Finally saying goodbye to your Zoom meeting, you left the platform and closed the lid of your laptop, letting out a tired sigh. Gosh, you truly hated online classes. It sounded fun at first, but now it’s just dull and messy, you felt like you were making more progress on your own than doing the stupid exercises your professor had asked you to complete for today’s lecture.
Standing up, you raised your arms to the ceiling as you let out a groan, a few bones popping in your back as you stretched. Your office chair wasn’t the most comfortable one to work in, but you had no other choice since everything was now at home. You had tried to work in your bed, which was a bad idea because you fell asleep only after being 10 minutes in the lecture, so the only choice that you had was to work from your desk.
Going into the kitchen, you began rummaging through the cabinets and the fridge, in great search of a snack since your stomach was growling. Finding some chocolate chips next to some gingerbread, an idea immediately popped in your head.
Getting out some milk, butter, and flour, you put on your apron while the Internet page displaying a cookie recipe was loading. You hastily read through the webpage and started getting to work. While mixing the ingredients, you finally managed to clear your mind a bit by only thinking about the dough forming in front of you, wanting the cookies to be perfect for your loved ones. Your mind was going crazy, and you were growing tired, impatient for the holidays to come. You felt like you needed rest, but you weren’t going to get any as you could already see the pile of homework and assignments that you had for January 2021.
Placing the first batch in the oven, you wiped your hands on your apron before pushing a few strands of hair that had fallen out away from your face. You sat down a bit, scrolling on your phone to answer some messages when you realised that the batch wasn’t enough if you wanted to gift them to your friends. So you got up, washed your hands, and started everything all over again.
Your stomach started acting up again, so you quickly interrupted your mixture and got out the gingerbread from the cabinet, taking two slices and spread butter on it to make it a small sandwich. While eating, you realised that you’ve been in the silence since you started baking, and it was starting to get pretty deafening. Coming back in the kitchen with your phone in hand, you connected it to the Bluetooth speaker in the kitchen and jammed to Christmas songs while eating the last bits of your snack.
You didn’t hear the door of Hongjoong’s made-up producing room open, the smell of the flat surprising him.
“What’s that smell…” he murmured, sniffling in the middle of the corridor, drawn to the Christmas music coming from the kitchen. To his great surprise, you were there, humming along with the song, body slightly enjoying the rhythm coming out of the speaker.
”Are you baking cookies?” a gentle voice suddenly said behind you, slightly startling you as you thought he was still producing.
”Oh you’re here,” you smiled as Hongjoong came behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist while nuzzling his face in your neck. ”Yes, I’m making cookies for our friends and us,” you explained while you kept working, the presence of your boyfriend never bothering you as you moved around in the kitchen.
”Can I help?” your boyfriend offered after stifling a yawn, decorating your skin with kisses. You giggled at the ticklish sensation and nodded, not wanting to miss an opportunity to spend time with him. ”Tell me what I can do, love,” he said as he withdrew himself from you, eyeing the cookies that were in the oven. ”You can help me make the second batch of cookies if you want, or you can take them out once the oven will ring,” you suggested, and Hongjoong nodded, putting on his apron before washing his hands. Drying them by shaking them in the air, he came closer to you and wanted to steal a piece of the cookie mixture.
“Back off, you cute theft,” you said as you gently slapped his hand hovering above one chocolate chip.
”But you know I love chocolate,” he mumbled, a pout slightly appearing on his face.
”I know, but I also don’t want you to catch salmonella from eating raw food. It’s bad to eat raw eggs and chocolate chips on their own, plus it touched the dough, so no,” you said as you walked to the fridge and got a chocolate bar in foil to hand it to him.
”That a piece of that instead,” you said as if you were talking to a child. Hongjoong shook his head and refused the chocolate bar, placing it on the counter, making you chuckle and roll your eyes at his behaviour. You approached him, took the bar, and detached a square of chocolate, shoving it in your boyfriend’s mouth, something he gladly accepted.
“I swear I’m dating a child,” you mumbled under your breath, but he heard you, pouting as he back-hugged you again.
”But you love me, right?”
”Yes, yes I do,” you sighed, faking annoyance as you slightly turned your head to look at him. He pouted and kissed your cheek before you sent him to get the cookies out of the oven, so you could put in the second batch.
”They look so yummy,” your boyfriend said as his face neared the freshly baked cookies. You grabbed his curious hand with one of yours, the other cradling his face, your thumb and forefinger softly squeezing his cheeks to make him look at you. You gently kissed his cheek and made him step backwards, away from the burning cookies.
”You’re so not funny,” he sighed, and you chuckled, grabbing the trail to place the raw cookies in the oven. Hongjoong opened the lid for you and made sure that your upper body was away enough from the lid so that you wouldn’t burn yourself by being too close from the furnace.
A few slow Christmas songs came on, and your boyfriend seized the opportunity to distract you from cleaning the counter by grabbing your forearm to make you dance with him in the kitchen. You gave up and dropped the piece of cloth from your hand, wrapping your arms around him as he dragged you in an improvised slow dance in the middle of the kitchen.
The last rays of sunshine were making the kitchen glow in a beautiful beige, orangish colour, the warmth of the sunset being the finishing touch to the attention Hongjoong was giving you by letting his lips linger on your cheek, holding you close to him.
A few moments later, as another song was coming to an end, the oven emitted a ‘ding’ sound, alerting you that the cookies were done baking. Hongjoong wanted to pull away, but you kept him close to you.
“Babe, the cookies,” he said, and you giggled.
”Let’s just turn the oven off, I wanna stay in your arms,” you mumbled against his t-shirt, hands playing with it, your actions making him chuckle.
”Who’s the baby, now?” he smirked, and you gently slapped his forearm while he made his way to the oven with you still in his embrace. You heard him fumbling with the buttons, and the ventilation of the oven suddenly came to a stop, signalling you that it was off. Hongjoong’s grip around you tightened again, feeling his lips on the crown of your head as you stayed in each other’s embrace, the cookies were long forgotten as you remained in your imaginary bubble.
feeling that the warmth beside you is gone, you immediately woke up. you searched around the room for him, but he wasn’t around at all. just then, you smelt the sweet scent of pancakes and maple syrup downstairs. you jumped out of the bed and dashed down the stairs. there he was, preparing breakfast for you and himself while looking effortlessly handsome. you stood at the foot of the stairs for a short moment, staring at his flawless features, thinking how were you so lucky to have a boyfriend like him.
“have you stared enough baby?” he asked. you blushed and ran over to him, hugging him tight. “jeong yunho, why’d you leave me alone in bed,” you pouted and looked up at him. he smiled widely. “to make breakfast for you big baby.” you smiled at him and dragged him to the couch, wrapping your limbs around his body and burying your face in his chest.
“my dear koala, let’s eat first. the pancakes are getting cold,” yunho said, patting your head. you giggled and shook your head. “no, i wanna hug you.” he then chuckled. you were too cute for him to resist your request. yunho then pulled you closer to his chest and kissed the top of your head, resting his own head on yours. you sighed upon feeling his warmth. the pancakes were indeed getting cold, but you didn’t care because he was here with you, warming up your body in the cold atmosphere.
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↬ summary: Y/N asks her classmates to write a letter wishing her a happy birthday. She didn’t expect a confession.
↬ genre: one shot
↬ word count: 1.6k
↬ warnings: -
↬ note: inspired by a dream I had--- Yes, a dream. And yes, Mingi was in it.
Silence takes over the classroom and you smile as you look over at your classmates sitting in front of you, waiting patiently for you to explain why you asked to shut up.
You’re thankful that it’s your birthday since you can use it as an excuse and they have no other choice but to accept it, especially Wooyoung, who’s sitting in the back with his arms crossed over his chest, looking forward to any reason to interrupt your speech once you’ve opened your mouth.
“So…” you start, clapping your hands. You aren’t nervous, though you’ve never asked for anything like this before. You’ve known these people for years and you’ve always had a good relationship with them. “As you know, it’s my birthday---“
“Happy birthday to---“
“Shut up,” you look at Wooyoung who holds in a laugh while lowering his head as San hits him on his nape. “Thank you,” you say. San salutes as if you were a sergeant. “Like a said,” all eyes back on you. “It’s my birthday, and I want to do something special,” you stop, gathering your thoughts. You have to hurry up before the professor arrives. “I never told anyone, but I’m a big fan of letters,” you confess. The faces of your classmates start to change as they realize where you’re going with this. You notice Mingi sitting straight on the opposite corner of the room, he’d been playing with a pen between his fingers since the beginning but he stopped as soon as he heard your confession. Now, you feel the palms of your hands sweaty. However, you ignore it and go on, “I want you to write me a letter,” you say, the same way a professor gives homework at the end of the class.
“A letter?” Wooyoung asks with the voice that reminds you of the hyenas from The Lion King. You try to keep a straight face. Wooyoung can indeed drive anyone insane but he’s still a ray of sunshine. “I’m out,” he adds, shaking his head and resting his back against the wall.
“You’re writing the letter,” San says.
“What am I supposed to write?” Wooyoung points out. “If I wanted to tell you something then I’d say it to your face,” he looks at you and you open your mouth ready to replicate when San takes over again.
“Shut up,” he says. San takes his pen and puts it on Wooyoung’s desk. “If Y/N wants a letter, then you’re writing Y/N a letter.”
“But---“ Wooyoung shrieks.
