#Queue = mc∆T | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

brailsthesmolgurl · 15 days ago

Text

PUPPY LOVE PT. 2

SUMMARY: What if you went on a school's field trip with your LADs interest (but MC is also on the trip and even worse, she was assigned to be his trip buddy)? How would it turn out?

WARNINGS: High School LADs!, Non-MC reader!, MC is a lil or big bish depending on your feels, pre-relationship crush state, cute first love angst incorporated with happy endings (because recently ive been too much on an angst roll so its time to give you all a breath of fresh air) <3, a yappa read because I can't stop gushing about how cute reader and the guys would be hehe T-T

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This could actually/potentially be an ongoing series because I really like to have a slice of life touch on these boys and I see so much potential in making them more alive and giving you lovelies more sources of delulu hehe <3

All artwork credit goes to 盐也 yannn_ye on Twitter and Weibo!

All dividers are sourced from this creator!

RAFAYEL - ART EXHIBITION

"Hey, wait up!" Just as everyone is ready to board the bus that is set to depart to the Linkon City Hall for a field trip to an art exhibition, you heard a shout from a distance, your head whipping behind you to spot the mauve haired classmate of yours rushing in to join at the end of the queue. Your teacher huffed, raising her clipboard to scribble something on the attendance list. Most likely to remark Rafayel's tardy behaviour.

"Rafayel Qi!" Your teacher called out to him, her index finger beckoning towards him. "Care to explain why you were late?" She seemed disappointed, but a hint of relief splashed across her face. Rafayel indeed, was the most wanted student to join in for this field trip given he is the art genius of the school. Whispers started drifting across the crowd of unfamiliar faces, some students watched him with curiosity while others watched him with envy. There is no denial that Rafayel is a popular kid.

You mimicked everyone's actions, tossing your bag into the storage compartment of the bus and boarded it accordingly, aiming to snatch two seats for you and your trip buddy. Earlier on, when the field trip was first announced, Rafayel had approached you asking to be your field trip companion as it is a requirement to ensure everyone's safety. Without the skip of a heartbeat, you agreed without hesitation. "Great, can't wait for the field trip with you, y/n." Rafayel winks at you and beelined to join his friends on his way out of the class, leaving you in your seat, blushing madly.

"I was up till late last night trying to draft up a mural for the school's main entrance's wall." He explained, an apologetic smile on his face. Both of his hands raised up in surrender. But the teacher only raised her eyebrows, question marks plastered all over her face. "Headmaster Zhou's orders."

Sighing, the teacher tapped her pen against the clipboard, eyeing the list of names before she spoke. "Fine, just because the headmaster asked you to do it then I shall not reprimand you. Glad you are joining us on this trip Rafayel." She briefly waved him off and Rafayel hopped onto the bus right after he placed his belongings in the storage lot.

You nervously tapped your fingers against your knee, entertaining yourself to the scattered voices in the bus. You do not know anyone in the bus as this field trip is open for anyone who is interested and given your class consist mostly of nerds, none of them even bothered to apply for this field trip, other than you and Rafayel and MC. The seat you had chosen is near the end of the bus, where chatters would be more hushed and would provide a more necessary ground for you and Rafayel to talk.

Craning your head up, you try to look over the heads of other students to try to spot Rafayel. And there he comes, with his blazer draped lazily over his wide shoulders as he boards the bus. His eyes scanned the crowd before they landed onto yours, and he smiled dashingly. Seeing his reaction, you averted your gaze, your cheeks scorching at the same time. Honestly, you have always had a crush on Rafayel, but you were not sure if he felt the same towards you.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" You looked up, and inwardly frowned when you see a raven haired boy looking down at you, his headset swung around his neck, with an awkward smile directed at you. "The bus is full and the only spot available is this one." What? You turned your head to see where Rafayel is at only to find him already seated at the front seat, next to someone that you could not identify based on the back of their heads. You felt betrayed at that moment, your heart shrunk at the thought of him choosing to sit with someone else rather than you. You even questioned if you were hyped up for nothing, and that perhaps he was just trying to fish for attention from you but does not actually want anything to do with you.

"Yeah sure, the seat is opened." You gestured towards the currently open seat next to you and the guy sat down immediately. Once all of the students are seated, the teacher was the last one to come onto the bus, initiating the last head count before the bus departs. She did mentioned something at the end of her headcount duty but your sense of hearing was already drowned out by the constant low murmur in your conscience.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

When the bus arrived at the Linkon City Hall, you witnessed the crowds that are huddled at the main entrance, entering into the art exhibition with excitement. The City Hall was decorated with large banners on its pillars, showcasing some of the main highlights of the art exhibition; abstract art, sculptures, dioramas and etc. It is called the grand art exhibition for a reason and the duration spans for a whole month, where themes would be exchanged throughout every week. "I am Dennis." The guy beside you spoke and you turned to face him, one of your eyebrows quirked up at his sudden introduction. "The teacher mentioned whoever we are sat together with, that shall be our partner for the day. Haven't you heard?"

"I see." Your reply came off to be more monotonous than what you had expected. As a courtesy, you introduced yourself to him. "I am y/n, it is nice to meet you Dennis."

The raven haired guy tucked his headsets into a gray dust bag and followed up with another question, thinking that it would not be a bother for him to get to know you more since he would be spending most of the day being your partner anyways. He may as well be on decent terms with you just so the both of you could be comfortable with one another. "You're a fan of arts?"

"You can say so." You nodded, briefly catching his appearance. Dennis does not look bad himself, with dark grey eyes mimicking nearly the same tone as his raven hair. "How about you?" You decided to return the question to him, seeing how he was trying to make conversation. It could maybe, act as a good distraction for you before your conscience starts chewing you up.

The small talk lasted till the bus was well parked and everyone stood up, waiting to get off of the bus. This is the exact moment you caught on to who your crush was sitting next to, MC. You could feel your heart getting crushed at that moment. Of course it has to be MC, the prettiest girl in class, the one that people would always list as their top favourite. When Rafayel walks next to her, it looked good. They looked good as a couple afterall and that got you to sigh, already feeling defeated to go through this exhibition for the remainder of the day.

"The ones at the back, you guys should get down first, because if I do not keep an eye on you, god knows where you guys would disappear to." True enough, the teacher's gaze was trained on the few students at the back of the bus, for they are well known for their playful attitude. "The rest from the back, go along with them." You checked onto your seat before following Dennis out onto the line. This time, you heart had seemingly slowed down its beats as you got closer to where Rafayel was seated.

"Hey." You felt a lingering touch on your pinky finger when the line halted, the teacher shouting something incoherent outside of the bus. You were so lost in your own mood that you did not realise that you are right beside Rafayel, his charming smile apparent on his face. He was indeed looking forward to this trip with you and his smile conveys it, but you did not managed to catch it. More like you did not want to. "I'll catch up to you later yeah?"

No apology, no explanation, no nothing. Your inner self just crossed her arms and huffed, chin up and is already stomping back into your heart, then slamming the gummy-organ-door behind her with a huge SPLAT! He just has that stupid smile adorned on his handsome face while MC stands beside him, her eyebrows furrowed when she scanned you from your top to your bottom, lowkey judging you. "It's okay." You took MC's dagger-like gaze as a warning, even more motivated to back off when Rafayel did not even bother explaining himself. "I am paired up with Dennis, I will just go with him." Rafayel's smile faltered, his eyes lost the spark for a short moment when you shut him down just like that. "You guys have fun."

Dennis, who heard the call of his name turned his head in response and he looked down at you, his towering height surpassing Rafayel's and he beamed at you. The small talk the both of you shared just now was enlightening. Dennis is good at cracking a joke or two and is decent enough for you to initiate conversations with him, but you did not expect what comes out of his mouth next would change the course of your trip. "Careful of the steps, y/n." That sentence irked Rafayel.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

"I can't believe this is art." Dennis commented, face so close to the canvas that he could kiss it if he puffs his lips out. "What can you even derive from this?" He turns to look at you with his index pointing towards the canvas in full black, disbelief is the only look that he has been carrying the whole time the both of you are in the section for abstract modern art.

You stifle back your laughter, his company surprisingly refreshing for you. Your chest felt lighter just by basking in the moment of nonsensical commentaries. "I don't know, black is the new IT colour?" Dennis chuckled at your commentary and shake his head, his hand coming up to shield his face. A habit you had noticed throughout the one hour whenever he is genuinely amused. Dennis continues on to the next piece, eager to complete his achievement of being able to find a piece of abstract art that he could interpret.

However, from across the hall, stood Rafayel, hands in his pockets, his blazer now worn as a proper fit instead of draped over his shoulders. He was supposed to enjoy this field trip, but here he is, stuck next to MC who knows nothing nor shows any damn interest to the artworks that were on display. The least she could do was stare at it, but the only thing she could spare her attention on was that technological brick in her hands. "Rafayel, I think we should take a picture to commemorate this. What do you think?"

The same high pitched voice that stuck around from the start of the trip till now. The same voice that tricked him into thinking that you were the one who had secretly made a pact behind his back when he got onto the bus and saw Dennis beelining with a purpose towards the seat next to you. He had no idea how you knew Dennis nor did he bothered to question further when you were seemingly distant to him and seeing Dennis reminded you to watch for your steps in the bus, it got your crush equally devastated. "Rafayel." He nearly forgotten that his presence was required by MC.

"Did you not see the huge warning signs plastered all over the hall stating that no pictures were allowed?" Annoyed, Rafayel pointed towards a few of the signs he was mentioning to her and that got MC flustered, nervously tucking her stray hair behind her ears to hopefully rub off some of the awkwardness. Turning away from MC, his eyes caught sight of you and Dennis. The both of you walked in tandem, going from one artwork to the other, him making a comment and you smiling unguardedly.

The mauve haired crush of yours felt something simmering under his aloof facade. His expressions now stoic and unreadable as he continued witnessing your interactions with Dennis. Lips pressed into a near-imperceptible line, his posture has instilled an unnatural forced tension as if he was holding something back. Perhaps the primal urge to push through the crowd and landing a fist right onto Dennis' pointed cheek or the urge to play the rival love interest by snatching you by your arm and whisking you away just like those soap dramas he would watch during exam seasons to destress.

Your conscience is back, banging against the same door she had shut closed just a while ago, yelling something about a dour gaze that was trained on you behind your back. You listened and turned, and you wished you had not done it. Rafayel was there, at the end of the hall, with an expression that is close to impassive, but his eyes gave him away. The purple pink orbs of his studied you, like the marbled floor was holding him hostage, forcing him to decide if he should approach you or to just walk away.

"I need the restroom." You informed Dennis and broke the eye contact with Rafayel before he could make up his mind. Dennis responded in an instant, informing you that he would stay put and await for you. You pushed yourself through the crowds---earning yourself a few death glares from adults---trying to get to somewhere that could give you the space to breathe, or the least, to let your conscience crawl back into her bed to rest so she could stop pestering you about the only thing that could topple your mood.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

After a short romance-crisis that came to no avail on the toilet seat, you washed your face and headed back out to the grand hall only to be met with Rafayel leaning against the newly restored wall, arms crossed and clearly anticipating your arrival. Catching his figure, you swiftly turned on your heel to head the opposite way. "Y/n!" He called out for you and you hated the way your feet stopped abruptly.

Wearing your best poker face, you faced him and your inner conscience fainted. Surrounded by art, Rafayel blends right in as a living statue. His hair tousled with striations of fingertips that ran through his hair one too many times as he was waiting for his crush. He was anxious. "What?" You clipped, crossing your arms.

"I did not mean to sit with MC in the bus." His gaze did not falter from your eyes. Those orbs of his had now shifted into a hue of pinkish under the sunlight's embrace. "She told me that you were sitting with Dennis. And when I looked up, he was there, standing right next to you." His gaze fell, quietly counting the fine lines on the tiles. "I thought you went behind my back to sit with him."

Listening to his explanation, you only found out that the both of you were actually in the same position the whole time. Both thinking the same exact idea of being betrayed. "Why did you not come over to ask?" Your arms dropped from it's interlinked position, your eyes softening simultaneously.

Rafayel's ears started taking on a shade of ruby, his gaze lingered on you for a bit and back to the floor they went. "That's because when I first asked you about it in class, you seemed a little reluctant to sit with me." His hand came up to rub the back of his neck as the blush spreads across his cheeks now. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable." This guy and his antics. It made you mimicked his blush, a pinkish hue now tinting your cheeks in response.

"Why would I be uncomfortable?" You took this opportunity to dig deeper, to find out his trail of thoughts. To know if he actually reciprocates the same feelings you harbour for him. Despite many times he would do things that makes you question your dynamic with him, but given his flirtatious nature, you seemed to be standing more on the odds of him actually liking you.

Rafayel was a little taken aback by your reply. You are not the type to ask open-ended questions and hearing this from you, his lips curled up into a smile, his flirty nature kicking into drive. "You might think that I am only playing with your feelings?" You bit your lip, not knowing what he is planning to say next. You felt a warm touch against your cheek and you looked at him, one of his hand cupping your cheek and he smiled. At you. "When truthfully, I only do that to you. Despite what everyone says about me being a playboy and all, rumours stay rumours for a reason, cutie." The usage of that nickname only added more significance to you now. He only calls you that and he could not make it any clearer than ever.

Seeing your lips turning up into a smile, Rafayel leaned in at the right moment and gently pecked your lips to further prove his statement. Pulling back onto to be met with the same artwork he had saw just a while back, the one that was hung in the corner, with the ominous title of 'RED EVERYWHERE'. You are a great depiction of that artwork now. His hand that was on your cheek rubbed small circles in an attempt to soothe your redness. "Say cutie, why don't we sit together on the ride home later?"

SYLUS - ODDITY MUSEUM

"This is a big museum, so I would advice all of you to walk in small groups so you guys won't go lost alright?" The teacher pushed the glasses higher up his nose bridge after performing a headcount, an eyebrow of his raised when he realised that the list is missing one more head. Puzzlement present on his face as he had just started this job a month ago and is not familiar with any of the faces matching the names. "We are still missing one more named Sy--"

A loud roar thundered through the quiet neighbourhood. A flash of midnight racing through the bright streets till it screeched to a sudden stop at the side of the road. Conversations and chatters filled the air once the rider got off of his superbike, dressed in the mirroring uniform as everyone at the front entrance of the museum. The rider then removed his helmet and the tuff of silver hair got the chatters going on even more. It is no doubt it's the last student in the head count list. Sylus.

"And I think we are all good for the head count." The teacher announced and he stepped aside to allow entry into the infamous Oddities and Curiosity Museum in Linkon. Sylus' figure towered over most of the boys on the trip, earning him some reproachful looks from the guys while the girls find his attendance to be nurturing to their eyes. It is not that hard to earn such attention when he is a scion of a notable family; the one that helps build the school you are currently attending. With captivating features and an aura that exudes both elegance and latence strangth, Sylus holds the top one spot for your school's best looking male.

The air has changed the moment you stepped into the building. It was cooler indoors compared to the jarring heat you had to endure through the process of headcount just now. The museum reeked of aged wood, soured candle wax with hints of metal and dust. The lighting inside was provided by webbed bulbs hung from wrought-iron chandeliers, flickering slightly with every microscopic sway as if it was lit by the ancient mechanism of candlelight, even though they were clearly wired.

Sylus casually strided, gait relaxed as he widened his steps to catch up to you. "Y/n." You were so enthralled by the interior of the museum that you had nearly forgotten your crush is right behind you, his height towering over yours. If he were to grow any taller, the top of his head would have brushed the cobwebs off of the bulbs. You looked up at him and prompted for him to continue. "Are you disturbed by museums as such?" His index finger pointed behind you, eyes flitting between you to the item behind you and you turned.

A twin-headed calf, stuffed carefully into a jar the size of your palm, pickling in formaldehyde. Odd skeletal remains labeled 'unverified' strung up by fishing lines against the wallpapered walls, each of it an odd size and shape and none of it fit the profile of a human skeletal structure. Taxidermied animals posed in eerie human-like positions stood guard below those skeletal remains. A chill ran down your spine when you figured that this trip may be more alike to a haunted house adventure and you were silently hoping that there would not be any actors in costumes nor automated dolls that lunges at you through motion triggered rigs.

