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from-izzy · 6 months

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this summer... | tbz lee jaehyun | hyunjae

» PAIRING: tbz lee jaehyun x fem reader » TROPE/AU: don't think there's a trope for this one 🤔 established relationship au! » GENRE: summer break, holiday with friends, boyfie hyunjae, hyunjae's cute curly hair makes an appearance!, very fluffy patient hyunjae, very cute hyunjae, comforting and lovely hyunjae, summer holiday cause we all deserve to rest, maybe around...4/5 comfort level (in my standards!), hyunjae tucks your hair behind your ears, reader blushes because of boyfie hyunjae, long-haired reader who uses her hair to hide from hyunjae, standing infront of the mirror together as you both face your insecurities (hyunjae is also taller than you) » WORD COUNT: 6384 » ESTIMATED READING TIME: ~25 mins » WARNINGS (lmk if i missed anything!): insecurities, weight and body image

repost for @deoboyznet's 📢❤️ first house event!

just went back and fixed up the grammar and writing mistakes (there were a lot, i don't know how i missed it 😭)

Summer holds a very soft, warm spot in your heart.

For one, it’s the way the season is conveniently placed in the middle of July to the end of August which is the best time to destress after almost half a year of studying your ass off.

Secondly, it’s the way that you would shout “cannonball!” whilst you and your friends linked hands and jumped into the backyard, outdoor swimming pool.

Thirdly, it’s the way that you can flexibly work your schedule for a short amount of time: waking up, sleeping whenever you want to, studying when you want to and hanging out with the same friends when you want to.

Fourthly, it’s the way that every single food tastes so much better in the sunny summer compared to other white winters, the sneezy spring and the awkward cold-but-not-too-cold autumn.

But it’s also the way that you met your boyfriend in this beautiful season two years ago when he transferred to your school, alongside the fact that he shyly (but confidently, at the same time) asked you to be his a year ago at your favourite beach. You remember the way his cheeks flush with surprise when he turns back upon Younghoon and Jacob’s mischievous giggles, telling him to turn back to see you stare at him in bewilderment. The truth was revealed later on that your friends plotted the confession, complaining about your blindness of the lovesick eyes that you both sent to each other yet doing nothing about it.

To celebrate your last high school summer break together, Jaehyun’s closest two friends, Younghoon and Jacob, would come together with your slightly bigger group to spend a little four-day, three-night getaway at Jeju Island.

All of you have been talking about this for ages and how it would be a fun treat for making it through the last decade of compulsory high school and to give an encouraging pump for the last half a year left before you all finally become adults and take your own pathways. You all saved money like crazy even when you all reached the budget that is needed (you never know what could happen!) and the exciting day finally starts off tomorrow with Jacob driving one car while Seoyoon drives the smaller 4-wheel drive. It’s a shame that they couldn’t find a single car for all six of them at a reasonable price but they are all thankful for the opportunity to even share these memories together.

“Are you all ready for tomorrow?” Your mum peaks in after she knocks on your bedroom door. She was just as excited as you are, seeing how much you worked so hard both at school and your efforts on saving money for the last three years, “Give this to Jaehyun for me as well.”

“Hm?” You took your eyes off your still messy luggage to see, what you assumed to be, a black leather jacket that was folded neatly with a red ribbon wrapped around it; don’t forget the simple small card with his name on it, slipped in the middle of the ribbon.

“It’s his birthday gift. It was his birthday recently, right?” Your mum’s considerate act made you smile brightly and you jumped up from your knees to give her a tight hug. With your arms around her neck and your neck on her shoulders, you squeal in happiness, “Okay, okay I get it, you love him very much.”

You jump, still in your mum’s arms with your head in the clouds as you picture your loving boyfriend that you will be able to spend time with nonstop for the next four days or so, “I really really do. He’s just so perfect, mum.”

“Yes, yes. I’ve heard this way too much. Now let go of me, child. You need to finish packing.” Your mum rolls her eyes playfully and you know there was a big smile plastered on her own face with the way her words were delivered so clearly.

“Okay, okay.” With a quick kiss on her cheek, your mum disappears to the other side of the door. You let out a sigh of happiness, putting Jaehyun’s gift next to your luggage as you imagined how cute, good, hot, handsom---

“Also,” You jump a bit, hands on your chest when your mum surprised you this time with no further notice of her presence, “stop stealing his clothes.” You just giggle guiltily as her uninteresting eyes direct themselves to your overfilled, messy closet, “One, you already have a lot. Two,” back to your giddy figure, “he’s going to go broke.”

The whole house was sleeping, recharging from their own personal tiring events from the day. You should probably be too as you’ve all planned quite an early morning to get the most out of your holiday together. Instead though, somewhere in the middle of your packing, you couldn’t help but call your boyfriend, “Can you…”

“Hm?” Jaehyun on the other side of the line was also about to call you earlier and his face lit up when your name popped up on his screen, the familiar and specific ringtone bouncing around his four walls excitedly, “What’s wrong?”

The both of them curled up in their own respective beds with hushed voices full of love and adoration. Their phones were near their own faces as they lay down on their side to face each other’s respective profile pictures on their phones. At first, they wanted to do a video call but Jaehyun adamantly refused as per experience, they would not be able to sleep until about an hour before they were supposed to wake up. As much as you both know that you (probably) shouldn’t be doing that during school times, sitting next to each other during recess and lunch, with your head resting on his shoulder and his on top of yours as you both tried desperately to recharge quickly for the next periods, you both concluded that those late night (early morning) talks have always been worth it.

“Can we just…not sleep tonight?” You offered, your cheeks red as you pulled your blanket further up your face to hide as if Jaehyun could see you over his phone, “And just talk?”

“You know we shouldn’t, bubs.” Jaehyun hums, whispering back to you softly, “Plus we will literally be together for four days.”

“Well,” You grumble, sighing out as you finally voice the rough mathematical sound in your head, “technically less because we won’t be in the same room and then after that, there will be toilet breaks and then we lose milliseconds when we blink our eyes and then we won’t be in the same car as well, which is a big deal and it’s ju---”

“Okay okay, so maybe it’s not for a full ninety-six hours.” Jaehyun’s amused chuckle made you softly smile again, closing your eyes to focus on his comforting voice, “But we should get to sleep now, hm? Let’s just keep the phone on, okay?”

“Ah! I forgot to tell you abou---”

“Bubs.” Jaehyun scolds you playfully. You could make out the grin on his face and the way his eyes form little crescent shapes as you just whine about not wanting to fall asleep yet, “Tell you what.”

“Hm?”

You make out the shuffles from the other side of the line, telling you that Jaehyun is getting into a more comfortable position. This made you kick your legs and squeal into the phone as you knew what he would say next. Jaehyun shakes his head at your obviously delighted response. He sits up on the bed, laying his back on the bed frame. With his phone on his lap, he continued to make his little ‘deal’, “I’ll sing and you sleep.”

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes but the tone of your voice gave away what you truly felt, “Night, Jae.”

“Goodnight, bubs.”

You woke up refreshed, the tune that Jaehyun sang to you last night replaying in your head. You forgot to charge your phone last night so when you said ‘good morning’ and didn’t receive a response back, you were worried that something happened to the other line. Quickly jumping out of bed to reach for your power bank and starting your phone up with a series of impatient ‘come on, come on’, you thought you could beat your boyfriend’s text first.

With a bear and a heart next to his name, your notification showed the ‘good morning, sleepyhead.’ and the ‘beat you to it first, bubs.’

You slap your forehead gently to scold yourself. Forgetting to charge your phone overnight during an overnight phone call isn’t new to you and you made a bet with Jaehyun that the next time it happens (which is, just then), you would be the first one to send him a ‘good morning’ text, beating his unbeatable strike of twenty-three.

“Well, that’s twenty-four now.” The heartwarming feeling spreads through your body again and the smallest things that Jaehyun did made you feel so loved that you felt that you were out of this world.

You plop back down on your bed, stretching your arms out to the ceiling with your phones in your hands as you watch the ‘ringing’ switch to a stopwatch to show the duration of the call, “You beat me.” Jaehyun chuckles through the speaker mode.

“Good morning to you too.” You see the request to turn the voice call into a video call and you pick it up immediately, “Ah, my girlfriend is so pretty in the morning.”

“Lee Jaehyun, stop.” You pull your hair over to hide your face, peeking through the gaps to see him blow a kiss at you. You blew one back, your cheeks still flaring red and warm, “If I look pretty then you’re a masterpiece.”

“As if.” With the new angle of the phone facing towards the ceiling, you observed the way that your boyfriend enters a new room, turning on the lights to start his morning routine. Jaehyun puts his phone against his bathroom mirror but due to his height and the lower table, you can no longer see his face. But you didn’t need to see his face to know what he was going to do.

Your regular morning and night phone calls served as a kind of ‘get ready for’ something together and it also allowed you both to become more comfortable with each other during your first stages of dating. When you were just friends, these calls weren’t regular and only happened when you both needed to get something off your chests, or maybe rant about a nightmare that you had and needed some comfort. When you both started dating, it naturally became a regular thing you both indulged in, spending hours studying or watching movies together at night and spending your morning hours together before you hung up when you both were back to each other physically.

So you knew very well what Jaehyun was going to do when he let out a loud exhale and plugged his hair straighter into the power plug on the wall where the phone was near, “Straightening your hair?” You didn’t ask this question often. Most of the time you asked is either because you both weren’t currently talking or were too busy in your morning routines.

“Yeah.” He lets out a loud exhale and you observe how his chest leans forward toward the mirror, presumably to take a better look at a part of his hair that is already straightened, "Just…" another sigh, "yeah."

You nod at his words. Turning over to lay on your stomach to be in a more comfortable position, you just watch Jaehyun's arms moving left to right, up and down as he readjusts his hair with the help of his mirror. The series of 'tsk' from the other side of the line made your heart clench and you couldn't help but reassure him, your chin resting on your arm, "I love your curly hair, Jae."

You know how much Jaehyun gets insecure about his natural hair sometimes. The very first time you saw it was when you arrived at Jaehyun's house really early when you both were only friends. He opened the door for you to wait inside but due to his nervousness about unexpectedly having you over and walking to school with you for the first time, he forgot to finish his morning routine.

You remember greeting him with a shy smile and 'good morning' and he didn't even get the chance to say it back because your eyes travelled up to the very different hairstyle he has compared to the one you see at school. No need to say, he shut the door on you and the whoosh of wind left you stunned at the front door for a while.

When he opened the door again, you sweetly smiled at him, complimenting the natural shape of his hair. His worries about you seeing him as different (and possibly in your eyes, ugly) all disappear when you offer to straighten his hair for him.

Lee Jaehyun was a tomato throughout it all, especially when you said you like boys with curly hair. Like, what was he even supposed to do with that information?

"R-Really?" You lift your chin, coming closer to the phone screen when Jaehyun's face comes into view, "I-I just…I look so ba---"

"You look gorgeous." You quickly interrupted and you relaxed when Jaehyun let out a genuine sigh of relief. You took note of how his smile grew and his eyes looked at you thankfully, "I promise."

He retrieves his phone back to his hand and places his now gleaming face in the middle of the screen, "Thank you." He blew a kiss to the screen and you returned the gesture back before finally starting your own morning routine before Seoyoon arrived.

It's only around thirty minutes later when Seoyoon texted her arrival and you scurried down the stairs with all your necessities chaotically, "I think I'll hang up now. Lyla will not let me live otherwise."

"Yep, even though she's the biggest contributor to our relationship." Jaehyun remarks, "See you soon, bubs."

"Love you, see you soon!"

You turned off your phone, pocketed it safely and dropped your luggage in the trunk of the car. Hopping in with an excited feeling, you were quickly attacked with your own words that you said a couple of minutes ago.

"Love you, see you soon!!" Lyla imitates you, a series of eyebrow wiggles and teasing smiles on her face when she turns her body over to face the back seat where you just groan and roll your eyes.

"Hey. You and Jacob aren't any better." Seoyeon defends you swiftly and you poke your tongue out at your now-defeated friend.

"They're so cute, it physically makes me sick." Your backseat partner, Sua comments.

You squint your eyes at her, "I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not but I'll just accept it and move on." Seoyeon watches her best friend from the rearview mirror, nodding and clicking her tongue in approval while humming in thought, "What?"

"You and Jaehyun are perfect for each other indeed." Seoyoon starts the engine again, turning up the music to a desirable amount for the hour-long trip to the resort.

You blush at that, murmuring to yourself, "He's perfect for sure."

The holiday just started and it’s already so much better than you expected. While waiting for your gate to open, you pass Jaehyun’s gift from your mum, your boyfriend putting it on straight away despite the warm weather and sending a video message to your mum in gratitude. Lyla also planned a 'little' daily schedule for you all to follow the past few days. The later bloomers were not particularly happy with starting the day at nine and ending it at eleven on the same day and through choruses of opinions, she scrapped the idea and reduced the amount of group activities. You reassured your best friend that you would still do the main things that she wanted to do together and you were satisfied with the way she tackled you down on the bed in happiness.

Other than that, you all did an awesome job at finding this beach house. The location of the beach house is convenient and with the time of the year, a lot of night markets and activities were planned each day to celebrate the warm season. The area is filled with other couples and not so surprisingly other students who are enjoying their short freedom before they have to bury their whole bodies underneath a pile of books and practice exam papers.

“We’re finally here!” You all walked out and breathed the minty fresh air and salty sea as you stepped out of the airport, “This is so exciting!” Sua pulls both you and Seoyoon by the waist, squishing you three into a tight hug, “We’re going to have so much fun.”

You chuckle and affirm her words, “But let’s get the car first.”

Jacob points to the familiar plate numbers and along with Seoyoon, figures out the final arrangements, all the terms and conditions before finally attaining the keys from the person in charge.

“Can I---”

“No. You already spent like an hour with him on the flight.”

Sua gives you a deadpan look and Lyla pushes the girl lightly, “Just let her go. Jaehyun is looking at us with puppy eyes as well. Go with Jacob though, don’t want to see you two being all lovey-dovey.”

“Ew.” Sua throws her head back and jumps out of the hug, “You know what you both go in Jacob’s car. I’m going to go with Younghoon and Seoyoon.”

You took Lyla’s hand with your chin held high, teasing Sua’s look of grimace, “Not a problem with me.” As you were about to grab the handle of your wheel bag in another, Jaehyun ran to your side and beat you to it, giving you a quick kiss on your cheek.

His smirk grew at the way your cheeks grew red at the lingering feeling of his lips, “You weren’t giving me any attention.” Lyla squeals and runs away from you to hug her own boyfriend instead. Still frozen and shy at the unexpected act, you turned your head to the side with raised eyebrows, a gaped mouth and being absolutely speechless, Jaehyun shrugged innocently, “I was getting kind of lonely, bubs.”

“Lee Jaeh---”

Another kiss this time was given straight to your lips, muffling your complaints.

“Wha---”

Your internal body temperature is rising to be as hot as the summer heat and Jaehyun knew that he needed to cool you down or else you were probably going to murder him for making you so flustered in the middle of the walkway entrance of the airport door. He dips his head down once more to ghost over your plumper lips and before you can say anything else, his palms land softly on both sides of your waist, encasing you in his hold. His thumbs soothe down the sides of your body particularly along your ribs as you gasp from the delicate touch before he dives in to kiss you once more. Your own arms lift and you cross your wrists over on his nape, pulling him closer and responding to the kiss.

You felt nervous as you were out in public, tens of people just walking by or just standing around, but it all dissipated when you felt his breath on your lips. The kiss itself wasn’t heated like some of your other kisses with him but rather sweet and gentle. His lips would hug your lower lips before pulling away a little bit and hug your upper lip instead, relishing the way you would respond to him as a smile grew on both of your faces. He would do those little nudges and brushes with his nose on yours and you giggled as it meant that his playful self appeared to replace his flirty self.

“A bit jealous?” You asked him with your foreheads against each other.

“No.” Jaehyun smiles so widely when you both make eye contact, so much so that his cute little eye wrinkle smile makes its appearance, “A lot.”

That's how Jaehyun showed his love to you throughout the trip. It would also be holding hands whenever you both could, filling up your plate with more food whenever it got empty, making you walk on the inside of the walkway, dropping you off at your room door as if it wasn't just across and a little bit of a turn to his own room with the other boys, reminding you that you're beautiful and that he loves you every day.

Just.

You love this man. So much. With all your heart.

And Jaehyun knows that. From the way you would use your palm to block the side of his face due to the wind, to how you would give him the first bite of your ice cream, reminding him to put more sunscreen and applying it to his face every so often, to the way you sweetly kissed him on the lips as you both rested for the night.

He loves you. So much. With all his heart.

He managed to prove to you that every single day for the past two years you were friends, the past year and a half when he developed a crush on you, and the last year ever since you confessed your feelings to him back after him.

But you see, it's just unavoidable that you would still have those times alone when you would look at your body and feel self-conscious about it. You're human after all. It's normal to have a drop in confidence sometimes but the stereotype of girls in summer with their tanned skin, humongous sunglasses and revealing bikini got to you sometimes.

Your boyfriend is a godsend. It's no secret that girls would crush on him and the boys want to be him. I mean, with that kind heart, sexy brain (and body) and handsome visuals? Seriously, what did you do in your past life to receive this much love from a single person?

"You're not changing?"

Snapping out of your daze from your messy luggage, you could see your three friends all in their own choice of swimsuits and bikinis under their beach towels and robes. Seoyoon stares at you worriedly through her pink sunglasses.

"Um." You try your best to show a genuine smile, "I'll be there, just trying to swallow down that heavy lunch. You guys go on ahead."

You would be stupid if you thought they would believe that. Six years of friendship with a punt lie like that? Absolutely not. But they didn't question you further as you just bit your lower lip, feeling your confidence drop down once more. They know you just wanted to be alone after telling them that you felt sick and that you ate so much after lunch.

This is the part of summer that you hate.

As much as summer does hold a soft spot in your heart, sometimes the reminder that the sun is made out of fire literally made your head hot due to the overthinking that you always did somewhere along the way before you stepped into any type of swimsuit.

Deciding to succumb to your thoughts for a little bit, you sit down on the edge of the bed in defeat. You look out to see the sun's circumference not too far away from kissing the edge of the ocean and you could feel yourself starting to cry as you tried to push your dark thoughts away.

"Come on." You pleaded with yourself to pick up a swimsuit, any swimsuit, so that you can go meet with the others and watch the sunset together by the beach before you would all need to pack up and go back to reality tomorrow, "Please…" You whimper in desperation.

The balls of your feet step onto the side rail of the bed and you begin to sob, your arms wrapping your abdomen tightly in frustration. The water runs straight down from your eyelashes to your thighs and those droplets eventually make their own path from there as well.

You want to see the sunset as the beach water splashes and hugs your lower body. You want to see the sunset with your friends and your boyfriend together as you maybe do a little water fight against each other. You want to see the sky turn its bright colours to darker hues that signal younger children to turn their devices off and go to sleep.

You want to do all that so badly.

You released all your pent-up feelings through your tears and the cawing seagulls constantly reminded you that you were running out of time as the circle in the sky would eventually just sink and it would not stop or wait for anyone or anything. You managed to be in a swimsuit on the other previous days. So why now? When this whole little "let's see the sunset together in the water" was your idea. Why? Why why why---

You shouldn't have eaten so much in the last few days, feeling the difference in your stomach but also outside through your own eyes. So still with these burning thoughts and blurry vision, you just close your eyes, shove your hands into your suitcase, and take the first cold elastane fabric in your palms and change into it. Throughout your trip, you would plan your outfits with the help of the full body mirror that was placed behind the door, taking selfies with your friends as you all pulled funny faces together.

This is the only outfit that the mirror didn't see and the camera did not have save, and you didn’t think anything or anyone could change that. Quickly, you grab an oversized shirt, pulling it over your body to quickly realise that it's one of Jaehyun’s that you stole. You chuckle between your ragged gasps for air, sitting down on the bed again to continue your cries for a bit more. Before you can even hug your body once more, the knock on the door makes you whip your head backwards towards it.

"Bubs? Are you okay?"

You whimper at the familiar voice behind the door and you shake your head, not trusting your ability to answer verbally. Of course, the door isn't transparent and Jaehyun himself is only human too and understandably, your lack of response only makes him worry more.

"Hey…I'm going in alright?" The door clicks open with that and you hurriedly wipe any last bit of tears on your face, running your wet palms along the clothing that covers half of your thighs. You still couldn’t help your sniffles though and it was enough to have the smile on Jaehyun’s face and his soft steps to change quickly, “Hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

You only shook your head in response, your fists clenched the shirt in frustration as you began to drown in your own thoughts as well. Jaehyun kneels down in front of your downcasted head and if you looked up, you would be able to see the sad smile, the way his eyes gaze at you with patience and love. Carefully, his hand reaches out to your now-white fists. His fingers lay on the back of your palm while his palm lays on your knuckles, his thumb soothing the exposed sides of your pointer finger.

He made his presence to you with small, gentle steps from there: tucking your hair behind your ears, making a joke about how he thought he lost the shirt you were wearing, and letting out a harmonious chuckle when you responded to his joke. With time, he even manages to let your hands go off his now crinkled shirt, holding both your hands instead.

"I'm sorry." Is the first word you said when you broke the silence.

Pouting at that, Jaehyun leans forward to kiss your tired knuckles, "Don't be. You haven't done anything wrong."

"I have…" You whisper guiltily, "We missed the sunset right?"

"Hey, don't you think about that right now, okay?" He shakes his head at your worries, "That's not important. What's important is why you were crying alone and feeling sad about something."

"I'm just---" You sigh exasperatedly. Your eyes haven't met Jaehyun, just taking in the way your hands were between his. The changes in your physical appearance made you so weak and frustrated, "I just don't feel good about my body and you're literally so perfect and I just can't keep up with how perfect you ar---"

"Stop, don't say that about yourself." He lets go of your hands, scooting over and straightening his back. You close your eyes, sniffling once again as you feel your boyfriend's hands cup your cheek, lifting your messy face to him. He wipes the rest of the tears that escape from your eyes with his thumbs, leaning to press kisses on both your eyelids in an attempt to ground you back.

You open your eyes to see the love hearts that swirl around his eyes freely, the crease between his eyebrows and the somewhat serious face he has on.

"He's mad at me…" and you bit your lip to contain your assumptions to yourself, scared that Jaehyun would affirm it and want that could result, "Please don't leave me."

"I wo---"

"I'll make myself look better in every way possible, just please give me time."

"Bubs, what are you talking about?" Jaehyun shakes his head at your rant while his head tries to pick up the pieces together to make a sort of confusion, "You're perfect as you are. Don't ever change yourself for anyone. Including me."

"But those girls are so pretty, Jaehyun and you would look so much better with them. Or maybe with me if I was somewhere on their lev---"

"Please look at yourself the way that I see you through my eyes." It was soft, almost like a hush. But you catch the way his lips move when you go on a tangent and you stop yourself from going further.

Jaehyun stands up, making you stand up as well and brings you in for a hug, his hand behind your head and the other around your waist. You let out the rest of your tears on his chest, punching him lightly while your palm pushes your stomach in frustration.

Jaehyun doesn't care about your punches to his chest but he immediately catches your other hand, pulling it away to the side of your body. His hand wraps itself around your wrist tightly, stopping you from pulling it back, "You're gorgeous." His hold on your body tightens as he recites the words that you said to him a few days ago through the latest video chat you both had, "I promise."

"Jaehyun…"

"I don't care about other girls. Who cares about them? When I have such a gorgeous girlfriend inside and out and bonus for me, loves me for who I am?" Jaehyun puts a small distance between his chest and your face, gazing down at you and planting a kiss on your forehead, "Wait here for a bit?"

You nod at the question and he leaves to go to the bathroom. While he left, your eyes went back to the view outside the window and you could predict how much time had passed as the circumference of the sun started to really make contact with the ocean. The guilt settles in again and you curse yourself for ruining the last group event of the whole trip.

But before you could really drown in the darkness again, Jaehyun stumbles out of the bathroom and you gasp at his wet hair and the darker spots on his shirt due to the water. You walk over to him, your mouth moving in different shapes though no voice was heard.

Jaehyun chuckles at the way you retrieved a towel and laid it on top of his head, beginning to dry his brown hair with circular motions, "Thank you." He takes the towel with one hand, continuing the motions himself while his other arm snakes around your waist to pull you back to his chest.

You rest your chin on his left pectoral, observing the little curls of his hair starting to make its appearance and you smile fondly at how it would disappear underneath the towel and reappear again. When Jaehyun puts the towel around his neck, you couldn't help but reach out to play with one of his curls, trapping the strands between your thumb and pointer and gently tugging it, straightening the strand until the end, only for it to retract back to its formal shape.

"Having fun there?" Jaehyun comments when you do the same action to other strands of his hair. Slowly, a joyful smile comes to your face and he feels relieved at the pretty sight, "Come here for a second."

He led you to stand in front of the mirror and you immediately turned back to hug your boyfriend, scowling at how messy you looked, "I think I just saw a ghost." You complain, hiding your face in his chest.

"Oh?" Jaehyun gasps out dramatically, "What where? I hate ghosts but I'll protect you!" Just like before, he held you close with both of his fingers intertwining behind your back.

You both stayed like this for a moment longer. Jaehyun's heartbeat calms you down and you exhale in contentment at the way he starts to sway from side to side slightly. The familiar scent of your shampoo, unknown to you, makes him feel the same calmness as well as he faces his insecurity head-on through the mirror.

