#might have a bunch of grammar mistake

[licorice-tea]

I Think I Love You!

Pairing: Trafalgar Law x reader, Platonic Straw Hats & reader

Content: Strawhat!reader, cursing/strong language, kissing, Law has trouble with accepting his feelings, reader is a schemer and plotter fr, misunderstandings / miscommunication but more funny than angsty, fluff, idiots in love <3

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: this is a song fic based on “I Think I Love You!” by the Partridge Family lol, so the indented parts are song lyrics! also i wrote this between like 2 and 5 am… please forgive me for any grammar mistakes😭

This morning

Law cannot stand being a guest on the Thousand Sunny. He wakes up in the library- he must have fallen asleep there last night- and can already hear shouting from above deck. Why are they causing such a commotion this early on in the day? To him, the reason is simple: because the Straw Hat Pirates are inarguably the loudest, most annoying, chaotic bunch of-

thump thump thu-thump thump… knock knock!

Pushing the door to the library open with your back, you carefully turn while entering the room to reveal a serving tray in your hands.

Your voice rings out in the mostly silent room- save for the noise coming from the deck of the Thousand Sunny. “Hey, Law? Sanji made coffee for the girls and I, so I had him make you a cup t- oh.”

You smile to yourself upon seeing the ally captain, Law, fast asleep at one of the library desks. (Or at least, he looks like he’s asleep.) Wordlessly, you set the tray down beside him.

“He looks cute like this,” you think, “calm.”

On your way out, you pause and grab a sticky note from a drawer in another desk. You decide to jot down a little note rather than wake him. But, unbeknownst to you, Law is already awake and staring at your back.

Ok, so… there might be one exception to his feelings of contempt toward the Straw Hats.

And maybe it’s because he wants to let you fulfill your kind mission, or maybe he just panics, but when you turn around he closes his eyes again. You stride back across the library to his desk makeshift bed, and stick the note on the tray as quietly as possible. Law can feel the soft exhale of your breath fanning over him, knowing you’re probably smiling. Soon after, he hears the door open and close softly, and decides it’s safe to sit up and open his eyes again.

I woke up with this feeling

His tired eyes scan over your words with the tiniest hint of a smile: “Sanji made coffee! + There’s milk and sugar in separate cups, b/c I’m not sure how you like it. -y/n :)”

To think, you went out of your way to ask that dumbass cook to make a cup for him, too? Then you had arranged it so neatly- and written the sweetest goddamn little note… Well, it was really just a simple explanation of the tray sitting before him, but it was cute because it came from you. He knew you wrote it out of care and concern for him, not to mention your own kindness. And- as he allows his mind to wonder while staring at his untouched coffee- he thinks that maybe you did it out of love.

“Wait, no, that’s crazy.” All this time around Straw Hat and his crew must be getting to him. Law tries to remedy his outlandish idea that you might feel for him the way he does for you by starting on the coffee you brought him. He doesn’t usually take milk or sugar in his coffee, but since you went out of your way, he adds a splash of the former and a small cube of the latter. And suddenly, his mind is wandering again…

What a kind thing to do for someone. This makes him feel sure of his previous notion once again- that you just might love him. You have to. Because he’s falling in love with you, slowly but surely, and…. oh. Fuck. He loves you.

Law curses himself. Realizing he’s falling in love is NOT how this day should start. Or any day, for that matter.

I didn’t know how to deal with

Though he got at least 6 hours of sleep (which is around 3 more than usual for the surgeon), and drained his coffee cup, Law’s head is aching. It’s a result of stress, most likely. Because, ever since he came to the terrifying realization that he’s falling for you, he can’t stop thinking about it (love, you, etc.)

Your smile is one of his favorite things, for example. It ranges anywhere from bright (like on the night he cracked a single joke while the two of you kept watch from the crows nest, and suddenly you outshone the stars while laughing) to sweet (when you accept a compliment from the love cook with a shy expression), with at least a dozen more variations.

And your eyes… God, he needed to stop thinking about you. He can barely concentrate now; what did he even plan on doing today?

Law decides then, that if he’s to get anything done at all, he’ll need to push all thoughts of you to the backburner.

And so I just decided to myself

“This is a foolproof plan,” Law thinks to himself, “one of my best yet.”

He’s most definitely lying to himself, but is it really lying if the liar themself believes the lie?

“Shit. Even that doesn’t make sense.” Whatever, he just needs to concentrate on something- anything other than you.

So Law, stubborn as ever, uses this trait to his advantage by becoming dead set on not thinking of you at all. He does so by ignoring you when you pass by each other in the halls of the Thousand Sunny, not meeting your eye when you offer a friendly smile over dinner, even straight up ignoring you once when you knocked on the door to his room. He knows it was you because you have this habit of making a short tune out of knocks-

No! He absolutely can’t think of you. Law has already made up his mind, and under no circumstances can he backtrack.

I’d hide it to myself

Law is very obviously hiding something, you’re just not sure what.

It’s like his demeanor toward you changed overnight. Before his switch up, the two of you had been spending a large portion of your days together. And sure, there aren’t many people to choose from for company when you’re at sea, but you took pride in the fact that Law still wanted to be around you.

It had taken a little time for the Captain of the Heart Pirates to open up at first- which you didn’t mind at all, some people are simply more reserved than others- but once he did, your purely physical attraction to the man grew into a head spinning crush. So, once you gained the confidence, you began flirting and showing him how you felt in careful ways.

And it had seemed like it was working! He engaged in meaningful conversations with you, started sharing sly compliments and jokes and looks, would always sit beside you at dinner- or directly across from you if both adjacent seats were taken- and didn’t seem to mind trading in his late night reading for keeping watch from the crows nest with you. All signs had pointed to him at least thinking of you as a friend, if not reciprocating your feelings for him.

So why the hell is he ignoring you all of a sudden? Whatever the reason, you intend to find out.

And never talk about it

After consulting with your team (Nami, Usopp, and Robin- the most emotionally intelligent people and/or those with the most relationship experience on the crew), you decide to confront Law. “It would be best to be straightforward and honest,” is the consensus the four of you came to.

But, it proves to be harder than you thought since he is still avoiding you. You’ve taken to hanging around the kitchen because everyone has to go there at some point, as everyone gets hungry or thirsty, but Law never shows. How is he getting his morning coffee if he never goes to the kitchen? It bewilders you; how he’s managing to sneak by you on your own ship. (On the second day of trying to catch him, you realize that he can, in fact, use his devil fruit abilities to avoid walking around the ship and simply teleport into the kitchen instead.)

The next day, you decide to hang around inside the kitchen. Sanji doesn’t mind one bit, and you think that Law is sure to pay a visit at one point or another.

And he does! You don’t even have to wait long, because early in the morning- around 6:30 am or so- he teleports in with a flash of blue light and greets Sanji with a nod. However, he doesn’t take notice of you sitting on a stool at the kitchen island.

“Just as I suspected.” You mentally pat yourself on the back for your sleuthing skills.

Law walks to the counter to grab a mug and pour a steaming cup from the pot the chef had just brewed, when you speak up.

“Morning, Law.”

He nearly drops his mug before turning around to see you, sitting at the kitchen island, with your own cup of coffee. (He notes how yours is a much lighter shade, and you’ve added ice and whipped cream. It fits you, he thinks, to prefer something sweeter. Great, just another reason why you could never like him the way he likes you.)

Law had purposefully been using his devil fruit and any other means to avoid you these last couple of days; yet here you are, looking at him with your knowing gaze. He was sure that you had caught on to his avoidance, because you’re perceptive like that, he just didn’t expect you to outsmart him like this. It’s enough to drive him crazy inside; like everything about you drives him crazy. (In some strange and foreign way that makes him yearn to be around you, but forces him to push you away.)

He mumbles out a quick “Morning.” and tries not to look as caught as he feels.

This is where you realize the flaw in your plan to confront Law: Sanji is also there. And despite the love you have for your crewmate, you don’t really want to do this in front of him.

So, when Law leaves just moments later, you follow.

And didn't I go and shout it

“Law! Wait up!” You call from a few paces behind him.

Though he doesn’t wait, he responds, “What?”

“What do you mean what? You’re being weird, and I want to know why!”

Law finally slows down, but only to open the door to the library, “I’m not being weird. Go away, y/n.” He states simply, then tries to close the door, but you hold it open.

When you walked into my room

You follow Law into the library- the room he has begun to frequent and sort of staked his claim on ever since he became a guest on board the Thousand Sunny.

With equal fervor, you respond; “Then why are you avoiding me? And straight up ignoring me when I try to talk to you? Because it’s really fucking rude. We’re friends, you know, and I thought-“

“We can’t be friends.” his voice is cold.

“Oh… Oh.” You think you understand now. “That’s so dumb, Law. Like, really stupid actually. Our friendship doesn’t depend on this alliance, if that’s why you-“

“It’s not!”

“Stop cutting me off! Ugh, just…” you sigh, clearly frustrated, “just tell me what’s going on then, please.”

He looks at you, your arms crossed and jaw set tightly. One might take your expression for angry upon first inspection, but there’s just a hint of sadness in your eyes and furrowed brows. He doesn’t want to ever see you like this- especially not because of something he’s done.

“I think I love you!”

This is it. He’s going to confess his feelings to you and ruin everything. You’ll probably hate him, never want to see him again, and that will just make it a hundred times harder to endure the remainder of his alliance with the Straw Hats.

“Well.. We can’t be friends because I…” Where was confidence and blatant disregard for the opinions of others when Law needed it?

You tilt your head and quirk a brow, giving him a quizzical look. The knowledge that you would never judge him so harshly; nor do anything to purposely hurt him, wasn’t doing much for his nerves right now, but it would have to do. He just needs to spit it out and get this over with now.

“I think I love you.”

You blink a few times as your eyes widen in clear surprise. Are you upset… or happy? He can’t tell, so he quickly corrects himself; “Uh- I’m falling in love with you. I think.”

(I think I love you)

Your frown grows into a small smile before the curve of your lips opens up into a much happier, brighter grin. And you laugh in a way that’s practically melodic to Law, which allows him to finally release the breath he’s been holding.

“I… I think I love you too, Law. Or I’m falling.” You emphasize the word like it’s an inside joke, just between the two of you. “It’s hard to tell.”

“…Yeah.”

“So… that’s why you’ve been avoiding me?”

“I’m, uh, sorry. I didn’t-“

Law stops when he feels the gentle press of your lips on the corner of his mouth. It’s barely a kiss, but you’re so incredibly warm and soft that he really doesn’t care that it only lasts 3 seconds. (Though, he would very much like it if you did it again. He makes a mental note to kiss you back with more certainty, should he get the chance.)

“It’s ok.” You tell him after you pull away.

He nods slowly- it’s probably the first time you’ve ever seen him in such a flustered state- before hesitantly leaning in again to close the distance between your lips. He tilts your jaw with one hand, and his other comes to rest on the small of your back. But he waits for you, like asking for your permission, which you grant him by parting your lips slightly. Then Law finally kisses you; it’s slow and a little unsure at first, but he quickly gets caught up to speed. You both find yourselves lost in the other as the whole exchange becomes more passionate, albeit a little aggressive and clumsy.

And this time, the kiss lasts much longer than 3 seconds.

[gejo333]

Unexpected Match VII

DILF/DBF Miguel O’Hara x Female Reader

Pt. 1 Pt.8

18+ Warning!!

Summary: You and the O’Hara’s go away on a small family vacation upstate.

We’re back!!!

Happy to have another chapter out! Next one is going to have a lot of drama! I apologize for any grammar mistakes, I haven’t fully looked this over yet. But I hope you enjoy!

Wc: 5.2k

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The fall crisp air was becoming a winter chill as you gaze at the golden leaves falling from the trees. You turn your head towards the left as you smile softly at the curly brunette man. Miguel's phone buzzed, a photo of you carrying Gabi as you both smiled at the camera from one of the many days you had gone to the park. A small smile crept on to your face as you hadn't noticed he changed his Home Screen from the photo he's kept of baby Gabi on his phone since you first met him.

You turned your head and smiled at the adorable sight of a sleeping Gabi, as her head rested against her car seat. Suddenly, the thought of another car seat next to Gabi crossed your mind. Sudden realization of your thoughts made your cheeks red. You smiled as giving a few siblings for Gabi after your career is steady would be nice.

Miguel drove the car into the entrance of the family campsite. Two weeks ago Gabi had brought up that every year they leave the city to do a weekend camping trip at a family camp, where Gabi explained that there's a bunch of fun activities to do at the kid center. You were really happy when both Miguel and Gabi wanted you to come with them. You knew you lived with them for a few months now and felt like a family, the impending conversation with your parents has created some stupid insecurities to pop in your mind. But every time the thoughts pop up your happily reminded of Gabi's joyous laughter and Miguel's loving words, that you wouldn't change anything for this in the world.

"We're here." Miguel parked the car as you both got out. You went around the car and opened it up to Gabi's side. You unbuckled her from her car seat.

"Hey, baby bug. It's time to wake up. We're here." You said softly as you gently brushed some of the hair sticking out of her pony tail behind her ear. Your heart melted at the sight of her yawning and rubbing her eyes of any sleep before you saw her bright brown eyes. You helped her out of her seat as she was still trying to wake up. As soon as she got a look of her surroundings she perked up instantly.

"Yay! We're here!" Gabi ran on to the grass next to the parking lot.

"Please stay close Gabi, while your papa and I unload the car." You say smiling at her happy attitude as you watch her play around in the grass.

"Will do!" She said looking at you with one of the iconic O'Hara smiles.

You heart almost stopped as an arm wrapped around your waist and whisked you behind the car to the open trunk before being slightly dipped and kissed. You happily returned the kiss as your arms wrap around his neck to deepen it. The kiss ended with another quick kiss or two, as he stood you up straight but still wrapped in each others arms.

"Loved that. But what was it for?" You chuckle as you brush strands of his hair back in his iconic hair style.

"I'm just really happy. Ever since I saw you again, I just never felt this happy before. Of course I was really happy when it was just Gabi and I, but I just feel complete now that I have the two most important girls in my life."

"I've never been more happy being with you and Gabi. The perfect small family bubble." You press one more kiss to his lips before you untangle from each other and begin to unpack.

"Maybe our family bubble can grow bigger one day." Said Miguel as he took a cooler and set in on the ground. Your eyes widen from his comment.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea. But maybe after putting a ring on this finger." You chuckle as you tease him.

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll keep it in mind."

"Wait...are you saying you might propose one day?" You paused when you heard his response.

"Yes." He smiled as he took something else from the trunk out. Your heart briefly stopped from his response. You smiled as you went on your toes to kiss his cheek.

"Sounds like a good idea." You say as you grab the last thing from the trunk and set it down before Miguel closes it and locks the car.

"Princesa, we're heading to the cabin." Said Miguel as he picked up majority of the things with out breaking a sweat as you helped carry the last two bags.

"Okay!" Gabi ran over to you both as she skipped slightly ahead, stopping and turning to make sure you and Miguel were still following her.

A few minutes later you made it to the cabin.

You were stunned when you saw it. It wasn't just a simple cabin, but a large two floor cabin with a double door entrance. You realized this family camping site wasn't your run of the mill place. It must have cost a lot to stay here.

When Miguel opened the door and the three of you entered you were even more amazed by the interior design. It was as if the wood cabin was made for the heavens.

"Papa! Can we go to the kid center?" Gabi said from the stairs.

"I'm sorry princesa. We arrived pretty late. Everyone's probably back with their families having dinner. But I promise we'll take you first thing tomorrow." Miguel said as he set down everything in the entryway next to the things you brought in.

"Ok, papa." You saw the disappointment in her eyes despite her trying to hide it, which stung you heart.

"Hey Gabi. Have you ever made a fairy house before?" You say as you begin to unpack things like Miguel and put them in the right places.

"No, what's that." Gabi's interest peaked from your words, districting her from her sadness.

"Well, when I was little and use to go camping, my grandmother told me that fairies lived in the forests all around and that not all of them have homes. So with my brothers and grandmother we would find sticks, leaves, and acorn caps and build tiny houses for the fairies to live in."

"Really! Can we build one?" Gabi's eyes sparkled from your small story as she ran towards you from the stairs.

"Of course! We can build one right outside the cabin. But let's help finish unpacking with Papa and then we can build it."

Miguel smiled as he watched you and Gabi from the window building a tiny fairy house on the side of the giant tree a few feet from the cabin. His heart swelled every time you glanced over and smiled at him. Everytime he saw you it felt like he was falling for you all over again.

20 minutes later Gabi ran back into the cabin calling for Miguel to come outside to see the fairy house. "Alright mija, I'm coming." Miguel chuckled as he was led outside by his overly excited daughter. Stoping right in front Gabi, crouched on her knees as you stood up and Miguel wrapped an arm around your waist pulling you to his side as he kiss the top of you head.

"Look what me and Y/n built! This is where the fairies can get their mail from their friends. Look! Y/n made a roof that can be removed, so we can check on the fairies. here is the bedroom. There are two beds so that the fairy can have a sleep over with her friends. This is the dinning room where they eat. And here is a tiny toilet too!" Gabi giggled from her last sentence which melted both of your hearts. "How will we know they came?" Added Gabi as she looked up at you.

"When you see fairy dust scattered around the house, that means they were here."You words made Gabi's eyes light up as she got up and gave you and Miguel a hug together. With ease Miguel picked up Gabi with on arm as he directed you both back into the cabin for dinner.

After dinner and more chatter about the fairies, a yawning Gabi indicated that it was time to go to bed. Miguel picked her up as you turned off all the lights downstairs before all three of you made it up stairs where you entered the first bedroom. Already in her pjs you and Miguel tucked her into bed before saying good night. "Y/n?"

"Yes my baby bug?"

"Can we check the fairy house tomorrow morning?"

"Of course we can. Good night sweetheart. Have sweet dreams." You and Miguel both leave, closing her door before heading down the hall and around the corner to the master bedroom.

As you entered the room you gasped when you felt arms lift you up in a bridal position as Miguel carried you to the bed, laying you down on it.

"Miguel we have to get out of our clothes." You giggle as he wouldn't let you out of his hold. You turn to face him, already meet his gaze on you.

"Te amo, hermosa." Miguel brushed some strands of your hair behind your ear before leaning down to capture your lips, which you melted into. The kiss continued into a loving make out session. Lips on lips or on skin.

In a slight daze you somehow straddled his lap as you continue the semi-heated session. You give him on last kiss on the lips before siting up, still on top of him. You felt a starting erection poke your thigh as you straddle, his hand on your waist as he lightly moved your hips on him.

A mischievous thought popped up in your head. You were curious how much and how long you could tease him before you got in trouble. Last time you made him sexually frustrated you didn't get a wink of sleep all night and sore the for the rest of the week.

You moved your hips a little bit more, earning a small groan from his lips as you felt his erection grow, making you slip out a small moan. You continue like this for a little more before you unstraddle him and get off the bed.

"Cariño, come back here." Miguel huffed as he gave you a light glare for getting off him in the middle.

"Mhmm nope." You try to hid your smile as you begin to undress.

"Y/n, I'm warning you. Come back over here." Miguel's gaze scanned up  your body as you were only left in a matching pair of white lace underwear.

"Please, mi amor." You smiled when you saw his slight bothered state as you turned around to walk into the master bathroom to remove your makeup. Even before you could get your makeup remover you heard footsteps came your way before you could turn around you were thrown over Miguel's bare shoulder "Miguel." You chuckled as he carried you back to the bed where he gently threw you on on to your stomach. Miguel got behind you, before leaning over to whisper in to your ear.

"You know better than to test me, hermosa."

You wake up the next morning, feeling sore between your legs. You sit up, still groggy as you look outside the window to the beautiful view. You feel arms wrap tighter around your waist. Turning to look the the man next to you, you smile down at him as he places kisses up your side to your neck as he sat up next to you.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, mi amor. How did you sleep?" He smirked as you gave him an slightly annoyed look, before wiping it away with a kiss to your lips.

"I slept well. Luckily you were tired from driving up here. Or I think I wouldn't be able to walk today."

"Well, I would have gone easier if you didn't tease me like that." Miguel moved your legs to lay over his lap, lifting you to sit on his lap as he

leaned back on the bed frame. You wrapped your arms around his neck as you placed a kiss on his lips again. "I was thinking, after dropping Gabi off at the kid center that we go on a hike." Miguel said.

"Sounds perfect."

"Good. Make sure to wear a bathing suit."

"Ooo, ok. I can't wait." After relaxing in comfortable silence, being in each others arms more than enough you both take a shower, Miguel needing to carrying you as your legs were too sore to walk.

After getting dressed you both go downstairs where you both made breakfast together you noticed that little O'Hara was still upstairs asleep. Miguel went up to go wake her up and a couple minutes later he carried her down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Good morning baby bug. How did you sleep?" You say as you place a kiss to the top of her head and placing a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, and fruit in front of her.

"Good! Can we check the fairy house?" Pleaded Gabi.

"How about you eat your breakfast and then we can go check." Said Miguel as he passed you a cup of coffee, which you happily took.

"Ok!" Gabi began to eat her food fast.

"Gabi, don't rush eating. You can choke. Please eat slower." You worried.

"But what if the fairies are gone by the time I'm done?"

"Fairies wake up super early to go to work, so we won't see them sadly. But, I'm very sure they were there." You added.

After Gabi properly ate her food you helped her put on her shoes before the three of you walked outside into the fresh morning air. Gabi ran to the fairy house and took off the roof, a gasp leaving her before she jumped up and down with a wide smile on her face.

"They were here! They were here! Look! There's fairy dust! And the bed was used. And look! They left some food on the table!" Gabi pointed out with a big smile on her face.

"Wow, that's so cool." Miguel brought you close and kissed the side of your head, before whispering a thank you.

"Alright Princesa. Let's gets you ready so we can take you to the kid center." Said Miguel, which Gabi happily ran back into the house.

You helped put on Gabi's shoes as the two of you waited for Miguel. However, he came down the stairs on the phone, and annoyed look on his face. You give him a worried look for seeing him stressed. He walked over to you saying, "Peter, you know that I'm with my family upstate. What's happening?" His brows furrowed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand, clearly frustrated by whatever was being said to him. You placed your hand in his empty one, giving him a gently squeeze to get his attention.

"One moment Peter. Are you ok, hermosa?" His looked quickly became soft and loving when his attention was on you.

"Gabi's getting a bit impatient to go to the kid center. I was offering to walk her over and get her settled there." You smile up at him.

"That would be great, thank you." Miguel placed a quick kiss to your lips and then a kiss to the top of Gabi's head before he went back on the call.

You and Gabi walked out of the Cabin, and following the signs walking over to the kid center.

"Y/n? Why isn't Papa coming with us?"

"He had to take an quick emergency call with work."

"Oh. That happens sometimes. Papa sometimes can't stop work from taking up all his time. But ever since you moved in he's been a lot better, which makes me really happy because I get to spend even more time with Papa." Gabi smiled up at you as she continued to hold your hand, walking to the kid center.

"That makes me happy that I was able to help."

"Papa loves you a lot. Like a lot. But I win, cause I love you most!"

"I love you the most too Gabi." You stop as you kneel down and pull her into a hug, which she happily accepts.

A few minutes passed by and you and Gabi made it to the kid center. As you entered the building you walked up to the front where a camp counselor of sorts greeted you with a warm smile.

"Good morning! Welcome to the kid center. Are you here to go on super cool adventures?" The camp counselor said as she looked at Gabi.

"Yeah!" Gabi smiled.

"Perfect! And what's your first and last name?"

"Gabi O'Hara."

"Welcome Ms. O'Hara. Let me talk to your mom and have her fill out a few forms for you and then you can join the rest of the kids." Your eyes widen slightly when you were mentioned as Gabi's mom. You didn't want to correct the women as Gabi didn't seem bothered by the mistake. And in  truth, you were bothered by it either. You did love Gabi as your daughter, even though you knew you aren't her biological mother. You hoped maybe she saw you at a mother figure.

After reading over the permission slip forms and signing them you handed them back to the woman.

"Perfect. Ok, Gabi, you can follow me."

You kneel down as Gabi gives you a hug.

"Papa and I will pick you up in a few hours. Have fun." You give her one last hug before she waves goodbye and walks with the camp counselor to the main area.

As you walked back towards the Cabin you felt like something was off. You felt the hair on your neck stand up. As if someone was watching you. Just to satisfy your nerves your turn back to see no one. You shrug if off, obviously you needed more coffee. You picked up the pace as the feeling wouldn't go away, as you sped walked all the way back to the Cabin, where you quickly unlocked the door and closed it behind you before locking it again. You look out the window to see a woman walk by. You didn't recall her walking behind you. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Your stomach dropped when you felt arms wrap around you, making you jump.

"Lo siento, cariño. I didn't mean to scare you. Y/n? Is everything ok?" Miguel asked, concern etched in his voice as he gave you a worried look.

"I'm fine. I just felt a bit off on my walk back. For some reason I thought someone was following me on my way back. But I think it was just my mind playing tricks on me." Your words didn't reassure your boyfriend as he opened the door to scan the area. He closed the door as he kept you in his arms to help calm your nerves.

"Would you like to stay in the cabin? We can watch a movie in the bedroom or living room."

Miguel offered.

"no, let's go on our hike. It'll be nice to enjoy nature. Plus, my big strong boyfriend can help protect me." You dramatically bat your eyelashes as you wrap your arms around one of his biceps, to which he chuckled as he took your chin and kissed you. "I'll make sure to protect you, mi amor."

You both changed into clothes to go on a nice walk as you both walked outside and begin your walk. You took Miguel's hand in yours to which he smiled leaned down and kissed you lovingly before you started your walk.

Ten minutes into the hike, was comfortable silence until Miguel decided to speak. "I've taken this hike once before. And I found something, which will be a surprise until we get there." Miguel grinned as he saw the pout on your face before you replaced it with a smile. "Well I can't wait to see what it is."

"I think I'm going to tell my parents at the Christmas party." You add which Miguel gave you a soft and warm smile. "I'll be there for you. Let's hope they take it well."

"I'm hoping so. But since it's a week away, I know it might be a lot, but I think we should have a plan in case it goes south."

"Like what?" Miguel's breath held waiting to your your words.

"Well, if they don't take it well they'll probably get upset and say things they'll regret. Maybe you take Gabi back home. I don't her having to experience anything bad, especially around Christmas."

"Y/n, I really want to be right with you. It's about us. I'm not going to leave you if it goes south." Miguel gives you a serious look, you sigh knowing he wouldn't let you do it by your self.

"I don't want Gabi to witness anything bad."

"And she won't. If it goes south we'll just leave. And to not be bothered, we'll spend Christmas in the city."

"The city? Where?"

"At my apartment. The one Gabi and I moved from to here. We left almost everything besides essentials. I'll have a Christmas tree delivered and set up."

"Well, that sounds like a plan. I hope it goes well. But honestly, I don't care what they think. I'll just be relieved to finally be able to show my love for you anywhere." You stopped, Miguel following right after as he smiled and brought you close to him as you both looked at each other in perfect silence.

"I can't wait to tell the world how much I love you."

You walk hand in hand in a comfortable silence, only talking when either of you point out something beautiful or interesting. Enjoying the walk, you didn't realize how far you walked until Miguel stopped.

"Close your eyes. Your surprise awaits." Miguel grinned. You smiled as you closed your eyes, before Miguel placed an arm around your waist and pulled you close so you he could guide you. After a minute you heard the thunderous sound of rushing water. Miguel stopped as leaned down lips against your ear as he said, "you can open your eyes now."

When you open your eyes, they widened, amazed by the gorgeous waterfall and swimming hole. The water was a beautiful crystal blue, something you though you would never see so up north.

"It's so beautiful. Thank you for showing this place to me." You turn to face Miguel as you give him a hug and kiss to the lips, thanking him for the surprise.

"I'm glad you love it, hermosa. Would you like to take a swim?" Miguel grinned after he saw you nod and smile.

"One little problem though."

"And what's that?"

"I forgot to wear a bikini. Guess I only have my birthday suit to wear." You giggle as you see lust cloud Miguel's eyes. You step away from him as you begin to shed your clothing. Only left in your panties you slipped them off before tossing them into the pile. You then walk into the water, relieved that it was warm, going in until your chest deep. You turn to face Miguel who was still on the shoreline, now removing his boxers, as his erect cock bounced out, relieved to be free from its restraints.

He walks into the water before making it right in front of you. You knew there was a stark height difference between you both, but standing at the same level of water, where your chest deep and his was still above made you even more self aware of it. Holding your waist and pulling you against him you feel his erection against your stomach, making your cheeks slightly red. Miguel leans down capturing your lips wis his. Not long were the kisses becoming more intense, as he moved his lips from you chin to your neck where he found that sweet spot. A moan escapes your lips as Miguel's hand move from your waist down to your thighs, lifting you up and wrapping your legs around his waist and arms around his neck for stability. A moan by you and a groan from Miguel came when he sunk you down onto his cock. Although you were plenty wet from the water, the lack of prep made you tighten around him, earning another groan from him.

"Hermosa, you have to loosen up a bit or I won't last much longer."

You moaned out loud as you tried to adjust to his size. As soon as he felt you were relaxed, he began to ram his hips up into you, You were in slight pain, but it didn't bother you as you were overcome with pleasure. As one of his hands held your hips in place, the other began to play with one of your breasts as he used his fingers to play with your nipple, making you gasp.

You lower your hand to your clit to help relieve some of your arousal. However, as soon as your fingers touched your sensitive area, Miguel snatched your wrist and moved it to your side as you groaned in frustration.

"Miguel." You whine as you lay your head back against his shoulder.

