#he gets especially lonely when Miles is abroad for work

[doctorsiren]

post 7-year gap and after fusing together again, can phoenix still unfuse into nick and feenie? also i love your art and i hope you have a lovely day! :D

He’s having a Stevonnie moment

So after getting their names cleared, they were able to find that unity with each other and become whole again

However, they had been split apart and had been 2 people for 7 years. At first, he was super happy about feeling complete finally, but then he began to miss himself

The two of them never fit together perfectly before the split, but it seems that even more so now that they’ve had to develop as their own people for 7 years that they don’t fit together perfectly all the time

And when they had become one again, they saw each other’s memories and thoughts and feelings about those 7 years as separate people, which is why Nick is finally able to cry and hug Feenie

Because now they both feel each other’s emotions in a way that they couldn’t before when they had been split for 7 years.

There is a unity and understanding between them, but both of them were so used to having another person with them that it feels lonely

Nick especially is having a hard time, as now all these emotions from Feenie are a part of him and he doesn’t know how to handle it and he just wishes that they either never split apart in the first place or that they never became whole again

They work through it, and eventually get to a point where they feel comfortable and whole being Phoenix for most of the time, but there will be times where they split for whatever reason (so they’ve basically become Garnet-)

I’m so incredibly normal about this I swear :)))

[sluttyten]

You In My Arms

Chapter 11: Always, Yours (Finale)

full masterlist || haechan masterlist || YIMA chapter index

summary: some things are hard to find the words for, and endings are always the worst. but this isn’t an ending, not really, not for Haechan. He used to be the background character in the love stories of other people, but now it’s definitely his turn to write his own happy ending.

length: 25,579 words

tags: friends to lovers, general perversion, smut, public sex, exhibitionism, voyeurism, blowjobs, etc.

previous chapter || Completed YIMA index

Haechan knew by the third date that he was going to marry her. 

He thought he probably would before then, but by the third date, he accepted it as a fact. 

He was in love like he’d never been before. 

“What have you done to me?” He asks her while they’re tangled together in bed on Valentine’s Day after a very nice, romantic date. “Did you slip me a love spell or something?”

She laughs. 

It was a love spell, for sure, he decides. That’s how he fell so hard and fast, so completely. It couldn’t possibly be his own incompetence and blindness over the years finally being lifted. 

Part of him expects the intensity of his feelings for her to fade as the months pass by, as they pass through that phase where the relationship is so new and everything is just fresh and exciting. 

But the feelings don’t dim even slightly, even once they do start to exit that honeymoon phase. Yeah, they argue sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that Haechan loves her any less? It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t still almost constantly think about her and want her, want to be by her or talking to her. 

And then, in May, she has to go abroad for work, and for those first few days, Haechan feels her absence like he’s had his heart scooped from his chest. He hates the lonely, hollow feeling. 

They talk as much as they can, and Haechan doesn’t even mind waking up early if it means he can talk to her for a bit before his day starts and hers ends. She’s a million miles away in London, and he’s teetering on the brink of falling back asleep as she talks, her voice so soothing. 

He’s only halfway awake when he hears her joke that she should take Haechan’s upcoming birthday week off of work so she doesn’t have to see anymore of Taeyong who is also on this trip with her. Haechan mumbles out words of encouragement, telling her to do it, to take the time off with him. 

As soon as Haechan, in his drowsy state, hears her agree to take the week of his birthday off, as soon as she’s trying to suggest making plans together to get out of the city, he suddenly remembers his mom had asked him if he was going to come home for his birthday. So he hears his girlfriend’s question, he remembers his mom, and the two things combine in his mind, and Haechan panics a little.

He hasn’t told his mom about her. And he hasn’t told his girlfriend that he’s considered going home for his birthday. And when he combines those two things, all he can think of is that if he tells his girlfriend about seeing his family for his birthday, what if she asks if she can come along? Or what if she expects him to invite her? He hasn’t told his family about her! And he knows that is wrong, that he should’ve said something to them months ago about him being in a relationship, especially since he’s met her family and he’s in love with her (so hopelessly, head over heels in love) and he’s planning a future with her, and all of this just weighs down Haechan’s belly, thoughts roaring around in his head.

“Hyuck?” Her voice is so quiet from all those miles and miles away in London.

