i'm a 2020 moa and beomgyu biased with hyuka as a bias wrecker, hence the name "ningtori". (ningdungie + bamtori = ningtori + nini = niningtori!)
i mostly write beomgyu fics, but i'm open to writing about any member :) i will only write for txt.
if you don't want to see my rambles, everything will be tagged with nini speaks!
all 18+ content will be tagged as nini's hard hours so mdni!
all dark content (cheating, yandere, etc.) will be tagged as niningtori: dark content so dni if you're not into that! also reader will NEVER be the one getting cheated on like ever
summary: you've been in love with beomgyu for as long as you've known him. deep down, you've always thought that he loved you, too; so when he tells you that he's engaged to another woman, you decide to break it all off after a nasty fight in which he shows you just how little you mean to him. a life-ending accident seems to put your feelings to rest, for good. just when you think it's all over, however, you awaken to a time before everything fell apart; and you're determined not to repeat the same mistakes. it's just that beomgyu can't seem to let you go.
genre: ANGST (literally so much angst it's not even funny), romance, second chance!au, rebirth!au, she falls first but he falls harder, possessive!beomgyu
warnings: mcd (and rebirth), somewhat graphic depictions of death/a corpse, suicidal thoughts, you can interpret a scene at the end as somewhat suggestive but not really
word count: 12.7k
notes: this work contains a lot of angst... and that's coming from ME. this might be too sad to the point of being corny but luckily i was born on the cob. don't be mean to me tho i'm going thru it rn. feedback also means the world 2 me <3
some things are a matter of course. for example, when you were initially paired with beomgyu for a project in your senior year of college, it was a matter of course to fall in love with him. supporting him mentally and emotionally while he struggled throughout the rest of the year and well into his adult career? well, that was a matter of course, too. being with him every day, spending every spare second you had with the intention to make him happy, and giving up any concept of self-preservation in exchange for even a morsel of his affection? the answer doesnât even need to be said. through it all, youâve suspected that all of the intimacy that youâve nurtured will inevitably end up with you two being together, of course.Â
you havenât done any of it for the outcome. truly, you haven't. you make him happy simply because it makes you happy just to see him shine. heâs always been such a bright, sunny boy, and itâs always been enough just to be the one who helps maintain his true personality. it absolutely kills you to see him hurting, so it isnât unusual to drop everything, be it work or social events, just to give him advice, give him comfort, or even just give him company. while he certainly doesn't show his affection towards you as profusely as you do to him, you know he cares about you. you can see it in the way he notices the little things about you, and in the way he listens to you with full attentiveness, even when you have nothing particularly interesting to tell him. when everyone talks over you, he tells you that he wants to hear what you have to say. and thatâs enough. Â
with all of this in mind, you jump at his invitation to hang out at his apartment. heâs been a little distracted lately, cancelling plans together for reasons unknown. itâs been odd, to be sure, but you know heâll tell you whateverâs been bothering him soon enough. he always does. you greet him with takeout from his favorite restaurant in tow as a surprise, and he takes it with that smile you love so damn much. he looks a little nervous, but happy, mostly, and you donât have to wait for very long before he clears his throat and announces that he has something important to tell you.
you try not to get your hopes up, but who can blame you for feeling a hint of anticipation? maybe heâll finally confess his feelings to you. maybe thatâs why heâs been a little weird. naturally, since your mind is racing so much with romantic hypotheticals, of course it comes as a shock to you that he simply says, âiâm getting married.â
beomgyu, notorious for never even having the time nor interest to date around, is not only dating, but engaged. your jaw drops when he tells you that it all happened so quickly, he doesnât even know how it unfolded. all he knows is that once he met her, a whirlwind romance swept him up, and just a few months have been more than enough for him to know that sheâs the one. in fact, as he so fondly declares, he knew it from the very first moment he saw her at the dinner between the company you two work for and her own. the one where you were his âdateâ. you knew that it wasnât a real proclamation of love or affection for him to ask you to accompany him, but you canât say that you werenât beaming with pride and validation at you being his natural choice. when you arrived at the dinner, you remember some of your coworkers jokingly whispering to you to just make it official already. you spent the night mostly by his side, looking up at him in admiration and love. as it turns out, the time you spent fawning over him was equally spent with him falling in love at first sight with another woman. you werenât even apart for very long, but apparently he met her when you two broke apart to mingle.Â
itâs a kick in the chest, to put it bluntly. you feel the wind being knocked out of your lungs, and youâre struggling to breathe. the first time you caught a glimpse of him, you knew that any attempts to stop yourself from falling in love with him were hopeless. his smile, his charm, his playfulness immediately had you enraptured. youâve always, always known that he didn't have a similar experience with you, but you just assumed that he simply isnât the type to be caught up in such childish romanticism. you've always loved him outwardly and persistently, and you've shown him that in every single way you possibly know how. you dared to hope that maybe he was just the type to quietly reciprocate. obviously, with how emphatically heâs professing his love for another woman, you were very, very wrong.
âwhat's the matter? aren't you happy for me?â you struggle to answer, but he continues as if he doesnât notice. âyou know, i was thinking you could be, like, my best man. i've seen people do it these daysâyou'd pretty much be my best woman. i really want you to do it. there's no one else i can think of toâwell, actually, there's soobin, but youâre myââ
âbeomgyu,â you sharply interrupt, wetness pooling in your waterlines. beomgyu may be a little emotionally slow, but heâs not stupid. you know he knows that you've had feelings for him since forever ago. while it hurts, the fact of them being unrequited isn't what really gets you; itâs the fact that he doesnât have the decency to just tell the truth. he took advantage of your love for him, always calling for you when he needed you, without ever really doing the same for you. âwhat⌠what about us?âÂ
âwhat about us? youâre my best friend, and i want you to be part of my wedding,â he says smoothly, but you level him with a watery stare. as if realization finally dawns on him, he replies in a way you sincerely did not anticipate.
âcâmon, you know i donât see you like that,â he chuckles with a wave of his hand, and you really wouldâve rathered him say literally anything else. youâd prefer it if he had just punched you in the stomach, actually, because that would feel considerably better than this⌠this humiliation. youâre silent for a moment before you feel the tears youâve been struggling to keep in cascade down your face. to his credit, he has the decency to look uncomfortable, and his playful smile drops. before he can reply, however, you speak again.
âyou knew how i felt about you this whole fucking time, you were just too much of a coward to be honest with me,â you declare. âif⌠if you had just told me, i wouldâve understood. i-i would'veâyou didn't have to do it this way.â
âlisten, iâm sorry that youâre hurt, but i really didnât meanââÂ
âare you really sorry that iâm hurt, or are you sorry that i showed you iâm hurt?â you cut in. âbeomgyu, you donât care about how i feel, just as long as you donât have to be the one to deal with it.âÂ
âiâmâyou're being unfair. i didn't want to hurt your feelings, i just wanted us to stay friends. what's so bad about that? don't you want that?â he seems genuinely puzzled, as if he can't wrap his head around why you'd ever be indignant at the fact that he stayed friends with you mainly for his own comfort.
âjesus christ, beomgyu! a real friend would never do this. you kept me around so iâd keep helping you with work, with life, with what the fuck ever. why can't you just be honest, after all this time? just donât lie,â you spit.
âi'm not lying! you've helped me a lot, and i'm grateful for that, but you can't expect me to just owe you my feelings,â he snaps.
âthat's not what this is about, and you know it,â you tremblingly reply, dignity cut right to the bone.
âseriously? that's exactly what this is about. you're the altruistic angel who does nothing wrong, and i'm just a fucking scumbag who takes advantage of you, right? well, i'm sorry, but it's not my fault that you're acting so goddamn crazy over something so stupid.â your eyes burn with an intensity so great, it feels like they're being seared out of your skull. in this moment, you realize that he will never, ever respect you enough to consider you worthy of being leveled with. he doesn't think you're even worth the time. you're his silly, lovesick best friend who's absolutely delusional to the point of being laughable for suggesting that he actually take you seriously, for once. and that revelation breaks you like nothing else.
you wonât do this anymore. you couldnât even if you wanted to, and you donât.Â
âi never want to see you again,â you sob, and while it may seem juvenile to say, you truly mean it. before you can hear beomgyu reply, you dash out of the building and to your car.Â
everything is a blur when you peel out of the parking lot and onto the road. your eyes are pouring out thick, hot tears, and you try your best to swipe them away as soon as they come, but itâs difficult when theyâre seemingly endless. you donât even attempt to hold in your sobsâtheyâre far too deep and frequent for that. if someone were to glance at you through their window, theyâd think you were absolutely insane. and maybe you are, you donât know. maybe youâre insane for thinking that things couldâve ever been any different. maybe you were just imagining everything that seemed like confirmation that he loved you back. maybe it was all a delusion because you wanted it so fucking badly. and maybe thatâs your fault.
but did he really have to crush you like this? he knew you were in in love with him. he knew you were waiting for him. he knew what he meant to you. why couldnât he have just been honest instead of stringing you along? to ask for him to return your feelings wouldâve been too much, you've always understood that to be the case; but even to the bitter end, heâll call you crazy before he tells you the truth.Â
you try to keep yourself focused, but everythingâs a blur with your eyes bleary with a film of tears. you have half a mind to just pull over and have a meltdown on the side of the road, but before you can do that, you hear your phone ringing. you pick it up in a frenzy, silently hoping that itâs beomgyu with an apology, but the number is unknown. you donât even have time to feel disappointed before you look up and see that youâre barrelling past a red light. in a panic, you realize that youâre about to crash headfirst into another car. you swerve your steering wheel as hard as you can, seemingly avoiding danger, but the sight of a tree coming closer and closer into your vision paralyzes you with fear. you try to brake, but youâre going too quickly for it to be of any use.Â
the collision is bone-shattering in the literal sense. youâd think youâd feel adrenaline alone in such a situation, but you can feel pain bursting out of every cell of your body as you still after being thrown back and forth in your seat. every organ, every bone, feels like itâs just been crushed, and not for the first time today, youâre struggling to breathe.Â
as you slip out of consciousness, one immovable thought resounds in your head: i wish i'd never met him.
-
the sound of your alarm ringing pulls you out of the darkness. your eyes shoot open and you sit straight up in pure shock. while you pantâjust trying to catch your breathâyou grab your chest, clutching at your shirt as you feel your heart drumming erratically. did you survive? you scramble out of your bed and look in the mirror. thereâs nothing on your face. no fresh wounds, bruises, no scars from what just happened. that canât be right. you know you were torn up from the collision, and thereâs no earthly way you came out of it unscathed. was it a dream? it canât be; you can still feel the phantom of pain on every inch of you, even when thereâs no indication of any material harm. you remember every second you spent before and after wrapping yourself around that tree. does that mean youâre dead? are you in the afterlife?Â
that doesnât seem right, either. you donât know much about what the afterlife is supposed to be like, if thereâs even one at all, but this feels too real and familiar. you reach for your phone, with its alarm still blaring, and as you hit snooze, you notice the date. itâs just a few months before⌠before everything happened. did you go back in time? is that even possible? you try to reconcile yourself with that fact for a long, long time. so long, in fact, that you don't even realize you're supposed to be heading to work until it's five minutes after you're supposed to be there.Â
as if on cue, your phone rings with your bossâ contact displayed on the screen.
âhello,â he says as casually as anyone ever can. this just solidifies the idea that your accident must never have happened, because if it had, he certainly wouldnât be greeting you as if itâs just another day.Â
âh-hey,â you attempt to reply, and your voice is so choked and thick with emotion, he can hear how badly youâre struggling to speak at all.Â
âis everything alright?â he asks, concern laced in his tone. thatâs enough to make you break, and before you can stop it, youâre outright sobbing into the phone.Â
âiâmâi justâi donât think i can come in today.â you fumble for an excuse, but itâs difficult to think straight as you feel your mind breaking down. âi, um, iââÂ
âhey, itâs okay. you can take the day off, alright? donât worry about anything, just focus on feeling better.â his words, so comforting in nature, do nothing but make you cry even harder. it feels nice to be cared for like this. if you had the coherence to think so, youâd wonder how baffled he must be at your behavior. luckily, youâre far too gone to care. you think you end up stammering out something similar to a thank you, but youâre not quite sure. either way, the call ends, and you collapse onto your bed. you curl yourself up and tuck your knees to your chest as you grip yourself as tightly as you can. this is real. youâve gone back. thank god, youâve gone back.Â
you cry and cry until no more tears will come out, and while you try to keep yourself awake as the hours pass by, the relief you feel coalesces with the enticing nature of your soft bed, so you can't help but drift off. itâs different from the way you drifted off mere hours ago. itâs a lot warmer and kinder, and you're so, so fucking tired, you donât even want to fight it anymore.Â
a knock on your door wakes you from your sleep. itâs a good thing, too, because you were having a nightmare. rejection, devastation, primal fear, mind-numbing pain, then total darkness repeated incessantly in your head for hours on end. you swipe away your tears, but they continue to flow as you practically drag yourself to your door. youâre so disoriented, you donât even think to check to see who it is before opening it. what a mistake that turns out to be.
âhey! whoaâare you okay?â he asks, and who else could it be besides beomgyu? your heart pounds in your chest, and even more tears stream down your face as you let out a sob. his mouth contorts into a frown. his face, previously so endearing to you, makes you feel absolutely repulsed. you lost everything for the figure standing before you, and he has the nerve to ask you if youâre okay. a fire is ignited in your stomach, and you feel yourself on the precipice of carnal rage. while youâre trying to suppress that feeling, he speaks again.Â
âi heard you called in, so i thought iâd check on you. do you have a fever?â he questions, reaching out his hand to check your forehead for abnormal warmth. without even thinking about it, you smack his hand away.
âdonât touch me,â you all but growl, but beomgyu is undeterred.Â
âwhatâs the matter? i donât care if you get me sick; i could use the time off,â he teases with a grin, but your face remains twisted up in pure anger.Â
âget out,â you mumble between clenched teeth.
âwhat?â he asks, and it's unclear if that's because he's confused, or because he simply didn't hear you. either way, you don't care.
âget out,â you repeat, louder this time, but not lacking any of the previous anger. your erratic behavior is enough to finally irritate beomgyu.Â
âfine, whatever. forget i even bothered,â he scoffs as he stalks out of the door. you slam it behind him before falling to the floor. this is your chance. you came back too late to avoid ever meeting him again, but itâs still good enough for you. from now on, you two will live completely separate lives spent being nothing to each other. owing nothing to each other. again, you find yourself sobbing in relief.Â
-
when you return to work the next day, the first thing you do is head to your bossâ office. he looks relieved to see you for a moment before he notices the envelope in your hand. with the way his smile drops, you know he immediately knows what it is.Â
âwhatâs that?â he asks, though the tension in the air is more than enough confirmation that he has no doubts about what the letter reads.
âmy resignation,â you tell him.Â
âmay i ask what this is about?â he probes. no, he canât, because even if you told him, heâd never believe you. Â
âi just donât think this position is right for me,â you deadpan, and the look on his face shows that he doesnât really buy it.
âyouâve worked so hard for so long, and you want to give up now?â he has a point. your company is on the brink of a major deal with another company, which will result in a financial breakthrough like none other, if successful. as fate would have it, said company is the one in which beomgyuâs future wife works, and the dinner where the two of them met is the celebratory party for such success. youâd laugh at the circumstances if you could. âwhatever the issue is, we can work it out. just donât leave before we do this. we need you, and even if you want to leave after we close the deal, youâll still be rewarded for everything youâve done. donât you want to see that happen?â you do. you really, really do. youâve given so much of yourself for this opportunity, and you really want to see it work out. you guess, in a way, you already have seen it; but if you leave now, thatâll never happen. this particular project needs you to get off of its feet.
but can you really stand to see beomgyu for a second longer? have his mere presence fuck with your head? is it even worth it? youâre about to declare that it most certainly is not, but you stop yourself. the money will be good for you to start a new life. maybe youâll move buildings, maybe even to a new city, maybe across the country, who knows? youâll be more than comfortable with this potential payout, and then you can start a new life somewhere where you know nobody, and nobody knows you.Â
âi want a new partner, at least,â you counter, and his face morphs into a grimace. heâs undoubtedly confused at your sudden aversion towards beomgyu, but he doesn't mention it to you.Â
âthatâll be difficult. i need you both for this to work.â youâre about to flatout deny him, but he continues. âif you can just make it through this, i promise that you can go wherever you want to go, and iâll even give you a bonus for your trouble. deal?â you purse your lips as you mull it over. if you can suffer through being partners with beomgyu, your move will be considerably easier. still, youâre undecided before you have an epiphany: in just a few months, beomgyu will meet his future wife and fall head over heels in love with her. all you have to do is ignore him until then, and heâll inevitably leave you alone once he meets her. so what if beomgyuâs here? you donât want to care about him anymore. and once everythingâs settled, youâll pack your life away and start somewhere without the bad memories.Â
âokay,â you reply, and his face breaks out into a grin.Â
-
beomgyu is very visibly ruffled today, which you would immediately notice if you just spared him a glance, but you do no such thing. your lack of attention towards him serves to only rile him up even further. he wants to be stubbornâact out until you apologize to him, but once he realizes you have no intention of doing so, he finally relents and approaches you.
âhey,â he says coolly, still a little annoyed, but prepared to forgive you. you look up at him blankly, and heâs unsettled by just how empty your eyes look, so he nervously asks you, âare you⌠are you feeling better?â you look at him as if he just spouted the most asinine question of all time, and for the first time ever, he feels small under your gaze. he shifts awkwardly on his feet before you break the silence.Â
âiâm fine,â you tell him. he waits for you to ask him how he is, but the words never come. in fact, you turn away and bury your nose in your work as if heâs not standing there, waiting dumbly for you to respond as you usually would. well, whatever. youâll have to talk to him, eventually. especially since you two are working on such a big project.Â
you donât really talk to him, though, aside from whatâs absolutely necessary. for most of the day, you silently slide papers over to him without even deigning to look at him while you do it. when you do have to speak to him, your words are cold and detached, as if even speaking to him is a chore. itâs like youâre looking past him, almost. like you donât even really see him, and heâs never felt as unsettled by a gaze in his life.Â
at lunch, you quietly remain at your desk instead of joining beomgyu like you usually would, and you can't quite bring yourself to eat. you just feel sick by this entire situation, and while you know you need food to survive, youâre sure youâll vomit if you try to eat anything.Â
beomgyu, on his part, leaves you alone, though he desperately wants to try to get you to eat with him. he wonât admit it, but heâs actually afraid that youâll reject him again. he doesn't know why, but the thought of you doing so slashes at his heart. this is a mystery to him. he shouldnât really care if you reject him or not, since heâs been quietly rejecting you for years, but he canât help it. still, as he watches you space out at your desk, he tries to will himself to bear the brunt of a possible denial before a coworker he recognizes approaches you.
you donât even notice mingi walking up to you, so you jump in surprise when he greets you. youâre pretty familiar with him, but youâre not particularly close, so youâre a bit surprised by his arrival.Â
âcan i sit with you?â he asks, grinning as he asks it. you nod in response, and he grins even wider before he pulls up a chair and seats himself in front of you.
âare you going to eat?â he questions, and you shake your head.
ânot hungry,â you reply. he frowns.
âyou still need to eat. you need energy, especially since youâre working so hard.â youâre actually a little sheepish because of his words. so heâs noticed how hard youâve been working? it feels nice to be appreciated. is he worried about you?Â
âiâll eat later,â you lie. he seems a bit reluctant, but he eventually nods.Â
âmake sure you eat, okay? iâllâiâll text you and make sure you have. is that alright?â youâre stunned for a few seconds before agreeing, and he ends up sliding you his phone so you can put your number in it.
beomgyu watches it all from his desk, and he feels a sense of loss. is it because youâre directing your attention elsewhere? that has to be it, right? it can't be any deeper than that, but somewhere nearly unreachable inside of him, he feels an unfamiliar sensation scratching at his heart, begging him to acknowledge it. but he shakes away the thought. youâre acting really weird, but thatâs okay. you love him, and youâll get back to normal really soon.
thatâs what he tells himself, but you remain as cold as ever throughout the rest of the week. you donât look at him with those adoring eyes, and you donât even crack a smile at his attempted jokes. he feels like he's going insane, as if he's on the brink of understanding something really important, but he can't quite make it there.Â
it all comes to a head when beomgyu shows up late back from grabbing lunch. he's done this a million times before, and he's always been greeted by your insistence that his tardiness isn't a big deal. in spite of the tension between you two, he still assumes that you'll be as forgiving as ever.
âhey, sorry i'm late. i got caught up with eating and didn't realize how late it was getting,â he says casually. he searches your face for any traces of leniency, for the indulgence you used to give him, but there is none. only anger, and maybe even something like regret, though he can't quite understand the latter.
âdon't be late again. we don't have time for this,â you say coldly before sticking your nose back into your computer, effectively ignoring anything else beomgyu could say to placate you.
you two work late into the night. beomgyu gets so caught up in his work, too afraid to draw your ire again, but when he realizes he hasn't heard any noise coming from you in a while, he peers over to see you staring blankly at the wall. your face seems expressionless, but your eyes are what horrifies him. dead, empty, hopeless. âa-are you okay?â
the sound of his voice does nothing to break you out of your trance, however. in fact, it seems to have triggered something in you, decimated a dam that was already leaking. your eyes still look blank as tears begin to leak out of your eyes. they fall slowly at first, then incessantly. it's hard to reconcile the steady stream with the way your face remains completely devoid of emotion.Â
tentatively, he places a hand on your shoulder. suddenly, you're jolted awake, eyes now looking as composed and indifferent as ever.
âare you okay? w-what's wrong?â he asks anxiously,Â
you hurriedly wipe away your tears before you say, ânothing. just thinking about something.â you redirect your attention to your work, just trying to fully shake the way you were just locked into the memory of you dying alone.
âwhat could you possibly be thinking about to make you look like that?â he asks concernedly, his voice unintentionally rising in frustration. your eyes harden before you turn to him.
ânone of your business,â you say firmly. before he can say anything, you're packing up your things. âi'm going to call it a night and go home.â
âwait! talk to me! what's been bothering you so much lately? you've been weird for a while now, so just tell me what's going on with you. i'm here. i'm listening,â he says as gently as he can.
âyou're here? you're listening?â you sneer. âi'm so honored that you finally give a fuck about how i'm feeling,â you say sarcastically. he frowns at your words.
âwhat are you talking about? i'm always here for you,â he says, and he looks so genuine, it makes you even angrier. he sincerely thinks he's telling the truth. so fucking clueless and selfish.
âare you? do you think offering up your ear once in a blue moon makes you an altruistic angel or something?â you know he can't understand that you're throwing his own words back in his face, because he can't even remember saying them, but you don't care. it just feels too damn vindicating to stop yourself. âbeomgyu, you're only as available to me as is convenient to you. you'd never put yourself out of your way to comfort me. meanwhile, i've always been âhereâ and âlisteningâ at your will. i don't need your pity, and i certainly don't want it.â he's stunned into silence. you're absolutely correct, he realizes with a sinking feeling. before he can formulate the words to defend himself, you pack up your things and leave the office.