You took notice of how Jaehyun's body felt a bit tense compared to how it was with your last hug. From the lower side angle, you can see the way that his jaw tenses at the look that the mirror is giving him, gulping at his own reflection. Turning your body around to face the mirror, still within his hold, you ignore how much you hate your own reflection, staring at your boyfriend's eyes instead.

Too deep in his thought, you rest your forearms on top of his, this time your palms on top of his like how he did before, "Love your hair, Jae."

You can see the slight flinch when your voice pulls him back to reality. You blush when he dips his chin down to your shoulder, whispering his own words to your ears, "Love your body, bubs."

The mirror showed the couple's full body, including the parts of themselves that they each hated the most. But the mirror also showed the both of them together as they embraced and basked in each other's love, reminding the other that their insecurities were valid but that they still love the other the same way.

You realise that when Jaehyun washed out his hairspray, using a towel to dry his hair to make his natural hair come back instantly. You realised once again that Jaehyun is truly in love with you, so patient and so kind with your journey and the smile that grew on your lips which each realisation made Jaehyun blush and bury his face onto the crook of your neck.

You remind yourself internally at this moment, as you face yourself straight into the mirror, "I'm enough and I'm gorgeous." And the deep inhale of the cold but warming air that enters your lungs, untangles Jaehyun's hands and with no pressure, places itself on your clothed stomach. He presses a kiss on the underside of your jawline, whispering sweet nothings to you.

You turn your head to face him this time, not through the mirror, the tips of your noses together, your eyes closed and your mind at peace, "Thank you."

"No, thank you." A shake of his head and a kiss on your lips, "For loving me and treating me like I’m perfect."

“You’re perfect in my eyes.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

You were able to watch the upper half of the sunset with your friends at the beach. Seoyoon, Lyla and Sua could see the tranquillity on your face and they looked at each other, sending nods, knowing that you were fine and doing okay now. Just as you wished, you were able to fully feel the salty water around your entire body, leaving the oversized shirt somewhere on the big volume of sand behind you.

All of you know that this trip was way better than you had expected. It would be a trip that you would talk about and look back on for the rest of your life. It's a summer memory that you will hold on to not only because all your hard work in your jobs paid off, or your first trip with all your friends and boyfriend without supervision, or how Jaehyun loves you dearly.

This summer taught you that you love the people in your life right now and how fast time goes by as you surround yourself with them.

This summer gave you confidence that you will be able to go back and study more when you're back and pursue whatever it is that you want.

This summer taught you that you're enough as you are and that you should be kinder towards every part of yourself, to treat your body for going through all the hardships that life has given you.

This summer also made you fall in love with Lee Jaehyun deeper and you are sure that your relationship will grow further and stronger from now on.

You can't wait for the new things you'll learn next summer but that's something for later. For now, as the sun continues to set further and you all run back to land to set up a group photo with the scene as the background, you envelop yourself within the bounds of Jaehyun's arms.

"Love you." You quickly kiss him before turning back around to pose for the camera.

"Love you more." He squishes in audibly before the camera snaps.

Oh, how you'll remember this summer.

tags: @deoboyznet 📢❤️

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ohmygs-blog · 7 months

Note

WHAT ARE SOME OF UR FAV FALL K-POP SOMGS

wait crazy cuz i made my autumn playlist a few days ago !! this is probably gonna be long so warning u now <3

def more of a bg listener than gg so i apologize for all the bg songs (but not really tbh cuz they’re all 10/10) also feel like most of my gg favs are more like happy yay #slay and not sad ugh #wanna kms

BUT HERE U GO IM PROB FORGETTING A LOT N IM GONNA BE MAD WHEN I REALIZE TM LOL

girl groups + solo

doughnut by twice (unhealthy attatched)

ditto by new jeans (this was my #1 song for months when it came out not even lying)

hurt by new jeans

sour grapes by le sserafim

the happiest girl by black pink

time after time by boa & wendy & ningning (fav song to scream in the car when i drive by myself)

raise y_our glass by yunjin

only by leehi (isn’t this on everyones tbh)

love poem by iu

boy groups + solo

nct universe

• moon by nct dream

broken melodies by nct dream (every time i hear mark n chenles part i tear up fr like i need it looped in my head 24/7)

• favorite by nct 127 (best song ever idc!!)

no longer by nct 127

the rainy night by nct 127

• faded in my last song by nct u (sad but so sexy sounding)

from home by nct u (DUHHHH)

• try again by jaehyun & d.ear (a classic !!!!!!!)

child by mark

good person by haechan

my other loves <3

• ghosting by txt

run away by txt

maze in the mirror by txt (this was the one i blasted in my airpods on the bus ride to school after covid. like having my own mv vibes)

• ex by skz

another day by skz

slump eng ver by skz (god. this was the song i listened to religiously when i was seriously having the worst time of my life)

winter falls by skz

• pray (i’ll be ur man) by btob (found this bc of kingdom)

missing you by btob

beautiful pain by btob

• inception by ateez (IM IN LOVEEEEE)

• polaroid love by enhypen

• she’s in the rain by the rose (sobbing as i write this)

• sweet night by v (bestie boo)

blue & grey by bts

#my anons <3 #abt me!

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neowinestainedress · 2 years

Text

loving him was red ♡ nct 127 series

On the occasion of the release of “RED” Taylor’s version, I wanted to make a series that celebrates love.

This series is about the "red relationships". «The ones that went from zero to a hundred miles per hour and then hit a wall and exploded. And it was awful. And ridiculous. And desperate. And thrilling. And when the dust settled, it was something I'd never take back. Because there is something to be said for being young and needing someone so badly, you jump in head first without looking. And there's something to be learned from waiting all day for a train that's never coming. And there's something to be proud of about moving on and realizing that real love shines golden like starlight, and doesn't fade or spontaneously combust. (...) But this is about the other kinds of love. Love that was treacherous, sad, beautiful and tragic. Most of all, this is about love that was RED. »

The stories are not related to each other. Originally I had planned to write for all the love songs in the album but then I decided to cut some, so there’s why some members have two (or more) stories and others just one. I don’t own NCT and their images and in no way these stories represent them, this is just fiction and all of their actions are made up. I haven’t finished writing all of these, so I don’t really know when they’ll be out, but I’ll release them all (I might replace the ones that still don’t have a plot with other songs but I think it’ll only be all too well because I’m not sure I’ll be able to write for that song). I’m planning to release at least once a month but keep in mind that I also have a life and I’m busy with uni so the release might change. But If I have more time and be inspired to write I might publish more. There shouldn’t be anything really triggering but read the warnings once I publish the single fic. I promise there won’t be only pain but also fluff and a lot of smut, not in every fic but still be careful and check the final warnings.

STATE OF GRACE - JOHNNY

↳ ❝ Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right. ❞

pairing: suh johnny x oc

genre: smut, fluff, ceo au, established relationship au, implied past academic rivals to lovers au, slice of life, parents au (just at the end)

summary: Happy endings are only for the heroes of stories, the brokenhearted. Heartbreakers rarely find happiness in the last pages of their book. But life’s unexpected, and it happens that sinners and heartbreakers might get their happy endings. She never expected to find love, she never tried to make it happen, especially with the person she could barely stand, but when Johnny came around and her armor fell, there was nothing else she could do.

status: read here

RED - YUTA

↳ ❝ Like the colors in autumn, so bright, just before they lose it all. ❞

pairing: nakamoto yuta x oc

genre: racer!au, smut, angst,

summary: Yuta was elusive, fast and bright and loud like the streets he rode with his fast cars. Their story started suddenly and ended even more unexpectedly. But Yuta is still vivid in her mind, burning red. And the only things she is left with are memories that don’t leave her brain and whishing she never found out that love could be that strong.

status: there’s nothing here

TREACHEROUS - DOYOUNG

↳ ❝ And all we are is skin and bone trained to get along. ❞

pairing: kim doyoung x oc

genre: smut, fwb to lovers!au, getting together!au, fluff

summary: Loving Doyoung is treacherous, reckless, but she can’t help being pulled to him. She knows she should let him go, but she can’t stop thinking about him, his name haunting her every night. So she risks it all because it’s known that nothing safe is worth the drive.

status: read here

I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE - JAEHYUN

↳ ❝ Flew me to places I'd never been. Now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground. ❞

pairing: jeong jaehyun x oc

genre: photographer!au, strangers to fwb to lovers to ex!au, smut, toxic relationship, cheating,

summary: Falling into the trap of the wolf is easy when you're naive and heartbroken, when you only want to be wanted and loved. She knew how sneaky that path was, she knew she shouldn't have followed him that night and kept living her boring life. But emotions get people’s heads and make them feel lightweight, and Jaehyun made her fly so high she never wanted to come back down. Unfortunately, every prize comes with a price, players stay players, and you’ll be nothing but a notch in their belt for them.

status: read here

ALL TOO WELL - JOHNNY

↳ ❝ You told me 'bout your past thinking your future was me. ❞

pairings: suh johnny x oc

genre: angst, fluff, smut, break up!au, (possible) age gap,

summary: tba

status: there’s nothing here

I ALMOST DO - TAEYONG

↳ ❝ I can't say "Hello" to you and risk another goodbye.❞

pairings: lee taeyong x oc

genre: angst, fluff, reminiscing on a past relationship,

summary: tba

status: there’s nothing here

STAY STAY STAY - MARK

↳ ❝ No one else is gonna love me when I get mad. So I think that it's best if we both stay. ❞

pairings: lee mark x oc

genre: slice of life, fluff, enstablished relationship

summary: tba

status: there’s nothing here

THE LAST TIME - TAEIL

↳ ❝ You wear your best apology, but I was there to watch you leave.❞

pairing: moon taeil x oc

genre: break up/make up!au, implied cheating, angst,

summary: tba

status: there’s nothing here

HOLY GROUND - JUNGWOO

↳ ❝ Back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme. ❞

pairing: kim jungwoo x oc

genre: singer!oc, non idol!jungwoo, slice of life, reminiscing on a past relationship, fluff, melancholy

summary: Going to your ex’s concert is not a great idea, Jungwoo knows it, but he wants to see her again. He wants to hear her sing the songs he heard before anybody else to a crowd of strangers. He wants to feel his heart break in his chest knowing that she doesn’t feel the same anymore. But when she hears that her ex is in the crowd, she also has a surprise for him. Because no matter what happened between them, she would always be grateful for having him in his life. Right where they stood, was holy ground.

status: there’s nothing here

SAD BEAUTIFUL TRAGIC - JAEHYUN

↳ ❝ Words, how little they mean, when you're a little too late.❞

pairing: jeong jaehyun x oc

genre: idol!au, childhood friends to lovers to strangers, smut, angst, some fluff,

summary: The old days were much easier when she and Jaehyun would play in the meadows till late afternoon. It was easier when the only thing that caressed her cheeks was the air of the countryside while she fell in love with Jaehyun and not the salty tears that traced her face now that she was missing him. “Wait for me,” he had asked her and she did. Because that’s what good girls do, hopeful they'll be and long they will wait.

status: there’s nothing here

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED - HAECHAN

↳ ❝ And your eyes look like coming home.❞

pairing: lee haechan x oc

genre: coffee shop!au, strangers to friends to lovers, fluff, mutual pining, getting together, (tiny little bit) angst

summary: She would’ve never imagined that the person that would’ve turned her life around was going to show up in that small cafè where she worked every day and hated so much. But sometimes, it only takes a coffee shop, brown eyes and a rain storm for everything to change.

status: read here

BEGIN AGAIN -TAEYONG

↳ ❝ And for the first time, what's past is past.❞

pairing: lee taeyong x oc

genre: fluff, getting together, getting out of a past toxic relationship,

summary: The midnight booked trip to Paris was supposed to be a getaway to the pain her city brought to her, with every corner screaming her ex’s name. She had no idea what it would’ve brought to her. She had no idea somebody could creep into her shattered heart so easily. But Taeyong was good to prove to her that after months of suffering you can watch love begin again, and in the most unexpected place, on a Wednesday in a Parisian cafè.

status: there’s nothing here

THE MOMENT I KNEW - MARK

↳ ❝ You should've been here. And I would've been so happy.❞

pairing: lee mark x oc

genre: idol!au, birthday party, slice of life

summary: Trying to keep together the relationship with an idol was hard enough if you were close, but if distance was another thing that pulled you apart, it was even more complicated. She is trying, really, letting the smallest things slide, trying to ignore the voice in the back of her head that is telling her that he has another one, that that’s the reason behind the cold textes and short phone calls. But when he doesn’t make it to her birthday party, all those fears come crambiling on her. And what do you do when the one who means the most to you is the one who didn't show?

status: there’s nothing here

COME BACK... BE HERE - YUTA

↳ ❝ Taxi cabs and busy streets that never bring you back to me.❞

pairing: nakamoto yuta x oc

genre: dilf!Yuta, aged up!Yuta (37), CEO au, fwb au, smut, angst

summary: Falling for a man that could be your father is not a wise thing to do, and it’s even worse when he’s worlds away and the rules at the start were very clear, no feelings on the line. But she had never been good at following them, and now, she was paying the price.

status: read here

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - THERE’S NOTHING HERE

↳ ❝ A message in a bottle is all I can do. Standin' here, hopin' it gets to you.❞

pairing: TBA

genre: TBA

summary: TBA

I BET YOU THINK ABOUT ME - THERE’S NOTHING HERE

↳ ❝ Does it make you feel sad, that the love that you're lookin' for is the love that you had? ❞

pairing: TBA

genre: TBA

summary: TBA

RUN - THERE’S NOTHING HERE

↳ ❝ There's a heart on your sleeve. I'll take it when I leave and hold it for you. ❞

pairing: TBA

genre: TBA

summary: TBA

THE VERY FIRST NIGHT - THERE’S NOTHING HERE

↳ ❝ No one knows about the words that we whisper. No one knows how much I miss you. ❞

pairing: TBA

genre: TBA

summary: TBA

a/n: if you reached the end thank you. I hope you’ll like these stories and have patience for the wait, I promise I’ll do my best to upload regularly. I’ll update this masterlist every time i start writing something and change the status and also the warnings.

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mingiswow · 3 years

Text

Cuddles and Smooches | Park Jisung

Pairing: Park Jisung x gn!reader

Genre: fluff, slice of life

Words: + 900

⚠ English is not my native language, so pardon me if there’s any mistake. And you can always tell me what’s wrong.

Request by @kiri-ah: Cuddles and smooches sounds good to me... Movie night with Park Jisung please?

Thank you Kiri for the request, I loved writing this one, hope you enjoy 💖💖🥰

The moon was shining brightly outside your window. The first cold winds of autumn making the curtains dance inside your room as you applied mascara to your lashes, your skin forming goosebumps from the air hitting your back as well.

It was almost the end of the year and you barely had time to see your boyfriend. And after the promotions with the dreamies he finally had so free time to spend with you. To say you were excited, anxious, and nervous all at the same time was more than understandable. You even bought new clothes for the event.

Your ears almost twitched as you listened to your doorbell rang, running straight to the place and opening without even looking at the magic eye.

And there he was, beautifully standing in front of you, his face scrunched in a sweet smile as he held a small bouquet of your favorite flowers and a paper bag that you assumed held either food or drinks.

“Hello, beautiful” he finally said after what it felt like hours staring at each other and smiling dumbly. You just jumped into his arms, finally hugging each other after so long, your nose instinctively finding the crook of his neck and smelling his perfume. He giggled at your reaction, hugging you back, bringing your bodies close. “I missed you too”.

You left the hug, a pout on your lips as you jokingly hit his arm. “Stop! It’s not my fault you’re a busy superstar and I have to wait for ages until you have some time for me, of course I’ll miss you” you grabbed the bouquet and smelled the flowers smiling at the fact he remembered what were your favorite flowers.

You grabbed his hand and brought the boy inside the house, closing the door behind him and arranging some vase with water for the flowers.

“I brought us some wine I stole from Jaehyun” you laughed at him and thanked him for the drink, knowing that the older had a great taste for wine.

After you finished, you just turned around, seeing Jisung looking at you and without thinking just jumped at him once again, joining your lips. The kiss was soft, loving, and, honestly, overwhelming after so long. “I missed you, Sung~ah!” you said with your lips still on his, hands wrapped around his neck, while his were gently placed on your lower back, keeping your bodies joint.

“I missed you too, y/n” he nose-kissed you, smiles planted on both of your lips. “I think I’ve never been away from you for so long” you nodded.

“But you’re here with me now, that’s all that matters and that we have a full bottle of wine to drink and a lot of movies to watch and I have loads of cuddles to give to you” you kissed his lips once again before going to grab some cups. “So wanna order something to eat? What movie do you wanna watch?”

“I was thinking about watching some silly rom-com, what do you think?” you agreed with the idea, you loved silly movies, especially with Jisung. “And how about pizza?”

“God… you know me so well” you gave him one of the cups already half full with the dark red liquid and took a sip of your own, feeling the taste of alcohol tingling your throat. “Jaehyun Oppa definitely has good taste in wine”

“That’s because you haven’t tasted the fancy ones Johnny and Chenle buy and never let anyone drink” you laughed at the funny face he pulled, pecking his lips once again.

“Order the pizza and I’ll choose a movie, ok?” he nodded, grabbing his phone to open the delivery app as you turned on the tv.

After a while, you two were sprawled over the sofa, pizza box opened in front of you with a few pieces of unfinished crust on it, wine long gone, and some John Hughes movie playing on the tv, the only source of light.

You were sat with your butt between Jisung’s legs, your owns being on top of him left one as you two kissed without even paying attention to what the characters were saying, your main focus being each other’s lips. The boy had one of his hands on your hip and the other caressing and drawing little abstract patterns on your tight, the warmth of his hands almost comforting you. Your hands were planted on his hair, playing with his short strands and, eventually, massaging his scalp.

Little soft whines left your mouths as you kept your little make-out session going. It wasn’t anything sexual, it was just the two of you enjoying each other’s company, making for the time that you couldn’t be together, enjoying the other’s warmth and comfort through cuddles and kisses.

“y/n..” you hummed in response, lips plump and red, as well as both of your cheeks. “I love you” a little kiss was placed on your nose. “I really do love you and being away from you for so long made me realize that I want to spend my life with you. Will you marry me?” you laughed at him, shaking your head in denial of his words.

“Park Jisung, we’re a little too young for that, besides we only have been dating for a year”

“But would you? Would you marry me? Spend the rest of your life with me?” you nodded, hugging his neck and bringing his face close to yours, foreheads touching.

“Absolutely yes. I’d love to spend the rest of my days with you like this” you two smiled, eyes intensively and truthfully staring. “But for now, use that soft pink mouth of yours to kiss me”

“As you wish, future Mrs. Park”

Requests are open.

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celestiababie · 3 years

Text

Seasons Change- Jaehyun

Pairings: Jaehyun x gender neutral! reader

Genre: Angst (I’m so sorry), fluff

Summary: With the seasons changing, you can’t help but notice that your relationship with Jaehyun is changing as well.

Word count: 595 (it’s a short one)

A/N: I randomly got the idea to write this and although I know this won’t be seen as much as the smuts I write- I was actually kinda proud of this one. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever wrote but it did make me cry while writing it for some reason. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and don’t cry like I did!

Distance was always something you associated as being a physical thing. But, you couldn't ignore the distance between you and Jaehyun that was only growing as more time passed and the seasons changed.

It was as if the cycling seasons couldn't have been a better metaphor.

Spring, your love blossomed effortlessly along with the array of flowers surrounding you as you knocked into a particular 5'11 male who had the most striking brown eyes you've ever seen. His dimpled smile warmed your heart, your heart swelling tenfold, just as the sun warmed the plants and helped them flourish. Dazzling, that's the only word that could come to mind. Your blossoming fondness for this pale dimpled boy who cherished his vinyl records and coffee was just dazzling.

Summer, the days were hotter as the sun shined over everything with intensity. Jaehyun's love was intense, filled with a fiery passion, yet so inviting. Days spent outside in the warm sun with him; amorous nights spent sweating under thin sheets entangled in each other's grasp. Nothing could be better. Jaehyun shined bright in your life, and you shined bright in his.

Autumn, temperatures drop, the days get colder. Day by day, the once luscious green leaves on the trees begin to fade into different hues, only to fall gradually. Day by day, you could feel the warmth from Jaehyun begin to fade. Your love was still strong, but he seemed to be falling out of your loving grasp. It can't get much colder than this, can it?

Winter, the harsh cold was impossible to ignore, the leaves on the trees have now completely vanished. Lifeless, no vibrant colors could be seen anywhere. But you couldn't stay inside all day. Sooner or later, you'd have to confront the harsh cold, and with that, acknowledge the harsh reality of your dwindling relationship with Jaehyun.

"Jae, I think we need to talk."

Seven words he's been dreading, but he wasn't blind. He knew one of you would have to say something at some point.

"I know..." he looked down at his fingers, fidgeting with them out of nervous habit.

"What's been going on? I- I'm really worried about us. We barely talk, we barely kiss, we barely cuddle. I fucking love you, and I just don't know what went wrong. D-do you not love me anymore?" In the midst of your sentences, you began to get choked up. Tears brewed in the corners of your eyes.

Jaehyun's head immediately snapped up at the sound of your soft sobs. He may not have known what went wrong, but he knew he was still madly in love with you. He didn't hesitate to pull you into his arms, feeling your body shake as you cried in his arms.

"I love you, Y/N. Things may feel different, but my love for you has not changed one bit. You mean so much to me...I'm sorry I haven't been showing it." He continued to hold you in a comfortable silence until you pulled away.

You gazed into his coffee-colored eyes, the very ones you fell for in Spring. You could feel the affection radiating off his figure, as warm as Summer. The tears that slipped from your eyes fell as delicately as the leaves in Autumn.

But, you then realized that Winter didn't have to be cold. You could still feel the warmth of his love spread throughout your body like the soothing glow of a fireplace. And once Winter passes, Spring will soon emanate again, and you'll fall deeper in love with Jung Jaehyun.

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smileyerim · 2 years

Text

half baked stories: sore loser

pairing: jaehyun x reader

genre: smut

length: 1.3k

warnings: competition, hot and heavy public makeout

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” you can’t help but let out as the puck slides into your goal. The man across from you is clearly amused at your slip of tongue as he lets out a bellowing laugh and gives you a prideful look. You’d love nothing more than to wipe that dumbass smirk off his face.

So you say nothing, huff quietly to yourself, and reach below you and slam the puck down on the table. In an attempt to catch him off guard, you shoot directly to his goal slot without warning. But of course, for being the retired high school athlete he is, he beats you to it and swiftly moves his red mallet in front of it, causing the puck to ping back and hit the side of the table. Without even one thought of yours, the puck slides into the corner of your goal slot.

“Oh!” He exclaims loudly. Probably far too loudly for your taste, his fists in the air and a smile on his face are just extra salt in the wound.

“Wow, this is really embarrassing for you huh?” and that just makes your blood boil, his words almost making you forget that this is a first date and you’re trying to charm him, not kill him. So you flip your hair behind your shoulder, give him a small smile and lean down to collect the puck slowly. He cocks his stupid eyebrow at you again as you make intense eye contact.

“You ready?” You say, holding the puck between your pointer and middle finger up in the air.

“Oh, baby, I think the question is are you ready-hey!” your second attempt to catch him off guard works this time, using his ego to your advantage to ping a swift goal.

Now it’s your time to laugh as he stares at you with a betrayed look on his face.

“Wow, Y/N. That was cruel.” He says and places the puck back on the table.

“I don’t play nice, baby.” You say, mocking him from before. He lets out an unbelieving huff of a laugh and zeros his eyes in on the puck as he pings it in your direction. It’s the match point, and you and Jaehyun are neck and neck.

Your face pulls into a frown as your eyes track the puck flying towards the corner of your goal slot, moving your mallet directly in it’s path, pinging it to the corner of Jaehyun’s side. With quick reflexes, Jaehyun pings it back over to you with poor aim as it hits the corner of your goal slot again, right where your mallet had been sitting before.

“Oh come on.” He lets out as he just barely makes it to cover his goal slot with his mallet. You let out a laugh, cut short by your need for attention on not letting the puck slip past you. Your non-dominant hand grips the edge of the table as you lean forward to focus.

You’re sure your reflexes couldn’t have been faster, and yet they betrayed you as the puck flies into your goal slot. The table lights up blue, his color as he lifts his hands up above his head to celebrate, yelling out a celebratory yelp. He draws the attention of all of the other patrons in the bar to the dusty old air hockey table in the back corner.

You can’t help but huff, flipping your hair and turning your back to him celebrating, folding your arms over your chest.

“Oh, seriously? Gonna be a sore loser?” You can hear him giggle to himself from behind you. You look over your shoulder and give him the meanest scowl you could muster and stick up your nose, hair flipping as you turn back around.

It’s not soon before he’s standing in front of you, hand holding your bicep to break your folded arms.

“I’m sorry I’m just the best okay?” He says, dimples on full display and a playful look in his eyes. You roll your own before saying, a soft whine to your voice, “It was just luck.”

“Is that so? I have 2 more quarters if you want to try me again.” He says, tilting his head again and digging into his pocket for the loose change, showing you his open palm. You take the opportunity and grab the quarters from him, holding them behind your back. He has the audacity to look offended and ask for them back. With a satisfied smile, you shake your head no and sway on the balls of your toes, getting in his face and laughing at his pout.

