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skzhua · 1 year ago

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Caroling to my Heart

MASTERLIST

Pairing: Lee Minho x Female!Reader

Genre: Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Christmas love story, angst, fluff.

Word Count: 14,653

Warnings: Swearing, talks of regrets, mentions of alcohol, heartbreaks.

Summary: Christmas is meant to be spent with your loved ones. Minho stopped loving a long time ago.

A/N: Credits to my boyfriend for the general idea of the plot (story is all me, though)

November nearing its end, Chrismas was approaching quickly. Children playing in the snow, shops filled with decorations to sell for the holidays, sales everywhere for presents shopping, music playing everywhere you go; truly the most wonderful time of the year.

At least, that's what most people think.

Chan has always loved Christmas. He always took it as an opportunity to gather up with his college friends with whom life was always enjoyable. Jeongin had recently gotten a promotion at work which he took very seriously, Hyunjin finally opened his dog rescue center a few years back, Felix was happily getting married in the following spring, Seungmin had finally started to get recognition for his stand up comedy shows, Changbin had entered a production company with Chan, and Jisung was finally seeing someone after not daring to date for years.

And then, there is Minho.

Him and Chan used to be the closest friends ever, and Minho was always the life of the party. He messed around in college, got good grades, made his way up to become a successful lawyer. Overall, things had turned out pretty well for him.

What Minho considered as his biggest accomplishment was his lover. The apple of his eyes, the prettiest woman he had ever laid eyes upon, the sunshine of his life. Y/N was in the same major as him, one of the top students. It started out as a very typical college love story. He was annoying her, she found him funny, they were paired for a project, they got closer, and they got together in a matter of weeks. From that point, life was perfect. They moved out together after college, adopted a ton of cats, went on so many trips outside of the country... they even got engaged.

That was until Minho messed it all up, losing everything he loved the most in one go.

Ding dong.

Jumping at the sound, Minho takes a second to recover and puts the movie he was watching on pause. He checks the clock; it is 7 o'clock in the evening. He wasn't expecting anybody to visit him. Nonetheless, he goes over his front door and looks into the peephole. He isn't surprised to see Chan waiting patiently with a plastic bag in hands. He rolls his eyes in annoyance before letting his friend in, greeting him boringly.

"Hey, Chan," he says before yawning loudly.

The older man looks him up and down, analyzing every bit of his friend's appearance. "Wow, you look like shit."

Minho doesn't answer, giving Chan the death stare instead. "What do you want?"

"Well," he starts while allowing himself to get comfortable on the couch. "Jisung is presenting his new girlfriend to us and because you didn't answer in the group chat, I thought I would check on you."

"Tonight? No, I have to get up early tomorrow."

Chan's shoulders drop as Minho, once again, declines an invitation. "You haven't come to see us in months."

Minho shrugs, visibly not seeing a problem. "I'm just very busy. I have cases coming in all the time and I can't trust my associate to work on them."

"You're overworking yourself, a break would do you some good. Besides, we miss you."

It's not that he doesn't want to see his friends, of course he does. He just knows very well he'll only end up ruining the night by not being the funny guy he used to be.

"I don't know."

Chan takes a nicely ironed shirt out of his plastic bag and puts it on the coffee table in front of him, and stands up to walk to the door. "You're welcomed to drop by if you change your mind. It's at the restaurant we used to go in college."

"Why the shirt?" Minho's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Consider it as an early Christmas gift from me."

After throwing a small smile his way, Chan opens the door and leaves. Minho finds himself alone again, perplexed. He approaches the shirt and scrutinizes it. It's a designer piece which does not surprise him, Chan has always been the kind to go an extra mile for his loved ones. Looking at the clock again, it indicates 7:20 P.M. Does he still have time to go? It would mean he has to shower, get dressed, drive all the way to the restaurant... Right, that specific restaurant.

He will visit his friends, just not tonight.

2 years ago.

Christmas was the most important holiday to Y/N. It brought so much nostalgia to her and she absolutely adored every aspect of it. Baking cookies and go ice skating were part of the many activities she loved doing in December.

This was also the first year she had to spend it away from her family. She didn't regret choosing to study so far away from home but it hurt nonetheless. It would be difficult and Minho knew that.

Y/N had to work an extra shift that night if she wanted the day of Christmas Eve off. It was ridiculous, she thought. As if the restaurant really needed her to stay so late. Coming home, Y/N was so glad to finally be able to relax as she climbed up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Minho was waiting excitedly at the front door of their shared apartment. He made sure the gingerbread cookies were all ready to be assembled to construct a house, checked if the Christmas lights were working fine, and put a playlist of Y/N's favourite holiday songs on his speaker.

"Soonie!" he yelled frantically at his cat as he saw him get on the counter. "You don't want to ruin your mama's night, do you?"

He picked him up and brought it close to his body, petting his head lovingly. Needless to say, this couldn't be a cuter sight to have when Y/N walked in.

"Hey, my two favourite boys," she chuckled at them before taking in how well-decorated the home was. "Min, did you set up all this?"

Her boyfriend put his pet down before bringing her into his arms. "I did. You've been feeling off recently, I thought it'd be a good idea to cheer you up. And since Christmas is next week, why not decorate cookies for the occasion?"

"You made gingerbread cookies?!"

Y/N's eyes lit up from seeing the baked goods and she rushed to go sit at the counter. Minho smiled at himself, proud he had managed to lit up her inner light just a little.

"Thank Felix for these."

"Well, thank you Felix."

Present.

Minho remembers every night she came home from that workplace. He always tried to make her feel better each time, Y/N despised working so late but she somehow always stayed positive.

How much he misses her.

Minho gasps for air, sweat all over his body. He had another nightmare, nothing unusual. What is odd is the phone ringing nonstop at this hour of the day; 4 o'clock. Who in their right mind would call someone so early?

"What?"

The person on the other side of line doesn't respond, Minho can only hear them breathe unsteadily.

"Hello?"

"Minho," Jisung finally speaks. "Sorry to bother you this early."

"It's 4:00 A.M."

"I know, I know. Just, I'm getting worried about you and I can't call you tomorrow –well, today– or you'll say you're busy with work as always. You're not okay and I think you could use a friend."

Although not wrong, his statement fueled Minho with annoyance and frustration. He doesn't need help, or anyone for that matter.

"Minho?" Jisung speaks up again as he doesn't get a response.

"Good night, Jisung," he simply says with the intention of hanging up.

"Wait!" he hurries to stop him. "If you don't want to talk for your own sake, at least do it for mine. Not just mine, the other guys' too."

Sure, Minho hates talking about his feelings. Still, he's not a monster and cares a lot about his friends nonetheless. Feeling a bit obligated, he agrees.

"So, uhm, who's your new girlfriend?" he asks, getting uncomfortable already.

"She's a friend of Jeongin. Remember that girl he worked with in college? Well, that's her. She's so nice, I wonder why Jeongin hadn't introduced me to her sooner. She kind of reminds me of..." he trails off but stops himself before stepping out of line.

"I'm happy for you two. I'm sorry I couldn't come."

Jisung lets out a huff. "Thank you but I know you could have, you just didn't want to."

"That's not-"

"Don't lie, Minho," he cuts him off. "You didn't come because of her, am I right? Because of Y/N again?"

Minho can feel his heart tighten while his friends keeps going at it, insisting on speaking about her. He doesn't want to, is it so hard to understand?

"Let's not talk about her."

"That's the problem, Minho. You never want to open up about it."

"She left. What is there more to say?"

"How you're coping with all, how we can help-"

"The only thing you can do to help is leave me alone. I'm doing just fine. Talking was a bad idea, I should go back to bed."

"Min..." Jisung says in a desperate voice.

"Good night."

As he hangs up, he can sense it might have gone too far. Regardless, he discards his phone on his nightstand and buries his body in his bedsheets. He hears meowing coming from the entrance of his room. A second later, his cat Dori jumps on the mattress to come and lay next to him. Minho reluctantly cuddles the cat back, his last one he got with Y/N. Dori is technically her baby but she left so suddenly that Minho had no other choice but to keep him.

"Where are your brothers?" he whispers affectionately to the ball of fur who replies with some more purring. "Are Soonie and Doongie sleeping too?"

Chan is probably the only one able to get Minho out of his house, especially during Christmas time. Maybe it is guilt or shame that he feels, but Minho hasn't been so great ever since he had his early chitchat with Jisung. Shopping for presents wasn't what he had in mind when he thought of making up for it but Chan insisted it would be a good idea.

"Look," he says while pointing at the pig plush on the top of the pile. "It looks like Changbin."

Minho shrugs. "I guess it does."

"What about this?"

He looks boringly at the shirt Chan is showing. Yeah, maybe he should have done something else to make the most of his day off. A good meal at home seems so much more appealing to him.

"Come on," Chan encourages him. "Enjoy a bit."

"I am enjoying, look," Minho tries to convince him with a forced smile.

"Hmm, maybe it's time to go to the food court and take a break."

Dragging his friend behind, Chan moves from restaurant to restaurant in search of a meal for his lunch. After a while of debating internally, he settles for a hamburger. As for Minho, rice with pork seems to be tasty enough. They sit at a table and start to eat in silence. Minho looks around the place, watching people chat and laugh. He sees one couple in particular and they remind him too much of Y/N. Adverting his gaze from this spot, he focuses back on his food before speaking.

"I was thinking of buying a new hoodie for Jisung."

Chan is surprised his friend is even conversing with him but smiles. "A hoodie? Doesn't he have plenty of them already?"

"He does but he sent me a picture of one specifically the other day."

"Then you should buy it for him. Have you heard from him, by the way?"

Minho gulps. "No."

Although suspicious, Chan doesn't push it. They quickly finish their lunch and decide to head towards a clothing store to find Jisung's present. At a certain point, they unconsciously part ways as they look at different pieces of clothing. Minho would look for Chan but he has the hoodie to find. Chan is fine on his own anyway, he tells himself. He goes to the right section and begins to browse through each item. He frowns as he inspects them, not convinced these would be appropriate for his friend.

"Minho?"

He freezes in place. Has he gone crazy or has he just heard Y/N's voice?

"Minho," she says again.

Finally turning around, he is somewhat relieved that it isn't his former girlfriend, but her sister. "Deena," he greets her politely.

"It's been a while, wow. How have you been?" she asks cheerfully, too much in his opinion.

"Nothing much."

She seems taken aback by the short length of his answer. Minho used to be the nicest man she knows. Of course, she doesn't know the full story about what happened. Nonetheless, she still considers Minho as family. So seeing him so lifeless in front of her is quite a shocker.

"I'm in a bit of a rush but we should go grab coffee soon and catch up," she suggests but from the look on Minho's face, she knows she shouldn't have.

"I'm pretty busy."

"Alright," she answers, uneasy. "I'll see you around then."

"Yeah."

Without adding anything, he resumes to looking through the hoodies. Deena eventually leaves and Minho feels like he can breathe again.

He has nothing against his former "sister-in-law" but seeing her so unexpectedly is not something he has prepared himself for. He will go grab a coffee with her when he feels ready to.

Chan comes back a few minutes after with a couple of black shirts and an oversized pair of jeans he picked for Jeongin. As they wait to pay for their things, Minho can feel that Chan has something to say. It wasn't an abnormal occurrence but this time feels like it's eating him inside.

"What is it?"

Chan hesitates for a second. "It was Deena, right?"

He hums. "Yes."

"I'm running out of ways to tell you appropriately but you need to get your shit together. The girl did nothing to you and she seemed to be on the verge of crying when she left the store."

Minho rolls his eyes, like always. "What do you want me to do? Run after her and apologize? I didn't do anything."

"Exactly. Dude, everyone around you is getting sick of your way of dealing with what happened. Sure, your feelings are valid. This doesn't mean you have to inflict your pain onto us. We only want to help," Chan responds, not realizing his tone is increasing more and more.

"Always wanting to play the good savior, uh?" Minho scoffs. "In front of strangers too? Look, I don't need you to tell me how to be. You're not my dad or anything."

"I took you under my wing in college, of course I'm still looking out for you."

"That was back then. I don't need your pity anymore."

Chan's jaw clenches as the two men stare right into the eye. The cashier awkwardly calls for them to proceed to payment which breaks their staring contest. They hurry to pay before storming out of the mall, both of them fuming with anger. The moment they get into Chan's car, the latter explodes.

"This has lasted long enough. How long has it been now? A year?"

"Eleven months," Minho corrects.

"Whatever, same difference. My point is that it might be time for you to move on or at least stop being such a pain in the ass."

Minho's eyebrows raise as he lets out a chuckle. "I didn't know such strong words could come out of your mouth."

"Minho," Chan says in a warning tone.

"So what if I'm not as easygoing as before? You don't understand how it feels anyway."

"Help me understand, then!"

"You just wouldn't!"

He surprised himself by yelling so harshly. The hint of regret creeps up but he tries to hide it by looking away. They both know this is the end of this conversation, neither want to continue anyway. Chan starts the car and the ride home can't be any worse. The tension is so heavy, he swears he feels his body crushing.

Still in silence, he drops Minho off in front of his apartment complex and drives away. Face blank, Minho goes in his building and lazily enters the elevator. It's like he's in a daze, not fully aware of himself. Before he knows it, he's back home sitting at his counter with three cats waiting patiently in front of him as they expect him to fill their bowls with food. But he remains still and stares at nothing in particular. Has he gone too far this time?

In all of the people he knows, Chan is the last one he would have thought to snap at him so harshly. Most importantly, he never thought he'd yell at him for no reason. For the first time in a while, Minho allows one single tear drop from his eye.

Christmas has come. Well, almost. Work has been the same and no contact have been made with anyone for the last week or so. The lack of human interaction felt both good and bad, but mostly aching.

Every day is the same, Minho realizes. Waking up, eating a very mediocre peanut butter toast with coffee, scrolling through his feed on social medias, getting dressed, going to work, bossing his ass off in return of a less than decent pay, coming back home, eating, washing up, going to bed, sleeping, only to do the same all over again the next day.

In a way, he loves not having to think about planning things out. On the other hand, his life is becoming more and more dull with less of a purpose. Why is he alive for if it's only to do the same task over and over again?

For a change, Minho decides to start a Christmas film instead of rotating watches of the same five movies. A mistake he does is not reading the synopsis before pushing play on the remote. He settles comfortably on his couch while Soonie and Doongie cuddle next to him. Dori is somewhere nearby, playing with a piece of paper Minho had dropped on the floor earlier that week.

At first, the show is boring he thinks. The more the story develops, however, the more he sees the resemblance between himself and the protagonist. The movie is A Christmas Carol, one Y/N once had begged him to watch with her. Scrooge is very unlikable, there is no denying in that. But Minho tries to ignore the similarities he shares with him and keeps on watching the screen in silence. At some point, it simply became impossible to ignore the tightness in his chest. In an abrupt move, he turns the TV off, picks up his two cats, and heads to bed.

Christmas is so near, he thinks as he is watching his alarm clock getting closer to midnight. He really does his best to not make a big deal out of it but his mind can't stop having these images of Y/N, his friends, Christmas... everything. He can't escape pain, no matter what.

Thankfully, Dori comes in his room to join the other felines which distracts him for a second, just long enough so he can finally fall asleep.

The clock indicates 11:55 P.M. when Minho is in a deep sleep and the only sounds that can be heard throughout the whole flat are the appliances running and the cats snoring. Maybe some snores are coming from the man himself but they are faint. Slowly, Doongie wakes up. He wiggles around to find a new comfortable position but fails and falls off the bed. Luckily, cats always land on their feet. He was going to hop back on the bed but a weird sound catches his attention. It sounds like a bell. Curious, he comes out of the room in attempt to find where it comes from. But nothing. Or maybe there is something.

A faint light can be perceived from the bottom of the front door. The cat carefully gets closer, lowering his body. In a single snap, something flies right from under the door and moving straight into Minho's room which scares Doongie well enough to go hide in his cat tree and let out a cry.

