#a national treasure he is fr đđđ
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LOOK AT MY BOY
LOOK AT MY HANDSOME BOY AAAAHHHH
I NEED A MOMENT
#sonic movie 3#sonicmovie3hype#movieshadow#IM NOT OK RIGHT NOW#HE LOOKS SO GOOD!!!#IM SO FREAKING HAPPY đđđđđđ#I AM BAWLING AND WHEEZING AAAAA#ITS SO PEAK!!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!! â¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸#HE'S BEAUTIFUL. GLORIOUS LOVE HIM LOVE HIM LOVE HIM SO MUCHHH â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸#So intense!#IM TOTALLY NOT OKAY!!! IM SICK!!!!! THIS IS FREAKIN' AMAAZIIIINGNGNHH WKGGVBD#AHH HE LOOKS SO SICKK#SHADOW LOOKS PHENOMENAL!!!!! đ#ITâS HARD FOR ME TO BREATH#LOOK AT HIM đ#YOURE BEAUTIFUL#*BREATHTAKING*#Welcome to the Sonic Family Keanu!#a national treasure he is fr đđđ#AYEEE
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⌠JUST A BANTER, M. SCHUMACHER
they're a romantic couple, but a key to a good relationship is a couple of banter, right?
fc: elle fanning
âËâšŕą¨ŕ§ â・âŚËâ
mickschumacher
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mickschumacher straight from theâ water đ§
đ¤: yourusername
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username OOOO BEACH WAVESSS MICKKKKK
username giving taylor swift man fr
mickschumacher giving all my credits to my beloved professional photographerđĽšâ¤ď¸
username he is just so gorgeous being there even though we cannot see his face
username i love you so much mick
⤡ yourusername me too
username HE'S LOOKING SO GOOD LIKE MAN THOSE JAW HAIR AND EVERYTHING HOW'S HE EVEN REAL
⤡ lilymhe i can see you giggling and kicking you feet everytime you see this comment, yourusername đ¤¨đĽ¸
username messy hair, white shirt, camera shy... you sure this man wasn't book adapted?
⤡ yourusername i'm sure he's doing some reading to match his book man personađ
username coming out straight from cruel summer and fearless, also a little bit of national anthem demo with a splash of brooklyn baby
username she bagged a literal treasure
username WHERE DO I FIND A MAN LIKE HIM LIKE AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH
username time to swim (i can't swim)
username i need more beach mick content
⤡ username LIKE LITERALLY YEASSSSS
username someday they will post a yacht content
estebanocon my child is so big already
⤡ yourusername thanks dadâ¤ď¸đĽ°
username you know what they said when a beach content could turn into a yacht one, and then a plane, boat, then pic in a total SURF BOARD?????
username how is he so boyfriend though i don't understand????
⤡ username he boyfriending too high he reached the sky
⤡ username YES SHE DID IT SHE TOOK THIS PIC WE LOVE YOU Y/Nâ¤ď¸đâźď¸âźď¸
yourusername just added to their story!
caption: a dad and his daughter
mickschumacher
liked by estebanocon, yourusername, mercedesamgf1, and 679,334 others
mickschumacher she still got her ice cream, don't worry
view all 29,629 comments...
oliviarodrigo the prettiest of all the duckies and the humanities
⤡ yourusername literally blushing so hard LIKE NO U GIRLLLLL
username what flavor is that??
⤡ yourusername biscoff (my favourite!)
username this whole comments section is literally owned by her
⤡ username i mean while that time we owned hers by simping on her boyfriend, we also need to praise mother now
username she's literally the sweetest
username asking for her beach era now after her boyfriend dominate the beach look
username if mick's taylor, she could be lana
⤡ username why not jailor, burton to her taylor?
⤡ username đŁď¸đŁď¸âźď¸EVERY LOVER KNOWN IN COMPARISON IS A FAILUREâźď¸âźď¸âźď¸đđŁď¸
mickschumacher my ice cream monster, i love herđ
⤡ username âICE CREAM MONSTERâ MAN LIKE NAAAHHHđđđ
⤡ yourusername at least it's saved by the emoji
⤡ pierregasly what if i delete the emoji and the âi love herâ part?
⤡ yourusername i'll end you right now, gasly
username AW THE RUBBER DUCKKđ¤đ¤
username she looks so happy i can see the shine in her eyes
username I MEET HER RN AND I DROP DEAD IMMEDIATELY
⤡ username omg what is she smells like??
⤡ username marc jacobs daisy and a bit of biscuit smell when she hugged me
⤡ username must be from the molten ice cream then
mickschumacher
liked by pierregasly, nicholashoult, georgerussell63 and 578,366 others
mickschumacher better not to awake the sleeping lady
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yourusername you're lucky i love you
⤡ mickschumacher i'm sooo luckyđ
⤡ georgerussell63 get a room you mickschumacher!!
nicholashoult tell her brows to stop tensing
username defo bothered bcs that hair said she loved the dream
mickschumacher you looks so cute when you just woke up
⤡ yourusername that's better be true because here i look like a literal granny
username but she looks cute like this though
username hes so randomđđ but the target is always her never esteban. right, estebanocon?
estebanocon found my new gf now hehe
⤡ username THE CASUAL HEHE MAN WDYM
⤡ username so that literally said they share her?
⤡ username probably he meant "my bf found a new gf hehe"
⤡ username i bet he's drunk
⤡ estebanocon je suis npt detuernk
⤡ username most definitely
username ESTEBAN'S COMMENT IS KILLING ME DAMNđđđ
username her hair looks like noodles...
username she become a grumpy lady now
username i'll be her too if i was distracted when i'm sleeping
⤡ username i mean aren't we all
yourusername
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yourusername what beach era? i'm on my terrace girl erađĽ
username she really said like, "forget my boyfriend beach look. i rule this now"
view all 78,102 comments...
⤡ username she's a girlboss look at her sitting position like that
username girlbossing too high she surpassed her post abt boyfriend's beach post
username SHE'S THE PRETTIEST
username sure i'll be switching sides now
username omg motherrrrđđ
username she know she ate and left no crumb at the time she drink her champagne like that
username she literally has a beach waves when she's not in the beach
landonorris yeah you owned this you win
⤡ yourusername i knowđ don't forget your 50!
florencepugh y/n baby, go home the kids missed you
⤡ username so yall been betting this for the whole time?
⤡ yourusername omwđď¸
yourusername thank you to sir lewishamilton for the fashion advice
⤡ mickschumacher I'M LITERALLY RIGHT HERE!
⤡ lewishamilton anytime, darlingâ¤ď¸
⤡ mickschumacher why are you asking lewis help for your fashion, when LITERALLY your (cool, stylish) boyfriend is here.
⤡ yourusername oh no, that period wasn't gonna be good
username oh no mother and father is arguingâšď¸đŤ
⤡ mickschumacher it better be.
⤡ yourusername i'll tryđŹđĽ´
⤡ username yourusername just ask for his help next time gee
mickschumacher
liked by carlossainz55, estebanocon, parishilton, and 761,208 others
mickschumacher week with the lady (and tessa too)
đ¤: yourusername
username i miss you guys sm
yourusername i can see tessa's eyes for help
⤡ lissiemackintosh more like eyes for saying that she's comfy actuallyđĽ°
username the color is matching i love it
username i love his sunglasses though, very classy
⤡ mickschumacher LOOK yourusername CLASSY
⤡ mickschumacher i look cool, so no need for lewis's advice for fashion again
⤡ yourusername damn okay geez
username i love how he stayed with the topic for that long y/n you okay
⤡ yourusername peachy.
username notice how the three of them has blonde hair (except for angie)
username he is so hot
username why are they fighting here?
⤡ georgerussell63 forgot to not to switch accounts for bantering i guess...
gina_schumacher đđđ
⤡ yourusername should i or mick who say sorry
⤡ gina_schumacher both.
username since when is he looks so cool?
⤡ username since that time y/n used lewis's help for fashion
⤡ username damn i know it can change him to be like this instantlyđđ
username oh i didn't know like they've got angie's sibling here
⤡ username so do i, until today tho
⤡ username they're a dog parents
⤡ username but tessa is so cute, and both of the dogs are female
⤡ username it's their personal pet, so both tessa and angie are not owned by together
yourusername
liked by estebanocon, florencepugh, mickschumacher, and 620,113 others
yourusername better not to awake the sleeping man
this comment has been disabled
mickschumacher added to their story!
caption: my prettiest angel đŤđđ
yourusername added to their story!
caption: pretty pretty man. so grateful that i am yours<3
âËâšŕą¨ŕ§ â・âŚËâ
estebanocon replying to yourusername story!
estebanocon: i think i've had enough with you guys thinking that this whole instagram is yours
yourusername: đ¤ˇđźââď¸đ¤ˇđźââď¸đ¤ˇđźââď¸đ¤ˇđźââď¸
yourusername: just admit it, you will do it too with your girlfriend next time. consider it as a revenge
yourusername: but i'll do it better thođ
estebanocon: that's not helping y/n
âËâšŕą¨ŕ§ â・âŚËâ
mickschumacher added to their story!
caption: forever my passenger princess
estebanocon
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estebanocon they just appeared at the farm
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yourusername i didn't know that you were capturing us??????????
⤡ username girl admit it you know
mickschumacher idk about that but you looked like you know
⤡ yourusername i swear i thought he's making a vlog for himself
⤡ mickschumacher that's quite of a bullshit
⤡ yourusername you fucker
pierregasly i wasn't there but i can sense a lie...
alpinef1team she looked at the camera tho...đŤ˘
⤡ yourusername alpine admin you're playing on a very thin ice rn
estebanocon i'm just providing the evidence
⤡ username ESTEBAN BEING NEUTRAL IS MY MOOD AS IF FOR RN
username omg the banterđđđđ
username the way alpine admin just hopping up is sođđđ
username but i kinda believe y/n though idk
yourusername listen up i'm not really realizing abt the camera okay, i just see it but not posing
⤡ charlottesiine you're literally just posing
⤡ yourusername shut up
mickschumacher added to their story!
caption: wish me luck guys
âËâšŕą¨ŕ§ â・âŚËâ
yourusername replying to mickschumacher's story!
yourusername: you son of a gun
yourusername: lucky that you're my boyfriend
yourusername: and whose dog is that?
âËâšŕą¨ŕ§ â・âŚËâ
#âś!#mick schumacher x reader#mick schumacher smau#mick schumacher fluff#mick schumacher x you#mick schumacher x y/n#mick schumacher x female reader#mick schumacher imagine#mick schumacher fanfic#f1 x you#f1 imagines#f1 x reader#f1 imagine#f1 fanfic#elle fanning#mick schumacher
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âAnd I like my head slow, sloppy, disgusting, wet pussy in his face no cuffin, ooh he keep asking what are we, we nothingâ
Warnings: oral sex (f recieving), toxic Toji & reader (kinda), female bodied reader with no pronouns, Toji being a bad dad if you squint but thatâs nothing new, reader and Toji have unspecified age gap
Toji Fushiguro x BlackF! Reader
I was listening to Not My N*gga by KenTheMan and I started having thoughts about Toji. Yeah enjoy this brain rot yâall. I might do another part to this where Toji just sluts his pussy out idk đ
Part 2
18+ No Minors
âRight fucking there oh my go-â his mouth was a National fucking treasure. Expertly tonguing his so called affections into the depths of your folds. The wet muscle lulling out his mouth before flattening to drag the roughness across your clit. Repeating the motion over and over until he felt satisfied with the way your nails were sinking into his scalp, then moving to suck your slick from your hole. Tongue making its way in to fuck you with it that way.
The whole scene was debouched. Sweat coating your naked skin, eyes rolling back, forcing him to keep his assault going as you reverently shoved his face deeper into your folds. If you had known the man was as much of munch as he is, you wouldâve been taken him up on his senseless begging to take you out.
Toji Fushiguro was your dilf neighbor who worked odd hours, stayed gone for days and weeks and continuously asked you to let him take you out when he saw you collecting your mail. He was 40 something, undoubtedly sexy as hell, but something about him was off. You didnât know what his job was but you assumed he was dangerous, he looked it at least. That scar that sat across his lips, paired with the fact youâd only ever seen his 4 year old son once in the 6 months youâd lived there told you all you needed to know about him. Plus you were young, had your own shit, and had a number of people whoâd pull up and give you what you wanted whenever you asked, truly pushin p so he was not a factor in your mind. But he looked happy when you finally let him take you out, like he really wanted you, poor baby he was. Youâd run his pockets a little and then move on, heâd get the hint and leave you alone, Simple.
A fucking lie, he was all that was on your mind right now. The way he was eating your pussy just the way you liked was pushing you closer to the edge and quickly. Bucking your hips up to ride against the motions of his tongue you finally released with a cry, squirting across his face.
Dropping your hips you finally released his head letting him pull away from you. Looking up at him, face wet with your cum and a smile plastered on his face.
âHow you feel about me now sweetheart, still think you can sing those shitty little songs I hear through my wall about being a âp bitchâ or whatever. Quit playing with me and tell me that pussy mineâ
A laugh bubbles out your mouth before you could catch it. âThat tongue of yours is fucking amazing and I might be nice and let you taste me again but youâre still not finna cuff me Tojiâ moving your body to sit up so you can get dressed and leave his apartment you hear his laughter follow your words before his smile dropped
âThe moment you let me get a taste of that pussy you became mine, that for the streets shit is done y/n, now bring me MY pussy so I can keep giving it what I know it likesâ a hand wrapped itself around your ankle dragging you back prone before he attached himself back onto your his pussy causing you to arch up off the bed. Yeah, you may be out the game fr, especially if Toji had anything to say about it.
#shwrites#shwritestojifushiguro#toji fushiguro#x black reader#toji x black reader#jjk x reader#jjk smut#toji fushiguro smut#drabble#brainrot#Spotify#jujutsu kaisen
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hi. i ate this fic btw. it was very scrumptious nomnomnom
ok the fact that you wrote this for me for secret santa is already crazy bc every time you included my fav fics i started jumping with joy like you don't understand how serious this is for me
this fic is so so special to me i love movie theaters i love watching movies and the fact that you wrote this all with sunwoo like im close to tears. like i hate you but i also love you let's make out while national treasure plays in the background
i alr spammed your dms but i think this fic deserves a long ass note too so here goes
ok the first half of this fic. i genuinely hated sunwoo like idk how you did it but i was seriously like "maybe i'll find another bias" LIKE LDJWEOFJWE I HATE HIM SO BAD?? WHY DOES HE ALWAYS HAVE TO GET THE LAST STRAW and when he stole that spiderman poster i was like no fucking way bruh... AND HIM MAKING ME DO ALL THE HARD WORK i would've knocked him out i will fight you kim sunwoo don't play with me.
also yknow. i wouldve remade that damn rerun thursdays poster just to prove i am better than him
BUT WHEN HE PLAYED NATIONAL TREASURE I WAS LIKE OH MAN.... LET'S MAKE OUT PLEASE I WOULD RATHER KISS YOU THAN SEE NICHOLAS CAGE AGAIN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE đand when he saved me from that man đđđ oh save me sexy customer service kim sunwoo save me đ (him bringing me the poster afterward was a bonus fr)
âYeah⌠but I enjoy watching you make a scene,â he grins, shifting his attention towards you for a second with that lazy smirk playing with his lips. His hair is falling into his eyes and you have the urge to get it out of his face with a motion of your hand while also scolding him like a mother to finally get a haircut, just so you could see the twinkle in his mischievous orbs.
