tag list: @onlymingyus @junkissed @maijunejuly @hyucks-rose @freakyfriedrice @aceofvernons @fallinwoozi
warnings: not really enemies but they know and hate each other lol, gendered nicknames, reader has vagina, reader receiving head, overstimulation, squirting, slightly fluffy
a/n: hi this is halloween-esque but not necessarily spooky. just tension between idiots which I love to write! shoutout to june giving me the title to this + getting me to finish this with her comments on my google doc <3 pls enjoy
“get in the car.”
“fuck you,” you muttered under your breath.
“what was that?” mingyu spoke up again, clearly trying to push your buttons. he’s always done this, always acted as if he’s entitled to an answer even when it was none of his business.
you stopped in your tracks to look at him. “I said fuck you, prick,” you spat out, quickly facing your attention toward the path back home.
you were coming back from a friend’s Y2K themed costume party which unfortunately meant taking the short walk back home in a denim miniskirt, a baby tee with a stupid saying on the front, and a pair of sneakers. it was a fun night, you drank sufficiently to the point where you felt light on your feet while walking home.
sure, your feet were comfortable, but it was still an inconvenience to walk back when it was cold and dark, but you typically never encountered any trouble since your apartment was located on a quiet residential street.
however, tonight, mingyu had other plans. you thankfully managed to avoid him the entire night at the party, so much that you almost forgot he existed for a few hours. you spent the night catching up with friends that you hadn’t seen in a while because of work, gossiping a bit too much over red plastic cups, but you still spotted him occasionally doing the same thing.
despite your friend group’s best efforts to help you make amends, you two didn’t get along one bit. there was too much tension for them to cut through as a collective group, so they eventually let it go in an effort to keep the peace.
“get in the car right now. cheol’s gonna have my head if I don’t take you home, especially since you were drinking. I know you were taking shots all night,” he responds with that sly grin of his, you don’t even have to look at him to know.
“that’s not true and cheol should know better than to expect me to ride with you,” your words slur slightly, exposing yourself a bit too much. you subsequently trip over your feet on a crack in the sidewalk, losing your balance momentarily.
you hear him laugh a bit too loud at the mistake and you feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. of course, he saw it and he’s not gonna let you forget about it either.
“you can’t even walk in sneakers right now! get in the car, princess, seriously,” he objects. you look over and you’re shocked that he’s still bored enough to keep up with you, it’s actively starting to piss you off.
“fuck, just let me fall on the pavement and die,” you yell into the air with your head tilted back, “you’re not even supposed to care what happens to me!” you turn your head to him again with a bewildered look.
“stop before you wake up the whole neighborhood,” he warns. “you know what, enough,” you hear him shut off the ignition and get out of the car, shutting the door behind him and meeting you on the sidewalk faster than you expected.
“you’re being ridiculous,” he points at you with an accusatory finger.
you scoff. “do you think you’re gonna fuck me? is that why you’re doing this?”
it feels wrong the moment you say it, but what else were you meant to say? he has notoriously only been friends with girls just to have weirdly long situationships with them, never establishing a proper relationship due to a lack of commitment. he thought it was convenient, you thought it was irritating.
“what? are you fucking kidding me?” he seethes, running his hands through his hair. you’ve really done it now, you don’t think you’ve ever seen him this flustered and angry at the same time. yet, it was the truth.
even when the rest of your friend group teased him, mingyu always took it without too much resistance, that’s just the kind of guy he is.
“am I wrong? you think every girl you come into contact with wants to fuck you,” you insist, you cross your arms in front of your chest and stare at him intensely.
“i’m doing this because you need to get home, whether I like you or not,” he clenches his jaw, not breaking eye contact for a second. it would probably scare you if you were less drunk, but you were feeling testy.
“what happened to princess? hmm?” you smirk.
he barely lets you finish before he picks you up by the waist, doing his best to place you in the passenger seat despite you hitting his back with your fists.
“put me down!” you scream into his ear over and over until he’s somehow opened the door and clicks your seatbelt across your waist. you immediately shut up the moment he throws your discarded purse in your lap, you clutch it while looking down at your feet.
you watch him walk around to the driver’s seat and settle into the car, shifting gears before driving away from the wooded area.
“you’re such a fucking brat, you’d rather fight me until you’re blue in the face instead of just taking the ride,” he tightens his grip around the steering wheel until his knuckles tense a bit too tight, it makes you swallow weakly.
the next few minutes are uncomfortably tense, you don’t miss the way he sets his jaw just a little bit tighter each time he stops at a red light. you don’t have to tell him how to get to your apartment, he’s been there too many times to count.
he pulls up to your apartment, turns on the hazard lights, and sits back in the leather seat.
“get out,” he says in a sharp yet quiet tone. you didn’t think it would strike a nerve that badly with him, but the guilt settles into your chest as you unbuckle the seatbelt and exit the car. you slam the car door and walk away, not letting yourself look back at him.
you fish your keys out of your front pocket and fumble your way inside without much effort and shut the door behind you. that probably makes the top 5 worst conversations that you’ve had with mingyu, but you won’t remember it in the morning.
you hope not, at least.
you don’t even have a full moment to yourself before you hear a soft knock on the door. you throw off your sneakers before padding across the hardwood floor toward the door, opening it to reveal a slightly disheveled mingyu.
“your purse,” he sighs, holding up your bag with his fingers out toward you. you stare at him for a moment before taking it.
you both exchange a look, but you turn away from the door toward the pitch darkness of your living room.
it was an intrusive thought, the thought of getting split open on kim mingyu’s dick.
he’d probably show no mercy since there are infinite levels of tension in your relationship that not even scientists would understand.
it’s so stupid, but there’s probably some alternate universe where you aren’t forcing yourself to do this, you would both act like normal adults and you would just ask him to have sex.
but, this is real life and you’re about to go back on your word not even an hour later.
“i need you to fuck me.”
“you’re drunk,” he seems to be unbothered before he starts blinking a bit too much, his nonchalance shifts into a state of processing.
“I'm barely drunk and I know you want to, you want to put me in my place,” you approach him with blind confidence. he stares you down, no emotion evident on his face.
“I need full consent and I mean it, I’m not touching you without it.”
“I give you full consent to fuck the shit out of me,” you deadpan, sighing as if you’re telling him off more than actually informing him. he nods silently, accepting the terms. he steps past you into the apartment and you shut the door behind him, gently locking it before facing him again.
you walk toward your bedroom, fumbling around to turn on the lamp before sitting down on your plush comforter.
he approaches you at the end of the bed, considering his next move as he stares at your thighs.
he sinks to his knees, his face now eye level with your cunt. he slips his hands under your skirt to find no trace of underwear, the shock is visible on his face as he looks up at you.
“this seems like you wanted to get fucked tonight, princess,” he shakes his head and returns his focus to the task at hand, finding your clit with his thumb.
“m-maybe,” you let out a shaky breath as he increases the pressure, making torturously slow circles on your clit. you lean your head back as you let out a few involuntary moans, mingyu laughs as you slowly give into the pleasure.
“but my skirt was long enough to cover it, who cares,” you brush off the fact and prop up your elbows in an effort to steady yourself.
“such a naughty girl,” he collects a bit of your arousal on his fingers before lifting them to your mouth. he pushes them into your mouth and you happily swirl them around on your tongue, sucking them clean. it pulls another moan out of you, and you’re not sure if it’s from the nickname or the act itself, either way he’s making you feel so pathetic.
“you like that, huh? you like being my naughty girl,” his voice goes especially raspy as he returns to your thighs, pressing gentle kisses on the path to your clit. the lack of pressure is sweet but disappointing, you wanted a little bit more action.
“thought you were gonna go harder than this,” you retort. you can feel the confidence die in your throat as he looks up at you.
“you didn’t answer my question,” he scratches his nails down your thighs to your slight discomfort, “and if you don’t, i’ll be agonizingly slow,” he warns. you don’t want to be putty in his hands, but he just pulls you in so easily.
“i like it,” you whisper and shut your eyes immediately. you put your arm over your face in an effort to hide, but he’s already up to his feet, pulling it away from your face a moment after.
“what was that, baby? what do you like?” you hear him ask you and the shyness washes over you again.
you whined and forced yourself to answer. “i like being naughty for you,” you moan, you shift your hips in an effort to get more friction, silently asking him to start up again.
“good girl,” his words melt on your core as he settles himself onto his knees again, he chooses to keep murmuring soft praises against you and it drives you insane.
the compliments go to your head and you think you want to get drunk on his words, the way his voice rasps against your skin as if he’s trying to make sure the words never leave your flesh.
he arrives at a faster pace sooner than you expect, making you place a hand in his hair. the harder he licks your clit, the tighter your hold gets. the resulting groan from him is heavenly, it adds an extra bit of pressure that has you clutching the sheets for dear life. you no longer hold yourself back from bucking your hips up against his face, he has to force you back down with his hands after the third time you do it.
“mingyu, please please please,” you slur out, you throw your head back to try and fight the building coil in your stomach.
“please what?” he looks up at you with a glistening mouth, eager to get back to the task at hand.
“let me cum, please,” you grit your teeth at the loss of pressure. he bites back a smile and steadies his hands on your thighs, fingers spread across your skin for balance.
“asking for permission, good girl? should I let you?”
“yes, I’m losing my mind gyu, please,” your heart feels like it’s in your throat the moment you respond.
“one question and I’ll let you go, ok? were you avoiding me at the party?” he asks it so easily, it makes you want to scream.
of course you were and of course he noticed.
“yes, I was,” you admit. he tilts his head slightly.
“thought I wouldn’t see you, princess? no matter how much you wanted to look at me?” he mumbles the words against your slit, not breaking eye contact with you for even a second.
“you never see me,” you know it’s too vulnerable, you’re pushing your luck with this response.
“I always do,” his eyes linger on you for a little bit too long, you can see the fondness spread across his cheeks when he smiles.
it’s disgustingly charming.
you want to see more.
he doesn’t warn you before he licks a stripe against your entrance, it makes you lift your hips again in shock. he laughs against your thighs at your response, closing his eyes for a moment. “stop trying to get away from me,” he pouts.
“force of habit,” you can’t even look at him but it’s true. this is all a little too foreign for you, your body still has some catching up to do with your heart in terms of accepting mingyu’s attention.
before you can process, the coil is tight once again and you’re desperate to cum, you don’t like the fact that you’ve been involuntarily edged multiple times now.
your whines are the only thing you can hear and you can only say his name over and over until your thoughts no longer have a way to escape from your mouth.
you get so caught up in your own pleasure that you’re rocking his head back and forth with your hips in order to coax your orgasm out.
mingyu, bless his heart, has latched his arm around your thigh to help you get there, hoisting your leg over his shoulder and leaning into the movements to tether himself to you.
“fuck, I’m gonna cum,” your voice thins out into a whisper as he concentrates on your clit, the clear area of interest now that you’ve spoken up.
mingyu replaces his tongue with his fingers so that he can look at you. “come on, princess, cum for me,” he whispers. the determined look he gives you, the nickname, and the relentless speed he’s moving at leave you absolutely done for.
white spots hit your vision and you’re screaming his name, you screw your eyes shut and feel a gush of cum pool underneath your thighs and your pleasure is now twisted into horror.
“fuck, that was so much,” you contort your face at the feeling, you scoot yourself away from the mess in sheer embarrassment.
kim mingyu was able to make you squirt just from giving head during your first time together?
you’d never hear the end of it.
“it was hot as fuck, baby, I promise,” he’s grinning like a kid in a candy store, it makes you cringe but he’s still cute.
“you sure?” he's already licking your thighs clean, he was definitely sure.
“very sure, now let me clean you up. and take off your clothes, you’re sweating,” he’s slightly concerned as he finally stands up, leaving to retrieve a damp washcloth.
once you hear the water running, you’re alone with your thoughts for a minute.
mingyu clearly likes having sex with you, even indulging in multiple nicknames that were making themselves comfortable in your mind.
it was confusing yet exciting all at once, how could he break you down like this so easily?
has this always been the truth? were you always waiting for him to take it too far? or did you just have to find the courage to ask him for yourself?
all of these thoughts return to the back of your mind as he reappears after a minute or two with said item, standing over you for a moment.
you realize that you’re still clothed and let out a small gasp to his amusement, you quickly discard your clothes on the floor.
he finally joins you on the bed, knees caging your body to help you clean up. “good girl,” he begins to wipe you down gently, taking his time to carry out a thorough job.
“these nicknames are so,” you trail off. he gives you a patient look, not forcing you to answer until you’re ready.
“so new,” you arrive at the answer a few seconds later with squinted eyes.
“i’m testing them out. nothing is permanent,” he offers.
you don’t want him to change his mind, the idea of being his princess is viable, it becomes more realized in each passing moment.
“well, i assume you don’t want to be in a relationship,” you watch him with your hands across your chest, suddenly a bit self conscious.
“that would be wrong,” he doesn’t look up, he simply wrings the washcloth in his hands.
“what?”
“I haven’t been with anyone casually in a long time, I want to be in a committed relationship.”
“then how do I fit into this?”
“I always thought you were pretty, stubborn as fuck but pretty,” he seems to recall past arguments with a scoff, “but I know when I’m not wanted, y/n. I wasn’t gonna force myself onto you,” he doesn't look up at you.
“right,” you nod solemnly. it makes sense. why try when it’s clear what the outcome will be?
“and we were always mad at each other over dumb shit, I just let that idea die. how do you feel?” he finally looks at you, all other movements cease to just look at you with those pretty eyes of his.
“same reason, it was just mentally easier to be mad at you. better than rejection, I guess?” you’re processing it as you say it out loud.
“we’re both pathetic, huh?” he giggles and you finally let yourself go. it’s nice to finally agree on something for once, to let the air be clear of any resentment.
“just a little. god, they’re gonna lose their shit over us,” you whine, placing your hands over your eyes.
“hey, hey, we don’t have to tell anyone anything yet,” he reassures you while removing your hands from your face. “we haven’t even gone on a date, we can take our time,” he kisses your cheek in an attempt to make you smile, it doesn’t work.
you sigh at the idea of a potential dating timeline. “right. what happens when we look like we don’t hate each other the next time we hang out? the lack of tension would be almost too obvious,” you’re overthinking and he tries to quiet the fears with a peck to your lips.
“we‘ll be fine, baby,” he smirks against your lips and kisses you once more. “what if I don’t want them to know, huh? what if I want you all to myself?” his hands trail down to your chest, slowly kneading your breasts to your surprise.
you don’t fight the groan that escapes your lips, mingyu smiles knowing that he’s broken your brain out of its anxious trance.
“I wouldn’t mind that,” you sigh out, he flops his head against your chest and finally takes in the weight of everything, laying next to you.
you both take in the silence and you decide to run your fingers through his hair. he moves accordingly and lets out a content sigh at your choice.
“mingyu?” you break the silence.
“yeah?”
“i’m sorry about tonight. what I said was cruel,” you try to express yourself as earnestly as possible. it was only right that starting fresh with each other meant building a new foundation of honesty and trust.
“I forgive you, baby. you were right, anyways,” he grabs your hand and presses a kiss to your palm before intertwining your fingers together.
“it was still mean.”
“well, I’ll tell you what, I still haven’t kept my promise of fucking the shit out of you,” you blush at him remembering your words. “so let’s do that instead of going back and forth, ok? I promise I’m fine,” he cradles your face in his hands and you’re acutely aware of how calm it makes you feel.
his eye contact still makes you a bit nervous, but nervous in a way where you want him to keep looking, you want him to keep accepting you with his sweet eyes.
“okay,” you finally feel more relaxed at the sight of him, the tension leaves your face and he notices it immediately.
you’re broken out of your trance when his phone rings. he’s clearly annoyed until he sees who it is and flashes the screen toward you.
you smile and your eyes widen.
it’s seungcheol.
he answers the phone while stroking your cheek with his hand. “hey, yeah, I got her back home. I don’t know why she’s not picking up your calls,” he responds in between pauses and looks at you with a knowing smirk.
you feel your cheeks heat up again and you flip your head into the pillow. your ass is now exposed, a costly mistake when you feel his hands travel over your skin. you hear mingyu “mhm” and “yeah” his way through the rest of the call while occasionally squeezing your ass, it was terribly cocky of him.
“okay, talk to you later,” he hangs up and you hear him place his phone on your nightstand.
“hey, pretty,” he leans down to your ear and you groan.
“oh god, I didn’t text him,” you sigh at the idea of getting a lecture from seungcheol.
“it’s fine,” he flips you over with a short grunt.
“it’s not fine,” you pout to the point where he can’t help but pinch your cheek.
“I just covered for you and I still want to fuck you, unless you still need convincing,” he takes his hand from your face and places it over his erection. it feels too big under your hand and your heart starts racing.
“shit,” your breath hitches. “okay, go for it.”
“you’re so fucking cute,” he kisses your forehead before stripping down.
“I am?” you catch your breath at the sight of his chest.
“yes, and I’m about to enjoy every single second of this.”
notes: did I just sit here and write an entire 1k word piece based off the pics mingyu just posted on instagram? yes. yes I did. and it’s cute as shit! not proofread at all sorry about it
tag list: @bfwonu @thetigeragenda @lavenderautumnx @husbandhoshi @soffrine @sapphichui @dokyeomblr @mangogyu
dinner dates with mingyu were always lovely, especially after a long work week. over big bowls of pork noodle soup, you both talk about the highs and lows of your week.
yet, this time, mingyu didn’t have anything to do the next day, so you both indulged in too many bottles of soju. by the time you were done with dinner, you were both a little too far gone to appear composed.
it didn’t help that it was pouring rain for most of your time in the restaurant, so you had both prolonged leaving for as long as possible.
“shit, is it still raining?” mingyu turns his head to look out the window, squinting his eyes a little too hard. it wasn’t hard to see the rain droplets stuck to the window, but everything he does while drunk is somehow more endearing than he already is.
you glance to see for yourself, but the rain seems to have stopped. “no, I think we’re good,” you exclaim. he gives you a slightly more exaggerated nod than usual and stands up from the table easily.
thankfully, you both organized your bowls and bottles before paying, so you didn’t feel too guilty standing up from the table and nearly stumbling. mingyu rushes to your side, catching your waist and helping you to the door.
“please don’t fall, we can’t bring more attention to ourselves,” he whispers not so quietly into your ear and it leaves you laughing a little bit too hard as he pushes the door open with his free arm.
you knew the elderly patrons were already staring at you before you left, but you couldn’t be too concerned.
you both make it outside and the smell of fresh rain hits your nose immediately. the large trees that lined your path back home were dripping, and you hoped the wind wouldn’t blow any of it on you.
you both walked a considerable amount before you realized mingyu was still clutching onto your waist, but his weight started to crush you.
his chest was exposed, so you took the chance to hit his skin with your hand to grab his attention. he freed his arm to clutch his chest in fake pain.
“you hit me!” he gaped at you, suddenly stopping in his tracks to face you.
“your grip was so tight that you were gonna break my waist in half!“ you exclaim, breaking into laughter before you could finish the sentence.
you keep walking without him by your side, you don’t wait for him to catch up and you start to think something is wrong before you turn around.
you see him take off running toward you with a devilish grin on his face. you scream in fake surprise and sprint away from him, you can hear the heaviness of his footsteps behind you but you’re convinced that you can outrun him.
you almost think you’re in the clear until you hear him right behind you.
“I’ve got you,” he snatches you up with a low growl, his arms are tightly wrapped around your middle while spinning you in a circle.
you’re only scared for a brief moment when your feet lift off the ground, but you screw your eyes shut to stop yourself from getting too dizzy.
“kim mingyu!” you scream his name over and over, each with a bit more laughter than the last until you can’t stop yourself from laughing.
you can hear his laughter ringing in your ears, it sounds so sweet that you want to sit in the feeling forever.
he finally places you down, taking a deep breath. you finally open your eyes to see that he’s beaming at you.
“you’re so pretty,” he says suddenly. he always has stars in his eyes while looking at you, but the way he stares at you tonight feels even more precious.
“you are too,” you reply.
“I love you,” he says it before he can catch himself. his eyes widen and he puts his hand over his mouth.
it was the first time he’s ever said it to you.
you want to memorize the way he says it.
“kim mingyu? you love me?” you’re nearly whispering as you touch his chest again and use your other hand to tuck a stray hair behind his ear.
“I love you so much,” he decides to drop his tone and let out a short laugh.
“well, I love you too.”
you lean in for a kiss and it feels like he’s been waiting for it all night when your lips touch. your teeth clash slightly since you’re drunk, but you still fall into the rhythm of each other, the feeling of his lips is so deeply nestled into your brain that you can’t forget it even when the conditions aren’t currently ideal.
you treasured the kiss you shared when he came home from practice earlier that day, but the alcohol tinged kiss you share in the middle of a park feels more like coming home.
he doesn’t go far with it, he angles his head just deep enough to leave you wanting more when he pulls away.
“ready to go home? we’re almost there,” he leans in to kiss the corner of your mouth and you’re smiling before he can face you again.
you only nod, silently thankful that you can tuck into the noodle shop 5 minutes away from your apartment with the man you love.
he intertwines your fingers together and you preserve the image in your head. the mix of cologne and alcohol that hits your nose when you put your head against his arm, the quiet hum of the cars passing by on the street, and the gentle breeze that makes you feel light as you walk home together.
he’s more than you could’ve ever asked for, a blessing that keeps revealing itself every day.
you’re excited to think about more nights like this, where the mood is just as light but the words “I love you” won’t feel so new, but familiar in a way you’ll anticipate every time.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (finale)
word count: 7k
synopsis: when you make a chance encounter with your ex, you end up saying that you're engaged to your estranged neighbor xu minghao. when you find out your ex is coming to your friend's wedding, you've only got a month to become a convincing couple.
warnings: (almost) strangers to lovers, fake marriage, shitty ex!joshua, scenes with enclosed spaces (only in this part), angst, a tiny bit of fluff.
notes: hi omg! my first series!!! i repurposed this first part from something I was writing for another fandom forever ago and it inspired me to make it into a series! hope you enjoy it!!
tag list: @venusdaisies @mangogyu @idyllic-ghost
You didn’t want to admit that you were having a terrible day, but it was getting ridiculous at this point.
You managed to almost miss the train, get stuck on said train for an hour, and break a heel the moment you arrived at work. Luckily, you had a pair of tennis shoes on standby at your desk, but that pair of heels happened to be one of your favorites. You silently mourned your shoes and questioned your will to live throughout the day, praying that your luck would turn around.
However, that wouldn’t happen.
When you were sure the day couldn’t get any worse, you somehow lost your train card on the way home. Of course, you didn’t notice until you stepped into the station. You internally cursed yourself for fucking things up once again today, but you had to focus. You didn’t want to give up any more money for a new card, so you begrudgingly made the 40 minute walk back to your apartment.
Naturally, you weren’t expecting any more obstacles. You wanted the universe to spare you so badly and your body was spent from all the mishaps you handled throughout the day. You felt as if your body was floating as you walked into the apartment building, closing your eyes the moment you stepped onto the elevator. The ride to the 5th floor wasn’t nearly long enough, and the chime signaling your destination jolted you awake. You were almost at your apartment door when you heard a voice call your name.
“Y/N? Is that you?” The man’s voice called out excitedly, convinced that he knew you despite your back being turned.
You slowly turned around, your eyes widening at the sight of the man in front of you. It was your ex-boyfriend, looking almost exactly the same as when you two dated. With the exception of a different hair color, his presence brought you back to the tumultuous points of their relationship.
“Joshua! Hi! Yeah, it’s me,” You clutched your tote bag tightly out of instinct. Of course you see your ex when you looked and felt like shit.
He still looked like the human embodiment of a golden retriever and now he had sandy blonde hair to match. It was actually unfair that he looked so well adjusted, so normal after all this time. He was just so happy and it lit a fire in the pit of your stomach.
You watched his eyes scan your body up and down, taking in the sight before him. “It’s crazy, I haven’t seen you since everything happened.”
“Yeah, since you cheated on me,” you responded with a sly grin. There was no reason to pretend with each other, especially since things ended so abruptly. You had spent too much time crying over him to not enjoy this moment.
“Yep,” Joshua replied quietly, clearly not prepared to be confronted with his past behaviors.
“So I assume you’re still with her, then?” you asked.
“Yes, we actually moved into the building a few months ago,” Joshua softly smiled, seemingly trying to cut the tension between you two.
“That’s great,” You mustered the smallest bit of compassion for him, trying not to let your resentment rise to the surface. His new girlfriend was pretty enough, and it didn’t surprise you that Joshua had moved on to someone who eerily looked like you. If you had learned anything from that disaster of a relationship, it was that he definitely had a type.
“How have things been for you?” Joshua asked, giving you almost no time to make a plan to respond.
Would you tell Joshua the truth about your life? How you had been single ever since the breakup and hadn’t been able to quit your dead end job? Absolutely not.
Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted your neighbor Minghao. You didn’t want to resort to anything crazy, but the situation required it. If you were going to lie, you would have to go all in.
“I’m with Minghao,” you said it loud enough to catch the man’s attention. He stopped next to you, the confusion evident on his face.
“What?” Minghao took out his headphones, staring at you as if you had two heads.
“We’ve been together for a few years, actually,” you looked at him with a mix of desperation and kindness, silently hoping Minghao would play along for a few minutes.
He seemed to catch on pretty quickly, leaning on your shoulder and smiling fondly at you. Despite the minimal amount of contact you had with Minghao in the past, he was quick on his feet.
“That’s great! Are you getting married?” Joshua pointed to Minghao’s silver band on his ring finger. He smirked at you, clearly interested in how you would dig yourself out of this.
“Yes, we are,” you smiled and squeezed Minghao’s hand softly. He put on a small smile, but his eyes were dark with anger. You figured he would be upset, but you didn’t have many options. You were honestly shocked that you were still relaxed at all.