This immediately wakes Minho up as his instinctive cat dad senses take over but it is soon replaced with an unsettling feeling as he sees the bright light in front of him. He squints as it almost blinds him but he wants to know what it is. He can feel his heartbeat increase by the second as the source of light gets closer and closer. Holding his breath, he shut his eyes closed and moves his head away from whatever that is. Until he hears a sigh too familiar to his liking.

He dares to open his eyes and his shoulders drop at the sight. "Chan?"

It's not exactly Chan, it is more of a ghost-like version of him. He wears a very formal suit with his hair styled with gel and his body is translucent, making Minho very skeptical. This is a dream, he thinks. Chan is very much alive and very much not in his apartment. Certainly not after the events of the other day.

"I see you didn't even reach out to me."

Minho frowns and looks around the room as if to make sure he really is speaking to him. "What do you mean?"

Chan chuckles, his voice sounding more like an echo. "After our fight, dumbass! Come on, you weren't going to leave things as it is until Christmas."

He checks his alarm clock quickly. "Well, it is Christmas."

"In five minutes," Chan smirks at him. "I know the past few months have been hard on you."

"Great, even my subconscious is trying to fix me," he whispers to himself, loud enough that the ghost-like figure hears it.

"As in a dream?" Minho nods to the question only for Chan to laugh some more. "You're funny. Anyway, I'm not here for fun. I'm here to help you."

"You tried that already," Minho grumbles in an annoyed voice but receives a shook of the head as an answer.

"My human self tried, I haven't tried yet. You see, I only appear if I'm really needed and your case is a pretty severe one."

Minho tries to protest but is quickly shushed.

"Look, this is a night shift on Christmas Eve, I don't want this any more than you do so let's do it quickly. I'll send you three spirits tonight before it hits midnight. They'll guide you through your entire life and help you make the right choice. Got it?"

"Midnight is in five minutes."

"I know."

"But-"

"You'll understand," Chan cuts him off. "As for now, bon voyage."

Not even conscious that he had been awake —or dreaming— Minho hears a snap of fingers before opening his eyes widely and gasping for air as he wakes up. He is still somewhat confused, but rather glad this was simply a dream. He can feel that the sweat has gone through his pyjamas and makes a face out of disgust.

Quickly, he eats breakfast and freshens up before leaving for work. Yes, he is working on Christmas day. This might be the only way he can get distracted from everything going wrong in his life.

As he approches his work building, he notices a young man. He looks awfully similar to Jeongin but not quite. Curiosity gets the best of him, however, and Minho instinctively walks up to the man. He takes a moment to scan his appearance: he's shorter than Jeongin, has light golden hair and wears loose white streetwear clothing. He also takes notes on the grey of his eyes.

"Lee Minho!" he says cheerfully before Minho could let out a single word.

The man jumps in surprise. "Jeongin?"

He shakes his head as a no and smiles brightly. "No, my name is P."

"P..." Minho repeats slowly, slightly confused.

"Shall we go in?"

He doesn't wait for an answer as he begins to walk and Minho automatically follows him into his building, assuming this boy might be a new worker in his firm. They hop onto the elevator together and P pushes the button to level 7. As Minho is about to look for his own floor, he notices something odd. The building has 26 levels. So why the hell are the numbers going up to 30? He slowly turns to come face to face with the younger man who keeps a wide smile on his face, fear creeping in.

"Who are you?" he dares to ask.

"I told you, I'm P!" the boy repeats with an even bigger grin, almost creepy. "Short for Past."

Oh. Oh no. It all suddenly clicks in Minho's head. Either this is a dream occuring because of the movie he had watched before going to bed or this is his own story of A Christmas Carol. He pinches the side of his arm, hoping he would be back in his room but it only results to him hissing in pain.

"Do you remember your Christmas when you were seven years old?" Minho can only glare at him but P doesn't seem to care. "This might refresh your memories."

The doors of the elevator open right after and not only are they not in his workplace anymore but the setting is exactly as he remembers it from his childhood. They are right on the street of his parents' home. The street is empty, understandably so because of the light snow falling down and the cold weather. It is early in the morning and his childhood home looks much smaller than he remembers, and in a much poorer state.

P walks out first before turning around, encouraging Minho to follow. "Can they see me?"

"No."

The answer satifies Minho and he finally steps out of the elevator, letting himself get led by this Jeongin look-alike. He wonders why this specific time was chosen in all of his years of life. He ponders the idea of asking P but it soon vanishes when he spots his younger self coming out of the house with his parents observing him in a loving way. A knot forms in his belly. He hasn't talked to his parents since Y/N left. Are they doing okay? Maybe he should have called a few times at least.

"Can we bring one home?" younger Minho asks his mom, eyes full of hope.

"Do you want a kitten as your Christmas gift?" his mother asks and the child happily nods. "We'll go see the cats and I'll think about it, okay?"

Satisfied enough, he skips down the street while humming a Christmas song. Oddly enough, it is Y/N's favourite: Winter Wonderland.

Minho watches his former self with nostalgia. He remembers the moment perfectly. This was the first time he ever owned a cat after begging his mother to get one years after years. He had named her Nala, which he thought was very clever at the time.

"Can we follow them?"

P takes his hand, much to Minho's surprise, and they begin to float just slightly above ground and fly right to where his past self is. He doesn't question the spirit about how this works and resumes to watching himself coo at the cats. For a brief moment, his eyes advert from the scene and land on his parents. But there is something catching his attention. He sees his father emptying his wallet as well as his mom before they give it to the worker. His breath gets heavier as he looks back and forth from them to himself.

"Is this why my mother stopped going out for tea with her friends? And why my father couldn't take my mother out for dates? They used to argue so much about it..." Minho almost whispers.

"Parents make great sacrifices for their children," P says longingly.

"Why didn't they tell me?"

P shrugs. "Probably because you were a literal child but also because they didn't want you to feel bad."

"My grandmother would have helped us in an instant if she knew."

P shrugs again. "They didn't want help."

He easily catches on why the ghost brought him at this exact moment. Just in time, Minho gets a hold of himself and says in incoherent words that he won't fall for P's tricks. The latter isn't nearly fazed by this statement and he takes the man's hand to bring him back to the elevator in a quick flying trip.

After the door closes, Minho is relieved that he can finally go back home. That is until P pushes the button for level 18 which earns a frown from Minho.

"Aren't we done?"

"No, you have other things left to see before I send you back. Well, a few more years to see."

"And me at 18 years old was an important year?"

P sends him a knowing look but he acts clueless, as if he doesn't know what happened back then although it's painfully obvious he does. Denial is the best way to cope, isn't it?

The doors open to the hallway of his college dorm he used to share with Chan. He can instantly recognize the said-man and Changbin joking around before they walk in his dorm. Without waiting for P, Minho follows and freezes when he stumbles upon Y/N. This moment was merely over two months into their relationship but he could tell he already knew she was his everything at that time.

Y/N greets the two boys and encourages them to put their wrapped presents under the mini Christmas tree she had insisted on making to display in his small living room. Meanwhile, a nearly adult Minho is unwrapping takeout as he watches the scene with a huge smile.

"What took you two so long?" he asks, walking towards the group with the food in hands.

"Chan's fault," Changbin immediately accuses, earning a stare from the older man.

"Not true."

"I'm not the one who lost Hyunjin's present."

Hyunjin's eyes lit up. "You got me a present?"

A small smirk appears on Chan's face. "I got all of you a present."

"Even me?"

Minho's heart tightens. He still struggles to listen to your voice and because you were there physically in front of him, it pains him so much more.

"Even you."

"Can we open them?" Felix asks, eyes lighting up.

"After eating," younger Minho says in a stern voice. "Otherwise, you'll get your dirty ass hands on the gifts, or on anything for that matter."

Y/N glances at Jisung with a knowing smirk that his friend returns, something he hadn't caught onto back then. She still hastens to give Minho a hand with all of the food dishes, not forgetting to give a napkin to each person. He knows he can be a bit peculiar with keeping his place tidy and he never wanted Y/N to feel pressured with that. Still, it visibly seemed to have been a common issue she and Jisung had with him.

"Y/N, I thought you were supposed to go back home for the holidays," Seungmin tells with food already being chewed in his mouth.

"I was," she confirms. "Minho and I determined we wanted to spend our first Christmas together and, sorry, but I rather be here than with my aunts. They were going to be all over me about not knowing what I want to do with life, I can spare myself from it."

The whole group lets out a laugh as they go on with their feast before discussing all sorts of things. Hyunjin and Chan are in the corner laughing their asses off, much to Minho's dismay who is keeping a close look at his white carpet. Hyunjin has always been clumsy and this wouldn't be the first time he spills something.

Present Minho watches it all, fully aware of what is about to happen. He never regretted getting mad at his friend for a small spoil but this kind of behaviour is one of the many that contributed to his separation. He sees what P is trying to do by showing him this.

"I get the point, can we go?"

P chuckles. "After you know what."

In shame, he observes from the corner of the eye himself exploding at Hyunjin for staining the carpet, Chan nagging at him for doing so, the boys uncomfortably watching the scene as they back away from him... and he catches a glimpse of Y/N getting the necessities to get rid of the sauce stain, not even complaining.

"I think we're good here," he tries again to convince P.

He receives a playful smirk from the spirit. "Are you sure?"

Minho groans but, nonetheless, nods. "Please."

P is quick to grab his hand and fly right back into the elevator, doors shutting behind them. He does give Minho a minute or two to recuperate from the sight before pushing the button 24. Minho's eyes are stuck on the lit up number and gulps, feeling suddenly hotter. That was last year.

"Don't you have another Christmas to show me before..." he trails off.

He is met with no answer and has to settle for the tranquility of the metal box going up. Anxiety keeps letting itself known through his body the more the number rises. Finally, after what felt like eternity to him, the ding sound signals that they have reached the level.

"You might want to prepare yourself for this one."

Minho huffs and glares at the ghost as to tell him "no shit". The doors slide open and they are already in his apartment. At least, P was kind enough to spare him from reliving what triggered the actual argument.

His cats are all doing their thing as normally. All seems out of the ordinary until he feels footsteps through the ground. He takes a deep breath in and watches Y/N barge into the place, hair messy and tears streaming down her face. The guilt pit down in his stomach when he sees himself step inside after you, throwing his scarf carelessly on a chair.

"Are you going to talk at least?" he asks, looking down at Y/N who scoffs at her boyfriend's question.

How dare he is the one demanding explanations from her?

"Are you going to talk about it?" she questions back, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Oh, come on, I didn't do anything."

"Telling everyone you want to call off the engagement is something."

P hisses in a disapproving way. "Man, you outdid yourself with this one."

"Shut up."

Y/N still waits for Minho to speak up but nothing comes out of his mouth other than his unsteady breathing. In a swift manner, she walks behind the counter and fills their cats' bowls in the meantime of waiting still for her lover to say something. But the man stays where he is, observing his surroundings in awkwardness.

"Minho," she finally calls out.

"I didn't call off the engagement."

"Really? Saying getting married is bullshit isn't telling everyone you don't want to marry me?"

"It's not like that. I meant it's not a necessity for us to know we love each other."

"You don't get that marriages can mean something other than that, it's so much more."

"It's an excuse to spend thousands of dollars on things that will last a day or two at most."

Y/N buried her face in her hands as she let out a groan. "You've always been like this."

"Realistic?"

"No, a grumpy old man. You can't see the beauty in anything."

Minho smirks for a second. "I see beauty in you."

"Don't try with your sweet words, Lee Minho," she says, raising a finger up at him. "You know exactly what I mean. I can give you so many examples. Firstly, you never buy me anything on Valentine's day because it's a marketing holiday. Then, you want every single aspect to be perfect and at their exact place although life isn't like this. And finally, you just see the negative everywhere, always pointing out what is wrong. What happened to my sweet Minho who would smile at the slightest thing?"

He remains quiet as he sits on one of the dining table's chairs. Not knowing what to do next, Y/N copies his actions and gets seated in front of him. They don't dare to look at each other just yet but Minho most definitely wants to. His ego too big, he doesn't budge.

"Minho, please," she begged.

"Alright, it's enough."

P lets out a huff. "The action barely started."

Clenching his jaw, he doesn't insist more and settles on looking at the ground while the scene he had been trying to forget about for almost a year was happening right in front of him. Minho hates it, his heart is bleeding in pain.

"I've grown, maybe that's something you should consider doing as well," he hears himself say.

Curiosity gets the best of him and he can't contain himself from looking at her, he never knew how she had reacted to his words. The view he has in front of his eyes makes his heart shatter in an instant. He swears he can see her soul leave her body just now. Had he really done this to her?

"What- Min, I-" she tries to speak, but struggles.

"Y/N, we want different things now."

She chokes out on her tears, the ones that she finally lets stream down her face since she had been containing them. She hated crying, especially with Minho.

"No, we want the same things," she affirms, her voice breaking. "You've just become too obnoxious and focused on your career that you don't see it anymore."

"You think I'm the obnoxious one? Y/N, have you seen yourself?" Minho asks in a loud voice as he gets up from his chair. "You're so full of bullshit with your positivity and ignorance towards actual problems, it makes me sick. Take the cat, for example. We don't have space for a third one but yet, here is Dori who can't even behave properly. And your Christmas decoration is taking too much space too."

"This is about space now?"

"Yes, I need space! And I'm sorry I cancelled our last date but I just can't deal with you right now. You're in the way and I can't work and- Fuck, I don't know how to tell you but we can't keep on going like this."

Her breathing is becoming more unsteady while the tears are still flooding out of her eyes. Present Minho approches her and tries to put a hand on her shoulder, but it goes through. Right, he forgot. He is not really there.

"I didn't want to call off our engagement. But maybe I do now."

Slowly, she gets up and walks towards their shared bedroom which leaves a perplexed and helpless Minho standing alone in the middle of his dining room. He hears unknown noises and hesitates on whether he should go to you or wait. But again, his ego takes over and he stays right where he is.

Soon later, only a couple of minutes, he sees Y/N walk out of the bedroom with one bag and two suitcases full of her belongings. His face dropped immediately.

"You're leaving?" he asks, desperate. No answer. "For how long?" Still silent. "Y/N, please, I know we can figure it out."

Her lower lip quivers as she sobs some more, trying her best to ignore the man in front of her. She dares to walk towards their front door, not acknowledging her lover for one second.

"My love, please," Minho tries once more.

And just like that, she walks out, door shutting quietly behind her.

"We've seen enough."

P is about to say no when he catches Minho's watery eyes. He taps himself on the back mentally, he didn't think he would break down so fast. Taking him by the forearm, he leads him towards the elevator. The doors slide shut rather fast, which Minho is thankful for. In a careful move, P presses the ground floor button and the elevator goes down.

Once arrived, the doors reveal Minho's bedroom. It looks the same as it did the night before. Minho takes notes on that, it means his night is far from being over.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"You will," P reassures. "I'll leave you alone, now. It was my pleasure being your guide for tonight."

As the two men exchange a small smile, more as a form of respect, P begins to glow, brighter and brighter. So much that Minho can't even look at him anymore and is blinded. He tried to look away but even then with his eyes closed, the light goes through.

Suddenly, there's nothing.

The morning is brighter than he thought it would be. He swears he saw on the news the day prior that Christmas day was going to be gloomy. The blue sky with the sun shining is definitely a pleasant surprise.

Enough with admiring the weather, Minho finishes rapidly his coffee, grabs his briefcase, and heads out to work. As he walks towards his building, he can't help but think of his dream from last night. He did expect dreaming of Y/N but not having to relive the day she left so vividly.

As he is about to cross the road, he feels his body collide with someone which is soon followed with the feeling of burnt. He curses out loud and is considering telling the other person off. Only, it is someone he hasn't seen in a while and who has a face he definitely recognizes.

"Hyunjin?"

The man cocks his head to the side and frowns. "Are you Mr. Lee?"

Minho, as equally confused, nods. "You don't recognize me?"

The Hyunjin look-alike seems to take notice of his whereabouts and clears his throat. "I apologize, sir. This is my first year working as a guiding spirit. Shall we start over? Hi, my name is P."

Suddenly, Minho has flashbacks of his encounter with the boy of the same name. Was he still in the dream? Or was the Chan spirit saying the truth? He feels a lump growing inside of his throat as the P man in question goes on about himself.

