SUDDEN SHOWER. ° ᡣ𐭩 . ° .
anton lee is the only boy osaki yn will ever love. she'll make sure of that.
one. interstellar
words : 1.8k
warnings : death mentions, grief, panic but not fully a panic attack.
previous ⌇ masterlist ⌇ next.
You groan, hands trying to hold onto the burning cement underneath you. It's a waking call the moment your nails— usually short, now quite long and sturdy— grind against the floor and you shiver. It feels like you've been hit with a basketball.
"Uh," a voice takes you out of your misery. Not really, but it serves as a distraction. "Is everything okay?"
Before your eyes, you can see a face you hadn't seen in months. He looks younger, like there's less weight on his shoulders.
Park Wonbin looks great. Only, he's staring at you like he's worried you might break, which means you probably don't look as good.
You nod, a little dumbfounded. Last time you heard from Wonbin, he had gone back to his dark hair and was teaching a dance class all the way in LA. You were proud of him for following his dreams; despite four years of university, he became a professional dancer with ease.
Still, you have missed him, so you let him help you up.
"Thank you," You rub your eyes, taking in your surroundings. It's sunny, and the campus you had left behind a few months ago stands tall before you. You blink as confusion sweeps through your body and takes hold of you. "What the hell..."
Wonbin, always a worrier, leans toward you. "Is something wrong? Does something hurt? I can get someone from health—"
"No! No, it's fine," you reply. "Thank you, anyway. I think I just hit my head, maybe."
"What? Then I definitely need to get someone from health," he rambles. "Wait here!"
He turns, ready to head over to wherever health is. Something paints itself inside your head: your freshman year orientation week, and the moment Sungchan introduced you to your boyfriend and his roommate. The way that simple moment turned your life around.
Nothing makes sense, and if you squint a little, you're almost sure you can see Intak in the distance.
"I'm okay! I swear," you call, but he doesn't stop. "Park Wonbin!"
That gets him. He stops, tilts his head before turning around. As he walks closer, his phone lights up on his hand, and the date screams at you. Red lights.
It makes no sense.
"How do you know my name?" Wonbin asks. Your mind is stuck on the date, though. "Oh my God, are you a stalker or something?"
"What? No!"
"Then how..." he trails off, like he's suddenly realized something. "You're Shotaro's sister! Oh, does he talk about me? Is that why you know me? I remember we ran into each other last year, when you were visiting! I panicked for a second."
You mumble, hoping he won't hear: "How do you talk so much, seriously..."
"So, what does he say?"
Your phone starts ringing in your pocket, a song you've always had for your brother as a ringtone. You grab the device, surprised at the way it feels so unnatural in your hand. It's been a while since you've held this model. With a grimace, you show the caller to Wonbin.
SHOTARO 🦇🌟, it reads. Wonbin smiles and lets you walk a few steps away.
"Hello?"
"Yah, your boyfriend is bothering me," Shotaro says as a greeting. You frown.
"What?"
"Dongmin is following me around, asking where you are."
In the background, you can hear a boy go: "My name is Taesan!"
Taesan, it sinks. Oh my God, Taesan. He switched universities before your third year, and you haven't heard from him since. His voice makes a knot appear in your throat.
"I'll be there in a second," you manage to say. "Tell him I miss him."
Shotaro fake gags. "I am not doing all that."
You laugh, but don't force him. Shotaro hangs up, and when you look at the phone, the same date from Wonbin's screen stares back at you: September 2024. You feel dizzy, but you don't let yourself process it. Instead, you go back to Wonbin and grab your backpack from the floor.
"My friends are looking for me," you let him know. "Thank you for helping, really."
He smiles. "My pleasure! Anything for Shotaro's little sister."
With a slight bow, you hurry towards the place of meeting you had assembled with your friends during the first week of university. It stood in place until your graduation. They're there, speaking to each other. Intak is coming from the other side, throwing an arm around Gyuvin and smiling big at his friends he left behind for a second.
They look well. Taesan looks well.
You start running.
"Taesan!" You call, your eyes filling with tears. You don't know if it's happiness or melancholy. Still, the moment he turns around, you throw yourself into his unprepared arms and send both of you to the floor.
