* / 𝐀𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐍.

first of all:  no, his name is not actually yijae. it’s a play on his name because another romanization of the surname lee is yi, so it’s his surname + the second syllable of his given name. might refer to him as this in threads, might not, but it’s his main nickname that his friends prob use with him! he likes it a lot.

the youngest of three. was really young when he lost his parents, doesn’t have any solid memories of them so he kind of views his siblings as half-siblings, half-parents.

endured a lot of people telling him that he was lucky to have siblings to look after him and needed to behave well, show appreciation, not give them a hard time. most people who said that meant well, but it bothered him a lot bc that’s like telling a kid they can’t get upset Ever because they’re lucky someone is raising them.

anyway it resulted in him being an ass-kisser as a kid, didn’t want to give anyone (esp his siblings) a reason to view him as a nuisance / pest

developed really, really good people skills bc he was constantly looking for ways to make himself useful / valuable in some way, felt like he had to prove his worth. genuinely very social, likes people a lot so it’s whatever, really. he probably would’ve ended up developing good people skills regardless

he does have a rly bad temper tho...... beware

also has anxiety and a lot of his symptoms are the lesser understood ones (w/ the main one being irritability/anger), so mix that with his naturally short temper and he do b causing scenes and hurting feelings sometimes

literally always seen carrying some kind of bottle w/ water in it because once he starts getting overwhelmed, he starts getting Hot and it’s just.... handy to have water at his disposal whenever he needs it yk

most of the time, he’s pretty well-put together and very very smiley!!! considered the face of able siblings’ clothing shop bc he greets each and every customer with a smile. always available to answer questions, give recommendations, relay messages to his siblings or just chat! not really all that skilled when it comes to sewing or any other skills directly related to clothes (which is partially why customer service is his main duty) but if u’re in a rush, he’ll try really hard

pretty much the only thing that can make him lose his cool w/ customers is if you come in and start talkin shit about any of the items

values the store a lot, but also kind of feels like he carries more than his fair share of the weight. definitely not true LMAO but that belief makes him get annoyed w/ his siblings sometimes

if you ever come into the store at the wrong moment and find him throwing a fit / fighting with his sibling, no you didn’t <3

keeps a sketchbook full of clothing ideas. ofc he’ll never make any of ‘em because he’s not quite that crafty, but he shares them with his siblings / with other store employees to see if they’re up to the challenge. collects lots of different fashion magazines to keep up with trends or just to look at bc he thinks fashion’s neat

if he’s not @ the store, he’s probably riding his bike around either one of the islands. enjoys bike rides a ton, likes to feel the wind in his hair and nonchalantly see what’s going on outside of the shop (aka he’s nosy)

fun, but also kind of flaky??? like he’s the guy who will Definitely go to that party with you on short notice but will also call out of plans you made with him 6 months ago

sometimes he goes mia for a couple days, always has some really dumb explanation like “i was hunting for crabs and i lost track of time” or “i was attending a 4-day clown seminar” or “i was camping with my boy, bigfoot” but really he’s just been laying in his bed and trying to re-energize. it b that way sometimes

speaking of crabs... he likes them a lot! thinks they’re groovy lil’ things. ticket into his heart? crab-hunting with him!!!! he doesn’t disturb them too much, he just likes to dig them out of the sand and look at them for a minute, then let them go. he thinks they’re super funny-looking so sometimes he just... laughs his ass off as they scuttle away. some people who have witnessed this have nicknamed him The Crab Bully, but he doesn’t have any bad intentions. it’s just entertaining for him

wears glasses most of the time bc his sight is terrible. could wear contacts, yeah, but he has chronically dry eyes and artificial tears only go So Far! aka it’s more comfy to wear glasses even if they make his face look even rounder than it already is

has a slight lisp. very very slight. mainly when he has to pronounce s/th or l/r... skz stans you know what i’m talking about

fucks with his hair a lot. kind of a comfort thing, kind of a fashion thing. it’s dark blue atm, but it changes pretty frequently. he does it himself, too, so you already know his hair is fried to HELLLLLL

really social, but also might ghost you for three weeks and then resume the convo as if he never left. knows he looks like the pleading emoji (god knows he’s been told enough times) so he uses his cuteness to his advantage when he knows he’s been actin like a dirtbag. also might send funny animal vids to ease his way back into ur life