“Wooyoung,” you interrupt, approaching his desk, fed up with his tantrum. “Write me a letter. Be a good friend for once and write me a letter.”
“I AM A GOOD FRIEND!” he stands up, clearly offended by your statement. Again, you try to hold in a laugh. You catch San looking away, hiding a smile.
“Then be a better one,” you reply and Wooyoung sighs. “You have time until the end of class,” you add when you realize you’ve won the argument and that the professor must be about to show up.
You go to your sit in front of San’s desk, giving him a smile before sitting down. Though Mingi’s desk is behind you, you can see him from the corner of your eye that he’s already started writing and your heart takes a leap.
You’re indeed a big fan of letters and you cherish every single one you’ve received over your life even those from people you haven’t been in touch in years. There’s something special in the way a feeling can be encapsulated in a piece of paper and live forever in it even if time changes. And the thought of finding out what Mingi’s writing makes your hands sweat and your heartbeat rush. You can’t believe that you’re about to receive a letter from the guy you’ve had a crush on for over a year. Therefore, when the professor walks in and he starts talking, you don’t listen to one word, too busy daydreaming about what that letter will contain.
You let out a breath of relief when the alarm rings. You’ve been looking at the clock above the board for so long your sight becomes fuzzy when you start putting away the books.
“Don’t forget to do your homework!” the professor screams above the mess that everyone’s causing by moving the chairs and talking to each other
When you look back up, you see various pieces of paper on your desk and you’re actually surprised that they listened to you. Is that how the professor feels every time he gives homework and students actually do it? Wow.
You shake your head and turn your head back. Mingi’s still putting away his belongings but you notice a folded piece of paper on his desk and you catch your breath. He did write you a letter.
“Here,” you turn back at Wooyoung who’s left the letter under your nose. “I hope you’re happy. You made me write three goddamn paragraphs,” he adds acting mad.
“Three paragraphs?” you ask as though you can’t believe your ears. “Wow, you must really love me.”
“Ha,” Wooyoung smiles despite his attempts to keep a straight face. “You should be thankful that---“
“Hey, Mingi,” San comes in, resting his arm on Wooyoung’s shoulder while looking behind you. You feel the air around you dense as you turn to see Mingi standing next to your desk, his bag on his back, and the letter on his hand. He was ready to drop it until San interrupted him.
“Hey,” Mingi says in a deep voice with a tiny smile on his face. He looks at you and your world stops for a second as he holds up the letter and leaves it on your desk. “Happy birthday,” he whispers before turning around and walking away. The classroom is almost empty.
“Close your mouth, dumbass,” Wooyoung says.
You didn’t even realize your mouth was open until Wooyoung pointed it out.
“He did write you a letter. I’m surprised,” San comments.
The letter lay folded in front of you and you have to fight every fiber in your body to not reach it and read it right here.
“What are you waiting for?” Wooyoung asks. “Read it.”
“I’m not reading it in front of you,” you replied when you realized that San was as keen on finding out what was written on the letter as Wooyoung.
“Why?” Wooyoung shrugs and tries to keep calm. “Do you think he wrote you a love letter?”
“Well---“ San whispers. “He’s good with words.”
“But he’s shy,” Wooyoung replies. “There’s no way he’s confessing on a letter.”
“I think it’s possible,” San says.
“Uhm---“ you interrupt, catching their attention. “Did I miss the part where I asked for your opinion?” though your voice sounds confident, you can’t ignore the pain on your stomach just by the thought of what Mingi could’ve written.
“We’re his friends, you know that, don’t you?” Wooyoung points out.
“You’re not his friend,” you retort. “You’re my friend and his classmate.”
“Stop,” San comes in with his hands up as Wooyoung was about to reply. “It’s true. We aren’t close to him,” he goes on. “So, whatever’s written on that paper, I hope it makes your day,” he says sincerely.
You smile. San has always been the type of person to add tenderness to every situation and just like that, your nervousness ceases and you look over at the letter, looking forward to finding out. You take it, ready to open it when San and Wooyoung walk away without saying a word. They close the door and you’re left alone inside the silenced classroom.
You take a deep breath, your heart starts beating so fast it may jump out of your chest. You open the letter.
“Dear Y/N,
I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to tell you this, but I know that if I don’t take advantage of this then I will never have the courage to tell you that I like you. I’ve liked you for a while.
Happy birthday!
- Mingi”
The moment your eyes lay on those three words you stand up, take your bag and leave the classroom empty with the rest of the letters.
“Hey! HEY!” you scream at Wooyoung and San who stop dead when they see you running towards them like a freak.
“What?” San asks, worried.
“What did he write?” Wooyoung asks right after San while you gain your ability to breathe again. His eyes fixed on the letter in your hand.
“Where is he?” you inquire, ignoring Wooyoung’s inquisitive face.
“Who? Mingi?” You’re thankful that San’s the one speaking. He’s the one closer to Mingi. “I don’t know.”
“Well, call him,” Wooyoung says as though it wasn’t the obvious choice.
San sighs.
“I don’t have my phone, remember?” He looks over at you. “He might be at the park but I’m not---“
The words get lost in the wind as you pass them running. The park is not far from the school but it is getting late and you should be back home before your mom starts wondering where the hell are you when she’s asked you explicitly you get back home after school because your relatives would be there to celebrate your birthday.
You rest your hands on your knees, breathing deeply when you arrive at the park which isn’t empty. It’s a nice day. Spring is near. Therefore, the trees are coming back to life with green leaves, the sky’s bright blue, and people would rather take a walk and enjoy the day instead of staying at home.
You start walking, looking around. You see a family with their kid, a couple, a group of friends wearing your school’s uniform but no sign of Mingi.
As you’re about to give up and return home before your phone starts ringing, you see a group of three people standing near the skate zone. There are many around, talking loudly, laughing, and skating but you focus on the three who’ve caught your attention.
It’s not hard to distinguish Mingi, the tallest between the other two guys who are also wearing your school’s uniform but you’ve never seen them.
Even though you aren’t the type to feel intimidated by strangers, the thought of approaching that group next to so many people who must know each other makes your stomach twirl.
You can still talk to Mingi tomorrow at school or ask San for his number. Maybe it’s for the best. In fact, you don’t have anything ready to say so what’s the point? You turn around.
“Hey! Y/N!”
You stop dead when you hear Mingi’s voice calling you. It’s so clear that you feel shivers all over your body. It takes you a moment to force your body to turn back to see Mingi whispering something to his friends before walking towards you.
Is he approaching you? Or are you dreaming?
He stops and his eyes focus on the letter hanging on your hand, you’ve forgotten it was there. Mingi scratches the back of his neck, a shy smile on his face and suddenly, the people behind him have disappeared.
“I guess you’ve read it?” he says in a low voice. He wrinkles his nose as though he’s too ashamed of what he’s done.
“Uhm---“ you fight to find the words. You’ve never imagined something like this could happen. “Yeah, I did,” you add as your eyes lay on the friends Mingi’s left behind. Their attention focused on you two. Mingi follows your gaze and his friends look away instantly.
Mingi sighs.
“C’mon,” he murmurs, resting a hand on your shoulder to make you turn around. It burns where his hand has been.
You two walk silently, which gives you time to think about the fact that you’re alone with the person you’ve had a crush on for so long after he’s confessed that he likes you, too. It feels like a dream.
Mingi stops and sits down in front of the tree. You two are now on the top on a small hill which gives you a panoramic look over the lake. Families are enjoying the day, little kids feeding the ducks.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to read it,” he whispers as though he’s too afraid to interrupt your thoughts.
You look at him. His back rests against the tree and his bag between his legs.
“It was your letter that interested me the most,” you confess without a clue about where you’ve gathered the strength to reveal something like this. You lower your gaze at the surprised look on Mingi’s face. The sun doesn’t hit directly on him but it’s still enough to appreciate his moles. “I liked you since last year,” you go on. It’s now or never.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, genuinely.
“I didn’t know if you liked me,” you reply and realize how stupid you sound but the sweet laugh that Mingi lets out, makes you feel much more comfortable.
“I didn’t know if you liked me, either,” he points out and you smile.
“You should be thankful I’m obsessed with letters,” you joke.
Mingi acts shocked.
“Are you for real? I thought it was a move to make me confess.”
You shake your head, feeling weird but at ease at the same time. You take off your bag and set it on the ground to rest your back against the tree next to Mingi. It feels so right.
“I’m smart,” you whisper. “But not that smart,” you joke, and Mingi laughs, looking at you. You catch your breath as he looks back down after taking a few seconds. Mingi's fingers intertwine with yours. His hand is soft and kind.
“I think you’re smart,” he says.
“Now you’ll be complimenting me at every chance you get?”
He smiles and it makes your heart melt when your eyes meet. You can feel Mingi’s thumb caressing your skin you absent-mindedly; it’s as if he’s done it thousands of times before. You know your phone is about to ring but you ignore reality. You’d rather enjoy every second of it before it’s time to go.
“Is that a bad thing?” Mingi asks, this time the tone has shifted.
Word count: 4.2k
Pairing: ex-husband! Wooyoung x single mom!, teacher! reader x boyfriend! Mingi
Genre: fluff, make out session at some point, hint of angst
A/N: I hope you’re enjoying it so far :)
The buzzing sound of your doorbell made you drop your red pen on your desk, getting you out of your concentration bubble. You frowned and looked at the time, not expecting anyone to come and pay you a visit. You passed by your son’s door and checked it he was asleep, only to find him sitting in his bed, hugging his plushie tight against his small chest.