"I'm sincerely sorry about the coffee I spilled, let me fix this," he says before splashing Minho's figure with gold dust. The stain instantly disappears. "Now, where was I..? Oh, right! I'm P, short for Present. I was assigned to you to review your Christmas of this year."

At this point, Minho doesn't have it in him to protest. Without saying a word, he walks in the building as P follows him behind. This one spirit is much giddier than the previous one. The moment he steps in the elevator, he does nothing but look around nervously. It is with a heavy sigh that Minho empresses himself to push the button next to 25.

"I thought I forgot something, thanks," P laughs nervously, receiving a glare in return.

The ride up is quiet and awkward but when the doors open, they both step out in sync and walk along the trail of snow. The Christmas market is an event that the real Hyunjin takes part in each year. He always contributed with an animal rescue center to help them give puppies up for adoption.

This year is especially important to him, it is the first time he does it with his own dog rescue shelter. For the occasion, a few of the boys promised him they would come by to encourage him. Including Minho.

Far from the distance, Minho sees Felix and Seungmin arguing about whatever while Chan greets warmly their friend who has just finished setting his booth up.

"Guys, come look at the doggies," he calls the younger men who rush to pet the furry creatures.

"I'd call this one Seungmin," Felix jokes as he picks up a baby labrador.

Hyunjin laughs at the comment. "Her name is Daisy."

"Not very original," Felix allows himself to point out to which Hyunjin chuckles again.

His laughs trails off while he looks around, brows furrowed. "Didn't Minho say he'd come too?"

Chan sighs heavily, giving one of the poodles some scratches. "I called him but he didn't answer. Plus, we had an argument last time I saw him so I don't think he'll come."

"About Y/N again?" Seungmin asks and Chan nods. "The number of times I told her to talk it out with him, she really should call him. The guy is getting on my nerves."

Minho's heart stops for a moment. Not only because he finally knows what his friend thinks of him but also because he apparently has been in contact with Y/N, without his knowledge. He thought all of his friends haven't heard from you since.

"I told her too but what can I say? They're both stubborn," Felix shrugs. "I thought of stopping by her place today to see how she's doing but Minho would kill me if he discovers."

"Oh, please. He'd kill you if you even mention her name."

The four men share a sad laugh before changing topics. Hyunjin is careful with each dog as he introduces them one by one. All of it becomes a blur for Minho, he doesn't know if he wants to leave now or listen more to it. As much as it hurts him, he can't help but be curious.

"Did you know this?" he finally says, turning his body towards P.

"I did read it on the report paper before meeting you but, hey, I don't know you all," he responds with his hands up in defense. "We can go see her if you want."

Minho ponders for a moment. Was he ready to face her once again?

"No. Not yet."

"As you wish. Your friends are having a party tonight if you didn't know. We have to see that."

"I know, yeah."

P takes his hand as they float away all the way to Changbin's house. Before setting foot on the ground, he can already see all of his friends with Felix's fiancé, Chan's wife and Jisung's new girlfriend. Everyone is there. Except him.

He carefully approaches the group inside the living room where the girls are busy putting the presents under the Christmas tree. What takes him aback the most is seeing a tall and beautiful woman coming down the stairs before placing a kiss on Changbin's cheek. Since when is he seeing someone? It takes everyone a few minutes to settle down and serve themselves drinks. Once everyone is sat, they hold their glasses up for a toast.

"Who wants to do the honours?" Jeongin asks and Jisung immediately gets up.

"Merry Christmas, guys! Thank you for this year and thank you to Changbin for hosting the dinner tonight," he says, bopping his head towards him. "And let's have a moment for our Minho. He might not be here but he's in our heart. Let's hope he can get back on the right track next year."

There is a pause in the room, everybody suddenly feeling a wave of guilt and sadness. They know they've done everything for their friend, but they still feel like they should have tried harder.

Minho, this time, doesn't try to contain his cries. He walks up Jisung and smiles, just a little.

"Thanks, Hannie," he whispers.

"To Minho," he cheers, holding his drink higher.

"To Minho."

P lets out a cough, grabbing Minho's attention. "Not to be a mood breaker but I think you should see Y/N."

"What do you mean?"

"See what she is doing at this exact moment."

He surprisingly agrees with no hesitation and they both float away to another neighbourhood of the city. One Minho isn't too familiar with. This must be why she chose to move there, somewhere she knew she wouldn't encounter Minho. They float down at the apartment's balcony and Minho can see her right away through the window.

"You can go through walls," P informs and he does as told.

He's surprised to see her alone with her sister. She used to be a social butterfly, he wonders what happened. Deena sets the table while humming to Christmas music and Y/N finishes up with cutting the ham. It's not as Christmas-y as it should be, it's rather sad. The atmosphere is sad.

"Need help with that?" Deena offers.

"I'm good, thanks," Y/N answers as she brings the dishes on the table.

She looks paler than he remembers, maybe because of the lighting. Her hair is longer and she seems to have dyed it brown. She's also much skinnier.

"Thank you for cooking," Deena smiles warmly at her.

"It's nothing," she smiled back and begins to serve herself a plate. "I would have definitely given a piece of ham to the cats if they were here."

Deena shakes her head. "How many times did I tell you that I can go get them back?"

Y/N shakes her head too and sighs. "He loves them as much as I do, maybe even more. Who knows how he would survive without them."

"He's not really surviving, if you want my opinion. You should have seen him at the mall the other day."

Y/N shrugs while playing with her potatoes. "He's coping in his own way."

Her sister lets out a groan, desperate. "Jeez, you two are so sad to see, it's depressing."

Well, if Minho wanted to be sure Y/N is still struggling with getting over their separation, he has his answer right there.

"I'll be fine and so will he. Besides, it's not like we lost everything. I still have you and he has the boys."

Deena deadpans at her and then points at her ring finger. Minho looks at it more attentively and allows himself to gasp quietly. Y/N still has the ring, the one he proposed to her with. After what he said to her, she still wears it?

She is quick to pull her hand off the table and cover it with her sleeve. "It's a pretty ring."

"It means more to you than that and you know it."

"He didn't want to get married and it's alright. We grew apart and it is what it is. Can we talk about something else now?" she says in annoyance.

"Y/N, Felix, when he called-"

"Stop," she cuts her off. "Felix doesn't know what happened. He doesn't understand."

"Okay, I'll stop. But just so you know, this is doing no good to anybody, especially the two of you."

Minho can't hear any more of it. In a second, he turns around and goes back to the balcony which indicates to P that the visit is over. The ghost throws some of his golden dust in the air and the elevator magically appears next to them. They step inside and press the button to the ground floor.

As it goes down, Minho is looking away from the spirit, he has a certain pride to maintain. P hesitates but decides to put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Can I just say? In my whole year of working, this might be the only case where I really empathized with my client."

Minho moves his hand away from him and grumbles something under his breath. P doesn't hear it properly but it goes along the lines of "I don't need empathy, don't act like you care".

When they get to his room, the spirit is quick to take a leave, leaving Minho alone in his cold room. At least he has his cats. He has them because of Y/N's kind heart knew he needs them.

At least, maybe she still cares a little.

The formula is the same this morning. So much that Minho knows he isn't going to work and is still trapped in this weird loop of exploring his life. He doesn't bother dressing properly nor bringing what he needs for his job. He doesn't even change his cats' water.

The moment he walks in his workplace, it doesn't even take him a second to spot the ghost of his future. It's Jisung this time. Well, not him exactly.

"Hello, my name is-"

"F, I suppose? For future?"

The spirit, stunned, slowly nods. "Usually, people are happy to see me."

"I had a long night, buddy. Just show me what you have to show me and I can move on with my life."

F doesn't argue with him and he leads him to the elevator when he presses the button 30 right away. "We'll do the quick version since you're in such a rush. I would have gone through 26 beforehand but-"

"What happens next year?" Minho interrupts him.

"No, you want this to be quick. I respect that. It's Christmas anyway, I can make an exception."

"What happens next year?" he repeats.

F smiles knowingly before glancing at the button 26. Minho, hesitantly, goes ahead to press it himself to which the ghost responds with a satisfied smirk. Before he knows it, they already reached the level.

As the doors open, Minho soon recognizes Jeongin's penthouse. Looks like that year's Christmas is settled to be at his place. Jeongin is alone with Changbin as they seem to be preparing food and drinks for the guests they are expecting. It is soon confirmed when Jisung walks in without knocking, alongside with his girlfriend. In the following minutes, each of his friends, sometimes with a significant lover, come inside and the party gets louder and merrier. However, after Hyunjin arrived, it dawns on him that his future version himself won't take part on that year's dinner.

Just like the previous year.

After chatting some more about what they are up to in their lives (nothing much other than Felix getting married but everyone knows as they attended the ceremony), Changbin calls everyone for dinner and they sit around Jeongin's dinner table.

"Can I make the toast this year?" Jisung asks, earning looks from his friends.

"You did last year, I say our host of the night does it," Seungmin suggests and they all seem to agree.

So, a bit uncomfortable still, Jeongin gets up with his glass of wine in hands. "Thank you for another year of our usual Christmas party. I'm really glad all of you were able to come. Of course, we still have a thought for our Minho who won't be joining us, yet again, tonight." The guests exchange glances in agreement and let the youngest continue. "Merry Christmas and let's enjoy our meal!"

They cling their glasses together, wishing a merry Christmas to one another, and don't lose another second to attack their plates. Although it pains him to not see himself enjoy the feast with them, Minho is somewhat happy. At least, they still have each other.

"Why couldn't he make it, anyway?" Chan asks around the table, looking at anybody who might have the answer.

The only person to answer is, unsurprisingly, Jisung. "The last time I saw him was in September and he said he had some issues with the cats. I don't know if he was making up excuses but he seemed to be alright."

"It was a miracle he even showed up for my wedding," Felix scoffs, making Minho huff. "An even bigger miracle was that he didn't make a scene when he saw Y/N there."

"They left together, no?"

What Seungmin just said gives him some kind of hope. Wanting to be sure he would hear every detail, he gets closer to his friend who continues to speak on the matter.

"I know they drank a lot but has someone seen what they were doing?"

"He was cuddly," Jisung answers. "No, clingy as hell. Poor Y/N who had to drive him home."

"They could have made up then?" Chan questions and Jisung nods.

"But we all know him, he missed his chance to fix things again."

"I really thought inviting both of them would have put an end to their mishaps," Felix sighs, discouraged. "I'll send Minho a message later."

"We could call him all together?" Chan suggests but by the reactions of everybody, this is not an option.

Just like that, they change subject and continue to discuss cheerfully about everything and anything. F gives a sad smile to the man, who watches the scene feeling beaten. There must have something really wrong with him that his closest friends wouldn't even wish him a merry Christmas.

"Where am I while all of this is happening?" he asks the ghost.

Carefully, he is transported away from the penthouse and directly to his apartment. The moment he takes in the sight of his place, he sees how nothing much changed in a year. Everything is still where it was during the present year.

His hair is longer, he notices. Not only that but he grew a bit of a beard, a choice he questions a little. His cats are still doing their thing, none of them appear to be sick. What particularly catches his attention is the glass filled with a bright yellow liquor that is set next to him as he scrolls down through his feed on his tablet.

Is he drinking? He does have a few occasions where he'll consume alcohol but a glass full of whiskey is new.

Soonie jumps on the counter and, unlike what Minho would automatically do as of right now, his future self pushes the cat off. He gasps in horror and runs to catch his pet. Only, he did forget he isn't actually there and that things pass through his body. Fortunately, Soonie is fine.

"I should text her, at least," he hears himself say.

The man he sees is far from being remotely close to what he is. Hair messy, tie loosened and a beer belly growing; he wonders what caused him to let himself reach this point.

Future Minho opens his e-mail app and clicks on New Message. He is quick to find Y/N's e-mail address, which real Minho takes as a sign he must have done the same more than once in the last year. He tries to read what he is typing but the amount of typos is quite overwhelming. Despite that, he manages to make out a somewhat coherent note.

___

Hey,

I know I should probably not be writing this but it is Christmas today so, merry Christmas. Remember how we used to go out with the others and play stupid games until late? Then, we'd come home and I'd make you a hot chocolate before going to be? You remember all of that, don't you?

I miss it, and I miss you. I know I said I'll stop writing but you broke my heart, Y/N. How can I forget and ignore what happened? You left so suddenly for no reason. I should be furious, maybe I am. No, I know I am. I still can't help myself but longing for you.

Have a jolly holiday, even if it's without me,

Min xox

___

"Wow, that's pathetic," Minho breathes out after reading. He turns to face F and frowns. "That's a year from now?"

"Precisely."

"No, it can't be. I'm alright, I moved on."

F visibly tries to contain himself from speaking on that, but he can't. "You're one oblivious man."

"I am okay!"

F scoffs. "Sure. Now, shall we visit you at 30 years old? It's Christmas and I have others plans after this."

Minho keeps finding it ridiculous how these ghosts continue to act as if they are actual people. He's still dreaming, why would he bother imagining spirits with personalities?

He is soon led to the actual elevator of his apartment building where F presses the button quickly. Once the level reached, the doors open to a beautiful wedding reception, leaving Minho confused. He does not know anybody other than Felix, who is supposedly already married by then, who is engaged.

The two men walk around the room, recognizing a few faces, and Minho finally spots himself sitting with his friends. At least he isn't alone, he tells himself. He goes straight ahead to observe the scene where he is obviously bored and sick of being there. He does notice how his appearance seem much better than before with gel in his hair and a tuxedo well ironed on.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Chan asks him in a concerned voice.

"Stop with that, I'd leave if I wasn't fine," Minho rolls his eyes.

"You haven't spoken to her, though."

"You really are good at observing, Chan," Minho responds in a mocking way and the older man simply sighs.

Suddenly, the entirety of the room begins to cheer loudly and clap. Minho tries to follow their gaze to find out who they were waiting for. After moving around to see through the dozens of head, he finally spots her. And him.

Y/N. It's her wedding. And she invited him of all people?

His brain short-circuits and he feels his heart pounding faster and faster. He can't think properly anymore, the only thing he can vividly see is her. How she smiles at every single person who congratulates her. How she clings onto this man as if her life depended on it. But most importantly, he sees how her smile just gets sadder when her eyes stop on him.

He knows time stops for the two of them before they walk towards each other. He knows so many things are still left unsaid. Gaining back his consciousness, he follows himself to watch what is about to happen.

She hugs him, a bit awkwardly. "I didn't think you'd come. Thank you."

"Congratulations," Minho says, retracting from the hug as fast as he can. "You two make a fine couple."

"Thanks," she chuckles. "Look, Min-" she starts but Minho shakes his head.

"Don't, it's okay. Enjoy your day."

Grateful, she sends him one last smile and moves to thank other guests. Chan, at this point, can do nothing else but pat his friend's shoulder. Surprisingly, Minho doesn't budge. He does, however, let one single drop fall from his eye.

"That's it?" he exclaims, now looking at F. "I'm not even trying? I just gave up? What even happened between then and that moment?"

"I've shown you plenty, you can figure it out by yourself," F says calmly and then begins to walk back to the metal box.

Minho, refusing this as an answer, runs to join him hastily. "Who's this guy, anyway?"

"Does it really matter? You two are not together anymore."

"Yes, if it can help me to prevent this."

"So you don't want her to be happy?" F perks an eyebrow making Minho groan in frustration.

"I'm asking you what I need to do to change this. It can't be like this. I'm the one who's supposed to marry her."

F smirks as they walk in the elevator, presses the button to the ground floor and finally looks at the man. "You know what has to be done, you're just afraid."

"Of what?"

"Oh, please. Stop with the act. How has the last year really been like for you?"

Minho gulps, already feeling himself choke up. "I-" he starts. "It's been hell."

F nods. "What else?"

"Y/N was right, as she always is... I'm the one who lost myself with time. I did want to marry her and I did not think she was obnoxious. Certainly not..."

He starts to cry, heavily this time. There is no more hiding or denying, he just said it all out loud. Regrets and pain, that's what's been eating him. He sobs as everything finally hits him so brutally. He lost Y/N for good. Or he will lose her for good if he keeps acting the way he does.

