⌠â a lingering connection to cheong ryong and anything having to do with the high oh-so-elite society of sunhwa is the last possible thing she could ever want, yet there she is in one of the dorm rooms because of a certain jang jongsuk. the same jang jongsuk whose right hand is on her thigh as she tries to read, the newest in a series by an up-and-coming author whose caught her interest more than the male beside her who seems determined to change such a fact. head lolling, a soft exhale, and a turn of the page, thereâs no pointed glance in his direction necessary, not when the situation feels so commonplace. she doesnât expect any less from him and the sad truth of it all is that she doesnât expect anything more.Â
     heâs the only one who carries the secret of what happened that night and she doesnât question a thing, doesnât question what this is because heâs the jang jongsuk. one expectation of hers he does break time and time again is coincidentally about time itselfâ because heâs less transient in her life than she thought he would be and sheâs grateful for it albeit confused. another page and his hand seeks more skin, becomes acquainted with more of her and if heâs about âmore,â sheâs generally about âless.â balance is what she would call it and sheâs certain he would call it annoying, whether heâd say so jokingly or not is another matter but itâs the quiet moments she likes most. because the charm he gives so easily and casually so to others melts away, gives way to warmth as she guides his hand away, fingers lacing with his as she shifts, head leaning against her shoulder even as her gaze doesnât leave her novel.Â
     ⌠â humming softly with a tilt of her head backwards, nahyunâs delicate features coming more into the sight the more she gazed up. âif i said you do,â thereâs a brief dramatic pause, eyes lingering on nahyunâs before she sings, âwould you hold it against me?â  a soft spiel of laughter spills out as she rolls onto her side, freeing nahyunâs lap of her head. âdid you expect any better after you feed me?â another pause and yet itâs softer, gentler, a warm smile to compliment it as she sits up, fingers combing through long chestnut tresses.Â
     âthank you, nahyun.â because she knew it wasnât just as simple as âoh i made extra food, do you want to eat it with me?â but it was a manner of checking up on her. âdonât tell amber we ate without her. you know sheâll be upset,â seulmi laughed at the mere thought. amber was uncontrollable when it came to foodâ not that her friend was tamable a majority of the time regardless.Â
     it always suited her to get off campus more often. it simply suited her to be away, and it only leads to a worsening wanderlust. âif i wanted to visit japan for a weekend, would you go with me? i know you just got back fromâŚâ wherever it was, seulmi didnât ask because it was nahyunâs choice, one she has to respect because she does the exact same thing, or she did, anyway. âwould you? donât you think itâd be fun? we wouldnât have to worry about anything.â thereâs always homework but seulmi could write it off quickly as senioritis, and even more quickly as a sincere dislike for a monotonous activity.Â
[txt] seulmi ah stop being pretty you disgust me <3
  ( sms  llamber )
â  amber ah stop being a llama ~ â  just kidding, then you wouldnât be yourself đâ  so why canât you accept me for who i am? ĺĺĺ
â  good morning! â  please wake up!â  this mix wonât make itself and your music taste is so much better than mine ă ă Ąă
ii. an angry text
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  DID YOU HIDE MY FAVORITE MASCARA?â  I DIDNâT MEAN TO LOSE YOUR LUCKY PICKâ  I DIDNâT EVEN LOSE IT. I FOUND IT WITHIN A FEW HOURSâŚâ  GIVE IT BACK đ đ đ
iii. a drunk text *
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  d o poepl e ask if yurâe good  iwth ur fi ngers?
iv. a vague text
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â Â when a heart breaks, it donât break even
v. a worried text *
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  youâve been working out a lot latelyâŚâ  which is good for you! iâm glad!â  but please donât overdo it. i donât want to see you get injured⌠how will you play your guitar? i canât imagine that. you look the happiest when you playÂ
vi. a text not meant for you
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â Â yeah, oKAY I REALLY DID ASK BUT I WAS DRUNK. I DIDNâT MEAN TO ASK ABOUT HIS FINGERSâ Â oh..â Â i mean chicken fingers! oh but most people say tenders, right? i mean those. yes, those!
