#Baekhyun romance | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

exosmutfactory · 1 year ago

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Wanna Be Yours 001

Originally posted by tipannies

Maybe not all good girls are good, and not all bad boys are bad. It’s all about perspective and experience, for not everything in life is a clear black or white. Sometimes you will find gray, brown, or silver… Possibilities are endless. And Byun Baekhyun is too god damn fine to resist.

◤“Stop smoking, it isn’t attractive.” “Stop swearing, it isn’t either.” “Fuck you.” “When.”◢

Main Masterlist | Bookclub zone | Chapter 1✓

networks — @/superm-net @/bbh-net

pairing — Baekhyun x Monica (OC)

word count — 3.8k

genre — biker! baekhyun, bad boy! baekhyun, enemies to lovers! romance, slight angst, fluff, smut (one chap - eventually)

[ This chapter contains: an introduction 🚲 ]

A/N: Hello! I'm introducing one of my AFF-exclusive, BBH stories to Tumblr! I'm posting this chapter to see if readers on here want to read it 🥰 This story doesn't have a tag list, so let me know if you wanna be tagged for future chapters either in my ask box or the comment section! 🌸 I'll continue writing this when I finish my other story: Only Forever 🌊

Chapter 1

Look around, lovely

I’ve been through many things in my life. From my ex leaving me for a “slim thick” girl who lived three blocks away to my best friend, making it their goal to break my spirit from the inside out. I had to cut ties with my treacherous family. I had to change my name, eye color, and wear a purple wig to flee from another crazy ex to Hawaii. I almost had to file for bankruptcy when my twin sister bought three foreign sports cars in my name.

—I’ve been through a lot, but I never expected to find myself in the middle of this shitstorm.

“Yo, Chen, move your ass!”

“I’m almost there!” This so-called Chen hisses into his phone, tugging me behind him by my arm. He glares back at me when I stumble over a recycling bin. “Shut it.” His grip turns painful when I slow down my pace. He stomps hurriedly down shaded alleyways and dimly lit streets. I'd scoff at his audacity if I wasn’t so busy trying to form a plan to escape and not fall flat on my face in the process.

“Yo bitch.” He throws another nasty look over his shoulder, “keep up, will ya?”

My eyes narrow as I purposely stomp on the back of his foot. “Oops,” I chirp when he yelps, hiding my smirk while he curses and hobbles on one leg. “Guess that’s too close, eh?”

He bares his teeth at me. The smirk quickly falls off my lips when the ground is suddenly approaching my face at an alarming rate.

I brace my hands against the pavement at the last second, but my right arm buckles under my weight, sliding my frantic hands across the rugged surface, scraping against the sidewalk with a painful burn. I groan at the fire hot pain shooting up my forearm.

“Oops,” he mocks, his leather boots stepping into view. He bends down in front of me with a tilt of his head. “Guess that was too soon, huh?” His victory smirk on his curled lips would have been sexy if I didn’t have the urge to punch him in his pretty face.

I keep my eyes on him, slowly bringing myself back to my feet. It takes everything in me to ignore the pulsing pain in my knees and the warm liquid running down my elbow as he stands back to his full height. His unimpressive 5’8 stature seems intimidating while I’m poorly hiding my injured arm behind my back. It doesn't help that he has a tattoo of a snake on his bicep, the green ink peeking out from under the sleeve of his black t-shirt. He’s not tall, but he is buff, and that is enough for me to keep my mouth shut... for now.

He runs his eyes over my quiet defensive stance, his smirk turning even more cruel before he yanks me forward by my injured arm. “If we’re late, that’s your ass.”

I roll my eyes to distract myself from the tears threatening to fall, biting my tongue. My hands and arm throb painfully in sync. That hurt like a bitch and he’s two seconds away from being smacked like one.

After walking a few more empty blocks, the rev of an engine reaches my ears—and it’s not from a car. My heart plummets when the realization sets in and the beaming headlights of shiny black vehicles come into view. Two motorcycles stop a few feet away from us in a deserted parking lot. The riders are wearing black helmets with matching clothes, blending in with the night. Their faces are shaded under the dim light of the moon when they take their helmets off.

Dusk is on the rise, concealing the moon behind thick clouds as the world waits for the sun to peek over the horizon. The darkest hour of the night… Looking around at the buff asshole and two newcomers, I can only hope that I’ll make it to see the sunrise. I swallow my nerves while Chen impatiently drags me over to the others.

The guy on the left is the first one to notice us. He shakes his hair, the brunette strands catching light before he switches off the headlights. He’s tall with beautifully toned skin, whistling when we step off of the sidewalk. “Damn hyung, took you long enough.”

Chen shrugs. “Catching the prize was a bit of a struggle.” He rattles my arm for emphasis, his smirk visible under a flickering streetlight.

“Oh?” The brunette’s eyes trail over me, focusing on my pulsing arm before shifting back to the prick next to me. “Looks a bit like damaged goods, hyung.”

“That wouldn’t be the case if it had acted accordingly.” He shrugs, nonchalantly looking me over.

My eyes and mouth twitch. It is really taking everything in me not to say something.

“Hopefully hyung doesn’t mind,” The other tall guy speaks up, eyeing me warily while I stare at his unnaturally orange hair.

“Byun won’t do shit,” Chen waves him off, pulling me closer to a parked bike three parking spaces away. “He hasn’t before and he won’t start now.”

The orange-top guy starts to reply until a loudly revved engine fills the air, announcing the arrival of more motorcycles entering the deserted parking lot. I glare at the biker driving in front, from his laid back posture alone he must be the leader.

“Baekhyun!” Chen yells into the still night with a cocky grin, laughing gleefully. “So happy for you to finally join us. I feared we’d start without you.”

The leader calmly parks his bike a couple of feet away, pulling off his helmet while the other five bikers join him. I bite my cheek to hold back my gasp when his face is revealed. What I expected was some forty-year-old gang member with a huge tattoo, crooked beard, and salt/pepper hair. Not a twenty-something-year-old with one of the most attractive faces I’ve ever seen in my life.

His light brown hair ruffles in the wind, the salty scent of the sea rolling in. He shakes his bangs out of his eyes, looking at the man next to me with a blank expression on his face. Baekhyun’s eyes slowly follow Chen’s arm down to my own in his tight grasp. His eyes linger on my injured arm, the clench of his jaw and flare of his nostrils has my eyes shooting down to look at it myself.

The sight of blood steadily dripping from my ripped sleeve has me wincing. I bite my lip hard to hold back a pain-filled whimper.

Baekhyun cuts his eyes back to Chen with a murderous glare, “Jongdae.” He hisses venomously.

Chen stiffens, his grip loosening on my arm, “Byun?” He’s caught off guard, the confusion rings loudly in his uncertain voice.

“What the fuck is this?” Baekhyun looks at my arm then at him again, his voice growing louder by the minute. “Why the hell is she bleeding?”

“She wasn’t…” Willing to come? Willing to follow a stranger? Willing to get pulled out of a store for nothing? “Very compliant.”

“And you brought her here anyway?” Baekhyun gives him an incredulous look, his eyes narrowed at the latter’s silence. “What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do.”

I shift on my feet, highly uncomfortable just witnessing this exchange. The other bikers watching them quietly doesn’t calm my nerves in the slightest. I know one thing for certain—the tension can be cut with a knife, and I’m not about to be in the middle of this hell much longer.

“I was walking with her down the street, and she fell.” Chen chooses to say.

I crack my neck when I whip it around to face him. “Really?” I snap. “You purposely yanked me forward and let go, yet dare say I fucking fell?!”

Chen scowls at me. “Well if you weren’t being such a bi‒” He pales when I sense a dark aura behind me.

I turn around to a furious Baekhyun. His brown eyes blaze brightly in anger amongst the pitch darkness of the night, the wind tousling his hair across his forehead. The urge to take a step back is high until I remember who is right behind me. Baekhyun takes one look at me then turns his fire-filled gaze to the fearful man behind me. “I’ll deal with you later.”

I look down at the sudden hand gently grabbing my uninjured arm, meeting Baekhyun’s eyes before he takes a step back. And for some reason; I follow. He keeps his eyes steady on mine before turning to address the others. “I’m calling it off.” His gaze meets every individual one of theirs. “Any objections?”

No one even so much as moves.

Baekhyun firmly nods, peering down at me with a raised brow. “Come with me?” Even while he asks, I’m already being led over to his bike. He grabs his helmet and pauses, turning to me, the dim street lights reflecting the mysterious glint in his brown eyes. “Have you ridden a motorcycle before?”

I look at the bike then back at him, narrowing my eyes. “Are you planning to kill me with it?”

The corner of his lips twitch up, “that’s a no then. May I?”

Eyeing the helmet in his hands, I nod, quickly muttering, “if I die, I’m suing you,” when he starts to place it on my head.

Baekhyun chuckles. “Don’t worry.” He adjusts the helmet with a teasing little grin, his voice low enough for only me to hear. “You’re in good hands.”

“Uh huh—oof!” I yelp when he suddenly lifts me up and sets me on the back of his vehicle—that seems one hundred times more intimidating now that I’m sitting on it. “I swear, Byun, if I fall‒”

“You won’t.” Baekhyun affirms. He throws his leg over the motorcycle and climbs onto it with grace, throwing one last look back at me before starting the engine. It purrs in a way I’ve never heard before. The low, crispy sound vibrates through my entire body when his deep voice reaches my ears. “Hold on tight.”

When he revs the engine, I wrap my arms tightly around his waist. The fear of death is greater than the pulsing of my bleeding arm. We speed out into the street, the others becoming mere specks of shadowy figures in the distance as we go further down the dirt road.

My eyes stay partially closed until I remember that I’m wearing a helmet, and if anyone has to do that its Baekhyun. Which is fucking scary considering the fact that he is the one driving! Steering this two-wheeled vehicle that tilts side to side depending on the gravitational pull of the earth and the wind.

I flinch when we roll over a bump in the road, gripping the front of Baekhyun’s shirt. I can’t tell if it’s the motorcycle or his chuckles causing the vibrations in his chest when I rest my head on his back. The sun is slowly rising, pale light peeking over the horizon. It bounces off of the calm ocean water in the distance. It’s fascinating, how the ocean and the cloudy sky meet, like a snowglobe full of cascading sparkles.

The blur of buildings comes into focus when we slow down, Baekhyun resting his feet on the ground when we reach a red light. Recognizing the slightly run-down buildings, my heart rate picks up. “Baekhyun? Where are we going?” I ask warily. Instead of replying, he pats my clenched fist in a pacifying manner and takes off once the light switches to green.

Gulping down my nerves, I make sure to take note of every street we go down in case I have to hightail my ass out of wherever we are headed. The sight of small brick houses and wide front porches brings a wave of nostalgia over me—and not in a good way. All I can do is hold onto him and hope I stay in one piece until we reach our destination. The weight of my knife concealed in my left boot gives me little reassurance.

We start to slow down on a street that welcomes us with the largest maple tree that I’ve ever seen, followed by small but surprisingly well-kept homes. It’s pretty for the infamous neighborhood that we are in, and the house we stop in front of in particular is the nicest one.

Baekhyun drives up the driveway and parks, getting off the motorcycle with grace before helping me down as well. I flinch when I try to straighten my injured arm. It hurts worse than it did earlier, burning every time my denim jacket sways in the wind and brushes against it. I keep my arm bent at the elbow while clutching it to my chest.

Baekhyun notices but doesn’t say anything. He walks up to the house while I linger behind, taking in the flower-filled yard. Pretty pink roses and beautifully bloomed dandelions take up most of the land. Growing steadily alongside the driveway and sidewalk, their healthy petals awaiting the sunlight.

“Hey.”

Turning back to Baekhyun, he crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe of the open door. The sun shines down on his caramel-colored coat, black graphic tee shirt, and leather pants. The more I look at him, the more confused I get. How on earth is he in a bike gang? He has no visible tattoos, no piercings. The only things “gangsta” about him are his sharp brown eyes, confident stance, and authoritative aura.

Baekhyun clears his throat, jolting me from my thoughts. He raises a brow with a tilt of his head, the corner of his lips twitching. “Come in.” He disappears into the house before I can give any sort of reply.

Pulling my phone out of my bra, I snap a picture of the street sign and send it to my friend so they know my whereabouts—just in case. I tuck it back under my shirt and take one last look at the quiet neighborhood before entering the house.

The only way I can describe the interior is warm. With light brown walls and darker carpeted floors. The living room alone is full of worn-in couches with pretty throw blankets. When I start to take off my shoes, Baekhyun pops up, shaking his head, “there’s more dirt on this floor than out in the yard.”

He walks off into another part of the house with his heeled boots and loud footsteps. I spot a bright orange crumpled leaf and a patch of dried grass in the center of the room. Heeding his advice, I take a wary glance at the unlocked door before going to look for him. Walking to the other side of the living room, I’m met with a doorway to the kitchen on my left and a hallway to my right. Finding no sign of Baekhyun in the tidy room, I venture down the hall.

“In here,” he calls out just as I pass the first door on the left.

Backtracking a few steps, I look inside the bathroom while he rummages in the cabinet under the sink. My eyes move back to him when he swears.

“I know I left it somewhere,” he mumbles just as his eyes caught sight of something. With a tug, he pulls back to close the doors, standing up with a familiar red box in his hands. “Have a seat,” he beckons me over, gesturing to the closed toilet lid with his chin.

I settle myself on the cold surface, the white porcelain chilling my skin through my jeans. Watching him carefully while he sets the first-aid kit beside the sink and takes out antibacterial wipes. When he reaches for my arm I flinch back.

Baekhyun gives me a look. “May I?”

Sighing deeply and gritting my teeth, I nod with a roll of my eyes, slowly taking off my ripped jacket and dropping it in the bathtub. I look away when he draws nearer with the wipe, clenching my hand into a fist. The sting brings tears to my eyes.

After what feels like hours, Baekhyun gets to work on the gauze, gently wrapping it around my arm and taping it together. I take a few deep breaths as he moves over to the sink, focusing on the sound of running water instead of the irritated skin of my scratched palms.

“You won’t need stitches,” Baekhyun murmurs thoughtfully, his voice breaking the silence, echoing across the tiled walls of the room. He dries his hands on an indigo blue towel hanging from a high bathroom rack attached to the wall. “...Are you okay?”

The hint of concern in his voice is surprising, it prompts my eyes shift over to him. “Yea—Fuck!” I hiss loudly, quickly bending my elbow back to its position. The tender wound throbs painfully in sync with my racing heartbeat.

His brows raise. He crosses his arms, leaning his hip against the counter and giving me another knowing look. I only glare back at him.

Baekhyun sighs tiredly. “I’ll get you an Advil.” He shakes his head, making his way out of the room and venturing further down the hallway. I clutch my arm to my chest, sending a quick text to my friend to come pick me up. Thankfully she’s right around the block, passing through the neighborhood on her way back home from work.

A smile curls on my lips when she sends a picture of the great maple tree at the nearest red light. The bandages crinkle when I stand up, grabbing my jacket and tentatively closing the first-aid kit before heading back towards the front of the house. Heavy footsteps have my head whipping back around to find Baekhyun in the hallway with a box of Advil in his hands. “Hey,” he cracks an awkward smile, his hair slightly disheveled.

I narrow my eyes at him.

The smile slowly falls off his face. He clears his throat, gesturing to the box in his hand. “I got you the Advil.”

“I see.” I don’t take my eyes off of him for a minute, shifting my weight so I can retrieve my knife if the need arises. His body language is off and his intentions are not clear. I make sure to keep distance between us; I’ve been in this situation a million times before. Whatever he is trying to achieve with this small talk, I am not up for sticking around to find out.

“Do you, uh‒” he runs a hand through his hair. “Do you need a ride?”

“No, I called a friend,” I smile tightly.

“Oh.” His hand falls down to his side. He shoves it into his pocket and outstretches the box in his hand towards me. “Here, half the box is left. You probably need them more than‒” his eyes catch mine and he clears his throat again, “me.”

I look him up and down and carefully take the box from his hand, avoiding making any contact. My lips twitch in a mixture of amusement and annoyance. “Thanks.”

Baekhyun nods, shoving both hands in his pockets, the velvet green underside of his coat showing when he parts his lips again. “About what happened earli‒”

The rev of a sports car engine cuts him off. “Hop in, bitch!” my best friend yells, breaking the tranquil atmosphere of this shady neighborhood in the early hours of the morning. “We’re going home!”

I glance at the open door then shoot him a forced, polite smile. “Thanks um… Baekhyun, was it? But there’s my ride. I got to go.”

Baekhyun nods while I make sure I have everything, tucking the box of medicine under my good arm. “See you around,” he speaks up when I’m halfway through the door.

Darting my eyes back to him with my hand on the screen door, I smile my fakest smile, letting it slam shut behind me. “Bye!” With a roll of my eyes, I match down the driveway to my friend’s car and hop in with a passive-aggressive smile.

“What the hell happened to your arm?” she raises a perfectly arched brow.

“A situation you never want to be in while shopping for hairspray, Alison. Now drive.”

A/N: If you would like me to continue posting this story on Tumblr, reblog or comment to let me know! (^-^)

#baekhyun smut #supermnet #bbh-net #exo x reader #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun romance #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun ff #baekhyun x oc #exo baekhyun #exo romance #Wanna Be Yours

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keehomania · 5 months ago

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cr: nyellaa_ (tiktok)

this is THE drama like this is THE ultimate drama. guys moon lovers is such a timeless masterpiece, idk if i regret not watching it when it was popular or if i regret watching it at all. youth of may, 2521, snowdrop, etc have nothing on moon lovers wallah. this is the most heartbreaking show i’ve ever watched and also one of the best. they ease you into the show with the first ten episodes, make you think you’re in for a historical rom-com. loud and wrong! every twist and death was heartbreaking and the ending ruined me because it’s not even a regular, oh she’s dead, type shit. it's like, he thinks she’s dead and he’ll NEVER see her again because it’s the past, but she’s alive and has to spend the rest of her life remembering him and she can never go back because IT’S THE PAST. that’s so painful fuck this show ngl it’s the one drama i’ll never rewatch. hope this HELPS! 💜

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zaynab8 · 7 months ago

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People write the history of their lives around their happiest moments. But no one ever really knows what will happen on the next page. So they make promises in their lives they can't keep, and laugh like those bright moments will last forever. But life has plenty of darkness hidden behind that radiant happiness. So when all the good things disappeared in an instant, and life became so difficult that I wanted to rip out all the pages, I thought to myself "Okay, so I had some bad things happen to me, but at least I had you." That was the only thing that got me through it.

Queen of Tears, 2024

#queen of tears #baekhyun #hong hae in #kdrama #korean #kim soo hyun #kim ji won #netflix #lovecore #romance #love quote #love

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poutyboxian · 5 months ago

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JABUTICABA — Chanbaek ! BR AU

# Disponível nas seguintes plataformas: Spirit & Ao3

sinopse: Após finalizar as gravações de uma novela que marcou altos índices de audiência, Kauê Park, nome artístico de Chanyeol, resolve que aquela é a hora de tirar as férias dos holofotes que tanto adiou. Coincidindo com sua decisão, uma carta da avó materna o faz decidir que o primeiro destino de suas férias será no refúgio dos avós, na parte serrana da cidade. No entanto, Kauê não esperava reencontrar Bernardo Byun, Baekhyun para os íntimos, o filho adotivo de seus avós que foi o primeiro amigo que fez em um país que pouco conhecia e também o garoto que beijou após um acordo de que entre eles só rolaria aquele beijo e nada mais. Agora, Bernardo é um advogado criminalista de renome e um homem bonito demais que deixa Kauê balançado e determinado a fazer do início de suas férias um intensivão de como trazer imprevisibilidade a vida de um advogado habituado ao previsível.

#chanbaek #baekhyun #chanyeol #exo #fanfic #baekyeol #brasil #romance #lgbtq #boys love #yaoi #comedia romantica #poutyboxian #friends to lovers #moodboard

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kpopimagi · 9 days ago

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A Flower Under The Rain [Part 14]

Characters: Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Kang Gyuri (OC) Genre: Angst, Romance Au: Hanahaki!Au Type: Series Word count: 8,012

It all began with a cough and then, a subtle sting in her chest. Kang Gyuri cried, knowing that in a matter of months, she would be another figure in the death toll of the most dangerous and cruelest outbreak in human history.

Gyuri opened her eyes after what felt like a minute. Her entire body was sore, and the excruciating pain felt like an old memory she was grateful to leave behind her. A joyful holler caught her attention, waking her up, and she found herself lost for a moment. The room had gotten smaller in a way, enclosed by a greenish curtain, and then another happy holler diverted her attention from her surroundings to find someone sitting next to her bed.

A guy.

A stranger.

The unknown person sat in an office chair with his legs propped up in a very childlike manner, and the most curious detail was that he was barefoot. She could barely make out the features of his face, but a protruding pout behind a very wild pinkish fringe. He was so focused on his phone, where the happy sounds kept popping as he tapped his fingers on the screen that he wasn’t aware of her staring.

When she finally moved, the stranger paused the game and hid the phone to smile at her when he realized he was being watched. He was too handsome, his smile too charming, and his eyes were so intently looking at her that Gyuri wanted to pull the bedsheet over her head and hide.

“Hello.” He said in an overly cute manner, and too taken aback, she barely mumbled the greeting back, making the guy smile wider. “I’m Kai.”

He introduced himself as if that meant something, and Gyuri wondered if she was dead. She looked around, but there was no one else in the room but the handsome, bronze-skinned stranger and herself.

“Are you a doctor?” She finally asked.

“Sort of,” he said with certain amusement, rocking his chair from left to right. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen all my hyungs so animated. They begged me to come.”

As if something new had occurred to him, he sat down straight and rolled himself closer to the bed until he had his face at the same level as her. Gyuri was transfixed by his childlike curiosity as he observed her.

“I had to meet the woman who has all of their tighty-whities in a twist.” He said, his eyes sparkling in awe.

“Kyungsoo doesn’t wear tighty-whities.” Gyuri replied even before her head registered what she just said.

“You’ve seen him with his clothes off.” Kai added with a playful smirk.

Gyuri felt her entire face heat up, and every bit of her skin crawled in utter mortification. She refused the claim as fast and as vehemently as she could, but the guy seated in front of her burst out laughing, so loud, so high-pitched, and so contagious that Gyuri almost forgot why she was embarrassed in the first place.

“So you’re funny and pretty.” He said, shrinking into his seat as if that admission was too much to handle, “I get why Kyungsoo hyung likes you so much.”

“Jongin, you can’t be here.” Dr. Kim came into the room, interrupting the stranger.

“Kai, hyung, my name is Kai.” He said with an annoyed pout, “How many times am I going to tell you?”

“Just because you’re a brilliant chemist, it doesn’t mean you're a genius in everything else.” Dr. Kim said, grabbing the guy by the shoulders and starting to wheel him away from her bed.

Kai, Jongin, or whoever he was at the time, slouched and pouted in the most dramatic manner while complaining about not revealing who he was, citing "for obvious reasons” but that were not at all obvious.

“I’m so sorry that he’s bothering you, Gyuri.” The doctor apologized.

"I was establishing a rapport with my client." Kai said, grabbing her bed's metal frame and pulling her with him.

The doctor scolded him immediately, and the guy caved in, letting the bed go to stand up and bring up a black case out of somewhere. Without saying much, he opened it, and that finally made the doctor stop with his scolding.

“Kyungsoo hyung is paying me to mix for her,” the guy said with sudden confidence, “that makes her my client.”

