babybaek | !Fic: Paint My Sun Black (with your fingers) [Part 2]

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Hwasa spent her days as she usually did, lazing around and going out at night. She was the life of the party wherever she went; people were mesmerized by every aspect of her charismatic being. The only things that had changed in her daily routine were two things: one was that she had not touched any sort of drug in at least a month since her manager left, and the second was the constant presence of a certain puppy bitch. Wheein Jung now clung onto the actress like Hwasa was another part of the small girl’s being. She moved into Hwasa’s hotel room, despite Hwasa’s many protests. She took care of throwing out every ounce of weed and cocaine stored in the hotel and in the actress’s car, and she even started being her temporary house maid, if you could call it that. Apparently, her reason was: Hwasa, you have nobody. Let me help you. As your fan, let me help you.

Wheein even started attending parties with Hwasa as her plus one, no matter how much Hwasa had protested it, the older girl had been adamant on making sure that the actress wasn’t shooting herself up with horse tranquilizers while she wasn’t present. So in that way, Wheein had slowly wiggled her way into Hwasa’s life. That did not mean that Hwasa was beginning to like the woman though, especially since Wheein had a knack for trying too hard to get into Hwasa’s space and make things difficult for her.

Although Hwasa thought that Wheein was especially nosy… Wheein hadn’t asked once about Hwasa’s drug habits, nor had she asked about Byulyi. She hadn’t pried into the red head’s personal life, always staying at the surface, trying to keep the actress afloat. When Hwasa was half drunk, maybe she thanked god for Wheein’s presence.

One day, as Wheein was working on her laptop on the bed, Hwasa sat down next to her with two glasses in hand in one hand, and her favorite Jack-Daniel’s held close to her chest.

“I’m bored.” Hwasa said as she poured liquor into one of the cups. “Drink with me.”

“Hwasa, that’s going to spill—“

“Don’t worry I’ve done this hundreds of times before.” She said, lifting her head up for a moment, and the liquor spilled all over the bed. “Fuck!” Hwasa climbed out of the bed at lightening speed, and Wheein just started laughing, but as the liquor started to spread, Wheein got off the bed as well with her laptop.

“I told you! I so told yo—“ Wheein started, only to be cut off again by the red head.

“Shut up.” Hwasa said, a slight blush blooming on her cheeks. Wheein smiled at the girl.

“Why don’t we take this to my room then?” Wheein picked up the drinks and padded off to the guest room of the suite, and Hwasa followed suit, still a bit hesitant.

Wheein laid the glasses next to each other on the nightstand and poured for the both of them. She then handed one glass to Hwasa, and they said their cheers. Wheein sat down on the edge of the bed, and Hwasa sat on a single sofa opposite her.

“So? What brought upon this sudden girl’s night in?” Wheein asked teasingly.

“Just bored.” Hwasa replied.

“You’re never bored at eleven pm.” Wheein raised one eyebrow. “No parties tonight?”

“None.” Wheein just hummed in reply and took a sip of the whiskey.

“So, have you been thinking about the movie offer? It’s still there.” Wheein asked, casually eyeing the actress.

“The movie has been put on hold? Still? Why don’t you just find someone else?”

“But when I see that movie happening, I only see you playing it. I can’t film it without anyone else, I told my screenwriter, and after much pleading she gave me the okay to put the project on hold for a while.”

Hwasa stared at the girl wide eyed for a moment. “Why are you so stuck up on me?” she asked.

“A couple of years back, I saw you in the movie Chaconne. Your portrayal of a girl gone mad is pure art. Every movement, every scream, every look, all portrayed true loss and sadness. Not only that, but your descent into madness—oh man. I could see you falling slowly, you didn’t need any dialogue, and it wasn’t even the camera team that made your emotions pour out. It was just you.” Wheein ranted, and the corner of Hwasa’s lips curled up into a small smile.

“By the way… that first day that we met, how did you find me? In the police station?” Hwasa asked, taking another sip of the drink.

“I’ve been trailing you for a while… I guess you don’t really remember, but I was with you that night at the club in Scottsville.” Wheein looked up wearily to see Hwasa’s shocked expression.

“What do you mean you were there?” Hwasa asked with caution.

“That night… you must have been high out of your wits. I saw you at the club in Scottsville, and you were drinking with some men. I did approach you… and we even danced together.” Wheein said sheepishly, and Hwasa looked at Wheein as if she had grown another head.

“Did we sleep together?” Hwasa asked straight up.

“No!” Wheein shouted immediately, coughing on the drink, but Hwasa made no move to comfort the older girl. “W-we didn’t sleep together, I lost you by the end of the night.” Wheein blushed, and Hwasa continued to look at the girl with an air of incredulity. “I looked for you in a few hotels in the morning, and I found out that one of them had a drug bust early in the morning, so I checked at the police station. I saw you and I bailed you out.” Wheein finished.

