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the money project | 5

↳ pairing seokjin x you

↳ genre melodrama, angst, enemies-to-lover, fake marriage, intense pining on each other

↳ words 7.8k

↳ warning slightly strong languages, fluff, suggestive content

↳ summary we are here to collect memories.

↳ song ‘fragile’ kygo ft. labrinth, ‘камин’ emin ft. jony, ‘funeral’ maisie peters ft. james bay, ‘green’ cavetown, ‘all the stars’ kendrick lamar ft. sza

.

Semester break began.

The machine is annoying, Seokjin thought. He scrolls down his iPad nonchalantly by the window of the hospital room. He is reading the emails, but he forgets to understand the content. On the verge of losing his composure, he sets his tab on the coffee table next to his empty mug of coffee and leaned back, sighing. He averts his eyes to the view of the sky, looking through the blinds. Then he flickers to the view of you laying on the bed, strapped to an IV bag.

They’ve put her to sleep for how long now, it’s been hours, Seokjin grumbles in his head. He looked down to his Rolex and looked at the time. It’s been five hours. She needed that sleep. Seokjin hoisted himself from the chair, strides to where the bed is. With his hand in one pocket, he looks down at you. He curls a baby strand of hair behind your ear and tuts his tongue. The event replayed in his brain like a broken record…

Of course you had to be sick on the first day of semester break.

⸻

Several hours ago.

You stepped out of the car after him. You said you had trouble breathing and he thought it was just nerves. You had your hands over your head and at times, pinching the bridge of your nose during the whole ride. He told you what he would tell anybody; to relax. But when Yoongi greeted you both outside the office building, you clutched over his arm to which he rejected. Then, you fell to the side and he caught you by the waist to have you leaning over his chest.

“Get the car,” Seokjin whispered urgently to Yoongi. Seokjin carried your limp body into the car’s backseat. You weren’t responsive. Fingers grew purple and cold, your lips were deathly pale. Seokjin hovered his finger underneath your chin to where your pulse is; they were weak. He told the driver to hurry and the engines throttled through the busy city. When they arrived at the hospital, they strapped you on the stretcher and rushed you through the emergency. He took off his blazers and chewed his lips while waiting next to the chaotic scene. The doctor came out from the main hallway with a sullen look on her face. It’s hard to tell if it was her face or the day had been difficult but Seokjin cared about neither; he just wanted to know if his wife will be okay. The doctor asked for her history. Medical history.

“Is she on medications?”

“She is on several pills. I can’t remember what it is…”

“Who are you to her?”

“Her husband…”

The doctor gave him a side-eye as she examined you on the stretcher.

“She has a monthly appointment with a doctor in the ObGyn* Clinic downtown. In Samsung Tower,” Seokjin explained breathlessly, “She was, she was on hormone pills! There’s a 5.2cm diameter of growth in her!” Seokjin frantically remembers. Upon that information, the doctor ordered an ultrasound scan for you and asked him to wait outside so he doesn’t interfere.

*ObGyn refers to Obstetric & Gynecology

Thirty-five minutes. The longest 35 minutes he had ever lived.

He stood up every time the door opened. Yoongi was on the side waiting too. Got him some coffee that he wouldn’t drink, some buns he wouldn’t eat. Yoongi took care of all the business calls because Seokjin didn’t want to be disturbed. The whole ordeal took him by storm. They were preparing to go to the dinner his mother hosted. You already told him that you weren’t feeling too well, but you thought, nothing a painkiller pill couldn’t fix.

The doctor finally approaches Seokjin.

“Her red blood cells dropped acutely. She collapsed due to her anemic and that was caused by the bleeding in her uterus. I just got off the call from her doctor, and it seems that she had been delaying her appointments, did you know about this?”

She looks up to Seokjin. Seokjin shook his head, eyes glued on the doctor.

“The polyp is now 7.6cm in diameter. It has to be removed. Once she recovers, I will arrange a surgery for her if that’s alright with her and with you…”

⸻

The knock on the glass window pulled Seokjin back into the room where he stood by your bed. He lifted his head and saw a familiar face. Rachel. She waves at him through the glass window.

He sits on one end of the bench while she takes the other.

“Christian said you’d be here,” Rachel chirped before she shook her head and, “Ian, sorry. It’s Ian in Seoul, I always forgot…”

Seokjin remembers how Ian looked when he took you away from him.

“Forget about him, why are you here? You said it was over…” Seokjin rests his elbows on his knees, rimming the brims of the plastic cup— mindlessly.

The nurses sitting on the main desk on the ward passed a look to Seokjin. They couldn’t hear the conversations but the girl was suspiciously handsy, they thought.

“You think they had something before?” One nurse said.

“Look at those eyes, it’s obvious they were old flames,” another replied while putting medications into cups.

