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limerenze · 3 years

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slytherin’s secret santa - adrian pucey

[Adrian Pucey x Fem!Reader]

masterlist

Summary; y/n suggests the slytherin house does secret santa. adrian and y/n are among the few slytherin’s who stayed at hogwarts over the break.

Word Count; 2.8k

A/N; merry christmas eve!! love u guys! (this was supposed to go out tmrw but it’s been sitting in my drafts for so long and i’m ITCHING to post it, so think of it as a little gift- merry christmas eve eve)

set during the order of the phoenix, reader’s 6th year and adrian’s 7th.

Warnings; slytherin reader, christmas, fluff

Dates Written; December 14th, 2021

Secret Santa.

It has a million other names, but most of England referred to it as such. It could also be called Kris Kringle.

It was Y/N’s idea for Slytherin house to do it. She brought it up to her dormmates one night and they spread it around and soon enough, almost everyone wanted to participate.

It goes like this. Anyone who wanted to participate wrote their name and their year on a piece of parchment and hung it on the Slytherin Christmas tree.

Some of the 4th years begged Professor Snape to allow a Christmas tree in the common room. He said no for about a week but one morning before classes- everyone woke up and there stood a 10-foot tall evergreen tree, with boxes of green and silver decorations underneath.

That night, a handful of the Slytherins- Y/N included, decorated it together. While a handful of others watched begrudgingly about how stupid Christmas was- but later smiled to themselves when they saw how good it looked, and how cosy and warm it made the otherwise, formal and cold- common room seem.

And by December 10th, they were to choose a random parchment off the tree and get that person a present. No one was to spend exceptionally more or less than 5 galleons, and their gift was to be wrapped and signed under the tree by the night before everyone left for break, and everyone would open their gifts after the feast.

It was debated if their identity should be revealed but after multiple “No one else is getting credit for the gift I put money and effort into”’s, they decided it was best.

Out of the 150 Slytherins who attended Hogwarts, 75 were participating. And Y/N prayed, she wouldn’t get someone from her year.

But after History of Magic one day, when she had a free period. She headed back to the Dungeons to pick a name.

“Palma non sine pulvere” she whispered to the door. The password for the common room changed so often that Snape was surely running out of ideas. During this term alone, it has already been 3 different variations of ‘pure-blood’.

‘Palma non sine pulvere’ was Latin for ‘No reward without effort’. And Y/N was not aware that with attending Hogwarts, she would also need to learn Latin phrases.

The common room was fairly empty, everyone either in class or in their dorms. The tree sat against the wall at the back of the common room, to the left of the fireplace. There were two students sitting at one of the tables, playing wizard’s chess. Y/N didn’t pay them any mind as she approached the tree.

She stood and counted the amount of names still on the tree. There were 7 left. Which was good considering there was still plenty of time to spare before needing to choose a name.

Y/N just really wanted this to go smoothly, it was her idea after all.

She noted that the branch she placed her parchment on, was now bare. Excitement shocked through her and a smile rose to her face.

Without overthinking it she reached up to pluck a name off the tree. She opened it excitedly and in fine, cursive handwriting- it read ‘Astoria Greengrass, Third Year’

Y/N felt confident, “How hard could it be to shop for a 13-year-old girl?” she thought to herself.

Adrian did not have such luck.

He has chosen his Secret Santa just a few days before Y/N. And he had no idea what to get her.

Were they friends? No, not really. She was in the year below him and- really, was one of the only Slytherins in her year. So her friends were a mixture of different people.

They had Herbology together in Adrian’s third year- her second. And she was nice, and they said hello to each other- but that was it.

So when he unfolded his parchment and it read, “Y/N Y/L/N, Sixth Year”, he was nervous. He was beyond nervous, he was terrified.

Hogwarts was having one last trip to Hogsmeade before the break. He would surely find something there, right?

If Adrian could go back in time and slap himself, he would. Because he had just finished scouring his 8th shop in Hogsmeade looking for something for Y/L/N, and he could not find anything.

He couldn’t even worry about who had gotten him, or what he would receive. Because nothing seemed right.

Adrian was cold and tired and he dipped into the first shop he saw that wasn’t crowded.

“Hello, young man!” the clerk hollered. He was tall and jolly. He had grey hair and he wore a long brown coat. Adrian smiled at him and nodded his head to say hello.

He hadn’t prepared well for the cold. He wore a jacket, of course- and he was wearing a hat that covered his ears. But he didn’t deem it necessary to wear gloves that day- and so the cold seemed to suck all the moisture out of his hands- leaving them dry and cold.

He rubbed them together and blew hot air into them. “Cold?” the man asked, to which Adrian nodded quickly. The man motioned for him to come closer and he did.

He cast a simple charm and lit the fireplace behind the counter and allowed Adrian to sit in front of it.

The tip of his nose was red in colour and so were his cheeks- it contrasted nicely against his pale skin in the snow.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked. “You’re welcome to sit until you’re toasty,”

Adrian thanked him and craned his neck to look around the shop. It has countless aisles that were jam-packed with shelves of- stuff. Just stuff.

Knickknacks, dish ware, figurines, jewellery. Anything else you could imagine. And inspiration struck.

“Actually, sir. I’m shopping for a girl for Christmas and I have been wandering around all day and I don’t have a single clue what I could get her. Do you reckon you’ve got something here?” Adrian asked

The man’s mouth opened and he let out an “Ahh” in understanding. “This girl, is she special to you?” he asked.

Adrian was glad that the harsh coldness outside had flushed his cheeks red, because now his faint blush wouldn’t be so apparent. He sputtered in an effort to defend himself.

The man smiled as he watched Adrian scramble before giving up and letting out a sigh. “We aren’t very close. I’ve-” he began.

He looked around and twiddled his thumbs nervously. Scared to confide in this random shop owner about something he hadn’t even told his closest friends. “I’ve been mad for her for 3 years. But we aren’t really even friends. And I’ve drawn her name for this stupid ‘Secret Santa’ thing- and I don’t want to mess it up”

Adrian smiled sheepishly, it felt good to let it off his chest.

“Alright, son. I’ve got just the thing.” And the man got up and left.

Adrian was left alone. His slender fingers were warm by the fire, albeit- still red in colour. He reached up to pull his hat off, revealing his brown curls and he to combed his fingers through them. His hair had fallen flat under the hat.

He had high hopes for this shop.

It was silly that he was putting so much thought into this. Surely no one else was.

“Here. Do any of these pique your fancy?” And a box was placed in front of him. It was a wooden box with a clear top. Well, it was once clear. Now- it was dusty and cloudy. But Adrian could vaguely make out what was inside.

He opened the lid and in were countless pieces of vintage-looking jewellery. It smelled like old coins but Adrian found himself digging through it all anyways.

He found rings and bracelets and necklaces of all kinds.

“Say, where does all this stuff come from?” Adrian asked, as he sifted through.

“Oh. Well, some of it is given, some of them are lost items. I don’t get too many visitors around here, so some of this stuff I’ve had for years”

Adrian remembers how when he came into the shop, it was tucked away. He could understand how easily it could be overlooked. It didn’t look like much but inside it was truly extraordinary,

The man continued to talk and Adrian picked up a necklace.

He held it in his hands. It was silver in colour- so old it was beginning to turn copper. It was detailed with curly engravings and in the centre- there was a pearly gemstone.

As he looked closer he noticed hinges on its left side. He went to pry it open and saw it was a locket. The inside was empty- which Adrian was glad for. He would feel bad removing the stranger’s photo.

He stopped talking as he saw the young man’s eyes were enchanted by the opal locket. “I’ve had that one for ages. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Adrian tore his eyes away and nodded. “2 galleons and It’s yours, son”

“You’ve got a deal” Adrian smiled and dug out his galleons. He dropped the coins onto the counter and carefully placed the necklace into the pocket of his coat.

“Pick her up a pack of sweets to go with that” he suggested as he took the box back and Adrian nodded- bidding him a ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ and dipped out across the street and into Honeydukes.

“Malfoy! This one’s yours! From Higgs”

Snickers bounced across the common room. Y/N never understood why Snape had taken Malfoy’s bribes to get Draco on their house team. Sure he was a good seeker, but Terence was worlds better.

Draco sent a sarcastic smile to the rest of the kids and grabbed the box from Holden Ledbury- who was sitting on the floor by the tree and handing out the gifts.

“Oh, Cheer up! Malfoy!” Blaise Zabini called from his spot on the sofa and Draco launched a pillow his way.

Y/N smiled slightly at the exchange. She liked Draco, they were decent friends. He was nice to her. And he seemed off this year, so it was nice to see him in the way he used to be- even if it was just for an afternoon.

She sat with him at the feast- he seemed excited about the exchange. Whether it was because he was excited to receive his present or see his Secret Santa receive theirs from him, was unclear.

Y/N ended up getting Astoria a hooded cape that was dark plum in colour. She thought she would like it. It wasn’t as long as a normal cloak so it would be a nice addition to her wardrobe.

And she did like it. It was sweet to see her open it.

“This one is for” Holden dragged on, holding the white gift bag- searching for the tag. “Y/N! From Pucey!”

Her eyes darted across the room to Adrian and he waved at her with a smile. “You can leave it there, Holden! I’m gonna open mine on Christmas”

“You’re not going home, Y/L/N?” Blaise asked. And she shook her head.

“Nah, I like staying here over the holidays” She shrugged, as Holden continued to call out names.

“Well what d’ya say I come back a little earlier- we can throw a New Year’s Eve party?” he asked and she nodded her head. Telling him it sounds like a plan.

When Adrian’s name was called, he too told Holden to leave it under the tree. She caught his eyes yet again and he just shrugged his shoulder.

The next day, almost all of Slytherin house had left after breakfast. She hugged a few of her friends and said she would see them in the New Year. And some of the Slytherin’s told her they would also be back early for the party.

She spent her days leading up to Christmas exploring the castle, in the library- in the kitchens. She befriended a bunch of the other students who stayed back.

And after dinner, she would sit by the fire in the common room with a mug of hot cocoa.

On Christmas morning, she walked up the steps from the girls dormitory to the common room.

Y/N saw a small group of students sitting around the tree and she smiled at the sight. She spotted Adrian on the sofa and walked over to sit next to him.

“Morning, Pucey”

“Hey. Good morning, Y/N” he returned, he tilted his tin of cookies towards her- offering her one. She reached in and pulled one out.

“You know it’s 8 in the morning?” she teased, taking a bite.

“You know it’s Christmas?” he mocked back with a smile. Y/N, in turn- rolled her eyes and bumped him with her shoulder. Continuing to eat the cookie. “My mum sent them over. My sisters made them a few days after break started”

“Your sisters went home and you didn’t?”

Adrian shrugged. “My older sisters graduated ages ago, but my younger sister went home, yeah. But it’s my last year. I wanted the full Hogwarts Holidays Experience”. It was the best Adrian could come up with without telling her he wanted a chance to spend time with her.

“How’re you liking it?” she asked as Adrian stood to his feet walking over to the tree, reaching down for two gifts. One with Y/N’s name and one with his own.

“It’s going well. A little lonely. Plus, I didn’t want to risk missing the ‘Y/L/N and Zabini New Year’s Eve Slytherin Extravaganza’” Adrian teased. Y/N scoffed in return before eating the last bit of the cookie he had given her.

They continued to talk and take turns grabbing gifts from under the tree. Until eventually- only their Secret Santa gifts were left. Adrian shrugged sheepishly as she took it.

He left his untouched as she reached her hand in the bag, pulling out a long wrapped box. The wrapping paper was dark blue with little Christmas tree designs all over. She ripped it open and took the lid off the box. To reveal the opal necklace.

“Oh, Adrian” she murmured, lifting it from the box. “It’s beautiful”

Adrian watched with a smile as she fawned over the necklace just as he had. He began to tell her the tale, minus the heart to heart he had with the clerk.

She listened intently- as if it was part of her gift. And to her, it was.

“I did some research after buying it. Its an opal. Apparently it’s a symbol of hope and purity- and loyalty. When I got back from Hogsmeade that day. I used a beautification charm, and I wrapped it up,” She smiled as he concluded his story- she handed him the necklace and turned her back, pushing her hair out of the way.

Wordlessly, Adrian fastened the necklace to Y/N’s neck and held his breath as he did it. “There’s something else” Adrian mentioned to the bag.

Y/N nodded and unwrapped a box of Peppermint Toads. She opened her mouth and rose her eyebrows slightly, her face played a guilty expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a hurry. He had been watching her expressions so intently, how could he miss this one.

“What! No, No. Nothing” She tried, placing them in her lap. She had been told before that she didn’t have much of a poker face.

“Y/N!” he insisted. “Your voice just rose like 10 octaves. What’s wrong!”

“It’s fine!”

They went back and forth in the same manner until she broke into a fit of laughter. She hit her hands in her face and smiled.

“It’s not that big a deal! I just” She started. She didn’t want to make him feel bad. “I’m just allergic to peppermint!”

Adrian broke out into loud laugh and leaned against the back of the sofa, sliding down. He too put his head in his hands. “Oh for Merlin’s sake! I am so daft!”

“It’s not your fault! You didn’t know!” She set her hand on his shoulder and tried to help but she ended up in a burst of laughter as well.

Soon they were laughing hysterically together on the sofa of the Slytherin common room as the few other students paid them no mind.

“Well what’re you doing for the rest of the day, then?” He asked once their laughter died off.