“Congrats! Y/N, why aren’t you wearing a ring then?” Joshua inquired. You silently resented Joshua with every passing second. You knew he was just curious, but it was almost too much now.
Before you could respond, Minghao interjected. “She cut her finger pretty badly, so she hasn’t worn it for a little bit. So clumsy, I can’t leave her alone for a second.” Minghao had grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers together. He started laughing, looking back at Joshua who matched his energy.
You were lost for words at the moment, but ultimately thankful that Minghao knew how to keep up appearances. There were too many things about the interaction that made you question it, but you didn’t have time to think about it. That exhaustion was starting to catch up with you again.
“We should go, but it was good to see you,” You replied carefully, trying not to reveal the extent of your tiredness.
“No worries! See you around,” Joshua waved and began to walk away, a cue for you to grab Minghao’s hand and start running towards your apartment. You didn’t hear any objections from him as you unlocked the door, likely not to raise suspicion around Joshua.
As soon as you locked the door behind you two, Minghao pulled his hand out of your grasp.
“Do you mind telling me what just happened?” Minghao was so confused that it was almost to the point of anger.
“That was my ex. I had to make something up,” You didn’t have the heart to look at him, so you focused on taking your shoes off instead.
“Okay, but why am I involved? You could have just asked someone else who actually knows you,” Minghao replied with an unsatisfied tone.
“You started to go along with it! Plus I just really needed a way out.” You pointed your bag in his direction, quickly placing it down in frustration. None of your friends would have done it anyway, not to impress someone that broke your heart in the first place.
“I had no choice, you looked at me like you were gonna shit yourself,” Minghao stood decidedly at the front door, refusing to step into your space more than he had to. You thought it was slightly immature, but he had already done more than enough for you today.
“I just needed you to help me out. That’s all.”
“Well, it sounds like this isn’t gonna end anytime soon, so what’s in it for me?”
“Anything you want,” you noticed Minghao’s smirk and continued, “within reason. I’m not a millionaire.”
“Honestly, rent money would be nice. It’s the only reasonable reward for getting involved in all of this,” Minghao was stoic throughout his reply, his mood not letting up at all.
You cursed under your breath. It made sense since rent definitely wasn’t cheap, but it didn’t mean you were jumping to commit to it.
“Remember when I said I wasn't rich 20 seconds ago?”
“Yes, but I’m not doing this for free. So you can pay me or else you don’t have a fiancé,” Minghao turned to open the door and your desperation kicked in.
“Fine, okay. I’ll give you rent money,” You sighed deeply. Minghao turned to face you once again, content with his demands.
“You really must be desperate, huh?” Mingaho beamed.
“Shut up,” you rolled your eyes.
“I’m helping you out, so I’d be nice if I were you,” Minghao leaned against the doorframe, his smug demeanor coming off strong even from far away.
“He cheated on me, so I think there's a bit of incentive to do well.”
“Shit. I’m sorry, you don’t deserve that,” Minghao fixed his posture at your statement.
“Thanks. I shouldn’t be this petty, but he is truly the worst,” you admitted. After you initially broke up with Joshua, you learned that he had been cheating for months. You hated that you didn’t find out sooner, but you couldn’t have known. You didn’t want to think the worst of someone you loved.
“Well, I’m happy to be as petty as you need,” Minghao responded with a softer expression. You almost felt that his words were sincere, but you wouldn’t delude yourself into thinking it was anything serious.
“I guess I should give you my num-” you began.
“I don’t need it,” Minghao interjected. He was being a bit elusive, but you weren’t in the mood to talk him down about it.
You sighed deeply. “How am I supposed to talk to you, then?”
“Just come to my door. My apartment is 524, I’m right down the hall.” Minghao unlocked the door to leave, and you didn’t feel the need to stop him.
“Whatever. I guess I’ll see you around then.”
“Bye,” Minghao closed the door behind you, leaving you with your own thoughts. You didn’t like the idea of being alone, not when you just put yourself in such an impossible situation.
You needed to talk to someone before it got too late.
-
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’m so fucking stupid,” You felt the tears stream down your cheeks, quickly closing your eyes to stop any chances of blurry vision.
“You’re not stupid,” your friend Chan reassured you, gently stroking your hair. You both laid haphazardly on his bed, full from pizza that you brought from your place. You allowed him to cover you in a blanket in an effort to relax but to no avail.
“I am. I told Joshua that I’m getting married to Minghao, but we barely know each other and I was just so tired I didn’t know what else to do,” you babbled until you couldn’t speak anymore, your tears covering up anything else you wanted to say.
You got a bit too drunk and decided to call Chan after wallowing in your own sadness for a few hours. You were always an emotional drunk, leaving Chan to make sure you didn’t cry yourself to sleep.
However, once he saw how devastated you looked, he couldn’t be angry. Chan also lived in your apartment building, a coincidence that quickly turned into an inside joke between the two of you. It came in handy when you needed comfort from each other, tonight in particular.
“You just did what you thought was best at the moment.”
You scoffed. “I’m in a fake relationship with a guy who doesn’t know anything about me. I wouldn’t say that’s the best thing.”
“You don’t have to figure everything out right now. This literally happened today on top of an already bad day. Give yourself some grace,” Chan’s comforting words seemed to melt into your skin, alleviating your anxieties of making the wrong decision.
“You’re right,” you sighed, “but I just don’t know when I’m gonna talk to him again.”
“I’d give it a few days,” Chan offered.
“Ok, that means I’ve got the whole weekend to think then.” Since it was a Friday, you could plot exactly how you would approach Minghao over the next few days.
“You’re gonna think too much, I already know it,” Chan giggled.
“Oh god, you really know me too well,” you sat up and grinned at him. It shouldn’t be too complicated, but you didn’t know what to expect with him at all.
“That’s my job.” Chan smiled in reply and you sat in silence for a moment. Chan swiped a stray tear from your cheek, instinctively grabbing your hands soon afterwards. “You’ll be fine. Plus I’ll be coaching you, so you’re not going through this alone.”
“Yeah,” you looked down before meeting Chan’s eyes again. “You’re not gonna let me fuck this up, right?”
“Of course not. We’ve gotta make sure you two are actually convincing as a couple, but that’s something we can figure out later. For now, I just need to make sure you’re not gonna cry yourself to death,” Chan replied sweetly, but his tone was halfway serious.
You smiled weakly. “I’m good, I swear.” Chan’s eyes lingered for a moment, but he chose not to press the issue. You didn’t know if that was for your own good, but you figured it was best not to question it.
In the lapse of conversation, you decided to check your phone. Your notifications were filled with the usual Instagram and Twitter interactions, a few spare work emails you hadn’t seen during the day, and texts from your friends.
However, your eyes landed on one notification: a reminder for your friend’s wedding. Your heart nearly stopped. You clicked on the email to find a digital version of the invitation that you received in the mail months ago.
You remembered putting it on your refrigerator alongside other photos and postcards of events coming and going, and you visually acknowledged it every day. It couldn't be coming up too soon, right? You scanned the invitation once again, and the date stood out.
The wedding was only a month away.
How did you possibly forget your friends’ wedding? You wanted to blame work, and that was a fair response. You had been focused on your job more than usual, but this shouldn’t have slipped your mind.
“Wait, Mingyu’s wedding is really in a month?” you asked nervously.
“Yeah, I’ve been doing groomsman stuff for a while now. Did you forget?” Chan responded uncritically.
“Yeah, I’ve just been so fucked up with work lately and it went completely over my head. I don’t have a date or anything,” you answered without thinking.
Chan gave you a knowing look. “Yes, you do.”
“Fuck, we really do have to be a couple,” you sighed loudly. Minghao was no longer someone you could ignore, he was an active and important part of your life if only for a short period of time.
“Now you really need to talk to him.”
“I might as well do it tomorrow and stop dragging it out.”
“Maybe that’s true, the sooner the better,” Chan cleared his throat before continuing, “and I think Joshua’s girlfriend is going to the wedding.”
“What? How do you know?” you asked frantically.
“Let’s just say I did some quick guest list snooping and I saw her name. I can only assume that means Joshua is going too,” Chan tried to break the news gently but it was no use.You were frustrated that there was no way to escape Joshua, even when you were supporting your friends.
You had to go, you had to face the past with your unwilling future partner next to you.
Yet, it didn’t make the thought of going any easier. You loved Mingyu, but you also cursed the fact that your friend group was so small.
“I’m so fucking tired of people knowing each other in this city,” you finally stood up from the bed, channeling your drunken energy into picking up stray clothes off the floor. Chan cautiously watched you shove clothes into the hamper.
“I don’t want to see him, I don’t want them to get in the way of me being at my friend’s wedding. I’m not supposed to be this fucking upset over someone who didn’t even love me!” you exclaimed. Chan could only watch you, not wanting to interrupt.
You didn’t want to feel defeated, not by someone who had been out of your life for years. You were better than that, you had done the work to heal the wounds from that relationship and move on. It just didn’t make any sense.
“Was that everything you needed to say?” Chan asked.
You nodded with a defeated expression. You didn’t want any more anger to bubble up, and it had already taken too much of your energy.
“Well, clearly I’m not going home tonight,” Chan resigned. You made your way back to the bed once again, hugging Chan’s side.
You couldn’t be alone tonight and thankfully Chan recognized that.
-
Saturday morning crept by, and it was already noon by the time you decided to get up. Chan left a few hours prior, citing an errand he needed to run. He also talked you up with some encouraging words about the Minghao encounter, but the thought of it still loomed over the rest of your day. It calmed a few of your anxieties, but a pep talk could only do so much.
After eating and trying to come down from your slight hangover, you made yourself get ready to go to his apartment. You didn’t know what would happen. Would Minghao still be at home? Would you look like an idiot knocking on his door with no reply? You wouldn’t know until you got out of your own head and just left your apartment.
You approached 524, making a mental note to keep connecting it to Minghao. If you didn’t remind yourself, you would probably forget the moment you stepped away from the door. You mentally prepared yourself one last time, taking a deep breath before knocking.
“Coming,” you immediately heard Minghao’s muffled reply. It was quiet for a moment before you heard footsteps approaching the door.
The door opened to a very comfortable looking Minghao. It was a much different image of him than you were familiar with, his style had a sort of ease that you could only dream of pulling off. Thus, him in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants definitely betrayed your fantasy of him. He leaned against the door frame, eyeing you for a moment before speaking.
“Hi. Any reason why you woke me up?”
“We need to talk,” You immediately regretted the way you responded, sounding a bit too angsty.
Minghao chuckled. “It sounds like I’m getting punished.”
”Not exactly, but I feel like you won’t like it.”
“Just tell me. I won’t bite,” Minghao stated, his expression unchanging. You didn’t really believe that, especially since he could give people hell if it was necessary. Well, at least from what you remember Chan telling you.
“You’re my date to a wedding. It’s in a month, but we need to prepare for it,” You decided to be direct with him instead of just asking. It wasn’t optional, he needed to accept.
“So we’re actually getting to know each other?”
“Yeah. Joshua is going, so I want us to actually be prepared.”
“Right, so you won’t look clueless like last time.” Minghao raised his eyebrows.
“I just think it’d be fucked up if I went to a wedding and my fiancé can’t tell someone a single thing about me. That shouldn’t be weird of me to want that,” you deflect.
“And I actually need your number. This isn’t a joke, we need to be in contact,” you moved your concentration to opening your phone contacts to a new page, impatiently handing Minghao your phone.
Minghao grabbed the phone from your grasp. “Whatever. Just don’t text me anything dumb.” He entered his name and number quickly before handing the phone back.
“But you are the dumb thing I’m texting,” You grinned widely as you took your phone.
“Okay, anything else before I shut the door in your face?” Minghao retreated back into his apartment.
“Just that you’re doing me a massive favor and I’m extremely grateful for you,” you smiled again, the words rolling off your tongue far too easily.
“You’re an idiot,” Minghao promptly slammed the front door shut.
You sighed as you made your way back into your own apartment. Well, at least you had Minghao’s phone number. You could only hope that he didn’t delete it two minutes later.
——
The weekend passed far too quickly for your liking, and you were back in your cubicle before you knew it. The only difference was that now you couldn’t stop thinking about Minghao. The image of his black hair, the way his eyes creased when he smiled widely, every little detail of his face permeated your typical thoughts.
It was pathetic, you knew it was. You were equally anxious and eager to see him again, secretly wanting to understand why he acted the way he did. You wanted to organize the way that you approached this “getting to know you” thing, but Chan insisted on leading both of you in mediated sessions.
You told Chan that he didn’t have to go this far, but it was no use. Chan would be thorough with his plans no matter what, but you wanted to meet Minghao on your own before all of the fanfare started.
You just needed an excuse to see him again. You decided to text him on your lunch break during a particularly slow Tuesday.
you
hi! what’s up
fake fiance
who is this
you
of course you didn’t save my number …
fake fiance
I'm kidding. I did or else you would’ve killed me
what do you want
you
I need you to propose to me
fake fiance
…okay
you
well I’m not gonna let you keep wearing that plain ring if I don’t have a ring
fake fiance
don’t judge my taste
you
we should do it tonight
fake fiance
you didn't respond to what i said but ok
do you want me to make you dinner?
you
yes I can just come to your apartment
fake fiance
okay
any preferences
you
something good
fake fiance
well obviously
come over at 9 pm
You glanced at his texts again, your mind going blank. How was tonight even supposed to go? It’s not like you had much to go off of, especially since you hadn’t spent time with Minghao in years. You were acquaintances in college, both connected through Chan. You each had your separate friend groups, but Chan always kept him in your orbit somehow.
You didn’t even remember what happened to make the two of you stop talking. It was just enough to stop interacting with each other altogether.
Your friends didn’t understand why you wouldn’t just communicate like real adults, but it soon became futile to convince you two to interact. There was just some level of passive aggressiveness that evolved into resentment over time.
Thus, it didn’t make things any better when you found out Minghao lived in your apartment building. You mostly never saw each other, but that currently wasn’t the case.
You pondered what Minghao would possibly do, but nothing emerged. When you still couldn’t settle your daydreaming on the commute home, you figured you needed someone to talk you down.
“If you were gonna fake propose to someone over dinner, how would you do it?”
“Just say you’re talking about Minghao.”
“Soonyoung, I need help, ok? This isn’t just some random guy, it’s my fake fiancé,” you cradled your phone in the crook of your shoulder.
“Well, Minghao probably wouldn’t even care. Isn’t this supposed to only last a month anyway?”
You stopped in your tracks. “We haven’t talked about it.”
“Maybe you should do that,” Soonyoung replied.
“And he would care. He’s way too observant,” you pouted, making your friend sigh in frustration.
“Look, you need to relax. Minghao likes something simple and meaningful, so obviously he’s gonna treat you right.” Soonyoung responded calmly. He was right, Minghao probably wouldn’t fuck you over, even if he wasn’t your biggest fan. Considering that he knew Minghao far more than you did, you weren’t really in the business of ignoring his advice.
“You’re right. I’m not gonna be weird about it.”
“Exactly. He even told me he was looking forward to tonight!” Soonyoung answered excitedly, but you didn’t want it to go to your head.
“Did he? That’s good at least.”
“He did. Now go get ready, I don’t wanna hear you say you didn’t have enough time to prep.”
“Thank you, love you, bye,” you hung up after hearing Soonyoung’s goodbye. You glanced at your phone once again to check the time. It was only 7, but you decided not to procrastinate and actually get dressed early.
It would take you ages to figure out what you wanted to wear. As you examined your closet, you slightly regretted not asking Soonyoung for outfit advice before hanging up. You always had too many clothes to choose from, so you needed at least an hour just to decide on your outfit.
Eventually, you settled on a simple black dress. It was slightly out of your comfort zone for a date, but this was your proposal after all. Once you put it on, you admire yourself in the mirror for a moment. You hadn’t dressed up in a while, much less for a romantic encounter.
Sure, the night would mean nothing in the long run, but nothing would stop you from making sure you looked good during it.
Unsurprisingly, you were out of the apartment and knocking on his door at 8:59. When he opened the door, Minghao seemed shocked that you were right on time.
You noticed the way Minghao eyed your figure for a moment, a slight blush spread on his cheeks from the sight of you. It did give you a little satisfaction.
“Hi, um-,” Minghao started, but silence overtook him once again.
“If you wanted to stare, you could’ve just said that,” you replied, turning up the charm in Minghao’s moment of weakness.
“I’m not staring,” Minghao looked down at the floor before quickly glancing up again. You stepped past Minghao into the apartment, taking in your new surroundings for a moment.
For the record, you thought Minghao looked good too, but you were just better at hiding it. He was dressed in a black suit, a bit plain but it fits well for the circumstances. His black hair was styled neatly, a few strands left out framing the sides of his face. You actually noticed it was around mullet length, making him look even edgier than you originally thought. You decide that it suits him.
He looked a bit like a model, one of those who you’d buy magazines just to see his ads and put them up on your wall. It made your heart tense, but that certainly didn’t mean anything.
He locked the door behind you and walked closer to you, anticipating your initial reaction. His apartment was surprisingly cosmopolitan, the walls adorned with art pieces that look gallery ready. You noticed small trinkets placed around framed photos, it all seemed so intentional that it took your breath away.
“It doesn’t look half bad in here,” you downplayed your reaction. Minghao laughed at your observation as your gaze finally met him again.
He put his hand over his chest in mock defense. “I’m sure your apartment looks much worse,” he replied with a smirk. “You should be lucky I even agreed to this. I was just gonna give you the ring and call it a day.”
“But where’s the fun in that?” you responded, sitting down at the dining table. You looked at him expectantly, noticing how he stayed concentrated in the kitchen.
“I guess you’re right. I made ramen, but it’s a bit more fancy. Do you want wine too?” he held up a bottle and you nodded, prompting him to fix your plates.
“I’m expecting a lot from you,” you teased.
He sighed loudly. “Of course you are,” he replied with a small lilt in his voice. He carefully brought over the plates of food, placing a dish in front of you before setting down his own.
A bit fancy was an understatement. You were sure he wasn’t a cook, Soonyoung would have at least told you that. Yet, the presentation looked far more professional than you were expecting. It seemed more like the five star ramen places you saw on TV which made you decide that yes, Minghao probably did care about aesthetics more than you realized.
He shuffled back to get the wine bottle on the counter, placing it on the side of the table. You looked amused at the sight of him scurrying around and watched him sit down across from you.
“Please eat, so I can know if you hate it,” he mentally prepared himself for any response you might give. You lifted your chopsticks, pulled up a mound of noodles and took a surprisingly large bite. You immediately nodded in approval.
“It’s really good, actually,” you said between your bite.
He could have cried at that moment. “Oh thank god,” he took a similar sized bite himself and sat back in his chair.
“Have some class, oh my god,” you joke, pouring yourself a glass of wine. He tried not to laugh as you took a sip.
“This is my apartment, let me look stupid.”
He heard the shutter of a phone camera and looked up. You took photos of him while giggling, looking back down at your phone to edit something that he clearly wasn't allowed to see.
“If you send that to anyone, I’m gonna kill you,” he rolled his eyes at your antics.
“I’m just setting it on my phone screen so I can have one of those weird candid boyfriend photos of you.”
“Oh, that’s actually kinda cute.”
“You also look stupid so that helps.”
“Guess I need to ask Chan for some bad college pictures of you,” he smiled.
“Shut up,” You took more bites of your ramen, stuffing your cheeks to deflect the attention off of you.
You sat in silence for a bit, finishing your food without making eye contact. It was definitely awkward, but when was it not? You never had comfortable experiences with Minghao, not even in college. The jokes could only take you so far.
You finally decided to break the silence between the two of you. “So where's this ring?” you announced, placing your hands on the table.
“Right,” he frantically looked around for a moment before meeting your glance, “I’ll go get it.”
He looked nervous. Why was he nervous? It’s not like this was serious or anything.
He came back to the table, looking at you expectantly. “Can you stand up, please?”
You wordlessly stood up, waiting for him to make the dreaded move.
He got down on one knee and you suddenly remembered the gravity of the situation.
“Y/N, we’ve barely known each other for years now and this entire situation is wild to me. It’s my fault because I don’t love you or even halfway like who you are-“
“You’re not convincing me at all,” you chuckled.
He sighed. “But apparently I’m the only person who would ever do this for you. So, will you fake marry me?” He opened the box to reveal a simple diamond ring with a silver band. It wasn’t anything flashy, but it was good enough for this situation.
You eyed the ring for a moment before replying. “I’m paying you, so obviously yes,” you stated plainly.
“Okay then,” he pressed his mouth into a line and stood up again. You weren't sure what you expected, but you weren't exactly surprised.
He took your hand, trying not to notice the way it slightly tensed up from his touch. This was the most physical contact you’ve ever had, at least since before your conversation with Joshua.
He carefully placed the ring on your finger and watched you examine it. “This is pretty good for someone who doesn’t like me,” you added playfully.
“Trust me, I didn’t spend money on that. It was a gift to one of my friends. They gave it to me after hearing about all this.” He decided to clear the dining table, collecting the used plates and utensils as he replied.
You walked towards the kitchen, observing him balance the dishes in his hands with no intention to help. “I was certain that you had something worse just for me.”
“I didn’t, but I knew you would want something like that,” he spoke a bit louder over the running water, washing the plates without looking up.
“I’ve been going too easy on you if you’re so confident about me,” you retorted.
He laughed and set the plates down in the sink. He turned off the faucet and faced you. “Go ahead, then.”
“What?”
He closed the distance between you and lowered his voice. “Don’t play dumb with me. If you wanna degrade me so badly, then do it.”
You stood your ground, your face stone cold despite his persistence. He saw the cracks in your facade though.
“You’re annoying,” you started, your voice barely above a whisper.
“Keep going.” He stared at you, silently prodding you on.
“I hate that Chan ever introduced us because you’re insufferable,” your words were laced with venom, but he couldn’t help himself from smiling.
“And why am I insufferable, brat?” You felt his breath on your ear, his aura seemed to shut down most of your senses. It didn't make sense that he had this much of an effect on you.
“Because you’re uptight, controlling, and a perfectionist,” your voice faltered, your eyes closing for a moment.
“Anything else?” he asked. His question was only met with silence, and your eyes searched for any sign of a reprieve.
“That’s what I thought.” he kissed your cheek lightly before retreating back to the sink.
You let out a shaky breath, barely audible over the running water. You didn’t expect Minghao to get you so riled up.
“Can I go home now?” He heard the question and looked at you, clearly still flustered.
“Yeah. You can let yourself out.” He didn't ignore the way your shoulders were tensed up, and your face was painted with disdain. Your wide eyes were noticeably duller than usual. He wondered for a moment if he went too far with the teasing, if the kiss on the cheek crossed a line that you weren’t ready for.
“Great,” you muttered, slamming the door as you left the apartment.
Once you got home, you decided that the night definitely could have gone worse.
Honestly, you were just relieved that Minghao gave you a good ring.
-
You expected the rest of the week to continue without any contact from Minghao. He didn’t text much anyways, but it made sense considering the way Tuesday night went.
Wednesday was nothing special, and the monotony of the workday took up any brain space you might have had. You thought about texting Minghao but decided against bothering him.
However, you spotted Minghao leaving your apartment at the same time on Thursday, blissfully unaware of your presence.
Minghao looked up at you with a quick glance. Your eyes shot nervously towards him, leaving you with an urge to walk away before you could regret it.
He caught your arm before you could get away. “Can we talk please?”
“About what?” you sighed and faced him halfheartedly.
“Don’t do this, you know what I’m talking about,” he tried to search your eyes for any kind of response.
“It just caught me off guard. That’s it,” you started walking again, forcing him to keep up with you. He stepped in front of you to block your path.
“Ok, I barely even know you and I know that’s a lie.” he gave you a pointed look. You only furrowed your brows and stepped around him.
“I said it’s nothing, why are you trying to push this?” you focused your eyes on the elevator ahead of you, pressing the downstairs button.
“Because I know you’re lying to me,” he insisted. The elevator doors opened and you stepped inside.
“I thought you said you don’t know me?” you retorted, visibly amused at his feeble attempts to defend himself. The doors began to close, but he stuck his arm out before it could fully shut.
The doors lurched open again, and Minghao stood next to you. “True, but at least from our interactions you don’t seem like the type to lie to someone, especially someone you don’t like.”
The hum of the elevator filled the brief silence. “I don’t owe you anything. Fake married or not,” you kept your eyes trained ahead of you, waiting expectantly for the doors to open.
The elevator suddenly came to a halt, the jolt shocking both of you. Minghao pressed the floor buttons hoping for any movement, but to no avail. You were definitely stuck.
“You can’t be fucking serious,” you chuckled to yourself before sitting on the ground.
He exhaled and proceeded to call the emergency line. He figured that you were too angry to do it, and someone needed to let emergency services know what happened as soon as possible. After a muffled yet brief conversation with the fire department, he had a clear answer.
“They said it’ll be two hours before they can get us,” he turned and sat on the opposite side of the car, adjusting his posture so that he wasn’t completely slumped against the wall.
“Of course. It’s not like I had shit to do today or anything,” you replied with an irritated tone. He watched you run your fingers through your hair, sensing the stress in your movements.
He was obviously worried too, but he needed to be somewhat relaxed to deal with this. It was the only way you’d both make it out of here without killing each other.
“God, this is not what I needed right now,” he sighed to himself and closed his eyes, trying to block out the fluorescent lighting of the ceiling panels.
“It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t follow me in here,” you replied under your breath.
“Maybe not, but maybe you can actually talk about what happened the other night,” you opened your eyes and looked at Minghao.
“You know what, fine. I didn’t expect you to fucking kiss me and I felt overwhelmed, is that what you want to hear?” you stood up, your voice growing louder.
“It is, actually! I could’ve appreciated you saying anything at all,” he exclaimed.
“But you did it anyway because you knew you could get a rise out of me!”
