The Colour of My True Love's Hair

This one was inspired by the old song "Black is the Colour", more specifically the version sung by the Corrs which I'll link at the bottom. Hope you enjoy my first attempt at a Modern AU.

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It had been just a few short weeks since Hak, Yona and the rest of their friends had all moved into a town house together a few blocks away from their University. While they were all in different years, surprisingly enough they all got along fairly well and figured they were better off getting a place together rather than being on their own or rooming with strangers.

Luckily, since there were seven of them paying for it, they were able to afford a nice place –If a bit old and worn, that had 3 floors, an open kitchen, a bathroom on each floor, and enough rooms that they could share between them all.

The only exception to this however would be Yona, as she would be the only girl there, so she would have the luxury of a room to herself, but this didn't really bother the others. They all loved Yona and felt it was their responsibility to look after and protect the young girl, much to her chagrin as she felt they worried too much.

Out of the three rooms left to spare, the guys decided to draw names at random to see who would bunk with who.

Much to Hak's dismay he got paired up with Jae-ha, the soul person he found borderline intolerable out of their group of friends. While the two did occasionally do the odd gig playing for small bars together to make some extra cash, Hak too often found the pervy Droopy Eyes to pry too much into his thoughts.

Kija would be with Yun, which served both of them just as well seeing as they were the two biggest study nerds of the group and would appreciate a quiet roommate out of the other. This left the happy-go-lucky Zeno and quiet Shin-ah to share the last room.

Unpacking had surely been an adventure, when the group discovered that Shin-ah had somehow managed to sneak his rescued pet squirrel into the house even though they all knew the landlord didn't allow pets. He had raised the mischievous little thing since it had been a baby that had fallen from its nest, and while Ao was generally well behaved and friendly, she could be overly clingy at times. This didn't exactly bother anyone living in the house, but it would become a problem if the little rodent was seen going in and out of their house trying to follow them and someone told the landlord.

After a group discussion lead by Yun (who seemed to often be in charge of the whole group despite being the youngest), it was decided that they would try and take turns having someone always at the house that could watch Ao when everyone else was gone, otherwise they would just have to hide her in their bags or jackets as they came in and out.

No one had the heart tell suggest that the animal should be taken out of the house entirely as they all had a soft spot for their 'little group mascot' as they liked to call her.

And so, months later as winter break began to approach, Hak somehow found himself with some downtime and the house to himself. Despite there being seven of them living together, by now most of the group had started to leave for Winter break. Yun had already finished his exams ages ago and went home to stay with Ik-su for the holidays, Kija went home to his granny's, Shin-ah to his uncle Ao's (yes, he named his squirrel after him) and Zeno went off to stay at his girlfriend Kaya's.

With those four gone it was just him, Droopy eyes and Yona left behind and currently Jae-ha had decided that right before exams was a great time to go out for drinks and get piss drunk for the night.

'idiot' Hak thought to himself.

Yona on the other hand, had gone to sleepover at Lili's as they had decided to have a last minute study session, leaving Hak home alone.

He and Yona would be heading back to his place for the break since Yona's father had passed away less than a year ago now.

He sighed, leaning back against the headboard of his bed. Things had been really rough those first few months after she lost her father. She had already lost her mother at a young age and to have her father's death be under suspicion of murder was devastating for her.

For him as well.

He had grown up knowing her father since he was a young child messing around with Yona and her cousin Su-won. The same Su-won that was being interrogated at the moment for possibly aiding in the murder of Yona's father. They couldn't find any damning evidence yet but after the near overnight change in his demeanor that he and Yona witnessed when he was told the tragic news, they believed the accusations against him.

Especially when they learned how all of the inheritance just happened to be left to Su-won and nothing to Yona, his own daughter.

The man they saw that day, who barely batted an eye at the news, was not their friend. He was a different man entirely, and one they did not know, nor care to know.