-
in the following weeks, you realize that mingi is⌠nice. really, really nice. youâre not used to prospective romantic partners actually seeming to like you, so the feeling is foreign, but not unwelcome. do you have feelings for him outside of appreciation? well, not really. in the back of your mind, you honestly doubt that youâre even capable of having feelings for other people anymore, but you try not to think about it too much. if you seriously search for an answer, you fear you wonât like what you find.
mingi is diligent, though, and you like that about him. now that youâve made it clear that youâre not involved with beomgyu (and never want to be), heâs pulling out all the stops to charm you. lunches you would previously spend with beomgyu are now spent laughing with mingi. in the same way, downtime at work, which would normally entail catching up with beomgyu and maybe helping with a few of his assignments, are now reserved for chats with mingi. as beomgyu watches you two giggle with your heads together, he wonders what you two could possibly be talking about to ever be that funny. his jaw ticks in irritation at the scene. most notably, though, is the fact that instead of spending your off days with him, you flatout reject him with no explanation. not even with a perfunctory âsorryâ. he doesn't have to wonder what youâve been doing when he hears your coworkers gossiping about how you're always hanging out with mingi.Â
beomgyu feels you slipping away, and it brings a sense of panic heâs never known before. but why? he shouldn't care about your romantic endeavors. granted, you havenât had one during the entire time that you've known him, but itâs only natural that he supports you as your best friend. best friend. does that term even apply to him anymore? he wants to insist that it does, but as the weeks turn into months, your disgust for him becomes clearer and clearer. as he sits across from you and mingi at an after-work dinner with your department, he watches as mingi flirtatiously whispers into your ear. when some of your coworkers tease the two of you about it, he realizes with sickening certainty that he doesn't just want to be your best friend, he wants to be the one who sits next to you. he wants to be the one your coworkers joke about being your boyfriend, and he wants them to be right about it. the time you two have spent apart has shown him that he can't imagine anyone else occupying the space beside you. with an overwhelming sense of clarity, beomgyu realizes that this feeling, so deep and all-consuming, is love.
how could he not love you? regardless of everything you've done for him, you're still so perfect to him, for him. he finds himself appreciating things he previously took for granted. you're beautiful, caring, funny, and smart. he loves your smile, your laugh, your company. he loves the way you look when you're focused, the way you look so innocent when you sleep. you're the first person he wants to tell any time something happens, good or bad. you're the face he wants to wake up to in the morning. you're the only person he trusts to be his partner for the rest of his life. and now, it's clear that he can't just let you go without a fight.
as everyone begins to leave the restaurant one by one, he follows you out into the parking lot, determined to make his feelings known. even if you don't reciprocate them anymore, he's willing to put in the effort to make you love him again. and even if you don't⌠even if you can't⌠the desire to simply be next to you supersedes the need to be loved back.Â
you don't realize that beomgyu is trailing after you until you get to your car. he calls out your name as you're about to pull the door handle. with a sigh, you turn around.
âwhat is it?â you ask flatly.
âare you serious about mingi?â he asks firmly, but he already knows that you are not. the way you look at mingi is laughable compared to the way you looked at beomgyu before your sudden change in behavior.
âyep,â you say.
âno, you're not. i can tell,â he argues with conviction.
âoh, and you know me so fucking well, huh?â you snark.
âi do,â he tells you, stepping closer. âi know you, and i know you don't really like him. not really.â damn. he caught you.
âjust because i donât like him now, doesn't mean i canât like him later,â you insist.
âso what? youâre just going to string him along while hoping youâll like him someday? are you just going to spend the rest of your life never really caring about anyone? you can't live like that.â his words leave no room for argument, but youâll be damned before you don't at least try.
âyouâre right, i shouldnât lead him on, but whatâs it matter to you? even if it doesn't work out with him, maybe iâll meet somebody who i can tolerate, and who can tolerate me. i donât think i need anything more than that.â beomgyu flinches at your bizarre words, but he's already reconciled with the idea that even if you don't want him anymore, he'll still take whatever you want to give him with a smile on his face.
âthen what about me? i⌠i can be that person.â he's so nervous, you can tell that it took all of his courage to say that. but who cares?Â
âyou canât,â you argue.
âwhy not?âÂ
âthat would mean iâd have to be able to tolerate you, and i donât want to do that.â not anymore.
âwhy are you acting like this? youâre acting like iâm so fucking horrible, but you used to loââ he stops himself, but you both know he was going to bring up the love you had for him. âi just want to know what changed.â
âi did. i changed.â
âbut why? i mean, i didnât realize it before, and i know i wasnât always the best, but iâve always had feelings for yââÂ
âdonât even bother finishing that sentence. you don't like me at all,â you sneer, âyou just donât like seeing me move on.â this makes him pause, and even you donât have the heart to pretend like you canât see the hurt in his eyes.
âwhy canât you ever just believe me?â he asks quietly. âiâm telling you i love you, but you donât even care. iâm saying that itâs okay if you donât feel the same way, but youâre acting like⌠like i'm disgusting to you.â he looks like he's about to cry, and it makes you all the more frustrated.
âyou donât understand,â you reply in between clenched teeth.Â
âthen help me understand. i just want to know why. i just want to know how to fix it. how can i bring you back?âÂ
âyou can't. look, iâmââ and youâre about to apologize, but you just canât make yourself do it. âyouâll get it really, really soon. you wonât even remember feeling this way, i can promise you that, and youâll forget all about me.â
âwhat are you talking about?â he says exasperatedly. beomgyu may not have always been the best of friends towards you, but he can recognize when youâre holding yourself back. âwhat aren't you telling me?â you purse your lips in response.Â
ânothing. there's no point in saying anything, because you wouldn't understand even if you tried. you wouldn't rememberâfuck, never mind. just let it go, beomgyu. i have.â but he can't just let it go. this whole fucking thing as an enigma to him. but your words are⌠odd. what do you mean he wouldn't remember? there's nothing to remember, no matter how much he tries. before he can respond, you get into your car and drive away.
-
âcâmon, you know i donât see you like that,â beomgyu tells you, forcing an awkward laugh. your expression immediately crumbles, and he begins to shift uncomfortably when he realizes that he mustâve said the wrong thing. your silence is deafening, ringing in his ears, but he still tries to maintain a smile. maybe youâll lighten up. maybe youâll go back to the way you were before. maybe youâll even crack at smile at this ridiculous situation when you realize that heâs right in his assumption that youâre just being emotional. your feelings for him can only go so deep, right? you can go back to being friends after this, just the way he likes it.Â
his smile is wiped clean off of his face when your eyes redden and well up in pure, unadulterated hurt. hurt heâs never seen before. he fumbles for the right words, but before he can find them, you break the suffocating silence.Â
âyou knew how i felt about you this whole fucking time, you were just too much of a coward to be honest with me. if⌠if you had just told me, i wouldâve understood. i-i would'veâyou didn't have to do it this way.â any delusions beomgyu has that youâll just let this go are promptly flushed away at your biting tone. jesus christ. youâre right, and he knows it. he flounders for a response, but nothing he can possibly say could really be enough.Â
he spends the duration of the argument mainly trying to defend himself. honestly? he doesn't want to remember everything you two say, but he knows he's being nasty in an effort to keep himself from reconciling with the fact that he is, indeed, a coward. he knows heâs never been the greatest friend to you, though heâs always justified it by recalling the times where he did do thoughtful things for you. when you tell him that your resentment isnât about the fact that he doesn't feel the same way, but because of the fact that he wonât own up to his actions, he feels a stab to his pride. before he can stop himself, he lashes out.Â
âseriously? that's exactly what this is about. you're the altruistic angel who does nothing wrong, and i'm just a fucking scumbag who takes advantage of you, right? well, i'm sorry, but it's not my fault that you're acting so goddamn crazy over something so stupid.â he regrets the words as soon as as he says them. every syllable seems so vile as they leave his lips, but he can't stop himself. when he sees you crack at his words, he really wishes he had just kept his fucking mouth shut.Â
âi never want to see you again,â you choke out between sobs, and he feels a piercing pain shoot through his body, all the way down to his bones. you donât mean that. thereâs no way you mean that. you care about him. you love him, and even if he doesn't feel quite the same way, he loves you, too. but one look at your resolute face is enough to tell him that you mean it. he wills himself to say somethingâanythingâbut you rush out of the door before he can quite muster up the courage to speak.
he stands in a stunned silence for longer than he could ever rightfully justify, but a call from an unfamiliar number eventually pulls him out of his daze. usually, heâd reject it and chalk it up to spam, but something tells him that he shouldâneeds toâanswer it. with shaky hands, he accepts the call.Â
âh-hello?â
the response mostly sounds rather clinical in nature, really. thereâs a perfunctory greeting before the monotone voice detachedly states that thereâs been an accident, and he will need to come to the coronerâs office to accurately identify the corpse, which had been declared deceased at the scene. as it turns out, he was your first emergency contact.Â
âwe are deeply, deeply sorry.â the final words are the only ones that seem to hold any hint of an emotion in them, but beomgyu is too preoccupied to hear it. in a daze, he gets in his car and makes his way to the coronerâs office. hoping, praying, needing for this to be a bad dream. as he comes to find out, it is not.Â
-
beomgyuâs head whips up in horror, and heâs panting like mad in between whimpers. tears incessantly pour out of his eyes, wetting his flushed cheeks. was it all a dream? thereâs no way; it was too real to be a dream. he was thereâhe lived it. no, no, noâŚ
âbeomgyu?â a voice says, somewhat breaking him out of his panic. his bleary eyes snap up to the doorway to see you standing there, your eyebrows knit with concern and confusion. you two have been working late again, awkwardly alone together once more after his confession. you saw that he had fallen asleep, but he looked so tired, you couldn't bring yourself to wake him up. âare⌠are you okay?â he's absolutely frozen as you tentatively approach him, pausing a bit uncertainly before approaching him to get a closer look. he grabs you and tugs you towards him, wrapping his arms around you in an almost bruising grip. he nuzzles his wet face into the crook of your neck, inhaling your familiar scent in between shudders.Â
âbeomgyu, are you sick? did you have a bad dream?â you ask. his heart would flutter at your concern, concern you havenât shown him for so long, in any other context; but as it is, heâs far too distraught to appreciate it.Â
âi⌠i remember,â he croaks, trying to get even closer to you, as if doing so is the only way to keep you safe. youâd like to break out of his embrace, but heâs so distraught while youâre so off-guard, you donât do it just yet.Â
âremember what? something about the project? we canââÂ
âno. iâmâi remember⌠i remember losing you.â he canât quite bring himself to be any clearer, but you seem to understand him, anyway. you stiffen in his arms before prying him off of you. he fumbles for you, just to touch you again, but you push him away. you exert very little force, but itâs firm and unrelenting.Â
âoh,â you reply, looking a little lost, but mostly just cold. he's basically wailing now, but he tries his best to answer.
âiâm so, so fucking sorry. i didnâtââÂ
âwhat, you didnât mean to? youâre sorry? maybe so, but does it matter?â you cut in, almost snarling. now that he remembers, all of the feelings, all of the resentment youâve kept bottled up come tumbling out of your mouth. âwhat's the point in telling me this now, after everything? youâre not sorry, beomgyu. you only care because iâmâbecause i was gone. i donât want to hear about your regrets; theyâre worthless to me.â he recoils as if you just punched him. his eyes turn even redder than they were before, too, and heâs silent at your words.Â
he wants to tell you that youâre wrong, because he really is sorry, but can he truthfully say that heâd realize his feelings if you didnât⌠go? he canât. for all he knows, heâd have rejected you forever. he's so ashamed, he'd rather die than feel this way. even so, he wants to attempt to explain himself; you deserve that much. before he can reply, however, you rise and stalk towards the doorway. itâs reminiscent of the way you left when everything happened, and he desperately tries to follow you, grabbing your arm before you can make it out the door.Â
âdonât touch me. donât you ever touch me,â you seethe, ripping yourself out of his grip as if the mere feeling of his hands on you burns through your skin, and he staggers backwards. he keeps his arm somewhat outstretched, though. just in case you change your mind.
âdonât leave like this. i-i donât want you to get hurt.â not again.
âwhatâs it matter to you?â you sneer. âyou didnât care before, so i wonât waste my life on you ever again.â his eyes widen in terror, and tears fall even more profusely than they already were. you begin to leave, but to your regretâand to his anguish, the angriest part of you forces you to turn around and face him again.
âdo you want to know what my last thought was?â you ask, face mostly blank besides the slight traces of disdain in your eyes, and heâs too terrified to move or even speak at all. he knows whatever you say will be something that breaks him, so he tries to shrink himself to be as small as possible; subconsciously praying that doing so will make him disappear in the face of your anger. still, your eyes remain locked on his faceânarrowing in on him regardless of his efforts. âit was of you, actually. i was wishing iâd never met you.â he visibly flinches as he gasps sharply, feeling like you just knocked the air out of his lungs. he feels like he canât breathe. it would have felt better if you had just ripped his heart out of his chest, because as it is, itâs aching so badly, he wishes you had.Â
his lips tremble, and he looks like heâs just heard the worst news of his life. and he has. you hate him that much? you regret all of the time you had together to the point of wishing it had never happened? heâs never, ever regretted a moment heâs spent with you, but he guesses your company has always been better than his. how could it not be? youâve always given him more than he could ever reasonably ask for, and even if you hadnât, youâre still a much better person than he is. better to the extent of making him realize just how unworthy he is.
he lets you leave, but his anxiety makes him frantically pace about the room. he tugs at his hair, willing himself to calm down, but he just canât. after a few minutes, he texts you and asks if you made it home. to his relief, it says that youâve read the message, so he knows you must be okay. still, you donât respond.Â
-
the deal is tied up exceptionally smoothly; youâve done it before, after all, so that comes as no surprise. on the night of the celebratory dinner, you take mingi as your date. youâve already told him that you donât see things panning out, but he actually takes it really well. maybe telling him that youâre planning on moving helped smooth things over. still, he insists that you accompany him to the dinner, just as friends. you oblige.Â
itâs mostly the same as you remember. you spend the night mixing with your coworkers for the last time, and itâs bittersweet. they donât know that this will be the last time you see them, as your two weeks before resignation have already passed in secret, and youâll spend the next few weeks just packing and finding a new place to stay far, far away from here. itâs freeing, in a way.Â
at some point, your manager announces that heâll be making a toast, and the room quiets as everyoneâs attention is placed on him.Â
âfirstly, iâd like to celebrate the success of this collaboration. everyone has worked hard to make everything come to fruition. secondly, iâd like to recognize two of the people who made this possible.â he specially thanks you and beomgyu, which is normal, but the unexpected happens when he voices his regret that youâll be resigning.Â
your coworkers look at you in shock, but one person in particular is especially stunned. beomgyu. your manager probably thanks employees of the other company, too, but he doesnât hear it. other voices, other people, are drowned out by the buzzing in his ears. youâre leaving, and it's all because of him.Â
he tries to drown his feelings in alcohol, stomach burning with every round, but the regret never seems to numb. the room seems to be spinning, and he looks visibly ill. eventually, a familiar figure takes a seat next to him. ah. his previous fiancĂŠe.
âhey,â she says, somewhat coyly. he doesn't respond. âwow, are you okay? you look a little green. how are you getting home?â again, he doesn't respond. she actually appears to be embarrassed, but she tries one more time.Â
âi actuallyâi came over here because you're really⌠cute. if you don't have a way home, i can take you. i won't try anything on you, but i can't just let you go home alone. and maybe, you know, when you're sober, we canââ
âbeat it,â he snaps. he knows itâs not her fault, and that she hasnât done anything, but he still canât help his resentment, even when it should all be directed towards himself. but his recognition of his unfairness isnât enough for him to care. she blinks in surprise and embarrassment, rising from her seat in defeat.Â
beomgyu continues to drink until heâs on the verge of passing out, putting his face in his hands. he draws attention from everyone, but he doesnât have the mind to care. people try to approach him, but he flatly rejects everyone who attempts to offer their help in order to ensure that he gets home safely.Â
âshould you⌠should you take him home?â mingi asks. itâs obvious who heâs referring to.
âitâs not my problem,â you reply, a bit more curtly than you intended.Â
âyouâre right, itâs not. but youâre the only one heâll listen to, and i think you know that.â mingi argues. you sigh. heâs right. as much as you want to blame beomgyu for everything, youâve come to realize that after the conversationâmore like confrontationâyou two had, youâre not angry anymore. it was hard to see in the moment, but youâve begun to question your merciless stance towards him. isnât it partially your fault that things turned out the way they did? he didn't make you check your phone that day, so isnât it unfair to completely blame him for everything?Â
with this in mind, you approach him. he initially bats you away, assuming youâre just another one of his coworkers, but your voice pulls him out of his drunken stupor.
âcâmon. iâll take you home.â his head whips up in surprise, and he almost thinks youâre joking, but your face is completely serious.
âo-okay,â he replies, sounding extremely docile. you donât respond, but you begin to walk ahead of him as you head to the exit. heâs having a hard time even following you as he clumsily staggers through the crowd, following you like a lost puppy. hesitantly, he reaches out for your hand, though the fear of you telling him not to touch you remains. you turn back to see his fingers hesitantly outstretched to your hand, and with a look of resignation, you let him grab it as you lead him out.
the ride to his home is a silent one. beomgyu rests his head upon the cold window as he stares at the scenery outside. he doesnât really take anything in, far too dazed to appreciate the view, but he looks, anyway.Â
when you enter his apartment, begrudgingly letting him lean on you for support, you take him to his bedroom. he plops down onto his bed in an unnaturally clumsy manner.Â
âth-thanks for taking me home,â he says meekly.Â
âmm,â you reply, no inflection of emotion in your tone, getting ready to leave and head to your apartment.Â
âw-wait! can you⌠can you stay here tonight?â you look at him doubtfully, but before you can resolutely deny him, he begins to retch. with widened eyes, you pull him up and drag him to his bathroom. he hunches over the toilet and lets everything go. heâs trembling after heâs finished, and you clean him up as best as you can. he melts into your touch as you gently wipe his face. youâre not soothing him with your words like you wouldâve a few months ago, but your care, no matter how unwilling you seem to give it, is something he revels in. he brushes his teeth, but he keeps his eyes on your pensive reflection in the mirror. after he's finished, you speak.
âiâll stay,â you tell him.Â
âw-what?â he questions, eyes watery.
âiâll stay for tonight. iâll take the couch. i just donât want to leave you when youâre feeling like this. itâs dangerous.âÂ
ân-no! you can stay in the guest room.âÂ
âi need to be able to hear you if something happens,â you argue.Â
âth-then iâll sleep on the couch. i donât want you toââÂ
âbeomgyu, you need to properly rest. if you donât sleep in your room, iâll leave.â his face crumbles before he acquiesces with a strained nod.
âgood,â you say with a ghost of a smile at his blind obedience, but he's too drunk to notice it. if he had, he wouldâve clung to it like a man drowning.Â
âthank you,â he solemnly whispers. Â
âgoodnight, beomgyu.â
âgoodnight,â he says, and you rifle through his drawer for some clothes before heading to his living room and changing. you pull out spare blankets from his linen closet before sliding onto his couch.
you sleep rather peacefully, but beomgyu has no such luck. instead, he's pulled into a dreamâone he comes to realize is a memory.
-
when beomgyu arrives at the coronerâs office, there is a moment, albeit brief, that he sickly hopes that itâs literally anyone else in the world, but when he sees youâbody mangled nearly beyond recognitionâhe realizes that there is no such mercy. apparently, you didn't even die on impact, but by the time somebody reached you, you were already gone. he doesn't want to imagine how you must've felt, being alone in your last moments, but he feels like he should. against the warnings of the coroner and surrounding police officers, he demands for your face to be uncovered. he can surely identify you based on frame and clothing alone, but for reasons he doesnât dare to dwell on, he feels like he just has to see. he just has to be sure. he just has to know what he did to you.Â
and he does come to know it. to his eternal regret, he begins to know it at that moment, and consequently, every moment after. as it turns out, they suspect that you were looking at your phone before you swerved off of the road. he doesnât know how, but heâs instinctively sure that itâs because you were waiting on his call. one resounding thought thrums incessantly in his head: itâs all his fault, all his fault, all his fault.
your face is bloody, barely even showing any of the underlying skin, and marred from shattered glass. he swallows thickly as he reaches out to touch you, running his hands over the gashes on your face as softly as he can as to avoid hurting you, and he canât help but wonder if itâs at all possible for him to tend to your wounds. he would go over single one, softly patching you up back to normal; but you're already cold to the touch, and though you definitely canât feel anything, his mind imagines how much it must hurt to have him caress the gaping wounds on your face. he snatches back his hand, as if his touch is poison to you.Â
âs-sorry, iâm really sorry!â he panickedly exclaims. âi-i wonâtâi didnât mean to hurt you.â heâs unsure if he means that in the current physical or the previous emotional sense, but does that really matter? he already has. besides, you canât feel anything anymore. all of your muscles are relaxed, leaving you devoid of any expression as your eyes hollowly stare up at the ceiling. for a moment, he wishes the hurt he saw in them a mere hour ago was still there. anything would be better than the current blankness of your features.Â
the blankness remains, however, even after all of the makeup and superficial repairs done to make you look like youâre only peacefully asleep. to him, you just look dead, no matter how badly he wishes the former were the case. as much as he wants to speak at your funeral, he does not. he doesn't deserve the dignity to speak, much less to properly mourn you. not after what he said to you. not when everything that's happened is all his fault.
the breakup with his girlfriendâor fiancĂŠeâis more bothersome than he can handle. in between her pleas and attempts to reason, all he can do is coolly recite the constant refrain: âiâm sorry, i just donât want to be with you.â she tells him heâs just grieving, that heâll get over it with time, and she wants to support him while he does it; but he montonously repeats his words as if they're the only ones he knows. in her anger and desperation, she tells him heâs making a mistake, and that heâs just feeling guilty because of your unrequited love, which ultimately proves itself to be the categorically worst thing to say. he finally explodes, telling her that she was the mistake, that he doesn't know what he ever saw in her that even closely compares to you, and he'd take every moment with her back if he could. she's the biggest regret of his life, which previously felt like it had only just begun, but now feels like it stretches far beyond what he can tolerate.Â
in the days, weeks, months that follow, he struggles to understand how something so unjust could occur. it doesn't make sense. really, it just doesn't make sense. eventually, even his initially patient friends grow weary of his neurotic harping upon how unfair it is, how sudden and wrong it all is. he should be punished. you shouldnât have had to be the one to suffer, but you were. what kind of justice is that? what kind of universe allows something so cruel to happen right under its nose?
when everyone finally tells him that itâs time to move on and let go, he resorts to speaking to the only person who canât argue back. you. he visits you every day, bringing you gifts on christmas and your birthday, and even just when he sees something he think you'd like. in a way, theyâre almost like sacrifices to you to atone for what he did. his contrition. he spends many of his visits by raving like a man gone mad at a stone slab. he likes to think that youâre agreeing with him, that you see the unfairness for what it is. heâs realized that he loves you, has always loved you, but he was too self-absorbed to notice. as hypocritical as it is, heâs only noticed after you⌠left, and heâs more disgusted by himself than he ever thought possible. still, he thinks you deserve to know. you deserve for him to be brave and tell the truth, but who cares? whatâs the use of only recognizing it after everything heâs done?Â
he apologizes to you while crying about how much he misses you. he tries to tell you about other things, too. about the things he thinks you wouldâve liked to hear. about current events he decides youâd find funny or interesting, about life updates on your friends that youâd want to know, about how a new album has been released by an artist you really liked, and that he can't quite bring himself to listen to it yet. heâll definitely listen, though, someday. heâll give you his opinions after describing each track in great detail, once heâs able to bear it, that is. you always look(ed) forward to their releases, so itâs the least he can do to repay his debt to you.Â
but if you owe someone a debt as deep as their life, how can you repay that debt when theyâre no longer here to collect it? if he really thinks about it, there are a lot of things he owes you. he owes you the years you spent caring about him when he couldnât be bothered to reciprocate a fraction of the same courtesy. he owes you every thoughtful action, every encouraging word you wasted on him. he owes you the time you dedicated to make sure he always felt seen, felt understood, felt loved. yes, he owes you a lot of thingsâtoo many to properly account for, actually. and now, he even owes you your life. his debt is so heavy, he crumbles under it every day, squirming pathetically beneath the crushing weight of it all like an insect. the worst part is: he owes you more than you ever asked him for. all you wanted in return was honesty, but it appears that even that was too much to ask from him.
he wishes you were here to punish him, to scorn him for being such a fucking bastard. yell at him, hit him, kill him. anything would be fineâheâd tolerate it allâjust as long as you were still here. heâd be perfectly content with your hatred, heâd revel in it, even; but he supposes that he doesnât even deserve that much. as it is, your silence is the most punishment he can receive, but that doesn't feel like it's even close to enough. he finds himself praying for mercy, for some bizarre, cosmic event to put him out of his misery once and for all. he indulges in the idea that if he plays his cards right, if he begs and pleads enough, heâll find you again. such a notion is initially enough to placate him, but it is to his horror when he realizes that heâs more afraid of that than anything else. what if he finds you, and you tell him, âi never want to see you again,â just like before? such a terrifying outcome is enough to keep him from snuffing out his own light with his own two hands for good. heâd rather live as if he were dead than hear those words again.
so he does. he lives like that for years, decades, until death mercifully takes him. he lives quietly and utterly alone. no wife, no children, and hardly any friends. if your life was robbed from you by his actions, then itâs only right that he lives as if his own were robbed from him, too. itâs the least he can do to atone for what heâs done. what keeps him up at night, though, is the possibility that itâs just not enough. if you do meet him again, what will you say? will you still tell him that you don't want to see him? that the lifetime he spent regretting everything he's ever done pales in comparison to the price you paid for caring about him? as the darkness overcomes him, however, he realizes that you deigning to say anything at all to him is better than your unbearable silence. his final thought before he's swallowed whole is: please, just let me see you one more time.