“Maybe I did, but remember the part where I asked you if you had anything else to say? If you were that mad at me in that moment or afterward, you could have said something but you didn’t. You walked out of my apartment,” he ranted.
“I was flustered! What else was I supposed to do?”
“Just talk to me,” he finally decided to stand up to face you, “I can’t read your mind, you know.”
You couldn’t respond. Your face was wracked with guilt, your previously confident demeanor was now deflated. You knew that he was right and you definitely needed to set clear boundaries if this was going to work.
“If you can’t even tell me about a kiss on the cheek, how are we supposed to be convincing people that we’re getting married?” his voice softened.
Minghao looked you in the eyes and it threw you off for a moment. You didn’t expect Minghao to look so vulnerable, especially since he always seemed so sure of himself.
“You’re right,” you put your hands on your cheeks before looking at him. “I can definitely do better. Can you at least ask me before you try to kiss me, though? So we won’t make each other uncomfortable again?”
He simply nodded and processed your response. You both stood there silently for a moment, and you contemplated holding his hand.
You wanted him to comfort you somehow, even though you were the one apologizing. It didn’t make sense, but the entire situation didn’t make sense either.
“That’s fine. I just don’t want you to feel scared to talk to me,” he admitted.
“Same. I’m not that scary, am I?” you smirked.
“You are kinda scary, brat.”
“Is that our thing now? The nickname thing?” You sat back down, deciding to take off your shoes. You figured it would take way longer than expected for someone to come get you, so you might as well get comfortable.
“It can be. What’s my name then?” He followed your lead, sitting down carefully next to you. You tried not to notice the lack of distance between you, but his cologne hits your nose and it feels like a bit too much to bear.
“I have to think about it. What about Hao?”
“That’s normal. That’s what anyone would call me. Make it special,” he challenged.
“Is idiot good enough?” You suggest. He squinted his eyes, taking a moment to judge if it was suitable enough.
“Not special, but it’s around the same level as brat, so I’m not completely against it,” he decided.
“Works for me,” you sigh. You realize just how hot it is in the elevator once you stop talking. It was probably hotter while you were yelling at each other, but now you could really feel it as you were sitting still.
“Can we agree to nap until something happens?” You look at him and he nods solemnly.
You close your eyes and try to accept the rollercoaster of events that just happened. You were angry with Minghao, and you mutually set some boundaries. You made up and now you have nicknames for each other, albeit they don’t actually have any real meaning.
It was a lot of progress for one elevator ride.
You still knew virtually nothing about him but this was fine, right?
Couples did things like this in days or weeks, so maybe this was just a way of making up for lost time.
There was practically no time for you to really know him, but you had to make it happen. If today was any indication of how the next month might go, you were already bracing yourself.
It would make your life a little bit more interesting, you knew that for sure.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (finale)
word count: 10.4k
synopsis: when you make a chance encounter with your ex, you end up saying that you’re engaged to your estranged neighbor xu minghao. when you find out your ex is coming to your friend’s wedding, you’ve only got a month to become a convincing couple.
warnings: chronic illness talk, so much fluff, filthy oral sex lmao, descriptions of female anatomy blowjobs, long car rides, etc.
notes: part 4 is here! finally! longest chapter yet!!! took me exactly a month but I needed to make sure it was perfect. this chapter is building out minghao's character a bit more with some more relationship progress! this covers the last week before the wedding, so there's only one more chapter left !!! thank you for all the love on this series, it feels like it's getting bigger and bigger with every part which is so incredible! please enjoy as always 💓
You wish that the rest of the day could’ve gone well, but Joshua’s confession just floats in your brain, leaving you unable to do much else with yourself.
Minghao drops you off back at your front door after your outing, revenge dress still not revealed. You wanted to see it, but he can sense you’re too tired to deal with it all.
“No, I’m ready, I can look at it,” You reply half heartedly. You try to muster up your enthusiasm, but he can see right through it.
“No, I’m making you go back to sleep. We can just wait on it. I need you to be excited, and I don’t think your mood is anywhere near there,” He pulls your hand to his mouth, leaving a kiss on your palm. You close your eyes and take a breath before glaring at him again.
“Fine,” you pout.
“Let me know if you wanna see me again today, ok?” He pulls you into a hug and you seem to melt into his arms.
“Okay,” You whisper into his ear. You linger in the hug a bit longer than you expected, it feels like a silent plea for him to stay. Yet, you pull away, exchange goodbyes, and tuck yourself into your apartment before you can cry in front of him. You don’t even get to wallow in your sadness for very long before that familiar pain seizes your body without much warning.
Flare ups never give you much time to prepare for impact, you just have to hope you’re lucky enough to catch them in a place where you can sit for an extended period of time.
The rest of the day is a blur, you don’t even remember trying to change clothes or freshen up. You ignore your phone to focus on your comfort show playing on your laptop screen, moving only to charge your computer when prompted.
You knew it was bad to push everyone away for something you couldn’t control, but you still felt the need to process things like this alone.
You forget that the front door was unlocked, so you don’t hear anyone come in until you hear his voice. “Brat, where are you?” You hear the door lock behind him.
The pet name makes you pause the show and close your laptop. You push yourself further into your blanket, tucking your face away into the soft fabric.
“Hello?” You hear him call out again, but you still don’t move. It felt so childish to hide from him, but you couldn’t make yourself stand up to meet him even if you wanted to.
You hear him walk through the living room into your bedroom. His footsteps stop at the sight of you. Before he sits, he goes to turn on the lamp near your side of the bed before making his way to you. You see the pitch black room illuminate with that recognizable soft warmth and you start to feel even worse.
You feel the other side of the bed dip as he settles onto the comforter.
“What’s going on?” His voice is low.
He’s close enough that you can smell his cologne and you realize it’s the most comforting scent in your life. There were traces of him around your apartment, but nothing beat the real thing.
“I can’t move at all,” You push the blanket off your face, but you can’t look at him. You just focus your eyes on the creases in your sheets. He seems to understand exactly what you mean by the way he shifts his weight towards you.
“Shit,” His voice turns frantic, and he grabs your face without a second thought. You finally make eye contact with him and his eyes are nervous. It unnerves you to see him so scared of you, you feel like you have to comfort him instead.
“I’m fine, Hao,” You whisper. He’s not convinced at all, if anything he looks more scared.
“Please, darling, don’t think about your pride, I need to know how I can help you,” His voice shakes and you feel a pang of guilt in your stomach. How could you try to deny how much pain you’re in around him when he’s done nothing but try to understand you? His pleading ultimately convinces you to let your guard down.
“I haven’t taken any of my medicine. It feels much worse when I don’t,” Your face twists into discomfort.
“Okay, where is it?” His voice is now stable, he seems resolute in his quest to be strong for you.
“Top shelf of my cabinet in the bathroom, there are two big bottles with red labels on them. They should be right next to each other,” Your eyes are closed by the time you finish giving him instructions, and you assume Minghao is anxiously searching by the way the bed lets up.
He only rummages in the bathroom for a minute or so before returning. He puts everything down on the nightstand before grabbing your attention, holding your face in his hands.
“Hey, can you sit up at all? Is that too hard right now?”
“I can try,” You barely move an inch before his arms are anchored to your side, slowly helping you sit up before you could do anything yourself.
You’re surprisingly comfortable now, and he takes the initiative to remove the blanket from your face. “You seemed overheated,” His brows are knitted in concern as he strokes your cheek with his fingers. You’re definitely sweating, so you’re glad he did something.
“Is there an order you’re supposed to take these in?” He holds one of the bottles up and you nod.
“The bigger one first or else I could die,” You reply nonchalantly, but his eyes read as very concerned. He’s staring at you with that same frantic look from before, but you relieve his worries almost immediately.
“Kidding,” you offer a small smile and he scoffs.
“Don’t joke right now, I’m worried sick about you,” He points an accusing finger, but his face melts into a nervous smile. His worried energy makes you feel much worse the second time around.
“But I do take that one first,” You confirm and he’s nodding his head. He grabs your water bottle from the nightstand, setting it between his legs. As he sits with crossed legs, reading your pill bottles with attentive eyes while his hair hangs in front of his face, you want to cry.
You realize the man in front of you deserves to be let in.
He doesn’t deserve to be ghosted for 12 hours while you’re in excruciating pain, only wanting to help you in your time of need. Even though you’re used to a concerning level of hyper-independence and self-sufficiency, his actions start to convince you that it shouldn’t be that way.
Why do you need to suffer when someone is waiting to help you?
Wouldn’t he have dropped everything to come take care of you hours ago?
The thought of pushing him away without considering his feelings eats at you on the inside.
He gets the first bottle open and feeds you the first two pills one by one, holding your water bottle up for you so you can sip without moving a finger.
“Your bedside manner is really good,” You nod at him once you’ve finished drinking your water and he runs his fingers through his hair with a gentle smile pulling at the corner of his lips.
“You think so?”
“Yeah, you treat me better than some of the nurses I’ve had.”
You’re not lying either which makes the hint of concern on his face hurt even more.
“Okay, one more,” You didn’t notice that he already opened the second bottle, but you accepted the pill from his fingers once again. He holds up the water for you one last time, waiting for you to swallow before his eyes ease up on you.
“All done,” He runs his hand across your cheek again. “I’m sure you haven’t eaten anything, right?” It’s not an intruding question when he asks it, there’s no judgment behind his eyes.
You shake your head no and the embarrassment washes over you. “I’m sorry,” You start sobbing and he scrambles to move everything in his lap to get closer to you.
“Why?”
“You just wanted to know how I was feeling and you didn’t even ask for any of this,” You wipe your eyes with your sleeves, your words start to get lost between hiccups. He gently moves your hands out of the way to wipe your tears. The moment he puts his hands down, you pull him in close and he lets you cry into his chest. He whispers comforting words into your ear, cradling your head with his arm. He waits for you to stop sniffling before he speaks up again.
“I don’t like you because I pity you. You have to know that,” He whispers in your ear before pulling back to face you. “You’re so determined and kind, there’s so many things I admire about you when you’re not worrying me half to death,” He makes a jokingly frustrated glance that makes you blush.
“But seriously, I’m happy to help you. You don’t bother me, taking care of you is not a chore. I want to take care of you as long as you want me here. Okay?” He’s got that soft adoring tone in his voice, the one that’s reserved for pulling you out of your overthinking. It works like a charm every time.
“Okay, I believe you,” You nod, letting his words sink into your subconscious slowly. Compassion is still so foreign to you, but you can tell he is determined to change that.
“Let’s have some food and get washed up. I’m gonna make you some tea as well,” The look on his face shows that he’s already got everything laid out in his mind.
“I don’t know what you did, but my muscles already feel better.” It would always take far too long for your medicine to kick in, but Minghao seemed to be gentle enough to make a significant difference. It seemed your body seemed to know the difference when you were being treated gently as well.
“I have magic powers,” He winks and you let him go to start his dinner prep.
He ended up doing everything for you, to say he pampered you is definitely an understatement. He doesn’t let you lift a single finger for the rest of the night, only letting you go when you demand to brush your teeth on your own. You didn’t expect him to be so attentive, but you think he’s just trying to make up for not being able to take care of you before.
When you’re finished eating dinner and your tea is gone, he’s practically attached to you in bed. He can’t stop himself from burying his face into the side of your neck, only moving to nestle himself closer to you. Minghao always starts off sleeping on his own side whenever you’re in bed together, so to start off very close to you is a nice dynamic shift. You’re slowly discovering how important physical contact is for him, it makes you feel even more connected to him.
He somehow convinced you to change into new pajamas, but you do feel more like a human being now. You should’ve spoken up before you were both attempting to sleep, but your brain makes it impossible to settle without bringing your thoughts up.
“Hao?”
“Yeah?” He rasps out, blinking his eyes open at you. You immediately felt bad knowing he needed the rest, but you didn’t want to ignore the chance to speak your mind now that he was awake.
“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” You pressed a kiss to his hair for the trouble.
“I wasn’t really asleep yet,” You hear him take a deep breath and he pulls himself closer to you. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to stop seeing you after the wedding. I’ve been trying to find a good way to tell you officially, but I don’t think the agreement holds up much anymore,” You finish ranting and he’s surprisingly quiet. You feel him let go of your hold and your first instinct thinks you might have fucked up.
He didn’t want to be serious with you.
The lamp suddenly flashes on, forcing you to blink to adjust to the new light. He seems lost in thought until he meets your eyes.
“I don’t wanna stop seeing you either,” He smiles so brightly that it spreads to his eyes, “I think you’ve got a little too much of my heart for me to say no.”
You could’ve cried from relief. You had a suspicion that someone who took a dress commission from you for free didn’t want to be just friends.
“Thank god,” You put your head in your hands and sigh to yourself. Was it too soon to think you could be in love with him? Absolutely.
Yet, did those feelings grow when you saw how giddy he got at the thought of you? Yes.
“So you were nervous to ask me?” He reaches out for your hold and you do your best to crawl over to him. He closes the distance when he notices a hint of struggle on your face and wraps his arms around you tightly.
“A little bit,” You mumble into his chest. You feel his giggles vibrate across your body and he runs his hands down your back.
“You make me nervous too, for the record. I figured if I fucked up the dress, that was it,” He sighed loudly. It was nice to know the feeling was mutual though, that you were both feeling so excited yet nervous about the connection that it stopped you both in your tracks.
“You couldn’t possibly fuck up the dress, though,” You knew he was far too talented for that, especially after seeing his vision for other projects in his studio.
“You’re right, I didn’t,” He admitted, making you both burst into laughter. It was nice to see him hype himself up for a second despite the humble attitude he adopted most times when complimented on his work.
You both talked about fashion related things until you felt pulled toward sleep once again. Your head is nestled on his chest and you’re almost certain that his idle touches to your skin knock you out quickly.
You almost think you’re dreaming things when you hear him whisper to you.
“Don’t scare me like that again, I can’t lose you,” It’s so faint but it’s enough to push you into sleep completely.
You don’t want to scare him like that either, especially since he’s proven how much he can be there for you.
You figure it’s time to show him how much you care for him too.
--
“I don’t want to be there when you try it on,” Minghao remains insistent at your front door.
You’re not exactly convinced with the garment bag hanging over your shoulder. Minghao had finally given you permission to see the dress, but with one stipulation that you couldn’t exactly wrap your head around.
“Why not?” You try to stop your face from twisting into a discontent expression.
“I imagine it’ll be kinda emotional, I don’t want to get in the way of that. I know, it sounds stupid, but I’ve done it for so long with my commissions. Just trust me,” He raises his eyebrows at you.
You give him an anxious glance and he smiles at you. “You can come over once you’ve tried it on. You can tell me all your reactions and everything, I promise!” He exclaims.
“Okay, I trust you,” You nod through the response. You exchange quick goodbyes and you shut the door behind you.
You give yourself a few seconds before you’re practically running into your bedroom.
You lay the bag down gently onto your bed and unzip down the front until the dress is partially exposed. From first glance, you can tell it’s dramatic. The sight of a strapless gown takes your breath away.
Before you can even take it out of the bag, you notice a note attached to the front of the plastic. You read it to yourself:
To my muse-
I hope I made you the perfect revenge dress. If you don’t like it, then feel free to drag me through the mall to find you something better. It’ll only hurt my feelings a little bit.
Hao
The end of the note left you laughing, but a few things make your heart clench.
First, muse. You don’t know why it pulls so much at your heart to hear him call you that. It’s probably the weight of the situation, how quickly you’ve grown together, it all feels so precious to you.
Second, the idea that whatever he made you could be worse than a department store dress didn’t make sense at all. You’re sure whatever he made would be nestled in your heart forever, the intimacy of making you something this personal was not lost on you.
You don’t want to mull on the note for too long, so you place it on your dresser before coming back to look at the dress again.
You carefully unwrap it out of the plastic and hold it up to get a better look at it.
It’s breathtaking, even just on a hanger. The black sheen fabric feels so lush in your fingers, you can’t describe how it makes you feel.
You expected it to be a bit revealing, but the combination of the strapless neckline and the high slit are almost lethal.
It takes you a few minutes to actually get dressed, but once it’s on, you feel like a new person. The moment you see yourself in the mirror, you’re speechless.
First of all, the dress fits perfectly. It hugs your hips and compliments your figure so well that you don’t think you’ve ever seen your body look so at ease in a garment.
The strapless neckline compliments your chest, slightly bolstered by the structured corset bodice. The slit is almost dangerously high, you’re staring at just how exposed your leg is.
It feels dangerous to even wear it in the comfort of your bedroom. You can only imagine what power it would give you in public.
You don’t think any of the jewelry you have in your closet would be good enough to match it, but something would have to do.
Minghao was right that wearing the dress brings something out of you. It wasn’t about feeling desirable by Joshua anymore, it was a rebirth of your identity without him. It was cathartic to see yourself wear something that would force you to grab attention instead of hiding away.
This dress reminds you that weren’t going to minimize yourself for anyone anymore.
After a few more glances at yourself, you’re itching to get back in your sweatpants so you can run to Minghao’s door.
Once you get out of the dress, you get dressed in your other clothes in record speed. You barely remember to put on your slides before you’re out the front door.
You’re nearly breathless when you arrive at his door. You end up knocking on the door so loudly that he’s almost shocked to see you on the other side.
You push yourself past him, and he’s watching you with a mischievous eye while closing the door behind him.
You kiss him before he can say anything, capturing his lips so quickly that he nearly stumbles into the hallway closet.
“It’s so perfect,” you say between kisses, “I just wanna kiss you because I can’t pay you for it.” You’re moaning into the kisses at this point, so much so that Minghao pulls away with a dazed expression.
“You love it that much?” He bites his lip at how eager you are.
“Yes, I’m fucking obsessed with it. Thank you so much,” You rest your head in the crook of his neck for a second before looking at him again.
“You’re welcome, darling. I’m really glad you like it.”
He admires your face for a bit too long that you start to feel pulled in by his glance. The longer you look at him, desire overtakes any of the rationality you have left.
“I don’t think I’ve said thank you enough,” Your hands land on his chest, you can barely stop yourself from wandering down to his nipples.
“Show me then,” He can’t help himself when he teases you, taking your hands and snaking them underneath his shirt.
His skin still feels like a surprise to you despite your previous encounters. Suddenly, everything in you wants to take things much slower than your hasty entrance.
You’ll have so much time to go hard and fast with him, but capturing your unspoken showing of gratitude feels much more paramount.
--
Although having time to figure out your career was nice, the threat of not having money for rent was much bigger. You thought carefully about Minghao’s words, how the idea of wanting to start over with fashion was enough at the moment, but you were tired of sitting and waiting.
You needed to take action.
You didn’t want to rely on Minghao to get your foot in the door, despite him probably wanting to help you out.
Your portfolios from college didn’t exactly reflect your current vision as a designer, but they had enough material for you to present to any potential employers. You didn’t have much to lose, so you spent hours trying to scour through resources online for any possible leads on apprenticeships or openings for residencies.
You sent far too many emails to fashion houses around the city within one day, including Minghao’s employer Semicolon. You get so wrapped up in typing that Minghao has to pry your laptop away from you in the middle of you drafting an email, much to your dismay. He reassures you that whoever responds back will be lucky to have you, which is true, but you still try not to get your hopes up about anything.
Thus, when you receive an email the next day from the head of Minghao’s department, to say you’re shocked is an understatement.
You wouldn’t be working directly with runway clients, but in the print department instead. You had more experience with magazine work anyways, back when you used to get involved with a few different student magazines on campus as an underclassmen.
It’s a lower level designer job, but a job nonetheless. You weren’t exactly in a position to turn down the interview, especially when you knew how well they paid at all levels.
Your interview happened to be on the big day of Minghao’s consideration for a promotion as well.
He mentioned it in his sleepy ramblings a few nights ago, how he was up for a promotion to head designer. He would be the lead designer on any national and international runway collections that the company created, positioning him as one of the most established in-house designers at Semicolon.
It was a major deal, especially since he would be the youngest person to be head designer in Semicolon’s history. All eyes were on him, and you were certain that the pressure was getting to him.
You both stood outside the company building on the day of, 15 minutes before your meetings, hands intertwined with similar levels of nerves accompanying you. You turn to face him with a nervous look in your eyes.
“We’ll be fine, right?” You ask quietly.
“We have to be,” He nods at you, absentmindedly biting his lip. You look at the building again with scattered eyes, your brain doesn’t even feel remotely prepared for this.
“The worst we can get is a no,” It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself as you say it, but you need to hear it out loud.
“Exactly,” He affirms you with a gentle squeeze to your hand. “We’ll walk in together, take the same elevator and no matter what happens, it’ll be okay.”
You nod and take one last deep breath before he starts leading you both inside the building. Your senses are too focused on the task at hand to look around the lobby this time, you don’t seem to relax until you both step inside the elevator.
You’re going to floor 8 while he goes to floor 19. He presses both buttons and faces you again. “You’re gonna do perfect, darling. You have everything you need,” He leaves a kiss on your forehead and pulls you into a short yet tight hug.
“You too. You’re gonna make the best head designer this company has ever seen,” You kiss his cheek the moment you’re out of the hug. He nods with a silent certainty that things will go well. The 8th floor chime comes sooner than you want, but you step out, clutching your portfolio for dear life. You look at him one last time before the elevator closes and he blows you a kiss with a short wave.
You can barely smile back before the elevator doors close and you’re alone again. You figure that you’ll never be 100% ready for whatever happens, so you look for the designated office before you can question yourself any longer.
45 minutes later, you’re left a bit unnerved as you close the office door behind you. The elevator ride back down to the lobby has your mind completely swimming, but you know that you can’t process any of it until Minghao is out of his meeting.
You both agreed to wait outside for each other once the interviews were over. You figured that you’d be out before him, and your suspicions were correct when you didn’t notice anyone sitting outside on the benches near the entrance.
It feels like you’re waiting a lifetime until you finally see his figure walk out of the revolving doors. His face is unreadable when he approaches you with a small wave.
“Okay, we’re gonna say yes or no if we got the job on the count of 3,” You brace yourself for whatever he says and he agrees to your proposition immediately.
“1, 2, 3,” He counts slowly.
“Yes,” You both speak in unison.
His eyes go wide and you nearly drop your bag.
“Oh my fucking god,” You scream into his ear, wrapping your arms around him until you can barely feel your fingertips. He reciprocates the hug immediately and nearly tackles you in the process. You’re both just waddling around in this hug for a few minutes, drinking in each other’s success until you can barely breathe.
“You deserve this so fucking much,” He comes up for air and almost knocks you over with a kiss. Your mouth melts into his instantly, you can’t stop your tongue from pushing into his mouth. You can feel just how excited he is by the way he holds your face with his hands.
He’s quite good at the push and pull, he still knows how to make you flustered after each kiss. He pulls away with a giggle, leaving you completely breathless.
“You do too, head designer,” You push his shoulder playfully and you can see the tips of his ears turn red.
“Come on, let’s go home so we can get wasted,” He pouts and you can’t exactly say no to that face.
“Can we drink the cheap wine I have in my fridge? I think I have too much to drink on my own,” You ask him as you both walk back to his car arm in arm.
“Absolutely, we can do anything you want. We deserve to celebrate,” He can’t help himself as he leaves a kiss on your cheek.
You want to bottle up this feeling so badly. Yet, you’re sure that you’ll always remember the way the light summer breeze hitting your face, holding hands with your lover, smiling until your cheeks hurt because you both got lucky on the exact same day in the same building.
It feels like nothing else really matters in the moment besides the way Minghao kisses you, as if he’ll never be able to taste your lips again.
You hold him to the promise of drinking and making out, the former coming first. You arrange a few bottles of wine on your living room floor, slowly making your way through them together until you’re too giggly to keep going.
You give up on drinking out of wine glasses and you decide to periodically switch bottles instead, taking a few sips of one bottle before switching flavors.
Soon enough, he was pushing your hand away from the bottle with a small giggle.
“Stop it,” He swats your hand lightly and quickly captures it between his hands. The swift movement makes you scream and he’s shushing you, but you both fall right back into laughter.
“You’re drinking just as much as me!” You exclaim. He pushes his lips out to deflect your statement, but it’s true. His cheeks are flushed and he’s laughing at everything you’re saying, a classic tell that he’s drunk.
“Maybe I just wanted to look at you, how about that darling?” He tilts his head and your playful frustration comes out.
“Where did this darling thing come from? You started doing it out of nowhere,” You scrunch your face at him and he’s slightly embarrassed.
“Didn’t want to call you brat forever. Do you not like it?” He gets slightly quiet and you hit his shoulder. There’s absolutely no way you could ever hate his nicknames, they feel too comfortable for him to ever stop.
“I love it! I just like brat too,” You shrug your shoulders and he smirks at you. “No, not like that, you’re so gross,” You push him again and he puts his arms around you before you can touch him again.
“I didn’t mean it in that way, brat,” He presses lots of kisses to your cheek, enough that you want to squirm away out of fake discomfort.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Your words start slurring to the point where Minghao is stumbling to get you both some water.
“Where are you going?” You shut your eyes but reach out for him, making grabby hands that he can’t help but coo at.
“You’re so fucking cute, but you need water. We both do,” You hear him come back and sit next to you again. He taps your face to get you to open your eyes and he’s handing you the cup of water carefully. He can’t even let you hold it completely, he’s cupping your hands and helping you drink the entire cup. You don’t want to admit that it’s easier to have him help, so you keep it to yourself.
He gulps down his own cup of water and moves them out of the way so that you don’t knock them over.
“Let me take care of you,” You sigh, your shoulders visibly lowering with the release of air. Your eyes are not shy about wandering to his crotch and he laughs a bit too loudly.
“You don’t have to do anything, it’s okay,” He insists.
“I want to,” You fight back immediately, the desire taking over when you lay your hands flat on his thighs. There’s a beat of silence before you ask him for permission.