The betrayal they had felt after that, had only worsened an already bad situation, and with no other family for her to turn to, Hak had taken her with him to his place to stay with his adoptive grandfather and little brother Tae-yun for the time being.

It had taken a few months of grief and healing and a lot of hard work and late nights of studying afterwards to catch up, but Yona was able to graduate and was accepted into the same university as Hak.

He was a year above her but him being there wasn't why she had applied. It was one of the top universities in the country but getting to stay together even as they went off to further their studies and try and start their lives, sure was a nice bonus.

The gift of getting to keep some normality in her life he supposed.

This week however, given that he had already finished his exams and was just waiting for Yona to finish her last one on Friday, he had been rather bored and spent a lot of his newfound downtime trying to come up with some new songs he could try preforming at his next gig.

Hak had always had a love for music growing up, along with his passion for martial arts. And while Gramps had been a great martial arts teacher, Hak had preferred to be self taught when it came to his acoustic guitar and his song writing.

He'd found he had a particular knack for finger strumming so he could layer and figure out more parts for a song at once.

While no one was home, he figured it was a good a time as any to try and find a melody for the lyrics he had spent all week writing (words he had kept hidden away from his overly nosey room mate) and see what he could come up with.

After a few short attempts here and there, trying out some different combinations of chords and pausing to scribble some stuff down, he sat up on his bed he began to lightly strum on his guitar, closing his eyes as he slowly let the words fall from his mouth;

"Red is the colour of my true loves hair

Her lips are like some roses fair

She has the sweetest smile and the gentlest hands

And I love the ground whereon she stands

I love my love, but she'll never know

I love the ground whereon she goes

How I wish that day would soon come

When she and I can be as one

I think of her pain and I mourn and weep

For without her smile I'd never sleep

I write her letters just a few short lines

And I suffer death ten thousand times

Red is the colour of my true loves hair

Her lips are like some roses fair

She has the sweetest smile and the gentlest hands

And I love the ground whereon she stands

I love the ground whereon she stands

I love, I love, I love the ground whereon she stands. . ."

Ending it off with a final few more chords, he sighed and looked out his window. It was getting late and he should probably go make himself something to eat before he forgot and ended up falling asleep on an empty stomach again. After he'd eaten he could start solidifying a melody to go with his lyrics.

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Yona was tired and starting to feel the cold as she trudged back towards the townhouse late that night. She was supposed to stay over at Lili's so that they could study together for their final exam on Friday but after 20 minutes of waiting at the coffee shop they had agreed to meet at, Lili had texted her saying she was going to have to cancel as she was sick as a dog and vomiting.

While she felt terrible for her friend because she was feeling so ill, Yona was also a little annoyed because Lili was a lot more comfortable with this subject and didn't have a lot of study left to do.

She on the other hand, could not say the same, so after staying at the coffee shop studying until it closed she started to head back home where she figured she'd take a short break before hitting the books again and praying that she retained some more information.

'Maybe I'll sleep with my notes under my pillow tonight' she thought to herself, hoping in vain that it might help her remember the content she needed to know for the exam. She'd tried it once before and it actually seemed to help a little.

Taking her phone out from her pocket, she checked the time.

It was already midnight.

With that in mind she figured she might as well call it a night and head to bed. She still had one more day to study before her last exam and she had worked hard tonight. By now, she was so tired she knew nothing else would stay in her head at this point anyway.

Rounding the corner to her street, she rummaged through her bag for her keys and let herself in. She figured Hak would already be asleep by now, so she tried to keep quiet as she shut the door and started to make her way up the stairs to her room on the top floor.

As she crept down the creaky hallway she could hear music coming from Hak and Jae-ha's room which lay just beside hers.

"At least I'll have something nice to fall asleep to" she muttered as she entered her room and dumped her stuff on the floor before collapsing on her bed. Listening closer, she could just make out the sound of Hak singing and she smiled softly to herself.