“What’s that?” Gyuri asked.

Her question broke their intense staring contest. Giving the doctor an I told you so look, Kai retrieved the chair from his grasp and sat down right back next to her. He showed her the case and revealed an assortment of small, colorful glass vials. He brought up a purple one for her to see.

“A painkiller.” He said, giving the vial to her, “the best one on the market.”

“What’s different from the one nurse Kim is giving me?”

Kai smiled at her, and she felt her cheeks heating up again, this time for a very different reason. The smile on his face wasn’t a smile at all but a smirk, inviting and playful, almost seductive, and Gyuri felt remorseful for falling into it so much.

“Those ones knock you out.” He started, making her come back to the matter at hand: “Mine don’t.”

“That sounds good.” Gyuri wondered out loud.

She realized she had no idea what day it was. She just dozed off, and for all she knew, it could’ve been days since that happened. It had been only seconds, and the idea of being awake and present seemed extremely appealing.

“Wanna try then?” Kai asked, and the smirk on his face was even more alluring than before, if that could even be possible.

Gyuri accepted. She wanted to feel better. She hated the missing days and the lost moments. Smiling back at her, Kai pulled a cart closer to grab a syringe. The action made nurse Kim jump at him almost immediately. And if it was all a joke to him, with a mocking face, Kai put surgical gloves on and grabbed the smallest syringe Gyuri had ever seen to fill it with the purple liquid barely up to the first line.

“That’s it?” The nurse asked, grabbing the syringe and getting ready to put it into Gyuri’s IV.

“It’s highly addictive,” Kai said with a serious tone, making the nurse halt to look over at the doctor waiting for his order, “and I need to monitor you closely. I’m not sure how the bug will react to it.”

“I’ve told you before, Jongin,” the doctor intervened, “it’s not a parasite.”

“It feeds off whatever it wants,” Jongin added with an annoyed shrug. "It sounds like a parasite to me, and my name is Kai.”

The argument kept on going, and Gyuri panicked. She never thought about it in that way, and the idea of a living insect moving on her back made a chill run through her entire body. The machines started beeping around her as desperation took over, while everyone around her blurred in movement.

As suddenly as the world distorted, it all went away when she locked eyes with the guy who had now pushed the plunger of painkillers into her IV. Kai was smirking at her as he observed her with his eyes just as dark and alluring. If she had to guess, it was almost as if he was challenging her to look away first, which she did when her cheeks burned in a sudden wave of shyness she had never felt before.

Slowly, as she reminded herself that she was bedridden and sick, Gyuri finally noticed a machine beeping faster and faster as she recalled dark and dangerous eyes. She heard someone tell her to remember how to breathe when all she could feel was her heart hammering in her chest.

“You’re making her hyperventilate.” Doctor Kim scolded Kai while nudging him out of the way.

“I guess it works just fine.” He mumbled, sitting back into the chair with a cocky smile, “That was my basic formula, so all I need is a batch of fresh blood samples, an iced Americano, and in a couple of hours, I’ll have a new custom mix for you.”

The next couple of minutes went by so fast that she was suddenly breathing just fine and alone with Kai once again. He was nice enough to stop his flirtatious quibs as he monitored, just like he said, her reaction to the painkiller. Suddenly, he produced a notebook and a cute bear pen, and he seemed to have lost interest in everything else.

“You’re a drug dealer.” Gyuri said after a while, and the offended look in his eyes amused her.

“No.” He said sternly, “I’m just a chemist who happened to find a very profitable market.”

“Out of sick people.” Gyuri interjected, which seemed to disarm the guy for a second.

“Well, people find relief, and I get paid.” Kai said with a shrug, “Who needs charity?”

Gyuri stifled a laugh. She couldn’t argue with that. She did feel better. Her back was finally numb, and her mind was sharp and clear for the first time in a long time. She even dared herself to move a little, just to make sure, and her mind reeled with possibilities when there wasn’t a pang of paralyzing pain when she did.

She was considering the idea of sitting up and observed the chemist still writing down stuff on his cutesy notebook when a door opened quite abruptly. Gyuri couldn’t see who it was. Her back was to the door, and she wouldn’t care if it wasn’t for the expression on Kai’s face. He barely even moved as he looked up, and his dark eyes stared at whoever came into the room with an intensity that alarmed her.The sound of someone clearing their throat was all it took to instantly calm her down.

She could recognize the timber of that voice anywhere. She had once been a slave to it. While everything about her rejoiced at the sound, her heart, sitting at the very core of her, calmed down, almost to a lull.

“Is that him?” Kai wondered under his breath, his eyes sweeping up and down from a distance, “Really?”

Despite barely moving from his seat, the chemist gave her a patronizing stare before Gyuri heard that voice shyly greet him, forcing him to look away. Soon after, Baekhyun walked into her sightlines, dressed up in a surgical gown and dragging an IV stand.

“It wasn’t a dream.” She mumbled. “Was it?”

“Which part?” He asked, “That I’m gracing you with my presence?”

Kai scoffed, but Gyuri laughed, possibly for the first time in weeks. She nearly burst out laughing when Baekhyun sheepishly jumped into his bed, struggling to keep his butt covered with the stupid, flimsy hospital gown. He endured her teasing with stoicism, only because it meant her giggles would float around every corner of the sterile room. Even he felt lighter to hear her voice without pain, without restraints, without any regrets, and the next couple of days were quite blissful after that. They spent hours talking, chating about nothing important, as if their hospital beds didn’t exist and the IV drips weren’t even there.

Kai sauntered into the room every morning with his characteristic alluring flair. He would administer her daily dose of the drug, observe her reaction for a couple of minutes, write stuff on his cutesy notebook, and would throw some snarky remarks to Baekhyun at the end, leaving him completely flabbergasted. As if that was all the chemist wanted, he would disappear for the rest of the day, much to her disappointment. Kyungsoo was nowhere to be seen either. She didn’t dare to ask about him. Her mind was still too cloudy to recall anything that had happened. What she remembered from the fragments that did come to her mind were his weary eyes, the unadulterated emotion in his voice when he pleaded with her to tell the truth, and the look of rage on his face when she refused. He was most likely disappointed at her, and even if everything in her wished to see him again, she kept it all to herself.

Gyuri focused her energy on enjoying her present, where Baekhyun was her roommate and he was there solely for her. The change in her mood was noticeable. She felt stronger, she looked better, and her mind was clear. Having Baekhyun next to her was as liberating as she imagined it would be, but despite all of that, his presence didn't erase the dark shadow looming between them. Neither of them addressed the subject even when their conversations always ended up at the same issue: the reason they were there in the first place.

One day, during the shift change, and taking advantage of a couple of hours of quiet false privacy, Baekhyun rolled to his side and observed her. Gyuri had her eyes closed, but she wasn’t sleeping. He just knew. They had been watching a television show and arguing about who had the best comedic timing that he knew wasn’t possible for her to fall asleep that fast.

“Gyuri…” He called her, and she hummed in response. “Are you still awake?”

She hummed again but kept her eyes closed as a small smile spread across her face. For a second, he considered letting her rest and just watching her sleep in peace, but he had to know.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He whispered.

Baekhyun saw the tiny twitch on her features, and the peaceful smile disappeared. She was still awake; that was clear, but her eyes stayed closed, and he waited for an answer that never came.

It was better to pretend he never asked. Gyuri spent the next couple of days as if nothing of the sort happened, and everything in the villa fell into a somewhat routine. She would start every morning with the early visits from Kai and Nurse Kim to take the daily blood samples. After that, the most embarrassing one, the sanitary duties, and then the doctors would show up for the daily checkup. It was somehow a tedious task that happened every eight hours. She would be stripped down naked, and they would document every change in her body, from the growth of the spikes protruding on her back to the smallest shift of her teeth or the coloring in the bruises on her skin. Nothing on her body would change without them knowing.

Gyuri had been too out of herself to care about it. And as much as she felt better with Kai’s mixes, the clarity of mind came with a price. She was conscious enough to be aware and to feel embarrassed by her daily routine. She had to remind herself that her body wasn’t the same and that the doctors had seen plenty of sick bodies before. She kept telling herself that she was just another body in their research. Nothing else, nothing more.

After all that, her mother would come in to feed her breakfast, which consisted of mushed stews and suspicious chunky drinks. By that time she was too tired already, and after taking a nap, nurse Kim was back to take another batch of samples. Then it was time for the worst part of the day: work out.

Nurse Kim straight up put her through a whole workout session. Keeping her limbs mobile was crucial, even though she could hardly move. She had to push her joints a little, even if she cursed through it all. She knew she would have already become a tree if nurse Kim hadn't been so strict about the exercise repetitions. Even though she ended up being so exhausted that she was barely able to stay awake for the remainder of the day.

That was her new reality; however, it was a new day, and her daily schedule was already different. The doctors explained the procedure to her and her parents the day before, and she knew the implications of the results. They had scanned her back to the smallest detail, but they needed to know the layers of the structure. How deeply rooted it actually was to her flesh and mapping the organism could answer a lot of the questions, doctor Kim and doctor Zhang still had about the disease.

When the whole team entered the room early that morning, Gyuri was already awake, and they all stopped at the sight. She was waiting for them, seated up in her bed, crouched. She wasn't, but the hump on her back gave the impression that she was ready to leap on them like a beast. It wasn't just the posture that made them hesitate but the look in her eyes.

“Good morning.” She greeted the doctor.

“You’re in a good mood this morning.” Dr. Kim greeted her back, showing her his characteristic kind smile.

“Yeah, today is a good day.”

He hesitated, staring at her, considering and observing her just as much as she held his eyes, in an unspoken conversation.

“May I ask why?” He finally asked, pulling his light pen out.

“It occurred to me that,” Gyuri said as she let the doctor shine the small light into her eyes. “I can change the world.”

The already quiet room went even quieter, and they all looked at her, stunned. Even the doctor seemed taken aback for a moment, and the sudden attention on her made something in her shift back into the old anxious and shy Gyuri. They all saw the fire in her eyes, dimmering down.

“Or maybe not,” she shrugged, aware of every pair of eyes observing her with curiosity, “that can happen too.”

Gyuri added with the lightest tone she could muster, trying to shrug pretensiousness in the comment off. It worked in a way, or so she decided it did, when the doctor gave her a small yet undecipherable smile and everyone around her resumed whatever they were doing.

“But as long as I stay alive,” she said under her breath, loud enough for only doctor Kim to hear her, “there’s always a chance I might, right?”

“Absolutely,” he said, with a kind tone, although the smile he always showed her barely reached his eyes, “and it’s my duty to make sure that everything we’re getting from you doesn’t go to waste. I promise.”

Perhabs it was the seriousness in his voice or the lack of his comforting smile, but Gyuri believed him. She knew she could rely on him, and after taking that leap of faith, she felt a great deal of guilt.

“Where’s Kyungsoo?” She asked, and her voice sounded even softer than she expected.

“He must be somewhere around.” The doctor said, although she could tell he was not telling her all the truth about it. “I’ll tell him to be here when you wake up.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you ready?” He asked.

This time, the kindness in his voice was back to the kind of tone that she trusted and assured her that everything would be alright, and that filled her with a confidence that brought a smile to her face.

“Let’s change the world.”

***

After a hectic week of taking every possible test available on earth, Kyungsoo was released with flying colors, but the steadiness had become unbearable. He wasn't needed for questioning any more and could leave if he wanted. He could go back to Seoul to attempt to keep on with his life, but there was nothing else for him there, so he stayed on the premises, wandering around but always ending up in the monitoring room.

He spent most of his time there, watching over her, just making sure she was still alive. He held on to the primal relief he felt every single time she made the smallest movement, as small as to move a hand, because it meant she was still there, still fighting.

Just like any other day, Kyungsoo set himself in the room and saw Junmyeon taking her away to the operating room for the new mapping procedure. But now, the stillness was even more intolerable. Suddenly, he didn’t even have her on the monitors to find some peace. All he could do was wait with the unknown.

A couple of hours later, he saw movement on the screen as Jongdae and Yixing wheeled the bed with a heavily sedated Gyuri into her side of the room while Junmyeon talked to her parents. He saw Baekhyun observing the nurse carefully working around her and making sure she was safely and comfortably in her place. It was an innocuous picture in itself if he didn’t know them so well. He looked at different screens from different angles, and in all of them, he could see the frown in Junmyeon’s face. He had seen it so many times before when the doctor found himself in a corner, and he was certain of it when he caught Yixing observing Gyuri in her bed as if he was too dumbfounded to leave.

They found something.

Something bad.

Kyungsoo scrambled out of the small monitoring room, his heart racing at the endless possibilities, and found the doctors leaving the room in a heavy silence. He saw it right. Something was wrong.

“What happened?” He asked,

“I need to interview Baekhyun again.” Junmyeon mumbled.

“What do you expect to find?” The writer asked, expecting the worst when Yixing and Jongdae joined them, seemingly just as dumbstruck as the doctor.

“I don’t know.” The doctor said more to himself, “But there’s something we’re missing.”

“Hyung, why hasn’t it killed her yet?” Jongdae asked, as he ordered stuff in his little supply cart, “What is it waiting for?”

“Jongdae, bring Baekhyun to the main office.” Junmyeon ordered, avoiding the question that sent a chill down the writer’s spine. “We’ll have him look at the timeline. Let’s see how he reacts to it and what he might add.”

As if he had been ordered himself, Kyungsoo moved along with his friends and followed them back to the office. He grabbed a tablet he found nearby, sat down on the makeshift waiting area, and waited as he felt his heart beating in his ears.

Once the cameras were set up between the desks, Jongdae came in, followed by a reluctant Baekhyun, as he looked around, taking in everything in the office. Kyungsoo pretended to be busy on the tablet, although he had grabbed it more like a desperate attempt to keep his heart from beating its way out of his chest.

“We have several questions, Baekhyun.” Junmyeon said, casually sitting in a chair in front of Baekhyun as Yixing also sat nearby, “Introduce yourself.”

“My name is Byun Baekhyun.” He started, his voice steady, “I’m 28 years old, and I’m from Bucheon.”

“What were the circumstances in which you met Gyuri?” Junmyeon asked, writing something down on his clipboard.

“College. We shared some lectures during her first year.”

“What’s your relationship with her?”

“We’re friends.”

“Have you ever wanted to be more than friends?”

“No.“ He said and immediately shook his head, “Yes.”

The doctor did not react to his indecisiveness, and Baekhyun just stared back at them.

"No,” he said firmly.

“Do you love her?”

“I do.”

“But you don’t reciprocate the affection she has for you?”

“What the hell is this?” Baekhyun shot back, looking around the office, probably put off by the new setting and audience, “Am I some sort of criminal being questioned?”

“We’re just trying to know as much as possible about your situation.” Junmyeon replied, without losing his composure, “We tested your blood, and we couldn’t find any trace of the disease. That being said, where you’re standing might be the key to finding immunity.”

The explanation had the desired effect, and Baekhyun took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself.

“What was the question again?” He said, his tone easier.

“Do you reciprocate the affection she has for you?”

“Affection, yes.”

“Have you ever wanted to be more than friends with Gyuri?”

“No.” He said, this time without a single trace of hesitation.

“Did you lie when you said you loved her?”

“No.”

“You feel affection for her; you do love her, and yet, you are not in love with her.” Junmyeon asked, and Kyungsoo noticed a glint of excitement in his eyes. “Can you elaborate on that?”

“I love her.” Baekhyun replied, but his voice and even his entire posture were different. “But I don’t think I do it in a romantic way, at least not in the strict sense of the word.”

“Why not?”

Baekhyun squirmed in his seat, uncomfortable. Almost meekly to answer the question, he looked down at his hands as if the admission was extremely embarrassing.

“In a very, very, but very shallow way,” he said, with a noticeable knot in his voice. “She’s just not my type.”

The silence after his answer was as loud as thunder. Kyungsoo couldn’t even get angry at him. He could hold it against him if he did find Gyuri attractive and still decided to crush her hopes. It would be a thousand times easier for him to hate Baekhyun if he were an asshole, which he was not. Just like Gyuri said, he just cared an awful lot about her.

He tried not to look directly at the guy, who clearly wanted to be swallowed by a hole in the ground, but his hands trembled, holding tight to the dead tablet. His efforts failed when he heard Jongdae pull the wobbly, noisy wheels of the enormous board where Junmyeon and Yixing had a timeline of Gyuri’s infection coupled with relevant cases during the outbreak.

As if it were part of an elaborate scheme, Junmyeon and Yixing remained focused on the interview, but eventually, Baekhyun ignored the question, seemingly distracted by something on the board. The doctors looked at each other before Junmyeon pressed him with more questions.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Megumi.” The guy replied, nodding at the picture of a young woman on the board; the recognition in the name made Yixing shift in his seat. “How is she involved in this? Is she sick as well?”

“Do you know her?” Junmyeon asked.

“Well, as much as you can get to know a senior you admire.” He said with a shrug.

“Did you have a crush on her?” The doctor asked, and Baekhyun squirmed in his seat.

“I think so.” He said softly, staring at his hands.

”Did you have the chance to meet her?”

“Of course, it was the highlight of my year.”

Even Kyungsoo looked at the guy as his voice trailed down in a whisper as it dawned on him. Everyone stared at the board, realizing that piece of information might be the missing piece of the entire puzzle. Suddenly the timeline was more relevant than ever.

“Can you tell us about it?” Yixing asked, his tone a lot gentler than Junmyeon’s.

“The Engineering and Computer Science Fair in Shenzhen, China.” Baekhyun started, after he cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable. “It was during my third year. I was part of the team presenting the applications of a new graphic engine for video games, and Gyuri was assisting our university’s coding team during the programming tournament. It was part of her scholarship program and our first trip together. It was fun.”

“When was it?” Yixing asked, ready to write down the new date.

“Having an accurate date isn’t going to give us any answers.” Junmyeon added, although his attention was on Baekhyun’s reaction.

Kyungsoo got it then. He understood what his friends were doing to gouge more details out of Baekhyun that he even felt bad for the guy and the rather aggressive approach. He could almost say the guy didn’t deserve it.

“But it would help us a great deal." Yixing replied, his tone still kind and gentle, as if begging him to remember.

“Yes, to determine a contagion speed rate because, as it is right now,” Junmyeon mumbled, but his eyes were burying holes in Baekhyun. “It’s quite worrying.”

To Kyungsoo, and most likely to the doctors as well, it felt like forever for Baekhyyn to answer. But he was surprised that neither Yixing nor Junmyeon tried to force a response, given how direct their questions were. They waited, observed him, and analyzed the smallest tick on his face until he finally opened his mouth, but the answer wasn’t what they wanted to hear.

“You’re wrong.” Baekhyun said.

His voice was trembling just as much as Kyungsoo’s hands did when he came into the office. And the words made it all worse; he had to leave the tablet aside and look at the timeline. They all did. Everyone looked at Baekhyun and then at the timeline on the board, looking for said mistakes.

Once it was clear Baekhyun wouldn’t say more, the doctors finally moved. They checked the files once again and asked him, but Baekhyun was long gone in his thoughts and despair. He was trying with all his might to go back in time and recall the exact moment he heard her cough for the first time. The longer he kept on thinking, the harder it was to accept it had been that long since she had been sick, and it was a truth he wasn’t willing to accept.

“Baekhyun?” It was Yixing that noticed the way his shoulders dropped. “What did we get wrong?”

“We’re working with what Gyuri and her mother told us.” Junmyeon explained, his patience running thin.

“But it can’t be.” Baekhyun said, seemingly snapping out of a trance, “She’s just prone to colds. She couldn’t be suffering for so long. Not because of me.”

And with those words, they all saw the tears falling down his cheeks. And as heartbreaking as it was to see the guy breaking down in front of them, they still had worse news to deliver.

“Most people can pinpoint the exact moment the disease sprouted in them.” Junmyeon started the explanation now with a softer tone.

“It’s a particular feeling,” Yixing added, “impossible to miss.”

“But that’s not the same with Gyuri.” Junmyeon kept on saying, “She told us she wasn’t even aware of it until the medical report a few months ago.”

Baekhyun shook his head, most likely already knowing where this explanation was going.

“We suspect she contracted the disease way before this date.” Yixing explained, pointing at a date from the timeline, “We’re talking about someday last year.”

That’s when Baekhyun understood the real burden of guilt. The heavy and crushing weight of his failure. Gyuri had been suffering for almost a year because of him. She was in deep pain because of him. She was going to die because of him.

From then on, no matter how many questions were thrown at him, the doctors realized Baekhyun wasn’t fit to keep going with the interview, so they let him go, and the office was suddenly filled with deafening silence as everyone, including Kyungsoo, seemed deep in thought with the answers they just got. Junmyeon was the first to move and made a beeline to the writer.

“Did anything catch your attention?” The doctor asked, sitting next to him.

“Nothing other than he seemed sincere.” Kyungsoo said, as he observed the timeline once again, “Did you really have to go that hard on him?”

Junmyeon stayed silent as if Kyungsoo had not asked him a question. Something in the professional pragmatism of his silence made the writer look at the doctor, and for a moment, he seemed different. The coldness in his eyes, the intense expression of an obsessed stranger and not a long-life friend. Unnerved by the sight, he looked around to find Yixing lost in his thoughts as well. What they found in the surgery and what Baekhyun said somehow had a connection with the timeline.

“Who’s Megumi?” Kyungsoo asked anyone that was present enough to answer.

“The tree girl.” Yixing replied in a whisper, turning to where they were sitting, making him slightly uncomfortable.

“Yixing, could Gyuri be the first?” Junmyeon finally said under his breath.

Everything froze. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the doctor.

“Thank you!” Yixing dashed across the office to sit near them with a childish excitement glimmering in his eyes. “I didn’t want to say it out loud in case you might think I was mad.”

“Patient zero?” Jongdae asked, also getting closer. “Can it be possible?”

“If we’re willing to consider that idea as a hypothesis,” Yixing added, “all of her symptoms predate the first victim.”

“Can it be?” Junmyeon mumbled.

Kyungsoo understood just then the obsession behind his eyes.

And everything became a fuzz.

The doctors ignored him as they worked with their new theories when Kyungsoo excused himself from the office, exhausted just by the sheer amount of stress derived from the interview he witnessed. No one seemed to notice his leaving. The new information rang in his head, and he found himself back in his room, halting at the sound of the softest sniff.

Baekhyun was there and embarrassed to get caught crying; he wiped off his tears. Kyungsoo looked away, giving him some grace, considering he had to deal with a work-focused Junmyeon, and that was tough enough already.

“I guess I’m your roommate now.” Baekhyun said, his voice hoarse from crying, “So don’t mind me.”

Kyungsoo wanted to leave somewhere else other than having to get along with the guy, but it was too late to leave now. The latest interview switched something in him. In any other situation, he would’ve left without a hint of remorse, but he felt terrible for the guy. He wouldn’t even dare say he pitied him. The more he knew the guy, the more he realized he quite admired his sense of responsibility and, in a way, sympathized with his pain. That last thought made him squirm, uncomfortable to feel in that way for someone he, in theory, should hate.

“You need to rest.” That was all he managed to say.

Going further into the room, Baekhyun stood up, as if the writer demanded all of his respect, making the both of them move awkwardly around each other. Not knowing what to say exactly, Kyungsoo laid down in his bed and closed his eyes in an even more uncomfortable silence.

“I won’t leave her alone again.” He heard Baekhyun mumble. “I swear.”