“Can I?” It’s a whisper that you’re not even sure he heard, you can’t even look in his eyes. He lifts your chin to meet your gaze. His eyes are so forgiving that you know he wants it before he can even speak out loud.
“Go ahead, baby,” He nods and your hands are already unzipping his pants, you don’t have to give him time before he’s taking off both his pants and boxers at once.
The sight of his cock still leaves you speechless, no matter if he’s giving you one quick round before he’s going to work or if he gets to take his time with you. Precum is already leaking from his tip, you wish you had the patience to tease him like you wanted to, but you just want the taste of him too badly.
He’s visibly hard, so much so that the moment you touch him he flinches.
“It’s okay, love, just relax,” You reassure him. You lick the underside of his cock and he lets out a shaky breath, he clearly didn’t expect it which makes it even better.
You settle yourself between his legs, your nails draw light scratches down his thighs and his eyes are already fluttering shut.
You don’t give him a warning before you take his length in your mouth. You hear him moan and it spurs you on to take him completely, he hits the back of your throat and the sting you feel doesn’t matter when his reactions are so pretty. It makes him hiss and he grabs your shoulder out of desperation. “Baby, please, I’m gonna cum if you keep going this hard,” He whispers, his grip tightening slightly.
You pull off briefly to give him an innocent smile and he returns it quickly. “Okay,” You take him into your mouth again after your reply, slowly moving your head back and forth until he’s completely comfortable. His desperate groans are your kryptonite, so you subconsciously speed up and let him adjust to it. The taste of his precum mixed with your saliva is intoxicating, it definitely helps to hear him whining.
You feel him clutch your hair, guiding you slightly further onto him. “Your mouth feels so fucking good, baby,” His voice is laced with so much pleasure that it drives you crazy. This is definitely the messiest blowjob you’ve ever given, but he doesn’t seem to mind how sloppy it is.
You experimentally push his cock to the back of your throat again and he lets out a strangled groan, nearly letting go of your hair. His noises are the only thing filling the room, a mix of whines and moans filling your ears.
“Fuck, you’re so hot,” His reply is barely coherent, but it’s enough to know he’s coming towards the edge. You suck him a bit more before you move your mouth off of him again and he complains.
“I’m so close,” He whispers. He watches you stand up and straddle yourself onto his lap. The new friction makes him throw his head back in pleasure, screwing his eyes shut. He’s willing himself to not cum on the spot, focusing instead on your face.
You want to be rational, you should still be between his legs sucking him off so that he can just cum in your mouth. Yet, your core feels so neglected that selfishness takes over.
“I want you to cum in me,” You put on your best innocent voice to try and convince him. His eyebrows raise in suspicion.
“Are you on birth control?” He questions and you nod immediately, leaning down to place kisses in the crook of his neck. You hadn’t had a proper conversation about experimenting during sex, but your drunk subconscious mind decided to speedrun it with him tonight.
“I’m clean, I promise. I’m gonna feel so tight on you, Hao, please,” You put on the charm when you whisper in his ear. When he doesn’t respond immediately, you roll your hips down onto him. He tightens his arms around you with a loud moan that surprises you.
“You’re such a little shit,” He slips his hands underneath your shirt to unhook your bra, throwing it across the room. He squeezes your breasts, kneading them roughly. You let out a breathless moan, the feeling of him finally touching your skin feels more satisfying than you thought it would.
He watches you get undressed before forcing you back onto his lap.
You let him lower you down onto his cock and you both let out filthy moans at the sensation of being inside each other without any barriers. You can feel how sensitive he is inside you, every movement feels far more intense than all the other times you’ve fucked.
“Gonna let you cum first,” You sigh, slowly moving yourself on his cock. He lets out a bitter sounding laugh that you can’t tell if it’s a joke or not.
“So nice of you,” He scratches his nails down your back with a bit of a mean streak. It doesn’t take long before his moans are picking up again, and you think you’d like to return that mean energy of his.
You kiss down his neck, hips still moving rapidly. You pick a random visible spot to suck a mark on his neck, not taking the pain into consideration at all. He stutters out in agony, whining so loudly that it makes you smile against his skin.
“Fucking hell,” He sighs out loud enough for you to contemplate doing it again. You don’t have time to make a decision before he clutches your hips, you feel him clench around you and his cum fills you up quickly. You both still your movements and his mouth is fully agape, his chest heaving from how hard his orgasm hit.
“Don’t move,” He grits out, he’s still panting but he knows he has to act quickly. You know he’s slightly annoyed, but his fingers move to your clit, rubbing you so quickly that your brain can barely catch up.
You can already feel yourself clenching around his cock, he knows how to work you up so intensely that a proper orgasm can hit you out of nowhere.
“Please Hao, please let me,” Your words trail off and you can barely look at him, much less keep still around him.
“Let you do what? You need to tell me,” That teasingly sweet voice of his is anything but helpful at the moment. You’re nearly crying from the pressure on your core, his fingers just won’t stop moving and it makes it so hard not to disobey him.
“Fuck, please let me cum, I can’t hold it,” You’re panting, you think you can feel his cum seeping out of you onto the floor. You look down and it’s true, his cum ended up near your feet. It shouldn’t feel that satisfying, but it is, the overstimulation of fluids makes it hard to deny yourself any more pleasure.
“Then cum,” He makes it sound like it’s nothing, but his nonchalance works so easily on you. You let yourself cum almost immediately, clamping your hand over your mouth to restrain the wildly unpredictable moans coming out of you. The clenching feels so intense that you have to move, you have to do something to combat the pain radiating throughout your body.
After a few moments, he helps you get off of his lap and your legs are shaking, you’ve definitely sobered up a bit from all the action. He finally kisses you, letting his mouth linger on your lips for a few moments so you can savor him. “You did well, darling,” He kisses your cheek before getting up to start your joint aftercare routine.
You watch him with heavy eyelids, and the aftercare seems to happen without much effort on your part. He always dotes on you to a point where you stop trying to fight it, especially now when you’re not exactly drunk or sober to do anything at all.
You’re just lucky to eventually be put in bed with fresh pajamas on. He definitely had to coax you to take your medicine, but things went relatively easily.
It’s only when you’re both falling towards sleep that you feel the urge to hold a conversation again. “Sorry for not finishing you off,” you mumble. You hear him laugh under his breath.
“It’s okay, you’re really keeping me on my toes,” You feel him curl tighter into your side. You hum in response, and you let another minute go by.
“Are you scared things might not work out between us?” You ask suddenly. Your voice comes out much smaller than you wanted it to.
“Sometimes. The month went by pretty quickly,” His response makes you feel less alone in your anxiety. It felt like such a whirlwind romance that you didn’t have much time to enjoy the little intricacies of getting to know each other.
You learned about each other out of desperation, surprised that something fruitful came out of that need to look acceptable as a couple to others.
“I think so too. But whatever happens, it’s still worth it that I got to know you,” You offer, you wish you could see his face so that he saw just how much you meant it.
You didn’t want to picture the past month without him, you can’t imagine a reality where Minghao isn’t there by your side to take care of you.
“Do you think I’m worth all the effort? Do you regret meeting me?” His questions leave a pang of guilt in your heart. He’s usually quite self-sufficient with his worries, typically isolating for a while before coming back to silently ask for kisses and cuddles. Thus, you don’t get many chances to verbalize how much you like him when he’s feeling upset.
“You’re completely worth it, Hao. I don’t regret any of this. You’re so special to me,” You soothe his worries with such sweet words. He takes a moment to process them, until you hear a sniffle.
You grow concerned, so you turn on your lamp. A teary eyed Minghao looks at you with a slight pout. His eyes are slightly puffy and you try not to let any surprise cross your face.
“My baby,” You instinctively pull him into your chest like he’s done it for you so many times. His cries are so quiet, but you can still feel his body shake in your arms.
“You mean a lot to me. I hate hiding my feelings from you,” His tone is somewhat even, most of the emotion doesn’t spill through.
“Whenever you want to tell me anything, I’m here. I like hearing whatever is on your mind,” You leave soft touches on his shoulder. He’s always been quite practical and objective, letting you know exactly how he feels about things, so to see him with his guard down means he trusts you so deeply.
“Okay, I promise I will,” He pulls his face back from your hold to wipe his tears. He grabs your hands and holds them to his chest instead.
“Y/N?” He calls out to you again.
“Yes?”
“I don’t like sleeping without you,” He blinks at you with a small smile. His voice nearly breaks your heart from how cute he sounds.
“I don’t either, and I’m not going anywhere, okay?” Your response makes him close his eyes, nodding softly. You wipe the stray tears still left on his cheeks.
He takes the chance to leave a few pecks on your lips, but you know you need more.
You press your lips to his for a few moments and you can almost feel him melt into your touch. He lets out a quiet satisfied hum the moment you pull away from him.
You turn away to turn off the lamp and he’s already whining, pulling at your arm to stop your movements. “I’m right here, love,” You giggle into his chest, you quickly lie down again to face him in the darkness.
You fall asleep with a few more kisses pressed to your lips, your mutual affection seems to radiate off each other so easily.
You figure this feeling is enough to keep you happy for the rest of your life.
--
The next day, packing your own clothes for the wedding wasn’t hard, but getting Minghao to pack was a bit more difficult.
He insisted that he already put some clothes aside for his suitcase a few days ago, but you don’t notice anything when you enter his closet.
Instead, you’re drawn to his impressive array of clothing. You’re definitely overwhelmed by how cool his pieces are. You figure it’s a mix of clothes he’s made for himself, pieces he’s made for collections that he stole for his own closet, archival designer clothes, and a medley of thrifted clothes sprinkled in.
It was completely foreign to your own closet, it felt like its own little world that you could spend forever in.
When you retreat out of the closet, you notice Minghao is at his desk, hands and body completely still.
He has lots of sketches organized across his desk, but he seems to be staring at one in particular.
“Hao, are you ok, love?” You try. You place your hand on his shoulder and he still doesn’t move.
“My hands aren’t doing what I need them to do,” He hums, blinking at the papers before him.
“Let’s take a break, yeah?” You grab his hands and massage them gently. His eyes flutter shut and he takes a deep breath, slowly leaning into your touch.
“Yeah,” He opens his eyes and slowly stands up from his desk. The promotion is already giving him far more work than before. Despite his position not officially starting until after the wedding, you can sense it’s taking a toll on him already.
You know he’s told you about being a workaholic, but watching him work from home today has made that personality trait even more real in your brain. He gets so focused that it’s hard to break him out of that trance, especially when you try to make him take breaks.
You discover it’s best not to bother him since he has his own internal productivity clock, but you figured it had been a few hours too long since the last break.
You came over to his apartment with the intention of not doing much together anyways, but you didn’t expect him to work the entire time.
“How about we pick out clothes instead?” You suggest, rubbing your hands up and down his arms in a feeble effort to ground him.
“We’re only there for a few days, there’s not much for me to pick out,” He giggles to himself as he looks back at the closet.
Mingyu’s wedding had a formal dress code, but you and Minghao had decided to take an extra day to stay in the vicinity of the small beach town to relax before coming back into town to start the new phases of your professional lives.
“Well, show me these outfits you allegedly picked out, idiot,” You playfully shove him toward the closet and he puts his hands up in defense.
“Fine, fine,” He backs into the closet and turns his attention to the clothes slightly above his eyeline. He grabs a sleek black suit to prop up in his arms.
“Wedding outfit with a nice tie,” He looks at his picks before looking at you for feedback.
The suit was nice, muted enough so that your dress could be the real showstopper. Yet, his tie was still decorated with an intricate pattern that caught your attention.
“Very nice,” You nod and he nods as well before placing it back in the closet. He stays in the closet for a few moments before emerging again with a pastel blue set, a solid button up with matching linen shorts. It was the perfect lazy weekend beach attire.
“And my beach day outfit,” He looks up at you with a proud smile.
“That’s gonna look so pretty on you, especially that color,” You coo at him, your tone gets high at the possibility of seeing him in bright colors. He bites back a smile, but ultimately gives into the compliment with a smirk.
“Thank you,” His voice is a bit smaller now, you notice the tips of his ears are red, but you don’t point it out.
He goes to put the clothes back before your gaze can linger on him for too long, but it’s too late.
You’re already concocting more ways that you can catch him off guard with a compliment.
He pulls out a small black industrial type suitcase out onto the floor of the bedroom, and it suits him completely.
You decide to sit on his bed and watch him pack the suitcase carefully. You’re sure he’s done it countless times that it feels like second nature. You wonder what the inside of his passport looks like, what he’s like on an international flight, the first thing he does in a new country, so many questions about his travel habits plagued you.
His hands treat his clothes so delicately, you can only admire the way he folds his clothes, smoothing his palm across the top to rid any lingering wrinkles before placing them gingerly into the suitcase.
You watch him wander back and forth from the bathroom, casually collecting items to place into side pockets and pouches.
You think you’ve unlocked a new kind of domesticity with him, a silent one where you can adore him from afar without constantly needing to fill the silence. The way his eyes scan the case is enough to keep you captivated.
“Are you enjoying the show?” He brushes his hair back from his forehead, looking up at you suddenly.
“Definitely,” You smile at him with a particular fondness, he senses it with a closed mouth smile.
He closes the top of the suitcase, he’s definitely not done packing for sure, but it’s enough for now when he gets up and sits next to you on the bed.
“Are you nervous about the trip?” His hand finds the nape of your neck easily, slowly rubbing his fingers against your skin.
“Slightly,” You close your eyes for a moment before blinking back at him. He hums in understanding.
“Besides him being there, do you like weddings?” He continues his soft movements, but tries to engage with you further.
“I do,” You can’t help the smile that makes its way onto your face, it’s hard to contain yourself.
“Tell me more,” He giggles at your sudden excitement, he shifts his weight to account for your now perky mood, now absentmindedly playing with your hands.
“Everything about them just makes me happy, I like seeing people in love,” Your tone of voice is so far up in the clouds that he can tell you’re daydreaming.
“Do you think you’ll ever be in love?” His question grounds your dreams instantly.
It shouldn’t unnerve you this much.
You want to tell him that you’re already in love with him, but the words are lodged in your throat so tightly that you can’t do much about it. You can only take a breath and hope he doesn’t notice how much that question affects you.
Yet, you know how he is. He notices something happening with you before you do.
“I’m sure I will,” You nod in affirmation in hopes that he leaves it alone, that he won’t press you any further about the topic.
He doesn’t ask you verbally, but his eyes search yours with a hope that you mean you’ll fall in love with him.
“I know you will. You’re perfect,” His words are laced with so much affection that it almost hurts to hear, so sickly sweet that your heart practically feels weighed down from the kindness of it.
It’s enough to pull him in for a kiss, to help him achieve that feeling in your chest. His lips slot into yours so naturally at this point, you don’t have to try too hard at it before he senses your needs.
He deepens the kiss ever so slightly, but it still leaves your heart fluttering. The tension recreates itself the moment he looks into your eyes. He leaves you breathless and you can feel the slight puffiness of your lips now that you’re away from his mouth.
No matter what he just did, you can’t make each other say what you truly mean.
It’s too much when you’re both packing for a trip where you’re meant to play up a lie that no longer feels like a lie. The relationship is so fragile that it has to keep unfolding in its own time, it’s not meant to handle a rushed confession.
You both deserve better than that.
“You think I’m perfect?” You finally respond to his statement. He sighs with a particularly sweet smile on his face.
“Absolutely,” He examines your face long enough for you to feel safe under his gaze. After a while, you watch him get up to finish organizing his suitcase and you’re not sure what makes you upset.
You wrestle with your feelings as he zips up his suitcase, pushing it to a corner in his room. He convinces you to get ready for bed with him, and it helps you push away the thoughts for now.
No matter what happens this weekend, he’ll be with you. You can only hope that’s enough for you to feel safe.
—
Road trips were a rare occasion for Minghao. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy them, but he never had a good reason to spontaneously travel or the time to take them very often.
Thus, the trip up to the wedding would be momentous. Minghao has read that the strength of relationships are tested when you travel with your partner, and it’s the first time he’s properly done it with anyone he’s dating.
He wants to do it right, so he hopes to make the weekend perfect, starting with getting off work early to mentally prepare himself for the journey.
He would be driving, not that he didn’t trust you, but he was slightly protective of his car. He would’ve insisted on driving you both regardless if you tried to fight him on it, not wanting you to overexert yourself a few days after such a big flare up.
He makes sure you’re as comfortable as possible in the passenger seat, confirming that you have snacks and your comfort items to keep you interested. He triple checks that you have your engagement ring on and you’re nearly cackling at him for being so worried. When he estimated the trip to be a few hours, he didn’t expect it to be 3.5 hours instead.
Yet, the hotel reservations were booked and there’s no viable way to fly to the small town, so he comes to terms with the parameters of the trip.
He’s grateful that you’re actively engaging him in conversation, he needs the mental stimulation to keep himself awake. He already let you pick the playlist to soundtrack the trip which kept you even more energetic.
“So when are we hypothetically getting married?” You ask without warning. “Just in case somebody asks, which I know they will,” He can tell your voice has that little self assured tone to it which makes him smile.
“This time next year, in the summer,” He takes a quick look at you before focusing on the road again.
“Ooh, a summer wedding would be pretty,” You affirm his thoughts. “Where would it be though?”
“Where would you like it to be?” He counters and it catches you off guard. He listens to you ponder your answer with a quiet hum before speaking up.
“I love the idea of it in a garden, like either outside in a garden or in those beautiful indoor greenhouse rooms with the garden outside of it,” The hypothetical details start to build a mental image that makes him excited.
“That sounds beautiful. So it sounds like it won’t be a destination wedding?”
“Absolutely not. It’s nice in theory, but logistically it might be hard for people to get there,” Your tone is resolute, making Minghao giggle as he clutches the steering wheel.
“You’re thinking of our future guests’ well-being already, you’re so sweet,” He coos at you with a pinch to your cheek, his gaze still focused on the road ahead. You were always thinking of other people, never yourself. Even if you wanted an international wedding, you should be able to put your foot down about what you want instead of centering others.
“It’s just a nice thing to do! Besides, there are plenty of nice gardens here,” You reply softly. He wonders if you’ve mentally picked out a venue yet, if you know the ins and outs of the best gardens around the country. He wants to know more, but he decides to keep moving.
“Ok, how many people would be coming to the wedding then?” He raises his eyebrows.
“No more than 300,” The reply comes almost immediately, “I don’t think I even know 100 people,” Your voice turns slightly concerned at the thought, but he’s quick to reassure you.
“That makes sense, bigger weddings kind of become more of a spectacle than focusing on the marriage itself. It’s weird,” He shakes his head at the idea of it. To him, weddings should feel somewhat intimate, and having over 1,000 people watch you get married makes him feel a bit unsettled.
“Exactly! We’re not celebrities, just people. Please keep the fashion industry invites to a minimum,” You joke and it makes him laugh.
“Trust me, most of them would not be coming,” He rolls his eyes and repositions his hands on the wheel. As much as he likes his work, it had to be separate from his personal life as much as possible now that you worked there too. There had to be some distance, even if this wedding wouldn’t be a problem in the immediate future.
“Sounds like you'd like to be involved in wedding planning then.”
“Yes, for sure. You shouldn’t have to do that alone, it’s my wedding too,” He whines lightly at the end of the sentence and now it’s your turn to fawn over him.
“Of course, love. I can’t imagine doing it alone,” You card your fingers through his hair and he sighs gently at your touch. This kind of daydreaming makes Minghao want to propose all over again just to give you that perfect garden wedding.
He can already picture you both on your not so hypothetical wedding day, it all aligns in his brain so perfectly that it feels too good to be true. He knows he’s jumping too far into the future, but he can’t help it when you give him so much to work with. He knows the timeline in between matters as well, everything about you matters to him.
The wedding banter goes on for a bit longer until you fall asleep. That makes up the bulk of the trip, him driving with your music playing softly in the background while you’re cuddled up against the window. He prefers driving in relative silence, it gives him the space to think about everything coming within the next day.
He honestly doesn’t know how you’ll fare when you see Joshua again, considering how difficult the entire situation has been for you. Frankly, he doesn’t know how he’ll act around Joshua either knowing just how much he’s hurt you. He can only hope you choose yourself and your own feelings first.
He knows you’re a heavy sleeper, but he discovers it even more now. When someone tries to cut him off on the highway, he’s forced to honk his horn but he looks over to discover you’re still dead asleep.
The slight dips in the road and any slight swerves he makes to avoid potholes don’t disturb you much at all besides the occasional stirring in your sleep.
He eventually stops about 2 and a half hours into the journey to get gas and stretch his legs, but he’s still in good spirits overall. Somehow, the stopped car doesn’t wake you up, something he uses to his advantage.
He grabs his phone to take photos of you, angling himself in as many different ways possible to capture you. He smiles to himself as he quickly scrolls through the photos to choose a new one for his lockscreen. He still hadn’t changed it, he felt like none of his pictures captured that unspeakable feeling you give him until now.
He thinks you’re absolutely adorable, your arms are tightly crossed across your chest with your hands hidden by your hoodie sleeves. At some point before you fell asleep, you pulled the strings tight enough that your head was almost swallowed up by the fabric, to him you looked like a little egg. It was definitely picture worthy in his mind, and he was lucky enough that he got the pictures before you woke up.
“Hao? Are we there yet?” You ask him sleepily, eyes blinking open slowly.
“Not yet, darling. We’ve got another hour or so,” He rubs your thigh gently. You only nod and settle back into a comfortable position, facing your body away from Minghao towards the window.
He realizes something as he starts the car again, pulling back onto the roads to finish the last leg of the drive.
It sets in more as the sun sets on the horizon, even further when he parks the car and takes a deep breath to himself. He helps you wake up completely so you can both get your luggage out of the car. The check in process goes easily, but it’s not until you’re both in the elevator that it hits him.
He loves you.
He loves the way you always lean into his touch, how you give him the space to be himself, the subtle ways you look after him that he can’t always verbalize.
He loves that despite everything, you still love so fiercely.
He grew into his love for you, the pieces of it came together without him even realizing it. He didn’t want to admit it when Soonyoung and Chan kept telling him how head over heels he was for you, especially when he found a way to come over to your apartment almost every day just so he could see you.
He didn’t want to admit how many times he restarted the sketching process for the dress, how he held a meticulous eye over his sewing machine so that every stitch held a bit of his love for you. He wanted to make sure that all of the extra time he spent on small details would show even a fraction of his adoration for you.
He loves you and he wonders if he’ll be able to say it out loud before you go back home.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (finale)
word count: 9.9k
synopsis: when you make a chance encounter with your ex, you end up saying that you're engaged to your estranged neighbor xu minghao. when you find out your ex is coming to your friend's wedding, you've only got a month to become a convincing couple.
warnings: mentions of chronic illness, food, smut, brief flashbacks, shitty ex!joshua, mentions of family planning (…no comment)
notes: HI HI HI omg I am so happy to have this out you have no idea. this shit has been burning a hole in google docs for a month lol … the mentions of chronic illness are based on my own experiences as someone with a chronic illness, so I am not talking out of my ass I promise! this one has Some Drama and other developments and I am excited to hear your thoughts as always!!! pls enjoy, sorry for such a long note bye <3
Things between the two of you were noticeably different after the kiss debacle at your apartment. His glances lingered on you longer than normal, you held hands whenever you saw him, and you didn’t pull your hands away from his when they accidentally brushed yours.
There was hugging that sometimes ended with a kiss on the cheek or the lips, maybe even the forehead when he was feeling especially happy to see you.
Out of all the new things that came from your romantic tension, you decided that you liked kissing him the most. Each kiss felt so intentional as if he didn’t want to waste any time not giving you what you wanted. Even when the kisses felt more intense, they were still tender and it fascinated you every time his lips were pressed to yours.
This resulted in you kissing him just for the need to feel that sensation over and over.
As the wedding was quietly approaching, you found him standing at your front door most evenings to spend time with you after work.
That’s how you found yourself on the couch, him laying across your lap while you sat upright. You absentmindedly ran your hands through his hair, and his soft hums were his nonverbal stamps of approval.
“Idiot,” You called out softly.
“Hm?” He didn’t look up from his phone.
“When are you taking me on a date?”
He looks up at you with a neutral glance, pondering his response for a moment.
“When are you free?” He smiles at you knowingly and you roll your eyes.
“Ha ha, very funny,” you reply in a deadpan tone, “but I think I can fit you in for Friday night.”
He nods in approval, lips slightly pouted in understanding. “I’ll brainstorm and let you know what we’ll be up to.”
You nod back, sighing to yourself quietly. Were relationships always meant to be this warm? You decide to yourself that they should be. It seems like he doesn’t have to try to be inviting, everything comes so naturally.
There’s only a brief moment of silence before he speaks up again.
“Let me make you something to wear for the wedding.”
“What?” You almost think you heard wrong when he says it, it sounds so outlandish.
“I’m serious,” Minghao’s glance was focused on you, but you’re not completely convinced.
“I just don’t want you to do that if you don’t want to,” you look away from him nervously. You had a hard time accepting gifts, especially when you didn’t think you deserved them. You never splurged on yourself, never with something big like designer clothes anyways.
“You have a fashion designer as a fiance. I promise whatever I make for you will be miles better than what you were gonna end up buying.”
You grabbed a pillow from the opposite end of the couch and hit him in the face, his giggles filled up the air while you lightly swatted the pillow at him.
“You’re right, but don’t say it like that,” you pouted, finally throwing the pillow back to its original spot toward his feet.
He finally sits up to look at you, grabbing your hands instinctively. “But seriously, brat, you deserve something nice. If you wanna make Joshua jealous, it’s gotta be with something good.”
You offer him a smile, but you feel a pang of guilt in your chest. You forgot that this was supposed to be a plot against Joshua, that none of this was supposed to be real. He was only meant to be in your life for another week and a half, but you can’t even try to imagine parting with him so soon.