"Sorry, cariño. Not going happen yet. You just have to sit here and take my cock in this pretty little pussy of yours." Miguel whispered in your ear before kissing and marking up along your neck.

Your lips connect into a heated kiss. The water splashes around from the movement of both your bodies.

"This take me back to the time we first met. In that private pool back in Miami."

"At least now I know your mine and that this won't end tomorrow." Miguel said as he smiled against your lips before kissing you again.

"Please touch me Miggy."

"What was that hermosa?" Miguel chuckled as your rolled your eyes.

"Please Miguel."

" As you wish." Miguel lowered his hand as he began to rub your clit. A moan escapes you as you arch your chest against his.

"Cum for me." He whispered as your eyes rolled back from the overwhelming pleasure coursing through your body as you came from your high.

Miguel groaned as he felt your walls tighten around his cock. "You always feel so good, mi amor, I never want to leave." Miguel bucked his hips into you one last time before you felt him spill deep inside you. Miguel rode out his high before he removed himself from you, capturing your lips one last time.

Miguel found a place in the water to rest against as you both relaxed in the warm water basking in the beauty of your surroundings. After some time you both decided you needed to head back to take a shower and get changed before picking up Gabi at the kid center.

Getting dressed you walked hand in hand back to the cabin, where your both got in the shower to save time, and to maybe have another quick session before washing off and getting ready.

You both head and walk towards the kid center as you wrap yours arms around Miguel's bicep, to which he places a kiss to your cheek saying, “ I love you.” As you look up to him with a loving smile replying, “I love you more.”

When you arrive to the kid center you see other parents picking up their kids, walking in you see Gabi talking with a few other girls before spotting you and Miguel. She waved goodbye before running into your arms, as you pick her up.

“How was your day?”

“It was amazing! We played games in the grassy field, and we made s’mores. I ate two. And I told my friends that we built a fairy house, and that a fairy stayed there over night. They thought that was really cool.”

“Two smores! Are you going to be able to have one tonight?” Miguel said making Gabi’s eyes widen.

“Yes! I can still have more! I’m not full.”

“Ok princesa. I’ll trust you on this one. Let’s go sign you out.” As you carry Gabi you and Miguel walk to the camp counselor you talked to this morning.

“Hi Mr. And Mrs. O’Hara. Gabi had a really fun day. She told us about how she built a fairy house with her mom. Everyone loved it they were all built them too. And might make it a fun activity to do at the kid center.” Your eyes widen, when she mentioned you again being Gabi’s mom. It melted your heart to think that Gabi called you her mom to other kids. You wondered if she was too shy to call you mom. Maybe because you only have been living with them for almost 4 months. You glanced at Miguel when the counselor made the mistake, but you noticed his smile only widened by the comment.

After signing Gabi out, you set her down and she wanted to hold both your and Miguel’s hand as you walked back to the cabin, where Miguel decided to start making dinner while you helped Gabi wash up and change her clothes.

After dinner Miguel received a call and took it in the living room when you took all the dishes and began to wash them in the kitchen. You heard him end the call before turning on the cartoons on the tv for Gabi to watch before you heard his footsteps walk into the kitchen.

“Do you need any help with the dishes?”

“Nope, just have this last plate. Then I’m done.”

“The person I was on the phone with was real estate agent. I bought this cabin.” He said.

Your eyes widened turning to him. “That’s amazing. I thought this place was a campsite?”

“It is. But you can buy the properties and some of the land around it so we can expand it. It’s just been an amazing time up here this time around, and I want to make it an official tradition to come up here. Like a family place away from the hustle and bustle of Nueva York and the prying eyes of our neighborhood.”

“I think that a great idea. It’s so beautiful up here. It definitely is a nice place to go to get away from everything and everybody.”

“I think we should tell Gabi on Christmas. It’ll be one of her gifts. A gift for all of us.” Miguel smiles.

After you finish cleaning up the kitchen you spend the rest of the night watching a family movie, as you cozy up with Miguel on the couch with Gabi on his other side.

The next morning you all woke up early to pack and put everything in the car before driving back home. While packing things into the car with Miguel you felt that familiar off feeling, like someone was watching you. You decided not to bring it up to Miguel this time, not wanting to worry him as you thought it might have been your imagination.

As everyone got in the car and drove away, unnoticed by either you nor Miguel were brown eyes in another car nearby watching from afar.

————————————————————————

Hope you enjoyed it!💕

Tag List

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[batsvnte]

𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 — 𝐉𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐮𝐚𝐧 , 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞

pairings! Jing Yuan & Blade (separate) ;; Black gen!reader (They/them) ఌ angst w/comfort, platonic relationships ఌ cw! mc is mute, implied use of sign language, blood + mention, death implied on Blade’s part, ooc maybe, spelling mistakes/improper grammar, not proofread ఌ synopsis! A new soul is tasked to guide spirits to finally cross with peace ఌ song rec! All is Soft Inside - AURORA

Xenos’s notes - I kinda just downloaded a bunch of games last night for no reason. This was mainly inspired off of Spiritfarer and I love that game sm.

With Jing Yuan, he found you intriguing.

You were neither dead or alive. You were an soul that was wandering among the universe to find ones that were lost. Most of were strangers that you have never met before. Few of them were family that you long lost since you had started traveling the universe. Everywhere you had been, except for the Xianzhou Loufu. The natives were long live species, and a spirit had warned you that it wouldn’t be necessary to go to Xianzhou. Solely because of the dangers that lurked around the corners.

Jing Yuan barely even sees you. You haven’t visited for nearly 500 years. Since there was problems arising of the fallen becoming mara-struck and immortalized to never be able to pass, there was nearly no point of you coming back. Which brings a surprise to the Ten-Lord commission of the whispers that you were here. One thing leading to another, here stood Jing Yuan in your vicinity with your back turned to him.

“Spiritfarer..” His voice was smooth yet filled with an sense of wonder. Giving an his infamous smile as he caught your attention. “What brings you here to the Loufu?”

His gaze turns over to the woman next to you. One who was always accompanying you on your journey through the universe (aside from the little white lion cub that was tailing after you). She explains what the situation was and why you were here. It was apparent that you needed supplies for the spirits and the ship at hand. Mainly food since one had been so curious about the Xianzhou.

It was a moment of silence for Jing Yuan. Thinking over what has been said as he kept his gaze locked onto you. In your hands, you were carrying a basket of goods. Who knows how much longer you would have to stay. But he might as well help you with whatever tasks that you need to get done.

Jing Yuan was an man of patience. He enjoys hearing about what type of people you’ve met on your own and what it was like within the universe. The general loves all the trinkets you show him, showing a feign of amusement when you had showed him the bottle of lightning that you accidentally brought along. This, of course, doesn’t go unnoticed by Yanqing who had came into the gardens during the midst of you showing the lightning bottle to Jing Yuan. He made a little note to later make sure that you weren’t by yourself when it’s raining. Especially when Yanqing was with you.

He was aware that all of your tasks were complete for the time being. Yet as you two bid your farewells, he snuck a little gift onto your hand without you barely realizing it. It was a golden pendant with the linings engraved into a lion. One that reminded you of the lion cub that you shamelessly had to drag away from Mimi countless of times due to it wanting to bother her.

“Till next time, spiritfarer—“

He was nearly cut off by the sudden embrace of yours. Jing Yuan was caught off guard by this. Seeing how you were tightly hugging him as if you truly didn’t want to depart from this world. He gave a gentle smile to you as he wrapped his arms back around you. The small height difference was good enough for him to lift you up, squeezing you tightly. It almost felt like forever before you pulled away from him. Everything was at peace with him.

But with Blade, you couldn’t tell what he thinks.

Every so often there was a chance of running into him. It was never when he was alive, nor really dead. He was struck with mara and immortalized with no key way of knowing what can truly kill him. The first few times you ran into him, you managed to stay some distance since his body was constantly moving but also fading. He was on a thin line of Life and Death, but you both always knew what side he’ll always be on.

You lost count at the amount of times you’ve seen him. With an shaky sigh, you racked up the courage to approach the man who was lying face down on the ground. Nudging him gently to at least get him to acknowledge you. Which indeed worked out since he turned his head over towards you. Blade’s gaze was on you in an instant.

Were you someone who was here to harm him? Blade was on on the verge of his last breath but he couldn’t run away from danger of the world. Even in the state that he was in.

Your arms snakes under his torso. Trying your best to lift him up and help him to his feet or at least sitting up so you can get a proper look at him. The lion cub that was by your side watches as you helped Blade to be in an upright position. He didn’t do anything to protest against it. His silence was enough to know that he wasn’t done with the life he was bear to live. And yours was enough to know that you couldn’t do much for him.

It was a little cycle that happened. You would find Blade on the verge of death, and it would lead to him being brought back to life due to the mara almost immediately. On rare days you would find opportunities to get to at least know who he was. When his body has been too damaged beyond immediate repair, the time you shared will be longer as well.

It was one of those days. He was sitting alone in an empty ally. His body fading in and out at random moments, and this time with you by his side. The mara was always the one cause of his memory loss but he felt solace with you. He couldn’t remember fully of what you’re like. He knew that you weren’t a threat to him. He knew that you were an important person. But he just can’t remember much about you. Even when he did it was when he was alive and breathing well.

Blade’s eyes were consistently tracking your hand as the other was holding a snack for him to take. It didn’t matter if he was a spirit or a living being, you still offered food and water for him to take.

You paused briefly before turning your fully attention over to Blade. A solemn look upon your face that he knew. It was almost time for him to go. He watches as you stretched your arms out a little as if you were implying for something. He tilts his head towards you in response, debating whether if he should accept or not.

Blade knew it wouldn’t make much difference but he raised a hand a few inches from the ground. Letting you do what you wanted to do. Within a few moments, you wrapped your arms around him. Your embrace was warm which made him feel much more at ease than he was before. Though his body tense up slightly at the gesture. He was use to it, but he had an fear of causing any harm to you.

It took his a few moments for him to return the hug. Wrapping only one arm around you since the other was damaged badly. Resting his chin ontop of your head with his eyes closed. He felt you squeezing him tightly as if you were begging for him not to go.

Once he opened his eyes he was in the same place before. Only that you and the little lion cub was gone from your places. His body healing himself to make him conscious of what was happening in the living world. He feels the mara stirring within him once more. Blade casted his eyes elsewhere, the warmth of the hug slowly fading as if it was just a memory he made to give himself some sort of comfort.

He must’ve died. How marvelous.

[8myass]

.. sweetheart .. pairing. jeong yoonoh/jaehyun x female reader genre. angst, fluff pov. second person (you, yours, yourself, etc.) synopsis. you realize the man you hate might actually be quite hot. wc. 0.9k cw. “enemy”!jaehyun, nerd!reader tw. enemies to lovers kinda?, cursing, mentions murder (it’s a silly joke), depictions of violence (all in good fun), reader realizing she might like jae a/n. third work in the jaehyun birthday event! i really like this one actually?! not proofread or edited, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes!

You were sitting in silence at your desk, peacefully writing down the notes the professor was yelling out over the entirety of the room, loud enough so that anyone should be able to hear her. However, beside you sat your very oblivious seatmate, Jaehyun, who had no idea what she was even talking about, earbuds in his ears as he blasted some hardcore rock music as loud as he possibly could, loud enough that you heard every beat precisely, almost as clear as he heard it himself. His phone was pulled out behind his textbook that he had stood up on top of his desk, which made it very obvious that he was hiding something behind it, but the professor was too fed up with the day that she didn’t bother to scold him about it as she always did, just wanting to leave and go home, deeming it not worth the argument today when she has barely over ten minutes left to continue speaking her mind about the given topic.

You sighed deeply, yet nearly silently as you glanced over at the incompetent male next to you. He was older than you, but not by much at all, and he certainly did not act as though he was older than you in any sense, if anything he acted younger than you. You were already fed up with his shit and you only recently joined his class, a new semester starting up which brought the beginning of this new class, with him by your side.

You couldn’t help but feel like the universe was picking on you to an extent. I mean, pairing you up with someone like him. You focused on school all the time, homework was a stress-relief for you, and if your hand didn’t have a pencil in it, your head was buried in a random book you pulled off one of many bookshelves littering your near-empty dorm bedroom. Meanwhile, Jaehyun hasn’t completed a single assignment for any subject on his own, making either his friends – meaning the ones who kiss his ass to be considered “cool” around the campus – do it for him, or he simply flirts with the professor into passing him for the assignment, whether he’s done it or not. He seems like he has a superiority complex, like he believes he’s all high and mighty, better than everyone he’s surrounded by. 

You hated that. You truthfully loathed that about him.

Not to mention, he noticed that you liked to hang out by yourself and he took it into his own hands to find you friends so you’re not lonely, because he thought that’s why you were always separated from the crowd. There is no explanation for why he decided he needed to be the one to find you friends, but he did it without asking you first, showing up to your dorm with a bunch of random people and inviting him, as well as those random people, into your place. 

Now that you’re sitting in class, waiting for the professor to dismiss the class so she could go home and rest for the rest of the day, you couldn’t help but glare at him. You wanted to rip his gorgeous brown strands of hair out of his perfectly sculpted head, gauge his stunningly tired hazel eyes out, and rip that tongue out of his sexy mouth as he flicked it over his bottom lip while focusing on something popping onto his phone screen.

“What are you looking at me for?” he asked, eyes meeting yours with a hint of curiosity in them, pulling one earbud out of his ear, waiting for a response.

“I just realized you’re quite handsome,” you shrugged, turning back to your notes as you glanced up at the professor again.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did this come from?” he sat up quickly, bumping the desk and sending his textbook falling down onto the desk, a loud bang echoing through the room, all eyes snapping over to him. He apologized quietly to his classmates and the professor who simply sighed, waving his apologies off, being so accustomed to his disturbances by now that it didn’t bother her quite as much as it would’ve when she had first welcomed him to her class. 

“Yes, Mr. Jeong, I’m well aware you’re sorry, you always are, aren’t you?” she inhaled deeply, speaking again only as she exhaled, “Well, that should be all for today’s class session anyway. Please, enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

She spun on her heels and walked to her desk, gathering her things before racing out the door, making her way out faster than any of the students themselves had even gotten out of their chairs. You stood up as well, scoffing with a subtle wink as you looked over at Jaehyun who was just sitting there staring up at you, his head cocked, looking like a lost puppy, “I will simply kill you with kindness since the alternative is illegal.”

With those words, you packed your books into your bag, slinging it over your shoulder before walking out the same door the professor had exited from. He hurried after you, question after question flying out of his constantly gaped mouth until you arrived in front of your dorm, sighing and spinning around to poke his chest with your pointer fingers, “This is where you stop, but I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

He nodded quickly, “Definitely. I’ll meet you here in the morning. When’s your first class?”

You rolled your eyes playfully, genuinely not being able to believe he was kissing your ass so much. I mean, all you were trying to do was play the same game he’s playing with you, but toward him instead. How is he falling for it so quickly? You laughed before handing him your phone, letting him put his number into the device before throwing it back into your pocket, “I’ll text you.”

[heecyon]

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑; 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐆 —volume two

pairing: ceo!park jongseong x brother's best friend!fem!reader

genre: arranged/forced marriage, accidental pregnancy, brother's best friend, slight age gap (reader's 22 and jay's 24), angst, fluff and second chance love.

warning(s): grammar mistakes, curse words, nicknames, arranged marriage, suggestive scenes, mentions/allusions to sex, toxic/abusive mother, verbal abuse, vomiting, mentions of hospitals, fainting, blood, mentions of food, accidental pregnancy, cheesy ending, and bunch of fluff towards the ending, sort of toxic relationship between jay and reader.

word count: 25k+ words

summary: Just a year ago, you were forced to marry Park Jongseong, CEO of the Southern Branch, part of the vary famous Park Enterprises. It was all for the sake of your family, a marriage for the benefit of gaining more traction as a company. Jongseong was attentive, caring, sometimes even sweet, but your relationship was more about sex than it was about the marriage itself. At some point, everything got bad, and it was just mere sexual intimacy that anything else, and just when you were close to ending things...you found out you were pregnant.

disclaimer: i finally finished backburner, and it might have some grammar mistakes, it’s been a while since i wrote from a pc, but i’m so happy to have finished it, but i think that the ending is really corny and cheesy.

playlist • backburner by niki • common by zayn • dos mil 16 by bad bunny • used to this by camila cabello • astronomy by conan gray • lovers by anna of the north • lover of mine by 5sos • this love by taylor swift • julia by lauv •

volume one

CEOs & ARRANGEMENTS MASTERLIST

taglist (open): @iloveoceaneyesss @abdiitcryy @chimajeyn @sjakewrld @loves0ft @duolingofanaccount @ufoundme @sunghoons-mole @tobiosbbyghorl @dasa3040 @monkeybabyzz @snowysung @wonyofanclub @prdxinvade @dearhee @zhrtics @woinswoo @rerequire @in2jhae @darkreymbow @ahnneyong @uuwonniee @en-chantedtomeetyou @m3g00mi @sunshine-skz @sunsunst @hueningluvbotsworld @iwuvjay @zen003xx  @sunnyjayjays @pshchives @sd211

ACT FOUR: Maybe life's less romantic when I don't wanna die!

The first thing that you did when you arrived at the office was going to the bathroom to throw up. You were tired of the horrible feeling of vile going up your throat and how your stomach was more than empty and fell away from hunger.

You groaned from ache and tiredness, and you felt your body tense up when you heard somebody going inside the bathroom.

"Y/N? Are you okay?" Haewon asked in worry.

"Yeah, just a little bit nauseous." Your friend frowned upon your words, knowing pretty well that you were lying. "You haven't been well for a while now, you should get that check."

You tried to shrug it off, but the more time passed, the more concerned you grew. You knew your body pretty well, but you were basically blinded by everything going on that you just dismissed what was happening inside of you.

You let go a small nod before finally unlocking the cubicle door. "See what I tell you? You look pale, like a corpse." She took out her phone, unlocking the screen and typing a phone number. "I'll phone an appointment for you, this afternoon. You can't continue being like this."

The next few minutes, Haewon continued a small conversation with a receptionist in a well-known clinic in the city. "They have a space for you at twelve 'o' clock."

At twelve 'o' clock you were more than busy, the meeting you had been waiting for would start around that time, and your sister needed you there.

This was going to be a problem for you… At least that's what you thought.

"I'll be there in your name for the reunion, I'll talk with Juni and I'll tell her that you have an emergency, but please…just get checked up." You couldn't protest anymore, and in the end you nodded in defeat.

Throughout the day, you tried to convince yourself that you were probably okay, that it was probably just a stomach bug, or stress.

You tried to remain calm when your appointment was near, a little bit of worry setting in your body.

What if I'm mortally ill? What if this isn't a stomach bug or just stress?

Heeseung drove your car in a calming matter, he tried to make conversation with you, small talk, but even with his easing composure you still felt your heart give quick jobs the closer you got to the clinic.

Heeseung opened the door for you, guiding towards the medical building in front of you, you gulped with fear and anxiety.

Soon, you found yourself in front of the reception desk that was adorned with pink decor and bullet journals.

A woman in her mid-twenties, with chestnut hair and pale skin attended the desk, a small smile on her face when she saw you. Specifically, Heeseung.

"Welcome to Seonchang Clinic! What can I help you with?" She asked with a cheery voice.

"We have an appointment at twelve 'o' clock, for Bae Y/N." She checked on the computer, setting her eyes apart from your secretary with a reddish tone on her cheeks. "Dr. Hwang Mina will see you in a minute, please take a seat in the waiting room."

You set your bag on top of your legs, a shiver running down your spine from anxiousness. A small part of you trying to convince yourself that you'd be okay.

Your phone rang a few times, and your heart skipped a beat when you saw Jay's ID on the screen, his calls were almost nonexistent for a while now. You let the phone ring for a moment, Heeseung eyes you with curiosity, expecting you to answer the call, but you didn't… Actually, you denied his call a second after.

"I thought that you would tell him you were here." Heeseung asked, he knew he shouldn't be interested in your private life, but he was starting to worry about you. He knew Jay, he'd met him a few times and he swore that Jay was a really good guy, so he didn't understand why you would reject his calls.

"Don't really want him to worry." You lied, a fake smile adorning your face. "Bae Y/N?"

The sound of your name rang through your ears, a rush of nerves going through your body.

Heeseung stayed put on his seat, knowing very well that he wasn't to move until you came out of the room.

You walked into the office, closing the door behind you. The doctor had pitch black hair, her lips were glossy and she wore a prominent eyeliner, almost in her mid-thirties, at least that's what you guessed.

The office was decorated with white marble everywhere, her titles were hanging on a side of the wall.

"Please take a seat, Ms. Bae." You muttered a Thank You, propping yourself on the seat, trying to find a way to be comfortable. "What seems to be the problem?"

You cleared your throat, just to gulp right after. The thoughts in your mind recalled every single symptom that you felt during the last few weeks.

Throwing up,

Fatigue?

Or was it exhaustion?

Poor appetite,

Dizziness…

"Mrs. Bae?"

The doctor's voice got you back to reality, you felt so exhausted at the moment, and your symptoms just kept on repeating inside your mind.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm here because I've felt really badly the last few weeks."

Dr. Hwang nodded at your words.

"I've been throwing up a lot, my appetite is really poor… I'm always exhausted or maybe fatigued?"

"A-And I've been really dizzy."

You stuttered out of nervousness, waiting for the doctor to finish typing your symptoms on her document.

She hummed at your symptoms, she knew that this could be symptoms of anything else than what she was thinking, but she still had to examine you and still had to ask you some things.

"Ms. Bae if you don't mind me asking?" You hummed in approval, trying to tell her to go on. "Are you sexually active?"

"When was your last menstrual cycle?"

You frowned at her words, being completely confused, your heart accelerated in rhythm, from the anxiety, from the nerves.

To be honest, you hadn't noticed that your period was late, like really late, you assumed it was from stress, but you tried to keep a count of how long it had been since you last had it.

"I-I don't know, may-maybe two… two or three months ago."

"My husband and I…" Then, it hit you.

My husband... Your husband.

Jay, Park Jongseong.

What if you were…

The doctor noticed how quiet you stayed, she smiled at you with sympathy. She understood that maybe you were embarrassed, or that you just didn't want to talk about it.

"I will need to send some blood samples to the lab to have more accurate results. The results will come back in a few hours and if you want you can come back for me to explain the diagnosis."

"If not, you can come back tomorrow."

Dr. Hwang took out a blood drawing needle, and then told you to place your arm on the desk, she placed her fingers trying to look for a vein, your nerves wouldn't cooperate, so your veins hid away from fear. The doctor looked for a while, before she finally found it.

She placed a tourniquet in your arm, close to your vein, and then she softly rubbed some alcohol-filled cotton on the placed where she would insert the needle.

You didn't notice the moment that she inserted on your vein, but it stung for a minute or two after you finally analyzed what was going on.

"All done, I'll take this to the lab and your results will be back in a few hours." She passed right by you, quickly giving you a rub on the shoulder.

"We'll give you a call to tell you that your results are back so you can know the diagnosis."

She opened the door, the bright lights from the waiting room making you squint your eyes. You grabbed your bag and thanked her on the way out.

Your body was met with just a little bit lighter temperature than before you went in. Heeseung saw you standing in front of him, and he stood up, expectant.

"Is everything ok, Y/N?" He talked to you informally, he sometimes did it without realizing, maybe because he still wasn't used to you being three years younger than him. "Y-Yeah, I'll receive my results later in the afternoon. Do you think you can come back here with me to receive them?" You didn't want to drive alone here, knowing that nobody would be there to receive you when you got out of the room.

"Of course, why not?" You nearly sighed in relief, Heeseung grabbed your bag and guided you towards the car. You asked him to take you towards that Boba store that had opened a few days back.

While you sat at the place, you bounced your leg in an anxious way. You had ordered a biscuit milkshake, with chocolate syrup and gummy toppings.

"Sorry if I make you uncomfortable, but are things good… between you and Jay?" Heeseung asked with curiosity, but also with a little bit of hesitation. You grabbed the straw of your drink, mixing the shake and letting the gummies go into the bottom of the plastic cup.

"I-I don't know, things have been really weird. So, I don't know if we are ok anymore." You had your phone in your lap, a new notification entered causing it to light up. Your lockscreen was a picture that you had taken of Jay a few months ago.

You'd decided that night that you could really use a midnight snack, and the sleepiness wasn't completely out of your eyes.

The sound of your footsteps became present in the house, and Jay was woken up by them. When he noticed that you were not in bed, he got up and walked towards the kitchen, where he noticed the dim light of your flashlight pointing towards one of the kitchen counters.

"What are you doing?" Jay said, rubbing his eyes.

You got startled, but when you saw him with his messy hair and sleepy eyes, you softened. "I thought we had cheetos here, somewhere." Your hands trailed through the most profound part of the counter, just finding unopened packs of ramen and cookies.

"We ate them yesterday." You got off from the stool that you used to reach the counters. "We? I'm pretty sure it was you." You walked towards him, and then touched his chest with your finger.

"Ok, I did, but we don't have to fight about that… How hungry are you?" He asked, turning the kitchen lights on. "From a scale of one to ten? An eight."

He grabbed a pan from the kitchen hanger that was above the isle.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

Jay did his work, and it was a great one, with the smell coming from the pan was more than magnificent. He told you to take a seat and to wait just a few minutes.

When you reached the counter, you grabbed your phone and took a quick picture of him. You noticed how that sage green t-shirt that he wore was showing a little bit of his back, how the little moles on the back of his arm were almost hidden by the fabric, how his hair was messy from how much turning he was doing on bed.

…How he cooked your food with a small smile on his lips.

"There you go, I hope you like it." He ruffled your hair, causing you to smile back at him. Jay took a seat beside you, as he slowly caressed your forearm, and tickled the sensitive of your skin.

The plate was gorgeous, considering that it was done in the middle of the night. He had made a crepe for you, with strawberry jam, and philadelphia cream cheese.

"Thank you, Jay." You said, soon giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, seeing how a small blush formed on his ears.

You smirked from how blushed he looked, and you remembered the picture that you had just taken a few minutes ago.

That small memory of yours was really special, you don't know why, but you always got a small flutter in your heart when you remembered that night.

"I wish really badly that things would go back to what they were, but we would just continue living in a lie." A heavy lump started to form in your throat, your eyes turned crystalline, tears threatened to spill down your cheeks, so you rubbed your eyes to prevent them from going any further.

"If you need to talk to anyone, you know you can tell me anything." Heeseung said, grabbing your hand. That moment, you knew why Heeseung found it so easy to find his girlfriend. He was supportive, and he was mature. "Thank you, Heeseung. I mean it."

"No problem, Y/N." He nodded.

You decided to go back home, at least just to rest while you waited for the clinic to call back. You laid on the sofa, after changing out of your work attire, went back to the office, making sure that things were working perfectly throughout the meeting that you missed.

And you remained calm when you received a call from your sister.

"Unnie?"

You could hear a little bit of shuffling until it all quieted down. "Y/N? How are you? How was your appointment?"

Juni asked with a tired voice, as if she had just run a marathon, she was more than exhausted, and with the news of you missing that meeting, she had to do a few arrangements.

"Don't worry, it's just a stomach bug. The doctor sent me some pills and told me to rest this afternoon because I'm exhausted." You never lied, on a few occasions you did, but only when you felt that it was necessary. You weren't ready to tell her that you might be pregnant or maybe have a different illness.

"Really? It's good to know that it's nothing serious, take as much rest as you can-" "You don't have to tell me that, I'll be back to the office the upcoming Monday, and I'll be at tomorrow's family reunion."

You tried to assure her in a way that she wouldn't worry. For sure you wouldn't be missing work this Monday, you physically couldn't. And with the way that things were going with Jay, you needed some sort of distraction.

With that, she told you that she'd give you more details about the next meeting when you went back to work, and she then asked you to take care of yourself as you heard a tone of worry in her voice.

After the call, you fell asleep. You didn't notice how fast time passed until your phone rang. At first, you thought it was Jay, but you noticed that this was a company number, so you decided to answer.

"Hello?"

"Good Afternoon, am I talking to Ms. Bae? It's Seonchang clinic, we called to tell you that the results of your blood analysis are back."

With that, your heart did a quick leap, not of joy, neither of sadness, just nerves.

"Would you like to schedule another appointment for the reading of your results, or would you like to receive the-"

"I'll be there in thirty minutes, thank you for calling me." You said in an agitated voice.

You proceeded to call Heeseung, so he could pick you up. He was fast to arrive to you house, and you got into the car with your fingers obsessively picking the fabric of your navy blue sweater.

It felt like your jean shorts were itchy, but it wasn't that, it was your skin sweating from anxiousness.

By the time you arrived at the clinic, the receptionist that had greeted you earlier told you the same thing when you arrived two hours before.

"Please take a seat, the doctor will attend you in a minute."

Your thoughts were running around every single possibility of what your results could be.

Cancer,

Some sort of gastric disease,

Stress…

Or the last option.

"There seems to be an elevated count of chorionic gonadotropin hormones in your blood."

A frown settled on your face.

You didn't understand.

"What does that mean?"

Dr. Hwang looked at your results one more time, reading it carefully, getting ready to tell you something that was definitely going to change your life. "Mrs. Bae, this type of hormones are only seen during pregnancy."

"If my calculations are not wrong,"

"You are nine weeks pregnant, Mrs. Bae."

Your mind went blank, all your mind could see was pure white, like somebody had just poured bleach inside your head.

I can't be…

It couldn't be the last option, it just couldn't be.

"I have a small concern about your blood level count, it's really low. Having anemia during pregnancy it's pretty common, but yours is just a little below what we usually see. I will prescribe some vitamins for you, and a diet rich in iron."

