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You’ll Still Be Mine

A/N: I was listening to LDR. Songs like young and beautiful, love, wild at heart and sweet had me thinking a bit. How one day I will grow old and if I'm lucky enough, I'll have someone to grow old with. But then worries came in similar to what I brought up. My biggest fear is falling in love, spending my youth with someone just to have them leave when we grow old and don't look the same anymore. I used this to cope that genuine love won't make me question if I'm wasting my youth.

It was a quiet kind of ache that crept in unnoticed—slow, like ivy wrapping itself around the columns of Y/N's thoughts.

The apartment smelled of rain. Outside the window, Seoul glistened beneath a gentle drizzle, streetlights flickering in puddles like stars grounded to earth. The scent of citrus tea lingered in the air, steeped and forgotten on the kitchen counter. And in the middle of it all, Y/N sat curled on the couch, knees tucked beneath her chin, the sleeves of her oversized sweater swallowing her hands.

Their wedding photo sat on the mantle—a candid shot that Danielle had taken, catching them mid-laugh. Haerin had her arms wrapped around Y/N from behind, chin tucked on her shoulder, eyes filled with so much softness it made the heart ache. That day felt like it had only just happened, but already, a distance had begun to form in Y/N's mind—a crack in the mirror she was too afraid to touch.

She couldn't stop thinking about the future lately. Not the dreamhouse or vacations or even children—though those conversations had started, cautiously, between them. No, Y/N had begun to think of time itself, of skin losing elasticity, of laugh lines etching permanent stories, of knees that might creak and backs that might ache. She wondered what Haerin would look like in twenty years.

More cruelly, she wondered what Haerin would think of her in twenty years.

It started with a single thought, the way most disasters did.

"What if she stops loving me when I'm no longer young?"

Haerin was ethereal, the kind of beautiful that didn't need effort. Not just in her face—though it was impossible not to stare at her when she walked into a room—but in the way she carried herself. Quiet but firm. Intentional. Poised without arrogance. When she laughed, her nose crinkled just a bit, and when she loved, it was full, with a depth that wrapped around everything in her orbit.

Y/N had spent her early twenties loving Haerin from afar. Then one day, Haerin looked back. And somehow, that story led to vows whispered under a canopy of magnolias.

But now...

Y/N blinked hard, pressing her fingers into her temples.

She had tried to ignore the spiraling thoughts. She really had. But lately, she found herself pulling back. Holding her breath when Haerin brushed a hand against her waist. Giving distant smiles. Ducking compliments. It was like she was bracing for the heartbreak before it arrived—like if she kept her walls high, the blow would hurt a little less when Haerin eventually looked at her and saw someone... older. Less radiant. Less her.

"Y/N?"

The voice was soft behind her.

Y/N turned, startled. Haerin stood by the doorway, still in her long beige coat, rain droplets clinging to her bangs. Her hands were full—bags from a nearby market, and a small bouquet of lavender and pale pink baby's breath. The kind of flowers Y/N always paused to admire but never bought for herself.

"You're home early." Y/N said, quickly shifting her expression into something more neutral.

"I finished rehearsal early. Hanni dropped me off," Haerin replied, slipping off her shoes and padding across the hardwood floor. She placed the flowers on the kitchen island and gave Y/N a long look. "You didn't answer my texts."

"Oh. Sorry." Y/N glanced down at the coffee table, where her phone lay face down, silent and dead.

Haerin said nothing at first. She merely stepped closer, searching Y/N's face. Her fingers reached out, brushing a strand of hair behind Y/N's ear before tucking themselves into the folds of her sweater sleeve.

"You've been somewhere else lately," she said gently. "Where did you go?"

Y/N hesitated. She could lie. She could pretend she was just tired, stressed, overworked—anything but what she was actually feeling. But something about the way Haerin looked at her—so steady, so sure—made it impossible to hide.

So she let the silence stretch a beat longer. Then another. Until it broke, not with a bang, but with a whisper.

"Do you ever think about what we'll be like in thirty years?"

Haerin blinked. "I mean... sure. Sometimes."