“If that’s the case,” Kyungsoo replied, slightly annoyed that he believed him, “Wash up, get some sleep, and eat something. You have to take care of yourself.”

Baekhyun agreed, and Kyungsoo heard him moving around the room, mumbling left and right about how correct the writer was, and he covered his face, already exhausted from his persistent babbling. However, he missed the noise as soon as the guy disappeared into the shower and gave him a little moment of silence to think. Because thinking was the last thing he wanted to do.

Thinking suffocated him.

Thinking made him see a future without Gyuri.

“Are you asleep?” Baekhyun asked.

He hadn’t realized the guy was out of the shower already, so he simply opened his eyes to acknowledge his presence. Baekhyun was ruffling his wet hair with a towel and sitting in his bed, looking at him with certain curiosity. As if he wanted to get to know him, and Kyungsoo knew he had to oblige in a way.

“So…” Baekhyun said, “How did you two meet?”

“Lunch.” He replied, but the guy expected to get more out of that answer and chuckled when he didn’t.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why does she trust you so much? She isn’t the type to meet new people so easily, let alone make new friends.” Baekhyun kept on, looking at him with genuine interest. “Sometimes I still wonder how we ended up becoming friends in the first place.”

Even though Kyungsoo found the guy annoying, he was also curious as well. Deep down, he wanted to ask everything about their relationship because Gyuri never spoke about the guy in that much detail. Other than caring about her, he knew nothing about the guy, and she was right. Baekhyun cared a lot. But they were so inherently different that their friendship was the most unlikely he’d ever experienced. He wanted to know what he had that was so worth dying for.

“I’m just helping her.” Kyungsoo said.

“Why?”

The writer was fully aware that the truth behind his statement was a lot more complicated than that and that he had been wondering the same ever since the very first time he saw Gyuri. Why did he help her that day?

Baekhyun waited for a response with undivided attention and a gentle yet intensely curious expression in his eyes. They were both on an equal basis. The guy wanted to know the writer as much as the writer wanted to know the guy.

“How’s your girlfriend?” Kyungsoo asked instead, only aware of his harsh tone until he said it out loud, “The woman you were with back then at the restaurant.”

“Oh, her.” Baekhyun said with a shrug, “I broke up with her because of something ridiculous she said about Gyuri.” He said, his face twisting in a grimace. “Who would’ve thought? She was right after all.”

Kyungsoo didn’t have to ask about what he meant. He was surprised no one else around her seemed to notice. It was blatantly obvious to him that Gyuri was sick, and he wondered if people simply stopped caring about the curse anymore or if Gyuri was just that good at blending herself in the crowd and going unnoticed. Perhaps it was that he was a survivor himself that he could see the signs. Maybe he noticed because he liked her from the very beginning.

“Have you been with her all along then?” Baekhyun interrupted his thoughts.

Kyungsoo nodded, although he wasn’t sure anymore. Cursing under his breath, Baekhyun ruffled his hair again quite violently, and a tired chuckle left his lips. He looked at him straight into his eyes, making Kyungsoo unexpectedly nervous.

“It’s getting quite hard to dislike you, you know.” Baekhyun said.

Kyungsoo stayed quiet, not knowing how to react to that admission and even less how to agree with it because he thought just the same. He could not hate the guy anymore, even if he tried.

“Thank you.” Baekhyun added. “For staying with her.”

There was an awkward pause, and Kyungsoo wished for Baekhyun to stop trying to be nice and strike conversation. It only made it hard for him, but the guy was already babbling about the shampoo in the bathroom. He apologized for taking some of it if it happened to be his and promised to get a new bottle just in case. Kyungsoo ignored him, muting him off so he could try to doze off, but he could still hear him buzzing around until the room was awfully quiet.

“The other night,” Baekhyun said, his tone completely different and void of the lightheartedness from before, “she was wearing your clothes.”

Every bit of that night, every feeling, and every word he shared with Gyuri flooded his memory. He remembered that night as if it were yesterday, and it amazed him how much everything had changed. Kyungsoo opened his eyes to find Baekhyun back in his bed.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” He muttered, considering the sad look in his eyes and worried what it could possibly mean.

“Did you two, you know, sleep together?” He asked.

Kyungsoo nodded. What else could he possibly say? It wasn’t a lie. They did sleep together, although not in the way the guy might think of by the bright red color flaring on his cheeks.

“You’re not an accountant.” Baekhyun said, changing the subject.

Kyungsoo felt every bit of his instinct focusing on the guy. The look in his eyes, which was far from being curious, considered the writer as if he could see through him.

“Are you him?” He asked.

There was an inflection in the last word that made Kyungsoo go completely still, as if staying frozen would distract the guy from the question. The seriousness in his tone and the determination in his eyes made it clear he had pieced everything together. Kyungsoo remembered Gyuri saying he was extremely clever, even though he loved to play dumb most of the time. So far, he thought she was overly generous with her description of his character, but he was wrong. Baekhyun was good at being an unassuming dumbass when, in reality, he was just waiting for everyone else around him to slip.

“It makes sense.” Baekhyun added, looking around the place.

Kyungsoo sat up, staring at the guy, wondering if he really knew who he was or if he was just bluffing. As playful as Baekhyun could be, his face gave nothing away, and the writer felt a chill run down his spine. He realized why Gyuri was so worried to face him. The guy was perceptive in a way he wasn’t expecting, and all the pity he felt just moments earlier evaporated.

“How did you beat the curse?” Baekhyun asked, and the writer knew there was no point in denying it. After all, he did figure it out all by himself.

“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo replied.

“That's not enough.” The guy through gritted teeth, his expression finally showing genuine emotion, “An I don’t know, won’t save her.”

“I know that.”

Upset and desperate, Baekhyun stood up. He paced around the room, and when he finally stopped, he tried to look up at the writer but couldn’t even look in his general direction, and his mouth opened and closed several times, as if he wanted to say something.

“Did she ever tell you why?” Baekhyun finally asked, staring at the floor. “Why did she fall for me?”

Kyungsoo understood the hesitation, and despite the recent revelation of his cleverness, he got it. He knew why it was so hard. It wouldn’t be a genuine struggle if Baekhyun was the heartless asshole the outside could paint him to be. The man in front of him was a caring friend to a fault, and Kyungsoo couldn’t blame him for feeling so powerless. He had felt it before.

“So you knew,” Kyungsoo said instead, and even though he didn’t mean to belittle the guy, he saw his body flinch at his words, “You knew she had feelings for you, right?”

“Sometimes, I had a hunch, but it never made sense.” He explained, with his eyes closing and his voice breaking. “She’s too bright to fall for someone like me. She would never.”

“But she did.” Kyungsoo argued, making the guy get even smaller in his place, “If you knew, why didn’t you tell her anything?”

For a moment, the writer thought he could wait for an answer, but the guy hesitated for far too long and he realized he didn’t need an answer. It didn’t really matter. Him telling Gyuri wouldn’t change a thing. She would still be cursed. When he said he loved her back, it didn’t change anything. She was still dying.

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun said under his breath.

The guy finally looked up and stared at him. And as they squared up at each other, they felt the weight of the situation, and for the first time since they met, they could agree to be in the same dark and hopeless place.

Kyungsoo stormed out of the room, unsure of whether he was upset with the man or with himself, but everything everywhere revolved around Gyuri. The place that was built to be his last home was suddenly full of life in a very grim way. He planned to die here. That’s why he bought the property in the first place. He had hoped for it to be just as dull and as empty as his life felt, but he could hear her laugh in the hallways and smell her scent in the air around him. This place wasn't his anymore. Perhaps it never was. It was hers. And once she was gone, it would never be the same again.

Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes, in need of an escape from his dark thoughts, from Baekhyun and what he meant for his future, from Junmyeon and his false hopes, from Minseok and his incessant questions about his health, and from everything that reminded him of her. But he was never alone. No matter where he went, someone was there to ask him how he was feeling, his thoughts on the research, and what else he had planned to do. And all he thought was her; all he planned for was for her, and all he felt was despair.

The writer went straight to the kitchen. He wanted to cook. He wasn’t even hungry, but he needed the process of it to sedate himself, to focus his mind over something else other than her, but when he arrived, he found her mother there. The woman had obviously been crying for some time, but she jumped up like a spring and went into motherly operational mode as soon as she saw him.

Kyungsoo did not have the heart to reject her attention, and there was one thing he liked about the woman. She never asked. A character flaw perhaps, but he was grateful that he could find a certain silent understanding in her. It felt to the writer that just like him, Gyuri's mother found some comfort in focusing solely on one task, even if there was no need for it. He had a team of cooks ready to manage the meals for all the guests on the property, but the woman insisted. Kyungsoo almost smiled when he recognized the source of the same stubbornness in Gyuri.

That’s why she cooked for everyone. Every minute she didn’t spend with her daughter, she spent it chopping something, as if investing her attention in something that could somehow change the situation. Kyungsoo listened to the woman listing all of the dishes she wanted to make and started to wonder if she ever slept.

Moved by the contained emotion in her voice, he offered to assist her prepping, and they ended up finding solace in each other's silent company as they cooked.He had the impression that she found a small measure of joy in teaching him how to prepare her daughter's favorite foods, as though that offered some hope in the face of an ominous and bleak future.

Time went by as the light seeping through the windows changed and a new shift change happened. Jongdae sauntered in, as loud as he always was, excited to get a warm homemade meal. From everyone on the research team to the other guests and family members, the nurse was the one that appreciated it the most and ate everything to the last grain of rice with an unwavering devotion and a satisfied smile on his face.

Jongdae was in the middle of his usual praises to the cook in charge when the high-pitched alarm of the pager he carried with him at all times suddenly started blaring. As if in automatic, the nurse jumped out of the chair to run to Gyuri's room. Kyungsoo and her mother followed him instinctively, and they hadn't even arrived in the room when they heard her cries for help.

"My eyes!” Gyuri cried over and over again.

By the time they reached the door, Jongdae was already getting all his gear on as another nurse stopped them from getting any closer. Baekhyun stumbled into the hallway as well, clearly shaken up and still half asleep.

“I can't see! What happens to my eyes?!" They heard Gyuri cry in desperation, "Why can't I see!?"

Everyone froze at the words as Gyuri kept on crying and screaming, and the nurses rushed into the room. The deep determination in Jongdae’s voice broke them all out of the initial shock and left them with a sinking feeling on their stomachs.

"Call everyone in. Everyone! Now!" He ordered before the door closed behind him, and once again, all they could hear were her desperate screams thundering across the hallway.

SORRY! I'm so sorry it took me sooo sooo long to finish this chapter. Truth is, it was a hard chapter to write and I wonder if it will be hard for you readers to digest. Or at least I hope it will be considering how hard I tried to convey the nuance of what everyone is feeling. Everyone is grieving. Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay. Hopefully, the next chapter doesn't take that long to finish. If you're still here: Thank you! It means the world

#EXO #Baekhyun #Kyungsoo #Suho #EXO Fanfic #EXO Fanfiction #Yixing #Jongdae #Hanahaki #Angst #Romance #Hanahaki Disease

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cherryeol04 · 1 year ago

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Might Alpha 2

➻ Pairings: Chanyeol x Reader

➻ Genre: Romance, Wolf Au

➻ Additional: destined mates

➻ Word Count: 1.5K

➻ Warnings: N/A

➻ Author’s notes: This story is cross posted on multiple sites under the same username!

The backlash that came when Baekhyun and Chanyeol denounced their marriage was something that no one expected. They knew their parents would be upset, but the sheer mortification that came from knowing Baekhyun had been with another alpha and never actually slept with Chanyeol was so confusing. The fact that the male was Baekhyun’s destined mate didn't seem to matter to anyone.

While the elders had stayed silent, the parents argued back and forth on how they could rectify the situation, without bothering to listen to the children whose lives they were purposefully trying to ruin for the simple fact that Baekhyun was a gifted male omega with the ability to bear pups. They didn't care that they were trying to break not one, but two bonds. Bonds from the same family.

It confused Soohee, because she remembered very clearly that Chanyeol had said the whole union between Baekhyun and himself was because they trusted Chanyeol and it was a great way for her father to get a foot into the counsel and influence decisions and laws however he saw fit. Chanyeol was going to be the next elder and possibly the next head alpha if he could pass the tests that would challenge his strength, his logic, and his wit. And while she worried about her brother being hurt, she believed the man he was with would never hurt him since they were destined mates. And if her father still wanted that in, if he would just listen to Chanyeol, he would know that they were destined mates.

Soohee had never told her parents or anyone else what happened that night after her party, nor the weekend and the two days after that she was in heat. They were mates, she knew that and still had trouble processing it, but it was a fact she was more than ready to admit. Yet they hadn't mated during her heat, both agreeing that they wanted to wait. Even if they used protection, there wasn't a guarantee it would work or if they would constantly remember the amount of times they would have to have sex. So Chanyeol did his best to pleasure her and help her through her heat and she was so thankful for it. But they still haven't told anyone. Or rather, they were trying, but no one was actually listening to them.

“Well since your son has been defiled, we will find a new mate for Chanyeol. A better and loyal omega!” Mr. Park grunted out.

“What?” Chanyeol asked in shock.

“Excuse me? My son is very much loyal!”

“Lies. He's been defiled by that Chinese vagrant!” Mr. Park growled. “You and your family are so immoral, Mr. Byun, that I'm surprised you're all even allowed to continue to live in this pack. And if your son acts like this, I can't even begin to imagine how your daughter must be, whoring about and asking for any male to fuck her.”

“That’s enough! You are so vile and disgusting, speaking of a child like that!” Mr. Byun shouted.

“Child?! Child?! She's of age now isn't She? But has that ever stopped her? You don't think we don't hear rumors?”

“What? Soohee, what is talking about?” Mr. Byun asked, furious by all the words being thrown around.

“I don't know.” Soohee said. “I don't know of rumors. Dad, it's a lie.” She said.

“Adults don't lie.” Mr. Park snapped at her and she shrunk back. Lies from an adult. She had no idea where he would ever get such information about her. She had never done anything to try and get guys. She had only ever wanted Chanyeol. And even her closest friends knew that.

“If she says there are none, then there aren't.” Mr. Byun growled. “My daughter is perfect! Maybe it’s your son that is the issue!” He fired back. Another round of shouting began and Soohee had heard enough. She slipped out of her chair and did her best to sneak out of the meeting hall. She thought she was very successful and made it outside with a sigh.

“For the love of god. Adults are crazy. I don't want to be an adult.” She whined softly.

“Tell me about it.”

Soohee jumped and looked over at her brother as he came to sit next to her. “Oppa.” She said gently. “Are you okay? Dad and Mr. Park are blowing everything out of proportion.” She said.

“I know.” Baekhyun sighed softly and closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead gently. “Like, why are they like this? The elders always preach about destined mates and not interfering and here they are staying quiet while our parents fight to ruin our lives.”

Soohee stared at him and sighed softly. She reached over and rubbed his back gently and smiled softly. “It'll be okay.” She said softly. “You have your mate. You should go and run off with him. They can't stop you.”

“And leave you?” Baekhyun asked softly. “Disappoint our family? I couldn't.” He said as he looked at her.

“So you'd rather risk your bond with your mate?” Soohee asked and cocked her head. “Oppa, you're not a disappointment. And I'll be fine.”

“Because you have your mate now.” Baekhyun said and smiled weakly at her.

“I….what?”

“Don't play dumb.” Baekhyun laughed softly. “I knew the moment I introduced you to Chanyeol that you two were mates.” He said.

“How?”

“Blue eyes are the sign that an alpha has found their mate and imprinted on them. I saw them that day. I knew and I made him promise me he would never try anything with you until you were old enough.” He said. “I had no idea that this stupid union would be done either.” He said and ran a hand through his hair some before groaning. “I don't know what to do Soohee.”

Soohee frowned as she stared at her brother and was gonna answer when another person joined them.

“Let's go and start our own pack.” Their heads whipped around quickly and stared at Chanyeol in shock. “what?”

“What do you mean what? How can we start our own pack?” Soohee asked, confused. “That's a big task.”

“Yeah and where would we go?” Baekhyun asked and Chanyeol just shrugged.

“Does it matter? We’ll just go somewhere. The four of us establish our own pack. We'll gather packless shifters and shifters wanting a new pack and just start over fresh.” He said.

“Do you...do you think we can do it?” Baekhyun asked.

“Well with Yixing as another alpha, I'm sure we can manage and grow slowly. It might be hard at first. But won't it be worth it?” Chanyeol asked. “They obviously don't care about our wants and needs. Our destinies. So we need to take our lives into our own hands.” He said. His eyes moved from Baekhyun to Soohee and he smiled. He took her hand and held it gently in his, squeezing it gently.

“Chanyeol.” Soohee whispered softly and smiled.

“It'll be worth it.” Baekhyun agreed and smiled softly at them. “Come on. Let's go.” He said and stood. Soohee looked back at her brother and nodded. She stood, pulling at Chanyeol’s hand and making him stand. “I'll meet you two at Yixing’s. Don't take too long, okay?” He said.

They nodded and with quick goodbyes, they parted ways, with Soohee going with Chanyeol because she just needed to be with him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Soohee asked as she walked towards Chanyeol’s jeep.

“No. But we have to do what we have to do.” Chanyeol said as he unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat. Soohee sighed and got into the jeep, closing the door before turning to face him.

“Chanyeol, I'm being serious. I'm still a kid. I'm fresh out of high school, just turned 18 and you want to move to some unknown place and start a pack there. It sounds crazy.” She said, “Are you sure this is something you really want?” Her question was directed towards their current decision but there was an undertone of uncertainty about their relationship. Was she really what he wanted?

Chanyeol sighed softly as he slipped the key into the ignition before turning to face her. “Soohee.” He said gently. He scooted over to her and reached out, his fingers stroking her cheeks gently. “I want to be with you, and only you. And if that means we have to go into the future blind, then I will do it. I love you.” He told her and leaned in, pressing their foreheads together gently. “I've loved you for so long and I've waited for so long. Now I have you, I don't ever want to let you go. Please. Stay with me.”

Soohee stared up into his eyes and felt her heart race at how beautiful and gorgeous they were. And probably because of his words, but mostly due to his eyes. “Of course I'll stay with you.” She said gently. “Why wouldn't I when I have been pinning after Mr. Handsome for so long.” She said with a giggle. Chanyeol smiled softly and leaned forward and kissed her softly. It was soft and quick, but she loved it all the same.

“Then let's go. And we'll start a new life together and be happy together.” Chanyeol said gently with a smile. Soohee nodded and smiled softly as they pulled back and Chanyeol started the jeep.

“Everything will be okay, right?” she asked.

“Of course. Trust me.”

~*~

“Dad, no! Stop it! Let me go!” Soohee shouted as she struggled in the grips of a few of the male wolves her father had dragged with him. She wasn't sure how they knew their plans or how to find them, but they did. It was probably just their keen sense of smell. That was the only possible reason she could think of, of how they found them this far out of the city.

“I would expect this kind of thing from Baekhyun, but you? Why Soohee? Why are you going to associate yourselves with these rebels?” Mr. Byun asked as he motioned to her brother. His mate and Chanyeol, all of whom were being detained as well. Though it was taking more people to hold Chanyeol back as he was being scolded so loudly by his father. She could hear every nasty word he was calling her and her brother and she just couldn't take anymore. “Soohee! Answer me!”

“He's my mate!” the words fell from her lips before she could even stop to fully process her train of thought. The announcement seemed to draw the attention of everyone as they all went silent.

“Excuse me?” Mr. Park asked, eyes wide.

“Chanyeol is my mate.” She said softly and jerked herself from the slacking grips of the men. “He is mine, and Baekhyun has found his and the rest of you are acting like spoiled little children!”

“Soohee!”

“No dad! It's true. You all are supposed to be adults, filled with wisdom that's supposed to help guide your children as they become adults and start their own family. And here you both are, two families that don't give a shit about their own children and are just obsessed with whatever power they can have!” She sneered, disgusted.

“Byun, put a stop to her before I do.” Mr. Park warned, but was greeted with a very angry growled and rough shove as Chanyeol tore himself from the four men holding him back. Their strength together was nowhere near a match for Chanyeol’s strength when he really used it, like he had in this case.

“You won't touch her.” Chanyeol growled out as he moved to Soohee and pulled her close to him, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist to protect her. “And she's right. Ever since it was announced what my future status would be, all you or anyone else has ever cared about was that. You held me so high up on a pedestal, out of the reach for anyone you deemed unworthy. You never stopped to ask what I wanted or if I've found my mate. Well, dad, I have. And it's not Baekhyun. It was never Baekhyun and it would be selfish and wrong of me to try and keep him from his own mate.”

“Chanyeol.” Mr. Park floundered for words to speak, but he couldn't even form a decent, coherent sentence.

“We know who we love, who we are meant to be with, and what we're doing is the only way we can be with them. So either you accept this reality or step aside and let us leave.” Everyone was silent for a long while, staring at the two before looking at the two fathers.

“Soohee...there was an agreement…”

“And it can still be upheld. Just not with Baekhyun, but me instead. You can still have whatever it is you want. And the rest of us can be happy. The last thing I've ever wanted to do is leave you and mom but I can't live without him. I don't want to feel our bond break. It'll kill me.” she said softly.

“Don't be so dramatic, it won't kill you if…” Mr. Park started but paused. “You haven't marked her, have you?”

Chanyeol stared at his father intently before moving his hand and lifting her shirt slightly to show the mark he had left on her side. “Three weeks ago, when she went into heat,” he said proudly. “She is mine. Forever.” he announced and pulled her closer as he leaned down slightly to nuzzle her head.

“Dad please.” Baekhyun whispered. “Just let us be happy.”

Mr. Byun looked between his two children and sighed heavily. “We can't fight it now. A bond has been made, I assume for both of them. The elders wouldn’t take too kindly if we destroyed them for selfish reasons.” he sighed. “And it would hurt me to hurt my children, I should have realized that from the beginning.” he said and walked over to Baekhyun as he was finally released. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun said and smiled. “There is no denying, he is the one.” he said and looked over at Yixing. Mr. Byun sighed, nodded and looked over, waving his hand in signal for Yixing to be released. The silent alpha moved to Baekhyun and hugged him tightly, nuzzling against his neck.

“I suppose I have two unions to prepare for now.” Mr. Byun smiled. “Let's get you all home before your mothers have a fit.”

“Oh...yeah.” Mr. Park cleared his throat. “Chanyeol, I'll need you to-”

“Yeah dad. Don't worry. I'll call her down.” Chanyeol laughed. It was funny to see such a composed man cower in fear at the mention of his angry wife.

~*~

Soohee smiled as she flopped back on her bed, a laugh leaving her as Chanyeol stumbled out of his pants, hopping around to try and kick off the offending garments before finally flinging it across her room. It hit her closed door and he winced before climbing into her bed. “Are you new to taking off pants?” she asked teasingly.

“Oh shut up.” Chanyeol chuckled as he laid down next to her and stared at her face. “It's not my fault you have me tripping over my feet.” he teased and chuckled as she blushed. “You're so cute. You know that?” he asked as he reached out and stroked her head and cheek lightly.

“I can't help but to know it. You tell me all the time.” she said gently as she leaned into the touch. Sighing softly, she leaned in and kissed him, her lips brushing teasingly over his lips every time he dipped in to try and deepen the kiss. A soft giggle left her, followed by Chanyeol’s own growl as he nipped at her bottom lip as Soohee pulled completely back.

“You are such a tease.” Chanyeol groaned and pouted as he stared at her smiling face. “Soohee.” he whined out and Soohee giggled at it. She reached up and poked his nose lightly.