Y/N hadn’t given it much thought. You know, It’s Christmas? She should spend it with the people she loved. So she told Adrian she didn’t know.

“Well, let’s go to Hogsmeade. I’ll buy you a butterbeer. It’ll make up for the Peppermint Toads”

She turned her head to look at him. His eyes were soft and hopeful and his face never waivered from a smile.

“Sure, Pucey. I look forward to it”

And that’s how their night went.

They sat in The Three Broomsticks and they each had a butterbeer. Then they shared a slice of cherry pie- and then they each had another butterbeer. They talked about everything and nothing.

They weren’t friends before Christmas of 1995. But they certainly were after.

They walked back to school together, in the cold and in the dark. If anyone else was by their sides they would’ve been miserable. But they laughed and talked together. And it was okay, because they were together.

Adrian slipped on a patch of ice on the path and his face was covered in snow. After Y/N finished laughing, she bent down to help him up but ended up slipping herself and landing beside him.

Scared to try and stand on their own, they laid in the snow together. And they were silently glad to be alone in that moment. They looked up at the stars together through the trees and they made snow angels from their place on the ground. Y/N and Adrian giggled together as they struggled to get back to their feet.

And the night ended in the Slytherin common room.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N” Adrian smiled, leaning his head agsisnt the stone wall of the dungeon. His back was wet with melted snow and his skin burned from the quick transition from the low temperature outside to the very high temperature in the castle. But his smile never faded.

Y/N matched his expression and scrunched her nose up, her cheeks began to grow warm with a blush. “Merry Christmas, Adrian”

And with that, they each went to their dorms. And they spent each day for the rest of their break together.

double a/n: in case you want some insight in my brain, this is the opal locket/necklace i picture adrian getting the reader ! i figured i would add it at the end to give you all some creative freedom while your reading to picture your own necklace

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join my taglist <3

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cloveroctobers · 3 years

Note

Can I request for Asher Adams or Olivia Baker or Spencer James with a biracial reader

October prompts — 10. Spencer James ; All American

Prompt: don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark. ❜

A/N: yeah this was supposed to be out yesterday but living life was more important in the moment lol. Hope you’re all enjoying this spooky season if it’s your thing? If not…I still hope you’re enjoying this fall season then. This is a short one since I still have 2 (maybe I’ll do a bonus one to make unlucky 13 but we’ll see) more prompts I think left in my drafts that I want to get out before I take a break from writing or until inspiration flows again for me!

This was originally a prompt for Olivia but I decided to switch to spencer because he needs more love…after all is he not the main character? 😂 also this is a fuck Billy baker account—OFFICIALLY! + I watched the newest paranormal activity last night so you may see a touch of inspiration from that in here.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

You were being fake.

Faker than hell, except hell was not fake. (Depending on who you asked but whatever) You were positive about that since you’ve seen some things…back when you would spend time with your grandparents in Pennsylvania. Long story short about that? You always thought Pennsylvania was eerie whenever you visited and that didn’t help your suspicions since your grandparents lived close by a Amish community.

You meant no harm on your judgments about the community but one tale about a family in particular didn’t sit right with you.

Let’s just say that.

See, your friends had set favorite holidays: Layla and Simone loved Valentine’s Day, Jordan and JJ both loved April Fool’s day, Kia loved black history month, Coop and Patience loved Thanksgiving, You and Olivia shared the same love for Christmas, Darnell always boasted about news year eve, and lastly and surprisingly Spencer, Asher, and Chris all shared the same love for Halloween.

It was their fault this whole halloweekend trip was a disaster…at least in your eyes. Spencer brought up the idea to you first and you tried to play it off that you were listening while you actually Dissociated from the conversation once: touring a haunted place was brought to the table! Spencer picked up on the vague responses almost immediately but waited to address that.

“Black people don’t be doing this shit and it’s safe to say we’ve done had enough fear in our lives,” Patience started with her arms crossed, “but…it is spooky season and we deserve some fun.”

And here you thought the curly headed girl would be on your side. Or at least Simone and Kia but nooo with very little persuasion they were on board too! Layla was already looking up places and writing down suggestions that Asher already began researching but Chris kept shutting everyone of them down.

“Why not just go to Hollywood Horror nights for a night?” You spoke up while your group of friends fell into easy conversations of excitement.

Olivia hummed, “We did that last year, y/n.”

Shit you did? You must have been so triggered from the last experience that you forgot all about that.

Spencer wrapped an arm around your waist bringing your frame close to his, ready to question what was up but Layla suddenly stood up with a grin and a notepad?

“I’ve got it, I know this perfect place where we don’t even have to leave the state. I can’t believe I forgot!” She bounced on her toes.

Chris waved his hands around, “well spit it out girl, what is it?”

Which made Olivia flick her boyfriend’s ear who failed to dodge her attack and complained at her action.

“It’s this haunted hotel in the outskirts of California. Its definitely driving distance, a good hour or two tops. My dad knows the owner of the place quite well so I’m sure he’ll give us a nice discount to stay for a night or two or however long we want.” Layla informed.

Darnell shrugged, “I’m with anything if there’s a good bargain price.”

Chris gave the boy some dap in agreement while Coop should her head at them, a laugh flying past her lips as she mumbled up to Patience, “broke boys United.”

“Yo, whatcha one hit wonder ass say?” Chris was on her ass and before any bickering could start, Spencer let out a whistle to shut everybody up.

The group turned to Spencer who moved his arm from across your waist to lean against his knees, “Layla, thanks for the recommendation. Let’s make it happen, we’re three days away from the weekend and I know this is probably pushing it since places get booked fast.”

Layla fanned her hand as she reached into her back pocket to grab her phone, “oh please, Bram loves me, he’s never too busy.”

“Did you say bram as in the same name as that doll movie,” Jordan asked just before he tossed some m&m’s into his mouth.

Layla already stepped away, phone pressed to her ear, with her business woman voice on as everyone fell into chatter again.

“Are you good?” Spencer nudged your shoulder to get your attention.

You immediately nodded, “yeah, great. Never better!”

That was a lie.

Which is why it’s always important to be honest even if the truth hurts or someone can’t handle the truth. Maybe if you were honest, you currently wouldn’t be losing your mind right now in this hotel room with Spencer.

You had your arms and legs attached to his back, clinging to him the minute the room went completely dark. This blackout made you feel as if your heart was trapped in your throat instead of your chest.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark?” You could feel the smirk in Spencer’s voice, as he held onto you with ease.

You huffed squeezing your arms tighter around his throat, “shut up, you. What the hell is happening?”

“It’s probably part of the haunt experience? They did give us walkies and night vision goggles.” Spencer said just as the hotel door slowly creaked open.

In that moment you almost forgot how to breathe.

When you first settled into your room for the evening, after having a welcome dinner in this large ballroom-like area, each guest would be locked into their rooms until the big event occurred.

“Guess that means it’s show time,” Spencer moved his hands from underneath your thighs to rub his hands together.

You hopped down from his frame as Spencer moved around the room grabbing the correct equipment. While you stayed close to the window just in case you suddenly have to turn into catwoman and leap from the room, with or without Spencer at this point.

He did the honors of slipping the goggles against your forehead, leaving you to slip them on if you chose and handing you a walkie. He then moved his fingers through the dark in search of your face, “you know I gotchu right? Nothing bad will happen to you as long as you stick by me.”

“What if that’s what this place wants you to think? What if they purposely try to separate us then what? This could all go wrong like those horror movies I desperately hate.” You sighed as you felt Spencer place his forehead against yours, followed by a caress to your cheek.

He said next, “then I guess it was fun while it lasted then, hm?”

And that’s when you shoved him as he let out a laugh.

“I’m just playin’, damn, if you were this scared then you should of said something. I had a feeling you weren’t really vibing with this too.”

You scowled, “and be the only loser left out on this? I don’t think so.”

“I mean…I don’t think anybody would have clowned you that hard if you wanted to sit this one out. At least, I wouldn’t let them to do that to you, baby.” Spencer gripped your forearms, rubbing them gently.

You took a deep breath before listening to light patter of footsteps in the hallway followed by some familiar voices that most likely belonged to your friends.

“If I die tonight—

“You’re not gonna die, y/n.” Spencer interrupted you.

You continued as if you didn’t even hear him, “my soul shall forever haunt this place, you, and each of our crazy ass friends.”

“I see vengeance is one your…traits.” Spencer chose his words carefully.

You smiled in the dark, “you got it! so don’t ever think about breaking my heart.”

Walking forward you could tell Spencer was watching as he slipped on his goggles, his vision illuminated in pale green. He wouldn’t dream of it and before he could tell you that, a knock on the side of the wall sent you falling onto the floor, right on your ass along with a scream ripping past your lips.

Spencer balled up his fist to cover his laughs as he went over to help you up.

“Damn y/n, it’s just me.” Simone commented with her own goggles on, “I was just coming to get you guys so we can all stay together while we walk through each floor.”

Now that plan? Made perfect sense.

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Continue along with my anthology October prompts here

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mercy-burning · 3 years

Text

Losing You Twice / Prologue: Silence

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader Summary: On New Year’s Day, Y/N attempts a new chapter of her life but finds it may be harder than she thought... Category: Angst Content Warnings: language, alcohol consumption, implied masturbation (female) Word Count: 1,343

SERIES MASTERLIST | MASTERLIST

NOTE: AHHHH the prologue is finally out!! I’m so excited to start sharing this story with you guys, I adore this album with my whole heart and I just knew I had to use it as inspiration for a fic. I hope you all enjoy reading it!!

***

“I know that I should let go, should be letting you go. Can’t postpone it, not anymore, when I know what I already know: What I need is silence. All I need is time and space and silence. Cut communication ‘cause I’m trying to learn that I can lose you and survive it.” —FLETCHER, Silence

JANUARY 1st

Even though the snow outside was falling rather heavily, Y/N left the window open, a bitter chill drafting through her bedroom and settling into every nook and cranny, which included the closet where she was currently sitting on the floor, a glass of wine in hand and pictures laid neatly across the wood.

As her eyes grazed over every scrap of paper, mostly polaroid photos and little hand-written notes he'd left her over the years, the constant ticking of the clock back in her bedroom wouldn't stop.

Realistically it was probably the wine, enhancing her ability to focus on nothing else except the most menial, annoying little things. But she was thoroughly (and maybe a little drunkenly) convinced it was actually Time itself, taunting her— every constant click of the clock screaming at her as if to say, "You! Fucked! Up! He! Hates! You! Now! You're! Pathetic!"

The happy memories scattered about in front of her certainly didn't help. His face kept staring back at her, each lovesick gaze spewing even harsher words than the clock. Just by seeing his face glinting back at her under the harsh white light of the closet, all she could hear in her head above the noise was that one single sentence that's haunted her since Christmas.

"You don't actually give a shit about me, Y/N, you only ever care about yourself, and it's been that way ever since I met you!"

No matter how greatly she professed to him that that wasn't true, he walked out on her all the same, not giving her a chance to explain further. Though, he always took the time to listen to her, so his words coupled with the slamming of the door landed her with the impression that maybe she'd only said it in her head.

After all, she was half drunk on tequila at the time, the other half of her mind swimming with sadness and regret.

Maybe she hadn't fought for him to stay like she thought... Or maybe at this point he was simply done trying to make it work, done with hearing her half-assed promises to get better at communicating, and done with her...

It bothered her immensely that she didn't know.

And when he wouldn't even pick up the phone to answer when she wanted to ask, when she texted him and each one went promptly ignored, she felt like the answer was finally clear.

Now it was New Year's Day, just about ten minutes past midnight after Y/N opened the window, poured herself a glass of wine, and started sorting through everything in the closet. She'd went in with the intention of starting anew, like practically everyone did during the New Year. Though the longer she sat there, sipping the wine and staring back at pictures and notes that only reminded her of the one good thing she'd ever known and inadvertently thrown away, the experience was less cleansing and more daunting.

Everything was loud.

The click of the clock, and the howling of the wind outside as it blew snowflakes around in a near-blizzard, and the constant screaming of every word she wished she'd said before he left...

It was all too much.

So Y/N downed the rest of her wine, threw all the pictures and notes back in their box, and shoved it deep in the back where the memories couldn't hurt her anymore, at least in theory.

But as she crawled into bed, the clock now sitting in the kitchen with no batteries, she was reminded that there was one form of memory that she couldn't shove in a closet and hide away.

She drifted off, the sharp chill from the winter wind still lingering on her skin even after the window had been shut and she'd bundled herself up under the covers.

Even in dreams, it transported her to the night before Christmas, when she walked with him across town, looking at all the lights and finding themselves underneath a large tree. He took her gloved hand and placed it firmly on his chest as she looked up at him, snowflakes sticking to her eyelashes. She admired how pretty he was surrounded by white snow and colorful lights, his cheeks and nose painted a soft pink from the cold.

"I love you, Y/N," he said with every intention of hearing her say it back.

But for some reason, she didn't. Instead, she leaned up and kissed him, hard, nearly knocking him to the ground. And even though she was happy and warm, it was the first time she thought she'd ever felt him not kiss her back with the same fervor.

That should have been her first clue that things were going to decline, but she was so caught up in the feel of his lips against hers, no matter how distant they were, that she couldn't really bring herself to care. After all, it was Christmas Eve, and nothing bad could ever happen to their relationship during the happiest time of the year...

