July is coming again, and it’s time to kill the summer heat with some wintery fics!
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Regulations:
❆ Must follow our net guidelines
╰ (code of conduct, warnings)
❆ Must be sfw
❆ Must be Christmas themed
❆ Must be a minimum of 1k words
❆ Must include at least 2 quote prompts (and/or) 1 plot prompt
Timeline:
❆ Sign-ups open: Apr. 23rd - May 31st
❆ Story details due: June 23rd - June 29th
❆ Masterlist made: June 30th
❆ Posting period: July 1st - July 31st
Quote prompts:
“I told you a fake tree and real candles were a bad combination.”
“What do you mean you ate all the cookies?!”
“You are going straight on the naughty list.”
“What did the ornament say to another ornament? … I love hanging with you!”
“As a kid, Christmas was all about presents…but now it’s your presence.”
“So, I had a bit too much to drink and…I what?” “You confessed. To me.”
“Oh my gosh is it snowing!?” “No, it’s raining salt…of course it’s snowing!”
“Why are they called reindeer if they’re winter animals…shouldn’t they be snowdeers?” “What was in that punch?”
“You bought me a present? I thought you didn’t like me.” “I…never said that.”
“So, I did something annoying.” “You…put multiple boxes within boxes?” “Well…yeah. But the thing is, there’s a ring in the smallest box.”
“What’s this?” “You didn’t decorate so… I thought I could do something about it.”
“Stop being such a grinch!”
“You wanna…hot chocolate and chill?” *winks*
“Well, just because you're in the hospital doesn't mean that you can't celebrate Christmas!”
“I know we hate each other or whatever, but can I come inside? I think I lost my keys, and the party next door is not for me.”
Plot prompts:
Character A’s family announces last minute they’ll be visiting for Christmas. Their s/o, Character B, must help them get ready despite the fact that the two of them were supposed to spend the holidays alone.
Character A gets Character B in a secret Santa exchange and buys them a very expensive but sentimental gift knowing it’s something A has always wanted. Their only hope is that A doesn’t figure out it’s from them.
Character A and Character B, sworn enemies, are chosen to prepare the company Christmas Party.
Roommates, Character A and Character B, throw a tropical-themed Christmas party after their radiator breaks and super-heats their house. Is it the radiator, or does the other person look better than I thought?
Character A’s best friend rigs the Secret Santa, because they know A has a crush on Character B.
Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé.
Character A and Character B broke up, but now they meet at a Christmas party.
Character A can’t travel to see their family on Christmas, so they invite their grumpy loner neighbor Character B.
Character A returns to their birth-town for the holidays. Character B is their estranged childhood best friend.
Character A loses a bet and has to wear a different ugly Christmas sweater every day till Christmas. Character B works at a clothing store.
Character A overhears Character B’s Christmas wish and decides to fulfill it.
Character A is used to celebrating Christmas in fashion very different from what Character B is used to.
Character A isn’t going home for Christmas because of family drama, and their roommate, Character B, invites them to come home for Christmas with them.
Character A and Character B, both gatecrashers, kiss under the mistletoe at a party they both crashed. After the party, they both realize they seemed to have forgotten to exchange names.
Character A and Character B both volunteered at a holiday charity, and they find themselves in a competition to see who can raise more money.
Tracking tag: castlejulychristmas22
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Some of these plot prompts are from @alloftheprompts
Entry for the “Are we there yet?” summer event hosted by @btsgoldnetwork
Places: General/convenience store
Summary: "One last trip before college begins and your best friends all move to different cities and lives seems like the best of ideas. That is, until you decide to listen to Taehyung's terrible, horrible, not at all reliable sense of direction and you both get lost somewhere in Norway."
Warnings: Mild swear words, mentions of food, getting lost in a country you don't even speak the language of, subsequent panic attack (minor, non-descriptive), the author knows nothing about Norway and entrusts Google with each piece of information, lots of bickering and soft insults, but that's just their love language, 80% of this is dialogue, typos scattered all over the thing
Genre: General, Road Trip AU, Childhood best friends AU
Rating: G
Pairing: Kim Taehyung x OC
Word count: 2.6k
*
«This is the right bus, yes?»
«Yes.»
«One hundred percent sure?»
«Mh mh. I checked before we boarded. Like, twice.»
«Okay... – I nod as I turn towards my best friend, currently intent on watching God knows what on his phone. – Then why are we going the opposite direction?»
He clearly doesn't immediately connect my words to their actual meaning, because he merely and mindlessly hums in agreement and keeps scrolling through the page a couple of moments more, but then realization hits – and it hits hard – and a small part of me wishes I wasn't this upset just to properly enjoy the whole scene.
Taehyung puts down the phone and looks at me with orbs as round as plates, lips slightly parted in clear disbelief.
«What?»
«I had this weird feeling, so I checked our position on Naver Map. We should be heading North to reach Bergen, but the bus is going South.»
He lets out a silent ah, before abruptly closing his mouth and glancing outside the window, legs bouncing up and down up and down.
«Well... – he starts as he stills them and clears his throat. – Perhaps it's a panoramic route or something, no? They do those, sometimes.»
Never before in my entire life I felt the sudden urge to slap myself and another person at the same time.
«God, I'm never trusting you, like, ever again.»
«C'mon, it's not that bad...» he tries to say, shrugging a little, but the tip of his tongue pokes out to quickly lick his lower lip, a sign that he's not as unbothered as he'd like to be. Our mothers are close friends and we basically grew up together, I recognize a nervous tick when I see one.
«Not that bad?! We're fricking lost, Taehyung!» I whisper-shout, earning myself a couple of weird looks from the other passengers, for the most part old people carrying grocery bags and a couple of young girls seemingly still in middle school, their backpacks slot between their legs and the seat. Not exactly the heterogeneous group you'd expect to find in an excursion towards a tourism-centered city.
«Well, not yet. We're still on the bus.»
I briefly close my eyes and put my head in my hands, temples already starting to pulse with the threat of a migraine. This can't be happening, not on the second day of our stay in Norway. Not ever.
«Go ask where this is headed» I mumble, voice muffled by my sweaty palms.
«Why me?»
«Cause I don't speak Norwegian, you dumbass.» I drop my hands on my lap, sending him a dirty look. Serves me right for trusting the guy that, age twelve, got lost in his own granddad's farm.
«Well, neither do I!»
«But it's your fault we're lost, so up with your pretty ass and see where the heck we're ending up at.»
«You know, I'm two weeks older than you. You can't just order me around like that.»
«I'll fly you out of this window, – I promise, pointing at the immaculate glass pane on my left with a finger – and make it look like a tragic accident.»
«Yeah, love you too.» He rolls his eyes and jumps up to approach the nearest elderly person – a chubby old man in his seventies, with incredibly white hair and flushed cheeks – and I let myself fall against the cushioned seat with a trembling sigh.
This can't be happening, it just can't.
–
Turns out it's happening alright and now the both of us are standing beneath the bus shelter, using Papago to try and decipher times and routes on the faded chart affixed on the wooden barrier.
«How fucked are we?» I ask my best friend, silently begging him to give me an optimistic answer, but really not expecting any.
«I think we ought to stop a passer-by, call Joon and ask him to translate for us. His English is way much better than ours.»
«Yes, because the signal surely works perfectly well in the middle of a wood. Did you forget that they're taking a trek in the nature right now?»
Taehyung's dark eyes dart from the cracked screen of his phone to the map, then back to the phone, before he locks it and puts it on his back pocket.
«Then we are very fucked» he states.
I drop on the shelter narrow bench with a disheartened groan, face once again hidden in my hands.
«It's not the end of the world, I promise.»
«We're lost in the middle of Norway, Taehyung. We don't speak the language, our English sucks and the others won't be back at the hotel until this evening, probably. That means we can't call for them and, even then, what can they do to help us? What are we going to do? How the hell do we go back?»
«With a bus.»
«Apparently, that was the last one for the morning!» I snap, still hoping we translated the timetable wrong, that the next bus will stop in front of us in a couple of minutes, but highly doubting it. Numbers are numbers, whether it's Korean or Norwegian.
«Then we wait for the afternoon ride.»
«It's going to leave in over six hours!»
«What, do you want to walk all the way back? It took the bus nearly two hours to bring us here, if we go on foot, we'd arrive tonight. But, hey, we'll wave goodbyes as the afternoon bus passes us by.»
«This must be a nightmare.»
«I think it could be worse.»
«How. – I nearly sob, looking up at him through my fingers. – Please, do enlighten me, oh wise Kim Taehyung.»
«At least we're together.» He offers me a small smile, dropping on his knees before mine and massaging them through my corduroy pants. Despite it being the middle of August, the temperatures don't even reach 15°C, today. Too cold for my liking.
I swat his hands away and scowl. I know what he's trying to do and his cuddles won't buy me this easily.
«We're in this because you got the wrong bus.»
«Yeah, and you let me lead the way. Why did you even do that?»
«Oh, my God, are you serious right now?!»
«Don't let Taehyung take the lead, that's, like, rule number one in travelling.»
How's the jail system in Norway? I never wondered about it, but I might be about to find out.
«Can't believe you've been my best friend since we were babies» I mutter to myself, but loud enough for him to hear it clearly.
The boy lightly slaps one of my knees and stands up, a dramatically hurt expression on his triangular face. He's nineteen, now, and he's finally starting to lose the baby fat in his cheeks, his newly acquired sharp traits making him seem more serious and deliberate than he actually is.
«What are you talking about? I am a treasure to be around!» he shouts, sitting as well and wasting no time in sliding towards me until his body is basically pressed against mine, his long arms squeezing me softly, purring. His familiar scent – neutral soap and camomile shampoo – soon washes over me, calming me despite all my efforts to fight it.
«More like a nuisance with terrible sense of direction» I scoff with a roll of my eyes, but it's really hard to stay mad at him. Stupid dork.
«Never said I was a compass. – It's his remark as he sits upright and childishly pokes me in the cheek until I can no longer hide the smile, albeit an annoyed one. – That's generally what you use to find me.»
«I hate you.»
«Hate you too» he says, without missing a beat and pressing a quick kiss on my shoulder, before laying his mop of dark brown hair on it.
We stay like that for a couple of minutes, just basking in the hug and stealing glances on our surroundings.
Not much to see, really.
The place looks smaller than our home town – and that's saying a lot, since we're from a village near the countryside – and practically deserted, with the exception of a trio of old women sitting outside a large, wood-tiled building by the end of the empty street; they're all knitting and I catch them glancing our way a couple of times. One of them even waves at us, before going back to her gossip, I suppose. I don't think they stumble upon many strangers, down there. But, besides them, there's really not a single soul around, the passengers on the bus already disappeared God knows where.
It's... peaceful. Out of time, even. Like everything crystallized at the beginning of the century and the only signs of modernity are the bus stop we're sitting at and the convenience store on the other side of the road.
I look at my right, where the beaten path descends in a verdant spot of trees and ferns that hides the fjord from sight, momentarily closing my eyes to let the distant sound of the gelid sea enclose me.
«Let's take a walk around. We're going to be here for six hours, might as well make the best of it.»
«It's a tiny, rural town» I remark, despite the fact that I was about to suggest the same thing.
«I see that.»
«It smells of fish. A lot.»
«Terribly so. But we have plenty of time to get used to it.»
«What are we going to do, anyway? It'll take us half an hour to visit it all. And I am stretching.»
«We'll walk very slowly.»
«Tae» I sigh, lifting my face to give him a stern look.
«Okay, how about this: we go to that store across the street, buy something to eat and, after we took a look around, go to the beach and have lunch there.»
«I don't think that's allowed.»
«Then first we make sure it's allowed and then we have lunch before the sea.»
His idea is tempting and I don't really try to fight it. He's right, at the end. We're stuck here until the bus departs, no sense in wasting all that time sitting on a wooden, cold bench.
«You're offering, though.» I agree, getting up with a grimace; that seat is very hard and uncomfortable.
«We split. Half and half, like we always do.» He tries to bid, looking up at me with a growing pout on his full, perfectly pink lips.
«Nope. Your fault we're stuck here, you pay the food... don't even try to use the puppy eyes. They won't work, this time.»
«Worth a shot. Okay, fine. Deal.»
–
The general store is small and stuffy, but the warmth is more than welcome, after sitting outside in the crisp breeze for all that time.
It's dimly lit, the lights on the ceiling of a slightly orange tint, but the wooden floor and walls give more the impression of homey and cozy, rather than creepy.
Taehyung squeezes my hand and I look up at him with a soft smile.
«It's cute. Very vintage.» he says.
«Very.»
The cashier – a tall man around my father's age, lanky arms crossed over his chest as he watches some kind of tv program on a small screen so old it still has a Cathode-Ray Tube – greets us from behind the counter and we politely bow in return, before making our way towards the, well, one and only aisle that runs through the room.
I don't know a single product displayed on the sturdy shelves – except for some cans of Coca-Cola next to a box of soda bottles called “Solo” – and the names are of no help, but at least the packages have pictures.
«Suggestions?» Taehyung frowns in confusion, sharing a glance with me.
«Well, a bottle of water, for sure. – I nod as I grab one and hug it. – Perhaps sandwiches?»
«I see none» he mumbles as he slowly spins around, before taking a step towards the shelf and grabbing something from it. A bag of chips of a brand I've never heard before, but the image on it reminds me of Turtle Chips with fewer layers.
«Sold! What else?»
He shrugs, pouting in thought.
«Maybe these pretzels? And what about these? They look like M&M's, maybe they're good.»
«Not very healthy, but for today they'll do.»
«Well, we can always buy bread and cold cuts and go with them.»
«It'd cost too much, though. And we don't exactly have the space to prepare them.»
«Then junk food it is!»
«But only for this one time, Tae.»
«Yeah yeah. Did we get everything?»
«I think, yes.»
«Then let's go pay and to the beach!» he exclaims, mimicking Superman's pose as he makes his way towards the cash register.
«Good morning.» We greet the man behind the counter. He doesn't wear a name tag, which is pretty understandable, given where he works.
«Hallo.» He nods back, turning off the television and starting to scanner the products with a polite smile and a curious light in his pale blue eyes.
I hear Taehyung taking in a deep breath beside me, before he's clearing his throat and bending slightly towards the other man.
«Sir, do you... speak English?»
«Little.»
«Can we... eat? To beach? If we go to beach and eat, it's good?»
«By the look he's giving us, I'd say that's a no» I mumble to my friend, frowning a little. He seemed so polite, but I guess he doesn't trust we'd clean everything up, after we're done with our lunch.
But the man suddenly starts gesturing towards the shop window and, when we both turn around, thinking he's pretty much sending us away, we finally understand what he's really trying to tell us.
Raining, it's raining. Pouring, actually.
How did we not notice it? And could this day get any worse?
«Oh, are you kidding me?» we groan at once.
I press my forehead against my best friend's shoulder and sigh, crestfallen.
Yes, we were warned about Norway's unpredictable weather, but this is just unbelievable. What are we supposed to do, now? Not that we have that many options; it's either hang in there until it stops or run outside and back to the bus shelter. I'm personally leaning towards the former, but that all depends on the cashier. Will he kick us out? Would he?
As if he read my mind, he smiles and gestures at the small shop.
«You eat here, if you want. No problem.»
«Oh, thank you, Sir.»
«Thank you, thank you so much.»
He just shrugs, smiles once more and finishes scanning the bags of chips; after Tae pays the sum that appears on the old register with another bow of gratitude, he nods at us and turns the television back on.
«This is the most exciting trip I've ever had.» It's my friend not quite ironic comment as we quickly grab our things and go sit by the window.
And he's right. Getting lost in a foreign country and ending up eating lunch in the tiny convenience store of a tiny fishermen village surely isn't what I pictured for my trip in Norway.
Shoulder to shoulder with my best friend, legs crossed, I can't help but smile at the absurdity of it all. And yet, deep down, despite the initial panic and annoyance, I know I'd do it all over again.
Summary: Tae and Zelda spend a few nights in Paris together for Paris Fashion Week; flirting ensues.
Zelda was barely awake as she climbed off the plane, her purse hugged tightly to her chest. She was here. She was in Paris. But at what cost, exactly? She’d just spent eleven hours on a plane, and she had an awful headache. The good thing was that she had a day to sleep. That wasn’t enough time to get over jet lag though, was it?
Paris fashion week was starting, and she’d been invited to attend. She was so glad to not really be the one modeling this week, but she was still expected to be camera-ready at the show. There was no way she was doing her normal haircare routine while she was here.
“Hey there!” Astrid exclaimed as she noticed her friend.
Zelda wasted no time in sprinting across the airport to reach her friend. She had her suitcase now, and she was ready to take a long, long nap. She crushed Astrid in a hug.
“Thank you so much for picking me up. I don’t think I can stand being in another place with strangers.”
“No problem. The bakery is closed on Sundays, anyways, so I had time,” she laughed. “You look exhausted.”
“I barely slept on the flight…and I don’t even know what time it is back home.”
“Eight in the morning?”
“Sounds about right. I’m ready to sleep until tomorrow morning.”
“Doesn’t Tae get in tonight?”
“I’m sorry, but even my fiancé is not as important as sleep right now. Especially if I’m supposed to look presentable in the morning.”
Astrid patted her back. “Let’s get you to your hotel.”
◇◆◇◆◇
Zelda found herself surprisingly refreshed the next morning when she woke up. She definitely wasn’t feeling 100%, but she could manage the day without looking like she hadn’t slept in a year.
Her first step was to shower and wash her hair. Normally, she’d apply a few products to her hair before diffusing it, but she didn’t have the time or energy for that today. She squeezed as much water as she could out of it before blow-drying it until it was mostly dried. She honestly thought she looked pretty ridiculous with wavy hair, but her hair stylist would have to just fix it later. That was what straighteners and curlers were for, right?
The last thing she did before leaving the hotel room was place her engagement ring in its box. As much as she hated to part with it each day, she’d been told not to wear it during public appearances. No matter how insignificant she was, no one needed to know she was engaged. Especially not after the article that had made national headlines the previous year.
◇◆◇◆◇
Her stylist had decided to press her hair flat. It was not a good look on her, but neither of them had time to mess around with curls today, and it was better than the disaster that had been her wavy hair that morning.
“You don’t like this, do you?”
Zelda laughed. “No.”
“I can fix it up a bit in the front so it looks less flat. How’s that?”
“Whatever you think would look best.”
◇◆◇◆◇
Zelda was seated along the runway half an hour before the show. She didn’t recognize nearly anyone seated around her, but she eventually found Tae. He was seated on the other side of the runway quite a few seats down. He raised his eyebrows at her when they made eye contact. She nodded in response. The two of them had already decided to not interact much during the show. They didn’t need a public scandal on their hands. A private one had been bad enough.
She threw subtle glances at him across the room throughout the whole show. There were cameras everywhere, but she figured no one could blame a girl for looking at him a few times. For the most part, she wasn’t sure that any of the cameras could even pick up who she was looking at, anyways.
He looked really good today. She’d seen photos of the one he’d come to a few years back, and she’d have to argue that he looked even more amazing today. His dark hair had been tucked behind his ears, and he was wearing a vest that was a mix of beige and greens over a pair of brown slacks. She’d seen him wearing a baggy suit jacket over it all at some point in the evening, but it had been abandoned in the dense heat of Paris.
Zelda tugged on the bow tied on the front of her torso. She’d chosen a white jumper that flared out at the calves, but the top of it was dipping a bit low for her preference. She tugged the straps up a bit, shifting around hoping it would cover her a bit more. Maybe she should’ve tried all the outfits on before picking one.
She glanced across the room again, and Tae was staring at her. One of the corners of his lips turned up when she made eye contact with him. She glanced away immediately. It was already a miracle that they’d gotten away with making eye contact like this at the Grammys. There was no way they’d get away with it a second time.
She spared another glance at him a few seconds later, and he was still staring at her. It was less obvious than it had been before, but she could tell he was still looking at her. She sighed and shook her head. If the two of them weren’t running the risk of being outed, she would’ve crossed the runway and smacked him across the head. She’d just have to do it later when they saw each other.
◇◆◇◆◇
Zelda joined Tae at a photoshoot he had later that evening.
“I can’t believe you! There were hundreds of cameras there and you risked getting us caught just so you could stare at me!”
“Hey,” Tae gasped. “I’ve never seen you with straight hair! Or your collarbone out like that!”
She scoffed. “Tae, I’ve changed in front of you before! You’ve seen my collarbone!”
“…once!”
She laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
He reached out and brushed his thumb across her collarbone. “And you’re beautiful.”
She cleared her throat awkwardly and smacked his shoulder. “Come on, don’t you have a photoshoot to do?”
He smiled. “Well, I was hoping you’d join me for some of the photos. They wouldn’t be posted, of course. Just something for us.”
She considered it for a few seconds before nodding. “Ok. Sure!”
◇◆◇◆◇
“Zee, these photos are so adorable,” Indigo laughed.
“What photos?”
“The ones of you and Tae in Paris. You two look like you’re having so much fun.”
Zelda glanced over her shoulder. The first photo was one of Tae hugging her from behind. He was kissing her ear, and she was glancing back at him with a smile on her face. Their outfits greatly contrasted each other but looked good together nonetheless. In the next photo, Tae was bending over with his head tilted as he grinned at her. She was crossing her arms and staring back at him.
Zelda smiled. “Yeah, those are cute.” Then she frowned. “Wait, where did you see these?”
“Instagram.”
Zelda’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
“No? They were from that photoshoot Tae did. They were posted with the rest of the photos from that night.”
Warning: one (1) mild swear word, one (1) small kiss on the lips, food is mentioned
Word count: 850-ish (a babie!)
A/N: I want to learn to write drabbles properly, so this is just a little writing exercise
--
«Shit! It's not Sunday!» My husband's loud screech right into my ear violently and all too suddenly rips me out of my dream and I curse him with an intelligible grumble when he kicks one of my legs in his haste of getting up. That is, until my sleepy brain decides to connect his words with their meaning and I also open my eyes, shooting up in a sitting position, head briefly spinning for the abrupt action.
«What?!» I nearly shout, as much as my dry mouth allows me, but by then Taehyung has already disappeared behind the bathroom door.
It takes me way too long to disentangle myself from the mess he's just made of the sheets, but I eventually manage to and, after quickly fixing them, I rush towards our shared closet, throwing open its Formica shutters and starting to rummage through his clothes. I grab a pair of dark trousers that go with anything – a Christmas present from his mother from two years ago –, I retrieve his favourite brown tie from the upper drawer and pull the freshly starched shirt out of the laundry plastic wrap.
I leave everything neatly at the foot of the bed, where I'm sure he's gonna see them, then I am off to our tiny kitchenette, where the first thing I find when I turn on the lights is Rouge, waiting for me on the counter.
«Rouge, no! Bad kitty, bad kitty! You know you can't seat there!» I scold, but our big, red cat merely stares up at me with his beautiful almond-shaped amber eyes, pupils as round as black marbles. All it takes is for him to softly meow and my annoyance immediately melts away.
«Ah, you rascal! – I let out in an affectionate whisper, scratching his triangular chin as soon as I reach him. His merry purring resonates against the pale walls of the narrow kitchen, reassuring and warming my heart. – I love you too, I love you too. But you'll have to wait for your food a little longer. Your dad is late and I need to make breakfast right now.» I kiss him between the ears and gently grab him to put him back on the ground.
The chubby feline mews in irritation and starts rubbing his soft body against my naked ankles, but I really have no time to cuddle him as much as he wants, at the moment.
Taehyung always takes ten minutes to shower and get dressed, so now I have about half of that time to prepare him something quick to eat on his way to school and a Thermos of tea.
. . .
I'm carefully pouring the hot beverage inside the flask, a plate of grilled sandwich slices already waiting on the small table, when my husband rushes in, olive skin still flushed by the shower and damp, raven-black hair slightly curling around his chiselled jaw. He clearly didn't waste time with shaving, this morning, and now his cheeks are sharpened by a faint shadow.
«'Morning» I greet, closing the flask and leaving it by the toasts. Then I walk to him and silently fix his tie, patting his chest a couple of times once I'm done.
«You're an angel, Dear» he mumbles with a small smile, dark eyes briefly flying towards the clock.
«Calm down, Tae, your students can wait a couple of minutes to uncover the mysteries of music, now, can't they?»
«They've got a test, this morning.»
«Good luck to them. Are you coming home for dinner? Do you want me to buy something at the store on my way home?»
«No, I'm going down at the Club with the boys to rehearse. I'll just stop by to grab my sax, don't wait for me.»
«I'll see you tomorrow morning, then.»
«Mh mh. And do you have plans for tonight?»
«Probably go have a drink with a couple of colleagues. Engagement toast for our office manager.»
«Don't you hate his guts?»
«Very much so» I confirm with a roll of the eyes.
«Good luck.»
«Say hi to Jimin for me, okay? Haven't seen him in ages!»
«Will do» he promises as he catches a crisp slice of bread and immediately bites into it.
«Wait» I stop him before he can rush out of the door.
«Mh?» he mumbles around the toast and I get on the tip of my toes to gently pry it from his mouth – the golden crust is still warm – and leave a quick peck on his lips.
«Love you» I whisper, putting his breakfast back into his mouth.
He still manages to send one of his boxy grins my way and, after tapping me softly under the chin, hurries out of the kitchen, mismatched socks nearly making him slip to the floor.
With a sigh, I look at the table... every morning, I swear.
«Taehyung, your tea!» I call with a shake of my head.
Warnings: drinking, lots of shirtless dudes, brief mention of skinny dipping? (does that need a warning?)