STFUWEFJNWEFMWELFKW I NEED HIM SO BAD WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENT KIND OF SCENE TGT FR (joking for legal purposes)
the scene where he's all sad like oh baby âšď¸ i can make you happy âšď¸ BUT ALSO THE WAY HE SAVED ME?? i am quite literally falling for you sunwoo let's make out i'm alr in your arms (but i wont forgive you for that atrocious decoration)
âYeah,â Sunwoo chuckles, âitâs like a shittier fall. Itâs cold and dark all the time. It would be different if it snowed, though. I love it when it snows.â
he's like a little kid bro (ok apparently y/n says that right after so..)
i love it when y/n is sassy like yes go girl deny that polar express is your fav christmas movie just so sunwoo won't get the satisfaction (karma for him wanting to make his underage sister work)
but also sunwoo is so lazy wdym "grab a chair" im tryna do something nice for you even if you don't know about it??? he wouldn't even get up off the ground to put the star up like ok bro⌠(i'm lazy too but ig not as much as sunwoo)
Sunwooâs face starts slowly morphing, the slightest of shifts slowly adding up to a change of expression, having the male break out into the biggest, happiest grin youâve ever seen him sport. His eyes light up and glaze your features in the softest of touches, his head shaking in disbelief. âOh, youâre adorable.â
I'M GONNA KMS BTW. IN MY GOODBYE LETTER I'LL WRITE THIS IS YOUR FAULT.
the way we go from hugging to him kissing my cheek to full on making out is astonishing. like wow ok progress to make up for the last two months of pining. also ok sure you might as well give me hickeys to make up for it. BUT ALSO FUCK SUNWOO'S DAD FOR BEING A COCKBLOCKER BRUHHH WE WERE FINALLY GOING SOMEWHERE!!!
the way you write makeout scenes (or just. you writing in general) is so intimate like i had to take five breaks reading this scene bc i felt in the moment and i was like đđđđ i haven't even had my first kiss yet i'm not readyfor this
(also the way you constantly mention his chapped lips you're so me) (but also my standards are so low that him putting on vaseline so i don't have to kiss his lips is so endearing like i need him so bad)
WDYM SUNWOO'S BITCHASS GHOSTED ME LIKE??? ngl i kinda fell in love with y/n more than sunwoo cause wdym she runs back to sunwoo just cause she saw it snowing like âšď¸âšď¸âšď¸ me when âšď¸âšď¸âšď¸
ok but he definitely makes up for it with the snowball fight and when y/n brushes the snow off his cheeks and then he puts the hat on her and then y/n hugs him with the jacket UGHHH I HATE YOU BAR I HATE YOU SO MUCH HOW DID YOU KNOW I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO JACKET HUG
The kiss is sweet. The kiss tastes of strawberry mints and the first snow, of unsaid confessions and longing looks sent your way every time you werenât looking. The kiss makes your stomach fill with a thousand little butterflies, it melts away the ice around you, the two of you like a spark of a fire in the middle of a snowy land.
i'm gonna murder you and then steal your writing style.
âYou better text me about something else too, Kim Sunwoo,â you bark back, opening the door towards the cold landscape, âor youâre gonna have a very uncomfortable return back to work in January!â
EXACTLY LIKE DONT PLAY WITH ME KIM SUNWOO.
also i didn't mention this before but the chapter titles are so cute and creative!!! and the playlist is so suited for this fic too, you know i don't listen to music but i listened to the playlist just 4 u (also i stalked all ur playlists sorry not sorry i bookmarked the mon amour one cause i love gemini)
bar. you should skip your final tmrw and make out with me instead. you sexy genius for writing this absolute masterpiece of a fic. i'll start drinking for you and we can get high on cigs tgt and i can press it against your lips like your friend's loser bf before i replace it with my lips. sounds good?
(all jokes aside i love you so bad. thank u so much for writing this for me i will forever cherish it)
plot twist â k. sunwoo
pairing: kim sunwoo x gn! reader
genre: coworkers au, enemies to lovers au. fluff, a poor attempt at comedy. movie theatre! worker sunwoo and reader. bitch boy sunwoo. the reader has anger issues. owner's son! sunwoo being annoying about everything. winter themes, sunwoo is a little kid about stuff but mostly the snow.
wc: 21k
warnings: swearing, a heated make out session. y/n's inner monologue is just my own feelings about this man im sorry. i watched too much of the office when writing this can you tell. also i made sunwoo's sister underage for plot reasons deal with it.
working with kim sunwoo has so far been the worst experience of your whole entire life. just his existence alone is enough to make your day completely miserableâ though, one would think that working with movies on the daily would prepare you for the biggest plot twist of your life.
a/n: this took me SO LONG to write woah. i have a humble playlist for this fic if any of yall wanna listen to it while you read <3 a huge thank you goes to my best friend @csenke for being my biggest motivator and hype man when it came to this fic. thank u for being my first ever beta reader hihi i couldn't have done this without you i am forever grateful ily. also im tagging @heemingyu because whe told me to
ho ho ho! this fic is a part of the secret santa event by @deoboyznet ! @kimsohn maya, i was your secret santa this year, i hope you enjoy the fic i prepared for you
TONIGHT'S PREMIERE â UGLY TRUTH (2009)
If anyone ever asked you about your job in the movie theater, you wouldnât really know what to say.Â
You see, what may had seemed like your dream job when you were little, acquiring the fairytale vision after going to the cinema for the first time to see the Horton movie when you were just 7, quickly turned into reality one ordinary day during your junior year of university. And it wasnât even that hard; you just dropped off your CV at the movie theater on the corner of the town's square when you saw the sign that said âlooking for part-timersâ in a messy, giant handwriting on the glass doorâ and soon enough, you found yourself in the depths of the vintage-looking cinema, wearing the red uniform the owner gave you, selling movie tickets to teenagers and taking out the trash. Itâs hard to enjoy the job when youâre on bathroom cleaning duty, though, and the fact that this is what you once imagined to be the most exciting job in the whole entire world turns twice as boring when you realize just how mundane it really is.Â
Still, you canât bring yourself to quit, well, because you need the money.
Do you hate working in the cinema? No. Not really. Sure, itâs kind of boringâ especially on the nights when youâre selling tickets at the front and nobody comes in for hoursâ but itâs not that difficult. Itâs not physically or mentally demanding, so youâd say that youâre still on the better end when it comes to work environment. Your boss isnât a dick and you get paid on timeâ so really, if anyone asked you if you hated it, your answer would be no.Â
Until one fateful day, of course.Â
Youâre met with a person thatâs going to efficiently change this opinion around in one swift bat of their eyelashes and a drag of their hand through their messy hair.
âSo⌠youâre the new part-timer?â a tall boy asks you one day when you arrive at work. Youâre already wearing your uniform when you come through the front doorâ since you donât really feel like changing in the toilets that are not staff-exclusive hereâ and frankly, his voice startles you on your way in.
âYeah,â you nod, furrowing your brows at the stranger. âAnd you areâŚ?â
âSunwoo,â the boy says, matter-of-factly, as if youâre supposed to know who exactly he is now that heâs introduced himself to you. The look on your face may show that youâre still clueless, and see, thatâs something that must have played with the boyâs ego. âKim Sunwoo,â he snickers, âthe ownerâs son..?â
Blinking a few times, trying to remember if Mr Kimâs ever told you about having a sonâ he hasnâtâ you gasp like a fish on the dry, nodding. âOh⌠Hello..?â you mumble, not really knowing what to do with the information.
âHi,â he says, face stone cold and motionless. Somethingâs wrong, but you canât quite put your finger on itâŚ.Â
Well, youâll have to deal with that later. âMy shift starts in 5 minutes, so I gotta find Mr- your dad, and ask him whatâs on my to-do list today, but it was nice meeting you,â you try to force out a polite (maybe even warm) smile before you turn on your heel and march towards the staff room, where Mr Kim usually resigns unless he is helping you out with something at the front. See, on not busy days, working at the cinema requires only one person. On Fridays, though, it can get tough. Thatâs when the owner makes the popcorn while you both sell and scan the tickets at the same timeâ sometimes you wonder why he doesnât hire another person to help out with the job.
âWaitâ newbieââ
The nickname startles you, again, as you turn around and squint at him. You have a nameâ and although he has no way of knowing it (other than his father telling him, but seeming that you didnât even know about his son, Mr Kim isnât big on sharing information)â but still, youâd love to be called by it. âItâs Y/N, actually.â
âOh, rightâŚâ he hums, âwell, Y/N, dadâs not here tonight, so⌠Iâm⌠kind of in charge,â he says, nodding as he gets the words out, trying to prove his point, âhe had other things to take care of, so he sent me down instead,â he explains, watching as your face morphs into one of quick understatement.
âOh.â
âYeah,â he nods, sucking on his teeth.
Thick silence overtakes the atmosphere. You feel awkward and out of place.
âSoâŚ?â you hum, waiting for him to tell you what to do.Â
Because a guy your age ordering you around at work is already embarrassing enough for a university student just trying to pay for their groceries. Youâre not gonna ask for the orders yourself. You still have some dignity.
âSo⌠I could take the ticket booth and you can clean the screening room, since there are no movies on tonight?â he suggests, rocking on his heels. The boy seems a bit shaken with the new sense of responsibility, but you figure that even his undoubtful awkwardness still doesn't put you above his position.
You mentally sigh. Cleaning is your least favorite part of the job.Â
Still, youâre not gonna talk back to your bossâ son. Youâd like to keep your job for a while longer. At least until you find something better.
âAlright,â you nod, turning on your heels once more and preparing to disappear into the depths of the cinema.
His voice stops you again, though, frustration flowing through your veins. âDonât forget to mop the floors! Oh, and the bathroom could use a clean as well.â
âAlright,â you nod again, your back facing him.
âAlso, you need to get the gum off the chairs, I know itâs kind of disgusting, but thereâs a-â
âI know how to do my job, thank you,â you turn, smiling ironically over your shoulder.
You donât know what it is about the man that makes you so, so incredibly irritated. Maybe itâs the fact that every bit of information coming out of his mouth sounds like heâs mansplaining everything to you. Maybe itâs the fact that you feel humiliated to be told what to do by a man thatâs your age. Or maybe, itâs just the sheer fact that you hate cleaningâ the one thing he just told you to do.
Still, you go and get the vacuum. You go and mop the floors, you go and take the gum off the chairs and scrape it into a bucket you keep in the pantry in the back. You go and clean the bathroom, even though itâs 10 minutes until the end of your shift (you only work 4 hours on Wednesdays) and you spent almost your whole day cleaning the whole screening room by yourself (the screening room thatâs giant and Mr Kim helps you with on most days). You go and wipe the mirror in the bathroom, as well as the windows in the hall.Â
You say that your work in the cinema is not physically demanding, but by the time youâre out, your back hurts and your knees are all bruised up from getting on the ground so often.
What really sets you off, though, is the sight of the ownerâs son sitting in the booth, both legs up on the table and chewing on something, his phone in his hands as he watches, what you presume from the language resonating from the speaker, a silly anime. At least someone had fun during their shift, you think as you leave without saying goodbye to him, slamming the door behind you with a loud bang on your way out.
Quite frankly, you didnât know what set you off so bad this time. Maybe you just had a bad day. Maybe it could've been fixed with your next shared shift with the guyâ you never know.
Little did you know that it was only going to get worse from now on, though.
TONIGHT'S PREMIERE â PALM SPRINGS (2020)
If you knew your bossâs son would play the role of your supervisor from time to time, you probably wouldn't have taken the job when it was offered to you.Â
Why?
The reason is quite simpleâ while you go to work to make money, Kim Sunwoo goes to work to make your whole life a living hell. Ranging from always giving you the more difficult task of the day to making unfunny jokes about your performance (he once asked if you ran a marathon after you mopped the whole hall, his grinning figure staring at you from inside of the ticket booth), youâre starting to think that Kim Sunwoo is mentally stuck with the brain of an 11-year old boy.Â
More so with his recent endeavors. You donât really know what heâs trying to achieve with all of this, but youâre starting to despise going to work even when you know heâs not on the scheduleâ somehow, youâre afraid his silly pranks and jokes will follow you and surprise you even when heâs not present. Is this his way of asserting dominance? You really donât know.
It all starts one day before a movie premiere when Sunwoo walks up to you and introduces you to a new concession item to sell in the snack booth. While you donât really know why one would even think of new combinations to sell at a cinema, since everyoneâs just gonna get popcorn or nachos, you donât really question the idea much furtherâ Sunwooâs father owns this place, so he must know the best marketing strategies for his business. The reality only downs on you when youâre forced to promote the âUltimate movie mixâ to every customerâ which wouldnât even be that strange, if the mix didnât include the weird combination of pickles and candy.Â
Running on two all nighters and half an energy drink, you didnât realize the snack stand doesnât even hold pickles. You were notified the day after by your boss, though, and that wasnât your best experience.
The terror follows when Sunwooâs father decides to run a Star Wars marathon one weekend. The flood of customers wouldnât be as hard to manage when you run the snack stand, but it does get more difficult when your coworker running around with a lightsaber knocks over all the buckets of freshly-made popcorn you just put on the counter for the customers to take.Â
He doesnât even say sorry. Or help clean the spilled popcorn up from the floor. Or help you make a new batch.Â
He just laughs.
Sunwoo just loves to laugh at you. Like that one time he made you wear a giant popcorn costume and stand in front of the cinema for the entirety of your 4 hour shift on Wednesday to promote the new movie airing on Friday. Hardly anyone took the fliers you were desperately trying to force into their hands and when you came back, you saw Sunwoo pointing his camera at you from the big glass window.Â
The next shift, his dad asked you how Sunwoo did when promoting the movie. You didnât have the heart to tell him he forced you to do the dirty business instead.
Another time, Sunwoo informs you via text in the middle of your shift that you should clean the bathrooms. The fact itself already makes you furious, but you follow the order nonethelessâ because, well, what else can you do? Youâre used to cleaning the toilets, since itâs a part of your job. Itâs just the fact that a guy your age told you to thatâs making you rethink all your career decisions.
