Sangyeon is always ready to catch you. He always has a hand lingering around your waist, ready to pull you into him to protect you from incoming traffic and other people who might haven’t seen you. In the subway, he also loves to pull you close to him to make sure you are stable and won’t fall. He does this because he secretly enjoys the subtle skinship with you a lot.
Jacob
Jacob protects you from your own insecurities. He makes sure to always compliment you and make you feel good about yourself. He always notices when you’re in a bad mood and will do anything to get you out of your head and brighten up your mood. His speciality is littering small and soft kisses all over your physical insecurities while holding your hand so that you can’t help but smile at him.
Younghoon
Younghoon makes an effort to carry your bags. You’re his princess/ prince and you shouldn’t carry heavy things. He does this very confidently. He could be drowning in shopping bags but still owns it. He also holds every door open for you. He uses also height to intimidate creeps. In general, he is your personal bodyguard and gentleman.
Hyunjae
Hyunjae is always picking you up. It doesn’t matter what time. It could be in the early evening after work or it could be way past midnight, picking you up from a night out with your friends. He loves to walk you home, enjoying spending time with you. He has an arm around your waist or holds your hand while making sure he is one walking on the side facing the road.
Juyeon
You and Juyeon share a flat together. Usually, when the doorbell rings, you open the door. If Juyeon knows a stranger might have rung the bell, he will follow you and stand in the hallway behind you trying to look as intimidating as possible. Often times it is effective, even though not necessarily needed. The mailman is always extra nice to you while delivering packages.
Kevin
Kevin is a sensitive soul and is aware that your needs are not always the same and might change depending on your mood. So he constantly asks you how you are feeling and what you need. He also is a very good listener, always ready to listen to you vent about your problems and let you know that you don’t have to carry any burden alone, since he will always have your back.
Chanhee
Chanhee always encourages you to take care of yourself. This does involve a lot of nagging, which often results in you two bickering, but he means well. Always buys random vitamins pills and other supplements for you to take. Carries a water bottle with him and if he has the feeling you aren’t hydrated enough, he just wordlessly opens it and hands it to you. Another thing he does is making sure you use sunscreen.
Changmin
Changmin is always prepared to give you his jacket or his hoodie. He thinks you look absolutely adorable in them and can hardly contain his squealing when he sees you wearing his clothes. Your cuteness makes him completely forget that he himself is feeling quite cold and he might risk getting a cold. He is also the type to hold the umbrella for the both of you, making sure you stay completely untouched by the rain and ignoring that he gets drenched. When you scold him for not thinking of himself, he just smiles because you look cute scolding him. He is a simp.
Haknyeon
Haknyeon loves food but he does love you a little more. So he always shares his food with you and absolutely adores feeding it to you. He is making sure the food has the right temperature by gently blowing on it. If you got food somewhere on your face, he would giggle and excitedly but still carefully wipe it from your face. Even, when the two of you are not together, he makes sure you eat by ordering takeout to your address.
Sunwoo
Sunwoo constantly checks up on you via text messages: What are you doing? When are you home? Are you still at your friend’s house? Text me when you got home safely. He doesn’t do that to control you but because he is just genuinely interested in your life. He wants to know everything about you and nothing that you do or tell him could ever bore him. It is especially important to him that you are safe. When you are on your way home alone, he definitely calls you.
Eric
Eric has so much energy he needs to release and he loves play fighting with you. He tries to teach you some random self-defence technique he saw on the internet the other day. But he is always careful not to actually hurt you. As a reward, you get cuddled the whole night. When you ask him why he does that, he will answer that it calms to know you could potentially defend yourself in a dangerous situation.
Genre: science fiction? You live in an apocalyptic world and there are monsters; enemies to friends with slight potential to be lovers, angst?
Warnings: a tiny bit of violence, monsters?
Word Count: 4k (~16 minutes reading time)
A/N: Still not over the Monster performance on Kingdom
The world drastically changed in the last few years. Someone from the last century might describe the world you live in now as the apocalypse. But it wasn't that bad. Sure, things are different now. The world population of humans decreased immensely due to diseases and the rising of new species, which most people refer to as monsters. Most of them are similar to extinct species, but every one of them had a little twist to it. Unfortunately, no one really knows much about these creatures, since the science community collapsed with the government together.
Now people lived as nomads or, they lived in small communities. You grew up in such a community and, you still lived in that said community. You had a little hut near the fence that surrounded your community. Your parents are no longer with you and, you were only tolerated by the others due to your skills as a medic.
There were rumours about you being a little too friendly with the monsters and, you had to admit that they were true. Most of the monsters were harmless creatures and only ventured into human settlements because they were curious or accidentally. True, human flesh was the favourite meal of some monsters, but it was 1 out of 30 who hunted humans. That was the reason most humans despised the monsters.
In the last few years, more and more people who called themselves hunters emerged. They moved from community to community and claimed to protect these by killing off any monsters nearby. In exchange, the community gave them free food and a bed to stay in the night.
Most hunters travel and work in groups. But once in a while, a lone hunter comes by. That was also the case this night when a young man, calling himself Eric, walked into the pub. It was business as usual: he ordered a beer and, while he waited for it, Eric would find someone to whom he could talk about his “heroic” deeds. People were always keen on such stories, so it wasn't too difficult to find listeners. When he had entertained the people enough, he would ask for information. Someone always had a monster sighting to report.
Unfortunately for Eric, a few weeks before, a group of hunters came by and killed a whole nest of monster spiders. Even though these spiders were as big as your little hut, they were harmless as long as you stay away from their nest and eggs. But hunters don't care about these kinds of details, unlike you. You were very interested in the different monster species and spent your free time studying them. Some of the creatures even lived in your little hut. But no one knows that and, you intended to keep it that way.
However, since the last visit of hunters, there were no reports of any monsters sightings, which meant no work for Eric. You suppressed a smile as the others in the pub told him there were currently no monsters here for him to kill. You emptied your drink and left the pub. On your way home, you had the feeling that someone was following you. At your doorstep, you turned around, but you saw no one. You quickly moved inside and locked the door. The curtains were already drawn, so you didn't have to worry about anyone accidentally spotting your unusual housemates.
The next morning you only managed to make yourself a tea before someone knocked on the door. You went to open the door and, there stood the man from the pub last night. He looked quite handsome as he smiled at you.
“Hi, I’m Eric!”
“Hi…" you muttered, not really in the mood for a conversation with him. You tried to avoid hunters as good as you could.
Eric moved his weight from one leg to his others as he tried to spare a look inside of your hut.
“What do you want? You don’t look hurt”, you said as you stepped outside, closing the door behind you.
“I- ehm. I just want to talk to you. The others said you have a lot of knowledge about monsters.”
You just shrugged, “And?”
“Can I come in?” he asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
You laughed dryly, "First of all, because I don't want to. Second, you are a stranger. You could rob me. If you have any questions about any monsters, you can ask me tonight at the pub.”
He raised an eyebrow. Were you suspicious?
But then he said, “Okay. Then, I see you at the pub tonight.”
Without another word, you went inside and locked the door again. Eric probably thought he was being a smart-ass by hiding near your hut. But you saw him as you ate your breakfast and decided to be extra careful today. Someone must have told him about the rumours and, you wanted to make sure he would have the most boring day in his life while stalking your house.
When you arrived at the pub later that day, Eric didn’t give you a chance to order a drink. He already came to your table with two drinks and sat in front of you. He moved one of the drinks to you and gave you a charming smile. You eyed the drink suspiciously before moving it to his side of the table again.
“I’m not drinking that.”
"Oh, you want something else?" he asked as he already moved to stand up to run to the bar to get you another drink.
You couldn’t help but smirk at his eagerness. He must be really desperate.
“No, I just won’t accept any drinks from you.”
He looked at you, clearly confused. Then, it dawned on him.
“I’m not planning on drugging you. Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. You seemed a little desperate to get into my house this morning.”
He took a sip from both drinks and moved both to you, “Choose one!”
“You could be sick. I’m not drinking that.”
He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He was clearly frustrated with your behaviour.
"I get you a new one. You will keep an eye on me and will see I have no intentions of drugging you."
"Well, what are your intentions then?"
“I want information.”
“About?”
“Monsters.”
“I didn’t see any. Sorry, I can’t help you with that.”
“Then, just let’s drink together”, he suggested.
You shrugged and, he moved to the bar to you a new drink. Throughout the evening, he tried to fulfil your every wish, so you would give him a little bit of information. When that didn't work, he wanted to get you wasted, but you wouldn't let him. His ears were slowly getting red from anger and, he cracked his knuckles every so often. You couldn't help yourself, but you laughed out loud. That seemed to be the last draw. He abruptly stood up, which made his chair fall. He leaned over to you. Suddenly, he was so close to you that you smell his musky scent and feel his breath fanning over your lips.
"You think you're really smart and funny playing with me, don't you? But let me tell you something. I know that you're hiding something and, I guarantee you I will find out what you're hiding", he whispered as you his lips almost touched yours while speaking.
“I don’t have anything to hide”, you told him calmly, but your heart was beating out of your chest.
“Then why can’t I come to your house?”
“I already told you that I simply don’t want to.”
“Okay then, come on a hunt with me tomorrow.”
“I don’t know how to hunt.”
“Don’t worry, I teach you”, he said with a satisfied smirk.
Hunting was the last thing you want to do, but at the same time, you didn't want to be more suspicious than you already were. So you agreed. What could go wrong when you two were just walking through the forest? A lot, as you would soon find out.
At first, it was almost boring. You two were strolling aimlessly through the forest. There wasn’t any trace of monsters.
“This is pointless”, you grumbled as your feet started to hurt.
Eric sighed. He hated it, but he had to agree.
“Let’s take a break. Do you know a good spot?”
You looked around and then pointed in a direction behind Eric, “A few meters in that direction should be a pond.”
Eric nodded as he turned around to walk through the dark forest. You followed him and, as you reached the pond, it was much brighter. But it was surprisingly quieter than usual. Usually, many other animals, especially birds, can be found at the pound, but no one was there.
“Eric”, you whispered.
“What?” he replied, a little too loud for your taste.
You moved your finger to your lips to show him he should be quiet.
"Stop playing with me. Here is nothing", Eric responded as he moved further towards the pond.
You looked around. “Something is wrong here. I’m not playing”, you whispered angrily.
Eric just scoffed and squatted down by the pond to get some water. You turned your back to him to inspect your surroundings. Then, you heard a scream, so high and loud, that you thought your ears would fall off. You turned back around to Eric to tell him off, but then you saw the monster that made him scream. An enormous toad had emerged out of the water, right in front of you. It was double your height and, you knew that they were always hungry and not picky about their food. You had only ever heard of these toads but never seen one in real life. So you stood there a bit star-struck. Eric, on the other hand, was already moving for his first attack. He climbed up a tree that hovered over the pond. Eric was fast and, it seemed like he planned on jumping on the toad's back. You knew that the skin of the toad is probably poisonous, but before you could warn him, he jumped. You had to admit that his fearlessness impressed you. As his hands touched the toad's skin, he grunted.
“I think the skin is poisonous”, you yelled.
“No shit, Sherlock”, he yelled back and moved his dagger from his belt.
The toad seemed unimpressed by Eric's presence on its back. Instead, it moved towards you. Lucky for you, it wasn't fast, so you could easily run away. You moved into the forest and, the toad followed you. The movement of the toad made Eric struggle to stay on its back and, after a few meters, Eric fell off the toad onto the hard ground. He grunted in pain and, you were sure you heard something break. You hoped it was just a branch he fell onto and not his bones.
The toad ignored Eric and kept on following you. You had to find a way to stop the toad. You looked around hastily. You heard a buzzing sound and, you knew what to do. You ran towards the sound and soon spotted a wasp nest in a tree. You climbed up that tree as fast as you could. The toad also reached the tree and opened his mouth wide to let out his tongue to catch you. You had a hard time dodging it, but you still started to kick against the nest. The wasps began to swarm out and, some of them stung you in various places. But you managed to kick the wasp nest off the tree, directly into the toad's open mouth. It swallowed it immediately and, then the neck of the toad started to swill. It made choking noises for a little while, but ultimately it collapsed and stopped moving. It was dead.
You carefully climbed down the tree. It took you a lot longer to get down because your knees felt weak and, the wasp stings started to hurt. Slowly, you walked back to the pond to look after Eric. He laid there where he had fallen off the toad. He was unconscious and had a massive gash on his temple. His arm was in a position no limb should be in. You contemplated what you should do. You couldn't leave him there, but you couldn't carry him without hurting him anymore.
He will have to stay here for a while, you thought to yourself and hurried home. At home, you collected everything you needed for a makeshift stretcher to transport Eric. It took you a little while to convince Cora to come with you. But in the end, she was easily bribed with sweets. Cora was one of the monsters living with you. She was a diva and obviously knew how pretty she was. She had dark red fur, but along her spine, the fur turned golden and her tail was completely golden. Her head was decorated with horns that looked like a crown. Cora liked to use them if something doesn't go her way. She was significantly smaller than the toad since she walked on all fours and her shoulders were the height of your hips. But Cora had the muscles and stamina you would need to get Eric back to your hut.
You walked back to where Eric still laid. You’re exhausted when you found him again and let yourself drop next to him on the ground. Eric was conscious again but didn’t dare to move due to his injuries.
“I thought you would leave me here dying. Where is the toad?" Eric asked.
"Dead", you panted, still exhausted.
Eric's eyes moved over your body.
“Stop staring, you pervert!”
“I was checking for injuries”, he defended himself, “You’re covered in stings.”
“I made the toad swallow a wasp nest”, you explained.
He didn’t have the chance to be impressed or anything because Cora came to you. Eric let out a horrified scream.
“Shut up, you idiot. I’m gonna lose my hearing, thanks to you.”
Cora's muzzle nudged you gently, which was her way of asking for another sugar cube. You sighed and gave her one while Eric stared at you with an open mouth.
Eric mumbled something incomprehensible and searched for his knife. But he couldn’t move that much without having to endure a lot of pain.
"Relax. That's Cora. She, or any other individual of her kind for that matter, won't eat us. They eat fruits and are obsessed with sugar. They do anything for a little bit of sugar. She will help me to get you back to my house.”
“You’re insane”, Eric sneered.
You laughed it off and got up to build your stretcher. You bind ropes to Cora’s back which to Eric surprised she willingly let you do it and connected Cora to the stretcher. For someone who was severely hurt, Eric could talk someone’s ear off. The whole time he didn’t shut up about how you were doing a terrible mistake by letting monsters like Cora live. As if monster hunting was religion and you were committing blasphemy. Even when you moved onto the stretcher, he was whining and groaning but still complaining about you working together with a monster. You ignored him, gave Cora another sugar cube and, you moved through the forest to your hut.
When you reached your hut, Eric was passed out again. Maxwell, a giant dog with three heads, tried to help you to move Eric onto your bed. He wasn't exactly helpful, but he tried. Dodo was the only one who moved on two legs and had two arms. Even though they enjoyed living with you, they were never keen on helping you.
“Dodo! Your help would be appreciated here”, you scolded them.
Dodo sighed, "Isn't he the monster hunter that was pestering you?" Another speciality about them was that after living with you for a while, Dodo learned how to speak. With a little more practice, they will be able to read and write as well. Dodo was very much human-like. Their skin was grey and had a woody texture to it and, their head was deformed into a semicircle.
"Please", you begged and, Dodo stood up from the couch and helped you lift Eric onto the bed.
"We should tie him up", Dodo suggested and, you agreed.
Within an hour, Eric was stripped of all weapons, which you made Dodo hide. Eric's injuries were treated and, he was tied to your bed. Eric woke up another hour later. He called for you and, you came into the bedroom.
“I didn’t expect you would be that kinky”, he remarked as he inspected the ties.