And his friends, the only people who stick with him through everything. The ones he keeps pushing away in fear of himself.

"You're home," the spirit says, interrupting the moment.

Minho doesn't hesitate to crash into his bed and sob some more. Even if F wanted to leave so badly, he doesn't think he should just yet. Cursing at himself, he comes to sit on the bed and pats the back of the broken man.

"It's alright, let it all out. You've had a rough night."

Minho hiccups and sniffles before glaring at the ghost. "No shit."

"You know, I think you can fix this."

Minho shrugs. "I've been horrible to everyone."

"You acknowledge it, that's a start. From there, only you can decide how things will be." F looks at his watch for a second and gasps. "I'm late for my next human! Good luck with everything."

Minho doesn't watch him leave. He is still crying but he has no more energy. He desperately wants to wake up, but mostly, he wants to see Y/N.

Minho doesn't wake up until the later morning. With the dream he just had, the sleep deprived guy seriously needed more than eight hours of resting. He does miss out work but, honestly, is not bothered the slightest. In fact, he is grateful he won't be working today.

After feeding Soonie, Doongie and Dori, he determines he should catch up on the gifts he planned on offering to his friends. Walking to his home office, he pulls out the wrapping paper he hadn't touched in a while and begins to wrap each and every single one of the presents he bought. He is definitely happy to have made some purchases the day he went shopping with Chan.

The task does grow tiring and boring after a while. To keep himself motivated, he plugs in his speaker to play some music and hums alongside the lyrics. He hasn't done that for a long time. As he is about to skip the current song playing on his playlist, his solo karaoke session is interrupted by a call coming in.

Not bothering to look at the contact, he answers happily. "Merry Christmas, you joined Lee Minho. How can I help you?"

The other side of the line is silent but he can hear that there is someone. Frowning, he repeats himself to encourage the person to talk.

"Minho, it's Changbin."

"Oh, hey! How are you doing? I was about to call you to ask what you wanted me to bring for tonight."

He senses that his friend is quite taken aback and he smiles proudly to himself.

"You're coming?"

"Unless I wasn't invited-"

"No, no," Changbin cuts him. "You're always welcomed, you know that. I'd just expected you to say you have work or something."

"I was supposed to clock in but I didn't feel like going to the office. Oh, by the way, can I ask a favor from you?"

"Uh, yeah, go ahead..." Changbin replies, skeptical.

"I know you're still in contact with Y/N."

Changbin, on his side, freezes. "How did you- Min, I swear we all wanted to tell you-"

"I'm not mad. I just wanted to know if you could possibly invite her and Deena for dinner, please? Don't tell them I'll be there, though."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, I want it to be a surprise."

He doesn't say anything for a minute, processing what is happening. "Then, I'll invite them and say you aren't coming."

"Good! See you tonight! And tell your girlfriend I'm excited to meet her!"

He doesn't let Changbin question him on how he learned about his girlfriend and hangs up. Resuming to his activity, he stops when he sees Soonie playing with wrapping paper. Filming him, he coos at him before giving him loving scratches.

"I won't ever hurt you, I promise," he tell his cat, recalling what happened in his dream.

When he has finished with wrapping his gifts, he goes to his closet to find an appropriate attire for the night. For the last year, he hadn't wore anything other than work clothes and sweats. The nice shirt Y/N once bought him catches his attention. The dark green buttoned blouse seem to be a perfect match for his black clean pants. He changes fast and does not forget to add a few pieces of jewelry to finish his look.

He is all set to go. But one look at himself in the mirror at his entrance stops him for a moment. It suddenly clicks that he is a couple hours away from seeing Y/N again, for real this time. Although terrified, he has found some peace with it from the events of the previous night. He wants to make things right.

And one thing he can do just now is call his parents, the ones he has been ignoring for a year. He did expect his mother to cry but certainly not his father. Both incite him to come to his hometown in the following days and he can't refuse the invite. Not when they are begging with their puppy eyes.

"I'll come for New Year's, does it sounds okay?"

His mother nods vigorously through the screen of his phone. "Will Y/N be coming with you?"

He might have left out that he isn't with her anymore. Seeing the look on his parents' faces, he does not have the heart to tell them yet. Instead, he goes with a safe answer.

"I'll see with her if she can clear her schedule, but no promise."

"Tell her she's always welcomed here whenever. Merry Christmas, son!" his father wishes him adoringly.

He smiles, feeling suddenly nostalgic. "Merry Christmas to you two!"

And he hangs up.

Before going to Changbin's place, he doesn't forget to stop at the Christmas market to pay his friend, Hyunjin, a visit. Mentally preparing himself to face a pissed off Chan, he strolls between the booths and stops at a few of them. Some are selling soaps, a lot of them in fact. Others sell clothes they crocheted themselves and a few offer samples of their baked goods.

A few minutes later, Hyunjin's golden locks are easily found from afar. Minho also spots Chan, Seungmin and Felix. He has a heavy case of déjà-vu when he sees the four of them discuss with frowns on their faces.

Discreetly, he walks towards his friends who don't take knowledge of his presence yet. That is until he arrives right behind Felix.

"-stopping by her place today to see how she's doing but Minho would kill me if he discovers," the man is telling the others, oblivious that Minho is hearing everything.

Seungmin gulps and nods his head towards him but Felix cluelessly frowns. Hyunjin does the same which finally makes him turn around and come face to face with Minho. His eyes grow twice their sizes and his mouth opens slightly in shock.

"Hi, Yongbok," Minho says, unbothered. "Cute puppies you got, Hwang."

Hyunjin smiles, thankful. "Do you want to pet one? I've got this chihuahua that looks like Kkami."

He doesn't have the time to answer when a small dog is suddenly placed in his arms. With no complaint, he pets the puppy affectionately. The four men look at him, rather confused, and say nothing. They simply have no idea on how to react to this.

"Minho, what I said about Y/N- She- Uh... We-" Felix stammers out his words but Minho interrupts him.

"I know and it's all good. She is your friend too, I can't be mad at her for wanting to keep you all around."

"I see you've made some thinking," Chan finally speaks up, eyes stern.

"You can say that... I'm sorry about the other day, you were right. I shouldn't have shut you out of my life," he admits, much to his own surprise.

"Apology accepted," Chan grins. "A little birdie told me you asked Changbin to invite Y/N and Deena for dinner."

Seungmin's eyes lit up. "So you changed your mind? You'll come?"

Minho huffs. "I never said I wouldn't come."

Hyunjin sneers. "I know someone who'll be ecstatic about that."

The girl paces the floor nervously, biting her nails as she waits for her sister to arrive. Even if Changbin assured to her that her ex-fiancé wouldn't be attending the party, she can't help but feel like he will find out. She already feels guilty for keeping contact with his friends, who knows how he would react if he learns she went to celebrate Christmas with them.

As Deena finally walks in the apartment, she lets out a heavy sigh of relief. "Finally!"

Her sister rolls her eyes. "It took me barely five minutes to get here."

"Still," she chuckles sheepishly. "Thank you for coming with me."

"What would you do without me?" she exclaims dramatically. "For real, it's very nice for them to invite you. Especially after last year. Plus, it's better than our sappy sister date night."

Y/N lets out a small laugh but resumes automatically to biting down her lower lip in nervousness. Deena notices it but doesn't comment on it. Instead, she rushes her to leave, saying they will be late otherwise.

In the car, Y/N can't wait any longer. She has worries and needs to let them out or she'll go mad.

"What if Minho ends up showing up?"

Deena gives her a look but answers nonetheless. "He won't. And if he does, he'll have to suck it up and be an adult about you being there."

"Do you think he'll get mad when he discoverd that I still talked with the guys?"

"Y/N, for fuck's sake, it's not your problem to deal with! He's the one being a little bitch. Besides, you're not with him anymore."

"It doesn't mean I want to hurt him... and..."

She doesn't complete her sentence since she knows Deena must have understood right away. Y/N is still hopelessly in love with Minho. As much as she believes that leaving was the right thing to do, there were so many instances where she tried to convince herself that he'd change if she goes back to him.

She knows, deep down, she might be right on that.

"I can't believe you're actually here with actual presents!" Jisung almost yells as he brings his friend into a warm hug.

Hyunjin scoffs. "Let the man breathe! See, Min? I told you."

Minho taps Jisung's back a few times as to tell him to let go but he refuses, tightening the embrace. Jeongin is the one to break them apart to be the next in line to hug Minho. Everyone is baffled by his change of heart but they look past it and are simply grateful to have gotten their friend back.

"So? Is she coming?" Minho asks Changbin once he greeted everybody one by one.

"She confirmed she is."

Chan frowns and takes him by the shoulders. "Are you sure you want to talk to her?"

"Things were left unsaid, I need to clear this out once and for all."

Ding dong.

Oh. Now things are getting a bit too real, and panic begins to settle throughout his entire body. With once glance exchanged with Chan, it somehow reassures him. Still with his heart beating fast, he retreats himself behind the group as Changbin goes ahead to open the door.

She looks just like he remembers, stunning. There is, however, a hint of something he can't quite understand. She is paler and shyer. Past that, she is the same. While hugging everyone with her bright smile on her face, she shines. Minho is not too sure if he wants to ruin her brightness by letting his presence known. Looking around nervously, we wonders if this was a bad idea after all.

Before he can escape, he hears his name being called from afar; Jisung. Cursing at him mentally, Minho steps aside from behind Hyunjin and waves, embarrassed.

To no one's surprise, there is a moment of awkwardness settled in the room. While Minho is too ashamed to look back at her, Y/N can't rip her gaze away from him. She can't believe he is actually there. She has to make a mental note for later to smack Changbin for lying to her.

The moment is interrupted by Deena, thankfully. "Hey, Minho! I didn't think you'd be here."

"Hi Deena," he replies in a small voice.

This seems to be enough for the others to resume to their thing: Changbin taking his guests' coats to the other room while his girlfriend offers drinks, Deena putting the presents under the Christmas tree, Chan's wife and Felix's girlfriend sitting in a corner to discuss... Y/N, however, does not budge. Not until everyone leaves the entrance, revealing Minho standing in front of her.

"You dyed your hair?" he finally says, more or less to break the weird tension between the two.

She chuckles and runs her fingers through her longs brown locks. "I did, I thought a change might be good."

He nods as he puts his hands in his pockets, rocking his body back and forth. Now what? He knows he wants to talk about the obvious, but how?

"You're wearing that shirt," she points out with a smile. "It fits you well."

"Thank you. Your dress is cute."

"Thanks. I haven't wore this in a while."

"In a dress or not, you're cute either way."

She blushes. It's not as bad as she thought, they can at least do small talk. Still, this is far from being what she was used to with him. It suddenly snaps in her mind how much she missed him.

"I'll go get a drink, you're welcomed to come along," she offers which makes Minho smile.

Changbin's girlfriend makes no complaint when Minho asks her to make a specific drink, one Y/N would always get when they were together. It does not get unnoticed by the latter and she is amazed he remembers such details even after not speaking to each other for a whole entire year.

"You seem to be doing good," he comments once they get a hold of their alcoholic drinks.

"I'm not too bad. I joined a new law firm and, hopefully, they'll let me work on a case on my own."

It pains him to know she is still struggling with work, this was never an issue for him. "One day, someone will recognize your competence."

"Easy for you to say. I've heard you climbed status and have your own office?"

"Which one of the boys told you that?"

By the look on her face, he has managed to surprise her. "So you know."

He takes a sip of his glass and shrugs. "It did hurt a little that nobody told me but it's alright. You needed them as much as I did."

Her eyes soften. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm the jerk here. I pushed you away to the point you left and after you did, I was so close to losing all of my friends. You did nothing wrong."

She moves her head to the side, unsure on how to react. "We both made mistakes."

He scoffs. "Maybe, but you have to admit I did things way worse than you."

"It's alright, we're okay now. It wasn't meant to be."

His heart tightens and he scoffs once more. "What if it was?"

"Minho-"

"No, Y/N, listen to me for this one. Please." The gleam in his eyes convinces her and she nods for him to continue. "I don't know exactly what happened, it might be work, but I lost myself at some point. I never thought weddings were bullshit, not once in my life. My dream the moment I met you was to put a ring on your finger."

Minho stops himself and gives a scan around to make sure nobody is watching. He is thankful when he realizes his friends are busy with watching a funny video on Felix's phone. With no hesitation, he takes Y/N's hand and moves her sleeve up to reveal her engagement ring, still beautifully worn on her finger. Embarrassed, she is quick to retract her hand back in hiding. How did he know if she has been hiding it as soon as she saw him?

"And I think you might still want that."

Her eyes get watery when she forces herself to stare back at him. "This year has been... a lot. I was not ready to remove it just yet and, I guess I just got used to wearing it."

Although tempted to correct her as he know the truth, Minho does not insist any more. Instead, he sends her a look that says he understands. Almost as if it was planned, Chan calls everyone in the living room to open the presents and to, as they do every year, make a toast.

It takes a few minutes until everyone is sat and silent but once they seem good to go, Chan nods his head at Minho. "Why don't you do the honours this year, Min?"

"Oh, um..."

"I think it won't be appropriate if it is anybody else other than you," Seungmin adds to which the others seem to agree on.

Reluctantly, he gets up from his seat and clears his throat. "First of all, I'd like to apologize for the way I've been acting. I was going through a lot and I shouldn't have imposed it on you, I'm sorry. Second of all, thank you all for sticking by my side although I was a total asshole."

"Heck yeah, you are," he hears Changbin jokingly respond.

"Something else I want to mention," he continues, ignoring his friend, "is how much regret I've felt this year. Y/N?"

All eyes move to her figure by the mention of her name. She looks at Minho, feeling a bit intimidated, but smiles to let him know she wants him to go on.

"I've never loved anyone else more than I have with you. I am aware things were not ideal but you brought the best out of me. I'm sorry I had to be the one ruining this for us. I love you still and I can only wish you the best from now on." He gives the others a last glance before raising his glass. "Thank you Changbin for hosting this year's party, and merry Christmas!"

Even though the entire room cheers and applauds in response to Minho's sweet speech, Y/N is not mentally there anymore. Her mind going wild, she can't think straight other than what Minho has said. She undeniably still loves him, more than she'd like to admit. But is she ready to let him in again?

"Hey," Deena calls her out, shaking her away from her thoughts. "You might want to figure some things out with lover boy."

Her face grows red. "You think so?"

"He just left outside to go for a walk but I'm sure he isn't too far yet. Go join him."

"I don't know..."

"Y/N, stop being in denial. You still love him, he still loves you, he obviously wants you back... Just go get him already."

Slightly intimidated by her sister, she doesn't need to be told twice to go grab her coat and boots, and walk out the door. She expected for him to be at least further away on the street but it is definitely a surprise to see him sitting down on the porch. His back facing her, she quietly approaches him and sits beside him.

There is a moment of quietness before he finally looks at her. "It's snowing."

She chuckles. "Thank you for the info, Mr. Obvious."

They share a laugh and both go back to watching the snowflakes fall. It's calm and peaceful, Minho loves it. It painfully reminds him of many occurrences where they'd watch outside the window for no reason on snow days.

"That was a good speech you just made."

He smirks. "I know."

His playful demeanor is something she doesn't remember seeing in the last moments of their relationship. It feels nice to see him back, as himself.

"What you said earlier, did you mean it?"

He frowns. "The part about regrets? Yeah, I mean, I was an ass and it didn't help me getting better so... I just know I want to fix it."

She shakes her head. "Not just that. The part about still loving me."

He moves his eyes from the snow to her own and she looks at him expectedly. She is so pure, he hates himself from even thinking he had hurt her. Carefully, he takes her hands in his and sets himself just a bit closer to her while still giving her space. He feels the sweat on his forehead, waiting for either getting rejected or getting the love of his life back. Either way, he has to say it. He's been putting it off for too long.

"I meant every word I said, I still and will always love you. How can I not? You're sensitive, smart, beautiful, and so caring. You always put me before yourself. So far, you were ready to give up your cats so I could have them because you knew I needed them."