when i say he’s really social, i mean he’s really social. will talk to anyone and everyone. make eye contact with him for half a second On Accident and oh, no, here he goes. very interested in other people, wants to know everything you’re willing to share. depending on the person, this can either be really comforting or really overwhelming. u think u want him to shut up but then he shuts up and it’s like damn..... why isn’t yijae talking. that’s weird

with all of the times that yijae’s accidentally gotten sand in his eyes, you’d think that he would’ve learned some kind of lesson by now. like... don’t put his face so close to the sand to begin with, and if he must, at least sit in such a way that the wind is against his back, not his face. but yijae’s not the live-and-learn type. he might’ve once been, but it seems that age is causing his common sense to wither away. nowadays, he’s the live-and-repeat-because-he-forgot type. it shows in the way that he’s currently knelt in the sand, hands digging for treasure (re: crabs) while the wind blows tiny grains of sand against his cheeks and into his eyes. his glasses don’t do much to protect him, but it’s fine for now. he’s focused.

completed on january 19th, 2021. 

nearing an hour without so much as a single customer, yijae thinks that he should probably just send mini home. it’s evident that there’s nothing for either of them to do, so it feels slightly wrong to expect her to stay for her whole shift... but! if she leaves, he’ll be bored out of his mind and that seems like a bigger problem. so he’s attempting to make it look like there’s far more for them to do than there actually is by rearranging items throughout the store whilst carrying a clipboard with a blank sheet of printer paper attached to it. 

( does it look like he’s doing something important? probably not. )

“say, mini...” he starts, using his best business tone. for an instant, it almost seems like he might bring up something that has to do with the shop itself; maybe even the imaginary task that he’s taking on. but as he continues, it quickly becomes evident that he’s just talking to talk. “if you suddenly woke up and there was no one else on either of the islands, what would you do? like, say that the businesses were all still up and running. it’s a functioning society, but you’re all alone. personally, i’d go to the diner and have one milkshake in every flavor. i’ve always wanted to do that, but i feel like the waitstaff would have somethin’ to say, so i haven’t done it yet.”

knock. knock. knock. oops, no one’s there.

most of the time, yijae’s only reason for visiting the museum is to see eunbyul in the observatory. consequentially, he’s yet to learn his way around the entirety of the museum, which proves to be a drawback now as he’s looking for eunseok. none of the doors that he opens seem to be the right ones unless eunbyul’s brother has some secret power of invisibility. every room that yijae peeks into happens to be empty, which leads to the question of where the hell is everybody, anyway? doesn’t anyone care about history anymore?

he doesn’t have much time to ponder the question, though, because he finally spots eunseok twenty feet away. (at least, he hopes it’s eunseok. maybe it’s a mummy? does the museum have mummies? jeez, that’d be terrifying to run into one). “hey!” he calls on his way over, just to alert eunseok to his presence in case he hadn’t already been spotted. “i’ve been looking for you. i wanted to ask...”

sitting in the comfortable silence of an almost-empty observatory, it’s easy for yijae to imagine that he’s the only person on planet earth. a scary thought sometimes, but on days like this when everything feels too fast and too loud, it becomes the source of warm comfort. it’s made even better by the knowledge that eunbyul is only a few feet away; if his daydream causes him to slip into loneliness, he can look towards her and be assured that he isn’t truly alone. not not, not ever. suddenly, even the silence feels deafening in its own way.

walk, walk, fashion baby for @yijae

ilhui needs a suit. nothing too fancy, but it has to make him look presentable for his mother’s 50th birthday. he had spent long enough traipsing around trying to find her a gift and god, had that exhausted him. gift shopping is always a task with parents who already have everything, and claim their lack of a need for material things. as the one boy who knows them best, he knows thats untrue. still, its frustrating to hear them lie. 

so, as an eastbell native and loyalist, the able siblings are his only option. perhaps a bit fashion forward for him, he still trusts their boutique more than anyone else’s. though he’s already fearing meeting someone he grew up with in its four walls. the ever prominent nightmare for an introvert on a small island.