“Don’t enjoy it too much. If you get a boner, I will cut it off.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Yes, I would.”
He sighed, “I’m hungry.”
“Dinner is ready in an hour.”
“Where is your monster?”
“Do you mean Cora?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“She is in the living room with the others.”
“Others? Wait, more monsters?”
You opened the bedroom door, so Eric could look into your living room filled with monsters. Eric screamed again, which Dodo commented with a sassy, “Rude!”
“What the hell? They could kill you any moment. Why do you live with them?" Eric asked.
"Well, humans can kill each other as well and, we still live with them. I and the monsters came to an agreement which is called friendship. Something you never heard of."
He scoffed, "You must be really lonely if you decided to live with monsters."
You felt a sting at your heart. Eric's words had hurt you. You wordlessly left him alone again.
“H-Hey, wait…” Eric tried to get your attention back, but you ignored him.
The next few days, you took care of Eric and tended to his wounds. For the majority of the time, he was tied to the bed and, when he had to use the bathroom, Dodo would accompany him. Eric got used to the monsters around him faster than you had anticipated. Just last night, Dodo told you that when you were away, Eric would play with Maxwell.
“Dinner is ready in ten. If you want and if you promised to not hurt anyone, you can eat with us at the table.”
“You let me eat by myself without ties?" he asked.
You gave him a short nod and, he enthusiastically nodded. You untied him and, he followed you into the living room, where he got greeted by an excited Maxwell. Eric petted him and tried to give each head the same attention.
“Seems like not every monster is that bad?" you teased him.
“Shut up. He’s kinda cute, okay?"
You couldn’t help but smile.
“How come that you are so interested in monsters?" Eric asked.
“Ehmm, I’m currently trying to write a book about them…" you admitted and acted like you were busy in the kitchen.
Dodo laughed, “How cute. You’re getting shy.”
Eric smiled, “An educational book?”
You nodded.
“Why?" he asked again.
"My parents started it and, I want to finish it."
“Are your parents…”
You just nodded.
“Mine too”, Eric confessed, “They were killed by monsters.”
“I’m sorry. “
He gave you a weak smile, “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
For the night, you tied Eric up again. He protested and insisted that he wouldn’t harm anyone, but you stayed persistent. However, you agreed on untying him in the morning again.
And you kept your promise and untied him again the next day.
"I have to run some errands. Dodo is in charge", you told Eric.
He nodded confidently and followed you into the living room. He screamed when he saw Dodo aiming at him with a shotgun.
“I don’t trust him”, Dodo explained.
You rolled your eyes and left them alone.
As you passed the pub, you saw a group of hunters arrive there as well. Promptly, one of them stopped you. To your astonishment, she didn't ask about monster sightings but about another hunter. She described Eric's appearance to you and finally confirmed your suspicions when they told you that he called himself Eric. It was no use lying and saying you had never seen him, so you confirmed that he had come here a few days ago, but you didn't know where he was now. When you asked them if they were friends, they all laughed. "He is lucky if we don't kill him when we see him," one of them said.
You run as quickly as you can home. You ripped open the door. Eric and Maxwell were playing catch in the living room while Dodo took a nap cuddling the shotgun. Cora came to greet you.
“What happened to you?" Eric asked, amused at your panicked state.
"Eric, there is a group of hunters looking for you. They don't exactly have friendly intentions either. What do they want from you?”
Eric blushed, “Ehm, there was an incident a few months ago."
“That explains literally nothing.”
"Okay, fine. I might have stolen some weapons from a group of hunters", he mumbled so fast that you could barely understand him.
You sighed, “You’re really in trouble.”
“Did you tell them I’m here?”
You shook your head.
"Perfect. Then, I can hide here until the hunters moved on to the next community."
You sighed but nodded.
“You’re the best”, he stood up and excitedly hugged you.
The hug took you by surprise, so it took you a few seconds to reciprocate it. Eric's hug was more comforting than you expected and, you found yourself cuddling into his chest. His hand gently caressed your hair as he mumbled a soft "Thank you" into your ear.
It was a sweet moment, but Dodo woke up and was visibly disturbed by your moment of affection. "That looks absolutely and utterly disgusting", they commented. You separated from each other with a slight blush on your cheeks.
At night, you tied Eric back to the bed. To your surprise, he didn't even protest. The whole time he was staring at you with a soft look in your eyes.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Because you’re the best thing that happened to me.”
“I’m literally tying you to the bed right now. How can you say that?”
"When I said that you must be lonely because you're living with monsters, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Actually, I was the lonely one."
After you finished, you gently pushed his hair out of his face, “It’s fine. Maybe I was a little bit lonely too."
“But we have each other now. I swear I will do anything to earn you trust.”
You smiled at that, “We’ll see about that. Goodnight!”
You went to the living room and went to sleep too. You couldn't sleep for long, however, because you were woken up by Maxwell's howling. It was hot and unusually bright. When you woke up completely, you were shocked to find that your hut was on fire and you and your housemates were in it. The way to the front door was still clear and, Dodo peered out the window next to it. You went to them, "Why don't you go out?" Dodo told you to look out the window, which you did. There stood the group of hunters you had met the day before in front of the pub, waiting. Eric started calling your name. You ran into the bedroom and untied him. Your heart ached at what you were about to do, but it was the only way to protect your creatures. "The way out the front door is clear. Quick, run out." And Eric ran.
You and your creatures fought the way to the back door to escape into the forest, hoping the hunters won’t notice you because they would be busy with Eric.
As you ran into the forest, you heard Eric scream and, at the same time, you felt how your heart shattered into thousand pieces, "I'm sorry, Eric, I'm so sorry!"
It was only your second date with Chanhee, but everything already felt so easy and natural. On your first date, the two of you went to an art gallery. After that, you went for a coffee and shared a piece of cake. It was lovely and, Chanhee insisted on taking you out to his favourite restaurant the week after. And here you were, sitting in front of him with your mouth stuffed full with the most delicious food you have ever tasted.
“Wow, you were really right. It tastes absolutely delicious!”
“I told you so. Did you have any doubts about my taste?" Chanhee teased you with a charming smile on his lips as he watched you devour the meal in front of you.
“No, I would never”, you said with a full mouth.
Chanhee scrunched up his nose and gave you a napkin.
"Thank you!" you mumbled and started to feel the heat rising up your cheeks.
Seeing your embarrassment, he smiled at you and shortly patted your hand that was resting on the table: “I’m glad you’re enjoying the food!”
You smiled back at him and continued devouring your food.
Throughout the whole dinner, you and Chanhee perfectly got along. Unfortunately, the dinner was over way too fast and, the two of you weren't ready to end your first date just yet. So you stood awkwardly in front of the restaurant. None of you did know how to prolong the date or how to say goodbye now. You let your gaze wander for a little while until you spotted the nearby park. "Hey, are you up to a little walk through the park?" you asked. Chanhee gave you a relieved smile and said, "Sure!"
Wordlessly, you both strolled through the park, just enjoying each others company.
Then, Chanhee cleared his throat, which made you look at him. He avoided eye contact but said, "What I wanted to tell you the whole evening was that you look beautiful!"
“Thank you!” you beamed at him as he finally looked at you.
“Especially the necklace, it really compliments your skin”, he stuttered out before he could stop himself. He looked like he wanted to facepalm himself, but he refrained from doing so.
“Thank you”, you giggled as you saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks.
You decided to want him to see fully blush, “You also look really handsome!”
The blush on his cheeks intensified and, he looked away from you.
“You have a good fashion sense”, you continued with a grin on your face, “And your looks so pretty too.”
“Stop. You're doing this on purpose", Chanhee whined as he hid his face behind his face. You still saw his smile and knew that he was secretly enjoying you complimenting him.
“What? Am I wrong?”
And as Chanhee didn’t answer, you said, “That’s what I thought!”
He chuckled in disbelief but let you off.
You weren’t exactly prepared for a walk through the park at night, so you started to feel cold. You looked over to Chanhee. He didn't bring a jacket you could ask for and, to ask if you could have his shirt would be a little too much, even though you weren't opposed to wearing his shirt.
You flinched a little when Chanhee suddenly took your hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, just warming your hand a little", he said as he gently rubbed his hands over yours to warm them up with the friction. This time it was your turn to blush. You inched a little closer to him, which he didn't realise because he was so focused on warming up your hands. As he looked up from your hands and saw how close you were now, he stopped and was about to let your hand go. But you intertwined your fingers and didn’t let go of his hand.
“Is that ok?” you carefully asked.
He blushed again, but he nodded and gave you a smile. You returned his smile and continued on walking.
After walking for a while and talking about the meaning of life, you spotted a playground.
"Oh, look, Chanhee, a playground", you squealed as you rushed to the playground pulling Chanhee with you.
He scoffed and called you childish, but he still smiled the whole time and followed you willingly.
You headed straight for the swing. Chanhee watched you with a fond smile as swung.
“Can you push me, Chanhee?” you asked.
“Can’t you do it on your own?” Chanhee asked you back but moved behind you to push you nevertheless.
"Nope", you answered, rolling your head back so you can look at Chanhee upside down.
He smilingly shook his head and began to gently push you on the swing.
“I really like spending time with you”, you said.
“Me too”, hummed Chanhee as he stopped pushing you.
You slowly came to a halt and grinned at him.
“Your hair looks like a mess”, Chanhee commented and moved his hand through your hair in an attempt to fix it.
You stared up at his face. You weren't lying before: he really was handsome. His brows were furrowed in concentration. He probably felt you staring because not a minute later, he looked at your face as well and, your eyes locked. Your heart fluttered since it was the first time you had such long and intense eye contact. His face seemed to move closer. You weren't quite sure if he really was moving closer or if you just wished he would come closer. His hands moved from your hair down to your cheeks to gently hold your face. His hands felt warm on your skin and, you could smell his fragrance. His soft eyes were staring into yours. Then his gaze slowly wandered to your lips and back to your eyes.
“C-Can I-“, Chanhee mumbled and, you felt his breath against his lips.
You nodded before he could finish his sentence. Then his lips touched yours, softly at first, but it got gradually more intense, which made you cling to him. You felt your knees go weak and a warm tingling sensation spread through your body. When your lips parted, he rested his forehead against yours. You felt his eyelashes flutter against your cheek, which made you giggle. That made Chanhee chuckle as well. He started to spread small and soft kisses all over your face and ended it with another kiss on your lips. During that, you couldn't stop smiling and, you felt as you were floating, not because you sat on a swing but because of Chanhee and his affectionate kisses.
Warnings: nothing really (You can always message me if there is something triggering and I will add it as a warning)
Word Count: 4.1k (~17 minutes reading time)
You always knew that your parents will arrange a marriage for you. It was almost like a tradition. Royals rarely married out of love. Maybe they married out of love for the power that comes with marriage. Still, a part of you hoped that you find someone you love, with whom you can spend the rest of your life together. A part of you hoped that your parents would decide on a different faith for you. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Your parents promised you to the crown prince Sangyeon.
His kingdom is currently at war with the neighbouring kingdom in the south. With the marriage between your kingdoms, they want to form an ally to finally end the war. Your kingdom was small and wasn't really influential, but it had a strong navy, which Sangyeons kingdom needed. Your parents hoped to gain more political influence and prestige through this political alliance.
Your kingdom was thrilled by the news of you being the soon to be spouse of prince Sangyeon, even though they knew that this meant going to war. Maybe they were bored of the peace or, the outlook of glory and honour excited them. Sangyeon’s kingdom, on the other hand, was suffering. The war was holding on for a very long time by now and, the resources started to shorten.
Your parents gave you the option to refuse, but you didn’t have a good reason why you should say no other than that you barely know him. You didn’t want to let anyone down, so you agreed to the planned proposal. As a child, you always imagined your future self to fall in love with some Robin Hood and be a runaway princess, but you never had a secret lover. And besides that, the few times you met Sangyeon before, he has been nothing but friendly and respectful to you. You heard rumours of him being a ladies' man. Some of them going even as far as saying he already had a child. If this turns out to be true, it would probably hurt your pride a little, but you will learn to accept that. Marrying Sangyeon also came with many opportunities for you, such as the chance to reign one day.
The day of the wedding was stressful. The atmosphere was tense while everyone pretended that two childhood best friends are now marrying. This was the story told to the general public and, they were absolutely buying it. From the outside, it was the perfect love story to cheer up the kingdom. But in reality, you felt absolutely awkward. You didn't really have any chance to speak to Sangyeon before. During the reception, both of you were also busy keeping your guests entertained. When the night fell, you sat on the massive bed of your new bedroom and felt like throwing up. You were definitely not ready to spend the night with Sangyeon. But it was expected of you and, you didn't want to disappoint anybody. Sangyeon came in with a smile on his face. He seemed to enjoy the festivities today. Probably it was a good distraction from his usual stressful days here. The moment Sangyeon saw your face, his smile faded.
“You alright?” he asked.
You simply nodded because you didn't know how convincing you could lie to him.
“You look a little sick…” he murmured and squatted down in front of you.
He took your face in his hands and inspected your face. You thought you saw the worry in his face. Maybe you should just tell him. Maybe he would understand. You cleared your throat and tried to avoid eye contact.
“Are you nervous about tonight?” he asked.
"Maybe…" you mumbled as you felt tears sting in your eyes.
Sangyeon released your face and opted to hold both of your hands.
“Tell me what’s wrong”, Sangyeon asked as his thumbs caressed the back of your hands.
“I don’t think I’m ready”, you breathed out very fast.
You were almost sure he didn’t understand you, but then you heard him sigh.
“I’m sorry”, you mumbled, looking away.
“Don’t be! It’s fine. Let’s just go to bed.”
He stood up, hesitating for a moment, but then he gave you a soft kiss on your temple. When you looked up to him, he gave you a reassuring smile. It made you feel a little bit better, so you softly smiled back. His hands started to softly go through your hair to undo your hairstyle. You close your eyes, enjoying his soft touch. Your hair was already free, but Sangyeon still continued with his gentle strokes. You felt yourself relaxing as it reminded you of your childhood. Your mother used to do this to comfort you.
“Thank you”, you hummed and opened your eyes to look at him.
He was already looking at you fondly and, as you made eye contact, he gave you a cute smile.
The little moment the two of you were having was roughly interrupted by a guard storming in. Sangyeon turned around to him and, the guard quickly bowed in apology and stuttered something about rebels invading the castle. Your brain didn't really process the information until you heard the sounds of fighting coming closer to your door.
Sangyeon quickly pulled you up from the bed and told you to stay with him. He grabbed his sword in one hand as his other hand took your hand. He pulled you out of the bedroom and down the corridor, away from the fighting noises. You rounded a corner and were immediately confronted with two rebels charging towards you. "Stay behind me!" Sangyeon ordered as he started to fight with the two invaders. One of them managed to stab his sword into Sangyeon's thigh, which made him lose focus for a second. One second was enough for the other one to get past Sangyeon and charge towards you. You grabbed a candlestick that was used to décor the corner of the hallway. You swung it towards the rebel. It didn't felt like it looked elegant, but at least it was effective. You hit the rebel right on top of his head and sank to the ground with a groan. Immediately, Sangyeon was by your side again. "Are you hurt?" And as soon as you shook your head no, he pulled you further along the hallway. Sangyeon was limping a bit, but he still forced himself to go at a fast pace. He opened a secret passage behind a big painting and ushered you in. He quickly followed and closed the door behind him. It was completely dark in the secret passage and, you moved your hands in the search for Sangyeon. Your hands found his chest. You felt him breathing heavily. His hand touched yours on his chest and gently moved along your arm to locate your body. When he reached your shoulder, his hand wandered down your back before he slung his arm around your waist and pulled your flush to his chest.
“Sangyeon? My family…” You didn’t dare to finish the sentence.
"They should be fine", he whispered and started to slowly move you deeper into the dark passage.