-
beomgyu awakens in a cold sweat, panting heavily as he struggles to understand where he is. is he still alive? that canât be rightâhe clearly felt himself slipping away. but what if he canât die? what if thatâs his punishment? the thought alone is enough to elicit a guttural, âno, no, no!â out of him as he realizes that his nightmare is not yet over, and may very well never be. tears pour down his face as he wails like a child.
âbeomgyu?â you say as you walk through the doorway, looking somewhat sleepy and disheveled in clothes he subconsciously registers as his own. when he looks at you, he's relieved, but the regret he feels is what overwhelms him.
âoh, god. i'mâit's all my fault.â
âwhat?â you ask, still a bit disoriented from just waking up, seeing as how it's still the middle of the night.
âit's all my fault. it's all my fucking fault. i did that to you.â suddenly, you realize what heâs saying, and your heart clenches at his words.
âbeomgyu, no. i was distracted. i didnât seeââ
âyou were distracted because of me. you thought i was calling you, i just know it. you were there because of me. because iâm a fucking coward who couldn't just tell you the truth.â you donât know what to say. did he really blame himself for everything? even after all of this time? before you can answer, he speaks again.
âi sawâyou just looked so small. i've neverâi didn't even think anyone could bleed that much. you were so cold, a-and your face wasââÂ
âhey, hey, hey, stop it,â you say firmly, but gently, âyou're notââÂ
âthey said you died at the scene, all⌠all alone. and i know i was the one who did that. if i had just listened to you, if i had just been honest with you, you would've been alright. but i called you crazy. i said you were being stupid. w-why did i say that? what did i do it for?âÂ
âlook at me,â you say firmly, which makes his unfocused eyes zero in on you. âlisten, listen to me. it's not your fault, okay? i used to feel like it was, but now i understand that you were scared. i know you couldn't control how you felt about her, and you were right about you not owing me your feelings. you could've been honest, but that doesn't mean you killed me.âÂ
âno, i did it. i did it. i did that to you. if i had justââ
âgyu,â you sigh, and his heart canât help but stutter at the nickname you havenât called him in months. âiâm telling you itâs not your fault. i used to blame it all on you, and i was wrong for doing that. but you get it now, right? you're supposed to be with her. you love her.â
âno, no, no! i don't. i really don't,â he desperately exclaims, trying to convince you in the only way he knows how.
âmaybe not yet,â you concede, âbut you will. once you get to know her, you'll want to spend the rest of your life with her. that's how it's supposed to be, just like before.â
âthere is no before,â he cuts in pleadingly. âi lived and died alone, just like i deserved. i justâi love you so much, i couldn't stand to let you go.â you frown at his wordsâthey make you actually feel guilty. even so, you guess that it's time to let the purgatory you find yourselves in go. besides, maybe he needs an apology to finally put it all to rest.Â
âi'm sorry thatââ his heart drops to his stomach. please donât say it. heâs begging you not to say it. not to someone as unworthy and filthy as him.
âdon't. please, please, don't apologize to mââ
ââi made you feel that way. even when i hated you, i never wanted you to live like that; but you can't mistake guilt for⌠something else. maybe this is another chance to get it right. you can be with her guilt-free, and i can live without regrets.â
âno, i-i didnât break up with her because of guilt! i did it because i realized that if itâs not you, i donât want it to be anyone else. it canât be anyone else.âÂ
âyou donât know that,â you sigh. âyou think you feel that way, but youâre just sad that things ended how they did.âÂ
âyouâre wrong!â he exclaims. âi didnât realize itâi was too stupid to realize it. and i know itâs disgusting of me, but i only⌠i only understood it after i lost you. i-iâm sorry i didnât realize it before, but please donât tell me how i feel. i spent every day wishing i would just fucking die so i could see you again. i just couldnât stand living without you. thatâs not normalâthatâs not how friends feel, no matter how guilty they are. i just wanted to die.â you purse your lips at his words as you feel dread pooling in your stomach. at least when you died, you didnât suffer for long, but he suffered for the rest of his life. in the same way, you didnât want him to hurt himself, no matter how angry you were.Â
beomgyu has begun to hyperventilate, but he doesnât take his eyes off of youâtoo afraid that youâll disappear if he does. heâs probably having a panic attack as tears stream down his face, and he ruthlessly tugs at his hair in pure distress. all he can do is repeat that it's all his fault and how sorry he is, and any lingering resentment you may feel dissipates like smoke at his absolutely shattered state. it seems like he really can't live without you, so are you sure you can abandon him like this? you don't think so. although it may not be right, you still think that it's worth a shot. you don't think he has the capacity to hurt you ever again, and you realize that even after everything, you don't think you can love somebody the way that you love him. so, you're willing to let him try again.
âhey, hey. stop it,â you coax, seating yourself on his bed. but he canât stop it, he physically canât. heâs whimpering now, like a wild beast with a mortal wound. you donât hesitate to take him into your arms, holding him tightly as you shush him. âshh, itâs okay, iâm here. donât cry. iâm here, and i wonât leave again. i promise. just breathe, in⌠then out. thatâs it, just like that. good job.âÂ
eventually, his breath begins to even out, though his body is still racked with shudders. youâre here. youâre okay. you promised that you wonât leave him, and you always keep your word when it comes to him. he finally feels like he can breathe, and even though heâs in so much pain, he still wishes this moment will never end. he wishes he could stay in your arms forever, never letting you leave his side. always staying where he can reach you.
âbetter?â you ask, pulling away to get a good look at him, but he shakily grips your sleeve in sheer desperation. he just has to be touching you, somehow. he forces himself to nod.
âgood,â you say, eyes soft and lips slightly upturned in relief. he almost loses it again at the sight of your smile, no matter how small. he never thought heâd see it directed towards him again in this life or the next. âdo you want to start over?âÂ
âs-start over?â he asks. he doesn't dare to let himself hope that you mean what he thinks you mean.Â
âstart over,â you nod. âwe can try again, okay?âÂ
âoh, p-please,â he begs. heâs so pathetic. he doesnât deserve your mercy, but he supposes heâs too selfish to reject it. you look at him for a long, long time with soft eyes. youâre not angry anymoreâheâs suffered more than enough, and you finally believe that he loves you just as much as you love him, and maybe even a little more than that.
âyou promise you won't hurt me again?â
âi promise. i swear to godââÂ
without a second thought, you gently cup his face in your hands, which makes his words catch in his throat. his eyes widen as you lean in while pulling him towards you. when your lips meet, heâs electrified to his bones. he melts into the kiss, whimpering slightly at the feeling of your lips against his. when you break apart, you rest his forehead on his own, closing your eyes as he stares at you before he does the same. he clutches the hand you have on his face and grazes his thumb over it as he lets out a contented sigh. nobody has ever made him feel this way before, and if he could go back to the first day he met you, heâd tie you to him immediately.Â
âthank you, thank you so much,â he whispers. with a smile, you press your lips against his again. he falls into the feeling just as easily as the first time, and you push him down before continuing to go even deeper. before completely giving in.Â
you spend the night loving and being loved in a way that you never thought you could. you feel cherished to a degree you previously considered impossible. beomgyu reveres you as if youâre his god, and he shows you as much with how loving and gentle he is. when youâre finished, panting heavily against each other, he holds his hand against your cheek as he stares at you in awe.
âi missed you so much. i love you so much. i promise that nobody will ever love you as much as i do. i promise that nobody will ever treat you as well as i will. just donât leave me, okay?â and when the time comes, even if you do leave first, heâll be sure to follow you. he won't let you be alone ever again. but he definitely canât tell you that, or else youâd yell at him for not caring about his life enough.
âokay,â you tell him with a sleepy smile, and he beams before kissing your forehead and letting you drift off. he stares at your peaceful face, resolving to always give you what you want, no matter what it costs him. even if it kills him, he'll gladly do whatever it takes to ensure that you're happier with him than you could ever be with anyone else. he'll prove to you how much he loves you, and he'll pay back the debt he owes you a million times over. you'll see. heâll marry you, start a new life with you, and chain himself to you forever; which may sound selfish, but heâll make up for his willfulness by being everything you could ever want and need. and finally, before he joins you to sleep, he thanks the universe for having mercy on himâfor letting him see you again.
notes pt. 2: ... so? LMAOOOOO i hope this was worth the wait bc this work was so hard for me to get through it was making me so sad to write it. anyway, love yew. please don't be mean to me tho like if u don't like it just close your eyes n scroll đ
Hii!!! i just want to let you know that you're love by many and you are my most favorite author here in this app. Your fic really make me happy despite them being really sad and angsty 𼲠I found you first on a03 and I'm glad I searched you up here on tumblr or else i would've never found this whole community
HIII!! thank you so much. this is so sweet!! it warms my heart that you took the time to send this to me esp bc i've been busy and inactive. i'm honored to be your favorite 𼚠i'm glad my angst makes u happy but im REALLY glad u found moablr from it!! there r great ppl on here and i hope u love it!
thanks again for being so sweet i appreciate u!! đâ¤ď¸đť
summary: beomgyu has it all. like, he's popular, handsome, rich, smart, funny, cool, tall, well-connected, and charming, if he's being perfectly honest. so when he finally settles down with a girl named yeji, he's utterly humiliated when she dumps him out of nowhere for another guy. in his desperation, he realizes there is only one girl on campus who has the ability to make yeji see what she's missing out onâthe campus's very own resident misandrist: you.
genre: MAYBE smut (mdni) (if i feel like it but it'll be suggestive at the very least), romance, fake dating, fluff (probably rily corny but idgaf), prob a tiny bit of angst (likeeee have u even met me...), enemies to lovers kinda
warnings: some allusions to reader's vague past trauma with men but nothing specific
word count: tbd
release date: tbd
notes: probably the corniest thing i'll ever post on here but idc the girls that get it get it
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âyouâre a natural at this, you know? itâs almost like you actually like me,â he teases, and thereâs a hint of hope in his words that he doesn't even realize is there.
âdonât be gross,â you hiss, but your face remains strangely pleasant as you do it. beomgyu can only hold back his disappointment so as to maintain the illusion of the loving couple you two are supposed to be, all while yejiâs stare burns into the two of you.
âcâmon, letâs pretend weâre flirting or something. act like i just said something funny.â surprisingly, you giggle. itâs a sound heâs never heard before from you, and he inexplicably wants to hear it again and again, especially in a genuine context. you lean in even closer as you whisper back, your breath warm in his ear.
âgod, this is so fucking boring.â
âcry about it. weâve got yeji right where i want her,â he says with a forced chuckle as he fights to maintain the facade, despite his annoyance.
âpig,â you retort with faux sweetness as you equally struggle to appear as enamored with him as you're supposed to be.
âcrybaby.â
you two break apart as your professor comes in. you turn your attention towards her, but beomgyu canât help but spend the duration of the class stealing glances at you, even when you pay him so little attention, heâs seemingly out of your stratosphere. when the class ends, the damage is done, and the whole class, and eventually the entire campus, is abuzz with rumors about how beomgyu is recently involved with the previously unattainable man-hater.
notes pt. 2: if u think this is corny literally close ur eyes n scroll i'm sensitive... but lmk if u wanna be tagged! also this is prob coming out after freudian
warnings: depression (yeonjun), brief mentions of reader's toxic relationship towards her bf, lowkey emotional infidelity on reader's part towards her bf who is NOT yeonjun but the bf deserves it, corniness in general but who cares let's make reader and the male lead happy for once
summary: from wealth, to connections, to good looksâyeonjun has it all, so why does it feel like he doesn't? even with everything in his hands, emptiness seems to be the only thing he really owns at the end of the day, so when he attempts to hit on you, a complete stranger, at the bar, he's simply going through the motions. that is, until you ask him, "are you okay?", and suddenly, yeonjun feels everything, including what must be the ever-elusive love he's sneered at his entire life. with you taking him under your wing, yeonjun more or less inserts himself into your life with no resistance from you, resolved to hold onto the feeling. one problem, though: you have a boyfriend. but what does a pesky boyfriend matter in the face of a man as... determined as yeonjun is?
notes: first yeonjun fic kinda nervous and if u think man meets woman n discovers feelings is corny idgaf i was born on the cob
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does yeonjun hate his life? that seems a bit dramatic, really. hate is a strong word, and heâs not sure if he has the capacity to feel that much about anything anymore, let alone something as mundane as his life. is yeonjunâs life mundane? he thinks so, but to the rest of the world, that sentiment must be unbelievable. why? because, realistically speaking, yeonjun has, well, everything. he has intelligence, charisma, and connections out the ass; not to mention he's got moneyâas in, old money. the kind of exorbitant wealth and prestige many can't wrap their heads around, which effectively has him existing in a different stratosphere than most. truthfully, even if he didn't have any of those things, his looks alone would be enough to carry him for the rest of his life. and with all pretenses of humility aside, he's quite talented in bed, if the⌠reviews from the women he takes home are of any indication. so, yes, he should be very, very happy. and yet, he's fucking miserable.
that doesn't seem to matter, though. not in any significant way. he could tell someoneâanyoneâ about his misery, but honestly? it doesn't even matter to him anymore, and if they did ask for the why of it all, he wouldn't even know what to say; so if he were to share his secret misery with any of the people he calls his friends, he doubts they'd care much, if at all. at this point, he doesn't even expect them to. he's never been one to choose friends for any noble reason, so he knows they're there because of the optics of being associated with him. he guesses he's fine with that. it's not like they rely on him for anything other than social and/or financial gain, and the (lack of) feeling is mutual. as long as he keeps up his masquerade, they're more than alright with his lack of substance.
and so, like on most weekends, yeonjun is spending his saturday night at the bar with his âfriendsâ. another night out, another pointless performance. yeonjun likes sex as much as the next person, of course, and it's a nice little distraction from his currently meaningless existence; but it's a game more than anything. see a pretty girl, smirk at his friends, ask her if he can buy her a drink, then take her home⌠only to kick her out in the morning. so when he sees you separating from your friends to approach the bar, he plans on doing exactly that. with a mischievous flash of his teeth to his friends, he strides over to you. he didn't get a great look at your face, but the men surrounding him whispered that you were hot, so even if you're not his type, you being wanted by others is enough for him. it always is.
âhey, pretty girl. mind if i buy you a drink?â he purrs, his mouth already curling up in a feat of muscle memory rather than a genuine expression of pleasure.
here it comesâthe same old song and dance. heâs curious to see if you'll be the type to fold immediately, or the kind of girl who plays hard to get. he hopes you're the latter; it's actually kind of fun that way.
but neither of those things happen, because when you turn around to look at him, your eyebrows furrow and your face tenses in what seems to be worry. what the hell?
âare you⌠okay?â you ask uncertainly before he can even form words, your hands gently clasping around his. yeonjun gulps, subconsciously standing up a little straighter, as if you just asked him the most important question of his life. maybe you did.
âi⌠what? i mean, yeah. yeah, of course,â he stammers as he looks into your knowing eyes and feels like he's falling somewhere he can't understand, suddenly realizing he's⌠afraid? no, that's not it. he's not afraid of you, though he wonders if he should be; because for the first time in his life, the feeling of nakedness, in the proverbial sense, overwhelms him.
he wants to tear his eyes away from you, wants to regain control in the way his father always taught him to by asserting his dominance, wants to saunter away without a care in the world, wants to go back to the way he felt about 45 seconds⌠now a minute⌠now a minute-and-a-half ago instead of waiting for you to answer as your eyes narrow, assessing and dissecting him with your gaze. heâs about three seconds away from full-on sprinting back to the safety of his friends, but then you speak.
âare you sure? you don't look so good,â you probe, tightening your gentle grip just a hair.
but you know, and yeonjun knows you know, and for once⌠for once yeonjun feels like someone can see him. and, thank god, you don't look like you're disgusted or disappointed or like you're trying to pretend like all is well. you look like you know he's miserable, yes, but you also seem like you want him to tell you himself instead of forcing him. yeonjun doesn't know how heâs sure of something he can't possibly verify, but he's confident that if he were to tell you again that he's fine, you'd accept it and leave him alone.
but he doesn't.
-
as yeonjun feels himself drifting off into a drunken slumber with you in his arms, feeling warmer in your bed than he has in his seemingly long, miserable life while you gently comb your fingers through his hair, one thought pervades his mind: oh fuck.
in his sleep and alcohol-addled mind, a new goal, a real goal takes shape. yes, you two just met. yes, you have a boyfriend. but yeonjun will be damned before he lets this feeling go. and so, he decides, heâll do whatever it takes to keep it.
Omg I donât know if I ever asked you this but can I be in your permanent txt taglist if you have one? I LOVE your writings so much and I would love love love to be notified when you posted anything, thank youuu<333
HIII yayyyy of course i'll add you!! i have an sfw only and one that includes all works so just let me know !
thank you so much for reading and supporting me ur the best đ˝đ˝
warnings: depression (yeonjun), brief mentions of reader's toxic relationship towards her bf, lowkey emotional infidelity on reader's part towards her bf who is NOT yeonjun but the bf deserves it, corniness in general but who cares let's make reader and the male lead happy for once
summary: from wealth, to connections, to good looksâyeonjun has it all, so why does it feel like he doesn't? even with everything in his hands, emptiness seems to be the only thing he really owns at the end of the day, so when he attempts to hit on you, a complete stranger, at the bar, he's simply going through the motions. that is, until you ask him, "are you okay?", and suddenly, yeonjun feels everything, including what must be the ever-elusive love he's sneered at his entire life. with you taking him under your wing, yeonjun more or less inserts himself into your life with no resistance from you, resolved to hold onto the feeling. one problem, though: you have a boyfriend. but what does a pesky boyfriend matter in the face of a man as... determined as yeonjun is?
notes: first yeonjun fic kinda nervous and if u think man meets woman n discovers feelings is corny idgaf i was born on the cob
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does yeonjun hate his life? that seems a bit dramatic, really. hate is a strong word, and heâs not sure if he has the capacity to feel that much about anything anymore, let alone something as mundane as his life. is yeonjunâs life mundane? he thinks so, but to the rest of the world, that sentiment must be unbelievable. why? because, realistically speaking, yeonjun has, well, everything. he has intelligence, charisma, and connections out the ass; not to mention he's got moneyâas in, old money. the kind of exorbitant wealth and prestige many can't wrap their heads around, which effectively has him existing in a different stratosphere than most. truthfully, even if he didn't have any of those things, his looks alone would be enough to carry him for the rest of his life. and with all pretenses of humility aside, he's quite talented in bed, if the⌠reviews from the women he takes home are of any indication. so, yes, he should be very, very happy. and yet, he's fucking miserable.
that doesn't seem to matter, though. not in any significant way. he could tell someoneâanyoneâ about his misery, but honestly? it doesn't even matter to him anymore, and if they did ask for the why of it all, he wouldn't even know what to say; so if he were to share his secret misery with any of the people he calls his friends, he doubts they'd care much, if at all. at this point, he doesn't even expect them to. he's never been one to choose friends for any noble reason, so he knows they're there because of the optics of being associated with him. he guesses he's fine with that. it's not like they rely on him for anything other than social and/or financial gain, and the (lack of) feeling is mutual. as long as he keeps up his masquerade, they're more than alright with his lack of substance.
and so, like on most weekends, yeonjun is spending his saturday night at the bar with his âfriendsâ. another night out, another pointless performance. yeonjun likes sex as much as the next person, of course, and it's a nice little distraction from his currently meaningless existence; but it's a game more than anything. see a pretty girl, smirk at his friends, ask her if he can buy her a drink, then take her home⌠only to kick her out in the morning. so when he sees you separating from your friends to approach the bar, he plans on doing exactly that. with a mischievous flash of his teeth to his friends, he strides over to you. he didn't get a great look at your face, but the men surrounding him whispered that you were hot, so even if you're not his type, you being wanted by others is enough for him. it always is.
âhey, pretty girl. mind if i buy you a drink?â he purrs, his mouth already curling up in a feat of muscle memory rather than a genuine expression of pleasure.
here it comesâthe same old song and dance. heâs curious to see if you'll be the type to fold immediately, or the kind of girl who plays hard to get. he hopes you're the latter; it's actually kind of fun that way.
but neither of those things happen, because when you turn around to look at him, your eyebrows furrow and your face tenses in what seems to be worry. what the hell?
âare you⌠okay?â you ask uncertainly before he can even form words, your hands gently clasping around his. yeonjun gulps, subconsciously standing up a little straighter, as if you just asked him the most important question of his life. maybe you did.
âi⌠what? i mean, yeah. yeah, of course,â he stammers as he looks into your knowing eyes and feels like he's falling somewhere he can't understand, suddenly realizing he's⌠afraid? no, that's not it. he's not afraid of you, though he wonders if he should be; because for the first time in his life, the feeling of nakedness, in the proverbial sense, overwhelms him.
he wants to tear his eyes away from you, wants to regain control in the way his father always taught him to by asserting his dominance, wants to saunter away without a care in the world, wants to go back to the way he felt about 45 seconds⌠now a minute⌠now a minute-and-a-half ago instead of waiting for you to answer as your eyes narrow, assessing and dissecting him with your gaze. heâs about three seconds away from full-on sprinting back to the safety of his friends, but then you speak.
âare you sure? you don't look so good,â you probe, tightening your gentle grip just a hair.
but you know, and yeonjun knows you know, and for once⌠for once yeonjun feels like someone can see him. and, thank god, you don't look like you're disgusted or disappointed or like you're trying to pretend like all is well. you look like you know he's miserable, yes, but you also seem like you want him to tell you himself instead of forcing him. yeonjun doesn't know how heâs sure of something he can't possibly verify, but he's confident that if he were to tell you again that he's fine, you'd accept it and leave him alone.
but he doesn't.