After those words, it was like your world went numb.

You wanted to have children, but not like this, not when you and Jay were on really bad terms, not when you didn't have a stable and normal marriage.

There was one thing for sure…

You couldn't tell Jay about this, you were not ready to tell him yet.

That was when you realized that maybe your relationship wasn't the best, but your baby would be well taken care of by yourself and your family.

You were just afraid of how the circumstances were.

I'm in the last option.

Pregnant.

ACT FIVE: Hey, are you still there? Good.

You swore that now you could feel the baby move. Maybe, it was your imagination trying to ease up your crazy thoughts, but your imagination was crazy enough itself to help no more.

Sometimes, you even rubbed your abdomen in a way to feel connected to the child that was growing inside you. Even if you still weren't showing that much, you could feel that something was actually inhabiting inside of you.

A tiny human that would soon be held in your arms, a tiny human that could look just like you or maybe just like Jay.

You also wondered if it would be a boy or a girl, whichever gender that your baby had, you would love them no matter what. Your mind came back to what the doctor told you at the clinic.

She sent you down to an OB/GYN, Dr. Choi, who had her own clinic based on her specialization.

"From what I'm seeing, you are three months along in your pregnancy. The baby is pretty small, like an olive. They've developed tiny arms and legs, but I can't quite hear their heartbeat, yet. Your baby's heartbeat is pretty hidden." The doctor moved the doppler on your lower abdomen, she pointed out that the baby moved their leg, and that even though it was a slight movement, the baby would start to become very active throughout the next few weeks.

"In a few weeks, they'll grow as they should. They seem a bit tiny for how far along you are, but they are developing perfectly." She took away the doppler, and cleaned the gel that was set on your abdomen.

"As for your condition, your hemoglobin levels are really low, Dr. Hwang already prescribed you some vitamins and a rich-iron diet. I would like to monitor your blood pressure, which seems a little bit low as well."

Some people started to show at three months, some of them don't. For you, there was a small bump that was starting to grow from your lower abdomen.

When you got home after your appointments, you dropped your bag and laid on the sofa, your mind going through every single thing that it could find.

How would Jay react?

You knew he wanted children, but with everything that you guys were going through, his reaction could be pretty different from what you would expect from him.

Petty hands laid on your belly, as you caressed the skin that covered the creature growing in your womb.

And that was enough to soothe you to sleep.

The warmth that you felt right after was just perfect, the feeling covered right behind your legs and arms, you felt a warm body touching your cheek, another fabric of clothing against yours.

A few seconds later, your body laid on top of the comfy cushions and blankets of your bed… The bed you share with Jay.

When Jay saw you fast asleep, he carried you back to the main dormitory. Your warmth and soothing smell, that smell of cinnamon and vanilla that you always carried.

The second he got you on the bed, Jay put a cozy blanket on top of your body, the night was chilly and he didn't want you to be freezing cold.

He checked your sleepy features with caring eyes, your curly eyelashes, your parted lips and your blushed cheeks, they also seemed a little but fuller than usual, he wanted to touch them really bad.

But he didn't, Jay didn't want to invade your personal space. Neither did he want to cross your boundaries.

The poor man didn't know that you were half awake, and still you appreciated what he had just done for you. He didn't want you to sleep another night on the sofa, he knew it wasn't comfortable, and he was willing to sleep on the uncomfortable couch just for your well-being.

By the time that the morning came around, you heard the shower drops fall from the guest bathroom, you noticed how you were still wearing your jean shorts, which made sense as to why you felt very uncomfortable from your lower body.

This was the day that your families decided to have a monthly reunion, these reunions would take place at The Parks main residence, the house where Jay and his brothers grew up.

One of the only reasons why you wanted to go, was because you would see Mr. Park once again, that man that had grown to be almost like your own grandfather.

You felt a little bit nauseous that morning, a small vile threatened to rise up your throat, but it soon went down when you took a few deep breaths. You sat up at the edge of the bed, feeling a slight pressure from your shorts making contact with your skin.

The next thing you did was going to the bathroom to splash some water on your face, through the mirror you looked at your jet black locks. The color started to look boring, uninteresting, you thought that you could use a change.

You knew that when you get back home, you should look up if dyeing your hair wasn't a bad thing to do while pregnant.

The sound of the guest bathroom shower going off was enough to catch your attention, you knew that Jay wasn't taking a shower in your own bathroom because he wasn't willing to make you uncomfortable in any way.

You rubbed your abdomen in the hopes of feeling anything that day, you wanted to know what it felt like when a baby kicked, but you remembered that your child was way too small for you to feel anything, you wished to feel something, and maybe you wished that Jay was able to feel the same excitement that you had.

It didn't surprise you that when you went downstairs, towards the kitchen, Jay was already putting a plate on the aisle.

"Good morning." He said, putting a glass of watermelon juice beside your plate. Jay found his ways to avoid looking at you, he was ashamed, not only of himself, but also of not being able to look into your eyes and tell you what he truly felt.

"I made some kimchi toast for you, there's more on the stove if you want to grab some more." With those words, Jay started to walk away, making you frown. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'll eat when we arrive at my parents house, don't worry about me."

He left you all alone on the kitchen counter, the taste of his food was always magnificent, Jay always cooked his food with love and care, which was what you loved about his meals.

The time passed real quick, the ride to his childhood home was quiet and uncomfortable, he wasn't rubbing your thigh like he always did, and you weren't tickling his knuckles as you did when he caressed your leg.

The only thing making contact with your skin was the soft green fabric of your off-shoulder dress. The melodies of the radio were the only things that accompanied the heavy atmosphere, and the way Jay grabbed the steering wheel indicated that he was tense, it was more than noticeable with his white knuckles and red palms.

You didn't notice when you arrived to his parents' house, the ride was so tense that you escaped to your own world in a way to get away from the heavy ambience.

"Jay, Y/N, dear! Hope the ride didn't have any inconvenience." Other than an uncomfortable tension, no, everything was good. "Please come in, the food is about to be served."

Jongseong's mother guided you towards one of the outside paths that took you to the backyard. The grass was full of pink and purple flowers that Mrs. Park had obviously planted, those were her favorite colors, she had always expressed that since you were little.

Sometimes, when you were six, she asked you if you wanted to plant some flowers with her, and you never denied. You had grown to make that a habit of yours, to grow your favorite flowers in your house backyard, but you hadn't in the house that you shared with Jay.

The backyard was divided by a white wooden door, a door that you used to pretend that it was a magic portal towards an unknown land, the large pool was a lake where fairies danced, and mermaids sang, it was the place where tiny soldiers used to fight for the defense of their sacred queen.

It was the place where eight-year old Jay used to place a crown on top of your head, swearing that you would always be protected by him and that he would always consider you his queen.

"Come over, take a seat." 

Your parents were there, including your sister. She went over to give you a quick hug, brushing your hair away from your face in an attempt to have a clearer view of your face.

"You look a little bit pale, Y/N. Are you feeling ok?" She asked with a frown forming on her brows. "Maybe you should go home and rest some more."

You shook your head, looking to the side, noticing a small expression of worry in Jay's face as he listened to your sister's words, his hand came into view, knowing that he was about to put his hand on your shoulder.

"Jay, can you help me season the meat, please?" Jongseong gave a quick glance towards you, making eye contact for a second, his gaze expressing concern and disquiet.

You watched as he went away, his hand apart from your body, a warm feeling that maybe you wouldn't feel again.

"I feel just fine." You faked a smile the best you could, it wasn't that you were feeling bad, emotionally, you were destroyed, your nausea wasn't that bad, and you took your first vitamin pill that morning.

Juni inspected your face, she knew very well that there was something wrong, you just seemed down that day, a little but tense and Jay wasn't all over you as he used to.

"Yeah, sur-"

"My dear Bellie! It's so good to see you again!" Mr. Park got close to you, soon embracing you into a soft hug.

"Hi papa! How have you been?"

"I should be asking that to you. You look really frail today, come with me. You need some fresh air." Mr. Park always had his ways to enchant you, he always reminded you of your grandfather, he was sweet and caring. Sometimes, even stubborn.

Just as you walked through the large garden, Jay watched from afar, making sure that you were fine. He knew you were in good hands with his grandfather, but he couldn't help but worry.

"How have things been with Jay? He's not causing you that much trouble, isn't he? I tried to raise that boy with good manners." He muttered those last words with a grumble. You obviously were not going to tell him about what was going on with Jay, nor about your pregnancy. For now, it was your secret. And you'll reveal it when you are ready.

"You've raised him with good manners, papa. Jay is not causing me any trouble." You lied, you knew that the last sentence was a lie, but what else could you say.

"And what about… kids?" Your heart started beating fast, out of nervousness.

"Papa… You know that Jay and I need some time for that." You saw his gaze go gloomy, he looked saddened. You never understood what was the big deal of having an heir in the family, and you were more than sure that the boys were pressured to have a kid soon. "I know, dear… I really do, but having the branches secure is my biggest deal. I worked so hard for that business to prosper and I truly don't want it all to go to the drain."

You nodded your head, you knew what he meant, but it wasn't the right thing to do at all, putting pressure on your family just for a business wasn't going to help anybody.

"I know, Papa." 

A smile appeared once again on his face. "If you both truly aren't ready for a child, yet, I'll wait just a while now. You know that I'm very impatient." He chuckled.

You faked a smile. "Yes, papa. Don't worry about it."

If Sunghoon was present, you could've had somebody to talk to, but he was back in the U.S for some business trip.

Meanwhile, Jay spoke with his parents about some client that seemed to be interested in his branch. You stayed close to Juni and her husband, your parents talked about how they were so excited about some modifications in the company.

"We shouldn't be talking about work in a family reunion. We should talk about you guys, when are you giving us grandchildren." Those words made you want to smack your face against the table. Why was everybody interested in that topic?

"Juni and I are trying for a child, Mrs. Bae. I'm pretty sure that soon, we will have a small kid running around the house." Jinhae, your sister's husband was blunt, indiscreet, so much that it made you uncomfortable.

Sometimes, you wanted to scream at him for revealing every single detail of his life. It wasn't necessary to say that much.

Trying to avoid the question, you cut the meat on your plate, quickly eating it to make your mouth full.

"What about you, Y/N?" 

Well, shit!

You swallowed the food in your mouth, knowing that you were not able to escape the situation. "With my husband, we need some time for that, I hope you understand."

Your mother chuckled. She was not surprised, to say the least.

"Yeah, I do. I just hope one day, you will finally keep up to your sister's footsteps." She murmured with a sarcastic tone.

You tried your best not to slam the utensils against the table, you knew that if you caused a scandal, you would be screwed. "I will follow my own footsteps, mother. Thank you very much."

Juni stayed quiet beside you, she could see through your expressions that you were more than maddened. 

During your childhood, your mother had compared you to your older sister as if it was her favorite hobby. When you went to The Parks, Sunghoon always reassured you that you were your own person and that you would take your own steps at your own pace.

And you always trusted his caring words.

Jay sometimes eavesdropped on your conversations with Sunghoon, so he wasn't very fond of your mother because of your complaints. Mrs. Bae even felt Jongseong's cold attitude towards her, she was told he was a good kid, but she didn't understand why he wasn't fond of her.

Your father was quite different though.

He didn't compare you or pressed you to be somebody you were not. Instead, he always raised you up, he was your comfort and your safe place.

Whatever you wanted to do, he always had your back and your mother bit back at you, he would be the one defending you.

"She's different from her sister and she'll follow whatever she wants to do."

He was the one who made you like the family business, he took you to the office all the time to meet the staff, he showed you what he did and what he wished for the company.

And he didn't pressure you into the business, it was your decision and it was what you wanted to do.

"You could learn a lot from your sister, dear. I feel like you've been behind a lot in the family." You gulped in fury, trying to keep your emotions in a safe place.

"She is not staying behind, Mrs. Gwan. It's quite the opposite, though. She has not only improved, but she clearly has proven that she's good at everything she does." 

Jay's voice stayed at a cool tone, showing dominance from his seat. Chills ran down your spine as you were surprised that he was defending you.

That was when your mother felt intimidated, and she fell quiet, you looked at your husband… If you could still call him that, you felt a wave of nerves, no one had ever put your mother in her place, other than your father.

Jay's actions only made you more heartbroken, knowing that these were the last things that he would do for you.

"I'll go to the living room, it's getting quite chilly." You rubbed your arms in an attempt to make them believe that you were cold.

Juni looked at you as you walked towards the house.

Your steps were a little bit quick, and you felt your tennis shoes start to bother you, making your toes hurt from the extreme pressure being infringe on them.

Instead of staying at the living, you went upstairs towards the bathroom.

You pushed the white wooden door, feeling a wave of nausea hit you. Your body begged you to sit down for a while, at least just to reduce the feeling of sudden sickness.

The tip of your fingers brushed your arm, trying to tickle them as a way to distract you from gagging all the food that you just ate. You took a breath in and another one out, just to relax.

Your hands naughtly sneaked on your covered abdomen, giving it a small rub in a way for your baby to feel your tender care.

Mind suddenly flew towards how it would be when your baby would be in your arms, the softness of their skin, their chubby cheeks, and the smile that they would spontaneously give you at some point.

With all your heart and soul, you wished that they loved you with all their might, maybe that was impossible because they would be a small infant, but at some point they would grow up and learn about you and how much you loved them, maybe they would love you too as much as you did.

I wish your dad knew about you, he would love you with all his heart.

You would have to tell Jay at some point, but a wave of fear would consume you when you thought about it.

A knock was left on the door, you forgot that you left it open. You saw Jay's head sneak through the opening, his brown eyes shimmering in concern.

"Are you okay?" 

His soft voice was hypnotic, it was caring.

You blinked a few times, those were the first words that he had told you since that morning, a small sigh escaped your lips. 

You rarely talked ever since you found out that he was thinking of divorcing you. He slept on the couch most of the time, a few sleeping in the guest room, you knew that he didn't like how quiet that room was.

"Just… nerves." You let those words slip from your mouth as a whisper. "You know that you are enough as you are, right? Don't mind her, there's people that believe that you are amazing already." He walked closer, kneeling to your height because of you sitting on top of the closed toilet.

"I know, it's just… it can be annoying sometimes, and I wished dad was here to put her in her place." "I was quite surprised that you defended me." You finally looked at his eyes, letting your fingers continue fidgeting over and over.

"I'm still your husband, I'll defend you till the end." Your heart broke in a second, your lips threatened to quiver as a lump was felt in your throat. "A-and when this ends… will you still defend me?"

He took your hands into his, he squeezed them with care, with what you thought was love, his breath shrieked, his eyes looked gloomy, like you had just broken his soul.

"Even after this ends, I will always defend you." 

"I will always defend you too." You said trying to contain your tears.

He softly kissed you, making you spill a few tears from your eyes, he kissed you as if he was trying to remember every single detail of your lips.

Jay, then kissed the tip of your nose. Just to kiss the mole that you had at the side of your cheek.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as he then kissed your forehead. "It's ok."

Jongseong got up, rising up with you, as you felt him kiss you once again, this time roughly, making you grab his arm. With his eyes he trailed your body, paying attention to your neck, suddenly kissing that place with passion and love, his lips then laying on top of your clavicle.

Why did you always end up in a situation like that with him?

Why did lust always overpowered you both?

You just knew that you wished for him, badly.

So, then the bathroom door was closed…

Locked.

I'll love your body, like I just hurt you.

The days passed and with that came the day where you left your shared home with Jay.

You finished placing your bags on the back seat of your car. Haewon was helping you grab the rest of your stuff, as Jay watched from inside the house how you placed your most important things into the car, things that he had absolutely grown attached to.

Your things, your smell, the cute skirts that he would see every time he opened his closet, and now… your side of the closet was almost empty, leaving behind a few shoes and jeans.

He could still feel your scent throughout the room, a scent that with time will fade away and that would be the last memory that he would have of you.

Jongseong wasn't brave enough to go outside and watch you put away your stuff, before you left.

He couldn't do that, he knew that it would hurt.

The man was doing all of this for you, he was letting you go because he couldn't let your break more and more from how much it was hurting.

He didn't want you to be in a relationship where you both weren't brave enough to say those three words that everybody loved to hear.

Where the fear of 'what if' would keep you away from saying what you truly felt for him and what he truly felt for you.

He wasn't going to break you, break you for love.

"That's everything." Haewon said with a sympathetic smile on her face. You looked up towards the second floor window, you noticed that Jay was watching you pack your stuff.

His face just expressed that he was heartbroken, you were the home where you made him fall more and each time for you.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye?" Your friend said, without noticing how a tear fell down your face. You weren't ready to leave, you were not ready to leave him.

"Can't. It just… it hurts too much."

Jay couldn't see you cry, he couldn't see how your eyes watered, he couldn't see how your soul broke into pieces.

"Let's go, please." Your voice broke.

You had given Haewon your car keys earlier, you were not in the right mindset to drive. You let your body sink in the passenger seat, as Haewon starts your car, driving towards her condo building.

"What do you want to do when we get there?" She asked as she drove away from the parking, you watched as Jay stayed near the window, looking as you went away from his arms.

"We can have something to eat, Hanni will arrive and bring some fried chicken with her." Haewon was trying to distract you from your sadness, from your sorrow and your nerves. "We can paint our nails after and-" "I want to dye my hair." You said, it had been a few days since you got an interest on it. "Really? Which color?" There was a moment where you felt a vile rising up your throat, so you swallowed as  you felt the saliva threatening to spill.

"Brown- maybe mocha." You almost choke, which caused Haewon to worry, she noticed that you were getting pale, and your nausea was being threatened by the car movement.

"I'm going to stop the car, what's going on? You went to your doctor's appointment, you said you were fine." She interrogated you, she was your friend after all, she had the right to be concerned about you.

"Yeah, it's just-" "If you still feel bad, we have to get you another appointment-"

"I'm pregnant!" You nearly shouted, as you interrupted her with your words. The car was silent for a few seconds, her mouth was slightly agape, but you understood why.

"You are?" You felt obligated to nod, you couldn't lie this time, everything was spilled over.

She fell silent, processing your confirmation. 

And she felt the sudden urge to ask you. "Does Jay know?" You looked at her, not being able to respond in shame and timidity. She immediately understood your shameful expression. "Y/N…" 

"I'm scared to tell him, I don't want him to get back together with me just for the baby, and also I don't know how he'll react now." You felt some tears going down your cheeks once again.

"It's ok, dear. You'll figure it out in the long run, for now just take care of yourself." "We'll be here for you."

With those pretty words, a bittersweet feeling settled on your tummy. As much as you wanted Jay to know, his reaction wouldn't be the best after he figured that you hid from him, you just needed time.

The ride was quiet and calm, with just the sound of your sniffles on the car. You missed him already, and it was quite difficult to believe that you wouldn't sleep in the same bed anymore, you wouldn't cook for each other anymore, that you wouldn't be able to touch his skin again, to feel his soft lips and his scent. He wouldn't be there with you when you worked from home, he and he wouldn't rub your thigh anymore, as he used to do.

His sweet words, his voice, his smile… It was as if all of that had faded away in an instant.

You would never be able to say "I love you" to him and whisper it against his pretty lips.

You had always imagined that you would have to convince him that you did, after so many years of attraction, you knew that he would find it hard to believe already.

You settled perfectly in Haewon's condo. It wasn't your cozy home with Jay, but she made you feel comfortable and safe. When you got there, Hanni was waiting for you with a bag of lunch.

Hunger was taking over your body, and you really craved fried chicken.

Hanni and Haewon shared a condo together, at least until Hanni's home was remodeled. She smiled at you, knowing pretty well that your mood was not at its finest.

"We should devour some food, I'm pretty sure that you are hungry." Hanni took you to the living room where she settled the food bag on the coffee table, taking out the packages from the paperbag.

Haewon sat right beside you after she settled her stuff on the kitchen isle. "Y/N said that she wants to dye her hair after this. Maybe we can give her a hand, don't you think?" She asked Hanni with a small smile.

"I like that idea, what color do you want to dye it?" She asked, placing her hands on your hair, playing with it. "Mocha, like a brown color."

"You'll look really pretty, like always." Hanni giggled, her free hand passing you a bag of french fries.

"We can go to the grocery store for some hair coloring and will dye it today." Haewon signaled her roommate, making sure that you understood that only the two of them would go for your hair dye, while you rested at home.

"You just stay here and make yourself comfy."

After you finished eating, the girls went to the supermarket while you stayed in the living room. You decided to make a call, turning on your phone, just to be greeted with your wallpaper of Jay, that one that you liked so much.

You sighed with shame, knowing that you'll miss him a lot.

You got into your contacts and dialed Heeseung's number.

He answered quickly.

"Hello, Y/N?"

"Hi Heeseung, am I not bothering you?"

Heeseung responded that it was OK, and that you weren't interrupting anything. You explained to him that you were at Haewon's condo and that you needed him to pick you there from now on, at least until you found a new place.

He wondered what was wrong, but he knew that would be a very personal question to ask. Before cutting the call, you asked him for a favor.

A weird one, to say the least.

By the time the evening came, Haewon and Hanni were back.

You sent the rest of the afternoon  in the bathroom trying to figure out what you wanted to do with your hair. They took out a few laughs out of you, and they were happy that they at least raised your mood up a little.

"Guys… I really like it." 

Your hair was now a brown mocha color, living behind the natural jet black hair that you used to have. You touched the roots and then the ends of your hair, Hanni cut a few hair strands near your forehead, they weren't bangs, and it seemed like small, stylish strands. 

"Thank you, so much." You give them a warm hug, you were really grateful for all that they were doing for you. "You look beautiful, Y/N."

You couldn't ask for better friends than them.

The living room was full of fuzzy blankets and pillows, where you three slept the remainder of the night, as you tightly hugged a hoodie that you had sneaked a few months ago into your side of the closet. A hoodie whose previous owner was Jay.

When the week came, Jay was surprised by the fact that he received a call from his secretary, saying that a 'Lee Heeseung' was there to deliver him something.

He didn't remember ordering anything.

But the name was what made his heart quicker… Lee Heeseung, from your Baezen Corp.

"Mr. Park, I come on behalf of your wife. She asked me to give you this." Jay's heart was in pieces… a thermal lunch bag.

 It was his lunch, the one that you always made for him. You still made food for him, even though of the circumstances.

"Please have a good evening, sir."

With that, Heeseung left. And Jay was flattered he was hanging from a thread because of your actions.

He looked at the lunch bag and its containers, the same white containers where you placed his food.

"You're gonna be the end of me, Belle." 

You were working soundly in your office, when the receptionist came by. "Mrs. Bae, it's from The Northern Branch, they say that your husband is sending it for you." You frowned in amusement, you weren't expecting Jay to send you something back.

She gave you a paper bag, knowing pretty well what it was.

It was from the place that Jay used to take out food for the both of you. A small note was attached to the bag.

'You always find your ways to surprise me… Every single day. Please enjoy, it's your favorite.'

When you opened the bag, you saw a package of chicken burgers and fries, and they were accompanied by cheese balls… Your favorite.

Your heart paced in a different beat, and for some reason you knew that this was going to hurt even more, but you would enjoy it anyway.

This kept up, back and forth, for the next two weeks it became a routine, the receptionist would leave a package from Jay and Heeseung would leave a package of yours in Jay's office.

And one day, you found yourself in front of the place that you used to call home, you rang the bell, hearing a voice coming from inside the house.

You were going to be greeted by Jay, but you hadn't seen him in a few weeks.

So, your heart took a leap when you saw him. He was wearing a sage green hoodie and a pair of sweat shorts.

"Hey!" 

"Hi." You timidly responded, you didn't know how you were standing in front of him, not only was he making your heart quicken, but you were also feeling badly, a little strange.

It wasn't a nauseous feeling, it was something else, you felt like everything was spinning at some point, but you tried to focus, you had to get the remainder of your stuff out of the house.

"Please, come inside." He made space for you to go in, the living room looked spacious, and empty, as if something was missing, but the decorations that you placed there were still intact. They reminded him of you.

"You want some water?" Jay asked, getting rid of the silence. "No thanks, I'm not thirsty." You denied with a small voice.

Jay looked towards the bedroom, right upstairs. He noticed your uncomfortable state, and he wanted to take it out of the window, he wanted to hug you and kiss you, but he couldn't do that anymore.

"I-I'll go upstairs for a second, I can help you grab some of your stuff." You were surprised by how rushed he looked… Did he want you out of the house already?

Obviously he did, because then he wouldn't be in a rush.

You placed your hands in the kitchen isle, the only thing that was giving security, it felt like your feet were floating for a second, as if you were out of touch, out of reality.

You knew that pregnancy could make you feel light-headed, but this felt different. It just felt as if you were swaying around and your fingertips tingled with a sensation you couldn't describe.

You felt numb, and you tightly shut your eyes to get rid of the feeling, but when you opened them once again it just felt worse.

The sensation of your tennis shoes were gone, with just the feeling of a tight pressure on your feet being the only things that counted.

And that was when your legs felt wobbly and your arms were sore all of the sudden, and your mind was blank.

It was pure white, as if nothing was going on, no thoughts, no feelings, nothing.

Just a blurry vision setting in, your breath going quicker as your heart went slower, you felt that your heart was going to stop from how slow it was going, so you touched your chest with the little force that you had, and you let out a few heavy breath before your body finally gave in and your eyes went to the back of your head.

When your body fell to the ground, a thump was heard throughout the house, Jay heard it, a weird feeling kicking in his system.

Something's wrong

That was the first thing that came to his mind, so he called out for you. "Belle?"

He received no response, just the white noise of silence. That was when panic settled in, something was very wrong. 

"Y/N?" He called out your name once again, as you rushed out of the room, pacing down the stairs.

And his heart dropped to the stomach, when he saw nobody there, nothing. Except for a small hand sticking from behind the kitchen isle. "Shit!"

That was the only word that came out of his mouth when he saw that, and the complete image was way more terrifying than what he had just seen.

He rushed towards you, quickly kneeling beside you, inspecting you completely.

Your body laid on the floor, a small bruise on your cheek and a nasty bloody cut on your forehead. It was obvious from the way that you laid that you had hit your head with the floor, leaving you with those nasty marks on your face.

"Y/N?" Jay took you into his arms, trying to lay your bottom on his lap in a way to make you comfortable.

The ambulance?! What was the emergency number?

Fuck! How could he not remember?"

He was in a state of shock, stress, even. Jay could only call out your name in a way to wake you up, but that wasn't working, you were not responding.

"Belle! Y/N! Wake up." He couldn't shake you awake, you most likely had a concussion and he was just going to make it worse if he shook you awake.

He finally reacted and reached for his phone, the emergency number had finally come back to his mind.

Jay waited for them to answer, as he looked down at you, a drop of blood oozing out of your wound and dripping down your forehead.

"119, what's your emergency?" A female voice was heard from the other side of the line. Jay felt his voice tremble, he was nervous and he was scared, he didn't know what he was doing.

"M-My wife- she just passed out, There's a wound in her head, I think she has a concussion." The woman noticed the fear in Jay's voice, she knew he was freaking out.

"I tried calling out for her, but she's not waking up." She asked for his location, but Jay wasn't thinking clearly, he couldn't remember those important details. So, the woman on the phone had to track his location. "I got your direction, an ambulance will be sent there in a minute. Please remain calm." Jay cut the call, and he then placed his hand on your cheek, he wanted you to be ok, he couldn't lose you, not yet.

"Hey… Help is coming, you are going to be ok." Jay expected you to hear him, but those words were also for himself, he needed to convince himself that you would be just fine.

"You are going to be just fine."

He caressed your cheek, being careful with your wound and being careful not to move you as much.

That was when he heard the ambulance closer, relief started to flow through him as he saw the paramedics enter the house. 

They started to round you, and Jay let them do their work as they looked over you. "She has a concussion, we don't know to what degree, so we'll take her to the hospital." 

Jay nodded at his words, feeling a lump form on his throat out of fear, but also of relief.

They put you on a stretcher and took you out of the house, with Jay right behind them. He was not going to leave alone, so he drove in the ambulance with you.

He kept his hand on top of yours in case you woke up not knowing what had happened. 

Soon, they arrived at the hospital and they took you to the emergency room as a nurse stopped Jay from going any further. "She's my wife, I need to know that she's ok." 

"I know, sir, but we need the doctors to do their work so we can help her."

With those words, Jay cursed under his breath, and anxiety took over him as he felt his chest heavy. He dialed your sister and she came at the speed of light, he didn't know how she got there so quickly.

"I don't know what happened, I went upstairs, then I heard a loud sound and that's when I went back to see her passed out." He sounded out of air, as if he couldn't breathe, like he just ran a marathon.

"She probably passed out and hit her head, we need to know why she passed out, though."

Juni murmured as she caressed Jay's arm to calm him down.

"Family of Bae Y/N?" One of the doctors came out of your room, a room Jay had requested to move you in, just for you to be comfortable.

"It's us, I'm her sister, he's her husband." The doctor nodded in understanding.

She looked at your chart once more, confirming why you passed out and how they needed to treat you.

"It seems like Y/N has a concussion from the fall, it's not that bad, but with her condition, we need to keep on the guard for a few days." 

Jay frowned, a feeling of anxiety taking over and his heart started racing in expectation.

"What condition?" He steadied his voice.

That was when the doctor knew that your husband wasn't aware of anything, and maybe neither did you, but we all know that you fully knew.

"Y/N is twelve weeks pregnant." 

His world stopped, he couldn't process the information.

Y/N is twelve weeks pregnant

He just felt numb, as if he was falling down a cliff of confusion.