He makes up some terrible excuse and ends the call quickly. 

Shit. What is he gonna do?

For the next week, he goes back and forth again and again on what he should do here. Obviously, he should probably just tell his mom. He talks to her at least once a week on average, if not more, and over the course of that week they have three separate phone calls in which she asks him again if he’s coming to visit, and he could sit it then, could tell her, “ Yeah, I’m coming to visit, and I’m bringing my girlfriend with me to introduce her to all of you,” but does he say any of that? No. Why?

“Chicken!” Renjun laughs. “Lee Donghyuck, you’re usually not such a coward!”

They’re together at the gym. Haechan feels half-embarrassed as the two of them “work out” side-by-side with Renjun’s boyfriend who is actually doing a rather intense workout and whose muscles are next-level. Haechan can’t stop sneaking peeks over at the sweat that dampens Jaehyun’s shoulders and back.

“I’m not going to tell her,” Renjun is saying as Haechan again takes notice of the way that Jaehyun is grunting softly while he lifts weights just feet away. Haechan’s mind short circuits a little, thinking back to the videos he’s seen of Renjun and Jaehyun together. It takes great strength of mind to pull his attention back to Renjun, who doesn’t seem to have noticed, or at least doesn’t mind, how distracted Haechan is by Jaehyun.

Renjun says, “But you’re being such a chicken, dumbass. Just tell your mom you’ve got a girlfriend! Tell your girlfriend to come with you to meet them. What are you scared of, huh? It’s not like you’re coming out to them or anything. That shit can be scary. You’re just taking your wonderful girlfriend home to meet your family. What’s there to freak out about?”

Haechan whines a little, and he sits down pathetically on the dirty gym floor. “You don’t get it. We’ve been together for, like, five months now. Her parents have known about us for two months, and all this time I’ve been silent. Five months and I’ve kept her a secret from my mom. My mom is gonna be pissed because I used to tell her everything.”

Renjun just rolls his eyes. “Your mom is so sweet, I don’t think she’ll be pissed at you. Your girlfriend though….” Renjun shakes his head, looks over at Jaehyun, and then sighs, “If you keep it all a secret, she’s gonna be so upset.”

“I know.” Haechan is aware that she’ll probably be angry. And he knows it’s stupid, all so stupid. But he just has this mental block when it comes to this, and he doesn’t know why, really. It’s silly.

Haechan startles a little when Jaehyun speaks up. “Listening to this is just…” He laughs, and shakes his head. “You and her have both been totally open about your kinky sexual histories, but you’re scared to tell your family about her? You’re scared to invite her to meet them?”

Jaehyun walks closer, reaching out to steal the water bottle that Renjun was just drinking from. Haechan feels like he’s intruding when he notices the way Renjun is looking at his boyfriend: a deep need shimmering there in his eyes.

“Just tell them,” Jaehyun says after a moment. “Trust me, being very clear about where the relationship stands is important. If you don’t say anything, if you keep putting off introducing her to them, what if she thinks you’re not serious about her?” He’s staring at Renjun as he speaks, their gazes locked, and now Haechan definitely feels like he’s intruding on a moment.

Haechan’s girlfriend comes home from London the next day. He could have told her then, when she excitedly threw herself into the car and dragged him in for an excited kiss. He could’ve said something in the car, just thrown out the casual invitation to come meet his family.

But he didn’t.

And for the next few days he really, really struggles to overcome that mental block.

It doesn’t help that his mom is messaging him too, inquiring about his plans, and when he does finally agree that he’ll come to Jeju for his birthday, she has a million more questions about what he wants to eat and where he wants to go, what he wants to do with his time while he’s visiting home. It’s a lot. Plus, on top of his unnecessary and self-inflicted pressure in his personal life, his professional life is jam-packed full of stress too. Multiple projects and meetings and just so much work that he barely even sees his girlfriend those first few days, and it’s not until Thursday when his final project for the week is complete, that Haechan feels like he can even take a deep breath.

He leaves the boardroom and collapses at his desk, heaving out a sigh.

A few desks away, Jungwoo looks over at him, offering an easy smile.