vii. a somewhat sassy text
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â Â donât laugh at me, mr i canât sing so i play backup
viii. a long-winded confession text *
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  i know that you were upset about your lucky pick and iâm really sorry but at least i found it quickly! but i have something else to tell you. just donât get mad, okay? although i do think you might be upset and thatâs why iâm texting you because i donât like seeing your sad face. i am sorry iâm not telling you in person though and i hope this isnât bad timingâ  is this bad timing?â  it is, isnât it?â  with my timingâŚâ  okay wait i shouldnât keep texting. okay so i mightâve broken a string on the guitar you lent me⌠but nOTHING IS BROKEN I SWEAR
ix. a misguided advice text
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  just keep stroking â  isnât that what you told me? â  this isnât coming out how i meant it toâ  this never happened
x. a desperate text *
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  DO YOU REALLY NOT HAVE MY MASCARA? I NEED ITâ  okay not need but i want that one â  if i canât find it, youâre going to the mall with meÂ
xi. a congratulatory text
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â Â congratulations, whenever someone sees you from behind while youâre playing the guitar itâs always going to look like something else at first!Â
xii. a text that shouldâve never been sent *
( sms Âť jimini hendrix )
â  iâm sorry⌠iâm just not really into rock musicâŚ
itâs not like seunghoon hated the debate club, he just liked his own sns accounts more - and truth be told, it could be very boring sitting around and talking about topics he wasnât interested on. damn you lee seunghoon, not being good enough to join a sports team. and thatâs how he ended up dragging himself around the countless halls, dreading the moment he would have to sit down with the other members and pretend he cared. if he was lucky ezra would sit by his side and they would end up talking about random topics.
now, seunghoon wasnât always lost, but he used to live more in his thoughts these days, thinking about the games he had to evaluate for the company, bugs he had to find on the said games, how he would run a goddamn company, and of course at the back of his mind there was always the thought of why his grandfather had to leave him so soon, while he lived across the world.
so it was obvious he would get lost again and enter the wrong room again. âiâm sorry iâm late andâŚâ seunghoon looked at the group of people he had never seen before and stopped talking. and then he saw her, the most beautiful girl he had seen in sunhwa (sorry jisu). âiâŚâ and in true seunghoon fashion he didnât know what to do or what to say. âi was looking for the debate club meeting, and this isnât it for sure.â because we donât have beautiful girls there, he completed in thought. âiâm sorry i interrupted but this school⌠i swear iâll graduate and iâll still get lost, and debate club is so boring, you know?â oh right, he was talking non-stop. ânot that you asked me that, sorry. anyway, nice to meet you, iâm lee seunghoonâ he added with a slight bow.Â
     ⌠â she can hear how some of the club members laugh, not at him but along with her and seulmi has to remind herself not to be completely charmed by him. all and any of her effort is unfortunately (for her, although she supposes sheâs not that unlucky to have the chance to speak to him for once) wasted as she has to gather her composure all over again. this is her internet crush in living, breathing flesh and blood. a tangible figure before her instead of behind either her laptop or cell screen.Â
     finding out he went to the same school as her wasnât too difficult to piece together. it was actually seeing him that felt more elusive. she almost wasnât sure she wanted to. would it ruin the illusion? is it weird that sheâs a fan of his? should she even mention it? what if she didnât and then slipped one day in conversationâ but, most of all, why is she having this personal discourse when she ought to be speaking? that was the true question. the most valuable one in the moment, that is.Â
     âare you sure itâs in this building?â because even seulmi isnât sure but she doesnât quite understand why the debate club would choose to meet in any of the rooms near the rehearsal rooms of the performing arts section of campus. âbut if itâs boringâ and she makes a note never to tell ezra she thinks such a thing, not when heâs one of the only people who can listen to her ramble on and on about make-up for practically hours (and it pretty much is). âyou could always stick around here and see if you want to give it a try!â returning the gesture and bowing at her waist, seulmi offered a warm smile. âiâm moon seulmi, president of dance clubâ which is this,â laughing as she did a small wave around the room with her hand, motioning for everyone to at least attempt a greeting. âyouâre free to stay and watch but thereâs a condition. you have to show us some of your moves because everyone has at least one even if itâs just their go to in the club like the robot or something. even swaying. everyone starts somewhere!âÂ
If you ask him âEzra, do you watch makeup tutorials on youtube or something?â heâd say no. Itâs not like he intends to rock a smokey eye or lavender eyeliner or rainbow highlighter and get some eyebrows on fleek - he just sometimes likes to wear a little something, like mascara or lipstick, but with no professional knowledge of the extensive world of makeup artists whatsoever. Seulmi, on the other hand, knew a lot about make up. Like, a lot. Ezra laughed nervously when she showed him what a curvex was.