“No wonder the wife is in the hospital,” the one pushing the trolley spat, “Men, what are they good for…”

Rachel’s hand rose up to Seokjin’s thigh a couple of times and she scooted closer and closer to her as time progressed but Seokjin’s expression remained stoic. Then she somehow shed some tears amidst the story and Seokjin smirked in her face while crossing his arms. She continued to talk and talk and talk until finally, the nurses heard a buzzer coming from your room. It’s when patients require assistance. Seokjin left her mid-sentences and sprinted to your door.

You started with a coughing fit, “T-thirsty. I need water…”

Seokjin snapped open a bottle he found from the plastic Yoongi bought before he left for office and helped you drink. He popped in a straw so you could easily drink.

“Better?” He asked gently. You nodded.

The nurse checking on your vitals tutted in annoyance.

“We need her to stay one more night, her vitals aren’t satisfactory. Doctor’s note says she’s stressed out and she needs plenty of rest. If she’s not getting it at home, she might as well stay here where she is taken care of,” the nurse proceeded to give Seokjin a side-eye. It was obvious that they take the little conversation in the hallway with a girl that isn’t the wife seriously. The girls made a pact with each other.

“She’s right,” Seokjin resigns, “I should have taken care of you better.”

You looked at him, a little frightened.

“Now you need to be hospitalized it seems,” you snarked.

A few hours later,

Seokjin watches you as you eat the second tray of food they sent you. It was heavy with red meat and spinach and cockles. It was to try and bring up your red blood count that was way too low.

“They say you have to go through a surgery,” Seokjin started.

You laughed at your food and shook your head.

“Nope,” you spat.

Seokjin tilts his head to the other side, “I don’t think that’s up to you. When the doctor says you need a damn surgery, you get a damn surgery. There’s a damn good reason why they tell you to. They don’t just ask anybody to go on a surgery just because they’re bored, dumbass.”

“I can’t.” you shrugged.

Seokjin stood up angrily and yanked his folder blazers from the chair.

“Fine, then you pay for the fucking hospital,” he pokes one arm through one hole and the other as he leaves the room. In his mind, he doesn’t want to dwell with such a stubborn person. He had better things to do than that. He drove the car to his penthouse, leaving you behind. As he walked angrily into the elevator, he remembered what Rachel whispered to him. He realized that if he returns home now, he will have to get it over with.

He placed his thumb on the scanner when the door beeps open. He walked through the doorway and to the living room where a woman is sitting by the fireplace. She turned to look over her shoulder at Seokjin, and she smiled seductively. Seokjin marched towards her. She wore a necklace with the initial R. They slept together in Seokjin’s bed. She tore off her necklace amidst love-making and the necklace fell into the cracks of the bed, the gap between the headboard and the bed.

When she fell asleep, Seokjin crawled out and took her phone from her Louis Vuitton leather bag. He used her old password and it unlocked. He went through her phone and searched for the file he needed. He had them sent to his confidential email and deleted all the traces of it. Watching her bare back, laying face down on the bed with half of her body draped over with a maroon satin duvet, Seokjin’s jaw twitched in determination.

“Not this time,” the word repeated in his head.

⸻

What happens to the girl no one falls in love with? The girl who is always third wheeling her friends. The girl who thought dating would stray her away from her books. The girl who lives in the library and thrives on coffee. The girl worked her ass off for her own money and forgot about love. Did she also become a woman no one fell for?

The neon light flickers off as the day about to begin. The subway is getting busy. People multiply by the minute, ushering in and out stations. Some run through the closing doors. Some spilled their morning coffee on their shoes, angrily yanking out a tissue from their pocket. The sun is barely out but poor people have to work.

Uptown where the scenes are different, the maids prepare breakfasts for their homeowners while they sip on coffee and read the day news. Their cars are brought to them by the chauffeur, waiting at the lobby. Their sleek cars never went through mud. Some of them yelled at the staff for mistakes like making their coffee wrong. It is easy to find errors when there is so little to complain about. They talk about politics and the economy and how it affects them. They scramble to find new places to donate from and make sure the news writes about it. Good deeds are only good deeds if they are seen.

In their fancy cars, private jets and helicopter rides, they look down to those who are dying to live while they live to die.

You probably had never seen that many rich people in your life, ever. Standing awkwardly at the corner of the lounge area, you scanned the room for a familiar face. Maybe Yoongi or Seokjin. Seeing neither, you helped yourself with a glass of fruit punch passed by a waiter. Watching from afar was a lady carrying a Louis Vuitton purse. Smiling secretively, she swings her heel away.

Seokjin slips his hand over the curve of your bum and you breathe in hard. You could never get used to that. He scans the room anxiously too. He downs a shot of bourbon and winces at the aftertaste burning his throat.