Y/N shifted, drawing her knees even closer. "And... when you do, do you still see me?"

The question hit the air like static. Haerin didn't move. She just watched, her lips slightly parted, as Y/N looked away.

"I know I sound stupid. It's just... lately, I can't stop thinking about how things will change. How I will change. I'll get older, slower, maybe even boring. My face won't look the same. My body won't. What if one day you wake up and realize you miss the version of me that was younger? The one you married?"

Haerin exhaled slowly, the sound so quiet Y/N almost missed it.

"And what if you fall for someone younger," Y/N added, voice barely above a breath. "Someone with fewer laugh lines and tighter skin and more time?"

The truth was out now. Raw. Undressed.

Haerin sat down beside her. Not fast, not alarmed—just with calm precision, as if she had all the time in the world for this moment.

"Y/N," She said, and her tone was the kind people used when saying someone's name felt like a prayer. "You could be a hundred years old, and I would still fall asleep thinking about you."

Y/N looked up. Her throat tightened.

"I didn't fall in love with you because of your age. Or your face. Or your skin," Haerin continued. "I fell in love with you because of how you talk to animals like they understand you. Because of how you never finish your tea but keep making new cups anyway. Because you cry at the same scene in the Scooby Doo movie when Shaggy and Scooby have their little fight every single time. Because you get overwhelmed in grocery stores and can't decide on pasta shapes unless I'm there to help. I fell in love with all of it. All of you."

Y/N's vision blurred. She blinked quickly.

Haerin reached out, gently guiding Y/N's hand to her own chest. "Do you feel that?"

The heartbeat beneath her palm was steady. Sure.

"This doesn't change because of a few wrinkles. Or silver hair. Or years passing," Haerin whispered. "Love isn't something I borrowed for the years you're young. It's something I promised for every version of you that exists."

Y/N's lip trembled. "But what if I change? What if I'm not enough later?"

"You will be," Haerin said without pause. "Because you are now. And you've always been."

A sob caught in Y/N's throat, half-formed. Haerin didn't flinch—she simply moved closer, resting their foreheads together, her hands warm against Y/N's cheeks.

"You're not losing me," she said. "Not now. Not when you turn forty. Not when we're eighty and trying to remember where we put the damn TV remote."

That made Y/N let out a teary laugh, muffled by Haerin's shoulder as she pulled her into a hug.

"You make it sound so easy," Y/N murmured against her. "Like love's not a fragile thing."

"It's not," Haerin replied. "Not mine for you."

They stayed like that for a while—wrapped up in each other, in the quiet rain tapping against the windows, in the low hum of a life they were still building. Y/N breathed in Haerin's scent—lavender and rain and something undeniably hers.

Eventually, Haerin pulled back just enough to look her in the eye. "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"I had a nightmare last week that you left me for someone younger," Haerin said, lips twitching into the smallest smile. "Someone who could dance without pulling a muscle."

Y/N stared at her. "Are you serious?"

"Mmhmm. You told me I was too mysterious and you needed someone more predictable."

Y/N barked out a laugh. "Haerin, you are predictable. You eat the same breakfast every morning."

"And yet, you married me anyway."

Y/N leaned in, kissing her then—slow, but full of something that burned away the self-doubt like morning sunlight through fog.

When they finally stood to make tea together—Haerin placing the now-slightly-wilted flowers in a mason jar and Y/N quietly threading their fingers together—it felt like breathing again.

Later, Haerin played Young and Beautiful through the speakers. One of the many songs they played on their wedding day.

She didn't say anything. She just looked at Y/N across the room with that same gentle expression from their wedding photo, the one that said: I see you, exactly as you are. And I still choose you.

Y/N walked toward her.

"I will love you," Haerin murmured as the song swelled, "long after the lights go out."

And of course, Y/N believed her. Because where there's true love, there's Haerin.

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Stars That Fade

A/N: I wrote this with Artms Candy Crush in mind. Also first time writing on here so bear with me.

Minji leaned back against the velvet cushions, her fingers tracing the rim of her glass as the soft jazz played in the background. The dim lights of the hotel room painted everything in a soft, hazy glow, the shadows lingering just enough to feel like a secret. She glanced at the clock — almost time.