-
as yeonjun feels himself drifting off into a drunken slumber with you in his arms, feeling warmer in your bed than he has in his seemingly long, miserable life while you gently comb your fingers through his hair, one thought pervades his mind: oh fuck.
in his sleep and alcohol-addled mind, a new goal, a real goal takes shape. yes, you two just met. yes, you have a boyfriend. but yeonjun will be damned before he lets this feeling go. and so, he decides, heâll do whatever it takes to keep it.
if i were to write a fuckboy-turned-loverboy fic (unrequited love at first sight on his end type of deal) with anyone other than beomgyu as the lead, who would you want instead?
male lead
yeonjun
soobin
taehyun
kai
girl stick with beomgyu...
Voting ended onDec 8, 2025
general plot is fuckboy male lead approaches reader at a club for a hookup, reader immediately clocks him as a deeply unhappy person and male lead folds immediately, reader makes him feel understood for the first time (man discovers empathy :o), reader has a bf, and male lead decides he's gonna snatch her away at any cost. idgaf
hi everyone, i hope you're enjoying your new year. 2025 was rough for me, as you may have guessed from my lack of posting, but my resolution is to look at this year more positively. i hope this shift in perspective leads to feeling more motivated to post, and i hope you all enjoy what i'm writing.
hii lovely i came across your beomgyu rebirth fic and i was wondering if its a happy ending? im genuine afraid of angst sooo >< tysm in advance <3
hiii!! i totally understand how you feel when it comes to reading angst without a happy ending LOL but yes it has a happy ending! pretty much all of my fics do tbh i can't stomach unhappy endings
summary: freudian - susceptible to analysis in terms of unconscious desires. or, your parents have forced you to be "best friends" with minji, a woman you're convinced was put on this earth specifically tailored for you to have a mutual hatred with, since elementary school. she's confident, beautiful, and charming; and her boyfriend, beomgyu, is just as formidable. he's been a pain in your ass, an asshole to you to the most severe degree, since they got together in college. now, you're roommates with minji, but you begin to secretly take interest in beomgyu's best friend, soobin. it's just that... beomgyu's been acting weird these days.
warnings: smut (mdni!!!), yandere!beomgyu but more like pathetic!beomgyu, oral (f. receiving), unprotected sex, impregnation kink, no real dom/sub dynamic bc it didn't feel right but sub!gyu is coming back in a big way in "our deal"
word count: 13.1k
notes: hello my friends! i know i've been gone for a minute and i told myself i would post this on my bday at the latest... mind u it was in may LOL but this is a bit long for me so i hope that makes up for it a little 𼚠thank you all for being so patient with me. i hope you enjoy, and if you do, please leave feedbackâit is truly so encouraging! if you don't like it please spare me i beg you cuz i'm still riding the struggle bus n don't want my feelings hurt
( ŕ˝Í â§ ŕ˝Í )
âhuman beings are funny. they long to be with the person they love, but refuse to admit it openly. some are afraid to show even the slightest sign of affection because of fear. fear that their feelings may not be recognized, or even worse, returned. but one thing about human beings that puzzles me the most is their conscious effort to be connected with the object of their affection, even if it kills them slowly within.â - sigmund freud
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youâve never been one to try to work against the inevitable. some would call it pragmatism, others would call it simply being a fucking loser, but you try not to dwell on its meaning. as it is, when your parents forced you to become âbest friendsâ and âpractically sistersâ with minji in elementary school, you just let it happen. and when she inevitably drew the attention of every boy your eyes happened to linger on for longer than ten seconds, you also let that happen. as the years passed, and your parents forced you to tolerate all of minjiâs, frankly, bitchy behavior, you stopped trying to avoid your fate and became as seemingly unflappable as you are now.Â
to say that minji is cartoonishly evil would simply be a lie, no matter how much you feel that way, but even you can recognize that sheâs nice to a lot of people. itâs just, for some reason, youâre not one of them. when you two were forced to hang out together with friends, she would always bring up embarrassing stories to try to get them to laugh at you, and she's so damn charming, it worked. and on the rare occasion in which you felt kind of confident in your looks, sheâd wait until you all were in public to point out insecurities you didn't even know you had. and the one time in middle school when you finally tried to tell your parents how awful minji was to you after she lied to the boy you liked by telling him that you called him uglyâwhich somehow resulted in her âcomfortingâ him and becoming his first girlfriendâminji bawled like a baby during the mediation. in the end, you had to apologize to her for hurting her feelings.Â
even so, forced proximity is a breeding ground for understanding, and you understood minji from the start. in the same way, she understood you. honestly, regardless of your wishes, she probably understood you better than anyone else; but that is no longer the case. for as much as you two have always hated each other, there used to be fleeting moments of connection. her making a snide comment about an obnoxious neighbor when they compared you to her, and you taking care to make sure nobody ate the rest of her favorite dish when she was late to family dinner. you two may have disliked each other, but there was an undercurrent of⌠something. it was a twisted relationship, you won't deny that, but it was a relationship, nonetheless. however, all of that dissipated like smoke once you reached early adulthood. to this day, you're not sure why.Â
yours and minjiâs parents pretty much forced you to room together in college, both stating that it was the only way theyâd feel comfortable with you two being on your own. regardless of how quickly the two of you would now dismiss such a ridiculous notion, you were both relieved at the idea. it was almost like having a built-in companion. however, very shortly after you two settled in, things went from mildly bad to absolutely abysmal. undeniable, but ultimately menial, feelings of derision from minji became outright disdain towards you. you won't lie and say you didn't become petty in return, and youâve never cared enough to fix such a strange dynamic, though you sometimes wonder if you should.Â
as it stands, minji could hear you getting slandered to pieces, and sheâd probably join in. as for you, youâd indifferently watch someone gorge the rest of her favorite dish at family dinner rather than speak up for her. now, after both having graduated and joined the workforce, you no longer have to worry about threats to cut your livelihood off. realistically, you could stand up to your parents and say, âfuck minji, fuck her parents, and fuck you both for manhandling me into being her friend!â but that sounds awfully dramatic, so you wonât.
besides, minji, for all of her raging bitchiness, is actually the best roommate you could ever ask for. for example, she never leaves her stuff lying around, and she always rinses off her dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. the only consistent downside has been the men sheâs brought home since freshman year of college, which you declare are none of your business, but the sounds of her⌠passionate encounters are a real drag. still, you could mostly tolerate them, but her currentâand seemingly permanentâboyfriend seems determined to elicit the most perverse sounds he can out of her. at first, you prayed that it was just the honeymoon phase, but itâs been literal years at this point, and the screams reverberating through the walls of your apartment would be an inconvenience to anyone; but itâs especially troubling on nights like tonight, in which you have to be up extra early tomorrow morning for a meeting at work.Â
as you clutch a pillow to the top of your head in a vain effort to muffle out the lascivious noise, you contemplate maybe sending a text message asking minji to try to keep it down. maybe you could knock on the wall, and maybe that'd remind her that you're also a sentient human being who happens to occupy the room right next to hers. but you know it'd be fruitless, know itâd do nothing to actually help your situation. in fact, on the rare occasions that youâve politely requested that they be considerate of your poor, battered sleep schedule, or even just subtly hinted to having something important in the early morning you needed to be well-rested for, it's always seemed to come back around and bite you in the ass. it's almost like they become even more unhinged than usual when they know you need your sleep, so there's absolutely no point in trying to get them to quiet down. still, as the hour ticks by, you become more and more anxious that you'll be unable to wake up tomorrow morning, so with a sigh, you tentatively knock on the wall between your bedrooms.Â
surprisingly, the noise ceases, and you really think standing up for yourself might have just worked out in your favor for once, but then you hear minji and her boyfriend snicker, and then there's the damning sound of their resumed activities. she was loud before, but now, it's like minji is being mauled or something. so much for being well-rested.
-
you wake up the next morning feeling like you got hit by a truck, and you just know you look like shit. you try your best to cover your dark circles, but at this point, who are you fooling? when you finally leave your bedroom, you run into minjiâs boyfriend, the one she's been obsessed with since college. beomgyu.Â
âgood morning,â he says with a lazy smirk as he leans over the counter. âdid you sleep alright?â god, heâs such a fucking asshole.
âyep,â you mumble as you push past his shirtless body and reach into the fridge for your lunch.
âreally? doesn't seem like it. you look like shit,â he chuckles, and while you don't even spare him a glance, you can just feel the smug look on his face emanating off of him and boring into the back of your head.
âthanks,â you say flatly as you fill up your water bottle. you're unsure why he even talks to you, but if you had to put it into words, it'd probably be something akin to the phenomenon of a cat watching a mouse as it backs itself into a corner. even so, you don't know why he bothers with trying to get a reaction out of you. you've never reacted to his taunts very much, but he still seems hellbent on making life difficult for you.
âyou know, maybe if you got some good action, youâd understand why minji's as loud as she is,â beomgyu continues, almost as if he doesn't sense your unwillingness to participate in thisâor really anyâconversation with him.
âi'll keep that in mind,â you say perfunctorily as you shuffle over to the doorway and slide on your shoes before shutting and locking the door behind you. you don't see the way beomgyuâs fists clench at your unrelentingly dismissive tone, and even if you did, you wouldn't understand it.
-
in retrospect, you didn't have a particularly strong impression of beomgyu when you first met him. you vaguely remember him hanging around minji, and you somewhat recall listening to her rave about him against your will. still, her treating him like heâd been molded by the hands of the muses probably killed any interest in getting to know him in its crib. honestly? you probably should have planted some seeds of doubt in her mind when you two were still somewhat cordial, because if you had, maybe he wouldn't be with her today. your penchant for apathy has cost you peace, it seems, because beomgyu is at every family function and in every family photo, and at this point, itâs only a matter of time before heâs your de facto brother-in-law.Â
it looks as though his continuous onslaught of criticisms about your appearance, your demeanor, and your very presence have no discernible end in sight; and minji is more than happy to up the ante whenever he's around, which is fucking always. you almost think that you, in some strange way, make their bond grow even stronger. after all, you're pretty passive prey, and it must be somewhat fun to invent new ways in an effort to push your buttons. still, you're older and more jaded now, and you're pretty resigned to your fate. anyway, there's no way to make a completely clean break from them without your family causing an uproar; and for as much as you resent them, you don't want to do that.Â
-
you've been staying out more and more these days. after all, you're not getting much sleep at home, so what's the point of being there? plus, youâre effectively harassed by minji and beomgyu every time you have the displeasure of seeing them, so why bother? at least, that's what one would think your reasoning is, but reality is much more complicated than that. and your reality involves soobin, a guy you met in college, who you happened to reconnect with when you went out drinking with some coworkers a few months ago.Â
how do you know soobin in the first place? well, you initially met him through his best friend⌠beomgyu. so, complicated is putting it very generously. frankly, youâre surprised someone as sweet and mild-mannered as soobin is best friends with an asshole like beomgyu, but then, youâre âbest friendsâ with someone you fucking hate, so you guess thatâs just how things work out sometimes.Â
even when you are home, you donât speak to beomgyu, whoâs at your apartment so much, you wonder why he and minji havenât just bitten the bullet to officially move in together and leave you stranded; but you're thankful they haven't because the roommate market is in dire straits. realistically, you never did speak to either of them for any meaningful amount of time outside of deflecting their verbal jabs about how you're an undesirable loser, but now, itâs even less than ever.Â
you spend the night at soobinâs pretty much constantly, so tonight, your elusive presence at your own apartment is particularly jarring. the kitchen is dimly lit by the moonlight and the fluorescent lighting above the stove, and the only sounds are from you quietly opening up the plastic of the post-midnight snack youâre making. that is, until you hear the door to minji's room opening as beomgyu creeps out and lightly shuts the door behind him. you immediately register his nearly-naked form, but you're so used to it by now, you don't even blink.Â
âhey," he says tentatively, but you've never been particularly in tune with beomgyu's emotions, so you don't catch the hesitation in his greeting.
"mm," you hum as you furrow your eyebrows, focusing on preparing your snack.Â
"you haven't, uh, been around much. everything okay?" he asks gently.
âyep,â you reply as you focus on setting the timer.
âhave you been working a lot?â he probes.
ânot really,â you mumble as you begin to pour yourself a glass of water. it's late, and you've been with soobin all night, only returning home because you didn't bring a change of clothes for work tomorrow, so your inhibitions are lowered. you're not as guarded as usual, and beomgyu is intent on capitalizing off of that.
âyou should eat some real food,â he suggests, trying another tactic. âi could⌠i could make you something, if you want.â this is⌠weird. beomgyu has never offered to cook for you, and while he's made things before that you happen to like, itâs always been in service of minji; and heâs only ever offhandedly remarked that there were leftovers available to you. of course, youâve always refused, so his present consideration is daunting, to say the very least. finally, you make eye contact with him.
âuh, thanks, but it's fine. i'm tired, so i want to eat something easy and quick before bed,â you say as you redirect your attention to your timer, willing it to move faster so you can eat and get the hell out of here. you push your hair back as you wait, and you unknowingly reveal a darker patch of skin where soobin had unintentionally sucked too hard on your neck. in the dim light of the kitchen, beomgyuâs eyes immediately zero in on the mark. he draws closer, his tall frame looming over yours as he holds your hair back to get a better look.
âwhat's this?â you balk at his question and his overly-familiar proximity. you try to pull away, but he just steps closer, essentially trapping you between himself and the counter.
âwho were you with?â he asks between clenched teeth, his eyes narrowing with a darkness youâve never seen from him, or from anyone, really.Â
you wave his hand away in annoyance.
âwhy do you care? you're too close,â you defiantly reply. his jaw ticks as he leans down closer to your face, his intent eyes scanning your annoyed ones.
âwho were you with?â he repeats, his voice even lower this time. thank god above that your timer goes off, and you push him off of you as you grab your food and scurry to your room, eager to put some distance between the two of you. you shut your door, as usual, but for some reason, you're compelled to lock it.Â
-
you think of your bizarre encounter as a one-time thing, though you're still not sure what to make of it. yours and minjiâs families have always tried to push the âfamilyâ narrative between you two, and beomgyu by extension, so you briefly entertain the thought that he might actually just be buying into the ludicrous idea, albeit belatedly; but that thought is snuffed out when his previous asshole behavior is dialed up to 100. the groceries you buy are always mysteriously gone before you can even finish eating them, your keys are never where you left them, and you swear minji and/or beomgyu are using your shampoo with the intent of draining it immediately every time you buy a new bottle. is this their way of âhintingâ at you to kick rocks and find your own place? if so, how petty. getting a new place on your own would be expensive, and while you're not home much anymore, you feel it's far too early in your relationship with soobin to formally suggest moving in together. you'll just tough it out.
among all the preteen-level hazing tactics, though, there is one thing that genuinely unsettles you: things in your room are always slightly out of place. your mirror is slightly tilted a bit differently than usual, the clothes in your dresser are folded a bit more crisply than you remember, and you're trying not to overreact and fall off the deep-end when you can't find a few pairs of your favorite panties.
tonight, you're finally home from a long, long day of work, and all you want to do is relax. you realize that soobin's home is a lot more peaceful, but his parents are visiting from out of town until tomorrow evening, which means theyâll be staying at his apartment until then. soobin still kindly offered to have you spend the night, and while you'd be happy to meet his parents, youâd feel a bit awkward with going any further than a simple dinner for a first introduction.Â
so you're home. while you thought you knew beomgyuâs schedule well enough to successfully avoid him, it seems that he's awake far later than usual, and he's lounging on the couch when you walk through the doorway. his eyes immediately dart up when he sees you.Â
âdamn it,â you mentally curse, and it's like he can hear your unsavory thoughts.
âhome late from whoring around again?â he drawls. you roll your eyes while taking off your shoes, but heâs especially relentless tonight.
âthat's all you're doing, you know,â he continues. ânobody will ever take you more seriously than that. what do you have to offer other than mediocre sex?â there's a sneer on his mouth, which is normal, but his eyes are burning with the same unsettling intensity you registered when you last saw him; and while youâve usually considered beomgyu as a mildly annoying pest, you start to feel a real inkling of anger. you donât careâwell, you shouldn't careâbut itâs like he's dealing even lower blows than usual. you're about to answer with something âanythingâbut he does not take kindly to your silence.
âsee, even you don't know the answer to my question,â he says with a mean laugh. âthat poor bastard must be desperate for pussy to settle for you. but easy is easy, i guess.âÂ
for the first time ever, you actually do respond, and of all the things you could conceivably say, you unintentionally utter a string of words that happen to be particularly soul-crushing to beomgyu: âyou're fucking disgusting.â you don't stick around after that, because he clearly doesn't give a shit, so why should you? you could rub your relationship with beomgyuâs very own best friend in his face, but he's not worth it. youâll go back to ignoring him like you usually do, and you genuinely consider scouring the web for roommates. you even consider just moving out and paying this cityâs exorbitant amount of rent on your own. you'll see.
beomgyu, however, is reeling from what you said. for reasons he can't possibly begin to understand, those three seemingly innocuous words, probably uttered without much thought, seemed to dig at something inside of him he can't quite explain. the pain is there, but its source is buried deep down, down, down in his stomach. he tells himself it meant nothing, that you didn't even think about what you said before saying it; but for some reason, the notion that you didn't have to think about it, that you just said what you honestly felt for him, makes him feel even worse.
he's not sure what outcome he was expecting. after all, he wanted to push your buttons, so why did succeeding for the first time feel so⌠so strange? he feels a sense of unease unlike anything heâs ever felt before. heâd talk about his feelings, but he doesn't understand where they're coming from, and even if he did, who would he tell? minji? the thought alone is laughable. while she has absolutely no qualms about dumping all of her problems on him, heâs never reciprocated. besides, any mention of you quickly devolves into shit-talking. he could tell soobin, but his so-called best friend has been flaking on him for reasons unknown.Â
between the two, the answer is clear: soobin. still, having a non-conversation with him sounds unappealing, so he'll simply make soobin come out with him and the rest of their friend group. even if he can't quite articulate his feelings, just getting wasted with his friends should be enough to tie him over. he texts his group chat naming a day, time, and bar. everyone eagerly agrees, even his recently dodgy best friend.
-
being fifteen minutes late is one thingâeven thirty minutes would be acceptableâbut when soobin still hasnât shown up an hour after the agreed upon time, beomgyu is thoroughly irritated. he tries to text, but when they remain unanswered, he harshly pushes out his chair and heads to the bathroom to call his increasingly unreliable best friend. the phone rings⌠and rings⌠and rings. beomgyuâs jaw clenches as he begins to accept that soobin, in fact, will not answer. then, just when heâs about to hang up, a groggy voice echoes into his ear.Â
âhello?â
beomgyu tries to rein in his temper as he snaps, âsoobin, where the fuck are you?âÂ
âhuh?â soobin mumbles.
âyou were supposed to be here a fucking hour ago. why are you bailing again? are you hooking up with someone without telling me?â usually, beomgyu couldn't care less about who soobinâs latest fuck is, but he feels the barest amount of dread in his stomach for reasons he will soon understand.Â
âuh, no,â soobin replies, his voice a little clearer this time in lieu of beomgyuâs edge. âiâm just⌠really tired. look, iâm sorry i bailed again. weâll go out soon, okay?â beomgyu is temporarily placated until the following moment.
âcome back to bed,â beomgyu hears someone whine in a sleepy voice. itâs too low for beomgyu to pinpoint whose it is, but the dread he feels makes a resurgence.Â
âare you fucking serious right now?â beomgyu snarls. âyou keep bailing on me because you're shacking up with someone, aren't you?â he's not sure why, but he's compelled to ask, âwho is it?âÂ
âno! itâs⌠itâs just the tv, i swear. look, uh, iâve gotta go. iâll text you later, alright?â soobin thinks he hangs up the phone, but unfortunately for everyone involved, he does not. beomgyu knows he should end the call and grill soobin for some answers later, but something tells him to keep listening, so he doesâwhich is a decision he will come to regret.
âyou're such a baby,â soobin coos as he loudly plants kisses down somebody's body. fuck whatever decision beomgyu thought he was making, heâs hanging up now. but then, a voice heâd know anywhere cuts through the haze. your voice.
âmmm, soobin, i need more.âÂ
what the fuck?Â
beomgyu gasps sharply as if heâs been kicked square in the chest, the breath leaving his lungs until they start to burn. he thinks it can't get any worse than this, but then the real noise starts. itâs all a blur, really, but between the breathy moans, the cries of pleasure, the unmistakable sound of flesh meeting flesh, and soobinâs filthy words of satisfaction, what really stuns beomgyu the most is your stomach-churning praise. he can barely comprehend where he is, can barely register anything outside of the noises that threaten to break a barrier within him that he never even knew existed.Â
beomgyuâs eyes squeeze shut, and his voice is nothing more than a rasp as he says, âsoobin, iâll fucking kill you.â heâs surprised at how much he means it, because right now, he really could imagine stringing his dearest friend up like prized game; but soobinâs phone has long been forgotten, tangled up in his sheets as he continues to sloppily fuck you.Â
âyou feel so goddamn good,â soobin growls. âgonna fill you up, sweetheart.âÂ
you cry out wantonly, and finally, finally, beomgyu hangs up and rips his phone away from his ear as if it burns him. heâs panting now, and heâs unsure why, but his hands are shaking as he throws his poor phone at the bathroom wall, watching it shatter with reddened eyes.
he wonât let you and soobin do this to him.
-
youâre fast asleep after your passionate indulgence with soobin, snugly curled up in his sheets wearing nothing other than one of his t-shirts. soobin smiles down at you before pressing a kiss to your sweaty forehead, murmuring something about loving you. his head whips up when he hears his front door unlocking, and he carefully extricates himself from your tangled limbs, but heâs not quite fast enough to intercept beomgyu before he enters the bedroom.Â
beomgyu is shaking with rage in a way soobin has never seen him do, but if beomgyu had the capacity to comprehend it, heâd notice that soobin seems surprisingly calm in what should theoretically be an unsettling situation.
beomgyu, though, is too shaken to wrap his mind around anything except for the sight of you curled up in his best friendâs bed. itâs a brutal confirmation of what he already knew, but wanted to deny. beomgyu can't bring himself to leave the bedroom, but he keeps his voice as low as he can despite his rage. he does not understand why.Â
âyou fucking bastard. youâre supposed to be my best friend, how could you do this? youâve been fucking my girlâs best friend for god knows how long now, and you didnât think to tell me?â beomgyu snarls, his voice low and dripping with venom.
âthis has nothing to do with you,â soobin says flatly.
âhas nothing to do with me? she may be a fucking loser, but sheâs family to me, and you turned around and fucked her without asking me first?â beomgyu is filled with righteous indignation, and soobinâs incomprehensible demeanor shifts from dismissive to awed.
soobin silently stares at beomgyu with wide eyes and a gaping mouth before he incredulously asks, âoh my god, you really don't get it, do you? even after all this time⌠jesus, youâre either stupid or in denial.â
âwhat the fuck are you talking about?â beomgyu says fiercely, but soobin only sighs in exasperation.
âbeomgyu, i knew you were clueless, but i didnât think you were this clueless. look, sheâs your girlfriendâs âbest friendâ, and even that is debatable, and youâre just the guy who happens to be dating her friend. so what? you wonât marry minji, wonât even officially move in with her, even after all of her âhintsâ for ages now, so what exactly makes you family?â beomgyu falters at soobinâs words, but he doesn't back down. not yet.
