the next time you remember something like this it'll bring you to your knees. secrets are easy when they have nothing to do with you, but you'll never remember ice cream the same. you've always been like this, so you never know when you're on the other side of the mirror, reality never something to believe.
"if you were bonded to someone, are there any dealbreakers that would lead you to end the connection even before the bond ends?"
he runs his hand through his hair, shuffling where he stands, shoulders slightly tilting. "are they happy?" rinu says, thinking of empty eyes and empty touches, when things don't reach as far as you wish they would. standing in a room can be lonely even full of people, but even lonelier when you know someone would rather be anywhere else than with you.
"what matters if they're not happy? maybe there was some part of me that was supposed to be what they needed in that moment, but maybe what they also need is for me to be a pause. a restart. if it needs to end for them to get to better places, then i'd definitely do that. good or bad feelings, if they end up happier, better, then i still did everything right."
so many moments that bleed past so quickly rinu can barely stand the thought of looking back through the years and all of the things that he had missed out on, so many moments spent reaching out and trying to clutch onto the things most precious to him to have them right out of reach.
a lifetime of moments. of memory. of missed things he can never get back, and in each one, it's as fleeting as a breath, the things he gets to hold onto. what's left? a memory. vanilla ice cream sweet and cool on sweltering afternoons, lingering warmth in the asphalt as the sun dips yellow and melting along the horizon, that initial bloom of someone's smile that's all your own.
all your own. for just a moment. a bittersweet, beautiful moment.
rinu nods. "and if they're not happy and things end, then i hope they find it soon. if it's not me, if it's not evident right then, i hope it becomes clearer soon. easier soon. if i could leave them with anything, i want them to remember where they came from. where they could go. even if i'm just a memory, then maybe just a good one. a good place to come from. that's all."
his thumb rubs over his pinky, a soothing, circular motion, nail right on his fatemark. a small quirk of the edge of his lips. "that's all we can do. become good memories to someone to look back on someday, especially if we're not meant to stay."
mirae tears his gaze away to look down at the sprawling city beneath them instead. in the dark, each glowing window looks like a burning star in the sky. "did you get a chance to meet my brother yet?"
there's a lot of places rinu has found himself in, but he believes this to be the first for this scenario. he's done the dating apps. he's done the meeting people at the club, the coffee shop, the park outside when he tried and failed to take up running, the receptionist at the rehab joint when he tried to stop drinking (and failed, too). he's tried lovebug. every resonance has led him right back to where he started, which meant he always felt like he never really moved anywhere at all.
here, at this dinner, he had promptly moved to the balcony to breathe in the cool night air and try to disregard the pack of cigarettes in his pocket calling his name. or the flask. honestly, he's been a lot of places, but becoming someone's fake partner kind of felt like the most cosmic joke he's involved himself in yet.
not that he could leave mirae without a solution. with the frequency of mirae's appearances at the rose quarter, he had begun to suspect the falsehood behind the meetings, if only for some kind of feeling in his gut and no concrete evidence. he'd done a lot of things to wipe up a pr disaster, but it's nothing that he's felt drawn into for longer than the week or two it usually took for something to blow over.
if he's going to start rating performances, everyone in this place was doing stellar. used to a ruse, it had started to settle in as soon as the suit was delivered earlier to the rose quarter and he had slipped it on, perfect as a glove.
mirae's voice. he supposes, in another life, could this have gone differently? he wasn't drunk enough for any of these sorts of thoughts, but the evening air after the stuffy heat of the dinner had his head feeling light. maybe so. just not in this one.
he barely knew him, for one. headlines and articles online and the brief glimpses of how nothing ever met his eyes when he visited the rose quarter was all rinu had to go by, and he's sure that all of these words weaved about him online was far from the truth.
"whenever you feel like it's run its course." rinu murmurs, eyes on a star very far away, almost dim underneath all of that city light pollution. he takes the champagne and quite gratefully drains it almost empty. "champagne's fine. anything's fine." he exhales slowly, finger tapping against the glass. "whiskey's better, but if they start serving it here, i can only imagine the kind of headlines they'd spill."
rinu finishes the glass, sets it down on the railing. his eyes glide back inside to the party, the aforementioned shin jiho that he had met in passing, leaning in towards someone else, lips to their ear. everyone's got secrets.
"yes. he reminds me of my own." he turns around, fully leaning on his forearms, watching lights flicker by. distant. hiding things. rinu leans in, brushing their shoulders. "i'm an older brother, too." he shares, tilting his chin like it's their own secret.