But this was a dream, and now Y/N knew better. She stood there, watching the scene unfold in front of her, screaming for herself to say it back, to yell, "I love you too, Spencer!"

But again, this was a dream— No matter how loudly Y/N yelled at her former self, nothing would change what happened in the past.

She woke up the next morning, cold and alone, and surrounded in silence. Not even the soft clicking of the clock was there to keep her company.

But that's what she wanted in the first place, and if she was ever going to get through this—to move on with her life without him at her side—then she was going to have to get used to it.

And so her phone sat nicely on her bedside table as she grabbed a random selection of clothes and headed to the shower. Maybe the water would wash away some more of the major remnants of his being from her body. Maybe she finally wouldn't be able to feel the ghost of his hands roaming her skin and tangling in her hair...

It worked for almost the whole day, and then she laid back in bed that night, her hand dipped beneath her underwear and eyes closed tightly. She hadn't meant for him to creep into her mind, but it made sense that it would have happened eventually— When your relationship with someone was built almost solely on sex, it seemed inevitable.

No one else had made her feel the way he did... He took such care and precision with her body, drew out every possible second of pleasure until she was out of her mind, and in turn she showered him with praise and loud shouts of his name. Spencer... Spencer!

"Spencer!"

She opened her eyes, hand retreating from her body as quickly as possible as she tried to blink away his image. Her breathing steadied, though a long, exhausted sigh fell from her lips almost as easily as his name.

It obviously wasn't going to be easy, but damn it if she didn't want to give up already and find him the way she always did after a fight.

This wasn't just a fight, though. And as she laid in bed, her thumb hovering over his name in her phone, something stirred in her chest that signaled a bad idea. Not that bad ideas ever stopped her before... But now?

It didn't feel right.

Nothing about any of this felt right. And she didn't know what to do about it other than shutting the phone off and tossing it to the side, snapping her eyes shut and huffing like a child while she tried not to cry.

Plain and simple, heartbreak was brutal. Especially when you were the one to blame.

And that sentiment was the sharp twist of the knife in Y/N's gut, plaguing her as she willed herself to fall asleep.

“It’s like a crutch, see if you’re up. 4am but I like a rush, so I’ll go into your bed, my safety net. Cheaper than a therapy vent, yeah, I know...”

***

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jae-canikeepyou · 4 years

Text

| kismet | j.jh | part one

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

word count: 10k+ welps

summary: his parents sends him for a month long vacation to the country side to meet his other half, which so happens to be you. and alternatively, your beloveds asks of you to be in your best behaviour while he’s around. disliking how things turn out, you both come up with a pact with each other before your two families gathers together for christmas eve dinner.

genre: arranged marriage + bad 1st impressions

a/n: happy new year ✨ and you know what that means? *wink wink* new layout for my oneshots hihi! ok you guys this took soooooo long to write ;-; i wasn’t satisfied with the first draft so i had to reboot everything! and i mean everything!! :3 so i had this specific genre in mind for a long time and i’m glad that someone requested at the same time while i was in the progress of writing it~ i should’ve posted this on christmas day but i was spending time with my family :D hope you understand hihihi anyway i’ll stop this here so you can enjoy reading! ~j

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| part two | part three (final) |

jaehyun never reacted so quickly in his entire life, simultaneously spitting out the drink he consumed and eyes growing at the news his parents suddenly brought up. his neck ache at sudden twist. “what did you say?” he wiped the drips of coffee at the corners of his lips. his breathing intensified the more the silence passed.

mr. and mrs. jeong playfully sighed & exchanged looks as their son shouldn’t be this surprised regarding the topic. they have discussed about this when he turned eighteen. now twenty-three, he shouldn’t be so surprised or over-reactive about it either.

“you heard your father,” mrs. jeong chewed her meal elegantly, yet giggles were still heard through closed lips. “you’re meeting her next week.”

he squinted with plenty of doubts filling his head, he was sure that there was still a year left. and to him that also meant he has exactly a year to convince his parents to call off the marriage he never asked for, let alone planned it. he still has a lot- correction, have yet to achieve in his mid-twenties and having a wife now would be slightly cutting his privacy short.

in other words, the path to leisure he wished for after years of academics would divert to spending a life planned out for him. he had a diary and planner, and

they were organised and well-thought out. but he had enough of his parents writing out his future for him, why couldn’t he write his own love story?

jaehyun was on his second last year of veterinary medicine, having some of the weight and pressure of academics lifted off his shoulders. of course he knew he still has to study, he just felt a little relaxed knowing that he would soon practice his dream career.

never had he expected that time flew and was going to meet his fiancé soon.

his phone blinked with along with a message from his friends— mark and johnny. he briefly looked at the wallpaper of his long-time girlfriend of four years; she was the one who was on his mind. “nononono, i can’t get married now.” jaehyun’s panicking voice echoed the dining area, shoving the phone into his pockets.

mr. jeong raised a brow, placing his cup of coffee on the glass table. “relax, you’re not putting a ring on her finger yet.”

“‘yet’?!” the dimples on his face deepened as his cheeks bubbled. “mom, dad, i haven’t even met her!”

“hm? that’s why you’re spending the whole month at the countryside!” mrs. jeong exclaimed excitingly, and to jaehyun it seemed she was enjoying herself as if she were the one going there too.

“a month?! what am i going to do over there?!”

“isn’t this great? we finally get to see you outdoors instead of a laptop and report papers! you need a break honey.” his mother clasped palms.

“ugh i can manage my time—”

“once you start working i’m pretty sure you won’t have the time to, jaehyun.”

since the love topic was brought up, his parents started to dig out their memories during their dating years. jaehyun groaned and massaged his temples, feeling uncomfortable with all the love stories he already heard or been told about. “did you forget that i have a girlfriend?” mumbling, he let out a deep, long sigh hoping they would hear him. and that failed miserably. his parents were in their own world.

he shook his leg underneath the table and grew impatient with the duration of their conversation. “please, i’m begging you. i’ll get married in my own time and pace. sue and i are pretty much going to settle once we graduate-”

a certain ringtone perked his ears and his hands quickly pat his pockets to search his phone. he let out a sigh of relief, that his girlfriend psychologically read his mind and knew how much he wanted to get out of the dinner table, not to mention his parents’ overly attachment to one another.

“sue you called! i was wondering if you want to hang out for a while.” his voice was high in spirits. but word has it when it reached its high, it would plummet to the ground shortly after. “hey, what’s wrong?”

on the other line, just a call away from his girlfriend, was her held-in sob and whimper. “where are you right now? i’m coming to get you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

jaehyun’s limbs shook in anger and slammed his fists onto the stirring wheel so hard that this time he promised himself he would move on. last week, she didn’t just break up with him— that was a call for farewell, something kept well hidden from him and all this time he didn’t know she felt the way she did for the years they’ve spent together.

for a minute he wished this was all a dream, that conscious world would wake his slumber mind. it wasn’t. the reality pretty much awoke him and kept him up all night. he blinked several times, her words still numbing his hearing, wishing it was a lie... but he heard her loud and clear that night.

“...you’ll always have a place in my heart.. but i’m really sorry..”

he grew speechless though his heart had millions of questions. the windows of his lips sealed closed no matter how much he wanted them to be answered. opposite from where he was at, he stared at the porch of her house, waiting for a silhouette to appear before him. instead a luxurious car pulled over and an unfamiliar man took his coat off to wrap around sue. that action didn’t hurt jaehyun, but it was sue’s smile of comfort that triggered his pain more. seemed like she knew this man given that she let him into her house, like nothing heartbreaking happened before this.

the door closed and jaehyun’s teary eyes never left her residence until loud slams of swinging car doors opened on both sides of the passenger’s seats. “tsk.” he hissed and quickly rubbed the tears meaning to fall. him being seen crying would really make him a target for his friends, for not moving on. couldn’t risk being the attention more than he already was.

“goodness mark it’s not like we’re on vacation that you have to pack almost everything,” johnny threw one of mark’s duffle bags at the boy, earning a so-what kind of look from him. “we’ll only bring jae to the y/l/n’s then leave afterwards—”

screw this, jaehyun thought. by now he shouldn’t look too swollen to his friends. but screw mark for renting and living across from his ex’s house.

“save your explanation john.” jaehyun growled and started the engine, fastening his while seatbelt the two continued their bickers. more of it was mark’s shallowness that pissed johnny.

“yeah, save your explanation john- ow!” mark gave the tall lad a death-gazing glare at the pain that stayed on his skin.

johnny leaned forwards, tapping the dimpled boy on the shoulder. “dude, you changed your mind?”

jaehyun scoffed, resting his left arm onto the window’s edge as he drove. “mom said i should be accompanied. i didn’t want you both to come but she’s so insisting it’s getting into my nerves.”

“actually mrs. jeong said you might need us after your sudden breakup,” mark pressed the button. the window rolled up and down whereas him and johnny exchanged looks to try to liven up the mood in the car. “what are friends for, hm?”

“o-oh yeah. you’ll need us.. as in.. ‘sue’pport.” he nodded with a fake sob. soon mark bursted out in giggles and joined the wagon.

“‘cause you lost your ‘sue’weetheart.” “she’s making you ‘sue’per emotional.” “we were ‘sue’prised she dumped you.” “but as your brothers, we ‘sue’wear we’ll be here—”

“ugh! i don’t know why mom suggested you to come but your side comments really aren’t helping at all—” jaehyun rolled his eyes regretting instantly at the pain afterwards.

his friends found him hilarious. they were laughing so hard that jaehyun couldn’t continue or interrupt their exploding voices. “since when did you need help, mr. leave-me-alone?” johnny took a huge leap from his seat to be beside the offended boy. “for all i know you’re the type who wants everything perfect, in control and planned.”

“nah dude, right now..” mark zipped his bag. “he needs help with love issues.”

“this has nothing to do with my love! and for the record, about the y/f/n’s? it’s arranged!” he lowered his cap and slid back slightly against the seat while the car was on idle. “do i need to spell it out for you?”

“that can change dude,” johnny slurped on his giant soda takeaway. jaehyun battered his eyes but was careful enough to not leave his sight off of the road. “who knows this fiancé of yours could meet your expectations. maybe more than sue could ever do.”

jaehyun’s mind clouded and still had the effects from the breakup. still so fresh. he didn’t want to believe it in fact happened; that it was all true. he was sure sue was the one for him. hearing his pals say it word per word only had it finally sunk in— she dumped him.

it terrified him in ways he couldn’t imagine, haunted him countless of nights because he failed her. he even bragged to his parents that he would marry her and slip a ring on her finger. thinking about it, how stupid was he to hold onto that hope?

he looked like an idiot, felt like one and his friends probably viewed the same. they said his fiancé could outstand sue? she was the perfect package! what more could he get?

he had her.

honks of the vehicles behind led jaehyun’s eyes trailing to the stoplight that emitted green. he pulled over and johnny knew he had to take his place.

“here, let me drive. you’re not fit for driving. now, just be comfy back there, okay?”

—

hours later violent jolts of the car hit jaehyun’s cheek, regaining consciousness from his slumber just to witness the beautiful sunrise peeking from the horizon. he sat up, his posture trying to straighten to denumb nerves that held long during his sleep.

his playlist blasted the speakers. johnny had his legs on the dashboard and hummed with the music. mark was still sleeping peacefully like he hadn’t had a care in the world other than his precious bag of unfinished chips in his hands.

he groaned at the discomfort of pulled muscles and the sudden break to the countryside. if johnny needed an hour intervals for the drive he could’ve said so, right? but now they were at the open road, greenery and fields merging together in one land.

“what time is it? where are we and are we there yet? i’ll drive if what you do delays the journey.” jaehyun gestured him to move aside. “johnny, stop eating.” it was quarter to two.

“wha-? i’m hungry. hey, you’re the one who didn’t want to come and yet you’re rushing to get to the y/l/n’s?” johnny unwrapped his second burrito. “besides, we’re only five minutes away—”

“tsk ‘cause i need to piss real bad.” jaehyun was fidgety and panned the view before setting eyes on his friend.

johnny felt a churn in his stomach as his cheeks bubbled. “oh gross! i’m eating dude! if you’re gonna piss then do it outside?!”

jaehyun shoved the burrito into johnny’s mouth to not speak anymore. “rather hold it in than for you to puke in my car!” he held his strength while johnny fought his way to breathe properly. “i won’t piss outside and there are cattles who feed on fields!”

“bruh stop lecturing me with your vet knowledge- ah!” johnny held his forehead from the sudden finger flicking.

“dude, it’s called common sense. now move aside!” he shooed the tall boy off the driver’s seat. jaehyun stepped on the gas, heading towards a small town entrance.

they finally reached a couple of stores & restaurants, surveying and asking its townsmen using your family name to locate your residence. maybe they would know which apartment or house you resided in. except that was the twist of their understanding.

jaehyun and his boys were shocked to know how your family name plastered in posters and brand products displayed at open stores, but were more shocked to see the gazes from the people.

a little over an hour, they managed to get hold of more information as they were told your house was ten minutes away from the town. jaehyun walked along the pavement to grab something to drink, only to be poked by a young man who was around the same age as they were.

“hi.” he greeted the unfamiliar man. “i take it you’re looking for the y/l/n’s?”

he took a squint as he observed jaehyun from head to toe, circling around him. “uh-huh, you look like m’lady’s husband-to-be in the pictures.”