“Should you be drinking?” eyes tunneling into the view of his jaw, voice full of concern.

“It helps with the nerve,” Seokjin clears his throat.

“You’re nervous? That’s a first,” you jutted your chin out, “Will Senior Kim come too?”

Seokjin pauses a beat and shakes his head.

“What do you mean?”

“He is not coming to any projects I started.”

“What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? That’s unacceptable.”

“That’s the relationship we had.”

“But on the ship he was…”

“On the ship we are not ourselves…”

Seokjin’s eyes were stern. Those eyes say that his words are not to be argued. And it hurts— the last few words string together, it is painful. He set barriers.

“So this is the wife of Kim Seokjin, huh?” a guttural boisterous voice thundered through your ribcage and you already hated how it drew everyone’s attention to you. Not enough with that, this fifty-something man laughs heartily while slapping Seokjin’s back and you decide you will hate him. He didn’t have to say another word for you to expect condescending remarks from him. He just looked the part— bushy eyebrows, kempt grayish hair, strong nicotine smell coming from everything he touched, unlit cigar in between his fingers. He just waves it around when he speaks.

Apparently he was related to Seokjin, an uncle from his father's side. This is probably that uncle Seokjin said was trying to omit him from his family’s registrar. The reason being that Seokjin wasn’t involved in the management early on. He was conceived when the company grew big, was he supposed to start signing papers in the womb?

“Well, considering the prestige Seokjin is from, I would be expecting a lady of magnificent grandeur littered in designer cloth to be standing next to him but I reckon, his type is the more meek and ordinary looking girl…” he sneers. Seokjin looks down and maintains a smile.

“Yes that is she,” you held out your hand for a handshake which the appalling man took, but he managed to do so in a way that you find a little offensive— you weren’t sure if it was his stare or the way he brought it no higher than his bulging stomach.

“So, Seokjin,” the man snaps his head to Seokjin as if to show you that you are not worth his attention after the brief introduction and you are no more important than what he came for, he continues, “This project you are planning. Let’s be brutally honest, it is nothing new, and today’s stunt to bring new investors is really piling on daddy’s money into the furnace…”

He went on to explain how housing projects don’t really bring the biggest turnover because in today’s buying culture, people would buy one house and get it over with. It will be a rich people’s playground and that’s it. Literally, every word that leaves his mouth felt like another bottle of gasoline into the fire. You could feel how Seokjin seemed more withdrawn and chuckle bitterly at every striking comment his uncle pressed on. Pouring more salt into the wound. Then stepping on it with dirty shoes. For a while there, you got sucked into the environment Seokjin grew up in. Countless demeaning words, constantly told that he wasn’t good at literally anything he tries in— anyone would have resigned in utter defeat.

But Seokjin stood on, despite being trampled on. And in that brief moment, you realized how mentally strong he was.

However, you will not let this man get away with his words.

“How about you there? You might think that this was the easy way up huh? Seduce a dumb rich boy and get him put a ring on it and you be in the list…” the man scoffed degradingly, “Sad that you don’t even look the part.”

You beamed at him, despite the awful thing he said, you were about to school this man. And Seokjin is in the front seat.

“Of course I don’t look the part, where’s the fun in that?” You smiled at Seokjin and turned your attention back to the old man, “I am more curious about the seemingly redundant overvalued gatekeeper this company had… yes you, I am talking about you, your grace. You seem like a good people reader albeit a little off the tangent in your prophecy but let me tell you what I see you, would you like to hear?”

Not waiting for his response, you continued, “You smoked an awful lot of cigarettes that you start to smell like one. Not only that, you picked on your nephew, putting him on the magnifying glass and dictate him on the things he had done wrong without telling him the solution to it— which makes me doubt if you truly are a good businessman you said you are because if we’re being brutally honest, the business took you in because you were failing in everything you put yourself into. And you’re an inch away from being nabbed so in order to stop others from seeing your flaws, you try to magnify others. But hadn’t they told you that you could only bring someone down, if they’re above you?”

He tutted his tongue and before he breathed you added, “I have never seen your name on any project produced by Kim Holdings and that’s on the research this ordinary girl did when she’s around Senior Kim’s mansion. So in conclusion, you have a lot to say for someone who contributes farts and feces into the company— all talk, no actions,” you smiled coyly knowing that you’ve destroyed him to bits, snatching a glass of champagne from the waiter, “But what do this ordinary girl know about that, she writes scientific researches and hold lectures in her free time and in her weekends, she dances on poles and scans the room for dumb rich boys but fell for a smart rich man instead,” you wrapped your arm around Seokjin’s biceps and tilt your head to rest on his shoulder, smiling at the man. You straighten up and sipped the champagne and the man walks away to pretend to find someone else in the room to talk to.