nonetheless, he steps through the entrance with a small smile at the familiar scent. the one he has known for so long it feels kindred to the smell of his own home. he leaves reverand outside panting at passerbys, setting off to navigate the overwhelming amount of clothing there is to look through. 

there are times when yijae zones so far out that the only sound that can bring him back to reality is the bell above the front entrance of the shop. there must be something psychological in it; it can’t be normal for him to so easily ignore the sound of either of his siblings saying his name to draw his attention or the constant stream of notifications from the seventy apps that he can never remember to mute (or, better yet, delete). but he’ll say it’s his dedication to his job. nothing matters to him like customers ― he’s every retail store’s dream boy. too bad he’s already dedicated his life to this little place in some cozy corner of the world.

he imagines himself working part-time for minimum wage with sungho as his manager in a hollister in new york city, but before he can build onto the absurd idea, the treasured bell chimes. bright eyes flash towards the doorway, and from where he’s sitting, he can easily identify the customer as ilhui.

leave him be, he tells himself, knowing that he’ll probably leave without buying anything, anyway. he always does. but that’d be a blatant betrayal of all retail skills he’s learned so far. a step back in time, if you will.

the last two weeks had essentially shattered the illusion that the twin islands were something out of a fairytale. for one, fairytale islands didn’t usually have clothing shops that cost more than twice his closet ( read: graciegrace ). at home there had never been neighbors around to see him, but now there was civilization right outside his door! and everything seemed so modern here, maybe even more modern than him and his brand new ipod shuffle, and he just…wanted to blend in. he was sure that was the first step to actually feeling like an eastbell resident.

he was wary when he walked into the able siblings’ shop, but the clerk that greeted him was already less intimidating than the ones in the other shops. grinning in relief, he shook yijae’s hand. “hi! you can call me rain. wow, you’re really nice.” he beamed at yijae, unreasonably excited that the owner of anything was talking to him. rain took a quick glance around, noting the pleasant spread of colors, before yijae’s comments pulled him back to the conversation.

“actually, i did almost lose my luggage! i forgot they put it above my seat. those compartments are amazing, they hold so much but then you just forget that they’re actually there.” rain laughed a little when yijae described the differentness of his style, taking clear care not to insult him. the thought counted. “thanks. i know my clothes are probably a few years outdated, though. i peaked when i was seventeen and then i just stopped growing, so i didn’t see the point of replacing my nice clothes every year when i only used them once or twice anyway. why is that scarf so big?”

he flitted past yijae to gape at a scarf on the wall, about as wide as both of his hands. “you said this was your shop? does that mean you make everything here too?” he glanced back at yijae, equal parts horrified and impressed by the concept.

“wow, no way!” had it been the accuracy of his assumption that had shocked yijae, or the idea of airplanes having overhead storage? a combination of both, probably. “i’ve never been on an airplane, so i had no idea that passengers put their belongings above them... what if there isn’t enough room for everyone’s stuff?” a moment passed, then he had what he thought to be an epiphany ― really, he was just adding on to his already-wrong assumption. “well, i guess when you’re coming to a place like eastbell, you don’t have to worry too much about not having enough room. i don’t think we’re really the hottest tourist attraction around.”

“if it weren’t for my job, i probably wouldn’t buy new clothes all that often, either, so trust me, i’m not judging you for it. i can still fit into my high school-era clothes, too, but... every time i go more than a couple months without putting a new outfit into rotation, i feel guilty. i gotta keep up with the trends so that other people are subconsciously motivated to keep up with the trends, and where do they go when that thought starts haunting ‘em? able siblings’, of course.” translation: he had an obsession with fashion, but that was too plain and to-the-point. now that he was talking to a customer who didn’t seem to mind the talking, he found that he wanted to do a whole lot of it. 

he turned to look at the scarf that had put rain into shock, and immediately started laughing when his gaze landed on it. but he answered without missing a single beat: “to keep the wearer extra cozy.” coziness was always yijae’s priority, so he’d had a little bit to do with the creation of such an item, but he hadn’t actually made it. and judging by rain’s facial expressions so far, he hadn’t yet decided if he wanted to take credit for it or not.