"No." Your voice steady and you even threw in a head shake to prove your point to your crush. One of his eyebrow was raised, questioning your confidence. Sylus knows that you are not one to enjoy horror-themed items, hence the question was asked. Knowing you for a couple of years, you could not even bear to sit through a police demonstration in school. Those annual events where they get the police to come to school, to explain crimes that are common amongst teenagers and showcase the consequences one shall face if they were to go against the law. It always ends with a good whack performed on 'cotton-stuffed criminals' as to contribute to the anti-bullying sentiment. And those were the times Sylus really enjoys watching you peeking out from the cracks in between your fingers whenever a 'thwack' sound echoes through the hall. You raised both of your hands up and waved them, smiling through thick skin. "I really am not scared Sylus."

Nodding, the man gestured towards the hallway ahead and you could feel your knees buckled subsconsciously. The path ahead is narrow and labyrinthe-coded, with velvet curtains draped along the walls, parting small gaps that reveals glass cabinets and shadow boxes filled with more things that you have to bravely scan through now that you had established your fearless attitude in front of your crush. You could not disappoint.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

10 minutes into the trip, you had been unusually slow in your steps, eyes warily trying to take a glimpse into any glass cases at any angle possible so you could prepare yourself before arriving in front of it. Sylus was beside you the whole time, hand occasionally brushing against yours in the tighter corners of the walkways. You come across a cracked porcelain music box that was displayed in a case, the lack of winding key does not stop it from playing a haunting tune. And what got your goosebumps growing was the ballerina centerpiece was made out of skeletal remains. After staring at it for a good 20 seconds, you were eager to move on only to hear someone calling out to the guy next to you. "Sylus!"

The brunette long-haired classmate of yours approached, eyes beaming up at Sylus. "I was looking for you everywhere! You have to give me a tour of some of these pieces that your father had donated to this museum!" That is an interesting piece of information that you did not hear from Sylus himself. If only you were made of guts of steel, you would have told MC to back off from your field trip 'date' but clearly, reading the room is never the girl's strong suit. Even if it is, she barely cares to acknowledge it. "I want to hear everything about it!" And she slings herself around his arm casually. If she could transform into a snake, Sylus would definitely be wrapped around by her slithering figure at this pace, no doubt.

Sylus turned to you, eyes already wary of your reaction as he did look forward to this trip. Specifically, spending some alone time with you. You are quite the social butterfly in your class and Sylus rarely gets to spend some quiet time with you. "I'll be fine." You are quick to address a question he did not even plan to ask. Because the guy was not even planning to spend his precious time with anyone else, nobody else other than you. "You go ahead and tell her what she needs to know. I will meet you later okay." Your tone was reassuring but your heartbeat was quickening, your conscience already rolling up her sleeves and flossing her teeth to get ready to chomp at MC for stealing your date. But the conscious stays within her own bounds and you were glad they do not have the chance of overriding your movements.

You then continue to ascend further into the museum, his explanations conveyed in a flat tone to MC the last thing you hear as the aphotic darkness of the next exhibition room open its arms for you, floorboards creaking underneath your weight as if playing a welcoming tune to you. MC's newfound information did somewhat bothered you. Maybe that makes sense given that her father has close ties with Sylus. They might not be as close as the likelihood of being childhood friends but given the amount of information MC knows, it may suggest otherwise to a clueless y/n. Her heartstrings tugged a little, part of her wanted to believe that Sylus has his own reasons for not telling her anything about his father's contributions to this oddity museum. Yet, another part of her just wanted to lean towards the idea of biasness.

Sylus on the other hand, watched you leave out of his peripheral vision and he grunted inwardly. The reason why he did not say no to MC was because he remembered his father pestering him to introduce the items that he had donated, for he claimed that these oddities are part of his blood and sweat and tears and Sylus is only playing his part of being the good kid to his father's glory. At the back of his mind, he was a little unsettled. Maybe more than just a little. "O...M...G... Sylus, I didn't know your dad is this cool!" MC's shrill voice grounded Sylus back to land, he was barely registering whatever she was saying or asking until y/n's name was mentioned. "I don't know why y/n has that long face, all these things hold a piece of legacy and yet she seemed like she did not even want to be here. What a waste."

Sylus' eyes drifted to MC for a moment, watching her pout and he eyed her arm that was wrapped around his bicep and he sighed, using his other arm to push her grip away. "Save your compliments for the informational boards next to the exhibits, I've had enough of explanations." MC was dazed, confused as her arms dropped to her sides and she watched as the man departed from her side.

"But Sylus!" She called out to him and stumbled forward, grabbing onto the edge of his shirt for support and Sylus gritted his jaw, already getting annoyed at her. He glared down at her, crimson eyes glowed brightly in contrast to the dim lighting. His lips now are upturned, frown evident and MC gulped. She had never seen him show this sort of expression. Chuckling nervously, she released her grip on him and she tried to reason with him. "My dad actually asked me to go on this trip with you so I can get to know more about you and get closer to you. Your dad was the one who encouraged us to be closer to one another given that I had just moved here."

Sylus' austere demeanour did not falter. He may be aloof to y/n's eyes, but this guy holds more consciousness of his surroundings compared to the average guy of his age. Seeing MC standing in front of him, with puppy eyes, he sent her a look of reproach. "You already knew that you're new here. All the more reason for you to meet some new friends, MC." Casually, he adjusted the collar of his uniform. "I am already well acquainted with y/n and I do not wish to be disturbed." Then, he careened out of the room with long strides to catch up with the one he really wanted to spend time with.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

Alone, you had arrived at the Paranormal Wing. The narrow hallways do not give way to other options for other exhibits and haunted items are just a natural recipe for disaster. Looking behind, your heart thumped at the lack of crowds. You happen to be the only one here and you silently cursed yourself into thinking why did you not wait for Sylus to finish his tour. Yet, you knew that seeing how close MC is with him, you would only end up gnawing at your lips and pushing through the whole exhibition by yourself anyways. Either ways, you are here now and there is no turning back.

The room was darker than the rest of the museum, the wall lamps hesitated to brighten up the corners of room. It was dead silent too---the kind of silent that one would be granted in a sepulcher, where one's breath and footsteps echoes the sign of life. Even the air does not fit right through your nostrils. You followed along the carpeted path, footsteps light and ready to sprint for your life if anything comes to life. Coming close to an antique mirror that was held up by a charred wooden frame, its aged glass reflected dully and carried weird etchings on the mirror pane. The plaque below it displays:

Mirror of Fate. A mirror that tells the present of the future, behold your greatest fears and hope as you stare into your reflection.

Curiosity nagged at you and you stared at your own reflection. At first you seemed normal, just like how you would look like in your everyday mirror but when the hairs on the back of your neck started standing it got you having second thoughts. When did your eyes started to droop?

The light behind you flickered in morse codes and through the reflection, you watched the silhoutte of an aphotic, tall, angular figure hovered behind you. Asphyxia hit you for the first time and your feet had a set navigation before your mind could make you turn. The silhouette came closer, with a pair of eyeless sockets fixed on you through the mirror and panic shot through your senses. "AHHH!" You screamed and dashed, missing the exit sign entirely and heading deeper into the exhibition in search for a place to hide. All of your hairs are on high alert now, metaphorically watching the surrounding for you as your own eyes darted for an ideal hideout spot.

You ran past more exhibits in glass cases and you did not halt until you spotted a storage-like alcove tucked behind a heavy velvet purple curtain. Your heart is banging against your chest so hard that the silence is no longer a concern. You dived right towards the alcove and curled up, tears forming around your eyes as you tried to comfort yourself, struggling to find logical reasoning from what you had just witnessed. There was no way that was an illusion---probably just holograms and your nerves playing tricks on you---it must have been something of the supernatural. In that moment, you wished that you had never strayed from Sylus.

Your crush on the other end of the museum, noticed that you had already advanced too quickly through the other rooms. His chest tightened, a subtle pang, quiet but urgent. Striding from one room to another, he searched for you. "Y/n?" Your name was like a prayer to him, on repeat and held on with hope. He certainly wished that you did not misunderstood the scenario that happened between him and MC. But even if you did, the blame is on him and he would not back down from comforting you as long as you consent him to do so. Sylus never pushes himself onto you, for he is a man of manners and that is one of the main reasons why he did not disclose the information about his father's donated oddities because he did not want to come off as to be a show off in front of you. He would eventually reveal it if there was a chance given.

"Where did you go..." He trailed off, his murmurs swallowed by the walls surrounding him till he came to the Paranormal Room and his eyes caught sight of the mirror immediately, the same haunting figure still stood there with those hollowed eye sockets. However, a line at the edge of the mirror blinked every five seconds, with the writing 'YOU HAD BEEN PRANKED! BOO!'. The dots connected in Sylus' head. You must have been scared shitless from this mirror's gimmicks. "Y/n." His eyes snapped towards the only way out and he started to trace your steps, trying to muster up an imagination on where you could have ran off to.

Turning a corner and walking past some more glass cases featuring shrunken heads, the man gruntled in annoyance when his wide shoulders could barely fit through the narrowing halls. Then he caught it, the light uneven breathings behind one of the heavy curtains. The ones that covers what seemed to be a perfect hiding spot for someone a size like yours. He slowly approached it, not wanting to startle anything behind the curtains and he drew it open. You sat there, hands cupped against your ears and you looked up in an instant when the curtains are withdrawn.

The look you bear on your face could make him burn the whole museum down. Your eyes were wide with pupils blown wide, tears brimmed around your rims while a few managed to trickle down your cheek. You were shivering in fear, hands lowering its guard when your eyes took in Sylus' figure. "Sylus..." Your meek voice got the man kneeling down right in front of you. You were really trying your best to hold your tears back, your choked sobs now changing its pace towards being relieved. "Sylus, I..."

He grabbed you by the arm and with one forceful tug, you were pulled into his chest. Your cheek landed with a thud against his chest, and he envelopes you into a hug. He was silent, his heartbeat and calm breaths formed a comforting rhythm for you to abide. You returned the hug, arms snaked around his waistline and you stayed in his arms, letting your cries take over. The whole time Sylus just held you close, head leaned against your temple and the hand behind your back rubbing up and down to soothe you. "It's okay now, I am right here y/n."

Pulling back, your eyes seek for him in a feeble attempt to determine if he was just another apparition that is part of the museum's party tricks. His gaze softened, knowing exactly what was running through your mind and he gently wrapped his big hands around your smaller ones and brought it up to the side of his face. On cue, you started tracing his jawline, as if you're trying to remember how it feels under your touch if there comes a day you ever go blind. "I should've stayed with you." He broke the silence again, the tension now building as his crimson orbs stared right into yours, acknowledging your fear. You caught on to his longing stare, where he darts in between your eyes and your lips.

You leaned up and pressed your lips against his. It was sudden, but Sylus reciprocated it like it was meant to happen. He had always wanted to taste your lips, but he could never see himself forcing something out of you and with how you took the initiative today, he was glad that you felt the same about him. The kiss ended after a minute and you pulled back, blushing furiously as you tried to hide your face against his chest. Sylus chuckled in return, hands coming up to brush your cheek and conveniently tugging a stray strand of your hair behind your ear and he whispered. "There shall not be any distractions from now on, sweetie." And in that hidden corner of the museum---surrounded by strangeness and darkness that could easily grant you a lifetime of trauma--- you felt safe in his arms.

XAVIER - SCOUTS CAMP

You fished out your ticket excitedly, staring at the wooden signboard above you, with the words 'AZURE PEAK' etched on it intricately. Verdurous greenery is a common theme here and you were glad to be able to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and to spend peace at such a refreshing camp. Other than that, getting to hang out with your crush Xavier is a plus point. Initially, your summer holiday is going to be 'eventful'; you had plans that consisted of books, naps, games and there goes the dour cycle, repeating itself till the new semester takes place. Boring of course, but it has been a common routine of yours for every year.

Walking out of your class at the last day of school before the summer break hits, your eyes caught sight of a poster on the notice board outside of your class. The lime green typography against a dark blue background caught your eye immediately. You scanned through the details on the poster, realising that it is a summer camp event that was held by your school's scouts society. "Are you interested?" A voice travelled from beside you. Turning your head, you caught sight of your classmate ---whom is also your longtime crush--- Xavier. His head cocked aside, body leaned lazily against the wall as he awaited for your response. His blond hair swayed slightly to the gentle breeze, the sunlight creating a halo effect on his head.

"I had never been to these kind of camps..." You trailed off, your finger sliding across the paper to land on a tiny fine print. "Over here it states that priorities are given to members of the scouts society." Sighing, you shook your head as if you had already decided your fate but Xavier lightly grabbed ahold of your wrists, his eyes bearing witness to your slight disappointment. Feeling such a innocent yet close contact of his, you could not help but blushed at the interaction.

"I've taken the liberty to join the scouts society this semester." He used his other hand to fish something out of his pocket and it revealed an A6 version of the poster; thinner, more rectangular and has a close resemblance to what an amusement park ticket would look like. "Here, I got one more extra." He cooed, placing the ticket in your palm and practically forcing you to take the ticket without your consent. Xavier knew your summer schedule like the back of your hand and this time, he may have found the right reason to get you out of your confined room for once.

Xavier had always wanted to spend his summer holidays with you but on multiple occasions, he was dragged on for family trips and holidays that he could not even find the time to spend it with you. At the start of this new semester, he was already told that his parents would not be around during the summer holidays due to their busy schedule and without hesitation, Xavier joined the scouts society after finding out that you never had the opportunity to join a camping trip. Yes, dough-faced bunny went through all of the trainings and marches and instruction abiding for the sake of gaining access to this exclusive scouts camp just for you.

Staring at the ticket in your palm, your jaws went slacked because you knew that these tickets are very hard to get especially when it is such a popular option for teens your age to spend the summer holidays away from home. "Thank you Xavier." You looked up at him and you grinned, corners of your lips nearly touching your ear lobes. Seeing you smiling like a Chesire Cat, his heart thumped slightly against his chest. All of the hardships he had went through during the society immediately shoved into the back of his head, locked and sealed with yellow tape. Xavier returned your smile, your radiance already outplaying the sun's rays beckoning at his back.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

After submitting your ticket at the entrance, you waited patiently by a notice board that displays the map of the trail. Yesterday night through text, Xavier had asked for you to wait for him because he was afraid of you not being able to conquer the mountain trail by yourself---he was also rather keen on the idea of being able to hold your hand as he leads you up the hardest trail he could opt for. His concern---or so you had convinced yourself to believe---had left you awake in your bed, tossing and turning like you had just won the lottery. Hence, now you stood, at the foot of the mountain, with eyebags that could easily be disguised as an eye makeup gone wrong and a feeling of regret that weighs heavier than your packed bags.

"Y/n." A distant voice travelled to you and you slowly looked up from the view of the crumpled leaves beneath your feet and there he stood, right in front of you, with the signature eye smile that you are hopelessly in love with. "Oh, are you alright?" The smile dropped and he leaned down closer to analyse your face. You stood still, taking in the view of his cerulean blues as he eyed you, your heart pounding against your rib cage. A hand flew up and it landed on your head, his smile returning when he noticed your dazed state. "It's okay, I'm sure you're tired of waiting for me. Sorry for keeping you waiting."

His apology waked you from your reverie and your eyes widened, trying to figure out what he was apologising for. Playing it cool, you smiled back and shook your head. "No, Xavier, don't apologise for something you did not do wrong."

His hand on top of your head ruffled your hair slightly and he chuckled. "How is making you wait for me not a crime? You're so nice that your eyebags are the ones betraying you." Pointing out your insecurity and making it into a lighthearted joke is only something Xavier manages to do and never once were you offended by it. Before you could say something else, he carried both of your bags with ease and jerked his head towards the direction of the trail. "Shall we start our ascend now?"

The trail that Xavier had chosen features a lot of gentle slopes, decorated by moss-covered boulders and accompanied with wooden signposts to indicate the altitude and remainder time needed to reach the campsite following the trail. With a beginner like you however, the 10 minutes signpost that you had seen seemed like a total joke. This trail was supposed to only take 30 minutes and yet at the 50th minute, you are still not reaching the campsite. But neither you nor Xavier is complaining. "Let's take a small break, y/n." Xavier suggested and held his hand out to you.

You grabbed hold onto his hand, the warmth of it adding a tinge of blush to your cheeks and he hoisted you up the boulder and sat you down right next to him. The both of you were so close that the birdsongs were silenced as your shoulders touched against one another. "Thanks." You managed to muster out as you tried to catch your quick breaths and you internally frown when he withdrew his hand from yours. Sat next to him, you got to actually admire the nature enveloping you. The dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy in warm, golden slants. The forest consists of mostly pine trees, which exhaled the scent of pine needles and earth that made you wished that you could bottle up the scent in an air freshener and bring it home with you.