âbecause iâve known her for years! iâm still a part of her life, and she⌠sheâs basically like family to me. i mean, i see her every day, iâm at every fucking holiday with her, every family dinner, and i know her better than you do.â beomgyu feels a bit pathetic having to explain his place in your life like this, but the words are still asserted with conviction. his next words, though, are not. âand sheâs⌠sheâs not like all your other flings. sheâs not supposed to deal with bastards like you who only want to use her.âÂ
soobin, again, sighs.Â
âthereâs only so much shit you can do behind your âprotective brother figureâ bullshit, but if you want to go there, we can go there. what kind of brother figure jerks off to his sister figure after he gets done fucking his girlfriend? and donât lie, because i used to live with you, and iâve heard you whine her name in the bathroom a million times.â beomgyu turns beet red as his jaw drops in sheer shock at the brazen accusation, no matter how true it may be; but soobin is not near finished.Â
âand what guy threatens every man who ever takes an interest in a girl that's 'basically his sisterâ before they can even say anything to her? youâve been doing that shit since college, beomgyu, and the real reason youâre so scared to see her with someone else is partly because youâre terrified that theyâll turn out to be exactly what you are: obsessedânot because youâre waiting for the right guy.â beomgyu opens his mouth to retort, but he finds any words he might say dying in his throat before they can quite make it through his lips. soobin continues matter-of-factly, no room for debate.
âthe rest of it is because you want to be the right guy for her, but you know you canât be, because to her, youâre just the asshole whoâs shacking up with the girl sheâs hated all her life. you wonât live with minji, because that means you two would probably have to live alone, so you wouldn't be able to see the person you really want. and you wonât marry minji, because then, things would really be over, and youâd have no chance.âÂ
beomgyu feels like he canât breathe, let alone speak, at soobinâs merciless deconstruction of his repressed feelings. he desperately wants to deny it, but when he looks at your sleeping form, the only thing he wants even more desperately is to hold you. you look so devastatingly beautiful like this, and he would say he wants to see you like this forever, but thatâs not true. what he really wants is for your eyes to flutter open just to look at him, and for him to be the only one you see, just like youâre the only one he sees. he wants you to sleepily smile up at him before letting him touch you, hold you, kiss you, just like heâs wanted from the day he first met you. his eyes turn red as they begin to ache with unshed tears.
beomgyu swallows thickly as he feebly chokes out his next words.Â
âi know. i know i'm⌠iâm a coward. but i love her. what am i supposed to do?â despite soobinâs unforgiving speech, beomgyu has no one else to turn to with this. he momentarily forgets that the man heâs pleading for guidance from is the very man whoâs taken you away from him. and that man is now irritated.
âyou're not getting it,â soobin scoffs. âyou already have no chance, and you never will. instead of just approaching her like a fucking normal person, you were too much of a coward to risk being rejected, and because of that, youâll never be anything to her. iâm not going to sit here and help you win my girlfriend over. you don't deserve her, and even if you did, i still wouldn't help you.âÂ
⌠girlfriend? girlfriend? soobin is many things, a man-whore being one of them, so beomgyu had assumed soobin was just hooking up with you behind his back. truthfully, the thought of anyone in this world having you in that way, the way beomgyu never could, makes him feel like heâs going to vomit; but to know that youâre not just one of soobinâs flings, to know that soobin sees what beomgyuâs seen in you since the moment he first laid eyes on you⌠thatâs what truly makes him feel like heâs going to be fucking sick.Â
he's angry. of course, he's angry. but more than angry, he's distraught. heâs never felt so stripped bareânaked and vulnerable for anyone with eyes to seeâhis usual arrogance failing to cover the ugliness that's been the crux of his true nature for longer than he can remember. heâs been exposed, belly up, with his insides torn out and put on display like a fucking frog stuck under a microscope. and all the while, soobin has been sitting and watching beomgyu squirm as he futilely tries to free himself.
âso, you⌠you knew how i felt this entire time, and you still got with her?â beomgyu chokes out between strained breaths. this makes soobin pause, and for the first time, he looks like he feels somewhat guilty for what heâs done.
â... yeah. yeah, i did. i thought, well, if you're never going to do anything, why canât i? i⌠iâm sorry.â beomgyu knows soobin is not a malicious person, and deep down, he knows he can't blame soobin for seizing the chance to be with you. if he were in soobinâs shoes, if he had a fraction of his bravery, heâd have done the exact fucking same. but still. still, how could soobin do this to him? he could have chosen anyone else in this world, just not you. anyone but you.
âsorry? youâre sorry? you just sat there and fucking ripped me apart, and now you're telling me youâre sorry?â beomgyu accuses with a bitter laugh, his voice unconsciously raising with every word. how could soobin make him confront his unrequited love for you only to rip it out from underneath him? soobinâs supposed to be his best friend, and now he's stealing the love of his life away. but then, he supposes you were never really his in the first place. he's panting now, flushed and angry and at the very precipice of snapping into something unrecognizable.Â
soobin pauses before he placatingly says, âlook, i know you're overwhelmed right now, and i know you're hurting. but youââ
âare you seriously trying to fucking level with me right now?â and he's pretty much shouting now. âyou don't love her the way i love her. you don't even fucking know her. i know everything about her. i know what she loves, what she hates, what she eats, what her favorite words are, what kind of medicine she prefers to take when she's feeling sick. i know fucking everything about her. you don't love her like that, you can't love her like that. nobody can love her like that, besides me!â how dare soobin say beomgyu doesn't deserve you? beomgyu has hurt you, yes, but he still loves you the most. he loves you so much, it hurts.
beomgyu feels his restless fingers aching, and though he's never really been much of a fighter, he wants to wrap them around soobinâs neck to choke some sense into him.Â
but then, he hears the bed creaking. you're awake.
you rub your eyes before you sit up with the sheet precariously clasped to your chest, looking disheveled and beautiful and like everything beomgyuâs ever wanted. you're tired from your activities with soobin, but you're also a little disoriented from the wine you two drank earlier. your voice is hoarse when you ask, âbeomgyu? what are you doing here? what the fuckâs going on?â
beomgyu feels his heart clench in his chest at the sight of you. he wants to shush you and cradle you to his chest as he coaxes you back to sleep, but you're not in his bed, you're in soobin's. with a longing he's never acknowledged before, he gently pleads, âc'mon, get up and get dressed. i'm getting you out of here.â
the fog over your mind clears and your eyes widen as you finally grasp how potentially cataclysmic this situation is. beomgyu is probably pissed that you're dating his best friend, and who knows what kind of machinations minji will create to tear you two apart when she finds out. you already kind of resent your parents, so if she spreads lies to them about soobin, you wouldn't really mind cutting them off; but how would that make soobin feel? and if minji wants to destroy your reputation to soobinâs friends and family, you know she'll have no trouble doing it. soobin would try to defend you, of course, but you don't want to put him through that.
beomgyuâs deeper intentions fly over your head, and you warily hiss, âwhat do you want from us?âÂ
beomgyuâs breath grows even more ragged when soobinâs shirt slips off your shoulder and he sees the mark he left on your neck. god, he wants to scrub every trace of soobin off of you, wants to erase every memory of soobin's treacherous touch from your mind. he wants to occupy every cell of your body, wants to make you forget about every other man who's dared to touch you. he tries to force the thought of what you two and soobin were doing before he got here out of his mind, but his eyes are watery as he pleads, âi want you to come home with me, okay? please? we need to get out of here, we canâtââ
âiâm not going anywhere with you,â you snap. âyou're not my fucking family, you're not even my friend. you don't get to tell me what to do.âÂ
âdon't say that, and please⌠please don't look at me like that.â beomgyu is fully crying now, and the haze of shock finally makes you register how distraught he looks. you're about to ask what the fuck is happening yet again, but he says something you could never imagine heâd say.Â
âi love you. all i want to do is love you. please, just let me show you how much i need you, okay? just come home with meâi'm begging you.â
⌠love? as a pseudo-sister-in-law? you want to believe that's the case, because no matter how far-fetched the notion is, it's still a million times more believable than a romantic explanation. but even so, you simply can't dismiss the way he's looking at you like he needs you to breathe, which is certainly not platonic, let alone familial.Â
you're absolutely rendered speechless, and you look to soobin for silent confirmation; but he's not calm, cool, and collected like heâd usually be. he grabs the trembling beomgyu by the collar and drags him out of his apartment. after he pushes beomgyu out of the door, he yells, âi don't give a shit about your fucked up feelings, leave us the fuck alone!âÂ
beomgyu is far too stunned and distressed to comprehend what's happening until the door is slammed in his face, but when his mind finally catches up, he goes from distressed to hysterical. he's bawling now, tears streaming down his reddened cheeks as he hiccups pleas to youâand threats to soobinâfrom outside the door amidst his frantic knocks.Â
but it's not enough. he can't hear if you two are shuffling around or talking about him, even when he presses his ear to the door and tries to shush his own cries before going back to pounding on the sturdy wood. before any progress can be madeâif such progress were even possibleâapartment security is dragging him out of the complex and warning him not to return unless he wants to be thrown in jail.
beomgyu trudges back to his apartment. it's quite a bit of a walk from soobinâs place, but he would rather stumble home than call for a ride and risk someone seeing him like this. he cries until he can't cry anymore, and he's still shattered about it all when he finally makes it home. all he wants to do is pass out in his bed so he can briefly forget any of tonight ever happened, but he knows he'll somehow end up producing a few more waves of tears before he can do that. he unlocks his front door and he can already feel his eyes preparing for more tears to fall.Â
but, like always, minji has a nearly preternatural knack of appearing when he wants to see her even less than he already does.
âbeomie, baby, what's wrong?â she asks concernedly as she walks up to him from her spot on his couch and fusses over him. he knows he looks utterly defeated, like he's just got done being steamrolled, and she seems eager to console him. in a way, he thinks she's probably a bit happy to see him so vulnerable, because he never is in front of her; but he doesn't have the time to dwell on that.
he's not really sure what to say, honestly. how does he verbalize tonight's events? how does he tell her soobin uprooted his most twisted feelings for the girl minji has an equally-twisted relationship with? he decides that the best thing to do is to let her go, and that he needs to tell her the truth for once. he sighs and pries her gentle hands off of him.Â
âminji, i need to tell you something,â he says shakily.Â
âwhat is it, babe?â she asks with furrowed brows. âwhat's got you so worked up?âÂ
he pauses and bites his lip as he tries to figure out how to word things delicately. he may not like her very much, but she still deserves better than what he's given her. he settles on telling her, âi think we should break up. i just don't⌠don't think i'm the right person for you. i'm sorry.âÂ
surprisingly, she laughs. âdonât be stupid, you are the right person for me, just like i'm the right person for you.âÂ
beomgyu blinks as he tries to process her reaction. he finds his voice and tries again. âno, i'm not. and no, you aren't. iââ
âwhy?â minji interrupts. âbecause of your weird obsession with my âbest friendâ?â
beomgyu is speechless for the millionth time tonight. all he can seem to squeeze out of his throat is, âw-what?âÂ
âyou heard me,â she shoots back, disturbingly calmly. âwhat, did you finally tell her how you feel and get rejected?â
â... what the fuck?â beomgyu gasps, too taken aback to say anything else.Â
âit's been a long time coming, i guess, but i couldâve saved you the suspense and told you what she'd say,â she snorts. âyou didn't have to get all worked up over nothing.â
âyou⌠youâve known about it all these years, and you never said anything? what the fuck is wrong with you?!â he exclaims. did everyone in the world know besides you and him? he hates the very idea of it. he hates that he's been suffering in silence, and hates that youâve never cared enough to notice.
minji has been incredibly tame during this bizarre discussion, but now, sheâs hurt, and sheâll say anything at all to hurt him back.Â
âoh, please, beomgyu,â she sneers with a grating, teary laugh. âyou were so fucking obvious with everything you ever did. the way your eyes trail after her like a goddamn puppy, the way you never want to hang out at your place instead of mine, the way you always get so pissed off when she wears a skirt thatâs a little too short. do you think iâm stupid? do you think i don't realize that touching me makes you fucking sick? come on, beomie, you make that pretty goddamn clear with the way you only ever fuck me with the lights off, and how you only really want to touch me when she can hear us.âÂ
beomgyu feels like he might throw up, or maybe even pass out, heâs not sure, but he thinks heâll find out soon. heâs utterly humiliated and disgusted with himself to a level he previously couldnât fathom, even more so than before, but he just canât wrap his head around one last thing.
âthen why did you stay with me if youâve known how i feel this entire time?â he asks weakly, and she lets out a scoff at his cluelessness.
âbecause i love you. because you belong to me. we just make sense together. she doesn't deserve someone like you, i do.â she says it like it's the most natural thing in the worldâlike she's mulled over her ridiculous reasoning a million times over, and she has.
âyouâre⌠youâre fucking crazy. you don'tââÂ
âbeomgyu, be reasonable. look at her, then look at me. nobody else in the goddamn world would pick her over me!â her words falter a bit as she says that, a few pesky tears unconsciously escaping her beautiful eyes; but she composes herself enough to continue. âlisten, i know you think i'm a crazy bitch, but don't you get that i'm the only one who really understands you? i know who you really are, and it doesn't bother me. as long as you take your feelings for her and put them towards me, i won't be disgusted by you like she is. i'll accept you, no matter what. don't you want that?âÂ
âwhy the fuck would i want someone like you?!â he snarls. âyou'reââ
âiâm what?â she asks as tears finally fall freely from her eyes. âinsane? i hate to be the one who has to break it to you, but you're just as bad as me. that's why we suit each other. from the start, youâve only ever seen her, not me. itâs not fucking fair that she gets to have you when she doesn't even have to try! she doesn't have to try to take you from me, she doesn't have to try to get people to like her, she doesn't have to try at all. i try so hard to be perfect for you, and here you are, telling me you don't want to be with me because of someone who doesn't even like you.âÂ
no, no, no. this isn't how it's supposed to be. his world has been thrown off its axis in the span of one night, and heâd rather fucking die than hear another word. minji latched onto him because she couldn't comprehend someone wanting you over her, and in her own way, she loves him. and you⌠you're with soobin because beomgyu is a coward above all else. he wants to go back in time and never call soobin tonight, he wants to live in the thinly-veiled ignorance he's been occupying for years now, he wants to be the person he thought he was mere hours ago. lastly, he wants to feel used by minji, but he doesn't even deserve the dignity to feel that way, because he was using her right back.Â
âget out,â he murmurs.
âbeomie, come the fuck on. youâre letting your emotions get to your head. think about what you're doing!â minji borderline shrieks.
âyou're right, you know,â beomgyu replies after a pause, and minji is temporarily relieved. she steps closer to him and tries to reach for his face, but he snatches her hands and keeps them in his firm grip as he continues. âi'm just as crazy as you are, but that doesn't make me want you. i hate myself, but i hate you, too. all your life, you've been trying so hard to be better than her, but no matter what you do, you can't force me to want you. i love her, and i'd rather keep wanting and never having her than keep pretending that i can fucking stand being around you. now get out,â he growls as he forces her out of his apartment and slams the door in her lovely face.
-
if beomgyu really thinks about it, he's always teetered right on the brink of knowing the truth, but he's been successful in fooling himself just enough to keep his feelings tamped down. when minji made a mocking comment about you losing your virginity in college, he'd gone home and cried, but he told himself it was because of the stress of finals looming over him. when he consequently spread a rumor about you being a mediocre fuck around campus, he told himself it was because anyone who'd believe him simply didn't deserve you. and when he'd zoom into the background of photos taken with minji just to get a better look at you, he told himself he was simply scrutinizing your appearance.
every time he stole your panties, he'd blame it on the taboo principle of it all rather than it explicitly having to do with you in particular. every time heâd get turned on only when you were around, he'd blame it on some secret exhibitionist kink he didn't know he had. every time heâd pretend to come in his condom during yet another unsatisfying fuck with minji, he reasoned that he was only pounding into his fist in the bathroom while imagining it was you because⌠well, he didn't really read into his actions for fear of what he might find.
it's a miracle he was able to live in denial for so long, and he should be grateful that the truth didn't come out sooner. still, as the weeks since the night he pathetically confessed his feelings to you pass by, he doesn't feel grateful in the slightest. he could stalk you, probably. he could threaten soobin and make him pay for what he's done. there are a million twisted things he could do to get you back in his sight, but he doesn't want to do any of them. because you wouldn't like them. because you might hate him even more than you already do. and if he's learned anything from minji, it's that you can't force someone to love you in any meaningful way.
so, he rots. he wakes up alone, goes to work on autopilot, comes straight home and drinks until he's incoherent, then goes to sleep, well, alone. he should probably try to go back to how he was before he met you, but he feels like that was another lifeâlike he was a different person. time seems to be split before and after he met you, as much as it pains him to admit it.
it's a lonely, rainy night like any other when he's home late from work. heâs been here more in the past month than he has since he began dating minji, but he's adjusting to his newly single life as well as he can. the apartment is devoid of many personal pieces, furnished sparsely and lacking any real character. he cracks open a bottle of whiskey and begins drinking directly from it, not bothering to even use a glass. he sits on his uncomfortable couch, like he always does, and thinks about all the things he's done wrong. he doesn't even get the chance to get tipsy when he hears a knock on his door.
it's probably minji again. she's come by a few times since he dumped her, and while he could probably get a restraining order or something, he kind of enjoys seeing her suffer the way he suffered. it's not healthy, he knows, but it's one of the few forms of pleasure he feels these days. something is different tonight, though. the knocking isn't frantic, it's almost hesitant, and it doesn't last for very long. he furrows his eyebrows, and for some reason, he shoots up from the couch and rushes towards the door. his breath catches when he looks through the peephole.
there you are, standing awkwardlyâalmost like you're not even sure why you're there. you're drenched from the rain, and one of your arms is wrapped protectively around yourself as the other reaches towards the door, perfectly poised to knock again. just before your fist can quite make it to the door, you pause and retract itâfolding it on top of your other arm. you stand still for a moment, and beomgyu is simply too stunned to move. at least, he is until you turn and begin to walk away.
with a speed he didn't even know he possessed until now, he wrenches the door open and grabs your arm before you can even react.Â
âwait,â he pants, not from exertion, but from adrenaline. âwhat⌠what are you doing here?â
he thinks he sees you gulp, but that could just be wishful thinking. your lips part and close again a few times before you manage to ask, âcan we talk?âÂ
ây-yeah, of course. um, come in,â he stammers awkwardly as he reluctantly releases his hold on you. Â
what is this? some kind of psychological torture? youâve never sought beomgyu out until now, which should give him a spark of hope, but he knows better than to delude himself.Â
he steps away from the doorway to let you in and lightly shuts the door behind you. he clears his throat and asks, âif you'reâdo you need anything? a towel, maybe, or clothes. and i have⌠i have water, if you want. i mean, if you're thirsty.â he hates how fucking stupid he sounds right now, but it's almost like he can't stop talking.
you're quiet for a moment before asking, âcan i have some clothes and a towel?â
his eyes widen a bit before he eagerly nods. âo-oh, yeah. just give me a second.â he tries not to sprint to his room, and he prays to god that he has clean pajamas for you. luckily, he's able to find something suitable. he returns to the living room and offers the clothes and towel to you with trembling hands. âhere,â he says. âyou can change in the bathroom down the hall. i⌠iâll put your clothes in the dryer, okay?âÂ
you purse your lips and nod. he watches you hesitantly make your way down the hallway until you're no longer visible. he lets out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding and seats himself on his stone slab of a couch. fuck, he shouldâve gotten a better one like minji nagged him to. also, heâs been meaning to wipe down his bathroom mirror for a while. most importantly, though, what the fuck are you doing here?
he doesn't have time to dwell on it before you're walking back into the living room. his eyes snap up, and he feels a lump in his throat when he sees his clothes on you. his clothes, not soobinâs this time. it feels like he's hallucinating, to be perfectly honest, but he's fine with that. he just hopes the illusion continues.
itâs all too real when you plop down on the couch beside him, maintaining a respectful distance. fortunately, the couch is not only hard as concrete, but small to boot, so you end up only being a few inches away. maybe it isn't so bad after all. his thoughts are halted when you clear your throat and speak.
âsoobin, uh⌠well, he told me everything he knows, but i just⌠i mean, i wanted to hear it from you,â you stammer. he knows exactly what youâre talking about, but he wishes he didn't.
âwhat do you want to know?â he asks in resignation.Â
âeverything,â you tell him, and he purses his lips with a stiff nod. he's had plenty of time to think about the unfortunate circumstances that led him to his sorry state, so the words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them.
âiâve always thought that you were so⌠so pretty. i saw you laughing with your friends on the way to class one day, and i knew i wanted you to look at me like that. and when i listened to you talk to your friends, i thought you were so smart, funny, and⌠and nice.â his lips are turned up in a wistful smile, and his eyes are uncharacteristically gentle. âbut you never saw me, not really. you just saw me as minjiâs friend, and i thoughtâi don't knowâthat if i just hung around her more, you'd warm up to me. i don't even think you remember, but i tried to be nice to you, to include you in conversation, to stand up for you. i swear to god, i did. but⌠but i saw the way you looked at someone else one day in the library. i remember it so clearlyâyou actually smiled at him and laughed at his jokes, and he wasn't even trying like i was. i was so fucking angry, but i thought i could make you see me if i made you as jealous as you made me, and i thought that there was nobody better to do it with than the girl you hate the most.âÂ
oh, god. you actually feel⌠kind of guilty? is guilty even the word? you haven't done anything wrong, you know that, but you feel like you've unintentionally twisted the knife in his chest with your apathy. for as much as you've always wanted him to drop his antagonizing demeanor, you don't like how pitiful he looks right now. âbeomgyu, iâŚâ
âyeah, i know. i was wrong,â he continues, his soft smile twisting into a self-deprecating one. âi went from being nothing to less than nothing, and it just⌠it made me desperate. so, i kept trying, got mean; but you never cared, no matter what i did. i guess i thought that if i could never have you, maybe i should stay with minji, because then i could make you feel something for me. even if it was only hatred and disgustâanything was better than nothing.â
âbeomââ you begin to say, but he's so lost in his feelings, so lost in the foreign sensation of talking to you and actually having you listen to him, he can't stop himself.
âi just wanted you to pay attention to me. and i couldâyou knowâkeep an eye on you. but you⌠you don't give a shit about me, you don't even consider me as a man,â he laughs. âif i think about it, maybe i was trying to make myself an option for you, at least, and that i could show you what you're missing if i tried hard enough. but you could never actually see me that way, and⌠and it's all my fault.â he lets out another harsh laugh, making you wince.Â
âi⌠i didn't know,â you say awkwardly. he takes a shaky breath before continuing.
âi've been begging for you just to give me scraps of you, because i thought it'd be better than nothing. all i ever wanted was for you to at least consider me, but you don't, you never did, and because of what i've done, you never will. i know i was wrong, i know everything is my fault; but i just wanted to be important to you, can't you understand that?â his eyes are pleading like they were when you last saw him. he's not asking for much, not even really asking for anything, and for some reason, it hurts your heart a bit.
because beomgyu is right, of course. youâve never really cared about him, but that's not all of it, is it? you were resolved to your indifference before he even uttered a word to you, and while the disgust you've always felt for him is his fault, can you truthfully say that youâd have given him the time of day if he were nice to you? probably not, because of his association with minji. in your mind, there was no reason heâd like you if he knew her first, so his intentions were rejected before he could ever even understand them.
âi really didn't know,â is all you can think to repeat.
âi know,â he says with a bitter smile. you lick your lips before continuing.
âbut i do know that i wouldn't have liked you even if you were nice to me. i don't⌠i don't talk to guys who are involved with minji. there's just⌠no point, i guess. and she liked you, and i thought you liked her, so⌠so i didnât bother to get to know you.â beomgyuâs eyes are watery, but he retains his smile. he was doomed from the start, it seems.Â
âi shouldâve just talked to you myself instead of using her to get close to you,â he whispers.
âyeah,â you reply, and his smile finally drops; but what else could you possibly say? if he hadn't gotten involved with minji, you'd have probably liked him. he's handsome, of course, and you can't deny that he's funny. and, well, you two do seem to have a lot in common based on what you know from small talk he'd make with your parents during family dinners.