By now, you're sure this is a very elaborate dream. Shotaro's still living in that old dorm building with Sungchan and Eunseok, and you can smell the food the moment you go inside. Eunseok is half sitting, half laying on the couch, watching old reruns of Running Man on the TV.
"YN!" Sungchan calls from the kitchen. It's an open floorplan, so you've got a great view of him wearing a KISS THE CHEF apron over his pajamas. The smile takes over on its own. "My mom dropped us food, and she made your favorite. I'm convinced she thinks your birthday is every month."
"She just likes me," you reply. "Maybe more than she likes you?"
Sungchan frowns, swinging the wooden spoon he's using to stir the food, and Shotaro moves you out of the way before sauce can get on you.
"Don't be a child, Chan."
"She started!"
You giggle. It feels so real, way too real. You let yourself sink into the dream as Shotaro guides you to the couch, settling against the armrest and letting you sit beside Eunseok, who pulls you closer to him. You have to fight the laugh as you catch the glare your brother sends his way.
"What do you wanna watch?" Eunseok asks, letting you get comfortable against him. "You're clingy, Jesus."
"You hugged me first," you retort. "Can we watch Interstellar?"
Your boyfriend's favorite movie is leaving your lips before you even realize. Shotaro shoves you a little, further into Eunseok's arms.
"You hate that movie," he says.
It's sort of true. You don't hate it— never did— but... it was never your taste until your boyfriend forced you to watch it almost every weekend. Then, it became something that wasn't about the movie but rather about him. If this is a dream, you'll let yourself really sink into pleasure.
Eunseok puts on the movie, and you silently watch the beginning with slightly teary eyes. At some point, Sungchan brings food to the living room table and you all sit around it, chewing on tteokbokki and letting Shotaro feed you samgyeopsal. The atmosphere is warm, cozy.
You feel at home.
"Today I'm the age you were when you left..." the TV is speaking, but it has become static over your ears. You remember the first time you watched this scene with your boyfriend, letting him lean into you as he teared up.
Most of all, you remember giggling at him and calling him baby. For the first time, you called him baby.
"What did you call me?" Anton had said through the tears. His voice was tight, but he was smiling. "Say it again, please."
"I called you your name," you tease.
"No! Say it again, please."
He'd been looking at you like a puppy, overexcited and so happy it ached. You laughed louder. "Okay, baby."
Then, Anton had hugged you so tight you couldn't breathe. "I'm your baby? Yeah, I am. Of course I am."
"God, are you talking to yourself again?"
You blink, standing up too quickly. The three boys that surround you startle, and they just watch as you run into the hallway that leads to their rooms and lock yourself into the first one. You've forgotten which room is whose, but you think this is Sungchan's: it's got the basketball trophies, and the pictures of him and his family.
There's a knock on the door. Shotaro's voice comes through. "YN? Are you okay?"
You don't reply. If this is a dream, you think. It's time to wake up. Closing your eyes tight, you cling to your thighs until it burns. Once I open my eyes, I'll be back in Shotaro's room, and I'll be older than I've ever been. You do: you open your eyes, but you find yourself still in Sungchan's senior year room.
You start panicking. It's hard to tell where the panic came from, but it takes over within seconds. Images of the last time you were awake start flashing by: the hospital, the river. Anton, Anton, Anton. 3:45. You throw your jacket off and on the floor beside you, hearing the way something in your pocket clangs against the wooden planks.
With shaky hands, you sink your hand into the right pocket of your jacket. There, nestled between receipts and a packet of tissues, lays a watch. You take it out.
It's cracked exactly where Anton's watch had been last night, and the metal is scratched in the same places. It reads 3:39, like the world is messing with you. It tells you the watch died before he did.
You let out a sob.
"YN, I'm coming in." Eunseok's voice drags into the room from underneath the door. "Okay? I just need to make sure you're alright."
"Mhm," you hum. It's weak, but you believe he heard, because he comes inside. Carefully, he walks towards your shaking body, and he drops beside you. "Is this a dream?"
"Huh?"
"This? Is it a dream?" You repeat yourself. "It has lasted for so long."
Eunseok looks worried. "This isn't a dream, YN."
You look at the watch, broken exactly how it had been last night. You feel the weight of him leaving your side crash against your shoulders, and you regret ever letting him leave your bed that morning.