Jay then figured… 

She's been hiding it from me.

Y/N knows that she's pregnant.

"She has a severe case of anemia and low blood pressure, which explains why she fainted. Anemia is common during pregnancy, but such low blood levels is not a good thing."

Jay listened carefully to the doctor's words… he felt disappointed. Why would you hide this from him?

"Can we see her now?" He asked, he wanted to make sure that you were fine, he wanted to see you face to face and reassure himself that you would be just fine.

"You can." The doctor then guided them towards your room.

Jay saw how pale you looked, he noticed recently that you looked sick and fatigued… So that was why…

He got really close to your bed, sitting beside you on a plastic chair. You looked better than when you arrived, there was a small patch in your forehead and you were being fed IV meds, your lips were dry… He would remind you to take some water after you woke up, he noticed small eye bags under your eyes from exhaustion.

He then caressed your free hand, giving it warmth and love.

Jay was going to talk to you when you got better, but he didn't want to disturb you either.

"It's good to know that you are ok, we'll figure out how we are going to make this work, but I'm pretty sure it will." He then gave you a tender kiss on your forehead, on top of your bandage.

No matter what, he always adored you.

He will always love you.

"I'll call my parents and tell them that we-" 

"Don't." Juni was confused.

"Y/N and I need to keep it private for a while, at least until she's comfortable telling the rest of the family." 

Juni understood what he meant, and she nodded in agreement, putting her phone inside her pocket once again.

A few hours passed, and Jay's family arrived, Juni had told about your stay to Sunghoon and he had called the rest of the family in worry, but their eldest son told them a different story. You were anemic and that caused you to faint, so that way he could talk with you first and know that you were comfortable talking about your pregnancy.

Meanwhile, you were dreaming.

It was more like a nightmare, maybe.

You were in a hospital bed, the air was tense, the aura was tense.

It wasn't that the hospital bed was uncomfortable. It's the ambience, the situation that you just got into that made you uncomfortable.

Jongseong wasn't showing any type of expression, he was just standing, staring at the floor, maybe at his feet. You swore that his soul was wandering somewhere around the room.

You should've ended things sooner.

Maybe it was your fault, somehow.

That was when Jay got closer and looked at you with disappointment.

You couldn't tolerate it.

You needed to wake up!

And your eyes fluttered open, a small headache setting in. You could hear the sound of a heart monitor, the heartbeat was slow, nice and you knew that it was yours.

A small presence was causing chills in your body, but you were too weak to move, and only a whimper escaped your lips.

"Hey." It was Jay.

"Hi." 

You noticed that he was holding your hand, giving it a slight squeeze. You loved his warmth.

"I was going to tell you before I became a nervous wreck, but I like your hair." He said with a smile, his other hand laying on top of your head, giving it a light massage.

His smile was what got him away.

"You know already, right?" A tired smile settled on your lips, you were trying to light the ambience with it. 

Jay had to admit that it was working.

"There was no need to hide it from me, but I understand why you did it… You were scared, weren't you?" You squeezed back his hand, he knew you pretty well. "Maybe… a little bit."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed."

He caressed your cheek with care. He always found ways to make you fall for him once again. "Will figure it out, ok. For now, I'll make sure that you are in a completely good condition."

"Yeah, ok."

Your voice was small and weak, and that was cue for Jay. He knew you were tired, not only from the big blow you got on your head, but also from your pregnancy.

"You should get some sleep, you look really tired." He passed his hands through your hair, his touch being soft and delicate.

He is gorgeous.

You felt a sudden urge to ask him a really personal question, you didn't know how he'll respond, but you still asked.

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

His heart fluttered, a small smirk adorning his lips. "Why would I leave?" He had a lot of reasons to leave, why wouldn't he? He was divorcing you, but there was a small thought wandering around your mind.

"Jay?" 

"Yes?"

You build up the courage to ask, not knowing if it was a good idea to ask, and if he would leave after that.

"You never gave me any divorce papers." You felt a little bit of anxiety, maybe because Jay just stared at you with surprise. He wasn't expecting you to ask that.

He cleared his throat, trying to proceed with what he wanted to say.

"Are you asking me… to give them to you?" His expression was dull, like sadness had consumed his face. "No, it's not that… we are separating, but you never asked me to sign any documents." You pursed your lips, looking down at your covered legs.

His face said it all.

He wasn't looking at you either, he just looked at the floor, just to brush his hair with his hand.

"You are not ready to fill the papers, are you?"

This time you grabbed his hand, holding it lightly with the strength that you had. He finally looked at you, he was kinda embarrassed and he didn't know how he had reached that situation.

So when you shook his head, you giggled.

"Don't laugh at me."

You covered your mouth with your hand, trying to contain the slight laughter that came from your mouth. "I'm not."

He squeezed your hand once again, his warmth irradiated through your body, you could feel his nerves go up.

Jay inhaled before proceeding to tell you what he wanted to say. "It was difficult enough when you left, you didn't even say goodbye and I didn't either, but I wasn't brave enough to watch you go from up-close." 

"I don't even know how I tolerated not being with you at home, it felt really empty… because you were missing. Your oversized sweatshirts laying around the house were gone, the smell of your food was gone, your scent stayed for a few days, before it finally faded away. And your energy was gone, your cute smile in the mornings, brushing your teeth while I took a shower, there was nobody waiting for me when I got back home." 

"You left a few shampoo bottles around, I left them intact because they reminded me of you, I bought your perfume bottle just to spray it around, because I missed you. Your warmth was missing and that sweet aura that was around the house was completely gone."

He paused for a moment, you weren't expecting Jay to miss you that much, to the point of describing every single thing that he missed from you. 

"That house was a place that I couldn't call home anymore, because you were missing. My advisor told me to send the papers after you were gone, but then Heeseung came around with your food packages and… if I found it impossible to get those papers ready, I knew at that moment that I couldn't let you go. And when you came back home today, I felt the need to tell you to stay, so I went upstairs to calm down." That was when he chuckled, he knew what happened after, you both knew.

"Well, I think I know the rest." You murmured. "Yeah, you definitely do."

You stayed quiet for a while, the silence was comfortable and with you both holding hands, everything was better, it was nice and it was cozy.

"I don't want to leave you, Belle." His eyes glimmered with hope, gaze looking directly into your softened eyes. "I don't want to leave you, either."

"I thought I was doing you a favor if we got a divorce. At one point we weren't talking that much and we just had sex, we both knew that our relationship wasn't in the best place, but I just knew that you were hurting, so I did what I thought was the right thing."

You looked at him with a caring gaze and you rubbed his hand trying to comfort him.

"And what happened after that?"

He passed his hand through your locks, he looked at you like he was watching the stars from the clouds.

"I realized that I can't live without you."

Your heart leaped to your throat, but you kept your cool, you smirked at him, you tried to do that weird facial expression when he tried to be cocky. 

Jay coughed from seeing your face, he knew what you were doing. You were imitating him.

"Don't do that face." He pinched your cheek, just for you to try to get his hand away with a giggle.

"I can't live without you either." You said between giggles. His eyes lit up when he saw your smile, when he heard your laughter.

Jay rubbed your cheeks, he liked how chubby they were and how your eyes glistened, as you looked at him with love, with a cutesy smile.

When he looked at your face, he knew that he wanted to be with you forever, and whatever this fear was, you could get over it, he would find a way too.

Because he wasn't ready to let you go.

So, when he asked you the next thing… You were taken back to a year ago.

"Do you love me, Mrs. Bae?" His eyes were hopeful, you remembered how he looked that night near the swimming pool, looking at you lovingly as you sat on one of the beds.

His face was exactly the same as from that day, eyes pretty and shiny.

"I do, Mr. Park." Jay let out a small laugh, as his chest felt the hard heartbeats thumping on its cage. 

"I do love you, Jay." Your eyes watered, as your voice waved, you quickly nodded your head with happiness.

It felt like being free, because you could finally say it, the fear was there, the fear of what if… But you would figure it out in the long run, for now you just wanted to think about the present and how you wanted to feel Jay's warmth once again.

"Good… because I love you, Mrs. Bae." As your heartbeat quickened and the heart monitor showed it, Jay quickly placed a kiss on your lips.

You closed your eyes in relief, and you felt the butterflies rummaging on your tummy, he cut the kiss just to place his lips on top of your forehead, where your bandage was.

You placed your hand on his jawline, and when he got away, he placed his hand on top of yours to feel your warmth on his face.

You were surprised that you didn't start crying a long time ago, looking at him just made you want to smile and laugh all the way, but your tears made your smile glowy. "Do you think I can go back home?" When you asked, sniffles could be heard, making him giggle, and then he gave you a quick peck on the lips. "Why would you even ask? I want you home already."

The moment was wholesome, and for once and for all, you could finally feel his love radiating from his body.

And that night when you fell asleep, he looked at you as if he could protect your sleep, your dreams and everything that you wished for. 

Jay fell asleep a few hours later, with his head on top of your lap.

When the morning came by, Jay asked your sister to look after you, so he could take your stuff back home, and also bring what you would need in your hospital stay.

"Can I get back to work as soon as possible? Mom is going to be pissed." You asked your sister, as she rubbed the pale skin of your knuckles.

Her jaw almost fell ajar when she heard your words.

"Why would you even think about that right now?! Focus on resting! Your health won't improve if you don't and your baby will be affected." She played with your hair, just like when you were a child, her way to comfort you from how harsh your mother treated you.

"Just imagine this, I'm pretty sure that your baby will be the cutest thing, they will have your chubby cheeks for sure and Jay's pretty lips. Just imagine, they'll be the prettiest." Juni kept on saying, as she rubbed your abdomen, which was a little bit bigger now, the bump was growing as it should, but you hoped that the baby would be slightly bigger than before.

A knock was heard from outside the room, and you saw Jay waving his hand with that weird smile that he made sometimes.

"I'm back, Belle." He walked towards you, just to give you a peck in your forehead. "You took your time."

"Sorry about that, I wanted to make sure that I brought what you needed." Jay put a bag on one of the plastic seats, it was a travel bag, from where he took out a green 'Atlanta Georgia' sweatshirt that you had packed in one of your bags.

"Thank you, Jay."

You grabbed the piece of clothing and put it on top of your hospital gown, he accommodated the sleeves of your sweatshirts, caressing your arms right after.

"One of the nurses said that the doctor wants to do an ultrasound to see how the baby's doing." Juni said with a light excitement in her voice.

Jay was excited as well, this was the first ultrasound that he would presence, this would be your second. 

As if it was her cue, the doctor came in to attend you. She brought an ultrasound machine with her, which surprised your husband. It wasn't a big piece of equipment, but it just made him more nervous than he already was. It just felt way too real for him.

"Good morning, Y/N. Are you feeling better?"

You grabbed Jay's hand between yours, sensing that some sort of anxiety was taking over him, he just wriggled his legs a little and the hand you held was moving its fingers way too much.

"Kinda tired, but other than that I feel fine." You looked at your husband, as a way to reassure him that you were feeling ok, and that everything was fine.

"I want to do a routine ultrasound, just to make sure that your pregnancy is developing correctly, as well as the baby." She took out a doppler and a gel bottle to put over your stomach. 

You raised your gown and sweatshirts up, uncovering your abdomen, the only thing covering your bottoms were the hospital blankets. Your hands rested on top of the fabric of your risen clothes, but Jay grabbed one of them in an attempt to calm himself down.

His eyes laid on your bump, it was small, but it was noticeable if you used tight clothing, you were a person who used loose clothing at home, so it didn't surprise him that he didn't notice it at first.

"You'll feel a sensation of coldness." The doctor said before putting a patch of gel on top of your lower stomach, on top of your little bump. A chilling sensation went through your body, and you shut your eyes as you purse your lips. "It's really chilly." You said squeezing Jay's hand. "Is it really?" He almost laughed, as he saw your expression. Jay was trying to be playful with you for a second.

Your doctor pressed the doppler on your stomach, moving it around as you felt a strong urge to pee because of the water that you had drank after the nurse told you about the ultrasound. She moved it near your pelvis, finally locating your baby on the screen.

"There they are." Jay looked up towards the screen, seeing a black and white image that showed a tiny human in the middle of the darkness, their legs kicked as much as they could and their tiny arms fidget around. 

"They seem to be moving a little, and it looks like they are developing just fine." You let out a sigh of relief, somehow you hadn't noticed that you were holding your breath for a moment until Jay's amused face got into your view.

"Why are they so tiny?" Your husband's eyes shimmered with adoration, he had never seen something so small, especially if they were growing inside your body.

He was enchanted, like he had just fallen in love once again, and you had just noticed. Jay was hypnotized, he saw the little baby move as much as they could and he couldn't help but feel like he was magnified.

"The baby is in its twelfth week, they still have a lot of time to grow." Your doctor chuckled at how Jay looked. He truly had just fallen in love, once again.

"Can we know the gender?" You asked with curiosity, causing Jay to come out of his trance. That caught his attention, he wanted to know what the baby would be.

Jongseong looked at the doctor, hopeful for her to say that you could.

"It wouldn't be a hundred percent accurate, but there's no problem trying." With that, Jay had a childlike smile sticking to his face, like a kid that was given a big chocolate bar.

The doctor moved the doppler once again, finding a focus point and looking carefully at the screen, the anticipation was eating you alive and you bounced your leg as you waited for the doctor to tell you what you were waiting for.

Jay played with your fingers, his feet moving side to side while he waited.

The doctor hummed in curiosity, finally seeing what she was looking for. "If this is completely accurate, I can tell you that you are having a girl." 

"A girl?" Your heart leaped as you heard your husband's voice.

His baby was a girl…

That tiny, little thing was his daughter.

A pretty, little girl.

"Jay?" You called out his name, again, taking him out of his trance. 

He rubbed your hand with care and with admiration, but his eyes were focused on the screen,  it was like he was lost in a completely different galaxy, like it was just that small black and white picture and him.

He just looked dazed.

Because for him, it just felt too real.

"I think he is in shock." Your sister giggled, but you turned your head to look at him carefully. He truly was in a trance, he was lost.

The doctor couldn't help, but giggle as well. This was a common sight for her, parents amused by the child that they would soon hold in their arms.

"It's something pretty common for first-time parents, I wouldn't worry about it if I was you." She grabbed her equipment and tapped the metal while she looked at you. "Your baby is doing completely fine, she seems healthy. She looks a little bit small for how far along the pregnancy is, but as I was saying, there's still a lot of time for her to grow."

The female wished you a good day, walking away from your room and attending other patients.

Your gaze was back to Jay, while you pulled down the gown and your sage sweatshirt. Your fingers tickled his skin, trying to bring Jay out of his universal traveling. Maybe it worked, because your husband looked down at his feet, wetting his lips with his tongue.

"Earth to Jay, are you back already?" Juni snapped her fingers in front of him. You chuckled, noticing how he lifted his gaze and how his eyes got glossy.

"We lost you there for a second, Mr. Park." Jongseong shook his head, he broke away from his fantasy.

"Sorry, I was fazed."

You lovingly faced him, placing your hand on his cheek. "We definitely didn't notice."

"It's just… She's so small, it feels surreal." 

"She seems so tiny to hold." He whispered with a tone of nerves in his voice. "Jay, she still has time to grow."

"I know, but she'll still be small by the time we get to hold her." He liked his lips again, biting the bottom flesh right after, but still a smirk got to settle in.

"What?" You asked, not knowing what his face meant.

"There's going to be a small version of you running around the house. She'll probably have your pretty doe eyes, and your chubby rosey cheeks. Her eyes will glimmer like the ocean just smiled at the moon." Your husband's smile just grew bigger as he continued talking, his mind was navigating every single scenario.

"A Mini Belle."

Jay's gaze turned deep, pretty specs on his eyes that showed his enchantment, his enthusiasm.

"You are so cheesy!" Your smile grew as well, your mind also navigated towards the description that Jay had just given you. Something inside of you screamed that your child would look just like your husband.

"I'm not being cheesy, I'm being real."

"It doesn't matter, however she looks like she'll be more than loved. Especially with the infatuated father that she is about to have."

Father.

A word that he wasn't expecting to be called so soon.

But still…

Jay was loving it already.

ACT SIX: Maybe I blame my mother bleeding into my stride, maybe it was my father and his wandering eyes.

"Uno!"

The happy cheer could be heard around the house, the neighbors might even say that it was heard to the other side of the street.

You raised your hands up in victory. Jongseong still having three cards in hand.

It wasn't that long ago that you were talking about going back to work just for the fact that you didn't want to disappoint your mother, but with the passing of days your energy was completely different.

"This is the third time that you've won." Jay said with defeat, you had played a few board games that evening and he didn't know how you had the energy and also the spirit to keep on playing, as well as winning.

"And I'll keep doing it, you sore loser." You stick out your tongue like a five-year old playing a game of dolls. "Well, well, this sore loser will go somewhere else." Jay got up from the floor, the edges of the coffee table leaving marks on both of his arms.

While you pouted at him leaving you by yourself. "Jay, I'm just joking around!" You followed after him, right towards the kitchen.

"I know, I'm joking with you as well. What do you want for dinner?" He quickly changed the topic, trying to keep a cheerful expression on you. He hadn't seen you this happy since you were a teen, preteen to say the least.

You already had an idea of what you wanted to eat, you had been craving it the whole afternoon. 

At your 14 week of pregnancy, you noticed that you were having cravings for the first time. It was simple things, like chocolate ice cream, or pineapple slices.

"Can we order pizza margarita?"

"That sounds-"

"With french fries… and pickles." You said taping the marble of the kitchen isle, expectant of a response. Knowing Jay, he would say yes to you.

But this was the first time that you asked for something so specific.

"We don't have pickles anymore?" He scratched the back of his neck, he opened the fridge door looking for the refrigerated snack, just to find none.

You picked yourself up, sitting on the edge of the marble, waiting for your husband to find what you wanted.

"I don't think so."

Jay turned around, closing the fridge behind him. Looking at your small form sitting on top of the isle, that moment he leaned in closer to your body, hands on each side of you, noses almost rubbing each other.

"How hungry are you?" 

You giggled at how close he was.

"From one to ten… a fifty-eight." He kissed your lips with a small peck. "I'll go buy some, then." He got away with intentions to go for his shoes, but you quickly got off the isle, with tiny, but speedy steps you took towards him.

"Wait, I'm coming with you."

Jay drove to the grocery store, having called the pizza place for pick up in thirty minutes. As he drove towards the store, he kept his hand on your thigh and you did what you usually did, rub his hand, his knuckles.

You both usually did the groceries your separate ways, but this was one of the few times that you did it together.

You got to the parking lot, with Jay all over you because of how cold it was. At a certain point, you understood, but it got exaggerated within seconds.

"You should wear a beanie, it's really cold inside. I don't want you to get sick." He took a gray beanie from inside the car, living you stunted with how he was acting. 

There was a pink knitted sweater warming your skin, as well as some cozy sweatpants and socks. You were more than fine.

He got the beanie on your head, causing you to whimper from how weird his hands felt on your head.

"Jay, love, I'm fine." You chuckled, pushing his hands away from your body. "I'm just making sure you are ok." He grabbed your face, cupping your cheeks, as he looked at every detail of your face.

It hurt him to see the purple-ish bruise on your left cheek, and the butterfly band aid that was at the corner of your forehead. So, for the past two weeks he had been kissing the spots where your skin had been affected, even the marks of the IV on the back of your hand, he kissed them while you were asleep.

And that's what he did, he placed a soft kiss on your bruised cheek, and then he planted a longer kiss on your forehead.

He had been so soft recently.

Ever since you got out of the hospital, even at the hospital… He got clingy and his gaze always shone when he looked at you.

"You look adorable, Belle." 

He turned you around towards the store, keeping his hands on your shoulders.

Jay was more than sure that he wasn't coming out of that grocery store with just a jar of pickles. He had a feeling that there would be so much more.

Your husband swore that he saw little sparks on your eyes when you looked for pickles, it wasn't just because of that, but because of the various food items that you saw around.

Pretty eyes glowing as you saw a huge packet of strawberries, kiwis and even those big bags of sweetened bread that you never wanted to try, but now you were hypnotized by it.

"Look Jay, it's rice krispies!" The fact that you acted like your ten-year old self, was warming his soul with happiness.

You looked happy, you were happy.

You were pointing at the big box of cereal treats that was at the top of a counter. You jumped in place with a cute grin on your lips.

"I think I can fetch them if you put me on top of your shoulders." For some reason, Jay saw all the things that could go wrong, he saw your cute smile and he felt tempted, but he wasn't sure if that would be a good idea.

"Don't be silly, we can just call someone and ask them to take it down for us. No need to complicate things." He patted your head, that was covered by the beanie that he put on you.

"I'll be right back, I'll look for somebody to take it down." Jay rubbed your arm, walking away towards one of the store owners.

He had a feeling that when he got back, you would be gone and that you would be in a different section looking for something else.

"Excuse me," Jay asked one of the workers. He wore a white shirt with an orange vest that represented the colors of the store.

"Can you please help me bring down a box in the cookie section?" The man agreed following him towards the section. When they arrived, the wheeled basket was there… but you weren't.

He knew it!

He just had a feeling that you would wander off, he looked around for a second, quickly pointing at the rice krispies box, so the worker could bring it down.

Jay walked towards the end of that section, but soon he got relieved, because he saw you sprinting towards him with a big pint of ice cream in hand.

"Love, look, they had chocolate milk and cookies ice cream." You got in front of him, with that cutesy smile of before.

The worker got the box down just in time. "Oh! You got the rice krispies!" You put down the pint of ice cream in the cart, then thanked the worker for the box.

You tried to grab it, but Jay was quicker than you. "I'll take it for you. Thank you!" Jay thanked the worker, putting the box down on the cart.

"I think we can go for that pizza now." You tapped the edge of the basket, getting pretty giddy and excited for dinner.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Jay asked teasingly. You had forgotten why you came into the store in the first place. So, you frowned at him, not knowing what you were forgetting, until…

"What am i- The pickles! I completely forgot!" You ran towards that section, causing Jay to look at you with worry. "Y/N don't run too fast, be careful!"

He still didn't understand where you got so much energy recently.

You finally went back home after leaving the store and picking up your pizza order. Jay had asked them to add french fries to your order, like you wanted.

Jay had sliced pieces of pickles, so they would be at the side of your plate… but you still grabbed the whole jar to eat the rest.

"It's really tasty!" You pointed out. Maybe Jay looked at you weird, maybe because you had placed the pickles on top of your food. "You wanna try?" You asked.

Your husband thought about it for a second, before letting you feed him the strange combination.

He swallowed, analyzing the taste and the texture of what he had just eaten.

"Well?" A part of you wondered what he was thinking. He still had some pieces of food that he chewed, so you were expectant to know his opinion.

"It's actually… really tasty." With that you clapped your hands with enthusiasm. "You like it?" 

"Yeah, I do." He grabbed the slice of pizza that you had in hand, taking away your food. "Yah!" You hit his arm, feeling betrayed.

"That's mine!"

Jay covered his mouth with his hand as he chewed. "Not anymore."

Let's say that you might have hit him with the pillows that laid on the sofa. It didn't take time until he responded with the same actions, which ended with an attack of pillows and tickles in the living room.

The laughs and the screams of plea could be heard throughout the house, and the people that heard outside the house, felt that there would be a lot of happiness rummaging around the house, for a long, long time.

Later that night, you laid on top of the soft navy blue mattress and its covers, a comfy blanket keeping you warm.

Not only that, but your husband's arms around your body were giving you the protection and the warmth that you craved and needed. He kept behind yours, his lips touching your hair, smelling the scent of your shampoo, feeling that vanilla scent that he always liked.

"Maybe Chip will have your energy when she grows up." His low voice tickled on your scalp, running chills down your spine, even though that still kept you wondering:

"Who is Chip?" You giggled from his breath hitting your hair. 

"Our baby, Y/N. She's Chip." He rubbed your covered belly, which in the past weeks had grown a little bit more than before. You wondered why your bump wasn't bigger than the rest, so you got a little bit insecure.

"But why Chip? How did you come up with that nickname?" 

"Well, if you are my Belle, then our tiny human is our Chip." You were surprised by that, it was cute. You wondered how Jay could come up with those types of things, but whatever he came up with, it was always with his heart.

"You still remember that?"

"You made me and my brothers watch that movie every time you visited, those characters are engraved in my mind at this point." He ranted, making you laugh once again. Your hands on top of his, which caressed your abdomen.

"I guess you were really in love with me, because not even Sunghoon remembers that stuff." You teased him.

He stayed quiet for a second, taking in your warmth, every single mole of your arms and the smell of your hair.

"I've been in love with you ever since I entered my pre-teens. When you visited, you were the only person I paid attention to, and Sunghoon always bothered me about that, he said that I was going crazy for you. He wasn't wrong." Jay kissed the back of your head, his fingers lingering on top of your arms.

"Everytime I waited for Hoon, I took advantage of being there, so I could see you. I always wondered why you didn't wear your uniform correctly?" This time, he let a chuckle escape from his lips, the vibration running down your spine a second time.

"I was trying to impress you. I guess it didn't work." 

"It kinda did work, don't worry." 

Jay got you closer to his body, you could feel the fabric of his shirt touching the parts where your skin was uncovered. He snuggled you with care, and he then placed his chin on your shoulder, giving you a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you, Jay. Good night."

He smiled to himself, feeling his stomach get warm. "I love you too, Belle."

You never truly had that much insecurities growing up. 

Yeah, sometimes you wondered if your body fitted the standards of the time, but you never neglected your body and didn't reach the point of changing it.

But now that you were pregnant, a new insecurity came in. 

Being small.

Your belly wasn't as big as the rest of other pregnant women. You saw that their bumps were bigger and that meant that their baby was healthy, developing as they should.

Even if your doctor had told you that babies and bumps could be smaller than normal, and that it was nothing to worry about, you still felt that you were doing something wrong.

And watching your reflection in the mirror, you noticed today that nothing had really changed, your bump was still small, and you worried that your baby wasn't developing correctly.

You were going out that day, to your appointment with Dr. Choi. She asked you to come in when you entered your second trimester.

That was more stressful for you, maybe the doctor would say that something was not right because you were way too small to be in your second trimester, in your fourteenth week.

Your hands rubbed your belly, noticing how your jeans still fitted and your bump was sticking out through the fabric, but it still didn't look like you were pregnant.

"Belle! Why are you taking so long?"

Jay's voice was close, he had entered the room and soon he saw the bathroom door ajar. He wondered what you were doing.

He opened the door, finding the sight where you just felt dissatisfied, also disappointed.

"My jeans still fit." Your voice sounded defeated, and your husband didn't fail to notice. "Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?" He walked towards you, getting right behind you, his hands placed on your shoulders.

"I don- I don't know… Maybe a bad thing?" Jay frowned at your words, he was about to ask why, but you took the words out of his mouth. "It's just… I don't look pregnant." You whispered, feeling a sense of sadness within you.

"And what's the bad thing about that? If you look pregnant, if you don't look pregnant it doesn't matter, what matters is that you are healthy and that Chip is healthy. Isn't that what matters?" 

"Are you still calling her Chip? I have a feeling that she will hate that nickname." You looked at him with a tiny grin.

"She will not, and don't change the topic. Every one it's different, you don't have to feel bad just because you are smaller than others or bigger than others, what matters is that you are healthy, that you have people who love you just the way you are, why shouldn't you love yourself that way?" He kissed the back of your head, just to turn you around and give you a kiss on the lips.

"Don't worry, everything is fine."

After that he guided you to the car, with the intention to take you to your appointment with the OB/GYN.

Currently you are at Dr. Choi's office, she put a blood pressure monitor on your arm, feeling the hold of the sleeve press your arm, causing it to hurt a little bit as well.

When she took the sleeve off your arm, she told you to get on the bed, as Jay helped you to lift up your satin shirt, staying right by your side while you waited for the doctor to put the doppler on top of your lower stomach.

You had just drank a few bottles of water before arriving at your appointment, it was funny, because you could feel how you were holding in your pee.

It was worse when she put the doppler on your abdomen, near your pelvis, moving it around made it way far worse. 

"I need to go to the bathroom after this." Jay just laughed at you, he noticed how you stirred your legs, because you could not hold it in anymore. "There's a bathroom near, right?" 

"Yeah, right beside the room. Don't worry, we'll be done in a few minutes."

Please.

Make it quick…

Or I will pee my pants!

"I hope so, if not I'll need to buy a new pair of jeans on the way out." You were really making

Jay laugh, he knew you were serious, but he still found it funny. "You are laughing now, but if you had an object pressing against your full bladder, you wouldn't be feeling at your best."

Dr. Choi just looked at the both of you with a smirk, she found you both adorable, funny to say the least.

"It's not a big deal, you'll feel the urge to pee throughout the rest of your pregnancy."

That was a deal breaker.

"If I think about peeing, I'm going to pee sooner." You focused on the ceiling, the thoughts of things different to what you were talking about had to keep you distracted.

"We won't talk about pee then." Jay teased with a raised eyebrow. You hit his arm with annoyance. "Ok. Ok, I'll stop bothering you."

The doctor finally found the baby, keeping her focus on your daughter. "I can confirm you that you are having a girl, and…"

There was a weird sound dancing around the room, like wild horses that ran free towards a new home. It was strong, it was beautifully weird.

"She has a really strong heartbeat." 

With those words, you were in awe. Such a small thing could make such a powerful sound? How could a small thing make such a powerful work?

"That's how her heart sounds like?" Your husband asked, he was hypnotized again, you could hear it from his delicate voice. Dr. Choi could only nod with a smile.

"I never got to hear it… It's beautiful." In the two appointments that you had, you never got the chance to listen to her heartbeat, but it was worth the wait.