âi'm sorry,â he murmurs. âi'm really, really sorry. even if you didn't like me, even if you never would've no matter what, i shouldn't have treated you the way i did. i don't blame you for hating me, and i should be grateful you haven't done anything other than ignore me.â he means what he says, but it doesn't sound like it, because he doesn't feel grateful at all. he feels utterly hopeless. in the end, your indifference was more painful than any intentional retaliation couldâve been.Â
you are silent. he's not trying to make you feel sorry for him, and you know it, but that makes you feel even sorrier. you're still struggling to form an appropriate response when he breaks the silence.
âi like listening to you talk,â he blurts out, making your eyes widen. âwell, you don't really talk to me, but i overhear you a lot. i like listening to everything you say, and i like the way you say it. i like how you look, how you dress, how you laugh. and i⌠i like how you see the world.â
âdon't you think i'm a little pessimistic?â you ask, your lips subconsciously curling up in a small smile. of all the things beomgyu could tell you he likes about you, that is truly something you never anticipated.
âi think it makes you interesting,â he says quickly, his smile tentatively returning.Â
you let out a soft laughâthe first one you've ever directed at himâand he can't help but straighten up with a bit of pride at having made you happy, even if just a little.
after your laughter, though, you think back on all the things you've wanted to ask beomgyu since that night at soobinâs. you know he'll tell you the truth, so you ask, â... were you the one who messed with my stuff?â
âyeah,â he replies with no hesitation. the sheer ecstasy of your attention makes him quite forthcoming, no matter how ugly the answers to your questions may be.
âeven my panties?â well, that one is a bit more difficult to answer.Â
â... yeah,â he sheepishly mumbles after a pause, but his next words are hurried. âand everything soobin said i did, i did. scaring guys away, being an asshole to you for attention, uh, jerking off to you in the bathroom⌠all of it. i know i'm fucked up, and i know i probably scare you, but i would never hurt you. i just want to love you. i just⌠i want you to care about me.âÂ
you take a breath and begin, âiââ
âwait! before you say anything, i just want you to know, it's⌠it's okay if you don't like me,â you can tell the words are like lead in his mouth, âbut can't you just acknowledge me a little bit?â christ, he's so pathetic. you're not used to him being so⌠sweet? to you, but maybe you could be.Â
for as much as beomgyu has been thinking about his failed confession, you can't lie and say you haven't been thinking about it, too. you really did love soobin, but there was always a bit of reservation on both of your partsâa quiet kind of affection that you were happy to let grow organically; but your love was never all-consuming, never desperate, never aching. but beomgyu⌠beomgyu looks like he'd prostrate himself at your feet if it meant you'd give him the time of day, and he would.Â
âi can,â you say simply, and his eyes widen.
âyou⌠you can? what do youââ
âi can pay attention to you. i can care about you.â
his face tenses and his adamâs apple bobs. his voice is strained when he asks, âwhat are you saying?â
âi'm saying, iâm willing to get to know you the way you know me. i just want to see how things go, because⌠i don't know, i kind of... like how weird you are.âÂ
elation, triumph, and sheer relief overwhelm him. he doesn't want to ask his next question, but he feels like he has to. âwhat about soobin?â
you purse your lips and answer, âwe⌠we broke up. no hard feelings, we just kind of realized we wanted different things out of our relationship, i guess.â
âoh, thank god,â he murmurs as he releases a shaky breath. theoretically, he should at least offer perfunctory condolences, but you two are way past such insincerity. you both know he's over the moon right now, and he's spent more than enough time lying.
only now do you notice that he's somehow managed to scoot closer and closer to you until your legs are touching without your knowledge. the clothing between you doesn't do anything to tamp down the buzzing sensation at the tentative contact. you look back up at him to meet his gaze, and his eyes are trained on you like you're the only person in the world. now that you think about it, youâve caught glimpses of this kind of focus beforeâthe kind of focus in which he looks at you as if everything and everyone else besides you has faded away.
his gaze flicks from your eyes down to your lips before refocusing. he leans in so close, you can see every minute detail of his face. long lashes, round eyes, slightly-chapped lips he keeps on licking from sheer nervousness.Â
his voice is barely above a whisper when he asks, âplease, can iâŚâ he doesn't dare to finish his question, so there it hangs, unspoken yet unfathomably heavy.Â
itâs like thereâs a strange sort of magnetic pull drawing you to him. before you can recount all of the reasons why this is a bad ideaâat least, so soonâyou tell him, âokay.âÂ
that's more than enough, it seems, because in a flash, beomgyu cups your cheeks in his big, warm hands and tenderly traces his thumb along your jaw before pulling you in.Â
the first meeting is pure electricity. your lips immediately slot together as if they were always meant to be that wayâas if everything else was simply an obstacle leading to this inevitability. the hums of energy you feel at your clothed legs touching is nothing compared to the way every nerve in your body is set ablaze right now. you feel him shudder before he reluctantly pulls away. his eyes never leave yours, and the look in his eyes is so intenseâso hungryâyou feel breathless under its weight.
âthank you, i've been wanting to do that for forever,â he mutters breathlessly, and he should be finished by now, but his hands remain on your face. he gently pushes your hair behind your ears before adding, âcan i⌠can i show you what else i've been wanting to do? i swear, i'll be perfect, and i'll stop whenever you want. i know it's fast to you, but it's not to me. i just⌠i want you to feel how much you mean to me. but⌠but i won't push you.â heâs serious about that, you know, but he looks like he'll die if you don't let him prove himself to you. his cheeks are flushed, and if his squirming weren't enough, the obvious tent in his sweatpants tells you everything you need to know.Â
for the second time tonight, you take a deep breath and say, âokay.â
âoh,â he groans as he pulls you back in for another kiss. this one is much more fierce, utterly insatiable. his tongue licks your bottom lip, begging for entry, and you eagerly oblige. he moans into your mouth as his tongue tangles with yours, trying to commit every centimeter to memory. heâs embarrassingly hard humiliatingly fast, but heâs fantasized about this for so long, who can blame him?Â
when you two break for air, his eyes are darkened with lust as he gulps and asks, âcan iââÂ
before he can finish, you cut him off by palming him through his sweatpants. the groan he releases is utterly guttural and animalistic in nature, and you carefully add, âdo whatever you want.â
his breath catches in his throat at the permission, and with shaky hands and unsteady steps, he leads you to his bedroom. you're on the bed in an instant, and in mere moments, he's stripped you of the clothes he gave you to wear. you feel a bit uncomfortable, honestly, knowing heâs probably comparing you to minji; but before you can dwell on it, he's gulping and reverently whispering, âyou're the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.â
before you even have the time to feel shy or embarrassed, his hands are all over youâyour chest, your hips, your assâbut he won't let himself get lost in clumsy touches and lose sight of his ultimate goal: making you feel better than you ever have. he kisses down your jaw and throat before planting a searing mark at the base of your neck. he soothes the sting with his tongue, outwardly apologizing for the slight pain, but internally, he's buzzing with excitement at the prospect of leaving something tangible on youâsomething that ties you to him.
his mouth purposefully trails down to your chest, sucking on one peak and teasing the other before switching over. he beams into your chest when he hears you moan. slowly, he pops his mouth off and briefly kisses you again before planting kisses down your stomach, and finally, finally, finally, to your core. you're not sure how much time has passed, but you do know you've never been so wet before in your life. he spreads your legs open and groans when he sees you glistening for him. then, he looks up at you with watery eyes. there's yet another question there, you can see it, so you spread your legs a bit wider in a silent invitation.Â
suddenly, his lips are buried in your folds. he leaves kisses, but try as he might, he doesn't have the wherewithal to control his hunger. when he takes his first lick, you feel an infernal heat beginning to consume you completely. he moans in pure ecstasy when he tastes you, and you can feel the vibrations reverberating through your cunt, your legs, your entire body.Â
âso fucking good,â he whispers, his breath warm against your naked lips, and that's all the warning you get before he begins to lick you and suck up your slick as if he were a starving man.
you can't help but writhe beneath him as his tongue circles over your clit, and he removes one of the hands he was using to keep you spread open for him and presses it on your lower stomach to keep you in place. his other arm remains firmly locked around your thigh, nearly bruising you with his desperate grip. men do not usually treat giving head to women as if women are showing them the greatest kindness of their lives by allowing them to, but he clings to you so hungrily, you know that in his mind, you are.Â
you begin to reach your peak far too quickly, and you think you moan something about being closeâyou're not really sureâwhen he slides his tongue into your hole and begins to thrust it in and out. his nose remains buried in your cunt, and you let out a cry of his name as patches of white explode behind your eyelids. he looks up at you as you come, his eyes shining with amazement and, strangely, gratitude.
as you're coming down, he licks his upturned lips and dazedly whispers, âi made you feel good, right?â
you let out a soft laugh and breathlessly reply, âyes, that was⌠you made me feel really good. so⌠what else do you want to show me?âÂ
his eyes go from innocent to dark again as he processes your words. he anxiously bites his lip as he slowly pulls off his shirt, then his sweatpants and boxers. his cock is painfully hard, pathetically leaking with precum and even redder than usualâbecause of the way he was humping the bed mere moments ago as you were lost in the haze of getting the best oral of your life.Â
itâs pretty, just like every other part of him, and you have no doubt that he'll stretch you out nearly beyond what you'll be able to handle. it twitches traitorously with need as he stares at you, still dripping into his previously-crisp sheets. he unsteadily grabs his base and looms over you as he begins to tease himself up and down your cunt. he shudders at the contact, but he keeps his eyes locked with yours. he wants to watch every minuscule movement in your face as he finally, finally makes you understand how much he can do for you.
he begins to push in, one hand braced beside your head as his fat tip breaches your entrance. you both let out strangled cries at the insertion, and it takes every ounce of willpower and luck he can muster to not come immediately. he's jerked his cock raw for countless nights wishing he were fucking you, and here you are, looking up at him like he's the only thing you see. just like he's always longed for. it's an intoxicating sensation.Â
âyou're so fucking tight,â he groans as he works himself in. âso perfect around me.â
he draws himself out before thrusting in a little further. then again. then again. each time, he gains a bit more of you, splitting you open further and further with every movement of his hips. his veiny cock drags against the most pleasurable spot in your cunt every time. he's whimpering now, and he'd be shy in any other context, but not right now. he's fucking a girl raw for the first time, and not just any girl, the girl. the girl heâs wanted since⌠well, always. he couldn't care less about the fact that he sounds like a whore.
when he pulls out and slams back in again, he's finally completely sheathed in you. his eyes roll back in absolute pleasure as he lets out a guttural moan. you, on the other hand, feel so full, feel so right, you're writhing beneath him. with a shuddering breath, beomgyu pulls out almost completely before drilling into you again and again. his pace is franticâcarnal, even. when you thread your fingers in his hair, he lets out a desperate whine.Â
âyou feel soâmm, fuck!âso perfect. squeezing me so fucking tight, i can'tâoh, god!â he babbles as he pounds himself into you. he has just enough awareness to take his skilled fingers and roll your clit as he loses himself in you. he keeps up his brutal pace in an act of frenzy.
âneverânnghânever wanna stop,â he whines as tears begin to pool in his eyes. they fall completely when you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him in for a filthy kiss. he tastes like you, and you realize you like it that way. you realize you like how pathetic he is, how much heâs loved you all this time, how much he needs you. you break from him and sink your teeth into his neck like he did to you, marking him as your own, and he lets out an animalistic cry he did not know he was capable of making.
âfuck, yes, yes, yes!â he cries out as his aching balls slap against you with every thrust. âplease, please come. need to feel youâah!âfeel you come on my cock.â
his gaze finally parts from yours to look at your stomach. how nice would it be to be one with you completely? as much as he wants to, he can't stay inside of you forever, can't enmesh his body with yours, but he can become a part of you in a different way. he can plant his seed in your stomach, can mix his dna with yours in a physical, living, breathing product of his love for youâif he's fortunate enough. that way, heâll be tied to you the way he never wanted to be tied to minji, and youâll be tied to him just the same. but you haven't even agreed to date him. you're just lost in lust, right?
âiâm⌠iâm gonna come,â he pants as he continues to work your clit and fuck you like a crazed man. âhave to pull out.â the words are almost painful to say, but he grits his teeth and says them, anyway.
shockingly, you wrap your legs around his waist and say between labored breaths, âyou don't have to.âÂ
the whine he lets out is laughably emasculating, but he doesn't care. he fucks you even more fiercely and rolls your clit with even more desperation, and you can feel the tension in your stomach about to snap. you let out a broken moan of his name as you come undone beneath him, your mind flooding with nothing but unmarred bliss, and your cunt clenching around him so suffocatingly, he can barely even thrust.
âoh, sh-shit!â he cries out as his orgasm throws his world off-kilter. his cum floods your insides thenâthick and hotâand he can feel you squeezing him for every last drop. he gives a few more weak thrusts before collapsing on top of you. you both pant in exhaustion, but once he catches his breath, he buries his face into the crook of your sweaty neck.
âi love you so fucking much,â he whispers, his breath making your skin tingle. he pulls away and looks up at you. âand you⌠youâll love me back. i'll make sure everythingâi won't let anything go wrong. and if minji tries anything, i'll ruin her fucking life. i swear, i'll be perfect. i'll be the perfect boyfriend, husband, father ofââ
âtone down the crazy,â you warn as you lightly pinch his cheek.Â
âs-sorry, i just got excited,â he blushes. âbut i mean it, you know? i won't waste this, i promise. i'll be good for you every day, and iâll show you how much i love you until you feel the same way. and our familyâi mean, your family, they might be mad, but we'll deal with whatever happens, okay? and if they can't accept us, then we always have my family. they won't treat you badly, i swear.â he means it. his family doesn't even really know minji, and when they did meet her, they didn't care for her.Â
beomgyu is looking at you with his watery, pleading eyes, and you know he'd give you the entire world if you let him. if yours and minjiâs families hate you after this, heâll be your family, and you kind of hate your family, anyway. he loves you, and oddly enough, you can really see things working out just as he says they will.Â
you can't help but let out a tired laugh. âokay, i believe you.â
he groans in relief as he kisses you again, deeply and tenderly and lovingly, and you can see yourself falling in love with him, too.Â
notes pt. 2: i hope u all liked this one! it's been a while since i've written beomgyu this way and i kinda missed him. ik i'm not the best at writing him but pls dont be mean. and again if u enjoyed this please leave feedback!
summary: you've been in love with beomgyu for as long as you've known him. deep down, you've always thought that he loved you, too; so when he tells you that he's engaged to another woman, you decide to break it all off after a nasty fight in which he shows you just how little you mean to him. a life-ending accident seems to put your feelings to rest, for good. just when you think it's all over, however, you awaken to a time before everything fell apart; and you're determined not to repeat the same mistakes. it's just that beomgyu can't seem to let you go.
genre: ANGST (literally so much angst it's not even funny), romance, second chance!au, rebirth!au, she falls first but he falls harder, possessive!beomgyu
warnings: mcd (and rebirth), somewhat graphic depictions of death/a corpse, suicidal thoughts, you can interpret a scene at the end as somewhat suggestive but not really
word count: 12.7k
notes: this work contains a lot of angst... and that's coming from ME. this might be too sad to the point of being corny but luckily i was born on the cob. don't be mean to me tho i'm going thru it rn. feedback also means the world 2 me <3
some things are a matter of course. for example, when you were initially paired with beomgyu for a project in your senior year of college, it was a matter of course to fall in love with him. supporting him mentally and emotionally while he struggled throughout the rest of the year and well into his adult career? well, that was a matter of course, too. being with him every day, spending every spare second you had with the intention to make him happy, and giving up any concept of self-preservation in exchange for even a morsel of his affection? the answer doesnât even need to be said. through it all, youâve suspected that all of the intimacy that youâve nurtured will inevitably end up with you two being together, of course.Â
you havenât done any of it for the outcome. truly, you haven't. you make him happy simply because it makes you happy just to see him shine. heâs always been such a bright, sunny boy, and itâs always been enough just to be the one who helps maintain his true personality. it absolutely kills you to see him hurting, so it isnât unusual to drop everything, be it work or social events, just to give him advice, give him comfort, or even just give him company. while he certainly doesn't show his affection towards you as profusely as you do to him, you know he cares about you. you can see it in the way he notices the little things about you, and in the way he listens to you with full attentiveness, even when you have nothing particularly interesting to tell him. when everyone talks over you, he tells you that he wants to hear what you have to say. and thatâs enough. Â
with all of this in mind, you jump at his invitation to hang out at his apartment. heâs been a little distracted lately, cancelling plans together for reasons unknown. itâs been odd, to be sure, but you know heâll tell you whateverâs been bothering him soon enough. he always does. you greet him with takeout from his favorite restaurant in tow as a surprise, and he takes it with that smile you love so damn much. he looks a little nervous, but happy, mostly, and you donât have to wait for very long before he clears his throat and announces that he has something important to tell you.
you try not to get your hopes up, but who can blame you for feeling a hint of anticipation? maybe heâll finally confess his feelings to you. maybe thatâs why heâs been a little weird. naturally, since your mind is racing so much with romantic hypotheticals, of course it comes as a shock to you that he simply says, âiâm getting married.â
beomgyu, notorious for never even having the time nor interest to date around, is not only dating, but engaged. your jaw drops when he tells you that it all happened so quickly, he doesnât even know how it unfolded. all he knows is that once he met her, a whirlwind romance swept him up, and just a few months have been more than enough for him to know that sheâs the one. in fact, as he so fondly declares, he knew it from the very first moment he saw her at the dinner between the company you two work for and her own. the one where you were his âdateâ. you knew that it wasnât a real proclamation of love or affection for him to ask you to accompany him, but you canât say that you werenât beaming with pride and validation at you being his natural choice. when you arrived at the dinner, you remember some of your coworkers jokingly whispering to you to just make it official already. you spent the night mostly by his side, looking up at him in admiration and love. as it turns out, the time you spent fawning over him was equally spent with him falling in love at first sight with another woman. you werenât even apart for very long, but apparently he met her when you two broke apart to mingle.Â
itâs a kick in the chest, to put it bluntly. you feel the wind being knocked out of your lungs, and youâre struggling to breathe. the first time you caught a glimpse of him, you knew that any attempts to stop yourself from falling in love with him were hopeless. his smile, his charm, his playfulness immediately had you enraptured. youâve always, always known that he didn't have a similar experience with you, but you just assumed that he simply isnât the type to be caught up in such childish romanticism. you've always loved him outwardly and persistently, and you've shown him that in every single way you possibly know how. you dared to hope that maybe he was just the type to quietly reciprocate. obviously, with how emphatically heâs professing his love for another woman, you were very, very wrong.
âwhat's the matter? aren't you happy for me?â you struggle to answer, but he continues as if he doesnât notice. âyou know, i was thinking you could be, like, my best man. i've seen people do it these daysâyou'd pretty much be my best woman. i really want you to do it. there's no one else i can think of toâwell, actually, there's soobin, but youâre myââ
âbeomgyu,â you sharply interrupt, wetness pooling in your waterlines. beomgyu may be a little emotionally slow, but heâs not stupid. you know he knows that you've had feelings for him since forever ago. while it hurts, the fact of them being unrequited isn't what really gets you; itâs the fact that he doesnât have the decency to just tell the truth. he took advantage of your love for him, always calling for you when he needed you, without ever really doing the same for you. âwhat⌠what about us?âÂ
âwhat about us? youâre my best friend, and i want you to be part of my wedding,â he says smoothly, but you level him with a watery stare. as if realization finally dawns on him, he replies in a way you sincerely did not anticipate.
âcâmon, you know i donât see you like that,â he chuckles with a wave of his hand, and you really wouldâve rathered him say literally anything else. youâd prefer it if he had just punched you in the stomach, actually, because that would feel considerably better than this⌠this humiliation. youâre silent for a moment before you feel the tears youâve been struggling to keep in cascade down your face. to his credit, he has the decency to look uncomfortable, and his playful smile drops. before he can reply, however, you speak again.
âyou knew how i felt about you this whole fucking time, you were just too much of a coward to be honest with me,â you declare. âif⌠if you had just told me, i wouldâve understood. i-i would'veâyou didn't have to do it this way.â
âlisten, iâm sorry that youâre hurt, but i really didnât meanââÂ
âare you really sorry that iâm hurt, or are you sorry that i showed you iâm hurt?â you cut in. âbeomgyu, you donât care about how i feel, just as long as you donât have to be the one to deal with it.âÂ
âiâmâyou're being unfair. i didn't want to hurt your feelings, i just wanted us to stay friends. what's so bad about that? don't you want that?â he seems genuinely puzzled, as if he can't wrap his head around why you'd ever be indignant at the fact that he stayed friends with you mainly for his own comfort.
âjesus christ, beomgyu! a real friend would never do this. you kept me around so iâd keep helping you with work, with life, with what the fuck ever. why can't you just be honest, after all this time? just donât lie,â you spit.
âi'm not lying! you've helped me a lot, and i'm grateful for that, but you can't expect me to just owe you my feelings,â he snaps.
âthat's not what this is about, and you know it,â you tremblingly reply, dignity cut right to the bone.
âseriously? that's exactly what this is about. you're the altruistic angel who does nothing wrong, and i'm just a fucking scumbag who takes advantage of you, right? well, i'm sorry, but it's not my fault that you're acting so goddamn crazy over something so stupid.â your eyes burn with an intensity so great, it feels like they're being seared out of your skull. in this moment, you realize that he will never, ever respect you enough to consider you worthy of being leveled with. he doesn't think you're even worth the time. you're his silly, lovesick best friend who's absolutely delusional to the point of being laughable for suggesting that he actually take you seriously, for once. and that revelation breaks you like nothing else.
you wonât do this anymore. you couldnât even if you wanted to, and you donât.Â
âi never want to see you again,â you sob, and while it may seem juvenile to say, you truly mean it. before you can hear beomgyu reply, you dash out of the building and to your car.Â
everything is a blur when you peel out of the parking lot and onto the road. your eyes are pouring out thick, hot tears, and you try your best to swipe them away as soon as they come, but itâs difficult when theyâre seemingly endless. you donât even attempt to hold in your sobsâtheyâre far too deep and frequent for that. if someone were to glance at you through their window, theyâd think you were absolutely insane. and maybe you are, you donât know. maybe youâre insane for thinking that things couldâve ever been any different. maybe you were just imagining everything that seemed like confirmation that he loved you back. maybe it was all a delusion because you wanted it so fucking badly. and maybe thatâs your fault.
but did he really have to crush you like this? he knew you were in in love with him. he knew you were waiting for him. he knew what he meant to you. why couldnât he have just been honest instead of stringing you along? to ask for him to return your feelings wouldâve been too much, you've always understood that to be the case; but even to the bitter end, heâll call you crazy before he tells you the truth.Â
you try to keep yourself focused, but everythingâs a blur with your eyes bleary with a film of tears. you have half a mind to just pull over and have a meltdown on the side of the road, but before you can do that, you hear your phone ringing. you pick it up in a frenzy, silently hoping that itâs beomgyu with an apology, but the number is unknown. you donât even have time to feel disappointed before you look up and see that youâre barrelling past a red light. in a panic, you realize that youâre about to crash headfirst into another car. you swerve your steering wheel as hard as you can, seemingly avoiding danger, but the sight of a tree coming closer and closer into your vision paralyzes you with fear. you try to brake, but youâre going too quickly for it to be of any use.Â
the collision is bone-shattering in the literal sense. youâd think youâd feel adrenaline alone in such a situation, but you can feel pain bursting out of every cell of your body as you still after being thrown back and forth in your seat. every organ, every bone, feels like itâs just been crushed, and not for the first time today, youâre struggling to breathe.Â
as you slip out of consciousness, one immovable thought resounds in your head: i wish i'd never met him.