The trip to the bathrooms quickly turns traumatizing when you step inside of the tiled room and have the door behind you close with a loud bang, followed by the light switching off. Screeching, you jump and try to escape the room with fear making your heart run faster than Usain Bolt, however, you find the door seemingly lockedâ the sound of Sunwooâs snarky laugh coming from the other side making you recognise what just happened and how heâs pulling another one of his childish pranks on you again.
When the door finally opens, you throw the toilet brush into his chest and scream out a âIâm going to fucking quit if I see your face one more time!â. Youâre over all formalities.
That doesnât mean youâre not scared every time you enter a room in the cinema when you work with Sunwoo, though. Your reaction was strengthened very abruptly, you see.
Sitting in the ticket booth, door ajar to monitor your surroundings, you plop your head on your hand and glare at Sunwoo, chewing on your gum. If anyone saw you right now, theyâd think you were trying to kill him with your stare, but the opposite would actually be the truth tonightâ you were quite enjoying the sight of him wiping the sweat off his forehead and scowling at the neverending flow of customers.
The beauty of having ticket booth duty on premiere night is that everyone bought the tickets beforehand already, meaning that it wasnât usually busy. Scanning the tickets and running the snack booth were the more difficult parts of the shift, and since Mr Kim decided to show up to work today, Sunwoo was graced with the snack booth dutyâ something that warmed you up from the inside and made you want to kiss your bossâs feet in gratefulness.Â
Thereâs just something about seeing Kim Sunwoo in misery that makes your stomach turn and do cartwheels. Youâre in love with his pathetic, tired face.
His eyes meet yours when he takes a moment to breatheâ the look behind them is pleading, almost embarrassingly hopeless as he internally wishes he was in your place. You think this serves him right for the weeks of torture, and when he becomes you to come over with a motion of his hand, you just shrug at him and bat your eyelashes in faked innocence.Â
Itâs not your fault heâs on duty tonight. What does he want with you?
His lips mouth âCome here,â which makes you battle a satisfied smile. Poor Kim Sunwoo is helpless in his task. The rush just wonât stop and heâs asked of more than he can handle. You kind of feel sadistic when you truly think about your sentiments, but you think youâre only valid for feeding on his misery.
âHelp!â he mouths again, and now you truly canât battle the laughter anymore. His hair is tousled and sticking to his forehead. His uniform is dirty. The tie around his neck is loose. The sight makes you utterly satisfied.
As he mouths âPlease,â accompanied by clasped hands and a pleading look that would work on most women, you finally decide to stand up from the uncomfortable chair in the ticket booth and shake your head in disbelief. You canât even count how many times Sunwoo left you alone in the rush before a premiere, but you canât really risk his father finding out you didnât come to rescue his beloved son, since however you might hate this job, you still canât lose it in your current living conditions.
Sighing and closing the door to the ticket booth after you, your legs take you to the snack stand. Eyes of enthusiastic customers looking almost high on coca cola and the smell of salted popcorn are on you when you finally reach Sunwooâs side.Â
âSo Iâm supposed to help you with your work whenever you ask, but when Iâm left cleaning the whole theater completely alone, you can sit around and play on your phone?â you jab, annoyed with the turn of events. You find a spare apron and tie it around your waist, not really wanting to dirty your uniform as you pour caramel into some buckets of popcorn, hearing your companion chuckle next to you.
âYeah, pretty much.â
âOkay, so Iâll be back in the ticket booth after serving this customer-â
âMy dadâs watching.â
âThis is blackmailing,â you snap back, smiling ironically at your coworker.
Sunwoo grins at you when he hands two cokes to the teenage girls behind the counter, shrugging to himself. âNot my problem.â
You learned long ago that fighting with Kim Sunwoo is a battle you can never win. Logically, you know youâre always right, but the boy always thinks he should have the last word in everything, which makes ending an argument with him pretty much impossible. Thatâs why you stopped trying to prove your truth. In your heart, you know how it is, and no amount of snarky remarks from the feisty boy will change your opinion.
You two work alongside each other in silence for some time. Youâd even say itâs efficientâ you make the popcorn and he makes the nachos, both of you taking turns behind the coca cola machine, and after a few minutes in his proximity when heâs not being the butt of the Earth, your brain starts to question why you two canât operate like this on a daily basis.
Oh, how foolish of you.
Youâre quickly brought back to reality when you walk over with the grande size bucket of popcorn towards the counter, meeting halfway with Kim Sunwooâs chest.
It takes everything in you not to scream, but the restraint is deleted as soon as you feel something cold dripping down the front of your uniform, your white button-up suddenly sticking towards your chest in a big, dark-brown pool around your waist area. One sharp look into his eyes is everything it takes you two to come to a mutual understanding of what your next action is gonna beâ Sunwoo quickly puts the now empty cup of coca cola onto the counter and puts a hand towards his head in self-disappointment.
âKim Sunwoo, are you fucking incompetent?!â you scream out, the sensation of your cold shirt sticking to your already sweaty skin making you want to crawl out of yourself and scratch your coworkerâs eyes out with the claws of the demon he wakes up in you.
âLook, you donât have to-â
âI just washed this yesterday, thereâs a line of people waiting for their snacks up to the fucking front door, you just ruined the popcorn I made so now I have to redo it, and you just decide to spill this onto me?!â you continue with your rampage, not really caring about the eyes of everyone on you, just letting out all your built-up frustration that creeps inside of you every time you see his face.
âAs if I did this on purposeâŚâ he grunts as he turns around in his place and reaches for napkins, not really putting much thought into his actions as he presses the material into the damp place sticking to your skin.Â
The image startles youâ Kim Sunwoo almost in physical contact with you, a paper napkin soaking up some of the coca cola flooding the surface of your skinâ and as you watch his slender palms run over your front, your eyes falling to the fluffy hair at the crown of his head, you feel heat rushing to your insides, making you jump away from him.
âSorry-â he mumbles out as you forcefully pry the napkin out of his hand, gritting your teeth.
âIâm starting to think youâre making me do everything just because youâre useless,â you spit at him.
Rolling his eyes, Sunwoo pokes his cheek with the tip of his tongue. âIt was an accident.â
âDonât care,â you grunt, walking away from the booth, âIâm going to change in the back, you better not burn the place down with the popcorn machine before Iâm back,â you comment, sending him a sharp glare over your shoulder.
All that accompanies you to the staff room is Sunwooâs loud sigh and a sugary-sweet tone he offers to one of the customers as he throws the ruined popcorn into the trash. âIâll be right with you, miss!âÂ
If anyone asked you if you hated your job now, you think youâd say yes.
Who are you kidding?
Youâd definitely say yes.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â THE HATING GAME (2021)
You were quite pleased on your way to work today. Itâs Wednesday, which usually means itâs not as busy. The weather is cloudyâ good enough to not make you gloomy, but not quite sunny enough to make you wish you were outside instead of being stuck in the cinema the whole afternoonâ and you packed a home-made sandwich with you to eat on your lunch break. Which is whenever, since youâre on ticket booth duty todayâ another great news.Â
The best thing about today, though? Kim Sunwoo isnât working today.Â
That alone is good enough to make your whole entire day better. The sun shines brighter, your breathing is lighter, the air is clearer and the birds chirp louder when you know you donât have to interact with the hellspawn that day. Itâs like his absence alone is enough to heal all your wounds and delete all your worriesâ who cares about the fact that youâre barely getting through your Biology class when you know you wonât have to stare at Sunwooâs face as you contemplate dropping out of university during your shift?Â
Maybe you should thank him, in a way.
And with all of this knowledge, a smile plastered on your face as youâre prepared to sit through your 5-hour shift in silence with an occasional swipe through your social media and a well deserved chicken-mayo sandwich towards the end of your shift, itâs quite natural for your smile to freeze and your spirit fall the moment you see the mop of dark brown hair walk through the doors of the cinema.Â
âWhat the fuck is he doing here?â you mourn as he walks by, only realizing you said the sentence out loud when the boy looks at you with a scowled face, a scoff escaping his throat.
âDidnât know we were speaking to each other in third person now,â he says as he stops in his tracks and plops his head into the door to your booth, infesting your calm abode with his presence.
Deep breaths. In and out, Y/N. In and outâŚÂ
âHello to you too, Y/N,â he smiles, irony dripping off his tongue, âhaving a good day so far?â
âIt was better without you here, thank you,â you snap back, rolling your eyes at him when his eyes flash with something akin to a victoryâ it seems you both take joy in making the other one absolutely miserable with your presence.
âSweet,â he nods on his way out, grinning to himself. âWell, I wonât be long, so donât let your mood drop too much.â
With that, heâs out of the ticket booth. All thatâs left behind him is the smell of his cologneâ the tingle of lemon and bergamot filling your nostrils in a way that makes the fine hair at the back of your neck stand up all alertâ and silence. It makes you wonder about his whereaboutsâ you can never know⌠what if heâs setting up a trap for you somewhere? You wouldnât be half surprised. You make a mental note to yourself to be twice as cautious when going to the bathroom next time. Just to make sure.
Before youâre able to think of any possible situations that Sunwoo could get himself caught in (while completely ignoring the fact that his father is somewhere in his office in the backâ for all you know, he might just need to talk to your boss, like a son does sometimes), the woodworm of your thoughts appears in your view again, two rolled-up tubes under his shoulder as he walks over to the front door.
âWait! What are those?â you ask, eyes zeroing on the very clear posters in his grip. The shiny white back of the big posters you have to sometimes put up in the front of the cinema are unmistakable to anything else.
âPosters,â Sunwoo replies, calling over his shoulder, already halfway out of the building.Â
âI know what those areââ
âThen why are you asking?â he huffs, shaking his head in disbelief as he takes a few steps towards the ticket booth, eyes meeting yours. His figure fills the door frame as he towers over you, still sitting on the chair. His eyes have a different kind of twinkle in themâ you think, no, you know itâs mischiefâ making the blood in your veins boil at deadly temperatures.
âBecauseâ well,â you huff, already frustrated, âweâre not allowed to take these,â you say, pointing to the two posters under his shoulder like a kid in the candy store. You try to ignore just how embarrassing you must look right in this moment.
âOh,â he pouts, taking the posters from below his shoulder, unraveling one of them and resting the other one against the doorframe, âso youâre telling me⌠I canât take those two amazingly big, shiny, cool posters of the latest Spiderman movie home for me and my friend Juyeon?âÂ
Youâre only half-aware of the fact that heâs teasing you right now, sighing at his innocent face. âNo, Sunwoo. You canât.â
âHm,â he hums, looking at the poster from top to the bottom, seemingly sad about the news, âthatâs terrible. Says who?â
âYour⌠your father, Sunwoo. He told me when I asked him the other day if I could takeââ
âYou wanted to take posters home from the cinema?â he gasps, looking at you with big eyes. He looks stupid. So, terribly stupid. Dumb. No thought behind his eyes. You want to smash his head against a concrete wall.Â
âŚHeâs teasing you. It finally dawns on you.
Now, you want to smash your head against a concrete wall.
Still, you admit defeat with a solemn tone in your voice. âWell, I really wanted the Enola Holmes poster to put up in my bedroomâŚâ you mumble.
âAnd my dad said no?â he asks, eyebrows quirking up towards his hairline.
âYes, Sunwoo. Your father said itâs prohibited to take posters home from the cinema, thatâs exactly why Iâm stopping you right now,â you say, tone filled with annoyance. You know heâs enjoying your face full of misery. But still, if thereâs one thing youâre good at, itâs following the rules and ordersâ if Mr Kim says you canât take the posters home, youâll go in the back and tear them into pieces before throwing them into the bin like youâre told to.Â
If things were going your way, youâd advise Sunwoo to do the same.Â
A day with Kim Sunwoo in it never goes your way, though. You shouldâve been prepared.
âSo I canât take those posters home because my dad said no?â he clarifies, looking like a dummy. Like one of those kids that ask the most obvious questions during exams. Like one of those kids you want to sucker punch in the face.
âSunwooââ
âWell, Y/N-ie,â he purrs, the nickname making your hands curl up in fists, âthatâs too bad⌠because I am the ownerâs son, so⌠the rules donât really apply to me, you see.â
And with that, he sends another sickeningly sweet smile your way before he turns on his heel and marches towards the front door againâ not responding to any of your annoyed, infuriated calls of his name. He doesnât stop at your warnings. He doesnât care.
And just like that, he disappears just as fast as he appeared. The interaction didnât last more than 10 minutes, but you consider your whole day ruined.
Fucking Sunwoo and his fucking privileges. And his fucking annoying face.Â
Itâs not even that important. Itâs just two posters that would get thrown out to the dumpster in the back at the end of your shift anyway. You donât even care about those posters in particularâ you just with equal rules applied to all workers in the workplace.
Itâs not like Spiderman Homecoming is one of your favorite movies⌠not at all.
You couldâve had that poster. You deserved that poster. You sold tickets for it and served the snack booth when it premieredâ not Kim Sunwoo and whatever his friendâs name was.
You kick the wall with your sneaker. It leaves a dirty mark.
You shouldâve known the day felt too good to be true.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1993)
Thereâs a new thing Mr Kim is trying to lure more customers into the cinema. He calls it âRewind Thursdaysâ, where he picks a movie from the past and airs it in the theater again to bring out nostalgia in the whole town. You think itâs a good ideaâ you remember when the Harry Potter movies had a rerun back when you were little, ecstatic that you finally got to see them in the cinema because you missed out on the experience when they were coming out for the first time. You went even though you saw them all before, and you had a blast. So in your books, this was the best thing that could happen to the little, old movie theater on the corner of the townâs square.
You were overbeared with joy when Mr Kim went up to you during one of your slow Wednesday shifts in the ticket booth with a paper and a pen, requesting you to write down your favorite movies. He informed you that heâd prefer it if they were older, to, quote, really get the nostalgia going, and you were happy to have some say in the list of movies to play for multiple reasons. One, because it meant he valued your opinion, and two, you donât usually work on Thursdays, so if your favorite movie is on that day, you can go and relax in the cinema while watching it.
This all happened a few weeks ago. You gave the list back to your boss at the end of your shift, smiling brightly just thinking about it, and he told you heâll get through it and see what he can incorporate.Â
The plan gets to you on one uneventful Wednesday. You are stuck in the ticket booth again. Today is one of the Wednesdays where Sunwoo is in charge, because Mr Kim is out of town. You hate those days most of them all, but recently, heâs been giving you your freedom and letting you work in the ticket booth instead of cleaning the already clean cinema, saying he has stuff to do in the back. You suspect he just sits around in his fatherâs office with his legs on the table, chewing on his obnoxious strawberry mints. The image makes you furious only the tiniest bit, because the fact that heâs out of your sight and isnât ordering you around is enough to calm your nerves. It could always be worse, you remind yourself. It could always be worse.