“You tore him to shreds,” Seokjin huffs. You handed him the rest of the champagne, “I fucking hate champagnes…” He downs them without a problem.

For the whole night, you promote the housing area better than Seokjin’s whole marketing department. You kept throwing compliments towards Seokjin since you learnt about the specs of the housing area, highlighting anything that sparks interest in the investors. As the night progresses, you begin to build a good rapport within the circle. You were lively and highly magnetic to talk to. You were solid in many fields which amazed the guests. People became interested. You ensured that the conversation returns to the housing area Seokjin is developing every time. Seokjin was wearing his best smile and charms, equally trying to evoke interest in the project. Yoongi showed the slides on the screen and showed progress in the making. That’s when Seokjin turned to the audience and saw his father there.

“Dad?” he whispered.

Senior Kim stood up and greeted you with a kiss on the cheek.

“So happy that you came,” you beamed at him. Senior Kim passes a slightly disapproving face at Seokjin.

“I came to see how horrible it is,” Senior Kim passes. The tremble in his voice suggests that he tried so hard to pretend to hate it.

“You have always been a bad liar, uncle,” you tittered, “Seokjin had done so well today, I am so proud of him. Yoongi is going to be busy with international calls tomorrow, I imagine. Everybody liked the solar system design and man-made lake. Seokjin also introduced a greenhouse design which I think was incredible. Seeing it from a scientific point-of-view, it would certainly be a pioneer in eco-friendly housing! It’s never been heard before, it’s just so brilliant. It is as if he has read my papers on it…” You enthusiastically explained to your father in law. The guests begin to leave.

“Hello Uncle Kim,” a sultry voice intruded on you.

Clad in a deep-neck black silk dress with spaghetti strings, was Rachel. She holds her Louis Vuitton purse to her front, gracefully.

“Oh, you…” Senior Kim acknowledges.

“This is such an enthralling experience to be in Seoul. Seokjin had invited me here so I had to make sure I attend, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she rubs his arm up and down, boring a smile to Senior Kim. A hospitality he didn’t return. You could see how he dislikes this girl to the bones. You didn't have to ask to know who she was. That's Rachel. Seokjin's old flame. Seokjin stood there when his father threw him an acid glance. Rachel went on to praise the project and how she will contribute to some serious banks it seems. After she left, Senior Kim looked at Seokjin.

“Can you give us a moment darling?” Senior Kim said but he didn’t look at you.

You didn’t ask more questions and disappeared to the study room with the door stood ajar. You saw the conversations but too far to hear it. You hide behind the pillar, then sat on Seokjin's lonely home office chair.

⸻

A sharp sting looms over Seokjin’s left cheek as his father’s hand flew across his face. The acid in his eyes lasered on the marble floors of his penthouse. The sound of the assault echoed through the empty hall.

“Have I not made myself clear that you were never to contact that wench?” Senior Kim’s voice thundered through the now empty halls.

“I didn’t contact her, she came to Seoul herself and with Ian’s help had found me,” Seokjin explains himself hurriedly but Senior Kim didn’t listen.

“She sent the sex tape of you and her to my office, and now she is threatening to release that, unless I do something about the marriage, do you know how embarrassed I was! You are the heir to Kim Holdings! And you… You! What a disgrace, you should have never been born.”

Seokjin swallowed his saliva, looking down to the floor at his shoe. Tears pooling on the brims. Before Senior Kim left, he made sure Seokjin understood that all he was, was a defect, and an Achilles heel in his family.

All Seokjin’s effort to delete the footage was in vain. He slept with her that night so he could hack into her phone and retrieve the video, but Rachel had sent them to his fathers before she even came. And he was so stupid to have believed her words. Rachel wants this marriage annulled, but Seokjin promised you a better life in a way. Rachel will not rest until his life is in turmoil.

“You should have told me, I would have sent someone to erase them before it gets this far…” Senior Kim hisses.

“Would you have listened?” Seokjin whispered under his breath. Senior Kim spun around to face him.

“What did you say?” Senior Kim tilts his head to one side.

Seokjin lifts his head, glaring at his father. His piercing gaze punctured through his bangs, “I said would you have you listened to me. You already hated the sight of me, you already expected the worst of me, would you have listened if I needed your help?!”

Senior Kim lunges to Seokjin once more. Seokjin braced himself for the slap as he had seen the man’s palm raised, he clenched his eyes shut and flinched. Time slowed down.

But...

But the slap never came.

Slowly, Seokjin peek through his lashes to see two tiptoeing barefoot, hands gripping on his father’s arm. You held on so tight as if your life depended on it. Your eyes were brimming, shifting slightly, pleading Senior Kim to lower his arm. Seokjin fell butt first on the floor as his knees gave way. He breathes heavily. Senior Kim went for the door without another word. You watched him leave the hall, his back getting smaller and smaller as he got further and further.