Lyrics: Sometimes all I think about is you…late nights in the middle of June. - Heat Waves by Glass Animals
Summary: Isabelle is stuck working on a beach this summer, which wouldn’t be so bad, but everything about it reminds her of her first love. To make matters worse…it seems he decided to take a trip to said beach this summer.
A/N: special thanks to @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger for the banner ^^
I opened the minifridge in the back of the snack bar. The beach was hotter today than it usually was, and everyone was running to the snack bar in search of cold drinks. I just wanted to be on the beach. Working on the beach was a pretty good alternate if I couldn’t be swimming, though. I could’ve been stuck stocking shelves at a grocery store today instead, which was definitely not something I wanted to be doing.
Once I’d rang up the customer, I leaned against the counter. As much as I loved the beach, I really didn’t want to be here. I’d seen it every year, time and time again, but it always reminded me of the boy I’d met the year I was fourteen. And to be frank, I hated remembering him.
My family lived less than a mile from the beach, so we’d spent nearly every day of the summer at the beach when I was younger. I hadn’t minded much. I’d loved the beach back then. This particular summer, a certain teenage boy and his family had come to spend a whole month at the beach. Being fourteen, I had been more outgoing than I was now, so I’d taken my chances and spoken to the boy, and of course, we’d spent the rest of the month together.
That had been six years ago, but I foolishly still wished to see him again. Because of it, I tended to avoid the beach now. As much as I loved it, I felt strange knowing I still liked a guy I’d known for a month many, many years ago. I was an adult now. I should’ve been able to get over a silly crush I had as a kid long ago.
I sighed and tugged off my apron after noticing what time it was. My break had started. I pulled the little palm tree pin out of my bun and set it down on top of my apron. In my opinion, they tried a little too hard to sell the beach aesthetic to travelers. The whole place was littered with pictures of palm trees and coconuts, and we didn’t even grow coconuts here!
Once I was outside the snack bar, I pulled my phone out to find about sixty texts from my best friend, Ellie.
“Isa. How’s the snack bar? I can’t believe you’re enjoying the beach without me! Save me a pineapple slushie. Mateo is working today. And he is (hot). Why did you never tell me? Did you know that the music store has whole pianos? Like, big, big ones! Isa answer your texts pleaseeeee.”
Ellie was spending her summer working at the music shop, so I wasn’t quite sure how she hadn’t known they sold pianos until now. I laughed as I scrolled through the flurry of emojis Ellie had sent before I finally responded.
“You already knew Mateo was hot. You’ve been pining over him since we were in high school.”
“Oh, look, Isabelle is alive!”
I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, I have a ten-minute break. We’ve had lots of customers today because of how hot it is.”
“You better get a tan for me since I can’t spend my summer on the beach.”
“I’m not in the sun much.”
“I don’t care. Get a tan.”
I laughed, looking up from my phone for a moment to glance around at the beach. I watched as people played on the shore and swam in the ocean. There was a game of volleyball going on, and there were a few people surfing. I paused as I came across one particular young man standing on the beach. He looked oddly familiar. He turned around then, and my eyes widened. Jin. I glanced back down at my phone for just long enough to type out a text to Ellie.
“I’ve gotta go. Text you after work.”
I didn’t bother waiting for Ellie’s response before I bolted back into the snack bar. What on earth was Jin doing here? He hadn’t been here for six years, so why was he here the one year I was working on the beach?
It would be ok. I could survive the next four hours and just hope he wouldn’t wander over here, and then I could go home. Surely he wouldn’t be here the next day, right? His grandparents lived here, so maybe they wanted to do something with him other than hang out on the beach?
Sadly, the world was against me, and Jin was at the beach the next morning. Not only that, but he also decided to come over the snack bar. As he approached, I realized that there was really no way he wouldn’t recognize me. I looked almost exactly the same as I had six years ago, just a bit more mature. And it wasn’t like I could escape and leave the work to someone else, either. No one else was working with me today.
I was mentally planning about five different ways to bury myself in the ground when Jin walked up to the stand.
“Hi, Isabelle! It’s been a while!”
Well, dang it. I wasn’t getting out of this now.
“Hi!” I said a bit too enthusiastically. “Jin, right?”
“Uh…yeah. We hung out together that one summer? Remember?”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously. “Yes, of course. I remember.”
He smiled. “Well, it’s nice to see you. It’s been a long while. You look…gorgeous.”
I glanced down at my work clothes and considered the bun I’d sloppily put in my hair that morning. “Sure, buddy.” Out of all the things I could’ve said in response, why had I said that?
He cleared his throat, and I had to keep herself from looking down at his bare chest. The last time we’d seen each other, he’d preferred to wear swim shirts. He clearly wasn’t fifteen anymore.
“Is there anything you’d like to order?” I asked.
“Do you guys have beer?”
Beer? Who did he think he was, an adult? Oh, wait, he was twenty-one. He was an adult….
“Yeah, we have three different kinds,” I informed him, taking one of each out of the minifridge and placing them all in front of him.
“Do you have an opinion on them?”
“Um. Jin, I can’t drink yet.”
He snapped his fingers. “Right. You’re a year younger than I am.” He picked up the one on the right. “I’ll just take this one, then. How much do I owe you?”
“Three bucks.”
“For the little thing? Wow!” he placed three dollars on the counter and popped the can open.
“Yeah, we have to stay in business somehow,” I told him as I put the money in the cash register.
“That’s true,” he nodded. “Well, see you around!”
I nodded, secretly hoping that I could save myself the embarrassment and never, ever have to see him again.
Ellie was beyond enthused when I told her what had happened that evening.
“This is the Jin? Like Jin who wore his swim trunks inside out at the beach Jin?”
I thought about this for a few seconds. I didn’t recall such a thing happening. “Do we know more than one Jin?”
“You don’t remember that? It was on your birthday!”
“Was it?”
“Yeah. Your mom made him walk all the way back to his grandparents’ house to change.”
“I suppose I may remember this vaguely.” I took a deep breath. “What do I do?”
“You ask him on a date, silly!”
I looked at Ellie like she was crazy. “No.”
Ellie sighed. “Are you ever going to go on a date? You’ve never been on a date with anyone. And Jin’s not even from here, so if the date goes badly, he’s leaving in a month! You’ll never have to see him again!”
Part of me wondered just what would happen if the date went well, though. He would be leaving then too, and I’d be left adrift after spending a summer with a guy I’d fallen in love with. Again.
“Yeah, and if the date goes bad, the two of us will still be spending every day on the same beach together. I can’t risk it.”
“Why not?”
Ellie clearly wasn’t understanding, so I pulled out the only card I knew to play in this situation.
“Are you going to ask Mateo out?”
Ellie considered this for a few moments. Then she shrugged. “Maybe.”
“See? You’re not sure either! So how about we both just not ask them out at move on with life? We don’t need men to fulfill our lives.”
Ellie took this as an invitation to ask Mateo out and use her success as an excuse for me to ask Jin out, though, so that card didn’t work the way I’d expected it to. No matter what she said, I wouldn’t cave. I wouldn’t go on a date with Jin. I wouldn’t. I just needed to get over this dumb crush before the summer was over so that I could go back to my normal life once university started up again in the fall. I could live the rest of my life without Jin. There were plenty of nice guys at the university anyways. I was sure I could date one of them and be far happier than I’d be in a long-distance relationship.
Every day at the snack bar was excruciatingly long as I tried my best to avoid Jin. I just knew I’d say something stupid to him if I was given the chance, so I wasn’t going to give myself that chance.
Part of me really wanted him to return and talk to me again, though. I felt like that silly fourteen-year-old all over again who swooned at just about anything he said. I didn’t like that feeling. It made me feel out of control, and I preferred to have control over everything in my life. Every time my heart jumped in my chest when I saw him, I reminded myself that this would all be over in four weeks. He wasn’t staying, and I wasn’t going to let him take my heart with him. Not if I had anything to say about it.
The bad thing was that it seemed the beach was not the only place I had to avoid him. He was everywhere I went. He shopped at the same supermarket as me, he was eating at my favorite restaurant, and he was even using the same gym as me. Who went to the gym in this town, anyways? You could walk everywhere in town, and the beach gave you more of a workout than the gym ever could. Walking through sand was definitely more of a workout than walking the track. Saying this makes me sound like a hypocrite for having a gym membership, though, so I’ll explain myself: the gym was supposed to be my safe haven from Jin. I also still hated the beach even in the off season, so it was more reasonable to go there than to the beach. No one needs a winter tan, right?
I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I had stopped for more than a few seconds to watch him lift weights one morning at the gym. It didn’t mean anything, though. He just had nice biceps. Other than that, I was avoiding him. At least, that was what I told myself. I wasn’t exactly doing everything I could to avoid him. I definitely didn’t stop in the chips aisle at the store to stare at him. And I didn’t sit three booths down from him at the burger place and watched him eat. I also hadn’t bought a pair of binoculars to watch him at the beach.
Ok, so admittedly, Jin was making me do crazy things. I blamed it on the fourteen-year-old inside of me who was floored at the thought of possibly dating her crush. He wasn’t my crush, though. Definitely not.
“I made a really good call on that beer last week. It was actually pretty good.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, leaning against the counter like I hadn’t been watching him playing volleyball with a few other guys just three minutes earlier. “Would you like to buy another one?”
“Actually, can I buy four? One of my friends kept stealing the last one I bought, so I’m just going to get one for each of us.”
I laughed. “Of course. I’ll get you four of them. That’s twelve dollars.”
He pulled out a few bills and handed them to me before picking the drinks up off the counter. “Thanks! I’ll be back for something else later,” he said with a wink.
I wanted to punch my heart for beating faster at that small motion. He was just a guy. A really hot guy, but just a guy. There wasn’t really anything that made him stand out from all the other guys on the beach this summer. He was just a guy I’d known for a month in high school and never seen again.
Ok, so I was doing a really bad job at convincing myself I didn’t have a crush on him anymore. Maybe I needed to get away. We were about a half an hour drive from the mainland, and I could totally take a day or two off work for some time to myself.
So, that’s exactly what I did. I took Friday off that week so that I could have three whole days on the mainland. A vacation was just what I needed. Jin would be off my mind, and I wouldn’t be sweating through my clothes for hours on end. Come to think of it, I should’ve gotten a different summer job. Staring at shirtless guys for hours on end was someone’s cup of tea, but that someone was not me.
Ellie wanted to join me on my little trip, but I was convinced I needed some time to myself, so I left her with her new boyfriend. That was ok. The two of them could spend a lot of time together while I wasn’t there. They didn’t get to spend a lot of time together outside the music store because Ellie spent all her free time with me.
I packed a little bag. I wouldn’t need much for two nights, right? Generally, I had a tendency to overpack, but I wasn’t giving in this time. I was packing light, and I was leaving my dog with my parents. I could spend two nights without him.
The drive to the mainland was far more insane than I’d expected it to be. There were so, so many cars on the road. How had I not realized this many people visited our tiny island during the summer? Sure, I saw many unfamiliar faces every day, but it had never occurred to me that there were this many unfamiliar faces.
By the time I arrived on the mainland, it was nearly noon. I hadn’t gotten out of the house until ten, and the traffic had been horrendous. I was ready for some lunch.
I found a little surf n’ turf shop near my hotel, and just about everything on the menu looked tasty. I was pretty wiped out from all the driving. I always was. It wasn’t often I drove more than a mile, so being in a car for two hours had been really exhausting.
It was only when I sat down to eat that I spotted Jin sitting at one of the tables. I recognized two of the guys sitting with him as guys who lived in town, and there was one guy I didn’t recognize. I blinked slowly as I plopped down into my seat. I’d come here to escape Jin, and he was sitting three tables down from me! I wanted to scream. Then, my worst nightmare happened. One of the guys patted Jin on the shoulder and pointed my way. Jin turned around and smiled as he waved at me.
“Isabelle! Come sit with us!”
I would’ve said no, but I was too socially awkward to stand up for myself, so I crossed the room and sat between Jin and one of the other guys.
“You’re the snack stand girl, right?” the guy sitting to my right asked.
I smiled at him. “Yeah, I work at the snack bar.”
He grinned. “How have I never had that beer before? I swear I’ve shopped at your snack stand.”
I shrugged. I briefly remembered this guy’s name as Yoongi or something, but I couldn’t be sure it was the same person. There were quite a few young men living on the island, and I certainly didn’t know all of them.
“Hey, you got the crab?” Jin asked. “Awesome. Is it good?”
I didn’t want to admit to him that I hadn’t even tried it yet, so I shoved a hushpuppy in my mouth as I broke one of the crab legs.
“What are you doing up here, Isabelle?” Yoongi asked. “Your name is Isabelle, right? I’m remembering that correctly?”
I nodded. “I’m on a vacation,” I mumbled around a bite of food.
“Are you gonna be back in town by Sunday night? One of my friends is throwing a party on the beach that night. You should come.”
“Ohh. Sounds fun.”
“Yoongi’s right. You should come with us,” Jin nodded.
“Oh?” I asked with a mumble.
Now all four guys were staring at me expectantly, and I didn’t have the courage to say no.
“I suppose I could come.”
“Great!” Jin grinned. “Do you still live where you used to? I could pick you up.”
“Oh, you don’t have to-”
“Yeah, she still lives there,” Yoongi assured him, nodding.
How on earth did he know where I lived? Sure, the town was small, but I didn’t know where he lived. Then again, I hadn’t even really seen him until today, and if Jin was talking about me, he probably knew who I was. I didn’t ask questions and instead elected to just eat my crab.
“Isabelle, have you ever been to pier?” Jin asked a few minutes later.
I looked up at him. “We have a pier?”
So, I found myself on the pier with four guys I barely knew. Maybe that wasn’t the smartest idea, but I didn’t care. They all had to be ok guys if they knew Jin. At least, if Jin was still the same guy I’d known six years ago. Ok, so maybe this was still a bad idea. It was ok, though. Jin and Yoongi both seemed to really enjoy fishing, and their friends were fine with watching while getting their occasional turns.
“Have you ever tried fishing?” Jin asked as he threw his line out again.
“Me? Nope.”
“You should try it.” He reeled the line back in and handed me the pole.
I stared at it for a few moments. “Um…so, what do I do?”
“Here,” he stepped behind me and reached for the pole. “May I?”
Truthfully, if it had been anyone else, I would’ve said no, but this was Jin, and the fourteen-year-old inside me was absolutely ecstatic at the thought of Jin pressing his chest to my back to help me fish. My heart was jumping in my chest too, and I momentarily wondered if he’d be able to feel it.
“Yeah. Please.”
He wrapped his hands around mine and guided me through casting the line. I had to admit that I wasn’t sure I could do this by myself if he let me.
“See? You’ve got it.”
I shook my head. “I really don’t.”
He laughed. “Ok. I’ll stay here.”
I felt a tug on the pole a few moments later, and I grinned. “Oh my gosh! Did we catch something?”
I was holding a little tiny fish a few moments later.
“Look at it! It’s so adorable!”
Jin smiled. “Yeah, it is.”
I looked around. “Hey…where did the boys go?”
“We’d had enough of watching you two being all lovey-dovey,” Yoongi informed us when we found the three of them way down at the other end of pier a few minutes later.
I laughed awkwardly as I realized what he was implying. “Well, I had some other things I planned to do today, so…. I’m going to head out now. It was awesome fishing with you guys, although I have to admit I was so awful at it I’m not sure I’ll do it again. Um…yeah. See you guys Sunday!”
Then I ran off before I had another chance to embarrass myself.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing whatever I could find on the mainland. I had to admit, there really wasn’t much to do here. Our little island had more interesting things to do than this place did. And it had my favorite snow cone shop, which was arguably the most important thing to have in your day-to-day life. Especially when you lived on an island off South Carolina. Nothing was more important than snow cones and surfing. Or shark fishing, if you were Ellie’s dad.
I headed back home as soon as I checked out of my hotel on Sunday. I’d planned on staying longer, but I couldn’t really think of anything else to do.
As soon as I got back into town, I headed straight for the music store. Ellie was working today, and I figured she could use some company. Except that she clearly didn’t, considering she and Mateo were making out behind the counter when I walked in.
“Whoa, lovebirds, not during office hours,” I complained, announcing my presence.
Ellie shoved her boyfriend away and spun around. “Ohhh heyyyyy. What are you doing here? I thought you were in Bluffton until this evening?”
“Uh, yeah, I was supposed to be. That place was awfully boring, I have to admit. There was nearly nothing to do besides go to Walmart!”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“When you have nothing to do but shop at Walmart for two days, it’s pretty bad. And, you won’t believe this, Jin was there with three of his friends.”
“He was at Walmart?”
“No, Ellie! I-” I shook my head. “He was in Bluffton on Friday.”
Ellie grinned. “Awesome. Did you say hi to him?”
“Yeah. I ate dinner with them and then we went to a fishing pier and fished for a while.”
“Ooo. Did you guys do anything?”
“…we fished.” I squinted. I could see where she was going with this. “Ok, actually, I’m going to go home. I have a party to get ready for anyways.”
I could faintly hear Ellie asking what party, but it didn’t matter, because I was already out the door.
When I got home, I practically overturned my closet looking for an outfit. I had no idea what to wear. What was the dress code for beach parties? I’d lived on an island my entire life, but I’d never gone to a beach party. That sounded absolutely ridiculous, but it was the truth. Unless you counted the birthday party my aunt threw for my cousin when he turned six. That didn’t seem like the same thing, though.
I finally settled on a tank top and some skimpy shorts over my bathing suit. Considering this was by the beach, we were definitely going to be swimming. And if not, I could always just look hot in a bathing suit. My body wasn’t exactly what the locals called a beach body, but who cares?
Jin picked me up at five-thirty on the dot. I liked that a little too much. Punctuality tickled some part of my brain that was most likely feeding my want for perfection at all times. As I slid into the sports car, something occurred to me.
“Is this your car?”
“Yeah. I live upstate now, so I drove down here. Taking a plane would’ve taken just as much time out of my day.”
I laughed. “South Carolina is a long way from Arizona.”
“That it is,” he nodded. “My parents got tired of the weather being in the hundreds so often, and my dad got a new job a few years ago.”
“I see,” I nodded. “My parents still rent out beach houses for a living. And my mom works at that jewelry shop.”
“Awesome. You’ll have to take me down there and pick out some earrings for me.” He flicked his earlobe, and for the first time ever I noticed the earrings in his ears.
I gasped. “When did you get your ears pierced?”
“Tenth grade. All the boys from drama club made a pact and we got our ears pierced together,” he laughed. “I haven’t had a clip-on fall off my ear since.”
“Wow, are you sure you’re the Jin I met six years ago?”
He shrugged. “I always imagined you working at the Piggly Wiggly instead of on the beach, so I’m not sure I know you either.”
I snapped my fingers. “Actually, I did apply there. Working on the beach is nice, though.”
“Do you think we’ll get to see the stars tonight?”
“Oh yeah. The beach is the best place to see stars as long as the vacationers aren’t using strobe lights on their decks.”
“Strobe lights?” he asked in shock.
I nodded. “You’d be surprised what goes on. One time, I saw a drunk couple in their forties skinny dipping at one am. I was horrified. I haven’t been to the beach past ten since.”
Jin laughed. “Remind me to never get drunk by a body of water.”
I nodded. “If you do, I’m driving you straight home.”
It wasn’t long before we were parking near the beach, and the two of us walked the rest of the way to the party. One of Yoongi’s friends had parents who owned a beach house, and he was hosting the party there tonight. The bad thing was that his driveway had room for about three cars, so the rest of us had to park about a mile away.
“Yooooo, Tin Jin! You made it!” a tall guy with blond hair exclaimed as he hugged Jin.
“I told you not to call me that,” Jin grimaced as the guy crushed him.
“I told you it was because of the bucket you had on your head last week.”
Jin shook his head. “Still don’t call me that. Jin is fine, though.”
The guy nodded, seeming to get the memo this time. “Yoongi’s in the kitchen.”
There turned out to be a very large stash of snacks in the kitchen, so the three of us ate as Yoongi and Jin chatted.
“Hey, Isabelle, your birthday is soon, right?” Jin asked eventually.
I smiled. “Yeah, next week, actually.”
“You’re turning twenty-one, right? We’ve gotta get you some alcohol.”
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s ok. You don’t need to do that.”
“Come on,” Yoongi nudged my shoulder. “There’s got to be something you want to try. Beer? Wine? Whiskey?”
“Actually, wine sounds good.” I shrugged. “Maybe champagne too.”
“Ah, the lady does have demands,” Jin teased. “Anything in particular? Or should we just choose something random?”
“Hey, whatever you find is fine. I don’t plan on getting too drunk, so just don’t go wild with your options.”
“All right. Is there anything else you’d like to do? The last time I was at your party was when you were fifteen, so I’m sure you’re not too interested in everything rainbow themed anymore.”
I glared at him. “We don’t talk about that.”
“So…the answer is yes, then?”
“You’re mean.”
“You were at her fifteenth?” Yoongi asked.
Jin nodded. “I was here in June.”
“You didn’t come to my fifteenth!”
“Yeah, cause it was in March,” Jin stated matter-of-factly. “I had school.”
“It was over spring break.”
“And I lived on the other side of the country. It’s ok. I was here for your twenty-first.”
Yoongi shook his head. Then he looked at me. “Look, he was already more committed to you than he was to me at fifteen.”
I glanced between the two of them. “I beg to differ. You two know each other far better than I know either of you.”
“You didn’t tell her about the great meltdown of 2018?”
Jin reached across the counter to shove Yoongi’s arm.
“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.
Jin laughed. “It’s nothing.”
Yoongi blew out a long breath. “I wouldn’t say that visiting every house in that neighborhood was nothing.”
“Yoongi!”
Yoongi looked at me. “Did you really never find out?”
I was still confused. Did he mean Jin had been looking for my house? If so, why? The two of us had made no point of keeping in contact after we were fifteen, but he’d come looking for me two years later?
“Yeah. You guys were out of town that week. Did the neighbors never tell you?”
I shook my head. I’d never heard anything of this.
“Yoongi,” Jin said through gritted teeth. “Shut up.”
Yoongi leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms before smiling. “Ok. I’ll shut up.”
I shoved about five more grapes into my mouth so that I didn’t say something stupid. Had Jin spent the past six years missing me too? Was I not totally insane for being in love with a guy I’d known for a month? The thought of him reciprocating my feelings made me feel even more insane. There was no way he did. Yoongi had to be lying. Except…Jin was rather mad at him for saying all of that.
“You said there’s a pool out back?” I asked after I’d swallowed all those grapes.
Yoongi nodded, so I abandoned the two of them and left my clothes on one of the beach chairs before jumping in the pool. Most of the guests had decided the beach was better than the pool, apparently, because there was one other person in this pool.
After completely soaking myself in water, I sat in the hot tub for probably longer than was healthy. When the hot tub didn’t feel hot anymore, I jumped back into the pool, which now felt ice cold. I squeaked as the water soaked through my swimsuit. I shouldn’t have come tonight. I was headed back to Columbia in two months, so the two of us would be split up regardless of whether he was here or home with his parents.
Eventually I found myself soaking wet and laying on a pool chair as I stared up at the stars. I had been right. The stars looked great from here, especially where there weren’t streetlights blocking my view. Why didn’t we take advantage of our beach houses more often? Sure, we rented them out to people, but there were the occasional nights that no one was staying there.
It was only then that I realized how late it really was. One check of my phone confirmed that it was already nine. How long had I spent in the pool, exactly?
That night, I laid in my bed wide awake after successfully washing and combing all the chlorine from the pool out of my hair. Jin had come looking for me years ago. I’d never even tried. His grandparents had lived down the block from me this whole time, and not once had I thought to go over there and ask for his contact information. How stupid was I?
I rolled around in bed, considering everything that had happened in the past few days. Jin had to like me. Why else would Yoongi be making all these random comments otherwise? I didn’t know how to feel about this. On the one hand, I wanted to date Jin. On the other hand…were long-distance relationships during university really the best idea? I picked up my pillow and screamed into it. Maybe I should never have gotten that job at the snack bar.
Work started again the next day, but it wasn’t for about a week that I discovered Jin hadn’t gotten tired of the beach yet. This was the first time I’d really seen him swimming in the ocean. I couldn’t really tell what he was doing from where I was standing, but he was definitely in the water. He’d spent most of the time I’d watched him either making sandcastles or playing volleyball.
It was around noon when he finally wandered over towards me.
“Hey, have you ever seen the seashells here?”
I didn’t want to tell him that I’d gone searching for seashells many, many times since I was little. I glanced up to find him holding a huge shell in his hand, and my eyes widened.
“Wow! I’ve never pulled one that big!”
“Really? It took me about three hours to find one this big. One of the boys found some huge sand dollars. You’ll have to come out later so I can show you.”
“Well, I get off at four. Maybe I can run home and get my bathing suit then.”
“Cool! We’re doing barbeque at Yoongi’s house tonight. Wanna come?”
“Sure! When is it?”
“We’re gonna head over there at five to get the grill started. One of his friends bought a bunch of steak and shrimp and other stuff.”
“Ok, I’ll tell my parents that I won’t be joining them for dinner.”
I had to admit that it was a little weird to be spending so much time with a group of people I didn’t know, but it was worth it to spend time with Jin. It seemed that he didn’t know many of the people at these gatherings either, so I was good company to him. Although, did we really know each other any better than the other people there?
After I’d run home to get my bathing suit, Jin and I waded out to where the water was deeper to search for sand dollars.