âI have the schedule of âRerun Thursdaysâ all done,â Sunwoo says as he walks up to the ticket booth close to the end of your shift. His eyes look a little tired when he holds up a thick card to you, the design of the poster making your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Did he do that?
âItâs âRewind Thursdaysâ, actually,â you note, pointing towards the very obvious mistake on the top of the poster.
âOh fuckâ you know what, not anymore,â he scowls, taking the poster back from you and pointing glares at the title he mistyped, âI spent 3 hours on this, Iâm not remaking it.â
âIt looks like a kindergartener did it,â you note, eyes scanning the bubbly font and the orange-yellow combination used throughout the whole design when he offers the paper back to you. It looks like a Winnie the Pooh convention is taking place instead of an event full of nostalgic movies, and you would tell him that, but he beats you to it with a tired remark.
âWell, if my father wanted this to look professional, he shouldâve hired someone to do it,â he mutters, obviously hurt by your harsh words, âI used Canva. I donât know how Photoshop works and my dad can barely operate the computer, so this is what weâre going with, okay?â he says as he explains, big eyes suddenly bearing into yours. âUnless you wanna redo it yourselfâŚ?â
âAbsolutely not.â
âThen this is the final poster,â he says, âIâm gonna hang those outside when we close,â he notes, watching you scan the movie titles. The event will take place in 4 weeks from the middle of November to the middle of December (right in time for Christmas movies to air, since youâre certain Mr Kim has another Christmas-themed business tactic up his sleeve).Â
âDid any of your movies make it?â Sunwoo asks, surprisingly friendly. You canât remember a single casual conversation with the maleâ all you two do it either give each other the silent treatment or scream at each other (more like you scream at him, but he always deserves itâŚ), so youâre kind of surprised at the change. Not pleasantly surprised. Just surprised.
Eyes falling to the second movie on the list, you feel yourself nodding as you smile. Itâs like a dream come trueâ you can finally see your favorite movie in the cinema for the first time. You donât know who to thank for this miracle, but something in your insides feels very grateful.Â
âYeah,â you say, trying to seem unaffected. Youâd rather kill yourself than to show any signs of emotion in front of Kim Sunwoo. All he deserves to see is your stone cold face.
âWhich one?â he asks, seemingly interested.
âNational treasure,â you hum, pointing to the movie on the list, having Sunwoo nod to himself. You expect him to say something to youâ perhaps engage in a conversation like a normal person wouldâ but suddenly, he gasps and takes out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket, offering it to you and playing the role of the manager again.
âOh, by the way,â he starts, watching as you unfold the paper, âI know we donât usually work on Thursdays, but since my dad decided to do all of this, we kinda have to, since he wouldnât be able to handle the premieres on his own, so⌠Here's your schedule for the next 4 weeks,â he says, clasping his hands together in front of him.
It takes everything in you to not correct the male and tell him that those are technically not premieres, but when your eyes land on the little Excel table Sunwoo printed out for you, the feeling is overpowered with one of deep disappointment.
âI work the second week?â you ask, as if the question might magically change the schedule.
âI mean, I think you can readâŚâ Sunwoo hums, shrugging to himself.
A heartbeat passes by of you staring at the schedule, a pit opening in your stomach at the realization. You only work 2 Thursdays out of 4, noticing the fact that you rotate with Sunwoo (with him somehow taking the first week, much to your surprise), but for some reason, one of those days had to be the day when National treasure is on.Â
And sure, you might think this is goodâ you can just watch the movie while you work!Â
Wrong.
Working means either staying in the ticket booth the whole time in case a customer comes, working the snack booth the whole time in case a customer comes, or cleaning the bathrooms. Working means also standing in front of the screening room sometimes, making sure no one is going in without a ticket in the middle of the movie.Â
There is no time for you to watch National treasure if youâre working.Â
Sighing, you decide to do something you always prohibited yourself from doingâ you ask Kim Sunwoo for a favor. âListen⌠my favorite movie is airing the week I work, so I was⌠wondering if we could exchange shifts? So I could go and watch it?â you ask, looking at your coworker with what you presume are pleading eyes. You hope it works on the boyâ he looks like the type to fold under a tender gaze.
âSo you want to get out of work only to still come?â Sunwoo clarifies, snickering.
âPretty much, yeah,â you nod, tapping your fingers on the table.
âWell, the schedule is set,â Sunwoo shrugs, âI canât do anything about it.â
Eyes sending darts to the very middle of Kim Sunwooâs forehead, you take a few calming breaths before you speak up again. You donât want to blow up on him when youâre asking him for a favorâ you donât think this approach would help you much in the situation.
âWhy?â
âBecause,â he shrugs.Â
âBecause?â you repeat. âThatâs the reason?â you say, a weak laugh dragging out of your throat.
âPretty much, yeah,â he mirrors your previous response, the blood in your veins already growing hot from the confrontation.
âSunwoo, youâ come on,â you say, âjust this once, please? Iâll take the first week. We can just switch, whatâs the difference?âÂ
Sunwoo tongues the inside of his cheek, eyes pointing towards the paper. âSchedule is schedule, Y/N. You have to follow it,â he says, an innocent look glazing his big fuckass boba eyes. Oh how you despise that look. Itâs the look that tells you he finds this all so, so amusing, but wonât laugh in your face in hopes of teasing you some more.Â
âOh, amazing,â you say, throwing the schedule to the table, âI knew I could always count on you ruining my day, Kim Sunwoo. And I bet you did the schedule as well! You knew it was my favorite movie, so you made me work that week. Very nice of you, you dumbass. Thank you very much,â you grunt, annoyance flowing through your brain and making you truly mercilessâ you have no proof of Sunwoo even knowing which movie of yours made it in, or proof of him making the scheduleâ you donât care, though. All you want at this moment is to claw his eyes out and pop them in between your fingers to ease the anger on your insides.
You canât do that, though, so a screaming match will have to do the job.
âStop being so dramatic,â he scoffs, eyebrows furrowing. âI didnât even know which one your favorite movie was, so how could I do this on purpose? Plus, I didnât even make the schedule, my dad didââ
âAs if I would believe that,â you roll your eyes, huffing. âYouâre all ownerâs son privileges this, ownerâs son privileges that, but when I ask you for one thing, one! Single! Fucking! Thing! You canât do it,â you bite, words dripping in spite.
âLook, I really canât-â
âYou canât do this one thing for me?â you cut him off, the question sounding like an ultimatum.
âNo,â he shakes his head, seemingly unaffected by the conversation.
âBecauseâŚ?â you demand a valid reason.
âBecause I just canât,â he shrugs, casual and cool.Â
The world stills for a moment. You calculate your next move. Blood rushes in your ears, you see red. Your eyes fall on the clockâ itâs 4 minutes after your shift. Thatâs it.
You take your coat draped over the chair, stand up from the chair and dash towards the front door. You canât stand being around this man any longerâ all he does is bring misery into your otherwise, already boring life.Â
Speedwalking out of the place, you yell out a harsh âGo fuck yourself!â over your shoulder, leaving Sunwoo to close the cinema by himself. You donât even change out of your uniform before you goâ your head is too clouded with anger to remember to do so. Cursing out your coworker isnât the best thing you could do in this situation, more so when heâs the ownerâs son, but suddenly, you donât really care about losing your job at the cinema anymore.
Maybe you should quit yourself, actually.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS (2003)
In your books, there arenât many things worse than working three days in a row. You can only think of so many even when you try hard enough: like going to school in your pajamas, getting sick on the day of an important event, ripping your pants on the metro, standing outside of the cinema in a popcorn costume for 4 hoursâŚÂ
Yeah. Not too many.
So naturally, on the third day of your work week, putting one sweetened coffee into your stomach after another, barely keeping your head up from the lack of sleep youâre getting in between classes, work, and writing your essays until 3 in the morning, you beg god for a calm shift. Itâs Wednesday, the first week of Mr Kimâs âRewind Thursdaysâ event, and it just so happened that you were set to work the first half of the week while Sunwoo got the other half.Â
The only thing keeping you going is the fact that you and Sunwoo will now basically not see each otherâs face for the next four weeksâ with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays, the premiere days. Youâre getting a lot of shifts this month, but hey⌠Christmas is coming. At least youâll have plenty of money to buy gifts for everyone this year. (Or not. Youâre very underpaid.)
Entertaining yourself by watching the world outside of your window and mentally betting on the race of raindrops falling down the glass surfaceâ because your phone battery almost ran out during class this morning and you forgot to bring your charger with youâ you hope you donât fall asleep right in this moment. Your boss is somewhere inside and if he oh just happens to check up on you (which he never normally does, but you can never be too sure), youâre certain youâd lose your job after taking a nap in the ticket booth. Some things just canât be accepted.Â
Cat fights with his son? Perfectly acceptable. Sleeping on the clock? Not so muchâŚ
Eyes drooping when the third raindrop race doesnât go the way you bet on in your head, you figure you can just rest for a second or two⌠Eyelids shielding your irises from the orange hues of the lights inside, your brain already turning off and preparing a happy dream for you, you think that taking a nap is not such a bad idea right nowâŚ
Wrong.
âGood morning, sleeping beauty,â the noise of a thunderâ actually, no, that was just someoneâs voiceâ wakes you up and makes you jump in your chair, your knee hitting the bottom of the table making you hiss in sharp pain.
âFuck, manââ
âDidnât know taking a nap was in the job description,â Sunwoo grins at you through the glass window of the booth. His eyes twinkle in amusement as you drag your hand through your hair, trying to smoothe it down after tousling it in your weird sleeping position.
âI wasnât sleeping,â you mutter, not even meeting his eye.Â
âOh?â
âYeah⌠just had⌠my eyes closedâŚâ you hum, scratching the back of your neck. Clearing your throat, you look back up at him with an disinterested look on your face. âAnyways, what do you want? Youâre off today.â
Scanning his figure, fully taking in his appearanceâ the fabric of his dark gray hoodie a little stained with raindrops (you bet he ran from his car into the building without an umbrella. He seems like the type to be embarrassed about umbrellas.), the fabric of the garment enveloping his head and shading his face a little from the ugly yellow lights. His face is a little flushedâ you presume itâs from the runningâ and his hair is falling into his face. You can barely see his eyes behind the curtain of chocolate locksâ he really needs a trim.
âDamn, didnât know you hated me so much that you canât stand seeing me on my off days,â he jokes, leaning on the counter as if to stick his face as close as he can into yours. Thank god for the glass shielding you twoâ you think youâd give him a fist to the nose if you ever felt his breathing on your skin.
âI do,â you agree, impatiently drumming your fingers on the top of the table, âso tell me what you want so you can disappear again,â you say.
âI just went to check up on whether you were sleeping or not so I can tell my dad to fire youââ
âKim Sunwooââ
He puts his arms up defensively, eyebrows raising at your threatening tone. âOkay, not really. I donât actually care that much. Besides, you promised to quit yourself anyway, so,â he explains, shrugging to himself, âbelieve it or not, Iâm here to buy tickets for a movie.â
You shoot him a stare, the look in your eyes dead, stone cold as you ponder on his words. Itâs cold outside, itâs raining, and Kim Sunwoo just happens to decide to buy tickets for a movie today. In a cinema that he works at. In a cinema that he works at tomorrow.
âYou work tomorrowâŚ?â you mirror your inner monologue, kind of confused at the turn of events.
âYou know my schedule? Iâm flatteredââ
The irritation is slowly creeping into your bones again. Actually, it has been since he arrived, but the more he talks, the more agitating the whole encounter feels. Maybe you should tape his mouth shut the next time you see himâ you bet the day would be so much better if you donât have to listen to him talk.Â
âWhy donât you just buy the tickets tomorrow when you work? Didnât have to walk here in the rain,â you explain, sighing to prove just how annoyed you are with his presence.
âBecause I kinda need them today,â he says, clarifying to you with the tone you use when you explain mundane things to a child.
You donât know what he did in his past life to get the ability to annoy you each and every time you meet him, but youâd like some of it to get back at him in your next life. Why youâre even thinking of past lives and the possibility of meeting Kim Sunwoo in your next one, youâre not really certain, but if it helps you to not smash the glass separating you two, you guess you can get behind the thought process.
âOkay,â you nod, painfully calm for the amount of screaming youâve been doing internally, âwhat movie?â you ask, turning your body to the computer on your right and breaking eye contact with him. If heâs a customer, youâre going to treat him like oneâ no small talk and no arguments. You wonât ruin your day even more over a man that doesnât know what chapstick is. (You donât stare at his lips, just for the record. Itâs just painfully obvious when he talks. Sometimes you want to reach over and pluck away the dead skin with your fingersâ you wonât, though. That would be weird.)
Sunwoo straightens his back as he fishes for his wallet in the front pocket of his jeans. âNational Treasure,â he smiles, making you break into cold sweat, âtwo tickets, please.â
Like a scene in a horror movie, your head turns without moving the rest of your body, eyes twitching when you see him standing at the other side of the booth, calm and collected. Suddenly, the scene makes senseâ he bought the tickets to see your favorite movie on the day of your shift. Of course. He just has to rub it in your face.Â
Not only are you working that day. You will also most likely serve popcorn to him as he goes inside with whoever he is buying the second ticket for. And you will try not to trip him on his way inside the screening room.
It was a smart move for him to not go inside the ticket booth with you, even though he has all the right to. You bet he knows youâd claw his eyes out if you had the chance.
âYou have to be kidding me.â
âWhat? I canât buy tickets for a movie?â he asks, innocence dripping off his tongue.
Breathing deeplyâ while trying to contain the demon thatâs begging to crawl out of your insides and tear him into 25 different piecesâ you smile ironically at the male, gulping before you speak. âThat would be 12 dollars, please,â you say, your customer service voice turning kind of eerie.
Not even letting the male choose his seatsâ he lost the privilege when he decided to come and buy the tickets for your favorite movieâ you print out two tickets with the worst possible view (the ones in the first row, far right. If Sunwoo loses his neck because he has to look up at the screen for the entirety of the movie, well, who are you to hate that) and offer them to your coworker.
Like a mind game, the male slips them into his pocket without even looking at them, not breaking eye contact with you sitting behind the booth.Â
âHave a nice day,â he says as he takes two steps back before fully turning and escaping through the front door, figure dashing towards the old Prius parked in front of the building.
Bawling your hands into fists, you try the breathing exercises you found the other week. Calm your body and your mind, the title said. You knew youâd need those when you saved the post into one of your boards on Pinterest.
Still, you canât help yourself. You simply cannot. You let it outâ itâs not healthy to keep negativity inside.Â
He canât hear you, but you still mutter a spiteful âI hope you choke,â under your breath as you settle back into the uncomfortable surface of the chair.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â YOUâVE GOT MAIL (1998)
Remember the time you said you didnât really mind having more shifts in November, because it meant a bigger paycheck? Yeah⌠that was true. For a few days.