“What?” she asked with a smirk.

“I want a kiss.”

“You just had a kiss.”

“I want another.” he said as he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

“Don't be greedy.” she teased and Chanyeol huffed. “Oh, aren't you so cute?” she said and pinched his cheek lightly.

Chanyeol stared at her with narrowed eyes and huffed again before he leaned in and captured her lips in a deep and passionate kiss. Soohee giggled slightly into the kiss before melting into it, pressing herself against him tightly. Everything just felt so right. She finally had the man of her dreams, she could openly be with him and start working on their future together and that excited her. Her future was with Chanyeol and hopefully with some children as well.

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iinterludia · 1 year ago

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Fanfic do dia #6: Ao conhecer você por rockkbyun

Após Baekhyun sair de um relacionamento difícil, não acreditava que iria conseguir amar de novo, assim como Chanyeol que não tinha mais esperança de se apaixonar. Porém, ao se conhecerem perceberam que poderiam aprender muitas coisas, inclusive como amar novamente.

TÍTULO: Ao conhecer você AUTOR(ES): rockkbyun CATEGORIA: EXO COUPLE: Chanyeol/Baekhyun GÊNERO: Romance, LGBTQIA+, Amizade TAGS: chanbaek, transgênero, autismo, amizade, pcd ONDE LER: Spirit Fanfiction

CENA DESTAQUE:

— Oi — ele disse e Baekhyun não respondeu — Você quer dividir meu sanduíche da subway comigo?

Baekhyun não respondeu novamente, não entendendo nada do que estava acontecendo. Seu rosto ainda estava assustado, perguntando-se há quanto tempo ele estava ali e se assistiu tudo o que havia acontecido. Quase morreu de vergonha, pois estava um caos. O garoto não falou mais nada, porém ofereceu sua mão para que Baekhyun pudesse se levantar.

(Capítulo 1)

MINI REVIEW [ ⚠️Alerta de Spoiler]

Suave, é como podemos descrever a leitura de Ao conhecer você. Sabe aquelas histórias que você lê e sem perceber chegou ao final.

Baekhyun é um homem trans que acaba de sair de um relacionamento tóxico com um filho da mãe, ai gente sinceramente… o livramento foi grande. Quando vocês lerem vão entender do que eu estou falando

Apesar de se posicionar, Baekhyun sofre com o fim do relacionamento. Já Chanyeol chega de mansinho e quando vemos, pá! Estamos todas apaixonadas por esse personagem mais que sincero.

Juntos e devagar, Baek e Chan constroem essa amizade com um quê de mais que amizade. Falo isso porque todos percebem que Chanyeol trata o Byun de maneira diferente. Outro ponto importante para falar nesta review é a rede de apoio dos meninos, que família maravilhosa eles têm e digo mais: tanto Kyungsoo (nessa fic como pai do Baek) e Seri (mãe do Chan) são fortes, corajosos e inspiradores.

É manas, o amor vence demais nessa história cheia de detalhezinhos e coisinhas que te fazem suspirar. Essa é a fanfic do dia, meu calendário editorial de postagens ficou uma bagunça, vou dar um jeito nesse nesse feriado de carnaval.

XOXO, Interludia.

#iinterludia #interludia #fanfic do dia #fanfic #chanyeol #exo #romance #chanbaek #fic rec #fic rec exo #baekhyun #boiolagem #fdd #fdd:exo

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fairyixingwriter · 2 years ago

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chanbaek — 40s!au (fanfic)

spirit fanfics • wattpad • ao3

#strangers to lovers #fanfic #chanbaek #baekyeol #moodboard #40s #anos 40 #1940s #1940 #romance #exo #baekhyun #chanyeol #aesthetic

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soobadnoonecanstopher · 2 years ago

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Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 4.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 6.8K

Warnings: UNRESOLVED sexual tension (shhhh I promise you will be okay), an unspecified age difference, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Author‘s note: remember all those years ago I said I’d write a Baekhyun x Noona fic? This is that fic.

Inspired by the Ray LaMontagne song Can I Stay?

Tag List: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Baekhyun was on his way over to your house. You had no way of knowing how far away he actually had gotten before he turned around but you figured you had maybe 20 minutes. Maybe longer.

Did you have enough time for a shower? You felt the grime and the dirt of the day still all over your skin and your favorite way to start the weekend was with a long soak in the tub. Obviously that wasn’t an option right now but you found yourself racing into your bathroom for a shower instead. At least it would be a way to use up the waiting time instead of sitting on a bar stool in your kitchen and staring at the front door until the doorbell rang. It wasn’t like you could get much work done without the blue harddrive anyway.

Your shower broke speed records. You did what you could with the wet hair and quickly contemplated redoing your makeup. How ridiculous of an idea, putting on makeup right now. But to face this man bare faced with nothing? You opted for just a little. And what to wear? You knew you were overthinking this. You had no control over your overthinking and you had no time for it ether.

He was going to, at most, drop off the blue harddrive and then leave, right? Maybe he would come in just to make sure you were actually able to get the task done, since he’d come all the way over maybe he should stay for a while. Had he eaten dinner yet? Of course he wouldn’t have eaten. A million thoughts were racing through your mind and you quickly reached for just something ultra casual but still kind of cute from your closet. Comfy shorts and a soft top. You didn’t need to always look the part of the ultra professional manager, just because your assistant was ringing your doorbell right now, right?

The sound of that bell sent a jolt of nerves through your belly, you swore you even saw a flash of light somewhere, and in your mind flashed your options for answering that door.

Work, work, work, strictly business mode? How dare you keep my precious blue harddrive young man, don't you know what you almost did? No, no. It was kind of your fault too. You always checked for it before leaving the office. Why you didn't check this time? You’d had plenty of opportunities to check before and the fact that he happened to be carrying it with him instead of being left behind at the office was a blessing because instead of being there, you were home. You’d showered and changed and you were comfy and happy and there was no reason at all for you to be upset about Baekhyun coming over.

So did you go the ultra casual route instead? Welcome to my home. Let me give you the tour. Here is my loveseat — maybe you’d like to sit on it with me. It’s perfectly sized for two consenting adults to sit on together. Here is my kitchen, sorry I only have ramen. Would you like to share some with me tonight?

Maybe ultra casual was a bad idea.

You were out of time for your silly scenarios and when you pulled open your front door you caught a view of the top of Baekhyun’s blonde head. He was bent at the waist and lifted both hands with the hard drive lifted on top. It took only a second for your eyes to catch on to the rest of his appearance.

His hair was wet. His suit jacket had dark water stains on it as well and his slacks were also darker at the bottom legs with very obvious wetness.

“Noona, it didn’t get wet. I protected it with my body.” It took another half second for your ears to catch on to what had to be the sound of heavy rain falling outside. Your floor was a bit high and pretty well insulated from the world but it was odd of you not to notice the rain. You’d been so preoccupied with other things.

“Baekhyun, it’s raining? You should have told me, I would come down with an umbrella.”

You were pulling him inside now. He was a little bit drippy. You were careful to grab the hard drive first due to the sheer importance of its safety, but with it carefully set down next to your work laptop you rushed to the bathroom for a towel and handed it to him.

“I parked kind of far away in a secure lot down the street. There was a big truck right in front and they were—” his face had a wince now and as soon as he lifted the towel to his head his eyes seemed to focus on you for a second as he stopped explaining his reasoning for not just parking outside on the street; his reasoning for why he was so very soaked by the rain right now. You pictured him stuffing the precious hardrive deep inside his coat pocket and fighting the elements with it as he ran through the downpour.

His mouth hung open just a little and you caught the moment he must have registered that yes, you were home, and yes, you maybe had just showered, didn’t have on the usual office attire, nor work makeup on, maybe you were wearing something soft and comfy and so what? You were home. This was your home. It was your favorite place to be, why be uncomfortable at home when you spent 10 hours of every day uncomfortable at the office?

Something about his eyes on you though made you second guess the outfit. Maybe a pantsuit would have been more appropriate. Maybe you should have done something other than just comb your hair. The shorts you were wearing were pretty high cut but they were your absolute favorite to sleep in. The shirt was thin but it wasn’t like it was transparent. This was a normal at home outfit, right? Had you lost your mind completely?

“—they were…?” You spoke out loud, drawing out his last words spoken, trying to get him to continue what he was saying and in the process, interrupting his strange silence.

“Who was?” He whispered and his face dipped forward as he wrinkled his eyebrows in complete confusion.

He was gone somewhere else. You opened your lips to speak and then closed them again. Finding no response for him that was safe enough.

He was standing just inside your doorway and after a few seconds you knew you had to move before the motion light turned off. So you moved — pushing a set of house slippers closer toward him with your bare foot, his eyes looked down catching the motion and without saying anything to him you turned and retreated back inside your apartment.

He could come in. You’d made that invitation evident with the house sippers. It wasn’t like you should be expected to say it out loud right? Some things were so very hard to say out loud.

You quietly settled onto your sofa with your laptop on the coffee table and connected the hard drive; waiting for the happy little notification sound to tell you that everything was going to be just fine — all the while watching the entryway out of the corner of your eye.

When you finally did see him, he had moved up just until to the threshold and he’d removed the wet coat. He found a coat hook and hung it there. The resourceful man could manage well enough on his own. You pulled your eyes to the laptop screen and blinked them purposefully and slowly, willing your focus to stay there. You even furrowed your eyebrows in some attempt to get them to stay put. File folders and dates. Revisions, and final versions. A silent grunt from the back of his throat and slim fingertips that pulled at the top button of a white dress shirt; popping it open with what you thought was much more force than was necessary. The slide of a long black necktie out of its knot and then pulled with force out of its collar until the silken fabric whipped free and hung toward the floor. Checking email attachments. Checking email recipients. Double checking email attachments and checking email recipients. Undoing buttons on cuff sleeves and rolling sleeves up, dear god, forearms with defined muscles— triple checking attachments and recipients and attachments and recipients.

He was moving inside now; wearing your pink slippers on his sock covered feet. As he moved just inside the space so he could place a duffel bag carefully down onto the floor, he squatted in front of it and he was digging inside. Raindrops rolled down the sides of the bag and he used the towel to blot up the moisture.

“Noona, would it be weird if I changed? I don't like being wet.” The second he turned toward you to speak, you shot your eyes to your laptop screen with impressive speed.

“No, it wouldn't be weird, why would that be weird? We are no longer at work, you are off the clock. I also hate being w-w…like that. Nothing weird about that — ” You recognized the telltale sounds of panic in your own voice and you stopped the next words from coming out of your mouth with a deep shaking inhale through your open mouth, “—at all.” You breathed out the last words to make your sentence complete and you vowed, swore, begged, and pleaded for yourself to calm down and just be normal for once in your entire goddamned life, please — please. Your face felt like it might be on fire.

You lifted a finger and you pointed toward your bathroom door. Maybe you had something that could be considered a non threatening smile on your face. The door was already open and there was no need to point it out. It was very obviously a bathroom. He had already been walking in that direction.

Baekhyun was watching you from about halfway there. He’d stopped his forward progress the second you started rambling and his eyes were wide and his lips were shut. After what felt like about 10 minutes of staring, but was probably only 10 seconds in reality, his eyes bounced around somewhere above the ceiling above your head and he nodded his head twice with his eyes way up there.

Then he swallowed, inhaled a half breath and he let out a high pitched, almost painful sounding, “Yep…Okay,” with a very definite wince on his face. He turned and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

After at least a minute you heard the click of the door being locked.

Well.

That went…bad.

You closed your eyes and groaned out loud. Resting your head in your hands, you wondered if it really came down to it and you had to vomit, would you just do it in the kitchen trash can, or the kitchen sink and risk clogging the pipes, or maybe you’d run to the balcony and puke over the railing. That might be the best option actually because you could also just hurl your body over the railing too and see which hit the ground first.

Your money was on the vomit, but some distant memory from one of your high school science classes brought the words terminal velocity flashing through your head and before you knew it you had a google tab opened up, reading the FAQ page from some reputable science website.

Your curiosity was satisfied. You stared ahead at the closed bathroom door with a decision to make now.

Would you be normal?

Or would you splatter onto the pavement at the same time as your vomit?

These were the only two options you gave yourself. Because the second option sounded just so very bad, you really had no other choice.

You had to be normal. You lifted yourself onto your legs and made your way into the kitchen. Baekhyun had arrived as your assistant but could your assistant also not be a guest in your home? An assistant guest deserved a beverage. Your fridge had a few options. And when you heard the bathroom door open you called out over your shoulder from somewhere inside the fridge.

“Do you want anything to drink? I have some teas, some water, some juice…” You did not mention the beer that sat in the back of the fridge. He had to drive back home later and you weren’t sure what his tolerance might be like.

“Tea is fine,” his voice came from right beside you in this kitchen and you steadied your face with a pleasant smile for him before you turned to face him.

He was watching you with an equally pleasant smile on his own face. He wore a plain white t-shirt now, some light gray sweatpants, and clean white socks on his feet. He’d abandoned your light pink slippers it seemed. You tried not to linger on him for too long. Of course he looked beautiful in his gym clothes. You allowed your eyes half a second max to look at him. Any longer than that was superfluous and unnecessary.

Your smile was slipping and you strengthened it.

“Green, black, or a citrusy one?” His eyes slipped down the length your face when you spoke again. But he was quick with an inhale and he also matched your smile before he responded.

“Surprise me.” He bit down on his bottom lip and you reached a blind hand into the fridge grabbing randomly.

You came out with the green tea and held it out for him to grab, reaching a second hand for the same for yourself, you quickly made an escape back to the safety of the work. The work would save you, as it often did when you were faced with having to look too closely at Baekhyun.

This time instead of sitting on the sofa, you opted to sit down on the floor in front of your coffee table. The floor had plenty of space for him to also sit beside you without it being on the loveseat, which you right now decided was off limits to the both of you.

“Noona,” Baekhyun said after a while of watching you stare at your screen as you worked harder and better than you’ve ever worked in your entire life.

“Hmm?” You didn’t look over at him when he spoke, but you did stop the typing and you did raise a single eyebrow as a cue that yes, you responded to him and yes you were giving him enough of your attention to say whatever he had wanted to say.

He didn’t speak right away though and eventually the curiosity about his silence grew.

When you found him he was watching your face and his head lifted ever so slightly to have your actual attention.

“You’re different at home.” It was a quiet observation this time, and behind his eyes you could see the smile there. He lifted the bottle of tea and took the smallest sip. He wasn’t looking at you anymore but you wondered what he meant by different.

“Like bad different?”

He swallowed the tea and was looking across the room at a wall of art you had assembled there.

“Nope,” he said cryptically, drawing out the vowel sound in the word and letting his lips pop with the P at the end and he pushed himself off the floor to his feet and made his way across the space to look at each piece you remember carefully hanging up the week you moved in. It was all silly art. Nothing valuable but every single bit of it made you happy whenever you looked at it.

“Different how?” It was probably the clothes. You were way too dressed down and you probably seemed like a different person to him. You couldn’t quite help the slight upset that you felt somehow. Like maybe you should have put on a little bit of makeup, or done something with your hair before he came. Maybe you should have put off the shower altogether. You held in the strange negativity you felt by his comment and held your breath when you saw the inhale he took as he turned away from the brightly colored hand painted horse wearing an eye patch painting he had been looking closely at.

“Different, different,” he said cryptically and you groaned out loud at being baited by his non answer.

Damn him. You heard the giggle in response and he shook his head at you with a tiny pop out of the tip of his tongue. This would not do.

“Just tell me, like different in a bad way or a good way?” you felt yourself being tricked by this but you felt so powerless. He was very good at it and he had seemed to have perfected his skills over the course of working with you.

“It’s not bad,” he said after a while of looking at you and there was a slow and steady sinking of his playful smile as he did it.

“You can have next Tuesday afternoon off if you just tell me,” you said it flippantly and you were almost completely finished with your work. An entire hour before the deadline. You could feel the end nearing. You could almost taste the bubbles of the beer you would sip on and you could already hear the music you would play on your speakers as you settled into the warm comforting pillows and fluffy blankets of your bed.

“The whole afternoon?” His eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted at the promise you apparently had just made to lose your assistant for an entire afternoon. At least you’d picked one of the less busy days to offer.

You casually shrugged and hit send, submitting everything you needed to submit, you saved your work on the cloud database that management all used and you began to close out all of those damned tabs that kept you chained to this work life.

“Okay, well, at work you're super professional and kinda scary and very intimidating,” oh boy he was talking now. Did he just call you scary? You could feel yourself making a face. It wasn’t one of your best. There was a pout involved.

“But here, you’re like,” his confidence seemed to falter and his eyes didn’t look at yours but rather did a little dance off to the side, “d-different.”

“I know you didn’t just use the exact same word I’ve asked you to define three times now, Byun Baekhyun.” You’d had enough and you snapped. It wasn't your finest moment.

You saw him physically flinch and then he started talking fast. In your defense you did feel a little bad when you saw the flinch.

“Different like, soft and cute different. Soft and cute, like a girlfriend would be different. That kind of different, Jesus.” He said all so fast and you could see the tension in his jaw as the words came out. “I mean, but not right now, you were very much exactly the same as you are at work, just now.” His eyes were wide and his finger was pointing as he spoke his last bit. Not that that part mattered because your mind replayed the parts he said before.

You saw sparkly little starbursts around the letters as they danced inside of your head.

Soft and cute.

Like a girlfriend.

“Oh,” was all you could manage to say. A slight flush crept up your cheeks and you focused all of your attention on unplugging cords on your laptop and oh so carefully putting everything in its rightful spot in the bag.

“I’m done,” you said softly without looking into Baekhyun's face. If he had anything further to add to that description of how very different you were at home, he didn’t offer it freely and you also didn’t ask a single follow up question.

You could feel a moment approaching. A kind of do-or-die moment. A speak-now-or-forever-hold-your-peace moment.

It was still raining outside. You could hear the steady drops hitting your patio through the sliding glass door and the nighttime city lights blurred as the falling water pulled the city view into a distorted and warbled mix of bright colors.

“It’s still raining out,” you said softly in his general direction and his eyes pulled up from where a comfortable stare had kept him looking into your eyes. He did not ask anything from you that required an answer. He looked at you and his eyes blinked but he didn’t speak. You could see that his drink was almost finished now, just as your work had been.

When he finally did speak it was after you’d both been watching the other for too long, wondering who would break first. It kind of seemed like his turn now, you’d managed the comment about the rain.

“Noona,” he said from the spot beside the horse.

I should go. I should leave. I have a long drive back home.

It’s getting late and the roads are wet, Baekhyun, you should stay at least for a while longer. You haven’t had any dinner have you? Let’s eat together. Don't go just yet. You only just got here.

“Hmm?” You hummed in response to him and your voice got halfway caught in your throat, making it come out as mostly air.

“Noona, I think—” He stopped speaking. He was looking ahead of himself holding on to the empty bottle of processed sugary green tea and he stood there with his eyes blinking faster now than when he started speaking to you.

And then his smile came. Oh it was bright and it was lovely, that smile that filled up his face, it didn’t reach his eyes entirely because he was shaking his head back and forth with the smile on his lips.

“Nevermind, Noona. I should go,” He said it softly and cheerfully and then he was moving. “Your Assistant has to leave.”

His smile was so bright and whatever he had been about to say to you was snuffed out instantly by the brightness and the forced cheerful way he declared his intent to leave this place; to leave you.

You had to respond in kind. You stood up quickly and you hid away every little bit of evidence of disappointment you might have betrayed and you played along with happiness about his departure. Maybe he really was glad to go. Maybe he was exhausted from the very long day and longed for the peace of his own home.

This was for the best, of course it was.

“Oh, okay.” You said. It came out a little bit like a whisper, but you still had that smile on your face so that meant something.

He was gathering his things and he was leaving. You couldn't blame him. He had done his part and completed the job needed today. He made sure to bring the blue harddrive to you and he saved the day, just like a good assistant did. The best assistant.

Baekhyun left quietly.

When the door closed there was a new silence in your home that you instantly hated. It was thick and it coated you from the top of your head down our shoulders and made you feel heavy. Lightning struck somewhere in the distance and it was loud enough for you to subconsciously begin counting the seconds to see how far away it was.

A few seconds later you heard the boom and you wished you had made him take an umbrella with him.

You wished he had stayed. You wanted him to stay. You wanted him to finish his thought. What was he about to tell you?

‘Noona, I think-‘

You’d give him a whole week off if he could come back and finish that sentence.

Your feet weren’t quite working. That claggy feeling that had taken over your body made your legs sticky and heavy and you were still standing by the door obsessing over those three words you heard repeated again and again in his voice for how long, you weren’t certain about. Through at least a few more thunderclaps though.

Just when you’d worked up the nerve to walk away from the door you heard an impossible sound ring out in your apartment.

It wasn’t thunder, but it hit you with just as much of a shock that you jumped and yelped in surprise from it.

It was the doorbell.

Someone was ringing your doorbell and it took you a few seconds to recover from the shock. You leapt forward and put a hand on the doorknob.

What if some crazy person had just seen Baekhyun leave and was waiting to hack you to bits with an ax?

You were cautious with it. It was close to midnight now and outside there was thunder and lightning, the perfect kind of weather to hide some poor woman’s screams as she was chopped to bits with an ax.

You tiptoed just enough to see through the peep hole and you could clearly make out the familiar blond head of hair and bright waving smiling face of your very own Byun Baekhyun. He held up his hand, displaying a plastic bag from what you assumed was the convenience store downstairs and you turned the handle and pushed it open.

“Noona!” He shouted as soon as the door was open. “Noona, you will not believe the day I have had at work.”

You were absolutely positive that your face looked only like wild with genuine shock and confusion, which he was flat out ignoring it right now.

“Baekhyun, what—” You began as you pulled the door open. He had a forward momentum about him though and you had to step aside to avoid being bumped as he walked right into your house, for the second time tonight, only this time, doing some sort of a bit. He walked with confidence and with purpose as if he had been here many, many times before.

“I just had to come and visit my favorite Noona to tell her all about my insane day,” he swallowed in the middle of his explanation. His eyes had a frantic look to them. “—my insane work day where I work with my manager?” His eyebrows were lifted in your direction expectantly and you watched his face with much of that exact same look of shock and confusion on your face. Only there was a bit more acceptance beginning to grow.

His bright smile did not quit and you found yourself betraying the tiniest hopeless laugh as you merely followed his steps inside your kitchen where he plopped down a six pack of beer and several bags of what looked to be snacks and assorted instant noodles.

Something felt different this time. You didn’t know how in the hell he did it but maybe it was because he was referring to your job and your manager title in the third person now, you really felt so much more at ease watching him walking around your kitchen doing things like putting some water on to boil in the kettle and reaching for chopsticks from your utensil drawers.

“So…” he began after opening two beers and handing one of them to you. He didn’t speak right away but he did lift his beer up and clink it against yours ever so slightly. You found an easy spot to sit and watch whatever this show he was putting on was from the bar stool on the other side of your kitchen counter. You had to admit, your mood was miles away from where it had been before your doorbell rang. The smiles felt natural and came easily to you now. This version of Baekhyun was the best one yet.

“So,” you lifted the beer to your lips and took a sip. “Tell me about your day.” You somehow felt that this was the right line for you and you reached for a bag of chips and ripped it open. This felt like exactly what you needed actually. A little gossip with a friend who thinks of you as his favorite Noona. The strangest excitement was building inside of you as he sighed dramatically and lifted his hands to his face for the sake of the story.