You pushed any lingering thoughts to the back of your head to focus on him again, on the gift that he was graciously giving you.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be my revenge dress,” you state confidently, pushing your chest out. He shakes his head at you with a curious smile on his face.
“I promise it’ll be worth it,” He asserts.
“I don’t think you can make me something I’ll like,” You let out a short laugh, moving your hand away from his grasp to tuck a stray hair behind his ear.
“You’re really doubting my styling abilities.”
“I’m not, I promise,” you whine, and his hand comes up to pinch your cheek.
“It was a joke, baby,” He doesn’t seem to realize what he’s done until he sees your eyes widen.
“No, no, don't get any ideas, you’re still a brat,” He tries to defend himself, but you’re still smiling as wide as ever. He let down his guard, even if only for a moment, and it made you so content to see new sides of him.
“What’s that? You’re calling me baby now?” You coo, and now it was your turn to pinch his cheeks, his face had dissolved into a cute frown.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He was being more of a brat than you, but you decided to leave it alone.
“Anyways, you swear I’ll like the dress?” You give him one last skeptical look, but he can see through the facade.
“I know you will.”
—
The next day, Minghao insists on holding a private fitting session for the dress that night. You figured he would just text you asking for your measurements, but he insisted.
“Stop being stubborn and let me show you my studio,” He sounds resigned over the phone.
You have been persistent about Minghao not making a big deal about the dress and you don’t want to process why you’re pushing back so hard about it. In a way, it felt like you were trying to test him to see if he would give in. If you wore him down enough, maybe he would give up on trying to perform a nice gesture for an unwilling recipient.
Yet, you knew you were projecting. It was just hard to admit you were wrong, so it was easier to double down instead,
“I’m not being stubborn, most designers just make the clothes without being too hands-on. The models don’t get a tour of the designer’s studio, or maybe I’ve just been reading Vogue too much,” You sigh.
“You are reading too much Vogue and I’m not taking no for an answer, brat. You’re coming to the studio, end of discussion.” You can practically see him scowling at you through the phone, that lecturing tone of his is stuck in your brain.
“Fine,” you respond petulantly.
“I know you’re pouting. Stop pouting.” How is he so good at reading you even over the phone? He still manages to be precise even when you least expect it.
“Fine,” You adjust your tone of voice to satisfy him.
“And you’re not just a model, you know that. You keep trying to minimize yourself and I’m not gonna allow it.”
“I’m only your fiancée for another week,” You keep pacing around your apartment to distract yourself, even if it means your worst thoughts are coming out of your mouth.
“You’re deflecting! That’s not even what we’re talking about. Seriously, what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, I’m just not used to this at all,” You settle on your couch, burrowing yourself into your plush blanket before responding again, “I’m terrible with gifts, I keep thinking it’s an inconvenience for you.”
“It’s not, trust me. It’s not just about him, it’s about how you want to feel. I want this dress to make you feel like he doesn’t have any power over you anymore.”
That brings tears to your eyes. You wished it was that easy to forget his presence in your life, but it wasn’t.
“Is it bad that he still has something over me?” Your voice shakes and you suddenly wish that he was next to you, giving you reassuring touches. You push your face further into the blanket, barely acknowledging your phone.
“No, definitely not.”
Your cries are so quiet that he can’t tell the difference, he only questions that you may have disappeared. “Y/N? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” You attempt to stifle your sobs, but your voice is far too broken to convince him that you’re okay.
“We don’t have to do this tonight, it’s okay,” His voice is softer than you’ve ever heard it, it throws you for a moment.
“No, I need to get out of this fucking apartment. We can still do it tonight,” You laugh through your tears.
“Okay,” he agrees reluctantly, “I’ll text you the address now. Be on time, though. I want us to start as soon as possible.”
“No problem.”
You’re sure it won’t be a problem, you’re already mentally planning all the details you want to mention before he starts making it. Somehow, your mind immediately runs to references that you want to embody.
Despite your mood, you still want to make the most of the session, and Minghao’s words leave you determined to make your opinions known.
—
“I’m outside,” You hesitate to speak, mostly because of your own nerves. You didn’t expect Minghao’s work building to be this tall, but that thought is foolish considering the circumstances. Minghao hadn’t necessarily explained the ins and outs of his job yet, but you knew it was substantial enough to warrant a private studio.
“Okay, I’ll just meet you in the lobby,” He responds nonchalantly before hanging up. When you enter the revolving doors, you’re thrown by just how high scale the entire office is. Everything is crisp, clean, and minimalist, minus the numerous runway shots and art prints that line the walls. You really try not to minimize yourself as Minghao mentioned before, but you feel far too out of place here.
The receptionist gives you a reassuring look, but you still feel an underlying sense of judgment. As soon as you feel your thoughts begin to spiral even further, Minghao appears from around the corner.
“Hi,” He smiles at you, pulling you into a brief hug. You take refuge in his scent and your anxiety is already disappearing.
“Hi. You weren’t kidding when you said this was a big office,” Your eyes wander around the lobby again, mouth slightly agape in wonder at the scope of everything.
“Yeah, it’s a lot to get used to. I’m honestly not used to it yet,” He admits softly.
“Are you ready to go upstairs?” He holds your hand, intertwining your fingers and tapping his thumb lightly on the back of your hand.
“Yep,” You take a deep breath, still trying to quiet those last few nerves. He senses that nervousness and gives you a kiss on your hand. He always manages to offer you a quiet kind of encouragement, especially when you need it the most.
“Okay, let's go,” He offers you a reassuring nod before walking with you toward the elevators. You’re silent as he presses the up button on the elevator. It opens almost immediately and again, you watch him press the button for the 15th floor.
“That’s really high up,” You whisper to yourself, but he manages to hear it.
“It is, are you afraid of heights?” A hint of concern pulls across his face, but you’re already shaking your head no before he can finish the question.
“Oh my god, no, just thinking out loud.” You’re not sure why you insist on making every step of this process so painfully awkward, he clearly had every intention of making you feel comfortable. Wearing the dress would be such a transitional moment in your personal growth, whether you want to internally admit it or not. It’s a symbol of a more confident person, one that leaves Joshua Hong in the past where he belongs.
“I have things in mind for the dress,” You finally speak up, you remember the folder of references in your bag that you organized just a few hours prior.
“I figured you would,” He smirks but you know there’s no malice behind his words. “What are you thinking of?”
“I brought some stuff with me, but I’ll wait to get into it.” He gasps in slight shock, it makes you excited to see him react so strongly.
“You’re really building the suspense here,” He ruffles your hair out of the blue without looking, but he turns his attention to you fully.
“Can’t give everything away,” You insist.
“Is that so?” He lowers his voice, it comes off a bit more sensual than you expected, and you don’t know how you haven’t completely lost your wits yet. You almost think he’s gonna kiss you, but even with your blooming relationship, he remains a tease.
The elevator chime saves you from replying, and he’s leading you out before you can feel properly flustered. His private studio is right off of the elevator and you’re captivated the moment you step through the door.
“Welcome to my 2nd home,” He takes a deep exhale and gives you the space to look around for a bit. The space is just so him in every way possible. It does remind you of his apartment, just slightly smaller. Just from a quick glance, you can tell he has a penchant for edgy and bold looks, it’s a major evolution of his personal style from college. He seems much more comfortable in his style now, even the dress forms have designs that reflect how much he’s changed over the years.
“This looks incredible, Minghao,” You look at him with a new sense of admiration, it makes you so happy to see what he’s made of himself even though you hadn’t seen much of him in the recent past.
“Thank you,” He sheepishly accepts the compliment. “Now show me these references you’ve brought,” He turns his attention to him before the kind words can linger on him for too long.
“Okay, so,” You reach into your bag to retrieve your folder, “I hope this isn’t too old school for you.”
“No, that’s okay. I appreciate the change of pace honestly, I miss having paper references to hang up at my station,” He’s already intrigued at the images laid in front of him before you have a chance to explain anything.
“I really wanted to lean into the Princess Diana revenge dress, so I pulled that and I also want to channel some 90s supermodels as well,” You spread the photos out across the table and show him just exactly what you want.
“So a Naomi Campbell type of energy?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Your eyes widened with excitement. You felt like the models of that era always had such an effortlessly cool style, so you wanted to exude that energy at the wedding.
“I can definitely work with that,” He organizes the photos back into the folder and moves to his desk, placing it near his computer.
You both spend a few more minutes debriefing about what your ideal dress would look like, and just from his initial descriptions, you can tell the dress will make a big impact.
“You have everything so organized, I’m the complete opposite,” You take a moment to observe just how neat the space is. Considering the type of work you’ve seen from him, it makes sense that everything is so clean cut.
“Yeah, I need it to be very organized here or else I can’t focus,” He continues to look around the space, grabbing items that catch his eye immediately. It seems like his mind is on autopilot, he doesn't have to think twice about what to grab. You’re sure he’s taken countless measurements, you’re just hoping it goes well without any issues.
“Okay, go ahead and step up there for me,” He gestures toward a circular platform near his dress forms. You place your bag down quickly before stepping up on the platform.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been measured for anything, I think you’ll have to be careful with me.”
“I think you’ll do just fine, but I’ll be extra careful. My supermodel,” He winks at you.
“You’re not supposed to flirt with your models, remember?” You outstretch your arms out of expectation. He chuckles at your eagerness and tilts his head slightly.
“Good, keep your arms out. And you’re not just a model, stop saying that before I hit you with my clipboard,” His fake anger melts into giggles and you can’t help but laugh as well. He extends his tape measure from your shoulder to your fingertips. You see the gears in his head turning as he writes the measurement down on his notepad.
“I’m gonna just come around here and measure your back,” He disappears from your view, but his touches are still considerate. There’s a brief silence, but you decide to get to know him despite his compromising position.
“How long have you been sewing?”
“It’s more like how long haven’t I been sewing,” He scoffs before continuing again, “I learned when I was young just by watching other people do it. Then, I finally felt confident enough to make my own clothes. It just kind of snowballed from there.”
“Wow, so people have been asking you to make clothes for them your whole life,” You watch him come back around to the front of the platform, eyeing his next target for measuring.
“Yes, and now I actually make the clothes I want, such as your new dress.” He did a broad gesture to your body before taking some more notes. It made you appreciative that you were in good hands with someone who was not only experienced, but passionate about their work.
“Hold on, I’m gonna put this around your bust,” He remains focused on the task at hand, yet you can’t manage to take a breath. This has to be the most intimate thing you’ve done with him outside of kissing, and yet he barely has to do a thing to build you up.
“It’s okay, you can take a breath,” He offers in a quiet tone. You let out a shaky laugh and take the breath you’ve wanted for the last minute or so. He still doesn’t seem upset, in that particular way of his.
“I’m sorry, you just have a certain kind of touch,” You give him an endearing smile and he takes a moment to laugh. He drops the tape measure and gets a better look at you, yet he tries to regain his composure before getting back to work.
“Don’t apologize, I know I’m a little bit irresistible,” He wraps the tape measure around your waist with a lilt in his voice, taking a second to remember the number in front of him. He drops the measure once again and jots down his findings, now taking a bit longer to analyze if he has all the right numbers.
“Ok idiot, you should ask me something you want to know about me now,” You finally put your arms down.
“Am I your first romantic fling since Joshua?” He states unremarkably, as if the state of your love life was small talk.
“Minghao!” You exclaim loudly, stepping down from the platform absolutely scandalized.
“What? I want to know about it. You’re not exactly forthcoming, as we’ve previously discussed,” He retorts. He’s not exactly wrong, you were private about it. Then again, who wouldn’t be? You didn’t exactly want to be single again for this long, it just sort of happened. Romance was less of a priority compared to actually surviving day by day.
“Well, yes, you are the first. I felt too miserable to date after Joshua until I forgot that I was supposed to be actively pursuing dates. Then this whole thing happened,” You push your lips out into a frustrated sigh.
“There’s no shame in that. I also haven’t had many remarkable relationships until now,” He placed his materials down at his workstation, slowly making his way to his desk.
“Really? I thought you’d have some escapades, Mr. Irresistible.” Even if you didn’t end up in this predicament with him, he still seemed like a pretty attractive boyfriend from an outsider’s perspective.
“Not many people like dating a workaholic, no matter how irresistible I may seem,” He gestures at himself with a dejected laugh.
“I’m assuming that’s not the only thing that got you in trouble.”
“You’d be right. I wasn't really emotionally mature enough for what they needed, and I thought I could get away with a lot of mean shit. That took a long time for me to admit to myself,” He nods solemnly.
“That’s probably not what you wanted to hear from me, was it?” He looks up at you with anxious eyes, but you’re not really deterred. Instead, you pull the chair from his workstation and next to his desk.
“No, but I appreciate the honesty. Nice to know you’re not completely emotionally stunted,” you joke, but it’s still serious in your mind. Minghao was always honest and upfront about what he wanted, even if you weren’t used to it. As bad as it sounds, you weren’t used to hearing that kind of vulnerability within your romantic relationships. You hope that could stop with this evolving relationship.
“Not completely, but I would like to keep growing of course. Nothing’s perfect about me.”
“You’re giving me a free therapy session and a dress, you should really start monetizing this,” You work to lighten the mood again and he catches the shift easily.
“I know, I should put all this free space to use,” He gestures to the rest of the studio and you burst into laughter.
“You can stay if you’d like, but the sketching and sewing process is not super glamorous,” He shakes his head. You didn’t want to stand in the way of his work, but there was still a sense of longing that sat in your heart.
“It’s okay, I don’t want to be a distraction. I want the dress to be perfect,” You stand up and make your way behind the desk, sinking onto his lap without thinking.
“It’ll be perfect, I promise,” He leans into your face, stopping just short of your mouth. You take the cue to kiss him, placing a tender hand on his cheek to steady yourself. Your hands wander to the nape of his neck, slowly weaving your fingers through his hair. He lets out a quiet moan that encourages you even more, slightly grinding your hips onto him. He kisses you just as eagerly, but his restraint appears just as quickly. You can tell he wants more, but the rational part of him took over.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” He presses one last kiss to your cheek and gives you a warning look. As much as you want to dive into your wildest fantasies inside his studio, your mind and body are probably not prepared for the consequences.
You can’t help yourself one last time and push his hair aside, leaving a soft kiss on his forehead. You stand up to walk toward the exit before you can catch his reaction, so you almost miss the blush on his cheeks.
“Text me when you get home,” you face him for a moment before turning around again. “Please eat before you go home too,” You call from the entryway.
“I will, to both,” He waits for you to turn around again before giving you a short wave. You offer a short smile back and finally retreat to the elevator.
As you ride back down to the lobby, you’re convinced that he has a hold over you. It’s not apparent until he’s gone that you’re itching to have another piece of him. It should be embarrassing, but you don’t have any kind of rebuttal. He’s found his way into your heart and there’s nothing you can do about it.
—
Minghao insists that the date should be a surprise, so he left you guessing until the very last minute.
He blindfolded you which took lots of convincing on his part, especially when you heard people whispering about why you must be blindfolded. You heard him convincing people on the street that no, he was not kidnapping you, he just needed to get you to the date without ruining the surprise. You were already skeptical of the situation, but he was trying to be romantic, so why not let him?
Wherever you were, you were definitely outside. It made sense after climbing lots of stairs on the way, he really didn’t appreciate your complaints but it was a bit of a treacherous journey. The breeze pricked your skin, instantly leaving goosebumps on your arms.
“Okay, are you ready?” His calm voice brings you back into focus.
“Yes, please hurry. I’m already cold,” You can’t help shivering, you hate that you didn’t bring a better jacket.
“Okay, you can take it off.” You unravel the loose knot of the cloth and pull it off your eyes.
You’re standing in front of a rooftop dinner that was meticulously laid out in front of you. The white tablecloth blew gently in the wind, along with the candles that were lined up across the table.
Two plates of pasta sat across from each other and you looked at Minghao with a big smile on your face.
“You remembered that I was craving pasta,” you replied excitedly.
“You ranted about it yesterday on the phone when you were drunk, I couldn’t forget it,” He was practically beaming, he seemed just as excited as you.
He instinctively pulled out your chair and let you sit before going to his own seat. You noticed the glasses of white wine near your plates and silently praised him for his choice.
You were so hungry that you barely spoke to Minghao for a few minutes. You look up to see him admiring you, it makes you feel a bit self-conscious but he clearly liked you enough to see past it.
The conversation comes soon after though, you talk about anything and everything. It ends up being a mix of catching up with each other, joking with each other, flirting, and complimenting until your wine is gone. You hadn’t seen each other in person since the studio fitting, but there were still a significant amount of things to mention to each other.
He pulls the bottle up from beneath the table. “Do you want more?”
“Yes, please.” He takes that as a cue to refill your glass and looks at you with a mischievous glance. “Is that because you’re not enjoying the date?”
“Shut up, I’m having fun.” You look away from him towards the skyline with a smile on your face. You hear him laugh and place the bottle back near his feet again.
In the silence, you decide that Minghao makes things easy. Even though it’s technically a first date, it feels far too comfortable for that. It reminds you of the distant familiarity you have, and it brings the memories of college to the forefront of your mind.
“How did we meet again?” Minghao asks you out of the blue. It was strange how he could read your mind.
“It was at one of Chan’s parties, wasn’t it?”
“No, we met after that.”
“Stop, it was definitely at one of those fundraiser parties he used to throw,” You placed your fork on top of the empty plate, insistent that your memory was correct.
You remember the moment vividly, the memory still remains fresh in your mind after so long.
-
Chan had invited you to a fundraiser party he was throwing, but despite your continued questioning, he wouldn’t disclose what it was for. He wanted it to be a mystery party where you approach a certain person and they would give you more information.
You weren’t close to anyone here besides Chan, so the prospect of approaching strangers to figure out the theme of the party was daunting. Yet, Chan wanted you here, so you figured you should play into everything.
The party was moderately loud, everyone was busy in their own corners with friends, casually drinking from plastic cups.
The house was big, far bigger than any college student could afford on their own, and you wonder who phoned it in so that Chan could have a family home act as the location for his party.
You wanted to find at least one area where it was relatively quiet, and your wish was granted when you found a study past the living room.
When you open the door, you discover that the room was practically a miniature library, books were lined across the walls in color-coordinated patterns. The dark wood and jewel-toned furniture made you feel like you stepped into a Sherlock Holmes novel, and the person sitting at the desk seemed to give off similarly mysterious energy.
“It’s $5 for the drink,” he stared at you unemotionally. Confusion spread across your face immediately after.
“Wait, what? Why am I paying for drinks?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No?” You reply in the same questioning tone and he lets out a small laugh.
“Chan is raising money for his dance showcase final. He needs a proper studio to record in and there’s a lot of costs with that,” The unnamed person releases a sigh, as if he’s the one raising the money.
“Oh, that does sound expensive,” You furrow your brows slightly and look at the floor.
“He’s got enough rich dance friends who will donate, he’ll be fine,” You hear the reply and nod to yourself.
“Are you a dance major?” You look up to ask and he nods.
“I’m a dance and fashion design double major,” He seems tired from having to man the station, so you figure you’d give him some enthusiasm.
“Holy shit, really?”
“Yeah, you sound like you’ve never met a double major,” He giggles at your surprise.
“I haven’t, I guess you’re right,” You feel a bit shy underneath his gaze and look at your surroundings instead.
“What about you?”
“I’m a fashion design major too,” You nod decisively at him. He nods back and doesn’t explore any further than that. You’re silently grateful, mostly because you don’t want to talk about school more than you have to.
“So, are you gonna buy a drink?”
“Yeah, I think so. It’s for a good cause, so why not,” You reach into your wallet to find a $5 bill and hold it in your hand.
“Okay, I mostly just have hard cider and spritzers. He gave me the fun drinks, as you can tell,” He observes the cooler near his feet.
“I’ll just take some hard cider, then,” You laugh through your ask and it manages to make him crack a smile.
“Yep, one second,” He plunges his hand into the ice to grab your drink, placing it next to you.
You place the bill down next to the drink and he nods at you, placing it into a small chest of money.
“Thanks,” you smile and open the drink, taking a short sip before sitting down in one of the plush chairs next to the desk.
“What’s your name? I completely forgot to ask,” You shake your head at your lack of manners, but he doesn’t seem too offended.
“I’m Minghao. What’s yours?”
“Y/N. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too,” He gives you a small smile again and it makes you feel a little less alone at such a strange party.
-
From the rest of your drunk memory, you remember that you spent most of the night with him, giving him the rest of your cash for drinks. You can’t recall how much money you ended up giving to Chan’s fund, but you do remember that Minghao eventually stopped taking your money. It was sweet, the entire night with him was sweet, and you treasure that memory more than most experiences in your college career.
“Remember? We were in that old library study room for the rest of the night?”
Minghao’s face is blank, shaking his head no at the idea of this scenario even existing.
You sigh loudly, slightly annoyed that he doesn’t remember any of it.
“Well, you should remember how you fucked up my midterm project,” He pokes you in the arm and you clutch the area, whining lightly at the pain.
“Shit, I do remember that.”
“You should, it was very upsetting,” He lets out a deep laugh, reflecting on the nightmarish experience of his sophomore year midterm for textiles.
-
Minghao was deeply annoyed.
You, the last model needed for his textiles midterm presentation, never showed up to the class and it threw him off completely.
He met you at his scheduled fitting and he was extremely grateful that Chan found another person to help him complete the assignment. Your measurements were taken, everything was fine, but it seemed to unravel right in front of his eyes.
He luckily had another model as a backup just in case and had another outfit made for said model, but it was ultimately frustrating. He loved the outfit he made for you, it was the one he would have preferred to present in front of his professor, but fate had ultimately not been kind.
Thus, when you finally walk into the classroom 2 hours late, he’s admittedly not happy to see you.
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I’m so sorry, I seriously didn’t mean to blow this off,” You look completely disheveled, but it doesn’t move him at all.
“You almost cost me my midterm, I don’t accept your apology,” He moves his attention to cleaning up the remains of the presentation, organizing his files into one spot.
“You have to hear me out, please,” His back was turned to you, but he whips around at the response.
“I mixed up the times, I completely forgot I had an appointment across town and I realized I couldn’t make it back on campus in time.”
“You could have let me know,” He runs his hand through his hair with a defeated sigh. “Shit, you could’ve told Chan and he would’ve told me.”
“I know and it’s completely my fault.”
“The last model could barely get out of class to come help me. My professor would’ve taken off 30 points if all my outfits weren’t on live models. You have no idea how much work this took me,” His voice is emotional yet his tone is still even, that’s what scares you the most.
You had some idea of what it took to complete the project, but he was right in the fact that his designs were extremely intricate. It was something you liked about his work and what gave you the push to help him when Chan told you about his friend’s project.
“I’m really sorry,” Your voice is small, you can’t help the tears that welled up in your eyes.
“I just need you to leave,” His voice is quiet, but the conviction is there.
“Minghao, please-“
“Don’t. Just leave, please.” He doesn’t wait to watch you leave, just goes back to organizing his things before he hears the classroom door close.
-
When he finishes the story, you can’t help the deep sense of shame that washes over you. He wasn’t completely right, you did meet him for the first time at the party, but this second time was so disappointing that you wish it didn’t happen at all.
“I’m still really sorry about that,” Regret laces your voice and you don’t know how to contend with the details he still doesn’t know about.
“I know you are, it just really hurt me at that moment.”
The silence overtakes you both for a while. A few minutes pass with you both just looking at the city skyline, tuning in to the noise from the streets.
“What was the appointment for?” He asks and it forces you to close your eyes.
“I got a chronic pain diagnosis,” You shudder at the memory of yourself crying in the doctor’s office alone, questioning how you could live through the rest of college, the rest of your life with debilitating pain. He shifts in his seat at the response.
“It was hard because I knew it was something bad, but I didn’t think it could be like that,” You shake your head, trying to fight the tears in your eyes.
“I struggled with that kind of pain since high school, but it was never something I couldn’t handle. And you want to know what’s awful?”
He nods at you, silently asking you to continue.
“When we were at the gala, I was jealous. I was sad that this could have been my life. If I was just healthy enough to get through years of interning, I could be something like you. It hurt me in college to see all that coming true for you. I couldn’t do anything to further my career and it fucked me up,” The tears were flowing freely now and it took everything in you to not sob.
Yet, when you see him move his chair next to yours and place his arm on your shoulder, you just collapse into his arms.
His touches are so gentle, not intruding in any way, yet it hurts all over. The hug felt like a silent apology for not being understanding years ago, but he couldn’t have known. Plus, you shouldn’t have had to disclose anything. It was simply a lost cause.
“I hate that you feel jealous of me. No one should have to kill themselves to get these kinds of opportunities, you shouldn’t have to suffer,” His words make you question what you’ve been taught about pushing yourself to succeed, it almost makes you sick thinking of the guilt you felt for something that was out of your control. You can’t even nod at him, you can only continue to let out cries until you feel a bit of strength.
“I never wanted to work in corporate. I never wanted to be like my parents, I didn’t want to suffer in a job I hated just to survive,” You slowly sit up to face him again.
“You still have so much time, you still have the rest of your life to chase that dream if that’s what you want. The job isn’t standing in the way anymore, right?” He grabs your hand. You nodded, your sniffling took up the silence between you two.
“Ok, so you have the power. Is fashion what you love?”
His question almost makes you cry all over again.
“It’s everything to me. I just have no idea what to do about it,” Your words are clouded in uncertainty.
“Don’t even think about that right now. It’s just enough that you want to start,” You nod at the idea of not having to decide anything right now. It will put your heart at ease at least for a little while.
“When did you get so wise? You were just the guy who was perpetually mad at me for most of college,” You laugh shakily, squeezing his hand tight.
“I’m not that smart, trust me,” He shakes his head and brushes the hair out of his eyes.
“Don’t say that.” You cup his face and run your fingers across his cheeks. It feels almost instinctual to be as gentle with him as he is with you.