Until you got a phone call one day from none other than Kim Sunwooâ whose number you didnât even want to save into your contacts, but after his insisting that itâs for work purposes, did so under the name âdumpster raccoonââ telling you that you have to get to work immediately, that his dad said so, and that itâs an emergency.Â
Do you believe him? No. Absolutely not.Â
His tone of voice was too calm to be in an emergency. If his dad wanted you to come to work today, he couldâve called you himself instead of making his son do it. And also, you really donât know whatâs so important to take care of on a Wednesday, since itâs the slow day of the week, but stillâ you angrily took off the facemask from your face before the timer even went off, shut your laptop with a half-watched episode of The office in your Netflix window, changed out of your comfy clothes and marched towards the cinema.Â
Because you never know. He might be saying the truth, after all. And if that was the case, you didnât want to be caught disobeying your boss.
You get to the old movie theater on the corner of the town center at 4 in the afternoon. The sky is already getting dark and you feel the coldness of November seeping into your bones, and so you waste no time in getting inside and chasing the heat of the vintage-looking interior. Your boots make a thudding sound as you walk across the hall, seeing Sunwoo sitting in the ticket booth in his usual habitat: with his phone in his hands and his feet up on the table, chewing on his favorite strawberry mints. Now this sight screams emergency if youâve ever seen one.
âWhat was so important for you to call me to work and then chill in the ticket booth all afternoon?â you ask, spite slipping off your tongue with every word you speak.Â
Sunwoo looks up at you from under his eyelashes, hair still slightly shielding his eyes. He doesnât even have his uniform onâ thereâs a gray hoodie enveloping his torso (you swear he lives in this garment. You wonder if he even washes it sometimes) and black jeans hanging off his hipsâ and the more you stare at him, the more you feel like punching him in the face.
âOh,â he hums, stretching out his limbs from the hours of sitting on the chair unmoving, âdad said to tell you to clean the screening room. Since itâs Thursday tomorrow, and all.â
The look on his face is innocent. He looks like he just told you the most casual piece of informationâ and truth be told, he kind of did. The whole thing is just not making any sense right now.Â
âI should clean the screening room today? Youâre on the clock, though, why donât you do it?â you ask, frustration clearly written all over your face. You were looking forward to having a self-care day today, so you can only imagine how tired of his endeavors you are right in this moment.Â
âYeah, but I am on ticket booth duty, so I canât,â he shrugs, frowning a little to prove his nonexistent point.
âItâs Wednesday. Itâs not busy. You know you can do both.â
âLook, itâs not me, itâs my dadââ
âIs it? Is it, Sunwoo?â you huff, arms flying into the air. âOr are you just using me to do the work you donât feel like doing? Because it really does seem like that right now,â you bite, running your hand through your hair in exasperation.Â
âDo you want me to call him?â Sunwoo asks, tone of voice suddenly threatening.Â
A heartbeat passes. You continue to have a staring contest with him. The fury inside of you rages like a storm. Still, you nod to the feeling of authority coming from your actual boss, and so you wordlessly turn on your heel and march towards the screening room, ready to clean the place in the least amount of time so you can go home and back to your selfcare endeavors. (Youâre adding printing out Sunwooâs face and throwing darts at it to the list of activities. You think you really need that right now.)
The screening room is dark when you come inside, and as you reach towards the lightswitch, you almost fear something jumping at you. See, the traumatic response from being locked up in the toilet from your coworker is still very present in your bones. When you stop working here, youâre going to ask for financial compensation for all the damage this boy did on your mental health.
You walk down the aisle of seats and try to inspect the damage. No movies air on Wednesday and there was only one kids movie going on Tuesday, so you can either expect it to be almost clean, or full of snacks that fell off the hands of grabby children during the cartoon. The more you inspect the place, though, the more it seems like⌠somebody already cleaned it before?
The floor is clean. The laminated surface under the seats has no smudge of dirt on it, like someone already mopped the place. And when you think back, the bins were empty as well.
The screening room was definitely cleaned before.
Which means that Sunwoo brought you here for absolutely nothing.
Suddenly, the lights go out. The whole room falls into darkness, and the anger inside of your veins very quickly mixes with panic as you try to climb up the stairs on the side of the screening room and escape. Your throat gets dry as you yell for your coworker, not really caring if your next outburst is going to get you fired or not.
âKim Fucking Sunwoo, why the fuck did you call me to clean an already cleaned screening room?!â you yell, not really knowing if he hears you or not. Doesnât matterâ it feels cathartic to do so anyway.
Your feet stumble on the awkwardly-long stairs, your figure almost falling to the ground. Managing to hold yourself up and steady your body before your head hits the sharp corner of one of the stairs and makes you die, you continue on with your small tangent. âYou really think this is funny? Youâre having fun pranking me all the time? I hate your guts, Kim Sunwoo, and I hope you burn in hell!â
A bright light suddenly illuminates the screening room, coming from somewhere behind you. When you look over your shoulder, the screen is white for a few moments before the opening credits of a Jerry Buckheimer film flash on the big surface, halting you in your movements. The sound is a little too loud in the speakers, but it gets adjusted the moment you almost lose your hearing. The moment you see Nicolas Cage appear, itâs clear as day.
Thereâs a movie playing. And the movie playing is National treasure.Â
You think youâre hallucinating. This is surely a fata morgana.
Standing in the middle of the screening room, your mouth hangs agape and your eyes go wide as you watch the first few scenes of the movie. Ben Gates already learns about the hidden treasure passed down through American history when you feel a slight nudge to your shoulder, making you turn your head to see a tall figure staring you down with a bucket of popcorn in their hands.
You are confused. So utterly confused. The movie was on last week. Youâd knowâ you worked the snack booth that day. The screening room is empty and itâs Wednesdayâ whatâs going on?Â
âCan you sit? Or are you just going to watch the movie standing in the aisle,â Sunwoo grunts, balancing the big bucket of popcorn and two drinks in his large hands, the sight comical and almost making you want to watch him suffer some more.
Caught off guard, though, you let him back you into the aisle of seats, your figure slouching into one of the red cushions like a rag doll. Sunwoo takes place next to you, placing the big bucket of popcorn into your lap, before he settles into a seat as well and focuses his eyes and attention on the movie.
âWhat⌠what is this?â you ask, frozen in the seat.Â
âHm?â Sunwoo frowns, looking at you. âNational treasure,â he hums, âI thought youâd know, since you threw a scene about it that one time.â
âI- I know that, I justâŚâ you trail off, still surprised at the turn of events, âwhatâs going on right nowâŚ?â
âWeâre watching National treasure,â he notes, talking to you as if you were slow.
âWhatâŚ?â
A sigh escapes Sunwooâs lips at your utter confusion, his hand coming up to the bucket of popcorn in your lap and throwing a handful of the snack into his mouth before speaking. âLook, Y/N. You said you wanted to watch your favorite movie in the cinema, so thatâs what youâre doing. Enjoy my ownerâs son privileges for once,â he shrugs, watching as your face morphs into an unreadable expression.
That explanation satisfies you for a bit. The shock in your insides, though? Still present.
Thereâs something about the whole gesture that makes your stomach feel uneasy. Sunwoo did something nice for youâ out of the kindness of his own heartâ and you really donât know why he would even think of something like this. You two arenât on the best terms either, after all. Maybe he finally went crazy.
Or maybe you did and this was all the result of your imagination. Either or.Â
Yeah, you must be the one thatâs gone batshit insane. Surely. Youâre certain of the fact when you reach for the popcorn and accidentally touch his hand, the two of you deciding to get some at the same time, and your stomach does a flip and your brain makes a sign for you to quickly retract your handâ but the feeling of his slightly cold hand against your fingertips is now engraved into your memory and wonât leave and let you focus on the movie no matter how hard you try.
âYou wouldnât have to do this if you just let me switch schedules with you that time,â you note, âjust saying.â
âI couldnât,â he shrugs.
âHuh? But you bought two tickets..?â
âYeah, but those were for my friends. I had to drive my mum down to grandmas that day, so I couldnât go or take your shift that day,â he hums, not once breaking eye contact with the screen.
âIf you wouldâve just said so, I wouldnât have made a scene about itââ
âYeah⌠but I enjoy watching you make a scene,â he grins, shifting his attention towards you for a second with that lazy smirk playing with his lips. His hair is falling into his eyes and you have the urge to get it out of his face with a motion of your hand while also scolding him like a mother to finally get a haircut, just so you could see the twinkle in his mischievous orbs.
âYou need to get serious help, then,â you grunt, pointing your gaze back towards the screen, unable to look at his face for any longer. Heâs being annoying again. Youâre annoyed.
âProbably,â he admits.
You two sit in silence for a while, the only sound accompanying you being the movie playing out on the big screen in front of you. You think this is the calmest you two have ever been around each other, and youâre starting to think that if Sunwoo just didnât talk, you two could even get along.
Something touches the side of your thigh in the darkness of the room. Eyes darting to the source, you notice Sunwooâs thigh pressing against yours, the cause of his obnoxious man-spreading, and something about the closeness of his body and the smell of his citrusy cologne makes you feel like your chest is heaving in on itself. You canât stand him around you. You two canât share this close of a space.
âAre you not leaving?â you ask.
âNo,â he hums, âshould I be?â
âWell, youâre on the clockâŚâ
The man snickers, shaking his head in disbelief. âY/N, you and I both know that the possibility of someone coming to buy a ticket on a Wednesday afternoon is close to zero. Me being there makes no difference in todayâs sales.â
His hand knocks into yours again as you reach for more popcorn. You gulp, nodding. âRightâŚâ
âAnd I wanted to see the movie to see if itâs really that good to make a scene about it,â he teases, another playful look sent your way from the corner of his eye.
You grunt, rolling your eyes. Oh how you hate his gutsâŚ
And even though you love the movie, you pray for it to end quickly. The more time you spend with Sunwoo forced into your zone of comfort, the more uncomfortable you feelâ even the slightest movement of his body affects you and makes your brain turn on overdrive. Itâs strange and itâs weird, and you donât understand how hatred for a person could manifest in such reactions.Â
Itâs better that you didnât notice you two sitting in the love seat. God knows you wouldnât handle that well. Youâd rather die than to hold on to that knowledge.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â CLUELESS (1995)
They say that you only start realizing just how stupid people can be when you work in customer service. As one of the only three employees of the small, vintage cinema on the corner of the townâs square, you can only agree with the sentimentâ you have a lot of stories to tell about the wonders of the human brain.
Like that one time you got screamed at because the movie tickets were âtoo expensiveâ â because naturally, you should be able to change the price of them when asked. Or that one time you got screamed at because the movie tickets were sold outâ because naturally, you should add more seats to the screening room just for the two middle-aged women to sit on during the premiere of the newest Orlando Bloom movie. Or when somebody yelled at you for the toilets being full after the movieâ naturally, you are supposed to throw people out in the middle of them peeing. Or build new stalls. Either or.
They say that you only start realizing just how stupid people can be when you work in customer service, but truly, you also realize just how rude they can also be for no reason at all.
Much like today. Itâs Friday, which means itâs premiere night. The tickets to all movies this week are sold out already, so no one is on ticket booth duty, and much to your relief, Mr Kim took the snack stand himself. Your responsibility for the day is scanning the tickets and then making sure no one is getting inside during the movie without a ticket.Â
Itâs not a hard job. Not at allâ you would even say nothing about working in the cinema is hard, when you donât have an annoying coworker trying to make your whole life a living hellâ but you see, customers love to make your job harder just by being unreasonably rude about things that are clearly out of your control.Â
âSir, I really canât let you in, Iâm sorry,â you say, tone of voice polite despite screaming on the inside. In front of you is standing a tall man, maybe a few years older than you, the expression on his face full of anger and vexation. They say a customer is always right. You agree only when the customer looks like they could wait for you after work and beat you up in the bushes. Sadly, that still doesnât mean you can let the man inside without a valid ticket.
âWhat do you mean? Little one, Iâm telling you I bought the ticket here, so if you donât let me inââ
âAll tickets purchased for the screening should be able to scan through this, sir, and if it doesnât work, I am not allowed to let you inside of the cinema,â you try to explain, getting kind of desperate. The line behind him was forming and the movie was supposed to play in a few minutes, so if you wanted to scan all the tickets in time, you had to be quick.
He wouldnât budge, though. His eyebrows are furrowed and the guy behind him seems to be getting angry as well, making the hair on the back of your neck stand up alert, like a cat when it senses danger. You try your hardest to keep your tone firm, hands clasped politely behind your back. âIâm gonna have to ask you to leave, sir, or maybe check in with the owner about the issue? I donât have the competence toââ
âListen, I wonât be talking to anyone, because you will let me in, okay?â
âSir, I canât-â
Your sentence is cut off by the man again, his fury making you take a step backwards in fear. âAnd if you donât, you will see the consequences.â
Gulping, you try to think of a way to get out of this situation. Mr Kim is too far away for you to call, and he is also busyâ the line is long and Sunwoo isnât working today. Itâs just the two of you today, so your options are getting slimmer. You canât let that man in without a working ticketâ it seems like the one heâs showing you is either a fake one, or bought in another cinemaâ but it seems like if you donât, heâll have you dead before the next morning.Â
âSo?â
Opening your mouth to answer (although your brain is still empty and you donât even know what more to say), a low voice coming from behind you startles you in the middle of your crisis. âIs there a problem here?âÂ
Turning your head to the source of the voice, youâve never been more relieved to see Kim Sunwoo in your close proximity. You watch as he puts a rolled-up poster to the ground behind you before he takes another step closer towards your figure, his expression stone cold and glaring at the man in front of you.Â
âYour coworker here wonât let me in to watch the movie,â he complains, hand waving around in a threatening way.Â
Just having Sunwoo around makes you more confident. Clearing your throat, your eyes dart to your coworker, seeing his face morph into irritation. âIt wonât scan his ticket, soâŚâ
âIf it wonât scan your ticket, it means itâs invalid and weâre not allowed to let you in,â Sunwoo says, tone of voice way less polite than the one you were using before.
âThatâs ridiculous-â
âYou are ridiculous,â Sunwoo grunts, annoyance clearly written all over his face. âYou were asked to leave, so maybe you should.âÂ
Truth be told, youâve been in a couple of arguments with Sunwoo before. In none of them has he ever looked and sounded like this, though. You and Sunwoo argue with spiteâ sparks flying waiting to start a fire, curses and harsh words thrown around carelessly in moments of heated hatred. His tone is stern, but never threatening. Never mean. Not in the way heâs being right now.
It makes you stare at him wordlessly. He seems to be taking the lead in the situation, reacting territorially to the man in front of him. You canât say you donât feel safer with him aroundâ you would be lying.