“It all started this morning Noona, I fucked up. I fucked up big time,” your mouth was full of chips and you crunched through the revaluation of this big mistake he had made.

“It can’t have been that bad,” you said through bites, faking ignorance for the sake of this game.

“So you know this big presentation that has been coming up? Like weeks we’ve been working our asses off, my manager harder than anyone? Well right before the presentation I made a huge mistake. Huge. Like world-ending.”

Your mind flashed back to the morning of this very long day. You knew the exact mistake he was talking about but he seemed to be working toward something here so you took another sip of your beer and ate some more chips as a response.

“Can’t have been that bad,” you repeated again. Your acting skills were always a little bit lacking. “What did you even do, it’s not like you did something like…kissed her right before she went on stage, right?”

His hands were covering his open mouth and you heard a dramatic gasp. “How did you know?” He said convincingly and you felt a big laugh escape.

“Wild guess, Baekhyun,” you said through laughter. Never in a million years did you think you would be talking about this with him and actually enjoying yourself. What kind of magician was he?

“So what did she do? What about the presentation”

“She fucking killed it, of course. I knew she would though, she’s incredible. I’m not kidding, she’s like,” his eyes were full and wide and he threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling, “like no one else.”

“So, it wasn’t that bad then, right? Why did you do it?” The fun on the surface game took on a slight feeling of trouble with your next question. You reached for another chip and Baekhyun turned his back on you to grab the screaming tea kettle from the stove.

“Why else does a guy kiss a girl?” You heard him say with his attention down on the boiling water that he was pouring into a single large sized bowl of instant ramen.

You bit down on your bottom lip and you watched the slight wobble in the water as it went into the paper bowl. His grip on the kettle seemed just a little unsteady now.

“Could there be lots of reasons why?” You began as unsteadily as the stream of water poured into the ramen bowl.

“Like maybe you just made a mistake, or didn’t mean to do that, or—”

His eyes looked up into yours with as much disbelief as he could manage and he exhaled a hard breath out of his nose and you pulled your lips closed quickly before you could come up with any more nonsense reasons for that kiss.

You knew with that single look from him, just how full-of-shit he found every single one of your reasons for the kiss. Still your mind had trouble connecting his intentions and the action itself. It was as if you’d been so far into the pit of denial now that you were having trouble finding the footing to crawl your way out of it. Baekhyun was trying to throw you a rope but you missed catching it every single time.

“Well, what did she say about it?”

His hands lifted the ramen and he put it up onto the counter beside you so the noodles could soften and you watched as he grabbed his beer and he walked around the kitchen island to take the bar seat right beside you.

He was very close to you now.

You could feel his arm against your shoulder when he sat down and his brows furrowed as he looked down into the covered bowl that sat between you both.

“She got mad at me after that,” he said softly, aiming his little pout toward the noodles instead of at you. “I don't think it was because I kissed her, but maybe it was. I don't know.” From his chest came a big sigh that absolutely did not feel like part of this whole act. In fact, every single thing he said had just enough of a touch into your eyes that you knew he meant every word he was saying to you now.

“This is why I’ve come to you, my very favorite Noona, for advice.”

He propped an elbow up on the counter and tilted his head, leaning against his hand. His eyes were watching you and he had just the smallest smile on his lips as he did it. His eyes sparkled in your direction and you felt the air around your head take on a static tingle the longer he looked at you like this.

This Baekhyun was so very dangerous simply because he was so disarming. All you wanted was to look into his face and to answer each and every one of his questions. All you wanted was to tell him the truth of it all.

It was terrifying.

“Maybe,” you began cautiously and his eyes blinked at you expectantly as you began to speak, practically rooting for you to go on with their eagerness. You had to bite down on your lip to keep from laughing. How could he have managed to pull this conversation out of you? You were falling for it so easily. You even found yourself wanting to fall for it as easily as you were. You felt bewitched and beguiled and you realized that you might have actually lost this battle a long time ago.

“Maybe?” He urged softly and he broke eye contact to open the lid and check on the noodles.

“Maybe she was mad at how you acted after the kiss?”

This suggestion brought a tilt to his head and he furrowed his eyebrows and searched his memory for a moment.

“How I acted? How did I act? Because I was nervous? Does she only like super confident guys?” You caught a souring of his face for a moment. “Maybe that’s why she liked Chet. All of that undeserved and unearned confidence. Ugh”

“Hey, she never liked Chet. Not like that. Chet was okay to work with, but that’s it.” You lifted your hands to draw a hard imaginary line in the air to emphasize your point.

“And besides, it might not have been about confidence or being nervous, Baekhyun. Maybe she got mad because you immediately switched from calling her something sweet like ‘Noona’ to something cold and sterile and ultra aloof like ‘Miss Manager’ and she thought that maybe you instantly regretted kissing her because you didn’t even mean it and you wished you could take it back and leave and never ever come back.”

Now you had done it. You could feel every cell in your body alive and on full alert from this sudden confession you had somehow been tricked into spewing out all over this countertop and Baekhyun was watching your face very closely for every single word of it.

He stared at you for a long time in silence and there was a slight sinking of his eyelids as he did it. After a while he inhaled a slow and steady breath that must have made his head feel too heavy because he tilted his head a tiny bit to the side and swallowed.

You could feel the time passing through this. You could feel every raindrop that fell on your patio outside. You could count the beats of your heart that echoed inside your ears and he wasn’t speaking at all.

Until he spoke at last.

“Nah, that’s not it.” He said after a deep inhaled breath and you swear to god you felt the earth open up below your feet and swallow you up. Or maybe you just wished it would.

Your eyes opened wide and looked up into the ceiling. You could feel the saliva inside of your mouth refuse to go down even though you swallowed like five times in rapid succession. Finally you couldn't stand to witness any more at all and you closed your eyes up tight and tried to focus on getting your heart rate or your breathing to calm down. It didn’t help much.

It felt horrible and humiliating. You were too close to being overcome. How could he…did he really intend to let you say all of that, admit to all of that and just…laugh at you for it like this? You felt close to an upset. You could feel the heat building behind your eyes and you knew you couldn't do this for very much longer and keep in control of your emotions. You’d already given way too much away.

It was two or three fingertips and that touched over the side of your face that first did it - that brought you out of it. Someone was touching you. Someone was begging you now. You felt the warmth on your face.

Those two fingertips on your cheekbone and you allowed your eyes to open just a little and you turned your focus over to face him. His eyes were on you now and you felt more of his slim fingers slipping along your face until you had turned into him and between the tremble in your lips and the warmth you felt all over your face; it must have felt like a fever with his hand on you like this.

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding. It was a bad joke, baby, I’m sorry,” he was whispering now but he had moved in so close to you that everything he spoke was like headphones sending his whispered words directly into your chest. The new name he called you in that careful cautious whisper of his spread through your chest like wildfire and you were consumed by it. It called to you again and again.

baby

Did he really just—

Did he really call you that with his hand on your face and the warmth of his own forehead leaning against your own and your whole body nearly ready to burst into flames under the heavy weight of his hand on your face?

You felt his other hand now, landing on the other side of your face and there was a pull to look up into his eyes. You had been avoiding them until now.

The pressure of this room made it hard to breathe with him so close to you and with the ghost of that ‘baby’ was still dancing around behind your eyes.

“Noona, I think,” he spoke softer now and your mind sharpened to the words he had told you earlier, the words he tried to say before he left, before he left as your assistant and came back to you just as Baekhyun; as just your Baekhyun. You must be dreaming. This didn’t feel real.

His words, the familiarity of them and desperately you repeated them to yourself after he left, these words once again teased on the tip of his tongue, they pulled your eyes into his and he was watching you from much too closely for you to really be able to focus on anything but the deep brown color of his eyes.

“Noona, I think we like each other.” He was looking into your eyes when he said it and you had no words to refute it. It was true for you and it must also be true for him.

You felt the warmth of his breath that came in short bursts from his parted lips against your face and when you leaned into him. You felt the softness of those pink lips mold into your own when you kissed him.

You felt the deafening silence as every single voice of reason and each and every alarm bell inside of you went still when you kissed him.

You felt the lighting strike hit close enough this time to send a bolt straight through your chest when you kissed him.

[To Be Continued]

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

#exo #exo fanfiction #baekhyun #exo fic #exo scenario #baekhyun smut #exo baekhyun #baekhyun story #baekhyun romance #girl dinner

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exosmutfactory · 1 year ago

Text

Only Forever 008

Originally posted by byunvoyage

How long could you wait for the love of your life to decide you are his as well? How many times could you witness all his best moments of winning over agencies and the amount of clothes left overnight from his daily one night stands?

Main Masterlist | Bookclub zone | Chapter 8✓

networks — @/superm-net @/bbh-net

pairing — Baekhyun x You

word count — 3.7k

genre — model! baekhyun, playboy! baekhyun, friends to lovers! romance, angst, fluff, smut (eventually)

[ This chapter contains: a conversation, a night out, and a night in 🌻 ]

⏰💋 Only Forever Tag List: 💋⏰

@to-all-the-stories-i-love @you-n-me-e-e @insta1010 @bellamendoza @bbhflrt @weirdoome @marovekian1 @pearliejoy @soonvivi @jairahxelle @dynqstyna @xuxibelle

Chapter 8

You got me so high

“Let me get this straight.” Shea takes a long sip of her tea, staring you down from across the living room. She sits back and crosses her legs, her intense gaze and her arched brow leaving you feeling chastised even before she says what she is about to say.

“Let’s recap so that I make sure I got everything straight: you went on vacation together, skinny dipped, rubbed each other down under the pretense of ‘needing sunscreen’, came back home, got drunk, kissed him, many times, went on a date, got head, finally talked about everything with him and now you’re freaking out?”

You flush at her words despite your best efforts. Well, when you put it like that… You cough, hastily sipping your own herbal tea to give yourself time to respond. She hit the bull’s eye as always; her words are brief yet her message is effective. Leave it to Shea to get straight to the point; all facts and no bullshit, compiling your problems into a concise and cohesive way that eases up your worries, even if just a little, from how confidently she breeches the issue. “Yep,” you reply after a moment. She’s got everything down and out in the open, after all. What else is there to say?

—a lot, but you can’t even begin to put your feelings into words.

“That’s pretty ass backwards,” May mumbles from your left, followed by the quiet sounds of her munching on food and the crinkle of plastic containers.

“May!” you exclaim at her words, turning to her in surprise. You immediately freeze when you meet her gaze. The look in her gray eyes has you sliding down on the couch as if you could disappear if you tried. The bubbly woman has paused in her quest to sample the newest flavor of donuts from your favorite pastry shop downtown to regard you with an unwavering stare, similar to the woman sitting elegantly across from you both. You know it’s serious when your normally cheerful friend has stopped mid-bite to give you a pensive glance, studying the expressions on your face like an abstract painting hung up in a gallery. Very fitting, considering the fact that you feel very much like a well-preserved piece of organic material being pinned against a wall underneath your best friends’ pointed stares.

—Okay, maybe you are being a little dramatic with that statement. Just a little bit.

…

You rub the back of your neck, resisting the urge to wipe away the bead of sweat lingering on the edge of your eyebrow. Okay, okay, I take it all back. I feel hella intimidated right now.

‘Intimidated’ is the perfect word to sum up how you feel about this entire situation.

“She’s right. It is ass backwards,” Shea sighs, making you snort despite your racing heart. “But you guys talked it out, at least.”

“Yeah…” you trail off, looking at the far wall in the room as if it could give you all the answers to all the questions that you have in your heart yet can’t even decipher in your mind. Your hands curl tightly around the warm cup of tea in your hands, trying to slow your breathing by inhaling the familiar lemon and ginger scent. Citrus and spice. Just like—you stop that train of thought right in its tracks, but it’s already too late. The damage has been done. The memory of messy black hair and soulful brown eyes plays vividly behind your retinas.

Inhale. Exhale. You hold your breath for a moment and sigh deeply. Really? Is this who you are now? You have a lot going on in your life lately between school and work. There always seems to be so much to do in so little time. All the long hours bent over counters and laptops. Your bathroom sink has been added to the mix as well. The bags under your eyes call for a half-hour dedicated to concealing your sleepless nights in front of the mirror. Are you really about to add your social life to your endless list of stress too? I mean it wouldn’t be the first time — but you haven’t had it this bad since high school!

Shea’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts before you can fall into that rabbit hole. Seriously, the last thing you need is to dive into those memories right now. Thank you, next.

“But you still have questions?” Shea states the obvious, reading you like an open book.

Yeah, 7 years of friendship will do that to you. All you can do is nod slowly. You can play cool and nonchalant all you want. You’ve always worn your heart on your sleeve. Even if you mask it behind a dozen layers of steel, one good hit to your feelings and all your walls shatter like fragile glass. If anyone knows that, it’s the two other women in this room. There’s no point in hiding how you feel. “He’s so- I don’t know how to put it… Guarded?”

Shea nods in understanding and May lets out an exaggerated sigh followed by a quietly uttered “men” in a voice full of disdain.

“I can see both sides,” Shea admits, forever the voice of reason in your friend group. “The Fashion Industry is cutthroat. It is in everyone’s best interest to keep their personal lives separated from business.”

“But she is his personal life!” May interjects, emphasizing her point with a wave of her hands.

“I’m his girlfriend, not his entire life, May,” you gently remind her. You rarely jump in when she gets this fired up, but even if you’ve daydreamed about being the center of Baekhyun’s world in your youth, you knew better than to think that in your 20s now.

“Yes, which is why I can see why he’s cautious about where and how you guys meet up together.” Shea goes to take another sip of her tea but then pauses. “However, there is a difference between trying to keep your relationship private and safe behind closed doors, and trying to keep you held back at arm’s reach in an emotional aspect.” A brief look of irritation passes over her beautiful features, but the expression is gone in a flash.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” you mumble, worrying your bottom lip with your teeth.

“Yes, but is that what you have been saying?” Shea pointedly raises her eyebrow, taking a long sip of her tea. Even May takes a ridiculously long time chewing on the sprinkled donut in her hand, her gray eyes piercing into the side of your face.

“...No.” You’ve known Baekhyun since you were kids, but there is still a lot about him you don’t know about — especially in a relationship context. Wait, has Baekhyun ever had a serious girlfriend before? Maybe one, or something close, but you can’t remember her name…

“You have to communicate with him, girl.” Shea sighs.

“Yeah, Baekhyun is amazing, but he isn’t a mind reader,” May points out, her cheeks puffed up with a honey-glazed donut.

“You… have a point.” Of course they do, as usual, but you’ve never been good at having these types of conversations. You’re learning. You’re trying your best but things still manage to fall through the cracks and it never seems like your efforts are enough.

“What is stopping you from communicating with him...? Has he been giving you the cold shoulder?”

Your eyes widen in horror at the dark expressions that flicker over your friends’ faces. “No!” you nearly shout, not wanting them to go there. “I-it’s not that at all.” They have good reasons to make that assumption based on your past, but it isn’t like that now.

“Then what is it?” May tilts her head, peering at you with curiosity.

“What is the issue?” Shea reiterates, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

Again, they do have a point and make a pretty strong argument. But why are you so anxious? It’s just Baekhyun. Baekhyun, who protected you when you couldn’t look out for yourself. Who pushes you to be a better version of yourself every day, not just for everyone around you but for yourself as well. Even when he isn’t around, he is forever on your mind. Living rent fucking free. It frustrates you as much as it comforts you to constantly be thinking about him. He is one of the few people who has stuck by your side for all these years, through the thick and thin… and dammit, the thought of losing him keeps you up at night so often that you might just die a little inside — if you aren’t already.

“You’re scared.” Shea’s strong and crisp voice rings across the silent living room without an ounce of doubt.

“I…” you take a deep breath, running a shaky hand through your hair. “Yeah.” Once you admit it aloud, it feels so much more real. You hold onto the cold cup of tea in your hands for dear life, hugging it to your chest.

The dead silence in the room is crushing until Shea stands up from the couch. “Alright, cancel all your plans.” She’s already on her phone, crossing out the list of errands that she mentioned about completing earlier today. “We’re going out tonight.”

And that’s how you find yourself at the newest club in town hours later, skipping the mile-long line outside thanks to May and her networking connections.

“Oh?” The happy-go-lucky woman acted surprised when you mentioned the odd look on the bouncer’s face before he hastily let you three walk in. “I may have tapped that,” May admitted in a cheerful tone, hiding her coy smile behind the glass in her hand.

You and Shea locked eyes and hid matching smiles, sipping alcohol-free drinks. That bouncer was quite the looker though…

What can you say? Great minds think alike — you’ve all been friends for almost a decade for a reason.

Let’s make it clear though; you only came out here tonight to let loose and spend quality time with your friends and only your friends. Girl’s night only. After this, you all will most likely go back to Shea’s place and crash on her comfortable couch until the morning. But right now? You indulge in crowd-watching, your eyes zeroed in on the dancefloor.

You lean back on your barstool and cross your legs, observing the suave men and seductive women going full out during a popular pop song. The flashing lights and disco balls make the nightclub look like something you would see in a 70s Motown music video. You’re not surprised that Shea wanted to check this place out. It’s lively with a nostalgic feeling in the air, plus the juice they serve is great and the DJ has played nothing but back-to-back bangers all evening.

You spot May in the middle of the dancefloor, dirty dancing with a tall woman in a little black dress. The stranger’s classic attire contrasts with the neon green dress that your bubbly friend manages to pull off flawlessly. You can hear May’s twinkling laughter from all the way over here in the brief transition between songs.

At least she’s having fun, you smile. The sight reminds you of that one time you told Baekhyun that you don’t dance, which was a half-truth. You have rhythm; you know how to read the room and catch a vibe. But that’s the problem, you get too into it and then the next thing you know some guy’s jealous girlfriend is pouring her drink down your dress because her man decided to glue himself to your backside like a leech — but we digress.

Your smile slowly fades with a deep sigh. There you go again. Like clockwork, once you think of Baekhyun you can’t get him out of your mind. You made sure to text him earlier today to tell him that you would be out with your friends tonight. Doing it made you feel uneasy, but it was necessary, right? Aren’t you supposed to let your significant other know when you are going out to a nightclub in your not-so-freakdum-but-not-completely-modest-either dress with your best girl friends by your side?

You don’t know. You don’t know and hours later you are still worried about it.

It’s not like Baekhyun reacted badly to you telling him. He told you to be safe and have fun, the usual reaction when you told him the same thing in the past — he has a life-long habit of showing up unannounced at your place — but that’s the problem. It was the same as usual. The usual as in how he responded back when you were just friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend.

Does he not care? What if he doesn’t? What if he does? — your endless stream of worried thoughts is relentless tonight.

Honestly, the fact that you keep thinking about it has you upset. It’s girls’ night! You’re supposed to be having fun, yet here you are, sitting alone at the bar, sipping at a drink that is more melted ice than citrus juice while worrying about whether you’ll go home to a screaming match in the morning, which is absurd! Why is your mind so set on comparing Baekhyun to the partners of your past?

Your ex’s face flashes through your mind, a vivid image of his face as he gave you that ultimatum: him or Baekhyun.

Oh brother. Fuck it. You clench your teeth and order a fruity cocktail. You need to be buzzed to get through the rest of the night after that memory pops up. Actually, scratch that — you need to be buzzed and shake off this feeling of dread. So you take your drink, chug it, set the empty glass on the counter, and make your way to the dancefloor to meet your two best friends.

Shea’s red bottom heels and May’s gray eyes reflect the club lights, leading you straight to them through the crowd of sweaty bodies. You smooth down the front of your loose yet form-fitting dress and stride right up to them. They take one look at you and pull you closer with one goal in mind: dance the night away until your makeup smears and you want to kick your heels off.

♡—♡-♡—♡—♡-♡—♡

A few days later you find yourself at Baekhyun’s door. You’ve only seen him once since the day you established your relationship. The summer months are always jam-packed with runway shows and elite events, but as the end of August draws nearer, he gets a few days off before the fall fashion season gets its claws dug into him.

Your baggy t-shirt slips off of your shoulder and you don’t bother readjusting it. It’s no use anyway, the oversized material will just fall down again like it has the other 100 times you’ve fixed it. You smooth down the front of your athletic shorts that sit loosely around your waist yet snug against your hips and thighs. Normally wearing an all-black outfit this time of year would be a death sentence, but with a cold front blowing in from the ocean, the nights have been cooler lately. Pair that with your slip-on running shoes and you are the embodiment of casual — which is ideal, considering the fact that you saw a camera flash on your walk into the apartment building.

You shuffle on your feet, nervously shifting your weight from side to side while having a staring contest with Baekhyun’s front door. The oakwood merely stares back, and if an inanimate object could judge you, you believe that his door would be at the top of the list from the number of times you have come here for one young adult crisis or another. Just remembering the amount of petty stuff you’ve bothered him about at 1 a.m. over the past 2 years has you flushing. God, why? Of all men to fall for, why did it have to be your best friend who knows practically everything about you?

Suddenly, the door opens and Baekhyun regards you with such a knowing look that you find the answer to your question within 15 seconds flat. This man knows you better than you know yourself in so many ways, and the familiarity in that, the comfort of being known for who you are and not what you can be is such a relief on your weary shoulders. You don’t have to make pretenses with him. He knows it all.

As a friend.

It strikes you right in the heart at that moment while you look into his warm brown eyes that reflect the brightly lit hallway lights, shimmers of stars sparkling in those soulful irises that you could spend lifetimes admiring. Baekhyun has accepted you as a friend time and time again. Through thick and thin. For better or for worse. But… will he do the same with you now? As the woman he is committed to?

“Hey.” Baekhyun’s low timbre pulls you from your thoughts. Just a single word from his lips has you filing away your worries to think about later. You take a good look at him as he braces his arm on the wall and leans against the doorframe. He’s wearing a black t-shirt that matches your own, but while yours is oversized, his fits snugly on his broad shoulders and defined biceps, stealing your breath away. Not like you have much breath in the first place when you’re standing in front of him, but still. Between that and the sweatpants resting low on his hips, you have half the mind to turn on your heel and run back home. Home date be dammed.

“Hi,” you utter in a small voice before hastily clearing your throat and standing up a little taller.

“I noticed you standing out here.” Baekhyun leans closer, his brown eyes scanning over you like an X-ray machine.

“Oh,” you reply, as smart as always under his unwavering gaze, “yeah, yeah I was.”

He hums and you think you are scot-free until he opens his mouth again. “Care to elaborate?” he tilts his head, his eyes dancing in amusement while he backs out of the doorway.

You sigh loudly as you step into his apartment. Dammit, you can’t get anything past this man. “I… might have been debating on whether to run away or not,” you admit in a guilty murmur, readjusting the collar of your shirt.

“Why? If I may ask.”

His words make you freeze in the middle of taking off your shoes. Baekhyun doesn’t usually ask if he can ask a question. He just asks. You glance over your shoulder at him, your running shoes still in your hand, and something about his earnest expression and the way his hands are in his pockets makes you lower your guard.

“I’m lost,” you admit quietly, struggling to maintain eye contact. “I know that we established our relationship and what we are to each other but I…” you take a shaky breath, running a hand through your hair. “I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know what I’m doing. Please tell me what dating and a relationship means to you because I-I,” your voice cracks as you stand up and look at him with a helpless expression. “I don’t want to mess this up.”