“I’m supposed to be comforting you.”
“Let me do this. I missed you,” You give him a short peck, forcing yourself to push the desperation in your stomach down and leave it there.
“It’s only been a few days, brat,” He presses a kiss to your cheek and pulls back to face you again.
“Too long. Thank you for all this,” You pull him into a hug and inhale his scent, it’s sweeter than usual but you like it. His hand lands on the small of your back and you feel it idly running up and down.
“You’re welcome. Let’s go home, okay?” The idea somehow feels lovelier every time you hear it, as if home is something you two can create without it being a physical location.
—
You make it home, but the desperation in your core doesn’t let up. The way his hair falls in front of his eyes, his grip on the steering wheel when he’s driving you both home, the hand that gently strokes your thigh.
He brings you back to your front door and you don’t want him to slip away.
“So we’re gonna roadtrip up to the wedding venue, it’s only a few hours so it shouldn’t be too bad.” He leans against your doorframe, the top 2 buttons on his shirt are undone and it’s all you can focus on.
“Okay, sounds good.”
“Before I forget, I’m gonna give you the dress tomorrow. I managed to finish it earlier today.”
You simply nod, getting lost in his eyes. He seems to notice when he waves his hand in front of your face. “Earth to Y/N,” He prods you out of your daydream and the embarrassment hits you immediately.
“Yes, sorry. The road trip and dress. Got it,” You run your hands through your hair to deflect the attention, but he’s still concentrating on your strange expressions.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You, mostly how much I wanna fuck you,” You say it before you can realize it and you immediately catch yourself. You blame it on how tipsy you are, but he’s already laughing.
“Wow, so you’ve been objectifying me all night, then?” He smirks at you and readjusts his stance.
“No, not really,” You shake your head.
“Do you want to do something about that then?”
“Only at your place, though. Still haven’t seen that bedroom of yours.”
He puts his hands over his mouth and laughs loudly, enough to make you smile back at him. “I guess I can arrange that.” His breath hitches and he grabs your hand, leading you to his apartment a few doors away.
He’s able to balance his keys without letting go of your hand, unlocking the door without too much trouble. As soon as he pulls you inside and locks the door behind you, he has you pinned against the door, slipping his tongue down your throat in a heated kiss.
You reciprocate almost immediately, your lips responding to him naturally. Your hands travel to the back of his neck, your fingers desperately carding through his hair. He pulls away from your mouth to leave a trail of kisses across your jaw and down your neck. He bites and sucks a hickey onto your neck, but you’re too satisfied with the pain to care about the blooming bruise that will appear.
Everything is desperate about the way he holds you, the way he frantically kisses you as if he can never do it again.
You let out a small moan and cradle his head even tighter, it drives you crazy how he knows your pressure points already.
“Get up,” He taps your hip and nods at you, you wrap your arms and legs around him. His arms support you so easily, he raises you without much effort.
He brings you into the bedroom, but you don’t have much time to look around before he’s placing you down at the top of the bed. He pulls you back into a kiss, but now his hands are wandering across your body.
His hands land on your breasts, gently squeezing them and teasing you by circling your nipples with his fingers over the fabric. You curse yourself for not wearing a bra, since it’s easy for him to tug down the straps of your dress to reveal your chest completely.
He smirks for a second and you feel slightly concerned. “What? What’s wrong?” You whisper.
“Nothing, you just look beautiful,” He returns his attention to your chest and kisses your nipple, taking it in his mouth and leaving small bites. It pulls a moan out of you immediately, in fact, you probably haven’t stopped moaning since you got inside of his apartment.
“Can I take it off?” He places his hands on your hips, slightly gripping the fabric of the dress but still looking at you expectantly.
“Yes, of course,” The response comes out too quickly, you can barely wait for him to move. He tugs the dress down and off of you until you’re nearly naked. He notices your heels are still on, so he places a loving hand on your calf and takes the shoes off easily, tossing them on the floor without a second thought. His eyes focus on your underwear which are very clearly soaked from his ministrations.
“You really did want me, huh?” He asks you quietly. You can only nod, you’re trying to will away the throbbing but to no avail.
He hooks his fingers underneath the band of your underwear and pulls them off quickly. His fingers are so tender, but you still flinch at the contact.
“Relax, baby, it’s okay,” He doesn’t correct himself on the nickname and it drives you insane.
His fingers graze your entrance, carefully stroking you. He pushes his fingers inside you and the pressure makes your waist lift off the bed. His strokes aren’t intense from the start, but rather a slow build that makes everything hurt in the right way.
The dull ache of his fingers is subsided by his other hand running up and down your leg, along with him occasionally whispering some praises at you. You feel selfish asking for more when he’s doing perfectly well, but the need overtakes your shame.
“Hao, please,” you whine, dragging out the words.
“What’s going on?”
“Need more, please. Need you inside me,” You can’t stop yourself from squirming, and he practically has to hold you down.
“I’m just gonna stretch you out first, then we can do more, I promise.”
“Okay,” you nod and he briefly stops his movements so he can lean in to kiss you. It gives you just a bit of reassurance before he continues again.
It’s only a bit longer before you feel adjusted to him and he slips his fingers out easily.
“You did really well,” He brings himself up to your face again, cooing over you for a moment.
“I’m okay,” You mutter just loud enough for him to hear, you hate that you’re trying to deny yourself how good it felt to be underneath him.
He nods at you and takes the next few moments to strip out of his date night clothes. For a moment, he’s not hard to read or unbothered at all, he’s simply your person. Yet, he hadn’t been that unbothered cold person towards you for a while. You don’t know why you unconsciously put that assumption on him, but you decide to analyze that at a later time.
When the fabric of his patterned shirt falls to the floor, the definition of his arms and abs make your head spin, so you try to focus on his expression instead.
Seeing him naked brings up a feeling you’re not familiar with, the feeling that you just want to lie on his chest with no sexual escapades to focus on.
That fantasy had to come to a halt as he’s fully naked now, the way he puts on a condom clouds your thoughts even more.
“I’m gonna start, okay?” You feel his cock pushing at your entrance and you can tell it’ll be rough, but his encouragement spurs you on.
You let out a small noise of approval, you hate that your words get stuck in your throat when he needs to hear you the most.
The push forces you to grit your teeth, you can barely contain a scream so it comes out as a mangled kind of moan. He obviously looks concerned, but you insist you’re fine. You’ve just never felt this full with anyone, and when he bottoms out, you’re finding it hard to catch your breath.
“Gonna go slow,” he whispers and his movements align with his words, it has you desperate to touch him. He angles himself lower so that he can really hit your walls with the right amount of power.
Once he finds the sweet spot, he speeds up and it all has your orgasm crashing in sooner than you expected. The only sounds you can hear are your moans and his skin slapping against yours, he’s so focused on you that it’s almost overwhelming.
“You feel so fucking good,” He says it more as a moan, avoiding your glance like he can barely contain his pleasure.
“Look at me,” You manage to get the phrase out and his eyes flutter open, mouth slightly agape. You catch him smiling for a moment before he speaks again.
“You look so good taking me like this,” He leans down to give you a languid kiss, it’s sloppy but you capture his words in your mouth.
“Hao, I think I’m-,” You feel tears pricking at the corners of your eyes, his movements are so perfect that you nearly fall apart on the spot.
Your moans get higher and higher until you go silent. Your body stills, unable to verbalize that you’ve crossed over the edge. Your jaw is slack, eyes shut, chest fully heaving as you come down from your high. Your vision is fuzzy when you first open your eyes, but he’s using the last of his strength to get himself there.
When your eyes finally focus, you notice the tension in his eyebrows. His breaths are low, but the intensity of his orgasm is close to yours when he clutches your shoulder and falls into the crook of your neck.
You’re still for a moment, just listening to his breath radiate near your ear as the warmth tries to pull you towards sleep. You fight the urge by running your fingers through his hair slowly.
“That feels too good, you’re gonna make me fall asleep,” he hums. It makes your body shake with laughter, but you won’t let him fall asleep when you remember he’s still completely tucked inside of you. That ache is starting to build again and it forces you to speak up.
“Idiot,” you whisper.
“Hm?”
“You’re still on top of me.”
“Shit,” He pulls out of you almost immediately and the relief is palpable.
You watch him get up and walk into the bathroom, not expecting him to say anything.
“Don’t stare at my ass,” He stops in his tracks to face you before turning around again.
“I’m not,” you insist, but you know he won’t believe you. He squints his eyes and turns around again.
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious,” You raise your voice with a giggle, steering your eyes away from the bright lights in the bathroom to focus on sitting up instead.
He’s gone for another minute or two before running back out to the bed with a few things in tow, namely towels and clothes for the both of you.
“You’re a liar,” He exclaims, landing on your lap with a big grin, straddling you which brings a giggle out of you.
“No, I’m not,” You try to hide your face in your hands but he pries them off too easily.
“Yes, you are,” He peppers kisses all over your face until your protests make him sit up again. He grabs one of the towels and silently starts to wipe you down. You still aren’t used to those soft touches of his, it fascinates you how focused he is on you.
“Hao,” You squeak, unaware of how spent your voice is.
“What’s up?” He glances up at you, yet his movements continue.
“I don’t wanna go home tonight.” You’re not sure why you sound so scared, but the idea of sleeping alone when he’s nestled himself into your bed multiple times over the past week makes you nervous.
“You can stay. You can always stay,” He replies fondly. It brings a new sense of comfort in your chest that you haven’t felt in a long time, the safety that pushes away any doubt that may pop up in your mind. It’s a simple statement, but it does so much for you internally that you’re sure you’ll be replaying it in your head for a while.
He presses a chaste kiss to your lips, moving his face a few inches away to analyze your face for a moment. You can almost sense how enchanted he is by you, but he won’t say it. “Go freshen up, I’ll keep the bed warm for you.”
You slowly get up and the aches are already starting to set into your muscles, but he’s worth it. The few minutes spent in the bathroom pass by quickly, you’re sure that you can get away with not doing your skincare routine for one night.
You open the door and he’s nearly asleep, his eyes are closed and his quiet breaths calm you even from afar. You make sure to turn off the lamp next to you before sitting down again on top of the comforter. When you settle under the covers, he stirs awake briefly, his arms instinctively pull you into his chest.
“Thought you were asleep,” You mumble against his collarbone.
“Waiting for you kept me up,” His voice is already raspy, the vibrations of his voice make your heart stir.
“Good night, idiot.”
“Good night, baby,” He still doesn’t notice before he drifts off to sleep, but you ultimately don’t mind.
It makes you realize just how different things are already, and the changes continue to sneak up on you.
—
“I can go get the tea.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I need to get something too so it’s no big deal,” You’re already looking out the window toward the convenient store, mentally preparing yourself for the task at hand.
After the debauchery of last night, you convince Minghao to get breakfast outside of the house. He then realized once the meal was over that he ran out of his favorite tea, so you volunteer your services to do the convenient store run. You’re grateful that he’s not going to protest any further.
“Okay, I’ll stay in the car then. Text me if they don’t have it.”
“Got it,” You reassure him before stepping out of the car, slamming the passenger door shut while adjusting your hoodie.
You really do try your best to hide your soreness, but the moment you enter the convenient store it’s a lost cause.
You can bear it though, this trip is only gonna take you a few minutes anyways. You find Minghao’s jasmine tea relatively easily, recalling the distinctive logo you saw in his pantry.
You tuck the box under your arm as you wander to the snack aisle, your mind quickly gravitating to pretzel sticks. There were honestly too many things that you wanted to buy, but you remind yourself that this isn’t a proper grocery trip. You grab the large bag loosely, letting it hang from your fingertips as you walk through the store.
You rack your brain to think if you need anything else, but your mind stops when you see him.
It’s Joshua, standing directly in the middle of the family planning aisle. He’s not holding a box of condoms, but a bottle of prenatal vitamins instead. He’s looking intently at his options, but his eyes unknowingly stray to you for a moment.
You walk away before he can get a good look at you, the sight of it makes you want to abandon the tea and pretzels altogether.
She was pregnant.
The woman he cheated on you with was pregnant and it wasn’t going away. In fact, you had witnessed the final nail in the coffin, the proof that she was keeping the baby.
“Y/N, wait,” You hear him calling your name, but you have to keep walking toward the self checkout, you must in order to keep your sanity.
“Stop,” He eventually catches your arm and you turn around with a disgusted expression.
“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” You spit out at him.
“I didn’t want to tell you like this, I was waiting for the right time,” His response already seems defeated, as if he knew none of his words would satisfy you.
“When were you gonna tell me Joshua? When she was about to go into labor?” You’ve backed him into a metaphorical corner, he has to scramble for some excuse.
“I was gonna wait until the wedding,” he sighs, looking away from you briefly. You weren’t sure if you wanted to slap him or just curse him out in front of the entire store. You ultimately opt for something in the middle.
“The wedding!” You exclaim in a hushed tone, trying not to disturb the other patrons in the shop. “You,” you point the box of tea in his face, “are a fucking asshole.” You turn around again and walk faster towards the self checkout. You scan your items hurriedly, tuning out the automated voice in return for whatever Joshua wanted to say.
“I just wanted to give you closure, that’s all,” he replies in a hushed tone.
“How is that closure, Joshua? The man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with flaunting the fact that he got his mistress pregnant is not closure,” Your back remains turned to him as you swipe your card. The approval chime on the card reader fills the silence, you quickly bag your items and snatch it off the bagging area.
“I’m sorry.” He responds finally. You turn around to look at him again, stopping just short of the shop’s automatic doors.
“You’re not sorry, you’ve never been sorry. I’m happy for you though, really,” You force your voice to be even.
“Y/N, please,” It almost looks like he could cry, but it’s not possible to feel sympathy for him at the moment.
“You were always gonna be a good dad, I dreamed of the family that we could’ve had for months while we were dating,” You sigh when you think of the person you were almost 5 years ago, back when he was your entire future. You’re so grateful that he isn’t now.
“I just didn’t think it was gonna be at the expense of me in the process,” You turn away for the last time and walk through the doors with your head held high. The one time you should be crying, you can’t.
You simply take a few shaky breaths, you close your eyes to ground yourself again before opening them. You quickly spot Minghao’s car and knock on the window to signal your return, you hear the click of the lock shortly after.
“Everything okay?” You hear him as you sit in the passenger seat once again.
“Yeah, I got the tea.”
“Good. I saw you talking to Joshua for a second, what was he talking about?”
“I dropped something, he just ended up talking to me for a few minutes,” The lie feels too bitter to tell him, but you do it anyway for the sake of your own peace.
Minghao only nods again, not asking any further. You were again very grateful that he minded his business.
This secret would live within you, at least for another week until the wedding.
The gentle hum of the car on the road lulls you to sleep, but you can’t fight the tear that falls from your eye as you wander into unconsciousness.
The only thought in your head is you hope that the rehearsal dinner goes without a hitch.
Yet, you know in your heart that the impending news would likely unfold into a disaster.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (finale)
word count: 6.6k
synopsis: when you make a chance encounter with your ex, you end up saying that you're engaged to your estranged neighbor xu minghao. when you find out your ex is coming to your friend's wedding, you've only got a month to become a convincing couple.
warnings: mentions of food, (almost) strangers to lovers, big crowds, journalist!seokmin, fake marriage
notes: hi again! the long-awaited part 2 is here ahhhh !!!! so many of y'all joined the tag list for this/gave me lots of good feedback on part 1 so I just wanna say a big thank you! i feel like everything and nothing happens in this lmao hope you enjoy as always <3
You didn’t think Chan actually wanted to follow through on those “getting to know you” sessions, but here you were, sitting next to Minghao in your friend’s living room.
Chan had meticulously set up a large whiteboard which you questioned considering the fact that the apartment elevators were practically the size of a shoebox.
Nevertheless, he was prepared to teach you both something about each other.
“Do you know what he’s gonna do?” Minghao whispered, turning his head to you quickly before facing forward again.
“No idea,” you murmur.
He leans in again, but Chan speaks before he can get anything out. “Okay,” he claps his hands together with a smile, “time to get started.”
“If this has any chance of working out, you both need some rules. So, any ideas to start us off?” He gives you two a reassuring smile. You shift your eyes around awkwardly, hoping that Minghao had any sort of idea how to respond. Yet, he looked just as bewildered, probably expecting the same from you.
“No dating anyone else, just to make it easy you know?” You suggest, looking between the both of them to gain any support.
“That seems obvious, but sure,” Minghao seems unamused. You roll your eyes and Chan speaks before you can vent your frustration.
“No dating anyone else,” Chan muses as he writes each word onto the board with a dry erase marker. “What’s next?”
“PDA is fine, just nothing excessive,” you chime in again and you look over to Minghao who simply nods in response.
Chan eagerly writes the next phrase on the board, quickly facing you both again.
“We can use each other for events other than the wedding,” Minghao proposes.
That caught your attention.
“But the agreement is just for the wedding,” you readjust yourself nervously.
“Shouldn’t I be able to get something out of this?”
“You’re getting paid. That’s what you’re getting out of this.” His insistence on the matter was honestly starting to piss you off, especially since he made this feel like an obligation to you.
Who cares if he didn’t get to show you off? That was never the point.
“Chan, back me up here,” he looks at your friend with pleading eyes, “it would make sense, right?”
Chan's eyes wander toward the ceiling for a moment before looking at the both of you again. “I think he’s right, Y/N. It’s only fair that he can use you too. It should be mutual,” he replies hesitantly.
“I just don’t get why you’re so adamant about this, you barely even agreed to the wedding,” You forcefully sigh as you push your lips out.
“I have a work thing coming up actually, I told them I’m bringing you,” Minghao glanced over at you quickly.
“Are we talking about a small company party or some extravagant gala?”
“More of a gala.”
The idea of acting like a couple anywhere else besides the wedding was daunting, but you figured there was nothing too egregious about it yet.
“When is it?”
“Saturday night,” his face scrunched in hesitation, anticipating your next move.
“Saturday? Minghao, that’s in 2 days!” You exclaimed.
“I know, I know,” he ran his fingers through his hair nervously before speaking again, “I just got caught up with work this week and kept forgetting to tell you.”
You sighed and looked toward the whiteboard. “Well, fuck the rules then. We need to get ready for this.”
Chan took a short breath and nodded. “Let’s move on then. Stand up,” he gestures for you both to stand from the couch.
You stand up hesitantly, facing Minghao who adjusts his positioning after seeing you.
“Now hold hands,” Chan states plainly.
“Like, both hands?” Minghao looks toward Chan who can only sigh in frustration.
“Yes. Both hands.”
Minghao grabs your hands, intertwining your fingers together before you can interject. You notice his fingers are quite long, but not before feeling how soft his hands are.
“You guys need to practice romantic gestures like this so it looks less awkward this weekend,” Chan looked at the both of you before glancing down at your hands, nodding for some reason. It’s as if he was grading you for how convincing you two looked.
The silence was almost too much to bear, you and Minghao couldn’t even look at each other without Chan prompting you to do so.
It’s in this moment that you feel desperately in over your head. You have no chemistry whatsoever, but Chan still had to convince you that there’s something to work with.
“Now go in for a hug,” Chan watches the both of you steadily, completely serious about his directions.
Minghao leans down slightly to accommodate your height before wrapping his arms around you, his hands settling on your upper back. You try to ignore the way he breathes on your neck, his cologne fills your nose and you’re not sure how to take it.
“Okay, good,” Chan’s voice perks up again at the manufactured attempts of affection. You pull away from each other without acknowledging anything, instead choosing to look at Chan for more directions.
If there was anything you didn’t need at the moment, it was the possibility of having Minghao stare at you.
His gaze was relentless, always filled with a sense of judgment.
“Now, I’m not sure if you’ll need it for this but you need to do it eventually,” Chan starts.
“Chan, we are not kissing,” Minghao is clearly annoyed at the prospect.
“Why not?”
“We can’t even look at each other, how are we supposed to kiss in front of a bunch of people?” You protest.
“I’m gonna leave the room,” he started walking away.
“Chan-,” you started, but he was already closing his bedroom door before you could object any further.
You look back at Minghao who also seems quite annoyed with Chan’s antics.
“We’re not kissing,” you stare at your feet, speaking in a low tone that’s just barely audible.
“No,” his voice is just as low, you assume he’s probably looking at you.
You’re right as you raise your head to face him, his stare is unflinching.
“But,” he begins.
“But what?”
He sighs at your interruption. “He’s not gonna let us finish whatever this is until we do it,” He ponders, mouth pressing into a firm line.
“You’re right,” you whisper.
“Just a short kiss and that’s all,” You come to terms with it as you say it, but you’re not entirely convinced.
“Stop stalling,” He teases you.
“You stop stalling,” You lean in and press your lips to his before you can overthink it.
As you remain still, two thoughts pop into your head.
One: His lips feel better than anyone you’ve ever kissed before.
Two: You think you’d like to kiss him again.
You don’t have time to consider these thoughts further because he pulls away from you.
His glance lingers on you for another moment before he walks toward Chan’s bedroom, knocking lightly on the door.
“Okay, we kissed,” Minghao sighs.
Chan’s head pops out of the door at the response. “How do I know you’re not lying?” He narrows his eyes.
“They’re blushing,” Minghao points at you without turning away from the door.
You want to argue, but it’s true. You were embarrassed by it, especially since these were unnecessary feelings.
You haven't kissed someone in a long time, not properly at least.
It was a desperate reaction on your part, but it was weird to receive affection after such a long time.
“Really?” Chan raised his eyebrows.
“Yes really, now please stop talking about it,” You furrowed your brows and sat back down on the couch, crossing your arms defiantly.
“It’s okay, brat, no one’s judging,” Minghao is grinning at you, making his way back over to the couch. He sits near you again, but you don’t look at him. It’s all giving him too much satisfaction.
“Now that I’m humiliated, is there anything else you want us to do?” You ask impatiently.
“Do you know his last name?” Chan points at Minghao without looking away from you.
You open your mouth to answer, but nothing comes out.
“Exactly, we have some work to do then,” Chan approaches the whiteboard again and you curse yourself for trying to speak up.
A few hours later, despite your reluctance, you do know significantly more about Minghao and you hope the same is true for him.
Your nerves aren’t completely gone about the gala, but going with Chan’s ideas left you in a much better place than before. Chan bids you both goodbye, closing the front door after waving you both off.
“Do you wanna take the elevator?” Minghao asks you before you can start walking.
“That didn’t really work last time,” you mutter.
“Fair enough,” he chuckles.
You both silently enter the stairwell at the end of the hall and walk up the stairs to the 5th floor, him trailing slightly behind you.
There’s nothing to say to each other, not even when you pass his apartment on the way to your own.
“I’ll text you,” you exclaim before unlocking your door.
“Okay,” he responds quickly, but you enter your apartment before you can see his reaction.
So far, the only thing that seemed to define you and Minghao’s relationship is you being constantly flustered against his calm demeanor. Due to this dynamic, you decide that you need as much time as possible to recuperate before the gala.
---
Saturday arrived without too much trouble, you didn’t see Minghao at all yesterday to recover from everything.
You were already stepping outside your comfort zone just by showing up, so you were trying to mentally count that as a win.
“I won’t leave you alone in there, alright?” Minghao is surprisingly conscious of you, you figured he’d just want to get inside and start mingling with everyone.
You’re both standing outside a ballroom, you realized the music and chatting were audible from the front hallway. It’s far bigger than you were expecting, but Minghao’s job was apparently important enough to warrant this kind of venue.
“Okay,” you nod.
“Hopefully, no one pries too much,” he looks towards the noise, “And if they do, I’ll figure something out. Fashion people are kinda gossipy.”
As you learned from the session on Thursday evening, Minghao was an assistant designer for a haute couture label. It was a big deal, some of his designs had made it into New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. He brushed it off likely because he was used to people fawning over what he does, but it was a proper accomplishment. You’d probably seen a few of his designs in Vogue when you were reading magazines on your lunch breaks.
It made sense that the party was so official then, especially since there was a red carpet before you could even enter the building. He opted to skip it knowing how uncomfortable it might make you feel, and for that, you were grateful.
You nod once again and fiddle with your engagement ring. You were still getting used to wearing it, let alone wearing it outside.
You’d forgotten to wear it a few times, and he scolded you for it. Still, it was taking some time to adjust to. You realized people were a lot more nosy when you were getting married.
You didn’t expect to hear congratulations when you were picking up your morning coffee the other day and your brain had to catch up with the fact that yes, you are technically somewhat engaged to someone.
“I’ll squeeze your hand if I need anything,” you state quietly.
“Okay,” he nods before intertwining your fingers together. You still didn’t like the way your heart sped up at that.
He leads you into the main ballroom where the gala is in full swing. The room is almost to the brim with people, all dressed far better than you. You adjust the strap of your dress nervously, deciding that the old red satin dress you occasionally wore back in college could never compare to anyone you saw here.
The music is relatively calm despite the number of people, and the sight of a live orchestra soothed your nerves a bit. There was a crowd of people watching them who occasionally clapped once a piece had finished.
Before Minghao could try to find your assigned table, someone approaches both of you.
“Hao! How are you?” The man brings Minghao into a hug, causing him to let go of your hand to reciprocate. It felt like your safety was gone, even if only for a moment.
“I’m good, it’s always nice to see you,” Minghao laughs loudly at being held by his enthusiastic counterpart.
The man is beaming by the time you see his face again and he faces you quickly.
“This must be your lovely fiancee, it’s nice to finally meet you. Minghao has told me about you,” He shakes your hand gently. You’re not exactly sure what Minghao could’ve said which concerns you a bit.
“Oh my god, where are my manners? My name is Seokmin, I’m a journalist who’s usually never drunk enough for these things,” He makes a face at the end of the statement and it makes you laugh. You’re not exactly sure how someone like Seokmin is friends with Minghao, but you notice your fiance's demeanor is noticeably brighter with him around.