âMaybe you could just let me in and get this over withââÂ
âAnd maybe you could fuck off,â Sunwoo says back, something in his tone making your stomach feel all light. He looks serious, standing his ground, and the man finally seems to get the memo that heâs not watching the premiere tonight, because he backs off and grits his teeth at the male.
âYour boss will hear about this,â he threatens, making Sunwoo chuckle.
âIâm sure he will.â
Sympathetic looks are thrown your way from the women in the line behind that can finally come up to you so you scan their tickets. You smile at each one and try to seem unaffected by the exchange, but the memory of it still lingers in your brain and doesnât make you rest easy as you greet the rest of the customers.Â
You didnât even realize Sunwoo was still standing next to you, watching you work. He seems to recognise your shaken-up composure, tone of voice sympathetic and quiet as he asks: âYou okay?â
âWhat?â you ask, surprised by the question, âoh. Yeah, Iâm fine. He was just⌠being a bitch, the usual.â
âYeah,â he snickers, âwhy didnât you just scream at him like you do to me? I bet that would scare him away,â he notes, making you roll your eyes at the comment.
âBecause he looked like he could beat me up, Sunwoo.â
âAnd I donât?â he gasps, suddenly offended.
You scan the boy up and down, pretending to think it over for a few before you shake your head. âNo,â you shrug, âI could beat you up.â
âExcuse you?â he gasps, crossing his arms at his chest in a defensive stance, the shock on his face mixing in with amusement.Â
âDonât believe me? Wanna try?â you test, the conversation suddenly flowing freely, without you even noticing. You donât pay it much thought, but you guess getting along with Sunwoo is easier when heâs on your side. Most of the time, heâs not, thoughâ and maybe thatâs the problem.
âOkay,â he nods, âmeet me in the back when youâre off. No weapons allowed, weâll do it the street style. This is a battle of fists,â he points a finger at you, the sentence making you sigh dreamily and point your eyes towards the ceiling.
âYou canât even imagine how long Iâve been waiting for this moment.â
Sunwoo smiles at thatâ that dumb, boyish smile you usually so despiseâ and shakes his head at your antics. The conversation dies down a bit after the exchangeâ with you scanning the tickets and trying your hardest to make it through the line before the movie starts, when your coworker, dressed in none other than his signature gray hoodie and black jeans, nudges you with his elbow. âWant me to stay for a bit, or are you good now?â
âI can take care of myself, Sunwoo,â you sigh, âyou can go about your day.â
âWell, it didnât seem like it a few minutes agoââ
âI can take care of myself when Iâm not confronted with a tall muscled man that is threatening me, Sunwoo,â you repeat, looking at the rest of the line, âso with him gone now, you can go about your day. What are you even doing here, by the way? I thought you were off today.â
âI am,â he nods, rocking a little in his place, shifting weight from his heels towards his toes, âI was just⌠here to drop off something for you,â he says, clearing his throat and pointing towards the poster he was holding when he first approached you, the shiny tube now resting against the nearest wall.Â
You shoot the boy a curious look, eyebrows furrowed in question. You donât get to ask for clarification about the character of the poster, because he abruptly cuts off your train of thought, speaking fast as if to avoid making any more conversation with you. âIâll see you in the back after youâre done for that fist fight, then. Bye!â
And before you get a chance to say anything back, Sunwoo swiftly turns on his heel and awkwardly marches towards the front door. You donât have much time to inspect the thing he dropped off for you, but after youâre done with scanning the tickets and have time to breathe when the movie starts, you allow yourself to peek insideâÂ
only to see a National treasure poster staring back at you, surface glossy and glimmering, as if you just opened a chest full of gold.Â
As you take the poster to the staff room with you (while also wearing a huge, embarrassing grin on your face for someone staring at the face of Nicolas Cage), making sure itâs safe and sound until you can bring it home with you, you wonder why you havenât been civil with Kim Sunwoo before.
Itâs good to have a taste of his ownerâs son privileges sometimes.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â ME BEFORE YOU (2016)
The day is Friday, the 1st of December. Mr Kimâs âRewind Thursdays' event is over and while Fridays are always the premiere days, meaning you usually have to work the evenings either in the snack booth or in the ticket booth, your boss told you you can have the night off under one conditionâ you come in the morning (since you told him your classes are done for the semester, heâs been keen on making you work at random times of the day) and help Sunwoo with Christmas decorations in the cinema.
And, well, who are you to say no to a free evening? Maybe you can finally have that self-care time youâve been needing before your exam season starts.
âCan you get the ladder from the back?â Sunwoo asks, tone of voice not at all interested. You donât know what the reasoning behind his mood is, but you figure itâs either the fact that he had to get up before 12, or the fact that he doesnât really seem like the type to like decorating.
âWhy donât you get it?â you huff, wiping your forehead off the sweat thatâs cumulated on it over the time you spent bringing out all the boxes full of decorations out of the staff room. âI brought everything in, maybe you can do some work for once.â
One would think your dynamics with Kim Sunwoo would shift after heâs been nice to you on multiple occasions. And sure, you donât really fight with him as often and he hasnât pulled a prank on you in a while, but some days, his whole presence is still just as annoying to you as itâs been for the past couple of months. Thereâs not really much you can do about itâ especially not when heâs bossing you around and not doing any actual work himself.
âI built the christmas tree,â he grunts, opening one of the boxes full of ornaments, squinting at the contains with disgust on his face. âAnd I put up all the other useless stuff before you got here too,â he says, pointing a glare at you.Â
Looking around the theater, you notice various types of decorations all over the place. Thereâs some mistletoe hanging off the ceiling (which has you wondering how he even got it there in the first place) and garlands framing all the doorwaysâ the greenery making the whole place decorated in a very vintage tone. Itâs fitting to the theme of the cinema, though, and you can tell that Sunwoo really canât be arsed to do any better, so you donât mention it out loud in favor of avoiding another one of your petty cat fights.
Admitting your defeat, you storm back into the staff room and carry out the tall ladder, struggling to fit through the doorways and to cross the corners, praying to all higher forces that you donât accidentally scratch off pieces of the wall on your way to Sunwoo.
You put down the metal construction with a loud thud, making the boy look up at you from beneath his bangs, the silent curse evident in his eyes. You donât know whatâs up with him, but again, you wonât ask. You try to tell yourself that you donât really care either, but with every glance towards his direction, the question keeps bugging you and dancing around your brain.Â
You force yourself not to care.
Watching as he tries to untangle the Christmas lights, struggle evident in the frustration written all over his face, you sigh and walk over to him, taking the bundle of wire out of his hands and threading your skilled fingers through the lengthy cable. Youâre an expert in untanglingâ you donât own bluetooth headphones, so you do this pretty much every day before listening to some music. Your headphones love to tangle in your pocket no matter how neatly you try to keep them in your pantsâ itâs a mystery. Almost like the Bermuda triangle.Â
âI can do it myself,â Sunwoo huffs, eyebrows furrowing when he watches you work your magic.
âYou seemed like it too,â you ironically note, letting the spiteful side of you win, enjoying yourself when youâre rewarded by the snarky roll of Sunwooâs eyesâ everything is back to normal. You two arenât friends, you donât like to be in each otherâs presence, and no number of shiny stolen posters and private sessions in the screening room will ever change that.
âHold this,â you say, thrusting the end of the cord into his hand, walking a few meters away from him as you detangle the lights, watching as he impatiently stomps the floor with his heel, reminding you of Snowball from The secret life of pets movie.
When youâre done and the Christmas lights are now a straight line of wire, you slowly walk over to the tall tree in the middle of the room, wrapping the lights around the fake forest-green needles. Youâre glad that the lights are long enough to cover the whole thing and you donât have to untangle another ones, and when youâre done, you watch your coworker plug them in, examining the small, colorful light bulbs.Â
âOkay, now the ornaments,â you say, more to yourself than to anybody in the room, as you waltz over to the boxes and take out the decorations varying in shapes and sizes. You donât really know what color scheme Mr Kim wants you to go forâ and you doubt Sunwoo is aware either, so you just take out the ornaments you find the most pretty and hang them all over the tree, making sure each branch is covered.
Sunwoo stands around for a while, unmoving as he watches you, before he sighs to himself and finally decides to help. You leave him be, thinking that itâs for the best if you two donât speak today when heâs in such a bad mood, but you break that promise almost immediately when you stare back at the tree after retrieving some more ornaments from the box to your right and notice the almost painful clash of colors.
You shouldâve known you canât trust a man with decorating. The beautiful contrast of the baby pink and brown ornaments you put on the tree is now ruined by the green ones you intentionally left on the bottom of the box. The colors donât go together at all and you want to claw your eyes out every second you have to stare at it.
âSunwoo, those colors donât go together at all,â you say, point and blankâ no sugarcoating, no offensive words, just straight facts.
âWhat do you mean?â
âI mean, that tree looks terrifying, and itâs all because you ruined it,â you say.
Okay, maybe you are overreacting just the slightest. But isnât there fun in making your coworker completely out of his mind? Is this your roles being reversed for the first time? Are you finally winning this little game?Â
Nevertheless, you are enjoying the outburst that follows from Sunwoo. Mainly because he looks like a child throwing a tantrum as he huffs and takes off the green ornaments he put on to the tree and throws the handful back into the cardboard box, not really caring if they break or not. Youâll be replaying this scene in your head forever before you go to sleep, for the absolute frustration and annoyance on his face is one of your biggest trophies. Right now, though, youâre battling the urge to laugh.
âFine, do it yourself, then,â Sunwoo says as he walks away from the tree, choosing to sit on the floor cross-legged, taking out his phone and scrolling through social media.
Again, you donât know whatâs gotten into him today, but you force yourself not to care. You have a job to finish here so you can go home and enjoy your day, and thatâs why exactly you just shrug and finish putting on the pretty ornaments, admiring your work every once in a while when you take a break and stare on the tall tree, kind of breathless from the beauty.
Youâre not really big on Christmas, but you must admit that this is fun.Â
The sound of Sunwoo swiping through Instagram reels is the only thing accompanying your actions, and as you look over your shoulder and see his almost sad face, you bite your lip just to not ask him whatâs the matter. Youâre not supposed to care. And you donât.
âCanât you put some festive music on?â you ask instead, your lips just begging to have a conversation with the male, despite your best judgment.
âNo,â Sunwoo barks back, not even taking his eyes off the phone as the sound of the reel changes into another one, a swipe of his thumb across the screen showing him another video.Â
Nodding to yourself, you carefully try to pick out your next words. Not really sure how to address the male, you choose to approach him with a hint of humor youâre not sure heâll appreciate. âWhatâs up with you? Youâre bitchier than usual,â you say, scanning the male with cautious eyes.
Sunwoo stops for a whileâ a millisecond of him halting his scrolling, an action you wouldnât notice if you werenât trying to see any shift in his composureâ before he speaks up again. âNothing,â he shrugs.
âOkay,â you say, a tone of voice full of doubt.Â
When you conclude that youâre not getting more answers out of him, you nod to yourself and dart back towards the Christmas tree, making sure you make more eye contact with the glossy ornaments than with your coworker sitting behind you on the ground. Not much time passes by before he speaks up again, though, tone of voice quiet and hesitant.
âIâm just not in the mood today,â he sighs, âI have a final next week and itâs stressing me out, I havenât slept well in quite a few days, my dadâs making me work more than usual and on top of that, I absolutely hate winter.â
âYou hate winter?â you choose to focus on the least serious topic of the little rant, not really knowing when your boundaries lay in discussing the more serious ones.
âYeah,â Sunwoo chuckles, âitâs like a shittier fall. Itâs cold and dark all the time. It would be different if it snowed, though. I love it when it snows.â
Snickering at his sudden confession, you shake your head. âYouâre like a little kid.â
âI remember you calling me a child once,â Sunwoo hums in agreement.
âThat was different,â you say, hoping to cheer the male up at least a bit with your usual quarrel.
âI figured by the way you threw the toilet brush to my chest,â Sunwoo laughs, the memory of torturing you fond in his brain. The poster he gave you almost made you forget about the fact that he managed to make your life a living hell for quite some timeâ maybe you should consider this a wake-up call.
The conversation quiets down for a bit, even the sound of Sunwooâs Instagram reels discontinued as you two marvel in the now much more comfortable silence. Testing the waters, you clear your throat before speaking up again. âDonât worry about that exam, by the way. Iâm sure youâll do well.â
âHow would you know?â
âYouâre clever. You need to be clever to come up with all various ways to make my life more miserable,â you say, smiling when you hear him let out a breath of air through his nose, signaling a silent laugh.
âAny advice on the sleepless nights?â he asks, tone of voice light and humorous.
âLess things in your head,â you hum, putting the last ornament onto one of the branches, satisfied with your work. âOr melatonin.â
âNoted,â he nods, sharing a smile with you.
Walking over to the boxes stored a few feet away from the male, you open up the slim one thrown on the side, holding up the star. Your eyes meet his, a carefree twinkle in your orbs when you try to cheer up the boyâs inner child by doing a child's favorite activity. âDo you want to put the star on?â
He fails you, though. âNo.â
âWhy not?â
âYou decorated it all yourself, so you can do the star,â he shrugs, not really into your idea.
âOh come onââ
âI donât feel like standing up,â Sunwoo grunts, the joy on your insides finally dying down when you get a taste of his usual composureâ the one that really canât be arsed with anything.Â
Sighing to yourself, you waltz over to the tall ladder, and despite your biggest worries, you continue climbing up the metal construction even when it wobbles and makes you fear youâre gonna fall. The whole thing is kind of unsteady and makes your heart thump in your throat, but you choose to get it over with and finally climb to the very top, outstretching your arm and putting the star on top of the tree, the decoration process now done and freeing you off your todayâs work responsibilities.
Something akin to satisfaction beams in your insides as you climb down the ladder, and now, youâll write this off to you being a little too excited with the vision of a face mask and popcorn at homeâ but your leg slips on one of the steps and despite the ladder being now magically steady, your body comes crashing down to the floor.
A yelp fights out of your throat, hands go flying in a desperate need to steady yourself or hold on to something that would make you not fall hard against the marble floor, when a miracle straight down from heaven comes to rescue in a form of flesh holding you up and shielding you from the fall, a grunt landing in your ears when your body settles into soft fabric of dark gray.
Head snapping to the source of the arms around your waist, surprised at the personâs strength used to balance you two on your feet as you fell (well, your knees buckled, but still, they havenât yet hit the ground), you notice a pair of chocolate orbs staring down at you through a curtain of dark hair, wide eyes scanning your face and breathing out a puff of air.
âLook where youâre stepping next time, for fuckâs sake,â Sunwoo huffs, watching as your brain tries to process the near-death experience.