You bite your lip in an attempt to mask your vulnerability, surprised by how open you were just now. Usually, you would brush things off and downplay your stress and worries, not lay out all your cards on the table like this. It makes you feel raw and exposed. A sensation that you hate from all the times you’ve been dismissed in the past. If expressing fragile emotions was a chess game, you would keep your strategy under lock and key. But right here, right now, you’re willing to take that risk. Like your friends told you before, how will Baekhyun ever know what you are thinking if you don’t tell him about it? You just hope that he will take you seriously.

Baekhyun calls your name, his voice no louder than a whisper. He steps closer to you and cups your face in his hand, his brown irises gazing over your features. “You’re overthinking this,” he murmurs, brushing his thumb over the apple of your cheek. “What does dating mean to me?” he tilts his head before kissing your cheek. “Spoiling you, taking you on dates, exploring places we’ve never been to before.”

Your skin tingles and flushes as he brushes his lips over your cheek and kisses the tip of your nose. “What’s a relationship to me?” Baekhyun pulls away slightly to look into your eyes and your breath hitches at the fond expression written all over his handsome features. His lips brush over your temple before he presses a lingering kiss to your forehead, slipping his fingers into your hair as he cradles the back of your head in his hands. “Spending time together, holding you close, and talking with you like this when you get stuck in your head like the little idiot you are.”

“Hey!” you immediately protest and pull away from him, giving him a halfhearted glare.

“Come here.” Baekhyun chuckles and takes your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours. His brown eyes shimmer brightly like midnight stars while he guides you further into his home and to his living room. You gasp at the amount of snacks scattered across the coffee table and one of your favorite movies on the TV, waiting in the streaming service queue. And you gasp again when Baekhyun plops down on the couch and pulls up onto his lap, wrapping his arms around you. His citrus shampoo lingers in his hair, his clothes smell like French vanilla, and the mint on his breath leaves you speechless when he firmly presses his lips to yours.

In that moment, you finally let yourself relax, leaning back against his firm chest while taking a bite of the candy he holds up to your mouth. Baekhyun’s eyes crinkle with one of his rarest sweet smiles and you just live in the moment and block out the rest of the world for a while.

A/N:

Hello! I’m up to my chin with schoolwork, but I pulled a few all-nighters to get this chapter done and I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome. This chapter will serve as a bridge between the first 7 chapters and the next 20+ chapters. And yes, there will be multiple parts to chapter 8 (those decimals shall strike again!) I just really needed to add more character and thought behind showing our OC’s thought process because for 3 whole years she even had me confused and I’m like??? Girl me too lmao.

This author’s note probably makes little sense (2am type of brain power right here) but I just want to say thank you for all the support you loves and readers have given this story. Thank you, Infinity team! Part 2 of chapter 8 will have more fluff between our couple, so look forward to that! See you next time~ (^-^)

#baekhyun smut #supermnet #bbh-net #exo x reader #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun romance #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun ff #baekhyun x you #exo baekhyun #exo romance #Only Forever

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teteaul · 5 months ago

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Fanfic: vivid - CHANBAEK

SINOPSE: Baekhyun sempre foi um cara popular, que esbanja carisma por onde passa, chamando atenção seja para o bem ou para o mal. Nunca foi um cara seletivo, fosse com amizades ou com homens com quem passava a noite. Assim, quando ganhou fama de vadia da universidade, sequer se importou. Na verdade, Baekhyun já tinha se acostumado a ser visto dessa forma e não esperava nada de diferente. Porém, quando, sem querer, escuta uma conversa do capitão do time de natação, o defendendo de comentários machistas, tudo muda.

TAGS:CHANBAEK! ROMANCE, STRANGER TO LOVE! CROSSDRESS, FLUFFY,

Classificação indicativa: 18

#chanbaek #romance #exo fanfic #fanfic #chanyeol #baekhyun

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ksoology · 4 months ago

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so hi disclaimer: this is a live reaction and I can't frame proper sentences to save my life

I knew everything about the premise of this fic beforehand (#perksof havingafanficwriterbestie) but it still didn't stop me from feeling devastated BC WDYM I NEED TO READ ABOUT THE CUTE MOMENTS AFTER KNOWING THAT THEY'VE BROKEN UP FOR COMPLETELY VALID REASONS SCREW REVERSE CHRONOLOGY

*clears throat* anyway let's move on to the screenshot gallery of despair

😭😭😭a few paras into the fic and i'm on the floor clutching my heart bc this felt too real

you have no idea how conflicted I felt reading this especially since the next part is a cutesy moment

one of the first few cracks in their relationship but I love how it was easier for them to patch things up in this part, unlike the future where they have given up 😭😭

and now for the scene (03.05.2020) that should be on it's way to a museum asap. OUGHH I can't screenshot the entire thing but the dialogue?? the light awkwardness?? the blushing, hand-holding, kissing etc etc?? how wonwoo pulls yn away from the rain and closer to him for warmth??? SCREECHING LIKE A PTERODACTYL RN HAHAHAHANDNDMDMDKDKF WHY ARE THEY BREAKING UP NOW NOOAURIFKFMFM

and pretty much all the scenes after this made me wonder if their their breakup was valid like the confession scene?? top notch. the part where y/n chokes on water because wonwoo exists??? top notch AND relatable. the first time they meet?? the cutest thing ever.

The realisation that their relationship which had begun with all these rose-tinted moments fizzles down to a mess because of misunderstandings and lack of communication issues hit me hard 😭😭😭😭😭

us, again || j.ww

“MAYBE NEXT TIME, IT WILL BE US, AGAIN”

PAIRING || Wonwoo x Female Reader

GENRES || Angst, Fluff, Strangers To Lovers AU (?), Reverse Chronology

SUMMARY || If crush at first sight was a thing then you were a fine example of it. How you were heads over heels with a man you had just met was beyond you but you all you knew was Jeon Wonwoo had occupied every bit of your mind and heart. But when you and him finally began dating, little did the two of you expect a your relationships to turn out this way.

Or, in which, you and Wonwoo unfortunately have a happily never after ending.

WARNINGS || none

WORD COUNT || 11.3k

A/N || This was so self indulgent that it almost hurt me to write this fic TT. Based on my interaction with the guy I liked it in college and no we did not end up together i really hate you @wonumatics for instigating me to write this but ngl, it was so so easy to write this and was a huge change for the crazy writers block my other fics have been facing :D. The story is written in a different way, sorry if it's too confusing but i just wanted to try out smth new for this.

TAGLIST || @hanicore @alyssng @hyneyedfiz @weebotakuboy @aaniag @jjeongddol @k-drama-adict @thepoopdokyeomtouched @caramyisabitchforsvtandbts @hrts4hanniehae @mnstxmnbb @athanasiasakura @doubleshoticedshakenespresso @escoupseu @asasilentreader @isabella29 @mrswonwooo @wonvsmile @nonononranghaee @cheolsboo @hoichi-02 @lanatheawesome @sana-is-ms-rmty @gaslysainz @sea-moon-star @dinossaurz @veriety-is-the-joy-of-life @tinkerbell460 @bluewbwerry @iamawkwardandshy @hoeforcheol @kawennote09 @gyuguys [if you want to be added to my taglist, fill in this form!]

30.09.2024

You stood on a familiar path, the autumn leaves decorating the path just like how it had when you and Wonwoo had walked through it years ago.

Cold wind blew against you but you were so numb with emotions that it didn’t even matter. You took out a photo from your pocket; it was the one you and Wonwoo had taken at the amusement park.

You smiled involuntarily at the memories; even though you had been very scared of the rides, Wonwoo made each ride as rideable as he could.

And you were thankful to him for that.

In fact you were thankful to him for many things. Especially loving you back and giving you his time.

But maybe this lifetime wasn’t meant for the both of you.

“Next time.” You muttered, folding the paper and slipping it back to your pocket. “Maybe next time, it will be us, again.”

30.06.2024

It had been six months since Wonwoo moved out and words couldn’t describe how much you missed him. Even though he was always running in your mind, there were certain times when you missed him even more.

Like now.

You were lying in bed all alone, the morning sun being up for hours. But you were too lazy to wake up, missing the warmth your boyfriend used to give you whenever you snuggled to him or the smell of food as he attempted to cook breakfast for you.

Honestly all you were doing was staring at the ceiling, the feeling of missing Wonwoo almost gnawing at your heart as you glanced at the missed call of his on your phone screen.

The first two months had gone really smoothly. You didn’t mind being woken up early or going to bed late just to talk to him and neither did he. But as the days progressed, you found yourself having to prioritise work or other things before him. And so did he.

Slowly, you two began missing each other’s calls, resorting to texts.

You both still texted a lot but it wasn’t like talking to him face to face. You missed seeing his face, hearing his voice and the tears pricked your eyes when you realised just how lonely you were feeling.

Or some days you were just too tired to stay awake and fell asleep.

Exactly what had happened yesterday night. And now the guilt along with the longing to be in his arms and bury your face into the crook of his neck to inhale his scent was eating you up.

You took the phone in your hand, wondering whether or not it was the right time to call him.

What if he was sleeping?

But it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, right?

Thinking that, you hit the call button and waited for Wonwoo to pick it up. But even after multiple rings he didn’t pick up, and you sighed before throwing the phone beside you on the bed.

He was probably asleep.

You missed him so much. So, so much.

You weren’t sure how long you could go about living like this anymore. You had applied to be shifted to the same country as Wonwoo and you were still waiting for the approval.

But the wait was eating you up.

When was the last time the two of you talked? You couldn’t even remember.

What had gone wrong in the relationship? You weren’t sure. The two of you had promised each other that you won’t be like how you had begun to be whilst living together; missing dates, missing out on talking to each other etc but now it was worse. He was on a whole different continent and you had no way of reaching him even if you wanted to.

You thought of all the time the two of you argued, wondering why you even did that in the first place. Instead the two of you could have made better memories which you could have looked back at now.

And the more you thought of it, the more you realised that most of the arguments were started by you.

But all because you felt like a burden to him.

It was always you who had to do everything first. You were the first one to reach out to him, The first one to confess. The first one to kiss. The first one to always compliment him. And while you loved his introvertedness you realised with a jolt how that made you exhausted sometimes, being an introvert yourself.

Yet for him you always went out of the way. Trying your best to impress him and shower him with love even in ways you were never that comfortable in.

Shut up!

Why were you having such negative thoughts? Wonwoo loved you. And he always made sure you knew it. So why were you questioning it now?

But no matter how much you tried to shrug off the feeling, you couldn’t stop the pain blossoming in your heart.

Were you both really not meant for each other?

Was that why things had started going down during college itself?

Maybe everyone was right. Wonwoo and you were never meant to be with each other. The two of you might have loved each other, but you just weren’t meant for each other.

No, no, no! Stop these thoughts right now!

You thought of when Wonwoo had come back home three months agp, staying back for fifteen days to visit you, his family and friends.

Back then you had promised him that you would go out with him every single day to make up for all the time you had lost. Had promised the love of your life to give him every second you could.

But you couldn’t.

Right at that time an important project had popped up, nearly rendering you sleepless and breathless. You barely went back home, let alone get time to spend with him.

And before you knew it, it was time for him to leave. You cried so much on the day he left but no amount of tears would bring back the time you had lost and not managed to give him.

Maybe you both weren’t compatible.

Maybe this was your fate. To fall in love with someone who was never meant to be yours in the first place. Someone who deserved better.

Pushing yourself up from your bed, you sighed, making up your mind.

You just couldn’t live like this. Not anymore.

And you were going to put an end to it.

20.12.2023

“Hey,” You greeted him with a smile as you opened the door, taking in his tired appearance. “Long day?”

“Yeah.” He muttered, stepping into the house. You reached forward to help him shrug off his coat but instead, he pulled you into a hug.

You found yourself immediately melting into his warmth that encased you, hugging him back equally tight. “What’s wrong?” You asked, gently patting his back.

“What, I can’t hug my girlfriend?” He muttered into your hair, and you found yourself giggling at his actions. “Yeah, you totally can. Lean into me as much as you want, baby.”

After what felt like an eternity Wonwoo pulled away, finally grinning at you. “That felt great.”

You smiled back at him. “Good. Then how about you freshen up while I set up the table? I’m done making dinner.”

“No.” He whispered, suddenly sounding urgent. “We, uh, we need to- we need to talk.”

You look at him, confused as to why he was acting so serious. “About what? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“I- uh, I-” He stammered. Then lowering his head so that it was resting on your shoulders, he murmured. “I’m getting transferred.”

“What?” You asked, not sure if you heard him correctly. “What was that Woo?”

“I’m being transferred. Abroad.”

You stayed silent for a few seconds, letting his words sink into you.

Transferred abroad.

Slowly, you pulled him away from you so that you could see his face. Wonwoo averted his eyes down and his grip on you tightened.

“You’re…what?” There was no way this was happening right? There was no way Wonwoo was moving away. A hollow sensation filled the pit of your stomach. How were you going to live without being able to be with him everyday?

“Moving abroad. It’s- it’s a better pay and I thought-”

“Wonwoo.” You said, smiling at him as you took his hands in yours. “Do you want to?”

“What?” He asked, sounding confused now. “Do you want to go abroad?” You repeated your question.

“Yeah, I-” He looked down at your intertwined hands. “I do.” He murmured, barely audible. “I do. It’s a great opportunity. But I don’t want to leave you. I can’t imagine-” he sucked in a breath before continuing, “-living without you.”

“Neither can I.” You muttered. “But, if you’re happy, then I’m happy. If moving out is what you want to do, I will wholeheartedly support you. Even if it makes me sad, it will make me sadder knowing I held you back.”

“So… you aren’t upset at all?” He asked. You smiled at him as sweetly as you could, feeling it wobble a little. “Nope.” You choked a bit. “I won’t miss you at all .”

Wonwoo chuckled, before sniffling and to your shock you saw a tear glide down his cheeks. “I love you so much. I’ll miss you so much.”

“Oh Woo.” You sobbed, you too crying as you gently rubbed away the tears from his cheeks with your thumb. Laughing a little as another sob escaped you, you pulled him into a hug.

Your hands dug into his back as you cried, letting the tears fall now. He too clutched you tightly, as though you might disappear if you let you go even a bit.

“Do you think we can do it?” He sniffled, to which you nodded.

“I know we’ve talked about how slowly everything is starting to feel like a chore now, and it’s no more like it used to be in college but I promise you, I’ll keep in touch. I’ll never ever let you go.” You whispered into his shoulder.

“Me too, love. Me too. I promise too.” He said. “I cannot even imagine breathing without you.”

“At least we won’t have missed birthdays or dates.” You joked, still crying. You felt Wonwoo chuckle, his chest rumbling. “Yeah. I’ll call you to greet you good morning and good night no matter the time or day and I expect you to do the same.”

“Right.” You sighed into his chest. “Should we start making a list right now?”

17.08.2023

Ding!

You jumped awake at the sound of the notification, searching for your phone in a daze.

9.30 pm.

Groaning, you stretched your hand over your head, trying to get the tiredness out of your system. Looking around with a sigh, you wondered why no one had bothered waking you up. Even though the office was sparsely populated at this time, you had thought some of your friends would have woken you up if they caught you falling asleep.

Unless they all had left before…

The last week had been an extremely busy week, with a new project coming up and Wonwoo’s surprise birthday party planning-

Oh no. Oh no.

Hurriedly, you grabbed back your phone, switching it on to check the date and time again. It couldn’t be today, could it-

You were greeted with at least twenty missed calls from your common friends, Mingyu and Wonwoo.

“Shit, shit, shit.” You muttered, quickly searching up Mingyu’s contact and hitting the call button.

After two rings, he picked it up.

“Hey, Y/N.” He said, sounding mildly annoyed. And Mingyu rarely got annoyed.

“Oh god, Gyu! I’m so, so sorry! I was so exhausted I fel asleep and completely lost track of time-”

“Well, you could have set an alarm since you knew today was an important day.”

“I know, I know.” You said, already packing your things up as quickly as you could. “It’s totally my fault. Where are you guys? It will take my just fifteen minutes to reach home if I run and then you can bring Wonwoo over-”

“It’s okay, Y/N.” He cut you off. “We went to a bar instead and celebrated, but he wanted to leave early. He’s at Seungcheol’s now and he said would come over to the apartment once he was okay.”

You had been running out of the building by then but you stopped, pausing to swallow at what Mingyu had just told you. “Oh god, so he- so he doesn’t want to see me? I- I should call him and apologise-”

“Oh, he told me to tell you that you shouldn’t call him or text him for a while, not until he’s over this.”

You felt your knees buckle as you covered your face with your free hand to stop the tears from falling out. You felt so torn. And so heartbroken.

You had planned all day and night for this party. You wanted it to be special for him. Wanted it to be something that he would remember for a very long time.

But now even though he would remember it for a very long time, it would be for the wrong reasons.

“Listen Y/N. It’s okay. Work happens and I know it's terrible forgetting someone’s birthday and being forgotten on your birthday but I’m pretty sure you both will be able to work it out.” Mingyu said.

“Yeah.” You sniffled, feeling like the world had just come crashing down. “I’ll let him call me.”

You heard Mingyu cut the call and stayed in the same position for some time, trying to control your emotions. You had been feeling so overwhelmed this week but you had really wanted to give Wonwoo the best birthday party you could.

But all your efforts had gone down the drain and also your boyfriend was mad at you.

You couldn’t imagine how Wonwoo felt and that made it worse.

This wasn’t the first time either of you were forgetting a date. Ever since the two of you started working it was like all the free time of your life had been sucked out. Which was why you both had decided to move together in the first place. So that even if it wasn’t possible to go on dates you would at least see each other and be close to one another.

But forgetting his special day was… on a whole different level.

The first rain drop hit your head at the same time you finally shed a tear, unable to hold back anymore. You sobbed heavily as it started raining, feeling the rain wash away your tears even before you felt them.

With a jolt you realised you had left your umbrella back in the office in a hurry to leave, and by that time it was too late. You were already drenched as you got up slowly, feeling the rain hit every bit of your wet skin now.

Sighing once more, you slowly trudged towards your apartment. You remembered how Wonwoo always used to pick you up whenever it rained whether or not you had an umbrella.

Maybe you deserved the rain.

13.06.2022

“I could get used to this.” Wonwoo muttered, before edging closer to you to peep into your answer. Flushing in the face, you hastily closed the book shut before shooting your boyfriend a glare.

“What?” He asked, sounding hurt.

“Don’t- don’t look at my answers!” You said, looking down in embarrassment. “They’re all wrong probably.”

The truth was, you were terrible at gas propulsion and had asked Wonwoo to do a group study in hopes that you would be able to understand something from him at least. And so far you hadn’t even asked him to show you how to solve even one problem, feeling embarrassed that he would think you’re an idiot if you did.

Which was funny because it was almost three years that the two of you had been dating and yet you still felt embarrassed and shy around him. (You were not sure at this point if it was a good thing or a bad thing.)

“As if. You’re not that bad.” Wonwoo huffed, gently reaching out to grab the book from your hand.

“That’s right. I’m terrible.” You muttered, accepting defeat and letting him open your book. Wonwoo didn’t say anything as he stared at your almost empty page and you were sure he was snickering inside.

Instead, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you were not getting these sums?”

“I, uh.” You looked down, feeling your cheeks heat up. Suddenly you felt his finger grip your chin and angle your head up, so that you were forced to look at him. “Look at me, baby.”

You felt your cheeks flush even more.

“Yeah, uh yeah. Sorry.” You muttered, unable to tear away your eyes from his intense yet soft ones. “I, uh, didn’t want to bother you.”

“Don’t be silly. I’m always here to help.” He said, before leaning in to press his lips against yours. Your mouth automatically parted as his breath hit yours, feeling soft lips encase yours.

“I just don’t want to look stupid in front of you.” You muttered, your lips brushing against his. “Don’t want to burden you.”

“First of all, you’re not stupid. Just because you don’t get a subject doesn’t mean you are stupid. Second of all, you are not a burden to me. You never were and you never will be. So don’t you dare think that again” Wonwoo said, frowning at you.

You leaned back to look at your boyfriend who was still looking at you slightly angrily, as though you had just insulted him. You felt a smile tug at the corner of your lip.

“I love you so much Wonwoo.” You whispered, taking his hand in yours. Wonwoo’s cheeks turned a dusty pink as he smiled back at you, placing another peck on your lips.

“I love you so much, too. Now come here while I explain these sums to you.” He said, sitting at the spot on the sofa right next to him.

“By the way.” You said, crawling over to him. He wrapped an arm around your back so that the two of you were cuddling, and he placed the book on your lap. “What did you mean by ‘I could get used to this’”?

“Oh I just meant that I could get used to coming over and studying with you.”

“Aren’t you romantic?” You joked, scrunching up your nose in fake disgust. “Are these study sessions replacements of our dates?”

“Hey at least we’re together and I’m not ditching you like the shitty boyfriend I was.”

“You weren’t shitty-” You began before he cut you off.

“No, I was. I could have at least informed you. You were always so understanding if I cancelled it even at the last minute even though you always kept your promises. So I’m determined to make changes now.”

“Wow.” You said, placing a kiss on his cheeks as you melted at his touch even more. He was always so warm and comforting and that always calmed you down. “I’m really beginning to enjoy my final year of college.”

“I have loved college since the very first day when I laid my eyes on you.”

Your cheeks heated up more quickly than you had wanted it to and you smacked him on the face lightly.

Which he dodged by turning his face at the last minute, kissing your fingers instead.

“Woo!”

“But seriously.” He continued, his voice dropping lower as a serious look masked his face. “I liked you so much but I never knew how to tell you that so I was over the moon when you confessed to me.”

“And I was so sure you would not like me back ever that I was jealous of you and Sohye when I first saw her.”

“Awww.” He cooed, causing you to glare at him. “My baby was jealous?”

“Not that jealous. Don’t get yourself too ahead Mr. Handsome.”

“And wow! You think I’m handsome too?”

You laughed at his antics, wondering for the millionth time how you were so lucky to end up with him.

“It’s okay baby, I think you’re pretty too.”

18.09.2021

“I waited for an hour!” You snapped at the phone, before inhaling sharply to calm yourself down. You did not want to get mad at Wonwoo but this time, he had taken things too far.

“It’s the third date in a row!” You hissed into the phone as you kicked the door of your shared apartment open, striding in angrily after throwing your shoes towards the shoe rack. “Do you not respect my time?”

“Baby.” You heard Wonwoo inhale too, as though trying not to raise his voice at you. As calm as Wonwoo always was, you always knew when he was angry. And with how dangerously low his voice had dipped right now, you could tell he was fuming at you too. “Try to understand. I’m not doing this on purpose-”

“But you’re not the only one with an internship, Jeon Wonwoo!” You interrupted him, finally losing it all. “I’m doing my internship and managing my outings too. I always put away my time for you Wonwoo. When you ask to go on a date, I always manage to squeeze time.”

“First of all, I rarely ask to go on a date because I know you’re busy. Second of all… well I’m sorry my internship is not as flexible as yours but do you really not care about my internship-”

“You could have called and told me!” You screamed, throwing the phone on to the bed before crashing into it, tired. tears pricked your eyes. “You could have told me Wonwoo. I wouldn’t have been mad. I would have understood. Instead you made me sit there like a fool and all because you completely forgot about me.”

“Baby?” Wonwoo sounded panicked. “Are you- are you crying?”

“No.” You sniffled, aggressively rubbing away your tears. “I’m not.”

“Shit, sorry baby.” Wonwoo said. “I'm so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you at all. It’s just that this stupid internship just randomly throws in dates to do the work.