"he gets invited to these things all of the time, always on somebody's arm. at least he can make a living out of it. i called him last night, asking for pointers. discreetly, of course. more like, how do you keep pretending to be in love with so many people and make it believable? though i guess i've been wondering that for a long time. money will get people to do a lot of things, but it's the eyes. it's always the eyes. they say more than a fatemark ever will. to me, at least."
the laugh that comes out of his lips is low, soft, almost not there at all. "will you tell me if i'm doing well at acting the part? i'll blame him if you've got complaints."
heyyyy apple here (any prns, 28) again with PARK RINU, owner of THE ROSE QUARTER, an anonymous couples motel at the edge of town, and who is eager to get his hands on a bunch of juicy secrets pls start lining up !! ❤️ and i will get to you for plotting asap !! (you can also find me over with jiho @digitalmemorybook !!)
loading search results for [#FF1414 - FLICKERING EXIT SIGN] … did you mean [PARK, RINU]? [RINU] is a [29] year old [MARKED] user, currently listed as [OWNER @ THE ROSE QUARTER]. in the 29 YEARS they’ve lived in incheon, people have said that they remind them of CONDENSATION RUNNING DOWN A HALF FINISHED WHISKEY GLASS. they were last spotted LEANING AGAINST THE ROSE QUARTER’S FRONT COUNTER and QUICKLY SLIPPING BEHIND A CLOSED DOOR.
rinu (29, he/him, the blue valentine subplot!) and the owner of the rose quarter, and whatever he sees is your business (and also maybe a little his business). he usually deals in secrets and tends to keep pretty tight lipped himself, but crack open that shell and find that hopeless romantic underneath all of that hardened and secretive exterior!
was separated from his younger brother chanhyeon when he was little since his parents put him up for adoption. they couldn't afford taking care of both of them, and rinu was the oldest and ended up becoming the Only
always felt a lot of guilt for being the one his parents "chose" and always told himself he'd go out and find chanhyeon one day
moved away from his parents later and vowed he'd make something of himself not based on a bunch of lies after being told to forget his brother for all of those years (and basically pretend he never existed)
came across the rose quarter, the previous owner passing it down to him when she became too old to manage it anymore. he'd been part of the cleaning service but slowly worked his way up until earning her trust, and has slowly been reforming it over the years
makes money off secrets, who comes in, who comes out. usually he's paid to keep his silence and keep the tabloids away and he's gotten pretty good at it. clientele usually are all over the place, bonded, unbonded, marked, unmarked, he's really seen it all...
the motel has a policy of signing in with an anonymous nickname to keep guest's privacy, often it's the only name he knows regulars by
actually lives at the motel in one of the rooms back behind the main office
there's quite a large cat population around the motel because he keeps feeding them all. catch feeding time around when the sun goes down if you want to get some pets in
is marked and even though deep down he always wishes it would work, all of his resonances have always led nowhere or ended pretty badly. maybe lessons to be learned or moments to pass through life, but every time he hoped it was going somewhere, it never worked out
very hardworking, a good listener, pretty much Lives at work and goes out to Work, which means he's always talking and looking for secrets to deal and trade
plots !!
you're a regular at the rose quarter and yet he only knows you by the nickname you use to sign in every time. he's not sure why you keep coming, but you always end up talking late into the night once you leave your room empty
he knows something about you that you really wish he didn't. you keep trying to leverage something against him, or get some sort of promise to make sure he won't tell
he knows something about you and he wants to know more. whatever you know is worth more than what he knows already, and he'll do anything to make you crack
you both frequent a nearby bar and you've turned into reliable drinking buddies. you even know each others drink order, and sometimes he has it waiting for you when you show up on their usual nights
he's involved himself in your secrets and you traced it right back to the source. there's bad blood there and you keep trying to find a way to make it even
you need a place to stay and so he keeps letting you extend your room. he keeps saying it's not forever, but he's not really kicking you out, either. do a little work around the place and you're set. it seems like he has a bit of a soft spot for someone in a rough place, like he's been there before
you're one of his #1 confidantes. you both trade secrets but ended up enjoying your frequent gossip sessions, and it's something he always finds himself looking forward to
you resonated once but he's still in your phone. he'll show up when you call if you're in a tough place, and time has shown that a one time bond means you have him as a dependable friend for life
you keep showing up and pissing him off, because what you're really there for is to get information on his guests and he sees right through you, but he can't deny you a room, either
he knows you in real life and pretends he Doesn't know you at the motel, which you both keep conveniently ignoring you Both know when you see each other elsewhere...
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