He gives up the face quickly, of course he does, and throws on the charm that made you say yes to this date in the first place.

“So,” he says, charm dripping from his voice as he steps closer to you. “Now that you got your reward,” that comment makes you snort, “What do I get for winning?” He says, looking down at you with his head tilted. His palm sneaks to your waist, gripping your exposed midriff sneakily as he steps closer. Some air gets caught in your throat as your heartbeat rises, nearly forgetting the sting of your loss to him and the pride from stealing his quarters. He’s so close you feel like he can probably hear your heart beat out of your chest. You can’t let him know that, no. Not now that you’re playing a new game with him, one to see who will give in first.

So you scoff, “Nothing, why would I reward you when I’m the one who lost? Isn’t the stupid ego boost you got enough?” you hope he can’t hear the shake in your voice. God, he looks sexy this up close in the purple lighting.

He chuckles a humorless deep tone, pursing his lips and shaking his head no. If it weren’t for his other hand going to grab the other side of your waist, you think your knees would give out underneath you at the sight.

“Nah. I want something more.” He says, stepping closer, your chests now touching. He gives you a slight push now too, forcing your ass to rest up against the edge of the table.

“What did you have in mind?” You whisper, your own hand betraying your hard-to-get persona by reaching up to hold loosely to the back of his neck. You can feel his breath now on your face as he looks down at you with dark, playful eyes.

“Something like-“ he grunts as his hands find your hips, lift you up, and sit you down on the table properly, “this.” And he’s swooping into give you a breathtaking kiss.

You let out a surprised noise as your eyes flutter shut, knees spreading so he can step in between your legs to get close to you. His hands find the back of your head as he tilts your head to the side and deepens the kiss, pressing further into you. One arm snakes around your waist to pull you flush up against him as your arms wrap around his neck, holding him tight to you.

He moans as you lick into his mouth and grab the side of his face, squeezing your waist and sucking on your bottom lip when you retreat your tongue. One of his hand finds the side of your thigh, wrapping around it, fingers sneakily moving towards your ass as you continue to kiss.

He’s by far the best kisser you’ve ever had, there’s just something about how needy he is and how rough his hands are contrasted with how soft his hair is between your fingers. You feel dizzy by the time he takes his hands on your hips again and pulls them to the edge of the table, gently pushing his hips to meet with yours. You arch your back and moan into his open mouth, gripping on his hair. He smiles and moves back to rut his hips against yours again, this time with more confidence.

This may be the greatest moment of your week, your month, possibly your life you think. You never want this moment to end, you could happily die here with Jaehyun’s hands now properly feeling up your ass and his lips against yours. The world as gone silent around you as he moves his tongue against yours.

That is, until you hear a loud “Hey! No fucking on my air hockey table!” And Jaehyun snaps out of it, stepping back but leaving his hands on your legs, looking down and blushing. You nearly get whiplash from the contrast. It’s quite cute, you think.

Jaehyun comes back to reality to look over to the clearly disturbed bartender and gives him a bashful nod, helping you down from the table.

You let out a breath of air you didn’t know you were holding. That is, until Jaehyun leans down to whisper in your ear the second the bartender leaves you two alone again.

“Let’s get out of here.” He whispers, hand sneaking down to give a playful pat on your ass.

And as Jaehyun grabs your hand and leads you out, you think for the first time in your life, that you’re happy you lost.

#ficscafe #autumn writes jaehyun #half baked drabble series #nct imagine #nct fics #nct drabbles #nct fluff #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun #jaehyun smut #jaehyun drabble #jaehyun fluff #nct #kpop #jeong jaehyun #jeong jaehyun fluff #jeong jaehyun drabble #jeong jaehyun smut

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henyangwrites · 3 years

Text

Make You Feel My Love | j.jh

an unsent letter for jung jaehyun.

🠪 pairing: jaehyun x reader

🠪 genre: fluff, angst, lovers to ex

🠪 warnings: sad ending (I’m sorry </3)

🠪 word count: 849 words

a/n: this is my first time writing something like this but I hope you’ll like it. -admin a ♡

To my brightest star,

I didn't think that this day would ever come, to meet someone who would convince me to sit on a desk and write the words I'll never say on a paper and in person... yet here I am. Where are you, my love? I miss you already. It feels lonely and empty without you here, you know? I’m actually waiting for you to come... to come and take me back; as you can always come back to me, Jae.

If only you could take me back, we can do the things we knew we loved before. We can go to the small, cozy library café in front of our university, that you oh so love, every day to drink some hot chocolate drink, and do our requirements while you're holding my hand. We can spend the rest of our spring mornings cuddling in a crispy morning air, with my face buried into your neck and you drinking your favorite hot chocolate drink; listening to the birds awaken the world with their majestic chirps as we watch the sunrise.

If only you could take me back, we can spend our summer afternoons splashing and swimming around the beach; giggling and laughing while attacking each other with the salty water and not minding the stare of other people. And once we're done enjoying at the beach, we can always spend our summer nights at your apartment's rooftop. If there's one thing I'm certain that you love to do: it is looking at the stars. Jae, we can always spend our summer nights stargazing while naming the different constellations, pretending that we know something about astronomy. We can laugh at each other's joke about how the stars were formed as you sneakily put an arm around my waist and kiss me on my temple saying, "I really love seeing you this happy because of me."

If... only you could take me back, we could spend our autumn mornings going for a walk while looking at the warm-colored trees and spend the afternoons baking your favorite cookies. And in the evenings, we can jump and play in the pile of leaves while some of it are still falling from the tree to us.

In the cold and harsh winter, we can sit in front of the fireplace as we warm each other up, snuggling under a soft blanket. We can walk hand-in-hand as it snows, the faint orange glow of the streetlight and your smile being the only source of light in this dark, dark world. We can always spend the night slow dancing to Adele's "Make You Feel My Love." Remember when we used to dance to it every 1 AM whenever I'm having a hard time to sleep? Our bodies swaying to the rhythm while staring at each other's eyes, embracing me tightly as you kiss my forehead and whispering to me, "I'll marry you someday," nonstop that makes my heart hurt in a good loving way. We can always stare into each other’s eyes, our cheeks and nose red from the bitter cold as we unknowingly gradually close the distance between us.

Just... where are you, Jae? Do you still think of me?

You know, I still listen to our song thinking, “would you still like this one?”, even though I already know the answer.

Yeah, I already know the answer...

I also know that I shouldn't wait for you to come... to come and take me back. Because if you would come and take me back... you wouldn't be in other girl's arm.

Just like the winter where roads are buried with snow, our memories are now buried in the past. Gone are the days where everything seems like sunshine and rainbows, the days where we will celebrate the beautiful world that we live in. Jae, I'm still hoping that we could go back to what we have before; to the days where if nothing seems right with the world, we can hold onto each other knowing that maybe, just maybe, things would be alright because at least we have each other.

I know I'm such a fool for waiting for your love again but everyone has their own weakness... you just happen to be mine. You are my sweetest downfall, Jae. I knew nothing about love before you came into my life, like a hurricane that woke up my peaceful heart. But as seasons goes by, I realized that love is also this... letting someone go because you only want their happiness. Happiness that I know couldn't give you now.

Please do remember that I will always be yours, Jae. Even when perhaps one day my memory will become blurred in your head, my heart will always remember the warmth of your love. My love, please continue to shine. So when I look at dark sky, I'll know that you're still there, happy even without me. Always remember that out of all, in all the world, you have my most favorite face that I won't ever forget.

I love you so much, Jae. Without end.

Forever yours, y/n.

#jaehyun x reader #jung jaehyun #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun fluff #jung jaehyun x reader #nct 127 fanfic #nct fluff #nct fanfic #nct imagines #nct scenarios #jaehyun angst #nct angst

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jaeminscoffee · 4 years

Text

Happy Birthday, Love

Pairings - Jung Jaehyun x reader

Genre - Pure fluff.

Warnings- None, But this is extreemmeellyyyy long.

Summary - Jaehyun loves spending his time and money for you every single day, guess how he'd be like on your birthday?

This oneshot was requested! ♡

Autumn.

The absolutely perfect weather to either stay in and cuddle up, or go out with your significant other.

You were so glad that your birthday falls in autumn, it's the perfect season, not too hot, not too cold, and not too lonely with Jaehyun beside you.

The minute you opened your eyes that morning, you saw Jaehyun, your boyfriend of over 2 years, leaning over your side with a tray full of English breakfast, all perfectly set, looking absolutely tempting.

"Happiest birthday, sleeping beauty" he said, an enthusiastic tone, as hearts basically flooded out of his gaze. He leaned forward, placing the tray full of food on the side table, sitting beside you and placing a soft kiss on your cheek.

"Oh my god thank you so much!" you tried sounding nearly as excited as he is, but your voice came off groggy as you'd just woken up.

“When did you even prepare all of this?” you question, rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you sit up straight on the bed, head against the headboard.

“I made sure not to snooze my alarm this time” Jaehyun let out a chuckle, standing up, tilting his head slightly towards the bedside table pointing at the dish.” Freshen up and have your breakfast, babe. I’ll need to head out now’ He said, a frown forming his feature as you mirror his expression.

“Work?” he nods slowly, you let out a sigh.”I wanted to spend my birthday with you thougghh” you drag your words, reaching forward, holding his forearm is a tight grasp.

Jaehyun beams a smile at you, pulling you towards him using his other hand, keeping you closed in a tight embrace. “I’ll try coming back as fast as i can, i’m sorry” He dug his face into the nape of your neck, the feeling ticklish on your skin so you squirm. Pulling away, you know it isn’t the best idea to hold your boyfriend back from doing his job, but you really didn’t want to spend the day alone, and so you give him your best puppy eyes.

Jaehyun notices the way you were looking at him, cooing at you, squishing your cheeks between his palm. “They said it’s important”, He gave you one tight comforting squeeze, a kiss on the forehead and pulled away from your hold.

You whine but let him walk away nevertheless, not like you could do anything anyways,and he said it’s important. You watch Jaehyun, walk towards the closet, get a hoodie, pull it over his head and walk towards the bedroom, turning back waving one last time, walking out once you did the same.

After hearing the front door close, you fall back onto the mattress, reaching for your phone which was beside your pillow, turning it on to check for any notification. No, you weren’t all about wanting everyone to wish you, but you weren’t one to not want Anyone to wish you either.

So seeing only 2 of your girlfriends send you a dog meme and wish you, both made your day and made you grumpy.

Great, No Jaehyun, No friends, No nothing

You get out of bed, as the food your boyfriend made turned cold long ago, making your way towards the bathroom to get your day started, You open the drawer to take out your skin care products, where you see a black box, with a golden ribbon tied around it in a graceful bow, with a tiny red heart shaped tag tied to it,

You reach out for the box, examining it and then placing it down, removing the tag, reading whatever’s written on it.

‘Saw you ran out of most of your skin care products, got you the ones you always wanted, hope you like it 💕’

Your heart did a 360′ turn as you place the tag down, taking the box in your hand once again, carefully undoing the bow placing it on the basin counter, you open the box to see it filled with a bunch of papers, which you take out, discarding it in the trashcan. You find the box divided into two, filled with a bunch of the best products.

One side, they were the products from cosrx, one that you really wanted to get, but thought would be a waste of money because of it’s ridiculously high price. The other side contained products from Klairs, also ones that you wanted.

The smallest observation he made of you running out of your products, and keeping a mental note of your favorite products made you feel all warm inside.

You carefully arrange the products in the drawer, going out of the bathroom to place the tag in your bedside drawer, going back into the washroom to carry on with your morning routine.

After a long refreshing shower, you walk towards your closet to chose your clothes, when you find a bag at the very back, you don’t remember placing anything there, you’d swore you cleaned the closet not a week ago.

You walk towards it, taking the bag out from the secluded area of your closet, going back into the room to see what’s inside the bag.

You see ‘From Jaehyun, chosen by Taeyong and Johnny’ writing at the front of the bag. Not another present you sigh, chuckling to yourself.

You open the bag, to see a note inside it. ‘I better see you wearing this when i’m back home’

You remove yet another black box, this time, seeing the words Saint Laurent embedded into the cover of the box in beautiful silver. You keep in mind to scold Jaehyun later for buying such expensive stuff. But for now, you open the box, to see a really beautiful Yves Saint Laurent fall piece inside. Gawking at the simple yet pretty piet mondrian design, you walk towards the dresser, immediately discarding your towel, putting on the dress Jaehyun brought for you.

As conceited as it sounds, the piece looked absolutely dashing on you, you even did a double twirl in front of the mirror, totally loving Jaehyun’s.. well Taeyong and Johnny’s choice.

You sit in front of your dresser, opening the drawer to take out your make up products to doll yourself up matching the clothing that you wore. You felt like banging your head on the table as you were greeted with a white box inside of the drawing.

Another one of those tags you see, this time in pastel pink.

‘Best of all deserves the best of products’

You smile at nothing in particular, taking the note back to where the other 2 tags were kept, placing the third one neatly on top of the other two.

You open the box once you sat back down on the dresser, finding Urban decay’s spectrum eyeshadow palette, E.L.F blush palette, Anastasia’s Beverly Hills contour cream kit, and a set of MAC impassioned lipstick.

You felt overwhelmed with all the gift’s you’d found in just your room,now scared to leave the room.

Nevertheless, you used all the products he’d bought for you and did your make up, standing up once you’re satisfied with the look, grabbing the tray and making your way out of the room to heat it up and eat it.

Feeling bored, sitting there all dolled up, with nothing but the same movies repeating on the television, You decide to head out to the mall until late, knowing for a fact that Jaehyun had the spare keys with him so he wouldn’t be locked out. You check your phone once again, to see no notifications. You let out a sigh, making your way back into the closet, taking out a white cropped denim jacket to match the clothing, walking back out once you were happy with your outfit.

You go to the front of your house, after getting the sling bag Jaehyun had gifted you last week, to choose a shoes to match the outfit. You go weak in the knees, when you find another cover, Jimmy Choo written in Gold on the white packet, you already knew what you’d be opening.

‘Johnny said this would look stunning with that dress, but i said you’d look good in any shoe or clothing piece ;)’

The note read this time, you’re basically radiating positive energy now all dressed up with things your boyfriend got you without having you get to know about a single thing. The fourth note found it’s way to the other three. You take out the shoe bag, opening up to a romy 60 pumps, which had a golden designing towards the tip, it was such a show stealer as you stared at it, mouth wide opened.

After the moment of admiration, you slip it on, not even bothering to see the final look. You walk out of the house, with a bright smile on your face.

Maybe the day wouldn’t be as bad as you’d thought it would be.

The day passed by quick, you did not forget to thank your boyfriend for all the gifts he’d gotten you through text, for you to not get any reply back. The other members of his group hadn’t contacted you since morning either, weird from them as they’d been the ones to spam you for your last 2 birthdays.

You make your way towards the elevator, rummaging through your purse to get the keys out.

Reaching your floor you make your way towards the end of the corridor, where your house was situated at.

Your shared house wasn’t anything too fancy, it was extremely spacious, a little too spacious for only the two of you in the house, but Jaehyun's excuse for getting a big house was ‘The boys are for sure going to turn our apartment into their second house’ and so you couldn’t do anything but comply.

You turn the doorknob clockwise, opening the door wide open, humming soft tunes to yourself, closing the door behind you. Walking in a little further into the house to turn the light switch on.

You turn back around to remove your shoes, only to let out a loud scream as all eight of the boys, jumped out of literally nowhere scaring the life out of you.

“Happy Birthday Y/n!!!!” they scream out loud, opening champagne bottles on either sides of the room stood Johnny and Taeil, Popping open the confetti birthday poppers stood Mark, Haechan and Jungwoo, Yuta and Taeyong stood beside both Johnny and Taeil with a bunch of boxes, Doyoung stood in the middle of them all holding two large heart shaped helium balloons.

You started tearing up just a bit, overwhelmed as each of them discard things they held onto the floor or onto the table that was decorated with a bunch of food items, making their way towards you, taking turns in hugging you and wishing you the best of wishes you could’ve gotten on your birthday.

“Yo YO why are you cryinngg?” Mark asked, pulling you in for a second hug.

“Listen, princess we really wanted to wish you the first thing today morning, but two weeks prior today, Jaehyun came threatening us” Doyoung started.

“Oh god yes i remember him saying something along the lines like ‘Spoil the surprise i’ll make you write your names with your nose blood’ boy was that scary” Jungwoo added.

“Jaehyun basically kidnapped Taeyong and i to come help pick presents for you, i see my fashion choice is still the best” Johnny stated, playfully checking you out with a smirk on his face.

“Thank you so much” you say between your crying state, laughing as the boys continued whining about how Jaehyun bullied them over your birthday for 2 weeks jokingly.

“You see those boxes Taeyong and I were holding? Those are all from Jaehyun, ours is still in the backseat of our cars” Yuta huffs out, shaking his head at the amount of money he spent on one of your birthdays.

“Here comes Mr.Lover Boy!!” You hear Haechan scream, cutting you off even before you could speak, as you look back to see Taeil and Haechan holding a huge banner with a bunch of words, standing by the entrance of your apartment.

You start reading it, to be stopped and asked to start over again, but louder.

“Dear Y/n, the one who makes my busy days go so much slower, a lot more calmer and definitely a little better, Happiest birthday, my love. Waking up to your peaceful face, clears all bad thoughts from my head, you looking absolutely ethereal in the most minimal things you do makes me smile a lot brighter, Your tiny complains when i leave you melts me completely, your smile sweeps me of my feet. The one thing i want to tell you, You were, are and will forever be the reason of my happiness.-” The boys all hooted, whistling even, when both Haechan and Taeil lowered the banner, to Jaehyun standing there with the biggest smile on his face, a cake in his hand.

“I love you, Y/n” he said the moment he was fully on display “ And i wouldn’t want to imagine a life without you” he handed the cake to Jungwoo who stood beside you.

Pulling you in, wiping the continuously flowing tears from your cheeks as the boys kept cheering. He pulled you in for a long loving kiss, the cheers getting louder with every passing second, Pulling away once the both of you ran out of breath.

Jaehyun held you close, looking at you while holding the entire galaxy in his eyes, the smile revealing his dimples.

“Happy Birthday, Love”

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wincore · 3 years

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fuck it nct as types of academia <3

taeil as classic academia — you can usually spot him in the university library or a nearby cafe; talks in strange nuances but he somehow makes sense; grey wool sweaters, beige trench coats, dark jeans; thick-rimmed glasses that still suit his face with warm autumn eyes; he likes talking about old movies or actors; you see him thrifting old and new books often, and at museums too, with white earphones plugged in and a musical hum over his lips; there is not a single person who isn’t comfortable around him.

taeyong as light academia — he’s always looking out the window in class, at the trees and the squirrels, though his notes are still orderly; cream turtlenecks and light olive sweaters or pale dress shirts with coffee-colored pants; fond smiles at friends and dreamy looks at the world around him; fascinated by renaissance architecture and classical art; a good listener with hopeful advice; keeps old photographs and diaries with pressed flowers; he likes being at the center of a community.

yuta as dark academia — speaks up when he’s not supposed to in class and disappears when the class ends; rocks oxford shirts rolled up to his elbows and he never wears the uniform tie correctly on purpose, prefers black overcoats with everything; he likes walking in the summer showers and jokes about optimistic nihilism; insolent smile and curious eyes; he’s in the fencing club and is known to be a formidable opponent; has his coffee black and piping hot; there’s a lot of rumors about him being a vampire since his hands are so cold.

jaehyun and jaemin as romantic academia — poetic beauty jaehyun with flushed cheeks and ears when he thinks of holding hands; has poems of love secretly scribbled in his notebooks; always aloof in class but when curious, listens with undulating attention; wears the cherry beret a friend once gave to him often though he never says how fond he is of it; round, clear eyes and full, rouge lips; pink satin shirts, plaid pants and chocolate brown coats; everyone is in love with him but he can never seem to love them back.

rosy-cheeked jaemin who wishes to play with a lover’s hair and finds devotion fascinating; he returns all the love letters he gets with scented ones; says he doesn’t know a lot about love but watches too many romantic comedies and reads too many romantic novels; honey lips and a sweeter smile; pristine white shirts with two buttons undone and jackets the color of rosewood; has a strange taste in coffee and doodles flowers on the cups; everyone is in love with him and he, with everyone.

ten as art academia — often at art museums, scribbling in notes for a world of his own; collared white shirts and mauve sweaters; pins up all his sketches against the wall; enjoys typography and calligraphy pens too much and you can see that in his bullet journals and the ink smearing his hands; has attended too many pottery and sculpting classes just to impress the teacher with his natural skills; cheeks are always peachy with excitement when talking about 18th century art or analyzing cinematography; his friends keep trying to peek at his sketchbook but he keeps it hidden.

renjun as witchy academia — attends only the night classes and often stares at the mysterious art pieces; loves the night but can’t stand the dark; eye-rolls and a sardonic sense of humor; plum lace shirts and dark cardigans; has too many books on potion making and spellcasting along with collections of candles and tarot cards; prefers staying in and hates when his privacy is threatened; sketches the moon and its phases and makes notes on constellations often; always has ghost stories ready but scares himself the most.

haechan as fairy academia — has an otherworldly look to him when he’s quiet or contemplating but his words are often playful; floral silk shirt and cropped brown pants and butterfly hairclips; likes to get on his professors’ nerves but gets away easily; red hair and mischievous eyes and cheeky remarks; talks about folklore often but never tells you why he knows the stories so well; makes flower crowns out of daisies when he’s bored and gifts them to his closest friends; loves to make everyone laugh.

winwin as theatre academia — hated shakespeare in high school but can quote him unprompted; daydreams stories often; repeats his lines to himself in the wings; black turtlenecks and mocha coats with faux fur collars; star ballet dancer; a little tired of tchaikovsky but finds the music comforting; discusses cinematography with ten but tends to shift to broader aspects; the only one sane during tech week; has a book of old chinese plays that he reads often; flushes red all the way to his neck if he’s caught in the “feels” acting alone in his room.

doyoung as scholarly academia — quite difficult to impress as a TA but will explain everything clearly; thin wire glasses with sharp eyes and frowning lips; always carrying heavy textbooks and a leather bound bag; has a favorite pen but gets embarrassed if you ask him about it; dots every i and crosses every t in not just notes but all his tasks; extensive vocabulary but chooses to curse more often; his uniform is orderly and perfect except for late nights at the library; has surprisingly soft fingers for someone who writes so often.

bonus:

mark as chaotic academia — he says he has a routine but it seems to only work for himself; often writes letters to his past or future self but they always end up crumpled and in the bin; caffeine crashes hit him hard so he avoids coffee but has it during finals week anyway; has shoplifted under bad influences (haechan) but doesn’t regret it too much; blushes deep red if you compliment him on his work; gets a little too into the tv shows he’s watching; dresses like he’s from a 90s teen movie; somehow always the favorite student and most loved peer.

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urlocalnctstan · 3 years

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𝚃𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜

Genre : Angst, Fluff, Slow-burnish, Idol AU

Pairing : Jaehyun x Reader ft.Mark (other members too)

Warning(s) : strong language, age-gap, mature contents, weird writing style lmao, uh what else? idk but yeah

Disclaimer :The story is completely fictitious, idol-fan relationships are not common so some of you crazy ones out here, pls don’t get too delusional, your oppas will be your oppas only virtually, not in real life.

Playlist : Youtube Link / Written

Word Count : 5.4k

Summary : ‘Time and tide waits for none’- a quote that is universally accepted and believed. You both had had your experience of meeting the right one at the wrong time, the concept of love long forgotten after the sudden downfall of your relationship together. But will time eventually heal everything for you both?

The car came to a halt, your mind subconsciously drifting back to the humiliation you faced tonight back at the office.

“ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB, Y/N?” your boss was a fuming mess, his whole office scattered with the documents you had brought just a few moments ago. At the sight of the shredded papers, you felt you heart clench. You worked so hard for this project, disregarding God knows how many nights of your sleep. The feeling of abomination was slowly creeping up from the pit of your stomach towards the man who stood taut, seething in rage.

“HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU TO JUST DO WHAT THEY ASKED YOU TO?” He yelled, his fist furiously banging on his wooden desk, beneath his hand rested some pieces of the torn documents.

“Sir, even you know how risky it is to design as they asked to. If a blunder happens it is our company that is to be held accountable, not theirs.” you knew it was pointless to reason with the stubborn headed prick, but you had to try out your luck.

“Get out. Out, out, out. Get your fucking face out of my face.” He swished his index finger repeatedly, letting out a frustrated shriek just as I was about to exit his office. His wrath was nothing new in the office, as all the other employees shot me a rather pitying look when they saw me exiting the team leader’s office with hands full of ripped papers. Wow, my 2 weeks worth of sleep. Just wow. You didn’t bother to reciprocate their sympathetic glances, storming out of the corridor as you furiously started clicking the floor to your cabin. The jabbing of your finger on the glowing button that read ‘13’ was the only sound that resonated in the fairly empty area, earning annoyed looks from the two individuals who stood right behind you.