Registering his arms firmly placed around your waist (now realizing the soft fabric was the hoodie heâs been living in for the past few months), the citrusy scent of his cologne makes your head spin, eyes scanning his face in quick motions, as if not aware of who was your savior. You wonder how he even got to you on time (not really noticing him walking over to the ladder as soon as he saw it wobbling under you, holding it down to keep you from toppling over), and when your eyes curiously gaze at his chapped, yet plush lips, the warmth in your stomach makes you finally snap out of it.Â
Untangling yourself out of his limbs, much like you did with the Christmas lights a few minutes ago, you clear your throat and try to get your breathing back to normal. Your knees are a little weak, but you write that off to the shock of falling.Â
âThis wouldnât have happened if you just agreed to put the star on,â you complain, straightening your clothes as you walk over to the empty boxes nearby, stacking them into one another and avoiding all possible eye contact with the male.
Itâs workingâ at least thatâs what you keep telling yourselfâ up until you hear him chuckle and see a pair of hands taking the tower of boxes out of your hold, a charming grin sent your way as he walks away from you to the staff room. âIf you say so.â
Okay, so itâs not working.
Youâre fucked.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â THE PROPOSAL (2009)
âSo⌠I was thinking,â Sunwoo starts one day, a bundle of rolled-up posters stacked up in his arms like a pyramid, puffs of cold air making clouds appear in front of his face as he speaks, âwould you want to go see a movie with me?â he asks, tone of voice casual, as if he was asking you about the weather.
The poster youâre currently putting up into one of the glass holders outside of the cinema almost slips out of your frozen fingers out of shock, your heart skipping a beat. âHuh?â you hum, taking out a container full of pins out of your coat pocket and securing the poster to its designated place. âYou want to bring money to your fatherâs competitor?â you joke.
âWhat? No,â he quickly replies, furrowing his brows as he shakes his head. âI meant, like, here,â he says, nodding towards the building to prove his point, taking a step aside when you close the glass door of the poster holder and move towards the next one, 3 more movie banners left to put up outside of the cinema.Â
The wires in your brain work on full force, trying to clear out any confusion caused by his sudden invitation. Sure, you two have gotten closer ever since you talked with him at the Christmas tree a week ago, but still, you didnât know it was enough to hang out outside of work hours.Â
Instead of focusing the conversation on this unpredictable development, you turn towards clearing out the logistics instead. âHow would we even do that? We either work at the same time or you work when I donât and the other way around,â you say, taking the next poster from him and putting it up.
All of the movies airing the next two weeks are Christmas movies. Some of them are old, some of them are premieres, but stillâ you canât really imagine watching a festive movie with your coworker. Up until last week, you thought of him as the next reincarnation of Grinch.
âI could get my sister to switch with me on a day you donât work,â he hums, sheepish about his preposition. Thereâs something bashful in his tone, something shy in his gaze as he watches you put up the movie poster, but you try your hardest to ignore it for the sake of your sanity. Youâre already having a hard time dealing with the fact that he appeared in your dreams twice since he caught you in his arms last week. You donât need to add the switch in dynamic to the mix.
âIsnât she underage?â you ask, snickering.
âYeah, and?â he shrugs. âItâs a family business, Y/N. Everyone has to be included, underage or not.â
A laugh erupts out of your throat at the comment, shaking your head at the boy in disbelief.Â
âWhat would you even wanna see? Those are all Christmas movies,â you say, moving along and focusing your attention to the glossy material in your fingers.
âI donât see how thatâs a problem,â he says.Â
âOh, it is,â you mutter, âI donât like Christmas movies.â
Sunwoo grunts. âWell, I donât really care. I saw your favorite movie with you, so you can return the favor and see my favorite movie with me,â he speaks up, making you roll your eyes at his words.
âThereâs no way any of those movies is your favorite,â you note, doubtful tone haunting the boy.
âYou wouldnât know,â he laughs, making your heart do cartwheels at the sound, his teasing making you feel warmth despite the cold breeze trying to make your bones freeze into blocks of ice.Â
âI wonât go unless I believe you,â you say, grinning as you close the glass box and take the last poster out of Sunwooâs hands, watching as the boy puts his frozen fingers into the comfort of his warm jacket, shielding them from the cold.Â
âNot fair.â
âVery fair, actually.â
âOh come on,â he sighs, shaking his head in disagreement, âI thought we could watch a Christmas movie as a celebration to the end of semester,â he says, tone of voice almost pleading.
Securing the last banner into its designated place, you turn towards Sunwoo with an examining look on your face. He seems to be completely serious, eyes big pools of honey as he watches your face morph as you think. Something in your stomach makes it feel like itâs flying, making you clear your throat as you avert your gaze towards the line of Christmas movie posters on the brick wall. âFine,â you gulp, âso what do you wanna watch?â
âThe Polar Express,â he says, pointing towards the A3 scale you put up last, showing one of the movies that were older, but Mr Kim decided to air anywayâ as if he was aware.
Fuck, you think. Thatâs my favorite.Â
âAbsolutely not,â you cough, âI hate that movie.â
âHuh? How?â he sighs, face full of disappointment.Â
âJust because. Itâs too long.â
âItâs not even two hours?â
Eyes quickly darting towards the poster, pupils shaking as you look towards the airing dates at the very bottom, you chew on your bottom lip, trying to find a way out. âYouâre working on the 18th.â
âOkay, then we can go on the 19th,â Sunwoo says, determined to make you watch the movie with him. Why? You donât even want to know at this point.
âI go home for Christmas break on the 19th,â you say, shrugging. âSee? It wasnât meant to be.â
âY/N, come onââ
âListen, canât we just go back to hating each other instead of you annoying me about this stupid movie?â you sigh. In the whirlpool of events, you forgot just how insistent Sunwoo could beâ who knows, maybe this was the real reason why you were so irritated with him in the first place.
Slowly walking back towards your workplace, hearing Sunwooâs sneakers hit the ground behind you as he trails after you like a lost puppy, a sense of momentarily victory flows through your veins when you recognise that you found your way out. There was no way Mr Kim would let his underage daughter work instead of Sunwoo, and you truly were leaving home the evening of 19th. You already had a train ticketâ youâre not gonna change your plans because of a man you despised just a few days ago.
âI never really hated you, by the way. Besides, youâre only saying that because you hate the movie,â Sunwoo grunts, chiming in front of youâ making you think heâs being petty and doesnât want to talk to you anymore, surprising you when he opens the door for you and offers you a solemn gaze, waiting for you to walk through the entryway and go back to work. (For you, itâs sitting in the ticket booth in silence. For Sunwoo, itâs pretending to work in the back, since his dad is absent today again)
Reciprocating his gaze, noticing the disappointment behind your coworkerâs eyes, you feel something in your stomach drop, the weight of it so heavy you quickly avert your look.Â
âMaybe,â you shrug.
And maybe, the true reason is something completely else.Â
The words resonate through your brainâ âI never really hated you, by the wayâ. Funny. Then what were all those months of torture all about?
You decide you no longer want answers.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)
You canât believe youâre doing something nice for Kim Sunwoo.
Shoes hitting the gravel, your scarf pulled up so it covers your nose from the ice cold air, a hat hugging your head in warmth and shielding you from the aggressive weather, you start to contemplate your choices and your next moves. A sigh escapes your throat when your eyes land on the marquee above the entrance of the movie theater, teeth chewing on the inside of your cheek as you shift your weight from one foot to another.
Pulling out your phone to check the time, a shiny 7:24PM stares back at you, pushing you to walk up to the door of your workplace on your day off, 24 minutes after the beginning of The polar express.Â
You feel silly. You feel oh so stupid when you push the door open and your body is immediately engulfed in warmth, the yellow dim lights of the cinema making your eyes slowly adjust to the brightness contrasting the darkness of the outside world. You feel like you must have gone crazy, especially when your insides start to get all light and bubbly, hints of nerves tingling at the tips of your fingertips and the deepest corners of your stomach. Thereâs no turning back now, you tell yourselfâ and when your feet automatically take you to the ticket booth, gaze landing on the boy with his bangs in his eyes and an expression worthy of a kicked puppy on his face, you suddenly feel like your trip to the cinema was all worth it.
Clearing your throat, you notify your coworker of your presence, his big, doe eyes staring at you in surprise. Sunwooâs mouth goes agape, shock overtaking his features when he takes in your appearance. (You bet he thinks you look laughableâ your eyes teary from the cold and your figure stoic, numb limbs hanging by your side.)
âWhat are you doing here?â he asks, the question not as aggressive as it sounded out of your lips every time he paid a visit to the cinema on his days off for all these months.
âUh⌠I forgot some things in the back and I wanted to take them home tomorrow, so I came back for them,â you hum, the practiced excuse slipping out of your lips with ease, âcan you come help me?âÂ
Sunwoo looks even more surprised at your questionâ although there is now a hint of confusion in the mix. What could you possibly have in the back to need his help with? For as far as he knows, you only ever kept your work uniform in your locker. âWhat? Canât you get it yourselfâŚ?â he asks, noticing as you shake your head in disapproval.
âItâs⌠itâs on the top of the lockers and I canât reach it, so-â
âGrab a chairâŚ?âÂ
You didnât really expect to have Sunwoo question your half-assed excuse. Truly, you thought this was going to go smoothlyâ but knowing Kim Sunwoo, you shouldâve known it was never going to go the way you planned. Youâre determined to win, though.Â
And so itâs the time to bring out the big gunsâ men never say no when you praise them and make yourself look incompetent.
âPlease? I donât feel like bringing a chair and youâre tall enough. It will only take a secondâŚâ you pout, watching as the male in front of you sighs and stands up from his seat, nodding at your humble request.
Sunwoo follows you as you walk down the corridor, your heart thumping with the start of your little plan. Your steps are calculated and your movements carefully programmed, the nervousness in your stomach making you even more giddy with every meter of distance you two cross.Â
Before you two get a chance to make it to the back, you make a swift turn and open the doors to one of the rooms on the left of the hall, dragging Sunwoo by his hand and tugging him inside. His body stumbles against yours, but the door closes behind him faster than he can react to the impact. Steadying the boy back to his feet, you watch him with anticipation, awaiting his reaction.
The truth is, you havenât thought the plan out this far. The depiction of it in your brain always ended with you sneaking him into the projecting room and his curious eyes peering into yours. Something about the image of the events always made you feel too overwhelmedâ you never dared to imagine the situation further. (That would mean admitting some hidden desires to yourself, so you never even tried. That all makes this situation twice as nerve-wrecking, though.)
âWhat⌠are we doing here?â he asks, eyes darting around the darkness of the projection room, the only light illuminating his pretty features being the movie playing behind the glass of the small booth.
âDidnât you say you wanted to watch The polar express with me?â you ask, voice a few octaves higher than usual.Â
âI⌠didâŚâ he mumbles, confusion making him stumble over his own words.
âWell, you are working and I leave tomorrow, so I figured I had to find a wayâŚâ you shrug, watching as Sunwoo looks at you a little frozen, big eyes staring you down, gears turning in his head. You canât really read himâ you donât really know if heâs going to laugh at you or send you home for ruining his shift. You donât know if he appreciates the gesture, or if he thinks youâre being embarrassing. You donât know if he registers the slight tremble of your hands and the lightness of your breathing, you donât know if he realizes how much his reaction could make your day or completely ruin it (just like always), and so, you panicâ and when you panic, you ramble. âI know we are technically not supposed to be hereâ well, me, at leastâ but I think that being with the ownerâs son could make my boss let me off even if he somehow finds out, which I doubt he will, butââ
Sunwooâs face starts slowly morphing, the slightest of shifts slowly adding up to a change of expression, having the male break out into the biggest, happiest grin youâve ever seen him sport. His eyes light up and glaze your features in the softest of touches, his head shaking in disbelief. âOh, youâre adorable.â
âWhat?â you ask, your heart doing seven somersaults and five cartwheels, eyes a big pool of surprise.
âYou did this for me?â he beams, his grin so big and pretty it takes your breath away. Butterfly wings tickle in your stomach at the sight, having you mentally curse yourselfâ hold it together, Y/N.Â
âI- I mean, I didnât really do anything, we just sneaked inââ
âThis is the sweetest thing youâve ever done for me,â Sunwoo hums, the teasing tone making its comeback in his voice, âactually, this might be the first sweet thing youâve ever done for meââ
âWell, okay,â you roll your eyes, an embarrassed laugh dragging out of your throat as you turn on your heel and walk closer to the little table in the opposite end of the room, needing to avert your gaze from the boy for at least a second. The air is suddenly too heavy and itâs hard for you to breathe, heat rushing to your cheeks.Â
Eyes focusing on the screen in front of you, your brain tries hard to focus on your favorite Christmas movie. Failing, your head running thoughts full of conflicting emotions and erratic exclamation marks screaming the name of the boy behind you, you ask yourself how and when exactly youâve gotten yourself into this mess.
Maybe you shouldnât have gotten this job in the first place.
Ears painfully alert, listening to each sound heard in the small projecting roomâ the shuffling of Sunwooâs feet as he nears your figure, the muffled noise of the movie playing in the screening room in front of you, the resonance of your own heartbeat in your ears as Sunwooâs hands suddenly sneak around your middle, your jacket squeaking from the contact of his limbs as he hugs you.
âWhatââ
âDonât fight me, Y/N. Just this once,â he hums, voice deep, but still a bit hesitant. Itâs like heâs walking on unsteady land, cautious of his movements in fear of making you run away. Heâs in a new territory, in your personal spaceâ the scent of his cologne fills your nostrils again as his head settles itself on your shoulder, the two of you silently watching the movie for a few seconds, not really knowing how to proceed.
Thereâs something intimate in the way he holds you, in the way the movie is a mere background noise to the marathon of your thoughts, the blue light illuminating your faces as you both try your hardest to keep your cool.Â
A flashing thought of just how much you from a few months ago would hate the position itâs in right now passes by your brain, making you instantly feel foolish. Oh how much youâd love it if you stood here unaffected right nowâ thereâs no way to battle the warmth flooding your insides right at this moment, though.
âThis is nice,â he mumbles, voice barely louder than a whisper. âThank you,â he says, your insides squeezing at the sincerity. Itâs not often you get to see this side of Sunwooâ the sweet, patient one, the side of him that makes you feel safe in his arms and appreciated with the soft tone in his words. And while you realize you donât hate the playful side of him just as much as you thought you did, you must admit the novelty of the situation makes you feel a bit more joyful than youâd like to admit.
The weight of his head disappears from your shoulder, making you feel momentarily disappointed by the action. You expect him to pull away and take a seat on the chair, to finally focus on the movie playing in front of your eyes, the thought alone making your spirit fall. The fire in your inside lights up like a match thrown into a pool of gasoline just as fast again, though, when you feel soft lips come in contact with your cheek.
They stay only for a second before they disappear, an airy laugh landing in your ear a second later. âPlease donât run away now,â he says, tone of voice uncertain, telling you that now the ball is in your courtâ your next actions could either make him the happiest man on Earth, or completely break him.Â
The choice is yours.