-
the sound of your alarm ringing pulls you out of the darkness. your eyes shoot open and you sit straight up in pure shock. while you pantâjust trying to catch your breathâyou grab your chest, clutching at your shirt as you feel your heart drumming erratically. did you survive? you scramble out of your bed and look in the mirror. thereâs nothing on your face. no fresh wounds, bruises, no scars from what just happened. that canât be right. you know you were torn up from the collision, and thereâs no earthly way you came out of it unscathed. was it a dream? it canât be; you can still feel the phantom of pain on every inch of you, even when thereâs no indication of any material harm. you remember every second you spent before and after wrapping yourself around that tree. does that mean youâre dead? are you in the afterlife?Â
that doesnât seem right, either. you donât know much about what the afterlife is supposed to be like, if thereâs even one at all, but this feels too real and familiar. you reach for your phone, with its alarm still blaring, and as you hit snooze, you notice the date. itâs just a few months before⌠before everything happened. did you go back in time? is that even possible? you try to reconcile yourself with that fact for a long, long time. so long, in fact, that you don't even realize you're supposed to be heading to work until it's five minutes after you're supposed to be there.Â
as if on cue, your phone rings with your bossâ contact displayed on the screen.
âhello,â he says as casually as anyone ever can. this just solidifies the idea that your accident must never have happened, because if it had, he certainly wouldnât be greeting you as if itâs just another day.Â
âh-hey,â you attempt to reply, and your voice is so choked and thick with emotion, he can hear how badly youâre struggling to speak at all.Â
âis everything alright?â he asks, concern laced in his tone. thatâs enough to make you break, and before you can stop it, youâre outright sobbing into the phone.Â
âiâmâi justâi donât think i can come in today.â you fumble for an excuse, but itâs difficult to think straight as you feel your mind breaking down. âi, um, iââÂ
âhey, itâs okay. you can take the day off, alright? donât worry about anything, just focus on feeling better.â his words, so comforting in nature, do nothing but make you cry even harder. it feels nice to be cared for like this. if you had the coherence to think so, youâd wonder how baffled he must be at your behavior. luckily, youâre far too gone to care. you think you end up stammering out something similar to a thank you, but youâre not quite sure. either way, the call ends, and you collapse onto your bed. you curl yourself up and tuck your knees to your chest as you grip yourself as tightly as you can. this is real. youâve gone back. thank god, youâve gone back.Â
you cry and cry until no more tears will come out, and while you try to keep yourself awake as the hours pass by, the relief you feel coalesces with the enticing nature of your soft bed, so you can't help but drift off. itâs different from the way you drifted off mere hours ago. itâs a lot warmer and kinder, and you're so, so fucking tired, you donât even want to fight it anymore.Â
a knock on your door wakes you from your sleep. itâs a good thing, too, because you were having a nightmare. rejection, devastation, primal fear, mind-numbing pain, then total darkness repeated incessantly in your head for hours on end. you swipe away your tears, but they continue to flow as you practically drag yourself to your door. youâre so disoriented, you donât even think to check to see who it is before opening it. what a mistake that turns out to be.
âhey! whoaâare you okay?â he asks, and who else could it be besides beomgyu? your heart pounds in your chest, and even more tears stream down your face as you let out a sob. his mouth contorts into a frown. his face, previously so endearing to you, makes you feel absolutely repulsed. you lost everything for the figure standing before you, and he has the nerve to ask you if youâre okay. a fire is ignited in your stomach, and you feel yourself on the precipice of carnal rage. while youâre trying to suppress that feeling, he speaks again.Â
âi heard you called in, so i thought iâd check on you. do you have a fever?â he questions, reaching out his hand to check your forehead for abnormal warmth. without even thinking about it, you smack his hand away.
âdonât touch me,â you all but growl, but beomgyu is undeterred.Â
âwhatâs the matter? i donât care if you get me sick; i could use the time off,â he teases with a grin, but your face remains twisted up in pure anger.Â
âget out,â you mumble between clenched teeth.
âwhat?â he asks, and it's unclear if that's because he's confused, or because he simply didn't hear you. either way, you don't care.
âget out,â you repeat, louder this time, but not lacking any of the previous anger. your erratic behavior is enough to finally irritate beomgyu.Â
âfine, whatever. forget i even bothered,â he scoffs as he stalks out of the door. you slam it behind him before falling to the floor. this is your chance. you came back too late to avoid ever meeting him again, but itâs still good enough for you. from now on, you two will live completely separate lives spent being nothing to each other. owing nothing to each other. again, you find yourself sobbing in relief.Â
-
when you return to work the next day, the first thing you do is head to your bossâ office. he looks relieved to see you for a moment before he notices the envelope in your hand. with the way his smile drops, you know he immediately knows what it is.Â
âwhatâs that?â he asks, though the tension in the air is more than enough confirmation that he has no doubts about what the letter reads.
âmy resignation,â you tell him.Â
âmay i ask what this is about?â he probes. no, he canât, because even if you told him, heâd never believe you. Â
âi just donât think this position is right for me,â you deadpan, and the look on his face shows that he doesnât really buy it.
âyouâve worked so hard for so long, and you want to give up now?â he has a point. your company is on the brink of a major deal with another company, which will result in a financial breakthrough like none other, if successful. as fate would have it, said company is the one in which beomgyuâs future wife works, and the dinner where the two of them met is the celebratory party for such success. youâd laugh at the circumstances if you could. âwhatever the issue is, we can work it out. just donât leave before we do this. we need you, and even if you want to leave after we close the deal, youâll still be rewarded for everything youâve done. donât you want to see that happen?â you do. you really, really do. youâve given so much of yourself for this opportunity, and you really want to see it work out. you guess, in a way, you already have seen it; but if you leave now, thatâll never happen. this particular project needs you to get off of its feet.
but can you really stand to see beomgyu for a second longer? have his mere presence fuck with your head? is it even worth it? youâre about to declare that it most certainly is not, but you stop yourself. the money will be good for you to start a new life. maybe youâll move buildings, maybe even to a new city, maybe across the country, who knows? youâll be more than comfortable with this potential payout, and then you can start a new life somewhere where you know nobody, and nobody knows you.Â
âi want a new partner, at least,â you counter, and his face morphs into a grimace. heâs undoubtedly confused at your sudden aversion towards beomgyu, but he doesn't mention it to you.Â
âthatâll be difficult. i need you both for this to work.â youâre about to flatout deny him, but he continues. âif you can just make it through this, i promise that you can go wherever you want to go, and iâll even give you a bonus for your trouble. deal?â you purse your lips as you mull it over. if you can suffer through being partners with beomgyu, your move will be considerably easier. still, youâre undecided before you have an epiphany: in just a few months, beomgyu will meet his future wife and fall head over heels in love with her. all you have to do is ignore him until then, and heâll inevitably leave you alone once he meets her. so what if beomgyuâs here? you donât want to care about him anymore. and once everythingâs settled, youâll pack your life away and start somewhere without the bad memories.Â
âokay,â you reply, and his face breaks out into a grin.Â
-
beomgyu is very visibly ruffled today, which you would immediately notice if you just spared him a glance, but you do no such thing. your lack of attention towards him serves to only rile him up even further. he wants to be stubbornâact out until you apologize to him, but once he realizes you have no intention of doing so, he finally relents and approaches you.
âhey,â he says coolly, still a little annoyed, but prepared to forgive you. you look up at him blankly, and heâs unsettled by just how empty your eyes look, so he nervously asks you, âare you⌠are you feeling better?â you look at him as if he just spouted the most asinine question of all time, and for the first time ever, he feels small under your gaze. he shifts awkwardly on his feet before you break the silence.Â
âiâm fine,â you tell him. he waits for you to ask him how he is, but the words never come. in fact, you turn away and bury your nose in your work as if heâs not standing there, waiting dumbly for you to respond as you usually would. well, whatever. youâll have to talk to him, eventually. especially since you two are working on such a big project.Â
you donât really talk to him, though, aside from whatâs absolutely necessary. for most of the day, you silently slide papers over to him without even deigning to look at him while you do it. when you do have to speak to him, your words are cold and detached, as if even speaking to him is a chore. itâs like youâre looking past him, almost. like you donât even really see him, and heâs never felt as unsettled by a gaze in his life.Â
at lunch, you quietly remain at your desk instead of joining beomgyu like you usually would, and you can't quite bring yourself to eat. you just feel sick by this entire situation, and while you know you need food to survive, youâre sure youâll vomit if you try to eat anything.Â
beomgyu, on his part, leaves you alone, though he desperately wants to try to get you to eat with him. he wonât admit it, but heâs actually afraid that youâll reject him again. he doesn't know why, but the thought of you doing so slashes at his heart. this is a mystery to him. he shouldnât really care if you reject him or not, since heâs been quietly rejecting you for years, but he canât help it. still, as he watches you space out at your desk, he tries to will himself to bear the brunt of a possible denial before a coworker he recognizes approaches you.
you donât even notice mingi walking up to you, so you jump in surprise when he greets you. youâre pretty familiar with him, but youâre not particularly close, so youâre a bit surprised by his arrival.Â
âcan i sit with you?â he asks, grinning as he asks it. you nod in response, and he grins even wider before he pulls up a chair and seats himself in front of you.
âare you going to eat?â he questions, and you shake your head.
ânot hungry,â you reply. he frowns.
âyou still need to eat. you need energy, especially since youâre working so hard.â youâre actually a little sheepish because of his words. so heâs noticed how hard youâve been working? it feels nice to be appreciated. is he worried about you?Â
âiâll eat later,â you lie. he seems a bit reluctant, but he eventually nods.Â
âmake sure you eat, okay? iâllâiâll text you and make sure you have. is that alright?â youâre stunned for a few seconds before agreeing, and he ends up sliding you his phone so you can put your number in it.
beomgyu watches it all from his desk, and he feels a sense of loss. is it because youâre directing your attention elsewhere? that has to be it, right? it can't be any deeper than that, but somewhere nearly unreachable inside of him, he feels an unfamiliar sensation scratching at his heart, begging him to acknowledge it. but he shakes away the thought. youâre acting really weird, but thatâs okay. you love him, and youâll get back to normal really soon.
thatâs what he tells himself, but you remain as cold as ever throughout the rest of the week. you donât look at him with those adoring eyes, and you donât even crack a smile at his attempted jokes. he feels like he's going insane, as if he's on the brink of understanding something really important, but he can't quite make it there.Â
it all comes to a head when beomgyu shows up late back from grabbing lunch. he's done this a million times before, and he's always been greeted by your insistence that his tardiness isn't a big deal. in spite of the tension between you two, he still assumes that you'll be as forgiving as ever.
âhey, sorry i'm late. i got caught up with eating and didn't realize how late it was getting,â he says casually. he searches your face for any traces of leniency, for the indulgence you used to give him, but there is none. only anger, and maybe even something like regret, though he can't quite understand the latter.
âdon't be late again. we don't have time for this,â you say coldly before sticking your nose back into your computer, effectively ignoring anything else beomgyu could say to placate you.
you two work late into the night. beomgyu gets so caught up in his work, too afraid to draw your ire again, but when he realizes he hasn't heard any noise coming from you in a while, he peers over to see you staring blankly at the wall. your face seems expressionless, but your eyes are what horrifies him. dead, empty, hopeless. âa-are you okay?â
the sound of his voice does nothing to break you out of your trance, however. in fact, it seems to have triggered something in you, decimated a dam that was already leaking. your eyes still look blank as tears begin to leak out of your eyes. they fall slowly at first, then incessantly. it's hard to reconcile the steady stream with the way your face remains completely devoid of emotion.Â
tentatively, he places a hand on your shoulder. suddenly, you're jolted awake, eyes now looking as composed and indifferent as ever.
âare you okay? w-what's wrong?â he asks anxiously,Â
you hurriedly wipe away your tears before you say, ânothing. just thinking about something.â you redirect your attention to your work, just trying to fully shake the way you were just locked into the memory of you dying alone.
âwhat could you possibly be thinking about to make you look like that?â he asks concernedly, his voice unintentionally rising in frustration. your eyes harden before you turn to him.
ânone of your business,â you say firmly. before he can say anything, you're packing up your things. âi'm going to call it a night and go home.â
âwait! talk to me! what's been bothering you so much lately? you've been weird for a while now, so just tell me what's going on with you. i'm here. i'm listening,â he says as gently as he can.
âyou're here? you're listening?â you sneer. âi'm so honored that you finally give a fuck about how i'm feeling,â you say sarcastically. he frowns at your words.
âwhat are you talking about? i'm always here for you,â he says, and he looks so genuine, it makes you even angrier. he sincerely thinks he's telling the truth. so fucking clueless and selfish.
âare you? do you think offering up your ear once in a blue moon makes you an altruistic angel or something?â you know he can't understand that you're throwing his own words back in his face, because he can't even remember saying them, but you don't care. it just feels too damn vindicating to stop yourself. âbeomgyu, you're only as available to me as is convenient to you. you'd never put yourself out of your way to comfort me. meanwhile, i've always been âhereâ and âlisteningâ at your will. i don't need your pity, and i certainly don't want it.â he's stunned into silence. you're absolutely correct, he realizes with a sinking feeling. before he can formulate the words to defend himself, you pack up your things and leave the office.
-
in the following weeks, you realize that mingi is⌠nice. really, really nice. youâre not used to prospective romantic partners actually seeming to like you, so the feeling is foreign, but not unwelcome. do you have feelings for him outside of appreciation? well, not really. in the back of your mind, you honestly doubt that youâre even capable of having feelings for other people anymore, but you try not to think about it too much. if you seriously search for an answer, you fear you wonât like what you find.
mingi is diligent, though, and you like that about him. now that youâve made it clear that youâre not involved with beomgyu (and never want to be), heâs pulling out all the stops to charm you. lunches you would previously spend with beomgyu are now spent laughing with mingi. in the same way, downtime at work, which would normally entail catching up with beomgyu and maybe helping with a few of his assignments, are now reserved for chats with mingi. as beomgyu watches you two giggle with your heads together, he wonders what you two could possibly be talking about to ever be that funny. his jaw ticks in irritation at the scene. most notably, though, is the fact that instead of spending your off days with him, you flatout reject him with no explanation. not even with a perfunctory âsorryâ. he doesn't have to wonder what youâve been doing when he hears your coworkers gossiping about how you're always hanging out with mingi.Â
beomgyu feels you slipping away, and it brings a sense of panic heâs never known before. but why? he shouldn't care about your romantic endeavors. granted, you havenât had one during the entire time that you've known him, but itâs only natural that he supports you as your best friend. best friend. does that term even apply to him anymore? he wants to insist that it does, but as the weeks turn into months, your disgust for him becomes clearer and clearer. as he sits across from you and mingi at an after-work dinner with your department, he watches as mingi flirtatiously whispers into your ear. when some of your coworkers tease the two of you about it, he realizes with sickening certainty that he doesn't just want to be your best friend, he wants to be the one who sits next to you. he wants to be the one your coworkers joke about being your boyfriend, and he wants them to be right about it. the time you two have spent apart has shown him that he can't imagine anyone else occupying the space beside you. with an overwhelming sense of clarity, beomgyu realizes that this feeling, so deep and all-consuming, is love.
how could he not love you? regardless of everything you've done for him, you're still so perfect to him, for him. he finds himself appreciating things he previously took for granted. you're beautiful, caring, funny, and smart. he loves your smile, your laugh, your company. he loves the way you look when you're focused, the way you look so innocent when you sleep. you're the first person he wants to tell any time something happens, good or bad. you're the face he wants to wake up to in the morning. you're the only person he trusts to be his partner for the rest of his life. and now, it's clear that he can't just let you go without a fight.
as everyone begins to leave the restaurant one by one, he follows you out into the parking lot, determined to make his feelings known. even if you don't reciprocate them anymore, he's willing to put in the effort to make you love him again. and even if you don't⌠even if you can't⌠the desire to simply be next to you supersedes the need to be loved back.Â
you don't realize that beomgyu is trailing after you until you get to your car. he calls out your name as you're about to pull the door handle. with a sigh, you turn around.
âwhat is it?â you ask flatly.
âare you serious about mingi?â he asks firmly, but he already knows that you are not. the way you look at mingi is laughable compared to the way you looked at beomgyu before your sudden change in behavior.
âyep,â you say.
âno, you're not. i can tell,â he argues with conviction.
âoh, and you know me so fucking well, huh?â you snark.
âi do,â he tells you, stepping closer. âi know you, and i know you don't really like him. not really.â damn. he caught you.
âjust because i donât like him now, doesn't mean i canât like him later,â you insist.
âso what? youâre just going to string him along while hoping youâll like him someday? are you just going to spend the rest of your life never really caring about anyone? you can't live like that.â his words leave no room for argument, but youâll be damned before you don't at least try.
âyouâre right, i shouldnât lead him on, but whatâs it matter to you? even if it doesn't work out with him, maybe iâll meet somebody who i can tolerate, and who can tolerate me. i donât think i need anything more than that.â beomgyu flinches at your bizarre words, but he's already reconciled with the idea that even if you don't want him anymore, he'll still take whatever you want to give him with a smile on his face.
âthen what about me? i⌠i can be that person.â he's so nervous, you can tell that it took all of his courage to say that. but who cares?Â
âyou canât,â you argue.
âwhy not?âÂ
âthat would mean iâd have to be able to tolerate you, and i donât want to do that.â not anymore.
âwhy are you acting like this? youâre acting like iâm so fucking horrible, but you used to loââ he stops himself, but you both know he was going to bring up the love you had for him. âi just want to know what changed.â
âi did. i changed.â
âbut why? i mean, i didnât realize it before, and i know i wasnât always the best, but iâve always had feelings for yââÂ
âdonât even bother finishing that sentence. you don't like me at all,â you sneer, âyou just donât like seeing me move on.â this makes him pause, and even you donât have the heart to pretend like you canât see the hurt in his eyes.
âwhy canât you ever just believe me?â he asks quietly. âiâm telling you i love you, but you donât even care. iâm saying that itâs okay if you donât feel the same way, but youâre acting like⌠like i'm disgusting to you.â he looks like he's about to cry, and it makes you all the more frustrated.
âyou donât understand,â you reply in between clenched teeth.Â
âthen help me understand. i just want to know why. i just want to know how to fix it. how can i bring you back?âÂ
âyou can't. look, iâmââ and youâre about to apologize, but you just canât make yourself do it. âyouâll get it really, really soon. you wonât even remember feeling this way, i can promise you that, and youâll forget all about me.â
âwhat are you talking about?â he says exasperatedly. beomgyu may not have always been the best of friends towards you, but he can recognize when youâre holding yourself back. âwhat aren't you telling me?â you purse your lips in response.Â
ânothing. there's no point in saying anything, because you wouldn't understand even if you tried. you wouldn't rememberâfuck, never mind. just let it go, beomgyu. i have.â but he can't just let it go. this whole fucking thing as an enigma to him. but your words are⌠odd. what do you mean he wouldn't remember? there's nothing to remember, no matter how much he tries. before he can respond, you get into your car and drive away.
-
âcâmon, you know i donât see you like that,â beomgyu tells you, forcing an awkward laugh. your expression immediately crumbles, and he begins to shift uncomfortably when he realizes that he mustâve said the wrong thing. your silence is deafening, ringing in his ears, but he still tries to maintain a smile. maybe youâll lighten up. maybe youâll go back to the way you were before. maybe youâll even crack at smile at this ridiculous situation when you realize that heâs right in his assumption that youâre just being emotional. your feelings for him can only go so deep, right? you can go back to being friends after this, just the way he likes it.Â
his smile is wiped clean off of his face when your eyes redden and well up in pure, unadulterated hurt. hurt heâs never seen before. he fumbles for the right words, but before he can find them, you break the suffocating silence.Â
âyou knew how i felt about you this whole fucking time, you were just too much of a coward to be honest with me. if⌠if you had just told me, i wouldâve understood. i-i would'veâyou didn't have to do it this way.â any delusions beomgyu has that youâll just let this go are promptly flushed away at your biting tone. jesus christ. youâre right, and he knows it. he flounders for a response, but nothing he can possibly say could really be enough.Â
he spends the duration of the argument mainly trying to defend himself. honestly? he doesn't want to remember everything you two say, but he knows he's being nasty in an effort to keep himself from reconciling with the fact that he is, indeed, a coward. he knows heâs never been the greatest friend to you, though heâs always justified it by recalling the times where he did do thoughtful things for you. when you tell him that your resentment isnât about the fact that he doesn't feel the same way, but because of the fact that he wonât own up to his actions, he feels a stab to his pride. before he can stop himself, he lashes out.Â
âseriously? that's exactly what this is about. you're the altruistic angel who does nothing wrong, and i'm just a fucking scumbag who takes advantage of you, right? well, i'm sorry, but it's not my fault that you're acting so goddamn crazy over something so stupid.â he regrets the words as soon as as he says them. every syllable seems so vile as they leave his lips, but he can't stop himself. when he sees you crack at his words, he really wishes he had just kept his fucking mouth shut.Â
âi never want to see you again,â you choke out between sobs, and he feels a piercing pain shoot through his body, all the way down to his bones. you donât mean that. thereâs no way you mean that. you care about him. you love him, and even if he doesn't feel quite the same way, he loves you, too. but one look at your resolute face is enough to tell him that you mean it. he wills himself to say somethingâanythingâbut you rush out of the door before he can quite muster up the courage to speak.
he stands in a stunned silence for longer than he could ever rightfully justify, but a call from an unfamiliar number eventually pulls him out of his daze. usually, heâd reject it and chalk it up to spam, but something tells him that he shouldâneeds toâanswer it. with shaky hands, he accepts the call.Â
âh-hello?â
the response mostly sounds rather clinical in nature, really. thereâs a perfunctory greeting before the monotone voice detachedly states that thereâs been an accident, and he will need to come to the coronerâs office to accurately identify the corpse, which had been declared deceased at the scene. as it turns out, he was your first emergency contact.Â
âwe are deeply, deeply sorry.â the final words are the only ones that seem to hold any hint of an emotion in them, but beomgyu is too preoccupied to hear it. in a daze, he gets in his car and makes his way to the coronerâs office. hoping, praying, needing for this to be a bad dream. as he comes to find out, it is not.Â
-
beomgyuâs head whips up in horror, and heâs panting like mad in between whimpers. tears incessantly pour out of his eyes, wetting his flushed cheeks. was it all a dream? thereâs no way; it was too real to be a dream. he was thereâhe lived it. no, no, noâŚ
âbeomgyu?â a voice says, somewhat breaking him out of his panic. his bleary eyes snap up to the doorway to see you standing there, your eyebrows knit with concern and confusion. you two have been working late again, awkwardly alone together once more after his confession. you saw that he had fallen asleep, but he looked so tired, you couldn't bring yourself to wake him up. âare⌠are you okay?â he's absolutely frozen as you tentatively approach him, pausing a bit uncertainly before approaching him to get a closer look. he grabs you and tugs you towards him, wrapping his arms around you in an almost bruising grip. he nuzzles his wet face into the crook of your neck, inhaling your familiar scent in between shudders.Â
âbeomgyu, are you sick? did you have a bad dream?â you ask. his heart would flutter at your concern, concern you havenât shown him for so long, in any other context; but as it is, heâs far too distraught to appreciate it.Â
âi⌠i remember,â he croaks, trying to get even closer to you, as if doing so is the only way to keep you safe. youâd like to break out of his embrace, but heâs so distraught while youâre so off-guard, you donât do it just yet.Â
âremember what? something about the project? we canââÂ
âno. iâmâi remember⌠i remember losing you.â he canât quite bring himself to be any clearer, but you seem to understand him, anyway. you stiffen in his arms before prying him off of you. he fumbles for you, just to touch you again, but you push him away. you exert very little force, but itâs firm and unrelenting.Â
âoh,â you reply, looking a little lost, but mostly just cold. he's basically wailing now, but he tries his best to answer.