“e-excuse me?” jaehyun cleared his throat, seemingly unwilling to have this conversation going.

mark held his laugh per usual, it would take time to get used to jaehyun stumbling his words.

because the engaged man really wasn’t ready at all.

“yeap he’s the guy.” johnny popped the ‘p’ with a lollipop in his mouth. jaehyun rolled his eyes, taking the candy stick and tossing it away. he didn’t care about johnny’s scoffs.

the new young lad wore his motorcycle helmet. “sweet.” he prolonged the word. and that was when both mark and johnny lost it. they recalled the pun they entertain themselves with prior to arriving here.

“oh, i work with the town’s famous family,” he showed his i.d. wrapped around his neck. “you can follow me since i’m heading there too.” the three quickly twitched at his quick paced movement. “i’m kunhang by the way, but i’d rather be called hendery. it’s my professional name, it just sounds cooler.”

jaehyun furrowed his brows at the praise. “okay hendery, uhm famous? they’re big time?” he pointed at the posters holding your family name. “how so?”

hendery swung his face shield downwards. “you’ll see.”

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gallops of horses were drumming the entire farm. dust and dirt swirled with the wind in the air and it took a while for the boys to adjust their sights at the distance. hendery dropped a couple of spare boots for them to wear. jaehyun was in awe. horses were majestic animals and though he got to study them, he never seen such a number of them on the fields.

“oh goodness me our guest is here!”

they turned around to voice of a jolly lady, an apron on and folded cuffs from her clothing. “hello there! welcome! you must be jaehyun! my soon to be son-in-law!” she shook his hands and later pulled him for a hug. “oh you look just like your mother!”

“hi mrs. y/l/n. y-yeah, i get that a lot these days,” jaehyun scratched his head. “thanks for having us.”

her eyes trailed at mark and johnny, and they too, were pulled in for a hug. “i see jaehyun brought along his handsome friends with him! do enjoy your stay here with us!” she caught a glimpse of a figure approaching the crowd. “c’mere baby and meet the boys!”

jaehyun looked over his shoulder, lips parting and exhaled a short breath. she seemed young, she has a pretty face but obviously still in high school. what the? oh g- i’m marrying you?

“pfft no ew. i’m not getting married to you. i’m only 17.” she let out a chuckle, almost sarcastic enough for jaehyun to explode.

crap i said it unconsciously.

your mother lightly slapped her arm. “marg, where’s your sister?” she asked. “i told her to specifically come at the barn 1600.”

“she took jet for a ride. ‘detour’ she said, but i guess she’s on her way here.” she replied and mark choked on his water bottle. marg rolled her eyes. “green minded ass-”

“language marg!” hendery flicked her forehead, the latter held the pain. “the rudeness. sorry, kiddo here is the family’s baby. you’ll see the eldest daughter soon- oh! right on time m’lady!” he waved his hands up high.

jaehyun didn’t know what pissed him off more; one was at himself for being starstruck and in awe at you after his breakup, and two?

the beautiful black horse you were riding on didn’t seem to be halting. it was trotting at first. you were on its saddle. he squinted his eyes, were you smirking? unbelievable. he thought you were doing this on purpose. no, you were really going to run him over.

he noticed a change in speed, trotting then galloping on dirt. the sounds of it matched with the beatings of his rising heart. jaehyun took a step back, then it became more than one, until he was worried that he would end up being chased. there were couple of gasps and reminders of voices. he fell on his bum with palms hitting the ground as he breathed heavily, eyes still on you.

the horse listened to your rein, it let out a loud neigh with its front legs heavenwards. your laugh merged with it. “whoa- hey, easy jet, easy.” you cooed the animal, soon removing your helmet and hair flowed like those in shampoo commercials. “i think he got the message.”

jaehyun sat there dumbfounded, his brows drew together. what message? you were centimetres from killing him- wait. he saw you turn cold and your smile disappearing.

bingo! he got it. he knew the reason why you did this.

you were against the arranged marriage too.

johnny leaned into mark’s ear, who had his hands cupping his lower face. “bro, jet’s a horse so stop giggling and clean your mind.”

“dude i’m not laughing at that. just look at jae. i’ve never seen him so helpless.” he cackled a laugh.

once your feet were on the ground, he finally got a better look on you. you were wearing a light wooled grey sweater with denim blue jeans. your hair now on one side and boots stained with dried mud. you took off your gloves to put your hand out for a handshake, one rested around your helmet. “hi, i’m y/n.” you greeted with a smile, ensuring it was fake enough for jaehyun to notice.

“quite of an entrance.” jaehyun dusted his jeans and groaned at the exerted strength as he stood. “jeong jaehyun. veterinary medicine student..” he was about to grab your hand until you shoved yours into the pockets of your jeans.

“y/n!” your mom exclaimed with warning. “your manners-” she clamped her lips when you put up a hand, eyes darting at her later at him.

“alright, okay. look mr. i didn’t ask for your field of study and i don’t need to know or do anything with you.”

jaehyun crossed his arms, a fake smile plastered on his face. what an attitude. “apparently you will? because i’m here for the next thirty days.”

“is that so?” you hummed and jaehyun didn’t like how you singsonged.

he knew something was coming and sometimes he thought it was best to keep quiet instead of letting his annoyance towards you spark up. “good, that means you’re helping me out with everything i do here.” he heard you say. “and do things i tell you to.”

“what?” his eyebrows snapped, and for you it was quite entertaining to see this reaction from him. following the trail of your footsteps, jaehyun stomped on wet soil as he stood before you. “hey you can’t just order me around like i’m your staff!”

“of course i can, you’re in my property-” you gestured the land.

“no, it belongs to your parents.” the tone of his voice irked you. he was grinning too.

“i can do whatever i want and choose whenever to help. i’ll only listen orders from mr. and mrs. y/l/n if they want me to do work..” he trailed off, your mother waving at him with admiration— typical as she saw him like an long lost son. “..but i guess not. my mom did say i needed a break from studying too much and she’s totally right. i must be pardoned from labour.”

it was your turn to cross arms and give him a lop-sided smile. the audacity of this man. you felt like ripping all your hair out. “you think staying here would prevent you from doing labour, your highness? sitting on your throne all dignified and at peace? well guess what, just because you’re a guest that doesn’t mean you get to be treated differently-”

you heard him bubble out a forced snicker. what was it this time? “of course it’s different! i am the guy you’re betrothed to-”

“i won’t allow it.” your jaw tightened with lips in a hard line. “a person like you is not worth my time and definitely not someone i’d want to marry.”

he pursed his lips. “wow do people ever tell you how bad of a host you are? you just don’t go shoving assumptions into people’s faces for your own entertainment. we’re humans.”

“i’m only rude to you. and yeah, people are humans. but you’re the devil’s incarnate.” you pulled jet’s reins and led him to the stables in which jaehyun observed how you gave that same smirk from earlier. “see if you’ll enjoy your stay here, hubby.”

jaehyun clenched his fists and was sure little crescent moons already indented his palms. he only wanted sue to call him that. yet that was useless, they broke up. your face remained in his head and anger filled him up, now boiling so much that he felt a little lightheaded arguing with someone like you.

he wanted to yell but johnny and mark sandwiched him between them with hendery walking in front. “tsk it’s only the first day and i want to go home.” he scrunched his nose.

hendery had his palms behind his head, lips jutting to hold his grin. “m’lady—” he corrected himself. “y/n’s not usually like that. it’s a first seeing her so cranky and hotheaded.”

“really? how is she usually like?” mark asked with curiosity. “she seems cool because she smiled at johnny and me before the tables.. y’know, turned.” he shrugged with implications towards jaehyun.

“not cranky and not hotheaded.” hendery opened the door to your house, showing them to the large living area. “a lil’ different today but i tell you, our y/n is a professional equestrian. she’s passionate with what she does and—”

“a horse rider?! passionate?!” jaehyun hissed as he took off his shoes and brown coat, kicking it slightly to the side and hung it on the wall respectively. “she almost killed me!”

johnny hit the back of jaehyun’s head and clicked his tongue. “snap out of it jae, you’re overreacting. we’re at your future in-law’s residence and i think it’s a bad idea to badmouth their daughter.”

only a low groan escaped out of jaehyun as he refused to listen. “look, first impressions don’t always hit off a good start. but thinking how you both don’t have a say to this arranged marriage, your feelings towards each other are totally understandable.”

jaehyun pressed the bridge of his nose as he took in his friend’s words. if what johnny said was true, was it right for him to begin holding grudge on you on the first day? you barely knew each other. clearly he knew you hated him, yet if his parents were here and saw the whole thing, they’d ask: why risk the chance of not trying? and again, he remembered he was told, people can change.

—

throughout dinner, he got to know what your family business was and why it was well-known. he didn’t ask questions, they were just told to him like they were comfortable with it. they weren’t bragging either. perhaps it was due to the fact jaehyun would soon be part of this family that they told him the entire story.

you didn’t show up during the hour and honestly it got jaehyun feeling so much relief since he wouldn’t have to deal with another useless argument. he disliked wasting time and preferred to do this schedule accordingly, so remembering it only made him rage inside. he was glad he wouldn’t have to deal with you tonight.

except that relief was shortlived. you had to appear right when he thought of you.

great.

he tried to fix himself in his seat on the sofa by the fireplace, averting his gaze upon you while your mother continuously slapped you light on the arms. you probably finished your bath, given that you still have a towel wrapped around your head and a.. robe.

“y/n! have some courtesy! we have guests!” your mother warned as she gestured in front to cover you, apologising to the new boys. hendery immediately stepped in as well, his eyes shutting to a close and pushing you back to the bottom of the staircase.

“but mom! i’m hungry and there might not have any cookies left if you keep giving it to them-” you were cut off with hendery’s pats.

he brushed his hair. sighing, he had to shoo you away because you were clearly attracting eyes, definitely not the decent kind. “i have a jar prepared for you m’lady so please.. get dressed!”

you quickly ran up as you were told, mumbling and complaining. jaehyun and his friends were definitely at a loss for words. because not only were you careless, you were oblivious too.

mark scrunched his nose to start a conversation with jaehyun. “looks like she called you ‘hubby’ too quickly.” he closed his lips to contain his laugh.

“pfft jae your ears really are honest huh?” johnny pointed at them as he held his chest, fistbumping mark for another win.

he wasn’t going to tell them that he in fact did find you pretty, and the thing was, he shouldn’t be giving a reaction too soon. “it’s the spicy chocolate cookie!” jaehyun defended.

“huh, i didn’t bake any cookie with those flavour-” hendery pondered, but he stopped since he spotted jaehyun begging to help him here.

“you know that we know if you’re lying right?” the two squinted eyes, putting more pressure to the boy to admit what he felt when he saw you earlier. “bet ya felt something.”

afraid that your family could hear them, jaehyun grabbed their shoulders to huddle them in close. he cleared his throat to catch their attention, yet his friends continued their giggles. “i swear if you both embarrass me in front of the y/f/n’s, consider the days with your precious.. phones.”

“ah c’mon dude. don’t do that. we bought our i12’s together-” mark whined.

“then at least help me out here guys. i have a reputation to hold-”

“oh for being her hubby?” johnny gave a playful grin and soon was replaced with a nervous smile. “okay i’ll zip it.”

he heard your mother facetiming his mom, voices loud enough for him to know that there would be a huge gathering at christmas eve dinner. great, another one i have to deal with.

jaehyun put down his beanie and crossed his arms to snooze for a bit. he had too much going on in his head the whole day that maybe sleeping it off would let him calm down from all feelings he felt tonight. on the sofa, the weight beside him lowered, the scent of freshly baked cookies along with lavender perfume got him peeking under his beanie.

it was you, who looked like a squirrel happily munching away with your jar of cookies whilst eyes glued to the television.

he smiled a little to himself. so you can have this cute side-

fragments of sue’s face appeared in his mind. right. he was supposed to be heartbroken. he still was. a week into the breakup had remains to his heart. bothered with sue’s ultimatum and your annoying munches, he grabbed your wrists and out at the veranda.

it pissed him because it seemed like he was the only one who cared about both of your futures or actually would do something to change your families’ minds, where as you were carefree with your cookies. “hey!” you held the jar tight in your arms as you quickly slid your feet into your slippers. “rude! i’m eating!”

the rest of the people in the dining and kitchen area grew voices of woohoo’s, jaehyun’s pupils flared at their cheers. “just come with me for a second!” he hissed, turning the knob and closing the door.

“seriously jaehyun you can’t just ruin my happy time! what do you want-”

he looked in between the curtains from the outside, where he could faintly hear his friends talking the embarrassing things about him— especially how he felt for this arrange marriage. “aren’t you pressured or angry at the situation our parents have put us into?” he leaned against a column. “even my friends are joining the wagon.”

you cackled whilst scrolling your phone. “here i thought you only cared about animals, dr. jeong.” hearing how jaehyun scoffed at your comment, you shoved your device in your pockets. “and yes of course i’m mad! what they decided is so against my will.”

jaehyun stared at you and surprised that he actually felt exactly the same. “really? then let’s make a pact. sounds good?” he offered with arms folded while you still were occupied with your phone. “well?”

“why would i listen to you? as far as i know, we already clashed and hate each other.” you rolled your eyes. “what makes you think i’ll agree?”

he sighed. “y/n, i know you don’t want this, i don’t too. at least there’s something we have in common. i’m just thinking that we have to show them we’re not meant to be together. we both have lives we want to live without the other.”

there was a change in his voice. you could tell he was serious and trying to suggest something he’d want you to agree on. “fine, what’s the pact?” you gave an uninterested tone. probably a bad idea, you thought.