“Ah, fuck.” You banged your head against the steering, recalling the even as you clutched the handles harshly. “Why,” another bang. “do I,” bang. “live like” bang. “this,” bang. You could feel your face was burning without even touching it, streams of tears flowing down. Just as you were about to give yourself another bang, the sudden honk of a car made you pause amidst your ritual. Indeed all motherfuckers love to test my patience. You decide to ignore the rider, mainly because you were also partially at fault for resting in your car in the middle of the park. You twisted the metal keys as the ignition went off, signaling your car was ready to flee. Yet again, you were distracted by soft knocks. You prayed to God to help you not lose your shit, at this point you were questioning if He ever hears your woes at all. The soft knocks stop immediately when you started to pull down the window, the person straightening only crouch again.

“Y/n?” his called out unsurely, as if he were afraid of mistaking you for someone else. You knew that voice, and that is not good news. Shit.

“Mark?” you were surprised to say the least, not expecting to run into an old friend. “Oh my god! How have you been?” You shoot out of your driver’s seat, instantly being engulfed into a bone crushing hug by the male.

“I have been good. Oh god, I can’t believe this! I can’t believe I ran into you after so long!” Mark still held you tight your embrace, the sudden reunion making him feel giddy with excitement.

“Yes indeed,” you were the first to pull out from the hug. You took a moment to study him; black mask covering half of his face as he smiled widely, eyes crinkled and the signature cheekbones still the same as they were in the past. God, it’s really been so long. “What are you up to these days?”

“Er,” Mark scratched his head as he laughed nervously, unsure if he was allowed to give you spoilers about his new album. “I have been working on my solo album actually.”

“Are you for real?” You found yourself hugging Mark again at the joy of his successful career. “I’m so so proud of you mate!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Mark swayed you lightly, his voice muffled due to the mask he wore. Mark was the one to pull out now, still keeping your caged as he placed his hands on your shoulders. “In no way I am gonna let you leave without a trace again,” he almost groaned.

“Promise, I won’t anymore,” you signaled to the stack of files that rested on the backseat of your car. “They won’t leave me alone.”

“I’ll just ask your boss to assign you with more tasks then,” he giggled mischievously, earning a light smack from you at the mention of such an absurd idea.

“I’ll track your way to hell to kill you again if you do something like that,” you hissed at Mark, who was still giggling at your frustrated reaction. The atmosphere became quiet as Mark looked up in the vacant sky, deep in thoughts while you waited for him to continue. Your phone buzzed against your leather coat.

[From Bullhead] : Don’t think I am overlooking your mess. This is the first and final warning from me.

You shivered, half from the cold and half from the text you just received.

“26th, sharp at 8 PM, my place.” He snapped his fingers, hooting at the realization of having a free day in his busy scheduled life.

“Okay, done.” You should have refused, you thought. But for some reason, you found yourself agreeing to his offer, you felt both sad and guilty for disappearing out of your friend’s life without a trace. However, you couldn’t ignore the greedy feeling you felt, the want to see him again. “I think I should be done around...7:30? So I think I’ll be able to make it.” You unlocked and handed him your phone.

“You have to make it,” his eyes focused on the screen of your device, swiftly typing what you assumed was him number. “Just incase, text me if I happen to forget - no I know that look, Y/n, you must text if that happens..” He rolled his eyes, knowing that how much you would be overthinking about possibly tiring him because of his busy lifestyle. Mark dialed his number from your phone before handing it back to you. You visibly snickered at the name he saved his contact with : ‘My Boo MarkLee <3’

“Stop pretending as if you never renamed my existence as Markie Boo,” he groans, remembering how this has been his another one of the hundred pet names he had. Your conversation was cut mid way as his phone loudly vibrated in his phone, swiftly pulling it out as the guy whined in annoyance.

“Yo, I gotta go now I guess, something came up at the company.” He looked sad, pouty. “See you around, yeah?” You were pulled into another hug by the male, he surely loved to hug as usual.

“Yes, yes. Now go. Don’t be late.” You patted his back, pulling out of the hug and shooing him away towards his car.

“See ya, Mom.” He beamed as he sped off with his car.

“Dumbass.” You muttered, softly laughing at the name he would always call you by, despite being years younger than him. You rounded around your car, getting inside. The start was bad but the end was good nonetheless. The keys of your car jiggled as you closed the door. Again, you twisted the keys, your mood slightly better than before for which you were grateful. Your car’s ignition blared, as you positioned towards the exit of the park, subtly muttering ‘long ass ride.’

The digits ‘7:37’ glowed on the the small digital clock beside your desktop. You felt stiff, stretching your neck as your bones made those cracking noes. You stare at your toes, zoning out was your passion and you excelled at it. You snapped straight, letting out a deep sigh as you started to scheme the projects before you were to hand them over to your bullhead boss. Soon enough, you were done, muttering almost too loudly for everyone that you wished your boss would be napping off instead of being awake.

Good for you, your prayers were answered for the first time in a while. You quietly placed the files that contained all the details that needed to be checked again by your boss, quietly making your way out of his cabin as soon as possible. On you way, you informed his secretary you were leaving, her face wore distraught and annoyance but softens as she saw you approaching. Sometimes you felt sympathetic towards her, often asking the heavens to bless her with utmost patience and perseverance to deal with the bullhead.

The marble floor clicked with every step you took, the sounds eerily audible in the serene lobby. It was very rare for the lobby to be filled with people in evening, the employees would practically sprint off their seats as soon as the clock hits 7. You made your way out of the building, making a mental note to buy a gift for Mark on your way back to home. What would he like? Take outs? Homemade? Wine? You drove across the street before halting your car in front of the department store that was situated just a few blocks away from your office. The header of the store glowed, the alleys seemingly half-crowded with people of different occupations you assumed. You let out a hiss as you felt a chill run down your spine, it was almost the end of Autumn which meant Winter was just round the corner. You decided to rely on your instincts, deciding to gift your friend a fancy bottle of wine despite having zero knowledge about it.

You were never quite the fan of wine. According to you, the seemingly alcoholic drink was too expensive, plus the etiquettes that came along for its consumption would always just make your turn your head away every time you laid your eyes across one. You schemed through the white shelves filled with different tastes and colors of wine, each hailing from various corners of the world. “How do I even spell it?” You crouched down a bit to a bottle that had caught your attention, the exquisite name was starting to make your head hurt. It’s probably a white wine you thought, the transparent color of the liquid was what made you convince. But something rather nostalgic caught your sight, before you could even realize, you found your fingertips caressing the cold glass bottle of the red liquid that you held now.

“If were to be a drink, then what would I be?” You lazily laid sprawled across the couch in the living, while you boyfriend who sat on the marble floor across fumbles with the knotted bunch of cables. Jaehyun had his gaze focus of the wire maze in his hands, eyebrows furrowed and lips pouted in immense concentration.

“Peach milk,” he smiled, unbeknownst to you he was actually implying a double meaning for his answer.

“And why that?” You felt his choice a bit amusing, not really expecting that as an answer.

“Because I love your ass and boobs,” he winked, only to be hit by a pillow that was resting beneath your curled legs. Jaehyun felt himself giggling by your reaction, it was cute to see you being annoyed. “Babe, c’mon. I can’t lie about it.”

“Never mind, just forget it.” You started to get a bit pissed, hurt as well because your sensitive ass thought he would probably say something sweet that would make you heart flutter.

“Peach milk is my favorite, that’s the main reason why,” Jaehyun shifted his focus back to the cables, the last two knots were too adamant to let go of each other. You felt yourself smiling, too wide, he definitely knew you well. Cheeky bastard.

“What about me?” he asked, eyes still focused as he working on untying the last knot.

“Hmmm...” you shifted your position on the couch, now sitting up as you stared your boyfriend’s figure for a short while.

“Red wine.” sophisticated, classy, unique, warm. If you were to describe the aura around him, these would be the first choices.

However, your answer seemed to have caught Jaehyun’s attention, pausing in his tracks as he got curious as to why the specific choice. He had a huge grin on his face, he adored how you remembered the specific detail of red wine being his favourite, for he mentioned it in your first date which was 2 years back. But he knew there was more to it. He knew you too well. “But why red wine?”

You kept your gaze fixated on Jaehyun as he gets up from the ground, putting the cables in a secure manner to avoid another tie war. He hugged the pillow tight which you had previously thrown on him, before propping down beside you on the couch with a tired sigh, looking at you intently. It was as if you both were having a staring contest. So you rested your head on your right hand, both staring each other with soft smiles before you continued.

“You are much more to what everyone thinks you are,” you notice how Jaehyun cocks an eyebrow, still staring and trying to process what you just said.

“Just like wine, the more I know you, the more I know just how amazing you are. Both sweet and sour, but the balanced ratio of it is what makes you more admirable.” You admired how he was always able to balance things out, prior to what everyone believes about him, he had both good and bad sides to him. And that’s what made him more human, him acknowledging his flaws. That’s what made you fall for him.

Hearing you, Jaehyun thought he might dislocate his jaw anytime soon for smiling so hard. His heart started to do all sort of flips, ears starting to pink. It was at times like this when you don’t need words to express how you were feeling, silent but the communication was still present. Jaehyun slides his hand into yours, you glanced at both of your intertwined fingers before looking at him, his eyes full of hearts for you. You giggled, feeling shy at his intense stare but returning him the same way.

“I love you,” he whispered, his starry eyes which were only looking at you.

“Excuse me miss,” You jolt at the sudden change of voice coming from behind you. You whip around, a girl probably in her late teens stood nervously, her hands fidgets with the belts of her backpack.

“Miss, you were kinda in the way so..” you felt flustered for absent-mindedly drifting into your dreamland while shopping for your friend, chiding yourself mentally in the process.

“Ah, I am so sorry,” you moved swiftly to the side to allow the teen some space to carry out her shopping. “Please, carry on.” You smiled softly. Though at the back of your mind you wanted to point out how she shouldn’t be consuming alcohol, but disregarded the urge nonetheless. Sometimes children should get to enjoy their minimal amount of fun in their youth too. You were still clutching the red wine bottle in your hand, eyeing it one last time before placing it back in the racks. You cleared your throat, as if to let the voices speaking inside your head know that you are not a stupid 20 year old anymore. You shake your head, glancing around to inspect if others were judging your state before proceeding to the counter for the random wine you picked which might have cost you half of your monthly salary. It’s okay to spend once in a while.

Mark was literally running around his apartment. Running. His head shot up as he remembered something. “Shit, fuck, are the bathroom lights okay?” he murmured to himself, sprinting off to the bathroom that was located in his vast living room first, followed by the ones in his bedroom and guestroom. Mark was still a newbie to the norms of living alone, him being a newborn living-alone man for sparsely 2 months. And he would barely be home due to his schedules. There were even times he would just forget his own bedroom.

“What else, what else,” he glanced over the whole area eyes drifting here and there before he realized something. Dumbass forgot to check if there were even enough food for two. Mark quickly scurried to the kitchen counter, the utensils were more than enough before checking his fridge. Beers? Check. Soju? Check. Kimchi? Check. Slices of chicken breast? Check. But the 33 year old still felt something was missing. Mark shifted his focus on the wooden shelf that was just above the kitchen sink, the transparent glass door of it making a creak sound as he opened it. For an apartment who’s owner was barely home, the shelf was definitely well packed and organized. It contained all sorts of ramen, tteokbokki and any other fast food you could name. “What else, what else, what else, what else,” he kept chanting, as if by some magic his chants of short memory would be heard and he would know what else was he missing out. He hunched over the lower shelf to inspect if all the sauces his housekeeper stores for him were present there. Absorbed in his thoughts, Mark did not notice the sudden sound of his bell going off, before the sounds just got repeated and even more louder.

“What the fuck?” his eyebrows creased in annoyance, cussing out all the profanities he had in his vocabulary at the visitor’s insolent mannerism. Mark was beyond pissed, the person behind the other side of the door not only disrupted his memory battle but also had the audacity to ring the bell like a 3 year old in the middle of the night. Instead of just answering from the intercom, he directly opened the entrance door. “Look, it’s like 11 in the night - Hyung?” Mark halted his rant session as he realized it was Jaehyun standing in front of his house. Covered in black shirt, black mask, black pants - black everything, it would take a while for others who did not know him personally to recognize the member of the top boy group in the industry.

“Were you shitting or something,” Jaehyun smiled before casually giving his best friend a hug. Mark pulls out some of the spare slippers he had stored, while Jaehyun sits on the wooden step as he unties the knots of his black adidas. As Jaehyun get ups, he looks over to the other male standing in front of him, then down at the slippers and then again to the male.

“What?” Mark laughed, his hands shifting to the sides of his waist.

“Mark, please don’t go shopping by yourself next time,” Jaehyun silently judged Mark for offering him the fluffly colourful pink body and yellow polka dots slippers, similar to the ones he was wearing but the combination in opposite.

“I got them from the BOGO offer going on in the supermarket just down the lane,” Mark wiggled his toes under the furry layer of clothing, slightly humming at the texture. “Bro this shit comfortable and cute, you can’t deny that.”

Jaehyun gives him another look, amused at how his bandmate’s old habits were still the same. “I help you out with your fashion choices next time. Don’t worry.” He patted Mark’s should, a sympathetic grin on his face as he anticipated the other male’s dramatic reaction.

“Oh please,” Mark scoffed. “More like you need my and Johnny hyung’s assistance for your monotonous wardrobe!”

Jaehyun laughed at his friend’s rebuttal before lazily propping himself on the bean sack in the living room with a low hum. Oddly enough, Mark’s apartment felt more homely than his own apartment which was just above a few floors.

“But what brings you here?” Mark walks over to his fridge, judging by his friend’s sudden visit, he knew drinks had become a necessary part of the night. “And what about Hayoung?”

“What about her?” Jaehyun raised his eyebrow at Mark, skillfully catching the beer Mark had tossed to him after asking about Hayoung, Jaehyun’s, well complicated girl something.

“I though you guys might just....I don’t know, be official or something.” Mark stole a glance towards his friend, nervously opening his can. The momentary pin drop silence was an indicator, he indeed blurted something he should not have. The fizzy hiss of the beer can being opened barely broke the ice.

“I don’t do things like official,” Jaehyun scoffed, producing a low sigh after sipping the beer. Mark decided not to further press his friend, despite having an old unresolved grudge against Jaehyun somewhere deep within him. It had been years since all of that had happened, but he still felt hostility creep up inside every time he remembers that night, that week, that month. After all, it was you that Jaehyun had completely broken, torn and ripped apart.

Unbeknownst to the rummaging thoughts inside the mind of his bandmate, it took a while for the older to realize how oddly clean and organized the apartment looked. Jaehyun turned to Mark, eyebrows raised with mischievousness coating his words. “You having someone for the night tomorrow?”

Mark almost made a disgusted face but instead opted to scrunch. “Bro, I don’t have Tinder, neither do I wanna be a carrier of STDs.” Mark placed his empty can on the small glass table, simultaneously letting out a tired huff. Jaehyun almost took an offense to the statement, the attack was definitely but indirectly made towards him. But he decided to shrug it off, Mark was not lying after all. Jaehyun did not even know half of the girls’ names he had slept with, someday or another mixing up names which ends in him getting kicked out or being cursed out. That was what had happened that night as well.

“Okay, I forgot. Hayoung, yes. Speak.” Jaehyun shot an incredulous look to the younger, as if he was able to read his mind or something. Mark only furrowed his eyebrows at the reaction.

“I-I....got kicked out,” Jaehyun’s voice was barely above a whisper, but the sharp eared male was able to catch his friend’s low murmur. Mark stifled his giggle, only to receive a glare from his friend. Jaehyun ran his fingers through his newly dyed lilac hair. Fucking embarrassing.

“But what made her do that?”

Jaehyun felt chills run down his spine as the scenario replayed in his head. He shivered despite the heater being on, an amused Mark glancing while chugging down the small remaining amount of beer. Mark was being a gentleman trying to conceal his laughter as Jaehyun rambled how he managed to fuck up yet another good hook-up buddy. At this point, Mark was not even surprised. Victim to his obvious facial expressions, Mark hated lying, and equally hated being lied to as well. Jaehyun side glanced his friend, a loud annoyed snort escaping from him. “Having fun, aren’t you?”

“Well, I mean it’s fun — sorry,” Mark clears his throat. He should be the type of friend who gives advices instead of laughing. Mark wiggled in his seat, distorting the empty can before having a perfect shot in the trashcan just a few feet away from him. Smooth one.

“I think I might retire, or just quit after the current contract ends,” Jaehyun felt tight, the words came out from him in a way too suffocating form. Mark visibly tenses, his laidback posture now crouching forward to his friend. Mark was too pre-occupied in his escalating solo career, the support he had been getting even before the official stage was way too much for him to fathom, but he was grateful for it nonetheless. A stinging guilt crept up inside him, chiding himself of being such an inconsiderate friend. “It’s high-time I start to live on my own accord.”

Mark decided to rather not pressurize the half-drunk dude with his numerous questions as to why or what has made him to take such a step. Jaehyun struggled to keep his eyes open, exhaustion was taking over his body ever faster now that he had booze in his system. Jaehyun would have rather opted to just spend the night on the couch (he preferred Mark’s limited edition long L shaped sofa over any king sized bed) but the guy decided to not get welcomed by his mate as ‘good morning.’ Mark put a hand on Jaehyun’s knee, an attempt to stop the non-stop stomping which was a very well-known drunk habit of him. Piling the blankets he just brought, the younger warned again, eyes like red lazer lights before trudging towards his bedroom.

Feet wobbly, Jaehyun struggles to drag his build to switch off the remaining lights in the living room, glancing throughout the long empty space. He gulped down harshly, the familiar empty feeling creeping back to him which he had been avoiding for so long — for years. Jaehyun took a deep sigh, the heavy feeling feeling weighing down his chest as he took light steps towards the big glass window which granted him the view of the whole city. His eyes flickered at the luminous sight. He felt big but small, full, content but numb and empty.

“Hyung, you’re still awake?” a sleepy voice spoke from behind, breaking out Jaehyun from his trance.

“Huh?” It took a moment for him to process an answer. “Uh yeah. just like that. You go sleep.”

Mark shrugged, walking towards his bed as Jaehyun plopped down harshly on the duvet, wincing slightly as he felt a sprain in his lower back. With the alcohol slowly losing its effect on him with each passing second, Jaehyun started to feel more sober, more drawn back into the reality. He hated it. This feeling he was feeling.

Mark was having a rather difficult time to fall asleep. He even put on a random sleeping eye mask he uses for travelling, but alas that did not help either. He was too giddy, too excited for tomorrow. Pulling up the blankets over his head, Mark was assured he was safe from everyone, even maybe from God as a huge grin breaks out on his face. As much as he hates to admit it, Mark loved how things turned out to be the way they were.

“Oh god, this is so awkward. Oh god can I please please just die already?” Mark halted on his steps at the voice, glistening in sweats after the recent stage. He thought it would be an adventure to opt for the public washroom in disguise since the green rooms’ ones were all occupied by the rest of the members; and boy, Mark was really giving his all hold his pee.

“OH GOD!” the sudden yelp caused the male to shriek quietly, muttering an inaudile ‘jesus’. Despite the odds, Mark decided not to test his luck, holding in the bubbling feeling just before explosion as much as he could. Muttering quiet curses, the male struggled to hold his posture as he stealthily tried to get to the other side of the stairs. Too busy in his on the way to urination voyage, Mark realized it was too late, he bumped. Bumped into someone. A girl. Hell yeah fucked. Panic crept at the back of his throat as he anticipated what was coming forth. Him being surrounded by numerous fan as he desperately tries to hold his pee. What a fucking sight.

“Look, I know you might be a staff or something,” Mark whipped his head at your voice. “But please just oh god,” you rambled, leaving the man standing with his legs crossed tightly in utter confusion. “I had no idea — Mark Lee?”

The colors from his faced drained, Mark turned casper for a split second.

“PLEASE!” he was quick to react, half-whispering as he desperately caught your hands. “Please don’t just, uh.., shout or something.”

You immediately raised your hands in defense. “I uh have no reason to do so?” You stated, observing how he was literally squirming, it did not take you long to understand that the canadian needed to go the washroom as soon as possible. ”Oh!” You quickly moved. “Sorry for blocking your way!” Before he could even say thank you, you disappeared without any trace. Mark made a quick mental note to thank you, well that only if he ever happens to cross paths with you again. And deep down, he wised he would. On the other hand, you let out another distressed growl, promising to all of the heavens that never will you be ever accompanying your cousin sister, or let alone come to any concerts from now on. The stunt your drunken cousin had pulled just a while ago was humiliating enough, but of course, she had to spice it up by vomiting on the hallways just in front of the green room. You silently prayed and hope with all your might that maybe they will be generous enough not to sue you or ask for compensation for the mess, looking around cautiously for any employees before you sprinted off for the exit door, and yes, dragging the passed out stunt lady.

Mark felt as if he had a halo above his head, the water balloon inside him finally set free. But he had to race when he saw his phone buzzing with notifications, all of them belonging to his manager or the group chat of the members chanting same syllables ‘Where are you’ ‘show starts in 2′ ‘get yo ass here’. It did not take the rapper too while before he reached the green room, the makeup artists and stylists immediately wrapping themselves around him with brushes and hair sprays. He was smiling, genuinely smiling as he replayed the encounter he just had. Johnny raised an eyebrow with an amused grin on his face.

“What’s with the smile, bro?” Johnny pulls up some random exercises to relieve the tension in his muscles.

Instead of dodging his question, Mark replied, still smiling, but wider. “The pee voyage was a nice one.”

Johnny judged the younger for a second before chuckling and heading towards the stage. The loud noises from the fans echoed throughout the whole arena, full of green lightsticks gleeming like blossoming spring garden. No wonder I called them grass, Mark thought. But today, he was looking for a rather specific individual, his eye scanning almost all the faces in the crowd. He hoped to see you again, smiling gleefully as he performed, but thought that it was too greedy of him to want this much in a span of a day. And so he performed, for the first time without any pressure of doing good, enjoying every moment of the stage he was on and yet again, wished that maybe, maybe your paths will collide with his again.

part 2

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neowinestainedress · 3 years

Text

ya’aburnee ; jeong jaehyun

title: ya’aburnee

part two of amami ancora

pairings: jeong jaehyun x OC, lee donghyuck x OC | (side characters, lee mark, lee taeyong, suh johnny, lee jeno, kim doyoung, nakamoto yuta, qian kun | mentioned na jaemin)

genre: royal au, bodyguard au, forbidden relationship au, arranged marriage au, angst with happy ending, fluff, smut, domestic

warnings: tbh a lot of plot, angst, lots of angst but with a happy ending, donghyuck being an asshole (it’s just for the sake of the fic, i love him), mentions of mourning, fake death, pregnancy, birth (kinda explicit, idk mentions of broken water, contractions and blood), fluff, domestic feeling, implied parenthood, smut, gentle / intense sex, postpartum sex (if the timing is not realistic i’m sorry, i tried my best to make everything fit), body worship, breeding kink (back at it again, lmao, it’s more pregnant body worship), oral sex (f and m receiving), fingering, dirty talk, praise kink, minor sub/dom dynamic, that should be all.

summary: Ya’aburnee; an Arabic term that literally means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another loved one because of how unbearable life will be without them. Not every love story is all fun and games. Some are hard, star-crossed, damned to the point they might get stained with blood. For some loves, you have to fight ten times harder, risk a bigger price and put your heart on the line. Sometimes waiting for the Prince to come and save you is not what’s written in your destiny. Scarlett wanted to be saved, but not by a Prince, by a bodyguard that vanished in that far morning of late March. So she had to take the matter in her hand and hope to make it out alive. Pray that all of them were going to make it out alive.

word count: 22.225

songs: love story | darling | 1121 | ya’aburnee

A/N: I have mixed feelings for this piece, let’s say it was harder than expected to write a sequel for the first part that was almost just smut. I had thousands of different ideas but would’ve been too tragic or too no sense so I settled with this one and I’m not sure you’re going to like this. There’s a lot of plot but I swear IT GETS BETTER. I had to write it like this to make the story more realistic, if you want more of this two together I could write a third part, maybe? Also I had a terrible week so I tried to look out for any mistakes but something might have slipped. Send feedbacks, please, I’d really like to know what you think about this one, because I’m not sure at all I gave you what you wanted.

Autumns were always long and bittersweet for Scarlett, but this one was worst than any before with Jaehyun's presence lingering in the air bringing along a never felt before kind of pain.

Jaehyun’s phantom brought more cold seeping in her bones than the bitter wind that raged on the country.

It was a long fall, that seemed to have no end. Like a long sleepless night, where your body is begging for you to give in but your brain refuses to, and you’re forced to fight with demons you have no strength to face. So you let them eat you, tear you apart, carried along by the current.

That’s exactly how Scarlett felt as she closed her eyes, breathing in the moist air that stung on her skin while she rested her palms on the balcony. The classical music played by the orchestra was muffled by the distance and barely reached the calm place she run to when she managed to escape from everybody. The Prince, The King and her new bodyguard.

She sighed, feeling tears prickle at the corner of her eyes while she stared at the horizon, the city fading in the vast hills and plains of her Kingdom.

She thought she would be happy of finally coming back to her palace, to her family, but she was wrong. So damn wrong.

What a fool she had been thinking she forgot him. Pretending that everything was fine, that maybe she could start to get along with Donghyuck, force herself to like him until she started to feel something. But nothing of it happened, and the fragile bond she had formed with him, crumbled into pieces as soon as she put a foot into the castle.

Everything reminded her of him. The walls were screaming his name, her bed smelled like him, every voice that called her name resembled his.