âiâm so, so fucking sorry. i didnâtââÂ
âwhat, you didnât mean to? youâre sorry? maybe so, but does it matter?â you cut in, almost snarling. now that he remembers, all of the feelings, all of the resentment youâve kept bottled up come tumbling out of your mouth. âwhat's the point in telling me this now, after everything? youâre not sorry, beomgyu. you only care because iâmâbecause i was gone. i donât want to hear about your regrets; theyâre worthless to me.â he recoils as if you just punched him. his eyes turn even redder than they were before, too, and heâs silent at your words.Â
he wants to tell you that youâre wrong, because he really is sorry, but can he truthfully say that heâd realize his feelings if you didnât⌠go? he canât. for all he knows, heâd have rejected you forever. he's so ashamed, he'd rather die than feel this way. even so, he wants to attempt to explain himself; you deserve that much. before he can reply, however, you rise and stalk towards the doorway. itâs reminiscent of the way you left when everything happened, and he desperately tries to follow you, grabbing your arm before you can make it out the door.Â
âdonât touch me. donât you ever touch me,â you seethe, ripping yourself out of his grip as if the mere feeling of his hands on you burns through your skin, and he staggers backwards. he keeps his arm somewhat outstretched, though. just in case you change your mind.
âdonât leave like this. i-i donât want you to get hurt.â not again.
âwhatâs it matter to you?â you sneer. âyou didnât care before, so i wonât waste my life on you ever again.â his eyes widen in terror, and tears fall even more profusely than they already were. you begin to leave, but to your regretâand to his anguish, the angriest part of you forces you to turn around and face him again.
âdo you want to know what my last thought was?â you ask, face mostly blank besides the slight traces of disdain in your eyes, and heâs too terrified to move or even speak at all. he knows whatever you say will be something that breaks him, so he tries to shrink himself to be as small as possible; subconsciously praying that doing so will make him disappear in the face of your anger. still, your eyes remain locked on his faceânarrowing in on him regardless of his efforts. âit was of you, actually. i was wishing iâd never met you.â he visibly flinches as he gasps sharply, feeling like you just knocked the air out of his lungs. he feels like he canât breathe. it would have felt better if you had just ripped his heart out of his chest, because as it is, itâs aching so badly, he wishes you had.Â
his lips tremble, and he looks like heâs just heard the worst news of his life. and he has. you hate him that much? you regret all of the time you had together to the point of wishing it had never happened? heâs never, ever regretted a moment heâs spent with you, but he guesses your company has always been better than his. how could it not be? youâve always given him more than he could ever reasonably ask for, and even if you hadnât, youâre still a much better person than he is. better to the extent of making him realize just how unworthy he is.
he lets you leave, but his anxiety makes him frantically pace about the room. he tugs at his hair, willing himself to calm down, but he just canât. after a few minutes, he texts you and asks if you made it home. to his relief, it says that youâve read the message, so he knows you must be okay. still, you donât respond.Â
-
the deal is tied up exceptionally smoothly; youâve done it before, after all, so that comes as no surprise. on the night of the celebratory dinner, you take mingi as your date. youâve already told him that you donât see things panning out, but he actually takes it really well. maybe telling him that youâre planning on moving helped smooth things over. still, he insists that you accompany him to the dinner, just as friends. you oblige.Â
itâs mostly the same as you remember. you spend the night mixing with your coworkers for the last time, and itâs bittersweet. they donât know that this will be the last time you see them, as your two weeks before resignation have already passed in secret, and youâll spend the next few weeks just packing and finding a new place to stay far, far away from here. itâs freeing, in a way.Â
at some point, your manager announces that heâll be making a toast, and the room quiets as everyoneâs attention is placed on him.Â
âfirstly, iâd like to celebrate the success of this collaboration. everyone has worked hard to make everything come to fruition. secondly, iâd like to recognize two of the people who made this possible.â he specially thanks you and beomgyu, which is normal, but the unexpected happens when he voices his regret that youâll be resigning.Â
your coworkers look at you in shock, but one person in particular is especially stunned. beomgyu. your manager probably thanks employees of the other company, too, but he doesnât hear it. other voices, other people, are drowned out by the buzzing in his ears. youâre leaving, and it's all because of him.Â
he tries to drown his feelings in alcohol, stomach burning with every round, but the regret never seems to numb. the room seems to be spinning, and he looks visibly ill. eventually, a familiar figure takes a seat next to him. ah. his previous fiancĂŠe.
âhey,â she says, somewhat coyly. he doesn't respond. âwow, are you okay? you look a little green. how are you getting home?â again, he doesn't respond. she actually appears to be embarrassed, but she tries one more time.Â
âi actuallyâi came over here because you're really⌠cute. if you don't have a way home, i can take you. i won't try anything on you, but i can't just let you go home alone. and maybe, you know, when you're sober, we canââ
âbeat it,â he snaps. he knows itâs not her fault, and that she hasnât done anything, but he still canât help his resentment, even when it should all be directed towards himself. but his recognition of his unfairness isnât enough for him to care. she blinks in surprise and embarrassment, rising from her seat in defeat.Â
beomgyu continues to drink until heâs on the verge of passing out, putting his face in his hands. he draws attention from everyone, but he doesnât have the mind to care. people try to approach him, but he flatly rejects everyone who attempts to offer their help in order to ensure that he gets home safely.Â
âshould you⌠should you take him home?â mingi asks. itâs obvious who heâs referring to.
âitâs not my problem,â you reply, a bit more curtly than you intended.Â
âyouâre right, itâs not. but youâre the only one heâll listen to, and i think you know that.â mingi argues. you sigh. heâs right. as much as you want to blame beomgyu for everything, youâve come to realize that after the conversationâmore like confrontationâyou two had, youâre not angry anymore. it was hard to see in the moment, but youâve begun to question your merciless stance towards him. isnât it partially your fault that things turned out the way they did? he didn't make you check your phone that day, so isnât it unfair to completely blame him for everything?Â
with this in mind, you approach him. he initially bats you away, assuming youâre just another one of his coworkers, but your voice pulls him out of his drunken stupor.
âcâmon. iâll take you home.â his head whips up in surprise, and he almost thinks youâre joking, but your face is completely serious.
âo-okay,â he replies, sounding extremely docile. you donât respond, but you begin to walk ahead of him as you head to the exit. heâs having a hard time even following you as he clumsily staggers through the crowd, following you like a lost puppy. hesitantly, he reaches out for your hand, though the fear of you telling him not to touch you remains. you turn back to see his fingers hesitantly outstretched to your hand, and with a look of resignation, you let him grab it as you lead him out.
the ride to his home is a silent one. beomgyu rests his head upon the cold window as he stares at the scenery outside. he doesnât really take anything in, far too dazed to appreciate the view, but he looks, anyway.Â
when you enter his apartment, begrudgingly letting him lean on you for support, you take him to his bedroom. he plops down onto his bed in an unnaturally clumsy manner.Â
âth-thanks for taking me home,â he says meekly.Â
âmm,â you reply, no inflection of emotion in your tone, getting ready to leave and head to your apartment.Â
âw-wait! can you⌠can you stay here tonight?â you look at him doubtfully, but before you can resolutely deny him, he begins to retch. with widened eyes, you pull him up and drag him to his bathroom. he hunches over the toilet and lets everything go. heâs trembling after heâs finished, and you clean him up as best as you can. he melts into your touch as you gently wipe his face. youâre not soothing him with your words like you wouldâve a few months ago, but your care, no matter how unwilling you seem to give it, is something he revels in. he brushes his teeth, but he keeps his eyes on your pensive reflection in the mirror. after he's finished, you speak.
âiâll stay,â you tell him.Â
âw-what?â he questions, eyes watery.
âiâll stay for tonight. iâll take the couch. i just donât want to leave you when youâre feeling like this. itâs dangerous.âÂ
ân-no! you can stay in the guest room.âÂ
âi need to be able to hear you if something happens,â you argue.Â
âth-then iâll sleep on the couch. i donât want you toââÂ
âbeomgyu, you need to properly rest. if you donât sleep in your room, iâll leave.â his face crumbles before he acquiesces with a strained nod.
âgood,â you say with a ghost of a smile at his blind obedience, but he's too drunk to notice it. if he had, he wouldâve clung to it like a man drowning.Â
âthank you,â he solemnly whispers. Â
âgoodnight, beomgyu.â
âgoodnight,â he says, and you rifle through his drawer for some clothes before heading to his living room and changing. you pull out spare blankets from his linen closet before sliding onto his couch.
you sleep rather peacefully, but beomgyu has no such luck. instead, he's pulled into a dreamâone he comes to realize is a memory.
-
when beomgyu arrives at the coronerâs office, there is a moment, albeit brief, that he sickly hopes that itâs literally anyone else in the world, but when he sees youâbody mangled nearly beyond recognitionâhe realizes that there is no such mercy. apparently, you didn't even die on impact, but by the time somebody reached you, you were already gone. he doesn't want to imagine how you must've felt, being alone in your last moments, but he feels like he should. against the warnings of the coroner and surrounding police officers, he demands for your face to be uncovered. he can surely identify you based on frame and clothing alone, but for reasons he doesnât dare to dwell on, he feels like he just has to see. he just has to be sure. he just has to know what he did to you.Â
and he does come to know it. to his eternal regret, he begins to know it at that moment, and consequently, every moment after. as it turns out, they suspect that you were looking at your phone before you swerved off of the road. he doesnât know how, but heâs instinctively sure that itâs because you were waiting on his call. one resounding thought thrums incessantly in his head: itâs all his fault, all his fault, all his fault.
your face is bloody, barely even showing any of the underlying skin, and marred from shattered glass. he swallows thickly as he reaches out to touch you, running his hands over the gashes on your face as softly as he can as to avoid hurting you, and he canât help but wonder if itâs at all possible for him to tend to your wounds. he would go over single one, softly patching you up back to normal; but you're already cold to the touch, and though you definitely canât feel anything, his mind imagines how much it must hurt to have him caress the gaping wounds on your face. he snatches back his hand, as if his touch is poison to you.Â
âs-sorry, iâm really sorry!â he panickedly exclaims. âi-i wonâtâi didnât mean to hurt you.â heâs unsure if he means that in the current physical or the previous emotional sense, but does that really matter? he already has. besides, you canât feel anything anymore. all of your muscles are relaxed, leaving you devoid of any expression as your eyes hollowly stare up at the ceiling. for a moment, he wishes the hurt he saw in them a mere hour ago was still there. anything would be better than the current blankness of your features.Â
the blankness remains, however, even after all of the makeup and superficial repairs done to make you look like youâre only peacefully asleep. to him, you just look dead, no matter how badly he wishes the former were the case. as much as he wants to speak at your funeral, he does not. he doesn't deserve the dignity to speak, much less to properly mourn you. not after what he said to you. not when everything that's happened is all his fault.
the breakup with his girlfriendâor fiancĂŠeâis more bothersome than he can handle. in between her pleas and attempts to reason, all he can do is coolly recite the constant refrain: âiâm sorry, i just donât want to be with you.â she tells him heâs just grieving, that heâll get over it with time, and she wants to support him while he does it; but he montonously repeats his words as if they're the only ones he knows. in her anger and desperation, she tells him heâs making a mistake, and that heâs just feeling guilty because of your unrequited love, which ultimately proves itself to be the categorically worst thing to say. he finally explodes, telling her that she was the mistake, that he doesn't know what he ever saw in her that even closely compares to you, and he'd take every moment with her back if he could. she's the biggest regret of his life, which previously felt like it had only just begun, but now feels like it stretches far beyond what he can tolerate.Â
in the days, weeks, months that follow, he struggles to understand how something so unjust could occur. it doesn't make sense. really, it just doesn't make sense. eventually, even his initially patient friends grow weary of his neurotic harping upon how unfair it is, how sudden and wrong it all is. he should be punished. you shouldnât have had to be the one to suffer, but you were. what kind of justice is that? what kind of universe allows something so cruel to happen right under its nose?
when everyone finally tells him that itâs time to move on and let go, he resorts to speaking to the only person who canât argue back. you. he visits you every day, bringing you gifts on christmas and your birthday, and even just when he sees something he think you'd like. in a way, theyâre almost like sacrifices to you to atone for what he did. his contrition. he spends many of his visits by raving like a man gone mad at a stone slab. he likes to think that youâre agreeing with him, that you see the unfairness for what it is. heâs realized that he loves you, has always loved you, but he was too self-absorbed to notice. as hypocritical as it is, heâs only noticed after you⌠left, and heâs more disgusted by himself than he ever thought possible. still, he thinks you deserve to know. you deserve for him to be brave and tell the truth, but who cares? whatâs the use of only recognizing it after everything heâs done?Â
he apologizes to you while crying about how much he misses you. he tries to tell you about other things, too. about the things he thinks you wouldâve liked to hear. about current events he decides youâd find funny or interesting, about life updates on your friends that youâd want to know, about how a new album has been released by an artist you really liked, and that he can't quite bring himself to listen to it yet. heâll definitely listen, though, someday. heâll give you his opinions after describing each track in great detail, once heâs able to bear it, that is. you always look(ed) forward to their releases, so itâs the least he can do to repay his debt to you.Â
but if you owe someone a debt as deep as their life, how can you repay that debt when theyâre no longer here to collect it? if he really thinks about it, there are a lot of things he owes you. he owes you the years you spent caring about him when he couldnât be bothered to reciprocate a fraction of the same courtesy. he owes you every thoughtful action, every encouraging word you wasted on him. he owes you the time you dedicated to make sure he always felt seen, felt understood, felt loved. yes, he owes you a lot of thingsâtoo many to properly account for, actually. and now, he even owes you your life. his debt is so heavy, he crumbles under it every day, squirming pathetically beneath the crushing weight of it all like an insect. the worst part is: he owes you more than you ever asked him for. all you wanted in return was honesty, but it appears that even that was too much to ask from him.
he wishes you were here to punish him, to scorn him for being such a fucking bastard. yell at him, hit him, kill him. anything would be fineâheâd tolerate it allâjust as long as you were still here. heâd be perfectly content with your hatred, heâd revel in it, even; but he supposes that he doesnât even deserve that much. as it is, your silence is the most punishment he can receive, but that doesn't feel like it's even close to enough. he finds himself praying for mercy, for some bizarre, cosmic event to put him out of his misery once and for all. he indulges in the idea that if he plays his cards right, if he begs and pleads enough, heâll find you again. such a notion is initially enough to placate him, but it is to his horror when he realizes that heâs more afraid of that than anything else. what if he finds you, and you tell him, âi never want to see you again,â just like before? such a terrifying outcome is enough to keep him from snuffing out his own light with his own two hands for good. heâd rather live as if he were dead than hear those words again.
so he does. he lives like that for years, decades, until death mercifully takes him. he lives quietly and utterly alone. no wife, no children, and hardly any friends. if your life was robbed from you by his actions, then itâs only right that he lives as if his own were robbed from him, too. itâs the least he can do to atone for what heâs done. what keeps him up at night, though, is the possibility that itâs just not enough. if you do meet him again, what will you say? will you still tell him that you don't want to see him? that the lifetime he spent regretting everything he's ever done pales in comparison to the price you paid for caring about him? as the darkness overcomes him, however, he realizes that you deigning to say anything at all to him is better than your unbearable silence. his final thought before he's swallowed whole is: please, just let me see you one more time.
-
beomgyu awakens in a cold sweat, panting heavily as he struggles to understand where he is. is he still alive? that canât be rightâhe clearly felt himself slipping away. but what if he canât die? what if thatâs his punishment? the thought alone is enough to elicit a guttural, âno, no, no!â out of him as he realizes that his nightmare is not yet over, and may very well never be. tears pour down his face as he wails like a child.
âbeomgyu?â you say as you walk through the doorway, looking somewhat sleepy and disheveled in clothes he subconsciously registers as his own. when he looks at you, he's relieved, but the regret he feels is what overwhelms him.
âoh, god. i'mâit's all my fault.â
âwhat?â you ask, still a bit disoriented from just waking up, seeing as how it's still the middle of the night.
âit's all my fault. it's all my fucking fault. i did that to you.â suddenly, you realize what heâs saying, and your heart clenches at his words.
âbeomgyu, no. i was distracted. i didnât seeââ
âyou were distracted because of me. you thought i was calling you, i just know it. you were there because of me. because iâm a fucking coward who couldn't just tell you the truth.â you donât know what to say. did he really blame himself for everything? even after all of this time? before you can answer, he speaks again.
âi sawâyou just looked so small. i've neverâi didn't even think anyone could bleed that much. you were so cold, a-and your face wasââÂ
âhey, hey, hey, stop it,â you say firmly, but gently, âyou're notââÂ
âthey said you died at the scene, all⌠all alone. and i know i was the one who did that. if i had just listened to you, if i had just been honest with you, you would've been alright. but i called you crazy. i said you were being stupid. w-why did i say that? what did i do it for?âÂ
âlook at me,â you say firmly, which makes his unfocused eyes zero in on you. âlisten, listen to me. it's not your fault, okay? i used to feel like it was, but now i understand that you were scared. i know you couldn't control how you felt about her, and you were right about you not owing me your feelings. you could've been honest, but that doesn't mean you killed me.âÂ
âno, i did it. i did it. i did that to you. if i had justââ
âgyu,â you sigh, and his heart canât help but stutter at the nickname you havenât called him in months. âiâm telling you itâs not your fault. i used to blame it all on you, and i was wrong for doing that. but you get it now, right? you're supposed to be with her. you love her.â
âno, no, no! i don't. i really don't,â he desperately exclaims, trying to convince you in the only way he knows how.
âmaybe not yet,â you concede, âbut you will. once you get to know her, you'll want to spend the rest of your life with her. that's how it's supposed to be, just like before.â
âthere is no before,â he cuts in pleadingly. âi lived and died alone, just like i deserved. i justâi love you so much, i couldn't stand to let you go.â you frown at his wordsâthey make you actually feel guilty. even so, you guess that it's time to let the purgatory you find yourselves in go. besides, maybe he needs an apology to finally put it all to rest.Â
âi'm sorry thatââ his heart drops to his stomach. please donât say it. heâs begging you not to say it. not to someone as unworthy and filthy as him.
âdon't. please, please, don't apologize to mââ
ââi made you feel that way. even when i hated you, i never wanted you to live like that; but you can't mistake guilt for⌠something else. maybe this is another chance to get it right. you can be with her guilt-free, and i can live without regrets.â
âno, i-i didnât break up with her because of guilt! i did it because i realized that if itâs not you, i donât want it to be anyone else. it canât be anyone else.âÂ
âyou donât know that,â you sigh. âyou think you feel that way, but youâre just sad that things ended how they did.âÂ
âyouâre wrong!â he exclaims. âi didnât realize itâi was too stupid to realize it. and i know itâs disgusting of me, but i only⌠i only understood it after i lost you. i-iâm sorry i didnât realize it before, but please donât tell me how i feel. i spent every day wishing i would just fucking die so i could see you again. i just couldnât stand living without you. thatâs not normalâthatâs not how friends feel, no matter how guilty they are. i just wanted to die.â you purse your lips at his words as you feel dread pooling in your stomach. at least when you died, you didnât suffer for long, but he suffered for the rest of his life. in the same way, you didnât want him to hurt himself, no matter how angry you were.Â
beomgyu has begun to hyperventilate, but he doesnât take his eyes off of youâtoo afraid that youâll disappear if he does. heâs probably having a panic attack as tears stream down his face, and he ruthlessly tugs at his hair in pure distress. all he can do is repeat that it's all his fault and how sorry he is, and any lingering resentment you may feel dissipates like smoke at his absolutely shattered state. it seems like he really can't live without you, so are you sure you can abandon him like this? you don't think so. although it may not be right, you still think that it's worth a shot. you don't think he has the capacity to hurt you ever again, and you realize that even after everything, you don't think you can love somebody the way that you love him. so, you're willing to let him try again.
âhey, hey. stop it,â you coax, seating yourself on his bed. but he canât stop it, he physically canât. heâs whimpering now, like a wild beast with a mortal wound. you donât hesitate to take him into your arms, holding him tightly as you shush him. âshh, itâs okay, iâm here. donât cry. iâm here, and i wonât leave again. i promise. just breathe, in⌠then out. thatâs it, just like that. good job.âÂ
eventually, his breath begins to even out, though his body is still racked with shudders. youâre here. youâre okay. you promised that you wonât leave him, and you always keep your word when it comes to him. he finally feels like he can breathe, and even though heâs in so much pain, he still wishes this moment will never end. he wishes he could stay in your arms forever, never letting you leave his side. always staying where he can reach you.
âbetter?â you ask, pulling away to get a good look at him, but he shakily grips your sleeve in sheer desperation. he just has to be touching you, somehow. he forces himself to nod.
âgood,â you say, eyes soft and lips slightly upturned in relief. he almost loses it again at the sight of your smile, no matter how small. he never thought heâd see it directed towards him again in this life or the next. âdo you want to start over?âÂ
âs-start over?â he asks. he doesn't dare to let himself hope that you mean what he thinks you mean.Â
âstart over,â you nod. âwe can try again, okay?âÂ
âoh, p-please,â he begs. heâs so pathetic. he doesnât deserve your mercy, but he supposes heâs too selfish to reject it. you look at him for a long, long time with soft eyes. youâre not angry anymoreâheâs suffered more than enough, and you finally believe that he loves you just as much as you love him, and maybe even a little more than that.
âyou promise you won't hurt me again?â
âi promise. i swear to godââÂ
without a second thought, you gently cup his face in your hands, which makes his words catch in his throat. his eyes widen as you lean in while pulling him towards you. when your lips meet, heâs electrified to his bones. he melts into the kiss, whimpering slightly at the feeling of your lips against his. when you break apart, you rest his forehead on his own, closing your eyes as he stares at you before he does the same. he clutches the hand you have on his face and grazes his thumb over it as he lets out a contented sigh. nobody has ever made him feel this way before, and if he could go back to the first day he met you, heâd tie you to him immediately.Â
âthank you, thank you so much,â he whispers. with a smile, you press your lips against his again. he falls into the feeling just as easily as the first time, and you push him down before continuing to go even deeper. before completely giving in.Â
you spend the night loving and being loved in a way that you never thought you could. you feel cherished to a degree you previously considered impossible. beomgyu reveres you as if youâre his god, and he shows you as much with how loving and gentle he is. when youâre finished, panting heavily against each other, he holds his hand against your cheek as he stares at you in awe.
âi missed you so much. i love you so much. i promise that nobody will ever love you as much as i do. i promise that nobody will ever treat you as well as i will. just donât leave me, okay?â and when the time comes, even if you do leave first, heâll be sure to follow you. he won't let you be alone ever again. but he definitely canât tell you that, or else youâd yell at him for not caring about his life enough.
âokay,â you tell him with a sleepy smile, and he beams before kissing your forehead and letting you drift off. he stares at your peaceful face, resolving to always give you what you want, no matter what it costs him. even if it kills him, he'll gladly do whatever it takes to ensure that you're happier with him than you could ever be with anyone else. he'll prove to you how much he loves you, and he'll pay back the debt he owes you a million times over. you'll see. heâll marry you, start a new life with you, and chain himself to you forever; which may sound selfish, but heâll make up for his willfulness by being everything you could ever want and need. and finally, before he joins you to sleep, he thanks the universe for having mercy on himâfor letting him see you again.
notes pt. 2: ... so? LMAOOOOO i hope this was worth the wait bc this work was so hard for me to get through it was making me so sad to write it. anyway, love yew. please don't be mean to me tho like if u don't like it just close your eyes n scroll đ