“Have you ever done this? Yoongi said you need to dig around with your toes…”
It was much easier to do that now that the water was reaching my shoulders.
“Oh! I found one!”
I used my toes to pull it out of the sand, and then I grabbed it and pulled it out of the water.
“Well, would you look at that,” he laughed. “You’re good at this. Ooo! I think I got one!”
Once his was out of the water, the two of us compared them.
“Yours is bigger,” I laughed. “Probably because my toes are smaller.”
He took this as an invitation to pull his foot out of the water and wiggle his toes in my face. “These are bigger than yours?”
Before I could even shove him, he lost his balance and fell into the water. He resurfaced a few seconds later, coughing out water.
“I lost the sand dollar!” he exclaimed. “We have to make sure they’re put down on the floor or they won’t survive!”
I quickly placed my sand dollar back in the sand using my foot, and then the two of us swam around for a few minutes looking for Jin’s sand dollar.
“How big was it?” I asked.
He made a circle with his hands to imitate the sand dollar’s size. “It was about this big!”
I held up a sand dollar. “Is this it?”
He swam over to me and examined the sand dollar in my hand.
“Probably. Let’s put it back. I think it’s about time to head to Yoongi’s place.”
Once we got back into the shallow water, I went off running.
“Try to catch me!”
“Hey! That’s not fair! You got a head start!”
“Your legs are longer than mine!”
Yoongi’s house wasn’t too far from where we’d been, so we walked. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to walk in sand-coated sandals, but I’d deal until we were on solid concrete.
“You know, I could get used to living on the beach like this,” Jin admitted.
“Do your parents live out west?”
He nodded. “Just about as west as you can get in this state. My grandparents wanted them to move closer, but my dad’s job took them to Greenville. I could always move down here if I wanted to. It’s nice to be with my parents, though.”
“Should we go to the jewelry store this weekend? You’ve gotta get some earrings before you leave, right?”
He laughed. “That’s right! We should go around and see if we can find some good alcohol while we’re at it. Your birthday is Monday, right?”
“Hey, you remembered!” I grinned. “I’m taking the day off. My parents wanted to take me canoeing, and then we’re doing a dolphin boat tour in the afternoon.”
“That sounds cool! Is there a time we can get together?”
“I’m sure we can do something for dinner. The dolphin tour ends around seven.” I paused. “Do you want to come on the dolphin tour with us? The guy taking us is one of my dad’s friends, so he’s just taking the three of us. I think we could cram one more in.”
Jin laughed. “Sure, I’d love to come! You think your parents remember me?”
“Well, Ellie sure remembers you.”
“Is she the one who wore nothing but braids the whole summer?”
“That’s her!”
“I’m just memorable,” he nodded with a wink.
Yoongi’s place was a lot smaller than I’d expected it to be. Despite the fact that there were about four bedrooms in the house, there weren’t a bunch of open floors like the house we’d been at last weekend. He had a modest little living room and a kitchen, and the back yard was pretty small and grassy.
“Jin, can you watch the grill for a few minutes? I need to go check on the potatoes.” Yoongi asked – informed, more like – the moment he saw Jin. He was already inside before Jin could respond.
“Hey, did you get to see the stars on Sunday?” I asked. “They were pretty bright from the pool.”
“I don’t think I did, no,” Jin shook his head. “I didn’t go outside much while we were there.”
“You’ll have to see them tonight.”
“Will I?”
“Of course!”
Surprisingly, Yoongi’s barbeque was a lot more peaceful than the party we’d had on Sunday. Granted, there was much more food and far less talking, but there was no drama, and Yoongi wasn’t spilling Jin’s secrets today.
A few of the guys offered me beer, but I insisted that I was waiting until Monday. If I didn’t have the experience of trying alcohol on my twenty-first birthday, was it even a special day?
The next morning, Jin and I headed over to see my mom. Morning meaning more like afternoon, because I wasn’t even awake until eleven.
“Did your mom work here before?” Jin asked as we walked down the street. “I don’t recall.”
I shook my head. “She wanted something else to do besides taking care of our beach houses.”
I backed into the door and listened as the bell jingled over my head.
“Wow, this place is tiny!” Jin exclaimed.
“Isabelle! Is this Jin? My goodness, he’d gotten tall!”
I laughed. “Yeah, Mom, this is Jin. He wanted to come find some earrings.”
“Oh, we have a lot of those,” Mom laughed as she walked around the counter. “Anything in particular you were looking for?”
“Not really. I just wanted to look around. Most of my earrings look the same,” Jin admitted.
“You should get some dangles!” I encouraged him.
He picked up a pair of huge earrings. “These?”
I cringed. “No.”
“Ok, you tell me what you’d pick for me, then.”
I walked a few laps around the shop as I looked. What should I choose for him? I didn’t know him all that well, but I knew he did look good in the earrings he was wearing now. There was definitely a reason he always wore those.
I noticed Jin watching me out of the corner of my eye. This made me a bit embarrassed, but it didn’t matter. I had to be particular about what I chose. These would be one of the few things he remembered me by when we parted ways, that was for sure.
Eventually, I found a pair of earrings I thought would fit him well. I pulled them out and held them up.
“What do you think of these?”
“Chains?”
I nodded. “They’d look good on you, don’t you think?”
“I’m not sure,” he laughed. “I’ve never worn anything like that, not even in theater.”
“Great! Something new for your collection, then!”
“I supposed so.” He took the earrings from me and held one of them up next to his ear. “What do you think?”
“It looks awesome! We should definitely get those!”
He nodded. “All right, we’ll get these ones. Should we head to the liquor store now?”
“In a few minutes. I need to talk to my mom real quick and pay for these. We should get some snow cones on our way out. What do you think?”
“That’s a great idea! I’ll wander around outside while I wait for you, ok?”
I nodded, and he left the shop. I walked over to the counter and paid my mom for the earrings.
“Do you like him?” she asked.
“What? Where would you get an idea like that?”
She gave me her all-knowing look, and I sighed.
“Ok, maybe I like him a little bit.” I was quick to change the subject. “There’s something I wanted to ask. Jin wanted to spend my birthday with me, and I was wondering if it was ok if I bring him with me to the dolphin tour?”
She laughed. “Of course! It’s your birthday. As long as he’s not joining us for canoeing. It’s too late to add him now.”
I shook my head. “I know that. Besides, I do want to spend some time with just you and Dad on my birthday.”
“Of course. Did he say you were going to the liquor store?”
I nodded. “He and Yoongi said that I should try a few kinds of alcohol on my birthday.”
“Oh, did they? Be safe, whatever you do.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
After Jin and I got our snow cones, we headed over to the liquor store.
“It is legal for me to go in here, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. You just can’t buy anything.”
The two of us browsed the different wines and champagnes as we ate our snow cones.
“Have you ever had any of these?” I asked as I looked at a bottle of wine.
“Not most of them, no. I haven’t drunk much, to be honest. I’ve had beer here and there, but that’s about it.” He pulled out his phone as it chimed. “My mom suggests rosé.”
I nodded. “I guess we’ll get that and some champagne, then. But…which one?”
He ran his hands over a few bottles. “Maybe this one?”
“I suppose that should be fine. Does Yoongi have any suggestions?”
“I’m sure he’ll already have bought them if he has any,” Jin laughed.
I smiled.
As we walked around the liquor store, I considered how long it had been since I’d really spoken to Ellie. Maybe a week wasn’t that long to go without talking to your friend, but it was definitely a long time for us. Usually, we spent a day around each of our birthdays together, but she hadn’t even asked what I was doing for the day. I would’ve invited her to hang out with me when I went over to Yoongi’s, but she wasn’t old enough to drink yet, so she would’ve probably just felt left out. It felt strange not talking to her. Sure, we’d both been busy, but even when we’d been in college, we’d taken time to text each other at least once a day.
I texted her that night when I got home. The response I got was short.
“Teo and I have been hanging out. Sorry. Maybe we can get together next week.”
Well. I guess that told me where we stood.
I ended up walking over to Yoongi’s by myself come Monday. I’d headed home for a quick change of clothing before I headed over, so Jin had gone by himself. As I walked, I realized that I was feeling pretty out of it. My best friend had abandoned me. On my birthday, of all days. It wasn’t like I had other friends to see either. Sure, I had Jin and Yoongi, but as sweet as they were, it wasn’t the same. They were two people I’d barely known for three weeks. I’d known Ellie since third grade.
Maybe this was my fault. I hadn’t really made the effort to talk to her since I’d gotten back in town, so maybe she was mad at me about that. Our conversation at the music store hadn’t ended all that well since I’d run out of there, so it would be reasonable if she was mad at me. That didn’t mean it felt good to be ignored on my birthday, though.
I was just going to let it go. Tonight, I was going to have a good time with Jin and Yoongi and a few bottles of alcohol. We had a little over a month until school started up again, so I was going to make the most out of these next few weeks, with or without Ellie. I knocked on Yoongi’s door.
“It’s open,” I heard him call from inside.
I stepped inside and headed to the living room. Suddenly, all the lights turned on.
“Surprise!”
My eyes widened. “What?”
I glanced around. There weren’t that many people here, but it was more than I’d been expecting. Jin, Yoongi, my parents, Jin’s grandparents, Ellie, and Mateo were all here. There was a cake on the kitchen counter, and there was a banner hanging over the fireplace that read ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISABELLE!’ It was clearly handmade, and I’d recognize Ellie’s handwriting anywhere. She hadn’t been mad at me.
“We decided to surprise you,” Jin smiled. “What do you think?”
“I think this is awesome!” I hugged him. “Thank you!” I turned to Ellie. “And you! Get over here!”
She laughed and crossed the room to hug me. “We surprised you, right?”
“You sure did! I thought you were mad at me!”
She scoffed. “Mad at you? I could never be mad at you!” She paused. “Actually, I am a little mad that you’re drinking without me tonight.”
“Don’t worry. We can do it on your birthday too.”
“I’m lucky school doesn’t start before my birthday this year.”
It turned out that Jin and Yoongi bought a few more bottles than I’d picked out on Saturday. We didn’t need much for eight people, though.
“Can I at least smell yours?” Ellie asked as I poured a glass of wine.
“You can smell it,” I nodded with a laugh.
She leaned in close to me. “So, any progress with the boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Ok, fine. Any progress with Jin?”
“What kind of progress?”
“Have you guys…” she lowered her voice even further. “Kissed?”
I scoffed. “No.”
“What? What do you mean you haven’t kissed? You guys have been hanging out for a whole week!”
“Yeah, well, we’re not you and Mateo.”
She shook her head. “You guys have to kiss at least once before he goes home.”
“No, we don’t. In fact, I’d rather we not kiss.”
“Why?”
“I can’t be in a relationship with him, El. He lives up in Greenville.”
“Which is what, an hour from Columbia? Don’t be dramatic. You two could totally date. I’m gonna be down in Florida, and Mateo and I are still going to find a way to make it work. Relationships aren’t just kissing, you know. You can have a meaningful conversation over the phone.”
“All I’ve seen you and Mateo do is kiss. Are you sure you’re the person who should be telling me this?”
Ellie slapped my shoulder. “Oh, shush. Just listen to me.”
“I don’t think I will.”
It was hours before the party ended. The vast majority of us had clearly drunken. Mateo took Jin’s grandparents home, and that left the rest of us to clean up.
“That was the best birthday party I’ve ever had,” I laughed as I stacked the paper plates we’d used. “Yoongi, that wine you bought was awesome.”
“I’m glad you liked it. That’s one of my favorite ones.”
Jin tugged on my sleeve. “Let’s go outside. The stars are bright tonight.”
I followed him out to the backyard eagerly. Yoongi’s place was completely dark, so if we laid on the ground, we could see the stars pretty well. Jin sat down in the grass and tugged my hand, beckoning me to sit down with him. I joined him, and the two of us looked up at the sky together.
“There’s not many constellations.”
I hummed. Regardless, the stars were pretty. My own yard wasn’t really a great place for viewing stars. I lay down in the grass. This was a moment I’d put in my back pocket and keep forever. If I wasn’t too drunk to remember it, that was. I couldn’t remember how much I’d had to drink.
“Hey, Isa?”
“Yes, Jin?”
“Can I kiss you?”
He was still sitting up, so it didn’t take much effort for me to look at him. My logical mind would’ve told him no, but I had at least three glasses of various kinds of alcohol in me, so I wasn’t thinking straight.
“Yeah. Kiss me, Jin.”
He looked conflicted for a second, but then he leaned over me and kissed me. I grinned like a fool against his lips.
“This is my first kiss,” I mumbled.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you while we’re drunk,” he decided. It was too late now.
But of course, alcohol had taken all reason out of our heads, so we kissed under the stars for a few moments.
“I think I need to go home, Jin,” I giggled. “I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“You could sleep in one of Yoongi’s spare rooms.”
I hummed. “Why does he have so many spare rooms, anyways? He’s twenty-one. He can’t be rich enough to own a whole house.”
“Yeah…it’s one of his dad’s houses.” Jin’s eyes widened, and he smacked his palm over his mouth. “Don’t tell him I told you.”
I laughed stupidly, like a drunk person would. I wouldn’t remember this in the morning. I wouldn’t remember any of this. I wouldn’t remember who owned Yoongi’s house…and I wouldn’t remember my first kiss….
I woke up on my own bed the next morning with about four blankets piled on top of me. Had I walked home? I couldn’t recall. As I blinked at my wall, I remembered what had happened the previous night.
I flew out of bed and ran to my bathroom before staring at myself in the mirror. I’d kissed Jin! Was I an idiot? This was going to ruin my life forever!
I ran back into my room and dug through my sheets, finally coming across my phone. I had a few texts from Jin.
“Good morning! Yoongi’s dragging me out for breakfast. He said food is good for hangovers or something. I don’t know how to tell him I don’t have a hangover. Would you like to meet up later today? Maybe I could take you on an official date.”
I threw my phone down on my bed. This was not supposed to happen! Dating Jin was supposed to just be some wild dream I had to carry me through the summer, and then real life would resume when I went back to university. I picked up my phone and replied to him.
“Sorry, I have work! Maybe we can meet up later?”
I didn’t wait for his response before jumping in the shower. Even if Jin didn’t have a hangover, it appeared that I did. Hopefully I could make it through work today without any issues.
I hated how my heart jumped when I saw Jin’s response of a few hearts and a kissing emoji. I was supposed to be immune to him by now. I’d lived this long without him, so surely I could live the rest of my life without him. University wasn’t the place to be in a relationship, especially one that was long distance.
I shoved my phone deep into the pocket of my shorts, and then I headed to work. I didn’t know when Jin was leaving, but I hoped it was soon. The sooner he left, the less it would hurt to let him go.
I met up with Ellie for dinner that evening, and I could tell she wanted to rip out every last hair on my head after I told her what had happened.
“You idiot! He’s clearly whipped for you, and you won’t even give it a chance?”
“I can’t let myself get attached, El.” I frowned as I felt tears flood my eyes. “I got attached the first time, and it hurt so bad when he left.”
“But, Isa, this isn’t the same as last time. You’re both adults now. The world is so much smaller than it used to be. You guys are so close you could drive to see each other during the school year.”
I shrugged. “I just can’t.”
“Is there anything that could make you?”
“Well, if we lived in the same town or something, maybe we could make it work, but….”
Ellie sighed. “Come on, Isa. This is silly. You should go talk to him.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to. I’m just going to have to let him go.”
It was clear Ellie was having none of my sulking, so I sulked at the snack bar instead. As much as I really didn’t feel like working, it gave me something to do during the day. Jin hadn’t been around on the beach, either, so I didn’t really have a reason to avoid my job. He was probably fishing with Yoongi. I vaguely remembered them talking about going shark fishing at some point, and a place with a bunch of little kids really wasn’t the place to do that. Thankfully.
My luck ran out on Friday, though. Jin came walking up to the stand just like he had the first day he’d been here. Once again, I was trying to find all the ways I could bury myself in the sand.
“Hey, Isa,” he smiled at me. “You haven’t been answering my texts. What’s up?”
“Uh, I can’t really date you. I’m sorry if I mislead you.”
“Oh.”
That pretty smile he’d had on his face before disappeared now, and I felt guilty for making him feel so.
“That’s ok. I’m headed back to Greenville next week.”
“You are?” I asked in distress. I shouldn’t have been upset, really. This was what I’d been saving myself from by ignoring him.
He nodded. “My parents wanted to see me for a little while before I have to head back to school. I’ll see you next summer, I guess?”
I offered him a small smile. “Right. Next summer.”
I didn’t let myself be disappointed when he left the next week. Ellie dragged me out to say goodbye to him, but all I could offer him was a wave as he drove away. I was letting all this go.
It wasn’t until Ellie’s birthday party that I finally let it all out. Three glasses of wine was clearly too much for me. It kept me saying things I’d never intended to reach the world.
“I shouldn’t have said no to him, El. He’s the sweetest man alive, and I let him go all because he lives too far away,” I cried. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Yeah, you are.”
Man, she could’ve at least softened the blow.
“I should call him,” I decided.
Ellie was too quick for me, though. She whipped my phone out of my hand before I could even unlock it.
“We don’t make hasty decisions while drunk, Isa. Remember what happened last time?”
“Yes, I kissed Jin. Now give me my phone.”
Except that alcohol also seemed to take away my coordination and strength as well, so getting my phone away from Ellie was a lost cause. I finally gave in and laid across her lap.
“Tell me I’ll forget about him when I go back to university, El.”
“You’ll forget about him when you go back to university.”
“I know you don’t mean it.”
She laughed. “I know you know.”
School started not too long after that. I had to admit that the two-hour drive up to Columbia felt even longer than it was supposed to. Sitting in a car for more than ten minutes felt like torture.
By the time I’d unpacked my car, I was starving. It wasn’t near dinnertime yet, but I was going to eat anyways. There were about fifteen fast food places within a mile of the school, so I settled for some pizza. Granted, no one besides a professional football player needed an entire pizza to themselves, but I didn’t care. I was going to eat as much of this pizza as I pleased without anyone judging me. Ok, my roommate would probably be judging me. But it wasn’t any of her business how much pizza I ate.
I was happily walking out of the pizza place with my dinner when I looked up at the man who was holding the door for me.
“Jin? What are you doing here?”
He pointed a thumb back to my university. “I go to the UofSC?”
I ended up sharing my pizza with him as we sat at a nearby park and chatted.
“You’ve gone here for two years? How have I never seen you?”
He laughed. “I have no clue.”
“I’m so sorry about what happened after my birthday. I just couldn’t handle long-distance.”
He nodded. “It’s ok. I understand. I just wish we’d actually talked about it. Maybe we wouldn’t have been upset at each other?”
I smiled.
“So, what do you say? Now that we’re in the same place all year…can I take you on a date?”
I had to admit, I’d never expected things to turn out this way. I’d never even considered him being at the same school as me, but I’d gotten that miracle after all.
If we shared a few kisses under the sunset that evening, no one but us knew. It was pretty amazing that we had the assurance of spending the next two years together.
The Fate of the Lyrics m.list
Main m.list
A/N: I decided to change the point of view like 2000 words into this so hopefully this was edited well enough that you can't tell. Not really sure how on earth I got this plot from the lyrics but you know 😂
It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!
Pairing: Kim Namjoon x OC (could also be read as x Reader)
Warning: mentions of food, Namjoon is wearing jorts (yes, this one needs a warning too)
Word count: 3.6k
A/N: All informations about Seoul, Korean food and the cultural sites referenced in the story were taken from the internet, so if you know/tried/visited said things first hand, feel free to correct eventual inaccuracies and I'll do my best to fix them.
–
Which brings us to my current position, sitting on my own in the front seats of the bus that'll take us to the Jongno District, where we will be met with our guide of the day. The seat next to me is taken, but its occupant – a man around my father's age, with a big belly and flushed, chubby cheeks – is too preoccupied with constantly turning to his wife and son on the seatings behind ours and chatting loudly with them. Way too loudly.
Nothing parallels the loneliness and sense of loss you feel when visiting a new, unknown city completely on your own.
And, if said city is on the other side of the globe, capital of a country poles apart from yours and whose language and culture you barely understand, this feeling of utter isolation triplicates. But, despite all of that, I don't regret coming to Seoul alone and I would do it all over again, if it wasn't so expensive. Granted, it would be easier, and perhaps funnier too, if I actually knew somebody or just managed to fight my own shyness to start talking with the other people that booked the same package holiday as me, but – alas! – I've never been good with starting conversations and always relayed on extroverts to do all the work. Unfortunately for me, the extroverts I happen to share hotel and tour guides with are not the kind that adopt quiet strangers, while my fellow introverts stick to their own group and don't even spare a glance in my direction.
I heave a sigh and look beyond the window pane at the running city, with its tall, glassy skyscrapers, streets bustling with life – from workers in a rush to and from the subway, young people hanging out with their friends and significant others, street dancers performing in a colourful array of styles and talents – and more traditional buildings embedded one over the other with their earthy tones and gently sloping roofs.
It takes us a good twenty minutes to reach our destination but, bewitched as I was with the city scenery, I really didn't notice the time passing and, next thing I know, we've arrived.
–
I'm among the first ones to descend the rented bus and set foot onto the station sidewalk, but I soon find myself drifting towards the edge of the group, as we all wait for the guide to show up and for the tour to finally begin.
I adjust the shoulder strap of my old, but trusty, Canon, around my neck, stealing glances now and then to the group of twenty-something people before me, a few chatting the wait away, some complaining about the already too warm weather – and, being only nine in the morning, I can only agree with the sweaty, old woman – and a good half of them looking around, with rapture and utter awe, hastily taking pictures of the surrounding area, much like kids on their first school trip. They're not even looking at the pictures they're taking, they're just clicking in rapid succession: I don't even dare imagine the quality of those photos.
«I'm sorry, but at what time was he supposed to be here? Gosh, I can't stand when people are late! And on his job, too!» A woman in her forties, nose and cheeks white with sunscreen and a big skimmer flattening her otherwise voluminous hairdo, whines out loud and a few people readily agree with her, nodding and grumbling as if it's the end of the world.
I'd like to step in and say that, actually, the tour will begin in five minutes and that we're the ones ahead of schedule, but the man – Roger something – that has been playing the ambassador of the group for the past couple of days beats me to it. Not that I would've actually chimed in, but I can't really put up with people that are always ready to make such a fuss over the most meaningless of things; especially when they're in the wrong, too!
I stretch my stiff neck a little and look up at the ashy-blue sky – not a single cloud in sight – and, when I focus once again on the people surrounding me on the small pedestrian area leased specifically for our bus, a man in jorts and brown sandals is crossing the crowded station plaza in this direction. Since we're the only large group of tourists present at the moment, it doesn't take much to understand that he's the guide we were waiting for – if the little green flag in his hand wasn't enough of a hint –, still, young and easy-going as he looks, I struggle with it.
«Hello, crew! – he greets with a big smile, once he's right in front of us, waving the bright flag in order to draw everybody's attention. His strong American accent momentarily catches me off guard. – My name is Kim Namjoon and I'll be your cicerone for today, very very lovely to meeting you all!»
«And I, you» whispers one of the women standing in front of me, turning to what I presume is her friend.
«Cute» she agrees as they glance at each other with a roguish smile.
I try not to roll my eyes at the flirty exchange, because, yes, he's good looking and all and his toned body doesn't exactly go unnoticed, especially with the way his loose white shirt somehow still manages to shape his torso, but I am more interested in what historical and cultural notions he's going to share with us during the tour, since I spent quite a pricey sum for it.
«Before we start, do you have everything with you? Cameras, wallets, bags and whatnots? Once we leave the station, you won't be able to come back to your bus but during lunch break, which is going to be in about four hours. For this same reason, I also ask you: does any of you need to use the restroom? There's a public one right by the terminal's café, but it has a fee. Speaking of which, every toilet facility in the plaza is going to have a fee. Nothing too expensive, don't worry. More of a tip to thanks the workers that keep them clean and functioning.» While he awaits for everyone to make sure they're ready to go, he puts the flag tiny bar in one of his denim shorts back pockets and fixes his mouthpiece, presumably turning it on. Which isn't really necessary, in my opinion, since he has a booming voice in its own. I never took a single second of my life thinking about it, before now, but if a tour guide voice were to have a set of characteristics to follow, his would be the blueprint. Full, resonant, but far from screeching, with a rich and warm timbre that's impossible to ignore and each syllable perfectly pronounced. My teenage sister would probably define it as “dreamy”.
«One more thing, the documents didn't state it, but does anyone of you have hearing problems of any kind? If so, just please inform me now and I will follow my explanations with sign language.»
«I'm old and I don't hear very well, so you'll have to speak out loud!» Almost-shouts the old woman that earlier on complained about the heat.
«Mom...» mutters her son, embarrassment laced in his low tone, but she simply swats him away.
«Of course, madam. I also have this – the tour guide, Namjoon, says, as he taps the microphone near his plump mouth with one slim finger, – to help me. But if you don't understand something, let me know and I'll repeat it louder.»
«Oh, what a lovely young man you are!»
The young man in question simply bows his head slightly and I find myself smiling, a little endeared, when I notice the tips of his ears growing redder at the elder's compliment.
–
If in my first opinion of him, based solely on his looks and young age, I feared he might still be inexperienced, but a novice of this job that just graduated from his art history studies, I soon have to change my mind. Yes, his lazy fit is worlds apart from the two older men's that guided us through Yongsan Family Park and the Leeum during the course of the past three days, and, yes, he is young, still in his late twenties and full of hope, as he answered with a thundering laugh, but his presence, the way he confidently carries himself from one monument to the next, as if he owned them, tells an entirely different story. He loves the city, he understands it... and seemingly knows every single bit of information about its history, simplifying its complicated past for us, while still enriching his explanations with all sorts of trivia and fun facts, readily answering every sort of questions some of us throw his way.