“Mommy, who is it?”
“I don’t know honey, but stay quiet, alright?” you smiled at him as he nodded, walking towards the door. Looking in the peephole, you released a breath as you discovered who was on the other side of the door.
“Good evening, beautiful,” Mingi whispered as you smiled at him, welcoming him into your house. He had a bouquet of flowers in hand, sneaking his other hand around your waist to kiss your lips.
“Hi Mingi,” you whispered against his chest, humming the perfume on his shirt, “what are those for?” you said as you gestured to the flowers, only to have Mingi smile and hand them to you.
“I thought of you when I saw them, I know how much you like them,” your heart swelled at his words, and you walked towards the kitchen to put them in a vase.
“Mommy? Who is it?” you heard your son’s voice coming from his room and you saw Mingi’s face stretch into a smile.
“It’s Mingi, baby, you can come and say hello!” you spoke as you filled the vase with water. Turning around to face your boyfriend, you heard muted thuds of small footsteps pacing on the carpet, giggles becoming louder as your son made his way to the kitchen. He was still carrying his plushie, and his toothless smile was huge, eyes sparkling when he saw Mingi.
“Seonjun!” Mingi exclaimed at your son’s sight. The latter giggled again and extended his arms towards your boyfriend, his plushie dropping to the floor. You went to pick up the plushie, but Mingi was quicker, swooping your son and his lion cub in his arms. Seonjun clung to Mingi’s neck, a bit drooling of excitement on his shirt. Your boyfriend seemed to notice, but he chuckled, not really minding.
“Don’t worry, I will give it to the dry-cleaner's,” he whispered as he got closer to you, circling your waist with his free arm, laying a kiss on your forehead.
Mingi was someone amazing, you clearly didn’t know what you did to get this lucky. Seonjun wasn’t even his child, yet he took care of him as if he was his father. You had met him through a mutual friend, and you instantly clicked together. For quite some while, you had managed to hide him the fact that you were divorced and a single mom, but once, it became the time to tell him the entire truth. He understood why you hid it, but he accepted you and your past without any judgement.
“Who am I to judge, anyway? We all come from somewhere, and your past doesn’t make you less attractive in my eyes.” When he first told you that, you thought that you were hallucinating, but his wide smile made you realise that, he indeed said that. That indeed, he was the best man you’ve met since you got divorced.
The first time he met your son was a tough moment. Seonjun had spent most of his life only with a mom and without a dad. He couldn’t really remember the time when you were with Wooyoung since he was a new-born baby. Since you had never mentioned your son to any of your dates, you didn’t invite them over, finding an excuse every time to either part ways in the hall of your building or going over his place, but none of them stepped in your apartment. Seonjun grew up with a busy mom, so the presence of a man in your apartment disturbed him at the beginning of your relationship with Mingi.
But Mingi was a patient man, he understood your son’s struggles and felt bad when Seonjun cried when he entered your apartment or when Mingi touched you. He tried to progressively warm up to your son, but it was to no avail, he was always crying and running to your legs as the tall man struggled to befriend him. You had tried by the past to explain to Seonjun that you loved Mingi and you wanted to share a bit of your life with him.
“Baby, Mingi isn’t mean, he’s not here to hurt Mommy. He’s here to take care of Mommy and Seonjun because sometimes, Mommy feels lonely. Do you understand that, baby?” Your son slowly nodded, eyes filled with tears as you carried him in your arms, keeping a reasonable distance with your boyfriend. “Mingi is a man full of love, but he gets too heavy sometimes, he needs to give love to people to feel better. And he chose to give some to Mommy and Seonjun.” You sweetly explained to him as you progressively walked towards the tall man, who was tenderly smiling at the little being in your arms. Seonjun’s mouth trembled as he started crying again, resting his head in the crook of your neck, looking away from your boyfriend. You mouthed a desperate “sorry” to your man, but he gently shook his head and watched you walk away to put your son to bed.
After humming a lullaby and stroking his head, you closed the bedroom door and went to join Mingi on the couch. You fell in his embrace, head resting on his chest as he watched the news on TV.
“I’m sorry,” you said another time and Mingi slightly shook you, a way for him to tell you that it was alright.
“I understand, I’m stealing his Mommy from him, I wouldn’t like it either.” His remark made you giggle, finding peace in his embrace.
After a few weeks of regularly seeing Mingi, Seonjun started to like him more, especially when your boyfriend brought him presents and plushies. You had tried to tell him that he didn’t need to do all of this, but it was useless.
“I wanna get along with your son, even if it means that I need to buy him something each time I come here.”
Seonjun made a lot of progress, to the point of trusting Mingi enough to give him one of his toys. You also gave him a spare key to your apartment in case he wanted to crash at your place while you were still at work. One night, as you came from work exhausted, you were surprised to see your front door unlocked. You frowned, confident that you had locked it in the morning. Slowly turning the knob, you heard the TV playing and fits of giggles coming from the living room. You were reassured that your son was alright, suddenly remembering that you had asked your mom to look after him only for today, making you shake your head at your unnecessary anxiety. You took your shoes off and put the files filled with tests and your bag on the chest of drawers next to the door.
However, as you entered the living room, you didn’t find your mom, but Mingi, who had Seonjun cuddled to his chest, a lion cub plushie in his grip. You smiled at the sight, heart slowly melting at the attention your boyfriend was giving to your son. Mingi noticed you and smiled brightly, catching your son’s attention by softly shaking his arm.
“Seonjun, look! Mommy is home!” he whispered, and your son looked up, getting out of Mingi’s embrace as he paced towards you.
“Mommy!” your son yelled, struggling to walk as he was focused on holding tight his plushie, which was almost bigger than him.
“Darling!” you said as you crouched down, ready to take your son in your arms, “where did you get this lovely plushie?” you asked as you picked him up, only to have him pointing his tiny finger towards your boyfriend. He observed the scene, giggling as your son smiled at him.
“Did you say thank you?”
“Yes, Mommy, I said the magic words!” he proudly exclaimed, the plushie falling out of his grip, making him immediately gasp.
“What a good boy,” you stated as you crouched down again, picking the plushie up and walking to the couch, “Mommy needs a shower, can you stay with Mingi a bit longer?”
Your son nodded and went back to his spot in your boyfriend's arms. You quickly pecked Mingi’s lips as you made your way to the bathroom, ready to unwind a bit from the day. You let the water run on your body, smiling as you hear your son’s giggles coming from the living room.
“Did you come from work early?” You asked as you got out of the room, indoor clothes replacing your strict working ones.
“I wanted to come early to surprise you, but you weren’t there yet, I think it was your mom that answered the door?” you nodded, secretly hoping that everything went well with her.
“Yes, I asked her to look after him because I had an important meeting this afternoon with my colleagues. I’m usually free, and the conference was unexpected, she was the only one unoccupied,” he nodded and scooted closer to you, cupping your cheek, and pressing his lips against yours another time.
“I’m glad he’s warming up to you,” you said as you gestured to your son, who looked extremely happy. His face was squished on Mingi’s side, tiny hands fisting his shirt as he stared at the TV.
After putting Seonjun to bed, you fell on the couch, completely drained of energy. You wished you had spent your free day with your son, but this event with other teachers came up, and you had to attend it, even if you didn’t want to. It took longer than expected, forcing you to spend the entire day stuck at school with your colleagues.
“How was your day, my beautiful teacher?” you giggled at the pet name and looked at him, stroking his cheek with the back of your hand.
“I’m exhausted,” you stated as you yawned, Mingi becoming cuddlier and more touchy-freely as your son was sleeping. You closed your eyes as his body heat mixed with yours, instantly making the tiredness increase. He lazily grabbed your chin to make you look at him, and his eyes started studying your features, making you slightly embarrassed.
“Like what you see?” you tried to joke, and Mingi chuckled, his face still serious as he focused on you.
“Oh, more than you can think,” he answered, making you blush and release a breathy laugh. “You don’t believe me, ugh? I can show you if you want.”
He started kissing your lips with more force than usual, making you tumble and lay on the couch, your boyfriend groaning as you card your fingers through his hair, slightly tugging on it. You felt him smirk into the kiss and rested his body weight on his forearm, his lips leaving yours to travel down your neck, leaving open wet kisses on the way.
“Mingi…” you heavily breathed as you grabbed the back of his neck to slow him down a bit, “Seonjun could come, he’s a light sleeper and—”
“It’s alright Y/N, you closed the door, we just need to stay quiet,” he smirked as his hands roamed around your body, making you feel nothing but amazing and sexy. He was panting too, making your head spin, enjoying the effect that you had on him.
“I love you, Y/N, I really do,” Mingi’s hands stopped investigating, and he looked deeply into your eyes, his face softening almost immediately.
“I love you too, Mingi. Thank you for everything, you don’t know how grateful I am to have you by my side,” you whispered your last sentence and almost didn’t get to finish it as Mingi started kissing you again, taking your breath away.
You gripped the bottom of Mingi’s t-shirt and threw it over his head, breaking the kiss for a second before getting back at it. It was your turn to explore his body, his warm skin and ripped abs feeling divine under your touch. Pushing him backwards, you straddled him and cupped his neck with your hands, tongues dancing together.