"Minho-"

"No, you don't get to interrupt me until I'm finally done saying what I have to say. Y/N, never once did I think you were obnoxious. You see beauty in everything, something I'm incapable of doing and that's what bugged me. It bothered me how you are so perfect while I am not even close to be as loving as you are."

She scoffs with a knowing smile pending on her lips. "Now, I'll have to cut you here. You don't see yourself how I see you, Minho. Why do you think I fell in love with you in the first place? You have your own little ways of showing affection, each cuter than the other. I don't mind the rest because I know you do love me."

"I hurt you," he argues sadly.

"And I forgive you, just as long as you don't do it again," she grins, tightening her grasp on his hands.

Minho raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You forgive me... As in-"

"Don't make me say it, I have my own pride too."

Minho wipes away his tears he hadn't realized were starting to fall on his face and doesn't lose another second to bring her close to him and crash his lips onto hers. They're just like he remembered and maybe better, sweet and soft. At that point, both of them are crying. Only this time, it's not because they are hurting. So many feelings are said through the kiss and not a single one is coming from pain. It's sereine and warm, Minho can feel his whole body get lighter.

"Fuck, I missed you so much," he says when they break away, holding her close to his chest. "I'm never letting you go again."

"You better," she chuckles through a sniff.

The door behind them opens wide with more than seven pairs of eyes on them. Minho blushes while Y/N hides herself in the crook of his neck.

"So we good? Everything is sorted out? Please, the food is ready and I'm starving," Jisung complains, receiving a smack from Changbin.

"You're not starving and let them have their moment!"

Jeongin sighs. "I think the moment was already ruined.

The couple, who are still sitting, explode in laughter before getting up and joining their friends in the warmth of their home where Changbin's girlfriend has selected a nice Christmas playlist to complete the ambiance. Music Minho recognizes to be Y/N's favourites. A coincidence? Probably but he likes to believe it isn't.

While the boys congratulate him for being back together with his love, Minho looks outside through the window one last time. He isn't too sure if what he sees is right but four figures seem to look at him proudly.

While nobody is watching, he mouthes a "thank you" before the silhouettes fade away in the wind.

Minho still doesn't know to this day if what happened that night was real or not. One thing for sure is he can't be any more thankful for these spirits. Most importantly, he is finally in a happy place.

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evans23 · 3 months ago

Text

RICKMAS 2024 - DAY 16 - THOUGHTFUL GIFTS [D1]

Pairing : Judge Turpin x OC (Sybil)

Summary : Turpin has her now. She is his. But she is still so out of reach.

Tag(s)/Warning(s) : I think we're fine here, but let me know if I'm wrong. Tired brainy here !

TRUTHFUL LONGING : Part II

EVE OF REVELATIONS : Part III

Also read on AO3 - Wattpad

Sybil Catherine Morton. That was her name. Richard knew it because he had noticed it long before his father had allowed him to open his small workshop near the courthouse. He had to walk past it every morning when he came to work, and strangely enough, Richard had been walking to work more often than usual recently.

But he had noticed it for much longer. She had been fifteen, the first time he had seen her and known. He had been nearly thirty at the time. Not an obstacle, certainly, but he was building his career far beyond what his parents could have dreamed for him and he wanted a woman by his side, not a child. So he had decided to wait. Richard Turpin was a patient man.

At the time, he was not yet the High Judge that all London feared. He was still only a young magistrate seeking recognition. He was already arrogant and self-assured, of course, traits that went with the wealth and power of his name and the titles of his father, Lord Alexander Turpin, but he also had ambitions to rise far beyond what his father had accomplished. He had never been anything more than a lawyer, a gifted one, but one who had mostly benefited from the family inheritance only to almost lose it all if it hadn't been for his mother's good connections... in every sense of the word.

He still remembered that first time as if it were yesterday. He was walking past the entrance to the family workshop in the slums of Kensington, the ones that tarnished the area's reputation for nobility. There she was, her long brown hair tied in a messy bun that flew around her head in the wind, helping her mother carry a roll of fabric. She wore a modest dress of pastel blue, and had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. She also had that air of dignity despite her modest circumstances, that of people who know they are worth much more but that they must make do with the cards that life has dealt them.

What he had felt that day, he had had to run away from it. Never would his parents have tolerated their son, their only male heir, compromising himself with a young girl. Although it was not really his age that was the problem, not when his sister had been married at 16 to the Earl of Inverness. It was his social status. So, he had deeply fled the feelings he had felt that day for the first time and he had turned away to continue his ascension. But he had never forgotten her.

His father had introduced him to many young women, ordering him to marry to perpetuate the Turpin line, sometimes doing it in his own way, thinking that he could still make his son obey fear as when he was a helpless child who could count only on the kindness of the servants who had attached themselves to him to nurse his bruised back.

Astonishingly, and despite her great beauty, Sybil was still unmarried. He knew that she had had proposals, three to be exact, but they had refused them, to his great pleasure.

Sybil's mother had died of cholera eight years earlier, and with her had ended the business that her husband had allowed her to practice even after their marriage. Her father, on the other hand, was a modest grocer in decline and who, at the time, was covered in debt. The sale of the workshop had allowed him to pay them off and with the rest, out of love for this only daughter who seemed to refuse to follow the traditional path of marriage, he had allowed her to take over this old shop that had been unoccupied for years. A crazy bet for such a poor man, an act of love that could have led to his downfall, him and his daughter, but against all odds, he had been right to believe in her.

Sybil had her little success thanks to a rare talent: she knew how to embroider any thread, even the most refined. She was also capable of adding her personal touch, of letting her creativity speak, which made her pieces unique.

Thirteen years. It had taken thirteen years for destiny to put her back on her path and for the image of Sybil Morton to come back to hit him like a tornado devastating everything in its path, and leaving him empty. Empty of love.

Now powerful, influential and feared, he no longer had to worry about the opinion of his parents, from whom he had completely freed himself, not without taking pride in repaying every last cent of what his father had paid for his education so as to never owe him anything.

That day, fate struck again when Richard's judge's robe tore a few hours before an important trial. He couldn't appear neglected, what would that say about him?

So he entered the small workshop with a mixture of curiosity and determination.

"Hello, can I help you ?" a soft voice asked.

It was her. She turned to him with a small, friendly smile.

"Do you think you can fix this quickly ?" he asked, showing her the tear, "I have a trial in less than an hour, and my other dress is being washed."

She came closer to examine the damage as he held his breath.

"Yes, of course. I can be finished before your trial, you can come back in..."

"I'll wait here, if you don't mind," he interrupted her in his firm voice, the same one he used in his courtroom... and in his everyday life normally.

"Alright, you can sit there," she said, showing him a chair.

She settled down and, meticulously, began her work. Her fingers worked with precision, hypnotizing Richard who tried to forget the slight pang in his heart he had felt when he entered. She had not recognized him. But how could she have when at the time, she had certainly looked at him as she looked at any anonymous passerby?

"And there you have it," she said after twenty minutes. Let me know if that's okay with you."

She had done a wonderful job, you couldn't even see the repair.

"How much do I owe you ?" Richard asked, hoping that this would give him a good excuse to come back and pay her.

"It's free the first time," she said, smiling at him.

"Then you're not a very good saleswoman," he pointed out.

She shrugged as if she didn't care.

"It's my pleasure."

"Well, the pleasure's mine, miss..." he said, pretending not to know her name.

"Morton. Sybil Morton."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Richard Turpin," he replied, bowing.

That's when he saw her, the little twinkle of recognition in her eyes. She wasn't entirely ignorant. She might not have known that he was the man who had noticed her thirteen years ago, but she knew his reputation.

"Oh no, I've just spoiled the moment," he said theatrically, not meaning a word of it.

"You haven't spoiled anything. I'm sorry if I've offended you, sir, my father always says I have a bad habit of not being able to hide my emotions."

"I'm not offended at all, miss. A young woman who doesn't hide her feelings... how refreshing."

He bowed again before leaving.

The next day he returned with a silk shawl of rare quality.

"Miss Morton, I have a gift for you," he said, handing her the shawl.

"A gift, but what for ?" she wondered.

"For allowing me to enter my court without looking like a penniless mongrel."

"But I told you it was on the house," she protested.

"And that's why I didn't bring you any money," he replied with a sly smile.

"I can't accept it, it's too much !"

"You can and you must. No one refuses a gift from Richard Turpin," he said more softly.

She stroked the stole with her fingertips before murmuring a shy thank you.

Two days later, Richard reappeared in the workshop.

"Another dress to mend ?" she asked him without looking up from her work.

"No. I'm looking for a gift. For a lady."

"Oh, and what are her tastes ?"

Richard hesitated. What were Sybil's tastes ? Because the truth was, he had only come to see her and to do so he needed an excuse.

"Well, Miss Morton, I'm not very versed in women's affairs. I trust you."

She stood up, carefully putting down her work, and went over to some embroidered handkerchiefs.

"These embroideries are very much in demand by the ladies," she said, handing him several designs.

"Are you the one who makes them ?" Richard asked, genuinely impressed.

"Yes. These handkerchiefs have unwittingly become my signature," she said with a note of pride in her voice.

"And these are real gold thread ?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"I'll take this one," he said, selecting a handkerchief with a floral pattern and a gold threaded border.

He watched her wrap it up carefully before handing it to him.

"That's far too much, sir," she said when he paid her.

"Miss Morton, I imagine you are not aware that the price of gold thread has increased in recent days. All work deserves a salary and yours is of quality in addition to using refined products.

"Oh... thank you then."

Richard left smiling, unwrapping the handkerchief to put it in his jacket pocket. Apparently, she did not take care of her orders herself or she would have known he was lying. It must have been her father who took care of everything that had to do with accounting, he guessed.

Over the weeks, Richard found a thousand and one excuses to come back. Always to buy something for triple the price, always watching her furtively.

"Your lady is very lucky," Sybil said one day cautiously.

Richard looked at her so intently that she wondered if she would not have been better off keeping quiet.

"Very much, indeed," he said at last.

"Does she like my work ?"

The question seemed innocent, but years of practice had taught her to read between the lines. She knew, or at least suspected, that he had no lady to whom she could give curtains, handkerchiefs, or woolen stockings.

"Perhaps it is not your work that interests me." and before she could answer, he had disappeared.

Sybil felt a shiver run down her spine. He had confirmed her suspicions in one sentence. She did not know what to think. She knew his terrible reputation, but on the other hand, he seemed kind and amiable, at least to her. She couldn't deny that she felt flattered to have caught the eye of such an important man as he.

She shook her head as if to chase away these thoughts. There could never be anything between them. He was not of the same world. And she had to put some distance between them before rumours started to spread about her. If it were whispered that she was Lord Richard Turpin's mistress, even if it was false, she could well lose her workshop.

When he returned the next day, she greeted him with more coldness, even if it was not really what she wanted, but she had to protect herself.

"Sir, I think you should not come here anymore," she said with calculated coldness.

"Sybil, have I done something to displease you ?" he asked imperturbably.

"I..."

She didn't know what to say. She wasn't really sure of his intentions and she didn't want to embarrass herself. On the other hand, he was the kind of man her father had always told her to be wary of.

"Miss Morton, I think you've seen through me so let's play fair, shall we ?" he said, his penetrating gaze probing her, "I've noticed you for a long time. I know we barely know each other after all, but I know I want you by my side."

"What ? Why ?"

"You're different from the others. You're honest and you're not afraid of me. And I have feelings for you."

"You can't be in love just by walking into my shop a dozen times," she protested outraged.

"Miss Morton, I've done more than just come into your shop. We've talked. At length. Whole afternoons sometimes."

She lowered her head, blushing. He was telling the truth, and worse, she had enjoyed his company.

"I respect you, Miss Morton. I respect the beauty your hands create. But I want to be more than just one of your customers."

"Do you want to be friends ?" she asked shyly, knowing full well that wasn't what he wanted.

"I want more. I want you. All of you."

"Lord Turpin," she said with emotion.

Richard recoiled, as if slapped. It was the first time she hadn't called him Sir, and he didn't appreciate the distance she was putting between them by using his title.

"Sybil, I could offer you a life of security. You could continue to sew and make whatever you like without ever having to worry about bankruptcy or financial worries. And you would be protected, respected and...," he hesitated for a second before finally breathing out, "loved."

"I... I am touched, sincerely. By what you just said and by all your thoughtful gifts. I know you always paid me much more than my fabrics were really worth, but... We can't."

"Why not ?"

"We are not from the same world. What will people say ?"

"Let them talk !"

"And I will never know how to behave in your world..."

"You will learn !"

"I am not in love with you," she finally said, sincerely.

Richard sketched a sad smile, but it was still not enough to bring him down.

"You'll learn that too," he said more softly, "we'll get to know each other, tame each other, and in time, love will come."

"What if it never comes ?"

"What if I'm your best chance ?"

She was about to answer, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Think about it, Sybil. I'm not a patient man. But for you, I'll wait."

Without adding anything, Richard left without looking back, leaving Sybil alone with herself. The conflicting feelings she felt troubled her, and she knew that Richard was right. The proposal he had just made her was a stroke of luck. Few girls of her condition could rise up like that. But fear gripped her. After all, she didn't really know him and his reputation preceded him.

For his part, Richard knew he had planted a seed. Sybil now had food for thought. She would surely discuss it with her father, a man he hoped would be pragmatic and think of his daughter's welfare. And then the paths of Richard William Turpin and Sybil Catherine Morton might meet. And that would be the most precious gift Richard would ever receive.

#alan rickman #judge turpin x reader #judge turpin #sweeny todd #evans23 #rickmas2024

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sysmedsaresexist · 9 months ago

Note

This may be overstepping my bounds or you may not want to talk about this on this blog and if so please feel free to just delete this ask but on the chance this is alright here I have a question or two.

In the recent posts about Colin Ross and other professionals you've mentioned your 'professional circle' or your colleagues being therapists and it sounds like you work in the mental health field? If you do I'm just curious if you'd be willing to talk about that at all?

That's rather vague but I've been thinking about going into the mental health field and I'm curious what that might actually look like especially as someone with trauma.

This must be really odd if I've misunderstood what you've said, or uncomfortable if this just isn't something you want to talk about, and either way I know it's not really similar to what you normally post here so I'm sorry. Whether or not you respond though thank you for reading through this. I hope you have a good day.

I don't mind talking about it! I don't particularly enjoy talking about myself, but I have no issue sharing most information like this.

I do not currently work in the mental health field and I have never been licensed.

Like most of us, I'm sure, I was one of those "gifted" kids. I finished high school early with a several year scholarship, and fast tracked through 4 degrees.

My first degree was in social services and counselling. I worked in the field for about a year as a requirement for my education. In Canada, we have satellite schools for "troubled youth", and one was run out of a high school near me, so I counselled and provided support for about 30 students.

However, I was only 18/19 myself, and I was VERY OBVIOUSLY too traumatized to be working in the field. Some of the students were older than I was, and the things I heard and saw, the students that acted out violently that were twice my size...

I wasn't ready. My supervisor at the time, a woman in her 50s, told me, "In a field like this... you can't help others until you've helped yourself."

So I graduated, but switched into law. I wanted to work with those same youth, but maybe from a legal perspective (there were always police and lawyers involved). I finished my legal degree, took two more legal/business management and administration courses, became licensed, and worked for a few years in that field.

I really wasn't happy, though, as a woman and being so young, unless I wanted to start my own business, I was going to continue to face a bunch of condescending, old white men calling me, "high-school," because I don't drive and carry a backpack to and from work.

I work in sales now, making more money than I had ever hoped for, and for a company that is really, really good to its employees. I'm really happy where I ended up, though it was kind of a fluke. I voluntarily relinquished my legal license a couple of years ago because there's zero point in paying $2k a year in upkeep when I'm not going to use it.

Point is, though, I've kept in contact with a number of people in both the legal and sw field. My first therapist and I developed a bit of a weird relationship (not bad) but I was able to go to her on several occasions to talk as colleagues, not just client/therapist. I'm still in touch with her and occasionally reach out for questions. She gave me the info of a couple other specialists, of which I spoke to two of them.