In other words, the most interesting guided tour I've been in so far. Which, admittedly, aren't that many, but I don't need much experience to see how passionate and good he is in what he does.
The rich past of Jongno District merges into the present through and because of him.
We move from the Confucian Jongmyo Shrine – where we focus on the Main Gate and the Mangmyoru Pavilion for an hour or so – to the grand statue of King Sejong and Admiral Yi, from the artistic area of Samcheongdong with its many restored hanok houses, museums and art galleries to Insadong main street and its antique shops and, lastly, stop at the entrance of the Tongin Market, where he invites us to take a break for an hour and a half for trying Korean traditional lunch boxes and relaxing, before meeting once again and move to Gyeongbokgung Palace for the final part of the cultural trip. Four hours already flew by without any of us noticing and I find myself dreading the moment we'll eventually have to say goodbye to our guide.
Another thing I'm certainly not looking forward to is when the group scatters, spouses and families and friends slowly but surely leaving in every direction to go find a good restaurant or food stall to eat and I find myself on my own.
Biting slightly on my lower lip, I hurriedly look around, trying to decide on the spot where to go and what to do from here. The feelings of loneliness and isolation rush back in and I awkwardly start walking towards the entrance, where I'll have to purchase brass coins in order to buy food.
The line is not too long and I recognize a couple of familiar faces from the tour group, but I keep to myself as I mentally repeat what Namjoon told us about the curious experience of using Yeopjeong just like during the old times.
I am so lost in my thoughts that I don't immediately recognize the voice calling for my attention and I'm startled by the hand lightly tapping on my shoulder. I blink in confusion and quickly look up, only to be met by unique, feline dark eyes partially hid behind a pair of square glasses. From up close he looks taller and way bigger than he did during the tour and I can clearly distinguish a handful of bronze freckles dusting his warm, olive complexion all over his broad face and flat, tiny nose.
«Oh.» I can only eloquently breathe out, taken aback by the sudden proximity of another person. He somehow understands my uneasiness and, yes, embarrassment, and takes a step away, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his unbelievably plump lips. Dimples, of course he has dimples.
«I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice that you seem... lost. Are you here on your own?» he, Namjoon, asks and it takes me a second or two to register his words and nod a little.
«That obvious?» I manage to retort, clearing my throat and starting to fidget with the strap of my Canon camera, unable to meet his intense gaze any longer. I feel my face burning with abashment and I hope my agitated state isn't as obvious from the outside as I fear it is.
«After years of doing this job, let's say I got quite an eye to see who's with who and when everybody left for lunch, but you didn't follow anyone...» He leaves the rest of the sentence hanging in the air and shrugs his shoulders, giving me the freedom to decide whether to explain or not.
«I wanted to come here for years and I eventually got tired of waiting for someone to accompany me.» This is probably the most I said to a person the whole week I've been in Seoul and the words feel weirdly doughy on my tongue. Or perhaps it's just that I've finished my bottle of water two hours ago and now my mouth is dry.
«That was quite the brave move on your part. Look, the line is moving.»
«Oh.» Gosh, can't the ground just crack open and swallow me? And why is he talking to me, of all people?
«But it must be hard, finding yourself in a strange city, without familiar faces by your side.»
I only nod at that and force a smile and a little bow when it's finally my turn at the currency exchange desk.
I don't know what causes it, exactly, because, yes, I am incredibly quiet and shy around strangers, but I usually manage to deal with formal transitions such as this. So why can't I utter a single word, now? It's like the few sentences in Korean I learned before the trip completely vanished from my mind and English decided to follow suit, leaving me a babbling mess with face aflame.
The woman behind the desk simply looks at me with an expression that resembles all too much one of pity and this is how I decide that today I'll simply skip lunch.
It's when I'm about to turn around with a mumbled apology that Namjoon lightly brushes my arm and moves forward, dealing with the whole exchange with a quick fire of Korean that's impossible for me to even wrap my mind around. His voice sounds lower when he speaks in his native language – even though, up to a couple of seconds ago, I thought English was said native language.
«There you go, ten brass coins and a lunch box ready to be filled to the brim with the best food in the world.» He smiles, passing me the items with such nonchalance that one would think he does this on the daily.
«Uh...»
He turns towards the receptionist and – seemingly – orders one set for himself, before softly pushing my shoulder with his and nodding towards the market entrance.
«Let's go.»
«Uh? W-where?»
«To buy us lunch.»
Us?
–
Namjoon refuses to take the 5000 won I owe him for the brass coins and the plastic box and when I awkwardly mutter that he doesn't have to escort me around out of pity, he simply retorts that the thing he hates most in the world is eating on his own so, to be fair, I am the one doing him a favour.
«Anything specific you'd like to try?» he asks, as we start to stroll down the endless alleyway.
Tongin Market is bustling with life, colours and fragrances – intense and spicy and almost alien to me –, a cacophony of sounds and voices and foreign accents that make my head spin. It's an overwhelming experience, but not entirely in a bad way. It's just... new, chaotic. I feel full, my soul feels full.
«No, I don't know. I mean- I don't know Korean food that well.»
«Then I need to ask you to give me carte blanche and take care of everything.»
«Okay.» I nod with a small voice.
«I promise you won't regret it. And you know what? – He waits for me to shake my head in response, before smiling and slowing down his long strides so that I stop falling behind. – We fill up with food, go retrieve chopsticks... do you know how to use them?»
«Yeah.»
«Good. Then we do that and then I take you to my favourite place in Seoul.»
«Why?»
«It's too crowded, here, and what kind of tourist guide would I be, if I didn't show you all the best spots of the city?»
I can't find the courage to tell him that that's not what I meant to ask and I just nod and follow him.
As we walk down the numerous isles and stores offering all sorts of traditional dishes, Namjoon tells me more about the Market (“Did you know that it counts 75 stores?” And “Japanese founded it on 1941 during the Occupation and it was converted into the street market we're walking on today only after the end of the Korean War.”), but it feels different compared to his tourist guide fun facts. His tone is not booming and he no longer reminds me of an ancient cicerone guiding nobles through the streets of long lost empires. His voice is low, enchantingly warm, and everything escaping his mouth feels like a secret, special. It makes me want to be friends with him, hang out with him and let him talk and talk and talk. He doesn't seem to mind my silence nor my quiet replies, and just keeps telling me all sort of things with a soft passion, chasing the awkwardness away like it's nothing.
Soon enough, both of our lunch boxes are filled with all sorts of foods: steam rice, spiced tteokbokki, twisted bread, mandu, fried vegetables and small cuts of meat that he promises “will melt on my tongue like sugar”. The only thing I refuse to try are the blood sausages, or sundae, and he doesn't judge me for it, which I appreciate. On the other end, when I buy a green onion pancake, he suggests to get some vinegar and red pepper paste to go with it and manages to get it for free from the old vendor. “It'll taste ten times better when dipped with this, trust me.”
When we spent all of our coins, we make a quick stop to the second floor café to get chopsticks and two bottles of water, before leaving the market.
–
His favourite spot turns out to be a narrow bench on the other side of the street from an old – the oldest! – bookstore.
«Daeo Bookstore – I repeat, crossing my legs and balancing my plastic tray on the knees. – I never heard of it.»
«Oh, this piece of information is breaking my heart, I'm not kidding. As soon as we're done with our lunch, I'll take you there for a short visit. I'm a regular costumer and one of my closest friends actually works there, so we'll probably manage to take a tour of it without paying the fee nor having to buy a drink.»
«I- uhm... I'd like to offer you a drink, though. For everything. For today, I mean. The lunch and everything.» Gosh, stop stammering, stop making a fool out of yourself in front of him.
«No need. – He simply shrugs around a mouthful of mandu. – I already told you, you're the one that's actually helping me out with your company.»
«Doesn't feel like it.»
«Believe me, it is. I talk a lot... okay, let's say that I digress a lot and, often times, people find it annoying and tell me to shut it. So it's nice, you know, having someone that doesn't mind listening and actually pays attention to what I have to say. I mean, yeah, when I work people do listen to what I'm saying, but when I start rambling in private conversations like right now? You're one of the few that manages to endure this word vomit.»
«For me it's the opposite.»
«Yeah? In what way?»
«Well... it's not easy meeting someone that doesn't mind my silence. People tend to cut me out of their conversations, when I don't... you know...» I use a flutter of my free hand to finish the sentence.
«We balance each other.»
My heart has no reason to flip like that at his words, but yet it does. And then it keeps going, again and again, finding a new rhythm whenever I steal a glance his way and I admire how the sun softly touches his dark brown hair and the way his right arm flexes whenever he brings food to his mouth.
By the time he silently passes me some of his fried vegetables – he probably noticed that I liked them the most and were the first to disappear from my tray – my heart is singing a song written with the smallest of his actions.
«Did you take many pictures, today?» he suddenly asks, glancing at the old camera sitting against my chest.
«Just the ones that matter» I mutter shyly, putting aside my empty lunch box with a content sigh. The food was delicious, but I don't think it's the only reason why this is the best lunch break of my life.
«I'd like to see them, later. But now we should go visit the bookstore. We have half an hour left till the tour starts again. And how about ice-cream on our way back? Something cold and sweet sounds perfect in such a hot weather, doesn't it?»
I agree and silently get up with him to go find the nearest garbage can to leave our trays in, but all I keep hearing is his promise of a “later”.
Later!
A smile blooms on my lips; coming here all alone had its bright side, in the end.
–
Tagging @moonleeai and @armys-dna as requested ♡ hope you like it!
Warnings: mentions of divorce, cheating, blood, and hospitals
Lyrics: You remind me of a time when things weren't so complicated. All I need is to see your face - Breathin by Ariana Grande
Summary: Eden and Taehyung are horrified by the news that they’re about to become stepsiblings. Nothing would be illegal about their relationship, sure, but something about sharing parents made dating seem weird. This leads to a nasty break-up…but oh, wait, they live under the same roof now.
A/N: Special thanks to @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger for making the banner!
They say that you know when you meet ‘the one’. There’s a spark, and you’re perfect for each other. I’d met my one already. We’d been dating for three years, and we were so so in love. We’d discussed one day getting married, and life was, to be honest, as perfect as it could be in this imperfect world.
But apparently life had other plans for us.
“What do you mean you’re getting married?”
Taehyung and I shared an equally horrified look. Our parents were getting married. To each other.
My mom had been divorced since I was seven, and Dad was totally out of the picture. I’d always encouraged her to date, but she’d never really listened to me. She’d said I was enough for her little life. Taehyung’s parents had separated a few autumns ago, and he’d been living with his dad ever since. We’d introduced the two of them on a few occasions, but neither of them had even hinted at being in a relationship, let alone with each other.
“We met on a dating app about a year ago,” my mom admitted. “We didn’t want to tell you guys unless it got serious so that it wouldn’t affect your relationship.”
I looked over at Taehyung, and he looked as confused as I felt.
“And you thought telling us two months before the wedding would be a good idea?” he asked.
“We’re just having a small ceremony in the backyard with a few family members and friends. We didn’t even get engaged until a few weeks ago,” his dad explained.
Taehyung blew out a long breath as he leaned back in his chair. Then he glanced at me.
“Ede?”
I shrugged. I was just as lost as he was.
The two of us were included in wedding planning from that day forward. He and I were our parents’ best man and maid of honor, respectively, but the closer we got to the wedding, the more distanced I felt from Taehyung. We’d been attached at the hip for the past three years, and I’d barely seen him since the night our parents had sat us at his dad’s kitchen table.
By the time the wedding weekend rolled around, I was chomping at the bit to spend some time with my boyfriend. The two of us had been so busy lately, and now we’d get to spend two whole weeks together. My mom and I had already moved basically all our stuff into their house, and Taehyung and I would get the whole house to ourselves while they were on their honeymoon. It seemed surreal.
I was sitting on my bed curling my hair when my mom walked in the door with her wedding gown in tow. Once she’d settled in front of my vanity to do her makeup and started talking to me.
“Are you sure you’re ok with this, sweetheart? You know we can always call off the wedding, or we can-”
“Mom,” I smiled. “It’s ok. Tae and I will be fine. And besides, I can’t keep you from marrying him! You love him.”
Her expression softened as she smiled. “I do. He’s everything your father wasn’t.”
I scoffed. “Well, of course! I assume he’s not paying to sleep with other women?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Oh, I see, so you’re not sure?”
She twisted around in her chair. “I’m sure Tae would know, wouldn’t he? He hasn’t mentioned such a thing?”
I laughed. “No. He’s great, Mom. You made a good choice.”
I went back to curling my hair and held in a nervous breath. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure why Taehyung had been so distant recently. I hadn’t been that busy, even with flower picking, cake tasting, and a whole host of other things, so what had he been up to that we hadn’t even had a single date recently? As many excuses I made for him, there was still that sliver of worry that made me wonder if this would be thing that tore us apart.
My nerves eased a bit when I saw him in the hallway. Handsome as always, he was wearing a three-piece suit and a pretty grin. When he caught my gaze, he gave a small wave. Once we were standing next to each other, he bumped my shoulder.
“You ready for this, Eden?”
I glanced up at him, and he gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Are we ok?” I asked.
He nodded. “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“You’ve just been…”
I was cut off by my aunt before I could finish that thought.
“Where’s your bouquet? The wedding starts in three minutes!”
“Oh! You’re right! I left it in my room!”
My conversation with Taehyung didn’t pick up after that. The ceremony was performed, and my mom looked far happier than I’d ever seen her. I couldn’t help but glance at Taehyung, and I noticed that again his smile seemed half-hearted. I could imagine why. His parents had been through a nasty divorce, and he’d been out of contact with his mom since. It hadn’t been too long since then, considering I’d already entered his life when the divorce case had begun, so maybe he wasn’t too enthused about getting a stepmom so soon. He’d be ok, though, I assured myself. Taehyung loved my mom.
Time seemed to go by ridiculously slow when the reception started. Once the dancing had officially begun, I could talk to Taehyung. If only dinner would just end. I stabbed my fork into my chicken. I’d started to get nauseous with nerves as I considered why Taehyung hadn’t been talking to me, and now I wasn’t sure I could even finish my dinner. Or dance, for that matter.
I looked up at him, and he immediately looked away. I squinted. So, he was avoiding me. I pulled out my phone and shot him a text.
“Bathroom.”
“No,” was his short response.
I gave him an annoyed look over the table. He scowled and typed out another text for me.
“We can talk after they leave tonight.”
Was he kidding? That would be hours from now! I couldn’t wait that long to talk to him.
“Talk when dancing starts.”
“No,” he replied again. “After they leave.”
I had to hold back yelling at him over the table. Our parents were both sitting beside us, and that would cause more attention than I wanted. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this mad at him. Usually, the two of us were very good at communicating and telling the other what we needed. We were also good at giving each other space, too. But today, I was mad. My boyfriend of three years had basically ignored me for two months, and I wanted to know why.
I managed to hold in my anger for our parents’ sake until that night. Verbally, anyways. I sent Taehyung my fair share of glares. He just returned them with confused and disappointed glances.
I’d never been so happy for my mom to leave. She hugged me tight for a few moments before finally stepping out to the car, and I nearly slammed the door shut behind her in anticipation when she finally left. Then I went in search of the man who had conveniently disappeared a whole ten minutes before.
I searched the kitchen and living room for him before finally marching upstairs to burst into his room. I instinctively covered my eyes when I noticed him pulling his pants on.
“Eden, what on earth?”
“Why didn’t you lock your door?” I asked in shock.
“Why did you just walk into my room?”
I huffed and uncovered my eyes once I’d heard him zip his pants up. “Why have you been…” I paused. “Jeans? It’s seven, Tae.”
He crossed his arms over his still bare chest. “I think you’re going to want the answer to a different question first.”
“What?”
“I’m going to stay at Jimin’s house this week.”
“What?” This time, the question was a bit more panicked.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead as he bent down to pick his shirt up off his bed. “Eden, I don’t think we can stay together now that they’re in a relationship. It would just be too weird. I’m sorry. We just…need to break up.”
I gaped at him for a few moments as my eyes filled with tears. “Is this why you’ve been ignoring me for the past two months?” I grabbed a book off the shelf next to me and threw it at him. “You’re a jerk!”
I ran halfway down the hall before turning back and yelling through his doorway. “You better stay at Jimin’s house until they get back!
I grabbed another book off the shelf and threw it at him for good measure before running back to my room. I couldn’t stay here tonight either now. It would hurt too much to see the rooms we’d once spent nights laughing in. I shoved a few random clothing items into an overnight bag along with a hairbrush and a few other necessities. Then I headed to the only place I knew to go: Justine’s apartment.
Justine answered the door with a bathrobe and a shower cap on.
“Eden? What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you and Tae were spending time together now that your parents are out of town?”
“He broke up with me,” I muttered before pushing past her to get in the apartment.
“What? Where is he right now? I’ll go beat him up for you!”
I looked her up and down. “You’re not going to want to bust into Jimin’s flat wearing that.”
“Uh…yeah, you’re right. No thanks.”
I smiled. “Thanks anyways.”
“Why is he not staying at the house?”
I shrugged. “Who knows. He was packing when he broke up with me, and I’m not going to stay in that house alone.”
She sighed. “All right. We’ll have a girls’ night, then. Let me go get dressed and then we can watch a movie.”
“Can you put my hair in bantu knots?”
Justine sighed again. “I…suppose. Are you sure you want to get rid of this curl job you did already, though? Wasn’t this just for the wedding?”
“Please. I want this out of my hair. Anything to make me forget what just happened.”
She laughed. “Ok. We can do that, then.” She smiled. “You’re gonna look really good.”
An hour later, I was sitting on the floor in front of her couch as she did my hair. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was playing on her TV, and Justine had found a microwave bag of popcorn in her kitchen, so the two of us were eating it as the movie played.
“Should I go beat him up once we’re done here?”
“It’s ok, you don’t have to.” I paused. “I already threw two books at him before I left.”
“Did they hit him?”
“Close enough….” I muttered. “I think I hit his chest with the corner of one of them. And he wasn’t wearing a shirt either. So….”
“Wow, you’re worse than me! That had to have been painful!”
“Well, I think it was well-deserved after breaking my heart. Seriously! Three years together and for what? To break up just because it would be weird to date as stepsiblings?” I groaned but made sure to not show my frustration by moving. “He made his decision two months ago too, I’m sure of it. Honestly, why couldn’t he have told me sooner!”
“I’m sure he didn’t want to ruin the wedding,” Justine reminded me as she twisted one of the knots against my head. “I’m only not sure why your parents marrying made this so different. Shouldn’t the two of you living under the same roof be a good thing?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I can’t figure it out either. I mean, we’re not blood related, so it wouldn’t be like us being together would be illegal or something. I just kinda wish he’d told me sooner. I spent the whole wedding mad at him because he wouldn’t talk to me.”
“You would’ve been mad if he’d broken up with you two months ago though, right? And then maybe you would’ve been mad at your mom and Mr. Kim, too.”
I sighed. “I’m not mad at them at all. You saw her face. Mom is so happy with him. I mean, that was something she didn’t have with Dad even when they were married.”
“So, the full blame is on Tae, then?”
“Yes! Definitely.” I sighed, finally letting tears pool in my eyes. “Tee, why would he do this to me? I was looking so forward to finally getting two weeks with him, and now…” I sniffled. “Is he not in love with me anymore? Did the thought of being related to me repulse him so much that he just fell out of love with me?”
“Hey, Ede, no. Listen, I’m sure it had nothing to do with you. I can’t speak for him, but I think at some point, the two of you need to talk it out. You’re going to be living in the same house, and even if one of you moves out, you’re still going to be in contact because of your parents.”
“Can’t I just move in with you?”
Justine flicked the back of my ear. “Girl, you know I have barely enough room for me.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No. You’re not moving in with me. You can stay for the next two weeks, but that’s it.”
I pouted. “You’re mean.”
“You’re ridiculous. That house is huge. If you really have to, you can avoid him.”
Taehyung and I were both back in the house when my parents got back in town. We didn’t want the two of them knowing we’d gotten into a fight. They’d find out that we were broken up eventually…but we could save that information for later.
The morning was filled with glares as the two of us ate breakfast and got ready for the day. Somehow, in all the years we’d dated, Taehyung had failed to mention his…skin care routine. I discovered this when I walked into the bathroom to find him smearing some sort of lotion all over his face. I held back my snicker as I stared at his once tan face in the mirror. It was now nearly pure white from the product smeared on his face. I took a picture of him.
“There. Now I have blackmail material.”
“As if you’d ever need that,” he muttered in response.
“You never know.”
I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste to brush my teeth.
“You know, you could’ve been less of a jerk about breaking up with me.”
“I wasn’t a jerk about it.”
“You were. You had zero empathy when telling me, and you got me real riled up before doing it. Should’ve just done it two months ago when you first though about it.”
I slammed the drawer shut after putting my tube of toothpaste back into it.
“Yeah, well you didn’t need to throw those books at my chest. I still have marks from where they hit me.”
“You deserve that.”
He stopped trying to rub the lotion into his skin and looked straight at me in the mirror.
“Ede….”
“Don’t call me that.”
He held my stare for a few more seconds before going back to working the product into his skin. I didn’t let him get another word in before I was out of the bathroom. I didn’t need any of his crafty excuses. I just needed to head to work, and this would all be behind us by the time I got home.
Except it wasn’t, because Taehyung, being the childish man he was, decided to exact revenge for his two books. And his chest, I suppose. The bookshelf in my room had been overturned. I noticed the breakable things that had once sat on top of that shelf had been delicately placed on my nightstand. So, maybe he wasn’t entirely heartless. He was still a jerk, though.
As I picked the books up off the floor and replaced my shelf, I wondered if our breakup could’ve been caused by anything else. We’d never fought much in our years spent together. Nothing serious, that is. Sure, we’d had a few stupid fights here and there, but nothing like this. And I wasn’t even sure what had started this. The man I’d loved had become my mortal enemy in the blink of an eye. It saddened me, to be honest. We’d spent three years as each other’s all, and now we were both crafting ways to hurt each other.
I blinked back tears as I stacked my books back on the shelf. Between all of them, I noticed one book in particular that I knew didn’t belong to me. The Ins and Outs of Styling Your Black Hair. It was Taehyung’s book. Or, it had been. It appeared that he was returning it to the one whose hair it had been for. He’d seen it at a bookstore the two of us visited once and asked if I’d like him to help style my hair. We’d only used the book a few times, but the notion that he was even willing to try had made me happy. I smiled bitterly as I pushed the book onto the shelf. He’d been a good boyfriend. However…he was definitely not a good ex.
His childish banter seemed to go on even after that. Although, I wasn’t doing anything to discourage him. Painting the shower walls with hair dye wasn’t discouraging a feud, right? It wasn’t even like I’d been dyeing my hair, either. I’d bought this hair dye just to ruin some walls. Ok, that was probably more childish than his bookshelf feat, I’ll admit. Especially considering this technically wasn’t even his shower…and…is dyeing property considered vandalism?
It didn’t matter. The internet had said acetone took dye stains out of the shower walls, and who knew, it was right! The color I’d chosen was too light to show up in my hair, which meant it would actually come out of the shower walls, so I wouldn’t need to worry about replacing the entire shower for Mr. Kim and my mom.
“Eden!”
I looked up from the book I was reading. Taehyung was standing in my doorway with soaking wet hair. He wasn’t wearing a shirt either, which seemed common when my mom wasn’t home.
“Why on earth is the shower orange?”
“Oh, that? I tried to dye my hair. It didn’t go too well.”
“Yeah, clearly. That dye had to be four shades too light for your hair. What were you thinking?”
“I guess I wasn’t,” I hummed, returning my gaze to my book. “Why? You got a problem with it?”
“Of course, I do. Our shower is orange, Eden! Dad is gonna kill us if he sees it.”
I glanced up at him for a moment before looking back down at my book. “It’ll come out eventually.”
Taehyung let out a hefty sigh and stomped down the hallway. I smiled. It seemed I’d finally done something to get on his nerves.
Things seemed to be going well for about a month after our parents returned from their honeymoon. They didn’t know we’d had a fight, and neither of them had asked about our relationship.
And then, my mom noticed something.
“Hey, you and Tae haven’t been on a date in a while. The two of you should have a night out.”
I laughed nervously. “Yeah…you’re right, it’s been a while. Any suggestions?”
My suggestion was that we split up and spend the evenings at our friends’ houses so that we didn’t have to hang out with each other, and our parents didn’t know we’d broken up. Obviously. Until my mom suggested bowling. Which…she was too good. I loved bowling. Maybe I could talk Taehyung into taking this one date with me and being civil for a night.
“Spend an entire evening with you?” Taehyung scoffed when I told him. “No.”
I crossed my arms. “Do you really think they’re not going to notice if we stop going on dates? Look at this. You’ve created more problems than you fixed by breaking up with me over their relationship.”
“How about we just tell them we’re not dating?” he suggested.
I scoffed. “Oh, sure. And make our home lives extremely awkward? No thanks! I’d rather live outside on the street next to the dumpster than introduce that drama into this household.”
He sighed. “So, what? We’re going to fake date?”