Hwasa looked down into her lap. “So you’ve really seen me at my lowest, huh?” Hwasa said hesitantly, and Wheein’s demeanor softened.

“That’s okay. What are fans for? Of course to help their idols through whatever hardships they come across.”

“I don’t deserve to be your idol, though. I’ve done nothing good in my life to warrant your kindness.” Hwasa said honestly, looking into Wheein’s eyes. Wheein just smiled back.

“It’s okay.”

That night, they stayed up till four in the morning, talking about anything and everything, and Hwasa thanked god for Wheein’s presence once again.

“You threw away the last bottle of my Jack-Daniels? That shit is my life source! You took away my drugs, my freedom, now this! Hwasa screamed, frustrated at Wheein.

“You drink this shit non-stop, give your liver a break.” Wheein said from the bed with no emotion as she continued to type on her laptop.

“No! You! Get out! Hasn’t it been long enough? You’ve been here for two months already! I’ve had enough! You aren’t even paying the bills for this damn hotel room!” Hwasa tried again.

Wheein smirked and finally looked up from her laptop. “No.” she simply said.

“What do you mean no? This is my house! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Hwasa continued to shout, and then Wheein finally looked up at the girl in realization.

“Hwasa, you are going through withdrawals. Come here, let’s calm down.” Wheein put her laptop down and approached Hwasa like the actress was a frightened animal.

“I don’t need to calm down! You need to fuck the hell out of my life! What gives you the right to take away everything that makes me happy? You took Byulyi, my drugs, my home, now my whiskey!” Hwasa’s voice started to become scratchy as hot tears of frustration made their way down her cheeks.

Although Wheein tried not to let Hwasa’s jabs get to her, she couldn’t deny that she felt a pang in her chest, feeling as if maybe she wasn’t doing the right thing if Hwasa was still this upset over Byulyi.

“Hwasa, please, come on, you know I’m trying to help. Dig into your consciousness and think about all the times we had fun at parties, and laughed, without drugs! Without alcohol! Without… Byulyi…” Wheein tried again.

“You are the reason all these bad things are happening to me! Get out of my house! Now!” Hwasa was hysterically bawling and shaking Wheein’s shoulder’s aggressively. Wheein needed to give Hwasa space.

“Okay, okay, I’m going inside now. Just calm down.” Wheein picked her laptop up and started to go into the guest room.

“I don’t need to calm down! You need to get out!” Hwasa screamed again, and Wheein snapped.

“If I hadn’t been here you’d be dead right now without Byulyi!” Wheein screamed at the actress, frustrated as well. “Stop acting like a baby and get yourself together! IT’s been years now Hwasa!” As soon as Wheein was done with her rant, she cupped her hands over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Hwasa for a moment, inwardly chiding herself from bringing the actress’s weakness up. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to--“

“Fuck off!” Hwasa took a coat from the rack and stormed out of the apartment. Wheein cursed and got out of the bed and slipped into her trainers. She started down the hall to where Hwasa was in the elevator, and she wasn’t able to make it before the doors closed and Hwasa was on her merry way down to the lobby, or any floor, really. She cursed again, and headed for the emergency stairs. She ran down ten flights of stairs, completely confident that she would have lost the girl by the time she got down to the lobby. When she entered the lobby, she asked the receptionist if she had seen a red head girl walk out of the hotel, and as soon as the receptionist nodded, she ran out of the sliding doors.

Wheein shouted Hwasa’s name as she ran down the street looking for the bronze girl, coming up empty at every turn. She started to feel warm tears fall down her cheeks, and she ran her hand through her hair, still panting from running. As she came down another corner, she saw a person shouting. She turned down the alley and saw a car stopped in the middle of the road, and a man kneeling on the floor over a body shouting for someone to help him. Wheein choked up for a moment, and stood there. She couldn’t move, this man was shouting at her to call an ambulance, but she could only stand there, Hwasa. That girl’s Hwasa. Her legs gave up under her and she fell to the ground.

As she sobbed into her knees, someone tapped her on the back, and she turned around, coming face to face with the girl she was looking for. Wheein stared up in shock at the girl. “the… the accident…” she sniffled.

“I don’t know who got hit, but I ran to the payphone to call 911. Why are you crying?” Hwasa asked the girl in confusion. Wheein got up quickly hugged the actress.

“Don’t—don’t do that. Please. You’re having withdrawals and I don’t want... I thought that girl was you! I thought she was you!” Wheein hugged the girl tightly and sobbed into her shirt. Hwasa looked down at the sobbing girl and wondered how they had come this far from the time at the police station. Hwasa knew that what she was having weren’t withdrawals… She didn’t know when exactly it had started but she was attached to this girl. This small puppy bitch had squeezed into Hwasa’s fleeting life.