It was like a surgical procedure, right? He was sitting down leaning against the chair with his eyes closed and trying not to smile too much - the brushes ticked! - and Seulmi was doing so much that Ezra was ready to look in the mirror and feel like the main actress of a teenage make-over movie.
âAm I gonna recognize myself after you are done?â
     ⌠â she took it upon herself to know most things, like the new tarte blush palette and how she couldnât decide between that or the latest benefit palette. thereâs a different merit to both, one that glitters and gleams while the other carries a more natural impression. his question enticed a loud laugh to spill from her own rouge lips, a light shake of her head chasing the gesture despite his closed eyes. âof course you will! i know make-up can transform you but i prefer make-up that just makes you look even more on point than you already are and we both know that you know youâre attractive. okay, ezra?âÂ
     leaning away from her artwork, she regarded him with a slight tilt of her head, tousled tresses gathering over her shoulder as they slipped from the loose braid she had set it back in. âyouâre a fan of red, right? donât look in the mirror at yourself quite yet but help me pick a shade of red. like a classic, vibrant red or a more orange tone... i think you could make either work. i forget how clear your complexion is. itâs so versatile for this look.âÂ
charity dinners were his mothers idea, an event where she could bring awareness to a cause and brush shoulders with people who help those in need. a good heart that left uisoo wondering how this was the woman who birthed him. while she counted the thousands and millions that would be flooded into a system in need, uisoo only wondered how much of that money was siphoned off to pay for employees, to buy advertisements, to afford the grand ballroom in which they now sat and the spread of the food. his mothers hand patted his shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts and he offered a smile to the men and women that she was talking about how well he was doing in school. no, he wasnât number one â but he was in high places in clubs and heâd been busy with political internships in his free time.
it was easy to be charming. uisoo was in his element as he was cordoned off with men in nice suits who were discussing the state of the economy in south korea, the threats of the north and what the country should do about their trade. topics that he held his own in, until his mothers arm was looped with his and food was being set up to be served. a light blared onto the front stage for when people would speak and testimonials would take place. uisoo had seen many. when he found his father waiting at their table, uisoo bowed his head in greeting, and pulled the chair out for his mother. everything done with a certain finesse that he rarely showed anywhere else.