“Yeah. Duh.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Yeah, well so were you when you decided to break up with me. Maybe you should’ve had an actual reason to do that before jumping the gun. You got us in this situation, so you’re gonna help me keep it a secret at least until one of us can afford an apartment.”
He grumbled. “Fine. But only until one of us can move out.”
I smiled and held my hand out to him. “Shake on it?”
He took my hand in his and shook it firmly.
“Put your bowling shoes on because we have a date at the bowling alley tonight, buddy.”
And so, I was fake dating my ex who was also my stepbrother. Life was weird. Like, really weird. There were so many things about this situation that made no sense, except that they made perfect sense in our situation. Or maybe they didn’t. They made sense to me, though, and that was what mattered here.
I forgot how heavy bowling shoes made your feet feel. Walking around in them made me feel like my feet were going to just fall off at some point very soon. And bowling balls seemed heavier than they used to be. When was the last time I’d been bowling?
“What is it, Ede? Did you forget how to play your favorite sport?” Taehyung asked before rolling a strike.
He was ever the show-off with his insane talent for every sport that didn’t require running. Granted, there were only like five sports that didn’t require running, but then again I didn’t know all the sports in the world.
“Loser is paying for dinner,” he announced.
I glanced over at him. “Oh, it’s on.”
He’d clearly forgotten that I too knew how to roll a strike.
Ball after ball, we hit down pins. Each frame felt like another step back to what our relationship used to be. He offered me a high-five after I’d rolled two strikes in a row. We’d chased a stray ball down the alley together. We’d gotten hungry before we could even finish our game and ended up buying food with the agreement that the loser would reimburse the winner. And when he won by three points, he did something I didn’t expect.
“Don’t pay me back. It’s fine.”
He was silent the whole way home after I tried to question him about it. He was being really weird. After our awful breakup, I hadn’t even expected him to agree to go on a date.
The bad thing was that I couldn’t even talk to my mom about any of this. And worse, I thought I might still have feelings for Taehyung even after all the fights and time spent apart. Was it foolish of me? I just wanted my boyfriend back.
Somehow, I’d managed to completely forget the Kim house’s monthly pancake breakfast. On every fourth Saturday of the month, they had pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes weren’t a breakfast food otherwise, according to Mr. Kim.
“Don’t you think you get to leave the house without pancakes in your stomach,” Mr. Kim told me as he placed a plate of pancakes on the counter in front of me.
“The way you said that sounded really weird, Dad,” Taehyung informed him over a mouthful of pancakes.
“Shut up and eat,” his dad laughed before throwing a freshly syruped pancake at him.
Taehyung was peeling the pancake out of his hair a moment later. “Ew. Now I’m going to have to wash my hair before work. Not to mention this will just make the wall more orange.”
“What? What wall?”
Taehyung and I shared a glance.
“Oh, nothing,” he laughed nervously. “I was just joking.”
I gave him a pointed glare as I walked over to join him at the table.
“What? I’m not the one who dyed the shower wall orange,” he ground out.
“Yeah, well I didn’t go around announcing that you wrecked my bookshelf!” I mumbled in return.
My mom seemed to have even more great ideas for dates. Her next one was rock climbing. And, well, Taehyung was afraid of heights. Which meant that this date was definitely happening. It was just revenge for everything he’d done to me. That’s what I told myself, at least. I’m not really sure what I was thinking, to be honest.
In my defense, it was extremely funny to watch a full-grown man wipe the sweat off his palms as he looked up a rock wall that was barely fifteen feet tall.
“You’re really good at making things up. Why can’t you just make up a story about us rock climbing?” he asked, never taking his wide eyes off the wall.
“Because I like rock climbing. And…it’s really funny to watch you rock climb.”
He looked down at me then. “I’m the jerk in this relationship, eh?”
“This isn’t a relationship,” I reminded him before wandering off to find the self-belay rope.
It was quite a while later when Taehyung started climbing the wall. The lady who was belaying him was quite the hype woman, although my guess was that she’d seen toddlers who had done a better job than he was doing. His hands kept slipping off the climbing holds. Probably because his hands were slick with sweat. I tried to hold my laugh back as he slipped again. This time, he let go entirely and just hung there for a few moments.
“Come on, Bowling King! Can’t climb a wall?” I asked.
“Leave me alone, Eden!”
About a minute later, he was situated on the wall again and resumed climbing. He was still slipping, but he was doing better than he had before, at least. Maybe he had less sweat on his hands this time.
“You know, you two would make a really cute couple.”
I glanced sideways. I hadn’t realized how close the lady belaying him was standing to me until she’d spoken. I took a few steps to the side.
“Nah. We tried that. Didn’t work out.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Taehyung gave up on making it up the wall before he was even halfway to the top. Once he was back on solid ground, I approached him. He was loosening the harness around his waist with an urgency, and he looked rather annoyed.
“Hey, Tae-”
“Don’t. I’ll be waiting for you in the lounge area.”
He discarded all his gear before marching out of the rock-climbing area. I grimaced as I watched him go. I hadn’t been very nice, had I? But he deserved it! I went back to climbing the wall. I wasn’t going to let him ruin my climbing experience.
Surprisingly, Taehyung was still waiting for me in the lounge area an hour later. I’d fully expected him to give up on me and go somewhere else, but he was still here! I couldn’t get too happy, though. I was sure he was just here so that our cover wasn’t blown to our parents.
“You ready to go?” I asked as I approached him.
“No, sorry, I have more sitting to do.” He huffed. “Of course, I’m ready. I would’ve left an hour ago if I’d known you were gonna climb for that long!”
“Oh well I’m sorry. Maybe you should’ve just left without me, then. Actually, we should stop doing these stupid dates. We should just tell our parents we broke up and move on with life.”
“Ok! We will, then.”
The car ride was silent, but this was different from our last date. This time we were both fuming with anger. When Taehyung pulled up to the house, we were both near the breaking point.
“What are we going to tell them exactly, huh?” Taehyung asked.
“I don’t know! What great excuse did you come up with when you were thinking of breaking up with me to begin with?”
He glared at me. “You really think I thought of an excuse to break up with you?”
“Of course! Why else would you break up with me? There was no reason for the two of us to break up!”
“Oh, so it’s totally normal to be dating your step sibling while living in the same house as your parents? Because I think that’s a little weird.”
“So? We were together long before they even met! I think our relationship should be more important than being a little weird or awkward!”
“Yeah, well I don’t see it that way.”
I blew out a long breath through my nose. “Ok. Fine. But good luck getting another girlfriend because it’s a little weird to be stepsiblings with your ex.”
I swung my car door open, ready to get out. But before I could step one foot out of the car, Taehyung grabbed my collar and tugged me back toward him. Then, he kissed me! The audacity! I pushed away as soon as my brain processed what had just happened. Then I fled into the house. Today had been too long already.
Once I reached the safety of my room, I pulled out my phone and speed dialed Justine’s number. I needed a voice of wisdom in this situation, and I sure wasn’t going to talk to my mom!
It wasn’t twenty minutes later when I found myself pacing Justine’s living room.
“Ok, let me get this straight. The two of you got into a fight, he told you it would be weird to date you, and then he kissed you?” she asked.
I could tell from the look on her face that she was rather confused.
“Yeah.”
She leaned back against her couch as she processed this information.
“So…did you kiss him back?”
“Justine! No, I did not kiss him back! I ran out of the car and called you immediately.”
“I dunno, Ede, it kinda sounds like he didn’t want to break up to begin with.”
“So? He did, and now he’s been a complete jerk about everything. I can’t just forgive him and ask him to be my boyfriend again! and besides, he definitely still doesn’t want to date me. He just…wanted to kiss me, I guess.”
Justine twirled one of her locks around her finger. “So, he didn’t really tell you why he broke up with you?”
“No. He just said it would be weird to date me. Which makes no sense. I mean, yeah, if we went around telling people ‘hey, this is my stepsibling who’s also my partner!’ that would be a little weird. But it’s not like we would be doing that. People wouldn’t even ask, probably. And besides, we were together first!”
“Have you asked him?”
“Asked him what?”
“Why he broke up with you?”
I thought about this for a few moments. “I guess not. I just…don’t think he’d tell me if he had another reason besides that.”
“Why not? The two of you were like the most open couple I knew. You guys had communication down so well I was convinced you’d never break up because you were so well at telling the other what was bothering you!”
I shrugged. “Yeah, well, that was four months ago. Now he’s my ex-boyfriend who also just so happens to be the stepbrother who loves to ruin my life. We’re not good at communicating anymore. We had a fight about rock climbing!”
Justine laughed. “Um, isn’t that something you guys always fight about?”
I furrowed my brow. Was it? Maybe it was. Come to think of it, we hadn’t been rock climbing together in a long while. And Taehyung had always been awful at it. I sighed.
“I just want the old Tae back.”
“Well, maybe you should talk to him. Without dyeing his shower walls orange first.”
“You’re right!” I smiled. “I’ll get purple this time. Something that’ll really stick!”
“I’m not helping you pay for a new shower if you do that, just so we’re clear.”
“I was kidding. I’m not gonna ruin Mr. Kim’s house.”
I still hadn’t talked to Taehyung three days later, though. I stepped into the bathroom once morning to find him shaving. He was standing directly in front of the drawer with my toothpaste in it, so I couldn’t brush my teeth like I’d intended.
“Come on, Climbing Queen! Can’t brush your teeth?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just give me my toothbrush.”
“Nope.”
I groaned and shoved his arm a bit. “Tae, come on.”
He shoved back but ignored me otherwise.
“Tae, come on, quit being rude.”
The two of us pushed back and forth for a few moments before I finally decided to shove him out of the way. He winced and held his hand up to his jaw.
“What on earth, Eden?”
“You deserved that,” I muttered as I took my toothpaste out of the drawer.
I glanced up then, and Taehyung took his hand off his jaw. His hand was bloody. And so was his jaw. Whoops.
The two of us sat in the kitchen five minutes later as he pressed an ice cube to his jaw.
“You’re lucky Dad and your mom are at work already.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe that wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t acting like a child.”
“I’m acting like a child? You won’t even tell your mom that we broke up.”
“Yeah, because I don’t want to ruin the peace in our household!”
“How would us breaking up ruin the peace? If anything, we’d be fighting less because they’d know we were broken up and we wouldn’t have to spend time together!”
“Well, it would be really awkward if we told them because we’d still have to live in the same house as them, and they’d probably think they ruined out relationship.”
“So? We’re all adults. I think we can live together just fine even if they know we’re not together anymore.”
“Fine. We’ll tell them tonight, then.”
Big surprise, we didn’t. Taehyung had left the announcement up to me, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell them. Besides, we’d spent two months living like this. What was six more? In six months, Justine’s rent would be up, and the two of us could get a different apartment together. Then this whole thing would be over, and I could stop pretending to date Taehyung.
By the time the end of November rolled around, I finally remembered what happened every third Saturday of the month. Really, I should’ve seen it coming, because it had been a yearly occurrence since I’d turned eighteen, but nothing prepared me to find the house practically buried under birthday decorations and people when I got home from work. My surprise party. Of course. Well, they did do a decent job at surprising me, I suppose.
“Hey, birthday girl! How does it feel to be twenty-three?” Justine asked as she slung her arm over my shoulder.
“It feels like I shouldn’t be surprised to find the entire town in my living room.”
She laughed. “We really surprised you again?”
“Yes. I forgot what day it was.”
“Good job. Now do it again next year too so we can keep surprising you.”
She glanced around. “Don’t look now, but Tae is by the punch bowl. Your mom talked him into wearing that shirt just for you.”
I looked across the room to find Taehyung in the flowy button-up I’d bought him for our anniversary last year. I hated to admit how good he looked in it. I sighed.
“Take me somewhere else. I don’t want to be caught staring at him.”
“Still have feelings for your ex, eh?”
I nudged her in the ribs. “You say that like it was my idea to break up.”
She smiled. “Still haven’t talked to him, have you?”
“Nope. And I won’t be, either. I’ve decided whatever his reasoning was, I don’t need to know. I’m better off without him anyways.”
I’d expected her to look happy, but instead she looked disappointed in me.
“Ok, that’s your choice. I just think that something is going on with him. He loves you so much, Ede, so I don’t see why he’d break up with you so easily just because your parents decided to get married.”
“He doesn’t love me anymore,” I told her matter-of-factly.
She threw a short glance across the room before looking back at me. “Look at his face.”
I turned my gaze to him and found him staring at me with the same look of pure adoration that he’d given me the first time we’d met. I looked away now before I had time to think.
“Tee, I can’t. I can’t go through that again. He’s just going to break my heart all over again and I’m going to be left all alone wondering what went wrong. He broke up with me, and that’s the end of it.”
But of course, I lied. That wasn’t the end of it, and I knew it even then. I couldn’t let go of three years of my life spent together no matter how he’d hurt me.
It took weeks for me to admit this to myself, though. Snow was already blanketing the ground outside before I found myself sitting on the porch waiting for him to come home. Once again, our parents were still at work. They both worked longer hours then Taehyung or I did, so we had more time alone together than we liked.
I’d chosen to sit on the porch without any coat or gloves on. Smart, I know. I’d already accidentally locked myself outside but the time I’d thought to put either article of clothing on, though, so I instead suffered in the cold as I waited for Taehyung to come back and open the garage for me. Maybe next time I was told the garage code I’d bother to remember it.
I couldn’t feel my hands by the time Taehyung arrived home, despite me shoving them between my thighs in an effort to keep them warm. He climbed out of his car and leaned over the roof as he looked at me.
“Are you trying to turn into a human ice cube?” he called across the driveway.
“Yeah, it’s for a science experiment,” I informed him. “I got locked out.”
“You need help?”
The way he asked it sounded almost mocking, but I was too cold to care. I jumped up off the porch swing and ran down the steps to his car.
“You’re not wearing boots either? Ede, what were you thinking?”
I glanced down at the slippers on my feet. He was right. What had I been thinking? He reached into his car and hit the button to open the garage.
“Get inside.”
I ran inside before I could think to talk to him. I was freezing, and getting myself warm was more important than talking to him right now.
He followed me inside a few minutes later once he’d parked his car.
“Is there any particular reason you were sitting outside while it was snowing?” Taehyung asked as he poured himself a cup of water.
“No reason.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.
“Right. Well, go take a shower before you catch a chill.”
That was the perfect excuse for me to escape the kitchen. And he’d never know that the real reason I’d been sitting on the porch for an hour in the cold.
For some reason, my mom still felt the need to set us up on dates. Her next suggestion was to see The Nutcracker together, which was arguably her worst idea yet. It was also one we couldn’t really get out of though, because she was going to want pictures. And photoshopping photos would take more time out of my life than just going to the event, so, we went.
The vast number of little girls in puffy dresses running around me was wild. Justine had insisted on doing my hair in little ringlets for the night, and I wasn’t going to pass up Justine doing my hair even if I knew the only reason she’d offered was because she was rooting for us to get back together.
For some reason I just happened to have a red Christmassy dress in my closet for the occasion, and I was sure this dress hadn’t been touched since high school. That didn’t matter. What did matter was that I looked good and felt confident walking around in a crowd of parents and their little girls at a ballet.
Taehyung, as it turned out, had a dark green tie in his closet, and literally every color went with white, so he looked dashing – no pun intended – in his white dress shirt and black slacks (with the green tie, of course).
The two of us had been to The Nutcracker together before. Our group of friends had all gone the first year we’d been together, so of course, we’d gone with them. Most of us hadn’t gotten the memo that you could dress up, though. We had a photo of the five of us in front of the venue. Me, Taehyung, Jimin, Justine, and Carl had all been there. Carl had fallen off the face of the earth since, but that’s not important.
This time, Taehyung and I were just going as a couple. A broken-up couple, but a couple, nonetheless. And even if I was still mad at him, he was nice to look at. Especially in that outfit.
The two of us didn’t speak much that night. Granted, there wasn’t really much time to spend talking, thankfully. I was sure if there had been, we would’ve gotten into another fight. At this point, the only reason I was here was so that my mom didn’t find out we weren’t together. Honestly, I should’ve just stopped worry and told her. Maybe Taehyung was right. If we stopped pretending to date, we wouldn’t be spending time together and we wouldn’t be fighting.
The two of us wandered around outside after the ballet was over. I didn’t mind it, but part of me would’ve rather been home than walking around with him at this hour.
“Why did you break up with me?” I finally asked.
He glanced down at me. “I told you. It would’ve been weird now that our parents are together.”
“Tae, I know that’s not it. I know you and that wouldn’t be enough for you to break up with me.”
His eyes wandered the city instead of staying on me. “I didn’t know we had a clock tower here.”
I hummed in response. “Tae.”
He sighed. “You really want to know?”
The two of us came to a stop at the crosswalk and he turned to look at me.
“Someday, the two of them are going to get divorced. Just like my parents did and just like your parents did. And then, being together after they’ve broken up will be more awkward than dating while being stepsiblings would’ve been.”
I blinked up at him. “Tae, you don’t know that. Why are you focusing on the future instead of the now? If they do divorce someday, which they haven’t and don’t plan to, it’ll be the same as it is now. They kept their relationship a secret from us as long as they could so that it wouldn’t get between us, and look! you let it get between us! They’ll probably do the same thing we’re doing by not telling them anything happened. And honestly, we probably won’t even live in their house by then if that does happen, so it’ll barely affect us!”
He stared at me for a few moments. “I just…can’t risk it.”
He turned around and stepped out into traffic, and my eyed widened as I noticed the crosswalk light had turned red.
“Tae, wait-”
I briefly remember the sounds of tires squeaking and an ambulance siren, but the next hour was just a blur as I found myself crying like an idiot in the back of an ambulance. Why an idiot, you ask? Well, Taehyung was fine. Mostly. He had a sprained wrist and a mild concussion, but other than that, he was fine. The car had barely started moving when it hit him, so there wasn’t much impact. I only learned this after we got to the hospital, though, because I’d been crying too hard for any of the paramedics to get a word into my head.
“Hey, what do you think of this hospital gown? Pretty great look, right?” Taehyung asked as I walked into the room with a hospital blanket wrapped around me.
“I preferred the shirt and tie,” I admitted.
He laughed.
“How’s your head?”
“It’s fine,” he assured me. “Sorry I scared you. I could hear you crying in the ambulance.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, right. That wasn’t me.”
“Oh? I didn’t know EMS workers got so upset over concussions.” He winked at me, and it felt like old times again. “Are Dad and Mom coming? I mean…sorry. Dad and your mom?”
I smiled. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you calling her Mom. And yes, they’re on their way. I just called them about ten minutes ago.”
He nodded, and a few moments of silence passed between us.
“So…about what you said.” I started, a bit hesitant. “I’d…really like to give us another try. If you’d like to, of course. I just really miss you, and I don’t think our parents being together should-”
Our parents rushed in before I could finish what I was saying.
“Eden! There you are! I called! Did you not see it?” my mom asked as she hugged me.
“Oh, uh….”
She pulled back and wiped the remaining tears off my face. “Have you been crying, honey? You must’ve been terrified.”
I could faintly hear Taehyung’s dad lecturing him about walking out in front of cars, which made me giggle. Everything was ok. Taehyung was ok, and the two of us were ok again.
I elected to stay overnight with Taehyung when our parents went home. I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I also wanted to talk to him before we spoke to our parents again. We needed to figure out what was going on with us.
Taehyung invited me to lay on his chest as we talked, and it almost felt like old times again. Except, the two of us had never laid in a hospital bed together. He rubbed his fingers over the back of my neck, and even through that soft motion I could tell that he was quickly tiring. I couldn’t blame him. It was getting very late, and he’d suffered a head injury in the past few hours.
“I’m really sorry,” he muttered. “I should never have broken up with you. Especially not how I did.”
“It’s ok. Just really hurt, you know?”
He laughed. “Yes, I know. You came back with four feet of braids. You only ever do a style that time consuming when you’re really upset and need something to distract you.”
I poked him in the chest. “Hey, stop knowing me too well.”
He leaned his head on top of mine. “I’ve missed you. A lot. I’m sorry it took me getting hit by a car to tell you.”
“So…what do we tell our parents?”
“Well, we don’t have to tell them anything.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll figure out something is up even if we don’t. Honestly, I think Mom already noticed.”
“Ah. You’re right. She was setting us up on dates! She’s sneaky.”
I giggled. Then I sighed. “Are we calling a truce on…whatever it was we were doing?”
“Only if you can get the orange off the shower wall.” He kissed my forehead. “Yes, we can call a truce.”
The next afternoon, the two of us sat down with our parents to explain everything to them.
“Um…so, Tae and I broke up,” I announced, which had Taehyung throwing a confused glance at me.
“We know,” my mom assured me.
I nodded slowly.
“…and we got back together last night,” Taehyung continued my thought.
“We know that too,” Mr. Kim smiled.
“Is there anything you guys don’t know?” I asked.
“Um…yes! We don’t know why the shower has been dyed orange.”
I looked over at Taehyung. “I think this is my queue to start looking for apartments.”
The Fate of the Lyrics m.list
Main m.list
A/N: I listened to the song after writing the fic (I know...what) and I feel like it's weirdly right for a lot of the scenes in this story? I could totally see it playing in the background lol. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this :3 this is the first of the seven stories I'm writing so...hopefully the rest turn out just as good at this one did!
It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!
yes im on hiatus but i wrote this lil stream of consciousness anyway,,, just pretend it isn’t june and absolutely boiling thanks,, returning to hibernation now enjoy :)
"oh! your hands are so cold," jimin gasps.
and yet he doesn't recoil. no, he grabs your hands, encases them between his. brings the little package of palms up to his mouth and blows gently, warm air enfolding your fingers as he begins to rub. his eyes are soft with concern, even when he lightly remonstrates you. "you're freezing!"
he pauses in his actions, removes his hat and carefully tucks it over your head, quickly followed by the matching scarf that he adjusts securely around your neck. "i told you to wrap up warmer, baby," he reproaches, but he's too engrossed in his actions to put his heart into the scolding.
you don't feel freezing. you feel warmth. indescribable warmth, gushing forth from somewhere pleasantly tight in your chest as you watch him continue rubbing your hands between his. how tender, how perfect, how caring is this? to warm another's cold hands, even if it means freezing your own in the process. to care so much about someone that your first instinct, your first worry is their comfort. their happiness. perhaps this is all love is; simply to care deeply and completely.
and if this is true, then park jimin embodies love.
Trigger warnings for the following chapter: blood coming from physical wounds, minor character's death (indirect), mention of feeling sick, non-descriptive panic attack, Jungkook being once again a big fan of the f-word, the name “God” is overused as an exclamation, mention of smoking/cigarettes, piercings and tattoos, mention of mafia gangs (just their Korean name, really), the author knowing zero to nothing about South Korea geography and still referencing it, OC has prejudices, Jungkook also has prejudices, lots of dialogue (and I mean a lot, inner too), a train derails
Do bad puns count as a trigger? If the answer is yes, beware the title of this chapter.
Rating: PG
Word count: 6.4K oof
Author's Notes: Italics in dialogues means they're speaking Italian, otherwise it's Korean (you know the drill by now); and he's here! Mister Jeon Jungkook finally made a full on appearance. Yay!
P.S: I had to split this into two parts, because it's a long ride. YOU CAN FIND PART ONE IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER!
It's only after five minutes of me pressing anxiously against the toilet's door, viscous dread running in my veins at the idea of a sudden attack, that I remember about possibly one of mankind's greatest inventions: keys. Caught in a flurry of terror and confusion as we were, none of us stopped and thought of this being a room for personal matters in the middle of a very public space constantly bustling with people. Of course it has to have a key.
Without moving from my spot, I blindly reach for it and turn it with a soft click. But, even so, I still not dare to relax nor leave the door. It's now locked, but will it hold against the creature's blows without someone on this side trying to contrast them? I fear the answer might be a sharp no.
I glance at my left, where the stranger in black is still bending over the small sink, either drinking water or washing his face, from my position I can't be sure.
What I can be sure of, instead, is how broad his back seems from here, despite his baggy dark sweatshirt hiding it partially. And, earlier on, it didn't escape me the fact that he's a good span taller than me, too, despite not standing at his full height. My breath catches in my throat with a little whine and I quickly look away when our eyes meet for a brief second in the tiny mirror over the stainless steel basin.
So I am stuck in here with my little sister and a bad penny that's clearly stronger than me and could throw us both out without so much as breaking a sweat, if so desired. I try not to let my prejudices overcome my reason, but I can't stop ruminate on how I am supposed to protect my sister if he were to try something against us.
I know, deep down, we won't find ourselves in such scenario and, despite his rough and unwelcoming appearance, he doesn't seem to be a malicious person, but, then again, people just turned rabid and started attacking each other, so how do I know for sure how a man of his kind will react in a situation like this? I would be no match against him, much less my sister, who's only seven.
«Are you trying to burn two holes in my shoulders or something?» Struck by the sudden question, I blink twice – at least with the eye that's not covered in dried blood – and find myself staring at his back once again. Caught up as I was in my dread and concerns, I didn't even notice my focus drifting on his figure nor his gaze staring back at me the whole time.
«We forgot about the key» I explain, refusing to answer him or show my wariness at his presence.
«Doubt it'll help much – he retorts, turning off the tap and using the hem of the black hoodie to dry his hands and mouth. – Well, you can step away from it, then. It clearly won't attack us, if we keep quiet. And what happened to your face, if you've been in here the whole time? Your brow is cut.»
It apparently takes me a moment too long to decipher his heavily accented words, because he repeats what he said with little to no inflection and a slower pace. Something I can't help but be grateful of, but that doesn't help my inquietude at a possible future threat on his part.