They were complete opposites, how was it that this small girl had come to care for Hwasa? Was she just in love with the image that the actress had just put on for the public? Hwasa doubted the girl really liked what she was now, and Wheein was probably still chasing the person Hwasa once was. The redhead felt cold flood in her chest thinking that the last person in her life will leave her one day, when she realizes too like Byulyi, that there is no going back to the person she once was.

Hwasa awkwardly patted the older girl’s back, and Wheein finally let go. “Let’s go home.” Hwasa just nodded silently.

//

As Hwasa was getting ready for another party at her actress friend, Hyuna’s, house, Wheein came up behind her wearing a black crop top and black-leather short-shorts, showing off her pale stomach. Hwasa stared a bit before remarking.

“Where are you going in that outfit, little one?” She said in a bored tone as she continued to rim her eyes with eyeliner.

“To your party. Do you really enjoy getting out of the house this much? Don’t you ever want to just… I don’t know… chill out at home?” Wheein asked, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror and adjusted her top.

“No. All I do is chill out at home. I need to get out of the house at sometime, don’t I?” the actress replied.

“Well there are other things to do… we could go for a walk?” Wheein offered innocently, but Hwasa just snorted.

“A walk?”

“Yeah. A walk.” Wheein pouted and looked at the younger girl, who was still chuckling.

“You say the oddest things.” Hwasa commented as she shook her head with a genuine smile.

When they reached the party, Wheein was overwhelmed. There were famous stars everywhere—Wheein had almost forgot that Hwasa was this famous, seeing the girl in her bare element at home. Hwasa was glittering; she was literal brightness as her name suggested. She flitted from man to woman, greeting them with her drink, and Wheein just tagged along behind her like a lost duckling. Finally, after about half an hour of socializing, Hwasa turned to Wheein as she was talking to a tall man.

“Wheein, this is David Lynch, I trust you’ve heard of him?” Wheein looked up at the man for the first time—and holy fuck, it was the famous director.

“H-hello sir. I’m Wheein Jung. An aspiring director.” The man nodded and took interest in the small girl’s chatter about directing. Hwasa left them for the night, but she made sure to keep a close watch on any wondering hands or eyes.

At the end of the night, Wheein was once again pulling a drunk Hwasa back to the hotel. “You liked that old man?” Hwasa hiccupped. “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Wheeinie.” Wheein looked at the younger girl incredulously.

“You do a lot for me Hwasa. Don’t doubt that.” Hwasa just laughed drunkenly in response.

I don’t do anything for you. Why are you still here? What are you looking for, Wheein?

//

“Holy fuck.” Wheein cursed after she put down the phone, and Hwasa looked up at her from where she was eating her third bowl of Lucky Charms.

“What’s wrong?”

“David Lynch’s secretary just called me. He wants to hire me as an assistant director. He said something about ‘what I said at the party really hitting him’.” Wheein continued to look at her phone with shock, and Hwasa quirked a small smile.

“That’s good isn’t it?”

“Yes!” Wheein looked as if the news had finally hit her and she jumped up and down happily, screeching OMG. OMG. OMG.

Yes, the news was good for Wheein. Wheein started to stay out the whole day, working at different sets and meetings, not coming home till late at night. It was routine for the two to eat meals together and go out together at night, but Wheein always chirped a quick Sorry. Busy tonight. When Hwasa would call the girl to ask if she was coming home. Sometimes days were spent at the office, or Wheein was called for impromptu business trips around the country for shoots. Hwasa knew the drill, for she had done the same many times before, but somehow she felt empty without the other. She used to be fine staying long periods of time without Byulyi, but now she found herself clinging to her Jack-Daniels more at night that she had before. So maybe, it wasn’t such good news for Hwasa.

The television droned on as Hwasa sat on the bed in the main space of the suite. This is actually good, the redhead thought as one character punched another character on the screen. Maybe if she slowly leaves my life, it’ll hurt less when I disappoint her.

Wheein came back at two in the morning one night to a drunk Hwasa.

“Oh, the puppy bitch is finally home!” the drunken girl said swirling a glass whiskey in her hand.

“Puppy Bitch?” Wheein looked at Hwasa incredulously, and Hwasa laughed at her drunkenly.

“You’ve been gone recently.” Hwasa commented casually and Wheein side-eyed her.

“Yeah, it’s been busy.” Wheein said tiredly. Hwasa got up from where she was sitting on the floor against the bed and pushed Wheein against the wall. “What are you—“ Hwasa’s lips aggressively slotting against her own cut off Wheein. Hwasa put her hands on either side of Wheein's head and twisted her head to gain better access of Wheein's lips. Wheein gave in to the touch, and Hwasa pulled the older girl towards the bed.

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