And beyond Jungwoo is the door to her office. She’s sitting at her desk, on the phone while she’s clicking around on her computer. He watches her lips move, the annoyed tick of her eyebrow as whatever she hears over the phone meets her disapproval. Haechan watches her for a few long moments until her gaze lifts from the computer and sweeps over to his. She pauses for a split second and then smiles, and Haechan feels a little bit more relaxed right then.

She looks away, but he doesn’t.

He’s thinking. Thinking about how it’s Thursday and he’s taken Friday off, and then he’s free for the next week. His birthday is on Tuesday. And he has her. He’s so lucky to have her and he needs to tell her the truth. He needs to tell her that even though she has this coming week off too, he’s going out of town to see his family.

He hates how distant he’s been all week, the way he’s been busy with work and with avoiding telling her anything. He hates that he canceled on her when she wanted to go look at an apartment for them a couple days ago. He knows that she’d been annoyed by that, but Haechan had high hopes that he could make up for it.

He’s had his eyes on a better apartment than the one she’d wanted to go look at.

The one he wants is at the top of their price range, but it will be worth it. It is the kind of apartment that Haechan can see as more of a home. It’s a  two-bedroom, so there is room for a future to grow.

Haechan saw the listing online a few weeks ago, saw the photos and the location, and his mind began spinning, his imagination filling in the details of what he couldn’t already see. He was picturing cooking breakfasts and dinners with her in that kitchen. Envisioning relaxing baths and sensual showers, mornings waking up beside her in that bedroom that had plenty of windows to let in the sunlight. He was imagining dancing around the living room with her, wine-drunk and laughing, pulling her in for a messy kiss in front of the sofa. He could see himself proposing, slipping a ring on her finger and bringing her home to that apartment to celebrate. Haechan had visions of her cradling a baby in front of the big living room window that overlooked the city; visions of holding chubby hands while tiny feet stood atop his own for their first assisted steps, of chasing a toddling kid around the apartment with delighted laughter ringing in his ears. He could just imagine Christmas mornings and birthdays and game nights and movie nights and so many happy holidays with both of their families crammed in that apartment.

Haechan had it all planned out.

His future.

His future with her.

But hours later on that Thursday, Haechan feels his entire planned out future with her come crashing down around him.

She was an enchantress, seducing him right there on the sofa in his and YangYang’s apartment, and he was usually pretty jealous about sharing her, but he didn’t even care when YangYang walked in on them, when YangYang pretended like he wasn’t the one watching Haechan have sex (for a change). That part of the evening was good, even if his phone kept buzzing with messages from his mom throughout it all.

But then, afterwards, in that blissful afterglow as he’s cuddling her, she pulls the truth from him at last.

He admits the horrible truth: he hasn’t told his family about her.

She sits there, staring at him with angry tears beading in her eyes, her voice growing louder as she grows more upset, and his stupid fucking mental block just still won’t let him get the words out, won’t open up to let him tell her his (admittedly shitty, he realizes) excuses as to why he hasn’t told his family about her. But he’s trying. He’s trying to tell her, but the words that do manage to escape his mental block are coming out wrong, and YangYang emerges from his room at the sound of raised voices to intervene, and Haechan is at a loss.

She disappears to his bedroom, and Haechan assumes that she’s just in there to cool off, to calm herself down before she’ll come back out here, and they can talk about it again.

But when she reappears, she’s dressed in her own clothes instead of his shirt, and she keeps walking, heading right for the door of the apartment.

That’s when he really feels it, when he really knows that he fucked up, and he feels all the fractures in his bright future of them together in that apartment that feels more like a home.

“Where are you going?” He asks, trying to keep his voice from sounding as broken as he feels.

“I’m fucking leaving,” she spits back, blowing right by where he’s still sitting on the sofa talking to YangYang.

She can’t go. He’s always hated to watch her leave, but especially now when she’s this angry. He wants to talk to her, to actually get his words out.

All he manages is her name.

She pauses, her hand on the door handle.

“Stay,” he tries to say, but the word won’t come. It’s stuck in the back of his throat as he stares at her back, as he watches her head tilt slightly in the way he’s noticed it does when she’s really annoyed. She waits a few seconds, waits for Haechan to fail to find his voice, and then she throws the door open and vanishes through it.

Fuck. 

He doesn’t think he sleeps at all that night. 