"Hey." His soothing voice broke through the nascent peacefulness you were experiencing. "I'm glad that you decided to come on this trip with me."

Your lips tugged into a wide smile, nodding. "Yeah, I'm glad too." And for the rest of the climb, as the trail grew steeper and the sun rises higher above your heads, you silently wished that this climb never comes to an end.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

After arriving at the campsite, Xavier was practically ripped away from your side by his other scout members. He did flashed you an apologetic smile before he was dragged away but seeing him being a necessity within his society does spark a sense of curiosity in you. Xavier has always been the more reserved type in your class, always hunched at the back of the class, napping away ---while still getting to be on top of his grades---and lacks initiative to start conversations with everyone. Everyone else except you. At the camp site, you felt like an accessory now, just a potted plant amongst the scout members until a girl approached you, a clipboard against her chest and a smile on her face. "Y/n right?"

"Yeah." You chirped, finally having to be able to talk to someone who is aside from your crush. The girl slid her pen down the clipped paper on her clipboard and hummed in unison of her pen taps. Her eyes leafing through line by line until it halted. Her pearly whites naturally returning to her face when her gaze catches yours.

"I will need your help to go and get some water from the stream down that path there. Do you think you can do it?" Hesitation evident in her voice but her grin was a contrast to her worry for you. "Just two buckets full would do. We need it to put off the campfire later so it would be best to get it ready before the skies turn dark." Your nod in response reeled in a cheer from the girl with the clipboard and she gestured to the two buckets behind her.

Heaving up two empty buckets is a full routine for someone whom holds grudge against sports. Leaves piled along the narrow and bald pathway, a muddy carpet spread out ahead of you as you trudged through while being serenaded by the cicada choir. The trail leads you straight to the stream as mentioned by the girl earlier and from a distance, you caught sight of a blond mane standing by the side of the opalescent river. No doubt that is Xavier and next to him, stood MC. Her brunette locks tied up into a messy bun, sleeves pushed up on both of her arms and legs and she was gleaming at Xavier, her smile wide.

"Why are you so funny?!" Thwack. A slap landed on his shoulder and Xavier staggered backwards, nearly losing his balance on the pebbled bank. Now he figured why the scouts leader asked her to go for wood foraging with him. "I thought you were here for y/n, but I didn't know you would be here helping me! Isn't this destiny?!"

"What---" Before Xavier could utter another word, he was yanked backwards by the edge of his shirt and the muscular, tall young man staggered yet again. The sentence of his finished by y/n who stood by his side; fists balled, eyebrows furrowed, ears painted red and if she could, steam is pumping full on out of her ear canals. "Y/n?"

"So you left me all alone at the camp just so you could be here with..." Your eyes trailed off to MC, her smile had been replaced with the shape of an 'O'. "Her?"

"No, I was just asked to team up with her for wood foraging." Xavier blinks in confusion, gaze flitting between his crush and the wannabe crush of his. "I was just here to wash my hands and she caught up and started saying all of this..."

Your palm made him stopped talking, grin slowly taking place on your lips before you turned to look at MC. "You can stop trying, MC." Her hasty blinks urged you to continue on. "I saw you were waiting for me to approach from a mile away before you decided to go up to Xavier and pull whatever this stunt is called." Your hands gestured to the space in front of you.

Eyes widened, MC only bit back, metaphorical fangs baring as a defensive measure. "Well? So what if I did? What can you do about it?"

A hand slithered up the back of your neck and gripped onto your chin, guiding your face to turn. And Xavier pressed his lips to yours, his other arm safely found its spot around your waist and he pulled you back against him. The chaste kiss was not long enough for you to close your eyes but it sure as hell made a statement to MC. "You can't, because y/n's my girlfriend now." Steam started charging out of all of your orifices now as your face burnt crimson.

ZAYNE - NATIONAL ZOO

The morning sun rays gleamed across the animal themed arch of the zoo's entrance. Beside you, MC was admiring her own facial features on the small pocket mirror that she always carry around. One could easily tell with her dolled up face, she is looking forward to this zoo trip. "I wonder where is Zayne." She muttered under her breath, an impatient grunt slipped past her glossed lips and she shoved the pocket mirror back into the side pocket of her bag, casually flipping her locks only for it to land gracefully against her back. "Y/n, I'll just catch you around later. If you spot Zayne, buzz him to come to me."

Unaware of the sudden interaction initiated by the class' popular girl, your responses were not even acknowledged as she made for a beeline straight past the crowds with a destination you do not care to ask. You were never close with her anyways. In fact, you were not even close with anyo---

"Y/n." Coiffed onyx hair and hazel-green orbs occupied your field of vision. The young man adorned in the regimental inky blazer, paired with a white button up and scarlet tie turns out to be the only one you are probably close with. His index finger pushed the spectacles of his higher up the bridge of his nose, allowing the optic tool to sit on the slight hump. "Never thought you would sign up to be on this field trip."

Meeting Zayne in the library was initially a coincidence, but given your strong suit in Biology, one question from him ---while he was sat two tables away from you---turned your library sessions into an uncalled routine. Two tables away became the seat next to yours. One question eventually turned into theological debates and ardent discussions. You would always see him plopping himself next to you, books stacked, notes filled and glasses optional until discussions get serious. Just like that, you never knew crushes develop in such mundane ways.

Diffident in nature, your gaze only held on for a few seconds and it hit the ground faster than Newton's Law could apply. "I...I never thought I would see you outside of that library." Your witty retort tugged Zayne's lips into a small smile and he fell in step with yours, matching your pace. Before you could forget, you decided to relay the message to him on behalf of the queen bee's request. "MC is looking for you but I don't really know where she went."

"Oh is it?" His dull tone making it hard for you to decipher his thoughts. MC is his childhood friend afterall and there has been a well precedented connection between their friendship as it closely resembles a relationship. A few girls glanced your way as they walked past, whispering behind hands---Zayne's popularity stemming more from his looks rather than his nonchalance. Yet, you know that he is not entirely stoic, based on your several interactions with him. You genuinely find him intriguing. "I think I just caught a glimpse of her, I will head on over to see what she wants. I'll meet you at the petting zoo enclosure in a few." Okay, maybe your crush on him shall always be friend zoned.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

You slowed your pace, gait similar to a wounded animal that is in quarantine. Metaphorically speaking, you are trapped within the confines of your mind. Zayne's response towards MC's request to meet him was a clear indication of where you stand in his heart. And that is nowhere. "Y/n." Your head shot up immediately, back slammed into ramrod straight posture, only to be disappointed to see Grayson in front of you. The nerd classmate of yours whom would sometimes tag along with Zayne to the library only for him to be shooed away to a whole different corner so that he would not 'disturb' the both of your heated debates. "Where's Zayne?"

Met with the question you could not even answer, you simply shrugged in return, shoulders back to its sluggish position. You adjusted the strap of your shoulder bag, the weight of your camera in it is proving to be a burden. "Here, let me help." Greyson offered when he noticed you shifting your bag, a wince painfully obvious on your face and before you could stop him, he is already tugging the strap off of your shoulder and carried it in his grip with ease.

"Thank you." You blushed, the redness creeping onto the tip of your ears and you walked next to him. Greyson although is in the same class as you, you barely get to talk to him so seeing him being so gentleman-like got you flabbergasted. "I didn't know you would come for this trip."

"Why wouldn't I?" He chuckled, left hand coming up to rub the back of his neck in hopes of rubbing off some of the nerves he is having. "I love animals. They are adorable." His eyes caught yours at the end of his sentence, slate-colored orbs shielded behind his thick round glasses. "Do you want to have a look at the capybaras?" Fishing out a map from his bagpack, he unfolded it and scanned the piece of A3, finger landing directly on the brownish creature with a tangerine sat on its head. "It should be around the east area." Figuring that there is nothing else you would like to do, you decided to head along with his suggestion, the thought of meeting Zayne at the petting zoo tossed aside for abit.

"So, Greyson." You started, the cobblestoned pathways marked with vibrant stones, the pen housing the infamous capybaras closing in on your vision. A small crowd could be seen lined against the railings of the pen, with big smiles taped on their face and a stalk of grass in their hands. "Does Zayne have a crush on MC?" Your inquisitive nature got to the best of you and asking Zayne's best pal seemed to be the most 'non-intrusive' method for you to settle on your feelings towards that crush of yours. Once and for all.

Greyson's mahogany colored eyebrow raised, followed by his eyes, pupils narrowing when it comes in contact with the sun's warmth. A slight hum from his throat suggested he is in deep rumination till he broke the silence. "I don't think so." Your heart sighed in relief. "But recently he has been meeting up with her after the library sessions." There goes the slight erratic beats again in your chest. "Not sure why but if I recalled he mentioned about something wanting to advance to second base..?"

Greyson's voice had turned into a buzz after the second base term. What kind of second base? It could only point further to the rumor in which Zayne and MC are indeed in a relationship. Or else how would one meet up with someone of their opposite gender to advance to second base? The points in your head are starting to add up now. How Zayne would come to you almost everyday with fresh new discussion topics, getting your insights and initiating conversations and constantly stating that he is asking on behalf of a friend when optimally, he is perhaps doing it for MC all these while? The cobblestones on the floor are all starting to blend into one colour and everything went black.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

Fluttering your eyes opened, you heard some light clinking sounds and water dripping sounds. Your field of vision takes in the view of a sterile looking ceiling and your fingertips suggested a polyester fabric beneath you. "Y/n." The voice sounded too familiar and you turned your cheek and nearly gasped when you noticed Zayne is right next to you. Eyebrows furrowed, lips pressed tightly. "You passed out a while ago, perhaps from the heat." He explained to you and lifted both of his hands, a towel in his hand and he folded it into a neat rectangle before placing it onto your forehead to cool you down.

"Where's... Where's Greyson?" Your gaze averted from his and you tried to push yourself up but Zayne's palm was quick to land onto your shoulder, restricting your movements. Hearing another guy's name falling from your lips is not the first thing he had expected and his disappointment flashed across his features for a second.

"I was the one who carried you to the first aid room." He sighed, hand leaving your shoulder and he continued to address the 'HOW' etched on your face. "I was nearby when I saw that you were losing your balance. I managed to catch you before you could hit the ground." Seeing how reserved you are compared to this morning, Zayne felt like poking a little. "Why did you not wait for me at the petting zoo?"

"I didn't know how long you were going to take since you wanted to talk to MC." Zayne sees it. The slight tremble of your lips as you spoke, the unconscious fiddling of your hands against the hem of your vest. Something was clearly bothering you. "Greyson was the one who offered to walk with me."

A warmth enveloped you and you looked down, noticing his hand placed on your wrist, no pressure inflicted, just a reassuring touch. "There was nothing going on between me and MC." Your eyes meet his, eyelashes casting shadows and shielding your unspoken emotions. "She wanted to meet me because she wanted me to walk with her." Your eyes fell but he was quick to catch your chin. His fingertips scorching against the delicate skin on your chin. "Y/n." His tone austere, grip unmoving as he urged you silently to speak to him.

Faced with such tension, tears crowded your eyes blurring your vision. Blinking rapidly, you forced your tears to flow back into your system. "You can just go with her." Your hand slapped the one which was holding your chin and you pushed yourself up, ignoring his demands for you to stop. Getting off of the bed, you aimed towards the only set of doors ahead of you and you wobbly careened over only to trip against your feet and you fell.

You were expecting the hard thud, the thump against the back of your skull but it never came. You were cushioned when you fell and you opened your eyes to see Zayne hovering over you and you realised he cushioned your fall, again. His eyes seeked yours, glancing in a zig zag form across your features to spot any further injuries only to soften when he stares straight into you. Your heart did a somersault at that moment. "I rejected her." He cleared his throat, slowly leaning down to support himself with his forearm. His breath was so close to you that you can feel it fanning against your cheek. "I told her that I already have someone I have been wanting to pursue."

Pinpointing on what Greyson had told you earlier, you decided that now is the only time you can find out who this mysterious crush of his turns out to be. "Greyson said that you were learning to go towards second base from MC. That explains why you are constantly meeting up with her after our library sessions?" The tears pricked at the back of your eyes again when you knew that you were too much of a coward to just blurt out 'I like you' to him and instead had to result to such insinuating measures to get your answer. "Does that also explain all of the time you spent with me in the library discussing about those topics that you've got? Is it for that crush of yours?" If his answer were to be yes, you would definitely crash out.

Zayne never moved an inch from his spot. This is indeed his first time seeing you acting and speaking out of your own emotions. Even during the library discussions, you had always presented yourself with determined logic, backed with evidences on how you steer your arguments. Seeing you being so emotional, he knew that he could not hide his feelings any longer and if he were to fail to address the bothersome issue, he may lose you. "I seek for second base from MC because she is the only other female I know that I do not show interest in." A tinge of crimson dabs across his cheek when he continues, a side of him ashamed that he has to go to another girl for advice on how to treat his crush right, without actually having the courage to just ask y/n himself. "And the discussions that we had in the library. It is for me to get to know you more."

His blatant truth smacked your heart straight out of your chest. Did Zayne just confessed his true feelings to you? "For me?" That was apparently the best reaction you could muster as you stared at him in disbelief. The man finally cracked a smile on his lips and he nodded in response. So, with an intake of a breath, you blurted out something you should have done from the beginning, words all jumbled up from how anxious you are feeling. "I like you too, Zayne."

The room had shifted, the walls felt like it closed in onto the both of you, the floor beneath you vibrating to the undulating thumps of your heartbeat. Forcing the distance between the both of you becoming more and more evident. Breaths mingled, intertwining with the dust particles that floated between the crevices of your lips with his until he closed the distance. His lips pressed gently against yours in the form of a chaste kiss. Zayne knew that MC had told him that getting to second base would require his feelings to be reciprocated and hearing your true feelings was more than enough for him to lead the direction of your newfound relationship.

The kiss although chaste, it felt like it went on forever in your head. He pulled back just enough for you to open your eyes and to drink in his features. His smile is a mirror of yours but minus the bashfulness and perhaps the light spasms in your cheek muscles. Zayne pushed himself off of you and offered his hand, which you gracefully held onto and he pulled you up with barely any effort. Standing up, your eyes landed for a fleeting moment against his thin lips and you silently gasped, still unable to wrap your mind around the fact that you had just got your first kiss stolen by the lauded Zayne.

When he called your name, you looked up and realised that he had taken the liberty to close the distance again, lips lightly hovering over yours and you returned the favour, planting a light peck on his lips, allowing the feeling of your first love to plague through your system. Zayne tucked a fallen strand of your hair behind your ear and lightly whispered against your lips after you pulled back. His tone now held nothing but pure endearment for you, no hesitation, no second guesses, no more beating around the bush just to observe your reactions. "Let's get to the petting zoo now before the zoo closes. Then later, we can go and grab a dessert to commemorate our first date."

CALEB - SUMMER BEACH TRIP

The sky displayed an array of watercolours in pastel blues and pinks as seagulls take place in the beautiful nature's piece, becoming a living mimic of the clouds that hung above. Your class bus pulled up to the beach's parking lot. This being the only summer field trip available for your school, it is only natural for it to be packed with students whom are seeking for an escapade away from the city. The amount of students were so grand that two buses are hired for the sake of the trip. And that is also how you got separated from Caleb whom was supposed to be on the same bus as you but sadly your name was called for Bus A and retaliation would only risk you getting left behind. Biting down onto your tongue, you had no choice but to board the bus against your will and watch as your crush clomps onto the other vehicle.

Once the bus doors opened, anticipation buzzed through the air and you stood in line, stepping off of the bus. The scent of seawater immediately enveloped you, the sea breeze welcoming you with brash kisses against your cheeks, giving your hair a free salty blowdry service. The sound of the waves crashing softly in the distance only sets the scene more in a reverie-like quality. Looking to your left, you spotted students emptying the other bus and you caught sight of Caleb, head turned over his shoulders, laughing and chatting with someone behind him till you caught sight of her. MC. His childhood friend.

You do not hold anything against MC personally. But her passive aggression does make you uncomfortable most of the time and her friendly front is only ever exclusive for that childhood friend of hers. Yet, you did not recall Caleb mentioning anything about MC coming along for this summer trip. The fact he even got your hopes up by verbally planning all of the activities the both of you could partake during this three days camp sounded too good to be true now that you spotted the presence of MC. Your lips unconsciously formed a frown and you held your bag tighter, knuckles turning white. "Y/N!" It did not take long for Caleb to spot you amongst the crowd given his height being an added advantage.