“like you said, ‘clash and hate each other’. we have exactly twenty four days to convince them that you, me, us?” he pointed at his chest then yours. “is impossible. twenty four days, it’s until the night of christmas eve.”

actually that’s not bad at all. “hm, that’s easy since i can’t stand you.” you said, now standing up to face him. “even better if we can do this in less than 24.”

“cool, we have to make our fights as natural as possible. no signals or heads-up. full-on make me angry and i’ll do the same. the more we argue the more they’ll believe there’ll never be an ‘us’.” his voice a bit lively than before. “i want my buds to be fooled into this too. just be realistic and- nghf!”

you shoved a huge cookie into his mouth. “tsk, you’re noisy. i get you so shut up. i agreed with the pact, but i have conditions, okay?”

jaehyun nodded as he chewed angrily with his eyes closed, though the cookies’ taste might’ve simmered down his temper towards you. “ha, then i have conditions too-”

“see you in the morning.” he heard you say as the door slammed with the attached bell ringing his ears.

now that was one of his conditions; no interrupting while he talks. he sighed seeing you head up the stairs. he sighed. “ugh, i can never marry a girl like her.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

stretching as high as you can, the muscles loosened in every part of your body from riding yesterday. the sun shone its brightest despite the cold weather. you remembered the pact and you knew you would not let a day pass without bothering him. somehow his existence annoyed you to the bone, not even words were enough to explain how you felt.

at the farthest point your peripheral could reach, you spotted jaehyun peacefully— and actually enjoying— the hammock whilst faintly you heard mark and johnny debating which pronunciation was the correct one. fixing your boots as you walked towards them, the two scurried off to the side, noticing the stomps of your feet getting closer.

“get up.” you wriggled the hammock, causing it to be lop-sided.

jaehyun managed to balance himself from the swings. “what the-” his voice hitched. “you’re ruining my relax time!”

you pretended to ponder as you looked up to the sky. “hm, sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?” referring to his sudden action towards you the night prior.

“seriously y/n what do you want? i’m in no mood to do work today and i clearly told you last night-” jaehyun fixed his eyes onto your finger that silenced his lips.

jaehyun raised a brow and rolled his eyes. what was your deal? he thought. “condition number one.” you started, bringing your voice down. “starting today you’ll do the work for me and with me. considering you’re taking veterinary science, i’m guessing you know your ways through equine husbandry. so in the coming days you can check the horses’ health while i practice my rounds.”

ah, so that’s what this was about. “uh-huh, but my condition number one is you shouldn’t make me do labour unless you really need it.” jaehyun got off the hammock, chugging his glass of water like it’s one-shot. “it’s the first light, y/n. my service starts in the afternoon.”

“i see. you’re not a morning person.” you checked your nails.

“i so am! but it’s my month long vacation. let me enjoy this before i experience exploitation from you.” he forced a smile that made you want to push him off the veranda.

you walked down the steps and straight to the barn opposite from your house. “it’s either exploitation today or exploitation for the whole month.” you singsonged while you twirled in your stance. hearing him growl meant your tactic worked. “i’ll let you experience the beauty of country side, city boy.”

jaehyun’s brows narrowed as he followed you anyway, later looking back at his friends who were stifling a laugh. “did you just compare me to feces first thing in the morning?”

“did you just boggle up my brain with scientific terms?” you hid a giggle when you heard his friends finally bursting out and losing it. because they too, experienced jaehyun’s sudden blabber of uncommon usage of words, especially conversational-wise. “i made a pun but it seems like you acknowledge the nickname.”

“i did not!” jaehyun pressed his temples. “i may have misheard you but i didn’t acknowledge it! you’re too assuming!”

“mhm sure.. but you are stepping on one though.” you whistled and gestured mark and johnny to the stables.

jaehyun grumbled as he checked the soles of his shoes. indeed he stepped on it and licked his lips in annoyance that it’d be hard to clean it off. the door opened and hendery’s morning face only turned sour at the unsightly view. he tossed another pair of spare boots for him to wear before they both headed to where you all were.

hendery introduced the things they do here; feed the horses, fix their saddles repair them if damaged. they were minor things since your family did hire people to do them. and since you and him were professionals in equine sports, he mentioned you both spend all days practicing.

good, if it was you who toured him around the area, he wouldn’t think lasting a day with your intentions of ruining his mood. though it was part of the pact, it seemed like you enjoyed this a lot more than he expected. hendery brought him to places your family owned, land properties that expanded until the mountains. it’s no wonder you were free to roam around and unafraid of getting lost.

you made him do a lot. and he was glad he was able to handle, thank heavens. however he didn’t feel much of a challenge from any of them, where you claimed they were ones he couldn’t do. jaehyun lost track of time, the sky was his only companion to tell the hours and probably lost count of the tasks too. all he could remember was the endless bickering, yells and frequent eye rolls.

in all those, he still let you off the hook— first day of work and all, he has to be patient. and he wasn’t bothered with what you tasked him to do, until his friends stood behind you as you showed them the rest of the horses.

after you told him to move the bundles of hay he thought was the last, you were currently trying to make mark pet the horses as they were bobbing their heads towards the young man while johnny recorded his reaction.

“isn’t she all well now.” jaehyun rolled his eyes as he helped hendery lift the infinite bundles. “my friends get the leisure and i have to work?”

hendery laughed as he unbuttoned his collar. “she was told by her mom that you’ll be in her care since you both will get married eventually. plus mrs. y/f/n said it’s a way to get to know y/n too.” he explained, seeing you walk towards them with a hay cart, hands signalling your childhood friend to get some bundles from you. the final bundles were finally fed to the horses, and you skipped your feet to fetch jaehyun.

jaehyun knew you had intentions to make fun of him because the way you walked really pissed him off. so he decided to have his fun too. ”are you that weak you’re unable to carry a small patch? guess my hourly pay needs an increase.” he low-key flexed his muscles. truthfully speaking it was a sight to look at, too bad his attitude didn’t match it.

you rested on one leg while you look at him. he was testing the waters with you, smile slowly resurfacing as you gave even the slightest reaction towards him. oh it’s on. he annoyed you yesterday and would be a lot more in the next coming days. jaehyun leaned forwards that he was towering over you. his body made you feel small but that didn’t stop you from getting back at him.

“the only thing increasing for you is workload.” you hummed, putting back the cart into its place.

he glared at you as if you were dead meat. you ignored him. “i’ve had enough for today. muscles are sore.” hands in his pockets, jaehyun kicked the remains of hay off his shoes before he was stopped by you. “ugh you’re so annoying.” he clicked his tongue.

“nope, you’re not done until i am. we have to find materials for christmas wreaths at my grandpa’s up north.” you pointed at the mountains as you took hendery’s hands and soon mounted on jet with him.

“oh and i’m supposed to walk there while you’re so relaxed miss bossy?” jaehyun shook his head in disbelief looking at the distance.

“uh yes?” you laughed to yourself. “i don’t think you’ve ever ridden a horse before, but if ever you did, it’s probably at a carnival.”

sudden outbursts of emotions evident on his face now. “was i born under a rock? of course i’ve ridden!” he took the reins given to him by hendery. “and it’s not a carousel!”

for a while he had a certain confidence, his soles stepping on the stirrup and dimples deepening with the strength he gave to put his right leg over. but once that was done and high up off the ground, his heart beat an army per second. cash, hendery’s horse gave loud neigh. jaehyun had done this before as a child and definitely felt like one now. he should be able to handle a 30-minute journey.

jaehyun heard you giggling, perhaps he knew how hideous he looked. despite hendery seated behind you, you led the way for the most part of the ride. you were surprised to see jaehyun have gotten the hang of it. it pissed you a lot because he was vlogging with his phone— sputtering out words to keep the diss battle going. johnny and mark hopped on the available bikes, cycling on your sides, and their laughter rather calmed you than annoy you.

it pissed you a lot more because you’ve practically ran out of ideas to tell him in return. keeping quiet wasn’t your forte, you were a young woman with plenty of things to say, even more so to jaehyun. going through the woods, you signalled hendery to halt the horse for you and the rest of the boys followed you to gather the materials needed.

“this shouldn’t be too long to take.” jaehyun looked at the trees towering meters above him, then straight to you who was shaking head in disbelief. “we’re just taking the materials at your grandfather’s and head back, right?”

“did i mention my granddad?” you balanced yourself on large wood log. the tone of your voice started to warm up with bickers you weren’t able to tell him.

“you did!” jaehyun anticipated this and somehow he didn’t. “now lead the way to his place and we can get the hell out of here.” his eyes grew squints of disgust at his surroundings, as if he hadn’t been into the forest before. his friends went on ahead with hendery around the woods to look for what’s needed.

“nah, we’re picking acorns, pine cones, berries and other leaves by hand. his cottage is just around here but that doesn’t mean the materials are from him. let’s go, whiney.”

“oh my g-” jaehyun pulled you on the arm and off you went towards him. “y/n i’ve had enough for today and i’m so tired of taking your orders- i’m physically tired of doing things your way and i can’t think straight-”

“pecans?” you said as his eyes crossed to see your palms full of the shelled nuts. “you’re hungry, aren’t you? that’s why you’re so cranky and agitate-y.” placing one but onto a flat rock, you smashed it strong enough for it to crack yet not totally destroying the inside. you popped one into your mouth and gave the most taunting grin jaehyun has seen from you all day.

he was about to grab the rest of the nuts until you swung your arm that he wasn’t able to reach them. “y/n! give me some!” he yelled and the rest of your friends look at you both after hearing you laugh in the most evil manner.

“never!” you scurried off deeper into the woods. jaehyun rolled his eyes not at how fast you were, but due to how slow he actually was because of the amount of disgust he had.

he knew this would take all day and he didn’t know how long his patience can take for another three weeks with you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

jaehyun couldn’t describe in words with what he experienced since arriving. if he had to compare with school, it was similar to studying and cramming for hours non-stop. it gotten him mentally exhausted, physically too. but the only difference between being cooping up in his room and doing work outdoors was the continuous nagging from you.

it was far from quiet. he could handle his mom’s high pitched yells. but you? anything that came from you or done by you made him want to plaster a duck tape on your lips. you were as annoying as a five year old child who looked for someone vulnerable to bully. unfortunately he became your prey because he was in your lands. and though there were times he was able to banter back, he always felt you still had the upper hand.

it was all sunny and good days out in the countryside and jaehyun found that fact the only bright side. he enjoyed it every single morning. yet sometimes good sunny mornings meets its bad, that is, when grey clouds destroyed the beauty of the sky. in this case, it was you. you were far from his dream girl— sue. she was elegant, poised and had a heart of gold. you were the complete opposite who’d rather be rogue and do things your way. other than completing ten christmas wreaths and feeding the horses or more farm work, he couldn’t remember what he did for the past eight days because all that entered his mind was the dictator you.

but today he felt different, maybe things wouldn’t be as hard than last week. he felt good. he sat at the long dining table with all morning faces exposed. it was currently 7 a.m and your mom have already prepared breakfast. and per usual, you were the only one they waited for before they start the first meal.

“marg, is your sister still asleep?” your mother put down a large casserole to warm up everyone’s stomach in winter.

marg only shrugged because for one, she didn’t care, and two, she stated that it wouldn’t be her doing this since jaehyun was marrying you. “oh jaehyun. please do head upstairs to her room and awake y/n up.”

“and why do i have to do this?” jaehyun mumbled to himself and johnny nudged him on the arm. he groaned and got up, his stomps were heavy and unwilling.

once he was in front of your door, he knocked twice loudly so he wouldn’t have to spend so much time to get you. there was a small tune playing in your room, like it was from a music box. the door was already opened. he peeped through the thin gap, seeing you still sleeping soundly. goodness’ sake, he thought, and entered the room since your mother was asking if he woken you up.

your room was in fact, neat. all things were organised and arranged. if there was one thing he learned from you other than being an ass, was that you loved stuffed animals. not a hint of dolls or barbies or any toy displayed related to that spectrum. two lines of medals displayed and they all shone in gold. plaques had your names and young portraits of you with smiles of victory. hendery wasn’t lying when he said you were a professional. he wasn’t going to lie— you were impressive despite the little horns coming out of your head.

he stood next to your bed where you were all bundled in a huge blanket. he raised a brow, it was strange for you to have two thick blankets covering you. “hey y/n.”

no response.

“y/n. wake up, your mom is calling for breakfast and you’re usually the first one seated at the table.” he wriggled your body with the butt of the umbrella and you didn’t budge.

“she baked croissants and aren’t they your favourite? dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkles?” he tried sounding happy. note that, he tried.

this girl.. he bit the insides of his lips, spotting the markers in a cylinder container and took one to begin drawing on your face. his soft giggles filled your room and the strong scent of markers met your nostrils, waking you from your slumber.

“what the he- jaehyun?!” you hissed at how close his face was to yours, failed to realising he was done drawing on your morning skin. “get away from me!”

everyone downstairs could hear the both of you, arguing like cats and dogs. each footstep might’ve covered the entire floor above them and the ceiling could give in.

“you ruined my morning with your ugly face!” “what?! you’re more ugly, ugly!” “you entered my room?! you have no rights!” “breakfast’s ready and your mom asked me to!” “well my nose could’ve smelled mom’s food but i smelled your stinky breath instead!”