His presence was haunting her like a spell put on her, a curse she couldn’t get away from. It had been almost six months and he was still imprinted in her mind, burning vividly like a flame in the back of her head.

She grabbed the handrail tighter and pressed her lips together, suppressing a groan back into her throat. Her head was throbbing from pain and so was her chest, let alone she felt extremely nauseous and dizzy. Probably it was the music, or the lights, or the travel all the way here. Whatever it was, she was exhausted.

“Scarlett,” his voice.

She turned around gasping and saw him leaning against the frame of the huge window door, he was wearing an expensive suit, embodied with silver and full of targets on the front pads. His hair was neatly pulled back and his sweet smile decorated his beautiful face.

“Jaehyun,” she mumbled incredulous, feeling her heart skip some beats.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, not even thinking about getting mad at him for having left her behind without saying a word. It had hurt so much when she woke up alone in that bed and didn’t find him anywhere in the castle. And worst of it all was that she had to pretend everything was fine and ignore the burning pain she felt in her chest. To everybody’s eyes, he was just her bodyguard, and she wasn’t supposed to be attached to him.

“I came here to see you, love,” he smiled, his brown eyes sparkling and his dimples showing on his cheeks.

“How did you get in?”

He chuckled, tilting his head to lean against the frame, “I know this place like the back of my hand, Scarlett.”

A smile crept on her face as she took a step closer to him.

“We can run away,” she proposed without hesitation, not even minding to keep her voice low.

“Scarlett,” he called.

“Yes?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Scarlett,” he repeated and she chuckled in confusion.

“Why are you repeating my name?” She asked, a furrow forming on her front.

“I couldn’t find you, that’s why.”

Her smile dropped as she shook her head and squeezed her eyes just to open them again and meet the figure of the Prince standing where Jaehyun was.

She looked around in panic and tears started streaming down her face.

“No, no,” she murmured, moving her hands on her face to wipe the tears away, frenetically looking around.

“Scarlett, what’s wrong?” Donghyuck asked, grabbing her shoulder but she pulled away. She hated when he touched her. He pulled back with a hurt expression on his face. “Was somebody trying to harm you?”

She shook her head, facing the pavement beneath her feet, squeezing her eyes shut and inhaling deeply.

Jaehyun was gone.

Jaehyun was never there.

He was only in her mind, haunting her, making her go crazy.

“It’s cold,” the Prince stated, suggesting to go back inside. “Also, you need to stop running away like this, your bodyguard is going crazy downstairs.”

She scoffed, Jaehyun never lost track of her. Never. He always had his eyes on her and at the same time, all of his senses were focused to look out for possible danger. This new bodyguard had nothing on him.

“I’m tired,” she announced, passing the Prince and walking down the stairs, not even sparing him a glance. She didn’t want him to see her like that, he would’ve asked questions she couldn’t answer.

“What do you mean with that? The ball is not even near to be over,” Donghyuck ran after her, soon coming by her side, walking down the stairs.

“I don’t care,” she replied. “I don’t feel good, I’m going to pass out.”

“Scarlett, you have to follow your duties, you can’t-”

“My duties are in the meeting room planning the future of my country, not playing the lovely doll in the ballroom by your side. It’s not my duty to look pretty with your arm intertwined with mine. It’s not my duty to kiss you in front of my parents just to make them happy,” she snapped, coming to a stop to face him.

Donghyuck sighed, “You still hate me, don’t you?”

“And I’ll always will,” she affirmed, turning around running away from him.

When she reached her, their, room she broke down crying, finally letting out all the pain she bottled up in her body.

She was going insane.

Her heart was beating faster than normal and the dress felt suffocating, she leaned against the door and tried to calm herself down, but as soon as she closed her eyes, Jaehyun appeared in the back of her brain.

She let out a piercing scream that none could hear anyway, too busy to be blinded by gold and diamonds to care about how she felt.

Shaking, she stood on her feet and walked closer to the vanity table searching for something. The dress was getting on her nerves.

Once she found what she was looking for, she felt the cold metal of the scissors against her skin, she didn’t hesitate to make it slide along the length of the fabric, tearing it apart with anger when the scissors got stuck in a seam.

She let them fall to the ground and walked to the bathroom, letting the hot water run in the bathtub. She wiped the tears from her face and walked toward the mirror.

Taking her figure in, she felt disgusted by herself. She had lost weight and the bones of her face and the ribs were showing, yet she was bloated and her chest felt heavier than ever. The eye bags under her eyes were there, now hidden by the layer of makeup but she knew they were there. They were the results of countless nights up, turned to the other side of the bed after pushing the Prince away because she had no intention to have sex with him.

The water spilling out of the tub made her turn back to reality. She closed the faucet and got in, letting her skin burn at the contact of the hot liquid.

She wanted to get rid of everything; of Donghyuck's touch, of Jaehyun's touch that was still lingering on her, of her touch. She wanted to disappear.

She took one last deep breath and sank down to the surface.

Bonding times were the worst for her. Especially when Donghyuck made their deal appear like a real relationship. He was always so happy every time he talked about her, or worst, about them, covering what they had with glitters and gold when simply nothing was tying them together. Not something that was genuine at least.

“I feel like you’re hiding something, love,” Donghyuck whispered, taking her hand in his as they walked outside in the royal park. It wasn’t too cold thanks to the sun that was kind enough to shine in the grey September sky.

Scarlet felt her skin curl at that pet name, she hated how it came out of his lips. Only Jaehyun was allowed to call her that.

“I don’t want secrets in our marriage,” he added when no answers came out of her lips. He turned around to look at her, his expression was full of emotion she couldn’t get, and couldn’t even care to get.

“No secrets,” she answered, looking at him. “I hate parties, and dresses that suffocate me.” She smiled, it was fake but Donghyuck had no idea. He didn’t know her. He’ll never know her.

“I still think you should see a doctor,” he suggested, pulling out of her hold and letting his arm wrap around her waist. She wanted to pull away but didn’t. “You’ve been feeling weird for a while now.”

“It’s the air of your country, Donghyuck. It triggers my allergies,” she tried to shrug it off. She had a bad sensation in her guts, honestly. It felt like something big was behind her pains but she didn’t want to face it. She would’ve had to deal with it by herself, nobody by her side. So it was better to pretend that everything was fine. Probably it was just a mix of anxiety and stress given by her situation, it would’ve passed.

Donghyuck furrowed and tilted his head to the side, “And now that you’re back home?”

“Anxiety for the marriage,” she replied without hesitation. Anxiety wasn’t even the right feeling to explain how she felt; she was terrified, petrified about what was about to come. Him and her father completely cut her off from the country’s affairs. She wasn’t going to be a queen regnant but a queen consort. Sitting prettily at her husband’s side doing absolutely nothing. She was just there to reassure their countries’ relations and peace. And that made her even angrier, Jaehyun left because he wanted her to be in control of her country, to take the lead and finally have everything she had been trained for since she was a child. And now, she wasn’t getting it.

Donghyuck sighed, he was fully aware she didn’t love him, but he genuinely liked her. “I just want you to give me a chance,” he whispered. “I’ll love you like nobody else ever will.”

Scarlett held back a laugh and nodded mindlessly. “We’ll see,” she mumbled. But she knew it wasn’t going to happen. She had one true love in her whole life and nothing would come close to that.

“Where is she?” The Queen asked the maids women that were cleaning the Princess’s room.

“In the bathroom, a lady is with her, she’s still vomiting, your Majesty.”

The Queen nodded and walked into the bathroom to see the Princess kneeled with a handmaid holding her hair to the side.

“Scarlett, my love,” her mother whispered with a voice full of worries.

The maid cleaned Scarlett’s mouth with a handkerchief and then left the room after the permission of the Queen, leaving the two alone.

“Mother,” she mumbled, looking down on the pavement, too ashamed to look at her. She never felt like this in her life, all the strength in her body completely gone.

“What’s going on, little star?”

She smiled at the soft name, her mother was the only one that seemed seriously worried about her health in the last months, and the only one she ever had a great bond with. Her father was just afraid for the kingdom, for the affairs and the money. He never really cared for her.

“It’s the weather,” she said, forcing a smile to appear on her face while she gathered the courage to look up and meet her mother’s gaze.

“Don’t lie to me, please.” Time scratched her face and the wrinkles sat on her caring face, but time never took away her sweet eyes and smile.

“I’m not lying, I just think that I suffer all these movements between the countries, and the food, and everything that comes with this,” she muttered, gesticulating nervously.

Her mother giggled and raised a brow, “Is the marriage, isn’t it?” The older woman asked with a smile on her face and Scarlett nodded. “I was nervous too when I married your father. It felt like a step that was bigger than me, I was marrying the love of my life and we were going to reign together. It’s a lot, anybody would be scared.”

She wanted to retort and say that she wasn’t going to marry the love of her life, that they forced her into a marriage she never wanted, but kept quiet. She was tired of fights and there was no point in it anyway. Even if they gave her the chance to pick who she wanted, he was out of her league, or better, she was out of his league.

“Everything will be alright, little star,” she reassured, patting her curls gently. “And stop being sick, please. You don’t want to stain your wedding dress, right?”

Scarlet forced a laugh to roll out of her lips and then watched her mother walk out of the room with a last goodbye.

Left alone, she suppressed a scream when she felt a cramp at the left of her stomach and hugged herself into a fetal position to make it go away.

She felt soulless, dead inside, and the thought that nobody could see it made it clear that they didn’t care about her at all.

It would’ve taken Jaehyun one look to know that something was off, that she was screaming for help. Because as much as she tried to hide it, she needed the help, the real one, not gazes full of pity and fake reassurances.

She dreamed of him every night, begging him to stay, or to take her far away, hidden by stranger’s eyes, just the two of them, till the end of time.

But Jaehyun not only wasn’t there but also was never going to come back to her. And she had to accept it.

“No, no, that can’t be possible,” Scarlett mumbled, walking back and forth into the hospital room that was in the castle, fingers clasped in the roots of her hair, pulling at her curls, surely ruining the perfect pattern of the wash day.

“Your Highness, the blood test says it and the echography confirms it too,” the doctor said, handing her the rectangular photographs. “It’s rare, but it can happen that period still happen.”

She shook her head, and let silent sobs come out of her mouth, wrapping her arms around her body. “The King and the Prince don’t have to know,” she stated, still walking around feeling the tension buzz in her tense body.

“Why should-“ the doctor got stopped by the door swinging open, revealing the King and the Prince.

“What are we not supposed to know?”

Of course, they were right outside of the door, her privacy non-existing. She started shaking more and took some steps back, suddenly terrified by the two men in front of her. They were going to kill her if they found out.

“Nothing, I’m perfectly fine,” she said, trying to stop her limbs from shaking, with not much success.

Donghyuck lifted an eyebrow and stared at her. “Why are you shaking then?”

“I’m not,” she lied, her body betraying her words, her voice was trembling like a leaf trying hard to not fall down during the last days of fall and her palms were sweating.

“Scarlett,” Donghyuck sounded menacing and her instinct betrayed her once for all when her first reaction was to place her hand on her stomach, protecting her belly from him.

Donghyuck snickered, and looked at her up and down, “Don’t tell me...” he whispered, “you can’t be,” he added, incredulity in his voice.

“What’s going on?” The King asked, and she fell to the ground, pulling her body together, terrified they would hurt her, terrified they would hurt the baby. “What do you have there?” He asked pointing at the lucid paper in her hand.

“Nothing,” she said, hiding her hands behind her back.

“Scarlett, don’t make me lose my patience, it’s not valuable for a King.”

She glared at him, jaw clenched, and eyes fuming, “I have nothing that concerns you.”

Her husband-to-be turned around, facing the doctor who was staring at the scene with wide eyes. “I have to go,” he blurted, running outside of the room before the Prince could ask any questions and Scarlett felt the cold envelop her completely. She was alone now.

“Scarlett,” Donghyuck groaned, facing her once again, kneeling down to be at her level, his expression cold and distant. “Are you pregnant?”

She shook her head but her cries got louder as she tried to become smaller and smaller. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. It wasn’t supposed to happen, not like this, at least, not in those conditions.

A laugh rolled out of the King’s lips, “Pregnant, that’s a good one. She can’t be, she had never been alone with boys we didn’t allow,” he laughed but then stopped, turning to look at her when it clicked. No boys except one.

“Scarlett?” He called, his voice stern and deep. “Are you pregnant?”

She sniffed and nodded, there was no point in hiding it anyway.

Her father turned toward the Prince, trying to put the pieces together, “You two already?”

“No,” Donghyuck answered before he could finish the question, “She barely lets me close to her, and now it’s clear why,” he growled, looking down at her with an unfriendly, disgusted expression.

The King exhaled deeply, “Scarlett, I’m begging, please don’t tell me that’s Jaehyun’s child...”

She didn’t answer but looked down at the floor and that was already an answer.

“Your fucking bodyguard?” Donghyuck scoffed, voice high and loud, making her jump in shock. “You had a fucking affair with your bodyguard?” He screamed.

“Shut up,” she shouted back, not getting up from the floor, too afraid of getting hurt.

“I’m not shutting up, you fucked a commoner before our marriage and got pregnant with him. I picked you to be my Queen,” the Prince retorted, voice high and face red burning in anger.

“You said it, you picked me! I never picked you! I love him, not you.”

“That’s absurd,” the King said. “Guards, get her. The basement.” He ordered.

She turned around, looking at him in shock. “You’re putting me in the basement? I’m your daughter!”

“Who put shame on my name,” he replied, his stoic expression made the blood in her vein freeze and tears roll down her cheeks with no brakes.

“I’m still going to marry her,” Donghyuck announced, fixing his dress and regaining his composure as if nothing happened, “I don’t care about her, I just want to have deals with you.”

The King nodded and turned to face him.

“We’ll try to move the wedding as soon as possible,” he turned around to stare down at her stomach while the two bodyguards held her in place, ready to bring her away, “the baby has to look like yours.”

“I’m not marrying him,” she shouted, squirming under their hold, kicking her feet in the air.

“Take her away,” he last instructed ignoring her fights and her words, “And go find that man, he has to pay. Bring him alive, I’ll take care of the rest.”

“No!” She screamed at her father words, but he didn’t care. Nobody did. Nobody paid attention to her, her tired body, her tears streamed face, and her cries for help while she was being dragged into the last floor of the castle.

“Let go of me! I’m the Princess,” she whined, trying to convince the men to loosen their hold on her.

“King’s order,” they replied coldly, opening the door of one of the rooms in the basement, pushing her inside carelessly.

She let her tired body fall to the floor and crawled to the nearest corner to feel a little bit of warmth while she pulled her knees close to her chest, as far as she could trying not to press the baby. The belly wasn’t big but was there, and now that she knew it wasn’t just bloating she knew she had to take care of it.

She caressed her stomach, feeling the movements of the baby inside of her. She wanted this so bad, she had dreamt of this. It was supposed to be her happy moment, their happy moment. And yet, it only brought more tragedy to her life.

Jaehyun would’ve been so happy to know about this, he probably would’ve started to rant about all the things they had to buy and all the pretty clothes they could’ve got. But she was stuck there, and he was somewhere only God knew.

As she let her body fall asleep she called for Jaehyun, hoping he was far away now and her father’s guard would never find him.

She wanted to think he was happy and safe, that maybe he had found somebody that loved him and could give him everything he wanted. But he had to be far away from there for his safety.

If something had to pull them apart, she didn’t want it to be death.

The door of the small house opened, creaking as usual, and the scent of food and fire filled the man’s scent.

“Hey, Yoonoh, was the sea nice to you this time?” Another man’s voice resonated in the house, letting him know his presence in there.

The man laughed while he knocked his boots at the side of the door, “You’re coming with me next time, Johnny.”

“Sure, if you want my puke all over the ship then I’m there,” Johnny shouted from the kitchen, peaking his head back to stare at the man that was making his way into the room. The old ruined job suit was a little bit smaller than him and fitted him tightly, but the dark blue fabric still looked good on him.

“You just have to get used to it,” Jaehyun shrugged, stealing a loaf of bread from the kitchen counter, glancing at whatever the other older man was cooking on the stoves.

“Hey! Taeyong baked them for Jaemin,” the taller man shouted, hitting his hand playfully.

Jaehyun shrugged, and sat on the couch turning on the tv, not really looking for something specific, he just wanted to keep up with what he missed during the last four months overseas.

‘Royal wedding around the corner,’ the voice of the news announced with an excited tone, ‘The long-awaited wedding planned for January was suddenly moved to the next week. And if usually voices are fast, no rumours escaped the castle walls. Some suspect a sudden illness of the King, some others even an unplanned pregnancy, but nobody knows why. But why always over analyzes things? Maybe the two little birds are just too in love and can’t wait to seal the deal.’

Jaehyun grunted and shut the television with a groan, throwing the remoter carelessly on the small coffè table between the tv and the couch.

“Hey, man, what’s wrong?” Johnny questioned seeing his reaction as he leaned against the door frame, cleaning a plate with a consumed cloth.

“Can’t stand the rich,” he lied, standing from the couch, stretching his back with a yawn. Nobody there knew about his past, he even introduced himself with his birth name and not the one everybody used to call him with. He had to start brand new, in a completely different country and city.

The black-haired man nodded, chuckling lowly, “Same, and the royals are the worst,” he agreed.

Jaehyun nodded mindlessly and then announced, “I’m going to sleep, the rocking of the boat makes me have terrible nights.”

“I told you, you don’t get used to it,” Johnny replied and he just chuckled before disappearing inside his small room.

“A pregnancy,” Jaehyun scoffed as soon as the door closed behind him, “not even six months and she already forgot me.” He let his body fall on the bed, it was a little bit softer than the one he slept on the ships, but it was still uncomfortable. He couldn’t complain, though. This house was god sent, and so were the boys he found there. They gave him a place to stay and a job that kept his mind occupied. And they were also nice, so he found friends that were like him. That house was his normality, no impossible relationships and feeling so out of place.

His trail of thoughts got interrupted by his roommate coming into the room.

“Damn, I smell like fish, that’s why girls don’t come to me when I come back from the sea,” Jeno’s whine resonated in the small room while the young man closed the door behind him.

Jaehyun got up, standing on his elbow. “A shower and it’ll pass, we don’t deal with fish every single day, Jeno.”

“Yeah, but if you don’t shower the room will stink and we’re not going anywhere, Yoonoh,” the boy replied, rolling his eyes after looking up and down on him, his work clothes still on.

The older huffed throwing his head back, “Just let me be, I’m tired, I’ll go shower later.”

“’ Kay, fine, whatever you say,” Jeno said with an annoyed tone, grabbing his fresh clothes and heading out to the bathroom.

“Wait,” Jaehyun called and the younger stopped, looking at him with questioning eyes. “Are you going out tonight?”

“Yeah, why?” Jeno raised a brow.

Jaehyun shrugged, pressing his lips in a thin line, contemplating all the thoughts that were running in his head.

A smirk crept on Jeno’s face, “Oh, the grumpy old bear finally wants to go out and have some fun?”

“Oh shut up, Jeno,” Jaehyun screamed, grabbing the pillow under his head and throwing it at him.

“Then you better shower, that pretty face is not saving you from the shitty smell if you want to have fun.”

Jaehyun wanted to throw something else at him but the boy was faster at closing the old creaky door behind him.

The man sighed, letting his body fall on the mattress, groaning when his body met the stiffness of the surface, the only soft piece on the floor next to the door.

He couldn’t dwell on her forever, right? She had moved on so easily, why the hell was he still stuck on their story?

“You’re so fucking dumb, Jaehyun,” he muttered under his breath while he lifted his weight from the bed and searched for some fresh clothes in the small closet he shared with Jeno. He couldn’t believe he had spent all of his days thinking about her. It had been six months, he had to move on. Come to term that their story was never going to happen. If he wanted to try something probably he should’ve crazed out and kidnap her when he had the chance, but now, there was nothing left to do.

He was going to move on.

Scarlett was sitting on the chair behind his father’s wooden desk in the meeting room, listening to all the voices with her head low, too tired to fight and to pay attention to what they were saying.

“What do you mean you can’t find him?”

“His house is abandoned, no trace of him or anything he could’ve left behind.”

The King sighed, pressing his fingers against his temple, massaging in circles, and then addressed to his daughter, “Do you know where he is?”

“If I knew I wouldn’t be here,” she spat out, rising her face to stare back at him. “He left me without saying a word, I don’t even know his last name.” She partially lied, just hoping he wouldn’t use her to look for him.

Right before her father could retort, a knock on the door gained his attention, “Come in,” he ordered.

“Your Majesty,” a guard greeted, bowing politely, “we found something.”

“Go on,” the man on his fifty instructed.

“We asked villagers and an old lady told us something,” the young man stopped, eyes wandering on the girl in front of him.

“What?” The King urged, “we don’t have time, please.”

“Well, it’s nothing good,” the guard stammered, hands sweating and eyes drifting from the Princess, looking at the King.

The eldest in the room sighed heavily, slamming his fist on the expensive desk, “I don’t care, go straight to the point.”

The young man startled but then regained his composure, “Here, Your Majesty.” And handed him a printed photo, Scarlet leaned over to see something but couldn’t get it, her father snatching it from the guard’s hands too fast.

The King studied the picture, eyebrow furrowed and nose scrunched in confusion, “What is that?”

The guard hesitate for a while, shifting all the weight of his body on the tips of his feet nervously, and then gathered some courage to speak, “He died.”

“What?” Scarlett mumbled, turning around to look at the man. She felt her palms get wetter and her heart beat faster while she looked for any sign of joke on the guard’s face, but when she found any, she had to lean back on the chair to not fall on the ground.

“The old lady told us he had an unfortunate accident while he tried to help some other citizens during the alluvion of the last month. We went to the cemetery to make sure and found his tombstone. There’s just his name and a quote badly carved.”

Scarlett shook her head and tried to suppress the sobs, but she felt like puking and her heart was clenching in her chest.

“No, it can’t be possible,” she whispered, grabbing the photo from her father hands, looking at his name engraved into it.

A scary laugh rolled out of the King’s lips as he stood up, hand in his pockets and said, “Well, guess God solved this problem before me.”

“He wasn’t a problem, he was the love of my life!” She snapped, leaning over to face him.

“The love of your life that left you behind and now is buried six feet under?” Doghyuck taunted, right hand under his chin and a mocking smirk on his face.

She had to fight all she had to not slap him, beating up his pretty face. “He did it for me,” she replied, teeth gritted, and tone full of anger.

“Sure, whatever. I don’t care,” Donghyuck dismissed, waving his hands in the air, looking behind her. “Take her back, I don’t want to hear her cry for a man that wasn’t worth it,” he then order, as if that was his reign, his kingdom and his throne. As if that was his home.

“He was worth more than you, he died trying to help others, while you are selfish, watching your people die while you sit in your palace of gold. I hate you, I hate you, I hate –“

She had no time to finish when two pairs of hands grabbed her arms and dragged her outside of the room all the way to the cold basement chamber.

She let herself go to a hopeless cry and held tight onto her belly, the only thing she had left of him.

It can’t be possible, she kept repeating inside her head, it can’t be.

There was no way he was gone, completely.

She didn’t care that he wasn’t hers anymore, and truly never had been, but she wanted to know him alive, happy, showered with love. She needed to hold onto that image of him to carry on, to fight her own battle, to push into this cursed marriage she despised.

Because the pain of a break-up was bearable, but the weight his death carried was unsufferable.

She would’ve survived thousands of winters and summers without him by her side, but not a single day with him buried underground.

She at least had to say one last goodbye, to mourn on his body, feel the coldness of his skin, and the silence in his chest, no heartbeat or deep laughter ringing in his rib cage.

Scarlett rested her head against the wall, biting her lip to muffle the loud sobs that seemed to have no intention to stop coming out of her lungs and placing a hand on her chest, and the other on her belly, she let herself to a silent cry.

No, theirs wasn’t a love story, but she never imagine it would be a melodrama.

Her eyes already cried enough that night of six months before, she hoped no more tears would stain her face, not for him at least.

She wanted to put a stone on it, but not like this.

And now she had a child to carry, love and raise, and was a widow of a man she wasn’t married to, and her hand was promised to another.

She screamed thinking about when it all went wrong.

She should’ve never told him to leave, they should’ve run away together, get out of the town, and find somewhere to stay. Risking it all, and if it ended in blood it would’ve been their blood, not his only.

When she felt a cramp on her lower stomach she tried to calm down, taking deep breaths and stretched her legs; losing the baby was the last thing she needed right now.

“Shh,” she whispered, “It’s going to be alright,” she cooed, caressing her belly gently. But it was mostly to calm herself down and convince herself of it. “We’ll make it out of this mess,” she said, a shy smile creeping on her face when she felt the baby move inside of her.

Right when she was about to stand up, to drag herself to the small bed in the room, her gaze was drawn to the print the guard had brought to her father. She crawled to it, and grabbed it, staring at the stone, trying to find anything, anything, that could bring her hope and strength to move on.

“You’ll find me in the waves of change.” Was written right under his name, his birth and death date. And everything seemed normal if it wasn’t for the fact that the words ‘you’ and ‘waves’ were written in capital letters.

“If you ever need me, you know where to find me,” his voice ringed in her ears loud and clear. That was what he had promised her their last night, and he always kept his promises. What if all of that was made up? What if he already knew that somebody was going to look for him and he had to make all of his traces get lost?