Your husband cowered, hanging his head low. He hugs his knees, unable to meet your gaze when you knelt in front of him. You tipped his chin up gently. He refused at first but you didn’t give up. You see a looming bruise on the side of his lips once he surrendered. His lips are also busted and bloodied. Your lashes flutter at the sight of his injury. Sure it was not serious but to know that it came from his own father was painful.

You sat him up on the toilet cover and used a cotton bud to put the ointment. He winced at first and you darted, “Oh you big baby you.”

“Why don’t you get a busted lips and I'll tell you what a big baby you are…” he shot back.

You smiled softly at him. It’s great that he began to act like himself again. You were beginning to worry if he had become numb to feelings and had his pain receptors fucked up through the years.

“We need to get this treated or else it gets infected then your lips will grow twice bigger than this and we don’t need that much beauty on your face already…” you chuckled softly and, “As if this marriage isn’t already difficult to protect.”

He reclines, dejected. The whole memory returns to him like a tide and he feels uneasy. Maybe you shouldn’t have brought it up yet, maybe it was too early to say something like that.

“So you heard everything?” His eyes turned soft. You turned away from him, discarding the used cotton bud and washing your hands under the automated sink. Seokjin didn’t know where to begin. Do he apologize about the sex tape first? Or the fact that Rachel invited herself here? Does he tell you what happened that night and how it led to what happened just a few nights ago?

“I believe you. You said Rachel is no more, and I trust that…” you spoke to the pouring water in the sink unsure if you truly have faith in the things you say. You have gotten good at lying over the years. Is it lying if you only tell him the things he wants to hear?

“My home isn't quiet too Seokjin, I know scuffling when I hear one,” you dropped your gaze to your rings and Pandora bracelet, “My little brother is a handful… Before he enrolled in police school,” you turned to him and snatched the ointment tube from the sink counter and pinched it’s ends playfully, waving it in front of Seokjin, “Why else do you think I carried this around? For fun?”

Seokjin would have never guessed. Boys raising boys. You continued to mumble how you need a boiled egg for the bruises on his face and how uncomfortable the heel you were wearing. Behind you, Seokjin stares at the view of you with a certain twinkle in his eyes.

⸻

The truth is everyone lies to an extent. The truth is far as you can see. The truth is what you know is all that you know. The truth is the story is as far as witnessed.

It was raining when you arrived at the small little cottage. And it got heavier once you stepped into the doormat of this home.

“I thought you said she was home?” Seokjin shakes off the rain from his Balenciaga shirt, hopping in place.

“She is… she promised,” you knocked on the wooden door harder this time, “Aunt Shuma!”

Half an hour has passed and you were on the phone for yet another call left unanswered. Suddenly, creaking from the side was a mysterious figure covered in raincoat. You instinctively moved closer to Seokjin but he too was moving away from the stranger.

“Aunt Shuma?” Seokjin asked.

“Who’s there?!” This raincoat spun around in panic and softened when she saw you, “Oh my gosh, you frightened me…”

Inside, the cottage had a small seating area with a little fireplace. It is covered with crochets and knitted cushion covers that Seokjin dare vouches, handmade. You helped her carry a cookie jar while she carried a tray of fresh brewed tea. Turkish tea leaves, she said. You bit half of the biscuit and shoved it to Seokjin. He reluctantly accepts, touching only your knuckle. Aunt Shuma gave him a knowing smile, a secretive sly smile.

“If you’re moving next week, shouldn’t you be packing up half the cottage already?” you sat next to Seokjin on the only two-seater couch in the cottage. All cooped up and cozy. There is no television, very few items that indicate the present, most of the furniture are from the 60s it seems. It isn’t hard to see that she could be lying about moving.

“Who says I want to move?” Aunt Shuma frowned.

“Um, mom?” you replied.

“I will not do such a thing! Move back into condescending judgmental society, absolutely not,” she aggressively protests.

“So you lied to me? You told mom that you are going to move and you need my husband’s help and mine,” you argued, passing Seokjin the large cookie jar and he took it wordlessly.

“I told her that I want to see the person you got married to, I didn’t ask her to lie to you. I may have suggested that I was moving because how else are you going to come here if it hadn't been that? Not to mention the wedding I wasn’t invited to…” she crosses her arms, sulking. Something about a 40 year old auntie getting sulky strikes amusement.

“What was the hurry, you’re not even pregnant…” she mutters to her chest before barking at Seokjin, “Why do you want my niece that fast!”

You sighed loudly, “I’m in love with him and I don’t want to leave another day without him… I just,” you glanced at him briefly, “He makes me feel complete.”

Seokjin’s throat went dry at the view of you smiling at him and saying those words.