You clung to him as you moved through the dark. You were probably restricting his movements, but he didn't complain, so you didn't let go. You reached a wooden door where Sangyeon knocked on in a specific rhythm. A few seconds later, the door was opened and revealed a lighted room. Sangyeon gently pushed you into the room. The first thing you saw was your mother running to you and engulfing you in a hug.
“I was so worried about you”, she said as she inspected if you had any injuries, “You can stop crying now. Everyone is here and safe.”
You touched your cheek and felt a wet sensation. You only now grasped that you indeed had been crying. Your mother pulled you towards the rest of your family. You looked back to Sangyeon and saw that a doctor was already looking at his wound. Your family was fussing over you and completely distracted you from the attack. As a guard came to the hideaway, he gave the all-clear signal. You and your parents went with Sangyeon and his parents to a parlour to discuss the matter.
As soon as the door was closed, your mother announced: “We are going to annul the marriage. There is no way I’m letting my only daughter live in such a dangerous situation.”
You tried to interfere, but your father gave you a look that told you, now is not the time for you to speak. You let yourself sink onto the chair next to Sangyeon, who looked visibly exhausted. "Are you alright?" you asked him. He nodded and tried to give you a reassuring smile, but he still looked like he was in a lot of pain.
The both of you watched your parents argue. Sangyeons parents refuse to annul the marriage, whereas your parents insisted on it. No one asked you or Sangyeon. You started to think about what you wanted. You had to admit that your public image was important to you. If the marriage was annulled, your image would be a little bit tarnished. The little lie about being madly in love with Sangyeon would also be exposed to the public. If you would stay despite the attack it probably would support your image and the little lie. Maybe it would even lift the spirit of Sangyeon’s kingdom. Sangyeon leaned over to you and whispered: “You should support your parents. This is your chance to get out of here. There won’t be another one.”
“You want me gone?” you whispered back.
He chuckled: “No, not really. I want you to be safe. You have done nothing to deserve this terror. This attack will not be the last one.”
“You keep me safe, right?”
"I want to keep you safe, yes. But I can't promise you safety. I will need to go to war and, you will be here alone. Sure, some guards protect you. But I can't promise you that I will succeed in keeping you safe."
“When you want me gone, why don’t you support your parents?”
"Did you not hear me? I don't want you gone. It might be selfish, but I think I will quite enjoy your company here. But I know that you're safer at home with your parents. I want to give you a way out because I know living here can be rough."
“Father! Mother!” you called out.
Sangyeon sighed and leaned back into his chair with his eyes closed.
“I want to stay here!” you announced.
Sangyeon opened his eyes in shock. You gave him a quick smile and patted his hand. Then you turned to your parents, who looked just as shocked. Sangyeons parents looked surprised as well, but for them, it was a pleasant surprise.
“Can I have a moment with my parents?” you asked them as you stood up.
They nodded and, you took your parents aside. Your mother was already crying.
“Have you lost your mind? You could be already dead”, your father said.
"I know, but Sangyeon will take good care of me. He will also keep me safe. Think about our own kingdom and reputation. We will look like cowards if we annul the marriage.”
"I don't care. I just don't want my child killed by rebels. They can have the navy and everything, but your safety is important to us", argued your mother.
"You cannot always protect me. Trust me. It is best if I stay here."
Your father sighed: "Let's sleep for the night. And if you still want to stay by tomorrow, I will consider it."
After that, everyone went to their bedrooms. You helped Sangyeon out of his clothes and into the bed. You barely slept that night, but the next morning you still wanted to stay. Your mother was unhappy about it, but in the end, they left without you. They realized that you were now an adult and wanted to accept your decision. However, they assured you that it is always possible to change your mind.
Sangyeon was probably the most thankful that you stayed. He tried to fulfil every wish you might have indicated you have. He spoiled you with expensive jewellery so much that you didn't know when to even put it on. He ordered the cooks to only cook your favourite food even though he didn't like it at all. One evening he came into the bedroom with yet another necklace and, you had enough. "I don't want it", you simply said.
“Do you not like it? Do you prefer a different style?”
"No, it is pretty. But I don't need another necklace and, I don't want it."
He looked at you confused: “W-what?”
“I don’t want your presents anymore, Sangyeon. And also, tell the cook to go back to the regular meal plan.”
“But it is your favourite food?”
“Sangyeon”, you stated firmly, “Stop that. I’m fine. I’m not fragile. I won’t change my mind because I don’t eat my favourite food every day.”
"I'm trying to be a good husband!"
You sighed: "I know you don't do this out of love but out of pity. I don't want your pity. If you want to be a good husband, then please stop with that."
Without another word or reacting to his shocked face, you went to bed and curled up on your side of the bed. Sangyeon sat down on his side of the bed: “Y/N? Please-“
“Goodnight, Sangyeon!”
The next day you successfully avoided Sangyeon. You feared you were too harsh with him, but you were sure he will soon get over it. In the evening, you and Sangyeon had a poet as a guest at dinner. In the beginning, the atmosphere was a little tense, but the poet was quite charming. Soon he had engaged you into deep conversation about the meaning of life. He also complimented you several times on your appearances and your intellect, which made you blush slightly. But at the same time, you brushed it off as him being nice. He made you feel very comfortable. It was the most extensive and most interesting conversation you had since you lived here. The lively conversation was interrupted by Sangyeon slamming his wine glass down on the table. You had to admit you totally forgot about your husband sitting across from you. Now everybody was staring at him while he glared at your guest.
“Is the wine not to your taste, Your Highness?” asked the poet.
“You, flirting with MY spouse, are what has spoiled my appetite", Sangyeon replied and, with that, he stood up and left the dining room.
“Please excuse my husband. He had a rough day today. I’m sure he didn’t mean that”, you excused Sangyeons behaviour. The rest of the dinner was kind of awkward but went by smoothly.
When you went to your bedroom, your maid informed you that Sangyeon is staying the night in one of the other bedrooms. You weren't sure if that meant someone else would be staying with him, but you didn't dare to ask your maid about it. Sooner or later, it would have happened anyway, but it still hurt. With an aching heart, you went to bed alone. The next morning, you woke up to a massive bouquet of roses. Not only were they a beautiful sight, but little love notes were hidden in the bouquet. All of them were signed with "Your secret admirer", which made you smile a little. After that night, you could use that little boost in your self-confidence. Your maid came in and grinned at you. "Flowers from an unknown lover are not unusual for a princess, even if she is married", she explained to you. You decided to not tell Sangyeon about the flowers and hid the love notes. Still, you felt like you should talk to Sangyeon about his behaviour at dinner.
You found Sangyeon in his study. He only shortly looked up and, after he saw it was you, he went back to his work.
“We need to talk about what happened at dinner”, you announced.
Sangyeon only gave a grunt of acknowledgement. You were starting to get a little bit mad.
“Are you aware how much influence this poet could have on our reputation? He could write you as a horrible and rude prince?”
“Or you as someone who lets everyone flirt with them”, Sangyeon countered.
You had to control yourself not to slap him as you felt the heat crawl up to your cheeks. Sangyeon slowly looked up at you with a challenging expression. Without another word, you left his study, but you make sure to slam the door.
You went back to your bedroom and crawled under the covers. You felt angry and humiliated. Maybe you should have let your parents annul the marriage. But you didn't know you would be facing these problems from early on in your marriage. You didn't understand why Sangyeon even cared about the poet flirting with you.
You didn't know how long you had been riding on your mental merry-go-round, but after a while, there was a knock on your door.
You sat up and shouted, "Come in!"
Sangyeon came in, which caused you to groan and turn away from him. When you didn't hear him move, you turned back to him. He still stood at the entrance to your bedroom with a box in his hands.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
You just nodded. Sangyeon accompanied you on the bed. On his way, his eyes shortly lock onto the massive bouquet, but he decided to not comment on it. He opened the box he brought with him. It was filled with sweets. He held out the open box to you. When you didn't grab one, he took a piece himself and put the box down in front of you.
“I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I’m an idiot”, he started.
You nodded in agreement and took one of the sweets, which made him smile.
“And I’m also sorry about yesterday. I guess I couldn’t help myself but get possessive over you.”
It involuntary made you smile, so you quickly looked away. Sangyeon took this as a sign that you are still mad at him. He hesitated for a moment but then grabbed your hands.
“I’m really sorry. How can I make it up to you?”
You looked back at him, “Sweets are a good start!”
He grinned and pulled you into a hug. It was the first hug you ever shared and, it made your heart beat a little faster. You tried to control your body reactions. The last thing you now need is falling for Sangyeon when he just started to sleep with someone else. Without letting you go, Sangyeon laid down on the bed.
“I was upset yesterday because I realize I never had a conversation like that with you”, he confessed.
“Well, now is your chance…" you mumbled as you carefully cuddled a little bit more into his chest.
He smelled so good and, his arms around you were so comforting you were afraid of getting addicted to it. The majority of the day was spent talking to Sangyeon while cuddling and eating sweets. It felt like getting to know Sangyeon for the first time since you got married.
The next dinner the poet was still your guest and, you made an effort to smoothly block his flirty advances. You still remained friendly and kept up a lively discussion with him, but this time you made sure to include Sangyeon in it. Your guest wasn’t that happy about you blocking off his advances but retreated to a normal conversation. Sangyeon had a satisfied smile on his lips that he couldn’t really hide. After the dinner, the two of you walk to your bedroom and, Sangyeon admitted that he has been enjoying this dinner far more than the last one. You let out a giggle, but it was cut short when Sangyeon stopped in front of your bedroom door. You already forgot about him not sleeping in the same bedroom anymore. Now that he subtly reminded you, your heart started aching again.
You must haven't been able to control your expression because Sangyeon gave you a worried look and asked: “Are you alright?”
You quickly nodded and gave him your best fake smile. He smiled back and took your hand. His thumb gently caressed your hand as he looked down at your hands. Then he lifted your hand up to his lips and gave your hand a soft kiss that had a longing feeling to it. Butterflies erupted in your stomach as you starred at him with wide eyes. "Goodnight, Y/N", he breathed against your hand before giving it another quick kiss. After that, he turned around left you standing there. Confused, you went to bed. More mixed signals than that were impossible.
To your surprise, there was another bouquet of roses the next morning. You thought the roses were from the poet, so you didn't expect another bouquet today. Again, there were multiple love notes hidden and, all of them made you feel really giggly. But none of them really did what Sangyeons hand kiss did to you.
Just as you finished hiding the notes, Sangyeon knocked at your door.
"Good morning. So last night, I thought about your interest in reign a kingdom and, I was thinking, you should help me with my work today." Your face lit up and, you enthusiastically took Sangyeons hand as he led you to his study. It was just your first day, but you learned so much. You were exhausted as you let yourself fall into bed that night. The next day you accompanied your husband in his study again. As you both took a little break, you decided to ask him what has been wandering on your mind the whole time.
“Sangyeon, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Who are you sharing your new bedroom with? Do I know this person?”
Sangyeon looked at you, confused.
“Who do you think I should be sharing the bedroom with? With my brother?”
“No… I thought… Nevermind.”
Sangyeon sat down on the chair next to you and took your face in his hands. He looked at you intently, trying to read your expression. You felt blood rush to your cheek as you moved your hands to his to move them away from your face. But Sangyeon didn’t budge.
"Y/N, I would never sleep with someone else. I'm married to you and, even though it was an arranged marriage, I will still be faithful to you."
“Then why…”
“I thought you wanted more space after you said you don’t want my presents anymore. I thought you felt restricted and suffocated by me. I didn't want to put pressure on you either. I’m sorry. The last thing I wanted is that you think I sleep with someone else. God no, I would never.”
Relief flooded through you as you nodded. Sangyeon smiled at you as his thumbs started to caress your cheeks.
“Can you come back to our bedroom?”
He nodded and pulled your face closer to his. For a second, you thought he is going to kiss you. But he just placed a soft kiss on your forehead, which was already enough to send the butterflies in your stomach flying.
That night you nervously waited for Sangyeon in your bedroom. He told you to go ahead and that he needs to do something before joining you. As the door opened, Sangyeon came in with a massive bouquet of roses. He set them down next to the other two. In this bouquet, no love notes were hidden, but instead, Sangyeon handed you a letter. As you opened the letter, you finally noticed that Sangyeon and your secret admirer had the same handwriting.
"You are my secret admirer?" you asked, surprised.
Sangyeon scratches his neck and chuckled awkwardly: "Yeah… But read the letter first, please."
Sangyeons letter was making you blush in the best way possible. You never received a confession letter, but you were sure it was the best confession letter to ever exist.
"Oh, Sangyeon, this is beautiful!”
You stood up and walked up to him. He also had a slight blush on his cheek, “You think so? I really like you. And I can understand if you don’t-“
You interrupted him when you grabbed his collar and pulled him towards you so you could kiss him. When your lips collided, the world seemed to move slower. All of the kisses before have always been soft, but this one was passionate and almost desperate. Sangyeons hand moved to your waist to pull you closer to him. The kiss felt like it would seal your happily ever after for the both of you.
The Changmin bath scene was so soft and intimate💛 No need for passion just pure intimacy
Awww, I'm so glad you liked it. It was supposed to be an intimate scene, so I'm beyond excited that it comes across that way. Thank you so much for brightening my day and I hope you have a great day. 💛
Warnings: they are not bathing with their clothes on, so nudity, but not descriptive or anything like that
Word Count: 721 (3 minutes reading time)
A sigh escapes you as you slowly let yourself slide into the hot bathwater. You had had a busy day and were now in the mood for a little self-care.
You closed your eyes for a moment and enjoyed the scent of the bathwater. You heard the door of the flat being unlocked and slamming shut again. Someone called your name. It was your boyfriend, Changmin. You hadn't really expected to see him today. It only had been one week since you had given him the spare key to your flat.
"I'm in the bathroom!" you called, and a moment later, Changmin was standing in the doorway to the bathroom.
"Hi!" you smile shyly.
He had seen you naked before and, it was also impossible to see anything of you through the amount of foam, but still, the situation was new to you.
Changmin smiled back: "Hi, I didn't know you were ... busy. Sorry to barge in like this!"
"It's ok. How was your day?" you asked and, Changmin sat down on the floor next to the bathtub.
"A little exhausting. I missed you!" Changmin replied, fishing your hand out of the water.
He began to gently spread kisses on your hand while you watched him. He looked exhausted.
Just as you were about to ask him if he would like to join you in the bath, he asked, "Can I join you?"
You nodded, "I was just going to ask!"
He grinned and gave you a kiss on the cheek before getting up to undress. You adverted your eyes. You had seen him naked before, but you didn't want him to make him uncomfortable. As you were staring at the ceiling, you heard Changmin giggling.
"What?" you asked.
"Nothing! You're cute! How about I get us some face masks?"
"Oh yes. Sounds great!"
You heard Changmin rummaging through your cabinet and decided to take a peek at him. His body could have been in a museum. His would fit perfectly between those of ancient statues. You didn't notice when he turned back to you and grinned at you as you continued to look at him.
But he decided to leave it uncommented and asked, "Is clay mask ok for you?"
You just nodded and felt the blood rush to your cheeks.
You look up at the ceiling again and pull your legs in to make room for Changmin. You felt the water move as Changmin joined you in the tub. You were a little nervous and, your pulse was racing. Changmin's hand gently wrapped around your ankle and gently stroked the skin there with his thumb.
"Hey, relax. It's just me."
"I honestly think it's you who's making me nervous."
He chuckled, "Why?"
"I don't know... Maybe because I like you!"
Changmin tugged at your ankle to pull you closer to him. He moved his legs over yours. Carefully he took your chin in his hand and made you face him. His eyes looked into yours sincerely.
Then, he whispered: "I love you."
Your heart fluttered at his words. It was the first time he had said it to you and, you felt like you would combust any moment.
"I-I love you too."
"Hmm, I know that", Changmin replied with a cocky grin.