“He’s not dead,” she whispered and smiled when she felt the feet of the baby press against her. “Yeah, you agree, baby?” She whispered sweetly, beaming a bigger smile, “Daddy’s alive and we’ll find him. Even if it's going to be the last thing I’ll do before I die.”

The street’s lampposts were lighting up the way, making the city look magical while the sounds of the chats and merchants trying to get people to buy something filled the air. The smell of mulled wine and freshly baked sweets filled Scarlett senses and she would’ve left herself get lulled by it if only she wasn’t running away with anywhere to go.

It was a reckless, stupid even, idea, she knew it, but she had to give it try. Especially after what she had found out.

“Last minute offer, everybody! Discount on everything you find on the stand.”

“Sweet lady buy some warm scarves for the winter, they’re made with my own hands.”

It was a usual Friday night, and as tradition, the market would stay open at night. So taking advance of the confusion and the big number of people buying or simply enjoying a peculiar night out, she got lost in the crowd, hoping nobody would notice her.

Even though she was covered from head to toe, she still felt out of place, her clothes were expensive and anybody could see it. So she tried to walk in the dark hoping her legs would take her out of there swiftly.

She had no idea where she was going, reaching the town where Jaehyun lived would’ve taken time, especially at night and with an almost six months baby inside of her. Yet, she kept walking, trying to fight the cold and the tiredness.

She was tempted to buy clothes there, but she knew that her father would’ve sent people to interrogate citizens, and no matter all the stories she could make up, they would’ve realized who she was. She had to find a vehicle to drive for the night, and then she would’ve thought about what she needed once she reached Jaehyun’s town, hopefully by the first morning light.

Before she could even notice, she reached the outside of the centre, voices and people finally starting to fade. The only things surrounding her were houses with lights off and some people going back inside from the bazaar.

“And now?” She asked herself, looking around. She couldn’t reach another town by foot, it was a death sentence she was placing on herself. And she couldn’t buy a car or anything of the kind.

Just before she could start to panic an idea hit her. Her father used to keep old carriages downtown in a secret garage, nobody guarding them because nobody knew the existence of that place hidden by trees and weeds.

She had to try.

Holding the coat around her body she started walking there, her body feeling a new rush of motivation, her feet walking faster toward her destination.

A smile crept on her face when she reached the garage and her theory was confirmed, there was nobody there.

When the sun started to show up behind the hills Scarlett had arrived where Jaehyun had spent his childhood. It was five in the morning and the town was already awake, mostly with people that were walking to work, so she opted to enter a bar to fix herself and then find a shop to buy new clothes and some food for the trip.

She parked the car and entered the closest bar of the small town, the scent of freshly baked croissant and coffè hit her nose and made her stomach, and baby, jump in excitement.

“You’ll have to wait for a moment, little one,” she smiled, looking down at her stomach, pushing into the bathroom door. She pulled out the scissors she brought with her and breathed deeply.

“You have to go,” she said, and gave a clear cut to her curls, flushing them into the toilet. By the time she was done a nice shoulder-length bob cut framed her face. “It’s not much, but it should be something,” she stated, staring at herself in the mirror, trying to adjust some strands that were longer. She had no time to shapeshift into somebody else, she didn’t bring any make-up from her runaway and had no time to buy it and apply it now.

Once she was done eating, she decided to go to the market and grab some food, clothes and medical stuff, just in case she needed it. There weren’t cameras anywhere so she felt safe but the tension that rushed in her body still didn’t calm down.

She was tempted to find the old lady the guards talked about, but she knew it was going to be impossible and risky. She would’ve followed her guts, all the way to the sea, where the most famous balneal town of the adjacent reign stayed.

But she needed to win some time over them. She was sure that they were looking for her already, and it wouldn’t have taken them long to arrive there. It was the first city where they would've searched for. So she headed to the river, abandoning the car not far away from the dock. She took a deep breath and threw the old clothes into the water, staring at the current carrying them away.

It was to fake her death, hoping it would’ve led them off tracks, at least for some time. But she was dead, that Scarlet they knew was gone, and she wasn't going to come back.

The wind was blowing against her back, making the coat stick to her body, while she stood there, watching the flood carry away the last traces of her old self.

“We’ll be safe and sound, love,” she mumbled, to her baby and herself, staring at the horizon. Somewhere down there, their future was waiting, and she knew it was a bright one.

She averted her eyes from the river and looked down at her belly, feeling the warmth spread in her chest; she hadn’t met her yet, but she already knew she would’ve broken her heart into million pieces for her and her safeness. Nobody was going to take this away from her. Nobody was going to rip her future from her hands.

“When is Mark going to be home?” Taeyong asked as he stirred the tomato in the pot, starting the base for the passata, not caring it was early in the morning.

“Two days, maybe three, we don’t know," Johnny answered, skimming through the pages of the weekly journal, "He's still in Woodale, right?”

“Yep, he hasn’t found what he’s looking for,” Doyoung responded, opening the fridge to pull out something to drink.

“Why are you so loud, it’s not even six in the morning,” Jaehyun huffed, entering the kitchen walls after being woken up by their chats, the walls of that house way too thin for his liking, and the smell of the sauce too strong after a night out.

“Good morning to you, too,” Johnny replied, biting the apple he was holding in his hand, pushing the chair aside to let Jaehyun take a seat.

Doyoung grinned, “Three days and you’re back on the road, or waves, I should say.”

“Ha, ha, very funny, Doie,” Jaehyun rolled his eyes, pressing his fingers against his temples to suppress the forming ache, “Wait, what? Three days?” He asked, eyes wide open looking at the men in front of him.

“Yeah, Mark should come back with the wood and Yuta told me it should take less than a day to fix the ship,” the brown-haired man at the stove answered, turning around placing another pot filled with ramen at the centre of the table.

“But we brought enough food and riches back at home,” he huffed, throwing his head back in exasperation.

“It’ll be Christmas soon, people are demanding. Renjun said that the fabrics won’t last for the holiday request,” the man added, filling the plates with the soup and handing them to Doyoung and Jaehyun.

“And I need more metals, too,” Johnny added.

“Ugh,” Jaehyun huffed, moving the food in his plate to cool it down. “Are you even sure we’ll make it back at home for Christmas?”

“Sure, it’s the first of October, you can make it at home for that time,” Taeyong reassured him, finally sitting at the table, too.

“Why do you need to be home? A secret girlfriend you don’t talk about?” Doyoung teased, after swallowing a spoon of the hot dish.

“No, no girlfriends,” he answered, way too soon and too nervously to appear normal.

“Or boyfriend, we don’t care,” Johnny appended, bending his head o the side, smiling at him.

“No, no boyfriend either. Nobody. I just want to walk on stable ground,” he sighed, shaking his head.

“You can work with me at the bakery if you don’t like to go overseas. When you first came here it seemed like you needed to get away from something and staying here wasn’t enough,” Taeyong proposed, and he sounded concerned, which made Jaehyun smile, it was nice to have somebody that cared for him.

“No I’m fine,” he reassured, lifting his head, “I just thought we could at least have a week of break, but the sooner we’ll leave the faster we’ll come back home. I want to be home for Christmas.”

“I’m really going to die, fuck,” Scarlett cursed, resting against a wall of a small town she couldn’t remember the name. The cold was trespassing the cheap fabric of her coat and the gloves weren’t enough to not make the bones of her hand creak. She was tired, being up for 48 hours and walking, driving, or being transported, with fear running in her veins wasn’t the greatest thing she did in her life.

Also, the news of her disappearance was everywhere, she didn’t reach her destination and she was terrified somebody would recognize her.

She was trying to find the strength to push her body up from the wall when a voice caught her attention, “I need to be at Seashore in two days, man, I need it now.”

Her eyes snapped and in a second she was behind the man that was standing outside this joinery, “Seashore?” She asked, looking at the man that seemed desperate, a beanie was pressed on his hair and his hands were covered with gloves, while his body was protected by a short coat.

The young man looked up and down on her and she shifted, hoping he didn’t recognize her, but he wasn’t from here, right? So it was safer to trust him, no? “Yeah, why?”

“Oh, I know it may sound weird, but I have to go there, too, and I don’t have a ride,” she beamed, awkwardly. Going back on public transport was way too dangerous now.

The boy smiled, “You heard her,” he turned to the man in the carpentry, “She needs a ride and I have to go back home. I need the wood, now.”

The middle-aged man rolled his eyes and sighed, “Fine, twenty minutes and I’ll be back to you.”

The man raised an eyebrow and then kindly smiled at her again, “I don’t know why they never want to do their job right,” he muttered and she giggled, “Oh, by the way, I’m Mark,” he greeted her, she grabbed his hand and didn’t say a word, but when he raised an eyebrow she understood that he wanted to know her name.

“Oh, yeah, my name, sorry. I’ve been walking for days and I’m tired,” she laughed it off, “By the way I’m Ivy,” she lied, trying to sound as convincing as possible but it turned that was no need to.

“That’s nice,” he exclaimed, “Why are you headed to my city?”

“I’m looking for an old friend,” she replied, putting her hands in the pocket of the coat, the bag with some water hanging on her wrist.

“Oh, cool,” he beamed, “want to grab something to eat before we come back here?”

“Is there a non-crowded place?” She asked, trying to hide her nervousness, “Crowds make me uneasy.”

“Sure, I know a place.”

The sky turned black swiftly after a big storm, the sun didn’t shine through clouds again and the day left its place to the night sky and the moon. It was calm outside, and the scent the rain left on nature relaxed her just enough to make her feel drowsy.

They had been walking all day, buying everything he needed to grab before going back home, and they have been driving out of town for at least fifteen minutes now. Silence filled his old car but it wasn’t awkward. Mark made her feel comfortable even by doing nothing. It was nice, and she felt a little bit better, and also warmer now that the heat of the vehicle warmed her body.

“Mh,” Mark coughed, breaking the silence, side-eyeing her from the driver seat, “not to be out of place but, are you, perhaps, pregnant?”

A chuckle left her lips, as she leaned against the glass to rest her head and look at him, “Is it that big under the coat?”

“Oh no,” he replied, honestly the belly was barely there, “it’s just that, you always have a hand placed on your tummy,” he noted, ears turning red and not from the cold.

“Oh,” she gasped, realizing she was also doing it now and pulled away. She didn’t even notice, it just came naturally. Probably feeling in debt for neglecting her pregnancy for so long, six months was a lot.

“That’s cute, actually,” he reassured her, looking at her for a few seconds before looking back to the road, “You’re protecting her.”

She turned to look at him with stupor and asked, “how do you know?” “Oh, it’s a baby girl?”

She nodded, smiling brightly, her eyes lighting up.

“Damn, that’s great,” he exclaimed, but then got serious again. “Why are you making such a trip in your conditions?”

“I’m fine, I’m just five months pregnant,” she stated, hand still caressing her belly. She couldn’t tell him the truth, no matter how trustable he seemed.

“Why are you alone, though? Was there nobody that could accompany you?”

She shook her head, “I’m tired, can I sleep?” She asked afraid questions would’ve gotten harder to answer. He seemed genuinely talkative but she couldn’t risk it. She was really tired and wasn’t so sure her brain would’ve been able to keep up with this act without slipping.

“Sure, I'd tell you to lay in the back seat but if I brake without a warning it’ll be more dangerous,” Mark said.

“No, don’t worry, I’m fine here.”

“Yes, Taeyong, I’ll be home in a day.” White clouds were coming out of Mark's mouth as he talked through the phone of a parking lot of a diner they found on the road. They had to stop to put gas in the car and to grab some food, but she could feel anxiety eat her up.

“No,” Mark answered, annoyance filling his tone, “Yeah, don’t worry,” he replied to something she couldn't hear. “Yes, fine. I’ll go with him. Bye.” He shut the call and then turned around, facing Scarlett who was patiently waiting for him.

“God, I’m sorry,” he exclaimed coming to her side, “My... well, he’s just my friend technically but sometimes he feels like my father and he’s getting on my nerves.”

“It’s fine,” she reassured, intertwining their arms, mostly for support, she was still tired, her feet hurt and she was more than sure they were swollen and her muscles were screaming in pain, “he just cares about you. Was he worried?”

“Yeah, he fears I’m not going to make it back in time,” Mark explained, opening the door of the small but cosy diner, walking toward the ordering counter.

“Are you in a rush?”

“Nah, he just wants our ship to leave.”

She furrowed, tilting her head to the side, “Are you a pirate?”

“Pirate? No, well, no, not really,” he stammered. “We just have business around town, but we need to go to the other side sometimes, raw material run low here.”

“Is it cool?” She asked while pointing at the menu to show him what she wanted to order.

“I don’t really do that much, I work with metals mostly, but apparently this time I have to go, too,” he rolled his eyes and then said the order to the waitress. “Go grab a table, I’ll come to you once I’m done, okay?”

Scarlett nodded and found a hidden corner, right under the TV that hung on the ceiling.

��The researches of the Princess are still going on, nobody seems to know where she is. If somebody kidnapped her for revenge or if something more sinister happened. The investigators aren’t letting much information known, and the King seems to be hiding something but nobody knows what. Could her father have a reason to kill her? Or was it someone that got turned down that wanted to get their revenge? If anybody sees her or has any information the prize is of 50.000 lire...’

Her blood froze in her vein as soon as the words reached her ear. They put a price on her. They put a fucking prize on her.

She snapped up and walked behind Mark, grabbing his arm, startling him, “Mark, we need to go, now,” she commanded, pulling the sleeves of his coat.

“Why? The food is almost here,” he lamented visibly confused.

“Then let’s grab it swiftly and let’s go.”

“I was planning on sleeping here for the night,” he confided, not understanding her sudden change.

She shook her head, there was no way they were going to spend the night there. “No, your friend wants you home and I think we should be home too, let’s go,”

Mark left some money on the table and then grabbed the food while she dragged him out of the place.

“Why do you hate public spaces so much?” Mark whined, jumping in the car. “Why are you looking around as if somebody is ready to kill you?”

“I don’t hate them,” she replied, gulping nervously, after making sure nobody was in the car.

Mark sighed and started the engine, “Yes you do and now we have to eat dinner in the car.”

“I’m sorry, I just want to go to a place that is closer to home, I’m really nervous,” she said, playing with the wrapper of some food. “I’m pretty sure it’s the hormones that are acting up.”

“That’s why I wanted to sleep there, it’s a warm bed.”

“No, I want to find a place to stay, I feel like I’m on a getaway right now,” she mumbled, watching him with an apologetic look on her face.

Mark laughed but then stopped, “Why would you feel like you are in a getaway?”

“Just the feeling,” she stuttered, pressing her lips together.

“You are not in a getaway, right? I don’t have a criminal in the car?”

“Oh Lord, no,” she laughed but a heavy lump formed in her throat. If somebody caught them he could be sentenced for God’s knows what, and he had no idea who she was. He was genuinely helping her and she was dragging him into this hell. “I just want to have a place to call home,” she added, trying to shrug the feeling off.

Mark looked at her with his side view and then shook his head, “You’re not looking for an old friend, aren’t you?”

She shook her head, “Yeah, also, but I just want to find a place that feels like home, in the most cliché, tooth-rotting way,” she giggled, pushing some strands of hair out of her face, tugging the shorts lock behind her ear.

The man hummed, tapping his fingers on the wheel, “Not a nice place where you come from?”

“No, not really,” she grumbled. She felt so ungrateful knowing that people would’ve killed for that life, for everything she had growing up, but material things are simply not enough to fill the holes of love and affection. And she felt betrayed, she really never expected that her father could be so selfish, and full of hate and anger.

“If you don’t find a place or need somewhere to stay while looking for your friend, you could stay with me, by the way.”

“Really”? Her eyes sparkled while she stared at him in disbelief.

“Sure. I mean, there’s quite a lot of us, but I’m sure we’ll find a place for you.”

“You’re so nice for me, I don’t deserve it,” she said.

“No, you’ve been through so much, it’s the less I can do for you.”

“You don’t know me, though. I’m a total stranger and you’re doing so much.”

Mark smiled, “That’s what people do, right? They help each other.”

“Yeah, I guess.“

“Don’t worry. Also, we need to decide a name for the baby, I want to be her favourite uncle.”

The first genuine and carefree smile crept on her face as she let her head fall against the headboard of the seat. “Yeah, it has to be a hopeful one.”

The night passed swiftly and the sun was shining on Seashore. Scarlett looked around, mesmerized by the pretty houses of the town, painted in blue and white, with murals of mythical sea creatures and precious stones as tiles of the rooftops.

“It’s so pretty here,” she exclaimed in awe, turning to look at Mark that smiled at her genuine enthusiasm.

“Never been here before?” He asked, tilting his head.

She shook her head. She had travelled different reigns, but only seeing the castles and a very little of the towns. Also, her Father didn’t engage much with this country, so she had probably been there when she was a child and couldn't remember anything of it.

“it’s nice, you’re going to love it here.”

“I really hope so,” she replied, sitting back in place, while the city run out on the window pane. The town was perched on the cost, and they started to go higher and higher, and between the small buildings, the sea was visible in the distance.

“And here we are,” Mark exclaimed, taking a turn entering a small road, the street was dissimulated and a small house appeared at the end of the road. It was made of stone just like the others but the white was closer to a grey, and the blue dye of the wooden window was completely faded, the paint full of cracks. The small patch of green in front was burned and the inside was hidden by white curtains. “It’s not much, I know,” Mark paused, stopping the car and turning to look at her. “But it’s home.”

She nodded, pressing her lips in a thin line, looking around, noting that it was isolated from the centre and the main road. “Do you live here alone?”

“No, I share this house with my friends.”

“Are they fine with me staying here for a while?” She asked, worried they didn’t want her, but even more worried they would send her back. Based on what she heard, they needed money, and what's an easier way to get them than sending back a runway Princess?

“They will. Especially Taeyong, I’m sure he’ll love you.”

She smiled, hoping for the better, and followed him toward the door.

“Mark!” A man exclaimed, pulling Mark in his embrace. “You came back earlier,” he noted, checking if the man was fine and there were no other urgent reasons behind this surprise. Then his eyes landed on the woman behind him and widened as he stared at her up and down. “And brought company with you.”

Scarlett kept quiet, breathing deeply, looking everywhere but the man.

“Yes, she’s Ivy and got nowhere to go, I told her she could stay here for a while,” Mark explained, and she thanked him for presenting her because she had almost forgotten her fake name.

The brown-haired man smiled, his big eyes lightened up, “I’m Taeyong,” he greeted and then snapped out of the first meeting awe. “What are you doing outside, it’s freezing, come in.” He gestured and moved to the side to let them in.

“It’s not big,” he stated, turning around to point at the small house. The hall was almost immediately connected with the living room, just a small wall dividing them, “but we have a small room for you to stay.”

“Oh, don’t worry for me. It’s going to be just for tonight, I’ll find a place to stay by tomorrow,” she reassured, smiling at him, fully taking in the living room. There was a couch, a coffee table and a TV, underneath it there was a modest fireplace and some shelves with books and some plants were hanging on the wall. Unlike the outside, on the inside, there was a lot of wood and made the place look cosier and warmer.

Mark looked at her with a worried look, “Are you sure you can do this by yourself?”

“Do what?” Taeyong asked, confused.

“Oh, I have to find an old friend of mine.”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” Mark said, pulling the beanie off of his head, revealing his black hair.

“I have to,” she said bitterly. If she couldn’t find Jaehyun she was screwed, honestly. And only now she realized how reckless her decision had been. She jumped in headfirst without looking. But she couldn’t weigh on their shoulders, she had to find a way to survive alone, hoping nobody would recognize her.

“I’m confused,” Taeyong mumbled, walking into the kitchen followed by the two. The room was nice, walls painted in white, like the other furnishings that were useful for the room.

Mark looked at her, asking for permission to tell him about the baby but she didn’t want to give out more information to strangers.

“It’s nothing, seriously. No need to worry,” she smiled, gaze meeting with Taeyong’s, who simply nodded.

“If I knew I would’ve prepared something, but I have nothing hot to eat,” the man pouted, opening the white fridge, searching for something to prepare last minute.

“No problem, I’m not hungry,” she reassured. She felt nauseous and just wanted to sleep on a real bed.

“You two need sleep,” Taeyong stated, staring at the eye bag under their eyes, closing the fridge with a loud noise. “Mark, show her the last room at the end of the corridor, the bed needs to be made but the bedding is on the last drawer of the closet.”

Mark hummed in response, but before turning around he stopped and asked, “Where are the others?”

“Working.”

“Even Jeno and Yoonoh?”

“Yeah, Johnny needed help at the garage and they are the strongest ones. Also, Yuta told them to pass by the port later to see something, if everything goes as planned they’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

Mark nodded and then led her to her temporary room.

“I’ll just sleep for a while and then go out to look for him and a place to stay,” she said once they were done fixing the bed.

“Don’t worry, you’re not a burden at all, also for at least a month three of us won’t be here, so no need to worry.”

“Yeah, but I really need to find this person,” she replied, shifting her weight on her feet.

Mark smiled, he wanted to ask if he was more than a friend, maybe the father of the child but didn’t want to be out of place. “Do you need help?”

“No, thanks, I’ll do it myself.”

Mark nodded and then opened the door. “Get some sleep, if you need anything, I’m outside.”

She nodded and then laid on the bed, closing her eyes and letting out a soft whimper finally feeling her body relax. The bed wasn’t the softest she had slept on but it was a bed, better than the seat she spent the last days crumbled on.

The tension she pent up exploded and she felt her cheeks get wet, a rush of adrenaline run in her body and her muscles flexed. She was finally somewhere safe, in a house, on a bed, and away from the cold of the October weather.

“We’ll be fine,” she mumbled, turning to the side, wrapping her arms around her belly, “we’ll be fine.”

“She’s been sleeping all day, is she fine?” Taeyong asked Mark while they, he, was preparing dinner. The others came home in the late afternoon and stayed in their rooms. Yoonoh and Jeno enjoying the last day on earth and not at the mercy of the waves.

“She was breathing when I checked her, guess she’s just exhausted,” Mark reassured him, laying the table with the pottery.

“Why did you bring her here, though?” Taeyong asked, tasting the food to see if he had to add salt or other seasonings.

“She helped me convince the carpenter to give me the wood in time, and she needed a ride. She had nobody, and she’s super nice.”

“Who are you talking about?” Johnny asked, entering the room with sleepy eyes, he fell asleep without realizing as soon as he got home and it had screwed him.

“Oh, just a girl I met on the road.”

“Uh, uh,” Johnny whistled, “is she nice?”

“Stop it, not like that,” Mark answered, face on fire as he pushed the taller man away.

“What’s going on?” Jaehyun asked, entering the kitchen.

“Markie found love,” Johnny cooed, jokingly hitting Mark’s arm.

“That’s not true! She’s just a... friend, I guess.”

Jaehyun raised an eyebrow, “Why are you as red as the tomato then?”

“It’s Johnny’s fault,” he defended. “No seriously, though. She’s also taken.”

“Damn, I was hoping for a fairytale,” Johnny whined and Jaehyun chuckled.

“Yuta wants to leave this night, by the way,” Jaehyun announced out of nowhere, taking a seat on the table.

“Tonight?” Taeyong asked widening his eyes, neck snapped back so fast it was surprising it didn’t break.

Jaehyun hummed, “Tomorrow it's predicted a storm, he wants to be on the other side before it.”

“When?”

“At midnight at the port,” he answered, eating the meat from the dish, “Why do you look sad, Yong? Didn’t you suggest leaving as soon as possible?”

The older man sighed, “I don’t like it when you leave at night.”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, “We always travel at night.”

“Can I still be worried?”

“Yes, Dad,” the younger answered playfully.

“Oh, shut up,” he huffed, pulling the chair out to sit next to Johnny.

“By the way, who’s coming with us?” He asked, pointing at him and Jeno.

“Not me, I’m not moving from here,” Johnny announced, throwing his hands up in the air.

“I’ll come with you,” Mark replied.

“Great, then let’s finish here and leave,” Jaehyun said getting up from the chair and going to his room to grab his baggage.

Taeyong watched him with a confused expression and then asked, “Is he in a rush?”

“There’s nothing to watch on tv now that it's broken,” Johnny laughed, filling his glass with water.

“Again?” Mark asked in disbelief, it was the fifth time it had stopped working during the last three months.

“Yeah, the storm ruined the cables,” Taeyong sighed, letting his head fall against the palm of his head.

“No money to fix it?” Mark inquired, already knowing the answer.

“No, the window upstairs also broke and a part of the roof fell,” he said plastering a forced smile on his face. It was tiring, every day something would go wrong in that house.

“Do you need me to stay?”

Johnny waved his hand and answered, “Nah, I’ll fix it, don’t worry.”

Mark nodded, and then finished his plate. “Should I bring her some?”

“Go get ready, I’ll bring it to her,” Taeyong replied.

“She’s here?” Johnny asked with his mouth open wide.

Taeyong nodded, pouring himself a glass of wine.

“This house became a shelter, what the...”

“Shut up, she’s lovely.”

“I have to meet her.”

“Tomorrow, let her sleep.”

The storm on the outside woke her up, the lightning and thunders were loud, and the tree branches whistling didn’t help.

She raised her upper body and eyed the clock on the wall, 9:00 a.m.

She cursed, realizing she slept all day and night.