“You’re the hottest teacher I’ve ever had in my life,” he whispered as he fumbled with the buttons of your cardigan, only to make you titter and help him.
“You know that students are not allowed to date their teachers,” you joked, and Mingi finally managed to open your cardigan, throwing it on the floor, quickly followed by your top.
“I’m just glad that I’m not one of your students, I don’t think I’d be able to keep my hands to myself,” he whispered as he studied your body with a hungry eye. You smiled and bit your lips, feeling so amazing under his stare.
“Mommy?” you immediately stopped as you looked up, feeling Mingi freeze under you as well.
“Did he just call me?” you said as you ended your actions, pursing your lips, hoping that it was just a hallucination.
“Mommy?” your son repeated from his bed, louder this time and you got off Mingi’s embrace, quickly putting your shirt back on.
“Yes darling, I’m coming!” You sighed and looked at Mingi with a dejected smile. He smiled and defeatedly shrugged, starting to channel-hop to find a good film while you stood up and took care of your son.
Two days later, you were finally on break for the weekend, getting some time to spend with your boyfriend and son on this beautiful Saturday morning. You and Mingi got up quite early, preparing stuff and food for a day out at the park since it was sunny outside. Your lover loved getting up early because he was able to kiss you without being disturbed by a little individual that always asked for his Mommy’s attention. He got to have his part of attention too, Seonjun staying in his heavy sleeping session if you stay discreet.
As you packed food in the cooler, Mingi went to wake Seonjun up and dress him to go out. You made sure to spread your son with sunscreen, putting his bucket hat on his head before fastening his seatbelt.
“Ready to go?” Mingi asked as he slammed the car trunk shut. You raised a thumb up and went to lock the door as you heard the car starting.
He drove the three of you to the park, Seonjun running around as you tried to find a good spot in the shade. He ran under a tree and looked at Mingi for his opinion. Your partner nodded, setting the cooler down in the shadow. He helped you set the tablecloth down, and you took your and your son’s shoes off, only to have him happily bouncing on the fabric. The park was quite empty as it was still early. You fed your son breakfast and stretch your arms above your head, Seonjun wrapping his arms around your neck, giggling as he watches a dog passing with his owner behind you.
A bit later in the day, as you were correcting tests on your laps, you kept a close eye on your son. He was playing with his miniature cars next to you, making the car sounds with his mouth, making you giggle as he sometimes used his high-pitched voice. When you looked up to stretch your neck and shoulders, you almost stayed stuck as you recognised a figure a bit far from you.
“No,” you said, putting the tests aside, “that can’t be-” you were about to stand up, but somehow, your body forced you to remain seated on the floor, putting on your sunglasses to observe everything a bit more discreetly.
Around ten meters away from you stood none other than Wooyoung, your ex-husband. Your high school sweetheart, your first everything. Your first boyfriend, first date, first kiss, your first time. You could have died for him, given him one of your kidneys and somehow, seeing him again awakened feelings that you thought you had gotten over already. You took a big breath, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Mingi, who put his book down and followed your eyes. His brows furrowed, confusion and anger showing on his face.
“What’s wrong, darling?” he questioned, and it made your son look up, his toy car stopping in his tiny hands.
“Nothing,” you tried to stay calm, but your voice wavered, glad to have your glasses perched on your nose as tears gathered in your eyes. Mingi scooted closer to you, taking Seonjun on his laps. He was about to say something else, but you shook your head, grab your stack of tests again and started correcting them, but it was almost impossible for you to focus.
You thought that you had forgotten your ex-husband, finally gotten over him, but how could you? You had spent years by his side, and everything ended overnight. It was your fault, and you sometimes caught yourself regretting your actions before dating Mingi.
You had put a stop to everything because it felt too good to be true. Your love life was a fairy-tale, but deep down, you felt something bad was about to happen.
As told before, he was your anchor, your first to almost everything, and the memories became vivid again as you saw him. He was your high-school sweetheart, you went through thick and thin with him, seeing yourself growing old together at some point. And it was about to happen, only if you didn’t have an identity crisis at some point. Everything was going smoothly, you were very much in love, but at 24, after almost six years of common life, everything went downhill.
At 24, you had just finished college, you were married and expecting a child. You had barely time to register what was happening. Everything went by so fast. Wooyoung already had a job, earning a decent amount to comfortably support the three of you financially, but you didn’t feel happy at all. As you finished university, you didn’t know who you were, feeling like a complete stranger to your life. You felt like you were trapped in a gilded cage, without any chance to get out of it anymore. Crying days and nights when Wooyoung was out or in meetings when you were supposed to study for finals or assignments, you weren’t as happy as before. You were also losing your face because of critics and comments from other college students and relatives about your current situation, feeling helpless as you didn’t really have a trustworthy shoulder to lean onto.
You tried to talk with Wooyoung about your current critical state, but he said that it was just a phase and that you’d get through it together. He wanted to be comforting, but it made you feel the exact opposite. Once you were done with college and gave birth just days after your graduation, you didn’t feel any happier. It didn’t feel like a phase, just how you expected it, you felt even more suffocated and thought that it would cost you your life if you stayed in your current position.
You were too young to be married, you didn’t feel ready. That was the answer to all your questionings. You weren't ready to settle down yet, and everything had to end.
One evening, you put a term to your marriage by taking your child, two suitcases and placing your wedding ring on the kitchen counter with a folded letter as Wooyoung wasn't there, again. You drove to your parents’ house in tears, hoping that they’d help you and fortunately, they did.
You saw Wooyoung a few weeks later, divorce papers in hand. He looked devastated, and you weren't doing any better. You thickly swallowed and clutched on the papers tightly, the attorney standing next to you, an embarrassed smile on his face.
“Let’s get straight to the point,” he started, and Wooyoung moved in his seat, snatching the pen from the attorney’s grip, surprising the three of you.
“Give me the papers,” your lover said as he impatiently clicked the pen. His voice wavered, his eyes never leaving the wooden desk of the attorney's office. He rapidly skimmed the papers, energetically signing them without adding a single word.
“If that’s what you want, then I’ll do it,” He mumbled and looked at you one last time, clenching his jaw as his eyes filled with tears before leaving the office, the door slamming shut a few seconds later. You gave an apologetic smile to the attorney and signed the papers too.
And here you were, three years later in the park, a few meters away from your ex-husband with Mingi.
“That’s… that’s how we parted ways,” you said as you touched your son’s hand, caressing his soft skin. Mingi sighed and gently kissed your temple, a reassuring arm behind you. He focused on your ex-husband again, brows slightly furrowing. You rested your head on his shoulder, and Mingi didn’t move.
“Wooyoung is looking at you,” your head shot up and met his eyes, heart missing a beat. He was walking towards you, hands in his pockets. He tried to act nonchalant, but you knew him too well, and he hadn’t changed. His face betrayed him; he was mad.
As he stood in front of you, you stayed on the tablecloth while Mingi sprung on his feet. You sent an awkward smile to Wooyoung, whose eyes were only fixed on your son. Seonjun didn’t seem to care about that was happening, his toy cars looking way more interesting.
“Hi, Wooyoung,” you emotionlessly declared, and he briefly looked at you.
“Hello, Y/N,” your name that used to sound so sweet and soft rolling off his tongue, made you feel like he was spitting poison at your face. His tone was cold, emotionless and he started a staring contact with your new boyfriend. He raised a brow, eyeing Mingi up and down, his signature move when he was judging someone. Your boyfriend looked at him, boredom and hatred filling his eyes. The two of you seemed to already hate each other, and they hadn’t even exchanged a single word yet.
“Can I help you?” you said, getting up to put a term to this ridiculous competition between the two men. Wooyoung annoyingly sighed, turning his head towards you.
“Can’t I see my ex-wife without being disturbed?” he said, and your stomach churned in annoyance as he intensified the “my” in his sentence. You weren’t his anymore, and in some way, even years later, he didn’t seem to understand that.
“I belong to anyone except to myself,” you retorted, crossing your arms on your chest, staring in his eyes. He was slowly getting on your nerves with his possessiveness, ruining the quiet moment you tried to enjoy with Mingi and your son.
“If you don’t have anything interesting to say, you can go back with your friends,” you said and gestured to his friends by a nod, recognising San and Jongho in the distance, two wonderful guys that you didn’t get to see anymore. Fortunately, because you needed to move on from everything that reminded you of him.
You sat down and took care of your son as if Wooyoung were gone.
“I still love you,” your hands froze, and you turned to him. His face was still stoic, but you saw him holding back his tears. When he pursed his lips and tried to keep a straight face, you knew he was trying not to cry. You chuckled and blinked, quickly staring at Mingi before looking back at your ex-husband.
“And I don’t, so you need to move on,” putting an end to the talk, you sat down again and ignored the two men behind you. They could fight, yell, you wouldn’t do anything, you needed to take your mind off things by playing with your son.
Behind you, Wooyoung observed you and your son, the two people he cherished the most, alongside with his family. He loved you too much to move on, every girl he tried to date somehow reminded him of you, preventing him from starting something new with someone else. In every girl he met, he looked for something similar with you, for someone that’d resemble you mentally and physically, but it was to no avail. He couldn’t replace you and remained hurt since you ended everything.
After spending many years with someone, you started to learn about them and recognised their behaviours. You knew him, he knew yours and his heart was pounding in his chest; he knew you too well, and your behaviour confirmed his biggest fear: you had moved on, and you left no room for the past. For him, for everything you had together.