He doesn’t know how many times he gets up and starts to pull on clothes and look for his shoes to go over to her place and talk to her. But each time he talks himself out of doing it. 

She was really angry when she left, so he doubts that she wants to see him or even hear from him right now. He does check her location (bless the app that lets them see where each other is at) to make sure that she at least made it home. And honestly, he periodically watches that little blue dot sit there at her apartment throughout the night. 

Haechan misses her. There aren’t many nights that they’ve spent apart since they started dating. He misses having her beside him, misses the warmth of her body but the cold press of her toes against his calf. He misses the smell of her shampoo when she rolls closer to him in her sleep. He misses her soft sighs and the sleepy mumbles she makes throughout the night. He misses just having her there, and he hates knowing that she’s sleeping in her own bed, angry with him. He hates sleeping alone. 

Eventually he must’ve dozed off for a little bit because when he opens his eyes again, it’s daylight. 

He has a plan. It developed sometime between three and four o’clock this morning, so it could’ve been a horrible plan, but even now in the light of morning Haechan thinks it could work. 

First step: call his mom. 

“Good morning, son,” his mom answers the call with a yawn. “Are you on your way already?”

“Not yet.” He’s still sitting in bed actually, still not dressed, still working up the courage to just get over the mental block. He says, “I’m catching a bus south in a couple hours. Listen, Mom….”

But that’s it. His voice stops. He pauses, and his mom is his favorite because she doesn’t rush him to say it, she waits and he can hear the sound of birds in the background and the breeze on her end of the phone call. She was probably out taking a morning walk or drinking her coffee out in front of the house or maybe shaking out the rugs as she prepares the house for him to come home. 

Finally, after a few long seconds, Haechan asks, “Do you think we have room for one extra person this weekend?”

“Of course!” She says with no hesitation. “Who’re you bringing?”

Haechan has brought friends home before. Mark, Jeno, Renjun, the most. Chenle was his mom’s favorite, though, so he knows she’s hoping he’s the one Haechan is bringing to visit. 

Haechan just clears his throat, shifts around in his bed. 

“Donghyuck?”

He takes a deep breath, and Haechan’s pulse picks up a nervous beat. “Not any of the guys. A girl. My girlfriend. I’d like to bring her home this weekend.”

There’s a flood of questions, of course, plus a huge weight lifted off of Haechan’s chest. Immediately, his mom just accepts it, and Haechan realizes he’s been a fool to be so stressed over this. She sounds delighted and just excited for Haechan, asking him everything about his girlfriend — what’s her name, what does she do, how long they’ve been together. She does, in fact, gasp and tell him he’s ridiculous for not having told her about his girlfriend when he admits that they’ve been together for five (almost six) months. 

A call from Ten at work is what gets Haechan to end the call with his mom eventually. He switches over to Ten’s call. 

“Yeah?”

“Dude, did you do it?” Ten asks, excitement in his voice. 

Haechan sits up in bed, running his fingers through his hair in an effort to tame the tussled mess. He needs to get up and get ready. “Did I do what?”

Ten makes a soft sigh of annoyance. “Propose, duh. You’re off today, off all next week. Your girlfriend called out today and also has all of next week off. Yuta thinks that you must’ve proposed last night, and you two were so busy celebrating last night that she called out sick this morning.” Ten laughs, and Haechan can hear Yuta’s voice in the background too. 

His stomach clenches. “No, I didn’t propose. Where did you two get that idea?”

She called out sick? Is she sick? Is she okay?

“Because you’re so lovestruck, both of you, that it’s only a matter of time, isn’t it?” Ten says. 

Haechan hears something from Ten’s end of the call, a small sound of distress, and then Yuta’s voice is the one on the call, demanding, “Don’t tell me you’re not planning to propose to her?”

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business.” Haechan isn’t going to give his proposal plans to the two biggest gossips in the Neo Corporation. When he proposes (because it’s only a matter of time, like Ten said), he doesn’t necessarily want her to hear about it ahead of time from their coworkers. 

Yuta snorts. 

“Is she really not at work today?” Haechan’s stomach gives an odd loopy feeling as he asks that. “She called in sick?”

“Yeah, first thing this morning. Didn’t you know?” A pause, and then Yuta gasps, “You two didn’t split up, did you?”