"Hey, a kid in our floor has the same one," he points to the watch. Eunseok is clearly trying to distract you from your rising panic. "He said he got it in—"
"— in New York," you finish for him. "He got it in New York, yeah?"
Eunseok makes a noise of agreement. "Do you know him? His name is Lee Chanyoung, but he goes by Anton."
"Seok," you whisper. He hums, and you pinch your arm before saying the next sentence. It hurts. "I think I'm in the past."
taglist ( open! ) : @tocupid @yyangj3lly
( ... 💥 ) okay! i have to set the scene, so the first two chapters are sort of... connected. they happen one after the other. let me know what u think of my writing... also not all chapters will be like this! some will be fully social media, i just need to lay down the grounds to work over.
i321u © 2024.
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SUDDEN SHOWER. ° ᡣ𐭩 . ° .
anton lee is the only boy osaki yn will ever love. she'll make sure of that.
prelude.
words: 0.7k.
warnings: grief, reckless behavior, allusion to death.
masterlist ⌇ next.
The rain falls heavily on Shotaro's car. You sit on the passenger seat with your knees pulled up to your chest, letting the tears wet your sweatpants as you silently cry. Exhaustion has reached every bone in your body; it no longer feels like a fight against grief, but rather like you're letting it envelop you and squeeze so tight you will become one with it.
You had graduated four months ago, found a job while you searched for something within your field, and you had just moved into an apartment with your boyfriend. Everything had been perfect, yet now you're begging Shotaro to stop the car.
"Pull over," you say. Shotaro doesn't stop driving. Instead, he shakes his head and tries to clear his eyes of the tears that fill them. "Taro, pull over, please."
"We have to get home," he replies. It's as if he were in a trance: get home, cry himself to sleep tonight, and tomorrow, and the rest of the week.
Your hands feel numb, and you don't know where to put all your emotions. Before, he would have been by your side to take it all from you and help you untangle it until it makes sense. Now, it's just you and your brother as if you were seven years old again.
You surely feel like you're seven years old again.
"Ten minutes, Shotaro," you find yourself begging. "Please, pull over. Ten minutes."
"We have to get home, YN."
The car starts feeling too small for everything that's entangled within your heart. You want to open a window, but you know it will be locked: Shotaro always locks his windows when it rains, because your boyfriend would open them every time. Your brother hates getting his seats wet.
You try to swallow, but it takes you a few times. It's the telltale of a panic attack. Your lungs try searching for air, but they can't find it.
Your mind is clouded when you click the lock off the door— a trick your brother himself taught you when you were younger— and the door is open within seconds. Shotaro is still driving, but as soon as the lights overhead go on and his car starts screaming at him, he's hitting the breaks.
"What are you doing?" He asks, panic mixing with his voice. "YN, get back in the car. Are you insane?"
You just shake your head. Now that the car's stopped, you recognize where you are: it's the bridge over the river you and your boyfriend would always visit to stargaze. Just a block away from your apartment, a few blocks away from Shotaro and Sungchan's. You don't know which of the two you were heading towards, but the idea of getting back to an empty apartment— filled with pieces of him, but no him— has you running towards the edge of the bridge, clutching onto the railing, and throwing up over the river.
Your brother is at your side in an instant. Both doors of the car are still open, and the thing is still screaming its noisy alarm.
"It's okay," he whispers, voice almost getting lost in the rain. It takes you a moment to realize he's speaking Japanese. "I've got you. I've got you, I promise."
He's always been there, and you know he will always be there, so you let yourself lean on your brother. Your eyes close slowly.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"You keep going, YN." Shotaro reaches into his pocket and, soon, he's handing you something. You can tell what it is just by holding it, and you squeeze it so tight you're afraid it might break. "You've got to keep going."
Messing with the thing in your hand, you whisper: "I wish I could turn back time."
Shotaro just sighs, and you open your eyes to stare at the rain falling on cement in front of you. The watch on your hand feels heavier, and you get dizzy. It's Anton's watch, the one he used to keep track of his swimming times with. The one he never let go of.
"I wish I could turn back time," you repeat. It feels like wishing on a shooting star, but you're just wishing on a broken watch.
taglist ( send an ask to be added! ) : @tocupid
i321u © 2024.
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