He jogged over, hair bouncing to the rhythm and the charming smile that never seems to budge off of his lips. You looked up, ready to smile back till you noticed the brunette tagging along behind him, her steps calculated as she caught sight of you. "Hey, let me help you with that." Caleb snatched your bag out of your grip before you could even protest and his next sentence got your heart dropping to your feet before you could even speak. "You wouldn't mind if MC tags with us for a bit right?"

The girl he had mentioned came to a halt next to him, one of her corners tugged into a smirk more than a smile as her way to bid you her 'hello'. Out of courtesy---mostly out of respect for your crush--- you forced your lips into an agonising grin and nodded your head a little too vigorously to prove your contradictory point. "Yeah sure, I don't see any issues with that." That landed Caleb's arm around your shoulders and you bit your lip nervously as he started guiding you towards the small beach houses that were lined by the shoreline.

You took a slight peek behind you and you wished you never turned your head because daggers were clearly thrown from MC's eyes towards the arm that was lazily placed on your narrow set of shoulders. Skinship with Caleb is not anything out of the ordinary when it comes to y/n and him but it is a detail worth noting for MC especially when she grew up around Caleb. It certainly does not take a genius to dovetail the idea of why Caleb is suddenly so touchy with y/n and it turned out to be a lightbulb moment for MC and mind you, it was never a brilliant idea.

"Caleb~" MC's voice travelled from behind and you jumped slightly as MC forcefully slotted herself in between the both of you, now directly situating herself beneath Caleb's forearm which was supposed to be on you. "The sun today is very shiny don't ya think? Why don't you do that shielding gesture with your hands like how you've always done for me back in those days?" MC whined, battering her eyelashes in seek for pity from her best childhood friend but Caleb only took a step back from her, arms immediately dropping from her shoulder and his palm proceeded to rub the back of his neck. A habit of his whenever he is caught in an 'I don't know what to do' kinda situation.

You helped him to answer it. "I will just go in to unpack my stuffs. I will see you later Caleb." You grabbed your bags off of his grip and you swooped right past them, not sparing a single glance to your crush nor his girl best friend. Biting onto your bottom lip, you felt like slapping yourself. What do you mean by you will see him later? When will it be a right time for you to spend some time alone with him when MC is around? How could you top your importance to Caleb against his childhood friend?

Once you had settled into the beach house, you heard a slight knock on your door and you stood up, shuffling over so you can unlock it and you were lowkey wishing that it was Caleb. Yet, standing at the small wooden patio of your assigned beach house is MC instead, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. Thud. Thud. Thud. Her eyes looked up when the door creaked open and you leaned against the door frame, letting a smile take place on your lips as a politesse courtesy. "Yes, MC?"

"Y/n right?" The way she said your name---which is not even close to how your actual name is being pronounced--- nearly slapped that smile off of your face. Being in the same class as her for 3 years is clearly nothing but a joke to her. "What's your deal with Caleb?"

Her straightforwardness got you taken aback, your eyes blinking several times as your brain tries to conjure up the right response to that question. "We are...friends." Lies. But you do not owe his childhood friend an explanation, moreso when she has daggers for eyes. "Why?"

"I need you to back off from Caleb." Her trimmed eyebrows furrowed and she clicked her tongue, feet taps finally coming to a stop and saving herself for a more ladylike impression now. "Caleb has been my childhood friend for many many years and if you think that you're special just because he lays his arms around your shoulders every once in a while. You're wrong so don't get your hopes up girl." She brought her manicured hand up to her vision, eyeing it for a moment before she gave you a side eye. "Just so you know, we kissed before."

"Are you done?" It is your turn to have your eyebrows knitted together now, lips pressed in a thin line. You could not lie to yourself that you did felt a little hurt at the fact they had kissed before but a part of yourself still held on adamantly to the idea that you still want to continue having a crush on Caleb and nobody is going to rob you of that opportunity. MC narrowed her eyes into slits and without another word, she twirled on her heels and went off towards the pavement and you shut the door, already dreading the way your heart ached.

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

After changing into a beach appropriate outfit, you stepped out of the beach house and beelined straight towards the ocean waters with a small bag carrying some essentials. The skies bled through the edge of the waters and the sun's blinding rays casted iridescent sparkles across the water surface. Your feet came in contact with the sand and you gleefully shovel your feet further into the sand as if to ground you against the hectic breeze. "Y/n!" You heard someone called your name and out of instinct, you whipped your head over your shoulder and watched as Caleb was running towards you, waving excitedly.

MC's warning is practically nonexistent in your head now that Caleb has appeared in front of you and MC is nowhere to be seen within his vicinity. "Hey!" You waved back. Mauve orbs caught on to yours and he positioned himself next to you, head tilting towards the direction of the ocean to invite you to go into the waters with him. "Where is MC?" Your curiosity got the best of you after the lecture was given by MC, it is surprising to see that she is not sticking by his side.

"She went to change her clothes I think." He shrugged nonchalantly. Clad in a simple white tee and a pair of marine colored pants, he could easily pass as a model even in such a modest outfit. "I was planning to go over to your beach house to ask you to join me for the free time but I guess I don't have to given you're here." His cheeky wink got your cheeks heating up and you broke the eye contact, laying your bag onto one of the white lounge chairs by the shore. "Y/n." He continues when you looked at him. "Can I ask you to watch the sunset with me later?"

His request was so sudden it caught you off guard, your jaw slacked and your mind started running through all of the scenarios on why he had decided to ask you to watch the sunset with him. Right as you were about to answer, a shirt was thrown over your bag carelessly and MC appeared out of the thin air, in her swim wear and as usual, she budged in with her main character syndrome. "What are you guys talking about?" Giving you a slight roll of her eyes before she pressed herself against Caleb's taut arm. "Thanks for waiting for me. Let's go to the waters now!"

Caleb's eyes were already on you when you looked over to him and he cleared his throat to cut off the tension that is wedged between you and him. MC released his arm and proceeded to run towards the water, already knowing whatever she had done would be enough to remind you of your position. Spotting your face draining from its usual hues, Caleb immediately caught on to the situation and he could sense that your distance is most likely affected by his childhood friend. He approached you and placed his palm onto your head and patting gently, leaning down just enough so you can see his face. "I know you are probably uncomfortable with MC being around but it's okay, we will be fine. Meet me by the rocks later around evening and I will explain everything to you okay?"

And he left you standing there under the rainbow toned umbrella, puzzled at his usage of words just a while ago. His figure disappearing slowly into the distance as he walked towards where MC is at. Caleb took his time, feet sinking into the sand with his weight as he clomped over to his childhood friend who was already halfway into the water. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Caleb, but he did not reciprocate it. Instead, he went up to her and in a stern tone, he asked. "What did you said to y/n?"

*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

The sun sets fast, now the skies are a blend of purple and pink, with the occasional burnt orange mixing at the seams. Clouds adrift in the skies mimicking the cotton candy that were sold by the beach side stores. You had changed into something more comfortable and sat atop of the rocks, patiently waiting for Caleb's arrival. Your noon was spent under the same stalk of umbrella that Caleb had left you until your other classmate, Gideon asked you to join in on a casual volleyball game. And that was how your time was spent during the past few hours.

You could not bring yourself to look out to the sea whenever there is a break in between your game. Part of you just did not want to know what is happening between MC and Caleb and another part of you just wanted to act like nothing is going on. You stared straight ahead, vision unfocused as you immersed yourself in the sound of the waves lapping against the beach, with the wind cooing at your heart to stay still. "Hey, you're here early." Caleb's voice grounded you back to reality and you awkwardly shifted in your seat, scooting over to give him just enough space to sit down next to you on the flat surface. "Thanks for coming, y/n."

"It's no biggie Caleb." Your voice came off to be nonchalant just as you had practiced in your head. "So what's up?" You turned your head to face him and pulled both of your legs up to your chest so you may rest your chin on top of your knees.

He is already facing you fully, brunette hair whipping gently against his forehead. "MC and I had a talk." You were silent and you felt the air shifted between the both of you, his body tensing slightly beside you. "I do not like the way she had treated you throughout this trip, I can see that it made you uncomfortable." He tilted his head slightly, angling down closer to you. "Especially when she interrupted us."

You blinked, eyes still trained on him. The warm golden light that casted on his face made your crush looked even more ethereal than the sunset view itself. A quiet smile drifted across your lips at his sentence. "It's okay, she is your childhood friend afterall. She even told me that you guys had kissed before." You uttered to him ruefully, biting your bottom lip at the end of your sentence as you pondered if it was the right thing to comment.

Caleb gulped, his Adam's Apple bobbed once and he tried to explain the situation. "Gosh, that was an accident! And it happened when we were in kindergarten!" He threw his arms up into the air, his dramatic flair got you chuckling softly. You knew it, deep inside, when MC said that, it was out of spite and seeing the way he reacted further confirmed your suspicions. "I never looked at her that way."

"What way?" You mulishly pried for the answer, wanting Caleb to iron out all of the contrary possibilities running through your thoughts.

Caleb's arms dropped when you asked and his eyes blinked a couple of times, those orbs now taking form of a darker mauve when he sensed that this may be the right moment for him to come clean to you now. The setting is right; with the sun setting in the background being the only third party to witness this canonical event. "The way I would look at you." He was gentle, the look in his eyes unmistakable for sincerity. At that moment, the ocean murmured behind you, a steady and soft rhythm as nature's background music.

"I thought you would choose her Caleb." Your red-rimmed eyes got Caleb scooting closer to you, one arm immediately wrapping over your small frame and he pulled you in against his side. "You had no idea how long I was stuck with the idea that my feelings would only be one-sided to you. Seeing the both of you together, it just makes sense." A stray tear rolled down your cheek but Caleb was quick to catch it with his thumb, the pad of his thumb glided down your chin and he held onto it, guiding your head up to meet his gaze.

"You make more sense to me y/n." His lips parted slightly, breath wavering. "I told MC that her feelings towards me will always be one-sided." Your hand automatically went up to graze his arm, heartbeat increasing as your breaths mingled. "Because I fell in love with you y/n." The both of you closed the distance, lips pressed against one another as the sunset enveloped the both of you in its arms. Warmth fraying across your body when he takes your first kiss, his arms that wrapped around your body pulled you closer to him and the hand that held your chin went to cradle your face as an affectionate gesture.

It took a good minute before the both of you pulled away, the tinge of red on both of your cheeks hidden by the orange hues of the sunset. At this point, the sunset is probably a paid actor. "I've always thought of how it feels to kiss you, do you know that?" Caleb laughed, tilting his head as you gave him a light punch against his shoulder. He landed a kiss onto the top of your head and gave your shoulder a squeeze of endearment. You leaned your head against his broad shoulder and let the sound of the waves and the grip of his quiet affection wrap around you like a soft summer blanket.

This is finally done! After writing this, I feel like the dynamic of high school couples should be studied as this is so pure and heartwarming! I really really really enjoyed writing this piece! You can definitely check out my first part for this series here!

466 notes · View notes

rrrrinmaru · 1 year ago

Text

call me by my name (xavier x mc)

wc: 2058 rating: T

It was just something you had seen online. Call your lover by their name instead of the pet name that had almost become second nature to you—the reactions from the boyfriends and husbands of Linkon City were always so amusing. The more you watch these videos, scrolling idly through your phone as you lounged on the sofa on one of your rare off days, the more you want to test it on Xavier.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You can barely remember when the last time you called Xavier by his name—somewhere along the lines, maybe a few months into dating, you accidentally called him baby.

You remember how it happened, even if you can’t place the exact date. The both of you were strolling down the streets of Linkon City, on the way to one of the cafes another Hunter had recommended to you. You remember the weight of his hand on your waist, gently guiding you along as you focused on the navigation panel on your phone, trying to suss out what exit you had to take in order to take the shortest path there.

“You okay there?” Xavier murmured, a smile audible in his voice as he pulled you out of the way of some passer-by. “You’re squinting at the phone.”

“No, I got it,” you told him, even as you continued to furrow your brows at the screen and attempt the tried and tested method of lifting it up to the sky to get better signal, as if that would help your case. “Just give me a second, I think we need to turn somewhere up ahead, just—” you spoke, without really thinking it through, the words tumbling out of your mouth while your higher brain functions were wholly focused on reading the damn map, “—give me a sec, baby, I got it. We turn left in a bit, like—”

The fingers on your waist flexed. You looked up at him, barely registering the dilation in his pupils and the way his lips were parted, but you remember noticing the dazed look in his eyes.

“Xavier? You okay?”

“Hm,” He hummed, blinking out of his daze. “I’m good. No need to worry about me, just let me know when to turn.”

And then he smiled at you, so disarmingly that you almost missed your turn.

Regardless, after that incident, Xavier teased you about the pet name until you gave in and repeated it in a quiet, shameful voice. Again, and again, until Xavier hooked you in by his arms around your waist and pressed his lips to yours, kissing you stupid.

From that day on, you didn’t really call him by his name. Which is why the thought of switching it up excites you. It’s so enticing that you even get up to hunt for your old phone, setting it up in a discrete location near the living room to record his reaction. You won’t publish it, not when the both of you are such private individuals, but you look forward to saving his reaction for future reference, and maybe even future blackmail.

You wait in anticipation, instinctively checking the clock every few minutes to count down to Xavier’s return. As time passes, you get distracted by the latest novel on your phone and you’ve almost forgotten about your grand plan until you hear the familiar sound of a key turning in your lock.

Immediately, you fly to your hidden phone to click record, and then rush back to the sofa. Your heart rate spikes a little from excitement, and you struggle to tamp down the smile that threatens to surface.

The door pushes open, and you’re greeted by the gorgeous sight of Xavier stepping through your door, groceries in hand.

Gods help me, you think, fondness bursting from your heart so vividly at the domestic sight that you think you might drown, I love you.

“The queue was long,” Xavier says, a touch of complaint in his voice. He closes the door behind him, slipping the keys into his pocket as he toes his shoes off. “There was a problem with the self-checkout machines, so everyone had to wait in line at the normal cashiers.”

The pet name almost slips off your tongue. It’s so easy to say it, when he’s acting a little whiny like this—when he gets in the mood to be just a little, tiny little bit like he wants to be babied.

“Aw,” you say in a commiserating tone. “Do you want any help with putting those away?”

Xavier looks at the bag in his hand, then looks at the way you’re curled up on the couch. “No. Stay there; you look comfortable. I’ll come join you once I’ve placed them away.”

He lifts the bag, peering in as if to check the contents again. “I’ll be quick, so make sure there’s space for me once I’m done.”

“Okay,” you reply, fighting the urge to smile when Xavier lifts his gaze to look inquisitively at you. Usually, there would be a pet name trailing on the end of that sentence. You think Xavier can tell something’s a little off, but he can’t place his finger on it quite yet.

He wanders to your kitchen—the groceries he bought, sitting in your kitchen so the both of you can cook in your kitchen later, before he takes a shower in your bathroom and changes into his clothes that take up half of your wardrobe.

Everytime you’re reminded of how much he’s carved out a space for himself in your life, his presence so steady and solid that you’re almost surprised when he isn’t in your house, as if you’ve forgotten the both of you aren’t cohabitating. Yet.

Xavier hums to himself as he puts the groceries away. His voice is light, like stardust carrying on the wind as it trickles over to where you are on the sofa. You sit up, eyes bright as you peek over the back of the couch to see him bustling about in your kitchen. He opens cabinets to set things aside, so sure of where things are that it makes your heart kick in your chest.

To be known so dearly, so deeply—you don’t think anyone’s ever known you like this, so certainly that it feels like he’s always been a part of your mind rather than someone you met a few years ago.

“Xav,” you call out, folding your arms on the back of the sofa and pressing your face into your forearms to hide your smile, “could you help me get a drink?”

Xavier pauses. His back is to you, shirt riding up slightly as he stretches up to place a sack of flour in the cabinet above your countertop. You see him slowly move to push the flour further in, the bend of his long fingers as he ensures there’s no chance of the flour falling out when you open the cabinet later.

Once he’s done, he turns around to face you. There’s a blank look on his face as he leans back, hip against the countertop while he folds his arms across his chest.

“Xav?” He asks, brows furrowing. “I don’t think I know anyone by that name, princess.”

You have to smother your smile or it’ll show on your face. Going from the way Xavier’s lips are curving up of their own accord, though, you don’t think you’re doing a very good job. “It’s your name, Xav. Xavier. Could you help get me a drink from the fridge?”

“Hm.” Xavier drags the sound out, rolling it on his tongue. He gives you a long, contemplative look. “No, princess,” he says mildly, looking faintly amused. “I can’t. I don’t know who you’re talking to.”