but it was as he urged the seat back into place, his attention drew to the other people set at their table and a crack appeared in his appearance. his father spoke up with a sort of pride. âson, this is moon seulmi. she goes to your school, i was about to ask her if she knew you.â uisooâs father didnât need to direct his attention at all. he knew who she was, had known her in first year. she looked her best, as always. and uisoo flashed the tips of his teeth as he found his own spot and nodded his head. âi think iâve heard of her,â was the safest answer he had to the question, glancing at seulmi and hoping she would go along with it. âitâs not a big school after all.â
     ⌠â it attested to how much she truly disliked being at sunhwa sometimes that she thought an event like this was more of a breath of fresh air compared to that of the confining walls of the school. her parents played the loving couple, doting and kind, sweet even and she could imagine seungah rolling her eyes if she could see it. the pointed looks, a sigh of exasperation in private when no one was listening (because once they glazed over the general question about school and how accomplished you are compared to their own offspring, nothing else matters), and a shared disdain towards the general affair despite a certain, skilled finesse when it came to verbal eloquence. seungah could charm anyone and itâs no surprise that seulmi learned from the best.Â
     by luck, on most occasions, she didnât cross paths with other students from sunhwa and she could only assume what unsavory things they were up to instead. the aesthetic of such events didnât ever bother her, it was merely the propriety and  prestige that did. chiffon dances along her ankles and she smiles gracefully at uisooâs father. she recognized him from the start, had slight hopes that uisoo wasnât also there but truthfully she knew better than to expect her hopes to be fulfilled a majority of the time. he had been the one to ignore her after vying for her attention and yet she felt at fault, as if she had to apologize to him for disappointing him. but it was only her own misguided perception that uisoo did have genuine intentions at the time, that he was kinder than he is. that much is still unknown to her. still, she thinks he ought to be spared the awkwardness of this situation.Â
     âheard of her,â though. that was a good one. in their year, who hadnât? what they heard was exactly why she was no longer in baek ho and her only assumption for why uisoo decided to essentially ghost her. there one moment and gone the next. âsame here,â she replied cordially, turning to his father who didnât seem all too pleased with their responses and she offered a more elusive smile. one that screamed of innocence with a thin coat of pretense, a perfected guise as she continued for his sake. âwho wouldnât know of uisoo? heâs one of the top students at our school. i can only dream of his ranking.â laughter filters through rose lips that paints vibrant embellishments in how she exacts a feigned fondness into her tone. âi donât know how he manages with everything he does. heâs difficult to find when heâs not in the library putting us all to shame.âÂ
It just so happens that in the storybook that is life there are two characters: the heartbreaker and the heartbroken. And it is a sobering truth that sometimes you are one or the other and sometimes you are both.
Seulmi could be shooting fire out of her ears instead of tapping her foot and Amber would still ignore all that to bask on the overjoying feeling of definitely eating later - for free! Wait no, she could still pay for dinner in case Seulmi gets the kick rightâŚ
⌠No, yeah, no. Sheâs definitely eating for free.Â
âWell, the bet is on.â After a contractual handshake officiating Amberâs dinner she gave Seulmi all the space sheâd need to perform that piece of the choreography - also known as she went sit down all the way across the room so she wouldnât accidentally get kicked in the face, was what she said waiving back to Seulmi with that shit eating smile on her face.
Easiest dinner threat ever. âI trust you Seulmi aah! You can do it!â
     ⌠â with a roll of her eyes, she shooed her best friend away, joking that she was banishing her for insubordination if she kept this type of behavior up but amber is one of the last people she could push away. everyone else no longer had the same privilege. in fact, with everyone else, it seemed as if that was all she did anymore.Â
     the bet was her own childish impulse and now even seulmi was beginning to have her doubts. sheâs always been more legs than anything else and they often got her into small accidents. clumsy is easily associated with her.Â
     breathe, she told herself, you can do this, and that phrase has followed her for years but so much of her life hasnât always been about capability but the ability to do so, allowance she isnât always given. âdo you or are you just thinking about what to get for dinner?â âÂ
     the time allotted for the practice room comes to an end and seulmi can fulfill a decent high kick, one that is just barely considered proper form but sheâd take anything she could get at this rate. tossing a small towel at amber (freshly cleaned but she didnât let her know that), âdid you? decide what you want? itâs my treat anyway,â she held up a finger, cheeky grin already in place and face flush with accomplishment. âon one condition, admit that i did better than you expected. yell to the skies that moon seulmi is going to be a master of taekwondo yet!âÂ
yousharknotpass
2087
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