“whatever, i finished your share of croissants!” jaehyun quickly head down the staircase.

“you dare eat my food?!” you still had a blanket from head to toe as you followed him down. “no one takes my food!”

“your loss since you’re still in bed you lazy ass!” jaehyun sat beside johnny and continued his meal. “and you were snoring loud too-”

“i did not- agh!” you grumpily sat and immediately eyed the last croissant sitting at the center of the table. all eyes were on you with black ink scribbled on your face.

there was an awkward silence then you felt jaehyun’s stare at the only food you wanted for breakfast. there was a back and forth battle of stares between you, him and the food. maybe it was the slow reflexes you have in mornings that jaehyun took the bread before you did. he stuck out a tongue as he deliciously ate half of it, chewing slowly just to let you imagine the flavours of sweet silky chocolate. you could feel yourself drooling and the cravings of your stomach rising up to your throat. every chew he did was a stab to your guilty-pleasure heart.

jaehyun stopped and gave a smug grin. “you wanted this y/n?” his question sounding a song rather than an honest one. “all you have to do is beg.”

you gulped, rolling your eyes. “shut up!” you kicked his knee out of jealousy and savoured the soup instead.

“ow!” he hissed through a laugh and looked at your mom. “mrs. y/f/n, i’d like to know the recipe for this. do you give lessons?” jaehyun licked the remains of chocolate around his lips, hopefully it was enough to cover up the violence you did under the table.

your mother giggled at his sweet talk. “why learn it from me when you have y/n to teach you?”

you choked on your soup and tear your gaze away from jaehyun to your mother, where she was already enjoying your shocked reaction. “oh give me a private lesson, bulldog terrier.” he propped his chin and mimicked clicks as if he was calling animal.

you quickly touched and rubbed your face to see the ink contaminate your fingers. the spoon reflected the dark circle around your right eye. “oh my g- you! this will be hard to remove!” the fork around your hand pointed directly at him.

“y/n!” hendery put down your wrists as jaehyun laughed loud. you took the wet wipes marg gave you and whined a little whilst you stood by the mirror behind jaehyun.

“don’t be so bummed out honey.” your mom assured, giving a wink to jaehyun. “it’s a small prank. marg did it to you before.”

checking yourself for the last time at the mirror, you rolled your eyes. “i have enough patience for marg,” with one hand you cupped jaehyun’s lower face from the chin spreading to the cheeks, soon pinching hard on his dimples with a pointer finger and thumb. “but none for the human bread.”

“ow don’t touch me!” jaehyun swifted his head to look at you and he saw you flashed a smile like you were satisfied.

“a human bread with molds. ew, i lost appetite so i’ll be out for a ride.” you stood up to grab your coat. “see ya ugly.”

“remember to you have to clean the barn house y/n!” your mom called out.

“yeah got that!”

johnny and mark bent their heads down and let their friends suffer from multiple dots on his faces. what made it funnier was that jaehyun munched happily on his meal, hadn’t gotten a single clue. he then eyed you when you passed the window and straight to the stables. “isn’t it too early for practice?” he drank his cup of hot chocolate.

“she can ride all day. sometimes she doesn’t arrive home and the next morning you see her sleeping in the barn house.” marg tied her hair into a high bun. “the amount of dedication is there, except the passion she used to have isn’t really there anymore- hey!” she glared at hendery who gave her a warning look.

what was that all about? jaehyun thought while his eyebrows met together and good thing it wasn’t obvious to your family. he was indeed curious, but he’d rather hear it from you than to look like a jerk who wanted to gossip about personal lives. the thing was, it’s you. though majority of the week was him suffering with workload, he liked to bicker with you until you gave up and had nothing to say.

so far he recorded as 5-11 in terms of owning the other. the latter was his score and he was proud of it.

hendery’s phone vibrated and slid it to jaehyun’s place. jaehyun blinked to adjust his sight to the brightness of the phone. a sigh came out of his lips and the rest of them could tell it was another order from you. “ooh that doesn’t sound good.” mark slurped his soup.

“it’s not.” jaehyun brushed his hair and hesitation slowly crept his body. “she asked me to clean the upper floor of the barn by the time she arrives.”

—

jaehyun massaged his wrists by twisting them. he looked at the barn house’ entrance because he noticed a figure approaching. you’ve had the best morning after jaehyun ruined it. as you rode, nothing beats the freshness of the cool wind. you love riding through the woods and grasslands. it sets you free from everything keeping you caged. your smile began to falter when you saw jaehyun who was not even halfway close to finishing. “you’re late. your mom had to apologise on your behalf because i’m doing the job for you.”

“ooh thanks! i’ll count on it!” you laid comfortably on a chair.

“hey!”

you leaned against the furniture, arms crossed where he was a floor above and standing at your 2 o’clock view. “dr. jeong it looks like you’re having a hard time. need help?” you stifled a laugh because he still has the ink marks you left on his face.

“on with the assumptions again, aren’t we?” he fixed his gloves and moved wooden planks from one place to another.

“yeah you make yourself too easy of a target, jaehyun. and i thought you’re the type to not take things seriously.” you tied jet’s reins to a pole.

“you’re forgetting my condition number two, you can only badmouth me if the others are around. now get your flat butt up here and move the tool box aside so i can continue what i’m doing.” he grunted whilst lifting.

dusting your pants, you were now standing a storey high. the sight of the height below you made you sick. jaehyun nudged your arm and you took the items blocking his way. you sighed and he noticed how fidgety you were. he put up a small smile. his entertainment from you didn’t end at the breakfast table.

he scooted closer to you, pretending to bump into you with the pile of tall wooden planks in his arms. he heard you hiss, and that was the signal to begin. “oops didn’t see you there shorty.” there was a change in his voice, a more aggressive type of approach.

“you’re doing that on purpose.” you checked the pained area of your forearm.

“what if i’m not? it could be an honest mistake.” he tilted his head away from the wood to see you.

a held-in soft disbelief laugh came out of your lips. “honesty doesn’t really blend in well with you.”

jaehyun gasped with arched brows. “wow i’m very offended— you think this face..” he largely gestured himself. “would ever lie?”

“if you want to hear me saying you’re handsome.. it’s not happening.“ you took the rope to hang on a nail.

“but you did say it.” he singsonged and you could push him off the loft but that could only happen in your head.

“then that’s an honest mistake.” you flashed a forced smile at him. you carried the boxes stacked upon one another. “if you have a huge ego like that i bet you never dated. no girl would ever date you.”

jaehyun fell silent, his mood to bash you suddenly changed. the shifts in his steps became heavier and as if he was putting his anger upon them. he didn’t like being reminded of sue, even if you unconsciously did so. “can’t you just keep quiet as you work? do you always have something to say? keep your damn mouth shut if you think all the fun you get is from belittling people.”

“okay sheesh sorry i didn’t know you have a heart for people too.” you removed your helmet to relieve the discomfort from it.

as time passed— two hours to be exact, the more your guilt begin to seep in you. jaehyun never spoke after that. silence was like death at this point. not a hint of sniffs and sighs from him. did you go too far that he actually chose not to talk anymore? all you thought about was the pact he suggested. what now? anyone could appear any moment.

this wasn’t like you at all. you hesitated to talk to him and to give the first move to bicker. you stood there staring at him piling boxes after boxes and sweeping the floor where dust accumulated like piles of sand. you bit your lips because screw this, you hated this atmosphere, you hated this silent treatment. “j-jaehyun?” you called out.

nothing.

“hey-”

“hm? guilt eating you up now?” you froze at his voice as he chuckled. “it has, hasn’t it? look at your face!” he was laughing, his hands holding his ballooning stomach. “y/n you should’ve seen yourself!”

your gaze followed his hands that quickly took his phone placed at one corner. he was recording and your obliviousness blinded you. “oh you have no idea how much i wanted to laugh! my cheeks hurt so bad! hahaha!”

“you’re not using that to blackmail me!” you strided towards him.

he put his arm high as you struggled to reach it. “i might as well do that thanks for the idea!” faintly you heard his friends coming to check as to why their friend had the laughter of the century, only to find you both bickering again like this morning.

“delete that video jaehyun! i mean it!” “not until you agree to clean the loft!” “that’s like telling me to do everything!” “then that’s exactly what i’m telling you to do!”

johnny put up his phone to recording the struggling you and jaehyun enjoying his time to take advantage of his height. “dude i’ve never seen jaehyun this happy since sue broke up with him.”

“yeah his dimples are legit showing it’s scary me.” mark squinted at the two of you.

jaehyun swung his arms to avoid your attempted catches. he scrunched his nose and although that was undeniably cute, you couldn’t afford to feel humiliated for another two weeks. “jaehyun please delete it!”

“it’s not convincing enough you know?” “stop joking around we could fall!” you hissed. “fall?! then stop trying to get my phone!” “then put down your ridiculously long arm!” “yours are just too short!” “i swear— delete the footage!”

“you have to sound like you beg for it—” he cackled and with a few stretches you managed to reach his wrists as you lunged forwards. “oi stop!” that one last reach only made jaehyun lose his balance and fell backwards.

and all you heard were yells of worry.

to say that you both gladly fell on soft pillows of hay was an understatement. at least that what it looked like to your friends. jaehyun was shocked, his arm felt numb. he took a good look at you and there you were laying on his arm with pale lips. “hey, you okay?” his hands were already out to help you. “y/n—”

“m’lady!” hendery rushed to you, causing jaehyun to flinch at the tone of his voice. he gently took your right arm, but you gritted your teeth and asked him to take the left. “painful?”

“not that serious.” you said, feeling the stares from jaehyun. “ew don’t look at me like that. i’m fine, really. let’s just call it a day.” you gave a small smile and he wasn’t buying it.

because jaehyun saw you clung onto hendery for dear life.

#jung jaehyun #jung yoonoh #nct jaehyun #nct 127 #jaehyun oneshot #jaehyun #jaehyun nct #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun au #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun writings #jaehyun imagines

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dragon-swords-prophecies · 3 years

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Writing Share 1/25: Frost & Fire & Kairon's Story

@endless-insanity & @chaotic-queer-disaster have spoken as votes:

And It's a Tie!!!! Yay!!! I get to share both which I was debating weather or not to do anyway but yay!!!!

So first is Kairon's Story, and second is Frost & Fire and I would put a cut but I'm on mobile and that doesn't work here!

First Up: Kairon's Story in which there are many things revealed probably too early in the story, but its a first draft so pacing can be ignored slightly & you don't find out who exactly Kairon lost but its alluded to in a paragraph that is not shown & also Josh & Kairon have a talk about grief and stuff & also it's clear that Joshua outlived someone he loved and no one not even the writer knows who:

Joshua, who had been walking with Elas, had fallen back and asked, "Are you alright?"

Kairon sniffed, then nodded. "I- I'm alright. At least I will be. In time. I've heard that time makes it go away."

"Not really. It lessens, yes, but it never really goes away. Not really. Not for good. It stays in the back and it starts to hurt less, and then you hit a moment when it starts hurting all over again, but then it's gone again."

"How long does it take. For it to lessen."

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Who you lost, and when."

"Six weeks ago."

Second up: Frost & Fire, in which Things happen & Zibra died that night 77 years ago, and it's a thing bc Enna hasn't missed an anaversery since she came back to the city (it's about 500 words which is half the length I was hoping but this is exactly what I wanted to share but I thought it would be longer, it's not clearly):

She smiled and laughed along with the siblings, and with Ana when she showed her face. She hid the sadness and grief she had inside of her, but not well enough, for when she and Zerve left hours later- it was dark by then, they had stayed to dinner and lunch- Zerve caught up to her outside and asked, underneath the silver diamondscape of the stars, “Are you alright?”

Enna’s defenses kicked in, and she pulled her shadow colored cloak tighter around her small form. “I’ll be fine.”

Zerve said softly, “‘I’ll’ means I will, Enna. Tell the truth? Maybe?”

Enna sighed, and looked up, to the stars, her eyes picking out the familiar constellations her mother had taught her. Not Jennifer Kromlin, who wasn’t her mother, not really, not in Enna’s heart, but Pike Helder. Her adoptive mother. Her chosen mother. Her real mom. After one, two, three heartbeats she answered the question.

“Do you really want it? The truth, I mean.”

Zerve answered without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Alright. Could we do this somewhere other than a public street?”

“Yes. Do you know a place?”

Enna nodded, and took them across and down a street, then picked the lock on a gate and closed it softly behind the two. They sat on a bench in front of a pool that reflected the crescent moon perfectly.

“I- I’m not okay. Tonight is- seventy-seven years ago this night my brother died, and it's the first year in five decades I haven’t visited him. I just didn’t have the time today- and it- I-” She broke into a sob, choking back tears and rubbing a hand across her face as she took a deep breath.

“Oh, Enna. You should’ve- why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I wouldn’t want to burden anyone else with this. No one needs know, no one should care but me and Anne, and she isn’t the one who-” Another sob, another breath, another heartbeat. Then, in a whisper so soft not even Illa could hear, “She isn’t the one who watched him die.”

“Oh, Enna. You- don’t worry about burdening anyone with that. Sharing secrets is never a burden, I would think you would know that by now. But then again, you’re not eve a full century old, so I suppose-”

Another sob, and Zerve didn’t even ask, they just wrapped Enna in a crushing, but comforting, embrace and let her cry on their shoulder.