“I’ve gotta go, but I’m gonna find you later,” he faces you again, “and find out how this all came together because your fiance over here gave me almost nothing.”
You look at Minghao who is surprisingly accepting the teasing without protest. Seokmin waves you both goodbye and walks back to the rest of the party.
“He’s nice,” you nod in approval. You find your hand back to Minghao’s again without him having to.
“Yeah, he’s a sweetheart. Do you wanna get something to eat?” Minghao shifts your attention to the buffet line, and you noticed not many people were there at the moment.
“No, I’m fine, I ate before we left.” You shake your head dismissively.
His eyebrows crease for a moment, but he decides not to interrogate any further.
You don’t want to make it a big deal either, it’s not worth the emotional toll that the conversation would take on you.
“I’m gonna get food. Our table is 21, I’ll find you,” Minghao’s mind is already halfway on the food, so you’re barely able to reply before he’s walking away.
You glance around the room to a sea of tables, there’s probably no way you’d find it fast enough before Minghao came back.
However, your eyes scan the white circular tables as you walk past, looking for any indication of an assigned number. People were already far more relaxed compared to when you got here, likely to do with the seemingly never-ending alcohol supply from the bar at the back corner of the room.
Surprisingly, there’s an empty table within the sea of people. Upon further inspection, you spot the table number: 21.
You sigh to yourself in relief, walking towards the table and settling into a seat easily.
You watched the other partygoers pass by your table, questioning their positions at the company Minghao worked with or if they worked somewhere else in the city. Anyone working in fashion was living a marginally better life than you by comparison, even if their job wasn’t as glamorous as it may appear.
People watching put you at ease, and it was especially easier to watch people that seemed a world away from you. Yet, it could only entertain you for so long.
You look over your shoulder toward the buffet, but Minghao is nowhere to be found. You shouldn’t feel abandoned, but there’s still a sting in your chest that he’s not back at the table sooner than you anticipated.
You start to feel restless, but you spot Seokmin out of the corner of your eye. He’s talking to someone, but you see him look at you and he gives a big smile. You offer a small smile back and he’s suddenly approaching your table, giving a short goodbye to the group he was talking to.
“I told you I’d be back,” he pulls out the chair next to you and sits down, giving you another reassuring look.
“You did. That’s better than Minghao at least,” You don’t know why the insecurity creeps out of you, but you decide it’s just your anxiety talking.
“He left you alone knowing that you didn’t know anyone here?” He raised his eyebrows in shock, his eyes widening.
“Well, it’s been almost 15 minutes now,” you chuckle, it sounds pathetic the moment you start speaking.
“Still, that’s not fair,” he shakes his head and looks at the crowd of people before glancing at you again. “I’ll keep you company until he gets back. Is that okay?” His tone is soft.
“Yes, more than okay,” You genuinely smile at his newfound friendship with you.
“Okay, so you have to tell me literally anything about how you met. I wasn't lying when I said he didn’t mention much.”
You let out a deep sigh. This is the first true test of your training, you had to see if you were able to spin a coherent lie that was good enough to convince someone that the relationship was real. You recalled the things you discussed with Chan and Minghao a few days ago, what details to omit and what to elaborate on.
“We met through a mutual friend back in college, but we didn’t hang out much back then. Even when we did, we didn’t talk to each other but we were always aware of each other,” You were good so far, the general details were correct. You and Minghao both decided that the story shouldn’t stray too far from the truth.
There were no mentions of bribes or desperation to impress someone who didn’t deserve it, just a typical love story.
“I discovered that we lived in the same apartment building. I kept seeing him around, but I was too shy to do anything,” you look over to Seokmin, who is practically engrossed in the story with his head in the palm of his hand, listening to you intently.
It made you smile, but you continued on. “I saw him walking out of his apartment one day and decided to myself that we should finally reconnect. I approached him and we kinda hit it off from there,” you finished.
“That’s so sweet, it’s like you got a second chance with each other,” he replies. You look out at the rest of the party, scanning the crowd once again for the man in question. Once you fail to find him again, you respond to Seokmin’s thoughts.
“Yeah, we did,” you nod wistfully. You try to picture a universe where you could’ve met Minghao somewhere like the grocery store or in a coffee shop with no passive aggressiveness between you.
It would’ve been easier to discover him that way, to discover each other as friends or something more without a time limit.
“I know I haven’t seen much of you two together, but I’m glad you have each other. You seem like you’re good for him. Sorry if that’s too presumptuous of me,” He apologizes quickly.
“No, not at all. He’s been good to me too,” the lie falls out of your mouth easily. You realize you don’t know what protective Minghao is like, what he would do for someone he loves. It dawns on you that you’ll likely never see that side of him, just the quiet teasing you’ve come to know.
“That’s good to hear. He’s never told me about anyone he’s dating, so you must be quite special,” you chuckle at the thought of Minghao not divulging any of his romantic pursuits with Seokmin. He seems like a private guy anyways, so maybe trying to convince him to admit he’s dating someone would be futile.
“Well, you’re getting married, so you are special,” He immediately amends his thought.
You didn't have a chance to respond before you spotted Minghao looking at you, walking toward the table with an apologetic look on his face. He wasn’t carrying any plates which confused you.
“Hi, sorry, I didn’t mean to be away so long,” he sits in the chair on the other side of you. You feel his hand settle on top of yours again and it makes you swallow nervously.
It was just for show, but it still made your heart skip a beat.
“What happened, love?” You ask, using the nickname to try to even the playing field.
His eyes widened slightly but he blinked rapidly before he thought you noticed. “A higher up wanted to talk to me about something, so we ended up eating together. Sorry to worry you,” he nodded at you.
“That’s okay,” you replied softly. It was the kindest interaction you’d had with him thus far. Both of you were caught off guard that it seems to take away all the barriers between you two, even if only for a moment.
“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone! Good to see you both,” Seokmin offers you both a smile, getting up to leave again. Once he was gone, he looked at you with a grin.
“Love? That’s new,” he giggled. Just like that, the walls were back up again.
“Shut up, you put your hand on mine.”
“We also agreed to hold hands at the beginning of the night, so you just exposed yourself there.” You let out a shallow breath. “Fine, but you’re an idiot.”
“That’s more like it,” He starts to focus on the music instead, tuning out of the conversation.
You take the opportunity to check your phone. Messages from your work group chat take up your lock screen.
coworker
i can’t believe they went bankrupt
now we all get to suffer I guess
The words make your heart drop. Bankrupt? That didn’t make any sense.
You quickly unlock your phone to check your email and sure enough, there’s an unread message from your workplace. Your heart won’t let you read all of it, but you read enough to piece things together.
The company had gone under and you were officially out of a job.
Tears blurred your vision and your hands began to shake. You gently placed your phone down on the table and reached for Minghao’s hand. You squeezed it tightly.
His head whips around to look at you, concern showing on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I, um, I lost my job,” you stuttered. The tears were definitely falling onto your cheeks by now, the music and the people all fading to the back of your mind as you closed your eyes.
“Oh my god,” you heard him whisper.
Meanwhile, you hadn’t opened your eyes yet in fear that people would be looking. “Listen to me, okay,” he placed your head on his chest, shielding your face with his arm.
“We’re gonna go home and I’m not leaving you alone. I mean it,” he whispered. You know home is just the apartment complex, you know he’s just going to make sure you get home safe until he goes home himself.
You wouldn’t delude yourself into thinking that he’d want to stay with you. Yet, the idea of being taken care of for at least part of the night didn’t sound half bad either.
You nodded against his chest and he took that as a cue to help you stand up. You can barely see him taking your purse before he wraps an arm around your waist, his other arm still shielding your face as you walk out of the ballroom.
You make your way to the exit, you can barely feel yourself walking but Minghao holds you with a steady grasp. You don’t realize that everything’s quiet until Minghao helps you into the passenger seat of his car. You feel him reach across your torso to fasten your seatbelt and shut the door.
You look at him as he climbs into the driver's seat to start the car, you see him let out a small sigh when he fastens his seatbelt.
“I’m really sorry, whoever you worked for clearly has no respect for you if they’re firing you on a Saturday night,” He seems cross, his movements are forceful as he shifts gears and drives out of the parking lot. He even appears to be upset, more upset than you expected for someone who barely knew anything about your job.
You had complained about it before, but to him the injustice seems to be enough to justify his anger.
You can’t respond, your body won’t really let you respond anyways.
The drive wasn’t long, but knowing the city there would be some unavoidable traffic on the way back to your apartment complex. His car was at a standstill, the view of the city was obscured by the line of cars spread in front of you. You let out a shaky sigh, closing your eyes once again. It was almost too much to bear to try to keep yourself together.
“It was technically yesterday, I just don’t check my emails,” you try to laugh it off but your voice betrays you, tears flowing before you can stop yourself.
You know Minghao is uncomfortable, you would be too if someone you barely knew started crying in front of you. You reach your hand out for him instinctively. You don’t know why you do it, but since you aren’t in the safety of your room, he’s the next best thing.
“Please,” you whisper.
You see him hesitate, but the look on your face is enough to sway him. He holds your hand, his thumb stroking yours slowly. For the first time, you think he actually means it, it’s not just out of obligation. There’s no one around, no reason to keep up the charade, but he still does it.
Even when the traffic starts moving again, he simply keeps one hand on the wheel, his other hand firmly holding yours.
You don’t express it, but his presence completely grounds you. It hits you that he doesn’t have to do much at all, just simply be there to help you calm down. It’s bad that you’re relying on him this much already, right? You weren’t supposed to be craving his touch at all, but you blame the bad news looming in your mind.
You shift your attention to revel in the quiet hum of the car that easily fills the silence.
You make it home soon afterwards, the surface streets weren’t too crowded and you were grateful that people decided to go elsewhere tonight. Minghao pulls into his parking spot in the apartment garage, turning off the car before facing you.
“Let’s go,” he nods at you before stepping out of the car. Before you know it, he’s opening your side and helping you stand up. You don’t realize how tired you are until you’re in the elevator with him, you slowly fight to keep your eyes open.
You hear him laughing at you, but you don’t have enough energy to fight back. Somehow though, it doesn’t feel like he’s teasing even though you couldn’t see him.
The familiar elevator chime wakes you up completely, and Minghao leads you both out into the 5th floor. You end up at your apartment door and Minghao looks through your bag for your keys, quickly bringing them out and unlocking the door. Again, you don’t feel the need to protest being taken care of.
He leads you inside once again, his arm returns to your waist to help you onto your bed. You whine at the loss of contact, and he seems to panic.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t wanna get ready for bed,” You sound very pathetic, but you figure you might as well sell it.
“I’m helping you, don’t worry about it. Just need to put all this stuff down,” He gestures at the purse and keys in his hand, promptly leaving the room to place them on the kitchen counter.
He’s back before you can think too much about it. You watch him sit on the bed, taking off your shoes easily. “Did you have fun at the party at least?”
“Yeah, it was nice,” you practically moan your response due to the loss of pressure on your feet, your heels felt so much tighter than you realized. “God, those hurt so much.”
“I can see that,” he smirks but doesn’t press it further.
“Did you have fun?” You ask him instead.
“I did. I usually never go to those parties since I’m tired from work, but it was a nice change of pace,” He reaches for your engagement ring and takes it off, placing it on your nightstand.
“So you’re a homebody like me,” you sigh.
“Yeah, I guess so. Where are your makeup wipes?”
“I can do that, don’t worry,” You try to dissuade him but he’s not convinced.
“You can barely sit up, you’re not doing anything. I assume they’re in the bathroom,” He laughs before getting up, heading into the bathroom.
He finds them quickly and emerges again, sitting down near you. The wipe is cool when it reaches your face, but Minghao’s touches are gentle.
“What were you talking to Seokmin about?” He breaks the silence again.
“Telling him how we met. I told him that I approached you,” You close your eyes to take in the feeling on your face. He hums his approval, continuing his soft movements.
“Glad you held it together, then,” you hear him reply. “Okay, open your eyes.”
You open your eyes and his face is hovering near yours, he’s inspecting your face for any remaining makeup. The proximity of his face definitely wakes you up, and you hope he can’t hear your shaky breaths.
“Alright, your face looks pretty clean. I’m gonna grab some clothes for you,” he starts to get up but you call out to stop him.
“Wait, Minghao.” He looks back at you with cautious eyes.
“Thank you for taking care of me. I’m sorry that I’m a mess,” You avoided his gaze, the shyness suddenly took over.
“You’re not a mess. I’m just glad I could’ve been there, no one should have to process that kind of thing alone,” He reaches out for your hand and your eyes meet again.
There’s a brief moment where you can’t say anything, the pounding of your heart seems to be enough to render you silent.
“Can you stay the night?” You let out a sigh, slightly cringing at the words that just left your mouth. Your request seems to shock him completely. You weren’t even trying to get lucky with him, you just wanted a shot at getting better sleep. Most nights, you couldn’t get yourself to sleep without medication and a small part of you hoped that him sleeping near you could help out even a little bit.
His eyes move around nervously before looking at you again.
“Yeah. I didn’t think you’d want me over, honestly,” He rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.
“Well, you are my fiance. I did you a favor tonight, so you should be falling at my feet to sleep over,” You prop yourself up to catch his entire reaction. He lets out a short laugh and tilts his head slightly.
“There you are brat, I knew the clingy thing wouldn’t last all night,” He retreats his hand and heads toward your dresser to find you a pair of pajamas.
“I’m actually very clingy. Tonight was just a taste of it,” you tease.
“Is that so? I’ll have to get used to that then. You haven’t really shown that side of yourself yet,” He turned around for a moment and you felt your cheeks burn. Why did he have to be so perceptive? He hadn’t shown that much of himself either.
“Well, I did just get fired so I needed extra support. You haven’t given me much to work with either,” You crossed your arms in protest.
“I’ll figure out a way to show you. You look like you have enough energy to change now, so here you go,” He tosses a shirt and sleep pants at you, nearly hitting your face in the process. He starts to walk out of the door before you stop him.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going home to change, unless you want me to sleep in a suit. You really are clingy,” He narrows his eyes at you for a moment before walking away towards the front door.
You curse yourself internally for even bringing up being clingy to begin with, but at least he was still willing to stay over. You were hoping that you didn’t have to divulge the fact that you had sleep issues and that he would just write it off as you being dramatic.
You take his absence as a chance to get up and change clothes in your bathroom, thankful to finally be out of the dress you’d been in all night. You quickly examine yourself in the mirror and your face is surprisingly clean, Minghao was somehow quite thorough.
He doesn’t take too long himself, returning to your apartment about 10 minutes after leaving. He’s dressed in a matching pajama set which seems far too elderly for a guy your age, but he appears to be comfortable.
You fail to hold back a laugh when he comes into view again.
“You look like a grandpa,” You smile through your reply.
“I’m a grandpa who will happily go back to his apartment,” He turns his body toward your bedroom door.
“Okay fine, come here,” You gesture him toward your bed again, and he happily walks to you again. You point to the opposite side of the bed and he follows your lead, climbing into bed next to you.
“Stay over there or else,” You slowly lay down, pointing a warning finger at him before adjusting your pillow. You turn off the lamp on your nightstand and face away from him.
“Don’t worry, I’m staying here.”
You hear the comforter rustle beside you and assume he’s making himself comfortable as well. It was weird that someone else was in bed with you after so long, you tried to not feel tense at the idea of him being in bed near you.
Luckily, neither of you said anything else so you could drift off to sleep without worrying.
The idea of keeping him on separate sides was the only thing you could do to keep your feelings from bubbling over.
--
When you wake up the next morning, you enjoy a brief moment of peace before remembering the full scope of what happened last night.
You were now unemployed, a fact that was somehow comforting in the wake of everything. You really did hate everything about the job, so maybe it was a blessing that you still had to adjust to.
You also invited Minghao to sleep over, something you completely forgot until you opened your eyes to his face a few inches away from yours. You fight the urge to jump away from him and instead wonder how you ended up so close to him.
What happened to staying on separate sides?
Your comforter was completely disheveled, exposing your legs and his. You’re surprised when you look down and see them tangled together, as if you’ve both slept this way for ages now.
You take a moment to look at his sleeping face, and he somehow looks more peaceful than usual. He was always quite calm, but it seemed that sleep could put him even more at ease.
Something in you wants to take a picture of him and capture the moment, but you decide against it when you discover how uniquely positioned you both are.
Your arm is draped over his shoulder, but one of his arms seems to be trapped beneath his body. His other arm is somehow laid out above your head, his fingers dangerously close to touching your hair.
You decided that it was far too intimate than you deserved, as if your selfish desire to keep kissing him manifested while you were both unconscious.
You didn’t want to disturb him, but it seems like you’ve already failed when you feel him start to move.
“What are you doing, brat?” He questions you sleepily, his voice much raspier than usual. He can barely open his eyes, he forces himself to blink away the drowsiness to focus on your face.
“Figuring out why we’re sleeping so closely,” You’re still trapped within his hold, silently begging the universe that he’ll move.
“People move in their sleep. It’s completely normal,” He uses the hand perched above your head to ruffle your hair before sitting up completely. He does it so naturally that you almost forget that it’s supposed to feel foreign.
As he stretches his arms above his head, you notice the way his muscles tense. Your heart rate refuses to subside at the sight of him shutting his eyes and letting a small sigh escape his lips. You’re hoping that none of your body language tells on you.
“So you’re fine with all this?”
“Yes, it’s not the end of the world. People are gonna assume we’ve done far worse than this anyways,” he faces you, absentmindedly running a hand through his hair.
“You’re right,” you regret making a fuss about it because it’s normal. People who are engaged kiss and have sex all the time, so why does it feel so wrong to be physically close to him?
“Of course I am. Now come here,” he waves his hand toward you. You reluctantly move closer to him, propping yourself up on your knees to face him.
He leans into your face, taking a moment to contemplate what he should do next. It seems like he’s working up the nerve to do whatever it is, and you realize the gravity of it when he presses his lips to yours.
Unlike Thursday, he’s pushing himself slightly deeper into the kiss. His lips are still so soft and it feels intoxicating to have him again. You’re not sure where to put your hands, so they end up on his thighs, pressing your palms down slightly onto his skin. It brings a low moan out of him that makes your heart skip a beat.
You pull away before you both start something you can’t finish. You’re both panting lightly, his slow breaths ring in your ear as his head hovers near your neck. He slowly pulls himself up and presses a chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth.
“Happy first full day of unemployment, thought you deserved a gift. Let me know if you need anything.” When he finishes the reply, you notice that his eyes see through you, his lingering glance doesn’t feel platonic at all.
What shifted overnight that made him so bold?
Was the idea of denying himself the pleasure of you too much to bear for another day?
Then, it hits you.
This is him showing another side of himself. He really meant what he said last night.
He gets off of the bed and waves at you before exiting your room. You remain still, simply watching him leave until you hear the front door shut and your senses come back to you.
The boundaries that you thought you had with Minghao were now nonexistent. On Thursday, that was only to appease Chan and give yourself a vague guideline of how to move forward.
Yet, what just transpired was of your own volition. You both wanted something more, it was just a matter of how long it would take for both of you to admit it.
You couldn’t pretend that there wasn’t tension anymore, and it’s clear that he couldn’t hold back his underlying desires around you.
There was no reason to keep up appearances if it was actually real.
you're in a band and annoy me way too much at my job au
bassist choi seungcheol x barista gn! reader
word count: 2.4k
warnings: fluff, small bits of angst, 95 line as a band, bassist cheol, lead singer joshua, drummer jeonghan, barista reader, short mentions of food
notes: guess who's back with aus !!! this one is so. so cute I really like it a lot! sorry about the spacing :( tumblr's 4096 character per block rule is so weird but alas I'm still posting! hope you enjoy it as always <3 let me know if you want blurbs from this about any of the characters!! would love to hear all your thoughts
tag list: @thetigeragenda @lavenderautumnx @mangogyu @idyllic-ghost @notonehorangdan
you work in a coffee shop and it honestly wasn’t too bad most days- there were the occasional bad customers but nothing too insane
except wednesday, that’s open mic night
most people who signed up were... objectively not great and you had to work during it
you sat through many amateur rappers, singers, poets, etc. and it was starting to take years off your life
but there was one band that started to perform more often
it was a three member indie band called the cherry blossoms and they were surprisingly good
joshua is lead vocal + electric guitar, seungcheol is on bass, and jeonghan is the drummer- you practically had their introduction seared into your brain
they were the only group you actively listened to, you’d stop whatever task you were doing to hear them but you really tried to stay out of the way
everything you learned about them was against your will, that was all thanks to seungcheol
seungcheol is the leader, something that he is very proud to tell you upon first meeting much to the other members’ dismay
you’d be trying to close down the bar and here he comes, asking for three iced americanos once the coffee machine is shut down
you’re always like really? and he just pouts like i couldn’t ask you earlier since we were breaking down our equipment and if you made it while we were still performing the ice would be melted !!!
it was true but it still made you annoyed. like he could just make coffee at home!!
he always pays and tips well though, so it’s not the worst thing in the world
but he insists on trying to get to know you and you’re not necessarily a small talk person
seungcheol always spots you the most out of the other baristas. it’s not in a creepy way, he just notices that you spend the most time watching the show
it boosted his ego just a tiny bit that he saw you pay attention to his band the most
even when there were only a few people in the crowd, you were still watching intently from the bar
it inspired him to try and talk to you but wow you were not interested
I mean, he could understand why you weren’t super happy when you were approached by this guy who always wanted coffee right when you were closing
he slowly stops asking for coffee over the next few weeks but there’s still an ache to try and be friends with you
he’s pretty wrapped up in preparing for battle of the bands so it’s a good excuse to not think about it
until he learns you’re their volunteer group leader who’s responsible for helping them through the competition
you helped out at the event in the past since the venue was your school’s auditorium, so you decided to take the volunteer job. it wasn’t too hard and they usually just made you run the check in table
but when they ask you to look over the cherry blossoms... it gets slightly complicated
you quickly get to know seungcheol, jeonghan, and joshua- you learn they all work in corporate together but all of them figured out they could play instruments and decided to make a band together
they’re all very nice but there’s still a small block with seungcheol
you think about how to approach the subject with him while they’re at rehearsals but you get distracted by how good they are
you wonder why they always go to the cafe open mics when they deserve to be on bigger stages like this
once they’re offstage, you pull seungcheol aside and apologize for being standoffish at work
he also apologizes for being a bit forward and it makes you smile, like yeah dummy you could just bring coffee from home?
he’s pretty cheeky and says “but I prefer when you make our coffee”
you give him a look like ??? is that in a flirty way or in a fuckboy you’re better in the kitchen kind of way
he’s like oh my god no!!! you’re a very independent person and-!! and you’re like seungcheol. i’m fucking with you pls relax
he pouts like :( don’t tease me like that you had me worried!
after that, you both start this kind of banter that makes jeonghan and joshua be like ... wtf just go on a date
but you both insist nothing is happening like the little idiots you are
but he actually starts looking forward to the battle of the bands rehearsals to see you again
and you don’t want to admit that you find the monitors that focus on him during their performance
somehow you hadn’t given each other your numbers so you flag him down after an open mic show and ask him
needless to say he did not expect you to come forward first considering your history but he accepts it sweetly
you suddenly get updates about anything and everything in his day
it was kinda sweet honestly, he really really seemed eager to talk often with you
you were too, he was a complete sweetheart who genuinely seemed to enjoy your company
he no longer called you by your name on texts, it was a mix of darling and honey which … did make your heart stir a bit
but he was naturally flirty. that’s just who seungcheol is.
it doesn’t matter that he starts looking at the camera way more during rehearsals and winks + smiles more
it doesn’t matter that he seems unfocused before the performance until he sees you watching behind the counter
he asks you for feedback on his playing, as if you knew anything about playing bass but you tried your best
it all seemed too good to be true. that seungcheol seemed to give you all his attention for no reason except he liked being around you
being in college while this was going on made things exponentially harder. like how are you supposed to focus on writing an essay when seungcheol is sending you selfies???
you didn’t bring school up around him ever, it just seemed irrelevant- you didn’t go to college when it was the “right” time because life was hard, things got in the way but you came back stronger
but when you get a bad grade on an assignment necessary for graduation, you break down while watching their open mic performance
he spots you right at the end of the performance and fights every urge to not run offstage, but the moment things are over he’s enveloping you in a big hug
after you’ve settled down, you explain things and he’s happy to listen to you. he is kinda mad that you didn’t tell him how hard school has been on you before, lightly scolding you while patting your hair
seungcheol doesn’t say it, but you being vulnerable with him means the world to him. it lets him in just a little bit more, you finally feel comfortable to be 100% honest with him
he’s asking if you’re getting rest way more often than before, if you’re studying hard, letting you know if you ever need to take your mind off of things that it’s okay to talk to him
jeonghan and joshua also did their best to cheer you up, bringing you snacks to eat during the show since you hadn’t eaten much on your shift
or forcing seungcheol to take you all out to dinner when you were all stressed with different things
one night before you fully close the shop, seungcheol makes you listen to him play what they’ve been rehearsing- you knew the melody quite well now but hearing the bass on its own made things so different
you hadn’t been working wednesday nights for a little while to focus on your impending graduation and the finals that you needed to get done
so he was eager to see you for a little bit longer, playing everything off the top of his head until you can tell he’s running out of ideas
you start to get up and go finish closing but he catches your arm. “hey, i really missed you,” he smiles at you softly.
you reply that you see him at battle of the bands rehearsals anyways, there’s no reason to miss you. but he insists that it’s not enough, that there’s never enough you.
he didn’t know what possesses him when he puts down his guitar and grabs your face to kiss you, but he knows his instinct was right when he feels you kiss back
oh?? my god??? seungcheol just kissing you like it’s the most normal thing in the world??? it leaves you a bit breathless. it’s sweet and tender, but still a bit frantic.