Your head turns his way, eyes instantly locking with his brown orbs searching for any signs of discomfort in your face. Slowly, as if still processing the events of before, your eyes trail over his featuresâ the awfully handsome way his face was sculpted, the softness of his eyes and the sharpness of his jaw, the slope of his nose and the plushness of his lips. Theyâre not as chapped today, making you wonder if he started wearing vaseline, and before you get a chance to stop yourself, you start wondering of the way his lips would feel on yours, imagination running wild.Â
He heaves out a shaky breath, your eyes darting back into hisâ as if to ask for approval, see if heâs okay with it. Thereâs a dazy look in them, gaze pressed to your lips, then to your eyes, then your lips againâ a look you take as an invitation as you act against all your best judgment and lean towards him, pressing your mouth against his.
As if testing the waters, you make the kiss short. It was long enough to engrave it into your brain, thoughâ to remember the way his perfectly shaped lips pressed against yours, the way the world stopped just for a moment, the way he tasted of the strawberry mints he always eats at work whenever he has nothing to do.Â
Sunwoo seems to find liking in the actionâ lips glazing yours again, pressing another peck to them before he deepens the kiss, the tingling in your fingertips intensifying and the excitement bubbling in your frame making you turn in your position, front facing him and pressing up against his chest. His hands quickly adjust, slipping under your opened jacket and settling on your clothed waist, the slightest contact making your knees weak and settle your bottom against the table behind you, hands grabbing the fabric of his sweatshirt.Â
He pulls back to catch some air, a boyish grin breaking out on his face, forehead knocking against yours in a sweet, giddy manner. âIâve wanted to do this for months,â he huffs.
The sentiment makes a thousand question marks appear in your headâ why did he make your life a living hell, then? Why did he pull pranks on you and make you hate every second spent with him? Why did he make you so furious each time and argued with you about the smallest things? How could Sunwoo possibly have wanted this for months, when you just only started noticing his attractiveness a few weeks ago?
âWhyââ
âIâll tell you later,â he says, cutting you off as he presses his lips against yours again, your mouth automatically welcoming his presence. Brain erased of all previous questions, his kisses working like a spell, you focus all your senses on the man in front of you.
Having your hands feeling up his abdomen, Sunwoo hesitantly asks for entrance with his tongue, running it along your lower lip until you welcome him in. You like this type of power battle much more than the one you had going on until now, and with each new movement, you feel yourself falling apart under him.Â
His fingers tug down on the sides of your jacket, pulling it down. You donât need it anymoreâ with how heated youâve gotten, you are actually kind of happy that it is gone. One of his cold hands sneaks under the hem of your jumper, fingertips trailing up and down your side, the other one tugs down the hat from your head, discarding it somewhere on the table behind you before it finds its place on the side of your jaw, angling your head in a way that allows him to deepen the kiss even more, the contact of your lips growing firmer as seconds go by.Â
Your scarf is swiftly untangled off your neck, Sunwooâs skilled lips blindly trailing down the side of your mouth towards your jaw, feathery kisses ticking you before he gets more bold and sucks on the side of your throat, a shaky breath shyly escaping your lips.
âSunwooâŚâ you say, tone of voice not really present, no real intention behind the call of his name.
The boy hums against your neck, having you gasp again when he lightly bites the softness of your skin, your hands shooting up to tangle in his hair when he licks the spot to soothe it after. Threading your fingers through his locks to ground yourself, you canât believe you ever hoped for him to get a trim.
His hands firmly hold the underside of your thighs before he hoists you up on the table, continuing his confident attack on your neck when youâre sitting comfortably on the hard surface. Itâs not like you didnât feel excited, the tiniest bit thrilled at the mental image of his possessive marks all over your throat, but you were glad it was freezing outside and you could wear a turtleneck to hide the bruises from your family tomorrow. He nuzzles his nose into the hot skin of your neck, the action making you grin in ecstasy and endearment.
Getting lost in the way he was handling you, his touches firm, yet delicate, acted out in a way that makes you feel safe and comfortable with his passionate ministrations, you almost donât notice the door swinging open, the figure of your boss like striking like the lightning in the doorway of the screening room.
âSunwoo!â
The boy jumps, his body quickly ungluing itself off yours, as he listens to his father scolding him. âI donât care what you two have going on over here, but youâre on clock! Thereâs a line waiting for the tickets for tomorrowâs movie and someone has to sell them right now.â
The boy clears his throat, voice a little hoarse. âComing,â he says, trying to keep his composure. His hairâs a little tousled, cheeks rosy and lips puffedâ the image that will haunt you in your sweetest nightmares nowâ and before you get a chance to say anything or let your brain process the events of the last few minutes, your panic works faster, making you act.
Quickly scattering for your things, you run out of the projecting room without saying goodbye to either Sunwoo or your boss, never once looking back.
You think of what youâve done on your way home, bones freezing now that they werenât in his presence. You try hard to regret your actions, but you donât find it in you to do soâ itâs kind of hard with the feeling of his lips still playing with yours.
Even though youâd hate to admit it just a few weeks ago, you must do it now.Â
Kim Sunwoo does make a really good kisser.
TONIGHTâS PREMIERE â PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2005)
There are many thoughts swimming around your brain as you walk through the coldness of the town the next day, your duffel bag hanging off your shoulder. Thereâs a conflict between the actions of your body and your thoughts â feet on their journey to the train station, but head stuck in the small projection room of your workplace, your coworkerâs kisses occupying your every sober thought.
Itâs not surprising, but you haven't heard from Sunwoo since you left the cinema last night. Not a single text or a callâ but you figure that this is just your dynamic. Sunwooâs never been much of a texter when it came to you. Heâs never had the reason to text or call you, unless it was work-related, and you think it will stay that way, even though you did make out with him just last night.
Maybe he regretted it. Maybe he just didnât feel like pondering on the events any longerâ maybe it was just a one-time thing for him and he didnât put much significance to it. You wouldnât knowâ itâs not like youâre suddenly an expert on the way he feels and operates.Â
You, though? How do you feel about the turn of events? Despite not wanting to admit it to yourself, the answer came to you the second you tried to fall asleep last night, every soaring thought in your brain showing you the reflection of his dazed look, desires of wanting him to look at you that way all the time oh so skilfully infesting themselves into every crevice of your neocortex. You want Sunwoo to like you. You want Sunwoo to want you. You want Sunwoo to be so enchanted with your existence that he thinks about you before he goes to sleep at nightâ just like you have done for the past few weeks.Â
The answer comes to you again when you feel something wet fall on the top of your cheek, making you turn your eyes towards the sky. Your breathing comes out in puffs of air as you watch the magic happen right in front of youâ and as you watch the snowflakes scatter all around the place, you are in another inner argument. While the rational side of your brain is screaming at you to keep walking to the station so you donât miss your train home, the delirious side is cooperating with your feet for once, your figure crossing to the other side of the street and walking over to the place you could get to even with your eyes closed at this point; all because you suddenly remember the conversation you had with Sunwoo when you were putting on ornaments to the Christmas tree.
Itâs the first snow of the season.Â
Kim Sunwoo loves it when it snows.
Speed-walking towards the vintage movie theater at the corner of the townâs square, you feel something akin to childish excitement bubbling in your insides, a hint of nervousness inviting itself into your insides when you push the door open and aim straight towards the ticket booth, where you know Sunwoo will be sitting, wasting another shift away.
Heâs thereâ eyes pressed towards the window, gaze following the snowflakes kissing the cold ground. You expected more excitement in his character, more childlike joy in his figureâ and after taking in his composure: shoulders slouching and fingers picking at the skin of his cuticles, you suddenly feel silly for coming.
Well, here goes nothing, you think.
âSunwoo,â you call, making the boy snap his head towards you in surprise, big eyes meeting yours the moment he recognises your voice.
You donât receive a verbal response for a while. The boy just stares at you, a bit hesitant and clueless. His face reminds you of a small puppy trying to take in the new situation in front of it. His lips are formed into a small pout, gears in his brain turning and trying to process the reality of having you standing there, face beaten from the cold.
Clearing your throat, you try to take charge of the situation. âItâs snowing outside,â you say, eyes peering out of the window, all thoughts suddenly escaping your brain, words blanking off your tongue, âand, well⌠you said you like the snow, soâŚâ
The boyâs mouth hangs agape, a twinkle in his eyes slowly appearing once again when he stares at you, your nervousness doing wonders to your conversation skills. âI- I donât even know what I wanted to say with that, itâs just- I donât know⌠I saw it was snowing and I automatically came here, so-â you stutter, the sentence cutting off as Sunwoo jumps to his feet and grins, wordlessly taking your hand into his and dragging you outside.
The duffel bag falls off your shoulder somewhere in the middle of the hall, discarded to the floor, before Sunwoo sharply halts in his steps and runs back towards the ticket booth, still dragging you with him by the hand. The boy grabs something off the table, the item not visible in your rear point of view, and before you have a chance to register whatâs happening, youâre outside of the building again, coldness instantly slapping you in the face.
Itâs dark out, but the heaviness of the snow provides enough light in the silent evening for you to see where youâre going under the yellow lampposts on the street. Instantly noticing the lack of Sunwooâs warm hand in yours when he suddenly lets go, you turn your head to look at the male.
Terror fills your veins when you notice him gathering snow from the ground and pressing it into a tight ball, a screech escaping your throat when you watch him swing it at you, a playful, boyish grin playing with his features. The male chases you around and most of the snowballs don't even hit your running figure (he does have an awful aim), but you still duck anyway and try your hardest to win your snowball fight.
Numb fingers creating snowballs and halting them at his tall frame, but missing most of the time due to his fast reflexes, you laugh and let go of all the worries and questions clouding your judgment. Sunwoo looks enthusiastic, so much more lively than when you found him in the ticket booth just a few minutes agoâ but thatâs still not enough for you to let him win.
Gathering the icy texture into your hands, you run towards him, taking advantage of his inattention as heâs bent over and taking more snow into his hold, and halt the whiteness into his face just as he straightens his back and wants to prepare for his attack.
More laughter bubbles out of your chest when you watch him drop his snowball to the ground, admitting defeat. The snow is all over his faceâ slowly running down his cheeks like teardrops, redness tinting his nose and the sides of his face.Â
The male shudders from the cold, and you instantly start feeling bad. Only now you realize that he ran out without a coat, a gasp escaping your throat. âOh god,â you mourn, hands flying towards his frozen face to wipe off the snow from his cheeks, fingers carefully tracing over his cold skin. His eyes open as he watches you, something in his gaze so tender you feel yourself melting even in the middle of the snowstorm.
The male shuffles his hands into the front pocket of his gray hoodie, taking out the item you now recognise to be the hat you accidentally forgot in the projecting room yesterday (and already mentally paid goodbye to), his frozen fingers tugging the fabric onto your head.Â
âWhy are you putting this on me? Youâre the one thatâs freezing over here!â you scold him, shaking your head at the male.Â
He rewards you with an amused grin, watching your next moves. Acting on auto-pilot, not really putting much thought into your actions, you unzip your jacket and step impossibly near to the male. Holding the jacket open, you hug him around his middle, making sure you are sharing the warmth with him and keeping him as close as possible, shielding him from the cold with both the fabric of your puffer jacket and the heat radiating off your body.
Faces just inches away from each other, you peer at his face. He wears a warm expression, eyes peeking out from behind his dark bangs. Clouds of breath escape his mouth when he speaks, voice quiet, as if to not ruin the atmosphere. âI thought you would regret it,â he says, making you break out into a foolish smile.
âI thought so too,â you nod.
âAnd you donât?â
Shrugging, you reply. âNot really.â
âWhy?â he asks, suddenly doubtful. âYou said you hated me. Which was odd to hear, honestly, since I did all this to get your attention anyway and I thought it was just how our dynamic works, but⌠I could see how it could be annoying to youâŚâ
Chuckling, you roll your eyes at the sudden revelation. Itâs sickeningly sweet how endearing he looks when he doubts himself, explaining himself to you in a nervous blabber. âI donât hate you. At least not anymore.â
âYou donât?â
âNo,â you shake your head, a tender gaze shared between the two of you, âI actually quite like you, I thinkâŚâ you mumble, a little bashful to admit it out loud.
âYou do?â he asks, the twinkle in his eye glimmering twice as much as ever before, tone of voice playful, yet laced with honest joy and surprise at your confession.
âI do,â you nod, voice barely louder than a whisper as you watch him lean closer towards your face, cold nose bumping into yours before he angles his head, breath mixing in with yours in the few seconds before he dares to kiss you again, capturing your lips with his.
The kiss is sweet. The kiss tastes of strawberry mints and the first snow, of unsaid confessions and longing looks sent your way every time you werenât looking. The kiss makes your stomach fill with a thousand little butterflies, it melts away the ice around you, the two of you like a spark of a fire in the middle of a snowy land.Â
His actions have your composure faltering, hands untangling from behind him and moving up to cradle his face. He melts under your touch, leaning into you as your fingers trail over his cheekbones. Holding on to him, thumbs padding his soft skin, youâre reminded of the cold only when he breaks off you and shudders again, teeth clattering from the freezing temperature.
âLetâs get you inside,â you say, planting a short peck to his lips, âbefore you turn into an icicle,â you giggle, watching as he scrunches up his face.
âI wonât,â he shakes his head, âlove warms me up,â he grins, making you roll your eyes at his bold statement.
âYouâre so cheesy.â
âBut you quite like me anyways, no?â
Sighing, moving away from him and tugging him back inside the cinema, you shake your head at the boy. âIâll think about it on my train home,â you bite back, opening the door to the theater and aiming towards the duffel bag you dropped on your way out.
Sunwoo watches you with a warm gaze, an adorable smile playing with his lips. His figure seems to be visibly taking in the heat again, his face adorning a flush, pink color.Â
âSo I take it as youâre not quitting anymore, then?â he teases as you walk back to the door, both of you ignoring the customers waiting for their tickets in the line in front of the forgotten booth.
âWeâll see,â you shrug.
âIâll text you the schedule for January?â
âYou better text me about something else too, Kim Sunwoo,â you bark back, opening the door towards the cold landscape, âor youâre gonna have a very uncomfortable return back to work in January!â
The boy laughs, the noise like a Christmas carol to your ears. âNoted.â
Slipping outside, you watch as he waves at you goodbye, your feet dragging through the snow towards the train station having more pep to their step now. You donât even know if you can make it to the train on time, but you surprisingly have no regretsâ you can always catch the next one, right?
Mentally wanting to slap yourself for the lovesick grin playing with your lips, you sigh.Â
The male that once made your life a living hell is now the one you look forward to seeing the most once you come back after Christmas break. Itâs kind of strange, really.Â
One would think that working with movies on the daily would prepare you better for the biggest plot twist of your life.
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