«You hit me with the door when you rushed inside.» It's my eventual answer, as I finally convince myself to leave the threshold and quite literally rush back to the curled up form of my younger sister. She immediately looks up, eyes huge and teary, face blotchy, and launches herself at me. I readily hug her to my chest and kiss the side of her head. Her caramel hair is all damp and smells of sweat.
«C'mon, you need to drink some water» I murmur against her temple, gently helping her back on her feet and instinctively fixing the yellow skirt of her dress. As if some wrinkles would make much of a difference, right now!
«Sorry. Do you need help with it?» The stranger asks, moving away from the sink to go and sit on the metallic lid of the toilet seat.
«No, I'm fine. – I shrug, even though it's very much not fine and the wound is starting to sting in an intolerable way. In an attempt to ignore it, I focus all of my attention to my sister as I accompany her to the little washbowl. – Doesn't hurt much.»
«I think it's the adrenaline. I too don't feel anything. – Looking at his bruised knuckles, his lips curl up in a humourless grimace. – Funny, pain would be ten times better than what I am feeling right now» he then mutters to himself, before seemingly snapping out of it and looking back at me as he gets up and moves towards the door. I stiffen when he stops by it, which, considering the reduced dimensions of the room, means that it'd only take for him to lift his arm just by half to touch mine. Something twists in my gut and I try to ignore his close proximity as I open the tap for my sister and lift her a little so that she can more easily reach the running water.
«But you should clean it, at least – he insists, always talking in hushed tones, a faint sigmatism transpiring through his tonal accent. – I'm not sure they keep the first-aid kit in here, but I can look, while you wash it.»
«It's fine, really» I mutter, only wishing for him to go back to the toilet seat, as far away from us as possible.
«I'm finished, Hani» says Cami right as he opens his mouth to say something else, so I put her back on the ground and risk a glance at the mirror in front of my face. God, I look like a dead risen from its grave. And perhaps I should really wash this bloody cut.
«You can't afford yourself an infected wound, right now. I doubt the doctor would still be around to look after you.»
And, in a way I cannot even explain to myself, my brain stretches connections between the word “doctor” and uncle Joo, who always jokes about how he tried to study medicine in his early 20s, before coming back to his senses and moving onto law, just as his father and his older brother before him. 'Losing momentarily our mind to attempt medicine is the Kim fashion', he usually concludes with a good laugh. A tradition that's going to end with him and my aunt, since they mutually agreed on never having kids of their own.
I need to grab the edge of the sink so as not to tumble on the ground, air violently knocked out of me at the sudden realization. Oh, God. Oh, my God. Oh, no. No no no.
«Hani?» Camilla grabs at the sleeve of my blouse and shakes my arm a little, but I can't feel it, not really.
«My- my aunt.» I can only stutter out, vision suddenly foggy with scorching tears.
«Mh?» The young man tilts his head confusedly to the side and leans a little towards me.
«I have to go. I have to go find her.» I don't even know how I am putting words together, at the moment, because all I can think of is my aunt Seo-jun, still napping peacefully on the seat behind mine when Camilla and I got up to go to the toilet. She was fast asleep, curled up on the seat like a kid, hugging her middle with a little pout on her thin lips. The memory is excruciatingly clear in my mind, now, and I can't get rid of it. She was sleeping in there. Oh, my God. Is she still there? Is she still in there?
«Out there? Didn't you fucking hear what I told you? And keep your voice down, before you call that thing back.»
«But she was sleeping in there! I need- I need to-» I take a step towards the door, movements rigid and not completely mine. Distantly, I hear my sister's small whimper as she grabs my hand with her clammy ones to stop me from going further.
«Are you crazy? – The stranger snaps, covering it with his whole body, pure, angry disbelief in his dark eyes. – Everybody in that godforsaken compartment is already gone, by now!» I know he would shout at the top of his lungs, were it not for the horrid creature possibly still waiting outside, and the hissing whisper he's opting for is somehow scarier.
«She has to have escaped, she can't-»
«Listen, I don't know exactly what the fuck happened out there, but I've only seen two other people barely leaving the coach and they were both guys.»
I shake my head, refusing to believe his words, but already knowing the truth. No. Oh, God, no. How could I forget about her? How could I?
«Wanna go check for yourself? Here is the door! But once you are out, I won't fucking open it to let you back in. Those people... I don't know what they were, but they literally jumped on the other passengers and after a couple of seconds, those passengers started attacking people too. It spreads, whatever madness it is. I'm not risking it.»
«I can't leave her out there!»
«Don't you get it, you stupid? It's too late! She was right in the middle of it!»
«You don't know that! You can't know it for sure!»
«She was the lady with the purple lipstick, wasn't she?»
I can't breathe. There's a huge, rocky lump in my throat and a hand clenching my heart and I can't breathe.
«She nearly got me.»
No.
«No. No, you're wrong. You must have mistaken her in the confusion. She's not- she's not- no, she's not gone. You're wrong! She's not gone!»
He doesn't say anything else, because what else is there to say?
I should have woke her up; I should have woke her and asked her to accompany us to the bathroom. Please, God, let me go back and save her. Let me wake her up and force her to come with us.
I'm torn in two. I can't leave my aunt like that, without even trying, I can't, and, if I were on my own, I would take the risk to venture out and look for her. But I am not alone; my little sister is right at my side, holding on me and sobbing quietly, and I won't leave her with a complete stranger nor let her set foot outside this toilet stand to follow me in my suicide mission.
It's between risking my own life to go search for my dear aunt, despite everything in me shrieking that she's already dead; going out there and facing those... things and abandoning Cami in the hands of this man. Or stay put, keep my sister safe no matter the cost and leave my aunt behind.
If it were the other way around, would aunt Seo-jun do that? Even if there was the smallest of chances of me being alive out there, would she leave me to die to save Cami? The answer is as transparent as a summer day, but my mind still refuses to come to terms with it, to give up on a woman I love as much as my own mother.
I press my free hand against my mouth to try and block the sobs, but it becomes increasingly difficult to breath properly and, soon enough, I am weeping my heart out. The last time I cried like that was during the funeral of nonno Augusto, when I was barely any older than my sister. And, even back then, it didn't feel like I was being ripped from the inside by avid hands.
Then again, that time I wasn't killing a person with my own decision.
«Quiet! Keep quiet!» The stranger hisses urgently, pressing with a little more strength against the door smooth surface. But I can't. I can't stop crying, I can't stop picturing those terrible, pale eyes and dislocated jaw on my aunt's slim, beautiful face.
It's when I find myself curling on the floor with my sister in my arms, head about to split in two for the tears pressure on my temples, that something bangs loudly on the door, nearly making me jump out of my own skin.
«Fuck! Keep quiet, I said!» he shouts over the thing's growls growing louder and frantic by the second.
Pushing back the next wail feels like trying not to throw up and it makes me nauseous, but I bite my lower lip until I feel the salty taste of blood on my tongue and the sting calls me back to my senses.
«Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.» I start repeating like a broken record, cradling my little sister to my chest in an attempt to calm the both of us down.
«Hani, Hani, what happened to auntie Seo-jun? Is she okay?»
I can't bring myself to answer her, I can't bring myself to even think about the answer, so I just hug her closer to my body and press my face on top of her sweaty head. Just like before, as soon as we fall silent, the thing outside also grows quiet, proving both that it's drawn by noises and that's waiting for us.
«I wanna go home. Can we go home, now, please? Please, Hani?»
---
I don't know how much time passes until I eventually let go of Cami and get up, but I have a weird chalk-like taste in my mouth and my eyes still sting, so I turn on the tap with trembling hands and splash some cold water on my face, before forcing myself to drink some of it. I didn't even realize how thirsty I was, but I can't seemingly stop drinking it and I have to remind myself to take it slow or I'll end up being sick. The last thing I drank was a tall glass of orange juice at one of the station's bars. When was that? For how long have we been in here? I don't wear a watch nor brought my phone with me, so there's no way for me to know... unless, of course, I ask the stranger now sitting on the floor, back still pushing against the door.
«Do you know the time?» I manage to croak out, stealing a glance at him through the small mirror in front of me. He keeps staring at his bruised knuckles, engrossed, for a long pause, so much so that I fear I'll have to repeat myself.
«Sorry, didn't really have the time to take my phone while I was running for my life» he finally retorts, tone filled with sarcasm to the brim. I tiredly nod and, after risking at dabbing some water against the cut to clean in, I sit back next to my sister.
«I also don't have it with me.» My clothes don't have pockets and it didn't really cross my mind to bring it while I was going to the toilet with Cami: I thought it would be a matter of a couple of minutes.
«Yeah, figured that much.»
«So we're cut off completely?»
«And what help would a phone be, right now? Mh? What, are you going to throw it against its head? Call the monster police?»
Camilla whines against my shoulder, her small frame shaking with mute tears.
«You're scaring my sister.» And me, but I don't think he would care much about it, given the bite in his words. He opens his mouth, but quickly closes it and hugs his knees to his chest with a sigh.
«Sorry. How old is she, anyway?»
«Seven.»
«Fuck.»
I press my lips together at his umpteenth expletive – especially now that he knows how young she is – and gently move her on my lap, letting her curl up in my arms.
«What are we going to do?» I wonder in a broken whisper, looking briefly at the door, as if glancing at it any longer would burn my eyes. I wasn't expecting for him to give me a reassuring answer or an answer at all, but his next muttered words feel like a kick in the teeth, anyway.
«I don't know, I honestly don't know.»
–-
The train loudspeaker cracks after what feels like hours and I've gotten so used to the convoy unnatural silence, that it takes me a while to understand its meaning.
I immediately straighten out and find myself leaning a little forward, as if in doing so I could hear better, and the stranger does the same, slightly turning his head towards the door at his back.
The male voice coming from the speakers sounds faint under the growls of the thing suddenly aroused by it, but we can still grasp most of it.
This is the train conductor Wan Soon-bok. To all survivors listening to this communication: stay hidden. I talked to the control centre and we have reason to believe they get agitated by the sight of a... human, and attack only and exclusively in that one instance. I repeat, there's a high possibility they attack only when seeing a person, so keep out of their sight until we arrive at Daejeon Station. We'll be there in one hour point twenty minutes and escorted to safety by the military. The exit will be on the doors on the left side of the cars. I repeat: on the left side. I will notify when the train is about to enter Daejeon Station.
The communication drops and silence fills the small toilet stall once again. The creature outside also quiets down, as expected, by now.
«I think it's how he said.» The strangers murmurs, voice cracked and tired. I change position a little, my legs starting to lose sensibility due to my sister's added weight, especially now that she's fallen deep asleep, and I look at him quizzically.
«What do you mean?» I haven't talked in so long that my whisper sounds strange to my own ears, grating, almost.
«That thing stopped forcing its way in when the door closed and it couldn't see us anymore.»
«But I thought it was loud noises that attracted it, you said so yourself. We've seen it happening twice.»
«I know, but think about it. If they don't need to see us to attack, it'd still try to get in, despite us keeping quiet, because it knows we're in here. Perhaps they rely on both sight and hearing and, when they cannot see... they attack whatever noise gets their attention.»
I need some time to mull over it and all its implications, because that changes everything. That changes everything in the most horrid of ways.
«If that's true- if it's going to attack us as soon as it sees us, how are we even going to leave this place? How do we get out?»
He doesn't answer immediately, but simply lets his head fall against the door surface with a small thud, his round, dark eyes nearly completely closed.
I feel another attack of hysteria forming in my chest like a bubble and it'll take nothing for it to burst, if I don't calm myself down. Between worrying for my sister's life and keeping the memory of my aunt's death at bay, I am constantly on the brink of tears as it is, I can't add this new and terrible weight to my emotional load.
If we don't find a way out on our own, nobody's going to look for us, because nobody knows we are in here. So what will happen when all the other survivors leave and are taken into custody by the army?
We have no way of calling for help nor is there a window to escape. The only way is through the door and right behind that door a rabid creature is waiting. We're gonna be stuck until we'll die of hunger or he eventually decides to use us as bait to distract the thing and save himself. Either way, my sister and I have no way of surviving if we don't do something now.
«How do we get out?» I repeat, when his silence becomes too much to bear.
«I'm thinking. We still have some time to find a solution, if nothing else. Conductor Wan said we'll arrive in about one hour.»
«But we can't wait the last second to try it!» I whisper-shout.
«And you think I don't know that? – He bites back, just as frustrated and scared. – But we need a plan, or some sort of plan, at least, if we want to make it out of here alive. We can't afford ourselves to rush it or we'll die.»
«How are we gonna walk past that thing? There's no way we can do it without it seeing us, if it's right behind the door.»
«I know. We would've had some more chances if it relied on hearing only, because in that case we only had to be silent, but if they also use sight to hunt...» He lets the phrase die, but there's really no need to say more. He simply expressed what I've been thinking just now.
We're stuck.
«Hani? – murmurs my sister as she starts moving restlessly on my lap, before sitting upright and looking at me with hooded eyes. – Are we home yet?»
«No, Boss. Sleep a little more, I'll- I'll call you when we're there.»
«But I am not tired anymore. Did the scary lady really hurt that people? Was it not just a dream?»
«No, but you don't need to worry about it, okay? Did you sleep well?»
She only sleepily nods in response, before struggling to leave my embrace and getting up. I grab the hem of her floral dress when I see her sway a little on her feet, but I can't quite look at her face. How am I supposed to tell her the truth? How am I to protect her? I wish aunt Seo-jun was here; she'd knew what to do.
«What's your name, sir?»
I feel an icy blade scraping down my spine when Camilla eventually addresses the stranger. Of course, I couldn't expect for her to keep ignoring him, once she calmed down a bit, but I wish it would've lasted a while longer, because seeing him crack a small smile at her makes me uneasy. It's not that it's threatening or something of the sort, quite the opposite, actually, but seeing the man that could eventually lose it and hurt us being all friendly with my little sister makes me sick in the stomach.
«My friends usually call me Jay.»
«But I'm not your friend. What I call you, then?» she retorts bluntly, her brows furrowing while she mentally searches for the right words to use in a language she only just recently learned to speak. I would be proud of her, for the efforts she's clearly making, were it not for the situation we're finding ourselves in.
«You can still call me Jay.»
«Even if you're old than me?»
«Older.» I instinctively correct under my breath, finally letting go of her skirt, as I try to relax.
«Yes, I don't like it when people call me oppa.»
«And why not?» she inquires, her curiosity instantly picked by his odd statement.
«It makes me feel very very old.»
She makes to walk closer to him and I quickly grab her dress to stop her from going further, which doesn't escape his gaze. His expression darkens a little, smile faltering, but he doesn't comment on it. For now, at least.
Feeling my cheeks burning at my own action dictated by prejudices, I let my hand fall back on my lap, but still quietly ask Cami to come sit back next to me.
«I think I come up with a plan» he says, his tone losing all traces of friendliness when speaking to me.
«Okay.»
«A plan for what?» my sister cuts in, using her feet as a cushion when she kneels close to my side.
«Well, Princess, while you were sleeping, a good sir told us we'll need to leave the train in one hour or so, but we can't do it from inside the bathroom.» The stranger, “Jay”, explains, his strong Busan accent barely audible so that she can better understand his words.
«But there's the scary thing, outside. Hani, don't let him open the door! Don't let the scary thing come in!» she franticly whispers, turning to me and grabbing one of my arms with her hazel eyes as round as plates and already shining with a new wave of tears. I hug her to my chest and leave a kiss on the top of her head to try and reassure her, but how can I hope to do so, when I am the first one to be on the verge of sobbing?
«Don't worry, we're trying to find a solution for that. What's your plan, then?»
«If it can't see us, it won't attack.»
«We already agreed on that and we can't do anything about it.»
«Which is not true. I could use my sweatshirt to cover its head, so that it'll no longer be able to see.»
«What?» This can't be true. This can't be it.
«Do you have a better idea?»
«No, but... this is madness, do you realize it?»
«And the only thing we can do.»
«This can't be the plan. It can't! Opening the door, throwing your hoodie at its face and run? We'll never make it!»
«We'll never make it if we stay here and do nothing. We've got more chances by trying rather than waiting for some miracle that we both know won't come.»
«It's too dangerous.»
«Like hell it is! Trust me, I'm not a fan of this plan, either. But we really got nothing else.»
«How do we even do that?»
«I'll need you to open the door.»
«Oh, God-» Luckily, I am already sitting on the floor, because I can no longer feel my legs and I fear I might get sick.
He can't be serious: as soon as we open the door, that creature will see us and try to force its way in all over again. And this time we might not be able to block it out, since he's going to have his hands occupied. How can he even suggest it?
«I can't do both. You have to open it for me, while I take aim and throw the hoodie. Once it's blinded, we'll have to run.»
«What if there's more? You said- you said the whole car was-» Words get stuck in my throat and I can't bring myself to finish the sentence, but he understands what I mean all the same.
«We can only hope the rest of the infected passengers chased after the other two guys that managed to leave and didn't come back.»
«But what if they did?»
«I don't think they did. We would've heard them, wouldn't we?»
I look down at my sister, her face the colour of ashes, her lips visibly trembling upon following this whole conversation without uttering a single word, and how can I even think about putting her in such a dangerous situation? His plan is madness and the chances of it working are too low to even take it into consideration. But do we even have better options? The only answer to this question makes me nauseous.
«And then what?»
«We wait in the smoker vestibule until the train reaches Daejeon. It's on the left side of the train and the door is right here, other than being the closest to this bathroom.»
«Just like that?»
«The previous part it's already difficult enough, don't you think? – he answers back with sarcasm, before pressing his pink lips together and taking in a deep breath. – Listen, I fucking hate this plan, too, and, if you have something better in mind, I'll gladly go for it, but if you don't... we really don't have another choice, okay? This is our only shot at leaving this place.»
«If it doesn't work... we die. My sister dies. – I somehow manage to emphasize around the lump in my throat. – I can't risk that.»
«Trust me, I'm also not looking forward to die, but we still have to try. We're stuck in here, otherwise.»
«I know.» And how much it costs me to admit it, to admit that we're as good as dead, if we just stay in here and don't try it.
«Hani» Camilla moans, terrorized, and starts shaking her head violently.
«I know, I know, Cami. But he's right» I whisper, hot tears starting to roll down my cheeks on their own volition. This is too much. God, this is too much.
«How- how do we do it?»
«We move one to each side of the door and you open it just enough for me to throw the sweatshirt, then we run the fuck out of here. I take your sister. I am stronger and I can move easily even with her added weight.»
No. I don't say anything, but apparently there is no need to, my face must express all of my refusal quite limpidly.
«C'mon, don't be stupid. We need to be fast and she's just a kid. She won't be able to keep up with us and if you carry her, it'll slow you down as well.»
«How do I know you won't... you won't use her to distract those things and run.»
«You really think I would do that?»
«I don't know! I don't know you!» And it costs me so much not to shout it out loud, the frustration and terror of the past... minutes? hours? about to burst just like a bubble of soap.
The olive skin of his neck takes on a redder shade, dark eyes reduced to two hard, menacing cuts in his eyelids.
«Even so, what kind of monster would do that to save his ass? – His whisper is but a hiss, but anger is not the only emotion I can detect behind it. Is it... hurt? His next snarl doesn't give me the time to make sure of it. – Oh, of course. I get it. You're one of those goody two-shoes that sees a bunch of tattoos and piercings and immediately thinks of the Kkangpae.»
Yes. «No...» I shake my head, but it's as clear as day that I don't believe it myself. He doesn't seem to care and, with an icy look in his eyes, gets up and quickly takes off his black hoodie.
«Then let's not even waste time on this conversation. Give me your sister and let's get out of this fucking place.»
Without that baggy piece of clothing and now with only a simple (black) t-shirt on, I can see more distinctly the ink covering his right arm in its entirety and the toned muscles beneath his dark skin. Red lights start flashing once again in my head, but I have no other choice but ignore them for the time being. What else can I do, anyway?
I rigidly rise and help my sister back on her feet, heart a block of cement in my chest as we join him by the door.
I hate how cold Camilla's hand feels in mine, how she just stopped reacting to what's happening around her and clammed up completely. If we manage to make it out of here alive, how is she going to cope from all this trauma? God, I'm not even sure I will be able to.
«Keep your sister behind your body until I throw the hoodie and take her, okay?»
I nod, because I feel that if I were to open my mouth I would probably throw up and faint. So I just nod a little and curl my free fingers around the plastic handle. My skin feels alien, clammy and robbed of all its usual warmth. I wonder if it's still blood what's running through my veins, or if it turned in liquid horror at what's to come. I briefly close my eyes and take in what might be my last breath.
«Okay, on my count to three, you open and I throw. Got it?»
«God, just do it» I beg with gritted teeth, tears stinging behind my still-lowered eyelids. I try to ignore the fact that his voice is also audibly trembling, each accented word laced with fear and worry, because that only manages to distress me more. What if his hands are also shaking and he misses the creature's face?
«1... 2... 3!»
Eyes still closed shut and one hand clutching my sister's with all of my strength, I quickly lower the door handle, a scream trapped just behind my glued lips.
---
I wait, I wait and I wait, seconds dragging with pasty slowness one after the other. But nothing happens.
Why isn't anything happening yet? Perhaps the thing jumped on me and I am already dead and this is why I can't hear nor feel anything? No, this can't be right. I can perfectly feel Cami's short nails digging into the back of my hand and the neon lights on the ceiling are still colouring my eyelids in red tints.
I hazard a look around with one eye half-closed and, sure enough, the door is now completely thrust open. But nothing is rushing in to kill us.
«Your sister.» A whisper right into my ear nearly gives me a heart attack and if I manage to not shriek at the top of my lungs is only due to the warm, sweaty palm suddenly pressing against my mouth.
«No unnecessary loud sounds, it's right out there» the stranger, Jay, says with a voice so low I can barely hear it. I slowly nod against his hold and silently move to the side so that he can pick my sister up once he's let me go.
«Okay, Princess – he murmurs, firmly holding her against his chest. Something about seeing my little sister with her cute-although-undone ponytails and bright yellow dress in the arms of a menacing-looking stranger gives me an uneasy feeling and I have to fight the urge to snatch her out of his undoubtedly strong hold. The only thing stopping me from doing so is the soft tone of voice he's using with her. – Hide your face against my shoulder and keep completely silent, okay? It's almost over, promise.»
Then he slightly turns to me and I can briefly see Cami pressing her face as much as she can against the hollow of his neck. The sight breaks my heart more than anything else.
The fact that Camilla is so utterly scared that she's looking for comfort in a complete stranger feels like a stab right in the chest.
«Stay behind me.» It's his curt command, to which I can only nod stiffly. I don't like him and I still feel uneasy and worried about what he could do to us, but now that I let him carry my sister, I can't really go back; I can only follow him and hope he won't try anything.
Camilla is still holding one of my hands, so I really don't have any other choice but to stay close to him, his warmth and smell of cigarettes and liquorice engulfing me completely.
«Keep quiet.»
«Okay.»
He slowly inches forward, glancing from left to right as if he's about to cross a street, then he breathes in deeply, strengthens his hold on Cami and takes a first step beyond the toilet threshold. I hold my breath as I follow. One first step, then a second. A third, a fourth.
And then we're out.
I can't recall much of what happens in the following instants, but for finding myself face to, well, black sweater with the rabid creature that was trying to kill us all earlier, its form completely unmoving and silent. Impossible for me to tell whether it's even breathing, under there.
I try not to focus on the large amount of blood drying on its clothes and limp hands and swiftly follow Jay when he turns left and rushes, steps careful and as silent as possible, towards the smokers vestibule.
I dare a glance behind me, terrified at the idea of finding one of those things ready to leap on us, but the next car is completely empty. Still, my guts twist in horror at what my eyes briefly land on.
The floor is a chaos of scattered bags and purses, one seat completely ripped from its place is sitting in the middle of the corridor. And then blood, so much of it, and a weird, black liquid rolling down cabinets and windows. It looks like a scene coming straight out of a horror movie, but that's not even the worst thing. No, it's the shoe.
A shoe – clearly a child's – that lays, forgotten, by the carriage door, blood splattered on its cute drawings of smiling suns and rabbits. Oh, God, they were probably even younger than Camilla.
I quickly look away and rush behind the stranger and my sister, now already by the vestibule threshold.
And that's when the world turns upside down, before going pitch black.
Trigger warnings for the following chapter: blood coming from physical wounds, Jungkook being once again a big fan of the f-word, smoking/cigarettes, piercings (specifically: tongue, gauge earrings) and tattoos, the author knowing zero to nothing about South Korea geography and still referencing it, OC has prejudices, Jungkook also has prejudices, violence towards the beginning (blink and you miss it), zombies doing zombies stuff
Do bad puns count as a trigger? If the answer is yes, beware the title of this chapter.
Word count: 2.4K
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Italics in dialogues means they're speaking Italian, otherwise it's Korean (you know the drill by now) + Aaand he's here! Mister Jeon Jungkook finally made a full on appearance. Yay!
P.S: I had to split this into two parts, because it's a LONG ride.
I distantly feel myself rolling off and away from my sister, before crawling in front of her and shielding her as best as I can in my dazed state, one corner of the small sink pressing into my shoulder.
Cami immediately hugs me from behind and I hold her rigid hands over my belly perhaps with too much strength, but every action feels detached from me right now, as if I'm not actually there, in my own body, doing all of these things, and floating, instead, somewhere just below the stainless steel ceiling.
And this might be why I don't understand straightaway what's the warm liquid running down the left side of my face nor why I don't actually feel any pain until I touch the eyebrow and press right into the torn flesh above it.