Dragging her heavy body out of the door, she looked for Mark in the house, but nobody seemed to be there. Panic settled in her body again while the worst-case scenarios started playing in her brain. Hearing the noise of the door opening with a thud she turned toward it and let out a scream when she saw a man she didn’t know enter the house. Her back hit the couch and she brought a hand on her belly in protection.

“Goddamn, you scared me!” The man exclaimed, hand placed on his chest. And she looked at him with a confused expression.

“I scared you?”

“Johnny, for heaven’s sake would you get in, I’m soaked,” Taeyong’s known voice reached her heart and she peaked to see his wet figure stand behind the tall man.

“Oh, you’re awake,” he noted, posing a package on the cabinet next to the entrance. “Why are you on the floor?” He asked, finally taking in the situation. “And why are you holding your stomach? Did you hurt her?” Taeyong asked, hitting Johnny.

“Ouch! I didn’t do anything!”

She got up immediately, fixing her large clothes and shaking her head.

“No, I just got scared,” she smiled.

“Have you eaten?”

She shook her head.

“Go in the kitchen, I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll like,” Taeyong encouraged but she didn't move, and simply stood still looking around.

“Mark left,” Johnny answered her silent question. “He actually came to say bye but you were far gone.”

“God, I slept so much,” she murmured, feeling embarrassed, but she didn't even notice, her body needed those good hours of sleep.

“Mark told us the trip was tiring,” Johnny affirmed.

“Yeah, it was,” she said, nervously biting her lower lip.

“Eat something with us, we bought some new clothes for you,” Taeyong said, handing her the bag.

“Oh,” she slurred, “you didn’t have to, really.”

“But you have no baggage with you,” Johnny stated, glancing at her up and down.

She shifted on the spot, feeling his gaze get a little bit too intense, and pulled the clothes out, they were actually really pretty, but a little bit too small. They would’ve fit, but they would’ve shown the belly that was growing bigger day by day. She wasn't even sure why she wanted to hide it, maybe it was because it gave her a fake sense of protection? Probably. Or she didn't want them to look at her with compassion.

“If you don’t like we can buy you new ones,” Taeyong proposed, analyzing her expression.

“No, they’re really pretty. I love them,” she smiled. “I’ll pay them back as soon as I’ll find a job.”

“You don’t have to, it’s a gift.”

“But,” she tried to retort.

“No buts,” Johnny stopped her. “Actually we didn’t even pay for them,” he confessed and she widened her eyes.

A laugh rolled out of the taller man’s lips, “We didn’t steal them, one of our friends has a tailoring, Taeyong used to work there, too.”

She sighed in relief, and eat a piece of the chocolate biscuit the other man offered.

Taeyong looked at her, she seemed frightened and anxious, probably she started this journey without really thinking about the consequences. She had nothing with her and living without money and home was difficult. He pondered a few things before making the offer. She seemed nice, and since he started working in his bakery, Renjun had been struggling to do all the work alone. “Do you want to work there?”

“What? Suddenly?” She raised her face to look at him, wiping the crumbs of the sweet that left on her lips.

“Yeah, Renjun needs help,” he explained, "he owns the place."

She considered the offer, it didn't sound bad but she had no experience. The few curses she took at the castle weren't enough to head straight into a started business. “But I have no idea where to start,” she admitted.

“You can stay at the front desk.”

“No,” she screamed, too loudly and too quickly. “I mean, mhh, I don’t really like be in contact with people.”

The men shared a look but then shrugged, “Are you a fast learner, then?”

“No, I’ll find something, don’t worry. Thank you for this,” she said, grabbing the clothes, “As soon as the storm is over I’ll leave, I’ll find my friend and a job.”

“We need the red velvet, as soon as possible,” Renjun cursed under his teeth as he nervously walked up and down the back of the store, a tape measure around his neck, glasses on top of his nose and messy hair framing his face.

Scarlett chuckled, “I’m sure we can make the green one trend, too.”

“No, I’ve tried so hard, they only want the red for Christmas,” Renjun exhaled, clearly exasperated by the approaching of the holidays. They were still far away, it was the first Friday of November, but they had to be ready. The ladies in town went crazy over matching dresses with their husbands, and the classic colour for the celebrations was red. Nobody wanted to look like a pine tree, but she was convinced of making it change.

“Maybe we can try a new combination, why don’t we add red details using the leftovers and discount the prizes for the green dresses?” She proposed, laying the scissor on the table after she finished cutting a sleeve for a dress she was working on. "Also the dark green velvet is incredibly classy, we could also risk it with some black details. I'm sure they'll love it."

Renjun nodded, trying to imagine the final results. She could create beautifully designed dresses with nothing so why not? “Fine, I’m trusting you, okay?”

“I won’t let you down,” she smiled.

Her initial plan had no success. After leaving Mark’s house she wasn’t able to find Jaehyun, he was nowhere to be found. His name wasn’t registered in the town citizens, and she never crossed him in the streets. Also, she couldn’t find a place to stay, every hotel asking for documents she couldn’t show.

So with her head low and tail between her legs she came back to Johnny and Taeyong who welcomed her happily and cried all her tears, revealing a half-truth of her story. She tried to be strong, but mourning Jaehyun’s was more painful than she thought.

But she wasn’t alone, the boys were super supportive since she let them know the truth. It was great to have two people by her side, they were lovely and never left her alone.

Taeyong had taught her so many things to fill up her days and don’t make her think about her lover. They usually spent the morning cooking, mostly baking. Occasionally they would go to the market to buy fruits and fresh products, and she found out she was good at negotiating with merchants, convincing them at lowering the price to get some more. It still felt off for her, even if there was normal, she felt like a scammer, they were struggling to make it to the end of the month, a problem she never faced in her life, but that was in the past, now she was just like them.

After lunch, when Johnny would come home from the morning shift, she would help him fix something that broke. And she learned that in that house something would break almost every day. It was funny, and she learnt new things, even if Johnny was a little bit overprotective and preferred she would just watch and keep him company.

It was also surprising how much they helped her with her pregnancy, the child wasn’t theirs, and yet, they were never grossed out by any aspect of motherhood. Taeyong would help her keep her hair behind when she would vomit, which happened frequently the first two weeks when she accepted Jaehyun’s fate. Johnny massaged her swollen feet after a long day up. They were always extremely careful at not eating something that would trigger her, for example, eggs, they were the worst. Sometimes they would even sleep with her when the storms were too scary and didn’t let her rest, or when the thoughts about Jaehyun got too loud and she couldn’t shut them down.

And then there was their baby. The baby was the only thing that pushed her over. She was the only thing that was left of their love and she was intentioned to give her everything.

And now she was helping Renjun in his little shop downtown. She had happily discovered to have a talent for sewing and got along pretty soon with the man her age.

Renjun was a little bit taller than her, just a few centimetres more, had brown hair and eyes, and a sassy sparkly personality. He was super careful with her, always making sure she would never pass the limit given her conditions, but she felt fine.

She had finally gained some weight back, her cheeks were full again and also her belly exploded, reviling a beautiful round stomach holding a seven months, well now almost eight months, baby.

Another fortunate expect of it all was that nobody in town seemed to care for the disappearance of the Princess of the adjacent Kingdom. Mostly because, rumours she heard, her Father had announced her apparent death. She was a little bit sad about it, mostly because of her mother, and the thoughts that her kingdom would have no heirs now, but she finally felt happy. Jaehyun’s death still hurt like hell, but at least he never ended in her father clutches. He was in a better place, and she would’ve made sure to keep his memory alive with her love.

“Have you decided how you’re going to call her?” Renjun brought her out of her thoughts and she shook her head.

She never thought about a baby name, her and Jaehyun never went that far with their daydreaming to ever think about one.

“Not really,” she admitted, drawing the shape of the body on the fabric with the white pencil, “Mark wanted to give her a name.”

Renjun scoffed, “He better move to bring the fabric we need and pick a name before she sees the light of the world.”

Scarlett laughed, “We still have time, I have almost two months to go.”

As a joke of destiny, the baby decided that breaking every rule was the best thing she could do.

It had passed just one week when Scarlett felt a painful cramp down her uterus and felt a pain in her belly and lower back and then her thighs get wet.

“No, not now baby,” she mumbled, laying against the kitchen counter. It was barely four a.m and she was up because she couldn’t sleep, the storm outside gave her no peace.

“Jesus Christ, love, can’t you just stay inside for some more?” She cursed, gritting her teeth, trying to hold on to something, and then screamed in pain when other contractions started to hit her.

“Taeyong! Johnny!” She shouted, throwing her head back in pain. Praying that one of them could help her with this, she couldn’t go to a hospital, she really couldn’t.

When they entered the room a scream slipped out of Tayeong’s mouth.

“Tell me it’s pee, please,” he gawked.

“God, no, why would I do that here!” She screamed, sweat pearling her forehead as her breaths got shorter.

“You’re not giving birth, right now, right?”

“I don’t know, ask her, not me,” she retorted, groaning in pain as she felt her legs buckle underneath her.

“She is,” Johnny said.

“Wasn’t it due by the end of December?”

“Yong, she walked for miles it’s a miracle she didn’t push it out months ago when she arrived here.”

“Oh shut up and help me,” she shouted, trying to hold herself up.

“I’ll get the car,” Johnny announced, turning around to walk outside.

“No,” she stopped him, “No car, no hospital, we’re doing it at home.”

“At home?” They shouted in unison, staring at her in disbelief.

“We aren’t doctors, love,” Johnny told her, a little bit of irony mixed with panic in his voice.

“I can’t go to the hospital, please,” she cried, hoping they wouldn’t dig further.

“Call Kun,” Taeyong said, finally stepping closer to her, to guide her on the couch.

“Who’s this?” She asked before screaming again when another contraction hit.

“A friend of ours, he’s specialized in this, I guess,” he mumbled, feeling more anxious than her. Why didn't she want to go to the hospital, it would've been much easier considering she was also premature.

“You guess?” She yelled, snapping her eyes wide open.

“He’s still better than me and him, Ivy,” the man answered, helping her sit down on the sofa.

“Fuck, I hate this so much, ugh,” she growled, her fingers digging into Taeyong’s wrist, he wanted to scream in pain but then realized it was nothing compared to what she was going through so kept quiet.

“Listen, it’s very cliché, but I need you to breath with me, okay?”

She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut trying to focus on her heartbeat and not on the lacerating pain she felt between her legs. “Fuck, it’s like I’m being split open,” she bawled.

“And she’s not coming out yet,” Johnny remarked.

“Johnny!” They shouted at the same time glaring at him.

“Sorry, just, you know what, I’ll wait for him out,” he said grabbing the knob of the door.

“No, it’s raining, stay here, bring down some towels and covers, we’ll need them,” Taeyong ordered before paying attention to her again. “Can you track the contractions?”

“I don’t even know my name, what do you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” he shook his head, “Just hold my hand and breath, keep a steady pace,” he reassured, tucking her hair behind her ears and breathing with her. He would've tried to do it himself. If he remembers correctly they should be every ten to five minutes and last 30 seconds, and well, when they start to get closer, good luck to them if Kun wasn't there.

Johnny skipped to the living room and placed a towel under her, where liquid and blood was still dripping, and then posed the others on the coffee table.

“I can’t do this, I can’t,” she cried throwing her head back while her chest raised incredibly fast.

“No, you can, I know you can,” Taeyong tried to calm her down, humming softly.

“It’s going to kill me,” she cursed, biting her lips making it bleed when she felt another contraction hit, leaving her gasping, “I’m going to die,” she sobbed when the spasm calmed down again.

“You won’t die,” Johnny retorted, “Kun will be here soon.” He walked over to the window to see if somebody was there but couldn’t make out a single soul. “Fuck, isn’t there something we can do to help her?”

“Do I look like a doctor to you, Johnny?” Taeyong replied, staring at him, “I've never done this before.”

“Maybe,” she mumbled, “Fuck, I can, I can, God, push,” she stuttered, tears were rolling down her face that was now completely wet and she felt like her heart was burning. Fuck whoever calls this the miracle of life, miracle my ass. She thought.

Taeyong widened his eyes, “You want to push now?”

“And what do I have to wait? I can’t do this anymore, do you know how painful, fuck, fuck, damn,” she screamed, instinctively closing her legs.

"Is she even ready to push?" Johnny asked, "Shouldn't she be dilated or something?"

"Can you feel something's different?" Taeyong asked her, but she simply shook her head, not able to let out a single word. Yes, the contractions were getting closer.

“Johnny come here,” Taeyong called and then faced her, “we’ll get her out of there, okay?”

“Kun?” Mark asked, when he saw the man get out of the car after parking in front of their house, they had arrived soon after him. “What are you doing here?”

“Assisting a birth,” he replied, knocking on the door, hearing a “coming” from inside.

“A birth?” Mark, Yuta, Jeno and Yoonoh shouted.

“She’s already due?” Mark asked in surprise.

Kun shrugged, Johnny had been extremely vague on the phone. “I don’t know, guess it was an emergency.”

“Johnny where the fuck are you!” Taeyong screamed, and then the door opened, reviling the tall man behind it.

“Where is she?” Kun asked, surpassing the tall man, making his way inside without wasting other time.

“Couch,” Johnny answered right away, pointing to the room beside the hall. “You arrived for the big event, we are also obstetrics now,” Johnny greeted the four men at the door with a smile on his face, moving to the side to let them in.

They were visibly tired, dark cicles under their eyes, heavy luggage and other boxes left next to the door and their working clothes not heavy enough for the cold of November.

“Is she the girl you brought home?” Jeno asked Mark, turning to look at him.

“Yeah,” Johnny answered instead.

“She’s still here?” Mask asked, just now realizing she was the girl he had met, not somebody else, and that she was giving birth in their living room.

“The man she was looking for died, she had nowhere to go,” Johnny explained, handing them a blanket each to warm from the cold.

“So she was looking for the father,” Mark mumbled, more like a personal consideration.

“Yeah, she was.”

“Well, let’s say goodbye to the couch,” Yuta said, peeking his head over the small wall that divided the two rooms.

“Is she fine?” Jaehyun asked, and the one answering was directly her with a curse leaving her lips followed by a high pitch scream. The man stiffened in his place. It couldn’t be.

He surpassed Johnny pushing him to the side and reached the living room where the woman, Kun and Taeyong were staying.

“Scarlett,” he mumbled, not believing what he was seeing with his own eyes. He rubbed his eyes thinking he was just tired and having hallucinations but once he opened his eyelids again she was still there.

She didn’t open her eyes, too caught up in the pain and believing it was another one of her dreams. “Not now, fuck,” she groaned, trying to push the thought of Jaehyun out of her mind, squeezing Taeyong’s hand tighter.

“Her name’s actually Ivy, and we should leave her some privacy,” Johnny chimed. “Scarlett’s nice, though. She could name the baby that.”

“It’s a girl?” Jaehyun asked with a smile on his face, turning toward the older man and Johnny nodded.

“Let’s go, there’s already Taeyong there,” but Jaehyun didn’t listen and walked toward her.

“Scarlett,” he called again, his weight hollowing the couch.

“Yoonoh, please, she’s trying to give birth here,” Kun warned, “Keep pushing, like this,” he then said to her.

“It’s Ivy, by the way,” Taeyong whispered, furrowing at Jaehyun’s actions of caressing her cheek.

“No, it’s Scarlett,” as if something broke, Scarlett actually heard that name and his voice and her eyes sprung open.

“Jaehyun,” she whispered, breath faltering for a moment before another piercing pain made her bend in two. She felt overwhelmed, and cried louder, between the pain, and the sight of the man, not able to tell if she was dreaming again or if it was real. What was he even doing there? And also Taeyong never hinted at somebody named like him.

“Shh, love, it’s fine,” he whispered, moving her hair back, his hand intertwining into hers.

Strange looks were shared in the room, nobody understood what was going on, but they all had better things to worry about, she was giving birth to a barely eight months baby in a tiny living room, their lives were on the line, the rest came after.

And Scarlett didn’t care if her brain was making things up again, it was fine because the idea of having Jaehyun by her side made her feel a little bit better.

“I need you to push, okay?” Kun repeated, “You two, keep her legs open, she’s closing them because of the pain but we’re almost there, I promise it’ll be over soon.”

Scarlet nodded, tightening her hold around Jaehyun and Taeyong’s hands, and letting her head fall back as she pushed with all the strength she had. A piercing scream filled the room when she felt the head of the baby cross her walls and she choked on the sobs.

“She’s here, she’s here,” Kun chanted, helping her, gently grabbing the baby head and shoulders as she kept pushing and pushing. It felt like the longest moments of her life but when cries filled the room a never felt before sensation washed over her. It felt like a little ray of sun peeking through the grey clouds, rare and bright and beautiful. She was here, their baby was here.

Everybody smiled in relief and finally started to breathe normally again.

Scarlett smiled through the tears, letting her body relax against the stained couch, loosening her hold on the men’s hands.

“I’m so proud of you, love,” Jaehyun whispered, letting their foreheads touch. She gulped and let go of Taeyong’s hand, reaching for Jaehyun, knowing he would’ve disappeared in a cloud as soon as she touched him. But it didn’t happen, he was there, skin and bones.

“You’re real, you’re alive,” she sobbed, thumb caressing his cheek.

“You thought I was dead?”

“Yes, I cried so much, you have no idea,” she admitted, pressing her lips together to prevent more sobs to spill out.

“No, love, I’m right here,” he reassured, pulling her closer to him, still giving Kun the space to cut the umbilical cord and separate the baby from the mother.

“Give me a towel,” Kun asked, after one minute passed, only then cutting the cord to make sure more fluid would’ve flowed to the baby, helping in the prenatal birth. Kun delicately wrapped a clean towel around the baby and then handed it to Taeyong, turning around to prepare other things he needed.

Scarlett lifted her head and opened her arms, waiting for Taeyong to hand her the baby.

“She’s beautiful,” he mumbled, with a smile on his face, looking from the newborn being to her mother.

She smiled back and brought her close to her, the blood staining her skin and dress.

“Hi, angel,” she cooed, pulling down the fabric of her dress to feed her and finally make the scream quiet down.

“Have you picked a name?” Jaehyun asked, brushing her hair back, and holding the small hand of the baby in his.

She shook her head, “Mark wanted to pick,” she eyed the man at the corner of the room that was watching with shining eyes and a big smile on his face.

Jaehyun raised a brow, “And we’re not letting him choose, right?”

She laughed, “Don’t be so harsh with him,” she joked. “Do you have one?”

“Eunbi,” he answered, staring at the window.

“Why?”

"Eun means grace, and bi means rain," he explained, staring back at the baby, “She came with the rain, and I want her to always have a storm inside of her but with grace."

Scarlett smiled fondly as she stared at his gaze full of love while those words slipped out of his mouth, it had been so long since they have last seen each other, he had no idea of this baby, and here he was, acting as if he waited this moment since the first moment they met.

“Jeong Eunbi,” she repeated, “I love it.”

“Good,” he beamed, leaving a peck on her forehead.

“I need help from everybody here,” Kun interrupted the romantic moment, gaining everybody attention. “The next 48 hours are going to be crucial for the both of them.”

“We’ll help you,” Mark replied, no matter how tired they were for the drive back home. There was no use trying to sleep anyway. Things like that never happened in their boring life so it was exciting.

“Good, I have things to grab from my car, I’ll be back soon,” he stated before leaving.

“So, care to explain what’s going on?” Johnny asked the two, sitting in front of them.

“Do you remember the man I cried over for two months?” She asked and both him and Taeyong nodded, “Well, it was him.”

“What?” Taeyong exclaimed, feeling exhausted from the birth, almost as if he gave it, and this new information.

“Still doesn’t explain why you’re not calling with your real names,” Johnny added, tilting his head to the side.

Scarlett sighed, and looked down at the baby, “We left those people behind, maybe one day we’ll tell you the story, but for one, let’s focus on Eunbi,” she responded.

“Eunbi? That’s the name?” Mark said, excited, “That’s beautiful! I love it,”

“Why are you so excited, not even as if she’s yours,” Yuta noted, raising a brow at him.

“Hey! I was Cupid, I brought you here! See, you should love me for that,” Mark squealed in excitement.

Soft laughs erupted in the room, but it was true, destiny really pulled them together and its name was Mark.

“Are you sure your father won’t find you?” Jaehyun whispered, his hand caressing her cheek softly. The bed was way too small for two but they couldn’t get a bigger one, the crib and the other stuff they had to buy for Eunbi costed too much money already so they had to settle for that. But it was nice, being close to each other wasn’t a problem, and it was a patch to the missed times together.

She sighed, snuggling closer to him. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I heard they believed in my death but I can’t be sure about it.”

“You faked your death?” Jaehyun asked, shocked at the news. They didn’t have much time to catch up on the times they had been separated. The first month with the baby had been... intense.

“Yeah, all to find you, and I wasn’t even sure you were alive.”

Jaehyun chuckled, playing with the strands of the bang she had freshly cut. “So you truly love me,” he joked, smirking and raising a brow.

“I carried your child through two countries just to get to you, sweetie,” she reminded him, pushing his chest playfully. “Sound like a test the Gods would submit to mortals to get to their loved ones.”

A deep laugh left his lips, making his chest vibrate, and mixed with her softer one. “Can I confess you something?” He then asked, voice low, looking at her with a serious expression again. She hummed. “I heard the news of the anticipated wedding on tv, and when they speculated about your possible pregnancy I thought she was his.”

She gasped, “You thought I’d let him touch me so soon?”

“I mean, you had all the right to. I was so mad that night I went out with the boys trying to forget you, with little success,” he admitted, face turning red.

“I should’ve slept with him, though,” she pouted.

“Excuse me?”

“You left me all alone, Jeong Yoonoh, without saying a word, I felt my whole world crush on my shoulders and I couldn’t do anything about it,” she said, she wasn’t still mad about it, but thinking about all the pain she had been through made her heart clench in her chest every time. It had been awful.

He lowered his gaze for a second just to bring it up again, “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “But it went better like this, right? I bet your Father wanted my head on a silver plate when he found out, or am I wrong?”

She sighed, nodding. “He believed in your death too, that’s why he probably believed in mine,” she hypothesized, trying to calm herself. She didn’t like to think about her past life, she wanted to move on, even if that meant erasing her old self.

“Are you scared of this?”

“Sometimes,” she admitted, letting her hand rest on his chest. “But then I look at her and see your eyes in hers, my lips in hers, your dimples in her left cheek, our skin tones mixed together and I think that no matter what will happen we’ll live forever in her.”

Jaehyun closed his eyes, thinking about the little child that was sleeping on the other side of the room, no worry weighing on her little shoulders, and oh Lord, how much he would’ve paid to keep it that way forever.

“Were you scared when you found out you were having her?” He mumbled, opening his eyes again to study Scarlett’s expression.

“I was terrified they would take her away from me, from us,” she admitted playing with his hands. “But I’d do anything for her, I’d do anything for you. That’s why I jumped in this without thinking, I would never let them take you or her away from me. They should’ve walked over my dead body to get to you.”

Jaehyun pressed a kiss against her forehead and let his hand caress her back.

“What if they find us?” He asked, his voice muffled against her hair.

“They’ll have to bury me to stop me from fighting for this love.”

Jaehyun chuckled, “Since when you got so passionate?” He asked, in a light tone, “I still remember the woman that just wanted to have fun,” he teased, pocking her side, making her laugh. “Just for a night, Jaehyun,” he mocked her playfully, remembering what she told him when they started.

“Shut up,” she whispered, covering his mouth with a hand, “You’ll wake her up,” she warned him.

“She just got back to sleep, she’s done for the night, there’s no more milk to suck from you,” he whispered, playfully biting the skin under her collarbone.

“Stop it. And if she wakes we’ll have to give her the baby formula, and it’s expensive, we can’t waste it.”

“I won’t wake her, but answer my question, since when you would die for love?” He was caging her with his body, careful not to weigh on her, elbow standing at the side of her face.

“Since I met the two of you, Yoonoh,” she admitted, caressing his hair back and then his cheek. “You changed my life completely, in ways I had no idea were possible,” she said, pulling him down to kiss him softly.

“I always believed all of those romances in books were exaggerated until I met you. Until I understood the longing of the night every time the sun came up in the sky and ripped you away from me. Until I realized that some loves need to bleed before they can bloom. It was all before I craved to be free to caress your skin under the plain daylight, and whisper to you how beautiful you are,” she mumbled staring right into his eyes, feeling safe, feeling happy, feeling at home. “Before I missed all the moments we never got to live together. It was before I damned myself for all the time I had wasted pretending I didn’t love you when I probably would’ve sacrificed myself for you since forever.”

“You weren’t supposed to lose everything for me,” Jaehyun whispered, letting his hand trace the profile of her body but without diverting his gaze from her. It wasn’t fair she had to choose between love and power. He wanted to give her everything, shower her in gold and velvet, feed her the best food the land offered and the most precious wines of the best vineyards, but he couldn’t. He had nothing.

“They wanted to take it away from me anyway, Yoonoh,” she admitted, “there was nothing left for me anymore.”

Jaehyun nodded silently, eyes wandering on her relaxed face. Maybe even that was enough for her, or at least it seemed to be.

“I love it when you call me Yoonoh,” he said, leaning down to kiss her again and again, pushing the negatives thoughts out of his mind.

“Then I’ll never stop,” she mumbled against his lips, letting her hand get trapped in his hair. “I want you, love,” she mumbled against his ear.