You rolled your eyes and pushed him playfully. He grinned and took your hands in his and gave each hand a kiss. You giggled as you tried to remove your hands from his grip. He let one of your hands go to wrap his arm around your waist. He leaned in to kiss you, but you smeared a handful of foam onto his cheek. He gasped but recovered quick and rubbed his foam covered cheek against your face. You squirmed ins his grip, but he kept you close to him. As you gave up on your escape, he gave you a short and sweet kiss.
"We had such a romantic moment going on", you grumbled, "Why would you ruin that?"
He grinned at you and pecked your nose.
"Because now, you're not nervous anymore."
And he was right: you admittedly felt more at ease. You wrapped your arms around his neck and mumbled a "Thank you" against his lips. He smiled against your lips: "Anything for you!" And then your lips collided in a passionate kiss.
Genre: forbidden love, fantasy, The Little Mermaid inspired (not really a retelling), a bit angsty, a bit fluffy
Warnings: violence (nothing too graphic)
Word Count: 1.9k (7-8 minutes reading time)
Synopsis: You are a siren who needs to rip out the hearts of humans as a tribute to the Sea Queen. Yunho is a pirate who hunts sirens. Will you two find your happily ever after?
It was a peaceful night. When you broke through the surface of the water, you were not immediately blinded by the sun, so you could spot Yunho straight away. He was standing up to his ankles in the water and wandering around waiting for you.
When your paths first crossed, it was anything but peaceful. You were on the lookout for prey because the Sea Queen was expecting tribute again. Every year, each siren had to prove their loyalty by bringing her a heart of a human. It was the only way to get recognition in your world. Everything else did not matter. Love did not exist for heartless monsters. From a young age, you tore out the hearts of sailors, pirates and sometimes princes who were on adventures so that the sea queen would recognise you as worthy.
Yunho was a pirate. But not just any pirate. He was part of a notorious siren hunter crew. They were known for their swift and brutal style. None of the captured Sirens ever came back alive. A few were given as trophies and compensation for old crimes to the various royal houses of humans. There they were kept in small pools of water and put on display. Sometimes they were even hunted for fun in those pools. Those that were not given away alive died on the ship while their scales were removed. Siren scales have healing properties for humans and were a much sought-after commodity for which people were willing to pay a lot. This is how Yunho and his crew earned their living.
However, they were not the only ones with this business idea. Other pirates quickly followed suit and, pirate fights in waters where sirens frequented became more common. One of these fights took place when you were actually looking for prey. Both crews were too busy fighting each other to notice you. It was an easy game for you. The first pirate to fall into the water, you would grab and rip out his heart before they drowned. You didn't have to wait long until the first one fell into the water. He tried to swim but wasn't very good at it. There was also a big gash on his side. You quickly swam to him and pulled him further into the depths. When you saw his face for the first time, you hesitated. Most people looked at you with love because they were still under the spell of your singing. But he only looked at you curiously. He didn't seem to be afraid either. His face was angelic and, you couldn't help but look at him a little longer. You had hesitated too long because the next moment a harpoon shot only a few centimetres past you. One of the pirates Yunho was fighting against had followed you into the water. He could swim and dive well and was moving towards you. Without giving it a second thought, you swam away with Yunho in tow. He had run out of air by then and fainted. You laid his motionless body on a rock. You didn't want to risk getting caught by any of the pirates and decided to go somewhere else to get your heart for the sea queen, so you abandoned him there.
Luckily for him, his crew found him quickly and, he survived. The lack of oxygen had made him forget what exactly had saved him. He could only remember your face, but he kept it to himself, even though he dreamt of you every night.
As you still did not bring a heart to the sea queen, you were pressed for time and became more careless. So it happened that you were caught in a net and pulled out of the water onto a ship. You tugged at the net, but no matter what you did, it wouldn't let up. When the net was pulled off your head, you saw his face a second time. He recognised you and, you could see his inner conflict in his eyes. You stopped struggling and wondered if it would help to beg him. He glanced over his shoulder at his comrades. Then he held his hand in front of your face. "I know I owe you one. Now bite my hand and then get off the boat and swim as far away as you can." You hesitated while Yunho gave you an encouraging nod. He moved his hand gently to your lips. Then you bit gently into it. "Harder!" he growled, "It's supposed to be realistic!" You obeyed and, his face contorted in pain. Then he cried out and at the same time pushed you back into the water. You swam away as fast as you could. You tasted his blood for days to come and, his face wouldn't let you go now either. You had heard stories of soul mates. Was he perhaps yours?
So you couldn't help but stay close to the ship all the time. Never too close because Yunho probably wouldn't help you a second time. One night he sat alone on the deck and stared into the far distance of the ocean. Your heart longed to see his face. So you carefully swam closer, fervently hoping that no one was sitting by the radar and that everyone else was asleep. Yunho noticed you embarrassingly early. He grinned at you: "Can't stay away from me, I guess."
So you spent almost every night together. Except when you had to fetch a heart, then you disappeared for a while. In the beginning, Yunho was sure that one day you would get his heart and that you just enjoyed playing with your prey. But you also doubted Yunho's sincerity. After all, you saw him regularly dragging sirens out of the water with his crew and killing them. At any time, one of you could become the victim of the other. Nevertheless, you began to trust each other. Yunho was actually a very gentle person and, his brutal way of life affected him more than he wanted to admit to his crew and especially his captain. It was different with you because he could tell you everything without being judged or called weak. You simply listened and comforted him. You were fascinated by his stories and loved to listen to him. But what you liked most was that he simply liked you. You didn't have to prove yourself to be noticed by him. When you were together, it was just the both of you and not the suffering your species caused each other.
But it was not only the hatred of your species that kept you apart. Yunho had no fin, could not breathe underwater and was a terrible swimmer, even if he tried to get better. You had no legs and couldn't move at all on land. Every time Yunho's ship docked at a port, you met in a small, hidden bay. There you could be closest to each other and, the risk of being caught was lowest.
Tonight was one of those nights. You watch Yunho pacing back and forth. Sometimes you wondered what your legs would look like. Would they be as long as Yunho's or be more on the short side? Would you have muscular thighs like him or, would they be thick or thin like other humans? Sometimes it was the other way round and, you wondered what his tail fin would look like. What colour would it be?
Yunho spotted you and in an instant, a grin spread across his face. He got deeper into the water. You swam towards him. When Yunho was waist-deep in the water, you reached him. Without effort, he grabbed your waist and pulled you out of the water so that you were at eye level. You wrapped your arms around your neck and smiled at him.
"Hi love!" he murmured and put his lips on yours.
It was a very loving kiss.
"I missed you!" you breathed against his lips.
"I missed you too!" he murmured and gave you another quick kiss.
You gently stroked his hair and couldn't really stop grinning. Yunho noticed this and asked,
"Did something good happen today?"
You nodded, yet you hesitated. Yunho wanted you to be careful because you would be executed immediately if anyone found out about you. Yunho was close friends with his crew and the captain. They might be angry or disappointed, but they probably wouldn't kill him. Cautious was not a quality you would use to describe yourself. Especially when it came to finding a solution to your problem.
"Now tell me! What have you done?"
"I was in the forbidden library!"
Yunho sighed. As the name suggested, no one but the Sea Queen was allowed to enter the library. But you had managed to bribe one of the guards to let you in. You took your time and looked for a way for you and Yunho to be together.
"Don't worry, everything went well," you said to reassure Yunho.
"And what if it hadn't gone well? Y/N, you have to stop putting yourself in danger like this."
You pouted. Yunho sighed and gave you another kiss.
"Go on, spit it out! What have you found out?"
You gave him a big smile and, he couldn't help but smile right back at you.
“I found a way to make a potion. The potion will give me legs,” you said excitedly.
Yunho looked at you surprised: “Really? What about the ingredients? Are we able to get them without dying?”
You nodded: "Yes, most of them grow on the land, but with your help, it should be no problem!"
Yunho still looked sceptical.
“Come on, Yunho. Please be happy about it. It won't hurt trying it. None of the ingredients is poisonous."
"I'm just worried. There has to be a catch. I highly doubt a potion will just give legs with no side effects."
And he was right. You tried to hide it, but Yunho noticed it right away. He gave you a soft kiss on the cheek as you avoided eye contact.
“What is the side effect?” he asked you softly.
“Please let us try anyway.”
“Tell me first!” Yunho demanded.
You knew arguing wouldn’t bring you anywhere, so you sighed and said: “If I get my legs, every step I take will feel like I’m walking on broken glass.”
You breathed out audibly and pulled you closer to him.
“You know that will be very painful?" he asked.
You just nodded, even if you have never felt how a piece of glass cute into your body. But it can’t be worse than the pain you felt in your heart when you and Yunho are not together.
“I don’t think I can let you do that!” he mumbled into your hair.
“Please,” you begged, “I don’t want to be separated from you any longer. I want to be together with you.”
“You know that I want that as well. I just don’t want you to suffer the rest of your life," he said with a sigh, "Let me think about it, ok?"
You nodded and gave him a feverish kiss. The discussion was over for now and, you both concentrated on giving each other all the love you could.
Maybe you would find another way to be together. Find a way to bring peace to your species. Maybe you are the start of a change. Maybe you find your happily ever after or, you end up in a tragic love story.
Or you are just another story for hopeless romantics?
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one. If you liked the concept, I would recommend reading "To Kill A Kingdom" by Alexandra Christo.
Genre: Beauty and Beast retelling/inspired; dark romance (does get a little suggestive at times), angsty end
Warnings: violence, old-fashioned thinking about mental health, as well as incorrect treatment of patients
Word Count: around 10k (I thought about splitting it into multiple parts but then I was like Nah; apparently it takes around 41 minutes to read this)
Synopsis: One fateful night you are not only attacked by a beast but also meet the mysterious Haknyeon. You are attracted to him, but his secret seems to stand in the way of your relationship. Will you two find your happily ever after?
A/N: I was inspired to write this, after reading Old as Time by Liz Braswell. It's a Beauty and Beast retelling. Not my favourite book, but still good. I bought this book because of the cover, lol. Would recommend it if you like fairytales. Another huge inspiration here was the game Cinderella Phenomenon (Dicesuki). I played the entire game with all the different story paths in one night, so be careful if you want to play it because it’s addicting.
It was the third day in a row that it was raining. Your father, however, did not seem to mind. He walked across the meadow near your cottage and piled up stones. You and your father lived near a village, which was far away from the rest of the world. Once upon a time you and your father were very close to the villagers but after that one particular night, you tried to avoid the village as much as possible.
You thought about how you would get your father inside. If he stays any longer outside, he would catch a cold. He was very fixated on his project. Unfortunately, his project didn’t seem to make any sense. He was just stacking stones and calls his invention that would save their lives one day.
“Papa!”, you yelled but he wasn’t even reacting to you.
Too much in his head for him to notice you. That did happen very often since that one night. You could still clearly remember it. It had been raining a lot just like now. Your father had gone to the next town to discuss some business and left you home alone. Clearly, you were old enough to stay home alone but you haven’t been prepared for what was to come that night when he came back.
Between the village and the next town was a dark forest. As a child, the elders would tell scary stories about this forest, how they were haunted and all kind of stories to keep the children from wandering away into the forest. Your father had travelled through these woods on regular basis, but on his way home that night something had gone terribly wrong.
What exactly had happened, you didn’t know and you weren’t even sure if your father knows it. The image of your father running out of the forest would haunt you forever. He was covered in blood and dirt and the fear was evident on his face. He collapsed right at your door. You pulled him inside and luckily, he only had some minor injuries.
But when he awoke the next morning, he didn’t remember anything. He didn’t even remember you at the beginning. It seemed like the horse wasn’t the only thing your father lost that night in the forest. Sometimes there are little silver linings, where his eyes begin to clear up but the only thing he then would say: "There is a beast, Y/N! In the forest. Promise me, my dear, never go into the forest.”
Overwhelmed by the situation you went to the village to consult the elders and the pastor, but this turned out to be a bad decision. Not a week later the pastor and mayor came by with a doctor who was a specialist for people with lost minds. But you couldn’t let your father go with him. You heard rumours about how badly they treated the patients there and that relatives were prohibited to visit. And after losing your mother at a very young age, you couldn’t lose your father too. So you assured the visitors that your father is no threat: You will take care of him and he will never bother any of the villagers.
But every time you wanted to go to the village and run errands your father would insist on accompanying you. The villagers didn't like that, they were afraid that his disease was contagious. Many vendors didn't let you buy their goods. You needed to find an alternative. You went hunting. In the forbidden woods, but your father didn’t need to know that. Every time your father was busy with stacking rocks, you sneaked in the forest to hunt something or collect berries, mushrooms or any herbs you needed. Before dawn and before your father got tired, you were back at the cottage. He never questioned where you got the dinner from. He just ate it while mumbling about his invention.
“Papa!”, you yelled again while stepping into the rain.
He only noticed you when you stood right next to him.
"Oh, dear! What is it?”
“Come inside, Papa. We don’t want you to get sick.”
“But my invention is not finished. We will need it very soon!”
“Tomorrow is another day. If you get sick, you will not be able to finish it on time as well.”
“Well, you’re right, my dear! Let’s go inside and have some tea!”
You sighed and the both of you, now fully drenched, went inside. After dinner, you spent your time reading a book while your father went to bed early. It was a romance novel and you wondered if your life would have been normal, would you have been married by now. The boys and men in the village didn't take a particular interest in you, and even though you knew that did not mean you were unattractive, you couldn't help but feel a little sad about it.
The next day the weather was significantly better, which was the perfect opportunity to go hunting. Unfortunately, your father got up very late which meant you had less time than usual for hunting. Nevertheless, you were confident that you could at least catch a hare, or maybe even a deer, for tonight's dinner. You snuck away and in the forest, you breathed deeply the humid forest air. Here, you could forget about your worries a little and have a little me time.
Unfortunately, the evening came sooner than you expected and it got dark in the forest. You still had nothing for dinner except for a few berries. That was not enough. You felt safe enough to walk to that one stream and then you would go back. You started to think of an excuse when your father asked where you have been. On the other hand, you doubted he would ask you that.
At the stream, you found many bushes with berries. You hurried to pick them up and made your way back to the cottage. It was getting darker and darker. Again and again, you tripped over branches or roots. The chirping of birds stopped and an eerie silence fell over the forest. Occasionally you heard the sound of branches cracking, and each time you had to convince yourself that it was just an animal in the undergrowth. It would be more afraid of you than you were of it.
Then you heard it: a howling. You never knew that wolves lived in the forest. You were not up to a confrontation with a pack of wolves, so you started to walk faster. But the howling got louder and louder. Not a minute later you saw blood-red eyes staring at you. The creature you faced was way too big for a wolf. It stood on his behind legs and breathed heavily. It had horrible claws and its teeth were bared. Escape or fight, you asked yourself as you reached for the knife you carried in your belt. Slowly, the smell of wet dog from the beast enveloped you.
Before you could react, the beast pounced on you. You couldn’t help the scream that erupted from you, as his canines sunk into your arm. You took your knife and ram into the direction of the beast. It let go and you got up as fast as you could and ran for your life. The beast was not distracted for too long and followed you. Not much later it had caught up with you and this time it bit you in the lower leg. Again, you screamed out as unbelievable pain flashed through you. You stabbed the beast with your knife but it seemed to be to no avail.
Then, you heard something thudding noises. The beast let go of you and ran away. For a few more seconds you lay there bleeding out on the forest floor. Father, you thought, he needs to eat something. The berries you had gathered were now squished. You didn't dare to move because the pain was too great and in your despair, you started to cry. You only noticed the footsteps when the boy was already bending over you and inspecting your wounds.
You looked at him in amazement. You had never seen him before. So he wasn't from the village and the town was too far away. You held your knife ready to stab him.