The newly-discovered wound soon starts to pulse with every beat of my heart, swollen and blistering, and yet, as all of this is happening to me, the only thing I can detect is the person standing between us and the door. And the thing growling and pushing with terrifying fury to force its way in.
Someone's screaming, but it's impossible for me to discern whether it's my sister, the stranger trying to keep the thing out or if it's coming from my own chest.
Perhaps it's all the three, desperate, terrified voices all merging together in a deafening screech that echoes against the four narrow walls of the toilet stall; perhaps it's the monster itself. I call it monster for lack of a better term, but what else could it be if not a creature worthy of Mary Shelley's words?
I can't look at it anymore, I don't want to look at it anymore, but my will feels numb and my gaze is petrified on its glassy, huge eyes and the drooling dislocated mouth, a monstrous gash on a face devastated by what looks like a shark bite and blood – oh, so much blood...
Somewhere, in a distant corner of my mind, I see the horrifying resemblance with the odd lady having a seizure just minutes ago, but it's a fleeting thought, soon discharged by pure, primal panic. Everything inside my body feels cold and strange and I start to squirm when fingers start digging into my belly. It takes a moment for me to remember that Cami's hugging me, the back of my white blouse now damp with her tears and my icy sweat.
Then the figure in black yells something and starts to rain blows on what was once the face of a person and the door finally closes. Time must have dilated and took on a strange form, because everything actually happens in a matter of seconds – the door hitting me on the face, my sister and I tumbling down and the stranger managing to get rid of the thing –, but when he turns towards us and lets himself slide down to the toilet floor, planting his leather boots on the ground to shove himself against the door and keep it closed under the ravening attacks from outside, I feel the weight of hundreds of hours on my shoulders.
«MAKE HER STOP! MAKE HER STOP! HANIMAKEHERSTOP!» My sister is by now screaming so high that her voice cracks and the meaning of the words is barely audible. The stranger gnashes his teeth in an effort to hold the door closed, eyes squeezed shut and tendon of the neck visible just below his olive skin.
«SHUT HER UP! I THINK THAT'S WHAT'S ATTRACTING HIM!» It takes me a moment to understand that he's yelling at me and one more to remember where I am and what language he's speaking.
I don't know, exactly, what finally snaps me out of my numbness, if his loud and heavily accented command or the door plastic surface starting to bend under the blows of the thing, but I hurriedly disentangle myself from Cami's asphyxiating hold, and, inverting our previous positions, I squeeze myself behind her, hug her in the middle, immobilizing her arms as much as I can without hurting her, and push my free hand over her mouth, pressing and pressing until the cries can no longer break the sweaty barrier of my palm.
Her snot soon starts to run, hot and sticky, down my skin, but I barely notice it – just as I barely notice my left eye now completely blinded by my own blood --, because something happened. Something miraculous and terrifying, straight out of the worst nightmare.
The growls and bangs from outside stopped. They didn't slowly fade to nothing, they just stopped. Suddenly, as if what was happening right in front of us was a mere scene from a horror movie and we paused it to go and grab some snacks, sounds crystallized behind the screen in muted dread.
Despite being the one suggesting what to do, the stranger snaps his head towards the now silent door, dark eyes round with disbelief.
«Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.»
«It stopped» I breathe out, slowly loosening my grip on Cami's body, since she stopped thrashing about. I keep my hand hovering above her mouth for good measure, but the screams have completely subdued to stifled sobs. After a couple of seconds, I let her turn and curl up against my chest, trying to shush her silent whines with a broken voice.
«Yes.» Is the stranger's eventual answer. His tone is uneven, frail, barely above a whisper, at odds with the tension stiffening his body against the door.
«Was it- was it really her screams?»
«Looks like it – he murmurs back, tilting his head a little to the side so that he can directly look at me. I wish he didn't: I can't stand his scared gaze reflecting mine. – A weird coincidence, otherwise.»
«What was that thing?» I can no longer keep this horrid question for myself and, as much as I dread his possible explanation, I also need to know. I need to know what's happening, why I just found myself inside the nightmare of a deranged mind and what's going to happen to us. I wipe my hand and hug my sister closer to my body, hoping to calm her down with my warmth as much as I hope hers will do to me.
«One of the passengers, once, but now... I don't know, I'm not sure. Have you two been in here the whole time?» he asks back, propping himself up against the door a little more, even though it seems like there's no longer need. Except for the sound of the train ploughing through the mountainous landscape of Gyeonggi region, everything outside is void of motion or the slightest noise. And this being a public vehicle full of people, the sudden silence feels ten times scarier than the rabid creature trying to get in moments ago.
«Whole time of what? What happened out there?»
«I'm not sure. It was hell, that's the only thing I can think of. Fucking hell from a fucking horror movie. I barely got out and if you opened that door just a second later... – He cuts himself off and squints his eyes a little, as if suddenly hit by some revelation. – Hold on, do I know you? Yes! You are the foreigners from the next seat! You two got up not five minutes before it started.» And, now that he mentions it, I finally remember him as the guy in black clothes that helped the odd lady to the toilet. Something about him running from the compartment I was also seated in starts nagging me, but I still can't quite wrap my head around this whole situation. And his foggy explanations are certainly no help.
«What? What started?» I want to scream, but if that thing really is drawn in by din, that would only mean to agitate it again, so I settle for an anguished whisper instead.
«A bloodbath. I told you, it was like a horror movie. People- I don't know. I don't think I am in my right mind, anyway. I need some water. Yes, yes, I need to drink some water. Can you come here and take over a second?»
«I- I'm sorry, but I didn't get what you just said.»
He dazedly shakes his head and takes a couple of long breaths, before repeating his confused mumbling with a slower, clearer pace. I tense up at his suggestion and cling to my sister's trembling form as if it were an anchor. She squeezes me back and whimpers a little no, Hani against my heaving chest.
«But what if it-?» Voice dying before I can even finish the sentence, I merely gaze at the door in horror. What if it comes back while I am keeping it shut? I doubt I could block it out, if that happened. And then it'll crush me down and it'll be inside and Cami will be the first thing it'll lay its hideous eyes on and-
«You can see for yourself: everything's silent out there. – The stranger is probably trying to reassure me, but I only now notice how strained his voice sounds, how grating to the ears. And his looks are no better: messy black hair matted with sweat, face sickly ashen and with a splatter of blood drying on one cheek. He looks small compared to his baggy clothes, and visibly shaken. – As long as we keep it quiet, I think we're fine. Please, I really need- I really need-»
And it's the way his eyes glisten with tears that finally makes up my mind. He's as scared as I am and just wants to be able to get up and drink some water to try and calm himself a little. Wouldn't I want the same, were I in his shoes? Hell, I do want the same.
I nod briefly and, holding my sister by the shoulders, I gently move her away so that I can look into her eyes. The irises seem a shade paler than her usual hazel, now that the surrounding area is red and puffy. I dab her damp cheeks with the sleeve of my blouse and force a smile, but, by the way she starts shaking her head, it must have looked more like a grimace rather than a soothing expression like intended.
«Stay here, okay, Cami?»
«No...»
«Not going anywhere, I just need to keep the door while he refreshes himself. I'm still right here, okay? Right in front of you. Please, please stay quiet, 'kay? Promise?»
«Can I seat with you?»
«No, you stay as far away from that door as possible.»
Which isn't saying much, considering the narrow spaces of the stall. If I'm to uncurl my legs from under me and stretch them out, my feet would probably end up right on the stranger's lap. Fortunately, the air recycling system on the ceiling is still working and there's still plenty of fresh oxygen for us to breathe.
«What's happening, Hani? Why are you bleeding? And why was that person so scary? Where is the scary lady?»
«I don't know. – I'm not even sure which question of hers I am answering. – But you stay here, okay?»
It takes me another good minute to convince her to let go and stay put, then I leave a petal kiss on the tip of her round nose and slowly get back on my feet. Only now I feel my back aching, perhaps a contusion from when I hit the ground, and I try to ignore how the steel room starts to spin all around me as soon as I take a first step towards the stranger.
Still keeping himself pressed against the door, he also manages to get up and glances at me carefully.
«You sure you can stand on your own?» he wonders with a barely audible whisper, lifting his hands, just a little, in my direction, as if readying himself to catch me.
«I'm trembling.»
«You are.»
I didn't notice I blurted it out loud until his comment, but I am still too distraught to blush in embarrassment.
«Are you going to faint or something?» I knit my brows at his question, unsure myself of the right answer. Am I? It feels like it, that's for sure, but by the time I am starting to seriously worry about losing consciousness, I managed to reach the door. A little more than a meter that felt like crossing a river during the rainy season.
This up close, I notice details about him that earlier completely escaped me and that make me stiffen, alarm bells promptly going off in my brain.
«Okay. I'm gonna slide to the side, so you can take my place. Sounds good?» he whispers, apparently unaware of my sudden discomfort.
His breath smells of cigarettes and liquorice chewing gum – that's probably how he tries to hide the stink of the former – and I can now easily glimpse a flash of silver on his tongue whenever he speaks. One of his slender hands is bloody and bruised from punching the thing repeatedly, while the other is nearly completely covered in black ink. I can't quite make out the drawings nor care to. I force myself to look away before he notices my distress and try not to think about any of that while I move to his side and warily prop myself up against the door. It's clear now how everything about him, from the black gauge earrings to the scar on his cheekbone to his whole loose-fitting outfit, shouts bad lot, skunk.
When I thought this horrifying situation couldn't get any worse, I find myself stuck in it with the kind of person my parents taught me to always steer clear of.
I glance at my sister and send a small smile her way, but my mind is already wildly running in circles looking for a way to keep her safe from this new-found menace.
Trigger warnings for the following chapter: Jungkook is a big fan of the f-word, depiction of an epileptic seizure, zombies attack people but it's not seen yet
Word count: 2.6K
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Italics means they're speaking Italian, otherwise it's Korean + Jungkook doesn't directly appear yet, but from the next chapter he'll be a full on protagonist
Antonio Caracalla, with his long caramel curls and piercing hazel eyes, is the hottest guy in my economy course, but in his latest Instagram post he's basically sculpted by the gods themselves. And that gold medal looks exceptionally good on his freckled, broad chest.
I hastily scroll down the dashboard before my eyes drift for the nth time towards the front of his tight swim trunks and toned legs, but, even so, my mind is now stuck on his gorgeous form to the point of no return.
Tall, with wide shoulders and a slim waist, Antonio really stands out when walking around campus, especially since he knows what works with his looks and how to accent them. I've been crushing hard on him (like half of the academic population) since my first year of university, namely since he tutored me during those first, hectic days, and sometimes I wish he wasn't such a funny guy and kind soul as well, so that I could easily get rid of this infatuation.
But, no, he had to be the apotheosis of a man coming straight out of a dream.
I log off the app when I find myself on his profile once again and start to mindlessly scroll through the pictures I took yesterday night of the beautiful lanterns displayed on the Cheonggyecheon stream; the reason we've came all the way to Seoul in the first place.
The last time I went to the Lantern Festival I was about my sister's age and this year's theme was too interesting to miss. I practically begged to go.
I stop and zoom in on a particularly aesthetic picture I've taken of aunt Seo-jun: she's gazing at the camera with the corner of the eye, a smile just barely visible lingering on her small mouth that makes her as arcane as La Gioconda.
She usually ties her long, jet black hair, but yesterday she let it freely flow down to her waist and the colourful lights of the couple of lanterns behind her shine in a kaleidoscope of reds and purples on its dark waves.
When aunt Seo-jun was young, she trained two years to become an idol and it really doesn't come as a surprise. She probably would've debuted, too, if she didn't leave the agency in order to focus completely on her studies and, later on, date and marry my uncle.
While I am at it, I send him the photo, all too well picturing his blissful reaction to it.
They've been married for a little over twenty years, now, and they've reached that perfect balance between mutual respect, utter fondness and freedom to pursue whatever makes one happy, be it a one month trip to New Zealand or having a serious relationship with a third person. I wonder if Antonio would be as open minded as well with his partner. I sigh and mentally pinch myself for such a thought. Stop, stop thinking about him like that, Celeste!
A tap on my arm snaps me out of it and I turn towards my sister with a quizzical look.
«I need to pee.»
«Can't you hold it?»
«No. I need to pee.»
I hopefully glance behind me, but my aunt is taking a nap and I don't have heart to disturb her. I can only pray she won't wake up while we're gone, or she'll start panicking over our sudden disappearance and call the military to search for us.
«Hani» warns my little sister, starting to bounce a little with her legs tightly crossed.
«Fine.» I nod, putting the phone back inside my bag and getting up to let her out of the cramped space between our row of seats and the ones in front.
«But I don't wanna go alone.» It's her firm declaration, as she turns off the tablet and leaves it, alongside the headphones, on my now free seat. As if that would prevent me from sitting back down.
«Well, of course I wasn't going to let you walk around on your own.» If I ever actually did that, my aunt would be the first to kill me and then my mother, too, after finding a way to revive my dead body.
Camilla simply pouts in agreement, before taking my hand in her chubby and sweaty one and starting to hurriedly lead the way.
It should be the other way around, but kids love to show how independent they are to us grown ups, so I let her be. Besides, we've been on a KTX so many times, we could walk it up and down with our eyes closed shut.
The only other young girl in the car smiles and waves happily at us as we walk past her and her mum, but my sister doesn't stop and chat with her as she usually would, a big tell of how much she needs to use the toilet. I unconsciously speed up, all too well remembering when she used to pee her pants, years ago.
«How far is Busan, now?» she asks, her free hand pressed against the bell-shaped skirt of her yellow dress. We're now by the old lady that's reading Seoul's newspaper; five more meters to the intersection between the two train cars and the loo.
«We left literally fifteen minutes ago, Cami. We're still in Seoul, basically.»
«Then I want to teleport. Travelling is boring.»
«Kinda.» Especially when your little sister confiscates your only pair of earphones and you can't pass the time on Spotify.
«Hani, but can you really have fire underwater?» It takes me a moment to understand what she's referring to and I shake my head a little, opening the glass door that takes to the anteroom dedicated to smokers. The air filter is activated and the room empty, so there's no stink of cigarette. We rush to the second door.
«No, Spongebob is a stupid toon and you shouldn't believe anything that happens in– oh God.» I let out in a loud breath, stopping dead in my tracks and instinctively pulling my sister by the arm and against my side.
There are two women in the middle of the passageway, right in front of the toilet entrance. The one kneeling is a KTX hostess, not sure if it's the same that was checking in on our compartment earlier, while it takes me a moment to recognize the woman sprawling before her, arms and legs twitching in horrid, slow movements, back arching almost completely from the carpet floor, as the sick-looking lady that boarded the train at the last second.
«Oh, my God – I repeat, taking a step back. – Is she having a seizure?»
The hostess turns her head to me with a little jump, frightened by my question and presence, her dark eyes large with panic and tears. She can't be older than me, if anything younger.
«Yes- I- I don't know. I think so» she answers confusedly with a trembling voice and I notice just now the walkie-talkie she's clutching in her hands. She has bloody scratches on them.
I move my sister behind me so that she doesn't have to see any of this, but, by the way her body stiffened and grew colder, I know it's already too late.
Stupid, stupid! How could I forget about that woman? I should have taken Cami to the other toilet!
«Oh, God. Did you put something in her mouth? Before she bites her tongue off.» But I already know she didn't, because when the woman suddenly jerks her head in my direction, I can see her mouth is wide open, so much so that it seems nearly dislocated. The lights on the ceiling create an appalling effect on her white teeth, making them appear way bigger than normal and I feel my heart skipping a beat at the sight. I didn't notice I stopped breathing until the next spasm turns her towards the hostess and oxygen rushes back in my lungs.
«Hani, what's wrong with the lady? Is she okay?» My sister's wails are muffled against my back and I immediately turn to hug her tight.
«It's nothing, Camillina. Don't cry» I mumble against the top of her head, but it's useless. And how can I expect to reassure her when I'm the first to be shaken by what's happening?
«I wanna leave. Please, can we go now? PLEASE, CELESTE!»
«I-»
I doubt the hostess speaks Italian, but she must have understood the terror lacing Cami's voice clearly enough.
«You should head back, miss – she says, putting down the walkie-talkie and starting to unhook her uniform's leather belt with unsure fingers. – I've already warned the train's doctor and he'll be there soon. I am so sorry you both had to see that. Please, accept mine and the company's deepest apologies.»
I want to tell her that there's absolutely no need for that and that I should stay to help her at least until the doctor arrives, but my sister's cry becomes more desperate by the second, so I only nod and hastily skirt around the both of them to reach the door to the next carriage. After that, we're nearly running down the passageway, ignoring the few exclamations of surprise and puzzled glares sent our way.
«She was scary!» Camilla is weeping, by now.
«Don't say that, Cami! She was sick.» I try to calm her down, but, again, to no avail. I can't get rid of the image of her huge, white teeth glinting right at me. No human has teeth that long and large.
«But her eyes were scary!» She insists, as we finally reach the bathroom stall. She doesn't seem to notice; she probably even forgot she needed to use the toilet in the first place.
«I WANNA GET OFF!»
«Hey, do not shout! – I kneel down to her level and shake her a little by the shoulders to snap her out of it. By the way she's screaming, people would think I'm killing her and the last thing I want right now is to explain what is actually happening to some apprehensive stranger. – Here's the bathroom. Let's hurry up, before Aunt wakes up.»
«She was scary, Hani! I don't wanna stay! I DON'T!»
«Hey, Hey. Look at me, Boss. Look at me, okay? It's alright, I promise. That woman was very sick, but now they're taking care of her. It's all passed. Stop crying, okay?»
«I wanna get off!» She's still weeping and sniffing loudly, but at least she's no longer screaming to the point of cracking her own voice.
«Don't be silly, we can't leave the train now. And sometimes people get sick like that, but it's nothing to be scared of, okay? – I insist, still holding her by the shoulders. – Remember your babysitter Rebecca? It happened to her a lot, when she was little, but then she took her medicines and it all went away. And now she's okay, isn't she?»
«I want mama and papa.»
«Stop being silly. – I tut, using the sleeve of my white blouse to try and dry her dampened cheeks. Her face is terribly puffy and red, her nose running. – C'mon, you needed to use the bathroom, no? Here it is.»
«Come in with me. Please, please, Hani. I don't want to go in alone.»
I refrain myself from telling her that she's no longer a baby and can very well do it on her own: she's still so shocked by that woman having a seizure, that I can't find it in me to deny her such a little request. And, if I have to be completely honest with myself, I also don't want her out of my sight. What I just witnessed left me with a strange, creepy feeling that I can't quite do away with.
«Okay, I'll come in, too. But you have to promise me you'll stop crying, okay? Aunt will have a heart attack if she sees you like that.»
I wait until she gives me her word, then I open the door and we both slip in.
---
The train toilet is exactly what you would expect from a train toilet: a cubicle of stainless steel in which toilet bowl, sink and hand dryer are all compressed together and also made of stainless steel. The neon lamp over our heads is bright and reflects on nearly every surface, but we get quickly used to it.
I turn towards the basin while my sister does her thing and, since I'm here, I open the tap and quickly wash my face with ice-cold water. The make-up is obviously ruined, but right now I couldn't care less. I can always redo it later on or just go without it for the rest of the trip.
«I'm done.»
«Good. Did you dry properly?»
«Yes.»
«Then flush the toilet and come wash your hands.»
She does as she's told rather calmly, compared to her shaken state just a few minutes ago, and then I help her use the electric hand dryer.
And this is when I think I hear it. Perplexed, I turn off the machine and glance at the door.
«What-?»
«Shh.» I raise a finger to shush her and then slowly walk towards the threshold.
Screams, very faint, but screams all the same. With a tongue as heavy as lead, I grab the handle and start to turn it to unlock it.
I nearly jump out of my skin when someone bangs urgently at the other side of the door and then what seems like a dozen of people rush past it.
«What's going on?» I wonder to myself, voice breaking with growing fear. God, what is wrong with this train, today?
«NO! DON'T OPEN!» shouts my sister, clinging on to my arm with both hands, her nails, despite being cut short, digging painfully into my skin through the fabric of the blouse.
«I have to take a look and understand what's happening. It'll be just a moment, promise. – But she keeps clutching with all of her strength, so much so that I fear she might draw blood. – Stop it, Camilla! You're hurting me!»
«NO! DON'T, HANI! IT'S THE SCARY LADY!» She doesn't seem to be hearing me and starts sobbing and whining broken pleads as the screams from outside seemingly grow louder and closer.
«Of course not, Camilla. Stop with that story, now.» I try to reason, but I can barely hear it myself, my voice too frail and dubious to be heard above her wails and the people shrieking and running. And what was that sudden tearing, liquid sound? What's going on? Oh, God, what's going on?
«YES! YES! IT'S HER! DON'T LEAVE ME!»
A second scream resonates all of a sudden through the steel walls of the toilet and it takes me an instant to understand that it came from me and why.
Someone's knocking amidst the chaos from outside. They're knocking with such panic I can feel its echo in my bones and yelling to open that fucking door! Fuck! Fucking open it! Please!
«Hani, HANI NO!»
But I'm already turning the handle and the door is pushed open so suddenly it hits me square in the face and it hurts and I am falling and I nearly crush my sister and then something black is inside the cubicle and they're cursing and pushing the door. And oh, God. Oh, God what is that thing–
Author's Note: Italics means they're speaking in Italian, otherwise it's Korean
[ Masterpost ] [ Next Chapter ]
– ZOMBIE ON BOARD –
«Should we call Uncle and remind him we'll be arriving at Busan Station in a couple of hours?» I wonder out loud, turning towards the seats behind me with the upper part of my body and squinting my eyes when the sunrise light hits them directly through the wide window panes of the train.
«I think you just read my mind, sweets» says my aunt, a small smile tugging at the corners of her thin, lavender-painted lips, one perfectly manicured hand already digging in her Mary Poppins purse. Or, as my uncle Joo puts it simply to tease her, the “great black hole”. He's got a point, anyway.
«Knowing him, he's still in bed, the lazy ass» she muses once she's got hold of her phone, and I playfully roll my eyes at her dormouse of a husband, before properly sitting back in my seat and stealing a glance at the curled up form of my little sister, her attention completely engrossed in whatever's happening behind the screen of my iPad tablet.
«What are you watching now, Boss?» I ask her, taking off her headphones. Well, mine, actually, but I doubt I'll manage to use them during the trip, at this point.
Cami sends me a death glare – scarily ominous, coming from a 7-year-old kid in ponytails and a yellow flower dress – and pauses what she was just looking at.
«Spongebob. – It’s her snappy answer. – Why isn't the train moving yet?»
«Waiting for all the passengers to get on board, I guess.» I shrug my shoulders, not really questioning it.
We took our places as soon as the KTX docked and those things usually arrive thirty minutes prior the departure, so nothing unusual about this long wait.
My sister seems satisfied with my short explanation and moves to take the earphones back, but I'm not done, yet.
«Lower the light of the screen or you'll ruin your eyesight» I warn, still keeping the devices out of her reach.
«Give it back, Hani!» She pouts, voice going up a whole octave, quite literally making grabby hands with a demanding expression on her chubby face.
«Only if you say the magic word» I tease back, not able to contain a mischievous smile.
«Pretty please, Hani! PRETTY PLEASE!» She nearly screams that last part and I suddenly feel very aware of the other people seated in the coach with us. Are they all staring at the two loud foreigners now? Am I just being awkward and paranoid? One thing is for sure: my face feels hot and red with embarrassment.
«You're seven, by the way. You're supposed to play with toys or something» I mumble, giving up on the headphones and letting her take them back.
«It's just that you're very old.»
I let out an outraged sigh, but she's already back at giving her undivided attention to Spongebob and friends and, by the sound of it, my aunt is still talking with uncle Joo. I quickly check my own phone for eventual notifications, but Rome is seven hours behind and so my friends are all still sleeping and didn't reply to any of my messages. Considering they probably spent the whole Friday night drinking and chatting at a bar, they will be out for ten more hours at least.
I block the screen, throw the phone back in my bag and, with nothing better to do, since the train is still not moving, I start looking around the wagon by now nearly full.
The seat next aunt Seo-jun is still not taken, but currently occupied by her titan of a purse, while, right in front of me, a couple of old men is talking about this morning's numerous strikes all over Seoul in hushed tones, as if they're not passing the news on the small television over the dividing door right at this moment, albeit with no sound.
On the other side of the narrow corridor with grey carpet on its floor, a woman is conversing with what I presume is her daughter, a kid around my sister's age, by the look of it, but they both speak too fast for me to grab more than a few words; their accents remind me of my father's, though, so they're probably from his childhood town.
I move my attention on to the passenger sitting on his own behind them, a young man dressed all in black with messy dark hair. He has headphones on and seems to be sleeping. Then there's a small group of teenagers chatting and joking near the other sliding door that divides the cars, a man in a dark and rigid-looking suit that keeps nervously checking his wrist watch, an old woman reading today's Chosun Ilbo with an expression that's either tired or troubled and the KTX hostess that's checking on us and answering whatever needs we may have.
«The train will depart in a minute, just as scheduled, sir.» I hear her politely answer the man in dark suit, never losing her perfectly bright smile.
I let out a sigh and look towards the ceiling. White, spotless, with two long bars of gleaming neon lights that run parallels to each other.
The KTX bullet train has nothing to do with the one I take each morning to reach my university, back at home. This one is much faster, cleaner and better taken care of. And always on time, too.