“Xavier,” you repeat, tilting your head as you blink up at him. “A drink, please?”

He chuckles, Xavier moves in this slow, languid way as he unfurls his arms and walks over. His eyes are a little dark, lips upturned in a knowing smile as he makes his way to the sofa. There’s this look in his gaze, this knowing look that makes you feel transparent with how he sees right through you. As he nears you, you take your arms off the back of the couch and lean back.

You can’t help it. The way he looks at you is filled with such intent that it takes your breath away. Your heart thumps in your chest, like you’re nothing more than a prey animal confronted by its natural predator. A little bunny’s heart jackhammering away in your chest.

And then he places the flat of his palms against the back of his couch, far apart enough that he can brace himself against it as he leans down, enough for the collar of his shirt to droop and for you to get a good look at the slant of his clavicle. He’s so close, leaning over you as you sit there on the couch, and you swear you can feel the puff of his breath against your lips.

You can’t focus on just one thing. The flutter of his eyelashes as he looks at you, the softness of his cheeks, the half-moon curve of his parted lips—and his eyes, as blue as the sky, glittering with a promise as he stares down at you.

“That’s not my name, princess,” Xavier breathes out. “You know what my name is in this household.”

In the back of your mind, you wonder what you look like right now. Your eyes must be dilated. Your mouth is open from shock, and your fingers are trembling from where they are clutched around the pillow in your lap. Your heart trips over itself, throbbing so violently that you feel lightheaded.

If you leaned up, just a little, you would be able to press your lips against his. You know you could. The distance between your lips is almost negligible, so close you think you can feel the skate of his lips against yours.

It’s a tease. You know he’s teasing you right now, the way you teased him, and you can’t help but fall headfirst into his trap. You walk right into it, eyes wide open and conscious as you let yourself get tied up, as you let yourself drown in that swallowing, all-encompassing gaze.

“What is it?” Your eyes drop to his lips before crawling back up to meet his gaze.

“I only answer to baby,” Xavier murmurs, mouth curving in a smile. “That’s what you call me, princess.”

You smile, eyes crinkling as you peer up at him. “Baby.”

Xavier lets out a low laugh that sends your insides tumbling. “That’s my girl,” he says, and leans down right as you reach up to press your lips together.

You sigh, eyes closing as you sink into the kiss, and he swallows the sound with relish. One hand reaches up to cup your jaw, pulling you in so he can fit his mouth to yours, tongue slipping between your lips. His thumb presses against your skin, gently stroking the underside of your jaw, and you instinctively reach up to curl your fingers into the collar of his shirt.

“C’mere,” you say in between kisses, gasping for breath. “There’s space—here, on the couch.”

“Mmhmm.” Xavier glances down, eyeing the space between your legs, the obstructive cushion on your lap, and steadies one hand on the back of the couch. “A little tight, but we’ll make it fit.”

He lets his gaze wander back up to you, and gives you a knowing smile. “We always make it fit, don’t we, princess?”

You get the sense he isn’t really talking about the sofa, and you feel heat rush to your cheeks as he vaults over the couch to settle between your thighs. The cushion is removed, flung away from the sofa with a vengeance you didn’t know Xavier possessed, and then he presses his weight down on you, one hand on your waist with the other curving around the back of your neck to hold you in place as he noses along your cheek, and you stop getting distracted by irrelevant things like where your cushion is, or whether he put away all the groceries that need to be refrigerated, at the very least.

And an hour later, when you’re both out of breath, it occurs to you that your phone’s still recording.

#love and deepspace #love and deepspace xavier #love and deepspace x reader #l&ds xavier #xavier #恋与深空 #러브앤딥스페이스 #恋と深空 #沈星回 #rin writes l&ds

195 notes · View notes

jamespotterthefirst · 4 months ago

Text

Dress (Ethan x F!MC)

Book: Open Heart

Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey and MC (Lilac Allende)

Word Count: 1.5K

Rating/Warning: T/ Some Language

Summary: Loosely based on the events in Book 1, Chapter 9. After dinner with her roommates, she runs into Dr. Ramsey at the bar.

Note: Because Ethan never saw my MC in that hot dress. Inspired by Dress by Taylor Swift. Longer note at the end (meep).

The dimly lit bar thrummed with excitement, the energy as palpable as the plethora of glasses leaving the bar. All around, overworked medical staff in various degrees of inebriation laughed and talked over the loud music, making the most of the rare moments of freedom at their disposal. It was undoubtedly karaoke night—and if the neon sign flashing from above the small stage didn’t clue him in, the awful singing, the ruckus laughter, and the smell of fried bar food definitely would. Still, the tension pinching Ethan’s muscles knew only one remedy.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Reggie exclaimed with exaggeration at the sight of Ethan. “Hell must’ve frozen over if you’re here for karaoke night. What song should I queue up for you?”

“Very funny,” Ethan replied dryly, taking his usual seat at the bar. “No song, but I will take the usual.”

The bartender laughed his characteristic guffaw, one that he reserved for whenever he taunted Ethan. “Must’ve been one hell of a day if you need a drink badly enough to put up with all this.”

He nodded toward the stage where a group of interns belted the notes of some 90s song Ethan couldn’t place. They huddled around one microphone, swaying under the effects of half-priced pitchers of the night. One of the interns broke off in laughter, signaling at someone in the crowd to join them.

“Hell of a week,” Ethan began to reply, but his attention lingered on the group.

The more he watched them, the more recognition dawned on him. The one grinning broadly at the center, shorter than the rest, was Sienna Trinh. Beside her, Elijah Greene rapped the verse of the song expertly. On his right was a tall, lanky intern Ethan could not name if his life depended on it.

If they were here, then so must—

“Lilac!” Trinh hissed into the mic, beckoning wildly from stage. “Get up here, now!”

Jeers erupted as the crowd parted, revealing a laughing Lilac Allende. She shook her head enigmatically, but Trinh refused to give up. At long last, a pair of strong arms engulfed Lilac and easily picked her up. That arrogant surgeon that strutted through the halls of the hospital carried her on stage.

Ethan looked away, annoyed. Lucky for him, Reggie had long since placed the glass of amber liquid in front of him. He took a swig, refusing to give in to the urge of glancing her way.

It was no use, though.

The last few months had proven that Lilac Allende was impossible to ignore. She had confidently taken reign of his senses from the moment her green eyes met his. Defeated, he glanced at the stage. The stage lights had brightened, matching the rhythmic Spanish song blaring from the speakers. One glance at the screens surrounding the small room told him it was a song by Selena Quintanilla.

“Anything for Selenas!” Lahela screeched through cupped hands.

Lilac, meanwhile, made no use of the screens with the flashing lyrics. She sang the words confidently into the microphone, swaying and dancing, letting the music take over. Each sway of her hips commanded the space around her, all but hypnotizing anyone who watched. She was aware of how badly her voice sounded as she tried to hit the high notes, but the peal of laughter that rang out made Ethan’s chest feel weightless.

At last, during a pause in the song, she shrugged off her long coat to the wild cheers of the crowd.

“Get it, bitch!” Sienna cheered as she caught Lilac’s discarded coat.

There was nothing particularly special about the dress Lilac wore. It was a shade of dark green Ethan could not specifically name if pressed. It could have even been modest or plain on anyone else, with long sleeves and a skirt that reached the floor. But on Lilac Allende the dress was nothing short of sinful. It caught the light as she danced and swayed to the music, captivating many in the room. The fabric hugged every curve and dip, flowing in a tantalizing rhythm as she danced.

Ethan watched, clinging to his glass with unnecessary force.

For one wild moment, he allowed himself to fantasize what it would be like to run his fingers along the leg slit. His lips would find her exposed shoulder, moving up her neck, and whispering in her ear, “Let’s get out of here.”

The song ended with a roar of applause.

As though sensing his gaze on her, her green eyes found his from across the room, paralyzing him.

Piercing blue eyes pinned her in place, making her body hum more than cheap alcohol ever could. Ethan Ramsey was watching her from his usual place at the bar, his expression unreadable but intense. Every instinct told her to stay away from him, her senses recognizing what grew heavy between them with each passing day.

Before she could think better of it, Lilac hopped off the stage and made her way to the bar, giving her friends some pretense about needing a drink badly. As she approached, Ethan’s posture stiffened, his attention on his glass of scotch. Though he stared at the amber liquid intently, it was nothing compared to the way he had watched her from across the room.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Doctor Ramsey,” she said by way of greeting. “It’s karaoke night.”

He looked up at last, though his posture still appeared tense. Lilac noticed his fingers flexed around his glass.

“I’m aware,” he responded. “It looked like you were having fun.”

Lilac gave him a little shrug, sliding onto the barstool next to him. “Just blowing off some steam after a difficult day.”

Ethan’s shoulders stiffened slightly. She knew he was thinking about their earlier conversation regarding Mr. Platt. He opened his mouth, impassioned, as though ready to go toe-to-toe with her like before. Then, he seemed to think better of it.

“Did you figure it out yet?” he asked instead.

“Why you assigned him to me? No.”

“His diagnosis, Rookie.”

“Also no. That’s eluding me as much as your reasoning behind this.”

She knew he was pushing him a little too hard. He could very well angrily shut down like he had done earlier, leaving her even more irritated and confused. Instead, he set his glass down on the bar top, sighing heavily.

“I thought you could handle it.”

The inadequacy of this response made Lilac’s annoyance flare up.

“I must’ve miscalculated,” he added.

“I can handle anything you give me,” she returned scathingly.

“Surely not if this simple assignment is throwing you off.” “It’s not the assignment or the patient. It’s the reason why you did it.”

“The reason is simple. I'm your mentor. It's my job to push you.”

The busy bar around them continued to buzz with excitement. No one around them paid them any mind, and if they did, the look on Ethan's face alone was enough to make anyone glance anywhere else. Lilac, however, was not afraid of the icy glare fixed on her. Instead, she straightened her spine, her body imperceptibly closer to his.

“I don't believe you,” she informed him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You're not letting this go, are you?”

“You already know the answer to that, Dr. Ramsey.”

Lilac watched him take a long swig of his drink. Truth be told, she was shocked he was still sitting there, humoring her. Any other time, he would have stormed off.

Tonight was different.

“If you're so sure there's some grand explanation, then enlighten me, Rookie.”

Lately, everything was different with him, as though the Earth shifted on its axis without their knowledge, leaving them swaying for balance.

“I think…” she said, her voice quiet. She trailed off, entranced by his blue eyes on hers. Without her knowledge, she had leaned closer to him, their arms and thighs so close that she could feel the warmth of his body. For a breath, she allowed herself to imagine what that warmth would feel like pressed against her body, roaming every inch of her… The warmth of his hands on her skin, as he tugged her dress, pulled it, ripped it...

“I think…” she tried again, willing herself out of her haze.

“Yes?”

“You're deflecting.”

Ethan reeled back. “Deflecting? Deflecting what exactly?”

How did she explain that she burned for him and a part of her believed he longed for her too? She couldn't bring herself to explain her deluded reasoning: that he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him. That there was something tangible between them that neither of them could ignore. That the reason Ethan assigned her an impossible patient was to prove that he didn't feel the same as Lilac— that she was just another intern. Saying the words out loud felt like giving up too much of herself.

“There you are, Lilac!” Trinh exclaimed as she appeared by her side. “We need you. Landry and Elijah want to sing ‘Non-Stop’ but I have to sing ‘My Shot’. I have to or I will cry.”

Sienna's eyes fell on Ethan and she froze. “Sorry—Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all,” Lilac assured her, hopping off the barstool. “Dr. Ramsey and I were done talking.”

Ethan, on the other hand, looked as though he wanted to reach out to stop her. Lilac's body thrilled at the thought.

“Enjoy your night, Dr. Ramsey.”

“You, too, Dr. Allende.”

Note: Hi. Hello. It's me. I'm the absolute problem, it's me.

There's so much to say. I always forget everything I want to say when I type these.

First, if anyone is still out there, and read this-- Thank you!

Second, to everyone reading and liking my old work while I was away, also thank you! You made my day when I would log on and see!

Third, I am working on a huge Open Heart project. As I re-read ch. 9 inspiration struck. Writing after all this time felt like rusty gears slowly starting to turn. It felt good, though. I hope I can do more of it!

I will definitely post old fics I wrote once upon a time but never posted.

Love you all. Missed you!

-Bree

#ethan ramsey #open heart #ethan x mc #playchoices

55 notes · View notes

doodlingwren · 1 year ago

Text

It is truly exquisite.

I shall acknowledge that the art style of Episode G is the perfect mix of a blingee image and the early Warrior Cats fan arts on DeviantArt in the 2010s. And the 2000s manga style, apparently.

In my mind I'm sure the illustrator was like... a medieval monk in one of his past lives because they rendered each page in such a clustered way that it screams Horror Vacui from kilometres away.

common folks having a good day vs me bugging them to check out EG, or I'll keep spamming them with random shots of it out of context.

#feathers queue #wren text tag #saint seiya #sts #of course it's John Black it's always him #how could I forget 😔 John Black my beloved 💖💖💖#Aiolia is there but could have been anywhere else with anyone else we don't care he's not the MC #and since Aiolia was such a cardboard compared to Mr Black it was a bit difficult to recognize him #I always thought he had red hair in this spinoff #(he was in his emo phase)#Why are they so dark? Anyway who cares #AND THAT's the fashion police☝🏻🤓#they came to arrest Aiolia for the t-shirt he's wearing with that ugly ass font #then they will get Aldebaran #that will teach him to wear a shibari rope on his armor (I know what I saw)#not that I care (neither does Mu)#good to know for the Aldemu food #when I'll have finished my own drawing ideas about this ship I'll just dig up here for more cringy ideas #it will take time to finish them but hmhm I see I see #Lastly the feeling I have when I see their character design is 🤨🤔🫣🤯#get squished by the Hand of God I guess

10 notes · View notes

einsatzzz · 1 year ago

Text

Profile Info + Project KHRe(:born!!!)

Hello! You can call me Ein. I'm an artist who's trying to improve my drawings and to manifest the visions in my brain. I also love OCs very much, whether it's mine or others' OCs. For more information, you can refer to my Carrd and my Tags page. Feel free to send an ask too if you want!

Blog’s Current Status: Semi-active (can be inactive on weekdays; working on my projects)

OC Profiles (Oniyanagi Wiki)

Kurumi (Wiki Page ⬗ Character Tag)

Kana (Wiki Page ⬗ Character Tag)

KHRe Webcomic

Status: Chapter 1 has been released! Links: ArchiveOfOurOwn (AO3) ◈ Pixiv

Main Tags

#einart - Art posts.

#eincommissions - Commissioned media.

#queue i can't put into words - Queued posts. I will occasionally remove this tag from older posts.

#khre - Posts related to KHRe:born's universe and related AUs.

↳ #khr oc - Posts related to KHR Original Characters, both mine and others.

↳ #khre oshiete - Posts related to KHRe OC asks answered under a "Oshiete Yuipachi-sensei" crack segment.

Project KHRe(:born!!!)

@amiahoshi (Sou) and I decided to call the project "Katekyo Hitman Re:born!!!"*. We call it either Re:born!!! or KHRe for short. This is my main brainworm cultivating mega-project that has several sub-projects under it (including the webcomic). Anyway, read below for more details on this project!

*Note: Inspired from T/oky/o Gh/oul's title, where it had "T/G:re". And it really just emphasizes the "Re" in "Reborn", meaning "again, do over" - mainly since it's a retelling. MOST importantly...it's very easy to remember for me and my goldfish brain.

So far, the major ambitious projects I have under this are as follows:

Oniyanagi Wiki

This is a wiki site I made in Miraheze and I have already set it to public, so you can visit it through this link (or the one I linked above in the OC Profile section).

All characters/items/stories information related to KHRe is planned to be compiled here bit by bit, including certain canon characters (due to the inevitable canon divergence).

I learned a lot from making this wiki.

KHRe Webcomic

A webcomic that features KHRe's story. KHRe is sort of a similar universe to canon, but not exactly the same. There will be additional characters, which are our OCs, then there will also be modifications/additions to the story/lore as well (e.g. certain arcs/chapters will be rearranged, certain events will happen earlier).

Tsuna retains his protagonist role in KHRe as well (I'm so fond of him, my 2nd fave...), but he will also be joined in this role by the twin bosses from Oniyanagi, Kana and Kurumi.

Oniyanagi's full 10th Generation line-up can be found here.

Just like canon, it starts with Daily Life Arc. I will draw chapters for as far as I can get into the story. One of my main goals in making this webcomic (besides being able to draw both KHR and OC art at the same time) is to improve my art.

Into the Looking Glass

This is a Horror RPGMaker game that features a prequel story for KHRe through Kurumi's childhood (around 8-9 years old). Long story short, it does follow the classic formula of a kid exploring a scary place by themselves.

The title is very much still subject to change, but I referenced Alice in Wonderland for it. Because it's Baby Kurumi (Alice) stumbling in an otherworldly place (Wonderland) and the events that take place moving forward changes her life.

This will take a very long time to complete, but I wanna finish it eventually because I'm also a big fan of Horror RPGMaker games and I've always wanted to make one.

KHRe Test Game (no title yet)

Yes...that's right. I'm editing this now after three months and still no title. 👍

This will be a very short RPGMaker Game with Tsuna as MC and it's definitely less ambitious than the previous two listed here. This is just me testing and learning the features of RPGMaker before I go do more work for Into the Looking Glass.

The game is just about Tsuna being invited to the Ninomiya Estate by Kurumi and he has a very "fun" time there 😂👍✨ (just like a normal Daily Life Arc episode~). It won't be horror, but maybe for Tsuna it will be 😀.

Other Projects

As for other projects that are even more less ambitious and more doable in a shorter time, I do have MV Projects for KHRe plus a few shorts (like this one) I plan on drawing them in. I listed my priorities here (along with the major projects I mentioned) and will try to update when I can (at least monthly).

═══════════════ ◈ ═══════════════

That's all for now! THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK! Any questions are always welcome and very very appreciated! 👀✨I really just love talking about this series, OCs and my projects. I will also continue to update this pinned post as I figure out my projects more.

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #khre #khr oc #oniyanagi #sawada tsunayoshi #ninomiya kurumi #ninomiya kanako #einart #einproject #i typed all of this while trying not to pass out from being eepy #i did pass out in the end but i finished it #hahahaha #had to go do hand-to-hand combat vs my anxious brain just to click post on this one bruh

51 notes · View notes

laxmiree · 2 years ago

Text

[CN] MLQC Lucien’s Preaching Date translation + Subbed Video

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️

This post contains a detailed spoiler for a date that has not been released in EN yet! Feel free to notify me if there are any mistakes in the translation~

Lucien casually closes his eyes and raises the gun, pulling the trigger without care.

Bang-!

The barrel swiftly twists, and a bloody "firework" explodes on the man's finger.

Lucien's expression remains indifferent, but crimson bloodshot vessels have already filled the bottom of his eyes.

Like a calm sea surface concealing a dark vortex that has already surged, ready to swallow everything at any moment.

Everything- including himself.

Translation under the cut

[Subbed Video]

youtube

[Part 1]

The summer is full of sunshine in Europe, yet the temperatures are rather gentle like late spring.

I lift up my phone and capture a snapshot of the emerald-green scenery under the radiant sunlight.

MC: Lucien, what do you think of this photo I took?

Beside me, Lucien slightly leans forward. His other hand wraps around my waist.

Lucien: The composition is novel and the theme is clear, but it lacks a finishing touch.

MC: Huh? What do you mean?

As he speaks, he hands his phone to me, and the screen displays a photo — with the same emerald green tones, but this time with the addition of my silhouette in the background.

The thought of me taking a picture of the trees while Lucien takes a picture of me at the same time and space makes me unable to suppress my laughter.

MC: Professor Lucien always seems to play the role of the “watchful observer”* behind the scenes, doesn’t he?~

(T/N: 黄雀在后 (Lit. the oriole behind) is from a complex idiom 螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后 (lit. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind) which generally means to pursue a narrow gain while neglecting a greater danger. You can say that Lucien is the greater danger and it’s an important foreshadowing :D)

Lucien: Is that so? I haven’t thought that much about it though.

Lucien: In my judgment, the best scenery is only found where you are.

I raise the corners of my lips and hook my hand around his neck under the shade of the trees.

MC: Well, I admit you’re more meticulous~ But are you sure you want to accompany me sightseeing?

MC: You have to attend the academic exhibition tomorrow. Shouldn’t you go back to the hotel and prepare for it?

Recently, there have been groundbreaking advancements in the research of neurodegenerative diseases at the Ultima Bioresearch Center.

To make further progress, Ultima Bioresearch Center organized its researchers to participate in the latest academic exhibition in Europe to present the project research to major medical companies.

If the collaboration between the two parties is successful, they will jointly develop lower-cost medications to save more patients.

Lucien smiles and lifts the palm of his hand to cradle the back of my head, imprinting a kiss on my forehead.

Lucien: Mm, can’t be more sure.

Lucien: The reason I came a day early is to bask in the sun and take a walk with you in advance.

Lucien: Moreover, this city holds numerous festive gatherings during its lively times, and I’m really looking forward to this time of leisure and exploration with you.

MC: Alright then, I can enjoy myself without worry.

MC: However, if there’s any assistance you need from me at the exhibition tomorrow, as a “non-staff personel,” I’ll be there to support you!

After saying that, I grab his hand and walk towards a bustling crowd ahead.

Apart from the fantastical carousel and teacup-like Ferris wheel, there are also shooting stalls, ring-toss games, claw machines, and other stalls all around, creating a lively atmosphere.

Lucien: Which one would you like to play first?

MC: Hmm... It seems like there are long queues for all of them.

Lucien looks around and then takes my hand, leading me toward a shooting stall filled with plush toys.

Lucien: Since that’s the case, let’s go to the place with prizes first.

Lucien: If we arrive late, I might see a “disappointed” little lady.

[Part 2]

That night, I fell into a deep slumber, holding tightly onto the small fox plushie that Lucien had won for me.

After a restful sleep, I wake up refreshed the next day and neatly organize the materials at the booth.

MC: It’s starting in ten minutes.

I adjust the name tag on my uniform, ensuring that the synchronous translation device in my ear is functioning properly. Then, I wave at Lucien before heading off.

MC: Today, I’ll be your little assistant, Professor Lucien. Feel free to give me any instructions~

Lucien: Then I’d like to offer a token of appreciation before we begin as a small thanks.

He smiles and takes my hand, walking towards the nearby railing.

The exhibition is located in an open-air atrium of a luxurious hotel, surrounded by lush greenery. With a gentle inhale, the air is filled with a delightful fragrance.

To my surprise, I discover that on the ground floor of the hotel, there is also a festive gathering with various stalls in the courtyard.

MC: Haha, I didn’t expect the organizers to be so thoughtful.

MC: They even consider that even the greatest and most rigorous scientists need to relax and unwind their minds from time to time~

Colorful tents adorn the area, and among them stands a person-sized rabbit plush toy inside a claw machine.

It raises its furry paw, seemingly beckoning to those who are destined to take it home.

Lucien: MC, don’t you think it would be a perfect match with the little fox from last night?

He seems to have noticed the same thing as me, and his voice gently resonates with a joyful tone.

MC: Yes, it’s indeed a perfect companion!

MC: I wonder if it will still be here waiting for us once we’re done with our busy schedule.

As I speak, I glance around, searching for any potential “competitors.”

However, since it’s an event within the hotel, aside from the staff, only a few people are sitting on a swing in one corner.

They are wearing casual plaid shirts and don’t have any name tags, so they must be hotel guests.

However, it seems like they are not very interested in the gathering as they keep their heads down, engrossed in their phones.

Lucien: It seems that for now, there won’t be anyone to compete with us for that adorable little rabbit.

With a subtle sense of delight, I tidy up his collar once again.

MC: Professor Lucien, shall we start working? We can bring it home with us once we’re finished~

Since it is a highly selective exhibition, the attendees here are representatives from authoritative companies in the medical industry.

In addition, with the format of poster presentations, Lucien and other researchers take turns being on duty.

One group is responsible for providing explanations to the attending representatives, while the other group can explore and learn from other booths.

Although I may not have expertise in the relevant field, I do my best to assist by delivering materials and providing guidance.

After two busy hours, the visiting group of researchers returns with smiles on their faces.

Researcher A: Thank you for your hard work. Now it’s our turn to take over and provide explanations.

Researcher B: The booths this time are all impressive. I believe you will gain a lot from exploring them.

Lucien: Alright, shall we go then?

Lucien’s fingertips naturally intertwine with mine through the gaps between our fingers. However, he doesn’t stop at any booth but leads me directly to the entrance on the ground floor.

MC: Huh? Aren’t you going to explore the booths?

He glances at the rabbit still inside the claw machine, and there is a slight relaxation in his expression.

Lucien: Of course, we’ll explore them, but we have two hours, remember?

Lucien: If all goes well, within ten minutes, I should be able to have you holding the rabbit in your arms.

MC: Professor Lucien is quite confident, huh~

Lucien: (chuckles) In my plan, having it as our companion will ensure that we have a good mood throughout the entire day.

As he speaks, he takes out a stack of bills and exchanges them for a basket of coins at the counter. He then walks over to the claw machine.

Because the rabbit plush toy is quite large, the claw machine is filled with balls of different colors. The goal is to grab the only pink ball, and then exchange it with the staff for the rabbit plush toy.

MC: Are you so confident? Those claw machines can be rigged, you know!

Lucien: As long as I practice a few times and observe the claw’s gripping strength, speed, and inertia when it shakes...

Lucien: Then we can bring it home.

The claw slowly descends after Lucien presses the button, scratching the smooth surface of the ball but coming back empty-handed.

He doesn’t feel discouraged. A sharp gleam appears in his narrow eyes as if he is quickly calculating something.

As time passes, with only two game coins remaining, Lucien calmly inserts them into the machine.

Lucien: MC, if I succeed on the last attempt, can I get some rewards?

I certainly know what he’s hinting at. I tiptoe and give him a kiss.

MC: Of course you can.

MC: However, based on my understanding of you, you can totally redeem the reward in advance!

[Part 3]

MC: Wow, this rabbit is even softer than I imagined.

Lucien: (chuckles) It’s very cute indeed. Can you lend it to me for now and place it at our booth as a mascot?

Lucien: Who knows, it might attract more company representatives to come over.

MC: Um! After we place it, then I’ll accompany you to visit other booths...

As I speak, I suddenly feel a buzzing sensation in my head, as if a layer of white mist is enveloping me. My vision becomes blurry, sometimes appearing closer and sometimes farther away.

Lucien....

Slowly turning my head, I notice that Lucien’s figure has become hazy, and the surrounding noise is drowned out by a buzzing sound.

He seems to have noticed that something is wrong with me as well, and he anxiously wraps his arm around my waist.

Lucien: MC.

I can’t hear anything.

I can only see his mouth opening and closing as if he’s calling out my name, but when I try to reach out and hold him, my hands are unresponsive and out of control.

It feels like an unknown force is pulling at my body, and I am aware that I have opened my mouth, uttering unexpected English words.

But in the next second, the translation earpiece automatically recognizes my voice and converts it into a cold, electronic sound—

‘MC’: “Hey, Professors, how can you two just casually leave the exhibition like that?”

What is happening?

No matter how much I try to wave my hands or shout out loud, it’s of no use.

It feels like my consciousness is being drawn into a vessel, and no matter how much my brain sends commands, my body refuses to obey my instructions.

Just as I try to seek help from Lucien, my legs suddenly start running forward, and then I leap up, using the railing in front of me for support, momentarily soaring into the air.

I sense a hint of pain as the ligaments in my thighs tear instantly, but in the next second, my body jumps over the railing.

Soon, the swing that I saw in the morning comes into view in my line of sight, and my hands immediately reach out from the bushes, holding a handgun.

After completing all the actions seamlessly, a cold muzzle is pressed against my temple.

Bang-!

My mind goes blank for a brief moment.

The expected pain and agony do not arrive as anticipated. In my line of sight, birds startle and flap their wings towards the sky, while the people around me scream and scatter in all directions.

In the chaos, several armed men drive the people who couldn’t escape into the tents, and sobs can be heard from inside.

Lucien: This evolver, what do you plan to do?

I feel the corners of my mouth twitch, and I keep the gun barrel pressed against my temple. I turn around and look at Lucien, whose face has turned icy.

His face is particularly grim, and the temperature around us seems to drop several degrees under the scorching sun.

But “I” simply give a shake to the bunny ears in my hand and let out a scoffing laugh.

‘MC’: “Professor, don’t be nervous. I’m just here to get the job done. If possible, I don’t want anyone to die here either.”

‘MC’: “So, before I explain my intentions, how about we quietly return to the venue?”

Lucien doesn’t take a step forward, and his narrow eyes become slightly cold.

Lucien: You have already stirred up trouble.

Lucien: I’m afraid that there won't be a way to calm things down peacefully.

As “I” speak, I tried countless times to escape from the white fog, but each attempt ends in failure.

Just as I am trying to calm down and think, “I” suddenly releases the grip on the gun and casually flips it around twice.

‘MC’: “Fine, let’s save some time then.”

‘MC’: “Although I’m not a professional, I do know that all of you have excellent research achievements. It’s just that they’re a bit too good.”

‘MC’: “If we continue to lower drug prices, there will always be people who are unhappy.”

‘MC’: “So, on behalf of my boss, I want to have a chat with all of you, discuss some business, and ensure that everyone presents has an opportunity to make money.”

The cold translation plays through the earphones, gradually making me realize that a terrorist attack is being launched against the exhibition.

However, he seems unfamiliar with Lucien, and the fact that I’m the one being "held hostage" is more like a “random stroke of luck.”

With that in mind, I instinctively nodded toward Lucien, despite being out of control.

‘MC’: “Alright, let’s go back to the venue with us. This way, I will release this lady.”

Lucien: I understand your intentions now.

Lucien: But you've taken the wrong person hostage. She is not a research team here.

Lucien: And compared to you, the person standing in front of you seems to pose an even greater threat.

My lips twitch again, but the bristling hairs on my body told me that there is some surging emotion building up.

However, the person controlling my body seems oblivious to this subtle change, even arrogantly crossing their arms.

‘MC’: “Professor, actually, my luck is not bad. Even if I’ve taken the wrong person hostage, she is still the most important one among these people.”

‘MC’: “Because you care about her a great deal, don’t you?”

‘MC’: “If you don’t believe me, take a look at this...”

The rabbit in my hand slips away and falls in front of my shoe.

I lift my hand and press it forcefully onto a sharp fence behind me, leaving a trail of blood.

A piercing pain spreads from my fingertips to my whole body, and my vision becomes blurred by involuntary tears.

However, the person controlling me seems to be devoid of shared pain, continuing to press down without any concern—

An instant frost envelops my fingertips, followed by my joints as they freeze, leaving my limbs completely immobilized in place.

Bang- Bang!

“I” follow the sound and look, only to see the people who were holding the gun also frozen on the ground, their eyes filled with fear clearly reflected through the ice crystals.

??: AHH-!

The people being held hostage immediately scream and flee from the tent, leaving only “me” and Lucien standing in place.

Lucien: Sorry.

Lucien: It might be a bit cold, but it'll be fine soon.

Lucien walks towards me step by step, and wherever he goes, thin ice forms in his steps.

I’m unconsciously trembling from the chilling air, and he covers the back of my hand with an even colder palm.

In just an instant, the gun in my hand is taken away by him.

[Part 4]

‘MC’: "If you're willing to do it, go ahead and shoot. After all, she'll be the only one getting hurt."

Lucien: I see you still haven't figured out the situation.

He shows no emotions on his face, the tightly pressed corners of his mouth sharp as a blade.

Lucien: The issue I'm facing has never been about making choices.

Lucien: Because even if you were to gamble with your life, your life is not worthy enough to do so.

Several sharp ice shards suddenly appear with us at the center, slanting downward and refracting a cold gleam of light.

Lucien: I know where you are.

Lucien: I also know what your fate will be.

At this moment, I feel my body stiffen, as if it's a reaction triggered by that Evolver.

‘MC’: “You-!”

All the ice shards pierce through, resoundingly embedding into the ground, except for one spot where a different sound emerges from the thicket of trees—

—like a muffled sound that blends together the piercing of flesh and bone.

As my body trembles uncontrollably, a body pierced by ice shards in each limb falls from among the trees.

Lying on the ground is a young man who appears to be around thirty years old, dressed in a plaid shirt...

In an instant, I recall that he seems to be the person who was sitting on the swing earlier in the morning!

So, it turns out they had already infiltrated early in the morning.

‘MC’: “....”

The person controlling my body seems to be overwhelmed with fear, only able to produce hoarse gasps.