"Come on. You have to get up. Before it comes back.", he held out his hand to you.
You weighed your option. Unknown forest boy or beast? You decided to take the mysterious boy’s hand. He helped you to your feet and you both quickly realised that running was not an option for you.
"I'll carry you ok? I'll take you to a safe place," he asked.
Dazed by the pain of standing up, you nodded. He took your knife and before you could protest, he grabbed you and shouldered you. This triggered a new wave of pain and you remained silent. Instead, you concentrated on breathing the pain away.
He carried you effortlessly through the forest and you wondered if he could see anything at all. Unlike you, he moved much more elegantly and safely through the forest. After a while, he lowered you down. As you looked around, you found yourself in a ruin. He laid you down on a blanket and checked your wounds again.
After he had decided that you would not die any moment, he said: "I have to go now. Just stay here and try to sleep. I'll come back for you tomorrow!"
"Wait! Who are you anyway?"
"My name is Haknyeon!"
"And where are you going? You can't just leave me alone now!"
"Yes, I have to!"
"Are you going to get help?" you asked.
"Something like that!" he grumbled and disappeared into the darkness.
When he was gone, the panic set in. You were defenceless and injured in some ruin in the forest. You are going to die here. Your breath was going way too fast and only with difficulty did you manage to calm it down. Then exhaustion and tiredness came over you. You didn't really want to sleep. What if the beast returns? But sleep could no longer be stopped. You fervently hoped that your father would be all right.
You fell into a restless sleep. You dreamt of the beast and the red eyes and of the night your father came home covered in blood. Had he also been attacked by the beast? But he didn't have any bite marks. More like scratches and bruises.
Then you dreamt of Haknyeon, even though it was dark, you were sure he must have been a handsome young man. Or maybe it was the hopeless romantic in you because in the next moment he smiled at you and gave you a kiss on the cheek.
Only the background noises did not match the supposedly first beautiful dream of the night. You heard the howling and growling of animals. Was the beast nearby? But nothing could wake you from your beautiful dream when Haknyeon smiled at you like that and stroked your hair gently.
When you woke up a few hours later, the sun was up again. As long as you did not move, your pain was bearable. You looked around and tried to keep your body as still as possible. Haknyeon was nowhere to be seen. Just as you were about to try to get up and find your way home, you saw Haknyeon approaching you. He was all dirty and bloody. His clothes, however, were completely intact, unlike yours.
"Good morning!" he mumbled exhaustedly, grabbing a nearby bucket and turning to leave.
"Haknyeon!" you called, "what happened? Did you fight with the beast? Where are you going again?"
"I'm going to get water!" he said without turning around and then he was gone again.
This boy's got some nerve, you grumble to yourself, deciding he's not as great as in your dream. Nevertheless, you decided to wait a while longer to see if he comes back. After all, the chances of finding your way back with him were much better than alone. Last night you had completely lost your bearings. You could be anywhere.
In fact, Haknyeon came back a short time later with a full bucket of water. He seemed to have bathed himself because there was no trace of the dirt and blood. There was only a scratch on his forehead. He sat down next to you and gave you a drink.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Y/N.", you answered.
"Do you live in the village?", he asked as he began to clean the wound on your arm. "
Yes, kind of. The cottage a bit further out."
He nodded as if he knew where you were talking about.
"And you? Where do you live? I've never seen you before!"
"Here!" he replied.
"Here?" you asked surprised.
He nodded and continued with your leg. The bite was much deeper than the one on your arm and also hurt a lot more when he cleaned it. You bit your lip and concentrated on not crying. After Haknyeon had finished cleaning your wounds, he tore some old sheets and wrapped them around both your injuries as bandages.
"Thank you!" you whispered.
He smiled at you and it was even more beautiful than in your dream.
"No problem," he replied and then gave you a handful of berries.
He had one himself and began to eat it contentedly. A little hesitantly you began to eat too.
"I have to go home again. My father must be worried already!”
He nodded: "Don't worry. I'll take you home in a minute!"
"How come you live here?" you asked again.
"It just happened that way. The people in the village are very averse to strangers or anything they don't know. That's why I decided to stay here. Free from responsibility and judgmental looks. I have everything I need here."
You look at him for a while and then ask further: "And the beast?"
"I've learned to deal with it," he answered quickly, "Let's go. Before we end up in the same situation as yesterday."
He helped you stand up and unfortunately walking was still not the best option. He picked you up and walked with you through the forest. Haknyeon smelled just like the forest, earthy and fresh and you quickly found that you liked the smell very much. On the way, you told him about your father and what happened to him. When you told him what the villagers wanted to do with him, he snorted contemptuously.
"It's so typical that they want to lock up a harmless old man right away."
Your arms tighten around him, as he wobbled down a hill.
“Don’t worry. I got you!”, he reassured you and held onto you a little tighter.
The forest slowly began to look familiar again and as soon as you emerged out of the forest, you could see the cottage. Your father was in the meadow, stacking his stones.
“Is that your father?”, asked Haknyeon.
“Yes…”, you answered.
Your father didn’t notice you coming, too focussed on his task.
“Should I take you inside or to your father?”, Haknyeon asked.
“To my father, please!”
He hesitated for a short second, but then he walked towards your father.
“Papa!”, you yelled and surprisingly he reacted.
He looked up to you and for a short moment, he had his clear eyes back.
“Y-you?”, he stammered.
“Papa! It’s me, Y/N!”
Haknyeon let you down into the soft grass of the meadow.
“I know, my dear. I remember!”
He looked at Haknyeon and studied him. He looked back at you.
“The Beast, my dear. Don’t go into the forest.”
“I know, Papa. I’m sorry. But Haknyeon saved me from the Beast!”
He looked confused at Haknyeon: “No, but-“
“I’m Haknyeon, Monsieur.”, Haknyeon interrupted him and hold out his hand for him.
Your father eyes clouded over again and he took Haknyeon’s hand and shook it.
"Are you interested in investing in my latest invention? Come on, young boy, I show you what it can do!” your father said and dragged him to the pile of stones.
You observed how your father talked, probably nonsense you guessed. Haknyeon patiently listened to him. You lay in the high grass of the meadow, unable to probably move due to your injuries and enjoyed the sun. Something was comforting about it after the many days of rain and the last night of terror. You fell into a dreamless sleep and when you woke up, you laid in your bed.
When you turned around, you could see how Haknyeon served your father a soup while he still listened to his ramble about his inventions. As he saw you were awake, he gave you smile and served your bowl of soup as well and came to your bed.
“Slept well? Here!”
“Yes, thank you!” you mumbled as you sat up.
Haknyeon sat next to you and was ready to feed you.
“I can feed myself!”, you grumbled and took the bowl and spoon away from him.
You instantly regretted it, as pain shot through your arm. You ignored the pain and began to eat. To your surprise, the soup tasted heavenly. Haknyeon observed you with mischievous eyes.
“It’s good, isn’t it?”, he said confidently.
You nodded and he grinned.
“Perfect. I will head home now. I will check by soon again and bring new food.”
“You can stay here. I’m sure my father wouldn’t mind.”
He shook his head and gave your sad smile:
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t. I’ll see you soon. Get well soon!”
With that, he stood up and left without another word.
“What a strange guy!” you said to your father who hummed and you took it as he agreed to you.
That night you stayed awake because you couldn’t stop thinking about the moment when you laid there helpless on the ground of the forest. You read a lot about the damsel in distress and you absolutely hated that trope. Now you are one yourself, you scoffed and turned around in your bed. You tried to minimize the pain, but that turned out to be rather difficult. You will never let this happen to you again, you decided. Next time you will see the beast, the roles will be reversed. You will be the one attacking and the beast cowering in fear. With this thought, you fell asleep.
The next morning, your father attempted to make breakfast, it didn’t go that well so you two ate the left-over from Haknyeon’s soup. The pain was much more bearable today and your wounds seemed to start to heal. Short before dawn, Haknyeon came with some food and a balm for your wounds. He didn’t stay long and your father claimed most of his attention. Then he disappeared for three days.
When he came to visit again, you were able to move quite okay. You cooked something from the food he brought as a thank you and you never saw someone eat your food so enthusiastically. It made you smile like an idiot the whole dinner and you secretly hated yourself. Why are you so whipped for a strange boy who you know nothing about?
Soon after dark, Haknyeon wanted to go again and you accompanied him to the edge of the forest. When you arrived, you both stood there awkwardly.
“Why won’t you stay here? It is safer here!”
“For me, the forest is safe as well!” he countered.
You sighed. Why did you even try?
He chuckled: “You like me that much?”
You felt the heat creep up your neck and your cheeks and hoped he won’t notice it.
You scoffed: “No. I just don’t want the beast to kill you.”
“It won’t!” he said still grinning.
“Yes, maybe you right. Because before it can kill you, I will kill it!” you announced confidently.
For a moment you saw shock and surprise on his face, but then he laughed.
“Idiot!” you grumbled and turned around to go back to the cottage.
“Wait!” Haknyeon yelled and followed you.
Soon he reached you and grabbed your arm: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just…"
“You think I can’t do it. I get it. Now go.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“The beast is very strong. It will kill you before you can even attack it. I think no one can kill it.” he said.
"Well, we will see," you said still a little angry.
You had to admit, you didn’t come up with a good plan yet. But there is still time and you will prepare accordingly.
“Please, think about it again. I don’t think it is a good idea.”
“What if we do together?” you asked suddenly excited.
He seemed to know a lot about the beast and the forest. If you both trained a bit together, you would definitely stand a chance.
"I can't.", he said with a sad smile.
You scoffed: “Why not?”
“I can’t tell you.”
You stare at him perplexed. Why did he have to be so mysterious? What couldn’t he tell you?
“I’m starting to think you want to protect that beast.”
“No, that’s not it.”
"You know what? Forget about it. Go to your oh-so-comfy ruin and cuddle with your beast.” you said and ripped your arm out of his hold.
You had enough of his mysterious shit and turned around to go to the cottage. This time he didn’t follow you and you didn’t turn around to see if he was still standing there.
The next morning you were still filled with anger. After breakfast, you went to the village to visit Gaston. He was the best hunter you knew and an old childhood friend of yours. He became popular as you were teens so he stopped hanging out with you. You were now sitting in his kitchen while his mother served you tea.
“So? You want to learn how to hunt?”
“Yes!, you said.
He didn’t seem to be opposed to the idea.
“May I ask why?”
"It is kind of a long story. But in the forest, there is some animal I want to see dead!"
He raised an eyebrow: “Okay? You want to hunt a predator, I assume.”
You nodded again: “Yes, can you teach me?”
He seemed to think about it for a while: “Yeah, sure. Why not?”
“Really? Oh, thank you!” you said excitedly and hugged him.
He seemed surprised but he reciprocated the hug nevertheless.
“Okay. When do we start?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Sounds great! Where?”
“You have that large meadow near your cottage. That should be a good place to start. I will come by after breakfast.”
“Thank you so much!” you exclaimed.
On your way home, you couldn’t help but skip like a little school girl. You hoped to make fast progress. Maybe Haknyeon will change his mind when he sees how capable you are.
The next two days were the most exhausting you ever had. Gaston didn't go easy on you and taught you many different techniques with different weapons. You were surprised how good you and Gaston got along. It was just like back in the old days. In your breaks, you would lay in the meadow staring up the sky and watching the clouds.
On day three of your training, you saw Haknyeon. He stood at the edge of the forest and watched you two with a dark and unreadable expression on his face. You sent Gaston home and went to him.
“What are you doing here?” you confronted him.
“Just checking by. What are you up to with that hunter?”
“You know Gaston?”
“I’ve seen him hunting in the forest.”
That made sense, you thought.
“So? Is he your boyfriend?” Haknyeon asked.
You couldn’t help but smile. “That’s none of your business.”
Haknyeon scoffed: “Is he trying to teach you hunting?”
You nodded.
“You know he’s not that good!” Haknyeon said.
“Is that so? He is the best hunter, I know!" you countered.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I’m better”
You chuckled. He might be right, you thought, but he won’t teach you.
“It doesn’t really matter!” you said.
“Why? So he is your boyfriend?” Haknyeon asked again.
You sighed. Why was he so obsessed with Gaston being your boyfriend?
“No. But I need someone to teach me how to hunt!”
“I can do that!” Haknyeon exclaimed.
You raised an eyebrow. What made him change his mind?
You decided not to question it, so you said: “Okay. Then teach me!”
He grabbed your hand and pulled you into the forest.
“First of all, just because you can do it meadow doesn’t mean it will work in the forest as well.”
So your training with Haknyeon began. It was very different from Gaston's. Instead of theory and technique, Haknyeon concentrated on using the forest to your advantage. He showed you how you could outsmart the beast and its instinct. He knew a lot about the beast, just like you had guessed.
But Haknyeon only came by every third day, so you kept training with Gaston. One day Haknyeon came at a day, he usually didn't. He saw you and Gaston laying in the meadow and laughing. You only saw him as he disappeared into the forest again. You really hoped he wasn't hurt by you still training with Gaston. This night you could barely sleep.
But the next day, when Haknyeon came to visit you, he wasn’t mad at all. He even brought you a rose. It looked ethereal.
"I didn't know roses grow in the forest!”, you said as you put it in a vase.
Haknyeon laughed nervously: “Yes, I found this one rather by accident too. I hope you like it.”
“It's beautiful! Thank you.”
“It reminded me of you," he said and you couldn't help but blush.
You stared intently at the rose. Carefully, Haknyeon stroked your cheek.
"You are both so beautiful. I'm afraid you'll fall apart every time I touch you."
The blood rushed in your ears and when you looked at Haknyeon you thought you were sinking into his beautiful brown eyes. He took a step closer to you and you could smell his scent: earthy and fresh. His hands cupped your face as he looked at you intensely. As if he wanted to imprint the sight of you forever.
He pulled you even closer and your chest touched his. Your body tingled with excitement. Your gaze briefly wandered from his eyes to his lips. When you looked into his eyes again, he had come much closer to you. You felt his breath on your lips and you closed your eyes. But your lips never touched because Haknyeon suddenly pushed you away.
"Sorry!" he mumbled sheepishly.
You just nodded, unable to process this situation.
"We should start training!" he said and walked towards the forest.
However, you couldn't concentrate on the training at all. Every little touch from Haknyeon brought you right back to the situation before. You wondered all the time what it would have been like if he had actually kissed you. Haknyeon was not much different. He just stared at you and didn't complain when you did something obviously wrong. When you both took a break, you both fell silent. Just when you could no longer stand the silence, Haknyeon took your hands and pulled you towards him so that you were pressed against his chest.
"Tell me when to stop," he murmured as he placed one hand on the back of your neck and the other on your waist.
You looked at him wide-eyed. He smiled softly at you as he pulled you impossibly closer. You smiled back at him.
“Why are you so beautiful?” he whispered against your lips.
His nose gently touched yours and you closed your eyes again. You hoped he wouldn't push you away again. He didn't. Instead, you felt his lips on yours.
The kiss started out hesitantly and very soft. But once Haknyeon realised you wanted this as much as him, the kiss got more intense. His hand on your neck pulled your more into the kiss. You couldn't help the little whine that left your lips when Haknyeon lips pulled away from you. Your lips chased his and with a deep chuckle, he gave in and kissed you again.
He slowly moved you backwards while kissing you and then he pressed your back against a tree. You moaned into the kiss and Haknyeon tongue slipped into your mouth. Your body felt hot and tingly as Haknyeon pressed his hips into yours. You pulled away since you really needed to breathe. He on the other hand didn't want to stop so he kissed down your neck. At a very sensitive spot, he stayed a little longer and slightly bit your skin. You whined and your hand went into his hair. You pulled it, so his lips will connect again with yours. Haknyeon obeyed and kissed you again with a lot of passion. Your hand that wasn’t in his hair roamed his chest and abdomen, which made him release a moan into the kiss. His moan excited you more than you expected and you pulled his hips closer to yours as wrapped a leg around his hips. His hand immediately started caressing your thigh.