“Are you starring in a fake marriage romantic comedy? Did you rehearse that line before you came here?”

Gulped. Can she see right through you?

Seokjin scrambles to sit at the edge of the sofa, putting aside the cookie jar and clearing his throat.

“Are you happy that you’ve taken my niece from me, boy?” she spat. She squinted her eyes at the poor young man who was unsure how to react to that question. He never had aunties who had conversations with him apart from wanting to know if his mom was looking for volunteers for her charity work.

“Aunt Shuma you’re being mean to him,” you warned, sipping the piping hot tea.

“Just making sure you aren’t married to a pussy,” Aunt Shuma blatantly replied, immediately.

“So what happened to the guys you chatted on Tinder with?” you changed the topic.

She reclines into the couch, retching in disgust, “Never again, child.” Aunt Shuma continued to tell how she encountered some promising good looking guys who have a foot fetish. Some are way younger than Seokjin, wanting a cougar, asking her for money at every turn.

“It was a freaking nightmare,” she downed the rest of the tea that’s now run cold, “I deleted the app after a week.”

Then she smacks her lips and places her hand together, “Say, Seokjin isn’t it? You sail?”

“He does…” you answered.

“Let the boy answer, he has a mouth don’t he?” Aunt Shuma scolded you.

“I do,” he smiled.

Aunt Shuma says when the day clears and it usually does after the heavy rain, she has to sail the boat. It’s been awhile since it has sailed on. After she had back injuries, she didn't take the boat out to sail anymore. And that was under your advice. She lives alone in a small cottage by the lake stemming to the sea with the nearest neighbor being almost 2 hours away by road.

Dinner was grilled potatoes, egg-drop soup and warm rice. It was hearty. Fulfilling. Albeit so simple. It was probably the simplest dinner Seokjin ever had. But it was wholesome. Maybe the lighthearted conversation and the environment makes him feel welcomed. Some laughter filled the night, and the talk continued as the bowl dried up.

Almost nothing is left. No wonder you said you would live like Aunt Shuma if you weren’t in the city having to live up to bills and working. Aunt Shuma has everything in this land of hers. She is carefree and debt free. It’s easy to be happy when nothing is holding you on the pedestal. A roof over the head, food on the table, fire for cold nights— is all human need.

You told Aunt Shuma how Seokjin helped pay your mother’s bills and now she is moved to a better hospital with better doctors. Your father is also getting a small compensation for the injuries he sustained when he was working in his old place. He is starting a small workshop with what he has. You didn’t forget to include Seokjin and his housing project.

“What’s the system,” you froze momentarily and Seokjin reminds you of it with a little whisper, “Solar green eco system, yes!” Tiredness is looming over you, Seokjin could see.

“It was brilliant, you should have seen the presentation. It has 4D drawings and literally, the audience was walking through the actual dimension. Before Seokjin showed up, I thought he was lying about it, but it was so real… Investors really liked that part,” you gawked in pride. Seokjin saw the smile you wore. It was the first time he had ever felt appreciated for something he worked hard for. All the hours he spent on that project, the insults— no longer hurt him. Not when he saw the smile it brought you.

After dinner, Aunt Shuma showed you your room. It was your old room and there is a queen-sized bed with an embarrassing pink lamp. She had littered the room with crochets of all sizes and designs. You zoomed into the familiar blanket in the middle of the bed.

Gasping at it, you jumped on the bed and hugged it. You looked at her wide-eyed, “You kept this?? But it was so small, I didn’t manage to finish it!”

She leaned by the doorsill with her arms crossed, wearing a big smile on her face, “You did finish it, but it was way too small for you right now, so I added some more squares.”

You hugged the blanket and looked at her. Seokjin sets the bag on the floor.

“I don’t know if it will fit you both, but I have to warn you that it can be very cold at night,” Aunt Shuma warns, “I’m sure sharing a blanket isn’t new for you two…” she winked and leave the room with a nonchalant but meaningful goodnight.

“I knitted it for my teddy, I wanted him to have a blanket so he doesn’t get cold so Aunt Shuma taught me how to knit a little bit, so I did the ugly part of it, I think…” you drifted as you searched for the part you knitted, “Here!” It was poorly proportioned and the knots were questionable, and wasn’t as neat as the others but it’s heart was in the right place.

Seokjin disappears into the showers. You prepared his pajamas and yours. You try not to think about sharing the bed too much. It will only make you stressed out and so far, Seokjin has been harmless. You hate to admit it but, you’ve been the best of friends. Sure he is still unfiltered when he says anything, but he wasn’t as repulsive as before. He was there when you fainted and you remembered his voice as he chanted your name for you to come awake. He held your hand through the crowd at the investors party and helped you finish the champagne you couldn’t drink. He lets you touch his face when he shouldn’t have easily done so, in the past.