“I know.” You muttered, letting the tears fall smoothly now. You felt so hurt. You were mad at him for not even telling you that he wouldn’t be able to make it. The both of you were barely able to meet up with each other even though it was summer break and you had begun to miss him more than you had expected.

But what hurt more was that Wonwoo never informed you if he was not able to make it to the date, and you felt like a burden to him. Like he was only agreeing to them in the first place because you asked to go on dates.

“My work gets over at 3 pm today.” Wonwoo said softly. You kept quiet, silently asking him to go on as you had no idea what he was trying to suggest. “So if you want I could get some takeout and drop by your apartment by four to watch a movie. How does that sound?”

You sucked in a breath harshly. “Really?” You asked, sounding a bit sceptical. “You mean it?”

“We could rewatch frozen if you want to?”

“Really?” This time you exclaimed, almost jumping out of the bed in happiness. You felt yourself fall in love with Wonwoo all over again at his efforts to make up for the failed dates.

“Yeah baby. I promise I’ll be there.” He said.

“Well, you even promised that you would come today-”

“Hush. No, I won't repeat that ever again. I’ll never make a promise that I can’t keep from now on. Ever.”

“Promise?” You giggled, already stepping into the shower freshen up.

“Promise.” He said.

23.11.2020

“So your parents aren’t home?” Wonwoo asked as you carefully balanced the bowl of popcorn in one hand and nachos in the other, eyebrows scrunched in confusion before placing them on the tea table in front of him. Then, sitting down beside him on the sofa you nodded to his question. “Correct. So no funny business, okay? They lectured me for an hour about trust and responsibility before leaving.”

“No funny business, huh?” He muttered, eyes flicking over you lazily, causing your cheeks to heat up like it did every time he did that. He tilted his head and smirked at you, before suddenly grabbing you by your waist and jerking you towards him. You let out a yelp as your back hit his chest but before you could wiggle out of this position, he tightened his grip on you.

“I wonder what funny business they could be talking about. “ He whispered, thumb gently rubbing small circles over your stomach, the thin fabric of your t-shirt letting his warmth seep into your skin.

“You know what they mean.” You muttered, cheeks flushed in embarrassment as you stared at his arm wrapped around your body. You always loved his arms for some reason. Loved the way his muscles flexed every time he cuddled a kitten, loved the way his veins slightly popped out when he held your hands in his.

“Oh no. I couldn’t possibly know what they mean, right?”

“Wonwoo.” You groaned, leaning back a little so that your head was resting against his shoulder. He chuckled in response, pressing a quick kiss on your forehead. “Sorry it’s just…you’re so adorable when you’re so flustered.”

“Says you when you were the one who looked scandalous after Mingyu kissed his girlfriend.”

“That’s because he is only allowed to kiss me.”

You turned back to give him a dry look, but all you got from him was a laugh (much to your delight though).

“I hate you so much.” You said before looking away, still leaning back so you were sitting comfortably against his chest.

“And I love you so much.” He muttered, his deep voice rumbling behind you. A second passed before his words finally settled in, causing the two of you to freeze. You tensed up in his arms and felt him too still behind you.

I love you so much.

Love. He loved you.

And it was like Wonwoo’s words had broken down the dam in your heart because as the river came down crashing, you felt a surge of emotions flow through you, hitting you with a realisation.

You were in love.

You were in love with Jeon Wonwoo.

Slowly, you turned back to look at him, blinking at him a little as he too stared back at you with a shocked expression.

“I’m- I’m-” He stammered, unable to meet your eyes anymore. You could hear your heart hammering in your ears as you asked softly. “Wonwoo? Did you mean that?”

Slowly, he looked back up at your face, cheeks flushed before giving you a small nod. “Yeah.” he muttered. “I love you.”

You felt your mouth fall open slightly, as you felt your heart skip a beat. “Oh, Woo.” You whispered, gently cupping his face. “I love you too. I love you so much.”

Wonwoo blinked at you for a few seconds before breaking into a shy smile. You too felt your cheeks heat up again, before looking away, unable to maintain eye contact anymore. Your hand slipped off his cheek onto your lap but he immediately reached out to grab it in his, bringing it closer to him so that it was resting on his lap.

Silence engulfed the two of you like many other times and like all them, it wasn’t uncomfortable. You could still feel your heart hammering loudly at your chest as you tried not squeezing Wonwoo’s hand too tightly out of the little sparks of excitement you were feeling.

After some time, you heard Wonwoo speak. “Well…that was sudden.”

“Yeah.” You giggled, unable to contain yourself anymore. “You would think we just started dating. Who would think it's been almost a year?”

“It doesn’t feel like a year. And I love the fact I still get butterflies in my stomach when I look at you or even think of you.” He whispered.

You wondered if couples who were ‘comfortable’ with each other still felt this shy still but you pushed away that thought from your head. People still felt butterflies years into their marriage right? Which meant they were still nervous even after all these years.

“Me too.” You whispered back, before snuggling into his body. Wonwoo immediately wrapped his arms around you and you melted into his touch, finally turning your concentration back to the movie.

03.05.2020

“Should we leave?” Wonwoo asked, sliding his fingers into yours as he came and sat down on the empty chair beside you. You tore your attention away from what you were talking with Sohye and her small group of friends towards your new boyfriend.

The party was still going on but as soon as your eyes landed on him everything, including the dazzling lights seemed to dim away despite having spent the majority of the evening with him.

His eyes seemed to be shining behind the glasses as his lips curled into those soft smiles that always had your heart racing at a thousand kilometres per hour. You stared back at him as his lips moved slowly, nearly melting in his beautiful brown eyes, your heart squeezing painfully.

“Earth to Y/N?” Sohye’s voice brought you back to the present, causing you to jerk as you looked at her in surprise just as she let out a laugh. You looked around the group in embarrassment as the other girls too giggled, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

“Oh god Sohye.” Dahyeon giggled, “Why did you stop the love birds?”

“Shut up.” You muttered, breaking eye contact to glare at the girls. You heard Wonwoo chuckle beside you, causing your cheeks to heat up more as you felt his voice rumble in your chest too.

“We’ll be bidding our goodbyes then.” The chair beside you scraped as Wonwoo got up, causing you to look up at him. He extended his hand to you and you lightly placed your hand over it, not expecting him to grip it tightly and pull you up. You managed to mask your look of surprise with a sudden laughter, waving goodbyes to everyone as you allowed Wonwoo to pull you through the crowd.

Even though it was hot at the party, especially with your heavy makeup and large earrings that you chose to wear, you could still feel the heat of Wonwoo’s palms searing through your skin. You were very conscious of his soft skin against yours, but you decided to ignore it for now as you stumbled through the crowd and finally made your way out.

The cold wind hit you almost immediately and you found yourself gasping in relief, not realising just how suffocating the house had been. It wasn’t like you weren’t enjoying yourself, but too much social interaction had drained out your battery completely.

“Are you okay?” You heard Wonwoo ask and you nodded, unable to meet his eyes for some reason. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You muttered, turning to face him but looked over his shoulder instead.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing your wrist that caused you to finally look at him. “Look at me.”

“I am.” You squeaked, and then cleared your throat and spoke normally again, “I am.”

Wonwoo smiled softly at you, causing your knees to go wobbly again. “Now you are. What’s wrong? Did Sohye make you feel uncomfortable? Did one of the girls say something-

“What? Oh no, Woo!” You cut him off in surprise. “No no no. Sohye was amazing! And so were the other girls.”

You hadn’t realised how tense Wonwoo was until right now, as he relaxed his shoulders and let out a breath.

“Thank god. I was worried for a second. Then what’s bothering you?”

You bit your lips, unsure how to go about it. “Well, I kind of hoped- kind of thought we would get to hang out with each other more. It’s the first time we saw each other face to face after I… after we confessed. So yeah, I had hoped to spend more time with you.

“Oh.” Wonwoo looked at you apologetically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise- I didn’t think- Oh shit I’m so sorry. I was excited to see you but I thought you wouldn’t want to see me or would want to hang out with the girls.”

You cocked your head to the side in confusion. “Why would I not want to see you?”

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, unable to meet your eyes now. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I was thinking.

“It's okay.” You said, suddenly feeling slightly uncomfortable. You didn’t want to make things awkward at the very beginning of your relationship itself so you decided to let the topic go instead. Besides, Wonwoo was on the quieter side. Maybe he didn’t know how to communicate it with you.

Just as you were about to step out of your house the first droplet of water hit your shoes, and Wonwoo immediately pulled you back into the veranda where the two of you had been standing. Within two seconds it started pouring, getting you both stuck there.

“Do you want to go in?” You asked Wonwoo, wondering if you both should take shelter back in the house. The rain wasn’t falling on either of you but you wondered if he would rather use this time to talk to his friends than you.

“Are you cold?”

“Um, no.”

“Then I’m okay here. I didn’t spend time with my beautiful girlfriend and now she’s rightfully upset with me.”

Heat rushed up your cheek and you playfully hit his shoulder. “Don’t- don’t throw around that word just like that!”

He grinned at you, stepping closer so that you could feel his body heat radiate off his skin and causing goosebumps to form on your arms due to the cold. “What words?”

You groaned, rolling your eyes at him. “You’ll be the end of me Jeon Wonwoo. Please don’t make me flustered.”

“Aw, but you look so cute doing that!” He pointed out, his words making your stomach jump again. You glared at him.

“You did it again!”

“I’ll do it a thousand times more if it means getting to see you this way.”

You turned her head away from him so that he couldn’t see you flushing like that when you felt his knuckles brush against yours. You took this opportunity to wrap your hand around his. His palms were still warm and comforting and it made you realise just how cold you were because of the rain.

He gave your hand a squeeze which caused you to look at him again. Wonwoo smiled at you, turning his head a little to the side as he gazed at you softly.

“Hi.” He whispered.

“Hi.” You giggled back.

“You look beautiful today. Did I tell you that before?”

“Only seven times before right now.” You laughed.

“Right. That’s because you look gorgeous everyday-”

You were not sure from where the sudden urge or courage came, but hearing him compliment you for the millionth time that day broke something in you and you found yourself leaning up to smash your lips against his. As soon as his lips touched yours you felt sparks go off in your heart, causing you to close your eyes shut and enjoy the tingling sensation you felt all over your body.

But two seconds later, you realised what you were doing and with a gasp you jerked back.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry-”

Your sentence was cut off as Wonwoo captured your mouth in his, enveloping your lips in warmth. Your eyes fluttered close when you felt an arm go around your waist and you clutched his shoulder to steady yourself.

Your stomach kept somersaulting every time Wonwoo moved against your lips, every single second feeling electrifying. Slowly, you cupped his warm cheeks with your hands, kissing him back with everything you had.

Because you felt like you were in heaven. His searing mouth on yours felt like heaven. Every bit of skin his other hand touched left a shock at its wake and you felt like you were going to combust there and there.

After what felt like an eternity and you were nearly out of breath, you broke apart, gasping for breath. Your cheeks were on fire and you could still feel his breath on your lashes, making you unable to look at him.

“Y/N.” Wonwoo whispered, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.

Slowly, you looked up to meet his eyes. Your knees nearly went weak and you were glad he was holding on to you as soon as your eyes met his soft, dark ones. They were filled with so much emotion that you felt your heart would burst.

He leaned in until your foreheads were touching, and you felt yourself smile at the gesture.

“Hi.” He whispered, his lips brushing against yours slightly.

“Hi.” You whispered back.

27.07.2019

“I ordered your favourite cake.”

Wonwoo greeted you with a smile as you practically ran into the cafe, breathing very hard as you tried to catch your breath. You smiled back weakly at him before sitting down on the chair opposite to him, fanning yourself lightly, praying that you weren’t sweating too badly.

“Thank you.” You whispered in between breaths and he just smiled more widely at you, the familiar spark shooting up your stomach. “I’m so, so sorry that I’m late. I completely miscalculated how much time it would take me to reach here and the traffic was so bad that-”

“Hey.” He whispered, reaching forward to hold your hand in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze that shut you up completely, looking down at both of your intertwined hands. “Don’t stress about it. I just saw that your favourite flavour was there but it looked like a lot of people were buying it so I wanted to get it before it went out of stock. I’m not upset that you are late. Traffic can be really stressful.”

You stared at him for a second, heart swelling at his sweet gesture before you remembered to respond. “Still, thanks a lot. I just feel bad because I asked us to meet here and then I was super late.”

“Well, in that case.” Wonwoo leaned back and folded his arms, his muscles flexing underneath the cardigan he had worn, easily showing how well built he was. Oh to have those arms wrapped around you- Not now Y/N! “You can let me treat you this time.”

“What? No way! I invited you over!” You complained, getting up to pick you both of your orders before he could. Wonwoo laughed at the way you darted towards the counter with your phone already in your hand, as though afraid that he might pay instead. The sound of his laughter was so endearing that you felt your cheeks heat up, glad that your back was facing him now.

His laughter. You loved hearing him laugh. You loved being able to make him laugh. And you wanted to be one of the reasons he smiled and laughed.

“Here.” You said, placing his cake and drink in front of him before sitting back on your seat, sipping on your drink nervously as you mulled the question you’ve been dying to ask in your head.

“What's wrong?” Wonwoo asked and you said, “Nothing.” a bit too quickly.

“Hmmm. What’s wrong? You know you can talk to me about anything right?” He said, reaching out for your hand once again. The look of concern on his face was enough to melt you into a puddle but for the sake of your dignity, you held on, pretending that him rubbing small circles on the back of your hand with his thumb was not doing things to you.

“Yeah. I know.” But how can I talk to you about you?

“It’s just that…” You began, trying to rephrase the question that was the main reason you had asked to see him. “I wanted to ask- I wanted to know if you- if you want to go out with-”

“Wonwoo?” A voice cut you off from behind and you turned to see who it was, eyes meeting with a girl of your age beaming at the two of you- no, at him, brightly.

You blinked in surprise as you felt the small courage you had managed to build to ask him out break, turning back to look at Wonwoo as his smile widened as recognition dawned on his face.

“Sohye?” Wonwoo asked, standing up to greet her. You too stood up and that’s when she finally noticed you, smiling at you equally gracefully. As you beamed back at her, you felt something move lightly against your lips and with horror you realised you had some cream stuck on to it.

“Hi.” Sohye greeted you sweetly, as you waved a hi at her, the napkins that you had hurriedly grabbed still in your hand. “I’m Sohye.”

“She’s my neighbour.” Wonwoo explained, still smiling sweetly at her.

Had he ever smiled at you like that?

You winced at your own thoughts when you realised how pathetic you sounded, letting the green eyed monster take control of your thoughts.

“And this is Y/N.” Wonwoo said, pointing at you.

“Ah, so you’re the Y/N?” She asked, eyes widening in amusement as she looked between you and Wonwoo. You laughed at her statement politely, unsure about what she was talking about. What was that supposed to mean? Maybe you shouldn’t have read too much into your friendship and assumed that he might like you in a more than a friend way. Maybe you-

Your eyes fell onto the tote bag she was carrying and you felt your stomach drop.

Oh.

They were in the same technical club. So she wasn’t just his neighbour, then? This meant that they were really, really close friends. And you knew how hard it was to get into that club so she must have been really brilliant.

So Sohye was Wonwoo’s pretty and smart neighbour, friend and now even possibly his love interest? Because the way he was looking at her with those soft, smiley eyes, there was no way he saw her as a friend only.

There was no way you stood a chance.

What were you even thinking? There was no way you ever stood with someone like Wonwoo. Someone as sweet, as nice, as funny (in his own ways, though Seungkwan would disagree), as handsome, as beautiful, as caring and as kind as him.

“He talks about you all the time.” She added, nudging his chest lightly and your ears perked up. What?

“Hey! You promised!” He gasped, crossing his arms over his chest in faux betrayal.

Sohye rolled her eyes at him. “Promised what?”

“You know…” He began, before locking eyes with her. The two of them seemed to silently converse about something before she shrugged, patting him gently as though she understood what he was implying at.

Great, now you were feeling like a complete idiot. Apparently he talked about you but one could talk various things about someone all the time, including their bad qualities. So what was it that Wonwoo talked about you to Sohye all the time?

“Fine, fine. I’m sorry. I need to leave now but don’t forget about this Saturday’s party Wonwoo.” At this, he let out a groan and flopped onto his seat, earning a giggle from you because you had never seen him this fed up about something. You saw the corner of his lips quirk up as his eyes flicked to yours, causing your cheeks to flush up like they usually did whenever he looked at you like that. Then turning to you, she winked, before adding. “Oh, you’re invited too. Just that you need to have a date. So make sure you ask someone out, okay? Sometimes, men are just so dense that you need to be the one who…ah, takes the initiative for everything.”

You blinked at her, trying to process what she had just said. Did she mean Wonwoo. No way right? But then-

“She’s nice, isn’t she?” Wonwoo asked as he watched Sohye walk out of the door before turning to look back at you. She gave you a thumbs up and everything sunk in finally. “She’s really-”

“Do you want to go out with me?” You blurted out, with a sudden surge of confidence given by Sohye, and unable to contain the question anymore. Wonwoo froze, staring at you with his mouth open, not even blinking as though he was completely dumbfounded by your question.

Immediately you felt dread fill the pit of your stomach as you almost heard your heart shatter, an ugly, nauseating pain beginning to clutch your throat and chest. Wonwoo blinked at you, opened his mouth once and closed it, and you felt tears stinging at the corner of your eyes.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay! Don’t just cry, okay?

Your nails dug into your skin, leaving crescent moons on it as you gave him a weak smile, trying your very best not to burst into tears because of how dejected and hurt you felt right now. Why did you listen to Sohye, a complete stranger?

“Ignore me.” You said, your voice coming out more choked than you had expected it to. You could actually feel yourself choking, the pain almost unbearable and you quickly reached forward to swallow down your drink in an attempt to calm yourself down.

“Wait!” Wonwoo yelped, jerking forward to grab your hand so suddenly that you almost flinched back in surprise. You looked at him in bewilderment, and he stared back at you, as though equally surprised by his actions.

Both of your eyes flicked to your hands, and then back to each other, before Wonwoo looked away first, his cheeks completely flushed. “Careful.” He muttered, gently taking the mug out of your hand. “It’s hot. You’ll burn yourself if you drink it.”

“Oh.” Was all you could say. He still wasn’t meeting your eyes and you could feel the urge to cry slowly ebbing away. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself down, you said, “Uhm, I’m sorry. The question must have thrown you-”

“I would love to go out with you.”

This time, you froze, blinking at Wonwoo, who was finally looking at you, trying to process what he had just said.

“What?” You asked, and he flushed even more, looking away once again. But this time, he turned to face you almost immediately, a look of determination on his face. “Yeah. I’ll go out with you.”

You felt the tears sting your eyes once again but Wonwoo was faster this time. He practically jumped out of his seat and dragged his chair right next to yours, gently grasping both of your hands in his.

“Don’t cry, Y/N. It really hurts me when you cry. Especially if it’s because of me.” He whispered softly, causing you to break down more instead.

“I’m not- I’m actually- Oh my god.” Was all you could say before he pulled you into a hug, his strong arms wrapping around your waist as you almost melted into his touch. You buried your face into the crook of his neck and tried to control your sniffling, clutching his sweater with both of your hands as though he might disappear if you let go.

“I won’t let you go.” He whispered, gently rubbing circles on your back. “I promise.”

14.03.3019

“I really like autumn, you know.” Wonwoo muttered and you looked up, feeling your breath being taken away for the millionth time that day. The cold wind blowing had ruffled his hair slightly but he looked really cute as he stared at the orange foliage overhead, with a small smile on his face.

“Is that so?” You asked, and he turned back to look at you, giving you a small nod. Smirking at him, you asked again, “Why? Is it because it’s cold and you can have an excuse to stay inside and play games the whole day?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile widened, chuckling lightly at your joke. “Maybe?”

You rolled your eyes at him before giving him a light push. “You could have answered it with something more productive like finishing your assignments, you know.”

“Yeah, or like texting you.”

The statement caught you so off guard that you nearly tripped on your own feet, and to make the situation worse, Wonwoo grabbed your arm to stop you from stumbling.

“Hey, be careful.” He said, slight concern lacing his voice. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” You muttered, unable to meet his eyes as you cursed yourself for being clumsy enough to trip on your own feet. You could feel your cheeks burning from his gaze and you wondered for a second why you were still so awkward and shy around him, despite being friends with him for almost three months.

If you could call your relationship with him as friends, that is.

You had hoped that your crush on him would go away after hanging out with him for a while (he had to have a flaw in him, right?) but if anything it grew more and more with passing time. Wonwoo made it worse by his completely sweet demeanour and mannerism towards you, reducing you to shambles each and every time. No matter how much you tried to compress the fluttering of your heart or the flushing of your cheeks, Wonwoo had to ruin everything by doing something that completely floored you always.

And that was the worst part of it. You had never thought you would like someone as quiet as him, always having liked outgoing guys with good humour. But there was something about Wonwoo’s introvertedness that was really comforting to you. It wasn’t like he always sat silent when next to you, it was just that he knew exactly what to say and when. He was a great listener and always listened to you with such rapt attention that sometimes it even surprised you.

It made you feel…important. Wanted. Loved.

Though most of the time it was you who had to initiate the conversation, you didn’t mind because Wonwoo would always continue with it, never leaving you hanging or ignoring it.

“Hey.” You heard Wonwoo call you softly, and you finally looked up at him. He took a step close so that your shoulders were brushing, feeling his body warmth seep into you through your touching arms. You felt an urge to throw yourself into his arms but you pushed that thought to the back of your mind. “Are you actually okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Don’t say that.” Wonwoo was frowning at you, and you panicked, wondering if you had said the wrong thing. “How can I not worry about you? You’re so clumsy. Seriously, what would you do without me?”

Gulping slowly to calm down your racing heart, you felt your cheeks automatically pull into a smile. “Fall onto my face and embarrass myself?”

Wonwoo snorted at your sentence, wrapping an arm around your waist as he began walking again. “Not a chance under my watch. You aren’t Mingyu.”

“Poor Gyu.” You whispered, looking down so he wouldn’t see how much your eyes were gleaming.

“Poor me, you mean. I’ve given up trying to save his ass every time he trips.”

You laughed as he went on complaining about his best friend, and all the embarrassment that you had been feeling from before was gone as you relaxed into his touch. You loved being with Wonwoo. You really loved spending time with him. Even though there were still traces of awkwardness between the two of you (from your side more than his), you hoped that one day all of that would be gone and he would see you the same way you looked at him.

And then one day, you would finally ask him out. One day.

05.12.2018

The second time you met Wonwoo, or rather were with Wonwoo, was during a break period, when all your classmates had left the classroom for various purposes but you had decided to stay back and study.

At first, you didn’t realise he was there too because you thought everyone had left. When you turned back to pull out a notebook from your bag, both of your eyes met from across the classroom and you found yourself immediately turning away, wincing a second later at your action.

Slowly, you turned back and to your relief, he was still looking at you. Trying to not look as flustered as you felt, you gave him a small wave, the quiet whisper of a ‘hi’ almost dying in your throat.

Wonwoo smiled back at you and waved back, before getting up and walking towards your table.

Oh no. Oh no. Act normal. Act normal.

“Hey.” He said, his deep voice causing your stomach to drop a little. “Uh, did you do the maths homework? The one he gave in the last class?”

“Uhm, maths? You mean, uh, this one?” You asked, pointing at the half done sum in front of you. Crap, what if he wants my help? Why didn’t I do this before at home? Why didn't I think of studying this part beforehand?