Lucien takes oppressive steps forward, picking up the rabbit plush toy and the scattered game coins that fell to the ground.

Seeing my blood on them, a cold gleam flashes through Lucien's typically calm eyes, causing terrifying cracks to appear in the surrounding frost.

After a moment of silence, he sits on the nearby bench, quietly embracing the plush and holding it as if it were a lifeline.

Lucien: Sir, you made my rabbit dirty.

Lucien casually closes his eyes and raises the gun, pulling the trigger without care.

Bang-!

Lucien: However, that's not the only mistake you've made.

The barrel swiftly twists, and a bloody "firework" explodes on the man's finger.

Lucien's expression remains indifferent, but crimson bloodshot vessels have already filled the bottom of his eyes.

Like a calm sea surface concealing a dark vortex that has already surged, ready to swallow everything at any moment.

Everything- including himself.

Lucien: But now you still have the opportunity to make the final judgment.

Bang- Bang!

But Lucien seems uninterested in receiving a response, immediately firing several shots at the man’s various limbs.

The next moment, I feel my vision blur once again, but this time it seems like control over my body has returned.

I make a few deliberate movements with my fingers, and the sensations transmitted through the nerve endings make me realize that the person controlling me seems to have vanished from my body.

However, the peculiar sense of detachment amplifies within my body, and I can't prevent myself from losing strength and falling to the ground—

A strong hand scoops me up and embraces me.

Lucien: MC, it's all right now.

Lucien: It’s all right now…

It’s as if he said the last sentence to reassure himself, with barely detectable tremors in his soft voice.

MC: Lucien...

The lingering fear makes me instinctively cling to him, as if trying to absorb his warmth, burying it deep within my chest.

And he is holding me tightly, his large palm gently stroking me over and over again.

Lucien: Don't be afraid, I'm here.

MC: I... I can hear and see everything, but I just can't control myself...

Lucien: (chuckles softly) MC, do you need to confirm it again?

Lucien is holding my hand to his cheek, a cool and soft touch comes from his fingertips.

My fingertips tremble slightly, then slowly glide across his cheek, his nose, and the edge of his lips.

I want to imprint these ordinary touches deep into the bottom of my heart.

Lucien: Even though it feels a bit ticklish, you can take as much time as you need to be sure.

Lucien: I'll be here for you until you're fully at ease.

Lucien lowers his head and gently kisses my lips. His movement is light and slow as if he wants me to feel him as much as possible.

MC: Lucien....

I grip his lapel with a bit of force, feeling the tension of the fabric under my fingertips, gradually soothing my unease and palpitations.

Everything that just happened seems to be just a nightmare.

After deepening the last kiss, he gently sets me down, crouches, and takes hold of my knee, slowly rubbing it.

Lucien: Are you still cold?

Seeing the apology in his eyes, I shake my head, preparing to say something, when a siren suddenly rings out from the distance.

I stare blankly at the man who's fallen unconscious on the ground, the pool of blood beneath him is a shocking sight.

Lucien: He’s fine for now.

Lucien: But I need to take you to get bandaged up first.

He massages my knee again, his gaze fixed intensely on the coagulated blood at my fingertips.

Even though it's just a minor scrape, I don't want him to worry any further, so I obediently nod.

MC: There seems to be a medical station in the venue, so by the time the police arrive, we can still manage to cooperate and give statements...

Before I can finish, Lucien pulls me into his arms, his chin lightly resting on the top of my head.

Lucien: There's no need to rush

Lucien: I don't want to make you suffer any more today. I will negotiate with them to postpone the process until tomorrow morning.

He unconsciously tightens his grip, revealing deeper emotions beneath his slightly stern demeanor.

Apart from guilt, there's a greater sense of fear that he can’t control.

[it’s the fear of losing someone yet again :”]

I can't help but hug him tightly, feeling his silent but turbulent embrace.

MC: Even though I'm fine now, I'll still listen to you~

The light in Lucien's eyes softens a bit more, he releases me and picks up the rabbit plush at his foot, and gently pats it.

Lucien: MC, my plans have been disrupted, so to make it up to you...

Lucien: I will help you clean it. In the time that follows, both me and it will be here to bring you joy.

#it's rare to see lucien actually lose his shit like this #oh look new trauma unlocked #16+ as in mild gore warning #PG are you sure this is a date not main story-#mlqc lucien #mr. love queen's choice #mlqc #mlqc spoiler #mlqc cn #mlqc translation #lucien: *looking at the man in his own pool of blood* eh he’ll be fine #also lucien: *looking at MC's minor scraps* are you hurt? you need to be bandaged up #the double standard is real #anyway 10/10 date really love the use of word like vortex #bc it reminiscent to what happen in main story

80 notes · View notes

goldennika · 1 year ago

Note

im reading through the manga for kuroko’s basketball for the first time and AAAHH if you knew the plot i would have mentioned something to you but since you don’t i won’t spoil it !!! (this was the reasoning of my ask hehe)

but as for recs hmmmm i watch a lot of different genres ngl 😭 so i’ll just spit some out

romance - i really really love fruits basket!! i will say its a bit controversial because of the relationships between some of the characters with mc but honestly its just people looking too far away from the premise of the zodiac story. i also really enjoyed my happy marriage again a lil bit weird on the relationship but this time because of the age gap. theyre both adults no worries (bc i know some animes would not respect ages) and its really really beautiful the art style. the story is great too and very interesting, kind of sad but it makes you root for mc even more.

sports - YURI ON ICE. watch it. neooowwwww. art style is BEAUTIFUL and its BL which is not very common!!!!!! i loved it so so much the story was compelling and i binge watched it so hard T^T i also recommend kuroko’s basketball naturally hehe !! it was one of the first series i ever finished. the characters are to DIE for. like you think haikyuu has a great diverse group of characters??? SO DOES KUROKOS BBALL it focuses more on a set of characters within different teams like haikyuu so you still get that one-on-one feel between mc team and the opposing team while getting the opposing team dynamic feel as well!! i would say main duo kagami + kuroko are way different than haikyuu’s kageyama + hinata. all four are really motivated and have their own weaknesses and strengths as players but the dyanmic in the duos are so so different!!! kageyama + hinata are like sunshine and grumpy while kagami + kuroko are like quiet + loud AAAHHH i can go on and on about both of these animes and how similar yet different they are >< but moving on~~

science fiction - the promised neverland i have not watched after s1 mainly because s2 is behind a paywall (for me) BUT it is so so good and so tragic and sad and ughhh i could eat up so many of these dystopian films and shows !! its my fave genre in film overall!! but this show had me BAWLING. i kid you not i swear i probably cried almost every episode toward the end of s1 because its such a good but devastating plot. darwin’s game if you can get behind some fan service and only having one season out… i really recommend this anime! its very similar to alice in borderland (which i also recommend it’s a japanese show adapted from a manga) in which mc gets trapped in a survival game and he does his best to defeat whoever made said game. its really good and some of the characterization is great too !

currently watching - jujutsu kaisen OFC I LOVE MY HUSBAND NANAMI LMAO kidding (not) but um this anime is really really good. heavy on the action and plot and really great animations. however. i will say that if you get attached to characters really easily do not watch this anime 😭 gege (author) is a hater of all his likeable characters /srs im also watching sk8 the infinity which is a sports anime revolving around street skateboarding! i havent watched much maybe a couple of episodes but its really good so far! very intruiging and definitely might interest you since you enjoy haikyuu

also ty for reading all of this hahahaha if you have any recs pls share them 💗💗

Waaahhhh thank you for all these!! 🥹🫶

Another friend had recommended Fruits Basket to me before so that’s been on my radar! If I’m in the mood for romance animes, I’ll be sure to check these two out :)

ok ok Yuri on Ice is the next anime I’ve wanted to watch actually!! Either that or Kuruko’s Basketball since Haikyuu got me on a sports anime/manga kick 😂 so if these are on Netflix, I’ll be sure to queue them up soon!!

I’ve actually started reading a bit of Promised Neverland (and by that i mean the first chapter only HAHA) before focusing on reading just Haikyuu! It’s intriguing for sure 👀 although it did give off very intense vibes so i’ll have to pace myself with that series ig?? Darwin’s Game sounds so interesting too!! 👀

OH GOSH JUJUTSU KAISEN — I HAVE SUCH A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH IT ESPECIALLY OVER THE SHIBUYA INCIDENT ARC BC EVERYONE WAS JUST DYING LEFT AND RIGHT 😭😭😭 i might still read the manga tho lol

Hmm i honestly haven’t watched or read a lot but would def reco Demon Slayer if you haven’t read/watched it yet!! The sibling bonds in the show are so precious to me that when i reread it recently, i was fighting back tears so many times 🥺😭 that and bc their backstories can be so sad but the entire premise is that they’re hunting human-eating demons so tragic backstories come with the territory ig

I also enjoyed Kakegurui although it’s a bit… darker? and a bit more idk sensual/sexual? compared to other series i’ve dabbled in haha. The premise is elite high schoolers are all into gambling and the stakes are all really high bc they get a thrill out of it haha. I thought it was pretty fascinating how they worked around the different bets they’d make. Deals with some bullying though so just putting that as a cw!!

#asks #tagging all the titles mentioned here for my reference hehe #anime #fruits basket #yuri on ice #kuruko’s basketball #kuruko no basket #haikyuu!!#promised neverland #darwin’s game #jujutsu kaisen #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kakegurui #mutuals #moots

5 notes · View notes

choicesbookclub · 2 years ago

Note

Now why was the poll for Trystan's first moments of freedom so homophobic 💀 where's the option of bending Trystan over 💀💀/j

It was not intended that way. My apologies.

I worked 9 hours, had adult responsibilities, then read the two chapters, rushed to create polls and new questions for both books, queue almost 100 posts, and didn't even stop to think about it. I've always made my polls based on the Choices I get (since thats all i have to go on), I just assumed it was similarly phrased, just different acts, for all combinations wlm mlm wlw mlw (no one has ever brought up differing poll options before). I took the poll down for now. I'll have to figure out all possible combinations of choices tomorrow.

Did everyone at least get wax vs massage? I can always make it easier with just that? If anyone wants to help, feel free to drop your choice options below and the pairing type. (Not sure if f!trystan x m!mc is the same as m!T and f!MC so I'd need all options before making a new poll)

Sorry for the poll oversight. It was not my intention.

#choices book club cop2

4 notes · View notes

iamnikoli · 1 year ago

Text

AY23/24 Sem 1 Module Reviews

This sem is probably the most difficult sem of my degree acads wise. Since I scored much better than expected in Year 1, I could afford to fully focus on core modules that would teach me useful skills related to my major. Hence, I decided to take 4 core modules, namely CS2040, DSA2101, DSA2102 and MA2311, along with GEN2061X. I did slightly underload to give myself more time for CS2040, which has a very high workload. I was also expecting a drop in GPA since most of the modules I took this sem weren't exactly easy or fluff. Nonetheless, I grew much closer to the friends I worked with in the different mods, and it made all the difference to my mental well-being as well as my academic performance.

CS2040

Module Coordinator & Lecturer: Dr Chong Ket Fah

T/A: Gary (tutorial), Chao Ming (lab), Sourabh (lab)

Lecture Topics/Schedule:

Week 1: Course Admin + Intro to Java, Analysis of Algorithms 1 Week 2: Analysis of Algorithms 2, Sorting 1 Week 3: Sorting 2, List ADT 1 (Array List, Linked List, Stack, Queue) Week 4: List ADT 2 Week 5: Map ADT (HashTable) Week 6: Priority Queue ADT (Binary Heap) Week 7: Disjoint Sets ADT (Union Find Disjoint Set), Ordered Map ADT 1 (Binary Search Tree/AVL Tree) Week 8: Ordered Map ADT 2, Graph Intro + Graph DS Week 9: Graph Traversal and Applications 1 Week 10: Graph Traversal and Applications 2, Minimum Spanning Tree Week 11: Single Source Shortest Path 1 Week 12: Single Source Shortest Path 2, All Pairs Shortest Path Week 13: Revision

Deliverables:

Tutorial attendance/participation - 3% Lab attendance - 2% One-Day Assignments (ODAs) - 1.5% x10 Take Home Assignments (THAs) 1.5% x8 qns, 2 qns per assignment Visualgo Quiz - 4% x2 Midterm - 20% Final Exam - 40%

Other Comments:

Although this module is hard (as you probably already know), I would say I enjoyed it for the most part. First of all, Dr Chong Ket Fah is an amazing lecturer, and he explains things very clearly. This made understanding the difficult concepts a lot easier. Dr Chong is also very nice and understanding towards students, for example, I fell sick one day before a one-day assignment and he extended my ODA deadline to the day after my MC ended which was basically one week later lol. These things might seem insignificant but they are highly appreciated by students (me at least).

There was a lot of content to cover in this module, and frankly, it can sometimes get overwhelming. On paper, there are 3 hours of lectures every week on Zoom exclusively, but Prof Chong often overruns to about 4-5 hours of lecture time a week. Not to worry, the lectures are recorded and you can watch them later. It is paramount that you keep up to pace with the lectures as it's not realistic to cram all of it in reading week, anyway you'll need the lecture content 1-2 weeks later to solve the ODAs and THAs. Also, we're expected to learn Java within the first 2 weeks, as prof does not teach java, he just gave us a learning package/crash course to do on our own. This is very important for students with no Java background like DSA students because we'll be expected to complete all our coding assignments in Java from end of week 2/week 3 onwards.

I attended the tutorial slot by Gary, and Gary is absolutely goated. He is very clear in explaining things, and often talks about potential extensions/modifications to the questions which may come up in the exams. This was very helpful in cultivating the sort of skills and thought process needed in the midterms/finals. Gary is also very chill and dedicated, we can message him on Telegram if we have any questions, and usually the night before the exams, he would stay up all night to answer questions that we had. Where are you gonna find such a dedicated TA HAHAHA please give this man a raise The only not-so-good thing about the tutorials is that the bulk of questions are pseudocode/coming up with algorithm questions, but the majority of questions in the exam are MCQ. I would've liked to see more of the latter in the tutorials as many of us felt unprepared for MCQ-style questions in the exams. From my understanding, the exams used to be a lot heavier in pseudocode questions, which might explain such an emphasis on such questions in the tutorial. If so, the tutorials might need a refresh.

Labs are essentially dedicated to solving ODA questions, and you can ask your lab TAs if you're stuck on either the ODAs or THAs. Apparently, they are also the ones that grade them. For me, I left my whole Friday empty in case I got stuck on an ODA and needed more time to solve it, since you have to complete in 24 hours. I also worked on the problem before my lab slot, like once the assignment opened at 10am. This was to ensure I made full use of my lab TAs expertise during the precious 2 hours if I got stuck, instead of trying to understand the question and come up with a first iteration to solve it. The ODAs in general were not terribly difficult though. As for the lab TAs, most of us preferred to talk to Chao Ming because he was more approachable and helpful. However, we often don't understand each other's algorithm suggestions HAHAHA. On the other hand, Sourabh was very passive. Maybe he was in charge of doing the assignment grading? But my friend asked him questions on telegram and got blue-ticked (I think more than once) so there's that. Oh also, you're required to submit pseudocode before or during the lab which also acts as your lab attendance grade, which is why you should start working on it before the lab because 2 hours to do pseudocode and actually code and debug is very tight.

THAs were more difficult, and I spent about 1-4 days on each question. There were 4 THAs in total, 2 questions in each THA. Discussing algorithms with friends really helps because a lot of these problems are not straightforward and require a good grasp of lecture content along with creativity. Unlike CS1010, your code now has to be efficient and meet the required run-time, otherwise it will not be accepted. Hence, talking to friends to see if there are other more efficient ways of solving the problem is highly efficient on your time needed to solve the THAs. Do note that looking at other people's code is not allowed, as mentioned by the prof so just be careful not to show actual code when discussing. The worst THA though probably has to be the AVL tree one, it was incredibly painful to have to build the AVL tree on your own and do all the rotations. Maybe deforestation isn't so bad after all Nonetheless, you should score full marks for both the ODAs and THAs as most people do after countless tries or discussing algorithms with friends.