He continues to ask you about your dreams daily. One time you had a bad day at uni and said your dream was to pause life and he brought a LIFE board game and put it on pause. He takes it too literally sometimes, it annoys you. But to think that a busy man like him making stupid time for your stupid dreams was enough to bring butterflies into your stomach. You caught yourself smiling while you folded his clothing neatly into the laundry basket. Frowning immediately, you unfold them as reality sets in. Don’t get it twisted; it is all pretend.

⸻

“Have you ever realized that when we both got married, we literally knew nothing about each other’s family we thought we knew?” you walked behind his larger built to the pier leading up to the boat, “Well considering that it was unplanned because I got on the ship not thinking I’d get married when I got off.” Seokjin walks straight ahead carrying a new set of ropes to change and some cleaning tools as instructed by Aunt Shuma.

“Both of our parents married each other not knowing much about each other and look how fucked up we turned out to be,” Seokjin throws the rope on the pier and takes the picnic bag from you. He lunges easily into the floating vessel, holding out his hand for you to take.

“I used to be really scared of marriage,” you confessed as you hopped in while Seokjin unlocked the cabin with the keys Aunt Shuma gave, “Mom said she held on dad’s arm while dissing his whole siblings and he called out on her side of the family too… like, how can you be so awful to the family your partner is a part of. But now that I’ve seen your family, I understand why.”

Seokjin chuckles, “You dragged that poor uncle of mine.”

“He was begging for it,” you walked into the cabin and Seokjin followed after.

Everything was dusty. You hurried to the window and let some air in. A glance at Seokjin and he collects the picnic bag and goes outside where the large flat foredeck was. It makes much more sense to eat here rather than there.

Several hours ago, before the sun was up.

Aunt Shuma came knocking an hour before dawn to say that she had cooked breakfast. After showering, she said she had the breakfast packed in a picnic bag and pushed you both to the door. You know your way to the pier so you directed Seokjin from behind because he was carrying all the heavy loads of cleaning tools. Aunt Shuma said she isn’t coming because of the back pain she had. And you didn’t argue. Watching you two waddle to the pier, Aunt Shuma was on the phone with your mother.

“I see what you mean,” she agrees, “I woke them up and instead of being entangled in the sheets, they are sleeping on opposite sides of the bed with a pillow fort in the middle. You’re right, there’s no spark of passion but the attraction is there..” Seokjin slips on the path and you laugh hysterically instead of helping. Seokjin then responded with a glare. Aunt Shuma sandwiches her phone between her shoulder and ear.

“I took their phones already and there is an emergency phone in the boat in case they need help,” she adds, “There’s ample food packed and the stove is working. Give it a couple of days, we’ll see what happens…” she walks into her cottage, “It’s just so strange that there was no noise all night…”

On the boat.

Seokjin took out a black case.

“What’s that?” you asked and he showed that it was a camera, the one that uses film, “I haven’t seen one of those in a while! Where did you get that?” It must have been Aunt Shuma. She stores all those antique things. Seokjin seems to know his way around it.

“I don’t really remember but this button should do it,” he mutters to himself and successfully opens the dock in the camera where the film cartridge should be inserted. While he was getting well involved in the film camera, you watched him in silence. Your hands are busy preparing the plates and taking out all the things Aunt Shuma packed for both of you.

“She’s cut up watermelons… Oh I love these candies,” you spoke to yourself.

Seokjin snaps the film in and looks through the viewfinder where you are. His forefinger curls over the camera and his finger pad on the shutter button. Click.

“I guess she packed raw materials for lunch too,” you huffed, “Is she expecting for us to cook here?” Rummaging through the things in the bag, “This is enough for a week. Seokjin, are you listening to me? Put down the camera and panic with me.”

“Wait a sec,” Seokjin took a picture of the horizon and joined you, “What… What is it?”

You pointed to him the things your aunt packed.

“And we don’t have a phone to contact all the people out there,” you nagged while Seokjin shoved a sandwich in his mouth before unlatching the boat from the pier, “How are you so chill about this?” You picked yourself from the floor, chomped down the other half of the sandwich from Seokjin and stood next to the handrail, about to catch on the pier. Seokjin pushed the boat from the pier easily.

“Seokjin!”

With half of the sandwich hanging from his mouth, he turns to you with a boring look in his eyes. His hand busily collects the ropes neatly and has it stacked in the corner. Impatient, you snatched the sandwich from his mouth, “We can’t sail!”

“Did you knock your head over concrete or something? You can’t but I can sail, sit down,” he spoke through mouthful, “Don’t worry, you have me.”

“I worry the most because it’s you…” you grumbled back to where you were seated. Seokjin tuts his tongue. Half of his body disappeared in the navigation station to turn the engines on. As it hurls on and the propellers begin throttling.