And yet, I find myself missing my old, stuffy regional train, with the trash cans always spilling with used napkins and snack packages and one of the windows that never rolls up completely, winters included. But, more than anything, I miss the company of my friends, with which every one-hour ride becomes memorable and the rest of the coach disappears in the raucousness of our chatter.
I am fond of Busan and proud of my Korean descent, but here I am nothing but a devoted tourist and I doubt I'll ever really feel like home; I can't wait to go back to Rome and reunite with the people I love in two weeks.
The woman rushing inside just before the door closes brings me back to reality, and the vision of my closest friends and I chatting happily around a shared margherita pizza after my return quickly dissipates in her ragged appearance and crazed eyes.
I instinctively straighten up, an icy, tingling sensation running through my spine. To say she looks unwell would be an understatement and I move a little so to hide my oblivious sister behind me, but the strange woman just keeps walking – or, rather, swaying unsteadily – the passageway, hugging herself across the chest.
On a closer look, her skin looks sickly pale and damp with sweat and, ignoring the slightly off feeling surrounding her frail form, I am tempted to get up and help her to the nearest toilet. Unsure of what to do, I rapidly gaze around the car, but nobody seems to be paying her any mind and the hostess is nowhere to be seen, probably occupied in some other compartment.
I'm about to make up my mind and push myself up, when the young man in black clothes from across the corridor jumps up with a sigh and rushes at her side.
Once they're out of sight, I relax against my seat and stare disinterestedly at the two old men before me as the train finally departs Seoul Station.
Five minutes later, the guy is back in his place and listening to his music and, after five more, my thoughts are drifting towards the stories I'm going to share with my friends once I'm back and the odd lady is quickly forgotten. She probably only had some stomach bug, anyway.
Summary: Stella never had a donut and so the boys decide to fix it
Genres: Slice of life, Spider-Man AU
Characters: Jungkook, Yoongi, Original Character
Warnings: The word sh*t is said once, very very brief mention of a robbery and a drunk woman (but it's really small, so blink and you'll miss it)
Rating: G
Word count: around 3.2K
This was supposed to be a drabble and I actually cut it short towards the end because it was really getting out of hand.
Anyway, first of a series of one shots and drabbles (but drabbles are unlikely to be spotted) about Spider-Man Jungkook, his nerdy best friend Yoongi and the alien girl Stella.
. . .
«Stella, do you mind getting the door while I finish here?» Jungkook calls from the other side of the wooden white door.
The girl, rigidly sitting on the edge of the twin bed – temporary hers –, hands resting on knees, cocks her head at that. How is she supposed to get a door? And why does he want her to bring the door to him all of a sudden? Does he need it to get dressed, somehow? Perhaps it's a human custom she has yet to learn.
Curious, in all of her five months in a physical form that requires clothes at all times, she never needed the aid of a door to put on her garments, but, then again, she has to admit that terrestrial beings can be quite peculiar with their habitudes. After all those months of studying and monitoring their behaviour, she's eventually come to the conclusion that they simply have a knack for turning the easiest of tasks into the most complicated one.
Having lived with her long enough, now, Jungkook immediately realizes the meaning of her absorbed silence and, still struggling with his Academic Decathlon team sweatshirt, quickly adds, words nearly tripping over each other when leaving his mouth:
«As in go and check who's ringing the bell. Do not dismantle it from its frame.»
She nods at that, as if he could see her, and silently gets up, adjusting her long tartan skirt while doing so. The bell did ring a couple of times, moments ago.
«Okay, Jeon Jungkook.»
«If it's Yoongs, tell him I'll be with you guys as soon as I am ready. And also tell him not to worry: we're still on time» he adds, rushing to the clean pair of black joggers his aunt got him for last Christmas. They're starting to get a little too short at the ankles, but they are too soft and comfy to throw away just yet. He wishes he could wear them under the suit, too. Perhaps he could ask mister Kim to add a little change...
«I will.» She assures once again, crossing the floor of the neat bedroom and quietly closing the door behind her before the boy has the chance to give her some other obvious – but much needed – instruction.
___
Jeon May, Jeon Jungkook's American aunt that took him in after both his parents died in a plane crash when he was eight, works as a nurse at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and left to start her first shift at six in the morning, so, except for the boy and the alien girl, the apartment on 15th Street is completely empty and tranquil.
Stella likes it here. The place is not particularly spacious (two bedrooms, two tiny bathrooms, a small kitchen and a living room), but it's homey, as humans say, and she loves sitting on the old lime green sofa by the big windows that face the main street, basking in the sun. Today, though, dull gray clouds cover the sky in its entirety and the room looks gloomy, ashen. Even the bright yellow walls look faded.
Stella finally reaches the door at the third ring, turns the brass handle and opens it. She didn't need to check who was standing at the other side: she recognized his soft-blue aura.
«Good morning, Min Yoongi» she greets, stepping to the side to let the boy in.
Still slightly taken aback by her odd formality, despite having known her for a little over a month, it takes him some moments to reciprocate and go inside.
She closes the door and turns to him as he takes off his worn out Air Force 1, pink lips pressed together in an awkward grimace, unconsciously puffing his cheeks in doing so. At the edge of sixteen, his round face hasn't quite lost the baby fat yet, making him look way younger than he actually his. Were it not for his sharp tongue, with his defenceless looks and geekiness for all things Star Wars, he'd be the perfect prey for bullies.
The alien girl waits for him to neatly leave the once-pristine-white-but-now-really-just-grey shoes by the doormat, next to his bag, before inviting him to the living room and stating:
«Jeon Jungkook is still getting dressed, but he assured we will not be late at our first lesson of the morning, this time.»
«Ehm... okay, thank you. And I like your skirt, is it new?» God, he hates starting conversations. And where does the compliment even come from? Ugh, why can't he talk to girls as easily as he does with his best friend?
«Is this the start of your small talk ritual?» she wonders, taking a sit on the second-hand sofa, the old springs squeaking a little under her added weight, looking with curious eyes at the tartan covering her legs to the knees, the vibrant pinks accenting her dark skin beautifully.
Is the skirt really pretty? And how can a square of coloured fabric appeal a person in any way? She only sees it as nothing more than its purpose of covering one's body, and she agreed to buy it simply to make Jeon Jungkook's aunt happy, letting the older woman pick every piece of clothing for her.
«Well, I also really do like the skirt.» Yoongi awkwardly stands in front of her for a couple of seconds, before sitting next to her, but at a safe distance, hands locked between his knees.
«Jeon May took me to the shopping center on Sunday to celebrate my five months on planet Earth.»
«Had fun?»
«Yes.»
Silence. The boy steals a hopeful glance at the corridor that leads to his friend's room, but Kooks has yet to emerge from it.
«And how did you spend your weekend, Min Yoongi?»
Surprisingly, it's Stella that breaks the awkwardness. The boy lets out a relieved sigh and flashes one of his rare, bashful smiles as thanks. She smiles a little, too, unused to it and confused at his sudden action of showing his pearly teeth at her, but concluding that it must be some other unknown human custom, since she's seen it happening quite often, especially among people with a close bond. She'll eventually need to inquire Jeon Jungkook about it or perhaps look it up on the internet so as not to bother him.
«I visited my grandparents up in the Bronx. Haven't seen them in months, so it's been nice. We went to the Bronx Zoo and spent the whole day here.»
«I have never been to a zoo» she says it as a matter of facts, rather than a wishful thought.
«How do you spend your days back... home?» Yoongi still has to wrap his mind around the fact that he's currently holding conversation with an alien that lives inside a star.
A – large – blue – super giant – star.
Because, apparently, some alien species can survive at temperatures so high even his scientific mind has difficulties to pronounce. How could he ever get used to this? The US Government itself was left completely unaware of the Orion Delegation landing on Earth, now five months ago, the K.A. secretly taking care of everything. The President – the frigging Mister President! – doesn't know about them, and yet here he is, chatting about the weekend that just went by to an alien representative from the Alnilam star. Perks of being Spider-Man's childhood best friend, he supposes.
«Days don't exist inside Alnilam.»
«Well, but you must do something, no?»
«We are part of the core of Alnilam.»
When Jungkook finally joins them not five minutes later, school bag slung over one shoulder, Yoongi has given up with his inquiries about her home planet – well, star – and silence is filling the consciously tacky room once more.
«I'm ready. Hey, Yoongs!» The brunette greets as he walks towards them. The other boy immediately gets up and the two start the absurd handshake they've come up with on a summer evening when they were ten and bored.
Stella studies them with open curiosity, fascinated as per usual by how different two people so close to each other can look.
Jeon Jungkook, with his messy dark brown hair and round eyes, skin a warm bronze tone and an enviable muscular body, and Min Yoongi, short and minute, so pale he needs to wear sunscreen even on cloudy days such as this and medium-length platinum locks (“of course he dyes it, Stella”) always covered by a bright orange beanie. So different and, yet, somehow, joined at the hip since forever. Fascinating and strange.
«You look like shit, man» Yoongi claims as soon as they're done with the handshaking.
«I am afraid I have to disagree, Min Yoongi – she interjects, getting up as well and walking with them towards the door. – Jeon Jungkook does not look like excrement, today.»
«Not in a literal way, Stella. He only meant that I don't look good.»
She attentively scans him in the soft light of the corridor and Jungkook suddenly has a bad feeling about what's to come next.
«I would still have to disagree, then. According to human standards, you are to be considered good-looking.»
«Oh, Jesus» he mutters, sending a dirty look at his best friend, whom just had the audacity to snort loudly at that, jokingly patting him on the back. Stella blinks bemusedly, moving her black eyes from one boy to the other, before eventually settling on the tallest of the two.
«Did I say something wrong, Jeon Jungkook? Your face has gotten significantly redder upon hearing my statement.»
«Oh, you didn't. – It's Yoongi's snickering answer, as he finishes tying his shoes and throws his bag over his shoulder. – He just doesn't know how to take compliments, but he actually loves it. Boosts his ego and all.»
«Compliments? But that was not intended as a compliment» comments the alien girl with a slight frown, getting into her pink ballerina flats and taking her school bag as well.
«Okay, can we go? Please?» Jungkook is close to begging, at this point, and nearly throws open the door as soon as he's also done with his red Converse.
They all move onto the landing and wait for him to lock the door, before walking towards the stairs; the Jeons live only on the second floor and none of them minds taking the two flights of stairs. Moreover, Stella doesn't like the enclosed spaces of the elevator.
«Really, Jungkooks, you look terrible. What happened?»
«Didn't sleep much, that's all. – He shrugs, rubbing one eye with a little pout on his plush lips. – Had to stop two robberies, tonight. And then there was this drunk lady that couldn't find her way home and had to walk with her through half Manhattan.»
«Jeez, man. You're a superhero, not a chaperon.»
«Couldn't leave her out there on her own.»
«Well, true, but look at you, now! We also have a test, today, and you're basically falling asleep as we walk!»
«Min Yoongi is right. Your aura is dim with weariness» Stella adds, lifting her face to the covered sky as soon as they're outside, absorbing the light of the sun that filters through the steel clouds. She immediately feels reinvigorated, alive, and her pupils briefly flash a bright white.
«I'm okay, guys, really» insists the brunette, stealing a glance at the alien girl at his side when he feels a wave of warmth coming from her.
«Sure- oh! I know just what you need!»
«Which is?»
«We stop at Mario's and let his coffee and donuts work their magic on you.»
Jungkook can only smile brightly at the prospective of Mario's cinnamon twists and bitter, hot coffee. Yes, that would actually help him chase away the tiredness. For the time being, at least.
«What's a donut?»
___
Jungkook's block of flats is at a fifteen-minute walk from Midtown School of Science and Technology and, more or less halfway and on the opposite side of the street from the sidewalk they're currently waiting for the traffic light to turn green, there's a small café managed by an old Italian immigrant from Sicily that used to be a pastry chef. The two best friends stop and buy a bagful of his sweet, colourful treats no more often than once a month, because, as well as being delicious, they're also on the expensive side.
They quickly cross the street as soon as it's allowed and enter the brightly-lit bar, fortunately still half empty at that hour of a Monday morning.
The viscous fragrance of glaze and honey, already perceivable from across the street, inside the narrow local is so strong that their heads momentarily spin, but the slight malaise is soon replaced by a peckish at the sight of all the sweets and desserts on display behind the glass that takes up a good portion of the countertop.
Trays and trays of American donuts that vary from plain to glazed, chocolate frosted and vanilla frosted, from bear claws to long johns, maple bars, powder cream-fills and cinnamon raisin buns and then even more pastries such as apple pies with golden crusts, shiny chocolate cakes, glazed crullers, warm waffles ready to be covered with syrup or Nutella, rainbow jellies in the shapes of flowers and cute animals, plum puddings and pastel-coloured cupcakes.
Whoever walks in at Mario's, can't help but start drooling, and Stella is no exception, despite having no idea why this is happening to her body.
«What would you like to try?» Jungkook whispers near her ear, as they all wait for the couple in front of them to place their orders and move out of the way.
«I do not know where to stare at, Jeon Jungkook.»
«Yeah, I get the feeling» comments Yoongi under his breath, adjusting his orange beanie and tiptoeing a little in order to give a better look at all of that heavenly sugary food from over his best friend's broad shoulders. God, his dentist is gonna kill him at his next check-up.
«Start simple. We can come back some other time, if you like it.»
«If? Dude, there's no way she won't like it.»
The couple finally leaves and they can move to the counter, where a young African American woman, a beautiful purple aura surrouding her soft form, greets them with the brightest of smiles.
«Back for your monthly dose, guys? Oh! New friend of yours? Never seen you around, sweetheart.»
Jungkook cuts in before Stella has the time to inquire about why she's calling her a cardiovascular organ or something:
«Morning, Jada. Yeah, she's ehm... an exchange student, from Brasilia. Stella.»
«No way? Cool! So you brought her to try the best pastries in New York? Do you realize she'll grow an addiction and won't be able to feed it, back in Brasil?» Jada sends a wink her way, letting her know that she's only joking, but Stella is not that far into human culture to read its meaning just yet and simply furrows her brows, confused.
«It's nice to meet you. As you can read from this little tag, here, the name's Jada and, while you're at Mario's, I am at your service. What can I get you?»
«I do not know, Jada. What do humans usually ask for?» she bluntly retorts, before either of the two boys can stop her.
Luckily, Jada must think her odd way of phrasing things and the peculiar rolling of words on her tongue are coming from her “native language” – which is correct, in a way, but doesn't depend on the language the woman presumes – and graciously doesn't comment on it.
«Well, costumers go for anything, really. You wanna give a closer look while I serve your friends?»
The alien girl simply nods as an answer and takes another couple of steps towards the servery, eyes so focused that they seem about to burn two holes in its glass window – and they could do it, if she so much desired.
Stella really has no idea what to ask for; her stomach gurgles at the sight of a couple of pastries, but she doesn't know what to do with that and so totally ignores the signals.
Jungkook and Yoongi, on the other hand, have already a clear idea of what to order and don't waste further time. Besides, they can't waste too much time, since they still have classes to attend.
«I think I'll take the usual. Chocolate brownies and a cup of black coffee to take away.»
«Of course, sweetheart. What about you, Jungkook dear?»
«Cinnamon twists and coffee for me, Jada.»
«The usual as well, then. Tell me, why do I even bother with you two? I need to start leaving a bag with your orders on the counter once a month, so you can just rush in, pay and rush out.» She jokingly rolls her dark eyes to the ceiling as she starts working on their orders and the two boys chuckle at her words, before stepping closer to Stella.
The young alien has put one hand over her belly and is looking down at it with a puzzled expression.
«You okay?»
«My stomach is emitting unknown sounds, Min Yoongi.»
«Does it happen when you look at the pastries?»
«Yes.»
Jungkook finds himself smiling at the odd, at times naive, Alnilam representative he's been living with for the past month and nudges her a little with his shoulder to get her attention.
«Which one is it?» he wonders, stealing a glance with Jada whom, done with their bags of orders, is now patiently waiting for the girl to make up her mind.
«Strawberry iced donut» she slowly reads the golden tag hanging from one of the trays and the barista readily uses a pair of shiny pliers to get the glossy, pink donut on top of the little pyramid.
«Do you want a drink to go with it?» The older woman asks as she puts the sweet inside a small bag.
«Yes, I would like warm milk, please. But do not put sugar in it.»
«Gotcha.» Jada smiles and quickly turns towards the steel machine at her back, expertly filling a paper cup with the foamy drink. Seen from outside, her movements resemble the ones of a dancer swift on their feet.
«And there you go!» She exclaims once finished, handing Stella her order over the top of the counter. The girl takes it with a nod and a polite thank you.
«By the way, are you kids going to school now or you gonna play hooky?»
«We'll head to school as soon as we're out of here, do not think so little of us!» Jungkook exclaims, feigning offence, but the woman is not impressed and, propping herself up against the bar, hums:
«You better. What example would you give to this lovely lady, otherwise?»
«We are, we are. Do not call the principal on us or something.» Yoongi adjusts his bright coloured beanie, before taking out a battered leather wallet from his bag and motioning for his friend to do the same. As much as he loves joking around with Jada, they do need to hurry up or they'll arrive late for their first class. Again.
The brunette boy hurriedly imitates him and, after paying their orders (Jungkook offers for Stella as well, since she doesn't have money of her own nor understands how to use it yet) and bidding farewell to their favourite barista, the three rush out of Mario's and back into the bustling sidewalk.
They hastily walk in silence and in a single file for half a block, but regroup as soon as the thinning out crowd of pedestrians allows it.
«Aren't you going to try it? I wanna see your expression at the first bite.» It's Yoongi's curious comment, as he takes a quick sip of his own black coffee.
Stella frowns and lifts the small paper bag to her eyes, glancing at it with a puzzled expression. The aroma coming from it is... good, rather inviting, but isn't it custom to consume one's food while sitting at a table?
«Do you want me to eat in the middle of the street, Min Yoongi?»
«Everybody does it. - The boy shrugs and nods towards his best friend. - And Kooks is inhaling that cinnamon twist, at this point.»
The above-mentioned doesn't bother finishing to chew the bite already in his mouth, before crying out:
«Am not!»
«Man, you are a horror show when you eat.» The boy with platinum hair comments and shakes his head at Stella in an attempt to drag her into the conversation, but the alien girl simply follows their exchange in silence, the cup of hot milk long forgotten in one hand, much like the pink donut.
«Me? Have you seen yourself, Yoongs?»
«Well, no. I don't usually eat in front of a mirror.»
«Ah-ah.» Jungkook deadpans, swallowing his last bite with a long sip of reinvigorating, sugary coffee.
The two boys keep on bickering along those lines for the remaining route to school and Stella suddenly feels something tugging at the corners of her plump lips. Frowning, she turns her face towards the shop window they're currently walking by, and learns what's happening with a feeling of slight bewilderment.
A smile, although small and barely outlined, just formed on her mouth.
July is coming again, and it’s time to kill the summer heat with some wintery fics!
❆ Sign up here
❆ Masterlist
Regulations:
❆ Must follow our net guidelines
╰ (code of conduct, warnings)
❆ Must be sfw
❆ Must be Christmas themed
❆ Must be a minimum of 1k words
❆ Must include at least 2 quote prompts (and/or) 1 plot prompt
Timeline:
❆ Sign-ups open: Apr. 23rd - May 31st
❆ Story details due: June 23rd - June 29th
❆ Masterlist made: June 30th
❆ Posting period: July 1st - July 31st
Quote prompts:
“I told you a fake tree and real candles were a bad combination.”
“What do you mean you ate all the cookies?!”
“You are going straight on the naughty list.”
“What did the ornament say to another ornament? … I love hanging with you!”
“As a kid, Christmas was all about presents…but now it’s your presence.”
“So, I had a bit too much to drink and…I what?” “You confessed. To me.”
“Oh my gosh is it snowing!?” “No, it’s raining salt…of course it’s snowing!”
“Why are they called reindeer if they’re winter animals…shouldn’t they be snowdeers?” “What was in that punch?”
“You bought me a present? I thought you didn’t like me.” “I…never said that.”
“So, I did something annoying.” “You…put multiple boxes within boxes?” “Well…yeah. But the thing is, there’s a ring in the smallest box.”
“What’s this?” “You didn’t decorate so… I thought I could do something about it.”
“Stop being such a grinch!”
“You wanna…hot chocolate and chill?” *winks*
“Well, just because you're in the hospital doesn't mean that you can't celebrate Christmas!”
“I know we hate each other or whatever, but can I come inside? I think I lost my keys, and the party next door is not for me.”
Plot prompts:
Character A’s family announces last minute they’ll be visiting for Christmas. Their s/o, Character B, must help them get ready despite the fact that the two of them were supposed to spend the holidays alone.
Character A gets Character B in a secret Santa exchange and buys them a very expensive but sentimental gift knowing it’s something A has always wanted. Their only hope is that A doesn’t figure out it’s from them.
Character A and Character B, sworn enemies, are chosen to prepare the company Christmas Party.
Roommates, Character A and Character B, throw a tropical-themed Christmas party after their radiator breaks and super-heats their house. Is it the radiator, or does the other person look better than I thought?
Character A’s best friend rigs the Secret Santa, because they know A has a crush on Character B.
Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé.
Character A and Character B broke up, but now they meet at a Christmas party.
Character A can’t travel to see their family on Christmas, so they invite their grumpy loner neighbor Character B.
Character A returns to their birth-town for the holidays. Character B is their estranged childhood best friend.
Character A loses a bet and has to wear a different ugly Christmas sweater every day till Christmas. Character B works at a clothing store.
Character A overhears Character B’s Christmas wish and decides to fulfill it.
Character A is used to celebrating Christmas in fashion very different from what Character B is used to.
Character A isn’t going home for Christmas because of family drama, and their roommate, Character B, invites them to come home for Christmas with them.
Character A and Character B, both gatecrashers, kiss under the mistletoe at a party they both crashed. After the party, they both realize they seemed to have forgotten to exchange names.
Character A and Character B both volunteered at a holiday charity, and they find themselves in a competition to see who can raise more money.
Tracking tag: castlejulychristmas22
Please reblog this post upon signing up
If you have any questions feel free to ask us here
Some of these plot prompts are from @alloftheprompts
July is coming again, and it’s time to kill the summer heat with some wintery fics!
❆ Sign up here
❆ Masterlist
Regulations:
❆ Must follow our net guidelines
╰ (code of conduct, warnings)
❆ Must be sfw
❆ Must be Christmas themed
❆ Must be a minimum of 1k words
❆ Must include at least 2 quote prompts (and/or) 1 plot prompt
Timeline:
❆ Sign-ups open: Apr. 23rd - May 31st
❆ Story details due: June 23rd - June 29th
❆ Masterlist made: June 30th
❆ Posting period: July 1st - July 31st
Quote prompts:
“I told you a fake tree and real candles were a bad combination.”
“What do you mean you ate all the cookies?!”
“You are going straight on the naughty list.”
“What did the ornament say to another ornament? … I love hanging with you!”
“As a kid, Christmas was all about presents…but now it’s your presence.”
“So, I had a bit too much to drink and…I what?” “You confessed. To me.”
“Oh my gosh is it snowing!?” “No, it’s raining salt…of course it’s snowing!”
“Why are they called reindeer if they’re winter animals…shouldn’t they be snowdeers?” “What was in that punch?”
“You bought me a present? I thought you didn’t like me.” “I…never said that.”
“So, I did something annoying.” “You…put multiple boxes within boxes?” “Well…yeah. But the thing is, there’s a ring in the smallest box.”
“What’s this?” “You didn’t decorate so… I thought I could do something about it.”
“Stop being such a grinch!”
“You wanna…hot chocolate and chill?” *winks*
“Well, just because you're in the hospital doesn't mean that you can't celebrate Christmas!”
“I know we hate each other or whatever, but can I come inside? I think I lost my keys, and the party next door is not for me.”
Plot prompts:
Character A’s family announces last minute they’ll be visiting for Christmas. Their s/o, Character B, must help them get ready despite the fact that the two of them were supposed to spend the holidays alone.
Character A gets Character B in a secret Santa exchange and buys them a very expensive but sentimental gift knowing it’s something A has always wanted. Their only hope is that A doesn’t figure out it’s from them.
Character A and Character B, sworn enemies, are chosen to prepare the company Christmas Party.
Roommates, Character A and Character B, throw a tropical-themed Christmas party after their radiator breaks and super-heats their house. Is it the radiator, or does the other person look better than I thought?
Character A’s best friend rigs the Secret Santa, because they know A has a crush on Character B.
Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé.
Character A and Character B broke up, but now they meet at a Christmas party.
Character A can’t travel to see their family on Christmas, so they invite their grumpy loner neighbor Character B.
Character A returns to their birth-town for the holidays. Character B is their estranged childhood best friend.
Character A loses a bet and has to wear a different ugly Christmas sweater every day till Christmas. Character B works at a clothing store.
Character A overhears Character B’s Christmas wish and decides to fulfill it.
Character A is used to celebrating Christmas in fashion very different from what Character B is used to.
Character A isn’t going home for Christmas because of family drama, and their roommate, Character B, invites them to come home for Christmas with them.
Character A and Character B, both gatecrashers, kiss under the mistletoe at a party they both crashed. After the party, they both realize they seemed to have forgotten to exchange names.
Character A and Character B both volunteered at a holiday charity, and they find themselves in a competition to see who can raise more money.
Tracking tag: castlejulychristmas22
Please reblog this post upon signing up
If you have any questions feel free to ask us here
Some of these plot prompts are from @alloftheprompts
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