshit."

- Son Jaemin

October 30th, 2019

The night I got home, Lux immediately began to text me. And as I expected, she was an energetic texter, to say the least.

Hi. I'm home. This is Lux, by the way. I'm glad to finally have your number now. :D

I chuckled. Somehow, she was still as adorable through texts as she was in person. Thanks. Same here. I'll let you know when I'm free for Disneyland.

Okay! :) Thanks.

And not thirty minutes passed before she bombarded me with texts.

Still can't believe we've known each other for four years and I never got your number.

I feel like I should apologize...

No! Don't. I'm sure you had your reasons. And I'm just happy to have it now more than anything else.

Oh. Okay. It felt strange. Lux was an entirely different person from Seraphine. Sure, they had some similarities. They were both extremely bright and cheerful, but that was where the similarities stopped. I have to cook dinner, but if you wanted to talk later just send me a text.

I have to shower and study. But I'll be sure to do that.

Okay. See you in a bit? Idk how this works.

See you in a bit!

Our conversations continued like that for a time. They were safe, casual, and not unlike the conversations we shared at work. But of course, when Eunkyung caught how often my phone vibrated and rang from the texts, she couldn't resist teasing me.

"Seraphine doesn't text you that often."

"It's Lux, actually."

"Lux?" It took Eunkyung a moment to connect the dots, but when she did, she exclaimed. "Ah! I remember you mentioning her. She's the Crownguards' girl, right?"

I nodded. I'd honestly forgotten that Lux's parents were fairly high-profile politicians— she hardly talked about them, even in our texts. "She's a coworker too. And a friend."

"She seems rather excited to be texting you."

"She's just an excitable person in general."

Eunkyung raised a brow, and then pointed her chopsticks at me. "I loathe to be a woman who likes you. You're awfully blind."

I rolled my eyes. "Believe me, if I knew that Lux had a crush on me, I'm fairly sure I'd be able to point it out."

"And?"

"And what?"

Eunkyung's head banged against the table. Then, she looked up at me with half-lidded eyes. "You're such a piece of work."

"Thanks."

She readjusted herself. "How's Sera doing? I assume you two are at least on talking terms now."

"Yeah. We're... taking things slow right now, I guess. By now, she's learned how to maneuver around my boundaries and she's doing her best to not step over them."

"Good. That's really good," Eunkyung said, clearly relieved. "I was worried for a bit there. That you would lose one of the first friends you've ever had."