Once Enna stopped crying, Zrve asked gently, “Where is he buried?”

Enna gulped down a breath of air. “In the catacombs inside the city.”

“Alright. You wanna go and visit him?”

Enna nodded.

So the two went, and Enna sat by his small and modest tomb and talked, and left a stone from their mothers grave there, just like she did every year. And she took a stone from the base of the tree by his grave and put it in her pocket to carry to her mothers grave. And she introduced Zerve to his grave, to him, to her former best friend and she said goodbye again, I’ll see you next year. I love you. I miss you. But I'll see you again, Illa willing.

#WIP: Frost & Fire #WIP: Kairon's Story #i think for kairon his little sister died. she was 14. and she got sick and died and kairon is still very upset about it and with reason #and for josh it might have been his dad or maybe his human friend bc hes half elf and about 90 years old #so hes outlived a lot of people and his friend was an adventurer so short life. got killed by an ooze in a swamp or something.#idk details.#yet.

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 3 years

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A chatty writing update | novels, short fiction, etc!

Hi folks!

It’s been a while since I last wrote an update on this blog! I thought it’d be fun to go back to basics, and just talk about writing. This post chats about: new plans for Feeding Habits, my newest novel, my short story goals & growing collection, along with process reflections.

(image description: a photo of green leaves with the text “writing update” in a white font written on top. /end image description)

Post starts under the cut!

General taglist (please ask to be added or removed)

@if-one-of-us-falls, @qatarcookie, @chloeswords, @alicewestwater, @laughtracksonata, @shylawrites, @ev–writes, @jaydewritesfiction, @jennawritesstories @eowynandfaramir, @august-iswriting, @aetherwrites, @avakrahn, @maisulli

What have I been up to?

For starters, I finished my second year of my Writing undergrad last week and got two of my final grades back today (A+ baby)! For anyone who has taken online university, y’all already KNOW, but this year was so difficult. Would not recommend! Really proud of myself to have gotten through this absolute rollercoaster of a school term and am excited to get into some writing. That leads us to:

What have I been up to (writing edition)?

2021 started off so fast. By the time January hit, I was so consumed in my new semester that I did not have time to write Feeding Habits (my novel). In the first few days of the term, I managed to write between class, until I could no longer keep up! Essentially, I did not write any of that novel until exam season (last week), where I did manage to get in about 3k words in ~4 days.

Feeding Habits

I’m currently drafting what I believe will be the last chapter of this book (chapter 10: Swan Song). This chapter is so bizarre for a few reasons. It begins the book’s third part and also marks the shift back into Lonan’s head from Harrison’s. I originally thought this part would be much, much longer, with at least another five chapters to go, but quickly realized the book’s content was nearly completed. In my 4 day 3k palooza, I hit 50k in the book (the word count goal), and couldn’t see myself extending past 60k. Since then, I’ve made the loose decision to write this final chapter as a ~novella. Here are a few reasons why:

1. This chapter is structurally very strange.

I unashamedly shift from present to past to present to past past, and so much more every 12 words. I mapped out the timeline on a sheet of paper, and there were over 20 shifts in scenes (the chapter is only about 4400 words at the moment). The fictive past is incredibly important to this chapter, more important than the present, and I thought it would make more sense to not break randomly for a chapter so I could upkeep the consistent inconsistency of the chapter.

2. The chapter is very abstract

This stems from the structural changes, but there are paragraphs in this chapter of the fictive present that are loosely based in reality. They’re more poems than they are factual paragraphs, and keeping them all contained in one place (so a mega chapter/ novella) would reduce the most confusion!

3. There’s not much left to cover

Like I said above, Feeding Habits is on its last leg, lol! I know exactly where the book needs to end up, which is very, very soon from where I’m currently at on the timeline. Swan Song should cover what 2-4 chapters would cover in terms of arcs.

Feeding Habits and I have a really weird relationship, tbh! When I realized a few weeks ago that it’d been over a year since I started the book, I realized I just needed to finish it. Not that I want to rush (because I’ve taken longer than a year to write a book in the past), but that in order to move onto another project, I’d like to put this one behind first. This book has been the hardest thing I’ve ever written, and has reminded me there’s always a time to let go. This sort of scrounges up a conversation about letting this entire series go, which is certainly something I’ve been contemplating doing soon(ish). If this spinoff series gets a third book, that may or may not be the last Fostered book for a very long time (or ever)! There are many complex reasons to move on, but the main one is that I have other projects I’d like to focus on. This is not a definitive decision, but something I’ve certainly been thinking about!

Here are a few excerpts I wrote recently:

(TW: death, gore)

Dying feels like being a trout dangled out of water. Clinging to a hook. Mouth open. Scales iridescent in a final death cry. It’s like blood spurting up the knuckles, drowning out the flesh. It’s that moment on the long fall down when the clouds cup the body. Easy drifting. The sound a skull makes when it cracks is really just the afterthought.

(TW: death, gore)

Kill shot. Death blow. Coup de grace. Right in the heart. He feels it. The blood swelling, slicking his palms. He can do it. Reach into the cavity. Feel for the ribs. Part each bone. Then cup the humming heart. Stay there. Right. It’s never been easier.

Look at this PURE moment of Lonan holding a baby I CANNOT:

The grocery store was a fifteen-minute walk away. With Olivia clinging to his shoulder, Lonan was acutely aware that she could feel his heartbeat. Open valve. Close. Repeat. Hers pulsed right above his, a miniature drumming. The sky had bruised purple, misted with clouds. The evening air nipped his cheeks, so he made sure Olivia was securely fastened between him and his jacket. With wide eyes, she absorbed the drowsy suburbia, all its family cars pulling into driveways, all its couples heading back home after a sunset walk. When Lonan passed a young boy walking two golden retrievers, Olivia giggled, and didn’t stop, even after he’d spent fifty dollars on groceries and nearly the rest on a red Corolla marked with a MUST GO NOW sign outside a convenience store.

Let’s move on!

Mandy and Cora

I said I wouldn’t talk too much about this project, but I just love it so much?? I wanted to share my SUPER early thoughts on drafting a novel, especially one that is SO different from what I’ve been writing recently. I talked about this before in THIS post, but the summary about this project is that it’s a YA contemporary novel! Can’t believe I’m writing YA again, it’s been so long, but I also think it’s going so well. Everything I’ve learned as a literary fiction writer has been a fantastic primer for transferring back to the genre. Admittedly, I have not written much, but I’m having a lot of fun diving back into a lighter project. This is the summary:

Cora and Mandy are identical twins who’ve always done everything together. But when Mandy decides to go to university out of province after graduation and Cora doesn’t, Cora takes this as an opportunity to “test run” life apart from her sister for the first time by spending the summer at her aunt’s house across the country.

I have come up with a few ~things since I last talked about this project, mostly how I’d like to structure it. As of now, I’d like the book to be structured super loosely. I’m really pulling on a lot of inspo from “We Are Okay” by Nina LaCour (which is SO good), particularly how “nothing happens-y” that book is. This project (which I still need a title for!!) will be structured in short chapters that cover something Cora does on her own for the first time (without Mandy). For example, a few ideas are “Flight”, “Lunch”, and “Groceries”. “Flight” is the first “chapter” (they’re really kind of vignettes) where Cora flies to her aunt’s house. I still can’t determine if this book will take place in Canada. On one hand, I feel like there will be a wider audience if it takes place in the US (is that just an assumption??? maybe?? someone let me know!), but also: don’t really care too much about an audience at the moment! It could also take place in Canada (So Ontario and British Columbia). But if it does take place in the US, I think it may take place in NYC and San Francisco. The problem is: I really don’t like researching lol, and while I’ve been to NYC many times, I will definitely write it wrong! Does this really matter on a first draft?? absolutely not lol, but of course I am already overthinking!

But back to structure: I am looking forward to seeing what this looser structure will do. This is a story that is solely around one half of a set of twins learning to be her own person (and ultimately that she doesn’t have to completely forget her sister in order to do that), and as a twin who KNOWS this feeling, I think this structure of her doing things for the first time is SUPER relatable.

I was worried it might sound silly/worrying to others who are not twins that Cora hadn’t done things like “lunch” or “groceries” on her own, but I feel this so much as an identical twin myself! Not that she hasn’t done anything at all by herself, but as a twin, when you do something without your twin for the first few times, at least in my experience, you notice. If any twins are reading this--weigh in!

This story is the most personal thing I’ve ever written. It definitely is an OwnVoices book! Usually, I avoid details that are remotely similar to me because they make me uncomfortable haha, but with this book, it’s all me, lol! The characters are all Guyanese, which is SO fun because I’ve been planning what they eat (my fellow Caribbean peeps know: the FOOD!), which is so fun (yes they have pumpkin and shrimp, yes they have roti, yes they have pera, yes they have mithai). Every time I’ve gone to dabble at this book, or even think about it, I get incredibly emotional for this reason? I don’t exactly know why. I think this is a story I just so want to tell, with the culture I love SO much that I definitely struggled to love as a child. This is reclamation bitchessss!

Not going to lie tho: the prospect of writing ~a book~ is kind of freaky! I’m going to make the minimum word count for this book pretty short (50k) and see where it goes from there. I think I will focus on this project this summer! Originally I was going to write a literary novel this summer, but I think this one’s calling my name!

Here’s a pretty rough excerpt:

Try. I remind myself that’s what I’m doing after the flight attendant fills me a disposable cup of Coca Cola and all I can think of is Mandy and I shoving Mentos into a bottle of the stuff when we were twelve. Just me, wedged in the middle seat between an exchange student heading out for summer break and a middle-aged woman sipping a cocktail, thinking of Mandy and I bursting whole oranges in a blender when we were bored one Winter break as the plane dips through a wave of turbulence. Mandy and I dying our hair neon green with highlighters (didn’t work—our hair is too dark) as the plane lands on the tarmac. Mandy and I arguing so loud last month, we both lost our voices as I lug my carry-on out of the overhead compartment and shuffle off the plane and through the airport, searching for Aunt Vel.

Short Fiction

I’ve written so much short fiction this year! I have a goal to write a short story a month (they can range in length, as long as 1 is “complete”), so my short story brain has seriously been soaking it all up lately. Let’s chat my month to month breakdown so far:

January:

I wrote four stories in January! The first is a flash fiction piece called “Shark Swimming” that follows a young woman who attends a shark swimming class after breaking up with her girlfriend. I wrote this story for a “test” workshop for my fiction class, and it was based off the prompt “think about something you’re afraid to do and make the character do that thing”. I’m not particularly afraid of sharks, but had been wanting to use the title “Shark Swimming” for AGES (literally since 2018).

This story is one of my favourites. It’s only about 900 words, but I think there’s something profound in how mundanely specific it is. The entire story doesn’t even see the narrator swim with sharks once; it actually takes place fully in the sanctuary’s lobby. But I really love this narrator. This is the first story I’ve written in second person in a while, though I felt really connected to the unnamed narrator. She struggles with accepting that she truly is a “boring” person, and there’s something about the final image that really gets me!

I’ve been submitting this around, though it’s been rejected a handful of times. Hoping I can secure it at a magazine one day because I really love it!

The second story is “Joanne, I’ll Pray for You” which is actually a rewrite of one of my very first short stories (the first story I did not write for a class haha), “NYC in Your Apartment”. I LOVE this rewrite a lot, and also learned the original is not a very good short story! Revising this story taught me just how much I’ve learned in the 2 years I’ve been writing short fiction. Seeing the 2019 version versus the 2021 version side by side is fascinating because I essentially “gutted’ the 2019 version of its beginning and end until all that was left was the middle of the story (aka the actual story). AKA: this is the only story I’ve ever written with a hopeful ending and I cut out all the happy bits lol I am SO sorry (that arc is more for a novel or novella). That’s how this went from a 5k word story to an 1800 word story (my Submittable thanks me for this lol). A lot of details and scenes I included were more pertinent to a 3 act structure/novel, which of course short stories don’t often have because of their brevity. I love rambling about writing theory, and seeing that actually pay off is so fascinating!

(TW: trauma)

Like the original, this story follows Joanne, a woman in her early twenties, who spontaneously breaks up with her boyfriend. She claims the poltergeist haunting her drove her to this decision. The original draft focused a lot more on the traumatic events Joanne survives, but this draft really loosens them up. It focuses less so on the events themselves, and more on how Joanne’s life is affected. I found the details of these events were less important, and even sort of contradicted Joanne’s insistence she is being haunted. Instead, the poltergeist really takes more precedence in the new draft as a force Joanne doesn’t understand. That ambiguity, I think, is what the story truly needed.

I also centralized Joanne’s relationship with her boyfriend, Julian, here. Now don’t get me wrong, I really didn’t add anything to this draft. It was a matter of trimming the fat around it to leave the lean “meat” in the centre. But by removing that fat, I was able to emphasize what was most important here, and that was her relationship. Julian always played a really big role in the original draft, but I feel like his role as both a friend and partner to Joanne is much more emphasized since this draft literally is only two scenes now. Because there is less, there is more room for Joanne to reflect, which I’m happy about!

A final change I made was the setting and therefore the title. The original, which was “NYC in Your Apartment,” I couldn’t keep because I shifted the setting to Toronto (this is how I originally saw it, but in 2019 I just?? couldn’t?? write?? canlit??), and “Toronto in Your Apartment” sounded sort of gross LOL. The new title comes from a line in the story which I think is more relevant to the themes!