"It's really fast." Jay thought loudly.

"The heartbeat of a baby inside the womb it's really fast. Your daughter is developing completely fine, especially with that loud heart of hers, she's really healthy." She kept the doppler in place to give you a moment to look at your daughter.

She moves a lot.

She kicks her tiny feet so much.

She's fine.

"As for the other stuff, I want you to take better care of yourself, Y/N. Your blood pressure is low, but it has improved from before. You need to keep taking your iron capsules."

"I'll make sure that she follows that." Jay kept a hand on top of your head. "How can I not, if you are all over me?" You commented, your eyebrows raised with intentions of imitating his face a few minutes ago.

"Shush, woman." He placed his finger on his mouth.

"I'll see you in four weeks." 

"Thank you, Doctor." 

It wasn't an exaggeration when I say that you ran towards the bathroom after that appointment.

Jay waited for you right outside, and when you came out, he kept his hand around your waist. "I told you. What matters is that you and our baby are healthy, yeah?" 

You shook your head, not able to give him an excuse. "Yeah, you are right." You leaned keeping your head near his shoulder, soon noticing a small envelope on his hand.

That was not there before.

"What is that?" You pointed at his hand.

Jay looked down at the envelope, a smile making itself comfortable on his face.

"The doctor called me when you were in the bathroom. These are pictures from the ultrasound." Your eyes lit, a feeling of excitement taking over your small form.

"Really? Can I see them?" Jay didn't hesitate to give you the envelope, your hands sneaking around the piece of paper, opening it, just to be stunted with the glossy-textured pictures of the baby that was growing inside you.

You took the pictures out, your fingers lingered at the small fourteen week old on the black and white picture.

She was all yours.

Jay's and yours. 

You were going to keep her safe forever.

"She's ours, Jay. Can you believe that?"

When he saw your enchanted face, he knew that you had fallen down the same cycle that he had fallen into.

"It's difficult to believe, but I know she's ours." He kept his hand on your waist, as he placed a kiss on your head.

Your baby was more than loved.

When you reached your seventeenth week of pregnancy, you went back to work. Jay wasn't that convinced, but he knew that you had a position to get to.

Your mother didn't know that you were pregnant, in fact nobody in your family did, except for Juni.

It was your sister who insisted on you taking a few weeks off of work, take a rest from your fainting accident a few weeks back. You still had the marks of your injuries, but they were not that visible.

You received weird looks from your coworkers when they saw Jay come inside the building with you.

His hand protectively laying on your shoulder.

He needed to make sure that you would arrive safely, and he also needed to make sure that you didn't have any trouble with your mother or the people from the foundation that worked with her.

"I need to grab a few documents from reception, won't take too long."

You pulled away from your husband, for some reason he felt weird, like something was about to come up.

And he always had a good sense of intuition.

Jay said that maybe you could take advantage that your bump was small, nobody would notice until you reached further weeks of pregnancy.

But, he hadn't just talked that out with you.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if I truly love my job or if I'm just staying there because I want to prove my mother wrong." You laid on top of him on the sofa, you were being lazy that day. You didn't have any intentions to move.

"And which one gives you a stronger sense of agreement?" He asked, pulling a hair away from your face, tracing your features.

"I love my career, but I hate the reason why I'm working on this… I should be vice-president because I love it, not because I want my mother to be proud." You raised your head up, looking at him with a serious face. You truly hoped he understood what you felt.

"And why don't you leave?" A question that you always thought about. Why haven't I left already?

"Because, my mother will hate me more than she already does." 

"That's not a good thing and you know that." He paused, sitting up on the sofa, keeping you on his lap. "Try to be in a place where you will be comfortable.You can take a break from working, or you can get a different job. I know it sounds hard, but sooner or later, you will not be in a good place mentally if you stay just because of that."

"There's also a vacant place for vice-president in the Southern Branch if you are interested." Your heart warmed up quickly.

"Thanks Love, just… give me time to think about it, ok?" He gave you a peck on the lips, before making contact with you, once again.

"Ok."

"Y/N!" Your stomach felt a sharp sensation of anxiety, before it went away, but your heart was beating really fast, maybe even faster than your daughter's own heartbeat.

Shit!

Mom.

"I don't know how you always come up with stupid excuses, but still you always disappoint me. Sometimes I truly wonder if you deserve this position, and I can tell you that I was wrong in making you part of this business in the first place." 

"We needed you in the past few weeks, and you are lucky that your sister tried to justify you, but you know very well that doesn't work with me. We know you were lazing around while you were gone." She grabbed your arm, casing it to go red with her fingers, but it didn't hurt, what hurt was how she treated you with her words.

"You truly are a failure. You don't deserve to be called 'Mrs. Bae', our family name does not suit you." What else could you say? You were used to her harsh and cutting words that gave you a slap on the face when you were little, you had grown up to tolerate it and to prove her that she was wrong about you, but in that moment you were paralyzed, your heart had shattered in a million pieces and you had nobody to pick up the pieces from the floor.

Except you did.

Not only was it yourself, but your husband was going to have your back when your heart was broken into pieces, that was his promise ever since you sorted your relationship.

You felt somebody pull you away from your mother's tight grasp, his hand taking in yours with love and care.

"She's been 'Mrs. Park' to you ever since she married me and joined my family, because with a mother like you, who would like to carry your surname?" Your husband's voice was raised, loud enough for the rest of the staff to listen to him trying to defend you.

"Y/N has worked really hard to make you proud and nothing ever seems to convince you. Ever since she was a kid nothing was enough to you, when she actually gave her all. A mother is supposed to bring her children up with happiness, not break them into pieces."

 Jay was mad, mad at how you had been suffering from her abuse for so long, mad at how she still didn't understand that she would soon destroy you if this didn't come to a stop.

"Y/N hasn't been well these past few weeks and her sister insisted on her to rest, because even though she was hospitalized, she still thought about what you would think if she wasn't present at work, she has tolerated your harsh words and your abuse, but it's coming to a stop, now!" Your mother just smirked, a chuckle leaving her lips.

She came closer to you, Jay still by your side, but you tried to stand tall towards her. "This is your last warning, Y/N. If I see one of these little acts again, if you disappoint me one more time…"

"You are fired."

That was your chance. You needed to end this cycle, because you knew that you would soon break, break one more time.

You breathed in, processing the words that you were about to say, and keeping the tears of rage and fury in their place.

She was not gonna see you cry.

"There's no need for that, mother." You finally looked at her right in the eyes and you said those words that desperately wanted to come out of your throat. "I quit. There's no need to fire me."

You looked away from your mother, and took your gaze towards Jay's, he wasn't expecting you to do that, he was more than surprised.

And with your eyes it was more than clear that you wanted to leave.

"Let's go." You squeezed his hand, finally making your way into the parking lot.

You didn't know that you were holding your breath for so long, but when you loosened up, it felt like breathing fresh air.

Freedom for a second time.

Freedom for once and for all.

"I can't believe I just did that." You finally spoke up. "Me neither. At least you have a big weight off your shoulders."

You didn't notice that tears spilled down your cheeks. Jay placed his hands on both sides of your face, getting the tears away from your pink cheeks.

"Hey, Everything is fine, you are ok." He caressed your face in a way to comfort, but you looked down at your feet, feeling embarrassed about how you were crying over leaving your job, away from your abusive mother.

"I know, but I just realized that I lost my job." A sob got stuck in your throat, it was because you wanted it that way, you wanted to stop your cries.

Jay felt like his heart would break just by seeing you cry. "I understand, Belle. I truly do, but what matters now is that everything will be fine starting from now on." You couldn't hold your sobs anymore and a few rolled out your lips while more tears streamed down the skin of your face.

"You want me to take you home?" He waited for your sobs to calm down, so you could answer him.

You gulped down, a slight pain setting on your sinuses.

"Yes, please." 

Did Jay personally ask Hanni and Heeseung to stay with you while he was gone at work?

Did Jay call you every hour to check on your emotional and mental state?

Yes, he did.

You told him that he shouldn't bother at all, but he wouldn't budge. He insisted on keeping an eye on you, because he knew that you were in a vulnerable state.

"It's good that you quit. She shouldn't keep on abusing you, and if she continued she could've damaged your mental state." Hanni rubbed your back, while Heeseung made another cup of chocolate for you.

"I'm used to it, already. It doesn't really hurt me anymore."

"That is not a really healthy thing to say, Y/N." Heeseung placed the cup of chocolate on the coffee table. "I know, I know, but it's the truth. Maybe today… it did hurt a bit, she said that I wasn't up for the family name."

"Then, why am I still working on a family business where I'm not seen enough for it?"

Heeseung looked at his feet for a few seconds, before he licked his lips and spoke up.

"If you are not there anymore, I will quit as well. I'm your secretary, and if you are not working anymore, what's the point of staying there?" You shook your head in disbelief, your eyes widened at his words.

He was going to be jobless if he did that, and that's what you least wanted for him. He had worked hard for that job, he couldn't let it go.

"Don't be stupid, you can't do that! I'm not letting you lose your job because of me, that's ridiculous." 

"There isn't any work to be done, Y/N. You are the reason why I have my position, and if you leave, I don't have any job to work on."

Heeseung was kind of right, you were his boss, he was your secretary, he was basically jobless from now on, because he had just lost the reason why he was working, he was supposed to be your right hand and now he didn't have any work to do for you.

You didn't think about that.

"You are not changing my decision. I'm telling them tomorrow." He placed his hand on your arm, trying to comfort you.

A small part of you feeling guilt, because now Heeseung had lost his job because of you. It was eating you alive on the inside. 

The night was traveling around, and with that you had asked them both to leave, and that you would be fine by yourself, while you waited for Jay to arrive.

You had found a way to convince Hanni, she was reluctant, but she gave in after some convincing, she made you promise that you would answer her calls at any time.

But with Heeseung, that was a different story. Even after Hanni left, he insisted on staying, that he wouldn't leave you alone until Jay got home.

"You should go home and rest, Heeseung." You tried guiding him towards the door, but it was no use. He stood in his place, pretty sure of what he was doing.

"I'm staying here, you had a rough day. Also, Jay would kill me if he found out that I left you all by yourself."

Oh! So that was why.

Your husband had called a few minutes before, saying that he would be home soon. It didn't take long for him to actually arrive, by the time that you gave up on convincing Heeseung to go back home, you heard the entrance door opening.

"I think you can go rest, Heeseung." You said when Jay entered the living room.

When Heeseung left, Jay took good care of you. He always did, but this time, he tried to take away every single bad emotion that you felt.

"How does that feel?" He rubbed your scalp, his slender fingers comforting your head with a sweet massage.

You felt sleepy, the way he went through your soaking wet hair made you want to go to sleep. You thought about it for a while.

The water was bubbly and comforting, your skin was feeling warm and embraced, even though Jay wasn't holding onto you. The sensation of the shampoo and your husband's fingers on your scalp was what made the experience more than perfect.

"It feels nice, I'm feeling sleepy as well." Your voice trailed around, which Jay took as a cue to hurry up, so he could take you to bed.

"I'll be done in a bit, I'll take you to bed when we finish. Ok?"

You hummed in agreement, enjoying how good he was making you feel, how your body was finally feeling relaxed and content.

"Ok."

When he was done, he helped you out of the bathtub, as he took the towel from the hanger, and dried you with it, the soft fabric raking away every droplet of water.

Jay did it all with absolute care, he wrapped in the towel and took you to your room, where he sat you down on one of the comfy chairs and let you get dressed, as he helped you dry your hair.

You weren't in the mood to do your hair care routine, but he still bothered to do so, he was taking so much care of you, that you didn't understand what you had done to deserve this treatment.

Just when you were getting comfortable on your seat, you felt his arms around you, which surprised you, causing you to let out a yelp. You placed your arms around his neck, letting him carry you to bed.

He placed you on the soft mattress, covering your body with a fluffy blanket.

When he laid beside you, everything inside your mind told you to thank him for what he was doing for you.

"Jay?"

He looked at you the moment you called out his name.

"Thank you… For everything" You let those words come out as a whisper. His eyes staring back at yours. "You don't have to thank me, love. I'm just giving you what you deserve." You never had a romantic partner before Jay, you had various crushes throughout your childhood, but Jay was the person you were fixed on ever since you were a teen.

You wondered what would've happened if you never got together, if you never got arranged.

Maybe you would be laying with somebody else beside you, but you knew for sure that something would be missing.

Jay was everything you needed, and now you could not imagine a life without him.

"I would give you that and the whole world, the universe even." His voice just made your heart flutter with happiness, with joy… with love.

He got closer to you, both of you facing each other. You didn't hesitate to start a kiss, you didn't hesitate to trail your lips across his neck.

And when you came to a stop, a few words came out of your lips.

"You don't need to do that, you already are my whole world." You heard a chuckle from his part, and then his lips were on top of yours, and you felt him smile through the kiss.

The pace quickened, sliding his tongue with you enjoying the softness of his lips, but also the roughness of his kiss. Your husband's hands snaked on top of your waist, caressing the skin that was slightly exposed.

With the way that you were going, he turned around making you lay on your back, and he was careful to not crush you with his body.

By the time that things accelerated, your clothes were off, laying somewhere on the wooden floor, but you didn't care. Because, the warmth of your bodies and the passion that was blowing up from the inside was the only thing that you could focus on.

And when the chilly morning bliss came around, you could only focus on his pretty lips, and his hair that was nearly covering his eyes.

His arms were around you, the only thing apart from the blanket that kept you warm. Jay had you on his chest, feeling the way he breathed up and down, his right hand caressing the top of your back, while the other caressed your waist.

You kept your arm on top of his waist, as well. Feeling his warm, naked skin on your fingertips and trailing them up to his back.

This was the first time that you had sex with him since you got back together, you felt that you needed time for you to go back to your intimacy.

But it wasn't like before, this time you could feel him expressing every single emotion on your body, his kisses were now able to express his whole love towards you.

It was all that you wished for.

You inhaled the remnants of his cologne, the scent of fresh spice, the citrus and the wood. It was nice, and it always reminded you of him.

The moment was only about you laying in his arms, receiving each other's warmth, getting rid of the freezing air.

And then, you felt it. Like a small flutter from inside your stomach.

At first you thought you were getting nauseous, but then you felt it again, like a tap coming from your insides. For a moment, it quickened, being several taps, one after another.

Was the baby kicking?

It was uncomfortable at first, but then they felt like tickles inside your tummy.

You pulled away your arm from Jay's waist just so you could feel it with your hand, it rested against your abdomen, but you could barely feel it.

From the inside, it was there, but from the outside, it was not something that outer contact could feel.

Jay felt the skin of your arm getting away from his, so he looked down at you, noticing your hand on your growing tummy.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" His tired voice sounded concerned

You raised your head, looking up at him with glossy eyes. The feeling was making you emotional, your baby was really active all of the sudden and you just didn't know how to feel about it.

"Your daughter's kicking." 

Your voice almost waved around, feeling a lump on your throat from the tears of joy that wanted to spill down your cheeks.

Jay frowned, not capturing it until he replayed your words in his head.

Your daughter's kicking.

A gasp nearly came out from his throat, finally realizing what you said.

"Is she really?" He looked at you with surprise, his heart racing with expectation. And you could only nod with overjoy.

"Can I feel? Is she kicking a lot?" His hand went directly to your tummy, laying on top of your hand.

He rubbed it for a while, trying to find his daughter's kicks, but you could only giggle at how excited he was and how much tickles your daughter was provoking in you.

"I tried feeling it with my hand, but I can't feel anything, only from the inside." Jay slightly pouted, his expectations going down a little, but never going to zero.

"And how does it feel? Does it hurt?" He continued asking.

You found him adorable, how he got so curious and excited all of the sudden with a single sentence. How his eyes glimmered with curiosity and anticipation.

"No, it doesn't hurt." You grabbed his hand, which laid on top of your tummy, and raised it to your mouth, leaving a kiss on top of his knuckles.

You kept your hold on his hand, giving rubs to his limb as you smiled with closed lips.

"But it feels like I'm getting tickles inside my tummy, it's just small, but quick taps."

"She's kicking a lot, she has a lot of energy."

You looked at him again, with cute eyes that glowed with joy and with love. Jay's heart fluttered when he saw your eyes glowing, and he smiled, just to leave a kiss on top of your forehead.

He placed his hand on top of your cheek, looking straight into your eyes, his contact making your chest warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"I wonder where she got that from?" He asked with a tone of sarcasm, rubbing the tip of his nose with yours.

"I hope she grows up soon, so I can feel her kicking." Jay spoke up, his words making your smile wider. "Me too."

You both stayed like that for a while, until the sun finally appeared and the sky was clear blue, but the room was dark because of the blackout curtains.

He continued to caress you, and you did the same, his arms swearing to protect your body.

"Jay?" 

Your voice caught your attention, slowly opening his eyes once again. "Yes?"

"I think I need a break from working." When you came back from the office yesterday, you knew that you weren't up to looking for a new job, not because you didn't want to have a job, but because you just felt mentally drained.

Ever since you took a few weeks off because of your hospital stay, you felt way more happier than usual. Actually, it was the first time that you had felt truly happy in a long time.

Yeah, the stress was consuming you, your mother's pressure and her constant abuse, having to take care of Juni's whereabouts, and also taking care of the things that your sister was not dealing to take care of. You just knew that you had your happy moments, but happiness was not always present.

"Yeah, I think so too." He agreed, knowing from what he had seen that maybe a workplace wouldn't be the ideal space for you in a while.

"Maybe I could stay away from offices for a while. I've been thinking that I could stay at home after the baby's born, but I don't know what you think…"

Jay embraced you closer, to the point that you could hear his calm heart beating rhythmically close to his chest.

"Whatever you want, baby. As long as you are comfortable and happy, I will agree with any idea that you consider." 

You snuggled closer into his chest, making yourself comfortable, letting the sensation of the blanket keep your lower body warm.

"Thank you, Jay."

He caressed your hair with his hands, his pretty fingers playing with your strands.

"You don't need to thank me, love. I'm your husband, and you are the love of my life, I will support you in every single thing you want."

"I told you to be careful." 

Your grumble didn't make Jay feel any better, usually it was him taking care of you, not the opposite way.

Even though this was something small.

"It's just a cut, I'm not dying." He then hissed from the pain, scrunching his nose. "You are bleeding too much, it's a really large cut." The crimson liquid slid through his hand, he could feel how warm it was, and how it tickled his skin.

You passed a towel through the cut, the wet fabric covering the blood that came from the palm of your husband's hand.

You press the towel on his hand, seeing it soon be filled by the warm and red liquid that once gushed from his limb. Jay continued to groan from the pain that ached from his injured hand.

The blood then stopped flowing from the cut, taking away the towel and looking for a bandage that would cover his palm.

When you finished wrapping his palm on the soft bandages, you raised his hand towards your lips and left a tender kiss on his hand.

"My kiss will make it better." You slightly rubbed his fingers. He blushed when he saw you plant another kiss on his palm, his heart beating like crazy when your lips tickled his skin.

"Thank you, Belle." Jay used his good hand to cup your cheek and then land a kiss on your upper lip.

You kept your hold on his injured hand, letting the kiss deepen, until you felt out of breath. "I told you to be careful while washing cutlery. You should've let me do it."

"But then, you could've gotten injured instead. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I think you've made that very clear. I'm fine, love." You caressed his cheek, which made him soften. He got closer to the palm of your hand, enjoying how soft and warm it was.

"Jay, maybe we should tell our families about my pregnancy." Your voice came out quieter, it wasn't something that you wanted to do, especially because of your mother's reaction, but you knew that it was something you could not hide anymore. "Are you sure?" He asked for reassurance, not only Jay knew that you wanted time to reveal that you were expecting, but also that his family would be all over you because your daughter would be the first grandchild of the new generation.

You giggled.

"I'm pretty sure that it's something that I can't keep on as a secret. I'm almost 20 weeks, my bump is getting bigger." You smiled to yourself, you still felt a little bit insecure, but some reassurance set in when you noticed that your bump was growing more than before.

"I know but, you know how my family is, they'll be all over you, I don't want you to be overwhelmed."

"Well, I don't want to be given dirty looks by my mother, but I'll receive them anyways. I'm pretty sure that I'll survive." Your hands snaked around his neck, going on your tiptoes to be closer to his height. "I don't know, Belle…" His voice trailed, making you know that he was somehow fearful, insecure even.

"We'll be fine, Jay. In the end, it doesn't matter what they think or what they say. What matters is what we think, because it's our child, our marriage, our family…"

You leaned closer, Jay's face heating up as he felt your breath closer to his face, he could feel your body temperature irradiating close to his body. You left a kiss on his lips, feeling his lips letting you take the lead.

He felt the taste of your chapstick, the taste of vanilla being left on his tongue.

The taste of sweetness, still on his lips after you cut the kiss.

"It's our love, not theirs." For once, you had been overpowered by confidence, your husband never heard you so sure of yourself, but he was happy that you had that mindset.

"Understood, Mr. Park?" A cocky smile settled on his face, he loved it when you called him that.

"Understood, Mrs. Park." He agreed, placing a kiss on your lips, letting yourself settle in the moment. And you got comfortable with the idea of the both of you staying like that for the rest of the day.

Later, you settled in the office room watching your husband from across the room, while he worked on some contracts that he needed to sign for a collaboration.

You stayed in silence as you watched him work, admiring his features as he focused. His sharp jawline, his penetrative eyes that watched through glasses and the way his dominant hand tapped the pen he was using.

As if he could feel you staring, he suddenly spoke up, his voice trailing chills down your spine.

"Chip is going to need a name, I love that nickname, but she needs a real name." He looked at you, noticing your small frame admiring him from the small couch that laid in his office.

You had a few ideas for your daughter's name, but you thought that it was too early for you to talk about names.

"Which names have you thought about?" He fully turned his chair around, his fingers letting the pen lay down on the desk.

"Maybe a name that is not korean, I've always thought that the name Ellie was nice."

Ellie was a pretty name, but there was something about it that didn't resonate with you. "You want me to be honest with you?" He hummed in agreement.

"It feels like something's missing."

"What about Harriet?" You suggested

Jay scoffed, he tried keeping his laugh for himself, but his slight chuckle did not help at all.

"I don't really like Harriet, it sounds way too classy." "It's a really cute name!" You whined playfully. You got up walking up to him just to sit on his lap, your legs on each side.

Jay laid his hands on top of your waist, trailing them to your hips and repeating a pattern between your waist and hips. On the other hand, your hands laid on top of his shoulders, a pout on your lips.

"It's not, sounds like a name from the 1800s." That was when you just gave up, your face finally relaxing, leaving the exaggerated features behind and tracing a cute smile on your face.

Your thoughts suddenly took you back to a few years ago, when you were just a four year old left out by the rest of the kids in a foreign country.

"My name… is Noa."

"It means, from love." Those words of your father were still engraved in your mind like it happened yesterday.

You had always liked the name, especially because of the toddler that did not leave you alone that cold afternoon. You wondered how she was doing, but you also kept going around about how the name was gorgeous.

"I love the name Noa." 

Jay looked at you with curiosity.

"Noa?"

When you looked at him, you could tell that his face resembled the same face that your playmates had every time you mentioned the name.

"I've always liked the name, it's-" You paused sensing that Jay wouldn't get it and maybe would shrug it off. "Forget it, maybe it's too early to pick out any names." Jay wanted to tell you to keep on speaking, but he noticed the insecurity that was building up on your shoulders.

"Maybe you are right, will know what to name her when the time comes." He didn't want to take the contrary with you, so he decided to go with what you said. He was curious about the name, but maybe you were just a little bit insecure about it.

You were pretty sure that anxiety was consuming you alive, Jay looked chill, to be honest like he was completely calm, but on the inside, he was burning up.

He was a nervous wreck, but he knew that if you were nervous, he couldn't be either, because he was going to provoke more stress on you.

"Remember what you told me, it doesn't matter what they think and say, it only matters what we think." He whispered in your ear, as you saw the crowd of people in front of you, all of them family members of yours and Jay's.

You could only nod, feeling slight relief when Jay pressed a kiss on top of your forehead. He was trying to calm himself down as well, you didn't know how to tell them.

Your father was looking at you with a pity, not because he pity you, but because he was frustrated at your mother, you tried to avoid him when you arrived at the Parks residence, but his gaze was always upon you.

Your lips got dry and your throat felt static, cold and itchy. "I'll be back, I'm going to get a drink." Jay just gazed at you with worry, he knew that you wanted to do it, but he could see the anxiousness consuming your body.

The steps you took towards the entrance of the house were really heavy, your heart was beating as if you had just ran a ten-minute marathon.

You wanted to crawl out of your skin, but it got worst when your mother walked up to you, her steps were confident and overbearing, and Juni was a trying to calm her down, trying to stop her. It was more than clear that she couldn't do anything to stop her.

The grass felt deep and tangled on your feet, you were frozen in fear, and your senses were telling you to walk away, but your body was paralyzed.

"I taught you to greet others, but you can't even greet your own mother." She pulled the short sleeve of your dress, her eyes always dull and cold. "So disrespectful."

"Mom, please calm down." Your sister kept a hand on your mother's shoulder, but she pushed it away. "I'm calm, Jun. Stop being so dramatic."

"Ever since you left, you've done a lot of horrible decisions in your life. Your hair looks like the one of a maid and you've gotten fat, your abdomen makes you look like a whale. That just proves that your life has fallen apart ever since you left my watch, because I was the only thing keeping it from falling off." Her voice raised up, and the fact that she tried to make you feel bad with her damaging words was somehow working.

You tried to convince yourself that it wasn't true, that she didn't believe it herself, that she wanted you to actually fall apart and give her the right to the word.

Her voice was heard all around the garden, every family member looking your way, some of them with disgust, others with pity, others with rage.

"Maybe I'll finally make you proud, mom, because the reason I "look like a whale" to you, is because I'm pregnant." You felt a weight off your shoulders, you had said it loud enough for the people in the garden to listen to you clearly.

Maybe your voice stuttered, maybe because of the wave of tears that threatened to spill down your cheeks.

"19 weeks to be exact, and if that doesn't make you proud, then I don't know what else it will because I've tried so hard for you to finally be happy with something that I did, but I will always be a disappointment." Your cheeks and nose reddened, and soon, salty tears continuously rolled down your cheeks.

"Or am I wrong?" The sentence came out as a whisper down your lips.

Someday, your heart would finally heal from your mother's actions and harsh words, but for now, you could only pick up the missing pieces by yourself.

"If I'm a disappointment to you, you are a disappointment to me." 

How were you able to walk away while evading everybody's questions? You don't know…

But for a while you were gone, you were down a void that it was hard to get out off. You didn't know that you were held in somebody's arms, the hold was familiar, but the warmth was distant.

Jay held you in his arms all the time, his mother had asked the guests to leave the house, and surprisingly, your mother was the last one to leave the residence, and she had the audacity to ask your mother-in-law about how you were doing.

Jay was patient, but he was anxious at the same time, it was like you were in some state of shock. Tears continued to run down your cheeks, just for Jay to wipe them away with his thumb.

You were breathing, your lips were parted, but your gaze was unfocused, you just stared at the wall for thirty minutes. And your husband could only hold you in his arms caressing your skin and leaving pecks in your forehead.

He sometimes called your name, but it was to no avail, you would just blink away the tears and breathe through your mouth.

"How is she holding up?" His mother asked.

Jay only rubbed your shoulders, as he shock his head with worry. It had been a while now since you stopped responding to any calls.

"Y/N?" He tried once again.

"Mhm?"

They both felt like they could finally breathe again. "Thank God!" His mother exclaimed. "I thought we would have to take you to a hospital."

You looked around, your pupils finally moving around taking in your surroundings. You blinked a few times, your eyes focusing on Jay, who just smiled.

"Did I pass out?" Your voice sounded trippy, like you had just woken up from a deep slumber. 

"No, dear. I think you entered in a state of shock, but it looks like you are back to your usual self." Jay's mother gave you a glass of water, which you quickly took a few sips of.

Jay helped you put the glass back down on the coffee table. Your hand was shaking, some sort of adrenaline was recurring in your body.

He massaged your scalp, his way to get rid of any prolonging effect in your body.

"I feel sleepy." 

Jay took that as a cue to leave home, you were tired, not physically, but mentally.

"You guys could stay the night here, we can prepare Jay's room and you could use some of his old clothes." Your husband wasn't really fond of the idea, he wanted you to rest at the comfort of your own home, but when he noticed your dazed and tired state he knew that it would be better if you guys stayed at his parents' house.

In the end, he gave in and soon his old room was prepared a few minutes later, you grabbed an old t-shirt of his, one of those band t-shirts that he used to wear underneath his school uniform.

When Jay changed his clothes, he noticed that you were not in his room. He checked the hallway just to find you laid down on the study room, your legs covered by a soft linen blanket.

He went inside, knocking on the open door to catch your attention, he knew he succeeded when your gaze went directly to him.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Your husband sat right beside you, his thumb tracing small circles on your calves. 

There was a sense of guilt that build up on your chest, you fidget the shirt that you wore, trying to keep your feelings from trailing every inch of your skin.

"I'm sorry for today, I ruined everything." You sat up. 

Jay's brows just furrowed, he didn't want you to apologize, you shouldn't be doing that, there was no need to.

"You don't need to apologize, Belle. You did not ruin anything." He got closer to your curled up body. Your defenses were on, there was something that was telling you that it was your fault, that you ruined everything.

Your mother's voice…

It was similar to the one inside your head.

"Sometimes, I think my mom's right. I am a failure."