You were so into kissing him that you almost didn’t hear the howl. It was unusual. Normally the howling could only be heard at night. Haknyeon heard it too and immediately he pulled away from you, but still kept you close. He swore under his breath and pulled you to the direction of your cottage.
“Why is it awake now? I thought it was nocturnal?” you whispered.
“I don’t know!” Haknyeon whispered back and constantly checked your surroundings.
You believed him. Something in you told, he being honest with you. The beast didn’t howl a second time and you made it safely to your cottage.
“Haknyeon?” you said as you took his hands and pulled him closer to you.
Almost naturally, his lips found your temple and he placed a kiss there.
“Yes, my love?” he said as he smiled at you.
You already hated yourself for what you were about to do.
“Please don’t get mad at me. But I really want you to stay here with me. It worries me, that you’re out there alone with the beast.”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry, ok?”
“You say that every time. I don’t understand that. Please explain it to me. Why is it so bad to stay here with me? You’re not a burden if you think that. I like you and I think you know that.”
He sighed: “I like you too. I really do. And that is one of the reasons I can't stay here… Wait no, that sounded kind of wrong. You're not the reason why I don't want to stay with you. I'm the problem, ok?"
"Haknyeon, you're not a problem," you said as you took his face into your hands to make him look at you.
You saw how sad his eyes looked and how emotional he got over it.
“Stay with me.”, you whispered as your felt your eyes water, “You’re not a problem, ok?”
He hesitated, but then he nodded. Later that night, you thought you should have made him promised to stay the whole night. You hadn't been asleep for very long, but you woke up from the sound of the door being closed. You looked around and found that the spot on the floor, where Haknyeon insisted he would sleep on, was empty. You cursed as you looked out of the window and saw a figure hurrying into the forest.
You locked the door from the inside. He shouldn’t come back in the morning and pretend he stayed here all night. He wasn’t fooling anybody here. Angrily, you went back to bed. The next morning, Haknyeon wasn't there and didn't appear for the next two days. But Gaston was there and he showed a lot of interest in the rose Haknyeon has gifted you. He was very curious about who gave you this rose. You only answered him it's from a boy, but more you didn't give out more information. You were still angry at Haknyeon, but you still wanted him to be your secret.
You regretted telling Gaston not more about Haknyeon when Gaston came with a massive bouquet of roses. You were actually waiting for Haknyeon. Today it was his turn to train you and you hoped he would actually appear and you could talk about what has happened. But instead of Haknyeon, Gaston appeared with his massive bouquet. A little confused you took his gift and let him in.
“Y/N! There is something very important I need to ask you.”
“What is it?” you asked as you turned around.
Gaston was kneeling one knee before you and took your hand: “Do you want to marry me?”
You were speechless.
“G-Gaston…” you stammered, "I didn't even know you liked me that way!"
“Well, you’re pretty and I’m quite handsome myself. It only makes sense if we marry. Everyone in the village is already wondering.”
“B-But…” you stammered, your gaze fell onto Haknyeon’s rose.
Gaston followed your gaze.
“This boy is nothing. I can give you everything you want and need. I got you dozen of roses.”
"Still, I don't think I can marry you," you answered.
You liked Gaston, yeah but as a friend. You don’t think he could erupt the same feelings you felt with Haknyeon that afternoon in the forest.
Speaking of the devil, there was a knock at the door and you heard Haknyeon calling your name.
Gaston raised an eyebrow: “Is that your boy?”
You didn’t answer and Gaston stood up.
“I won’t give you up. You’re destined to marry me.”, he said to you.
As Haknyeon knocked again, Gaston ripped open the door and immediately grabbed him by his neck. You couldn’t help but embarrassingly squeak Haknyeons name. His eyes instantly found yours and he gave your sad smile. In his eyes, you saw how sorry he was and knew that he had angered and disappointed you. Gaston pushed him onto the grass and punched him full force in the stomach.
"Hands off my girl!"
"Stop it!" you shouted as you followed them. No one listened to you.
Haknyeon scrambled to his feet and unceremoniously punched Gaston in the jaw.
"I don't think she's YOUR girl. Who do you think you are? Walk-in on her with a bouquet of flowers and think you've been courting her?"
Gaston muttered something unintelligible and lunged at Haknyeon. Haknyeon deftly dodged and pushed Gaston to the ground.
"Get out of here," Haknyeon growled to Gaston.
Your father had witnessed the tumult and was now at your side.
"What's going on here?" he asked, and you didn't quite know how to explain to him that you had just been proposed to by the village beau, had turned him down, and now Gaston and Haknyeon were fighting.
It was like something out of a cheesy novel. Your father didn't seem to expect an answer and approached the two. They both stopped fighting and your father told them both that it was not right to run around on his property and that they should get lost. A little perplexed, they both stared at your father but agreed. Gaston went towards the village while Haknyeon went to the forest.
When Haknyeon reached the forest, he turned to you again. Your heart ached and you couldn't explain why you wanted to run to him when you were so angry with him.
Your father came to you again and said: "Those tramps. They must have wanted to steal my invention!”
You couldn't help but smile at that.
"How about a cup of tea and a piece of cake, my dear?" your father asked.
You agreed and turned your back on Haknyeon, who was still staring at you.
Later, when you were about to start cooking dinner, it knocked again. You sighed hoping it wasn’t Gaston again. You opened the door and Haknyeon stood there.
Before you could say anything or even let him in, he said: “Hey, I know you probably don’t want to see me, but I really need to apologize.”
You open the door a bit wider to let him in and went to the stove to make some tea. Haknyeon closed the door behind him and sat down at the kitchen table.
"I'm really sorry, Y/N!" Haknyeon started, "I shouldn't have said these things to your potential suitor and shouldn't punch him. I'm sure he is a nice guy. I'm sorry I ruined his proposal. You're going to marry anyway, right?"
Astonished, you turned around. "What makes you think I want to marry him? Actually, his proposal took me completely by surprise."
Haknyeon smiled sheepishly: "I can understand him very well on that point. Who wouldn't want to marry you?"
You felt your cheek flush and tried to concentrate on pouring the tea.
"I don't want to marry him and I won't!" you said quietly as you put the tea down in front of Haknyeon.
When you looked up, Haknyeon was already looking at you and his look was somehow hopeful. But there was more. But before you could lose yourself in his eyes, you turned away again.
"I'm still mad at you though. Not because you ruined the proposal."
"Look, I know, I shouldn't have left that night. But I can't stay here."
You started to get very annoyed: "Why not? Just tell me!"
"I can't!" he replied.
"Then leave and don't come back until you can."
Haknyeon was silent for a moment but then stood up.
Just as you were beginning to regret your words, he said, "Please don't try to kill the beast, ok? It will kill you first!"
"Go!" you replied coldly.
With a sigh, he left into the rain again. As you watched him go, you decided the beast will die soon.
The next days you prepared everything for your beast hunt. Gaston showed up one day to ask again if you want to marry him. You dismiss him with a simple no and after a while, he left. Haknyeon didn't show up, but you secretly wished he would. Your heart seemed to long for him. Your dreams were filled with him and every time you thought about him, your heart ached. Is that what love feels like?
You also prepare everything in case you won't survive the night. Someone needed to take care of your father. You talked to an old lady in the village and she agreed to look after him in two days. Her husband was a soldier and when he came back he had also lost his mind. He was now in the asylum and his wife was forbidden to visit him. She understood that you couldn’t let your father go there.
As the night of the beast hunt came, you felt a tiny bit nervous. It was raining, which means finding the traces of the beast would be hard. Also was there a higher risk of slipping. But you went anyways. Not much later, the howling of the beast started. It must have been near you. You started walking in the direction of the howling. You needed to find the beast before it found you, so you hurried through the forest.
The training had made you more agile and now you practically flew through the forest. The next howl was very far away and came from a completely different direction. You changed your direction and a little bit later you found your first traces of the beast. You followed those, but you never came close to the howling.
You were confused. Where is this beast? It is a predator. They don’t hide.
You kept following the traces which ended in the ruins where Haknyeon lived. And then you saw it. His deformed body was on top of one of the ruins. His red gleaming eyes were staring at you. You stood there frozen. The beast didn’t move as well. Is Haknyeon here? Where is he? Is he hurt?
You looked around for him. You heard a loud thud and when you looked up again the beast had disappeared.
“Haknyeon?” you yelled and started searching the ruins for him.
The thought of him being hurt sent you into complete panic mode. You searched the ruins and its surrounding the whole night. No trace of him. Luckily, the beast didn’t come back.
In the early morning hours, you found Haknyeon. He was covered in dirt and blood. He was lying unconscious in a small stream. You ran over to him and dragged his head out of the water and into your lap. With shaking hands, you tried to feel his pulse. When you felt his pulse, breathed out loudly, feeling relieved. You shook him gently while caressing his hair. Slowly he opened his eyes.
As he saw you he smiled and your heart skipped a beat. His hand reached up to your face and gently whipped away your tears. You didn’t even realise you were crying.
“What happened? Why are you crying, beautiful?” he asked with a hoarse voice.
“You happened! I thought you were dead. I searched the whole night for you.”
“You did?” he asked.
The surprise was on his face for a short second but then it was replaced with a cocky smirk.
“You like me!” he stated.
“I thought you know that!” you replied and splashed some water in his face.
A boyish grin took over his face and he moved away from your lap and started splashing you with water as well.
You giggled: “Stop. Aren’t you hurt?”
“Nope!” he replied and continued on with splashing water at you.
You decided to also attack him with water. And soon you both played fighting in the middle of the small stream and you both couldn't stop giggling. Haknyeon’s arms were wrapped around you to keep you from splashing water at him. You squirmed in his grip as he pulled you close to him. You stopped squirming when you realised your faces were only inches apart. You looked into his eyes which were staring so lovingly at you. It still hurt that he wouldn’t tell you why he is staying in the forest. It just didn’t make sense. Doesn’t he trust you enough? You just wanted him to be safe.
He laid his forehead against yours and as if he had heard your thought he said: “I’m sorry. I just can’t tell you everything. And I’m afraid you run away from me!”
“Please try!”, you mumbled.
Both of your eyes began to water.
He placed a fleeting kiss on your lips and then whispered: "I'm cursed. And I physically can't tell you anything about my curse."
“The curse keeps you in the forest?” you asked and he nodded.
You slung your arms around his neck and hugged him. He pushed his head into your neck.
You heard of curses before. You knew there weren’t just stories to scare children. When you were younger, there was this cursed man who couldn’t remember his name and life anymore. He didn’t even know he was cursed. The curse was broken when he found out was his name was.
“Can you show me your curse?” you asked.
He shook his head.
“Do you know how to break it?”
“I have an idea. But it feels impossible," he mumbled into your neck and cuddled closer to you.
“I will try to help you, ok?”
He just nodded at that and moved his hand under your thigh to carry you. With you in his arms, he went out of the water and laid you gently on the grass growing at the edge. He bent over you and looked at you again with those loving eyes.
"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me," he said softly, his hand tenderly stroking your cheek.
You smiled at him and pulled his face closer to you.
Then, he kissed you. You still had so many questions, but his kiss and his proximity made you forget about everything. As his lips moved against yours, time seemed to stop and nothing else but he was important now. As he slowly pulled away, you didn’t allow him to be more than a few centimetres away from your lips. He chuckled lowly. One of his hands caressed your side lovingly.
“I’m not going anywhere!” he breathed out against your lips.
“You’re not close enough!” you replied, still a little breathless.
Still, you pulled him into another kiss. This one was more intense and you wrapped your legs around his waist to pull his body flush against yours. Haknyeon groaned into the kiss when your hips touched. He couldn’t help but grind a little into you, which made you moan in return. Your hand went into his hair and you pulled lightly. He kissed you again with more lust. Your body began to feel very hot from the fiery kisses you shared and you wanted more of him.
But Haknyeon began to slow down the kiss. You whined against his lips. He pecked your lips several times as an apology.
“You don’t deserve this. I should take you to the castle and make love to you on a huge bed.” Haknyeon mumbled with his eyes still closed.
“Which castle?” you giggled and softly run your fingers through his still-wet hair.
A blush crept up his cheek: "The one, you deserve to live in.”
You giggled again and Haknyeon showered you with short pecks all over your face, so would keep giggling. When he was finished, he smiled proudly at you. A small breeze came through the trees and made you shiver. You were still soaking from the rain last night and your shenanigans in the water with Haknyeon. He noticed immediately and rubbed your arms to warm you up a little bit.
“We should get you home before you get sick. Your father is probably worried.” Haknyeon said and sat up while pulling you with him.
As you two walked through the forest, Haknyeon kept you close to him in hopes to warm you a little bit.
“Has the Beast something to do with the curse?” you asked as you reached the meadow by your cottage.
Haknyeon didn’t answer but he didn’t have to. You were pretty sure that his curse and the beast were connected.
As you reached the cottage, you told Haknyeon to wait for a minute. Inside you went straight to your jewellery box and took out an amulet with a rose on it. You went back to Haknyeon and told him to close his eyes. With a grin, he closed his eyes and then he tried to relax his lips.
He was hoping you would kiss him and you couldn't let him down, so you gave him a quick kiss. Haknyeon had other plans. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you closer, effectively prolonging the kiss. You smiled against his lips and softly laid the amulet around his neck.
As the lock clicked into place, Haknyeon detached himself from you. He looked back and forth between you and the amulet in amazement.
“It’s a little present. So you’re not completely alone. I’m always with you.” you explained and felt heat rush to your cheeks again.
Haknyeon’s cheeks also turned red but looked really touched and grateful. He pulled you again into a kiss. It was a very soft and loving kiss.
“When will I see you again?”, you asked him.
“Soon. I try to come tomorrow, okay?”
You only nodded. Your heart ached at the thought of letting him go.
“Will you promise to stay out of the forest?”
“Nope!”
He sighed: “I already thought so. But I thought asking wouldn’t hurt.”
He gave you a kiss on your temple and mumbled: “Thank you!”
You smiled at him and neither of you wanted to go.
“Please go inside now and warm up.”, Haknyeon whispered against your hair as he pulled you into a hug.
“Not before you leave!”, you replied.
Slowly, Haknyeon let go of you and started to walk backwards.
“Turn around. You will fall!” you scolded him.
He just grinned and shook his head. So you have to endure, Haknyeon walking backwards to the forest. When he has disappeared between the trees, you want into the cottage to wash up.
You had a lot to do today. First of all, tell the old lady in the village you survived the night and she doesn’t have to look after your father. Secondly, visit the library to find out more about curses and how to break them. And lastly, find a way to kill the beast. The beast puts Haknyeon in danger every night and maybe if the beast is dead, his curse will be broken.
After visiting the old lady, you went to the library. You found out if you’re cursed you can’t talk about your curse and how to break it. People close to the cursed shouldn’t help, that’s why witches took this precaution. A witch couldn’t take back her curse, so searching for the witch who cursed Haknyeon wasn’t really an option.
The curses are often inspired by fairytales. You searched in your mind, for a fairytale with a beast. The first one that came to your mind was Beauty and The Beast. Could Haknyeon be the Beast? You thought back to the first night you met both of them. He saved you from the beast and you once heard the beast while you were with Haknyeon. It didn’t really make sense. But maybe killing the beast isn’t the best idea. Just in case, you thought. Maybe catching the beast with a trap would get you more clarity. But you knew nothing about traps, so you decided to visit Gaston.
Gaston wasn’t home, but he was in the local tavern. You didn’t have a good feeling while you entered the tavern. You spotted Gaston drinking with his friend in a corner. You walked over to them.
“Hi! Gaston? Do you have a minute?”
“Have you changed your mind?” he slurred and almost fell out of his chair.
His friend laughed.
“No, but I need your help. I need to know how to build a trap!” you said.
“Depends on what you want to catch?”, a friend of his who is much soberer answered.
“A beast?”, you said and they all laughed again.
One of the older hunters came to the table: “A beast? The same story that your father tries to tell us?”
You hesitantly nodded and everyone else laughed.
“Get the pastor and send someone to the cottage to get her father. They both have lost their mind. They’re crazy. She keeps seeing a boy that doesn’t exist.” Gaston said, he still sounded drunk but no one cared.
He was popular, after all. You, on the other hand, weren't.
“Is that true? You see a boy?” a middle-aged woman asked.
“No. Haknyeon does really exist," you replied angrily.
“Oh, he has a name.” the woman laughed and everyone else joined.
“And where does your boy live?”
“In the forest!” you replied before you could shut yourself up.
Everyone laughed again but you didn’t care. You needed to get out of here. As you turned to the door to leave as fast as possible, the older hunter gripped your arm so tight that it hurt.
“Let me go!”, you hissed, but it was no use.
Before you knew it, you were locked in a carriage. Not much later, the villagers threw your father into the carriage with you.
"Papa! Are you all right?" you asked as you crawled to him.
He nodded, dazed.
"My dear, what are they going to do to us?"
You shrugged even though you already had a pretty good idea where they were going to take you. To the asylum. The carriage started moving. When the carriage stopped, you were met by guards in front of the asylum. When the heavy gates closed behind you, you felt so helpless again. How you hated that feeling. Would it never end?
Your father and you were locked in a cell together with the comment that the doctor would be here soon to take you for a first examination.
"I didn't know we were sick, my dear," your father said.
"We're not!" you grumbled as you paced up and down the cell.
Your father lay down on one of the beds. You didn't understand how he could relax with the agonising screams that came to you from time to time. You had to find a way out of here as quickly as possible.
The doctor arrived earlier than expected and had guards lead you both through the building to an examination room. On the way, you caught a glimpse of a crowd of tortured souls sitting whimpering in the corners of their cells. Soon your father and you would be one of them. And you could no longer help Haknyeon? But maybe he could help you? But that only happened in fairy tales. Gaston and his friends would probably hunt him to death at the latest. You really underestimated Gaston's jealousy.
Your thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the examination room. All sorts of bloody equipment hung on the wall and the doctor donned a bloody apron. Your stomach turned and you began to struggle against the guards' grip.
"Well, let's start with the young lady."
You were strapped to the table so that you could no longer move. Another gag was shoved into your mouth.
"What are you doing with my daughter?" your father asked indignantly, "She doesn't know anything about my inventions!"
The doctor laughed and ordered the guards to tie him to the chair. He was also gagged, for you only heard muffled sounds from him.
“That will hurt now a little.” the doctor said and felt how something is injected into your arms.
Shortly afterwards you felt your body getting heavy and you couldn't even move your fingers. You were briefly lit up once in the eyes. Then something cool was pressed to your temples. A little later you heard a slight chill and then an unbelievable pain went through your body and your muscles tensed up. Your scream was stifled by the gag. You wanted to move away from the cold metal touching your head but there was no escape. After the third shock, you passed out and woke up when you were back in your cell.
Your father lay in the bed on the opposite side. You were feeling dizzy but you got up anyway to check up on your father. His breath was steady and didn’t seem to have any injuries. You sighed with relief and went back to your own bed. Your body felt drained from all energy and you just wanted to sleep. As laid down, you close your eyes and could feel sleep taking over.
But then you were startled awake by a howl. At first, you thought you were dreaming. But the howl became louder and you heard the clashing of metal against stones. Some patients screamed, but that wasn’t really unusually.
You got up again as you heard a roar again. It sounded like the beast. You went to the bars that separated you from your freedom. One of the patients, whose skull was shaved bald and covered with scars, ran past.
"Wait!" you shouted, "What's going on?"
"A beast is here and it's tearing open the cells!" the patient shouted in panic and ran on.
You tried as best you could to stick your head out of the cell to look in the direction where the patient had come from. More and more patients ran past you and the turmoil grew even bigger. The first thing you saw was his red eyes. It was indeed the beast, fighting its way through the corridor. By now there were also several guards trying to fight the beast.
You retreated back into the cell and crawled to your father. You shook him awake. Confused and dazed, he looked around.
"The beast is here!" you whispered and his gaze immediately cleared.
"Crawl under the bed, dear," he ordered you and you obeyed.
He came to you under the bed. A little later, the beast stood in front of your cell and tore the bars out of the wall and threw them at the guards. It was bigger than you remembered which didn’t make it any less frightening. It didn't notice you and went to the next cell. Your father crawled under the bed. You followed it and your father helped you up.
"Let's get out of here before it comes back," your father said and dragged you out of the now open cell.
He turned in the direction away from the beast, but you couldn't help turning around to look at the beast. It was by now surrounded by guards and had to endure several stabs from their spears. What if Haknyeon was the beast? Then you had to help him. And you stopped running.
"Come!" urged your father.
Then the beast looked up and looked you straight in the eye. All your focus was on the beast. It knocked the guards aside, slapping them against the wall like dolls. Then it ran towards you and your father called your name. But you did not react. You stood rooted to the spot. Why else would the beast be here if it is not Haknyeon?
The beast came to a halt in front of you and let out a growl. Then you discovered the amulet dangling around the beast's neck.
"Haknyeon!" you breathed and reached out your trembling hand to him.
The beast came even closer. Neither you nor the beast saw your father coming. He had taken the spear of an unconscious guard and was charging at the beast. When its muzzle touched your hand, it crackled in the air and the beast's chest began to glow.
It was into this glow that your father thrust his spear. The beast sacked to the ground.
"Haknyeon!" you shouted and ran to the beast, which slowly began to change into a boy.
Haknyeon knelt on the ground, the spear still in his chest. Blood began to pour out of his mouth.
He coughed a little before speaking softly, "You have broken the curse."
Tears streamed down your face as you panicked, trying to calm the bleeding around the spear.
"My brother and I were both very conceited, so a witch cursed us. Every night we would become beasts and the curse can only be broken if someone loves both sides of us," Haknyeon explained.
"I didn't know you had a brother," you said as you tried to prop him up.
"He was the one who had hurt you and also your father. He is now more beast than man. He has started to change during the day. Every night he wanted to go out of the forest to attack people. I fought with him every night to stop him."
Everything seemed to make sense now.
"What is your brother doing now?" you asked, realising what it might mean if Haknyeon was here now and not stopping his brother.
Haknyeon murmured: "I'm sorry. I know the people in the village don't deserve it. But I couldn't leave you here."
You looked up to your father who was standing next to you pale as a sheet, guilt written all over his face.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"It's okay. You were trying to protect your daughter. I probably would have done the same."
"You would never have hurt me!"
"No. I would have killed myself before that."
More tears stream down your face as Haknyeon's eyelids slowly began to flutter.
"No, please don't." you pleaded, "Stay with me!"
You heard the guards starting to collect the patients again and put them in other still intact cells.
"Go now! Get as far away as you can with your father. Start a new life, far away from here."
"No, I won't."
"I'm beyond help. Go!" he gasped, coughing up more blood.
"The boy is right. Let's go."
"I love you!" you murmured desperately, unwilling to break away from him.
"I love you too. You're the best thing that's happened to me. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
He smiled weakly and darted away briefly, driving the spear deeper into his chest. Your vision was blinded by your tears but you felt how you were picked up. You trashed against the hold, but the grip was strong. You saw the bleeding Haknyeon getting smaller and smaller. The last thing you saw was how he completely collapsed. You had found the love of your life and managed to break his curse, just to lose him.
Genre: eeehmm… fake dating!au; enemies to lovers/friends, angst?, some short fluffy moments
Word Count: around 1.8k
A/N: i had some trouble with finding out if this has any triggers or not, if you found it triggering, please tell me why and i add those as warnings
You took one last look in the mirror. You looked good, you decided. Still, you couldn't help but be nervous as hell. Your stomach felt like it was turning the whole time and, you wanted to change again and spend the evening in bed. Unfortunately, you couldn't, because the charity event tonight was organised by your own mother. She expected you to be there and act like the perfect child. The perfect child, of course, also included the perfect partner, successful and good-looking. And you had this kind of partner until three weeks ago. He broke up with you. He no longer had feelings for you and was falling in love with someone else. He didn't cheat on you, but you were still hurt and had feelings for him. To make it worse, he was a friend of the family and therefore, he will attend the event tonight, most likely accompanied by the person he had fallen in love with.
A glance at the clock told you that your date was late. Of course, you thought. Ji Changmin was a colleague of yours. He was successful and good-looking. However, you didn't like each other very much. He knew everything better and only cared about himself. He probably thought you were bitchy and overbearing. But he was the best choice if you wanted to keep your dignity tonight. Who knows, maybe you could even make your ex jealous and come back to you.
Changmin was 10 minutes late by now. If he's any later, you thought, I certainly won't help him with his project. Convincing Changmin to go to the charity event as your date was kinda damaging for your pride, but he didn't think much of you anyway, so why not try. It probably even gave him satisfaction to see you begging him. Of course, he wanted something in return. He wanted you to help him with his upcoming big project. Not like you don't have enough work on your desk already, you thought.
Finally, the doorbell rang and, you pulled open the door to your apartment. "About time. My mum will kill me if we're any later." He just rolled his eyes and muttered, "Nice to see you too." At his car, he opened the passenger door and let you in. He jogged around the car, got in and drove off. Both of you were silent and, it wasn't a pleasant silence either. Changmin seemed to feel the same way because he cleared his throat and said, "Shall we go through our story again?" "It might make sense!" you sighed and started, "Well, we know each other from the company. Probably the only thing that isn't a lie!" "We used to have lunch together. And I liked you for quite some time, so I mustered up all my courage and asked you out," Changmin continued, his words dripping with mockery. "I was a little surprised, but I agreed. On our first date at an Italian restaurant, we found out that we get along really well and have a lot in common", you continued the story unimpressed by Changmin's behaviour. "Like tennis, for example" "I hate tennis!" you interjected. "Not tonight!" Changmin returned, grinning. "Do you have to make it harder than it already is?" you sighed. "Yep!" Changmin returned cheerfully, "Sometimes it's easier, to tell the truth! You'll learn that tonight!" "Are you threatening me? Listen, if you ruin this tonight, you can forget about my help with your oh-so-great project. And I promise you, your job at the company will feel like hell!" Changmin laughed, obviously not bothered by your threat. "All good. I'll try my best to impress your mother. After all, there are many influential people there tonight." "Are you using me to make new connections?" you asked, shocked. The thought hadn't occurred to you.
Changmin didn't answer any more, because you had arrived. After he parked, he got out and opened the door for you. You took another deep breath before you took his hand, which he held out to you. It was pleasantly warm and warmed your nervous cold hands. His thumb gently stroked the back of your hand as if he had sensed your nervousness.
Shortly after you entered the event hand in hand, your mother floated towards you. She hugged you and gave you a kiss on the cheek. "How nice that you finally found your way here." "Hi Ma, this is Changmin. Changmin, this is my mother." "Nice to meet you! Sorry for being late. Y/N had a bit of an outfit dilemma." said Changmin with a charming smile. Your jaw dropped. Did he really just say that you thought. Your mother paid no attention to you, laughing at Changmin's comment, "Yeah, that's how you know them." "Come along, there's someone over there I want you to meet." She led the way and, Changmin held out his arm for you to hook onto. You took his arm and whispered to him, "What was that all about? You were the one who was late!" "Yep, but that doesn't make a good impression!" he said with a grin. You gave him one last dirty look before putting on your charming smile as you were both introduced to a handful of important people.
After a while, you had a little break from Changmin as he was deep in conversation with some businessman. And then you saw him, your ex. Before you could hide, he had already spotted you and came to you. "Y/N! How nice to see you!" he said and gave you a quick hug. "H-Hi!" you stuttered and were probably already as red as a tomato. "Your mum said you're not here alone?" your ex asked. "Y-yes, um no. I'm here with Changmin. From the company." "Oh really? I always thought you didn't like that guy." "Yeah." you said, laughing nervously, "Turns out he's quite nice." Your ex eyed you sceptically. "And we have a lot in common. Tennis, for example. I love tennis."
Before the conversation could get any more awkward, you felt two arms wrap around you from behind and how someone gently kissed your cheek. "There you are. Shall we go to the buffet?" said Changmin and pulled you closer to him. You were a little speechless and stunned by the sudden closeness to Changmin and only glanced at your ex, who continued to look at you sceptically. Changmin followed your gaze: "Hi, I'm Changmin," he said, but his friendliness seemed fake. Your ex only nodded briefly and turned to leave.
Changmin pulled you towards the buffet and whispered: "My God, that was pathetic. Stuttering around and blushing. Not being able to get a sentence out. Your ex couldn't have been that great." Annoyed, you pushed his arms away from you and stomped to the buffet on your own. Changmin followed you and asked with a grin, "Did I upset you?" Swinging, you turn around and glare at him angrily, "You're a fricking idiot! You don't have to like me ok? But please pretend tonight." You barely managed to stop the tears, turned around and disappeared into the toilet.
Fortunately, no one else was there and Changmin did not follow you. It took a while, but then you felt ready to face the world again. When you left the bathroom, Changmin was standing there, waiting. When he saw you, he came up to you and pulled you into his arms. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." "Yes, you did," you grumbled, but you wrapped your arms around him anyways and returned his embrace. A hug was exactly what you needed right now. And it didn't matter now that the hug came from someone who didn't like you. Changmin gently stroked your back, "How long does your mother expect you to stay here?" "Until the end, I'm afraid!" you sighed. "And what if you're not feeling well?" Before you could answer, your mother came up to you. "Are you all right? Have you been crying?" she asked you when she saw your face. You were about to shake your head when Changmin said, "They're not feeling well. I'll take them home now." "Oh, they shouldn't make such a fuss! I'll get you aspirin and you'll be fine," your mother replied. "It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but we're leaving now," Changmin said firmly and pushed you past your mother towards the exit.
The ride home was silent, but this time it was a more comfortable silence. "Thank you!" you whispered barely audibly, but Changmin seemed to have heard because he reached for your hand and his thumb began gently stroking the back of your hand as he did before. A little later, you realised Changmin was driving the wrong way, "Changmin, you should have turned right." "I know, but I'm still hungry and I thought we both deserve a proper meal now," he said, stopping in front of a fast-food restaurant.
Totally overdressed, you went into the restaurant and ordered. While you were eating, you noticed Changmin's hamster cheeks and started giggling. "What is it?" he asked. "You look cute with your hamster cheeks," you said, still giggling. Changmin glared at you, "You're on thin ice. Very thin ice." You laughed even more and, he couldn't help but smile a little too. During the rest of the meal, you had your first real conversation and realised that you actually had some things in common. And it really wasn't tennis. Afterwards, Changmin drove you home and accompanied you to your flat door. When you were standing in front of it, it was kind of awkward. Do you now shake hands or hug each other goodbye? You opened the door and turned to him again: "Thank you very much. I don't know how I would have done it without you today." "No problem. Sorry again. You're not pathetic." You rolled your eyes with a smile, "I know myself that it's high time for me to get over him." "If you need help again, let me know," he said. "Thanks!" you said again and then wrapped your arms around his body and buried your face in his chest. A little hesitantly, he also wrapped his arms around you and gently stroked your back. A little later, he gently kissed your temple. "It will be alright," he murmured as you broke away from each other. You smiled at him one last time and then went inside. Maybe he's not that bad.
Back in the car, Changmin let his head fall down on the steering wheel. He couldn't get the sentence: "You don't have to like me ok? But please pretend tonight. " out of his head. At that moment, he would have liked to reply, "But what if I actually do like you." But no, he had to stand there like an idiot and said nothing.