You.
Moved.
On.
Wooyoung swallowed thickly as a tiny voice in his head told him those three hurtful words, sighing deeply as he sadly nodded. He started walking backwards, looking at you and your son one last time before turning around and walking back to his friends.
Word count: 4.4k
Pairing: ex-husband! Hongjoong x single mom! reader x boyfriend! Yunho
Genre: fluff
A/N: you can clearly see that i got more inspired for some than others :)
“Y/N,” your boss appeared next to you, making you turn your head from your screen, “can you follow me in my office, please?” you agreed and locked your computer, heels resonating on the floor as you followed the man ahead of you.
Closing the door behind you, he saw you standing up and offered you a seat, which you happily took. Your new pair of heels gave you blisters and, the more you stayed seated, the less your feet would make you suffer.
“What I’m about to ask you is a bit of a delicate issue, but I really need to know.” Your eyebrows furrowed as you stared at your boss, who had an uneasy smile plastered on his face. “What’s your current personal situation?”
“What-”
“You’ll understand why I ask you that in a minute. Do you live in a house, in an apartment with someone? I really need to know, it’s for business matters.”
“I- I live in an apartment on my own,” you hesitantly said, antagonised by his question, “why is it important to know where I live?”
“I remember you telling us during a night out with our colleagues that you enjoyed travelling, isn’t it?” you nodded as his words and relaxed a bit when you understood that it seemed to be, indeed, for business matters.
“You know my brother works in South Korea for our company,” your boss stated, dusting off his sleeve, “he called because he needs someone to come work with him. One of his colleagues got terminally ill and someone needs to replace him. And, since you are passionate about travelling and discovering new cultures, I immediately thought of you for this job.” You played with your earrings as you thought about his offer.
“You don’t need me to give me an answer right now, but the quicker, the better,” he said with a smile as he crossed his hands on his desk.
“I’ll think about it, thank you for your offer,” you beamed as you stood up, slightly grimacing as you felt the back of your shoes rub against your blisters.
“Give me an update by the end of the week please, I need to keep him informed about the situation,”
“Of course.” You declared and exited his office, wishing him a good afternoon.
**
“Y/N, that’s an amazing offer! Why didn’t you accept it straight away?” your friend said, and you frowned.
“Soona, it’s not something that you choose on an impulse,” you scolded her and she kept smiling, “do you realise that I have to leave my family, my colleagues, you, my apartment, everything I have here? No, I need to think about it,” you groaned as you took a sip of your drink.
“Y/N, South Korea!! Yes, it’s on the other side of the globe but I don’t think that another opportunity will present itself later in your career. Yes, I’ll miss you, but nowadays, it’s simple to keep in touch with technology. Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.”
“Thank you,” you said as you squeezed her hand and she smiled.
You spent the following days at your apartment deep in thoughts, weighing up the pros and cons of leaving your home country. Everyone around you seemed to encourage you, but you were actually too scared to leave your comfort zone and move abroad. Yes, you loved travelling, but at the end of every single of your travel, you knew that you were coming home, in your lovely apartment. It was something you cherished. On the other side, moving abroad looked very appealing and your friend was right, it might be the only occasion for you to travel for business matters in a foreign country.
On Friday, you assuredly arrived at work, immediately going to knock at your boss’ office.
“Come in!” he said, and you entered, his eyes never leaving his computer screen. When he noticed that it was you, he immediately smiled and stood up, offering you the same seat at the beginning of the week. This time, you refused it.
“I accept your offer,” you said as you clutched your files in your hands. His reaction was immediate; he widely smiled and extended his hand for you to shake it.
“Amazing Y/N, I knew that you’d accept it.” You chuckled and you kept talking with him about your plans. He gave you his brother’s phone number to help you get things done with your new boss.
After spending a few nights on the phone planning everything with your boss’ brother, you managed to get everything ready and done for your arrival. Soona and some of your colleagues helped you pack and sell the things you didn’t need, and you were ready to go.
The morning following your leaving do, Soona and her boyfriend helped you carry your suitcases to the airport and watched you board the plane.
“I’ll miss you,” your friend said as she hugged you and you laughed.
“Now you’re sad to see me leave,” she chuckled as she wiped the tears away from her eyes, her boyfriend kissing the side of her head as a sign of comfort.
“Of course, I’m sad to see you go, but I know that travelling is your passion so I can’t stop you from doing what you love.” You softly rubbed her forearm as you felt the tears pricking up your eyes.
“I’ll buy you two plane tickets and you’ll come and visit me, I promise,” her boyfriend grinned and the two hugged you one last time before letting you go.
The few first months following your arrival were hard. You weren’t really working for the company, your boss paid a Korean tutor and you were exhausted. The courses were intense, but you still managed to progress quite quickly. You absolutely despised the speaking lessons you had because it wasn’t your strength, but she was nice enough to not make fun of you or correct you when it was necessary.
Your new colleagues warmly welcomed you to your new office, introducing themselves and showering you with compliments. It was nice because they made sure to include in conversations, encouraging you as you answered questions with ease.
One night, one of your colleagues – also one of your closest friends - approached you and told you that she invited people for a meal out since she got a promotion.
“Mingi is going to pick you up at 7 from your place, is that alright for you?”
“It’s perfect, thank you Hyunjae,” you said as you smiled to the woman in front of you, bowing before leaving to catch the bus to go home.
“Mingi! Sit across Y/N, I wanna be next to her,” Hyunjae fought her colleague as he was about to sit down next to you, only to have Hyunjae dragging him out of his seat and hurriedly sat down next to you. You giggled at the scene, feeling quite special that people were fighting to sit next to you. As you looked up to stare at Mingi and his pouty face, you noticed a man talking with him, someone that you’ve never seen before. He was quite smaller than Mingi, but it didn’t prevent him from being extremely handsome. He shook Mingi’s hand and looked at the table, smiling at Hyunjae as he took a seat across from her. You took the opportunity of Mingi throwing a joke at him to ask your friend more about this handsome man.
“Does he work at our office? I've never seen him before,” you said as you discreetly gestured to the man in front of you. Your friend chuckled and she shook her head with a smile.
“No, but he’s a good friend of ours, his name is Hongjoong. He was in the company before but left to get a job that he actually enjoyed.” You nodded as she explained to you everything, your eyes never leaving him. Once he turned his head and caught you staring, he smirked and laughed along with your friend as he caught the two of you gossiping about him.
“Hongjoong, this is Y/N, she’s the foreign employee I told you about.”
“Nice to meet you,” you said as you extended your hand across the table, his warm and soft palm touching yours and lightly shook it.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Y/N,” he said and you smiled, replacing a strand of hair behind your ear, “You know that Hyunjae can be a chatterbox sometimes, she told me a lot about you,” your friend scoffed next to you and your eyes widened at her words.
“Because you asked for it, that’s why I was telling you about her.”
That night was the night that changed your life. You had started to get along very well with Hongjoong and it took you less than a month to start dating, and you were the happiest girl on Earth. He was caring, treating you like a queen, always here for you when you needed him.
Over three months of dating, he offered you to move in with him, no longer bearing the distance separating each other. You had started to leave some of your belongings around his place, sometimes spending the evening together. You needed to have clean clothes and makeup at his place when something like this happened, you couldn’t see yourself going to work with the same outfit as the day before and bare face. It only happened once, and you wouldn’t have left the house if Hongjoong didn’t convince you that you looked beautiful without makeup.
You were getting tired to live at the other side of the town, forced to ride public transports for work AND to see your boyfriend, so you accepted.
Months of dating turned into years and you were still extremely happy with your relationship and your job. During the past years, you had been promoted several times, making you now the manager of the team you worked in when you arrived. You were close to celebrating your fourth year among this company and you would do anything to stay here as long as possible.
On your fifth year of dating, Hongjoong proposed to you. He had prepared a wonderful dinner, cosy at home, just as you liked them. As you were arriving at dessert, Hongjoong came out of the kitchen and faced you, getting down on one knee and you jumped in his arms, not letting him time to make a speech to express his love to you.
Your colleagues and friends were here to see you walk down the aisle, ready to see you seal your love with a wonderful partner, who cried when you appeared in his field of vision.
Everyone expected a child within the few months following your honeymoon, but it never came. It’s not like you didn’t try, it simply didn’t work. You knew that you shouldn’t stress about it, but you couldn't stay indifferent about it. You wanted to have children with Hongjoong, and he really did too, but Mother Nature wasn’t really keen on giving them to you right now. You reassured yourself by telling you that you still have years to try, adoption being the current worst-case scenario.
Near your eighth year of common life, things somehow started to work, and you once went to work without feeling the greatest. You didn’t last until lunch, collapsing on the floor without a reason. Hyunjae and Mingi drove you to the hospital and that’s where you discovered that you were pregnant and heavily dehydrated. The father-to-be was in heaven, carefully taking you in his arms, spinning you around as you told him the great news.
You gave birth to Jaehwa, a little boy named after his grandfather, after months filled with excitement and pain. Hongjoong was an amazing father, taking care of your son as you rested from your months of pregnancy. He helped around the house, woke up at night when Jaehwa was teething, you clearly couldn’t ask for a better husband. He made you feel in heaven during the entire time you were carrying his child, sometimes feeling ugly and self-conscious about your body changes. He kissed your tears away and fed you with your weird pregnancy cravings when you needed him, bringing you nothing but happiness.