Midterms and finals were pretty similar, exams were on Examplify and the bulk of it was MCQ questions, with 2-3 pseudocode/come-up-with-algorithm questions. The midterm tested until hashtables and was apparently harder than finals. As many of you know, Prof Chong sets hard papers so be prepared. Make sure you read the question properly as there's a lot of constraints/things to look out for to get the correct answer. Prof's questions also tend to be very long and confusing so it might take a lot of time and brain-power to understand what's going on in the question. Exams were open-book closed internet, the midterm was 1.5 hours and the final exam was 2 hours. You have to have a good grasp of the various algorithms, how they work, how their time complexities are derived and subsequently in what situations each algorithm works best/worst. I highly recommend working on the pseudocode questions at the end first because they need more time to think and come up with the solution, and if you don't know anything just write something out, and you'll get at least one mark. The MCQs can still be guessed if you run out of time, but try to do them well because they form the bulk of the marks. Do lots of PYPs to get a feel of the MCQ questions and see how the pseudocode questions should be answered. Also, for the pseudocode questions, I observed that writing in paragraphs/essay-style is much better than the usual code style because there's more ambiguity and it's easier for the marker to understand your algorithm's logic compared to code-style which will often be ridden with errors. For finals, prof actually dropped quite a few hints when he was going through the PYPs without answers in Week 13 lectures so do make sure to watch that. My score for the midterm was 58/100 (77th percentile), and the final exam was 75/95 (93rd percentile). Midterm stats 0 39 47 56 95, finals stats 0 41 50 62 91. Finals was originally out of 100, but there was an issue with the time complexity required and getting the correct answer (apparently the solution to solve it in that time complexity results in overcounting) in the last pseudocode questions, so prof re-based it to 5 instead of 10 marks and marked according to the next best algorithm to get the right answer.

Lastly, there were 2 Visualgo quizzes held during lab slots, one in Week 7 and the other in Week 13. Make sure to practise a lot of Visualgo questions in hard mode. I found the week 13 quiz much harder because the later topics were harder, especially MST. As a result, I got 14/15 for it because I got the 2nd best MST question wrong (so saddd). The first quiz was pretty easy though. Most people get full marks for both so.

All in all, I find this module difficult but also rewarding. A lot of the concepts taught are important, for example, I'm working on a project now that makes use of what I learnt in 2040. All the best to those taking it in future sems, rest assured Dr Chong is a very good prof and you're in good hands! Just put in the work and you should stay afloat

TLDR:

High workload, don't overload (in fact try to underload) when taking this mod Leave your Fridays empty to work on the ODAs Learn Java ahead of time if you can to get used to the syntax, don't leave THAs to the last minute because you need time. Discuss with friends to maximise efficiency on coding assignments Do PYPs and understand how each algo works, how the time complexity comes about, when to use what algo Do lots of Visualgo practice for the quizzes

Grades:

Expected grade: A- Actual grade: A

DSA2101

Module Coordinator & Lecturer: Dr Huang Yuting

T/A: Augustine

Lecture Topics:

R programming.

Importing data into R.

Data manipulation with R (Tidyverse)

Principles of data visualization.

Introduction to the grammar of graphics (ggplot2)

Exploring data through visualization.

Deliverables:

Tutorial Attendance - 5% DataCamp assignments - 10% Group project - 15% Midterm - 30% Finals - 40%

Other Comments:

This module has a pretty light workload, and the content is quite straightforward. It's a coding mod about data cleaning and visualisation using R. I thought I would be disadvantaged as I was pre-allocated DSA1101 in Sem 1 last year under Dr Sun, which had little coding emphasis and more stats/math, whereas in Sem 2 Dr Daisy Pham took over and revamped the whole module to essentially be about R coding. However, the first few weeks of lectures were about R coding and it was more than enough time to catch up. Also, it turns out that I'm quite quick at debugging in R, which is a great asset in exams. Dr Huang is a good lecturer in my opinion, she is concise and emphasises on the important things. Lectures are basically her going through slides which show various ways to code using a variety of tools/functions, and often she'll do a live demo to reinforce what was taught in the slides. She encourages us to code alongside her, and for this reason (apart from the fact that lectures are at 8am), I think it's better to watch the recorded lectures as you can pause and try them out yourself before continuing. Prof is also very approachable and quick to reply my emails, even if I ask a barrage of questions.

Tutorials are coding questions for you to try out on your own, and the TA will go through them. Augustine was a good TA, on top of the solutions provided by prof, he would add other methods to get the same result, and he was decent at explaining the code flow and thought process. He also responded to my queries on Telegram for the most part. As for the tutorial questions, I highly recommend trying them out on your own without using chatgpt to debug, because it's good practice for exams.

DataCamp Assignments were 8 x 1.25% online modules/courses? on DataCamp. These are free marks so just make sure you complete them by the deadline. DataCamp honestly isn't very helpful in learning because almost everything is filled in, and they just need you to fill in a few blanks.

The midterm was a 1.5-hour Examplify, open-book but closed internet exam, held in Week 8 at 8am (!!), and this was probably the most difficult part of the course. Most people weren't mentally awake at 8am, and the paper was quite difficult. It is easy to forget a certain function or have syntax errors, and R isn't the easiest language to debug in. It might be tempting to keep working on one part before moving on to the next because each sub-part leads to another, but the grading was very lenient in the sense that even if you miss out on a lot of things, you can still get the bulk of the marks. The key point is to try and complete everything and you should be above the median already. Since you don't have internet access, it is paramount that you do the tutorials as practice without the internet to prepare for the midterm. There were also a lot of small things that tripped people up, such as not being able to read the excel file in R when the excel file is open on your computer, ctrl-c ctrl-v being locked, the question paper on Examplify only taking half of the screen and couldn't be expanded etc. Overall it was a bad experience but luckily the grading was so kind. I got 27.5/30, the median was 21.25/30. Also do note that you have to copy your code from R into Examplify and differences between the R code submitted on Canvas and the Examplify code will be subjected to penalties. However, the Examplify exam does not auto-submit when time is up because there's 15 minutes after the exam to complete all the admin, so make sure your file can knit and all (basically the correct version of your R file) before you copy and paste into Examplify.

The group project was a report where we had to come out with 3 different plots using ggplot to investigate a meaningful question from one of the datasets given. We were allowed to choose our group members regardless of tutorial slot, so be sure to take this mod with friends!! My group did San Francisco Rentals, which a lot of people avoided because there were a lot of observations and variables/columns, but it turned out to be quite easy as we only had to select a few columns to work with. I had other friends who did the Lego dataset which seemed easy at first glance, but turned out to be a nightmare because you had to join a lot of different tables together to get the data you wanted. Unfortunately, I don't know why my group underperformed, I only got 12.5/15, and I assume a lot of people would get 13-15 out of 15 (stats were not released). Anyways just make sure you don't leave the project to the last minute because it can be quite tedious to code and have to write the report.

Finals were a lot easier than midterms. The format was Examplify open-book, closed-internet 2-hour exam, consisting of 25 marks of MCQ/fill-in-the-blank questions and 15 marks of coding. The coding this time around was much simpler, and possibly because we're more experienced by then. The MCQ questions were very easy, and if you were unsure of anything (eg. the definition of tidy data), you could just Ctrl-F. Hence, I recommend collating the lecture slides into one document to more efficiently Ctrl-F. This also helps for the coding questions, as there was 1 data-cleaning and 2 ggplot questions, and if you're unsure of which ggplot function to plot the graph, there's a summary on the lecture slides, alongside an example of the syntax to come up with the plot. Hence, I finished the exam with half an hour to spare and checked through my answers. I think the bell curve for this paper is quite steep because it was relatively easy. There was only one part that tripped some people up, which was removing NAs before or after performing pivot-longer. This will yield different results and affects 2 MCQ questions and the 5 mark coding question. Other than that, the exam is straightforward so be sure not to make careless mistakes.

TLDR:

Practise tutorials without ChatGPT Go through tutorial questions and answers, collate lecture slides into 1 document for easy ctrl-F-ing in the exams In the exams, aim to complete everything rather than perfect certain parts. Move on if you're stuck Don't be careless, read the questions carefully Work with trusted friends for the group project to minimise pain

Grades:

Expected grade: A- Actual grade: A

DSA2102

Module Coordinator & Lecturer: Dr Timothy Wertz

T/A: Tianyun

Lecture Topics:

Week 1: Introduction, Scientific Notation Week 2: Computer Arithmetic, Matrix Operations and Complexity Week 3: Systems of Linear Equations Week 4: Elimination with Pivoting, LU Factorization Week 5: Cholesky Factorization, Linear Least Squares Week 6: Gram-Schmidt Process, Reflections and Rotations Week 7: Singular Value Decomposition Week 8: Eigenvalue Problems Week 9: Power Iteration, QR Iteration Week 10: Singular Value Decomposition Revisited, Interpolation, Practical Interpolation Week 11: Orthogonal Polynomials Week 12: Numerical Integration Week 13: Error Formulas and Composite Quadrature, Other Integration Algorithms, Numerical Differentiation

Deliverables:

Homework - 5% x4 [lowest HW score can be substituted by lecture attendance grade] Midterm - 30% Finals - 50%

Other Comments:

This module is not difficult, but there's just a lot of content to remember. First of all, Dr Wertz is a pretty good lecturer, he is concise in explaining things and he splits his lectures into 3 categories: technical, conceptual, and enrichment. About 40% of the slides are enrichment which is nice to know but not required for the homework or exams. I would've liked to see a labelling of each slide under one of the 3 categories which would have made revising for exams a lot easier. Prof is also very helpful and answers questions at the end of the lecture. However, he also speaks very fast and tends to mumble/have run-off sentences so if your first language is not English, you might have a hard time understanding him.

There were 4 homeworks, each was out of 50. Like most math modules, the homework median is usually close to full marks, except for Homework 2 which had a killer counting operations of banded matrix question. As usual, discuss with friends to check your answers. The homework questions are mostly not tough, they are questions that are covered in lectures. Each homework also has an R coding question, but it's usually quite simple as prof has pseudocode in the slides, you just need to adapt them into actual code. If not, the tutorials also have an R question usually, refer to the tutorials for inspiration. Also, prof took lecture attendance, and while lectures are not compulsory (lectures are recorded too), it can replace your lowest homework grade, whichever is higher. I highly recommend getting the attendance grade as a safety net.

Tutorials were apparently hit-or-miss. My TA, Tianyun, was a pretty good TA and he explained relatively well. Sometimes, I didn't understand him but he was very approachable to me asking him questions after tutorial and he cleared all my doubts. He was also very dedicated, because there was one week that another TA took over him, and damn he kinda sucks because he doesn't explain well and totally skipped the R coding question, which I needed to solve a homework question. After asking the substitute TA about it, he just shrugged and said he doesn't provide R code. However, after I emailed Tianyun about it, he came up with his own R solution to the problem as prof hadn't sent him the solution yet. This sort of proactiveness is appreciated. As for the tutorial questions itself, it's mostly not hard and quite a good reflection of exam questions.

The midterm was a 80-minute pen-and-paper, scientific calculator exam, and we had to bring our own writing paper and scan our answers to upload ala homework-style within 10 minutes. The paper was relatively simple but computationally intensive, so avoid making careless mistakes. We were tested up to Week 6 content, and it was quite right-skewed. I got 41/50, the stats are 0 33 39 43 50. The final exam was a 2-hour pen-and-paper, scientific calculator exam that was out of 50. It was honestly even simpler than the midterm because it was less computationally-intensive, the first question was a bit odd, asking us to consider the number of operations to get the time complexity of some algorithms. The rest of the questions were standard, and mirrored questions from lecture examples, tutorials or the midterm/final practice papers that prof gave. Prof said he sets easier papers by not allowing us to bring cheatsheets in, and I think he kept to his word. The hard part comes in memorising the sheer number of algorithms and ways to solve the questions.

TLDR:

Keep up with tutorials so that you remember the algorithms more easily As usual, check homework answers with friends, attend lectures for safety net/grade boost in case you screw up a HW Try to understand the process of the algorithms to make life easier when studying for exams Don't make careless mistakes in exams

Grades:

Expected grade: B+ Actual grade: A

MA2311

Module Coordinator & Lecturer: Assoc Prof Leung Man Chun

T/A: Shixiao

Lecture Topics:

1. Sequences (Monotone convergence theorem, series, absolute and conditional convergence) 2. Tests of convergence (Power series and interval of convergence, Taylor’s series, differentiation and integration of power series) 3. Vectors in R2 and R3 (Dot product and cross product) 4. Functions of 2 or 3 Variables (Limits and continuity, partial derivatives, directional derivatives, gradients of functions, Taylor’s formula, maximum and minimum, second derivative test) 5. Vector-valued Functions of Several Variables (Chain rule, tangent planes and normal lines to surfaces in R3, Jacobians (change of volume/area element), Lagrange's multiplier method) 6. Multiple Integrals (Iterated integrals, change of order of integration, change of variable formula for multiple integrals)

Deliverables:

Midterms - 20% Finals - 80% (!!)

Other Comments:

Despite my grade for the mod, I can safely say this is the WORST mod I've taken in NUS so far. This prof really sucks, period. Although some math majors were warning ppl about him in the CHS group chat, I thought that since the module content was easy, even if the prof is bad it shouldn't be too big a problem. How wrong I was HAHA (but tbf, I heard Charmaine Sia who's teaching MA2104 isn't that great either and 2104 is tougher so it's not an easy choice). At this point, the module should be renamed to Techniques in Advanced Gambling because I felt like I was throwing a dart blindfolded and seeing what grade I would land. The 80% finals really made it feel like a lottery.

Let's start with the lectures. Someone else mentioned that the lecture slides were bad, and yes it's true. It's just emptiness all around, like very few words and some random diagrams and pictures. I can understand if the prof wants us to take notes, and that's why he left so many blanks. But the problem is that his lectures hardly refer to the slides. 99% of the time he's writing some stuff on paper and showing it to the lecture hall on the visualiser, so no one knows which part he's explaining, especially since he really cannot teach and explain things well to us. I think it's very hard to learn content from his lectures, but I do think there is some value in watching them which I will explain later. I managed to get my hands on the previous prof's lecture slides which helped me to keep up with the tutorials but I didn't watch the lectures from midterms until reading week, as a result, I didn't exactly master the later topics until reading week.

As for the tutorials, Shixiao was a pretty good TA because he would explain things in a way that made sense. He was also helpful despite a lot of dumb questions I asked at the end of each tutorial lol. He was probably the saving grace of this mod. However, the tutorial questions were directly ripped from last AY's MA2311 (this prof was the TA for the mod then) and the prof is so lazy that he didn't even remove the previous prof's name from the tutorial solution slides!! So this means no one really knows what kind of questions the prof will set since there's no reference or anything.

Midterms was a 1-hour pen-and-paper exam held in the lecture hall on Week 8, and it was open-book. Apparently, it was closed-internet but there was nothing to block internet access. Nonetheless, you have access to all your notes and I also downloaded Geogebra offline to check limits lol. We were tested until radius of convergence. 2 questions were directly from the tutorial but just slightly altered, the last question was slightly unorthodox but still doable. I got 19/20, and I think a lot of people did too. We only got back the midterms on the very last lecture in Week 13 so if you realised you screwed up there's honestly not much time to catch up. The average according to the prof was around 18/20.

Finals was your typical 2-hour, pen-and-paper, scientific calculator and 1 A4 double-sided cheatsheet math final exam. (Note: There was 1 part of question 1 that was voided and the paper was re-based to 95 instead of 100.) The fact that finals was 80% was extremely scary, and it was a sink-or-swim situation. I spent the bulk of reading week looking through the textbook and trying out questions from there (answers can be found online if you're resourceful enough), and alongside going through the prev AY's prof notes in more detail I got a better idea of the content. To be fair, most of the content was not difficult except for the part on volume multiple integration. Nonetheless, I still poured a lot of effort and time into this module because I couldn't risk the 80%. After understanding everything, I watched the prof's lectures to see if there was anything I missed out on and also to get some hints. He was emphasising one particular question at the end of the last week 13 lecture which I added wholesale into my cheatsheet, and lo and behold, it came out in the last question of the finals. As for the finals paper itself, I could do most of the questions, it was a relatively even spread across all the topics in both the first and second half but I wasn't sure if I got them correct because even the first question, which was a giveaway L-hopital limit question, I got wrong LOL. I think there were a few questions that felt a bit strange and unfamiliar, but if you know your concepts well it should not be an issue. Overall, some people felt it was easy and some felt it was difficult, which I attribute to whether you know the content and watched his lectures or not. Still though, 80% is crazyyyyyy

TLDR:

Listen to other ppl's advice, don't take this mod under this AY's prof unless you like gambling if you're taking it under him, I wish you all the very best

Grades:

Expected grade: idek Actual grade: A+

#nus #cs2040 #dsa2101 #dsa2102 #ma2311

0 notes