Jay's heart broke in an instant, you had been so happy recently, just for you to fall back into a hole that it took a while for you to get out of. For him, you were the most amazing woman that he had ever met, you were sweet, hard-working, you were a ray of sunshine that had lighten up his life recently, you had always lightened it up, but your genuine smile and your childish attitude that had came back a few weeks ago, took him back to his childhood.

He softly grabbed you by the arms and got you closer to him, he was firm and stern, his eyes had turned dark in less than a millisecond. You couldn't face him, you were ashamed of yourself.

"Look at me, Y/N." You tried to hide your gaze from him, leaning your head down, keeping your eyes on the fabric of your blanket.

His fingers grabbed your chin with the intention of making you look at him in that instant. 

"You are not… and you will never be a failure. Your mother does not know the daughter that she has. You are not perfect and nobody's perfect, but you are the most amazing, hardworking and intelligent woman I've ever met, and I'm not saying it only because I love you, I'm saying it because I've known you since we were kids and I know the way you are from head to toe." He moved his hand from your chin towards your hair, his words were making you spill some tears that you were holding in for a while now.

"You are not a failure, and the standards that your mother has set up for you are fucking stupid!" He had said that with such seriousness that it made you laugh all of the sudden, it was his face that was building up with rage.

The laugh that had rolled down your tongue made him laugh as well, his chuckle was the most enchanting thing that you had ever heard.

"I'm not joking, Y/N. I'm being serious, nobody can fit those standards, because they are unrealistic." He chuckled, leaning towards you to leave a kiss on top of your forehead.

Jay looked at you right in the eyes, his gaze softened the moment your eyes glowed from the smiles that he was provoking on you.

"You will never be a failure, because you are my biggest pride and my greatest joy." 

He embraced you into his arms, pretty fingers tracing around your back, and your head laid close to his chest, being able to hear his heartbeat, it beat hard because of you.

You were the reason why his heart fluttered every time he saw you, everytime he woke up beside you and every time you laughed.

"I love you, Jay." You closed your eyes focusing on the rhythm of his heart. It gave a strong beat the moment you said those words. "I love you, too."

You both held each other in your arms the entire night, not being able to pull away from the warm embrace and the cozy blanket.

The sky was full of gray clouds when Jay woke up, the curtains in the studio were close shut, and he noticed the warm body that had her arms hugging his waist, but whose head was on his chest just to listen to the rhythm of his heart and how calm it could get.

He found it adorable, how your eyes were barely visible by the curtain of hair, how he could smell the scent of your shampoo, how your lashes moved every time you saw something magnificent in your dreams.

Jay did not want to wake you up, you looked so peaceful and comfortable, his heart would break if he disturbed your sleep.

He kissed the tip of your nose with delight, and found a way to detach your arms away from his body. He nearly froze when he saw you stir, just for you to continue with your sound sleep.

The nearly two years that Jay had been a CEO he became a hater of waking up early, he wasn't a morning person, but today, he couldn't go back to sleep again, he had recovered the same energies that he had gotten the day before.

Your husband made sure that you were resting peacefully and that the door was closed shut.

He walked through the hallways finally reaching the living room, he was able to listen to the voices when he left the studio, but he didn't know where they came from, when he reached the living room he could finally listen to them clearly.

His mother was talking to your father, Mr. Bae.

Jay wasn't expecting him to be back at his family's home, so he was quite surprised.

"I'll leave you two alone." His mother quickly got up, walking towards Jay, and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

He finally put his eyes on your father, he noticed how he fidgeted his fingers, and how his legs bounced in a way to calm himself down.

"Y/N's asleep, if you are here to talk with her.”

Mr. Bae moved aside, pating the space beside him which was a signal for Jay to sit where he was.

"I know, I wanted to make sure she was ok, but I was hoping that I could have a word with you."

Jay found it strange, he had never had a word with your father. Greeted him? When he was little he did, but a conversation with him was foreign.

"Y/N is doing fine, was out of it for a few minutes, but she is fine now. Back to her smiley self once again." He finally sat beside him, his heart racing up from not knowing what he was going to tell him.

Mr. Bae took a deep breath in, trying to process the words that he wanted to say. He should've defended you better,  he should've talked with his wife more and make her get out of her four wall head.

"I remember that Y/N was a really happy kid when she was in this house, but when she was back home, she would turn dull and quiet. She would try to be right beside her mom and ask her if what she was doing was right, it was never enough."

"So I would always drop her off here, with Sunghoon, she had the biggest smile and the cutest laugh, she would light up the room just by taking a step into the hall." "I knew that she would be happier with your family."

Jay didn't know that, he didn't know that your father would take you here because it was your safe place, it was the place where you were happy the most.

"I always noticed the way that you looked at Y/N. It was your protective stare when she played in the garden, the way you kept your hand on her back because you were afraid that she would fall off her bike. And don't get me started on how you hold her hand in every family meeting, the way you look at her with admiration." Your father smirked, noticing how Jay was trying to hide away his growing smile.

"You truly do love her, don't you?" 

That question had the most obvious answer to him, a picture of you as engraved in his mind, he was not going to deny it.

"I do love her, you have no idea how much I love her." He said with big confirmation, and with big pride.

"Good." 

He was trying to find another topic to talk about, he could feel the ambience becoming a little bit heavy.

"What are you going to name the baby? Noa?" The change of topic took Jay out of his trance. He found it curious, because that was the name that you had mentioned a few days ago.

"We haven't decided yet. Y/N suggested that name, actually." He furrowed his eyebrows.

Your father chuckled, the memories of your childhood drawing themselves in his mind, the memories of you playing with baby dolls, dressing them up, the memories of the times that he left at the kindergarten door.

"It would surprise me if she hadn't suggested it. She's in love with that name, it's special to her."

"Really?" Jay asked in curiosity, turning his view towards his father-in-law. 

"Yeah…"

"When she was little, we went to Japan for a business trip. She stayed in the building with the kids of other coworkers. Y/N said that she was left aside by the other kids, only one of them played with her. Her name was Noa."

Jay's mind had been illuminated, the thought of you falling in love with that name just because the person was the only one who played with you, was actually a thing that he found adorable.

If that was the name that you liked, then he would go with it, not only because you liked it, but because it had a special meaning to you.

And that's what Jay liked about it.

The name made you happy, it reminded you of moments that were important to you.

Noa.

Park Noa.

It's beautiful.

"I love that name, as well."

After that, his father-in-law was gone. Making him promise that he would take care of you no matter what. It was more than confirmed that was not going to be a problem, it was part of Jay's nature by that point.

He could've stayed more time in the living room, but he went back with you. He smiled to himself when he saw that you were still asleep. Messy hair and curly eyelashes.

Jay laid back right beside your relaxed body, where he wrapped his arms behind you, snaking them through your waist.

"Where were you?" Your voice sounded groggy. Your husband placed a kiss on the back of your head.

"In the living room. Did you miss me?" You could feel his tiny smile behind you.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" 

He proceeded to rub your arms, trying to take the sleepiness away from your body.

"Maybe we should keep the names until the day of the birth." He blurted out. 

You were dazed all that time, you were not able to comprehend what he was telling you at the moment.

"Hm? Why?" You rubbed the sleep away from your eyes, surprised by what he was telling you. "Don't ask why, but I'm pretty sure that we both know what name we want to give to our daughter."

He almost laughed by the confused look on your face when you turned your head to look at him. 

"Go back to sleep, Belle. I'm pretty sure that you're still tired." 

"Well? How do I look?" You peeked your head, the rest of your body covered by the wall. You felt a small knot on your throat for how your husband was going to react.

You finally revealed the rest of your body. And the small glimmer in Jay's eyes said it all.

You wore a mermaid style, mocha-colored dress that hugged your figure, it was a spaghetti strap that reached below your ankles, it hugged your torso, hips and thighs before it was loose on your knees and the rest of your bottom.

It was really pretty, Jay thought the same. It made you look gorgeous and even resalted the pregnancy glow that you had gained on your second trimester.

"You want me to be honest with you?" He got closer to you, his hand making his way to your cheek, caressing the softness of your skin. His eyes were full of temptation, his other hand placing itself on top of your hip.

It was incredible how fast your eyes looked towards his lips. But they soon went straight towards his dark brown orbs.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." His whisper was able to flare up your skin, his words sounding like a praise that you needed for a long time.

His lips kissed the flesh of yours, as he felt the sensation of your lip gloss, leaving it smudged after he finished.

Jay cleared the stain of gloss on top of your lip by passing his thumb through your face, making sure that it was clean.

You placed both of your arms around his neck, letting out a sigh that the slight height of your heels gave you more chance to not get on your tiptoes.

"And you are the most handsome man I have ever seen."

You loved the way that he wore his outfit. The black dress shirt that had been unbuttoned, the black blazer and pants that were more attractive with the pearl choker around his neck.

His CEO image looked classy, but also dangerous.

The scent of spice and citrus that he carried everywhere he went.

There was a celebration in honor of the anniversary of Park Enterprises. Jay had told you that if you didn't want to go that it was fine, but you still accepted going with him as his wife.

There were tables full of white wine glasses, waiters serving meat-based plates and tiramisu desserts.

Your bump was secured by the fabric of your dress, but the hand that surrounded your waist and its fingers laid on your belly, made you feel a warmth and care that you couldn't explain.

"Mr. Park, it's good to see you. You've been absent for a few weeks." A man of short contexture, wearing a fully black tux and a white shirt.

He looked funny, you had to admit.

With his mustache that tickled his lips, and the hand that laid on his hip.

"Mr. Choi, it's a pleasure to meet you again."

Mr. Choi was the owner of a technological security company, a very recognized one in South Korea. 

A collaboration was the thing that Park Enterprises was looking for. They saw all the benefits that could come from it if they joined forces with his company.

And obviously, Jay had been talking about it for a long time. It was one of his goals.

"Needed some break from work, relax a bit. We both needed it." He looked down at you, a small smile on his lips as he looked at you with tender love. His hands wrapped around you while he caressed your abdomen.

"Taking a break it's good from time to time, I'm glad that you enjoyed your small vacation."

'Small Vacation' was not the right use of words. A trip to Italy was NOT a small vacation.

"I'm guessing this is your wife. It's a pleasure to meet you." He gave you a smile as he extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, too. Jay has told me so much about you."

Jongseong turned to look at you, he was surprised and he wasn't expecting you to remember everything about the businessman that was right in front of you.

"Oh really?" Mr. Choi seemed to sound more interested.

"Yes, he has taken some interest in your business, has done some research on your recent jobs and has found your company as something ideal for the Southern Branch." You fidget your fingers, anxious for the answer that you might receive. Your plan was to provoke interest in Mr. Choi, so Jay and him could come to some sort of conversation and bring up an agreement.

"Is this true, Mr. Park." 

Jay looked at you, making eye contact for a moment. His eyes screamed 'Thank You', and he felt more than grateful for your slight conversation.

"This only proves that my wife is a great listener, and I could not be more grateful about that." His hand tickled your arm, moving it back and forth, with his eyes looking at you, as you looked up at him with your hand on his chest. "I saw your recent projects and have taken some sort of curiosity on them. I would love to hear more about them, but I think that would be better if we talked face to face."

You were surprised by how fast they started talking about Mr. Choi's business. Jay looked more than entertained, but his hand was still paying full attention to your skin.

A few minutes passed before your attention was drawn to the rest of the people in the room. You noticed a few people looking at you, it didn't surprise you though.

The Southern Branch employees knew that their CEO had a wife by arrangement, some of them recognized you, others were surprised that the rumors were true. But they were mostly surprised because of your state, they were surprised because you were expecting. 

Some of them gossiped as they looked your way, others looked at you in awe because of your adorable beauty.

"Excuse me, I'll go look for something to eat." You spoke up, Jay giving you a quick glance, before giving your arm a quick rub and letting it go.

He looked your way a few seconds after you walked away, just to make sure that you were completely fine.

The more you walked towards a buffet table, the more chattering you felt ringing around your body. You could feel the whispers and the gossip that was spreading around as you made your way to feed your stomach.

You grabbed a toast of bruschetta, full of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. The moment that you started to enjoy your food was the moment that you heard female voices throbbing under your skin.

“I thought they were married for convenience.” 

Curiosity got full power over you, the fabric of your dress tickling your ankles the moment that you turned around. There were two young woman, they looked slightly older than you, maybe on their mid-twenties. “It kinda makes sense though, rich families tend to have that habit or tradition, it shouldn’t surprise anyone at all.”

You smirked to yourself, they were not wrong at all, the problem was that your marriage with Jay was based out of love than anything else… and maybe a spice of lust.

A feeling of pettiness consumed you, after finishing your meal you noticed that your husband had already finished his conversation with Mr. Choi, and he was making his way towards you. 

You looked at the ladies with a side-eye, walking towards Jay with a cutesy smile and when you reached him, you gave him a tight hug with your arms around his waist, but your cheeks heatened when he caressed your head with his hand, giving it a loving kiss on the top.

“I guess we are both feeling really loving tonight.” You raised your head to look at him, and he took advantage of that to give you a kiss on the tip of your nose.

“Maybe we can get more loving when we get home.” His whisper almost made your legs quiver. The power that he had on you with just using his words was unimaginable. “You look so pretty when I make you nervous, especially with the huge tint on your cheeks.” Jay’s comment just made you cover your face with his chest, and your action just made him chuckle.

“So pretty.”

“My pretty Belle.”

“I just got the other pair of shoes that you ordered.” 

Pair? More like pairs!

The silence at the other side of the room was more than loud for your liking. You knew Jay was going to spoil your daughter like his life depended on it, but you had received more than dozens of new shoes and clothing that you thought was not necessary.

“Jay?”

“It’s just that I saw them only and I thought that they were adorable. I basically envisioned her with them.” A smile creeped through your lips, you completely understood that Jay was more than excited for the arrival of your daughter in a few weeks, but it was becoming too much.

“I don’t think our daughter’s room its going to tolerate another pair of shoes inside… You are adorable, love.”

You walk towards him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Maybe you should go to work already, before my madness truly settles in.” 

He gave you a peck on the lips before walking towards the door. Jay was not a fan of leaving you home alone, currently he was making his work at home just so he could stay with you, but today was different, he had an important meeting to attend, plus meeting up with a potential client and sponsor for a developing project.

“I’ll see you later, and please answer my calls.” He grabbed cupped your cheeks, finally placing a kiss on your top lip. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

It wasn’t difficult to keep yourself entertained. You watched a few chapters of Bridgerton, before cooking something for lunch. At some point, you noticed that your daughter was kicking a lot more than usual, she was uneasy and it was making you uncomfortable.

You rubbed your lower abdomen, trespassing the fabric of your loungewear shorts, usually she would calm down with just a few rubs, but this time it was different, she would not stop kicking.

“What’s wrong, baby? Please calm down a little, Chip.” You continued rubbing the spot, until you felt a sudden pain on your lower back, creeping up towards your belly making you let out a groan.

The pain lasted a few second before it passed quickly.

You wanted to convince yourself that those were Braxton Hicks, but something inside you was screaming that you were having real contractions, so you decided to count how long it would take for the next one to come around.

And it didn’t surprise you when the same pain arrived fifteen minutes later.

You felt the anxious urge to bite your nails, because your mind was going to evry single outcome that could happen.

“Shit!” You gritted your teeth together when the pain came back, the problem was that it was five times worse than the first time.

Why the fuck those kind of things happen when Jay was gone?!

It was more than obvious that he was going to nag you for the rest of your existence, but that didn’t matter at the moment… You needed to call him.

But you were not capable of calling his phone, you didn’t want to interrupt his meeting, so you called his secretary… His new secretary, Heeseung.

“Hello?”

Heeseung could’ve swear that he had never ran so fast in his life. And while the rest of his co-workers looked at him as if he was a maniac, but he was way to nervous to even notice.

And Jay was in his own world, he tried to pay attention to the presentation from one of his employees, talking about how their new technological addition should also have a few updates based not only on its software, but also have a few updates that could be friendly for a different public.

He was interested, he really was, but he could not stop thinking about you, and how maybe he shouldn’t have left home, and his thoughts were proved right when Heeseung entered the meeting room, his face almost frantic and sweaty.

That was the moment that Jay knew that something had happened.

If Heeseung’s co-workers thought that he was maciac, then now they were thinking that their boss was a psychopath.

“Y/N said that she called Juni and she would meet you at the hospital.”

At the moment, Jay was feeling numb, his brain going into autopilot, but also going to different directions. He does not even know how drove to the hospital by himself, even though Heeseung offered to take him to the clinic. 

He arrived to the hospital, his blazer on his hand, messy shirt and lose tie that went near his chest. The nurses looked at him with worry, but felt some kind of relief when he got close to the receptionist.

“I’m looking for my wife, Park Y/N. She’s 37 weeks pregnant, came in because she was having contractions.” The receptionist scripted your name in the computer, but Jay felt so anxious that for him, the woman was being extremely slow, as if she didn’t understand that this was a total emergency for him.

“She’s in the maternity ward, Room 026.”

That was his cue to hurry towards your room, the thought of you going through the pain without him there to help you or give you support was consuming him alive. It was eating him from the inside. The guilt.

His body nearly crumbled when he reached your room, just thinking about what state you were in, or how nervous you most felt. But those feelings were soon thrown away when he saw you from the door.

You were smiling, talking and even though you had a lot of equipment monitoring your vitals and oxygen, you still looked like your happy, usual self.

Juni was there with you and giving you the support that you needed at the moment, and as she was finding a way to make you laugh once more, your laughing fit was interrupted by the new presence in the room. 

“Jay.” 

That was his call to get out of his trance and approach you, his reaction being to get you into his embrace, trying to get in touch with your warmth and the smell of your vanilla scent, he then placed his hands on your cheeks, inspecting you with a quick glance.

“How are you doing? Are you ok? Why do you have these on?” He pointed out on your nasal cannula. You should’ve seen it coming. “I’m ok, just low oxygen levels. I’ll be fine.” Your hand made its way to caress his cheek, trying to keep him calm.

The fact that Jay gave in to the soft sensation of your hand, his eyes going tender at the sight of you. Big orbs admiring the gorgeous beauty that he had in front of.

“My Pretty.”

"Can I have some?"

"Well… Let me think about it." For Jay, the little hum that you made while you pretended to take a moment, it was the cutest thing that he had never seen. "Ok, you can have it."

He looked at you with a happy expression, at that moment he just knew that he felt really strong feelings for you, ever since he was a little boy, he just felt the need to protect you at all cost, to protect that little girl that would watch ‘The Beauty & The Beast’ every single time she would visit, that little girl that would dress up as an elegant disney princess.

The girl who would plant flowers with his mom, the girl who had the ability to make his brother smile at all time, the girl who was able to make him blush and soften.

"Also, do you even have an idea of who you want to marry? What exactly do you look for in a girl?" He never thought that a simple pair of questions could make his heart quiver and almost stop in less than a second, because the answer that he come to his mind was ‘you’. 

So, he said every single thing that he could use to describe you."I'm looking for a girl that is sweet, a girl that looks like an exact representation of the moon, but that her personality is just like the very rays of the sun falling into the ocean waves." 

"I want a girl who is intelligent and has a passion for learning. A girl that smells like cinnamon spice and vanilla. I'm looking for a girl whose lips will taste just like an exquisite dessert. And lastly, her eyes have to shine like  the moon reflects itself on the water when she looks at what she loves and desires… Just like you, right now." 

He let that come out of his chest, out of his soul, as if he had been waiting his entire life to say it.His last words made you blink in shock, you hadn't noticed how hard you were staring at him. But it seemed that at some point you might have been under the spell that he had been just a few seconds before. 

"Sorry, it's just that your description sounded so poetic, I didn't know you could be so romantic."  "There are some things that you don't know about me." He smiled. 

You cleared your throat before proceeding. "Where have you seen a girl like that, anyway?" You saw the boy get closer to you, moving his seat right beside you. Then, he moved his hand close to your locks, moving them away from your face. "It might surprise you, but I'm staring at her right now." 

And the way that you went completely speechless, was the way that he knew that he had made you fall more for him than ever before.And the moment that he fell more for you, was when you begged him to kiss you for the first time, because he finally had the chance to feel the lips of the girl that he was in love with.

Seeing you the day of your wedding, Jay realized how bad he wanted things to work out, how bad he wanted you to be his wife. But he was afraid, he was afraid to grow attached to you, because he was afraid that after this you would both end up heartbroken.

"I, Jay, take you, Y/N, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. I will love and honor you all the days of my life." He meant that last part, with his whole heart he meant it, how could he not love you. 

But how can you love someone and also be afraid of loving them?

"I, Y/N, take you, Jay, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. I will love and honor you all the days of my life."

He swore that looking at you at that moment, he knew that he wanted you to be his wife for the rest of his life… he wanted to love you for the rest of his life.

"Do you love me, Mrs. Bae?" His eyes were hopeful, you remembered how he looked that night near the swimming pool, looking at you lovingly as you sat on one of the beds.

"I do, Mr. Park." 

"I do love you, Jay." 

That was the moment, where he felt that the pieces where coming up together… because he knew that you loved him, and he loved you as well.

"Good… because I love you, Mrs. Bae."

All those memories came to his mind, every single one of those moments were crucial to the moment that was happening in front of his eyes… the moment that his daughter came into this world.

Because when he heard the first cry, that was when he knew that everything that you both had been through was worth it all.

“It’s a healthy baby girl.” 

When the doctor said those words, it felt like the world nearly stopped.

Jay looked at you, and he was more than speechless. You were panting not only from the big work that you’d just done but also because of how the tears where building up in your eyes, how you felt the eager to hold her in your arms.

The nurse gave you the small newborn, and that was when the tears came rolling down your eyes.

She was more than perfect.

A sob came out of your throat, it came out from pain, from exhaustion… but also from happiness.

You and Jay had just created a human being that for you, was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen.

“Love, look at her, she’s beautiful.” You looked up at him, with glossy eyes and rosy cheeks. To your surprise, Jay was holding his tears, he was trying really hard to do so.

He lowered to your level, his hands hesitant to touch the little girl’s skin. He feared to hurt her, to ruin her soft and delicate skin. You noticed at the moment, grabbing his hand making his touch her tiny arm.

And the moment that the tears finally fell down his cheeks was when his daughter looked at him. 

Pretty doe eyes, starring at him as if he was a piece of art. She coo’ed at him with curiosity, and Jay couldn’t help but admire her.

She had a glimmer in her orbs that he wanted to stare at all times.

“She’s beautiful, Y/N. She’s all ours.”

You caressed his cheek, noticing the details that he had in common with the child in his arms. The small nose that looked just like his, the tan of his skin that she had obviously inherited, the pretty shape of her eyebrows, and the mark that Jay had in the middle of his lower lip, that mark that you were a huge fan of.

For him, his daughter had the huge doe eyes that you always stared at him with, his daughter had the curly eyelashes that he always loved, she had those heart shaped lips of yours that he could stared at at any time, and she had those chubby cheeks that he loved to touch.

Jay, then rubbed her soft cheek with his thumb, liking the sensation of her skin.

She was his, and she was yours. 

And she would forever be perfect in your eyes.

“I love her, Y/N. She’s our Noa.”

You looked at him with surprise, not expecting that name to come out of his mouth.

“You want to call her Noa?” He looked at you with teary, glossy eyes, his cheeks getting some sort of color. “Yeah, that’s her name from now on.”

More tears came out of your eyes. That memory from your childhood coming to your mind more than vividly.

“I love it.”

You gave him a kiss on the lips, taking in the moment with happiness.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

EPILOGUE: Guess I won't ever mind crisping up on your backburner

Two Years Later…

“Thank you so much, Mr. Choi.”

Jay tapped his fingers on the desk after he cut the call, he couldn’t help but think about getting home already. Every single day that he would go to work, he would miss you and his daughter.

A knock got him out of his trance, a voice coming from behind the door.

“Come in!” He shouted.

Heeseung slightly opened the door, peeking his head through the door. “Mr. Park, there’s a special food delivery for you.” He smirked while looking down at his feet, or what Jay believed were his feet.

He fully opened the door, to reveal that tiny little girl that he was infatuated with.

“Daddy!”

Jay’s eyes brightened to the sight of his adorable daughter, and he stood up from his seat just to kneel down beside his desk to hold her in his arms as if he hadn’t seen her in a hundred years.

Jay’s eyes brightened to the sight of his adorable daughter, and he stood up from his seat, just to kneel down beside his desk to hold her in his arms, as if he hadn’t seen her in a hundred years.

The girl crashed on his arms, her small limbs around his neck trying to hold him tight. “My beautiful Chip.” He brushed his nose against her chubby cheek.

Noa raised her head, cupping Jay’s face with her soft hands. Her father could only look at her chubby cheeks, her huge doe eyes and her rosy lips. She reminded him so much about you.

“I missed you, daddy.” Her voice almost made him melt into place, and her warm touch made him get rid of the stress that was building up from the start of his day.

“I missed you too, Chip.”

He was so into the embrace from his daughter that he got surprised when he felt a touch on his shoulder. “Belle.”

Jay got up from his position carrying Noa on his hip. “I hope I’m not interrupting something.”

With his free arm he pulled you by the waist, feeling the fabric of your dress between his fingers. He hadn’t noticed the dress that his daughter was wearing, she had a pink tule dress that covered her knees, the fabric making her look like a princess.

And you…

Were his Queen.

The love of his life.

“We were waiting for you, mommy.”

Jay looked down at her, then he looked at you, getting the courage to place a kiss on your forehead.

“Yeah, we were waiting for you.”

[slainesthrone]

So trying to recreate the qsmp mos pack (Personal use ig, just sawa bunch of mods I've never seen before and when Oh Shit thats exciting, then just diecided "Fuck it gonna gather as many of the mods they're using)

I Do Not have any of knowledge of any of the dungeons that they have so I ask if you have any insight let me know.

Here's the full list I have of confirmed mods and possible mods;

server runs on 1.20.1 qsmp 2024 mods: 1.Regions Unexplored 2.Croptopia 3.Biomes o plenty 4.born in chaos 5.exotic birds 6.enmey expansion 7.chocobo mod 8.farmers delight + some other food mods (Possibly multiple) with delight in the name. 9.Candlelight(?) 10.Handcrafted 11.Alex's mobs 12.Alex's caves (I can confirm because of a TRAP DOOR in the egg bakery. I'm in the trenches) 13.supplementaries 14.Beachparty 15.create 16.journey maps (Idk some map mod) 17.aquaculture 2 18.cluttered 19.chimes 20.fairy lights 21.FramedBlocks 22.Chipped 23.paraglider 24.Another furniture mod 25.waystones 26.connected glass 27.Create deco 28.Candlelight dinner 29.MOA DECOR 30.Tanuki decor 31.Orcz 32.Modern life 33.Bakery 34.Friends&Foes 35.Meadow 36.Abyssal decor 37.Twigs 38.lootr 39.when dungeons arise(to be confirmed) 40.nether's delight 41.rats 42.Additional lanterns 43.Alex's delight 44.Additional Lights 45.AstikorCarts Redux 46.Athena 47.Awesome dungeon net..(work?) 48.BOZOID 49.Apothic Attributes 50.AppleSkin 51.Balm 52.Better Archeology 53.Better ping Display 54.BetterF3 55.Aquaculture Delight 56.Bookshelf 57.Bygone Nether 58.CC: Tweaked 59.Artifacts 60.Camera Mod 61.Cataclysm Mod 62.Catalogue 63.Citadel 64.Cloth config v10 API 65.Clumps 66.Comforts 67.Configured 68.Controlling 69.CorgiLib 70.CoroUtil 71.Corpse 72.CosmeticArmorReworked 73.Create : Encased 74.Create Confectionery 75.Create Slice & Dice 76.Create: Interiors 77.Create: Steam 'n' Rails 78.Create: Structures 79.CreativeCore 80.Creeper Overhaul 81.Cristel Lib 82.Cupboard Utilities 83.Curios API 84.Customizable Player M(???) 85.Delightful 86.Distant Horizons 87.Domestication Innovations 88.Duckling 89.Dynamic Lights 90.Elevator Mod 91.Embeddium 92.Emotecraft 93.Enderman Overhaul 94.EntityCulling 95.Nether's exoticism 96.YUNG's (x) Mods (bridges, better dessert temples,mineshafts only ones i can confrim, might be all but idk for sure) 97.Securitycraft 98.Vinery (Confirmed because of Tubbo's drinking binge at spawn yesterday) 99.Mr.Crayfish (Furniture confirmed, possibly more) 100.Naturalist 101.Tom's simple storage

If you know or noticed mods that haven't been listed, reply/reblog with them please.

Things are numbered for my archival reasons, as some mods come in multiple separate mods (such as YUNG's) the numbering will not show the true number of the mods on the server.

I also have not checked the needed mods that any of these mods may need so.

(Please note that there may be spelling/grammar mistakes in the names of this mods!)

[devskindawritingblog]

Drunken Love

Drunk!Laura Lee x reader

AN: eeeeee! I love Laura Lee and this is her first fic so I’ll see how it goes. I got another request for her so I’m so excited to start that after my other requests. Thank you so much I had fun writing this one. She might be a little ooc but that’s kinda the point I guess you act different when you’re drunk. Laura lees text is in yellow, Lottie’s is in purple and vans is in orange. Also I didn’t grammar or spell check this because I was tired and it takes so long so if there is a mistake I’m sorry but don’t tell me ☹️.

word count rounded : 1.1k

Laura Lee has always been the literal definition of innocence. She would drag you to church with her to watch her sing. Everytime she slept over she would pray, kneeled next to your bed. You found it a little silly but if it makes her happy you don’t mind at all. 

She is so sweet. Always caring and being nice to others. You don’t even think you have seen her swear before. If you could get a dollar for everytime she said  “Oh my goodness” you would be rich. 