Warnings: alcohol consumption, if you're not comfortable with it, skip it, please
Words Count: 587
It was a rather cold night and, you were sitting on the balcony of your tiny city apartment staring at the night skyline. Living in a large city can be lonely, you thought. You pulled the blanket tighter around you. The balcony door opened and your boyfriend, Seonghwa, came out with a new bottle of wine, the second of the evening.
If you weren't careful, you'd be in bed tomorrow with a hangover. He kissed you on the cheek and poured you a glass. "I shouldn't drink so much anymore!" you mutter. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you tomorrow if you have a hangover" "Like you won't have one!" He just laughed and poured himself one too. "Then we stay together in bed all day. How about that?" Then he sat down next to you and crawled under the covers with you. "Sounds good.", you said as you snuggled up to him to warm up a little. He gave you your glass and also shoved a strawberry into your mouth.
"What are we toasting to now?" he asked. You and Seonghwa had a tradition of toasting to something every time. Sometimes it was trivial things, but it was always things that made you both happy. However, by now, you had run out of ideas. "How about us?", Seonghwa suggested, "We've never toasted to ourselves and, since this is our second anniversary, it's about time." "Really? Well, here's to us then! Cheers!" You both took a sip of wine. Why did wine have to taste so good too? If it at least tasted bad the danger of a hangover wouldn't be so high.
Seonghwa brought you out of your thoughts by gently turning your face to him and placing his lips on yours. You tasted the wine and, it was a gentle kiss, but still, Seonghwa let you feel all his emotions. And if that wasn't enough, he murmured, "I love you," as he slowly pulled away from your lips. You couldn't help but smile. As lonely as living in a big city can be, everything was better with Seonghwa. "I love you too!" you whisper back. His nose gently brushed against yours. You both closed your eyes to just be in the moment with each other.
After a while, you open your eyes again. Seonghwa's eyes were already open and looking at you as if you were the most precious thing he had ever looked at. "You mean the world to me. I don't want a life without you," Seonghwa whispered and, his eyes began to water. "No, don't cry!" you whispered since your eyes began to water as well. "I just love you so much!" "I love you too. More than you can imagine." This time you closed the gap between your lips.
"I think I'm drunk," Seonghwa muttered, "drunk on you." "What's wrong with you?" you giggled. He shrugged and gave you a peck on the nose. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm madly in love with you." "Maybe it's just the wine going to your head." "You don't love me!" whined Seonghwa jokingly and hid his face in your neck. "Okay, that's it. No more wine for you.", you giggled and kissed him on his temple. He cuddled even more into you.
He still mumbled something inaudible, but a little while later, he fell asleep. You finished your glass of wine while you felt at peace. Seonghwa was precious to you and, maybe, you thought, moving in together wouldn't be a bad idea.
Genre: Fluff (To all my friends who are allergic to kisses and commitment: be careful while reading)
Word Count: 697
It was a sunny day with a slight breeze which made the weather perfect for a picnic date with Juyeon. You brought your badminton bats with you and played in the grass. Neither you nor Juyeon was very good at badminton. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun. Especially when Juyeon was dramatically running after the ball and striking funny poses while picking it up. You weren't fully aware of it, but Juyeon lived for your laugh and him being the reason you laughed was even better. So he continued with his acting performance while playing.
After finally managing to get 20 passes, you both sat down exhausted on the picnic blanket. Juyeon laid down with his head in your lap. Softly, you began to play with his hair. Juyeon closed his eyes and hummed. You smiled down at him and took some time to stare at his handsome face. You stopped playing with his hair to pick up a grape to eat which caused Juyeon to whine. "Please, don't stop!" "But I'm hungry." "I'll feed you", Juyeon suggested. He picked up another grape and held it in front of your mouth. At the same time, he pushed your hands back into his hair. You ate his grape and resumed playing with his hair. You both stayed like this for a while, just enjoying each other presence. Occasionally, he fed you a grape. Slowly, Juyeon started to fall asleep.
"Hey, don't fall asleep on me!" "I'm sorry. I just can't help it when you play with my hair. It's just so soothing... relaxing." He smiled at you and butterflies erupted in your stomach. He sat up and gently pecked your nose. Then your cheeks, next was your forehead. Until he kissed every inch of your face except your lips. You pouted at him, which made him chuckle and finally, he kissed your lips. It was a light and soft kiss but still filled with pure love. Juyeon was not ready to just end the kiss, so he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you closer to kiss you again. You giggled against his lips and pulled away playfully. He pulled you tighter against him and laid you down, so he was laying on top of you. He kissed you again, but this time with more passion. "You know, there is a playground right there!" you mumbled breathlessly against his lips.
Hesitantly, he retreated from your lips and went back to his original position with his head in your lap and moved your hand into his hair. He gently took hold of your other hand and placed gentle kisses all over your knuckles. "You know, sometimes I wish we both could just stay here in this moment for the rest of our lives." "We can go out for a picnic more often if you want to!" "Hmm, that's not it!" You looked at him questioningly. "I think I want to marry you!" he said with a smirk. You slapped his chest. "Stop!" Juyeon sat up again: "No, no. I'm serious! I've been thinking about it for a while now." He hovered over you again and gently caressed the side of your face. "Juyeon..." you mumbled. "Shh, It's fine. You don't have to say that you're thinking about marrying too, ok?" You smiled at him. "But I do!" He beamed at you and kissed you again with a lot of passion. After that, you both smiled at each other and started giggling since you both just couldn't contain your happiness.
"Hey lovebirds, I hope you left us some food!" Eric yelled. Sunwoo kicked his football to both of you. Ah yes, you remembered now these two wanted to join you. You both sat up a bit and were both smiling like idiots. When Sunwoo and Eric arrived at your picnic blanket. "What happened?", Sunwoo asked and eyed you suspiciously. "Nothing", you both said in unison. Sunwoo and Eric looked unconvinced but decided not to press more on the matter. Instead, they sat down and started to eat the sandwiches you made earlier that day. Juyeon took your hands and you both joined the other two, eating sandwiches.
This was requested by @starzalign, thank you so much again for your request/ idea, hope you like it
You immediately realized that something was off. The letter Yunho threw into the bin didn't look like a random note that he found in his jacket and decided he didn't need it anymore. There had to be more behind it. You walked up to Yunho, whose eyes were still fixed on the letter. You followed his gaze. "Why would you throw away an unopened letter?" Yunho jumped in shock. He didn't hear you coming. "Gosh, why did you have to scare me like that!" Yunho said and put his hand over his heart. You laughed. It didn't help to cease the pounding of Yunho's poor heart. "Let's go! We're going to be late!" he said, in hopes, you forget about the letter. "Wait! What if something important is written in this letter? You will never know if you don't open it." you said as you reached for the letter. "The paper looks beautiful. It could be a love letter for you.", you said excitedly.
Yunho sighed. He didn't know how to get out of this without telling you that he is completely head over heels for you. Should he just pretend that the letter is for him? But he was sure you would want to read it as well. "Who gave you this letter? Or is it a secret admirer?" you said and tried your best to sound as excited as possible. Yunho deserved all the love in the world. You wanted him to be happy. You wanted him to be with you. But for the last part, you were willing to renounce for his happiness. Even thou you could deeply feel the pain in your heart at the thought of Yunho being happy with someone else.
Yunho sighed again. You seemed to be excited. You weren't sad or jealous that someone else might be interested in him, which would indicate to him that you would be interested in him. But there still was the urge from last night to tell you everything. And at that moment, Yunho made a decision. "I wrote this letter!" Yunho breathed out. You looked at him confused. "The letter is for you!" "Aww, that's sweet. But why would you throw it away?" There was a massive slump in Yunho's throat, his mouth was dry, his palms were sweating, and his face heated up. Now it was too late anyway he could just tell you. But the fear of rejection was still lingering around him. He swallowed heavily: "It's a love letter for you. I really like you a lot and you don't leave my mind. So I wrote this about you last night." He took a deep breath: It was out now. It kind of felt relieving. "I threw it away because I didn't have the guts to give it to you. I'm scared you will reject me. I'm scared of losing you." To say you were surprised was an understatement. Before you were standing Mr Perfect, who just chickened out to tell you his crush on you. To be honest, it made you like it even more. He was too cute with his red cheeks, his nervous wandering hands. "Can I read the letter?" you asked.
Well, that was not no, wasn't it, Yunho thought and nodded. You opened the letter and began reading it. Yunho felt awkward while waiting for you to finish reading. The nervousness and fear were about to kill him. He looked up to the sky to distract himself. Suddenly he felt your arms wrap around him tightly in a crushing hug. His heart was pounding even harder. He also wrapped his arms around you, and you buried your face in his chest. "It's beautiful!" you mumbled into his shirt. Gently, Yunho stroked your hair. That was kind of half of a yes, he thought. "So you liked the letter, hmm?" You nodded and hugged him tighter, not having the intention to ever let him go. "And what about me?" You giggled. "I'm surprised you didn't notice me crushing on you for almost 2 years." He laughed. His heart was beating fast, but it felt light. "Yunho, I like you a lot too." you smiled up at him. He smiled back at him. "I'm definitely going to write to you back!" you announced after you two just basked in each other presence for a little while. He giggled: "I'm looking forward to it. And now that we're late anyway, how about we skip school for today and I take you out on a date?" "Sounds like a good plan. But I'm not ready to let you go just now!" "Me neither. I've waited so long for this." You hummed while smiling, drawing random figures on his back while he caressed your hair.
Legends say that they're still standing there hugging, lol
A shiver ran down your spine. Your body began to shake like it has a mind of its own. The idea of an outdoor date with Yeosang was lovely in theory. But now that you two were strolling through the snow, you began to kind of regret it. Staying home to watch a movie or to just lay around in the comfort of your own home did sound very tempting now. Nevertheless, the beauty of the snow in the forest kind of made up for the cold. You looked over to Yeosang and saw that he didn't seem to be as cold as you. "Sangie~" you whined, "How about we go back and watch a movie?" "Why would we do that? You wanted to go outside and enjoy nature. Aren't you enjoying it?" "Yes, but I'm cold..." "Well, if you would have dressed warmer, you wouldn't be cold now.", Yeosang teased with a smile. Even thou it seemed like Yeosang didn't really care about you being cold, he slung an arm around your shoulder to pull you closer and took your freezing hands in his. From the close proximity, your cheeks heated up. Since you and Yeosang were quite a new couple, everything was still fresh. Every little touch from Yeosang made you blush. He turned you both around and started walking in the opposite direction to get you home. From the outside, it didn't felt that much warmer, but Yeosangs action definitely warmed your heart. Everything inside you felt so fuzzy. "Thank you!" you mumbled. Yeosang just shrugged and kissed your temple lovingly. You looked up to him and saw that he wasn't as unaffected as he wanted to be. His cheeks were also a little red, and he was avoiding eye contact. You were sure if you asked him about it, he would claim it was just the cold. You wanted to spend some more time admiring his face, but it was interrupted by you slipping on the snow. As you fell, you took Yeosang down with you. "You really can't help but fall for me.", Yeosang laughed while you both laid in the snow. You also laughed when Yeosang stood up and helped you up. From the outside, it didn't look very gentlemen like since he grasped your jacket by the neck to pull you up. But it was effective because you couldn't stop laughing and were about to slip again. When you stood safely on your feet, his hands cupped your face, and he pulled you closer to him. "You alright?" There again was this warm and fuzzy feeling inside you. This time it was even worse since your faces were so close. You felt dizzy. You nodded quickly, and Yeosang smiled at you. You smiled back at him. At this moment, it was physically impossible to stop your love for him pouring out of you, so you quickly pecked his lips. Even thou, you didn't know it, he felt exactly the same at that very moment. All warm and fuzzy inside. He really needs to find a way to express his love more for you, he thought. Maybe it wasn't enough. "You know I love you!" he whispered. "Yes! I love you too!" you replied instantly. But maybe this was just right. On your way home, your cold hands were intertwined, but both of your hearts felt warm from love.
You sat peacefully at a window seat in your favourite cafe. You originally wanted to meet up with a friend, but they cancelled last minute. You were in the mood to treat yourself and decided to visit the cafe anyways. As you took in your surroundings, you spotted a handsome man and an older lady who were arguing about the last chicken sandwich. They both stared at each other with determined faces. The barista who offered them a tuna sandwich as an alternative had a helpless expression on his face because neither wanted it. After a minute-long staring contest, the man sighed and said he just wanted an Iced Americano. The older lady grabbed the sandwich before he could change his mind. She sat down on the other side of the cafe and munched happily on her sandwich. The defeated man sat down at the table next to you. Awkward eye contact was made, which led to both of you blushing and looking away. You found him quite attractive, so you felt an urge to look at him again. A short glance will not hurt, you told yourself. You looked over to him, only to find him already looking at you as well. Again, the two of you quickly looked away. You felt your cheeks heating up. You were sure you must be as red as a tomato by now. Why are you so awkward? How do other people start talking to people they find attractive? Your eyes fell to your untouched chicken sandwich. You thought about offering him one half of the sandwich to start a conversation. When you looked up, you see him eyeing your sandwich. He really must crave that chicken sandwich, you thought. Wordlessly, you moved the plate in his direction. He looked up at you with wide eyes. "You can take half of it if you want." "Really?" You just nodded. And then he gave you the prettiest smile you have ever seen. You immediately noticed his cute dimple. You smiled back at him. "Thank you!" he said and didn't hesitate to grab half your sandwich and took a massive bite. "I'm Sejun, by the way", he said in between bites. You stayed silent and just watched him finishing the sandwich in under a minute. "Wow, that was fast.", you said. He laughed at that and moved his seat to your table. "What's your name?" he asked. "Y/N.", you answered. "Can I have the other half of the sandwich as well?", Sejun asked after a moment of silence. You stared at him in disbelief. "I can buy you a tuna sandwich.", he offered with a cheeky smile. "No, the chicken sandwich is my favourite." "How about I buy you next time a chicken sandwich?" "Next time?" "Yeah, we could exchange numbers and meet up here again. Then I buy you as many chicken sandwiches as you want." You were flustered by him wanting to see you again. "You want to go out with me?" you blurted out. "Yeah, or just spoil you with sandwiches as friends, whatever you prefer." You smiled at that. "Okay, a date then." He flashed you his cute dimple and went to grab the second half of the sandwich.
It was 3 am, Yunho was still awake. His head wouldn't let him sleep. The thought of you kept him awake. He never imagined that love could hurt so much. The beating of his heart was way too fast, considering all he was doing was laying in bed. His hands got all sweaty just because he was thinking about you. In Yunho's eyes, you were the most beautiful human being he ever had laid his eyes on. He wondered when he started thinking that way about you. Maybe it was the first year in High School, or it started even sooner, he didn't know. But what he knew was that he was falling more and more in love with you with every passing night. Deciding that he had enough of suffocating in his feeling and not knowing whether you feel the same about him or not, he got up and sat down on his desk. He got a pen and a piece of paper and started writing down his thoughts about you. At first, he didn't know where to begin, but soon he poured his whole heart onto the paper. There was so much he liked about you: the way you smile at him, how you always share your food with him, the way keep playing games with him, even thou you loose most of the times. He described how desperately he wanted to pull you into his embrace and never let go. How he wanted to keep you safe in his arms and how he craved to kiss you. He blushed at his writing. Was it too much? But he felt better now and finally was able to go to sleep. The next morning, he approached you, the weight of his letter heavy in his pocket and his heart beating erratically. But then he stopped in his tracks. What if you don't like him back? Would you still be friends after you rejected him? With a simple no, you could destroy all his dreams he had with you. Suddenly, breathing felt hard for Yunho. He couldn't and wouldn't risk that. He should wait a bit more to make sure you reciprocate his feelings. Before you could spot him, Yunho turned around and threw the letter in the next trash bin