I don't drop these names because it would really narrow down where I am, but on top of Colin Ross and Kymbra Clayton, I've also spoken with Marich, Loewenstein, I've tried to talk to the CTAD clinic, uhhh... Sunshaw is pretty open about her opinions. I'm trying to think of some other big names.

On the second part of this question...

Once you have a handle on your own trauma, you can be very, very successful in the mental health field. You have a unique perspective that can really help others.

It was an amazing experience, and I wish I had been older. I wish I had been through multiple therapists at that point, to see how others behaved. Being in therapy yourself is such an important step that no one talks about.

Trauma fatigue is a real thing that beats people in the field down into nothing. You'll hear every therapist say, "make sure you have your own therapist," and everyone nods their head but never actually goes to therapy. It's not just good for your own mental health, sitting on the other side of that chair can be terrifying and it's important for therapists to remember what that feeling is like, and to see how other clinicians handle clients. What do you like that they do? What do you hate? What are you not going to do with your next client?

You would be shocked to learn how many clinicians out there actually have DID! It's possible and highly rewarding. Just take your time and make sure you're actually ready for it.

There's no age limit on changing careers or going into a new field. Go slow, and take care of yourself first. Then you can be the best resource for others.

I hope that answers both questions <3

#not syscourse #about sas

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thecryptidcottage · 2 years ago

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have you ever heard of last kiss by pearl jam ? well, it describes DOMINICK WOLFE to a tee ! the forty-four year old owner + bartender at wolfe’s den was spotted browsing through the stalls at portobello road market last sunday, do you know him ? would you say he is more reticent or more dutiful instead ? anyway, he reminds me of of framed report cards hanging up alongside business and liquor licenses , banana pancakes and retro cartoons on the couch on a sunday morning , faded prison tattoos curling out from under long sleeves and stiff collars , a trans flag strung up in the window of a hole-in-the-wall dive bar , and scorching your tongue on your first sip of coffee. maybe you’ll bump into him soon !

STATS.

name: dominick wolfe nickname(s): dom gender & pronouns: cis male / he + him orientation: tbd age: forty-four date of birth: 27 april, 1978 zodiac: ☼ taurus ☽ capricorn ↑ taurus occupation: bartender + owner of wolfe’s den positive traits: responsible + protective + adaptable + compassionate negative traits: taciturn + gruff + stubborn + emotionally unavailable

HISTORY.

TW: drugs + alcohol + crime + car accident + injury + death

dom grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, if you will ; growing up low income and with absent parents meant dom got involved in the distribution and sale of illicit drugs from the time he was a young teen and had developed a bit of a name ( and a record ) for himself by the time he hit his twenties ; used the money he made to pay for a flat for himself and his grandmother, the woman who raised him ; she knew what he did and turned a blind eye, only urged that he make sure he stayed safe

fell into darker times after he lost his grandmother ; started drinking more and sleeping less, getting reckless with his job, the protocols in place to keep him from getting caught ; it wasn’t until he met charlotte that dom thought he’d ever see the light again, but she charmed him with a melodic laugh and a smile like sunshine, soothed his sorrows like a salve made just for his soul and dom ? well, dominick wolfe fell in love

dom and charlotte hadn’t been together more than a few months when he got arrested ; nearly a year of careless, thoughtless decisions had finally caught up to him, and even with the help of the best lawyer he could afford, he was twenty-three years old and facing seven years in prison for supplying an illicit drug ( he was lucky all they’d found was the cannabis when they searched his property, else he’d likely still be locked up for a number of charges that fell through )

to dom’s constant discouragement and disbelief, charlotte remained faithful to him for all seven years of his sentence ; she wrote him letters, visited when she could, and he spent every day of that near decade falling just a little more in love with her ; when he was released in the spring of 2009, they moved in together, and less than a year later, they were married and expecting a child

while dom was incarcerated, charlotte was scrimping and saving and managed to land a property with an old, run-down bar on the first floor and a connected flat upstairs in slightly better shape ; over the course of charlotte’s pregnancy, dom renovated them both, and though they both joked that they were insane for it, in the same year they welcomed a baby, the wolfe’s den was officially opened for business

the bar was a humble success ; there was nothing flashy about the place, but the spot was decent and the drinks were cheap, and they managed to lure in enough regulars to keep their little family afloat so long as they lived modestly ; dom ran the front of house, the bar, and charlotte kept their accounts balanced and bills paid, and eventually the wolfe’s den became a cozy little spot in the community for any wayward wanderer looking for a drink ; and yeah, okay, maybe dom was convinced this was it for him ― happily ever after, one he’d found himself, not that he deserved it

and because he didn’t deserve it, of course it couldn’t last ; dom remembers the night it ended as clearly as if it had been yesterday ― 2013, the last weekend in april, and charlotte had insisted they find a babysitter and do something special to celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday, something more than just a simple night in ; the weather was awful, miserable rain, but charlotte wolfe made her own sunshine and had never before been deterred by the weather, and so off they went to dinner and a movie

they never made it to dinner ; and no matter how many times he’s been asked, dom doesn’t remember how it happened ― he doesn’t know if the other driver hadn’t seen them and risked running the intersection or if they’d simply lost control of their vehicle, it all happened so fast ; when dom woke two days later in a hospital bed, it was to charlotte’s mother holding his baby, tears in her eyes ― charlotte didn’t make it

picking up the pieces was harder than anything dom had ever done before ; the bar stayed closed for weeks while he grieved the love of his life, tried to learn how to be a single parent, how to do it on his own ; he had to hire more help, more people to staff the place so he could be home with his kid ; eventually he fell into a routine, learned how to keep himself and his little one moving forward ; it’s been almost ten years since the the accident and even though some days are harder than others, they always manage

a little over a year ago, dom’s child came out to him as transgender in an unexpectedly heartfelt conversation over reality tv and takeaway one night ; though he’d been a bit surprised at first, he couldn’t say it had been by much, and he was proud to find out he not only had a son, but that his son wanted to be called by a name that reminded him of his mother: charlie ; if dom wept like a baby that night, he and charlie don’t talk about it, but he knows that his dad stands by him no matter what

dom and charlie still live in the flat above wolfe’s den, and he’s doing his best to balance being a business owner, bartender, and single dad ; most days he feels like he’s barely keeping his head above water, keeping it together, but it’s worth it to make sure he’s doing everything he can for charlie ; he’s had a few relationships in the more recent years since losing charlotte, including one with thea mackenzie, a spitfire of an american who found her way into his bar and caught his eye, but whether because of his baggage, his kid, or his inability to open up about any of it, dom’s been unable to find anyone serious to try again with

MISCELLANEA.

thanks to a pair of flags dom hung in the front windows of wolfe’s den shortly after charlie came out, one displaying the traditional rainbow and the other a trio of colors for transgender pride, his tiny hole-in-the-wall dive bar is slowly becoming an unintentional and niche spot for notting hill’s queer community to grab a drink ; be warned, though, if you linger at the bar for too long, you might end up getting a dad talk ― unless that’s what you’re looking for, in which case, he does give pretty decent advice

charlie can almost always be found at the bar when his dad’s there unless it’s late ; if he’s not doing his homework at one of the stools where dom can keep an eye on him, he’s polishing glasses or tossing darts or building houses of cards out of coasters ; and, look, dom knows he shouldn’t be raising a kid around a bar, but it’s a hell of a lot better than he had growing up, and besides, charlie never seems to mind ; in fact, dom’s keen to think he enjoys it, leans into the way it makes him feel a little like a rebel

dom has a good heart ; he’s been known to go upstairs into his own kitchen and cook a meal for strangers who are hungry or having a hard time in the bar down below ; he learned how to knit while he was in prison and found that it was a really helpful tool for anger management and stress relief, and you’ll occasionally find him knitting squares somewhere around the bar for blankets he donates to the women & children’s refuge every winter ; if you’re in need of somewhere safe to go, something to eat, someone to talk to... any of it, dom’s your man ― he doesn’t talk about himself much but he’s a damn good listener

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

regulars at the bar. anyone who comes in often enough to be friends with dom and the crew. it’s a small place and dom makes a point to look after his return patrons, which means heavy pours, discounted drinks, and if you’re really lucky, the master code for the jukebox to get unlimited plays.

parent friends. look, dom has been raising charlie on his own for almost a decade now, and he’s doing his damn best to make sure he does a decent job of it, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t use some advice from time to time, or, at very least, somebody to commiserate with over the struggles of raising a kid ― more than that, a teenager

employees. the folks who work at the bar are almost like a family to dom, and there’s not a whole hell of a lot he wouldn’t do for them. he trusts them with his business when he’s got to look after his kid, and likewise, he’d bend over backwards to help any one of them out in whatever way he could if they were in a tight spot or struggling.

prison pals. i don’t know if this one’s a long shot or not, but it would be interesting to see somebody dom met when he was locked up. were they friends ? enemies ? i just think it could be a fun reunion to explore, and the presence of somebody from that part of his life making a reappearance now would certainly stir up some feelings

a friend of charlotte’s. maybe somebody who didn’t know dom personally at first, but knew him through his late wife and made a point to check in on him and charlie periodically after her passing, whether out of personal concern or care for their friend who couldn’t be there for her family anymore. anyway, this one promises a lot of angst. this is probably the person he calls late at night when he can’t stop thinking about her. they’re a lifeline of sorts.

exes. just because dom hasn’t been in a successful relationship since his marriage doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried to move on and meet somebody else. there are a million different reasons why it might not work out when you’re venturing into a relationship with him, of all people, but his intentions are always good. he just... well, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing anymore, okay ?

something more. this one scares him, because he doesn’t know how to handle the idea that he might be starting to feel something for someone again ; he’s guarded with his heart, even moreso now that he’s got charlie’s to protect, too, but something about this person makes dom want to let down his walls just a little bit, maybe let somebody in. they make him feel safe. maybe it’s still too soon to think about having feelings for somebody else, but it’s been ten years, and charlie deserves more than just him, doesn’t he ? and maybe... maybe he deserves more too

#↳ intro ( dom )#when i tell y'all i haven't even had this man one day yet and he already owns my heart #there's wcs in here so pls hit me up if you wanna plot #nottinghillintro

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realestate001 · 11 days ago

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Finding the Perfect School Property for Lease or Sale in Gurgaon

If you're looking for a school for lease near me or a piece of school land for sale in Gurgaon, you're in the right place. Finding the ideal property to establish an educational institution or expand an existing one can be a challenging task. Whether you are seeking a space to lease or purchase land to build a new school, there are several factors to consider to ensure you make the best decision. In this article, we will explore the key things you need to know when searching for school properties in Gurgaon.

School for Lease Near Me: What to Look For

When searching for a school for lease near me, it’s essential to find a location that is not only convenient but also conducive to a learning environment. Schools require specific facilities and spaces, such as classrooms, libraries, play areas, and sports fields. It’s important to ensure that the property you choose meets the educational standards and is equipped for the needs of students and teachers. Here are a few considerations when looking for a school for lease:

Location and Accessibility: The property should be located in a safe, easily accessible area. Ideally, it should be close to residential areas or public transport hubs to ensure ease of commute for both students and staff.

Infrastructure and Facilities: A well-maintained building with enough classrooms and recreational spaces is a must. Look for properties that have adequate parking, sanitation facilities, and natural lighting.

Zoning and Legal Requirements: It’s crucial to ensure that the property is zoned for educational use. You may need to consult with local authorities to check whether there are any restrictions on operating a school at that location.

Affordability: The lease agreement should align with your budget. Compare different properties to see which ones offer the best value for money, taking into account the location, size, and amenities.

School Land for Sale in Gurgaon: The Ideal Investment

Gurgaon has rapidly developed into a prime location for real estate, and school land for sale in Gurgaon is increasingly becoming a sought-after investment. The city has witnessed tremendous growth in both residential and commercial spaces, making it a hotspot for educational institutions. When considering purchasing school land in Gurgaon, several factors should influence your decision.

Size of the Land: Ensure that the land you're considering is large enough to accommodate the school's infrastructure, including classrooms, sports facilities, and recreational areas. You'll also want to ensure there is space for future expansion as your school grows.

Proximity to Residential Areas: A key factor for the success of a school is its location. Land that is located near residential areas or upcoming housing projects is highly desirable. Parents prefer schools that are easily accessible for their children, so a centrally located plot will attract more families.

Connectivity: Good road access and proximity to public transport are essential for convenience. The land should also be located in a growing part of the city, which has access to amenities like hospitals, markets, and other essential services.

Legal Verification: When buying land, make sure you conduct thorough due diligence. Verify the land’s title, zoning laws, and any pending legal issues that could delay your plans. You may want to consult a lawyer to ensure everything is in order before proceeding with the purchase.

Why Gurgaon is an Attractive Location for Schools

Gurgaon’s rapid urbanization and growth have made it an attractive location for businesses and educational institutions alike. The city is home to a large population, and the demand for quality schools is on the rise. Additionally, Gurgaon has excellent infrastructure, with wide roads, high-speed internet connectivity, and reliable electricity, all of which are critical for educational operations.

The city also has several established residential communities, many of which are home to young families looking for quality education options. By establishing a school here, you can cater to this growing demand and position your school as a leader in education.

Conclusion

Whether you are looking for a school for lease near me or considering school land for sale in Gurgaon, it’s important to make a well-informed decision. Ensure that you choose a location that offers convenience, excellent infrastructure, and a safe environment for students and staff. Gurgaon offers numerous opportunities for educational institutions, and with the right property, you can establish a thriving school that serves the needs of the community.

If you're interested in finding the right school property, you can reach out to trusted real estate providers like Winworld Realty, who can guide you through the process and help you find the best option for your needs.

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threelittlepigspro · 1 month ago

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Conveyance and Property Lawyers: Get Clients with Online Marketing

From property transactions to drafting sale agreements, conveyance and property lawyers provide essential services to both individuals and businesses. Your legal expertise is invaluable to clients dealing with property transactions and disputes. Through our unique blended search strategy, we help you connect with them at the right time by combining the immediacy of PPC with the staying power of SEO. Yes, potential clients are searching for property lawyers online daily. If you aren’t using online marketing channels, you're leaving money on the table. Now let’s break it down step by step.

Step 1: Create Content That Speaks to Your Audience

Your potential clients are searching for solutions to their specific legal problems—not generic legal jargon. Whether they’re buying their first home or resolving a title dispute, your law firm’s service pages should directly address their pain points and goals. For Example: - First-Time Homebuyers: Explain the legal processes involved in property purchases, such as conveyancing, and how your expertise ensures a seamless transaction. - Dispute Resolution: Explain in laymen terms how you can resolve title disputes efficiently, minimizing stress and financial risk for your clients. Pro Tip: Use simple, relatable language. Instead of saying, “We assist with conveyancing,” say, “We help you with the legal paperwork for buying or selling your home.” Online marketing isn’t just about visibility; it’s also about credibility. Showcase testimonials and case studies prominently on your website. This reassures potential clients that you have the expertise to handle their property legal needs. You can create short videos that explain common legal processes, like conveyancing or regulatory requirements in Singapore's property law. These videos humanize your brand and make your services more relatable to potential clients.

Step 2: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Traditional SEO is a long-term strategy, while PPC advertising delivers immediate leads. The approach is straightforward: by targeting high-intent keywords, your ads can appear at the top of search results, ensuring you connect with potential clients actively searching for services like yours. The many ads and reviews in the Google Maps pack show a clear demand for property and conveyancing law services. Keyword Search Volume KD conveyancing lawyer singapore 140 20 conveyancing lawyer singapore fees 90 20 conveyancing lawyer 720 25 property lawyers near me 90 25 property lawyer singapore 140 17 hdb lawyer fee 480 35 For instance, if someone searches for “conveyancing lawyer Singapore,” your pay-per-click (PPC) ad can direct them to a landing page specifically designed to convert visitors into clients. The key is to ensure the page effectively highlights the key benefits of your services, addresses your clients' pain points with clarity, and showcases your firm’s proven expertise and track record.