However, everything must come to an end. One day, as your one-year-old son was playing with his toys in his room, you received a call from a hospital from your home country. The nurse on the other side of the phone told you that your mom suddenly fell extremely sick, your anxiety instantly spiking up. You were panicking, ready to leave everything behind you to take care of your mother, but Hongjoong calmed you down once he came home from work. You called your dad the following day, only for him to tell you that he needed to work twice harder to pay for your mother’s hospital and medicine bills and everything alongside those. Your heart broke as you were the only one left to take care of her, feeling trapped.
Should you leave the loving family you built with your bare hands behind and to take care of your dying mother, or do you stay here without doing anything? You loved your family, but you needed to take care of your mother. She did a lot to help you, comfort you and make you successful in your work and health, you couldn’t let her down after all the things she’s done for you.
You told your husband about your choice and, that night, all the tears that you had in your body rolled down your cheeks, feeling awful about your choices. The following nights were spent in dead silence, Hongjoong hugging you as you cried to his chest, your son peacefully in his room, completely oblivious to the storm his little family was going through.
You weren’t as productive at work as you were before, and your boss noticed that. Just like his brother, he called you in his office and you went there, head hanging low. You explained to him your current situation and he offered you to call his brother to take you back, but you declined. You didn’t want to leave Korea, you had too many memories and friends here to leave everything behind like a coward.
However, that’s exactly what you did.
One day, you woke up and went to the kitchen, only to find Hongjoong preparing breakfast for the three of you. Your eyes filled with tears as you saw the view, knowing that it’ll never be the same after what you were about to tell him. You knew that you were about to break everything you had built with him.
“Joonie?” You timidly said as you walked towards him, resting your head between his shoulder blades. His body scent and laundry made you purse your lips and let your tears roll down your cheeks.
“Yes, honey?” You made sure that Hongjoong didn’t have anything near him that could hurt him, and you told him those four words that'll end everything.
“I want a divorce.” You felt Hongjoong’s body stiffen before going numb, his hand dropping the spatula on the counter.
After explaining to him that it’d be less hurtful and easier for the two of you to just divorce, Hongjoong was defeated and hurt. He understood that your plans were good, your intention wasn’t to hurt anyone, he knew that he shouldn’t feel angry, but he couldn’t help. He was angry and upset that you were willing to let go of him and all of those years that you spent together so easily.
Going back to your country and taking care of your mother had to be the saddest and hardest part of your life. You had to see your mother’s state decreasing day by day and you couldn’t do anything about it. You went back to your former workplace, but it wasn’t the same. You weren’t the same. You couldn’t bring yourself to be happy and lively as you were. Everything was ruined, you messed up. Jaehwa sensed your distress and cried more, cuddled more, he was the only source of light that you had in your life. Every day, you were leaving him at the day-care centre, your heart breaking even more than it already was as you waved at your son with tears in the eyes. You buried yourself into work, sometimes exchanging emails with colleagues in South Korea, who sent you nothing but support during your hard time. You worked hard and spent extra hours to earn the maximum you could, but it wasn’t enough to keep your mother alive. You destroyed everything you had, only to passively watch your mother spend her last few days on Earth. Not even medicine could save her, so what did you think you could you do?
A few months after your mother’s funerals, you decided that you couldn’t stay here any longer. Your heart was in Korea and you decided to fly back with your son. It was his home country, after all, his friends and family were there. You wanted to start all over again, a second time, wishing that you’d meet Hongjoong again, hoping that he’d forgive you. But who did you think you were? You destroyed him and his happiness, he wasn’t going to welcome you back with a wide smile and open arms. At some point, you wished that you hadn’t acted so selfishly, but unfortunately, you did.
You mourned for months and buried yourself into work, earning a lot of money but you weren’t happy. You took care of Jaehwa, as always, but you wished you had someone’s arms to cry into, to run into, to support you when you were at your worst. You always had your son’s wet kisses and happy smiles, but it was nothing compared to a loving husband. You always forced yourself to smile when your son was around, but when you put him to bed, your mask would drop, and you’d cry until you fall asleep. This toxic routine went on for months, feeling more helpless as each day passed by.
Then one day, a man appeared in your life. His name was Yunho and he was very caring. You had applied for a job in another company, on the other side of the city and he happened to work in this company. He was actually the one to guide you through the vast building, bringing you to the HR desk.
“Excuse me, I’m lost and late, could you please help me?” You said as you laid a hand on his upper arm to stop him from walking.
“Sure, how can I help you?” he answered with a smile, red spreading to his cheeks as he took your face in. You looked tired and had a hint of sadness in your eyes, but you were still extremely beautiful to him.
“I’m looking for the HR office,” you smiled as you looked at the file you prepared for your interview.
“Come with me,” he paced at your rhythm as he noticed your heels, smiling at you as you waited for the elevator.
You thanked him a hundred times as he was about to leave for lunch and he smiled, slightly raising his fists to encourage you with a smile. He truly hoped that you’d get hired because you were quite easy to talk to and stunningly beautiful.
You happened to run into him when you were late for work, starting the conversation with him as he held the elevator doors open for you to get in.
“I’m so happy to see you got hired,” he said, and you beamed, playing with your blazer sleeve.
“I’m relieved that I got in, thank you again for guiding me there,” he grinned and looked at the elevator button, opening his mouth again, but nothing came out. You tried to catch his look to make him keep going but he closed his mouth, swallowing thickly, wishing you a good day with an awkward smile on his face.
After a few weeks of getting used to your workspace, you happened to see him again and this time, he didn’t chicken out and said what he wanted to ask you the last time he saw you.
“Do- do you want to go to eat lunch together? Like… a date?” you were surprised but accepted his offer, only to have him releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, along with a smile
The night of the date, you were anxious. Not because you were going on a date, but because you hadn’t found someone to look after your son for the night. You were frightened to tell to Yunho that you had a son and that you were divorced, but you had to. After all, in a relationship, trust and honesty were the keys to make it work, right? Right?
When he rang at your door, you took a deep breath in and took the time to rearrange your hair before opening the door, your child between your legs, humming your floral dress. Yunho smiled at you but his eyes widened when he saw your son. You anticipated him to run away but he crouched down, petting your son’s head.
“Hi,” he whispered with a smile and looked up at you. “You didn’t tell me that you were a babysitter in your spare time. We can go out another time if you are already busy.” He spoke as he took your son’s hand in his, delicately shaking it.
“I’m not babysitting him… It’s- it’s my son, Yunho,” you whispered as you clutched your son’s other hand.
His eyes widened and he almost lost his balance. You pursed your lips and looked away, ready to see him go. But to your great surprise, he stayed. He even smiled at your son.
“He’s yours?” he asked, still a bit dumbfounded. “Now that you say it, he really looks like you.”
“I- thank you…” you said as you lifted your child in your arms, “but… do you still want to go on the date?”
“We can. I know a good childcare centre, one of my sisters works there, we can put him there for the night if you want. Or we can stay here if you want to,” you had completely forgotten about this option and Jaehwa seemed to agree with the idea, so you got ready.
Yunho drove the three of you to this centre and you were a bit anxious to leave your son there, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was a social butterfly like his dad, so it wasn’t a problem for him to stay a few hours with other children. It’s not like he spent months at the day-care centre every day while you were working anyway. He was used to that.
When you arrived there, your son immediately let go of your hand and ran towards other children and you gave Yunho a faint smile. It suddenly vanished when you heard his giggles and a way too familiar voice. A voice that dug out too many memories that you tried to forget.
You gulped when you saw your ex-husband, hugging your son, noticing his shocked look and tears in his eyes. You clenched your teeth and observed the scene in front of you, tears gathering in your eyes as well.
Hongjoong hadn't changed and you took a deep breath when he locked eyes with you. He had switched work again, and of course, you had to meet him when you were with another man. He looked relieved to see you again, after all those months of silence, but his eyes darkened when he noticed Yunho standing next to you.
“Look, Mommy! Daddy’s here!” your son yelled as he hugged his dad's neck.
“Daddy?” Yunho exclaimed, completely surprised by your son’s words. You inhaled, defeated by the turn of the events and you couldn’t wait for everything to stop.
“Yes, “Daddy”.” You irritatingly said, thinking of a way to escape all of this, but you couldn’t.
The only way you could get out was telling the truth to everyone. And again, you knew that you were about to hurt people. Again. As if it was one of your passions.
“Y/N,” Hongjoong finally spoke and your stomach churned, forcing you to close your eyes to prevent the tears from falling, his voice and presence sending daggers to your heart. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“I didn’t know either,” you said as you walked towards him, followed by Yunho.
“I see that you moved on.” He said as he glared at Yunho, whose brows immediately furrowed.
“I had to, okay?” you said on the verge of tears, Hongjoong sending your son to play with other children after kissing him on the cheek. “I couldn’t see myself running back into your arms, begging you to take me again when I’m the one who ruined and stopped everything. Questions of moral and respect.”
“Yet I would’ve still welcomed you with opened arms.” His words made you burst into tears and Yunho passed his arm around your shoulders, eyeing your ex-husband, who seemed to swallow his feelings.
“How do you expect me to move on if you say things like those?” You cried and Yunho didn’t say anything, everything clicking in his head as he whispered to walk out with him.
Sending one last look to your ex-husband, you walked backwards and hastily ran to the exit without looking back, tears running down your face.