“She sounds beautiful,” Seokjin jests.

“Alright Mr. Boat man,” you rolled your eyes, “If anything happens to me, there is no money in my bank.”

Seokjin directs the boat out the lake and to the sea, there are several boats out there but there is considerable distance between each one. The engine is now stopped and all there is is the breeze of the early morning. He joins you not long after that.

The boat is slowly rocking at every strike of gentle waves. The sounds of birds and waves filled your ears and you’ve never felt so peaceful. Seokjin was quiet too. Both of you are looking at the horizon, to see how far it goes. It is one of those moments that makes you feel so small. There are a couple of clouds in the sky. You hugged your knees. It makes you feel that your problems are small. An escape from reality. Without phones, without technology, you’re forced to listen to nature and the hymn is inviting. Had you let your fear consume you, you would have never seen a view like this.

“You haven’t told me your dream today…” Seokjin said.

“I’ll tell you before midnight, I promise. I can’t think of any right now,” you wiped away imaginary dust from your toes. With the way you both were ushered out the room this morning, there is so little time to even text him your dream. Then Aunt Shuma took your phone and his.

⸻

The seats were wiped. The dust is gone. The stove was cleaned. She is good as new. It was pretty well-maintained despite not being used a lot. Seokjin installed the new glass window to replace the old broken ones. It is half past noon and you went under the shades to rest. Seokjin washes his face and hangs a fishing rod. It’s easy to see that he plans to fish. You’ll take a nap and wake up later to read a book you brought with you.

An hour passed.

Seokjin is writing something. Using the pen and a piece of parchment paper he found in the docking area. You woke up to see him earnestly writing on the front of the boat. With his back hunched over. Wind striking his hair. His broad shoulders. Sitting on the floor, next to the rod. Wonder what he is writing about and to whom. He seemed very serious about it too. You’re glad that he is out instead of being cooped up in his office. At least there is a view and no people around. Leaning against the seat inside the navigation area, you opened the book you’ve been meaning to read.

Time moves so slow.

Seokjin cooked fried eggs and warmed up soup from the cans. You had to share a bowl because Aunt Shuma only packed one. One spoon, one fork, one bowl.

“I think Aunt Shuma is setting us up…” you darted.

“Of course she is.” Seokjin blurted emotionlessly.

“Did you fish something out?”

“Nope.”

“I don’t know why you fish, you hardly ever catch anything…”

“It’s not about catching anything…”

You look at him, half chewing.

“It’s teaching me patience. It’s teaching me to wait, to want to wait. That when the time comes, it’ll come. And if you don’t catch anything, at least you tried. It’s not about catching a fish— it’s nothing about catching anything at all. It’s forcing me to wait,” he explains. You finally understand. You imagined being in his shoes where everything had to be at lightning speed, and ridiculous expectations placed on him. He had to be in a certain way, had to act a certain way. Every move is calculated. Seokjin was an anxious being. And everyone tends to forget that he was only 30-something.

He has been catching the ideals his whole life. He had been restlessly filling up the areas people told him he was lacking. When you keep listening to others without knowing yourself, you end up draining yourself to fill the mold others create for you. It can be very tiring, unfulfilling and damaging. People would put thoughts in you, put words in your mouth that sometimes you lose yourself in the process— if you’re not careful. Seokjin is surrounded by people that want to be him, if not wanting a piece of him or what he has. You were no different. Looking at him from this light of sunset, your heart thudded sadly.

Why are you sad though?

Parents lived in a loveless marriage for years, this should have been easy. Why is it not?

Looking at him feels like stargazing. He’s like the moon. There’s a side of him you will never know. But isn’t he so remarkably mesmerizing?

Without you knowing, you started to pretend even when no one is around. Seokjin turns to you as if he heard your thoughts. His eyes glanced to your lips then back up to your eyes. You cleared your throat and thumbed where his bruises were. You put your face close to him and said that you were looking at his disappearing bruises. The boat rocks violently, and his hand flies to your waist to hold you steady. Nose clashing. Your visions blurred from how close he was. Winds striking softly. He fixed your hair but didn’t move away. His lips are parted. The time stills. Ticking by.

So, what happens to the girl no one falls in love with? She takes any love she can get her hands on.

Even if its not real.

.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Sorry it's been a month since its last updated. My school semester ended last June 23rd and I took 1 week off from everything. Now I have another half of the final year left, I'm still looking for a place to do my internship, no luck finding one yet since I hate making calls. I hope this finds you in the pink of health, I hope you missed Heir Seokjin because I sure did. He's not an ass anymore and his actions and words don't really match. I just love this chapter because its really warm and fuzzy and intimate. Let's not forget about the connection between Ian and Rachel because we will carry that to the next chapter. Until then, with much love.

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