Step 3: Local SEO For Property and Conveyance Law Firms

For a quick summary: ranking in Google’s local pack, the top 3 results that appear alongside Google Maps is going get your clients. However, it looks like local SEO for property lawyers in Singapore is highly competitive. You're competition with firms with thousands and hundreds of reviews. In this case, I'll go for less competitive keywords, and start from there.

Step 4: Opportunity in Traditional SEO Search Results

One quick Google search reveals opportunities in the traditional SEO search results. I'd like to point you to the "People Also Ask" section. The good news is that you can rank for these results too, if done right. Secondly, by publishing long-tail informational keywords, you build trust with potential clients and position your firm as an authority in the conveyancing and property law industry.

- Short Tailed Commerical Keyword Strategy Secondly, to repeat, here are some high-value keywords along with their monthly search volume and keyword difficulty: Keyword Search Volume KD conveyancing lawyer singapore 140 20 conveyancing lawyer singapore fees 90 20 conveyancing lawyer 720 25 property lawyers near me 90 25 property lawyer singapore 140 17 hdb lawyer fee 480 35 This is as of 24th January 2025. Surprisingly, the keyword difficulty in this niche isn’t as competitive as in the family law industry. This creates a valuable opportunity in traditional SEO search results. I highly recommend law firms looking to get property or conveyancing clients to target these keywords.

Conclusion: Start Now, Stand Out

Conveyancing and property lawyers provide essential legal services for property transactions and disputes. To attract clients, a strategic approach to online marketing is needed. Notably, traditional SEO with less competitive keywords in this niche presents an opportunity. Together, a blended search strategy combining content creation, PPC advertising, and local SEO can yield both short- and long-term results to attract clients. Read the full article

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lavelled · 2 months ago

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I’m sick over the crash at the Muan International Airport in South Korea. At posting, we don’t know what caused the aviation disaster, other than a reported bird strike. I’ve written about the movie, Parasite, several times before, including mentioning, reverently, my Screen Actors Guild Award winning actor, Lee Sun-kyun, who killed himself last Christmas. He played the father of the wealthy family.

An apocalyptic media presence for Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, suggests that there exists a fallout, zombie-invasion, doomsday bunker in Hawaii for tech moguls.

For the contemporary reader, you have to admit, it seems plausible. Think of my life and the rise in Windsor Generational activity in the last couple of years. I wish the central thesis was a bit clearer. But I think what you’re saying, Biz, is that you watch, too. At least you’re observing him. Tom probably, too. A Luther Stickell. How a stitched-up, vengeful, crotch-grabbing, eager-beaver, pedophile rapist wheedled his way to a NYC doorstop recently remains a mystery. I guess an accented, red-headed rapist caught a system entirely by surprise. I don’t want him near the East Coast. I’d also prefer a third ex to be in the tech bunker. He’s a hunter of skulls to crush. If all this security surveillance was dramatized in The Social Network, I missed it. I just don’t get how it’s legal, at least not a violation, to openly, plainly, directly, blatantly contact the person within a confidentiality agreement. Harry did that. From Harry impersonating celebrities and their fan club presidents in pageant-style arrogance to publicly exchanging written dialogue as a concerned housewife to our tappity tap tap of blocking and unblocking morse code when all this evidence wasn’t performed surreptitiously.

Are you telling me that Silicon Valley lawyers cannot prove that as a practical matter, Prince Harry has egregiously violated gag order materials in a confidential relationship by installing spyware on my devices and conversing with me directly? For years?

You’re saying this airhole shitbag with knife dildo fantasies and his supercharged technology, invisible to no one, who intentionally yet disparagingly calls me out pretty much everywhere on the internet, beckoning my attention with his choice of fonts and unflattering sobriquets, he’s not violating some kind of intellectual property infringement? It’s his right to speak freely? There’s unauthorized use everywhere. Hollywood—in accordance with pacts—has had to refer to me by numbers, symbols, initials, stickers, body paint and Sanskrit, and here’s Harry Windsor, your fiery hued CEO, of all criminals in the world, ungoverned as he gives himself up in cyber print.

To past and present Twitter CEOs and Board of Directors, Product Engineers, Human Resources Business Partners, Head of global ad sales, and General Counsel, Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Noah Vihinen, Evan Williams, Florian Weber, Richard William Costolo, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, Peter Currie, Patrick Pichette, Bret Taylor, Ned Segal, Sherwin Baghai, Leslie Berland, Sean Edgett, Dan Davydov, Larry Ellison, Vijaya Gadde, Marcela Benitez Reyes, Robin Wheeler, the firms Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, Linda Yaccarino, Renee Atwood, Numazer Pavri, Keith Coleman, Matt Derella, Kristin Binns, Renato Leite Monteiro, Alex Josephson, Jenner Balagot, Ged Tarpey, Yoel Roth, Sarah Personette, Kathleen Pacini, and, of course, Isaac Biz Stone:

Hi. You can read the wail and rage and totalitarian political ideology that Harry preaches to young adults from his desk cubbyhole of privilege; you can barrel through or just casually yawn and idle the day away with the teachings: Hitlearn. Nazombie. Zombieteen. Zombie Bonez. Nizzie Laughinghouse. Adolpha Lee. Adolph Hamlet 2. Adolphathewolf. Adolph Reed who could be anybody. Adolph Hare, which could be anybody. Adolph Herley. Izan Lopez, hidden backwards. He writes, verbatim: Naziflower. Accept permanent decline or we will call you a Nazi. Its amazing how much they love those NAZI Good Old Days. Nazi-British 'moral compasses' surely converged and pointed the same direction. Twitter is wild because I can say “fuck nazis” and it's a controversial take. Like Nazi moths to a Nazi flame. Forced to work as a nurse at a Nazi 'baby factory' called Hochland Home. This debutante wants you to know she's a nepo baby, not a Nazi baby. LOCK THIS NAZI WHORE UP. Nazi nun. The shoe fits you nazi whore. My korean nazi whore showing me her new “cool” tattoo. Cope and seethe nazi whore. Fuck you, you mother fucking trump worshipping Nazi whore. Yep. I'm a Nazi whore. Save your comments, you cunts. What's cuter than a Goth girl? A NaziGoth girl! Twitter has become Elons personal Nazi porn bar. Do we have nazi porn bots yet.

If you’re going about your daily errands and a guidebook to sexual fingering seems to be just the right thing, the establishment known as The X app is the place for you. I warn you, he’s neither a gentleman nor a grammarian. Harry’s own words on Twitter, like a symphony conductor:

1. fingering u. starts fingering you Fingering you in front of a full body mirror. Don't close your legs, see how my finger play with your pussy. fingering you while having a normal conversation about your day. Fingering you while making eye contact. kissing you and fingering you while you wear my shirt. HOW TO FINGER: I'll be showing everyone a unique method in which you can use in messaging your girl's clit, and pvssy. fingering her with a mood ring on to see if she's mad at me. and fingered as in "having fingers"! you nasties! She ain't just let him finger her kat in the middle. Finger Kate. Violin Fiddle Cello Clock by fiddlekate. big mama fiddle queen. Kadoodles. I lick my fingers. Same thing kinda. A handfucking convention. hand fucking makes me so. mmmm. MOM'S HELPFUL HANDFUCKING TIPS! Fingering her under her lovely sundress is such a delight. Brunch dates all summer fingering her under the table & stirring my drink with the same finger and letting her taste it. harry when he liked the tweet of the girl fingering herself back in 2014 then decided to cover it up by liking pictures of kittens. Ride those fingers. heavensbvnny. fingering her tight teen egirl pussy then tasting it on snapchat. POEM: this old man is fingering this young woman at the bar. #prince #harry Fingering book is crazy. How the hell is he - recording - fingering her - and driving. All at the same time.

Did I mention the double entendre of fingering in Henry Windsor code means fin, dolphin, whale hump, whale, Wales?

Anybody want to give Prince Harry and his wife the Distinguished Leader in Feminism Award? The Feminist Majority’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award? How about another Women of Vision Awards Ceremony in New York City like you did in 2023 when Gloria Steinem, a true hero, presented the selected breeding Californian who knew of scissor-clamp plans and that her husband had set up the nymph evening purposefully so that the whole world got to hear his preferred Steinem and hymen manner of speaking? There’s no denial of personal responsibility anymore. If institutions or organizations employ, profile or reward Meghan Markle based on feminism, anything wholesomeness or homemaking after her Insta-blogging chisel reveal, her broadcast news and Internet disallowance, Windsor Family legalese signing, and the fact that all of humankind knows her relationship is the close intimacy of a cheque and script, I’ll get the impression you’ve assumed the burden of guilt and I’ll list your organization, your executives and their spouses by name. I don’t rejoice out loud to youth suicide, which happened a lot near a royal counterfeit wedding and hasn’t let up.

On Twitter are pirated photos from Instagram without consent (what his family is known for), silk pantyhose and Grandpacore, couples into Shibari culture (google it) that he combats with “Shibarius was a beast” because Harry’s an oozing jealous little bitch, rape confessions, rape wishes, rape taunts, entangled reminders, pure bedlam threats, incarceration threats, ruminations on both entrapment and sex, turning a cancer diagnosis into a commodity, Merlot wine whining, Bring Your Dad to Work Day, Nazism, fingering, his cutting vocalism, giving your website a nice ultra-dark knife dildo atmosphere, inciting violence, his input on suicide to a point of despair, glorifying suicide, blaming suicide on Tom, wishing death on his lasting enemies, writing I like cats and hate living, rewriting history to destroy lives if you’re an actor he doesn’t like, going after athletes at slightly faster speeds, celebrity impersonations, redefining what it means to be first, using machinery to promote his propagandized marriage, leaning on linguistic cultural appropriation, typing negative observations and his natural instinct for the n-word.

His step-mum. He reduces her to puerile talk. Vivat Regina Camilla. Cam Chuck. Chief Queef. Camilla Hole. Camilla Hornebo. Twat Talk Queen. Camila Pastel. Camillassexpart. Kamilla Parkes. Camilla Park-her Bowels. Camilla Creampie. Camilla Baker 1. Camilla Tyrpak. Camillion Corp. Camillia Bedillia. Like reading the footstep stomps of a temperamental child, tripping over strewn toys, if that child was an overgrown sneak and notorious pedophile rapist with mummy issues who wants to finger his sister-in-law. Nobody else has an abundance of free time in which to strongly dislike or adore Camilla Parker Bowles online.

Currently, there is Twitter misuse. I don’t care that there’s a Heavy Flow Fanpage. I do care that kids need social media whether it’s to remedy loneliness, neglect, low self-esteem, poor physical health, eating disorders, or lack of stable housing—irony since it’s young people who are the ones who possess good internet skills and less rape pursuit, but feel guilty or gross using Twitter with the imagery and language that is spewed out by Prince Harry. If done right, their health-related quality of life can actually be improved by social media. In the wrong hands, the tendency to self-harm, feel distress, hopelessness and victimization or be suicidal can lead to a deadly reality. The lofty aesthetic of Twitter, in CEO Prince Harry’s control, has been his misplaced yammering, buzzwords, innuendo, insinuation, euphemism, and lexicon deviousness about a distorted long-held grudge. Why is the person in charge of literati, digital journalism and news headlines the one starting offensive hashtag trends and offering insights into fingering Princess Charlotte? The executives at Twitter don’t need to be clinicians. They just need to give a shit and demote him.

You gave the worst human a platform to have a significant impact on society. Speaking of platforms: The Golden Gate Bridge. It used to be described as a suicide magnet. About 2,000 people have jumped off the bridge to their deaths since it opened. In January of this year, they installed a safety netting, or barrier, to prevent an intentional tragedy. They say that the netting deterrent is a symbol of compassion. On January 28, 1993, Steven Page murdered his wife Nancy and then threw his 3-year-old daughter, Kellie, off the bridge, then he climbed over the railing himself and jumped to his death. I was barely out of my teens. Roy Raymond was born in Connecticut. A prodigy, he started a wedding invitation business at age 13 in Fairfield. He attended Tufts and Stanford Graduate School of Business. On August 26, 1993, at 46 years-old, Raymond jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, killing himself. Roy founded the billion dollar company, Victoria’s Secret. I was barely out of my teens. Casey Joanna Brooks, a Redwood High School student in California, 17, adopted by American parents from Poland, graduated at a particularly young age and earned early admission to Bennington College in Vermont, but on January 29, 2008, she jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, ending her young life.

Prince Harry’s computer-linked coaxing into firsties, ownership, suicide, death, and leashed misogyny remains undimmed in 2024. Thanks to Twitter.

I have celebrity screengrabs that show Prince Harry’s moods and sociopathy. A few comedians flustered him because their comedy output proved at odds with his unorthodox notions of rape and entry point. Amy Schumer was labelled a joke thief online and in the press because she had the audacity to write and produce a Friday Night Lights parody. She and her writers use wine, football and rape culture to highlight the aggression of sport, the often excused off-field behavior while also revealing the Windsor’s psycho rationalization for drafting and passing along a rape clause, all in impeccable precision. It’s called Football Town Nights and it debuted on her show in 2015. In 2016, Amy was accused of stealing other comedians’ jokes. Total coincidence.

Football Town Nights — link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM2RUVnTlvs

In 2017, there were online rumors or grumblings of sexual harassment by comedian, Louis C.K. Then five female comics accused him of on-set inappropriate behavior. He apologized and expressed remorse for the unwanted sexual encounters. He was then fired from the FX comedy, Better Things, but remained a writer on a show that he helped create. I find a couple of things ironic. Louis C.K. whose real name is Louis Alfred Székely, though older than me, attended high school one town over; is Mexican with ginger red hair; his initialed last name phonetically sounds like his ethnic name yet is the initials of the company my model cousin once represented. I don’t think the comedian-actor who went to school near me, with 3 sisters of his own, ever warmed to the idea that a young woman was being tethered and told who to fuck. Go figure.

Michael Richards. He’s as well-known for playing Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld as he is for his 2006 racist rant at a comedy club. I’ve never been eager to listen to or watch his videoed heckler interaction. Something definitely stands out: that six number. Michael starred in one of the most highly-regarded sitcom back when my sisters and I were very young. From 1989 to 1998. A lot of the characters and actors on the show bear family names, including his own middle name. I don’t think the ex-Armyman particularly savored the idea of signing paperwork pertaining to one little girl caught in a revenge fantasy which he then had to craft slapstick routines and punchlines around and spout to a guy named Jerry.

I’ll never get how one family was able to flourish in such noblest of ways when virtually everybody knew their secrets. Harry makes it seem like Twitter is his public service to the encaved loner when it was his family who put up this partition in the first place. Harry grew vastly richer after September 11. How it that fair? All I see when I see King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is four heartless underdogs of social ladder climbing, and also school and mosque shootings, people jumping off ivory towers and domes and bridges to their deaths and respected and talented people fading into obscurity. Society gave this family ribbon cutting prosperity. Invitations to Africa and South Africa to represent the crown. His WellChild events when he denied me basic human rights as a girl and never let up with his own-able and tagged vaginal press. A filmmaking career when he and his family kept me unhireable and financially ruinous in the arts.

If important people with connections and people in positions of power—over four long decades—bestowed less adoration, less goofy wacky depictions, less niceties in surplus to the predator contract son responsible for prolonging the unequal divide, I think I would have figured it out sooner, until one day, while borrowing someone else’s blog, I asked: why not sue him for breach of contract with the screengrabs?