Y/N sat across from her, her eyes dark with a mixture of longing and sadness. It was always like this, every time. They met in these stolen moments, these rare and precious seconds when they could pretend they were anything but two women trapped in loveless marriages.

"You know we can't stay here forever." Y/N whispered, her voice thick with the weight of their reality. "As much as I wish we could."

Minji’s lips twitched into a sad smile. "I know. But right now, this... this is enough, isn’t it?"

Y/N looked at her, eyes softening. She couldn’t help but let herself get lost in Minji’s gaze, as if there was something magical in the way she looked at her. A connection, a warmth that felt like the night sky itself. But like the stars above, it was just out of reach.

Minji reached across the table, her fingers brushing Y/N’s gently, like she was afraid to hold on too tightly. "You’re all I want. But…" She paused, her voice faltering for a moment. "It’s always going to be like this, isn’t it? A dream that fades the moment the sun rises."

Y/N closed her eyes, fighting the wave of emotion threatening to drown her. "We walked a million steps to get here, Minji. But it’s never enough, is it?"

"No.." Minji agreed softly, pulling her hand back. "It’s never enough. We’ve reached this moment, and yet it always feels like we’re about to turn around and walk away. Like we’ve been chasing something that doesn’t exist." She took a breath, staring out the window where the faint glow of the city lights flickered like distant stars. "Maybe the sun envies us because we’re allowed to shine in the dark."

Y/N’s heart tightened at that, her mind racing through the years of their secret affair. The stolen glances, the whispered words in the quiet hours of the night, the times when they had been everything to each other — and yet, none of it mattered. The world would never let them be. Not truly.

"But this.." Y/N whispered, almost to herself, "this moment, this connection, feels real. It’s like I can feel something inside me… like I’m not just living for everyone else, like I’m not just a shadow in someone else’s life."

Minji’s eyes softened, and she stood slowly, walking over to where Y/N sat. She stood in front of her, the silence between them thick with everything they couldn’t say. Minji crouched down, her hand cupping Y/N’s cheek, her thumb brushing the skin there with an almost reverent touch. "I wish we didn’t have to go back, Y/N. I wish we could just leave everything behind and live for us, for this."

Y/N closed her eyes at the warmth of Minji’s touch, feeling as though she could melt into the moment, into the fantasy of it all. But when she opened her eyes again, the reality was there. The clock was ticking. The world would soon intrude on their secret world, and they’d have to return to their cold, empty homes.

"You’re the one Minji." Y/N murmured. "But it’s like we can’t have each other, not in the way we want. The stars will always fade, and so will we."

Minji’s smile was bittersweet as she leaned down, her lips brushing softly against Y/N’s. The kiss was slow, tender, and filled with everything they both longed for. It was a fleeting thing, the kind of kiss that could exist only in secret, in the spaces between breaths and moments.

When they finally pulled away, neither of them spoke for a long while. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable. It was the kind of silence that existed between two people who understood the weight of the world on their shoulders, yet in that silence, they found solace in each other’s presence.

"I don’t want to go." Y/N whispered again, her voice cracking slightly.

Minji nodded, her hand sliding from Y/N’s cheek to her neck, holding her there for a moment longer, as if she could freeze time. "I don’t either. But we have to."

And just like that, the spell broke. The world outside was waiting, pulling them back to the lives they had built, to the lies they had told. But the memory of this moment, of the connection they had shared, would remain.

As they dressed and prepared to leave, neither of them spoke much. The moment was over, but in their hearts, they knew they’d always walk the million steps to meet again. And even if it was just for a few moments, it would always feel like a dream — a hopeless dream, but a dream nonetheless.

"Maybe next time.." Y/N said softly as she stood by the door.

Minji gave a small, sad smile. "Maybe next time."

And as they stepped out into the night, the stars above them seemed to flicker, bright and distant, as if watching them from afar, envying the love that burned so brightly but could never be held.

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the best of friends pt. 29 - step one

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happy bday to that one anon hope u have an amazing bday and that u enjoy the chapter

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