Most people assumed that Hailey was not one to enjoy the great outdoors. It wasn’t difficult to understand the misconception when the girl was clad in designer brands from head to toe and got worked up over even the smallest of stains. And yet, so long as the weather allowed it, she made time every day to lavish in the serenity of Eastbell’s beaches. Today was no exception as she leisurely made her way along the shoreline, red bottom Louboutins held in one hand. 

On occasion, the newcomer would run into another townsperson, but they usually didn’t exchange anything more than a small greeting before continuing on with their days. But a peculiar sight caught her eye as she watched on from a distance; what were they doing? Hailey paused in her tracks, squinting slightly as she attempted to make sense of the scene. She was amused at the idea of frolicking on the sand, but quickly shook away the idea when thinking about how her mother would have reacted. From her parents’ point of view, it was unthinkable. 

At the loud exclamation of her name, the girl tilted her head with pleasant surprise as she realized exactly who she was watching. Returning the other’s expression with a smile of her own (albeit, smaller and a little less bright), Hailey waved as she walked over to meet the younger halfway. “Yijae, hi— oh?!” Her words were cut short as she gasped in surprise at the small creature’s appearance. At his words, the girl merely shook her head, allowing a quiet giggle to leave her lips. “Not disappointed, just surprised. It’s not every day that I’m greeted by two sweet faces! Although, I hope I haven’t intruded on anything.” 

“intruded?” yijae repeated, giving her a curious look. “no, not at all. you have just as much a right to be here as anyone else. it is public land, after all. and besides, i’m happy to see you!” he took a few seconds to find what he thought to be a safe enough area to set the hermit crab back down on the sand, watched it dig itself back into cover (an act that never became any less amusing to him) and then returned his attention to his esteemed company:  hailey.

“do you come to the beach a lot?” as he asked the question, he brushed his hands against the legs of his corduroys to get rid of the sand that had stuck between his fingers and underneath his nails. “it’s a nice place to hang out. early in the morning, the afternoon, late at night... time of day doesn’t matter, the vibe’s always perfect. there aren’t a lot of places like that, y’know.” realistically, it was just a matter of perspective; while he felt like he was speaking a simple truth, it was really just a poorly-disguised opinion. had the beach not been the home to so many crabs, he probably wouldn’t have said it at all.

hailey’s here.

the sound of footsteps in the sand had alerted yijae to someone’s presence, and a quick glance over his shoulder had told him just who the other beach-dweller was. he didn’t know her that well yet (beyond the fact that she had become his brother’s “girlfriend” recently, of course), but he wanted to. so, he had almost raised a hand and called out to her from where he was crouched in the sand, but instead, he’d decided to speed up his crab quest and approach her with a gift. it became a race between yijae, the crabs, his impatience and time itself as he tried to find a crab before hailey noticed him (assuming that she hadn’t already). in record time, he located a burrow and brushed a little pile of sand away to reveal the hermit crab inside. perfect. “i love you, i’m sorry,” he whispered before scooping the creature into one palm and securing his other hand over it, forming a sealed circle.

yijae found that the worst part of having a full-time job was simply not being able to leave when business was slow. he supposed that he could leave if he really wanted to—he did have partial ownership of the store, after all, so it was his call—but with his luck, a whole swarm of people would come in as soon as he turned his back. so he always sat behind the checkout counter, hands clasped together, stuck somewhere between fighting off the urge to look at his phone and the urge to simply drift off into a daydream. it was a fight that he always lost, and his expression was just beginning to lose its element of concentration when he heard the bell above the door chime. cause and affect proved in real-time: if the bell chimes, yijae will grin.

“hey! welcome to able siblings’,” he greeted from the counter, his grin somehow audible as he spoke. the customer looked to be a new face, which meant he had to be new because at this point, yijae had seen everyone on the twin islands so many times that, even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to forget what they looked like. he didn’t have an issue with the familiarity (he found it comforting in its own way), but it was nice to see someone new. finally. “we haven’t met before, so i’ll go ahead and introduce myself! i’m lee sungjae—you can call me yijae—‘n’ this is my shop.” he should’ve said our shop. as in, dual ownership between him and his oldest sibling. but it felt a lot cooler to say my shop and everyone else in eastbell already knew the truth, so he couldn’t say it to them.