Her deleted Insta

I already showed 4 of her rough-cut admissions. Rock, paper, scissors, nutcracker, childhood hometown, 2016 they started dating:

Fight club stamp, a few minor suggestions, knife-wise:

John is Tom, knife laid upon red napkin:

Gin and Tonics Game Night. Apples, like her jam company, means firstly rape; scotch means caught; chip chop; cutting cutter:

Bereaved and Bereted in 1998, third wheel varsity high school jackets:

A relief press is an etching printing press; in 2003; bracelet and hanging strand of string on right side:

My Little Ponies. Archewell Productions, Boardwalk Pictures, and Nacho Figueras: Prince Harry has always used hobbyhorsing to proclaim 1st-ies on behalf of his elderly father, declaring first rape of a little girl who says no:

Archewell Productions, Boardwalk Pictures, and Nacho Figueras: An author, Judy Blume reference whose books were published in the 1970s; overriding a little girl until she can’t walk; spurring a girl:

2022 Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary about a high-speed crash that never happened; SHE, not him, utters scripted onscreen dialogue about a pap (pop) and scooter (cooter) like it’s everyday conversation to entertain fans with; she’s not a victim:

Prince Harry paid for goods, services and heirs. Hence, why his 2018 tweets are so vulgar and ungallant; also, he’s really really into mouth holes:

Duchess mouth hole because he posts them:

A regular NHL ad that he regarded as the Great War so in derangement he spliced her mouth hole into the commercial:

Duchess proving that any dress is a built-in bed when she wears it:

Prince Harry doesn’t appreciate SNL when they go after his two-faced lifestyle in realism mode. This photo, I think, was inspiration for a Dame Emma Thompson sketch… link to comedy below —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PNtvXTjVg0

Scammers:

September 1, 2023, Harry, Meghan and her mother. Mirrorball dancing at Beyoncé's Renaissance concert in Los Angeles. Sad victims:

Pedophile old-timer faking cancer at 76:

Harry’s red-dotted love for his step-mum:

Guy and gal heartblood genital mutilation:

Harry’s dream-drool for his niece Charlotte:

In 2016, Amy was wrongly accused of stealing jokes because of her football rape parody; because of Tom Cruise; and I guess because she has a legal age something, which is too repulsively old for The House of Windsor:

Same year as unsuccessful cancellation; self-admission of hardest (harry) and working (prince):

17 aged timecode. Autumnal leashing. Three months after fake wedding. Humiliating or embarrassed meaning redhead or red-faced:

Harry penalized Louis C.K. by projecting anger at my cousin onto him. Guest equals firstly in a queue:

Golly, Tom must own a London flat because Montecito:

Crotch-out presentation of September 11 reparations that his family and wife and kids have enjoyed:

Harry’s seething over Bookclub blogs that began in the summer, but he can’t express it via Archillect so he tucks his anger away in UK rape-play dungeons as you do:

But how can we be sure that he wants to cut a sea-green lady:

A Brighton Breach Memoir. . .

I visited my good friend, Celica, right before XMAS and she was privatized. You added blood splatter to her picture. Since she’s a shy and wily geisha, I figured she was just apprehensive conversing on the new sex dungeon X layout. But now, she’s disappeared. Her articulation and profile. Gone. You've been decoying Ohtani me all week via the press and Reddit. Something tells me you know you infringed upon a legal pact. Could this be true?

I have some Celica screengrabs that I saved from years ago:

#reading #books

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thorgoodlaw · 2 months ago

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Defending Your Financial Future: How a Tax Evasion Attorney in NYC Can Protect You

Defend Your Rights: Why You Need a Tax Evasion Attorney in NYC

Facing a tax issue, especially with the IRS or state taxing authorities, can be an overwhelming experience. If you’re looking for a criminal tax attorney near me, it’s crucial to have someone who is both knowledgeable and compassionate, ready to stand by your side throughout the process. The consequences of criminal tax violations can be severe, making it essential to find legal representation that can navigate these complex matters effectively.

When Do You Need a Criminal Tax Attorney Near Me?

If you’re facing accusations of tax fraud or other criminal charges related to your taxes, it’s critical to hire a criminal tax attorney near me. These attorneys specialize in criminal tax law, offering personalized defense strategies for individuals and businesses alike. They understand the severity of criminal tax charges and work tirelessly to reduce penalties, challenge evidence, or even have charges dismissed.

How a Criminal Tax Attorney Can Defend You

A criminal tax attorney can provide several key services when you’re facing allegations of tax-related crimes, including:

Investigation and Evidence Gathering: They’ll investigate the charges against you and work to uncover any inconsistencies or errors in the evidence.

Negotiation and Settlements: If applicable, they may negotiate with the IRS or state authorities to reduce your penalties or settle the case out of court.

Court Representation: If your case goes to trial, your attorney will represent you in court, making sure your rights are protected and your defense is solid.

The Role of a Criminal Tax Lawyer in New York

A criminal tax lawyer New York specializes in defending individuals and businesses accused of violating federal or state tax laws. This type of legal expert is trained to handle cases involving tax fraud, evasion, and other criminal tax offenses. If you are facing allegations of underreporting income, falsifying tax documents, or failing to pay taxes, a criminal tax lawyer can help protect your interests.

Key Areas of Expertise for a Criminal Tax Lawyer:

Tax Fraud Defense: A criminal tax lawyer can build a defense against accusations of fraudulent tax returns.

IRS Disputes: If you’re being investigated by the IRS, a criminal tax lawyer will help you navigate the process and ensure your rights are protected.

State Tax Issues: If you’re facing charges related to New York state taxes, a New York State sales tax attorney can step in to defend your case.

Importance of Hiring a New York Sales Tax Lawyer

Sales tax disputes are common for businesses, especially in a state like New York, where tax laws can be intricate. A New York sales tax lawyer specializes in handling issues related to sales tax, ensuring that businesses comply with local and state regulations. If your business has been accused of sales tax fraud, or if you’re dealing with audits or penalties, having a New York State sales tax attorney can provide invaluable support.

How a New York Sales Tax Lawyer Can Help:

Audits and Penalties: Sales tax audits can be confusing. A sales tax lawyer will guide you through the audit process and help you minimize any penalties or fees.

Business Compliance: Ensure your business complies with New York’s sales tax laws and avoid any potential issues with the state.

Tax Litigation: If you find yourself in court over sales tax disputes, a seasoned lawyer will defend your position.

Criminal Tax Charges: What You Need to Know

Criminal tax charges are serious and can result in hefty fines and even jail time. A criminal tax lawyer in New York can help you understand the charges against you, build a defense strategy, and negotiate settlements where possible. The key to a successful defense is acting quickly and consulting an experienced lawyer as soon as possible.

Common Criminal Tax Offenses:

Tax Evasion: Willfully avoiding paying taxes owed to the IRS or New York State.

Falsifying Documents: Providing false or misleading information to the tax authorities.

Failure to File: Not filing required tax returns within the set deadlines.

Why You Should Work with a New York State Sales Tax Attorney

Tax matters can often feel like a daunting and complex maze, but with the help of a New York State sales tax attorney, you can navigate through it with confidence. These professionals have a deep understanding of both federal and state tax laws, enabling them to provide tailored solutions to your specific needs. Whether it’s resolving sales tax issues or defending against criminal charges, having a lawyer by your side ensures you won’t have to face the IRS or New York tax authorities alone.

Benefits of Hiring a New York State Sales Tax Attorney:

Expert Advice: Gain insights into the latest tax laws and ensure you are in full compliance.

Defense Against Accusations: Safeguard your business from unfair charges and penalties.

Minimized Risk: Reduce the risk of facing legal issues that could harm your reputation and finances.

What is a Criminal Tax Attorney?

A criminal tax attorney New York specializes in defending individuals and businesses who are under investigation for tax fraud or other criminal tax violations. These attorneys are experienced in defending clients against criminal charges such as tax evasion, filing false returns, and other serious tax crimes. They work diligently to help clients understand their rights and fight for the best possible outcomes in court.

Key Areas Criminal Tax Attorneys Handle

IRS Investigations: If the IRS suspects you of fraud or other tax-related crimes, a criminal tax attorney will be your advocate during the investigation process.

Tax Evasion Charges: Accusations of tax evasion can result in severe penalties, including fines and imprisonment. A criminal tax attorney will help you navigate the complexities of tax evasion laws.

Appeals and Settlements: In cases where a tax dispute escalates, an attorney can help you file appeals or negotiate settlements with the IRS to reduce penalties.

Criminal Defense: Your attorney will represent you in criminal court, aiming to reduce or dismiss charges through a strong defense strategy.

Lease Incentive Tax Treatment: What You Need to Know

When dealing with commercial leases, lease incentive tax treatment is an important factor for businesses. Lease incentives, such as rent-free periods or discounted rates offered to tenants, can have tax implications. As part of tax law, the IRS has specific rules on how these incentives are taxed.

A criminal tax attorney New York can help businesses and individuals understand how these incentives affect their tax returns and avoid any potential tax violations. For instance, if a lease incentive is improperly reported or not accounted for correctly, it could lead to an audit or criminal charges. Having the right attorney on your side ensures you stay compliant with tax regulations and avoid unnecessary penalties.

Key Considerations for Lease Incentive Tax Treatment

Report Lease Incentives Correctly: Failing to report lease incentives correctly can result in significant penalties. It’s essential to understand the tax treatment of these incentives when filing tax returns.

Timing of Lease Incentive Recognition: The IRS has specific rules regarding when and how to recognize the income associated with lease incentives. A criminal tax attorney can help ensure compliance.

Potential Criminal Implications: If a lease incentive is fraudulently claimed or misreported, it could lead to serious criminal charges. Protecting yourself through legal counsel is vital.

Why You Need a New York City Criminal Tax Attorney

Tax laws are intricate, and the penalties for non-compliance can be severe. A New York City criminal tax attorney has the knowledge and experience to represent individuals and businesses involved in criminal tax cases. These attorneys are well-versed in tax evasion, fraud, and other serious charges that could lead to hefty fines or even imprisonment.

Having a seasoned criminal tax lawyer ensures that you’re not just getting legal representation, but a partner who understands the nuances of both criminal law and tax law. They’ll guide you through every step of the legal process, ensuring that you make informed decisions that are in your best interest.

Criminal Tax Lawyers: Protecting Your Rights and Interests

When facing criminal tax charges, it’s essential to have a criminal tax lawyer who can protect your rights. These attorneys are skilled in handling IRS investigations, audits, and disputes with New York State taxing authorities. They work tirelessly to defend their clients against allegations of tax fraud, underreporting income, or any form of tax evasion.

Key Benefits of Hiring Experienced Tax Attorneys

Expert Knowledge: A New York City criminal tax attorney has specialized knowledge in tax law, which is crucial when navigating complex tax issues and defending against criminal charges.

Peace of Mind: With an experienced criminal tax lawyer on your side, you can focus on your personal or business matters without constantly worrying about your tax case.

Favorable Outcomes: A skilled sales tax audit lawyer can often help mitigate penalties, reduce fines, or even get charges dropped entirely, ensuring you get the best possible outcome.

A criminal tax lawyer not only understands the law but also the complexities of dealing with the IRS or state tax authorities. Their expertise can significantly reduce the stress of dealing with tax-related charges, allowing you to focus on your business or personal affairs while they handle your defense.

How Sales Tax Audit Lawyers Can Help Your Business

If you’re a business owner facing a sales tax audit, the expertise of sales tax audit lawyers becomes invaluable. A sales tax audit can seem daunting, especially when you’re unsure of what to expect or how to handle the situation. These lawyers specialize in defending businesses against audits by ensuring compliance with state and federal sales tax regulations.

Sales tax audit lawyers assist with gathering the necessary documentation, responding to IRS or state agency inquiries, and negotiating settlements or reductions in penalties. Their knowledge can help protect your business from severe penalties that may arise from an audit, ensuring your financial stability remains intact.

What is Criminal Tax Defense?

Criminal tax defense is a legal practice focused on defending individuals or businesses who are accused of violating tax laws, such as tax evasion, fraud, or underreporting income. These crimes can lead to hefty fines, interest on unpaid taxes, and even jail time. A criminal tax defense lawyer specializes in these high-stakes cases, providing expert counsel to protect clients’ rights and minimize potential penalties.

Why You Need the Best Tax Law Firms NYC

When you’re dealing with criminal tax charges, choosing the right legal representation is crucial. Not all tax lawyers have the same experience, expertise, or approach to handling tax-related criminal cases. That’s why it’s important to seek help from the best tax law firms NYC.

Thorgood Law Firm is proud to be one of the top tax law firms in New York City, with a proven track record of successfully defending clients against IRS criminal investigations and tax charges. Our attorneys are not only skilled in navigating the legal complexities of the IRS and state tax agencies but also deeply committed to ensuring that your case is treated with the utmost care and dedication.

Why Choose Thorgood Law Firm as Your IRS Lawyer NYC

Choosing an IRS lawyer NYC can be challenging, but with the right representation, you can rest assured that your case is in capable hands. At Thorgood Law Firm, we bring years of experience and in-depth knowledge of both federal and state tax laws to the table.

Some reasons to trust us with your case include:

Expertise and Experience: Our team includes some of the most skilled IRS lawyer NYC professionals with years of experience handling complex tax issues.

Confidential and Trustworthy: Your privacy is important to us, and we work diligently to protect your personal and financial information.

Comprehensive Legal Services: Whether you’re dealing with criminal tax charges or IRS audits, we provide comprehensive legal counsel every step of the way.

Understanding the Role of a Payroll Tax Lawyer

When it comes to handling payroll taxes, having a payroll tax lawyer on your side is crucial. A payroll tax lawyer specializes in the intricate details of payroll tax laws and helps businesses comply with both federal and state tax regulations. Payroll tax issues can arise from misclassifying employees, failing to deposit taxes correctly, or neglecting to file required forms.

A payroll tax lawyer can assist you by:

Reviewing your payroll processes to ensure compliance

Representing your business in case of an IRS audit

Negotiating settlements if penalties or back taxes are due

How a Sales Tax Audit Attorney Protects Your Business

Facing a sales tax audit can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not well-versed in tax laws. If you’re under investigation or facing a sales tax audit attorney, having legal counsel is essential to protect your business’s interests. Sales tax audits typically focus on whether your business has correctly charged, collected, and remitted sales tax on transactions.

A sales tax audit attorney can help by:

Representing your business during audits to ensure fairness

Helping you gather necessary documentation

Offering strategic advice on challenging incorrect findings

The Importance of a Tax Evasion Attorney in NYC

Tax evasion is a serious criminal offense that can have severe consequences, including hefty fines and imprisonment. If you’re facing allegations of tax evasion, a tax evasion attorney NYC can provide the expertise needed to defend your case. Tax evasion involves intentionally misrepresenting or concealing information to reduce tax liability.

Here’s how a tax evasion attorney NYC can help:

Analyzing the charges against you to build a strong defense

Negotiating settlements or plea deals to minimize penalties

Representing you during IRS or New York State hearings

If you’re accused of tax evasion, it’s crucial to seek legal counsel immediately. A tax evasion attorney can help protect your rights and work towards achieving the best possible outcome.

Trusted Advisors for High-Stakes Financial Matters

New York’s elite tax law firms are more than legal representatives; they are trusted advisors ensuring your peace of mind during high-stakes tax situations. Choosing the best tax law firms in New York gives you a strategic edge in protecting your wealth.

Why Choose the Best Tax Law Firms in New York?

Specialized Expertise: Tailored advice for individuals, businesses, and corporations.

Proactive Approach: Identify potential issues before they become costly problems.

Comprehensive Services: From tax planning to dispute resolution, they handle it all.

Client-Centric Focus: Personalized solutions based on your unique financial goals.

Conclusion: Protect Your Rights with a Tax Evasion Attorney NYC

If you’re facing tax evasion charges, don’t navigate the complexities alone. A tax evasion attorney NYC from Thorgood Law Firm is committed to defending your rights and providing you with the best legal representation. Our team of experienced attorneys can assess your situation, identify the best defense strategy, and guide you through the legal process, ensuring the best possible outcome. Contact us today for a consultation and take the first step toward protecting your financial future.

FAQ’s:

Q1. Why do I need to hire the best tax attorney near me for my business?

A best tax attorney near me will give you local expertise in order to navigate the New York tax law. A nearby attorney is more accessible for consultancy while being able to offer personalized services particularly suited to serve your business’s needs and ensure that it remains compliant and avoid any legal complications.

Q2. A sales tax attorney New York can always help you resolve tax audits.

A sales tax attorney New York is incredibly helpful during an audit. This might mean being with your business during the tax audit, having all documents in order, negotiation with tax authorities to find the discrepancies or issues arising during tax audit. Thus, the influence of the audit on your business may be softened.

#lawyer #law #johnny lawrence

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