#smiley.conn

[podium]

SM1L3Y :: ROMANCES.

Daniel’s romantic relationships are, in short, a mess. He’s got bad commitment issues and even worse abandonment issues. With a dating history chock full of hookups, cheating, and other bad decisions, it should come as no surprise that he can’t seem to hold a steady relationship... but he’ll assure you that he’s doing perfectly fine. He’s here for a fun time, not a long time, alright?

— JEON SOYEON :: G-(I)DLE :: FIRST LOVE.

Daniel was introduced to Soyeon by Bokyung in the fall of 2014 after an especially rough patch in his life. As a result, he latched onto her rather quickly. Soyeon was his first love, first kiss, first everything. She was simply a lovely distraction. As one would expect, the pair’s relationship wasn’t entirely healthy.

Both Daniel and Soyeon were unstable and immature, with a relationship consisting of physical affection and dumping all of their personal issues on each other, none of which either were equipped to deal with. He would speak about his family issues while Soyeon would confide in Daniel about her fears and insecurities, especially when comparing herself to other Cube trainees. Only sharing such secrets with each other fostered an unhealthy codependency.

Daniel and Soyeon were an on-again, off-again mess for most of their teen years. It was a toxic affair from both ends: Soyeon would guilt-trip him whenever he tried to break things off for good and Daniel would hook up with other girls to anger and spite her. Despite this, old habits die hard, and he’d have a hard time letting go of her. This would prompt the two to keep reconnecting every so often, despite the trouble it’d bring them.

— MINNIE YONTARARAK :: G-(I)DLE :: A MEANS TO AN END.

Daniel and Soyeon would break things off for good after he hooked up with G-(I)DLE co-member Minnie Yontararak. Neither Minnie nor Daniel felt much for one another, as he only did so to have fun and spite Soyeon, who had confided only in him about the insecurities she felt when compared to the other female trainees at Cube. Realizing that he’d done this specifically to hurt her feelings, she stopped trying to make him stay.

— CHOU TZUYU :: TWICE :: FIRST HEARTBREAK.

Daniel began dating Tzuyu shortly after breaking up with Soyeon, still not used to being alone. He treated her like a princess, ever the caring considerate boyfriend, and always accommodated for her busy work schedule as a TWICE member. Despite rushing into love for all the wrong reasons, he really, truly loved her.

Unfortunately, on a day that the couple had a date planned, Daniel unintentionally stood Tzuyu up. He was instead checking up on Soyeon after she had sent him a rather disconcerting, guilt-inducing text message. Daniel, stuck in his codependent ways and still feeling guilty for how he ended their relationship, rushed to her side right away, forgetting about his plans and leaving Tzuyu to wait on his arrival for hours on end.

While alone waiting for Daniel, Tzuyu was unfortunately found by a sasaeng. While she managed to return to the JYP dorm unscathed, the incident left her very shaken and she broke up with Daniel over text for failing to be there for her. Not wanting to dwell on his guilt, Daniel never bothered to explain himself. While she resents him, he still cares for her deeply and considers her the one who got away. He cut Soyeon off and stopped pursuing any serious relationships—only flings—after this.

— KIM YERIM :: RED VELVET :: A SLOW BURN.

Daniel first met Yerim in October 2018 after PODIUM's label, Million Market, was bought by SM Entertainment. They quickly hit it off and became good friends. While he initially flirted with her as a joke, his romantic feelings for her would grow to be genuine. Though their slow burning romance readied him for loving again, she rejected him—despite reciprocating—due to his reputation and instability, believing he needs to work on himself first.

— KANG JIAH :: VENUS (@venuswrld) :: A 2AM RENDEZVOUS.

Daniel got Jiah’s number from a mutual friend. The two quickly hit it off, despite only communicating virtually at first. Their relationship can best be described as “friends who kiss sometimes.” While Daniel is still emotionally stuck on Yerim and Jiah is still technically dating Changbin, they enjoy talking, flirting, and hooking up before ghosting each other and repeating the cycle again. They’re basically each other’s simps.

[podium]

SM1L3Y :: FAMILY.

The Lim family has all the dramatics of a Filipino teleserye come to life. While a seemingly respectable family ended by a reasonable split, the inner workings of the family are much, much more complicated, with relations far more muddled than the public will ever have the privilege of knowing. What may be secrets to the rest of the world, however, continue to deeply affect the Lim children to this day. These effects have especially hit Daniel the hardest.

— LIM HEEYEOL & MARIA LUSTRE :: A WHIRLWIND ROMANCE.

HEEYEOL and MARIA fell out of love as fast as they fell in. They met when HEEYEOL, one of Seoul’s top lawyers, got to know MARIA, a Filipino hotel maid, on a business trip to Manila. After a whirlwind summer romance, the two quickly married, despite her being quite younger and the two not knowing each other well at all. As they spent more time together, they realized they weren’t happy with who they had married... but they wouldn't divorce until years later.

— LIM KYUNGHEE :: THE MISSING LINK. 

Unbeknownst to the public, KYUNGHEE is the only true child of HEEYEOL and MARIA, with YURI and DANIEL both being products of separate affairs. The two are actually not blood-related at all. KYUNGHEE, as a half-sibling to both of them, thing to link their bloodlines after their parents’ divorce... a link that is now forever gone since his death in 2014.

— LIM YURI :: THE FIRST MISTAKE.

YURI was the product of the first affair MARIA had. At only two years into her marriage, she was often left lonely by the neglectful workaholic HEEYEOL. She resorted to seeking love in a childhood friend who'd visited Korea for work. She tried to hide it, but her husband eventually caught on to her infidelity.

— LIM DANIEL :: AN EYE FOR AN EYE.

When HEEYEOL became aware of MARIA's affair, he grew furious that he'd been ‘duped’ into raising YURI, a child that wasn’t even his. Looking to even out the scales, he deemed it fit that MARIA raise a child that wasn’t hers, either. DANIEL was the result of this fucked-up arrangement, born from HEEYEOL and a live-in maid. As a result, MARIA neglected him and only him, prompting YURI to act more like a mother to him.

— THE BASTARD CHILDREN :: A MUDDLED BLOODLINE.

The Lim siblings were all unaware of their lineage until late teenhood. Having been raised to believe they were Filipino-Korean for so many years, it's a big part of their identity that they have had quite a bit of trouble disentangling themselves from, with both being listed as such on all public and official profiles. While brought up with the cultural values of both backgrounds, in truth, YURI is ethnically Filipino and DANIEL is ethnically Korean.

Unfortunately, the siblings can never reveal their true lineage to the public, as it would bring much shame and scandal upon their family. For better or worse, the only people they can confide in about their strange circumstances are each other. At the very least, it's brought the pair closer together than anyone. While they may not truly be linked by blood, they consider each other family, more than anyone they're related to.