Hongjoong was sad to see you run away from him again, but at least you were moving on and tried to be happy again, while he couldn’t. He was still mad at you from leaving him, but he was also annoyed with himself for letting you go so easily. He should’ve fought for you, for your marriage and son, to keep everything alive, but he didn’t. Two cowards that loved each other but can’t go back to the other. What a shame.
He still loved you after all those years and hoped that you’d come back to him, but it wasn’t for tonight. He was still hopeful that you’d drop this tall man and run back to his arms, as you thought that you couldn't do so. It was the only thing he was waiting for.
The only positive point is that he gets to spend a few hours with his son, taking care of him while you are out with another man. He wished that he were out with you and your son, all three together as it was before. But sadly, it was only with his son that he gets to spend time. Maybe, with time, you’ll come back.
A/N: Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex is the song referred in this writing :) (i know this group sings for other activities than relaxing but i stg this group soothes me so much)
You were reading a book and Mingi was scrolling through his phone. Anyone could clearly see that you were bored. Quarantine sounded fun at the beginning, lectures were now online and Mingi had to train a bit less than usual, but the second day felt extremely boring. Being the good citizens that you were, you only went out to go grocery shopping or on the balcony, just to have a bit of fresh air.
Mingi looked up from his spot on your right and stared at you, his eyebrows furrowing. You were so immersed in your book that you didn’t really pay attention to him.
“Baby, are you okay?” His deep voice got you out from your universe and you frowned while looking at him.
“Yes, why?” you said, looking up from your book, cheeks instantly flushing at the way your boyfriend was fondly staring at you.
“I can see your heart beating on your neck,” he said as your hand went to check your pulse. Indeed, it was beating way faster than usual, and it only happened when you were really stressed. It had to be something and Mingi knew that it wasn’t because of your book.
“I guess this whole situation is stressing me out,” you shrugged, not really knowing what to do about it. This global situation was giving you anxiety, reading daily the worst news as the situation wasn’t improving, you couldn’t help but be worried. Not only for you but for the people you cared around you as well.
Mingi saw your distressed state and he stood up to walk to his computer. He connected it to the Bluetooth speaker and slow, soft music from one of your favourite groups started playing. Extending his hands towards you and helping you stand up, he took you in his arms and started slow dancing with you to the music. You closed your eyes and laid your head on his chest, enjoying his much slower heartbeat, which helped you calm down a bit.
“We’re gonna be fine, Y/N. As long as we are careful with where we go and what we do, everything’s gonna be alright, okay?” He whispered reassuring words in your ears as he swings you from side to side, often kissing your forehead to make you feel better. You nodded at his sweet words and sighed, letting yourself enjoy the soft moment with your lovely partner.
word count: 3.6k (oof)
Genre: fluff, college au (+ attempts to be funny?)
Pairing: shy basketball captain! Mingi x college student! reader
Requested: yes and thank you!!
A/N: oh boy, it’s bad. I don’t know anything about basketball, I really tried my best, I really hope this is what you had in mind. And Mingi is such a sweet bub he’s a tol cutie, thank you for having requested something for him!! :((
Warnings: none (maybe some inconsistencies and not as well written as I hoped but yeet)
“Are those credits really unavoidable?” you asked your friend as you counted the number of credits you earned for the past two years.
“Yeah,” she answered and you huffed. “If you don’t take part in any extracurricular activities, you won’t get enough credits to pass the year. It’s written in the rules.” You nodded and thanked her as you took a sight at the paper in front of you, your head still filled with doubts.
To get your degree, of course, you had to follow academic classes, but you also needed to attend extra activities, an artistic one and a sporty one. The education officer of your college had this mindset that it is essential to keep the students creative and healthy. You would’ve actually enjoyed taking those classes if they weren’t marked with credits. It felt more like a chore than a hobby or a way of destressing from the constant pressure you felt in college.
You still had a year left, but you couldn’t see yourself taking some time for those extra classes next year. You knew that your last year will be hectic, so you didn’t want to add even more pressure. Your friend’s brother was a year above you two and he is taking those extra classes now, but he deeply regrets it.
Your hands clenched around the paper they were holding, and you stopped listening to your friend. Earlier in the day, at lunch, you spied the notice board and saw the basketball manager hanging a piece of paper and left as quickly as he came. You immediately rushed to the board and read the paper.
They were looking for a new team manager since the former one had graduated at the beginning of this semester. You shrugged and unpinned the paper, bringing it back to your table, where your friend was waiting for you with a frown on her face. You indeed left her without warning her, and she was explaining to you something rather important.
“Is really that piece of paper more valuable than what I was telling you?” she crossed her arms on her chest and you grimaced.
“I'm sorry, I just need to find every opportunity to earn those damn credits.” You answered as she took the paper from your hands.
“The basketball team?” her eyes widened, “but do you know anything about this sport? I thought you only knew about volleyball.”
“I do, but I asked my friend and the place is already taken. And no, I don’t know anything about this sport, but hey, gotta have those credits.” You sighed and looked over your friend’s shoulder. The basketball team’s table.
They were all eating and laughing together, minding their own business and not caring about anything else than their jokes. You discreetly observed them and you started to imagine what it would look like to be friends and cooperate with them.
Over there, the boys were having a good time at lunch. They had a pretty big match coming up in the next few weeks and they weren’t trying to think too much about the intense workouts that were impatiently waiting for them.
Mingi, the team captain, noticed his coach pinning a piece of paper but didn’t really pay attention to it. What caught his eye was the silhouette running to the spot where his trainer was moments ago. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed that it was you. You were quickly reading the paper and you looked around you as you took the paper off the board and rushed back to your table without sparing anyone a glance. Mingi focused back on his friends when you were out of sight and Hongjoong was mischievously smirking at him.
“What?” Mingi asked, taking a spoonful of his fruit salad.
“Oh nothing,” he said, looking behind Mingi’s shoulder. “Just next time, when you stare at your lovely Y/N, try to keep your mouth closed. You were practically drooling.” Mingi frowned and wiped his mouth out of instinct and Hongjoong shook his head while chuckling. Was he that obvious?
Here you were at the library with your friends and you decided to stop complaining about those credits. You stood up and walked towards a computer to know the section of a book you needed for an assignment. As you arrived in the aisle, you noticed a tall figure, a finger trailing against the books, as if he was looking for something.
It was Mingi, the captain of the basketball team. Because of his soft features and choice of clothes, it was hard to believe, but he was apparently a good captain. You didn't really know how to make yourself noticeable to him, so you decided to clear your throat and greet him.
“Hi Mingi,” you whispered, anticipating his fright because he looked deep in thought. This is exactly what happened. Mingi jumped in fright, the book he was about to put back on the shelf escaped from his grip, landing on the floor after bumping on the poor boy’s head.
“Ouch! Oh… hi, hi Y/N. What, what are you doing here?” He managed to say before rubbing the spot on his head where the book landed. You smiled and picked up the book, handing it to him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You apologised, noticing his pink cheeks. “I’m just here because I need to find a book for my assignment.”
“Ah, hem, that’s… nice, I suppose.” Mingi mentally slapped himself for being such an awkward person in front of you and tried to smile at you.
“It could be better if I were completely honest with you,” you giggled and looked at the bookshelves next to you. Mingi swore his heart skips a beat when he heard your soft giggle and suddenly felt even hotter. He needed to get out of here as quickly as possible to not make a fool of himself even more. As he tried to come up with an excuse to leave, you look at the books’ titles, eyes squinting.
The young boy took a glimpse of your profile and put the book back on the upper shelf, trying to hide his flushed cheeks. You emitted a little “oh” before grabbing a book, a smile on your face. You hugged the volume to your chest and turned to Mingi, who was still thinking of a way out.
“Do you need—”
“Gotta go, it was nice to see you. Bye!” his loud voice surprised you as he paced to the end of the aisle and left, earning side glances from the people who were quietly studying near the two of you. You came back to your friend, confused about his behaviour and you started to gather your things, getting ready to leave.
“I’m going to sign up for this,” you whispered to her as you put your phone in your pocket, trying to be quick to catch Mingi before going to class.
“Really? But wh—”
“There’s no but, I need to get those credits this year. See you in class.” You sent her a flying kiss and you hurried out of the library, unintentionally slamming the door.
You didn’t manage to find Mingi to talk to him about the manager thing, so you went to class, pouting. Once your lecture was over, you hurried to the sports hall, hoping that the entire team would be practising already. And they were.
When Hongjoong notices you timidly peeking through the door of the hall, he passed the ball to Mingi to catch his attention and gestured him your presence by a nod towards you. Mingi caught the ball and froze. He ran to his other teammates and started practising his set shots, trying to focus on something else than your presence.
The sound of balls slammed against the hard floor resonating in the hall was quite impressing. Everyone was focusing hard, jumping, blocking, screaming, cheering, it was quite familiar to volleyball but way more intense. Some players started to acknowledge your presence. A few heads turned to Mingi, and some to the coach. A player smaller than the rest of the team walked to the coach and pointed your presence out to him. You awkwardly swung on your feet and you heard the coach whistling, indicating to the players to keep on training.
“Y/N, I didn’t expect to see you here! Can I help you?” You didn't recognise him at first, but you were happy that it was him since he was your former volleyball coach.
“Coach? It’s good to see you again! Maybe you can,” you smiled as you shook his hand and started explaining your interest in becoming the manager of the team. Your former coach was nodding at your words as he kept an eye on his team.