She didn't often get to hear him sing, as he mainly preferred to write lyrics and play guitar, but she always loved the sound of his voice. Though most wouldn't guess it just by looking at him, Hak had a wonderful singing voice, deep and smooth. She had once asked him to sing at her birthday for her when they were kids, but he'd adamantly refused, promising her that he'd at least play the guitar though instead.

Mustering up whatever energy she had left, she got up and walked over the sit in her beanbag chair that rested against the wall that divided their rooms so that she could hear better. She made sure not to make her footsteps too loud however as she knew that if he found out she was listening he'd get self-conscious and stop. She didn't know why he was self-conscious about singing for other people, but he was nonetheless, and she left it at that, not wanting to pry.

As she made herself comfortable in the oversized beanbag, she laid her head back and listened as he sang.

The melody was low and calming, when he stopped suddenly, probably to scribble down a few notes or corrections before he changed his mind and she heard him restart the song from the beginning.

While she wasn't quite able to catch the first word when her bean bag crunched as she shifted slightly in her seat, the rest of the song nearly brought her to tears.

It was beautiful.

Slow and heartfelt, it was a song about heartache and of unrequited love.

Sitting there, she couldn't help but think about her own struggles of the heart.

For months now, she had been wrestling with newfound feelings for her childhood friend. They had always been close as kids, but it felt different now somehow. Hak had been with her through thick and thin, and most especially through her grief when she needed someone to lean on, and it was during that time that she started to see him for who he was.

While he was still annoying when he teased her and immature at times, he was also really caring and kind and most importantly, he showed such unwavering loyalty to her.

Something stable to hold on to when the world seemed to spin around her.

It made her feel safe with him like she'd never felt with anyone before. Made her feel as though he was the one person she didn't have to be afraid would leave her, and yet she knew that wasn't fair to dump everything on him, so she tried to hide how much she felt the need to cling to him.

When she heard him strum out a last few notes before leaving his room and walking down to the kitchen, she heaved herself out of her chair and made the effort to get more comfortable by changing out of her jeans into her Pjs and get ready for bed.

Once she finally lay down under the covers and tried to go to sleep, she was frustrated to find that her mind was still too wound up from the busy day that she couldn't get it to shut off and let her rest.

After tossing and turning for a few more minutes she hopped out of bed once more and shoved on her slippers before going over to sit on her small balcony, hoping that the cool night air would help her mind relax and let her sleep.

Taking a blanket with her, she sat down on the old camp chair that she kept out there, shoved in the corner, and bundled up against the chill before letting her mind wander. She just couldn't stop thinking of that beautiful ballad Hak had sung earlier. How it made her heart ache at the words themselves and for her own emotions she felt weaved into them, until she found herself humming the tune to herself.

Humming soon lead to whispered words, and from there she soon found herself softly singing into the night as she changed some of the lyrics along the way;

"Black is the color of my true love's hair

His face so stern yet He's always there

He has the purest eyes and the gentlest hands

And I love the ground whereon he stands

I love my love, but he'll never know

I love the ground whereon he goes

How I wish that day would soon come

When he and I can be as one

I think of his pain and I mourn and weep

For without his smile I'd never sleep

I have no letters not even one line

But still in my heart I wish he were mine

Black is the colour of my true loves hair

His face so stern yet He's always there

He has the purest eyes and the gentlest hands

And I love the ground whereon he stands

I love the ground whereon he stands

I love, I love, I love the ground whereon he stands. . ."

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To be Continued

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So, I hope that you guys enjoyed my first attempt at a modern AU akayona fic. This will be a multichapter story, however I have no idea how long. I plan to just keep running with it until my brain eventually just gives up on me in the idea department, but along the way I hope you enjoy its own little vices and virtues.

If in a few days when I go back to read it over again and I don't like it, I may add in/change some things and update it, but we'll see how it goes.

Once again, any kind of advice or review on what you liked/didn't like and how I may improve is always appreciated.

The original song: /vdwhFXHvfN0 (I changed some of the lyrics on my own but it still follows this tune)

Love you guys!