You both go to parties together all the time. Laura Lee, like the actual angel she is, never drinks or does drugs. Except for tonight that is.

You both showed up to Lottie’s house party. Laura Lee is dressed in a pretty floral patterned dress. One of many she owns. Lottie and Laura Lee are pretty close to being best friends. Lottie always invites her even if Laura Lee doesn’t like to drink.

You walk in and Lottie rushes over, happy to see you too.

“Hey. What’s up guys? Can I get you anything.” Lottie says hugging Laura Lee and then you. You get something simple not wanting to over do it tonight. Laura Lee is going to drive you home so you're all set. 

Lottie hands you your drink and you and Laura Lee make your way through the party settling down next to Van and Tai on the couch. 

“Hey guys!” You say sitting down next to them. The 3 of you engage in some small talk. Lottie walks back over and asks Laura Lee to be her beer pong partner but they will give her juice if they get it in her cup. 

She hesitates for a second but decides that she wants to have fun tonight so she agrees and Lottie drags her off. You continue joking around with Van and Tai for about an hour  and you're so caught up in the conversation you don’t even drink your drink. So it goes warm and you decide you don’t want to get drunk tonight, so you toss it.

“Hey is Laura Lee uh drunk?” Van says unsure as she looks over your shoulder. You furrow your brows in confusion. Drunk? That sounds nothing like your girlfriend. You turn to look where Van is pointing and spot your girlfriend giggling and hanging off a concerned but amused looking Lottie. Laura Lee notices you and her eyes light up. She smiles and walks over quicker plopping into your lap. You laugh a little very amused a lot confused on how she got so drunk.

“Hey baby I love you sooooooo much.” She slurs a bit her voice dragging out as she giggles. She leans down wrapping her arms around your neck and peppering a bunch of kisses on your face.

“I love you too baby. Lottie? What did you do to her.” You say looking up at her.

“Ok dont be mad but half way through beer pong we ran out of juice for Laura Lee and she accidently downed a full cup of beer but then didn't spit it out . I guess Laura Lee cant hold her alcohol.” She says shrugging clearly also very drunk as well.

Lottie walks away to go see Jackie and Shauna as you turn your attention back to your overly drunk girlfriend. “Babbyyyyyyyyyy Your face is so beautiful.” She says with such love in her eyes. Her pupils are dilated and shes so giggly.

“Thank you Lee, Your face is beautiful too cutie.” You say laughing at your girlfriends state. She finds that really amusing grabbing your cheeks and squeezing pressing kisses to your nose. Suddenly she narrows her eyes at you.

“I cant do this. Ok. I have a girlfriend and I love them a lot.” She says sounding dead serious . You burst into giggles. “Lee I am your girlfriend.” “Ohhhhhh right!” She smiles widely as she attacks you with kisses again. You laugh giving her a little kiss back.

As the night goes on she gets more and more sleepy. By the end of the party she is in your lap curled up with her face tucked into the crook of your neck. She is murmuring incoherent words to you as you nod along to her.

Its time to go home . You haven't thought about how you were going to get her home yet. You stand up also helping her with some support. She slings her arm over your shoulder abd leans into you. She is less talkative and more giggly. 

You walk her over to your car placing her in the passenger seat and getting in the drivers seat to bring her back to your own house. You help your girlfriend stumble over to your house giggling a bit as she struggles.

You finally get her into your room and sit her down on your bed. She is still very drunk and staring up at you with glazed over eyes. “Hiiiiiiii. Guess what?” She says as you roll your eyes playfully but your not annoyed with her

“What?” You say sitting next to her on your bed.

“I love you.” She says just as happy as the first time and the millionth time this night.

“I love you to Lee.” You say smiling sweetly as you give her a kiss on the nose. “Come on baby lets go to bed and ill take care of you in the morning.” You say cuddling next to her as you wrap both of you in your bed.

Laura Lee cuddles into your arms still mumbling on and on until she eventually falls asleep. You wake up in the morning the sunlight streaming through your blinds. You look down and Laura Lee is still sleeping on your chest. You smile stroking her hair and giving her a little kiss on her forehead.

She slowly wakes up blinking awake and instantly squeezing her eyes shut and groaning turning her face so its tucked away from the light.

“Owwww, why is it so bright.” She whines pulling the blanket over both of your heads as you giggle. “ Your hungover Lee.” You say pulling her close and giving her a little kiss.

“I feel so gross. Why do people even drink this stuff.” She says dramatically as you giggle a little. 

“Don’t worry I’ll take care of you my big baby.” You tease pulling her into another kiss. 

[striped-carpet]

M. List

Haikyuu Boys Comforting You After a Break Up:

Includes: Oikawa, Tendou, Kenma, Kuroo, Sugawara

A/N: I am so good at not posting lmao. Hope you're all doing well!

_____________________________________________

Oikawa:

When you told Oikawa that you got broken up with, he immediately started in his way to your place

He went to the convenience store to buy all of your favorite snacks, drinks, etc.

He would also bring some of both of your favorite movies and all that with him so you two could watch them together

If you start crying, he'll offer you his shoulder. If you just want to rant to him, he'll allow that too

I feel like he overall would be a really good comfort/distraction for these things

Tendou:

Tendou immediately goes to trying to distract you with something fun

You have a game you like to play? you're doing that together. same goes for movies, activities, etc.

He might get you a few of your favorite snacks as well, but that really depends on where he is

Despite this, if you just want to talk to him about it instead, he'll gladly listen to you no matter how mad you get or how much you cry

Overall, he would be pretty good at making you feel better most of the time

Kenma:

Kenma's first reaction is to be angry at the person who broke your heart

Basically starts dissing the person and their choice to leave you, but ends up making it funny so that you get cheered up

After that, he'll invite you to play video games at either one of your houses, or even just together online

He even pays an extra bit of attention to you for the time being just in case something happens

Kuroo:

Once you tell him about the break up, he pretty much immediately goes to telling you everything he didn't like about the person and how you could do so much better than them

And if you even slightly consider getting back with them he gives you a lecture about how you deserve someone other than that dirtbag

Probably takes you for a walk in the park or something like that in order to get your mind off of things as well

Sugawara:

Suga's first reaction is to start comforting you

I mean, of course he's mad, but he can't exactly fight the person right now, if ever

He'll come over with a bunch of your favorite snacks, a few gifts, and just hugs you if you're crying

If he ever sees the person who broke your heart, rest assured that he's giving them hell about it

_____________________________________________

Thanks for reading! Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes and have a great day/night! :D

[maple-keenes]

couldn't reply without subordinate clauses

>> READ IT ON AO3 HERE

summary: Kakyoin needs help with his English, and who better to help him than someone like Jotaro, who’s been speaking it his whole life? It’s the perfect solution. …but someone really should have warned Kakyoin about how much time he’d have to spend looking at Jotaro’s mouth, ‘cause he’s not sure how much more of this he can take. (or: kakyoin and jotaro learn to use their words.) - notes: disclaimer: i don’t speak japanese, which is why you will notice that none of this fic is actually in japanese. all references to japanese grammar and phonology are correct to the best of my knowledge but i recognize that there may be mistakes. however, i DO know a lot about teaching english as a second language and if my advisor somehow finds this, sorry for misrepresenting the field but in my defense this is anime fanfiction dedicated not only to the jojo crew (@thesmalbox and @drawbucket) as per usual but ALSO to @pechebeche for just sort of coincidentally getting into jojo at the same time as me and always being down to scream about jotakak and/or phonetics with me. all three a’y’all are awesome.  title is from the collection’s “spark of hope”, which does remind me of jotaro but mostly i just like the silly pun.

Kakyoin Noriaki helped kill a homicidal vampire when he was seventeen years old with nothing but a bunch of tentacles, but looking at the table in front of him, covered in various indecipherable sheets of paper, he thinks that might have been easier than this. 

He fucking hates English. 

Kakyoin is, objectively, pretty intelligent, if you ignore the multiple massive lapses in judgment that have led to him a) being half-blind in both eyes, b) being maybe a little bit in love with the guy who by extension is the reason he’s half-blind in both eyes, and c) following said guy to America for college because he just does that now, apparently. Something about Jotaro makes him incredibly, impressively stupid. Stupid enough to follow him across Southeast Asia, and now, stupid enough to try and teach himself a new language because they’re so horribly codependent now that the idea of Jotaro moving to America and Kakyoin not going was ridiculous. Ridiculous enough that Kakyoin was able to ignore the fact that he barely speaks English when making the decision.

And oh, he’s regretting it now. Not enough to not go, of course, but enough that he’s given up on the actual learning bit and is now glaring daggers at the worksheets spread out in front of him, all in an easy-to-read font for his convenience. 

He’s been in the public library for two hours, hiding in a secluded corner because he doesn’t need everyone to hear him talking to himself. He’s still trying to figure out what the fuck a progressive is and why there’s six different kinds of them when someone slides into the seat beside him and asks, “You still doing homework?” 

His only response is a muffled groan from where his head is buried in his hands, which is thankfully met by a small huff of laughter from the boy beside him. “Yeah, kinda figured. Couldn’t find you at your place, so I thought you might be hanging out here.” 

Kakyoin removes his head from his hands and offers Jotaro a pained look. “I’m fucking dying, Jotaro.” 

“You’re being dramatic.” 

“I am not .”

Jotaro ignores that and continues to be unsympathetic to Kakyoin’s clear emotional distress. “Are you doing your English homework?” he asks, picking up one of the papers nearest to him.

Kakyoin gestures vaguely at the mess in front of him. “No, I’m doing my taxes.” 

He makes a half-hearted noise of acknowledgment as he skims over the worksheet in his hand. “You got this wrong,” Jotaro says, pointing at an answer Kakyoin had written down about halfway down the paper. “It should be ‘have taken’.”

“Why ?”

“Because ‘had taken’ means it happened in the past.” Jotaro makes a mark on Kakyoin’s paper with a nearby pen. 

“Isn’t that what ‘have taken’ means?” he asks helplessly. 

“Yes. Well, sort of. It can be used for the past, but--”

“Then what’s the difference?” Kakyoin interrupts, his voice coming out as more of a petulant whine. Oh, if Dio could see him now. The boy so willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, standing brave against insurmountable odds, undone by fucking verb tenses. How the mighty have fallen.

Jotaro stares at him, and he can’t tell if the blank expression is because Kakyoin’s missing something monumentally obvious here or because he also has no fucking clue what the difference is. “...One of them uses ‘have’ and the other uses ‘had’.” 

Great. The second one, then.

Jotaro manages to dodge out of the way of the kick Kakyoin aims at his shin under the table, but he doesn’t manage to escape the smack to his shoulder immediately after. They’re both laughing, though. Thankfully.

(Kakyoin can’t get enough of Jotaro’s laugh. It was so rare when they were traveling, reserved only for the in-betweens in dingy hostels when no one else was listening. Something that a precious few people are allowed to hear. To be one of them is a privilege he will never take for granted.)

“I’m done with that,” Kakyoin declares, pushing that part of his homework away from him. He smiles at Jotaro hopefully. “Practice with me? I need to work on actually speaking out loud.”

"What do you want me to say?” Jotaro asks, and isn’t that a question. 

“Just ask me about my day or something.” He figures this is safe territory, both because of his traitorous heart, which has started to speed up in his chest for what is truly no discernible reason, and his limited English experience. “Don't talk too fast though.”

“Alright.” Jotaro thinks for a moment, then says, "I'm just gonna ask you about yourself. That work?"

Kakyoin nods, and the other boy clears his throat and asks in English, “How old are you?”

“I am…” he trails off, struggling to remember the number. “Ten-eight--no, eighteen years. Old. I am eighteen years old,” he repeats, more confidently the second time. “How old are you?”

Jotaro stifles a laugh behind his hand as Kakyoin speaks, and he frowns. “What?” he asks, switching back to Japanese. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just. Your accent. It’s cute,” Jotaro says, and oh, he’s going to be thinking about that for months now. He has a way of offhandedly saying things that lodge themselves in Kakyoin’s brain and refuse to leave until he’s properly overanalyzed every part of them, and Jotaro calling his accent cute is--he doesn’t even know where to start with that. “Here, let me ask you something else. Where are you from?”

That one he knows for sure. “I am from Japan,” Kakyoin says in English, “What about you?” 

“I’m from Japan, but my mom’s from America,” he answers. “It’s pronounced ‘am’ and ‘Japan’, by the way.”

Kakyoin narrows his eyes at Jotaro. “That’s what I said.” 

“No, you said it like ‘Japan’. It should be ‘Japan’. ”

“Jotaro, I promise you that you just said the same thing twice.” 

He groans, hand going to tug his hat down over his face. “No, look. Watch me say it.” He repeats the words again, exaggerating the vowels. This should be exceptionally easy for Kakyoin because it’s basically just Jotaro giving him permission to stare at his mouth (a thing that he does all the time anyway) but he just can’t seem to make out the difference Jotaro’s talking about. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s half-blind, maybe it’s his unfamiliarity with the language, but even when Jotaro says it both ways again to try and demonstrate he cannot figure out why what he said was wrong. He says as much to Jotaro, who pinches the bridge of his nose and says, “Just try and do it the way I’m saying it. I am from Japan.” 

“I am from Japan,” he repeats, and Jotaro sighs. “I’m trying, I promise! They just sound the same to me.” 

“No, it’s--” Jotaro cuts himself off, looking frustrated. “Just--ugh. This is going to sound super weird, but it might be easier if you touched me while I said it.” 

Kakyoin has to physically restrain himself from saying yeah, sounds good immediately with no questions asked. He shoves that instinct down as deep as it will go and asks, “What do you mean?” 

“Like. My face.” He touches his own, as if to say, like this, and yep. Yeah. Kakyoin does know what a face is, thank you, Jotaro. “You’re not moving your mouth right on some of the words. It might be easier if you just, like, felt me do it so that you could copy it.” 

That’s not the worst idea. “Like this?” he says, reaching up and bracketing Jotaro’s mouth between his forefinger and thumb, letting the rest of his fingers rest gently against his chin. Jotaro nods. It must look ridiculous from an outside perspective, but it feels so intimate and personal that Kakyoin is pretty sure he’s going to die. What a lame way to go out, he thinks. Fifty days in the desert fending off stand users and vampires and my own damn feelings are what’s gonna kill me. He hopes they lie in his obituary. Heroically sacrificing himself to save the world is much cooler than dying ‘cause he’s too fucking gay to maintain any sort of physical contact with the guy he likes. 

“I’m gonna say something and I want you to try and repeat it moving your mouth the same way I am.” Jotaro’s eyes have not left Kakyoin’s this entire time and he really, really hopes his face isn’t as red as it feels right now. At least he can chalk it up to the slightly awkward situation if he gets called out on it. “That make sense?” 

His mouth is so fucking dry, which is. Great. He’s literally just touching his face. Not even in a romantic way. Just super platonic, educational face touching. “Yeah. I understand.”

“Cool. My name is Jotaro Kujo,” he says in English, “I am eighteen years old, and I am from Japan.” Kakyoin is now not only watching Jotaro’s impeccable jawline, he’s feeling it work under his fingers, and wait, he was supposed to be paying attention to the formation of the words. Fuck. 

“My name is Kakyoin Noriaki, I am eighteen years old, and I am from Japan,” he repeats, trying to shape the words the same way he can feel Jotaro doing. “Right?” 

“Right,” he confirms, and Kakyoin can feel his little half-smile at the same time he sees it appear. “You’re actually Noriaki Kakyoin in English, though. You would put your given name first.” Kakyoin nods. Maybe he should be taking notes, but that would mean not looking at Jotaro for any given amount of time and he doesn’t know how well he can manage that right now. “English says that you ‘are’ eighteen like we do, though,” Jotaro continues, “which is nice. Some languages say you ‘have’ eighteen years.”

Kakyoin furrows his brow, confused. “Why would you say you have eighteen years?”

Jotaro just shrugs. “Apparently that’s how you say it in French. Polnareff told me.” He glances down at Kakyoin’s hand where it’s still touching his face. “You can, uh. You can stop now.”

He yanks his hand back like Jotaro’s burned him. “Sorry! I wasn’t thinking.” 

“Don’t apologize.”

“...sorry?”

Jotaro huffs, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “It’s fine. You did better that time, though. English has some weird vowels so I can’t blame you for not getting them right away.”

“I just don’t understand how you know all of this stuff,” he laments, slumping onto the table in front of him. “It’s really hard.” 

“I learned it when I was a kid,” Jotaro explains. “It makes it a lot easier to pick up on the rules and stuff when you don’t have another language in the way.” 

“But still,” Kakyoin protests, “you just get it. You’re so fucking smart, it’s not fair. Leave something for the rest of us.” He picks up a nearby pencil and waves it around as he gestures at the papers scattered across the table in front of them. “It’s your fault I’m doing all of this anyway.”

His brow creases and he looks genuinely confused, which leaves Kakyoin at a loss because he really thought that was obvious. “How is it my fault?” 

“You’re the one who wants to go to college in America!” 

“...you don’t?”

He hesitates for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of being completely honest here or downplaying the reality of it, which is that if Jotaro had decided he wanted to go to college in fucking Antarctica, Kakyoin would have started shopping for winter clothes immediately. It’s not that he isn’t interested in going to school in the United States--the school he ended up applying to is a really good one, only a 30-minute train ride from where Jotaro is going to study marine biology, and offers classes for what they call English Language Learner students so he won’t be so overwhelmed by the amount of English he has to learn. It’s a dream come true for Kakyoin that he would have never, ever thought to pursue without Jotaro declaring that he was going to America for school, but he’s not going reluctantly. Nor is he just going for Jotaro; it’s a fantastic school and he’s happy that he’s getting this opportunity. 

But the two of them, there’s something tying them together. They were each other’s first best friend, the first person who really saw the other for who they were, all of who they were, from their stands to every broken piece of them that shattered off in the desert. Jotaro and Kakyoin have seen each other through so, so much that no one else will ever be able to understand. He can’t lose that, not to an enemy stand user and certainly not to anything as easy to overcome as distance. 

“Originally, I only wanted to go because you wanted to go, but it’s a good opportunity anyway,” Kakyoin says honestly. “I wouldn’t have considered it if you hadn’t brought it up first, but I really am looking forward to it now. Even if it’ll be difficult.” 

“You’re going because of me.” Jotaro looks lost, confused. He’s staring at Kakyoin as if he’s just now seeing him--like he’s just put the pieces of him together and something’s finally, finally making sense. “You’re learning English because of me. You--you went to Egypt for me.” 

“Alright, that wasn’t entirely for you, I do actually care about the world enough to want to make sure it doesn’t get taken over,” he huffs. “There was a bit of revenge in there, too. But yeah, I’m going to America because you are. You’re important to me, Jotaro. I’d follow you anywhere.” 

Kakyoin really didn’t think this was as earth-shattering of a revelation as Jotaro seems to have taken it as. He thought it was pretty fucking obvious, all things considered. It must have been. He’s never been subtle about the fact that he likes Jotaro. But Jotaro is still staring at him as if this information is news to him; as if he’s just now realizing that Kakyoin doesn’t just stick around because he’s the only stand user his age around, and oh. Wait. Jotaro totally thought that, didn’t he.

“Jotaro,” Kakyoin says, then stops before he goes any further. He doesn’t know what he wants to say next. If he wants to tell the truth, say you were the first person who ever looked at me and saw me for who I was; if he wants to tell him I think I’ve been in love with you since I woke up in your house and you told me you were going to kill Dio. He settles for something a little less dramatic. “You know you’re my best friend, right?”

“I didn’t.” Jotaro’s voice is quiet, slightly pained. “I thought you just sort of. Tolerated me.”

“Tolerated you?” he repeats, incredulous. “No. I like you, Jotaro. I really fucking like you. You’re the only person who gets me.”

He inclines his head, hiding his face behind the brim of his hat. “I like you too, for what it’s worth. You’re amazing.” 

Kakyoin is grateful that the two of them aren’t making eye contact right now because he feels like everything he isn’t saying is obvious across his face right now; like his eyes and the curve of his nose and the furious blush that paints his cheeks are all screaming I love you because he can’t seem to articulate it. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he says, painfully, brutally honest. “Of course I’d follow you to America. Learn English for you. Anything.”

“That’s probably not healthy,” Jotaro mutters and Kakyoin laughs. “But I get it. I think I’d do the same for you.”

“What a pair we make. Couple of codependent bastards.” He sighs, finally looking back down at the homework in front of him. “Well, now that we’ve cleared that up, I should probably get back to--”

“Noriaki,” Jotaro interrupts, and isn’t that something. He almost never uses Kakyoin’s given name. Nobody does, really, except his parents. He’s always preferred his family name. But, hearing Jotaro say it… he could get used to Noriaki, if it sounds like that every time. “You’re important to me too. I know I’m not the best at showing it, but all the stuff you said, about feeling like I’m the only person who gets you, that’s how I feel about you too. Really.”

He bites his lip, trying to keep himself from blurting out something he can’t take back. His skin is crawling with it, face on fire and hands wringing in his lap as if every part of his body is trying to signal to Jotaro what Kakyoin can’t seem to say out loud. 

But something about Jotaro makes Kakyoin incredibly, impressively stupid, and so after a few moments of awkward silence the warm, buzzing feeling coursing through his veins can’t stay down any longer and he says, voice just barely above a whisper, “I’m really fucking in love with you, Jotaro. And it’s fine if you don’t feel the same way, but I thought, you know, on the topic of feelings and whatnot…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but there’s not much more to say, anyway. What else could he add? He’s fairly certain he’s not going to get the shit kicked out of him for it, not after a conversation on the school rooftop about expectations and did you know in America half of the states have decriminalized homosexuality, said much less casually than he originally intended. “You’re just--I said it already, but you’re the only person who understands me, and I think maybe it started in Singapore when we had to share a hotel room and I realized, like, wow, he’s really attractive. And that wasn’t me being, like, in love with you or anything, but it was the beginning of the end, and now--”

“You’re rambling,” Jotaro cuts him off gently, his hand going to cup the underside of Kakyoin’s chin and tilting his face up towards him; his thumb and forefinger are bracketing his mouth just like Kakyoin had done earlier. This is a thousand times more intimate than that, though, he realizes, as Jotaro runs his thumb along Kakyoin’s jaw. “Stop me if you’re not okay with this,” he says, and before he has a chance to ask what this is, exactly, Jotaro’s mouth is on his. It’s nothing world-ending, just a chaste press of lips, but it reignites that electricity that had been running through his body earlier regardless. Kakyoin thinks he might be melting a little bit. 

It’s over almost as soon as it starts, but Kakyoin still feels breathless and giddy. From that. He’s so fucked. He is so fucked. “So, that means…” he prompts. 

Jotaro laughs, and it’s just as wonderful of a sound as it is every time, made only better for the rarity of it. “It means I’m in love with you too. The hell did you think I meant?” 

“I don’t know!” He buries his still-red face in his hands. “Maybe you were being nice and just trying to give me what I wanted.” 

“Trust me when I say everything I want to do with you is entirely selfish,” Jotaro says, and the stark honesty in his voice startles Kakyoin a bit. “I want everything with you, Noriaki. Every moment of your time.”

“What was that about not being good with words?” he asks weakly. “You can have it. All of it. Everything. Just so long as you give me something in return.” 

He smiles, and. Damn. Kakyoin’s gone. Done for. He’d do anything for this boy. He is Jotaro’s, head to toe, every part of him. He’s been Jotaro’s for so much longer than either of them were fully conscious of, and if he thinks about it, really thinks about it--Jotaro’s probably been his for just as long. “I’ll give you whatever you want.”

[snuffydoo]

Dimentio’s backstory

This post will explain the origins and past of Dimentio and how he came to be prior to Super Paper Mario. I would like to make it clear that everything I say here is not canon and it should not be taken as clear facts or evidence. This is my telling of his story so if you disagree with certain points of the document… that is perfectly okay. I am not here to force anyone to tell the same story as I do. However; I do take a lot of inspiration and points from Garson/Carson. 

>Another thing, I might change some things in the future, especially in terms of designs or names. I will keep this document updated whenever I make any said changes.

Also please don’t go through my doc picking apart my grammar and english mistakes. I know I’m not a professional writer. Thank you

Enough rambling/disclaimers

Let’s begin

The Beginning

The story starts off with a small family of four. 

(The dad’s design is not finished)

(Will update it when I do)

A mom, a dad, a daughter and a son. The dad was an all-powerful magician with the power to bend and create dimensions while the mom was an ancient who had the power to produce illusions. They were both named Universi and Illumina. They then named their kids Damon (Dimi) and Poppy respectfully as they were born. The family was a content family with only the goal to help the other ancients and provide a safe, healthy economy. Using their magic, they would help the civilizations. However, fate had other plans. 

Around the time Dimi was 10 he would come crawling to his mom about certain nightmares he has been having. Each new nightmare shares very similar attributes and traits to the previous one. They all had a forbidding message about a heart made of chaos that would wipe out everything as we know it. Of course these were just dreams right? That’s what Illumina thought of at first until she started getting visions with the same descriptors. 

This grew worry in her as she anxiously watched over Dimi as he continued to live his childfree life. The fear only seemed to grow as the visions got worse for them both. Universi soon caught wind of what was happening and quickly asked what they all meant. He would then ask Dimi the same questions making sure everything was all right. The story was always the same in these visions/nightmares of a masked man who would use the heart of chaos to live out a prophecy that would wipe out every dimension. Once it was clear that Dimi would be that man one day- the terror grew quickly.

Universi quickly disposed of that thought and decided to fight the future. He went into action to start taking more responsibility in leading Dimi the right way. He would direct him to doing the right thing and nag him constantly about what was right or wrong. His punishments were harsh when he did mess up and his words were stern despite Dimi still being really young. Their relationship grew really shaky as both parents had all their attention on him. This only caused more issues than good. 

With all this attention on Damon, Poppy started to get neglected. She was often placed aside because the fears of Dimi’s future were more worrisome than hers. The parents never meant to do this to her but the consequences will take a toll. One day, Poppy started to get very sick as she lay to rest hoping it was just a fever. Not too long after, it took her life as Illumina screamed in terror. Grief quickly took over the family as the dad mourned his daughter for days upon end. With the family completely in shambles, both parents were once again focused on other things as Dimi finally had a chance to breathe and do his own thing. He really didn’t do much aside from locking himself in his room, reading or studying magic. This is where he starts to come up with a book that will be detrimental to super paper mario as a whole. The dark prognosticus. 

Now… At the time it wasn’t really much. It was just a bunch of random notes and diary documents about what his dreams were like and certain spells he jotted down. It was supposed to help him get an understanding of his future and basically get his visions onto paper so he wouldn’t forget them. He even recorded some of his spells that his dad had been practicing. Even an important one that was supposed to bring the dead back to life in a new body. Whatever that meant. While he was researching that, both Dimi and his mom didn’t have much to do so Illumina decided to promise Dimi that he would take him out on a little vacation. It was probably the only time in such a long while that Dimi would be excited for something. 

A couple weeks passed and nothing much has changed. Luckily it was the day of vacation as Illumina beckoned Dimi to come with him. It would help calm both of their nerves as well as maybe rekindling their relationship. She was hoping to help apologize for being a terrible mother as she guided him towards one of the dimension doors. 

The next events came as a surprise.

Before the two could make it to the door, a large explosion happened. At the time, no one knew what caused it. (Frankly someone hypothesized it was faulty wiring to old broken machines). 

Illumina was now dead.

The accident caused an uproar amongst many as people far and wide came to debate and decipher the events of the explosion. The magician’s wife was dead and his son now was nowhere to be seen. News caught wind to Universi as he began to now mourn the death of his entire family. Everything was taken away from him in the span of a couple years. 

Dimi, although presumed to be dead by the public, was actually not really dead. He was caught in the explosion, yes, but he ended up surviving. (Warning for wound depictions and injuries.)  When the explosion happened, it burned his face and his arms were deeply scarred. He didn’t seek help right away, afraid of his father’s reaction so instead he ran away and lived in a shack far from the town. He wasn’t really sure what to do now. Both his mom and his sister were gone, his father was in heavy grieving, and now his own body was injured. He waited it out nonetheless. He didn’t want to go back. Not now. 

Time passed as things at the village started to settle down. Universi became consumed in his work as he was seen to never leave his house aside from calling forth an assistant he hired to help him out. Even the people at the town have become shaken by the events that transpired before them. Silence was thought to have been forever until Universi had an epiphany. 

Once again he refused to let fate describe his future so he did the unthinkable one day. Taking his daughter, he was able to transport her soul into a new corpable body in which he proclaimed as the first ever pixl. He named her the pixl queen and finally came out of his house to shout the praise of his new work. 

News spread fast as the Magician taught his discovery to various other ancients his power of creating pixls. Building tools and ways to bring dead ones back to life as a second chance. A way to preserve the souls of family members. It was a huge success and soon ancients across multiple dimensions were practicing his ways. Universi couldn’t have been happier as he rejoiced at bringing his own daughter back. There was one big issue though, she had no memories or relocation of her past. When she became the pixl queen, all her thoughts and past were erased from her mind. She did not know who he was, or where she came from. All pixls didn’t seem to remember who they were previously. This would soon become an issue later on but let’s get back to Dimi. 

Damon was actually seemingly doing better as he thought that he would finally return home. He got up and headed back with a heavy sigh in his breath. When he came back he couldn’t believe his eyes. The civilization has flourished since he left with people everywhere exclaiming about how the pixls have vastly improved everything in their lives. Dimi, bewildered, went back home to see his dad once more. Of course Universi was even more ecstatic to see his son was actually alive. He helped him settle back in as he helped tend to Damon’s wounds. 