“I can see that you are still very invested in sports and that’s fantastic to know.” He smiles and blows into his whistle again.
“I’ll talk with the team and the other coaches about your application after practice. You can put your application in the mailbox of the sports teams, I'll make sure it's getting picked up before tomorrow. Come back here at the same time and we will talk about it.” He says as the team starts to gather around you.
“Do you think I have my chances or—”
“I’ll do everything to make it happen." He smiles and gets a bit closer to you. "If I were you, I wouldn’t apply somewhere else.” He grins as you thank him. You waved at the team and leave with a huge smile plastered on your face.
The following day, you were a real dynamo, impatient to be in the afternoon. You made your way to the coach a bit more confidently than yesterday and the entire team smiled and greeted you when you arrived. They were a bit too friendly to your liking, so you started to think that they were trying to make you feel better about not getting the job. Your insecurities disappeared as soon as you see the coach’s huge smile, Mingi walking next to him. He scratched his neck and shyly smiled when the coach laid a hand on his shoulder.
“I will let our captain announce you the great news,” the coach said and someone pushed Mingi closer to you. He reluctantly looked into your eyes and redness rose to his cheeks.
“Welcome to the team as our new coach?!” He said in one breath and the team cheered. You smiled and clapped with them as you thanked them. “I’ll try my best!” You said with a smile and they clapped even louder.
You were taking your job very seriously. You spent hours in your free time during the past three weeks to learn the rules and the vocabulary, as well as the strategies of this sport. You kept a good eye on the team when they are practising, writing down details and small mistakes that the coach might have missed. They were all extremely good, you didn’t know that Hongjoong, who was the smallest in the team, was such an essential element to the team. If he wasn’t there, the team was a bit uncoordinated, but they still managed to do a great job.
You stood next to the coach, who had a serious look but a bright smile decorating his lips. He chuckled and you turned your head to him.
“What’s so funny, coach?” you asked, and he crossed his arms on his chest.
“Mingi. He has never been so invested in the practices before,” he explained, and you nodded. “I decided to put him as the captain to make himself stand more in the team and it seems to work.” You noted that information at the back of your head and focused back on the boys.
“Or else,” he lingered, “he has someone to impress.” He smiled while looking at you. It takes you only seconds to realise what he was implying.
“What? Me? Do you really think he wants to impress me?” You frowned, confused.
“I don’t know,” he laughed, “he’s behaving like that since you arrived in the team, so it could be the case. But it's just an impression.” You looked at your coach with suspicious eyes and he joined his hands behind his back, feigning innocence.
When you looked back at the boys, your eyes were drawn to Mingi and you start to wonder. Did he really have a crush on you? But why? Maybe this could explain his behaviour at the library and why he can’t look at you straight in the eyes.
Practice ended and you threw bottles of water to the players, each catching it with ease. Mingi almost missed it and it made you smile, but you didn’t let it show. You had to admit that he’s quite endearing when he’s all shy and clumsy around you. Sometimes, he looks at you during practice to see if you look at him back. Okay, most of the times it makes him miss, but he’s super proud of him when he scores or he manages to dodge one of his mates when he knows you're watching.
However, when you catch his gaze and encouragingly smile at him, he immediately looks away to hide his red cheeks from you. It makes you laugh, and you tease him by doing so a few times per practice. You can see that he gets frustrated whenever the ball doesn't go through, so he trains harder, and he becomes even better than he already is.
This morning looks and sounds very stressful. The players were stressed, they were practising a bit to warm up and focus because the huge game they’ve been training for so long was finally taking place this afternoon. The reputation of the college was at stake, and it’s like that in every sport. You felt like you were reviving your days back when you were playing volleyball, the pressure was the same and you weren't even playing. You tried to comfort the players the best you could and gave them encouraging words.
The game wasn’t going according to plan. They made quite a lot of small mistakes in the first 20 minutes and you could see that the players, as well as the coach, you and the substitute players, were starting to get nervous and mad. Your coach asked for a time-out and you were quick to deliver smiles, towels and water. The players needed encouragement and sympathy, so you tried your best not to let your worry show on your face.
“Y/N, something to add to the strategy?” Your coach asked, everyone now staring at you.
“No,” you shook your head as you grab another water bottle from the cool box, "apart from trying to stay calm and composed. It’s a tough match but you trained for it, it’s not like you to make mistakes during a match. Try to focus as much as you can and work in a team, that’s the most important part. Listen to each other too, you’ll get even better.”
"Let’s go boys!” The coach yelled and laid a hand on Hongjoong’s shoulder. You smiled to the boys as you saw the timer of the break running out.
Mingi stayed a bit behind, patting his forehead dry with a towel and you walked up to him with the bottle of water he asked for during the match. He looked so nervous that you started to feel bad for him. He took the bottle without a word and gulped some water without breathing.
“Mingi, look at me,” he stopped drinking and briefly looked at you before staring at the court. You grabbed his arm and settled yourself in front of him, forcing him to look at you.
“Mingi, you got this. I know it’s a lot of pressure to be the captain of a team and manage it, but I also know you are capable. Remember, you trained so hard these past few weeks, you did your best and you’re still doing so. Listen to your teammates, do not hesitate to give orders or make yourself stand on the court. You’re a great player, Mingi, I know you can carry your team and make it through the finals, alright?” You squeezed his forearm and he nodded, gulping a last sip of water before shyly smiling at you and handing you his stuff.
“Make me proud.” You whispered as the buzzer resonated in the hall and he went back on the court, your last words trotting in his head.
“What did you say to our lovely captain? He looks boosted again.” The coach said as he sat down next to you on the white bench, looking at the time on the huge clock on the wall.
“Just some words of encouragement from a captain to another,” you said as you focused on Mingi playing with a soft smile on your face. “Nothing else.”
The boys were doing better than before, but you could see that they were giving their best for the last ten minutes. Their opponent team was pretty tough, this college was hard to beat in every sport. Your boys managed to get back up on their feet and were scoring more and more as the time passed by. You nodded to Mingi every time he crossed your gaze and it did nothing but boost his confidence. You really started to believe the coach’s remarks from a few weeks ago; you were Mingi’s motivation.
The stress was almost unbearable. The time was starting to run out and they still had 4 points to catch up with. Two minutes from the end game, Yunho managed to score, making the scores 131-129 for the other team.
“They can’t lose for two points,” you mumbled to yourself through gritted teeth. The coach was nervous too, but he remained stoic. Just like when you were losing during volleyball. He never let his emotions surpass him. “Two points away from going to finals, ten seconds left, it’s impossible,” you watched the opponent team engage and one of the players winked at you with a smirk as he started running, dribbling.
You frowned and you felt your body fulminate at his insolence. He was about to shoot from the three-point line but Mingi blocked him, grabbing the ball and throwing it to Yunho near their three-point line and shot. Yunho didn’t move from his spot as everyone watched the ball fly. The time was running, and you were holding your breath, your eyes going from the timer to the ball and vice versa, waiting for the buzz to go off before the ball could even pass the loop. You closed your eyes and heard the buzz indicating the end of the match as you took your head in your hands.
However, you flinched when you heard the coach yell and stand up with his arms in the air. You looked at the score.
131-132.
You joined your coach by screaming in happiness with him, clapping as you watch the boys meet in a hug. You stopped clapping for a second, making eye-contact with the insolent boy from before and you just shrugged. You smiled and cheered for your team as they came to you. You hugged them even if they were drenched in sweat and you congratulated them.
“Good job boys! Let's go to the finals!” You yelled and the only thing you could hear was the audience filled with parents and students from your college clap and cheer for your team.
After celebrating for a while and shaking hands with the sheepish opponent team, the boys went to shower and you start cleaning while your coach talked to some parents.
Mingi and Yunho were the first two to get out of the changing room, freshly showered, dressed in their everyday clothes. Yunho jogged to the coach and hugged the woman, who seemed to be his mom. You watched and smiled at their interaction but someone behind you cleared their throat, making you turn around.
“Mingi,” you said with a smile, correctly putting the lid back on the cool box and locking it. “You played well,” you got closer, your hands awkwardly joined behind your back as you smiled.
“It’s… it’s all thanks to you,” he mumbled but you were close enough to catch it.
“Me? But I didn’t play, you should be proud of yourself.”
“I am but-- I wouldn’t have been able to go back on track without… you a-and your words.” He said, scratching his neck while he stares at the coach behind your shoulder. “You really helped me, y-you gave me energy and… yeah, thank you for that.” You both smiled at each other and stayed like that for a couple of minutes, not really knowing how to keep the conversation going.
“Do you…” Mingi started, “do you happen to be free th-this weekend?”
“Hum,” you thought, “not on Sunday, but yeah I’m free on Saturday!”
“Will you go on a d-date with me, then?” He says, playing with the strap of his gym bag, looking rather nervous.
“I’d love to" you answered, beaming, eyes filled with tenderness.
His eyes widened and his mouth slightly stood agape.
“Really?” he breathed, his cheeks becoming furiously red as he started to laugh nervously.
“Yeah!” you giggled and started to walk out of the gym hall along with Mingi, who wasn’t scared to be this close to you anymore. You bid farewell to your coach and Yunho and you took the opportunity of you and Mingi's hands resting not too far from each other to link your pinky with his, a big smile forming on his lips as he met your eyes.