“Oh, even you didn’t get it?” He asked, sitting himself down beside you. You could get a hint of his cologne and you swallowed hard, hoping your cheeks weren’t as flushed as you thought it was. “Do you want to solve it together? I think we can get it if we try together.”

“Yeah sure!” You said, a bit too enthusiastically. “I mean, yeah, of course. Let’s do it together.”

The two of you then began to work on the problem, but to your disappointment, you both barely talked. You were able to solve the problem on your own within the second try, and so was Wonwoo because so far the only other thing he had said was “You got it? So did I.”

The classroom once again lapped into silence and you could feel your nerves becoming jittery, because you wanted to say something to him, wanted to strike a conversation with him but you just couldn’t. What if what you said sounded so dumb that he decided not to talk to you ever again?

Also Wonwoo looked like he had no problem with the quiet atmosphere, though you were feeling more and more awkward with each passing second, once again hyper aware of your actions as you sat next to him.

“So, uh,” You began after clearing your throat, so that you wouldn’t startle him. “Do you have any hobbies?”

Wonwoo looked up at you from his notebook, blinking at you as though trying to process your question a bit. How does one look this cute just by blinking?

“Yeah, I like gaming.” He said, smiling at you. If he kept smiling at you like that any longer, you were sure you would have difficulty meeting his eyes next.

“Gaming? That’s cool.” You said with a bigger smile. Internally though, you were screaming. You had next to no idea about gaming, what games were played on laptops or even the types of games out there. So you said the most intelligent (and probably the stupidest) thing you could come up with. “I play mobile games. Sometimes.”

At this, Wonwoo chuckled, a deep sound that was enough to cause your heart to flutter. “Mobile games? That’s cute.”

“Uh, thank you.” You muttered, averting your eyes back to your notebook. “What- What about you? What games do you play?”

“I play a lot of games to be honest. I’ve played Visage, Genshin Impact, League of Legends…yeah I’ve played a lot to be honest.” He said, going back to solving his problems too.

“Oh, I see…” You said, not even sure what these games were about but you still pretended that you had at least some idea about what he was saying.

Once again the two of you relapsed into silence, and you were finding it difficult to begin any conversation. It wasn’t that Wonwoo was making things difficult. You had noticed that he was a fairly quiet guy so you supposed he had no problem with this and was in fact comfortable with the silence between the two of you.

Letting out a sigh, you reached out for your water bottle, wanting to calm yourself down from the way Wonwoo was making you feel.

You must have inhaled while you were drinking because all of a sudden you felt water hit your windpipe, blocking your air passage immediately. You made a choking sound as you spluttered, trying to cough out the water from your windpipe.

“Y/N!” You heard Wonwoo call your name but it sounded so far away. Your mind was in a state of frenzy as you realised that you couldn’t breathe, you just couldn’t breathe and the water wasn’t coming out-

“Cough it out.” You felt an arm wrap around your front as Wonwoo thumped your back hard, making you cough harder. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just cough it out.”

You coughed once more and took in a shuddering breath, causing you to cough again as your senses finally returned to you slowly. You were shivering, and your chest hurt as small coughs kept bubbling up in an attempt to regain your normal breath.

“It’s okay. Just breathe slowly. I’ve got you. Breath, okay?” Wonwoo muttered, rubbing soft circles on your back. Still shivering in his arms, you looked up to see his face. His face was just inches apart and even through your teary eyes, you could see how handsome he was.

Then, you realised with horror how pathetic you must be looking. Your eyes were brimming with tears and you could feel the saliva all over your chin. And to make matters worse, you could feel that your nose had begun to run too.

“Uh,” you started, slowly pushing yourself away from Wonwoo’s grasp as you hastily searched for a tissue or napkin.

“Wait here.” Wonwoo said, before running back to his bench and then coming back to you, offering you some tissues he had got. “Here.”

“Thank you.” You muttered, feeling embarrassed as you slowly wiped away the spit on your face. “Thank you for…helping me.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Wonwoo asked, walking over to stand in front of you. You looked down at your lap and nodded, unable to look at him anymore. Of all the times you had to choke on your drink, it had to be in front of him.

“Hey, look at me.” You heard him whisper. You looked up just as he leaned down so that he was at your level now. You felt your breath catch in your throat as he looked at you, an expression of concern on his face.

“Are you actually feeling okay? Because you are still shivering.” Looking down, you saw your hands clenching the tissue tightly. True to his words, you were still shivering and you took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm yourself down.

“I’m okay. I’ll be okay. I just- I was just caught off guard that’s all.”

Wonwoo glanced at the clock on the classroom wall before reaching down and picking up your bag. You looked up at him in surprise as he walked over to get his bag, and then stood in front of the class door.

“What are you- Where are you going?” You asked, standing up.

Wonwoo looked at you in surprise. “Don’t you want to have lunch? It’s lunch time.”

“Yeah…but my bag? You don’t have to-”

“I don’t.” He said, smiling at you. “I want to.”

You felt your heart explode as you fought back the urge to smile, almost jumping from your bench to catch up with him. Maybe, maybe accidentally choking on your drink wasn’t a bad thing after all.

01.10.2018

“Are we still in the same seminar hall?” You asked, peeping into your friend’s (if she could be called that considering the fact you met her only an hour ago) phone as she searched the timetable up.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess. I think we should just walk in and see to be honest. If not, we can ask around.” Yubin said, closing her phone and slipping it into her jeans pocket, before taking a deep breath and pushing open the seminar hall doors.

The hall was almost crowded and you were glad that you were behind Yubin, so all you had to do was follow her as she tried finding two empty seats.

Finally, you both sat down on the three empty seats at the end of the third row, glad that you got decent enough seats, if not good, because of how late you both were (it had to be your unfortunate luck that the seminar hall was at one end of the campus and the canteen was at another end). Removing your bag, you lifted it to place it on the empty seat next to you because you were sure no one would take a single empty seat when you heard someone ask, “Is this seat taken?”

You looked up to see who it was and immediately felt the air almost knock out of your lungs. Your cheeks heated up as you blinked at the student standing in front of you, all coherent words thrown out of your head because he was just so, so handsome.

He looked so good with his square framed glasses, unbuttoned chequered shirt over a casual t-shirt and dark blue jeans. In fact, he looked like any other of the countless averagely dressed college students you had seen on campus so far and yet, he looked so attractive that you were having a hard time formulating a simple sentence.

“Uh,” You began, staring at him as you tried to rack your brains for an appropriate response. What was the question?

“Nope!” Yubin said, reaching out to grab your bag and place it on your lap. “No one’s sitting here so you can sit if you want to!”

He gave you (the two of you actually but you hoped it was just you) a small smile before sitting down and you slowly turned towards your now grinning friend, frowning slightly as you just tried to process what had just happened.

He was sitting next to you. He was sitting next to you. The guy, who caught your eyes within a few milliseconds of your encounter was actually sitting next to you.

‘You think he is cute?’ Yubin mouthed to you, to which you could only exhale and look back at the presentation that was about to start in front of you, unable to think clearly still.

Cute was an understatement for the guy next to you. He was handsome. Ethereal. Beautiful. Someone who made your heart stutter just by looking at them and made you hyper aware of your each and every action, just like now as you carefully slid out your notebook from your bag.

Your cheeks felt like they were still on fire, and you tried to act nonchalant as you cleared your throat and flipped through the pages, trying to find an empty page when your pen fell from your hand.

Brilliant.

Just brilliant. You mentally cursed yourself as you bit your lips. bending down to pick it up but he was much faster than you, the pen already in his hand as he offered it to you.

“Uh, thank you.” You mumbled, trying to give him a small smile but of course your flushed cheeks had to act up at this moment itself and you were pretty sure you ended up giving him a lopsided one instead.

He just nodded back at you, before turning his attention back to the presentation and so did you, but it was like you could still feel his gaze on you.

The rest of the session passed in a blur, as you tried your level best to concentrate on what was being explained but it was just so hard doing that when each second seemed to drag on for hours and you were painfully aware of what he was doing and how embarrassing you were acting.

Finally, after what felt like years, the students started getting up and leaving the auditorium. Your mind was in a whirlwind as he too started packing up his things. Now’s the time, Y/N. It’s now or never. Just ask him-

“I didn’t catch your name!” You squeaked just as he got up, causing him to pause and look at you confused. You immediately cringed at your voice, sinking into your seat a little before clearing your throat and repeating your sentence. “Your name? I didn’t catch it.”

“Oh.” He said, his face softening a little as he pushed his specs back up his nose. Okay, now that was hot. “It’s Wonwoo. Jeon Wonwoo. And you are?”

“Wonwoo…” You muttered, the name rolling off your tongue before you realised he had asked yours. “Oh! Uh, I’m Y/N. L/N Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you Y/N. I hope we can be friends.” Wonwoo smiled at you, almost causing you to forget your second question.

“Yeah! Yeah, of course! Also, uh, can I have your number? Because, you know, uh-” You stuttered but luckily Wonwoo cut you off.

“Sure.” He said, extending out his hand. As quickly as you could (without dropping anything or appearing clumsy) you handed him your phone and he took it, typing out his number. Oh wow, he has really pretty hands.

“Here.” He said, handing it over to you. “Give me a missed call okay? So that I can save your number too.”

“Yeah…yeah I will.” You said, giving him another smile. He gave you a small goodbye before walking away, and you continued staring at him until he split out of the door. Even then you were just standing, frozen at your place as you tried processing what had just happened, until Yubin gave you a nudge.

“Are we going to go for lunch or are you gonna keep dreaming about lover boy?” She joked, causing you to snap out of your reverie.

“What? He’s not- It’s nothing like that. He’s just cute.” You said defensively, picking up your bag as you followed her out.

“He’s just cute.” Yubin said, mimicking you and you hissed at her. “Shut up! Someone might hear you!”

“Yeah, and you were definitely not drooling over him.”

“I was not drooling over him!” You gasped.

“Okay sure. Just the next time you both sit together, I’ll make sure I’m not next to you. Actually I’ll make sure no one is next to you both so that you can have your alone time together.”

“Yeah,” You muttered, as you saw Wonwoo walk in front of the two of you, laughing and talking with two other boys. You felt your heart give an odd squeeze when he turned back and your eyes met, smiling at you warmly. “I wonder if it will ever be just us, again.”

A/N: Please do tell me what you think about this story!! I worked really hard on it and I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on it~ Comments and reblogs are appreciated!

#I have a playlist for this fic its love again by baekhyun and what do I call you now by taeyeon in an alternating loop #the pattern of having angst asf parts being followed by ridiculously cute romance felt like #eating hot food while keeping my toes in ice cold water #edit: oh wow i just paired a taeyeon and baekhyun song together LMAOOO i still stand by it

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solarhysm · 3 months ago

Text

DUST OF US - 01

> synopsis: 7 years ago Y/N broke Jungkook’s heart when she decided to end their relationship without an explanation. When they meet again at a friend's wedding, after almost a decade, Jungkook needs answers to move on.

> pairing: Jungkook x reader

> genre: romance, ex to lovers au

> warnings: explicit languages, violence, smut, cheating, nsfw, angst, +18 minors dni !!

> word count: 2.6k

*french writer, i apologize in advance for my awful english!

AGE: 27 years old

“Where are you going?” Baekhyun asks, stretching as you get out of bed and grab all of your clothes. It was late but you hate sleeping in another bed than yours.

“I should go home.” You simply say, pulling on your panties and jeans as the younger man whines, flipping on his back.

“Oh, come on, Y/N, stay the night.” He suggests as you shake your head with an apologetic smile while putting your bra on.

“Hyesun is getting married, tomorrow. I need to get up early,” You explain, but it was an excuse. You don’t want to be more than intimate enough with anyone.

Once fully clothed, you grab your keys and turn to look at the man still laying completely naked in bed. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Aight, boss,” He teases making you roll your eyes. “One last kiss?”

“Bye,” You smile closing the door of his room, hearing him laugh before making your way out of his apartment.

Once in your car, you sigh, leaning on your seat as you stare at the ceiling. Eleven pm already, and tomorrow’s list kept growing in your mind.

Your way home was silent, you didn’t even put music on, mentally listing all the tasks to do tomorrow morning. Drive Hyesun to the hairstylist, make sure that the flowers are delivered, get her dress, and a lot more.

The house should already be decorated by now. Hyesun was getting married at her in-law’s house. They have a big yard and suggested to make the reception in there. Since you couldn’t be here to help today, you ended up with the stressful tasks tomorrow. Her friends aren’t yours.

Yes, you still have a small circle of friends in common, but Hyesun was a sunshine and most of all: an extrovert. She met her husband by boldly asking his number at a coffee shop where he was working, five years ago. Something you could never. That’s probably why you’re still single and she’s getting married.

Kicking your shoes off at your front door, you’re greeted by your cat. He was a little terror. Or a demon like Namjoon loves to call him. And you can’t blame your friend. Not only was Trash a black cat with only one ear, the other got cut off. You don’t know how.

He was already like that when you adopted him. He was skinny and really ugly when you first got him. Well... he’s still ugly, but now he’s well-fed, maybe too much, you chuckle as you kneel to scratch the top of his head. But he was also a tiny demon who attacked everyone who dared to visit you.

“Did you miss me?” You coo as the black cat let out a meow husky enough to let you think that he smokes too many cigarettes. He’s not a loud cat, he occasionally meows when he’s hungry or when you come home after a long day.

As you make your way to the kitchen, the fat cat follows you. Opening the fridge, you take out a bottle of water and gives him a treat. Your eyes fall on the dress you’ll wear tomorrow, hanged at the bedroom door.

The wedding theme was midnight sky. So, obviously, your dress is navy blue and long enough to end at your ankles with a slit on the right side. You didn’t choose it, Hyesun did.

Palming your face, you take a sip of your water and walk to your bedroom. You need a shower. You could still smell Baekhyun’s cheap cologne on your skin. And you hate it. Too used to your own scent. Not of any men anymore.

The wedding was beautiful, but you didn’t expect less from your best friend. And she was gorgeous in her wedding dress. She smiles a lot, but you never see her smile that way. And all you could think was that her jaw muscles probably hurt after four hours.

“No, what I want, is a whole butterfly starting from my shoulders to my ribs,” Your friend, Hwan explains to you as she flips to show her bare back. You can’t help but scoff, taking a sip of your wine.

“Why? You want to become a fairy or something?” You ask arching a brow as she turns to face you, frowning.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Hwan pouts, folding her arms under her chest, “I saw it on Pinterest, I totally fell in love with it.”

“A tattoo is for life, you know?” You sigh, finishing your glass before tilting your head to brush your fingers on her back, right where her ribs are. “And this part is sensitive. It’ll hurt like hell.”

Hwan shivers at your touch, and you chuckle. You know her. She wants a tattoo today, a piercing tomorrow and in two weeks she’ll regret both. The red head -a dye she did without a second thought- rolls her eyes.

“And you think I can’t handle the pain?” She asks with an attitude, a tone that makes you pinch her forearm as she squirms and step back. “Are you crazy?”

“You can’t handle the pain, Hwan.” You conclude while she rubs the part that start to turn red.

“You’re the worst tattoo artist I know. I’ll give you a bad review on Google.” She groans as you smirk and stick your tongue’s out at her, making her smile amused by you.

Your eyes scan the room full of guests you don’t know before a huge smile spread on your lips as you notice the man all alone. He was sipping his glass of whisky as he looks at his phone, feigning to be interested but he’s probably scrolling emptily. You know him. He hates when people try to connect with him.

Excusing yourself from Hwan and the other girls, you make your way to your friend, too busy on his phone to see you coming.

“Yoongs,” You call him once you’re a few steps closer to him, he lifts his cat eyes from his screen before offering you a slight smirk and opening his arms as you nestle against his chest. You’re not really touchy, but with Yoongi, it was different.

“Nice dress.” He simply says, his nose in your hair before you pull back to look at him. He looks nice too. His hair is longer, but it suits him.

“You didn’t cut your hair?” You ask as he sighs, rolling a strand between his finger as you keep an arm around his waist.

“Didn’t have the time for it.”, He mumbles taking another sip of his whisky. “I didn’t know you would be here. Since you own a tattoo shop, we don’t see you often anymore.”

“It’s my best friend’s wedding, I couldn’t miss it. She would have dragged my ass back here.” you chuckle making him smile and nod.

“That sounds like Hyesun,” He jokes as you smile.

Yoongi wasn’t that tall, but he was still everyone’s type. Calm, mysterious, and good looking. If only dating was on his plans. That guy will probably stay single his whole life, too focused on his work.

“I was looking for you everywhere!” Hyesun groans grabbing your arm.

“I was here,” You simply reply, raising your shoulders, making Yoongi looks at you both amused. You probably get along because you’re both sarcastic. At least you know that’s something he likes about you.

“Thanks Sherlock, Mystery solved!” She rolls her eyes, before pulling you away from your friend, “Come on, follow me, I want to take pictures with you.”

She quickly waves at Yoongi, blowing a kiss at him as he didn’t move before pushing you away.

“He’s like a good old wine. Every time I see him, he’s getting hotter.” She smirks as you make your way to the photographer.

“Aren’t you married?” You joke making her roll her eyes.

“Married, not blind. As long as I touch with my eyes,” She adds as you shake your head, laughing, joining the girls.

Yoongi leaves his empty glass on the table next to him, an amused smirk on his face. If you stayed longer, he would have been part of an interesting reunion.

“Shit, I almost peed myself. There is a whole queue at the male bathroom,” The younger man groans, coming back next to Yoongi as he takes back his beer. “Hyung?”

The older man turns to his friend and arches a brow to show that he’s listening.

“Hyesun told me that there was a private bathroom upstairs for the closest friends” Yoongi simply mumbles, making Jungkook groans as he ties his hair into a bun.

“And you tell me only now?” the tattooed man sighs as he pulls up his sleeves, the temperature of the room getting hotter. Or maybe it’s him from running here and there.

“You left without a word,” Yoongi shrugs like it was obvious, his eyes still on the group of girls making funny faces at the camera. Jungkook lets out a chuckle.

“Which one?” He asks his friend who simply arches a brow. “I’m sure it’s the red head. You always had a think for girls with weird hair colors.”

Yoongi didn’t say anything. He’s used to the teasing. It’s a loss of energy, Jungkook was competitive and if you say that the sky was blue, he would tell otherwise until you tell him he's right.

Jungkook smiles proudly, turning his attention to the bunch of girls. Hyesun had pretty friends, but he’s not surprised. Until he recognized a face. A face he knows too well, a face he loved deeply once upon a time.

You didn’t change. Well… Your hair is shorter. You never liked your hair short, not after your mother spent your childhood cutting it into a bob.

The bangs too. You hated them. But today, you wore it gracefully. His doe eyes trail the length of it, how it brushes your shoulders when you laugh, how you have to push your bang asides.

He never hated you. Even after you broke his heart. Even after coming home to an empty apartment because you disappeared, or when you blocked his number and changed yours. He never hated you.

“You said she wasn’t here.” He frowns, turning to Yoongi who simply arches a brow.

“She wasn’t supposed to.” Yoongi replies, taking a sip of his new glass.

“I shouldn’t have come.” Jungkook sighs, his brows still in a frown creating a slight wrinkle between them.

“Kookie,” Yoongi turns his gaze to his friend who’s clearly uncomfortable. “You’re back in town. You both have the same friends group. What did you expect? You’ll have to confront her one day or another.”

“Y/N,” Hwan calls you as you were taking another glass of wine, facing her with a small hm? “The guy you talked earlier,”

“Yoongi?”

“Yeah, something like that. Do you know his friend?” She asks as you follow her gaze to the large man next to Yoongi, his back facing you. You liked the tattoos, and the muscular frame. The long hair was clearly a bonus.

“No,” You reply, your eyes trailing on Yoongi’s friend. You’ll definitely ask Yoongi who that is later.

“He’s hot,” Hwan comments as you nod, taking a sip of your wine before spitting everything out. You cough when the mysterious man turns around, laughing with your friend.

And almost immediately, you hide behind the table that separates you. Was this a joke?

“What’s wrong? One of your one-night stands?” Hwan chuckles clearly amused to see you, on your knees, trying to hide under the table. If only you could be sucked up by the floor. It was stupid. It was an old story. It’s been seven years since you dumped him like an old, forgotten sock.

“It’s my ex,” You almost whisper, making Hwan wide her eyes and hide with you like she even met him before.

You never thought that you’ll see him again. He disappeared for Japan right after your breakup for his studies. And you didn’t think about him since then. Well, it’s a lie.

You thought about him the three first years after your split. But, he was just some old memories from the shoebox under your bed.

Some love letters written by a teenage boy, an empty bottle of perfume and a shirt of his that you didn’t have the heart to throw. But that’s all he was. A shoebox of memories.

“Oh damn,” Hwan murmurs, “How did you get that hot piece of man?” She asks as you roll your eyes.

He wasn’t that hot when you started dating him. He had a chestnut haircut, was too skinny even if he was the sporty type, and huge doe eyes. Now he’s…. a man.

“I think… I need to get out”, You swallow, get up and finish your glass. Walking to the backyard, you catch a bottle on your way.

Thankfully, Hwan didn’t follow you. A few persons were outside, some of them making out, the others too drunk, and probably getting some fresh air like you.

Did Hyesun invite him? Why did he come? He knows that she’s your friend. That you’d be here. Palming your face, you lean back against the wall, taking a sip of your bottle of champagne. Fuck… This is childish. You’re twenty-seven, for God’s sake. Act like an adult.

“Hiding?” You heard on your right, making you almost jump.

And here he was, a few meters away, a bottle of beer in hand. His eyes changed. He grew up.

“Good evening, Jungkook,” You breathe as he offers you a slight smile, his lips mostly forming a line.

“Good evening, Y/N,” He replies, making a few steps closer, “Long time no see.”

“Yeah...”

A silence falls between you before he takes a breath like he wants to calm his nerves too. Were you two nervous around each other?

“How… have you been?” He asks with a soft voice.

“Good. You?”

“Good.”

“Nice.”

You wanted to punch yourself. That conversation was stupid. Back then, you two could debate about everything for hours. Now, you can’t even have a basic conversation.

“I… Didn’t know you were back.” You say, looking at the grass at your feet.

“Yeah… I- I missed Korea.” He raises his shoulders slightly before taking a sip of his beer.

“Oh…Okay.” You scrunch your nose and take a sip of your bottle to not look too much stupid but his lips crease in an amused smile at the bottle in your hand. Neither of you says anything. And it’s weird. “That’s… some cool tattoos,” You add, trying to make the conversation as you point his entire inked sleeve with your chin.

“Yeah?” He chuckles awkwardly. “I always wanted tattoos.”

“I know.” You reply, almost immediately, making him lift his gaze to you as your eyes widen. “You- hm- You thought that Yakuza were cool.” you continue as he nods, his eyes still on you while you look away.

“You remembered.”

You clench your jaw slightly and take another sip of champagne. You hate champagne, but you didn’t read what was written on the bottle when you took it.

“Your father must be proud of you. I heard you had your own tattoo shop.” He says as your gaze soften. Jungkook and your dad were always close, he even called him ‘son’. Your father was in fact, proud of you.

“He is”, was all you could reply, and he nods silently before taking a deep breath.

“Can I… ask you a question? I need to understand something” He frowns a little, turning his head to look at the backyard before finally glancing back at you. He is waiting for you to answer and you simply stare at him. “Why did you leave me, Y/N?”

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WATTPAD.

buy me a coffee<3 (every chapters/drabbles are posted as soon as i'm done writing them.)

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