Jaehyun pulled away from her, and stared at her, “Are you sure? Isn’t it a little bit too soon?” It had been a little more than a month since she gave birth to Eunbi and he didn’t want to make her burn important steps of her recovery.

She shook her head. “Kun said I’m fine, I recovered well.”

“You asked him if you could?” Jaehyun raised a brow, “Maybe the desperate woman I knew didn’t leave completely,” he taunted playfully.

“Oh please, I know you think I’m hot,” she teased the words she used the first time they got together.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, “It won me once, not going to work twice.”

“But now you’re already mine, all mine, and the father of my beautiful baby,” she teased, pulling him closer by the collar of his shirt.

“You’re really going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

She lifted her shoulders and chuckled, “Just let’s keep quiet, if she wakes up it’s over.”

Jaehyun nodded and trapped her lips into another kiss, this time more heated than the ones before, but sweeter than all the others they ever shared. He reached for the end of her nightgown and pulled it over her head, leaving her body exposed to the warm air of the room.

He let his eyes wander on her body for a while, taking in every detail. Noticing how she changed after the pregnancy. “God, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered, his eyes shining, looking at her like the most precious jewel in the world, and she felt warmth rush on her skin.

She felt insecure about her figure, her body had changed, her hips got a little bit wider, her stomach wasn’t flat like it used to be, and new stretch marks stayed on her skin. And seeing he still looked at her the same warmed her heart.

He threw the clothes at the end of the bed and leaned back down, biting the skin right under her ear, causing a moan to slip past her lips.

“Shh, you don’t want the others to hear us, right?” He reminded, looking at her through his eyelashes and then picking up where he stopped, tracing kisses down from her neck to her collarbone. When he reached her boobs he focused on them for a while, circling one perked nipple with his tongue and caressing the other with his index finger, making shivers run down her spine.

“Fuck, Yoonoh,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as she rolled her head back. She had pent up stress to let go of mixed with a lot of sexual frustration, also her boobs were extremely sensitive, and she felt she could come from that only if he kept going. But almost hearing her thoughts, Jaehyun pulled away, leaving one last kiss before trailing south.

“It’s crime I didn’t get to witness to you with a belly, God,” he whined once reached her stomach, kissing every inch of skin. “Bet you looked so pretty and round.”

She moaned, rolling her head back, letting one hand sink in his hair.

“You were, right?” He smirked, cupping her breast, looking up for a second to make sure she wasn’t feeling sore. He knew they were more sensitive and he didn’t want to hurt her by applying too much pressure. “I’ll make sure I’ll be there for the next one, um,” he moaned, mouth wrapping around her mound, over the already wet panties.

“Yoonoh, please,” she moaned, pushing her hips up against his mouth.

“Still greedy, I see,” he teased, fingers locking in the band of her underwear to pull them down her legs and then throw them on the floor.

She shifted when the air of the room collided against her moist folds, and closed her legs in reaction.

Jaehyun tapped on her knee and sang, “Open your legs for me, love.”

She whined, pulling them apart slowly, “I want you,” she said again.

“I’ll take care of you first,” he said, kneeling down, nose buried between her legs.

“But if she wakes –”

“Shh, I said I’ll take care of you first,” he repeated, not letting space for retort in his words.

He kissed her inner thigh slowly, biting every now and then, making her arch her back and clasp on the bedsheets. Jaehyun reached her centre but hovered it and started kissing the right thigh, down to her knees and then up again.

“Jaehyun, please, we don’t have time,” she cried, trying to keep her voice low.

He didn’t answer her complaints but launched himself between her legs, nose pressing against her clit while his tongue started working wonders against her hole.

Low curses spilled out of her mouth as she threw her head back in pleasure, hand intertwining in his locks, pressing him down further.

Getting the message, Jaehyun’s hand reached for her thigh and pushed her lower body up, just enough to have better access to her entrance and let his lips devour her.

Scarlett had to bite down louder moans, losing her mind at the sensation, he was extremely precise in his movements, yet he was eating her out like he had been starving for ages.

“You taste so fucking good,” he moaned, face pressed against her pussy, tongue working up and down on her slit, before his lips wrapped around her clit, his attention all on the sensitive bundle of nerves between her legs.

“Fuck, it’s too much,” she groaned. It was incredibly soon but she was already overwhelmed, probably it was the hormones still acting up, or probably it was because it had been so much since she last had an orgasm, but she couldn’t hold it any longer.

Jaehyun smirked against her and then let two fingers slip inside of her, her wet walls taking him with no resistance.

“Are you going to come?” He asked, mouth still working on her, and the vibration of his voice made her head spin faster.

She simply nodded, feeling the knot in her stomach become tighter.

“Come, angel, I want to see you come undone for me,” he ordered, his long fingers pumping faster inside of her, his lips getting more aggressive.

With a silent longer moan, she let go, bucking her hips frenetically under his mouth, breath heavy and head incredibly light.

“Fuck,” she cussed, pulling her hand out of his hair, making him stand up again. “I missed it so bad.”

Jaehyun chuckled, licking his lips, tasting her again and then dragged his finger up to her parted mouth.

“Open,” he ordered, and then pushed his digits into her mouth. Her lips wrapped perfectly around him, tongue swirling around them, and watery eyes looking up at him. “God,” he moaned, throwing his head back, imagine for a second her mouth was wrapped around another part of his body.

“If I give you a blowjob, can you get hard again?” She teased, raising an eyebrow, as soon as he pulled his fingers out.

“You think I can’t fuck you more than once anymore?” He answered the tease.

She shrugged, tugging his shirt over his head and the pant of his brown pj's down. “Just making sure,” she whispered against his ear and then pushed him down on the mattress, her legs trapping him underneath her.

She leaned down, biting the lower part of his neck, making his skin blossom with red. She let her hand travel down until she reached the band of his boxer and slipped under it, finally touching him.

“Don’t tease me,” he warned, eyes barely open, looking up at her.

“Oh, now you don’t like being teased, how the tables have turned,” she taunted, pulling her hand away, making the band of his underwear snap against his skin.

“Scarlett, please,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“Beg for it,” she ordered, standing up with her upper body, hands pressing on his chest.

Jaehyun sighed deeply, knowing that if he wanted to get somewhere he had to give in.

“Please, love, don’t tease me,” he said, annoyance in his voice. But when she cupped his chin and forced him to look at her he was startled.

“I said, beg for it.”

He gulped and then licked his lips, suddenly feeling a new rush. It was... unusual, but he liked it, more than he liked to admit, his leaking cock would say, so he went with it.

“Please, love, suck me already?” He begged, voice coming out hoarse and deep.

A smirk crept on her face and she let go of his face, crawling back to finally reach his lap. She pushed the underwear down his leg, his big cock sprung free and slapped against his toned abs.

She had to suppress a moan at the view and bent over, three fingers propping against his lips.

Jaehyun looked up, confused, but when she raised a brow he parted them, sucking on them just like she did before with his. She pulled out with a loud pop and wrapped her wet hand around his dick, teasingly whispering, “Good boy,” against his ear.

He let his head roll back, enjoying her taking control of the situation.

She started to pump up and down with slow movement, ever so suddenly her thumb grazing his throbbing head, smearing precum around his whole length every time she pumped down.

“Fuck,” he groaned, when she started circling his tip faster, “Please, Scarlett, please.”

“Please what, babe?” She teased, hand still moving slowly on his tip.

“Wrap your lips around me, I need your mouth on me, please,” he begged through gritted teeth, hands clenching in the sheets, trying to send his frustration somewhere else and don’t thrust up in the air like a horny teenage boy.

She smiled satisfied and wrapped her lips around his length, pushing her head down till his tip hit the back of her throat.

A deep moan slurred out of Jaehyun’s mouth, eyes rolling back in his head, not expecting she would take all of him so suddenly.

She started to bob her head up and down swiftly, and her eyes filled with tears every time he would hit the back of her throat, but she didn’t mind, she was setting the pace, having full control of what was going on, and she liked the feeling of his heavy member on her tongue.

“You like it, love?” She asked, pulling away to catch some breath, a string of saliva still connecting them. Jaehyun nodded, his forearm pressed to cover his eyes, as he tried to control himself from moaning too loud.

She pushed the arm away, “I want you to look at me, baby boy,” she commanded, grabbing his face and leaving a harsh kiss on his lips.

He breathed deeply fighting the urge to flip her over and fuck her already and nodded, forcing himself to keep his eyes fixated on her.

It was harder than expected when she kept hers open too while she started sucking him again, her brown eyes staring at him through wet eyelashes with a lustful gaze. And it got even more impossible when her hands reached down, cupping his balls, teasing them too.

“Scarlett, God, not the right time,” he slurred, unconsciously bucking his hips up for more.

She got up, replacing her mouth with her hand and smirked, “Is that too much for you?”She cooed, leaning forward pressing her forehead against his while her hand kept pumping incredibly fast.

“Yes, it’s a torture I can’t let out a sound,” he said, trying to reach for her lips but before he could she got up, going back to his dick.

“Then come for me,” she ordered, starting to bob her head on him again, focusing on the first half of his cock, while her hands pumped the rest. It didn’t take long for Jaehyun to come, hips rising from the mattress, while white strings of cum spilled in her mouth and some dropped down on her chin.

She licked what dripped down, teasingly looking at him, and winked.

He sighed and raised his torso from the bed, wrapping his arm around her waist to bring her on top of him, their chest pressed together.

“You had your fun pretty girl, now it’s my turn,” he whispered, in her ear, lifting her up, and lining his dick at her entrance. “Sink on my cock like the good girl you are,” he ordered, voice hoarse and deep ringing in her ear.

She bit her lower lip and let her body fall down slowly, her body adjusting at the sensation. It was strange for the first few seconds. Even if her body had been through a much worst type of stretch, but it still had been so long since she had him, that her body had to get used to the sensation again.

Jaehyun’s hand was placed against the small of her back, caressing it gently, and his lips were nibbling at her chest, leaving soft pecks on the soft flesh of her boobs. “Are you okay?” He asked, kissing her neck, to the jaw and then ending back against her lips.

Scarlet nodded, kissing him eagerly, locking her arms around his neck and lifting her hips up, just to fall down again, taking him in.

“Fuck, baby, so good,” he praised against her lips, hands digging at her side to hold her in place.

She threw her head back when she dropped down again, loving the sensation of being filled by him so well.

“Is it good?” He asked, voice coming out sultry but he wanted to make sure she was enjoying herself and wasn’t pressuring herself to do something she still wasn’t ready to do. That was why he let her ride, he wanted her to guide everything, going at her own pace.

“Yes,” she moaned, looking at him, “you always stretch me so good, Jae.”

He smiled, finally relaxing completely at her confirmation. “Then go on, show me how much you like it.”

She nodded and started lifting her hips up and down, circling every now and then while sitting, feeling his tip brush against her most sensitive spot.

“You’re still so tight,” he muttered, forehead falling against her shoulder as he felt his breath falter with every movement when her pussy sucked him perfectly.

“Yeah?” She asked, feeling the heat spread in her chest.

He nodded, before moving one hand to cup her breast, bringing it to his mouth, grabbing her left nipple with his teeth, scraping at the hard bud before letting go. A higher moan rolled out her lips and he was fast at bringing his hand over her mouth.

“Quiet,” he reminded her and then started licking her nipple again, the contrast between his hot mouth and the cold air making shocks of pleasure run down her spine. “They’re so full, fuck,” he praised, cupping her boobs gently, afraid of hurting her and spilling out some milk, but he couldn’t help but be amazed at her body. All the changes it had been through, all the struggles it had to face. It must have been so fucking hard for her.

“You like them?” She asked, hand wrapping around the base of his neck, grazing his jaw and apply some pressure.

“I love them,” he replied, “Love how they bounce up and down while you fuck yourself on my cock.”

She rolled her head back, feeling her pussy throb, and get wetter with every word that came out of his mouth. It felt so good to finally be back in his arms like that, loved and appreciated, feeling alive again.

“You’re so thick, fuck,” she cursed, the veins of his dick rubbing against her walls sending shocks of pleasure to her whole body, making her feel electric, buzzing with pleasure.

He pulled her closer, one hand wrapping over her right boob, the other around her waist, and started meeting her halfway, his hips bucking up, cutting her breath short.

“You’re taking me so well, love,” he praised, placing his forehead against hers, their hot breathes colliding, “want me to flip us over?” He asked when her bouncing started to slow down, and her thrust got more erratic.

“Yes, please, I’m tired,” she mumbled.

Jaehyun turned them over, making her lay against the mattress and started thrusting into her.

“Faster,” she moaned, planting her feet on the mattress to lift her hips higher.

“Are you sure?” He questioned, eyes never leaving hers.

“Yeah, I can take it,” she mumbled, digging her nails in the flesh of his shoulders as she pushed down to bring him closer to him.

Jaehyun grabbed the back of her thighs and pulled her legs around his waist starting to thrust harder and deeper.

And he wanted to last much longer but it had been so long and it felt so good he couldn't bring himself to push it any longer.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he praised, head resting against hers, “are you close?”

She nodded, moaning softly, not able to do much more. This position was another level of intimacy and protection with his huge body shielding her. And probably that was also one of the reasons why she fell for him, Jaehyun made her feel safe, and that was beyond what his job used to be.

“Then come with me,” he urged, “but look at me in the eyes when you come,” he ordered.

She had to suppress a higher moan and forced her eyes open to look at his as she felt the orgasm approaching again. No other words were exchanged when the climax hit them both, pleasure washing over them making their muscles twitch and vision blur.

They laid there, panting, and hugging in each other warmth for a while.

“Are you okay?” He asked, looking down at her, covering their body with a cover.

“I’m fine,” she beamed, her face painted with a dumb smile that had no intention to fade.

“Mh, I can see,” he said, staring at her happy face.

“I was thinking,” she started, sitting on the bed, back resting against the wall behind the bed, “it’s so nice I’ll never have to hear you calling me ‘Highness’ or ‘Princess’.”

He smiled, looking up at her, her curls were brought back, the bangs mixing with the rest, apart for a few strands that covered her tired, but content, face. Her eyes were sparkling in the night and her plump lips were pulled in a beautiful smile.

“I just wish I could give you more than this,” he replied, glancing around over the small room that kept them warm. “A place for only us to stay,” he added.

“I like it here,” she admitted, cheek pressed against her knees as she stared at him. “I like having somebody always around. I like the chats of the boys filling the kitchen walls first in the morning. I like hearing Doyoung and Taeyong bicker over the smallest things. I like the sound of Mark’s laugh echoing every time Johnny breathes.”

Jaehyun smiled, shaking his head. “And do you like the TV not working? Or this small bed that barely fits us? The dinners with no expensive food? And the water falling in the corridor from the ceiling?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “I never watched TV. I love this bed because I can spend the whole night pressed against you. I love the food because Taeyong’s the best cook I've ever met, and he always brings the best bread of my life at home. For the water, we just need to wait for Johnny to fix it.”

Jaehyun laughed under his breath, “You really love it here, okay.” He raised his hands in surrender.

“Of course I do, I finally have a place to call home,” she admitted. “Also, I have you and Eunbi by my side, and as long as I have you, I don’t care where I go.”

“But you used to have so much,” Jaehyun murmured, sitting up in front of her.

“So much? And what’s the point of countless chambers you’re never going to use? Or big chandeliers that could fall at any moment, or dresses I would get to use only once because I couldn’t attend two events dressed in the same way,” she said, caressing his hair, “I love my new clothes, they finally smell like me and like home. And I love this small house, all the people that I love are close to me, no need to take five minutes to get to somebody if I feel like talking to them.”

“And when she gets older? Are we going to stay here forever?”

She shrugged, she honestly had no idea about what the future had for them. “I don’t know. I mean, it still feels like a dream that I’m here, alive and with the two of you, I can’t really think about the future.”

“You feel safer with them around?” He asked rhetorically, grabbing her nightgown from the end of the bed to hand it to her and also passing her a cloth they kept next to the bed to clean up.

She nodded, lips pressed in a thin line, wearing the nightgown again after wiping herself. “I know they’ll do anything for us,” she stopped and looked at the crib, “for her.”

Jaehyun hummed, he sometimes would forget their situation, she still was a Princess, a missing one, she never gave up her status, she just run away. She was a fugitive and would’ve been one forever.

“Maybe we can start to save some money to transfer to a bigger place all together, or get a small complex with more houses,” Jaehyun proposed.

“Yeah, but I don’t think it will happen soon,” she said. The winter season was successful, especially at the sailor shop, the bakery was doing amazing and so was the goldsmithing. But they couldn’t ask the others to put their money into something that was mostly for them.

“You know, let’s focus on the present,” she said, brushing his hair out of his face, hand cupping on his cheek, “in two days it will be her first Christmas, and our first together, too,” she reminded him. “You won’t have to watch my father stuff his face in chicken or my mom get drunk because she doesn’t want to listen to him,” she laughed and he mimicked her.

“No more dragging me out of a shiny ballroom because you are horny?” He teased.

“No more of that, remember when we almost got caught?”

“Yeah, I saw my whole life flash before my eyes.”

“You’re so dramatic, it –” before she could keep going a whine caught their attention and they were immediately on their feet, standing next to the cradle.

Eunbi was awake, her big brown eyes were open and a smiley expression was on her face, her little legs were kicking the cover and her arms were moving too, but she wasn’t crying.

“Hey, little bird,” Scarlett cooed, rocking the crib left to right. “what are you doing awake?” she asked, knowing she couldn’t answer, but Kun had told her it was extremely important to talk to her on any occasion.

“She wants you to pick her up,” Jaehyun said, tilting his head to point at her hands.

“No, she doesn’t,” she answered with a scoff.

“Look at the grabby hands,” he pointed out.

Scarlett rolled her eyes, he would come up with anything just have an excuse to hold her, “She's too small, it’s an involuntary reaction.”

“I’ll grab her then,” he said, stopping the movement and lifting her up.

Scarlett tried to pout but it faded as soon as a happy squeak left the baby’s lips. She grabbed a knitted blanket and placed it on her small body, and stared at her happy face, her mouth open to let out small sounds that made no sense.

“She has stars in her eyes,” Scarlett noted, wrapping an arm around Jaehyun, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Just like you,” he replied, rocking Eunbi gently. And she soon started to close her eyes again.

Heat rushed on Scarlett's face, she still wasn't used to his romantic words, simply because they had never been romantic, too dumb trying to hide what they felt. And well, Jaehyun was really romantic, more than she imagined, so it always caught her off guard.

“You should put her down, so we can go to sleep,” she proposed, leaving a small peck on her forehead. Jaehyun scrunched his nose but then nodded, laying her back down into her small bed. The quiet didn't last long, though, because as soon as they turned around she started crying.

“No, darling,” Scarlett hummed, picking her back up, “Don’t cry,” she whispered, caressing her head with her right hand, luckily she was still light enough that she could hold her in one arm.

“Want me to go prepare the milk?” Jaehyun asked, placing Taeyong’s blanket on her again.

“No, she’ll calm down, she’s not angry, she just wants attention, right?” She said, lulling her in her arms. “See, she almost stopped,” she pointed as her cries slowed again, and started to emit happy sounds again.

“A little bit moody, aren’t we, princess?” Jaehyun joked, wiping the tears from her face.

“It’s the weather,” Scarlett joked, but when they turned around facing the window they saw that it was snowing and a smile crept on their faces.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Jaehyun suggested, “there’s a better view.”

As soon as they opened the door they came face to face with the others, all in their night's clothes and sleepy faces.

“What are you doing up?”

They all started laughing not expecting to find themselves all in the corridor.

“She rarely cries so we thought something happened,” Taeyong admitted, leaning against Doyoung that seemed a little bit less sleepy than him. “That’s my blanket!” He then exclaimed, pointing at Eunbi.

Scarlett beamed a smile, “It’s her favourite, you must be her favourite uncle.”

“Of course, I birthed her,” he answered as if it was obvious.

“Hey, if it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t have a father,” Mark complained.

“I don’t understand while you fight when I’m clearly going to be her favourite, none of you will make jewels for her,” Johnny intervened.

“Guys, she’s probably starting now to recognize my face, I’m sure she’ll love you all,” Scarlett laughed. Eunbi had a little bit more than one month and they were already fighting for her undivided attention, that was going to be fun.

“Why are you here?” Mark asked, suddenly bringing the attention back to the real topic of discussion.

“Wanted to see the snow, Yoonoh said that upstairs there’s a better view.”

“Yeah, it’s the best place of the house even if it’s small,” Johnny explained. “Well, since we’re here, let’s go.”

She had never been there, mostly because there was nothing, it was a mansard with a couch and table, and some boxes on one side. But there was a big window that went from the ceiling to the back wall of the house, the windowsill big enough that it could've been a bed, and the view was indeed amazing.

The whole city could be seen from there, and if you squinted enough the sea was visible too. The yellow light of the streetlights warmed the white of the snow that was falling copious on the ground, dressing the roofs and trees in white. Nobody was outside but it was nice to imagine other people staring outside of their windows just like them.

Taeyong had rushed downstairs to make some hot chocolate and Doyoung had brought up some blankets so they could get comfortable staring at the show nature was offering. Nobody seemed to be sleepy, not even Eunbi that was still wide awake.

“Can we take her out tomorrow?” Mark asked Jaehyun and Scarlett with puppy eyes. “I’ll take care of her, Yuta will come with me.”

“What? I’m not stepping out with her,” Yuta declared scoffing and Mark sulked.

Scarlett chuckled and let her head fall against Jaehyun’s shoulder.

“As you wish older brother,” Jaehyun joked, fixing the blanket on Scarlett’s legs.

“See that they trust me!” Mark exclaimed, pushing Yuta playfully and the other pushed back.

“Please, there’s just one toddler here, act grown,” Taeyong stopped their bickering. “And why don’t you go, too?”

“She’s a responsibility, I want to be the cool uncle, not the responsible one,” Yuta answered as if it was the most obvious explanation.

“It’s fine, I can go with Mark if he wants company,” Scarlett reassured.

“Or we could all go out together,” Johnny proposed. “There are Christmas markets downtown, it can be a different Christmas’s eve... eve.”

“Yeah, that’s better,” Yuta agreed, stretching his arms before grabbing a cup full of chocolate and passing it to Doyoung.

“Sounds great for me,” Jaehyun said, “You?”

“As long as we are together I’m okay with anything,” Scarlett answered, smiling at them.

“Then it’s fine for all of us,” Taeyong stated, sitting down on the floor between Mark and Doyoung, in front of Scarlett that was sitting on the couch with Johnny and Jaehyun at her sides.

They sat there for a while, talking about the more and less, planning what to do the day after.

“Does she have to eat?” Johnny asked, leaning to look at Eunbi, she was still up, but a little less energetic than before.

“No, I guess she’s just happy,” Scarlett smiled, pushing the blanket back so it wouldn't cover her mouth.

“And you?” Johnny asked, looking at her.

Scarlett didn’t reply immediately, even if she knew the answer. She looked around, taking in their tired faces, picking up their voices and laughter. She stared at Jaehyun that was laughing loudly at something Doyoung said. She watched Yuta stick to Mark and Taeyong eat all the leftovers of the chocolate cups. She looked in front of her, watching the Cristhams light glisten and the snow pirouette from the sky. She then glanced at Eunbi that was giggling by herlsef, kicking her arms in the air and then turned back to Johnny.

“I’ve never been happier, never.”

Johnny smiled and wrapped an arm around her, embracing her, and she let herself lull in his, already familiar, scent. "Glad to hear that, you deserve it after everything."

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, letting their chats linger in the back of her brain, trying to imprint all of their differences, praying they would never become strangers for her. She had already lost so much, but that had no meaning, but them... they meant the world for her, and she didn’t want to ever say goodbye.

She was so glad to have found them, and even if it was funny how much Mark would brag about bringing them together, she couldn’t help but agree and be extremely grateful to him. He could've said no, leave her in that small town, and oh, only God knows what would've happened.

Ten months ago she thought she was lost. She woke up every day with the realisation that her stone was going to be planted in a foreign country and Jaehyun couldn’t even pay a visit to her once she was gone. She thought she was going to carry a ring that was too heavy for her. And at some point, feared that her light was going to fade completely, with nobody close to her noticing.

But now she was there, in an even farther away land, with her first child in her arms, and Jaehyun, her first cursed love, at her side. In a little home that was barely big enough to welcome all of them, and was falling apart. But that was the most important part, it wasn’t a castle, or a house, but a home. It was a place for her, for her to be herself, for her to cry, scream, dance and sing, for her to love, to fear and to hate. It wasn’t what she was looking for when she abandoned everything but it was better than what she had in mind when she left.

She couldn't say it hadn't been a reckless decision, but it was worth it.

“Hey,” Jaehyun called, caressing her cheek, shaking her out of her thoughts, “let’s go to bed, mmh?” he proposed, pointing at Eunbi that finally gave in and fell asleep in her hold.

Scarlett yawned and then nodded, carefully standing up with Jaehyun's help.

The others greeted their goodnights, but before they walked downstairs she stopped and turned around.

“Guys,” she called, voice low to not wake the baby up. They turned around and signalled her to go on, “Thank you,” she smiled.

The one expressing their confusion was Mark that asked, “For what?”

She beamed softly and hugged Eunbi tighter, "For showing me there's a place for me in this world," she confessed, and then glanced at Jaehyun, "For showing me there's always a place for love if you fight hard enough."

hope you liked it!

part three: forever is the sweetest con

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