The next short story I wrote in January was “How to Spell Alpaca.” This one is super fun because I wrote it SO fast (in about 15 minutes or so). THIS is the writing update if you’re interested in learning more. I talked extensively about this one in that update, but some developments are that I dove into an edit a few weeks ago to really understand the core of the story. I’m still not quite there (this is just an intuitive feeling; I know not everything has “clicked), but I am really intrigued by the two mothers in the story, the narrator, and her newfound acquaintance, Violet. Both really struggle to understand their place as mothers (the narrator even declares she isn’t a mother anymore). The narrator, who is in her 50s, sees herself in Violet, who is much younger (~20s), and so she views Violet’s relationship with her daughter in a cautionary, yet mournful way, like she can see it will end up like her own relationship with her daughter, despite wanting the opposite. This is a really subtle story. I feel like if you blink, you’ll miss the message. But I think it’s compelling for that reason. It’s really a portrait of parenting and how to grapple with mistakes you may make that inevitably affect your children. Wow just unlocked the theme writing this lol.

The final story I wrote in January is “The Party,” which may be in my top 3 faves I’ve ever written. This story follows Aida, a recent divorcee in her ~40s. The day her divorce turns official, she moves into a new house and receives a party invitation addressed to the previous homeowner, yet RSVP’s anyway. At this party, she’s hoping to find some sense of noticeability, having struggled with being nondescript her whole life. Things seem quite normal at the party, until it gets bizarre.

I LOVE this story, y’all. Like “How to Spell Alpaca” it really delves into motherhood. Aida, our narrator, is incredibly hurt after her divorce. She now lives farther from her children she struggled to feel connected to in the first place, and doesn’t really know how to reignite her life. This party is a means to do that. This is the first story I’ve written that contains a “twist” which is strange because I really prefer stories that give us as much info as possible upfront, but yes, this one sort of twists.

February

I wrote one story in February, and that was “Protect the Young.” This title is SO changing when I think of a new one because it’s thematically incorrect, haha, but this story follows a woman in her late 40s whose daughter, Lindy, announces she is married the same day all their backyard chickens turn up dead. The discovery of dead chickens prompts our narrator to recall her ex-husband’s murder and the role her daughter may have played in his death.

I love this story so much! I think this would make a great closing for my short story collection. It just has that vibe! I wrote this for my second fiction workshop. I thought I had to hand in the story a week earlier than I had to, so I panicked and wrote this in one sitting! Little did I know, I did not need to do that lol but I’m very happy because this story is so fun. We get to learn more about Arnold (her ex), his relationship with Lindy, and how that translates to Lindy’s relationship with her new husband, Malcolm. I LOVE true crime (I listen to about 3-4 hours of case coverage daily), and this is my first “true crime” story. Because of that, I’m very sus of a few details that probably wouldn’t slide in actual investigatory work, so I’ll also be working on that in a revision. My professor also gave me a great suggestion that may alter the story’s structure a bit, though I look forward to toggling with it in the future.

March

In March, I was really on a Criminal Minds kick lol. I’ve been watching this show since I was seven (oops), and dove into a rewatch since it hit Disney+! This story, “Where to Run When the Lamb Roars,” is very clearly Rachel watching 5 episodes of CM a day. Oops! We follow 14-year-old Astrid as she and her older half brother kidnap a young girl to sacrifice for their yearly ritual.

I knew a few things going into this story, but the main thing was that I did NOT want to show any details of a potential murder (if one even occurs). I really wanted to keep all of those elements off the page because this story is not about those events, but about Astrid’s relationship with her brother. They are a murderous duo, with Astrid actually being the dominant partner. I wanted to explore that. I knew her brother, Fox, was more of a submissive partner in their team, even when he used to do this same thing with his father when he was much younger (chilling!), and so it was a task to explore how this young girl’s desire for violence works. The end actually comes right before the story starts, one could say, but I like it for this reason. It really made me contemplate the story by the time I finished it, and helped me examine what it really was about versus what it appeared to be about.

April

(TW: sexual content, non explicit)

I was so busy this month! Who knows if I’ll write a story last minute, but I did write one story this month called “Five Times Fast.” I wrote this during a “writing sprint” that was being hosted at a flash fiction workshop I recently took with one of my favourite writers ever, K-Ming Chang. I learned so much from this class, and am so happy I came out of it with a draft! This story is just over 300 words, so the shortest flash I’ve ever written, but I’m really happy with it. It was based off the prompt “describe the last time you or your character was naked.” In this case, the narrator has a “friends with benefits” relationship with Ricky who works at a laundromat. This story highlights a moment in this relationship (and also Ricky’s goofy personality lol). I really like it! Hopefully I’ll submit it to some magazines soon.

My short story collection

Very briefly I wanted to touch on my short story collection which I’ve titled “She is Also Dead.” I’ve been meaning to make a blog post on this, so look out for that in the coming months, but this collection is already at around 35k words (about 14 stories so far). The collection also surprisingly has a solid amount of flash fiction which is kind of fun! There’s definitely a range here, which is what I personally love in short story collections.

I feel very professional now that I have a ~collection chart. This is her:

(image description: A chart with the title “She is Also Dead.” It is broken into four columns: Story, Status, Word Count, and Published. Entry 1 - Story: Slaughter the Animal. Status: Revisions, Word Count, 3982, Published: N/A. Entry 2 - Story: Joanne, I’ll Pray for You, Status: Polished, Word Count: 1809, Published: N/A. Entry 3 - Story: Primary Organs, Status: Published, Word Count: 2342, Published: The Malahat Review. Entry 4 - Story: Faberge, Status, Polished, Word Count: 619, Published: N/A. Entry 5 - Story: The Wolf-Antelope Will Not Come for Us, Status, Polished, Word Count: 1556, Published: filling Station (forthcoming). Entry 6 - Story: How to Spell Alpaca, Status: revisions, Word Count: 1327, Published: N/A. Entry 7 - Story: Blink Twice for Final Judgement, Status: Polished, Word Count: 6572, Published: N/A. Entry 8 - Story: The Species is Dead, Status: Published, Word Count: 1208, Published: Minola Review. Entry 9 - Story: Shark Swimming, Status: Polished, Word Count: 907, Published: N/A. Entry 10 - Story: The Party, Status, Polished, Word Count 2339, Published: N/A. Entry 11 - Story: Fig, Status: Polished, Word Counter: 947, Published: N/A. Entry 12 - Story: Protect the Young, Status: Revisions, Word Count: 4128, Published: N/A. Entry 13 - Story: Where to Run When the Lamb Roars, Status: Revisions, Word Count: 2174, Published: N/A. Entry 14 - Story: Phantom Limbs, Status: Revisions, Word Count: 4844, Published: N/A.) /end image description.

This order is DEFINITELY not permanent (at this point whenever I write a story, I just fit it randomly into this chart lol), and some of the info is outdated (for example, Slaughter the Animal is now polished!!! thank god!!!). But just an idea of what I’m thinking of including.

This is the summary so far:

In SHE IS ALSO DEAD, characters are pushed to act on their gravest impulses. A small town turns murderous when their local invasive species, the Janices, begin dying. A child struggles to understand her mother’s suicide. A college dropout who insists she’s being haunted by a poltergeist unexpectedly breaks up with her boyfriend. A mother acknowledges her daughter’s murderous tendencies after her backyard chickens mysteriously die. A young girl caters the funeral of a girl rumored to be killed by a wolf-antelope. A newly-divorced mother RSVP’s to a bizarre party she was not invited to, and a murderous brother and sister upkeep their yearly tradition of abducting a young girl. These stories follow characters who navigate death, violent desires, womanhood, and loss, both self-imposed and otherwise.

This is also so subject to change as I may pull and add stories to the collection!

I think I’m going to leave this update here for now! I’ve written TONS of poetry too, but I honestly ~hate my poetry right now lol, so! Hope you enjoyed this chill rambly update. Hope writing has going well for you all! All the best!

--Rachel

#writing #writeblr #writerblr #amwriting #writingupdates

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boldlyanxious · 4 years

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Chapter 19: Aftermath

RW masterlist

Tim didn't sleep that night.

He checked repeatedly but she never responded to his request to see her when she got off work. It took all his will power to not repeatedly message for an explanation. It took even more will power to drive to the manor rather than to the cafe where he knew she would be by this time of the morning.

He didn't tell anyone he was coming but they should be starting wake up by now and he hoped they could distract him. Also maybe they could help him find a way to check up on her without bothering her. The suddenness of her decision worried him. It had only been a week since he found her again but they had been so happy.

He sat at the table across from Barb. Alfred came in not long after with a tray. He set mugs in front of the 2 and started to pour coffee. When he reached for Tim's mug, Tim waved him away.

"I don't need any, thanks though." Tim said.

He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he didn't notice their shared look of concern. Alfred stood still with the pot, seeming lost for what to do. Barb set her cup back down without even taking a drink.

"What's wrong? You don't refuse coffee when you are conscious," Barb said.

"She said she doesn't want to see me anymore. I don't know why and she didn't respond to my text."

"Did you guys fight?" she asked.

"No. Last time we talked we were planning to have lunch after she finished work. Then she texted while I was on patrol that she couldn't see me anymore. I tried to call and then texted but I didn't keep trying because I don't want to be pushy."

"That's probably good. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"I need someone to go check on her. Just to make sure she is okay and not in danger. But she knows ev--"

He stopped his sentence as he looked up. She did know most everyone. Or would probably know them if she saw them without a mask. But he was staring at Alfred. He hadn't been in the cave while she was conscious. He had never been to see her at work either. Alfred held up his hand as if to stop Tim before he spoke.

"Please Alfred. Just check to make sure nothing happened to her," he begged. "It can't be me. If I harass her I lose any chance of getting her back."

"She has been mixed up with some dangerous people," Barb added. "I can't go. I saw her at the coffee shop. She would probably remember me."

---

Marinette desperately wanted to escape the party. The man didn't make himself seem overly interested in her but she kept feeling his eyes on her. He was too casual about the way he avoided talking directly to her or questioning any of the information given about her work or very recent break up. He seemed to realize that the other guy was trying to use her to get freebies but he handed them out anyway, one to everyone in their little huddle.

He didn't stay very long. He wandered around the party but before he left he stopped and spoke only to Marinette. He handed her one more little packet with the puff in it. She still held the other one in her hand even though everyone around her had already consumed theirs. His hand was on her back as he leaned down and whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"To remember me by." He turned away with a smirking grin before he called to the others and they all left together.

The crowd was so excited for her. They thought she should date him instead of whatever loser broke her heart. She couldn't really explain what had actually happened with Tim or her concerns about what the man was actually interested in about her.

She was tired and tipsy which made her French accent more prominent. When they mentioned it in from of the man, she told them she lived in Rouen as a child. But she didn't feel comfortable with all the attention on her while he was there. He could easily have heard where she worked and she had been singing in French when they first met.

How much could her mask really keep him from putting things together? She had to wait long enough after they left so it wouldn't seem suspicious. She laughed along with everyone else and mimed drinking her drink for awhile before making her excuses to leave. She didn't head directly home. She took a few extra turns and made sure she wasn't being followed before she went to her apartment.

She couldn't sleep.

She sent no response to Tim. It didn't keep her from a series of unsent drafts that she wrote carefully before backspacing until it was blank again. Her eyes were burning from all the crying. She couldn't bring herself to tell him about her most recent interaction with Batman. Finally she couldn't cry anymore. Since she couldn't sleep she went into work early and started baking like she used to do in the coffee shop. The manager made no comment about her red rimmed eyes or the selection of muffins and cookies. She just made a sign to sell them and started bagging them.

---

Barb brought coffee up to Bruce but she expected his happiness for that to be short-lived. He turned over and mrphfft-ed into his pillow before he pushed himself up to focus on her.

"Coffee? Did I do something for you or are you trying to bribe me to?" He asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"Mostly I'm trying to decide if I need to throw it at you."

He watched her as he took it from her carefully. Clearly he had upset her enough that she decided to wake him, probably to yell and her cheeks were pretty pink from her anger.

"I can see that you are angry but I really don't know why. Did something happen?"

"You turned off your tracking and comms last night. Why?"

"There wasn't any danger at that time. Why does it even matter?"

"Fine. It doesn't. No one cares if you go make out with Cat Woman. Some of them would prefer to just not know."

"I'm really not comfortable with this conversation."

"I don't give a shit about you and her. Convince me to didn't make that sweet girl break up with Tim."

"Sweet girl? She called me a Night Beast. Wait she broke up with him."

"Yeah. He is downstairs refusing coffee. And thanks for the confirmation. Why did you do it?"

"I didn't tell her to break up with Tim. We didn't talk about him at all. I just asked about the drug ring."

"Clearly that isn't all. Did she have more information?"

"No, she still denies ever being involved with them. Even when I suggested I could tell then what I knew about her she didn't change her story. I'll have to--"

Whatever other active he planned, she never heard. Without even planning she had reached out and slapped him. She was out of the room before he could even react.

---

Alfred didn't have to look hard to find the girl he was looking for. Even if she hadn't been on the lock screen on Tim's phone. She looked as rough as he did right now. She was smiling and working but her eyes were tired and red. He sat with his cup of tea and watched the frenzied clean up that he assumed followed a busy morning rush. She came around after a bit checked on the few remaining in the dining area. Before making sure all the cleaned tables were placed correctly.

"Do you have any time to talk?" he asked.