(Not an important note but I wanted to say this anyway. This is where Dimi gets his floaty hands since his arms were way too damaged. His dad helped him out with this) 

Dimi wasn’t too fond of what his dad was doing however. Pixls? Reviving dead members? Assistants? He was completely delusional from grief that he didn’t even have a grasp on what he was actually doing. Damon’s own sister doesn’t even recognize him anymore. Dislike for his father started to become hatred as he quickly started to separate himself from Universi again. 

His relationship with Poppy or well.. The Pixl Queen wasn’t even the same anymore. She was very derogatory of him and often would want nothing to do with Dimi. She had a strong hatred for the ancients for some reason and Damon didn’t get a pass. He started to hate her too as isolation got the best of him. He would go back to what he was doing before all this went down and idly sit in his room. Ashamed of his own face he tried finding a cure and even began wearing a mask to hide his injuries. He couldn’t look at himself anymore in the mirror.

Things played out normally after that or well.. Somewhat normally. Universi would continue to do his own work as both Damon and his sister did her own things. Dimi however was starting to lose it as he became more and more enamored in darker forms of magic. It completely enthralled him as he finally found perhaps a spell that can finally fix his broken face. Upon practice, it worked. His face finally healed and he no longer had scars that plagued his skin. That’s what happened at first at least. Time passed and everything seemed to have gone wrong. The magic backfired and completely corrupted his body. His face especially was now only void. Damon was no longer the same person anymore as this was his last push over the edge. He officially ran away and didn’t look back. 

That’s basically the main gist of what I wanted to write here. A couple years into the future he would soon dawn his new jester attire for he was enamored by the theatrical arts. He then would go completely insane and wish to wipe out all the dimensions and become ruler of them all. I could also get into the nitty gritty of the Pixl Queen revolution against the ancients, how the war was started, or how the Pixl queen became Shadoo  but this document is long enough. (Maybe in the future I’ll explain that too who knows)

But that’s all I wanted to explain today and I thank everyone who read it. 

[prisma-heart]

In the Forcefield

This story was rewritten THREE TIMES, also there might be some grammar mistakes

• Story concept & Art → @vioblu-star

[ Hero, Other Hero, Villain and Multiple Other Villains ] Gender Neutral

Caution : Implied Abandonment, Bleeding, In a verge of passing out

Another night for patrolling, Hero can't shake off the memory that night before, they curse themselves for letting the villain escape, cringing from that memory, they brushes it off, telling themselves to just focus on their patrol..

Hero kept on walking, looking on nooks and crannies for anything suspicious but then they stopped at a particular warehouse that is seemingly abandoned, they could have sworn they heard faint voices coming from it.

"Should I investigate? Or.. Not?" Hero thought

Eventually, curiosity took over, Hero went closer to the entrance of the warehouse, what they saw were multiple people gathered at the center inside, Hero recognized one of them as the same Villain they fought the other night. Realization hits them that this place is gathered with multiple Villains.

They seem to be having a meeting, Hero wanted to eavesdrop just in case it's something serious, but Hero couldn't interpret what they're saying.

Luckily the large sliding door is slightly open, Hero sneakily went inside and hid behind one of the large shelves, in the shelves, there are multiple strange devices and a bunch of reactive chemicals, Hero definitely doesn't want to touch any of that.

They heard that the Villains are scheming to invade the Superhero headquarters, capture every hero on the list that poses a threat to Supervillain's plan and then destroy the place, with it, nothing can stop Supervillain.

Hero is too stunned about their plan and wanted to get out of here as soon as possible to warn their colleagues about the villains scheme, but in the process, Hero accidentally nudges the shelf causing the items on it to collide with each other, making a noise.

"Huh, what was that?" One of the villains said

Hero panics and goes to a different shelf to hide so that they don't get caught, making another noise...

"Everyone! Search the warehouse! We cannot have a possibility that there's someone going to snitch our plan!"

All the villains spread out, Hero makes a move and tries to sneak out to the entrance but in the process, one of the Villains sees a movement behind the shelves.

"Oh no you don't"

The shelf suddenly glows red and lifts up hanging in mid air, revealing Hero In front of everyone, Hero lets out a panic gasp as they have been discovered.

"YOU! You've been eavesdropping on us?!" Leader said

"I don't think I'll let you do your grand scheme villains!"

"Everyone! Capture them!"

All the villains run towards the hero

Hero materializes a forcefield around them and expands it to push the villains away, all of them are knocked back.

Hero runs towards the entrance but the door suddenly shuts closed, locking them inside.

"You Cannot escape knowing our plans!"

"We'll see about that" the Hero said

Hero faces the villains and positioned themselves into a fighting stance, forming a magic field around their fists and then fights them.

The fight took a while, everything in the warehouse is upside down, some shelves are on the ground with some of its contents broken, chemicals spills on the floor, spreading everywhere which everyone didn't notice until it's too late.

One of their abilities corrodes into the chemicals which causes a chain explosion, all of them got knocked back from the Force of the explosion, some of them got minor injuries.

The damage of the warehouse was so much that it began to shake, the ceiling started to crack due to the supports being damaged, few debris falling above them.

"We need to leave! this place is going down!" One of the villains said

" *Frustrated groan* We'll be back to get you Hero! You may have destroyed our equipments for the scheme but we have a backup plan! Until next time!" The Leader yelled just as before they got out of the place.

"Wha?! Hey! wait for us!" Other yelled

"Then run if you all can! Not my problem if you get stuck there!"

Some villains manage to get out, just as the hero is about to get out as well, a large chunk of falling debris suddenly blocks the entrance, trapping Hero inside the crumbling warehouse.

"No! This can't be!" Hero yelled as they tried to remove the large debris blocking the door

"You're not the only one who's stuck here" said a voice coming from behind them...

Hero looks back only to see an awfully familiar face, the villain that they failed to capture last time...

"You?! Out of everyone why did it have to be you!?" Hero yelled in an angry tone

"Quit your complaints and maybe just think of a way to get us out of here"

"You have telekinesis, you used to expose me in front of your buddies, so shouldn't you be the one who can remove the rubble?"

"I know, but I can't do this alone can I?"

"Ugh, fine I'll help you.."

Hero then tries to clear the rubble blocking the door while Villain uses telekinesis to remove the larger ones.

Suddenly the entire ceiling finally breaks down and falls on top of them, Hero reacts immediately and starts forming a forcefield large enough for both Villain and Hero inside, shielding them from the falling ceiling, Villain is in awe since they've never been inside the forcefield..

The process of forming the forcefield is slow, few debris manage to get in, some are large and hits Hero, pinning them down, just as the force field is fully formed.

The walls of the warehouse are all destroyed and the door is completely blocked by other larger debris, surrounding the forcefield.

Hero groans in pain but tries to keep the force field up, otherwise they'll both crush to death.

Villain notices and helps Hero remove the large debris, when they did, Villain lets out a silent gasp when they saw hero's deep wound on their abdomen, Villain moves them in a comfortable position.

"My... Hero you look busted!" Villain says sarcastically, masking their worried tone

"You're saying as if we aren't in dangerous circumstances..."

"Yeah yeah, just sit pretty while I try to get us out of here"

Villain attempts to remove the debris outside the forcefield but some of it are too big for Villain's capability.

"Don't you have anything to call your friends or something? my powers aren't enough to remove all of them you know"

"I can't.. my communication dropped somewhere during our fight and most likely crushed in the rubble.. what about your villain buddies? Why don't they help you?"

"Hmph, we aren't buddies and I doubt they'll risk their lives to save me.."

"Whoa..You have a sad life, Villain..." Hero said with a slight concern in their voice.

"Well.. I think it's better being stuck with my Arch nemesis than my own comrades" Villain smirked, trying to take things positive.

Hero cringes on what Villain said, ignoring the pain in their abdomen, they suddenly remembered that they don't have anything to call for help, leaving it with the possibility that they'll be stuck here for a while..

Villain still tries their best to remove the debris to clear the way out, they manage to clear some while Hero keeps their force field active to keep the ceiling from crushing them.

With the literal ceiling just right above them and their surroundings are nothing but rubble, the only light source is just Hero's forcefield and Villain's telekinesis.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

A few minutes later Villain starts to get exhausted, with their head throbbing from using their powers and their arms getting droopy for beings in the same position for a few minutes, they notice that the force field surrounding them slowly fading and flickering, indicating that it will soon disappear.

Villain worries and looks at Hero to see them now on a lying position, gasping for breath and is groaning in pain, with their hand clutching on the wounded area while the other hand is twitching from exhaustion but still keeps the forcefield active.

Villain stops their doing and sits next to Hero. picking them up into their arms to try to ease their pain.

"Hey hey, it's okay hero... well get off here soon.."

Villain could no longer hide their concerns towards Hero.

Hero didn't like that sudden comfort from their enemy but the pain was unbearable so they let them.

"Look I'm trying my best to clear out the rubble as possible so can you please stay with me for a little? Can you do that?"

"I'm trying..." Hero said with a raspy voice

"And stop pretending that you care... we're enemies remember?"

"I know but I don't like you seeing this vulnerable, so just.. let me help you" they said genuinely

" If you want to help me... then do something to lessen the pain... it hurts..."

Villain then awkwardly moves Hero into a more comfortable position to let their head rest on Villain's arm.

"Is that better?" Villain Murmurs

"A little..." Hero said, barely a whisper

Villain caresses Hero's forehead to comfort them, it's the least thing they could do from this situation.

Villain suddenly saw a light coming from the other side of the debris, it's like someone is holding the flashlight looking for something..

Villain thought that they're just someone probably investigating this recently destroyed place...

"Hello? Is anyone trapped there?" They asked

Hero immediately recognized their voice, it's their friend 'Other Hero'

"Villain... my friend is here... t-tell them..." Hero said weakly

"I can see a faint light in there! Is someone actually there?" They yelled

"Yes! And we need help! plus your Friend Hero is stuck here too.." Villain said

"Hero?! They're in there?! Are they alright?!

"Yes they're fine... but in terms of their condition they don't seem so and probably need medical attention.."

"I'll try to do something to get you both out, hang in there!" They said as they begin to remove debris outside the forcefield.

"Ya hear that Hero? your friend is helping us out of here" Villain said cheerfully

Hero only replies mumbles as their eyes begin to flutter like they were about to sleep from tiredness.

"Don't you dare close your eyes Hero" Villain lightly shakes Hero to wake them up from their possibly near 'death', Hero groans in reply.

"Just please.. stay with me Hero, don't go just yet..." villain whispers

While Other Hero is doing their thing, Villain suddenly hears a noise above them, a few small chunks of debris gets inside the forcefield, Villain looks up only to see many few debris entering the forcefield and larger ones slowly creeps through the layer of the forcefield.

"Hurry up out there! I don't think your friend will make it if you're that slow!"

" I'm trying, just be patient"

"Patient? We've been stuck here for a while now, Hero's force field is what keeps us from being buried alive, Their condition seems to be getting worse and you're telling me to be patient?!"

"Well.. fair enough, but I'm almost done here" Other Hero said

When the other hero manages to clear the debris for them to escape, Villain is about to stand up when the forcefield suddenly gives up and disappears, making the debris and the ceiling fall down above them.

Other Hero panics and uses their ability to delay the fall of the large debris above Hero and Villain

"R-Run!" Other Hero yelled keeping up their ability

Villain immediately picks up Hero in bridal carry and Runs on the cleared pathway, Other Hero let go of their ability and everything falls down.

"Are you two all right?" Other Hero said

"Well yes.. but to Hero.. not so much..." Villain

looks at the Hero in their arms to see them fully unconscious and their breathing is shallow...

Villain sets Hero down so that they could examine their wound

"How did.. Hero ended up looking like this?"

"I uh.. Let's just say they got hit from the debris"

Other Hero glares at Villain then looks at Hero but then looks at Villain again...

Other Hero then Picks Hero up into their arms then looks at Villain with a dubious glare

"If Hero tells me a different story instead of ''they got hit by the debris'' thing, I'm going to make sure you'll regret that! You looked like a person responsible for this" Other Hero said with a harsh tone

"Hmm~.. you sound threatening for a person who didn't manage to beat Other Villain that time" they smirked

Other Hero didn't reply in annoyance as they carry Hero back to the SuperHero Headquarters, leaving Villain behind, although they do wonder how the Villain knew about that, have they met them?

[melanieryssel]

Genshin's characters as your tour guide | P1

Character: Scaramouche, Venti, Alhaitham

Setting: Basically, now you're in Teyvat. It doesn't matter how you got here, it's totally up to your imagination. You could be a Vision wielder, born in Teyvat, or you could be a God!Creator who got shifted to this land. Anh on your journey to seven nations, you will meet up with other characters who will be your traveling companion.

A/n: I'm a new writer so I would love it if you guys leave me comments on how I can improve my writing. Also, this is a series so I plan on doing a lot of other characters too, let me know who you want me to do next. Finally, sorry in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Scaramouche/Wanderer

He somewhat reluctantly agreed to go with you. He thinks this whole situation is just so annoying. In fact, it's only because of the God of Wisdom who had actively and persistently encouraged him to make new friends that Scaramouche is now tagging along with you.

Your travel doesn't have a specific destination. He just takes you anywhere you want to and if you don't have a list of places you want to visit, you guys would probably end up wandering around Sumeru.

Your relationship gradually improves as he finds your presence comforting and calming. He would introduce the scenery to you with such a sarcastic voice like pointing out the landscape flaws or assuming you're boring or weird to enjoy what you see. However, you only laugh it off when Scaramouche is being Scaramouche because you know he secretly likes the scenery as well.

Would intentionally use his skill and makes you struggle to catch up with him. Especially when you have to move from mountain to mountain, he would definitely pretend to forget you and fly off alone until you loudly call his name out of frustration. He might shame you a bit or maybe a lot for being slow but he would still come back and pick you up then carry you in bridal style while flying.

Let's hope it's not going to rain because your intention to touch his hat is clear on your face on the whole journey from the beginning, so Scaramouche won't lend you his hat if it rains. Maybe he will find a leaf for you to use instead. 

Venti

Unlike Scaramouche, Venti seems immensely enthusiastic about the idea right when you ask him to be your tour guide. This man loves Mondstat to his bones and can't wait any more minutes to show you all the beauty of his nation and people.

You and Venti would ride on the strongest yet calming wind to travel on the sky of Mondstat. He would randomly speed up or make you guys freely fall for a moment only to tease you. Venti will give you a bunch of Celilia as an apology after.

Venti will definitely bring you to Starnatch Cliff. 

Then, he walks you to Mondstat City and eagerly introduces you to his acquaintances. Venti takes his responsibility as your tour guide very seriously. He would tell you the history of this land, the folktale behind a flower, and recite a poet to you. He would also take you to Good Hunter shop when it's time to eat something. You guys enjoy the food thoroughly, ordering a variety of dishes, and only stop when you find out he doesn't have any mora...

"I thought you treat me?" You say

"Ehe" 

Unfortunately, you have no mora as well. You feel deeply guilty but Venti is way faster than you so he just grabs your hand and escapes. Before you can say anything, Venti already comes up with a plan that could help you have enough mora to pay for the meal.

And that's the reason why you two end up performing on the street right now. Luckily, Master Diluc passes by so he did offer to help pay for you, you only, and not Venti.

Alhaitham

Alhaitham is not the type to easily display his feelings so you are not sure what he thinks of this idea. He asks you where you want to visit and because you don't have any specific places in your mind so you say he can decide where to go. Hardly did you know, this won't lead to anything good.

Undoubtedly, he will take you to Sumeru Akademia. First, you really enjoy visiting such a majestic building. However, he starts to talk about different Darshans in the Akademia, the history of Sumeru, the well-known or impactful research in the library... As much as you love how passionate he looks while talking, it slowly becomes too much for you.

So you think you should ask him to bring you somewhere else. Surprisingly to Alhaitham, you say you want to visit his house. He doesn't get why you want to go there but doesn't oppose the idea at all since he finds you actually charming and kind. When you guys arrive, you see Kaveh there working on his thesis. Kaveh takes your visiting as a sign from the Universe to have a break from his work, but right after when Kaveh and you greet each other, Alhaitham says "It's enough, let's go somewhere else."

For the rest of the day, you two go to many gorgeous locations. Before saying good night, as he walks you to your hostel in Sumeru city, he says to you: "You aren't interested in what I talked in the Akademia right? Maybe Kaveh could be a more suitable tour guide since you guys' personalities share similarities." You freak out for real and then try to reassure him that it's not true and you actually really like the academic research he introduced.

"Really? Okay, then let's come back to Akademia library tomorrow, I can explain that research to you."

[batsvnte]

𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚 — 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞

pairing! Blade ;; black gn!reader (They/them) ఌ angst, strained relationship, soulmate au (kinda) ఌ cw! spelling mistakes/improper grammar, ooc maybe, blood + violence mentions, possessive behavior, canon divergence, Blade having murderous thoughts ఌ synopsis! With fate bringing you two apart, destiny always has a way to bring you two back together

A karmic debt was known for repaying all the bad deeds you’ve done in your past. Whatever hell you’ve been put through in your previous life was catching up to quickly for you to keep yourself at bay. For every year that you’ve lived, the debt would become lighter and lighter. That’s what your first thought when the good things were showing up subtly aside from the hints of the sharp pains that would hit at random moments. The debt would take a toll on your physical well being during the early years of your life and even now. It wasn’t enough to classify that you were ‘dying’ but it wasn’t enough to let you off the hook from the feelings of someone’s sharp blade tearing into your skin. Twisting into an agonizing way that made it that the holder would want to see you suffer. Psychogenic pain is what you learned from an local healer/doctor.

You weren’t aware of the man who has been hunting you down the moment your name was brought up out of the blue.

Blade feels the mara stirring up within his body as he catches glimpse of you in an distance. Your weary eyes darting around the slowly emptied rush in an sense of worry. You knew something was off the moment you stepped into this certain place. Your comrades would try to ease your worries with reassuring words and gestures of safety. But nothing helped with your growing fear. There was an gnawing feeling of you being watched by someone but no matter where you look, it would disappear elsewhere.

He remained hidden within the shadows. Images that were blurry kept appearing anytime he turned his gaze over to you. He ignored the thoughts of approaching you and straight up snatching you from your comrades. Letting them watch helplessly as he took you away to a place where no one could help you. He wanted to watch your blood mix in with his in an eternal state that will keep you two together once more.

And just by seeing each other in the flesh was making the pain worse for you. The sword materializing in your hand within quick seconds to parry his attacks with your comrades being caught off guard at the scene at hand. A moment of the smallest slip up would lead to Blade plunging his sword directly into you to snuff away your life within seconds. No matter how your allies would attempt direct his attention away, he could only brush them off without sparing a glance as his eyes were focused on you and you only.

This was just the beginning of the chase. The debt that was supposedly becoming lighter felt like it was a bunch of heavy bags crushing you. Every encounter with Blade would only lead to the pain becoming worse. At random moments when you’re sitting either by yourself or being with friends would turn into moments of silent pain. The feeling of a sword stabbing into your chest for brief moments before the pain disappeared. Sometimes it would last for a few seconds, and times it would last for hours. Rarely even days.

The good things being just a vague memory for you. With no one to help you recollect the memories of your past life, you were left with no questions to answer about Blade. He would find ways to know exactly where you were. Even if you weren’t apart of the script this time, he might as well take his time to get rid of those who have dared laid their eyes upon you. You’d only come back to an bloodied mess of the one who you were helping out. The mangled body of the one innocent soul laying whilst Blade watches you silently. The both of you knew that soon enough you’ll be coming back to your comrades bodies dead and gone. It’ll be a matter of time when you finally belong to him.

[sarabencze]

I saw a lot of discourse around Seventeen using AI in their comeback trailer, and I thought I'd share my take on it.

If you're interested, keep reading, it's a lot 😅

Also, please excuse any grammar mistakes, it's almost 2 am lmao

BUT once I watched the teaser as a whole a few more times and slowed it down to really look at each scene, I'd like to think that I understood the artistic vision behind it.

So, do I like them using AI? I don't know, not really if I'm being honest. I'm not a big fan of people using AI for commercial purposes, so I was a bit thrown off at first.

From my interpretation, it's their way of saying how much AI harms the arts.

First of all, let me bring out the line in the very beginning of the video that goes

"In our current reality where anything can be created with AI, who's the real maestro?"

It kind of highlights the fact to me that with music creation becoming more and more "accessible" to people - even those who have literally zero musical sensibility - with the help of AI, being "good" at creating music slowly loses its uniqueness and creditability. People won't look up to others who are good at writing lyrics or creating beats and they won't "idolise" them because they can have it with just a click of a button. It highlights that if we keep going down the route of using AI to create music, people could get credited with little to no music skills, and those who are actually skilled could lose their jobs.

It would also be hard to tell if the songs are actually created by living-breathing musicians with the help of human minds and emotions, or they're just a cheap AI copy that STEALS and uses already existing pieces of art to create something else.

Next, I'd like to talk about the trailer itself.

If you slow down the trailer to the slowest setting and just pay attention to the video, you can see a scene for a fraction of a second where Hoshi is kneeling with his hands tied in the middle of a bunch of robot looking soldiers(?) with their rifles pointed at him.

It's just one scene I distinctly remember, but most of the cuts looked like they were all somehow "controlled" by various types of electronic devices(?).

There are also AI created scenes in between some actual scenes of the guys themselves showcasing robots making music, also somewhat symbolising that people creating music with AI is just like as if it was robots creating it and it has zero human emotions involved whatsoever.

I also saw people saying that "since they used AI, they could've used something better quality so it doesn't look this ass" and all I can say to that is I think that was part of the point they're trying to make?

Like it's kind of symbolising that AI can never truly be as good as a piece of art created from human emotions BY a human? Idk that's just my opinion honestly.

In conclusion, all I can say is that I hope they only used AI for this one trailer alone, or like we'd only get a few seconds of AI in the MV AT MAX.

I'm not really fond of the idea of AI being used for commercial purposes, so I hope they only used it just for this one trailer to make a point.

I mean, we've seen many K-pop groups have trailers to music videos that had literally nothing to do with what was in the actual music video, so I'm hoping it's one of those cases.

I hope it's like a "prologue" to set the scene/tone for the MV itself.

Anyways, if anyone read the whole thing, thank you, I really appreciate you.

I'd also love to hear your thoughts in the comments/reblogs, it's an interesting topic to talk about.

I might also follow up with some new thoughts in a reblog if I remember something else.

[megu-meow]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎//𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒//𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

Hi, dear person!

This blog was created so that I can keep myself entertained after I come home from work. I don't plan on disposing a bunch of information about myself here, but I'll tell you this much:

✨I am 23

✨my pronouns are she/her, but it doesn’t really matter, in my mother tongue there are no pronouns

✨I am not a native English speaker, so you might run into spelling mistakes and gramatical errors, but hey, we’re all here to have fun

✨I’m not really comfortable with sexual themes, please do not expect me to write smut or anything similar

✨My favorite anime is JJK, you can expect a lot of Megumi/Gojo works from me

✨I also like music a lot, so if you have any song suggestions send them my way

✨I have ADD, if you cannot understand what I’m trying to express in my writing, I’m really sorry, my brain be doing that

𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

✨Be nice!! To me, to others, and to everyone! Criticism is appreciated only if it is uplifting and does not make anyone else uncomfortable.

✨Please do not ask me to write anything sexual, I'm not comfortable with that!

✨Please do not steal my work, if you'd like to translate or quote anything, let me know.

✨Please take the fact that I am not a native English speaker into consideration. I might make some mistakes and I would appreciate it if you'd let me know if my spelling or grammar is faulty, just be nice about it!

✨Please let me know if you find something I have written disturbing or offensive, I am trying to do my best so that I won't hurt anybody, but I'm human and mistakes happen. I will change/remove all content that might cause harm.

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

homecoming - megumi x fem. reader

I can't lose you either - megumi x fem.reader

sleepy confessions - megumi x fem. reader

cartier - gojo x fem. reader

fan behaviour - megumi x fem. reader (requested)

silly sundays - gojo x fem. reader

crazy crushes - gojo x fem. reader

siblings or dating? - megumi x fem.reader

crushing hugs - gojo x fem. reader

jealousy, jealousy - megumi x fem. reader

all the small things - gojo x fem. reader

boyfriend texts - megumi x fem. reader

boyfriend texts - gojo x fem. reader

serious - gojo x fem. reader

comfort - megumi x fem. reader

Whose fault is that?! - gojo x fem. reader

Soulmates - gojo x fem. reader

3 words, 8 letters - megumi x fem. reader

lovebug - gojo x fem. reader

baby megumi with gojo's significant other [(drabble) g.n reader]

gojo's wedding with fem. reader (drabble)

kiss it better - gojo x fem. reader

bbycakes - gojo x small. fem. reader

love scars - gojo x fem. reader

romeo - gojo x fem. reader

Triangle - girldad!gojo x fem. reader

missin' you crazy - gojo x fem. reader

how I met your mother - dad!gojo x fem. reader

catnaps - gojo x fem.reader

Boyfriend Texts 2.0 - megumi x fem.reader

Bulls**t - gojo x non-specified reader

Boyfriend Texts 2.0 - gojo x fem.reader

when gojo falls in love - gojo x fem.reader

Series:

Hockey Player Sukuna - Part 1 - Part 2 (Coming Soon)

to the rescue - Megumi - Prologue - Part 1 (Coming Soon)

[sgiandubh]

Well hello one more time tonight it is Caitriona Anon again. I love when you get fired up. But 1) I'm not an Anti, I'm a shipper I just happen to be one who's disillusioned with Caitriona who I now find cold. I've been here since Sam was cast, I no longer have a blog because I'm trying to wean myself off of this and it's easier for me this way. I do believe they are together despite whatever irritation I might have with either of them at any given time. 2) I'm not Russian or German, I'm an American and I guess my grammar failed me tonight, apologies. 3) I didn't understand and I wanted to ask questions which I thought was the point of having an ask box and a comment section so that people can get to the heart of what you are saying. Despite you not caring if you are understood, after this post, I do. 4) I was sincere in my questions and appreciate your answers no matter how fiery they are.

Dear (persistent) Caitriona Anon,

You managed to bring a smile, after all, remembering my (shipper) mom's exasperation: 'stop doing your American lawyer schtick, we're eating, for the love of God!", every single time I get fired up, as you say. Yes, same shipper mom who is a C-mainly ('so beautiful! so elegant!') and who told me ' I will not comment on that boy, he is blonde' (it's true, the women of my clan are persistently attracted like flies by dark strangers).

Speaking of C also made me remember a lazy August afternoon, on the Nong Khai-Bangkok sleeper train. I was trying to read something about Virginia Woolf's Bloomsbury gang (a filthy paperback I had poached at the Khao San Road bookstore, between the 7-Eleven and the smiling Burmese tailors who made me a couple of wonderful tussah outfits). At the other end of the open dining car, an old American Hippie guy was explaining to a bunch of bewildered Australian flashpackers how that same Khao San Road changed and became 'such a nonsense' since the glorified days of the Banana Pancake Trail. That included the somewhat lewd recollection of his paramour, a fierce Valkyrie, the story ending with ' ah, she was beautiful. Beautiful and gone.'

So is C. Beautiful and gone. She came, she conquered, she left. But what is good to bewilder Australian flashpackers on a balmy Siamese summer night is crappy nonsense when and if you consider a life and a career after OL. So yes, even if I have trouble believing your story, I could reasonably understand why you are disappointed or angry or (you name it) with S, C, S&C.

I am not, because I set my bar very low on design. I have no moral right to ask anything of These Two. I have no intention to pressure two overly stressed individuals who still must figure out what the hell happened to them (yes, after all these years), just to satisfy my ego or be avenged. I am taking it as it is, one tango step and one day at a time. I know what I know and that is enough, because what I know I found out or figured up by myself: the rest is confirmation, solidarity and a beautiful story of collective friendship.

Wean yourself off? Wow, the ambition. This is worse than tobacco! And you still have a sock account just to lurk? Make no mistake, you didn't go anywhere, if you told me the truth. And neither did Moo, or CRT and their respective beggar's courts: they are still here, like dragonflies in amber, and despite all their loud, vile, venomous protestations. It's next to impossible to leave, when the sideshow is more enticing than Season 4.

You are always welcome to ask questions and I will always answer. But I think that you might want to consider this POV, too: how about finding yourself propelled in a world where people literally scream every single time you walk into a room? how about trying to have a life when you sometimes feel that hundreds of prying eyes are lurking near your bed? how about finding balance when every single word you ever uttered is analyzed to oblivion on blogs or is turned into a gif which spins lackadaisically in cyberspace? how about living with a sword above your head, called Non Disclosure Agreement? how about finding yourself insulted by nobodies with a keyboard? what would YOU do?

So what if they don't want to be seen, heard, mentioned, in a giant FUCK YOU ALL, shippers and antis and fencers and God knows who else?

Do I think this is the best way they could have managed it? Absolutely not. But my position is comfortable: the love of my life is not regularly considered an illiterate snake oil seller for a geriatric bunch of groupies. I am not that guy Richard Madden ostensibly humiliated in public, when he was bartending in London, and who, suddenly, is aware he became a global fantasy.

Would he lie for her sake, for their sake? I believe he would, and more. Would she accept the unthinkable? The woman who answered the 'what was the most foolish thing you ever did' by 'I got married' totally would.

Enough said. Let's say good bye, for the moment, with a nice pic from a calmer world, where the gong of the nearby wat wakes you up at 6 AM. And then you go and have the best coffee in town at The Scandinavian Bakery, round the corner: