#Buy Wagyu Beef

[abuhurayra666]

Unveiling the Quest for Excellence: Your Guide to Sourcing the Finest Wagyu Beef

Wagyu beef, renowned for its luxurious marbling and exceptional flavor, has secured its place as an icon of culinary excellence. However, navigating the landscape of wagyu beef to secure the finest quality can be a pursuit that demands understanding and precision. This guide aims to unveil the intricate journey of sourcing the most exceptional Wagyu beef, ensuring that each bite promises an unforgettable dining experience.Filet mignon, the crowning jewel of steak, is known across the world for its tenderness and flavor. As we anticipate the upcoming National Filet Mignon Day on August 13th, it’s an opportune moment to dive into the celebrated history of this beef cut and share culinary tips that tickle the taste buds.

An Introduction to Culinary Opulence: Before delving into sourcing Wagyu beef, understanding its origins and unique qualities is paramount. Wagyu, a breed of Japanese cattle, is celebrated for its genetic predisposition to intense marbling, resulting in tender, flavorful meat. The four primary Japanese Wagyu breeds—Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Shorthorn, and Japanese Polled—symbolize a legacy of meticulous breeding, creating beef that is unparalleled in taste and tenderness.

Deciphering the Grades and Certification: When sourcing Wagyu beef, comprehending the grading system and certifications is vital. Japan's grading scale, from the Japanese Meat Grading Association, assesses beef based on marbling, meat color, fat color, and overall yield. Grades like A5, the highest rating, signify exceptional marbling and tenderness. Additionally, certifications from reputable breeders or associations assure authenticity and quality, providing confidence in the beef's provenance.

From Origin to Provenance: Authentic Wagyu beef often boasts a traceable lineage, reflecting its journey from farm to table. Seeking beef with a documented origin ensures transparency regarding the cattle's breeding, feeding regimen, and handling practices. Certificates of authenticity or traceability labels establish credibility, affirming the beef's authenticity and adherence to strict production standards.

Building Relationships with Reputable Suppliers: Establishing connections with trusted suppliers or specialty butchers significantly influences the quality of Wagyu beef obtained. Reputable suppliers prioritize transparency, offering insights into sourcing, handling, and the beef's journey from farm to market. Whether it's through direct relationships with breeders or reliable distributors, these connections often lead to procuring the finest Wagyu beef.

The Intricacy of Quality Visuals: The hallmark of Wagyu beef lies in its marbling—the delicate veins of fat woven throughout the meat. The intricate webbing of fat contributes to its tenderness, juiciness, and unparalleled flavor. Visual cues such as abundant, fine marbling with a creamy appearance indicate superior quality. Opting for beef with higher marbling ensures an indulgent dining experience.

Examining Feeding Regimens and Handling Practices: The diet and care afforded to Wagyu cattle significantly impact the beef's quality. Wagyu cattle are often raised with specialized feeding programs that incorporate high-energy grains and specific feed ratios, contributing to the development of exquisite marbling. Additionally, attentive handling practices and stress-free environments play a crucial role in maintaining the meat's tenderness and flavor.

Accessing Quality Beyond Borders: While Japan remains the epicenter of Wagyu beef production, exceptional Wagyu beef can be sourced globally. Countries such as the United States, Australia, and various regions in Europe have developed their Wagyu breeding programs, producing beef of exceptional quality. Exploring reputable local and international markets broadens the spectrum of sourcing options, offering a diverse selection of premium Wagyu cuts.

A Glimpse into the Past: The History of Filet Mignon: Derived from French, 'filet mignon' means 'cute fillet' or 'dainty fillet'. Despite its chic French name, this delicious filet mignon cut gained notoriety in vibrant restaurant scenes, from New Orleans to San Antonio and beyond. It’s a slice from the tender end of the beef tenderloin, securing its reputation as one of the most tender red meat cuts available. Over the decades, filet mignon has symbolized luxury in dining. From the grandeur of 19th-century establishments to contemporary steakhouses, it's been a go-to dish for those craving a melt-in-the-mouth beef experience.

Conclusion: Elevating Culinary Experiences through Sourcing Excellence sourcing with Elevating culinary experiences with the finest buy wagyu beef with wagyu beef is an expedition that amalgamates knowledge, discernment, and a dedication to quality. Understanding grading systems with When you buy wagyu beef, tracing provenance, nurturing relationships with trusted suppliers, and evaluating key quality indicators such as marbling and feeding practices culminate in procuring beef of unparalleled excellence. Each step in this quest for the finest Wagyu beef ensures that every dining experience becomes an exquisite journey into the realm of culinary opulence. By mastering the art of sourcing exceptional Wagyu beef, one unlocks the gateway to indulgence, promising unparalleled flavor and unforgettable dining encounters.

[solipseismic]

one day i'll be rich enough to shop at a market without harassing a cashier about how expensive shit is getting

[teaguepremiumbeef]

Five Health Benefits of Grass Fed Beef

A well-managed grass-fed cow ranch has several advantages for the environment. We've written about the advantages of grass-fed beef for the environment in a previous blog article, but to put it briefly, a ranch that raises grass-fed beef would lessen soil erosion and water pollution in the area. Additionally, it will enable the land's biodiversity to grow. 

[wagyuaffair]

Savor Unrivaled Excellence: Indulge in Premium American Wagyu Beef at Wagyu Affair

Elevate your culinary experience with Wagyu Affair's exquisite selection of American Wagyu beef. Delve into the unparalleled richness and tenderness of this prized delicacy, meticulously raised and crafted in the USA. Our collection boasts the finest cuts, offering an opulent symphony of marbling and flavor. With a commitment to quality and authenticity, each bite encapsulates the legacy of Wagyu excellence. Explore our range to buy American Wagyu beef, ensuring a gastronomic journey like no other. Join the connoisseurs who relish the buttery texture, succulent taste, and unmatched quality of Wagyu Affair's American beef, perfect for creating memorable dining experiences.

[plumcreekwagyubeef]

Decoding the Elegance: What is Japanese A5 Wagyu?

Japanese A5 Wagyu holds the revered status of being the zenith of culinary luxury, transcending the experience of consuming beef to an art form. Its unmatched flavor, tenderness, and juiciness are a symphony of sensory delights, allowing gastronomes to experience meat in its most opulent form. While A5 Wagyu originates from Japan, enthusiasts can experience similar lavish taste and quality from Fullblood Wagyu beef, available at Plum Creek Wagyu.

The A5 Grading: A Symbol of Superiority In the world of Wagyu, A5 represents the highest grade awarded by the Japan Meat Grading Association. It’s a certification that guarantees excellence in flavor, marbling, color, texture, and yield. The intricate marbling, abundant in omega-rich fats, renders the beef exquisitely tender, allowing it to literally melt in the mouth, creating a symphony of flavors and textures. A Culinary Journey to Japan Japan’s Wagyu production is rooted in meticulous breeding and raising practices, and a deep respect for the cattle, ensuring the highest quality meat. A5 refers to Japanese cattle breeds, raised with specialized diets and care regimes, resulting in beef with exceptional marbling and flavor. Each bite is a journey, reflecting the heritage, dedication, and craftsmanship of its producers. The Experience: Beyond Ordinary Tasting A5 Wagyu is not merely dining; it is an experience, a moment to savor. Its texture is soft and buttery, and the rich, intense flavor fills the palate, leaving a lingering savory sweetness. It is best enjoyed in thin slices, lightly seasoned, and briefly seared, to allow the intricate flavors and luxurious texture to shine. Plum Creek Wagyu: A Taste of Luxury While A5 Wagyu remains a quintessential Japanese luxury, aficionados can find similar premium quality and taste with Fullblood Wagyu beef from Plum Creek Wagyu. Sourced directly from their family farm in Nebraska, Plum Creek Wagyu offers a range of cuts that mirror the lavishness and premium quality of Japanese A5 Wagyu. Commitment to Quality and Sustainability Plum Creek Wagyu is committed to offering only the finest Fullblood Wagyu beef, ensuring sustainable and ethical practices from farm to table. Each cut is a testament to the care, passion, and craftsmanship invested in raising the cattle, promising an unrivaled dining experience reminiscent of the coveted A5 Wagyu. Elevating Your Culinary Palette For those who seek to explore the pinnacle of culinary excellence, Plum Creek Wagyu offers an array of Fullblood Wagyu beef cuts that embody the sublime texture and flavor characteristic of Japanese A5 Wagyu. Whether it's for a special occasion or to satiate your gourmet cravings, Plum Creek Wagyu stands as a beacon for those who desire to experience the epitome of beef luxury. Conclusion: A Journey of Flavor and Elegance Japanese A5 Wagyu is not just beef; it is a culinary treasure, a symbol of refinement and luxury. Its unparalleled quality, flavor, and texture create a dining experience that is rich, memorable, and distinctly indulgent. For those yearning to traverse the landscapes of flavor inherent to A5 Wagyu, Plum Creek Wagyu provides an opportunity to indulge in Fullblood Wagyu beef, delivering a comparable spectrum of richness, texture, and taste. It’s a journey through the realms of culinary opulence, a chance to savor beef in its most majestic form, all sourced responsibly and ethically from the heart of Nebraska.

[americanbutcherstore]

Riverside Ranch American Wagyu Beef - Buy Wagyu Steak Online

If you're looking to buy wagyu steak online, then shop for fresh wagyu beef online at American Butcher Store. We have a fantastic combination of Japanese wagyu and American black angus. Order your wagyu steaks right now.

[ahundredtimesover]

The Light of Dead Stars (08) | KSJ

Pairing: Seokjin x (f.) Reader; side Seokjin x (f.) OC; side Reader x Namjoon

Genre/Tags: arranged marriage, fake romance, boss/workmate aus; angst, drama, fluff, smut; slow burn

Chapter Warnings: Foul language, explicit sexual content (making out, breast play, fingering, oral (f receiving), protected penetrative sex); hurt and crying (18+)

Chapter Word count: 10.6k

A/N: Ashashsjbcseha it’s here! Finally!

Series Masterlist | Muse Moodboard | Setting Moodboard

Status: Complete

Series summary:  Your unconventional arranged marriage with your company’s President, Kim Seokjin, is necessary, practical, and simple - both your families benefit, and he minds his own business and so do you. But when a slip-up causes his parents to believe that you and he are in love, you have no choice but to pretend you are, especially with the trip to France for his brother’s wedding coming up. When you get back to Seoul, things start to change, and Seokjin is faced with the most difficult decision he has to make.  

You follow Jimin’s advice and continue on whatever the hell track he was talking about, and try to go about your married life normally. 

You and Jin still go to work together most days, with half of the ride being spent planning on what you’ll have for dinner and the other is bickering with or teasing Yoongi. 

Your husband, who’s also your boss, makes sure that there isn’t much conflict of interest, but he does send you encouraging smiles after your reports during those weekly executive committee meetings, and little thumbs up signs after product presentations. 

At night, you no longer immediately go to your rooms after eating. When one has to work, the other is there. Sometimes, you both watch TV; you’ve recently gotten into variety shows and you find out that Jin has a shallow sense of humor, something he also just discovered because his life doesn’t give him much leeway to enjoy little things like that. 

There are instances when you both prefer to stay in your room and neither of you minds if he falls asleep there. Jin wakes up the next morning to your snoring and goes about his morning routine in his room like normal. 

With one day of his weekend now free when it used to be spent with Seri, he’s been going to Sejeong’s house - the honorary Kim siblings home - to play games with his brother-in-law and to bond with his niece and nephews. 

You’ve been enjoying your time with them, too, especially Sejeong, as she constantly introduces you to luxury brands that she says you have to get used to wearing and purchasing. “It’s part of the image,” she says, and it’s one of those things that you just have to accept is part of your role as a member of this family. It somehow helps, though, as you’re able to somewhat keep up during those small conversations with celebrities in the events that Hyun-a and Taehyung invite you to. 

Your favorite is weekends with your friends, though, and after the wedding, they’ve taken a liking to Jin and Yoongi, too, which is why today, you got everyone at your home to celebrate Dara’s birthday. 

Jimin asked that you decorate a little, so you and Jin went to the market to buy ingredients and then shopped for some banners and party favors right after. 

It’s now late in the afternoon and you’re both busy in the kitchen, preparing all the dishes for dinner. It’s all of Dara’s favorite foods - fried chicken, spicy squid, salted egg prawns, wagyu, and  japchae. There’s a variety of side dishes and Mrs. Kang’s famed seaweed soup, too.

You’re in the midst of arranging the elements of the beef tacos that Jungkook annoyed you into making when your friends arrive, oohs and ahhs reverberating in the large space because it’s their first time to visit you here. 

You always felt uncomfortable inviting them over since you didn’t pay a single cent in purchasing this house, but when you asked Jin for restaurant recommendations, he suggested having the party here instead. They can at least stay as long as they want and there wouldn’t be any complaints, knowing how loud they tend to get.

“Oh my god, it smells amazing,” Dara squeals, running over to you. “I can’t believe I get to have the Kim Seokjin cook me my birthday meal.”

“Yah, get over it. He’s not that good,” you tease, earning you a little playful nudge from your husband. 

“Uh, I don’t know about his skills but he looks good,” she says, ogling him in his fitted jeans and white deep scoop shirt.

You finally notice Jin’s outfit and visibly swallow at the sight of his sternum with how unusually low his shirt is. His collarbones are basically popping out with the thin material, showing a bit of his pecs as well. Has he been working out?

“Why are you naked?” You frown at him, and he laughs because he knows what you mean. 

He’s one who tends to cover his chest because he gets shy about it so whenever he wears something like this, given that you’re now used to seeing him in casual clothing, seeing him be a little more “daring” by his standards is surprising. And something that’s also, oddly enough, making your heart race. 

“Figured it’ll be hot since we’re cooking a lot,” he shrugs. “I can change after we finish here.”

“No!” You say too quickly, earning you an arch of his eyebrow. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It was just a question.” Although deep inside, you’re freaking out because you definitely do not want him to change into anything else. 

“Okay,” he says nonchalantly. 

He proceeds to check on how the sauce for the spicy squid is going while you heat the flour tortillas when Jungkook walks over to you, eyes widening at the half-bitten taco that you were tasting a while ago.

“___, can I have that?” He points to it, and you nod your approval. He opens his mouth, gesturing for you to feed him, but you only frown in response.

“Yah, are you a child? Feed yourself!”

It’s at the same time when Jin asks you if it’s good that you put the beef, the kimchi, and the sriracha mayo in a spoon and feed him to taste.

“Ah, perfect,” Jin hums. “I’d be satisfied with just that.”

You smile sweetly while your best friend frowns and turns to Jimin and Dara, who have fixed the drinks and desserts on the dining table and are now seated on the kitchen bar stools. 

“Did you see that?!” Jungkook gasps. “She’s literally been feeding me ever since we were kids and now she just rejects me but not her husband?”

He turns to you dramatically. “___, married life changed you!”

“I’m gonna kick your dramatic ass, Kook,” you groan. “You literally have hands. Go get it and feed yourself.”

“Jin has hands, too!” He yells. 

“Aish,” you say, threatening to flick his forehead when he relents and picks up the taco and eats the entire half. 

“How does it taste?” You ask.

“Like betrayal.”

You make him a face while Jin laughs next to you. You both continue with the main dishes while Jimin assembles the tacos and Jungkook serves everyone drinks. 

Yoongi arrives and immediately gets in the groove with your friends, eating and sipping his beer. They all talk and laugh at the kitchen counter and watch you and Jin work around like a well-oiled machine, with the occasional teasing and feeding and arm-smacking and sweat-wiping. 

Dara turns her stool to face away from you and beckons the others to make a circle with her. 

“That’s not them faking, right? I mean, they know they shouldn’t be faking around us,” she remarks. “Why are they… like that?”

Jimin snorts. “Duh, isn’t it obvious? If they’re not such idiots who can’t see what’s in front of them, they shouldn’t be faking at all. Look at ___! When was the last time she was that comfortable and happy around a man who isn’t me and Kook? Was she even like that with Namjoon?”

“Nah. She was always giddy and starstruck with Joon,” Dara answers. “Yoongs, when did those 2 start becoming like that?”

“Uh, I don’t really remember,” Yoongi shrugs. “But they’re more affectionate even just in the car or in the office; maybe they’re more comfortable since Seri’s not there anymore,” he shares. “They go out more, though, like dinners and movies. I see it in their shared calendar.”

“Why do they calendar those things?” Jungkook asks.

“So I don’t schedule meetings and trips.”

“Making sure they don’t get disturbed, I see,” Dara hums. “I sense a shift. Do they maybe like each other but are too stupid to admit it?”

Yoongi chokes on his drink but doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know about you, although he’s noticed you being a tad bit more comfortable physically than what he’s used to seeing. 

His boss is a different story, though. Jin talks about you a lot. There’s the affectionate teasing, the admiration for your work ethic, the bits of information he’s learning about you as you spend more time at home together, and the occasional comment about how pretty or adorable you look. Yoongi rarely heard Jin talk about Seri in that way, and for all his neutrality about that relationship, he kind of feels a little bad for Seri who clearly was into Jin. 

As the older man’s decade-long colleague and friend, Yoongi can tell that Jin was mostly passive about what he had with Seri, taking only the convenient and pleasurable parts about being with someone who didn’t demand anything more. Perhaps it’s being with you that’s making him realize what a relationship means and entails this time around, seeing as how his first and only one was over a decade ago, and he’s grown up a lot since then. 

“I don't know about Jin but ___ doesn’t feel the need to know, you know?” Jimin responds. “I mean, she’s been adamant about not wanting to get into relationships even if she’s literally married.”

“Ah, well you know she never believed this marriage had the potential to be a romantic relationship,” Jungkook says. “She’s been hurt so many times and hung onto the one person who showed her the kind of love she needed then. I just feel like that stopped being what she needed, you know? People grow up, time passes, our needs and desires change. She’s not who she was before,” he continues, having experienced all versions of you in the 2 decades you’ve been best friends. “And I’ve been trying to knock some sense into her that if she just let her love for Namjoon - which may have very well faded - go, then maybe she could see the potential of this one.”

He looks at you fondly as you happily plate the dishes while Jin takes photos, and your best friend wants nothing more than for you to see that more than one person can love you. And that letting go of someone you once loved doesn’t diminish what you felt for them; it just means you’re choosing yourself this time, something that your friends and family and even Namjoon constantly remind you to do. 

“Yah, who are you gossiping about?” You call your friends out. 

“No one. Just deciding on what to sing for karaoke later,” Dara sweetly smiles.

She has that look and you know she’s lying but you don’t prod. You have a feeling you don’t wanna know about it right now.

You motion everyone to help you and Jin in setting up the table with the food, and dinner follows right after. Amidst the moans of how good the dishes are, are the laughter and constant clinks of glasses. 

You, Jin, and Yoongi hold your liquor the best, as evidenced by all 3 of you being the only ones who have not tripped nor spilled any juicy details. Yoongi, specifically, keeps a straight face when Dara admits how big her crush is on him and you all laugh because it was pretty obvious from the very beginning. 

Karaoke starts soon after with everyone pretty much tipsy or drunk enough to sing at least 1 song. Yoongi, surprisingly, sings a mellow song while Jin goes a bit upbeat. You and Jimin do a duet and Jungkook and Dara hold the mic most of the time. It’s a fun evening, as you all munch on dried squid and fish jerky while pretty much inhaling the beer, soju, and whiskey that’s all out for everyone to enjoy.

You and Jin make the call of having all of them sleep over, with Yoongi in one guest room, Jimin and Jungkook  in another, and Dara in yours. 

You’ve cleaned her up and she’s a bit more sober when she cuddles next to you, her slender limbs wrapped around your body.

“Thank you for tonight, ___,” she whispers. 

“Ah, it was all I could give. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” you smile at her.

“Yah, don’t downplay the amazing dinner you made and the pretty necklace you got me,” she playfully pinches your arm. “But you know the best gift? Your smile, ___. It’s different. I love it.”

“Hey, I smile a lot. You 3 are all I need. You give me a headache but I smile more,” you pout at her. 

“I know, but this time, it took just one person to make you smile that way,” she says. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Jin but I like it. I hope he doesn’t go away. I hope you don’t go away, too.”

Managing everyone the day after the dinner party was quite the feat, as they all wanted different things for lunch on top of the hangover soup that Jin made. But you both managed and got everyone out by the afternoon in time for dinner with his family. 

It’s gotten fairly easier to “fake” it, as Taehyung himself noted that he’d forget sometimes that you and your husband aren’t actually in love. 

You tried not to let it get to you or let it mean much, especially with Jin being way less somber than you expected ever since he got back from Japan, which was over 2 months ago. 

He’s been more playful, constantly pinching your cheeks and nose and teasing you more openly. He’s been quite clingy, too - knocking on your door some evenings and lounging on your bed until you fall asleep, hanging out in your office when he doesn’t have a lunch meeting, and asking you to have dinner out when he’s too tired to cook at home. 

He’s also been more affectionate and touchy - automatically holding your hand whenever you’re out on a business or social event, pulling you by the waist when speaking with guests and affiliates, sitting close to you when you’re both out with your friends, and the one you’ve been most surprised with - hugging you when he gets home during the times when he has to stay back in the office to meet with his father and manage pressing issues.

There’s that scandal that the head of one of their subsidiary companies is facing, and then the bribery allegations against the spouse of one of their board members, thus dragging the Kim Foods Inc. name in the mix. It’s a lot of stakeholder and PR management that Jin, Taehyung, Sejeong, and their parents need to be on top of, and it’s usually late in the evening when they all have time to discuss these matters. 

It’s Monday when Jin comes home, groaning in frustration as he ends a call with his secretary. You’re seated on the living room couch, waiting for him. You didn’t hear from him all day and Yoongi said that your husband was busy and only got to eat in the car while he was going from one meeting to another. You wanted to know when he got back so he could rant or talk to you if he wanted, or make him tea if that’s what he needs.

“Hey,” you say, calling his attention as he nears the stairs. “How bad was it today?”

“Not as terrible as last week but I haven’t gotten over that yet so I’m still hungover,” he laments, sitting next to you and lolling his head back. “I also have to fly to Singapore tomorrow to personally inform one of our distributors that we’re terminating the contract because they’re in some deep shit and we can’t afford to get dragged into their mess, too.”

You can only look at him with sympathy. There’s always been so much weight he has to carry as the eldest of the family and the President of the company - he needs to protect their name and what they’ve built, their people, and their reputation. You’ve seen him decisively make decisions, call out incompetence and mediocre outputs, be detail-oriented and excellent in his own tasks, and still carry himself with so much poise and confidence every time, whether he’s in the office, speaking during press conferences, meeting with VIPs, or just engaging with staff. 

He’s got so much on his plate and you admire him for all that he does, all while healing from a broken heart and being in an arranged marriage that he probably doesn't get enough comfort from. 

“I’m sorry everything is happening all at once,” you say. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I just need to rant. Can you listen?” He turns to you.

“Of course,” you smile, and that’s what you do.

This is the most frustrated you’ve heard him. The legal and PR teams are doing their best before the company’s name gets tainted because of who they’re associated with, and last week was truly the most stressful of it all. Jin is only able to fully process it now, as the issues are stabilizing and they’re able to slowly move away from it without much fanfare, and so all the emotions and frustrations are being bared right now. 

There’s the culprits, then the board members who are taking sides, then his father who’s being too hard on him, and Jin who’s also being too hard on himself. 

He massages his temple as he lets out a long breath.

“None of it is your fault, you know?” You try to comfort him. “These things happen, that’s why you have risk assessments and risk management plans in place; it’s why you have teams who are paid to handle them so the company won’t lose too much, why you have people to do the other work for you while you’re trying to get things under control. But it’s not all on you, Jin. You have your family who are just as invested and have as much stake in this as you. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s gonna give you wrinkles.”

He chuckles at that. “Is that why I have you, too? To remind me of all this and to make me laugh when I need it?”

“Yes,” you wink, proud that you’re able to listen and make him smile. “I’m also here to give you a head massage because it looks like you need it.”

“That would actually be great.”

He lays his head on your lap at your invitation, feeling comfortable with the throw blanket on it. He closes his eyes immediately once he feels your soft fingers rub his temples in circular motions, caressing his forehead down to his nose bridge. He moans quietly as he feels the hairs on his arm stand up at the sensation. There’s enough pressure yet you’re still so gentle, and he loves how your skin feels against his, even if it’s just like this.

To keep his bangs from falling on his forehead while you continue your motions, your free hand combs his hair away, leading you to lightly scratch his scalp. He releases a satisfied smile at the action that tells you he likes that, too. 

“That’s so fucking relaxing,” he moans again.

“I can get you a head massager, you know? That’s an amazing invention,” you giggle.

“No, I like this better,” he mumbles. 

You smile at his compliment and continue on, scratching his scalp and massaging his head. You take the time to appreciate him looking more at ease, as if little by little, you’re able to help rid him of the stress that he carries every day. 

He looks peaceful, with his rolled up polo sleeves and loosened tie, with his slightly parted mouth and steadied breathing, like for this moment, he can actually breathe. And you realize at this instance that you want to be able to make him feel this way - like he can be honest and vulnerable and free, like he can laugh and smile and be relaxed, like he can be comforted and at ease with you all at once. 

Somehow, he’s most beautiful like this.

You savor his look one last time before you lightly pinch his cheeks and whisper for him to wake up. He has an early flight tomorrow so he’ll need proper rest. He opens his eyes and smiles tenderly at you. 

“Thank you,” he mumbles.

You change your mind. He’s most beautiful this way.

Jin leaves early the next morning and decides to meet with a potential distributor while he’s there. He departs late at night, arrives in Seoul the next day, then heads straight to work with barely any rest. Upon hearing this, you go to him late in the afternoon and order him to go home. 

Seeing you worried and upset, he relents, not wanting to stress you out as well. Maybe he can just sneak in some work while he’s in his room, he thinks, but you surprise him by saying that you’re going with him to make sure that he doesn’t do any more things that can wait until tomorrow. Much as he wants to disobey you, deep inside, he doesn’t want to. If you want to stay with him, all the better for him.

He missed you last week, given that he spent more time in the office than at home and missed all evenings of having dinner with you. It’s only the middle of the week yet he already feels like he hasn’t seen you enough, and that short moment from 2 nights ago when you massaged his head reminded him of just how much he craves your touch.

He’s been more bold and daring in showing his affection, something he debated for a while because he didn’t want to scare you. He’s not typically that way,  and you know that, but something about your warmth and comfort makes him want to hold onto you, to feel you in any way, to savor what little bit of intimacy you’ll allow him to have with you. 

Because ever since France, it’s all he could think about. And he’s been slowly closing the gap through lingering touches, close contact, and recently, longer hugs. They all seem so simple but they mean a great deal to him because even with the relationship he had with Seri, Jin has never had someone this close - close enough to see him at his most frustrated, most stressed, most vulnerable, most helpless, most imperfect, and his willingness and desire to bare it all to you told him just how much he wants you in more ways than that. 

Love had become tainted for him ever since his ex-girlfriend left him. There was this hole she left that remained open, and he’d accepted that it was never meant to be filled by anything nor anyone because when love hurts you, it hurts real bad, and it takes away your belief and trust in it. Those who came after her couldn’t even get near the door, and he wasn’t willing to open it the slightest for anyone, even Seri. 

She was a lot of things, but she wasn’t love, he realized; at least in the way he hoped. She was care and comfort and pleasure and exhilaration; she was company, the breaks in between the tiring and stressful moments, but she wasn’t love. He kept her at a distance for a reason, he realized during that trip to Japan over 2 months ago, and that was because he didn’t want that hole in his heart to be covered, to be replaced. He realized that he wanted something else, something permanent. 

He wanted nurturing and something comfortable in the midst of the hardships; he wanted softness and warmth at the end of the pleasure and exhilaration; he wanted companionship, partnership, a sense of freedom from all the things that bind him at work and his family. He didn’t just want moments, he wanted something that lingered, that stayed with him, that he remembers and looks forward to, that he craves and longs for, and as he tried to ground himself and his feelings during that trip, all he thought of was you, and how everything he wanted, he found in you.

Jin has been careful, but sometimes he can’t help it - intertwining his fingers with yours, pulling you close, savoring your sleepy eyes and pouty mouth before you fall into slumber. What he can’t help the most is yearning for you, as the desire for more intensifies everyday, whether he’s with you or not, all he wants is you. 

It’s Friday when he caps off another tiring week. Things are looking up this time, as Sejeong had taken much of the lead in handling all the concerns this time. She’s amazing at it, too, and he’s just thankful that he could at least savor the last day of the week, knowing he’ll be coming home to you.

He drags his feet up the foyer stairs and his lips turn up at the sight of you in your sleepwear, seated on the bar stool while watching something on your tablet. 

You hear his footsteps and immediately turn around, your arms open for him to fall into like you think he needs. The bags under his eyes and his pouty lips tell you how tired he is, but his face softens once he sees you ready to give him what he yearns for more than anything else.

His head finds purchase in the crook of your neck while his hands wrap around your waist immediately. 

“Another tough day, huh?” You ask, your arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. 

“Uh-huh,” he hums, tightening his grip around you as he falls deeper in your embrace. 

You both stay there, feeling each other’s heartbeats, feeding off each other’s warmth, letting yourselves get lost in the feel of each other’s bodies as you breathe and try to get as close as possible. It’s comfort he needs, and it’s comfort you’ll give him.

He buries himself further in your hold, and the heat of his breath on your skin is electrifying. It’s  right when you come to your senses that you realize he’s standing in between your legs, his body pressed against yours, the thin material of your pajamas letting you feel all that muscle underneath his clothes. 

You can feel his heavy breathing, and you mindlessly yet affectionately massage his back, then his scalp, lightly pulling the ends of his hair as your breathing matches the pace of his.

He moans immediately, and it’s different from the other night when he felt relaxed. This sounded more, like he wanted more. He whispers your name, his plump lips gently pressing against your neck. You don’t pull away, instead, you moan in return.

“Jin,” you pant, your eyes closed now and your heartbeat quickening. Your mind feels hazy, floating, as his lips travel to your neck, then your jaw, soft kisses being planted as he makes his way up until he’s facing you now. 

With hooded eyes, he glances at your mouth and you do the same with his. The tension is thick and heavy but it’s welcomed, and it’s something you’ve never felt with him before. Perhaps it’s built up gradually over the past weeks, as the distance between both of you slowly diminished, as the affection became more natural, comfortable, something you’d started to look for.

You know you mirror the desire in his eyes. And so caressing your cheek, he presses a gentle kiss on your lips. Then another one. Then another one.

You return each of them, and when the fourth one lingers, you stop him from pulling away. You’re holding onto his collar now, keeping him in place as you deepen the kiss, and this becomes his cue to seek entrance, something that you grant.

The feel of his tongue entangled with yours is intoxicating, as Jin has a way of just drawing you in and hypnotizing you with everything - his woody and masculine scent, his slender fingers stroking your skin, his taut torso against your body, his expert mouth taking you in and devouring you, softly at first and then passionately not long after. 

Your joint moans gradually fill the large space as you take in each other. He starts grinding against you, and once you feel the friction from his movements on your pelvis, the wetness in your cunt starts to pool.

Pulling away from your mouth, his lips map out your jaw and your neck again before he faces you once more.

“Come to bed with me,” he mutters, his eyes pleading for you to grant his wish.

Your body is unable to say no. He’s pulled you in and let you feel what he can give and you want more.

“My room,” you respond, giving him a nod that’s an agreement to everything else, and the nod he returns tells you that he understood what you meant.

He moves away and takes your hand, leading the way up the stairs and into your bedroom where he pulls you flushed against his chest once the door closes, your mouths back to attacking each other. 

His hands move underneath your top on your sides, caressing your torso and teasing you by gliding his fingers against the bottom of your breasts. 

You’re loosening his tie now, expertly untying and getting rid of it, then proceeding to unbutton his polo and aggressively pulling it off him. Your hands map out his neck, long and smooth, like a canvas to mark later on. Your fingers trace his collarbones, and then travel down his firm pecs and abs, all the while your lips unwilling to separate from his.

He groans when you palm his crotch, hard and wanting, and you feel like you’ll run out of breath with how he sucks it all from you.

“Please,” he whines, pulling away now but leaning his forehead against yours. His breathing is hard, and you can feel just how much his own body is aching for more.

You sit on your bed, some feet away from the headboard. “Come to me, then.”

He removes his slacks and goes over to you, one arm wrapping around your middle to pull you up and lie you down. He kisses you again while he fumbles to remove your top, and your breath hitches once you feel his wet muscle swirling around your pert nipple. 

“Fuck, Jin,” you moan loudly. It’s been so damn long since you had anybody do you like this.

He merely hums against your skin, swallowing your breasts as if they won’t be there in the morning, then he travels down your torso, kissing his way until he meets the waistband of your shorts. 

Looking up at you half-bare underneath him, he smirks. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”

“Really, now?“ you arch your eyebrow. “Not too plain?  No need for some work done?” You ask, recalling what the tabloids and social media comments said about you.

“Not at all,” he growls, pulling your shorts and underwear off, leaving you completely naked for him. “Gorgeous,” he repeats, as he spreads your legs and licks a strip from your hole to your throbbing clit. “And taste so good.”

You’re literally left breathless, as he gently sucks and licks your nub. You’re heaving, unable to make any clear sound with how much you’re panting. It’s all too much, but your body is alight with pleasure that continues to ache for him, as if something triggered this need for him inside of you that needs to be appeased, that needs to be satisfied.

“Jin, please,” you whine now, as you start to need more than just this.

“Do you have a condom here?” He looks up at you while his fingers play with your clit this time.

“No,” you pant, head lolling back at the euphoric feel of his movements. “Didn’t really think I’d be doing this with you.”

He chuckles, but gets back to work as he feels your thighs start to shake. He moves to the side so he can continue to ram his fingers inside you while he kisses your mouth, wanting to swallow your moan once he gives you your first orgasm, and he does.

“Hmm,” he hums, and you feel him smile against your lips. “Let me get some in my room.”

You nod as you come down from your high, with half a mind to process what just happened and what’s about to, especially as you watch him lick your slick off his fingers and smirk before he heads out the door. 

But you don’t want to think too much. Your mind and your body just want to focus on him. He feels so good - on top of you, against you… you already know he’ll feel so good inside you, too.

He comes back in seconds with a box that he throws on the floor, keeping one foil packet lodged between his fingertips. He removes his boxers and you swear you’ve never seen dick that looks that good. Even that part of him is handsome, seriously.

He starts to touch himself, and that’s when you absolutely lose it. Long but built limbs and torso, delicate chest, and his neck that’s so glorious and looks absolutely delicious with his Adam’s apple protruding like that. And then his sexy hands stroking his gorgeous cock that’s gonna be inside you soon.

Everything is hazier now, like you’re in a dream that feels too good to be true. He puts the latex sheath on and climbs on the bed to hover over you, spreading your slick around before he teases your entrance.

You’re enamored, hypnotized, so you pull him and crash your lips against his, with no intention of stopping or slowing down. He slowly enters you, pulls back, then rams into you, causing you to moan so loud and accidentally biting his lip.

But he doesn’t seem to mind. He just thrusts harder, deeper, especially as you pull on his hair and support yourself with one hand on his shoulder - wide and smooth and absolutely glorious. 

“Shit, you feel so good,” he mewls, dragging his cock inside you before he follows a steady pace this time. 

“You, too,” you moan again. “Everything about you is attractive, what the fuck!”

He chuckles at your unfiltered state. “That’s great to know. Come for me again, yeah? And I want you to clench around me. You’ll probably like it when I come, too.”

“Fuck, that’s hot.”

He’s gorgeous and he knows it, but you follow. He sucks on that sensitive part of your neck, his grunts urging you on and that’s when you come, lost in the ecstasy that you almost don’t notice it. 

You want to pleasure him just the same, so you clench around him and play with his nipples to add to his pleasure. His breathing gets harder, his sounds get louder, and you feel his thrusts get sloppy until he’s shaking and moaning wildly as he comes, something you didn’t expect to hear from him. 

“Shit, ___. You feel so good around me,” he grunts.

You merely hum in response, on a high yourself as the way he’d attacked your pussy was so overwhelmingly out of this world. It was the way he made sure you felt good; it was the gentleness of his kisses and caresses but the intentional way that he pleasured you all over. 

He gets on his knees and lolls his head back, exposing his neck again that you just want to lick and kiss and leave marks all over. He bites his lip as he holds your thighs, eyes still closed and just savoring how it feels. He’s coming down from his high and he’s right, he’s fucking gorgeous when he comes, especially after he does. 

He releases himself from you, smiling softly and kissing your nose, then he removes the condom. He walks back to your bathroom and comes out with a wet washcloth and wipes your mess, making sure that he doesn’t miss a spot, and all you’re able to do is watch him in awe as he continues to be gentle even in handling you post-sex. 

You see the sweat on his chest and forehead comment that he should take a shower.

“Come back to me?” You ask, letting him know that it’s okay, as he seems unsure about it.

He nods and leaves the room, then returns not long after with damp hair and smelling fresh in his Balenciaga boxers. Fuck, he looks hot like this, too. 

Settling on his side of the bed, he pulls you close and you look at him with questioning eyes.

You’d spent the minutes alone trying to calm yourself down, wondering where you both go from here. It’s not that you weren’t expecting it, but perhaps the way you’d both continued on that track paved the way for this. 

You hadn’t planned it, nor did you make it your goal to be intimate with him like this, but you’d returned his actions - kissed him back and kissed him some more; you asked for him and gave in return; you let him fill a need you hadn’t realized you had and had done the same for him. 

“What does this mean?” You ask him, wanting to make sure that you’re on the same page again.

“What do you want it to mean?” He counters, ready for whatever your answer is. 

Obviously, he wants it to mean more; he wants to do it again and again, too. You felt so good in all ways, and he could only hope that your return of his advances meant that you want the same thing as he does. But during his shower, he pep talked himself into just accepting whatever it is you want.

“I don’t want to overthink it, but I don’t want to just sweep it under the rug, either,” you respond. “You’re stressed and I’m here for comfort but I really liked it and I want to do it again. It was great and you made me feel good and safe. I just… I  don’t want to stress about it too much.”

Your eyes lock with his and you’re trying to say what you can’t in words and you just have a feeling he gets it, as he nods. 

“Let’s just see where all this would go and figure out what we both feel. Is that okay?“ you propose, not wanting to push him away. 

“It’s fine with me,” he sighs in relief. It’s not ideal but it’s way better than the worst he thought about, which is you, thinking it was a mistake. “But I can hug and kiss you whenever? It’s quite comforting.”

“You may,” you reply, kissing him deeply until you’re wrapping your legs around his waist and his hand grips your thigh. 

It is comforting, and you think that maybe doing it can clarify things for you, especially when it comes to what you feel. But of course, there’s also the fact that he’d just given you mind-blowing orgasms and you may want to have those again. 

“We may even go another round if you’re not too tired,” you tease.

“I’m so damn exhausted but not for this,” he moans, as he removes your clothes again. “I’ll maybe fuck you into the next day.”

And that’s exactly what he does.

You wake up the next morning feeling sore and exhausted, but it’s the good and welcomed kind. You don’t remember feeling this satisfied after sex since you haven’t had someone touch you the way Jin did in a long time. 

You and Namjoon merely cuddled, since you were both in a weird spot for years and neither one of you wanted to go there if it wasn’t something you could do regularly. You did hook up with someone 2 years ago - a friend of Dara’s who was kind and decent, but it was a one-time thing and it’s not like sex was something you looked for. You had your own ways of pleasuring yourself and those had always been enough.

But Jin was pretty amazing. You didn’t know what to focus on - the way he was ramming into you and pleasuring you, or on the way he looked because seriously, that man is gorgeous whether he’s naked or dressed in a potato sack. 

He made you feel good, not just in terms of the sex but also about yourself. He let you know that you deserved to feel that kind of pleasure, that he wasn’t waiting for anything in return even if you did ask to have him in your mouth. He was gentle more than anything, especially during that second round. He wanted it to last but he wanted you to feel everything, too. He made you felt safe and wanted and cared for, and that’s something you never felt in all the times you had sex with your previous partners or hookups. 

Perhaps it gets better with age, or maybe Jin is just that guy who’s literally good at everything, but either way, you thoroughly enjoyed it. It doesn’t mean you want all this, though, at least right away. You agreed to more affection because it seems natural; it also seems like he needs it and quite frankly, so do you. Work has been tough and coming home to good food and a warm embrace and maybe even a kiss on the lips after a long, tiring day sounds just about right. 

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” His gruff voice pulls you out of your thoughts. 

You’re much closer than you usually are when you sleep next to each other. You’re also both naked, limbs entangled underneath the warm sheets. 

“About last night,” you say, shifting to face him.

“Do you regret it?” He asks nervously.

“Of course not,” you reply. “Kinda just can’t help thinking about it since my thighs are sore. All the years of rejecting Kook to go to the gym or for a run are catching up to me.”

Jin merely smiles, just savoring you close and natural like this. “I don’t regret it, either. But same, I’m pretty sore. I haven’t done this in so long, too.”

You don’t prod and only smile back. He did mention in France that he and Seri haven’t done much in a while. It’s his sex life and you never dared ask about it, and even with this development in your relationship, you don’t intend to.

“But we’re good?” He asks. “Did, uh, did anything change for you?”

He hopes that you’re not taken aback by his question,  but he wants to know if there’s any change from last night, if there were feelings all along that you suddenly realize are there and want to act on, or if after waking up next to him and maybe liking how it feels, you’ll want more, be ready to be more, maybe take this whole marriage thing seriously this time.

“We’re good, and no, not really. I mean, I don’t want us to feel rushed or pressured just because we had sex,” you reason. “But all I can think about right now is that you’re seriously so hot and I don’t feel weird saying that to you even with your morning wood poking my thigh,” you chuckle, and he groans in embarrassment but pinches your cheeks because you really have to tease and annoy him this early in the morning. 

“But uh, I know you asked me what I wanted it to mean but what about you?” You wonder.

He wants to be honest, but there’s a look of uncertainty and even nervousness in your eyes. 

You’ve talked about Namjoon openly, about the special connection you have with the man and even if you claim that 5 years is a long time to wait for someone, Jin knows deep inside that you still are - waiting, wondering, and maybe even hoping. 

Even as your husband, he feels it’s not his place to ask you to want him back because he knew what he was getting himself into, and he fears that doing so will just push you away, especially if you’re yearning for someone else. Jin knows what not having closure is like; he didn’t really get it from his ex-girlfriend, and that’s what kept him from moving forward for years. 

And so he chooses to follow your pace, thinking that waiting for you to develop feelings for him would be the better option than laying it all out to you right away, especially when he’s unsure of how you feel, and when you’re still waiting on someone else. Jin can’t take an outright rejection right now, or have you be unsure, or even have you leave him because of closure you never got; that, he’s sure of. 

“Well, it means that I’m comfortable with this, with whatever we are and whatever we can be,” he responds, trying to give you a genuine smile. “It’s been nice spending more time with you. You’ve helped me a lot, especially these past few weeks with all the stress and last night, it just felt right to do that with you. And I agree, let’s see where things go, figure things out from here.”

“It’s been nice spending time with you, too,” you smile. “Like, I know France was fake romance period for us but it was fun getting to know you that way. You’re as perfect and as imperfect as I expected.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if that’s a compliment but thanks?” He chuckles.

“It means you’re a lot of great things but also still human,” you explain. “You make me feel giddy sometimes but you also annoy me shitless. We have a pretty good dynamic and honestly, that’s all I could ever want. Less drama and all. I don’t really know how to deal with all that, you know? I just want something simple and contrary to how everything started, I think that’s what we are.”

Jin agrees for the most part. It was simple at the beginning because there were clear limits and boundaries of what you were and weren’t. He had plans before and after you, and so did you. Until of course, France happened and changed everything for him; he crossed the line and couldn’t help from falling even more. And every time he thinks about baring his heart to you, a part of him gets scared of what will happen after. 

Seeing you smile softly at him and pinch his cheeks out of affection are all he needs to just hold onto his feelings for a little longer. He just hopes at some point, you’ll start to feel something, too.

You decided to stay in that Saturday to watch movies and have all your cravings delivered. Jin had to go to his parents’ house to do work stuff and he didn’t want to bother you, and he’d gone home with you fast asleep so he slept in his room instead. He missed you right away but he knows that one night of sex doesn’t automatically mean another one right after.

He woke up the next day to you making him gourmet breakfast, though. You watched a cooking show the night before and wanted to try it so you made it for both of you, knowing he spent the whole of Saturday working. 

That Sunday, you went to the park in the afternoon and met up with your friends for dinner. You didn’t tell them what happened last Friday night, not wanting to sex and tell, although you know that Dara would freak out when you finally open up about it. 

All was normal, of course, except Jin’s hand that was perpetually on your waist and yours that somehow always ended up on his thigh. You didn’t miss the knowing looks of your best friends, though, and you were sort of glad that Yoongi wasn’t there to add to their subtle teasing. 

Later that night, you and Jin got a bit handsy in the car and ended up making out and cuddling and then falling asleep in your bed. 

You woke up the next morning panicking because you both slept through your alarm, and then spent the whole car ride arguing on whose fault it was. But as always, it ended with you laughing your butts off as you walked into your office building, with some staff looking a bit surprised at their President’s casual and lighthearted demeanor that they rarely saw on him before, especially on a Monday morning after everything that’s happened. 

It was still a busy week. You and Jin met up with the vegan vlogger who flew from the US and drafted plans for the collaboration, splitting time with your department and Marketing for a sound project proposal. 

This was always the exciting part for Jin, he’d told you - being exposed to different kinds of food preparation techniques and finding ways to make delicious dishes accessible to the general public.

You don’t have sex again, given the late nights and troubleshooting you had to do with one of your products that’s launching in a few months. You came home late on Thursday to a dinner spread, though, and Jin pulled you into his lap for a long hug before letting you go and resting for an early flight to Jeju for an event the next day.

It’s now Saturday, and you’re in an events place in Gangnam for a fellowship dinner with some of Jin’s parents’ affiliates and close friends. 

Your husband has been generous with compliments all night about your classic black jumpsuit and gold heels outfit, and you don’t deny the fluttering of your heart with how his compliments are making you feel. He obviously looks stunning in his textured beige ensemble. 

There’s no faking with the way you’re holding hands and clinging to each other as this time, you actually want to hold his hand, you want him to hold you close and tell the other patrons how well you’re doing at work, given that Jin knows your tendency to get a little intimidated during events like this. 

This is you, staying on track, you think, as you just let the affection do the talking, as if you’re just letting nature take its course and you’re enjoying the ride - of figuring out what you feel, what you want from him, and what you’re willing to give and receive. 

You’re enjoying tonight. You’re in the middle of chatting it up with one of the Kims’ oldest family friends, your hand clinging onto Jin’s arm, when you get a text from your brother. 

Is Wong Seri the name of Jin’s ex-girl? The message reads. Is this her? Another message follows, a group photo this time with her at the center.

Yeah, why? You reply, suddenly feeling uneasy at how your brother could possibly cross paths with her. 

Right, you did say she resigned, he says. She’s the new associate at our Seoul office, I saw her CV and her past employment. Small world; I didn’t think she was in creatives. 

Seoul office. Jin had mentioned that she went home to Ulsan for her parents. 

When did she start?

A few weeks ago. Why?

Fuck, you say, suddenly feeling like it’s hard to breathe.

Hoseok asks why again and you’re too stunned to answer, trying to come up with different scenarios. 

Maybe she came back here after a month or so after caring for her parents. Maybe Jin didn’t know. 

Your phone ringing startles you, and you let go of Jin and rush out the building to pick up the call and get some air. 

“Hey, you stopped replying. Tell me you just got busy,” your brother says.

“If she started a few weeks ago, then that means she applied like a month or so before that, right?” You ask.

“Hmm, well, you know how it is at work. Weeks of application process and then onboarding and then you start. It takes a while,” he explains. “She probably applied, like, 2 - 3 months ago.”

You take a deep breath. That’s around the time they broke up. There’s got to be a reason, right? Jin didn’t know, you convince yourself. Jin didn’t know. 

“Why, what’s going on?” Hoseok presses.

“I… I, uh, I’ll get back to—”

“___?” You hear your husband call out. “I was looking for you. Is everything okay?”

You try to put up an expressionless face and turn to him. 

“Yeah, it was just my brother,” you say. “Checking up on me and asking about Seri. You said she resigned so she could take care of her parents in Ulsan, right? That’s over 4 hours away by train.”

“Uh, yeah,” Jin nods, unsure why you suddenly bring her up. “Her parents are quite old and she always talked about going back home to take care of them after she’s saved up.”

“Hoseok said she’s working in the Seoul office of their company, though. How is that possible?”

You see Jin’s face falter a bit, and you know that’s not a curious or confused look on his face. That’s a look of someone who’d just been caught, and you hate how your heart breaks, how it begs for all this not to mean what you think it does.

“Oh, oh is she?” He asks, biting his lip and briefly looking away.

“Don’t bullshit me, Jin. It’s either you didn’t know she was here the whole time or you knew exactly why she resigned and that she’s been here all along and you lied about it, for whatever fucked up reason, I don’t know,” you scowl. “So fucking tell me the truth.”

Jin at least knows it’ll only get worse if he continues with the lie, so he gives in and tells you the truth.

“She didn’t resign because of her parents,” he sighs, knowing that everything is just about to fall apart. “And I knew she’s been applying to other companies in Seoul and—”

“You’re a liar,” you say bitterly.

“Look, I couldn’t tell you because—”

“You’re still a liar. I asked you that day and you didn’t tell me the truth.” 

Your eyes are glassy now, and you blink away the tears that have pooled, turning when he tries to wipe them away.

Jin is about to say something when a couple of people walk by, and you take this opportunity to turn around and walk towards the street to hail a cab, uncaring of the question he’d left unanswered.

“___, where are you going! Hey!”

You walk further up the street, arm still up and cursing at your terrible luck that of all the nights you need a taxi, no one’s stopping for you right now.

Jin is cursing internally, too, even more when he picks up the phone and Yoongi asks where he is because his parents are looking for him. 

“___ knows about Seri being in Seoul. She knows I lied. I fucked up. She’s leaving now. I can’t fucking lose her.”

“Then go after her!” He orders. 

“I need the car, shit, can you—”

“Take a cab, you idiot. Don’t waste any more time.”

Jin drops the call and starts running, desperately calling a cab himself and waving a stack of cash to attract drivers. It works and he orders the driver to follow the car you just got into, and he spends the ride trying to figure out what to say to you and how to not make you want to leave him. 

Things were going well. He felt like you were both on the way to something more. And he didn’t think that it’s this little detail, this little lie that he didn’t think much of, despite Yoongi’s insistence, that would ruin everything. 

The way you looked hurt and defeated at the realization that he lied about the truth of her resignation is now ingrained in his head. He wishes it’s something he can easily forget.

He asks the driver to floor it, as Jin figures out now that you’re on the way to your house. He makes it there just a minute or so after you, running up the foyer steps and catching you on the way to your room. 

“___, I’m sorry, you have to listen to me,” he begs, pulling your wrist and he gets even more angry at himself when you wince at the contact. “You looked so worried that she resigned because of you and I couldn’t let you carry that baggage and—”

“Oh, so it was because you were trying to protect me, that’s why you lied?” You scoff. “Don’t fucking play with me, Jin! I asked you why she resigned, you said it was because of her parents when you knew this whole time that it wasn’t, and that she’d been applying around the city. I don’t care if you still wanted to see her but don’t make me stupid. Don’t make me a fucking fool. Don’t hit it up with me when you’re still hung over her.” You’re seething, as your eyes burn a hole right through him. “Was Japan a cover? Did you even go there? Was she there? Have you been seeing her behind my back?”

“Fuck, no!” He yells, desperate for you to not come up with anything worse because of that one lie. “We cut ties right after I broke up with her and we haven’t spoken or seen each other since then, I swear it.”

“Why hide it from me?”

“Because I was scared to tell you the truth.”

“And what’s the truth, then? Why break up with her? Why lie?”

“I broke up with her because I was falling in love with you,” he finally admits, voice cracking when he wanted to say it with conviction. It should be liberating, but somehow it’s breaking his heart seeing your face fall at his confession. “And I couldn’t just… tell you. You have this plan of divorcing after—”

“Which you agreed to!”

“Yes, I did, because we were so sure that nothing was gonna happen between us. I had Seri and you had someone else but I went ahead and fell for you anyway.”

The words hang in the air, lingering as they demand to be said back; you see it in the desperate yet guilty look he has on. But you feel quite numb, as you try to make sense of everything - the lie, the implication of the lie, and the feelings he’d kept from you.

“When did things start to change?” You stammer, looking him in the eyes when he tells you what you hope to be is the truth.

“France.”

What? That was months ago. 

“So you were lying to her this whole time?”

“No! I… I mean,” he exhales, unsure how to explain things without sounding like a total asshole, but then again, there’s no version of it where he isn’t one. 

“Things started to feel different when we were there, and even more when we got back here, so I distanced myself from her while I figured things out until I couldn’t keep lying to her anymore so I broke it off,” he says. “And she saw it coming, I guess, because she wasn’t surprised and she just accepted it, told me then that she was going to resign because she’d been staying in the company for me. She said it was up to me what to tell you and I just…. I didn’t know what to do.”

“All this time, things were changing and you didn’t tell me. We were always honest with each other, Jin, that’s why it worked out,” you say, the sadness in your voice, hurting him even more. “You felt safe and comfortable and I told you all that. But this… this is different. This is beyond just the two of us.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to scare you, and I guess I was scared, too. Because I didn’t think you felt the same way, and I was right.”

“Last week then, when we had sex,” you huff. “I asked you what it meant to you, and you said that—”

“That I agreed with you, that we should see where things go.”

“But you already knew where you wanted it to go,” you counter. “Was that so I’d want you, too? Fuck me good so I’d keep wanting it, so you could keep having me that way because you were too much of a coward to tell me what you really felt?”

“I had sex with you because I was in love with you, ___!” He yells this time. “Because I wanted you to feel it, to feel what I felt, to know what it felt like to be loved and pleasured; to wake up next to someone who cares about you, holding you. I was hoping you’d wake up the next morning and feel that things were different for you, that’s why I asked, but you didn’t and I… I knew it was because of Namjoon.”

“Don’t you bring him into this, Jin,” you cry now. “You’re the one who kept this from me, you’re the one who lied about Seri leaving and made me think that something was going on between you and her while we were figuring us out and I… I thought you were the last person to do that.”

He knows your words mean more, so much more.

“___, please, I never meant to hurt you.”

“I knew I didn’t have to worry about us because I thought I knew you enough,” you say, trying to calm your breathing. “I agreed to the marriage under my terms because I had to make sure I wasn’t being manipulated into anything. I said it was okay that you stayed with Seri because I had to make sure you weren’t going to go behind my back or betray me. And for that brief moment when I found out you lied about her, I felt that betrayal again. Just the thought of you being with her this whole time was like a stab in the heart.”

Jin wails your name as he realizes how everything he’s done has led to him hurting you more, when he’d been the one scared this whole time to get his heart completely broken. 

“I couldn’t have you lie to me and that’s why I was always honest,” you continue, “and when we were in France, I told you why, Jin. I told you why it mattered that you didn’t do any of that, that you told me you were gonna come back from Japan. I told you why I stopped caring for love and relationships because I couldn’t get my hopes up and then get hurt again but then you…”

You choke back your tears as you watch him stand there - helpless, unable to say the right words to make the pain stop, unable to comfort you the way he always did, unable to make you feel that love that he thought he could give. 

“You still did and I… I thought only people I loved could break my heart,” you say, heaving as you garner the last bit of strength you have. “You didn’t even wait for me to love you before you could hurt me. But I guess that’s not so bad then, is it?”

You wipe your tears as you continue. “There’s less to lose, less to miss… there’s less of me that would hurt and break because of you.”

You lie to him this time around. It’s terrible. It hurts so fucking much. 

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[shadowmaat]

Work Ethics

The CEO of Home Depot, a company (and man) worth billions, recently complained in an interview that workers "don't give a damn anymore."

It's a lament we've been hearing more and more often from increasingly-rich bosses, and the funny thing is that they don't seem to realize that they fall into the "don't give a damn" category as well.

The CEOs of these billion-dollar corporations seem to have this vision that their industry-strangling chains are some kind of mom-and-pop store, where employees should feel like family and should be happy to work there for the simple joy of helping people and helping their "family" prosper. They continually fail to understand why this isn't the case.

Part of the problem is that while they expect their employees to be grateful and happy to help, the CEOs only see them as mindless little minions who exist solely to make them more money. They don't care about them, their struggles, their needs, etc; they just want more money. And in order to maximize their own profit they will skimp in every way imaginable.

It's a very Scrooge-like attitude. They will pay the barest minimum (or less, if they can manage it), they'll cut corners wherever possible, they'll argue over every expense no matter how important, and they firmly believe their workers will always try and cheat them. Mostly because that's what they do, themselves.

Their employees could be starving, they could be homeless, they could be desperately ill, but none of that matters to the CEO (or the various bosses under him) because their sole concern is their own money. All those jokes about "buying their third yacht" are very accurate. Wealth is seen as a sign of success and increased status and for the bosses of the world (or at least the Western world) that's what's important. If their workers are suffering and dying, well, who cares? At least it benefits them. And as that other joke goes, if they didn't want to be poor they should have been born rich.

Granny Weatherwax once pointed out that "people as things" is where true evil starts, and that's exactly how bosses view their employees: things that exist to help them get richer.

While workers have always been fighting for rights and fair wages, I think it was the pandemic that helped them realize just how important they are in the grand scheme of things. After all, without them all those billion-dollar names swaggering around sipping Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru and eating gold leaf-encrusted wagyu beef wouldn't be able to do that without them.

The fact that all these uber-rich assholes could easily afford to pay their employees a livable wage without making a significant dent in their profits doesn't matter: it would still be making a dent and that must be avoided at all costs. The Toddler Rules of Possession are very clear about that.

Anyway, I know I'm not alone in wishing the workers of the world all the best. May unions prosper while CEOs suffer. May everyone be fairly compensated for their work. And may the modern Scrooges of the world suffer audits, legal troubles, and the wrath of people who have too long been labeled as "things."

Ghosts only worked on Ebeneezer because he still had kindness in his heart. These days they only thing that works is hitting them right in their profit margins.

[demonichikikomori]

I got drunk cause im sad!! So im going to sleep!! <3 Thank you for letting me cry to you all today!! I have to go to work. I’m sad because knowing im drunk and I have to go to work I can’t afford pickle juice right now.

When the economy is better and im rich let’s all eat slices of steak. Fancy wagyu beef with cheap beer. Everyone is invited to my tiny apartment and we can watch anime. I don’t have a couch so we will wait until I can buy one. And a tv haha!~!

[zacharyja]

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Osaka Day Trip - Dotonbori, America-mura, and Shinsekai

Today began at about the same as most days, 10am wake up time followed by a shower and getting dressed followed by conbini breakfast and then our day begins. We headed over to the train station to make our way to Osaka, and hopped on the Hankyu Kyoto line which goes straight to Osaka-Umeda station. The train itself was pretty nice, as it seemed decently new and had a cool little rock garden-esque nook midway through the train car.

After getting to Osaka, we hopped on another train to get to the Nanba Yasaka Shrine, which was only about a 10 minute train ride from here. I had not thought this shrine would be as impressive as it is, but seeing it in person was pretty incredible. The sheer size of the lion statue, called “Shishiden” was amazing to see in person. The lion with his mouth agape is said to swallow evil spirits, and many people come here hoping for academic improvement, job offers and success in examinations. Though the exact date of when this shrine was founded is not known, according to legend it dates back to Emperor Nintoku’s rule in the 4th century.

Once we had spent our fair share of time at the shrine, we walked back to the main Dotonbori area, which is hands down the busiest and most well known area in Osaka. There are so many shops and restaurants and things to do here that it gets a bit overwhelming at times. One thing that really sticks out here is the massive Don Quijote store, which includes a huge ferris wheel that has not been running the past 2 times i’ve been here so i don’t know what that’s about. We browsed around for a while and leisurely walked through the streets until we had worked up an appetite and wanted to get some lunch. We walked by a place that looked decently cheap and tasty and after looking at the menu for a bit outside one of the employees came out to greet us and lead us upstairs to the restaurant.

Once inside the vibes were not amazing and after taking a look at the menu in the restaurant we realized they trolled us and had higher prices inside than were advertised. This was not a massive issue but what was an issue was when we ordered our food and it looked nothing like the photo. They surprisingly trolled us again and brought out what would be probably the worst meal i’ve eaten in all of Japan. I also do not get the hype about Okonomiyaki, as cabbage, dough sauce and bonito flakes honestly leaves a lot to be desired. My food was not very good at all and somehow they managed to make even the rice taste weird. To top it all off this ended up being the most expensive single meal we have ordered thus far, which is insane considering I literally ate wagyu beef last night. Lesson learned - do not get trolled by sneaky restaurant employees.

After our subpar meal, we walked around the area for a bit longer before heading over to the America-mura neighborhood area. This neighborhood is famous for being a hub of youth and western oriented culture, including the likes of street art, small independent galleries and cafes, as well as thrift and vintage stores. I enjoyed this area a lot and thought it was pretty cool to walk around in. The stores were interesting but I always go back to the same issue of not understanding why Japanese people only want to buy American clothes, as all of the thrift stores solely carry items from America. I probably see more people wearing US college merchandise in Japan than I see on my own college campus back in Gainesville. We also stumbled upon a store called “Florida” which was a thrift store that had a curated selection of secondhand clothing. One item in particular that stuck out to me was a random T-shirt from the Don Garlits drag racing museum in Ocala, which I pass by every time I drive to and from my parents house to Gainesville.

After this we made our way back over to Dotonbori and found ourselves randomly at a Purikura place, which is a popular type of photo booth with the Japanese youth. Many of them have extreme filters on the photos and make you look as “beautiful” as possible, which is a pretty foreign thing to Americans as we do not really edit our photos this much and it just looks silly. Though that sentiment is not shared here and it is seemingly taken a bit more serious and seen as cute.

Following this, we decided to head over to Shinsekai, which is now a famous shopping and eating area. Though it once served as a gathering place for laborers who rebuilt Osaka after World War II. It is interesting to see how things like that can go from something so simple and unintentionally turn into something as massive and popular as this street.

I enjoyed walking through here and seeing everything in the area. There were a ton of cool buildings here and far too many restaurants to count, though I was intrigued as to why most of them were Yakitori places. Once we got a bit hungry we found a quaint little restaurant which looked promising. It was a Yakitori place and so we ordered a bunch of small dishes, including gyoza, croquettes, and kushikatsu. The food was pretty decent but the Japanese croquettes definitely took the cake for the best item.

Once we finished dinner, we walked back to the Dotonbori area to see about finding a specific ice cream place that I had found online called “Cremia” which is apparently made with milk from Hokkaido, which has a mild vanilla like flavor and makes for amazingly soft and delicious ice cream thanks to the high milk fat content. Not to mention the cone was unlike anything I have tried before, it is considered similar to langue de chat, which I have not heard of before but it tasted phenomenal. After eating the ice cream we walked around Dotonbori for a while and made our way to find some sort of sit down place to chill and hangout for a bit.

We first walked into a reptile cafe, which in theory looked pretty cool, as the entire store was filled with tons of different reptiles, ranging from green anacondas, to iguanas, to pythons and so much more. They also had a wild assortment of items on the menu with the likes of tarantulas, emu, raven, and gecko meat. I was not feeling very adventurous and it cost ¥1000 to get in, on top of having to pay another ¥1000 for a required drink it did not seem worth it to us so we turned around to find somewhere else. Once back on the street we saw an interesting looking cafe which had gothic looking girls as the bartenders/employees. This was interesting and we walked all the way here for the reptile place just to be let down that we decided to check out the goth cafe. This was a decently fun experience, and much better than the previous maid cafe that I went to, which got a bit weird when they referred to us guys as "Master". Though here they did not really do any of that and it was more just like extra friendly bartenders who chatted with you the whole time. The language barrier was a bit of a hurdle but they were more than happy to try and figure it out and I was actually surprised by how far I have come in my confidence level with speaking Japanese, as I was able to hold a decent conversation with them. It was also nothing that a little google translate couldn't help, and it is always fun interacting with Japanese locals.

After the cafe, we made our way back to the train station and headed back to Kyoto. Once back in Kyoto we grabbed some Gyudon for a late night snack and then ran over to Round one for some Maimai before they closed. That pretty much concludes my night, sorry for the long blog post today was very busy!

[askmadcomcrew]

Everyone, opinions on wagyu beef?

Hank: It's ok.

Sanford: Amazing! I've never tasted a more pure beef flavor in my life!

Deimos: It's pretty damn good, but not as good as a good ol' fashioned Gilburger.

Doc: With careful preparation, the right seasoning, cooked to a nice medium rare...Immaculate.

Tricky: THAT'S A FINE CUT OF MEAT, BUT A LITTLE TOO EXPENSIVE FOR THIS CLOWN!!!

Jeb: Easily the finest cut of steak money can buy, and thus it must be treated with care and respect. It should only be handled by an experienced chef.

Crackpot: Never had it! I'll have to steal some from MERC when we finally raid the Industrial Sector.

Sheriff: Damn, and I mean DAMN good steak. Imagine the best hamburger you've ever had in your life times 20. I'd eat it every day if it weren't so damn expensive to produce.

Phobos: I ate it all the time in my days as Director. Only the finest steaks for the finest of directors.

Auditor: Very good, but a waste of resources to produce. Should only be used for celebrations.

[asknarashikari]

What is your experience with meat? (EX: Your knowledge on the kinds of meat, what meat do you enjoy eating, etc)

I probably like meat too much for my own good XD Especially steak. I really, really like steak. Ribeye is probably my favorite.

Honestly, I don't think I would know what to look for when buying meat. I guess I have to learn how to look at it from that perspective. Like, I know what marbling is and that wagyu beef is expensive af but other than that... not much else lol

As for how I like my meat... like I said, I like my steak. And I strive to be able to perfect my steak. My parents like cooking theirs with fresh herbs and fancy seasonings, my sister butter-bastes hers... I just season mine with salt and pepper and try to get as close to medium rare as I can manage. Usually I overshoot it and it ends up closer to medium or well done, but I think I'm getting better at it.

Otherwise... I also like Korean bbq a lot. In that case I usually cook my meat plain then just go ham with my sauce- though I am partial to garlic.

And the best meat dish I've had by a mile is the Kobe steak I shared with my sister and a cousin in Osaka about a year ago.

[teaguepremiumbeef]

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[lennonhead]

time to begin preparing Christmas dinner. beginning with making mash from these little potatoes (the big ones for baked potatoes are very uncommon in Japan)

and Sendai beef steak. my advice if you visit Japan, want wagyu, and have access to a kitchen is to buy it at a grocery store, because it is about 1/6th of the price at restaurants and you can see the quality nicely

no dessert except for gingerbread which was purchased previously at IKEA. when I get a job, then I will get strawberries to celebrate...

[heniareth]

For the seven characters thing: Zev, Alistair, Morrigan, Wynne, Leliana, Sten, and Ilanlas c:

Ooooh, the core companions!! This is going to be delicious 👀👀👀👀👀 Let's get to it!

I'm going grocery shopping with Alistair

Alistair strikes me as the ultimate roommate. And so I'm taking him grocery shopping! We're going to load the cart full of good food, gawk at exorbitant prices and make fun of weird products in the supermarket. He's going to buy too much food bc he's used to calculating portions for all of the templar recruits and it will be fine because we all eat more than we reasonably should be able to. And careying everything up the stairs won't be a problem bc Alistair's strong and I am... getting there XD XD XD

I'm going to have lunch with Ilanlas

We're going to a steak house. A fancy one. We're going to try a meat platter if they have one. I really really want to know what he thinks of beef and chicken and our modern day meat in general, as well as the preparation modes. He's probably going to descend into a rant at some point. I'll needle him for recipes and I hope he gives me one or two. I would also really want him to try Wagyu meat (hope I spelled that one right), but it's probably over my budget. We'll gaze whistfully at it.

I'm going to have coffee with Zevran

I really wanted to take him as a plus one to the wedding, but I suspect he'll assume I expect some kind of service out of him. And I don't want that. And I want to get him some good food, but Ilanlas is already coming to the steak house. So I'm inviting him out for coffee. My treat. I'll get a bunch of sweet and savory food too to go with it and we'll just eat our way through that. A conversation will surely be struck up, and knowing Zevran, it will flow nicely. I do hope he enjoys the food tho. No idea what he'll make of our coffee. I'm interested in learning.

I'm going to go thrift shopping with Morrigan

I feel like Morrigan would be the most appreciative of thriftstores and would also find stuff she likes in there. I personally don't enjoy thrift shopping so much as thrift looking. I'll be coming with, point out ridiculous outfits, look for stuff that Morrigan might like, give my honest opinion when it's time to try the garments on. Girls' night!

I'm going to explore a aquarium art gallery museum with Sten

Listen. Listen. The personal gifts for this man include art. They're almost all paintings. I'm taking him to a classic art museum. We're gonna walk around for hours while he looks at the paintings, makes vague noises and I try to strike up a conversation. It will devolve into a philosoohical debate that will end up going in circles. It will be fun and exhausting.

I'm going to a bookstore with Wynne

I want to know what kind of romance novels she reads. I want to maybe leaf through one, and maybe be a little bit surprised by the things she likes to read. I'm also imagining her walking into a bookstore with So Many Books and going all O.O Books can't be that common in Thedas, and they certainly don't look like ours. I bet Wynne has never heard of a paperback.

I'm going to take Leliana as my plus one to a wedding

Since Zevran is not coming with me, Leliana is! We can dress up fancy, and you know Leliana would love that. We can cheer for the bride and groom, eat lovely food, dance, talk with and about the guest... I think ot would be a lot of fun!

Thank you for the ask!!! I tell you, this was the most welcome distraction today. Hope you're having a lovely day!!

(Here's the seven characters thing)

[stumpyjoepete]

con: japan's culture around beef is so alien, it's impossible to buy a normal steak--everything is thinly sliced or it's tough stew meat or it's expensive wagyu beef

pro: the wagyu beef is about the price of a normal steak anyway