it’s ringing through your head at the final rehearsals for battle of the bands before the competition begins, you both keep talking but you don’t bring up the kiss.
the competition went on as normal, the band keeps advancing through each round (which you knew they would) and the crowd loves them
you can barely see the anxiety on seungcheol’s face when he’s backstage, but it’s still there. you can hear the cheers even far away, it’s a sign that they are fan favorites
he tells you to look for his signal (two peace signs held up) when they’re performing before the last round
you go to your preferred viewing spot and like he said, he puts two peace signs up and their song starts
the song starts and it’s not anything you’ve heard before? and you’re confused until you hear joshua sing
a song about a boy who doesn’t want to bother his crush but still wants to give things a try … and you can immediately tell seungcheol wrote it about you
it feels so groovy, light, and airy- they’re all having so much fun on stage, smiling at each other and enjoying the moment. the crowd loves it. the cherry blossoms have the loudest response of all the finalists and you’re simply beaming with pride
they play a few more songs, but they have to wait for the judges scoring offstage. you bring them all into a hug because you’re just so proud of them- they’d become a big anchor of yours in the past few months and it was such a big moment
but soon they were back on stage waiting with all their fellow finalists. the wait was endless but you had a feeling they were going to win
sure enough, they win the grand prize and the look on their faces is priceless. they’re shocked as if they aren’t the most talented out of the finalists
you see them pulling all their staff on stage and you barely register seungcheol running up to you and grabbing your hand to help you on stage. the music blared in your ears as confetti rained all around you
he wrapped you in a tight hug, spinning you around until you were begging him to stop, your cheeks hurt from smiling so much
you were like “i can’t believe you wrote a song about me and used it in the final!!!! you’re insane!!!” and he just insists he wanted to make a grand gesture which definitely worked!
you’re the first one to kiss him this time and man did he not expect it. he’s blushing super hard and gives lots of small kisses all over your face
jeonghan and joshua are finally like enough you freaks!!! we need to take pictures
you see him a bit less after the show for obvious reasons. school really had you stressed all the way to the end, but he still came to the cafe to see you whenever he could
you’re so stressed that the big relationship talk doesn’t come until you’re closing the shop one night, you both make things exclusive at your table, a corner booth near the big windows toward the back of the shop that the both of you always tucked into after open mics
you also decide to submit your last final with him, the energy of the new relationship buzzing through your fingertips as you pressed submit
he smushed your face with so many celebratory kisses and you just felt so loved in that moment, so many things were coming together
the next few days fly by, graduation is suddenly upon you and you’re so caught up with all the preparations that you barely remember to give seungcheol, jeonghan, and joshua tickets to come to the ceremony
they all surprise you with flowers but seungcheol’s bouquet is by far the biggest, he’s holding the biggest bunch of red roses you’ve ever seen with the widest grin on his face
the ceremony goes well, your group chat is bombarded with videos of them cheering and screaming when you walk across the stage
you spend time with family for most of the day but you don’t expect seungcheol to be sitting outside your apartment when you get home- you only mentioned that you were heading home a little while ago
he teases you for keeping him outside for so long but it’s never malicious, he’s never mean
you kept thinking about how lucky you felt as you sat in bed with him, how gorgeous life seemed at the moment
he brings up the idea of finally taking you on a proper date now that you’re done with school and of course you’re ready to do anything with him! you ask him what he’s thinking and he says it’s a surprise
you wanna fight but knowing cheol, that’s a losing battle. you figure you’ve done enough fighting and working so you’d rather just let yourself be pampered for once
he spends the night at your place, you’re mostly just enjoying each other’s presence and enjoying that for a moment- you don’t have to think about work and can just be with each other
you didn’t have much time to think about much else besides school/work before, but he managed to shake up your world so easily. he made life seem so much simpler
as he slowly drifted off to sleep in your arms that night, the guy who bothered you one day at work didn’t seem to be much of a bother anymore <3
notes: sub frat boy jeonghan is finally here AHHH !!! this has been the longest 4 days of writing/editing but she's done!! shoutout to my amazing mutual @thetigeragenda for inspiring me to write some sub!svt content. ily so much! this is my first piece of long writing so i am quite nervous, but I hope you enjoy it <3
tag list: @lavenderautumnx
you didn't like tutoring frat boys. it was largely a waste of your time, especially because most of the guys you worked with clearly didn’t give a shit about learning anything. yet, you somehow ended up at the same frat house across campus every wednesday evening waiting for jeonghan to let you in the front door.
this was your 3rd meeting with him, but the anxiety in the pit of your stomach still hadn’t gone away. it felt like things were going well, he actually seemed to retain information which was more than you could say for some of the students you worked with. his test scores still left a bit to be desired, but he seemed somewhat eager to learn.
the class was quite popular amongst frat boys, so you were familiar with some of the guys who lived in the house but you had never done tutoring sessions there before. thus, you were still dealing with lingering nerves that could only go away with time.
it took a few moments after you rang the doorbell before the door swung open to a slightly tired jeonghan, his face still offered a slight smile but you could tell he was a bit worn out. you didn’t want to pry, so it stayed a mental observation for now.
“hi y/n, you can come inside,” he greeted you quickly and invited you in. you still waited for him to lead you up the stairs to his room in fear of coming off as over-familiar with him. the path to his bedroom felt a bit more etched in your mind now, you would trail behind him as you walked up the stairs and entered the second door on the right.
you sat at his desk, not even daring to sit on his bed. he always pulled another chair next to you, letting you both share the workspace together. the desk soon became scattered with tests and lecture notes, you walked through everything with him closely to ensure he didn’t miss anything important.
you ended up watching his face a lot as he completed his assignments, it would be stupid to deny that he was attractive. he held his focus on the laptop screen, methodically clicking through the questions and submitting his answers with a neutral expression. however, the questions he had to redo brought out his frustration. “ah, I used the formula correctly though,” he muttered to himself, a slight pout forming on his lips.
you shouldn’t find it cute, but the thought lingers longer than you’d like to admit. you end up staring at his lips far longer than you expected, so much that he actually brings you out of your trance.
“wow, you’re so shameless y/n, you’re not here to kiss me. I actually need help here,” he chuckled to himself as your eyes widened. you wished the floor would open up and swallow you whole, but now yoon jeonghan just thought you were here to fuck around.
“shit, I’m sorry. you did make a typo in the formula though. check it again for me,” you knew your response came out too rushed, but you were just hoping he’d stop looking at you.
it succeeded and he let out a small sigh, furrowing his brows as he looked at the screen once again. you could practically see the gears turning in his head trying to search for the right answer. “ah, wait wait wait,” his voice gets louder and you see it finally click in his brain. he frantically types in another answer and the green check on the screen makes him nod in approval.
from these first few meetings, you realized that jeonghan was two things: extremely charming and a massive fucking tease.
he was always finding ways to make you blush, and it was embarrassing how much it happened at this point. he could sell you on anything, which is how you ended up ordering takeout with him last week when he needed “extra time to study.” it was stupid, he only did work for another 5 minutes before giving up and you realized that you had been deceived by him.
since then, you tried to catch on to his tricks so you weren’t falling for his charms so easily. you didn’t have a clue how he felt about you, you just figured he teased everyone like that.
the night went on as it normally did, you occasionally chimed in when he needed help and referred back to the lectures when he was especially stuck. you were getting ready to leave, silently thankful that nothing else went awry between you two. that was at least true until he was helping you collect your things, and your pencil case decided to fall off the desk.
you cursed under your breath, rushing to collect the assortment of colored pens and highlighters that went flying underneath his desk.
“I can help you,” you heard him suggest, but it was no use since you were already on your hands and knees.
“no, it’s okay, I’m fine,” you called out, grabbing the last few pens that hid behind his desk chair. you didn’t see him reach down at all until you were met with his face.
“I found another one by my foot,” he stated plainly, and you were trying to comprehend how close his face was to yours. you were practically staring into each other’s souls and the tension made your breath stop.
“are you gonna kiss me?” he asked quietly, his voice free of any teasing. it made your heart jump up to your throat, the eye contact with him felt suffocating now. you had one chance to kiss yoon jeonghan with him giving you the green light. you couldn’t fuck it up.
you wordlessly leaned forward until your lips met. he pushed forward a bit into the kiss, his hand coming up to grab the back of your neck. it was nice, you can’t remember the last time you were treated so delicately during a first kiss. he kissed you like his passion had been bottled up for so long that he couldn’t help but give you something so intense.
you pulled away first, mostly to catch your breath.
“feels like you’ve been meaning to do that for a while now, huh?”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
“you caught me,” he pulled you back in for another short kiss. “I should let you go before we make out or something,” he admitted, helping you off the ground. you knew it was only a joke, but the concept of kissing him for an undefined amount of time didn’t sound too bad.
as you walked back home that night, you didn’t want to sort out all your feelings for jeonghan yet. instead, you let the memory of his kisses sit in your mind without much thought behind it. it was better that way.
—
you were deep into the 6th meeting with him, and it was so hard to focus on the tutoring. to be honest, you were very horny and had a very beautiful student client sitting next to you.
after the first time you kissed, you both looked forward to the post-study makeout sessions that were borne out of the pure need to have him close to you again. he was fine with it, so you didn’t feel guilty about it.
it felt stupid how much you thought about him. whenever you saw him around campus hanging out with his friends, you wondered what it would be like to know them and be inside of his world. you tried not to think about how it would feel for him to show you off, but when he looked at you the idea of it started to make a home inside of your brain.
you wanted to approach the subject of having sex with him sooner rather than later. you sat at his desk willing yourself to stop thinking such dirty thoughts about him. there were only five minutes until you were supposed to be done, that was fine right? you could totally manage that. you could have some decorum and not try to jump his bones two seconds after you finished the session.
except he kept running his hands through his hair, making your brain short circuit. you had to force yourself to zone out on social media until the time was up. everything he normally did makes your body feel suspiciously hot today, it was a blessing he hadn’t noticed how far gone you were.
the hour was up and you watched him organize all his papers, but you were silently trying not to burn up from the desire in your chest.
“do you want to-“ you cut him off mid-sentence with a lingering kiss, but he adjusted to you almost immediately. you couldn’t help yourself as you pulled away from him, deciding on a whim to slowly kiss down his neck. you knew he liked it, you could hear soft sighs escape his lips.
“is there something you wanna tell me, angel?” his soft voice temporarily paused all your thoughts, it forced you to come up with a way to explain that you were so unbelievably desperate for him. you pulled away from him, slowly meeting his eyes with a hint of guilt.
“ah, don’t look at me like that,” he whined. “I’m just trying to get you to talk to me.”
“I really wanna have sex with you. it’s bad, I know and I shouldn't have been thinking about it while we were working,” you put your head in your hands, unable to face him in case he flat out rejected you.
“so that’s why you kept staring at me so much today. felt like you were gonna burn a hole into the side of my face,” he laughed to your dismay and it felt so humiliating.
“jeonghan, stop it- it’s not funny! I’m completely serious,” you looked up from your hands to him smiling at you. it was so embarrassing! why did he have to draw it out like this? you started to regret your words until he responded.
“it’s really okay, y/n, I promise. I wanna have sex with you too if that helps,” he replied.
“really?”
“have you seen yourself? I’m surprised that I’m the only guy who has your attention.” you slightly pouted at that thought, he was severely overestimating your ability to pull guys at your university. you were lucky if you got a guy to even say thank you for a tutoring session, much less start a relationship with them.
“I don’t want attention from anyone else but you,” you were being honest, you couldn’t exactly say you were interested in anyone else. even if he was hooking up with other people, you were constantly thinking about what to do next with him.
“you’re really trying to build me up over here,” he adjusted himself in his seat. he tried playing coy pretty often with you, so it wasn’t a total shock to see him trying to play off any desire.
you decided to make yourself more obvious by pulling yourself closer to him. you straddled him without much effort, resuming the kisses you were leaving before on his neck and subtly grinding on his lap.
“what do you want me to do, angel?” he whispered right as you kissed his jaw, you could feel his breath hitch in an attempt to stay calm. it felt like a switch went off in your brain, you were gonna use jeonghan to your advantage.
“I want you to listen to me and stop talking,” you kissed him eagerly. “you’re gonna fuck me as hard as possible,” you looked into his eyes with complete lust, you had never been so forward with anyone but you were tired of not asking for what you wanted.
you leaned close to his ear and whispered, “and if you cum before me, you’re gonna pay for it.” your heart was nearly beating out of your chest, but you were committed to showing him how serious you were about this.
you stood up from the desk chair and crossed the room towards the bed, propping yourself up on his bed with a few pillows. you felt his eyes on you and it nearly killed you, his face looked like he was considering the repercussions further than you were. his eyes were far too dark, but it seemed like he would be willing to give you what he wanted. he didn’t seem like the guy to be challenged very often which made this even more satisfying.
he wordlessly made his way over to the bed, landing onto the bed on his knees. he crawled to you with the same piercing eye contact and moved closer until your faces were inches apart.
“you’re so fucking pretty when you boss me around,” his voice was lower than you had ever heard it, it sent a shiver down your spine and he left a soft peck on your lips. that was the last thing you expected, but you tried to hide your shock with a deep sigh.
he admired your body carefully as he took off your clothes. despite your orders, he wanted to treat you delicately at the moment as a soft betrayal to you. his eyes soon landed on your core, your underwear was nearly soaked already and he could only laugh at how wet you were.
“you’re so ready for me and I haven’t even touched you yet. you’re so fucking cute,” he cooed over you so sweetly and it almost distracted you from watching him strip.
you really tried not to gasp when you saw his dick, but you couldn’t stifle your reaction. it was honestly shocking to see him naked at all, it made you feel a curiosity about what it could’ve been like for your first time to be delicate. you silently hoped there would be more chances for you two to be slow, for you to be fully enamored with his body. you watched him walk over to his nightstand to find a condom, he came back to the bed. you watched him roll it on, he looked back at you once he was done and smiled again.
you never saw him smile this much, not even when you saw him around his friends. it made this feel a bit more real, like the guy in front of you could possibly be just as smitten with you as you were with him.
“are you ok?” he settled between your legs on his knees, and you tried so hard to not look at his body the entire time. when you made eye contact, any verbal response you thought of went right out the window. you nodded and he slowly pushed himself into you, looking at you to see if you were in pain.
you nearly cried out in pain from how he filled you up, he noticed your pained expression and stopped.
“should I stop? is that too much?”
“no I’m fine, I promise,” your response came out so strained, it hurt in a way you couldn’t even begin to explain. he held a soft expression on his face for a moment, you sensed that he knew you were lying but he let it go.
you braced yourself as he slowly pushed himself all the way in. you had to close your eyes for a moment, but you focused on him giving you lots of praise instead.
“you’re doing so well, baby,” his comfort permeated your brain and put you in a deeper haze than before.
he started thrusting into you at a rapid pace, his groans filled the room and your legs were already starting to shake. it took everything in you to not scream, but you let out some guttural moans that made him look at you again. his eyes were practically black at this point, but he looked so content to be so deep inside of you.
he really understood what you meant when you told him to go hard, it felt like your body could fall apart at any second. your moans were getting more intense and your orgasm was so close that all you could do was whine.
“you’re so perfect, you’re almost there baby,” he was panting so hard, but you knew he meant it.
“hannie please-,” you couldn’t even speak before your orgasm hit you, your gasping made him reach out to hold you as you arched your back up from the mattress.
you suddenly remember that he still hadn’t cum, but he gave you a look that said don’t worry, I kept my promise. “can I cum, angel?” his voice was so worn out, but it made you happy that he was dedicated to being submissive for you.
“yeah,” you could barely vocalize at this point, but he offered you a small smile before riding out his own high, groaning deeply with such a fucked out expression that it made your heart clench.
he pulled out of you, sighing to himself for a moment. he gathered himself off the bed and took off the condom, you watched him throw it away and head off to the bathroom.
you weren’t sure why until he emerged a second later with a small cloth, he got back onto the bed and cleaned you off silently. it felt so intimate, more so than what you just did. he fixated on your face and double checked that you were completely clean.
“you did so well, angel. I’m really happy you wanted to do this with me tonight, I enjoyed it so much,” he stared into your eyes with so much adoration, it made you feel so excited about doing it again if it meant he would be this sweet to you.
he gave you a few soft pecks before getting up again, “don’t even think about going home. you’re staying the night and we’ll figure out the rest later,” he gave you one last forehead kiss before heading into the bathroom again.
you heard him again from the bathroom, “I mean it baby, I will fight you!”
he was so stupid, it made your heart swell. it also made your mind cloud with a million new thoughts about what this meant for the both of you.
—
“hi again, angel,” he gave you a knowing look, there was anticipation in his eyes.
“hi, jeonghan,” you chuckled softly and invited yourself into the house. he hated it when you waited for him to let you in, especially since you had known each other for a while now.
this was your 10th tutoring session with jeonghan and you both had a comfortable routine at this point. his grades were a lot better with your help, but he still needed your encouragement to help him through the rest of the semester.
“wow, you actually cleaned up for me today!” you teased him and you could tell he was trying not to feel embarrassed. it’s not like you ever pointed out how clean his room was, but you did notice it was a bit more tidy than usual.
“ah, I didn’t think you would judge me like this,” he looked around and ran his fingers through his hair. you decided to pivot the conversation to making him look at his notes, motioning for him to get the materials you were supposed to look over that day.
he was so proud to show you his corrections, especially since his test averages had gone up a lot in the past few weeks. he noticed whenever you didn’t compliment him on his progress, thus you always tried to make him feel as good as possible while you worked together. even if he got certain questions wrong, you could tell he worked better with encouragement.
the hour went on as it normally did, you reviewed notes from that week’s lectures for him to apply to the assignments, checked his tests for any problem areas, and assessed if there was any homework you could help him with. you finished up work and you sighed to yourself, he noticed your face and his brow knitted slightly in concern.
“what’s on your mind, love?” he asked like he didn’t already know the answer.
“trying to figure out what I can make you do for me now that we’re finished,” you tilted his jaw towards you and leaned in for a small kiss.
“tell me what feels right and I’ll do it for you, okay?” he always reassured you that you could ease into things with him. now that you two had sex more often than not, he wanted to savor it as much as possible. there were few sessions between you that didn’t end in sex, and you liked it that way. no matter how you were feeling, jeonghan wanted to please you. if you were angry, he was willing to endure the torture you put him through. if you were sad, he made sex as gentle as possible.
“I think I’m gonna ride your face, I’ve been thinking about it all week,” you couldn’t help the smile that crept up on your face.
“do whatever you please, angel,” he whispered quietly with no hint of judgment, but you noticed his satisfied smirk from hearing you’ve been thinking about experimenting with him again.
you nodded, capturing his lips in another kiss but it was deeper this time. it was full of the trust you had built with each other in the past few months. he was the only one who could make you feel 100% comfortable. it was a kind of intimacy that you never experienced before and it still scared you sometimes.
gentle kisses turned frantic as you held his face, you quickly moved to straddle him and your hips already started rocking up. he helped strip off your bottom half, layers that helped keep you warm began to cover the floor in a frenzy. he hoisted you back towards the top of his bed, his hands gripping your waist tightly.
you wordlessly moved your body towards his mouth, looking down for some approval. you could barely begin to roll your hips before he licked a stripe across your folds, it made you moan louder than you expected.
you felt him laugh underneath you, he still found a way to tease you even when it was supposed to be about you. you couldn’t be mad at it for too long, so you pulled at his hair out of retaliation. you felt him moan underneath you and it was hotter than you imagined.
you both found your rhythm quickly, your hips reaching a steady pace while jeonghan hit all the right places with his tongue.
you could feel your orgasm building up, and you couldn’t resist moaning louder and louder.
“hannie, I’m gonna cum,” you breathlessly let out, you let your eyes wander towards the ceiling before they rolled too far back.
he picked up the pace and it was ruthless, your hips went even faster in response and you barely lasted another minute before you came.
you inched yourself back to look down at his face, the bottom half was completely covered in your cum.
“oh god, there’s so much,” your eyes filled with panic and you wiped his face before sticking your fingers in his mouth, his eyes looking at you expectantly as he sucked them clean. he laughed at how cute you were, you were still concerned about him even when it was supposed to be about you.
“are you hard?” you asked naively, you knew how badly he tried to keep himself under control for you. he nodded silently, his face slightly straining from his aching cock.
“can you help me out angel?” he always asked you so nicely so you could never deny him. yet, yoon jeonghan could be dominant when he felt you were punishing him for too long. when he acted out, it always got him a light punishment for next time but you could tell he wanted it.
“of course hannie, you’ve been so good for me today,” he smiled at the compliment, he could be so good when he wanted to. you properly straddled him again while unbuttoning his jeans, he hissed at the pressure you put on his bulge.
“ah, don’t make me cum already,” he joked and you decided that you didn’t want to torture him any longer.
you helped his pants and boxers off quickly, revealing his very hard dick which was already leaking before you could even touch him. you found a condom in the drawer of his nightstand and rolled it onto his length carefully.
“I'm gonna ride you again and let you know when you can cum, ok baby?” he could only hum in response to you, clearly trying to keep himself under control so he didn't disobey you.
you slowly lowered yourself onto him, the ache wasn’t too bad since you were still so wet from before. you both moaned, looking at each other for reassurance that you were both okay- you both nodded and it gave you the green light to start bouncing on him.
his moans were so obscene, you noticed that his face was so blissed out that it made you go faster. his hair began to stick to his forehead, and you noticed how he kept pushing his hair out of his face.
he clutched his hands onto your ass, squeezing tightly before wandering up to the small of your back.
“are you close, baby?” you questioned.
“yeah, fuck- keep going just like that angel,” his voice was so strained, it made you happy to see him fall apart like this under your command. you knew he was desperate to cum, you felt his hips lift up into you erratically.
you felt your walls clench around him even harder, it made another orgasm come up again but you forced yourself to stop in favor of him.
“can I please cum? please baby,” he was practically begging at this point, so you didn’t want to stop him. you nodded and he went wild with your permission, pushing himself faster and faster. he came with a final snap of his hips, he clutched you even tighter to help him get through his orgasm.
you felt bad for asking anything else from him, but you could feel yourself on the edge again. “I’m sorry hannie, I’m close again,” you whispered, your voice slightly pained from all the built-up pressure.
“don’t apologize, baby,” he gripped your body tightly again and lifted his hips steadily to help another orgasm wash over you. you came almost as hard as before and you finally fell forward out of exhaustion.
you both panted against each other for a moment before you heard him whisper, “you’re still buried in me, baby. let me pull out.” you braced yourself for the impact and you whined at the empty feeling. he kissed all over your face as a silent apology, ending on your lips with a soft peck.
he fell backward onto his pillow, helping you lay next to him.
you were both quiet for a few minutes until he blurted out, “I wanna see you more often, y/n.” his sudden confession brought you out of your haze, looking at him curiously.
“and not just for sex, I want to go on dates too. anything to see you and spend time with you if that’s something you want.” he was quite earnest and you tried to work through all the feelings sitting in your chest.
you contemplated for a while, you really did enjoy this setup but you couldn’t ignore the way your heart yearned for him every time you thought of him. every time you saw him around campus, you were scared that he wouldn’t want anything else with you. you were convinced that there were other people, especially since he was so charming and could have any person in the palm of his hand. you didn’t really have a reason to be so insecure, it was unchecked anxiety that needed to be erased from your mind.
“of course hannie, I would love that.” he smiled at you so sweetly and it made your whole body feel electric. you’re not sure why you thought he was sleeping with other people, it was obvious that he was obsessed with you. yoon jeonghan willing to be submissive just for you? hearing around campus that he never had an issue with one night stands until now? it was just too much of a coincidence.
“does that mean you’ll come to my parties now?”
“one step at a time please,” you muttered.
“ah, my baby doesn’t even wanna come to my parties, I’ve got some work to do then,” he laughed and curled himself around you.
“it’s really not you hannie, I swear, frats are just kinda scary for me.”
“I understand,” he nodded empathetically. “am I scary though?”
“not… really.” he perked up at your response, trying to resist the urge to complain without hearing you out.
“hmm, what do you mean by that?”
“I mean, you are a little intimidating,” he looked halfway offended at your honesty.
“I'll have you know that I'm the most approachable boy in this entire house.”
“doesn’t mingyu live here?” you burst into a fit of laughter, laughing harder when you see his shocked expression. that really set him off, he hit you lightly on the arm and fully sat up.
“you can’t tell me that after we just fucked, like I’m actually hurt!” he was so whiny, but you couldn’t deny how cute he was. you could already picture him teasing you about this later.
“the more important question is can I finally meet your friends? they’ve seen me do the walk of shame out of here so much, I’d like to actually introduce myself for once,” you were slightly embarrassed at the thought of facing them, especially because jeonghan always encouraged you to be loud while you were having sex.
“of course! and if they talk shit about you, I’m coming for them,” he insisted. you rolled your eyes at his joke, but you still felt happy that he would want to defend you against any criticism.
“but really baby, they’ll be fine. I’ll protect you,” he intertwined your fingers together. the promise made your heart fill with excitement, it felt like you had crossed an invisible threshold with him. you hadn’t even been on a proper date yet, but he still wanted to show you off.
“plus they’ve heard about you a lot already, so it’s not a big shock to them,” he sat himself up to look at you.
“really? what do you tell them?”
“mostly that I like my tutor a lot and don’t wanna fuck things up with you. plus how pretty you are,” he noticed the blush on your cheeks and smiled at you.
“now we really need to figure out what we’re gonna order for dinner. you picked last time, so you have to go with whatever I say,” he poked his tongue out at you and you both began to bicker, voices overlapping with playful energy between you. these small arguments made you feel like a real couple, it all seemed to come together for you when he let his guard down.
you realize that you were always meant to fit into his life, you imagined how nice it would be to do this in your own place. you were happy with the world you had built with him in his room, but you could only dream of the day when he never had to send you home ever again.