Ten’s distressed voice butts in, “Excuse me? They what?”

Oh, God. These two are going to start rumors. 

“No,” Haechan emphasizes, “We did not split up. I’m hanging up. Bye.”

Hopefully they don’t spread their false rumors around work, Haechan thinks. But now that he knows that she’s not at work, it makes step two of his plan a little easier. 

Second step: apologize to his girlfriend. 

He finishes packing his bag for the trip home pretty quickly after ending the call with his mom. 

As he moves around the apartment, gathering his clothes from the clean basket of laundry he’d left sitting in the living room, his toiletries from the bathroom, a few gifts he’s picked up for his family members since the last time he’s seen them, Haechan notices YangYang is awake too. It’s early for his roommate to be up, and especially early for YangYang to be out of his bedroom, but YangYang is sitting in their kitchen talking on the phone with someone in a low voice.

Haechan can’t miss the way YangYang is watching him closely, and he wonders what his roommate’s problem is. 

He leaves about twenty minutes later, his packed bag slung over his shoulder as he heads over to her place. 

He texts her when he’s halfway there, realizing that she might not appreciate it if he drops in unannounced.

When she hasn’t answered by the time he arrives at her apartment door, when she doesn’t answer his knock at the door, he texts again. He calls. And when both of those still go unanswered, he begins to panic a little bit. 

Is she okay? Is she actually sick? Is she ignoring him? Does she really just not want to see him or hear from him? Did he seriously fuck up and ruin a good thing by not telling his family about her? Was their fight last night the last one? He just needs it to not be the end, needs to talk to her and apologize. 

For several more minutes, Haechan continues to knock on the door and call her, growing more desperate as the minutes pass by. 

And then he hears it. A faint click. 

The door opens a few inches, just a wide enough gap for him to see her standing there. She’s dressed in just a hastily wrapped towel, her hair still dripping, and her skin covered with water droplets. 

Haechan, in that instant, forgets all of his worries. She is fresh from the shower and he can smell her shampoo again, and for the first time in about twelve hours, he feels himself relax a bit. He wants to push the door the rest of the way open, to hold her close and breathe her in. He wants to taste her skin and her lips and every part of her, to apologize and beg for her forgiveness. 

But she only cracked the door open enough for them to talk, just wide enough for him to see a few inches of her. It’s maddening, really. His need for her, his need to be forgiven by her, is overwhelming and drives him down to his knees to beg her forgiveness. 

And maybe, as he sinks down, he remembers Yuta and Ten’s questions about him proposing, and maybe Haechan drops down on one knee first. He just wants to see her reaction — the wide-eyed look of surprise when she thinks for a brief moment that he might be proposing. 

Instead he begs her forgiveness with a simply put, “Will you please forgive me, baby? My angel?” And then he adds on the big request, his genuine question, “Forgive me, and come with me this weekend. Come meet my family.”

“You’re a dick!” She whines adorably, but a smile is dancing at the corners of her lips, her eyes are focused only on him as she opens the door wider at last. 

“What?” Haechan laughs, “Did you think I was going to ask you something else?”

She rolls her eyes, but he can tell by the way she’s fighting down a smile and the way that she leaves her apartment door open for him as she walks away, that she’s forgiving him. But he needs to hear it in words, needs to hear her invite him in. 

“What’s your answer?”

“Just come inside!” She laughs. 

He can’t even begin to describe how light and relieved he feels now. Both of the heavy weights that have been settled on him for too long now have lifted. He’s got her forgiveness, he’s told his mom about her, he’s taking her to meet his family. 

As he follows her inside to her bedroom, all he wants is to lead her into distraction. He wants to tug that towel off of her and slide into bed with her, to take his time tasting every inch of her. But he knows he can’t. If he wants to make it home to visit his family any time today, they need to leave soon. 

Haechan puts aside those desires. 

Undeniably, as they leave her apartment, his relief begins to give way to nerves. 

In several hours he’ll  finally be introducing her to his family. This isn’t anything he’s ever done before with any of his past partners. 

Bringing them home. 

Of course, he’s never felt this way about anyone but her. 

“Relax,” she says as they board the bus that is taking them south to catch the ferry to Jeju. “I don’t get what you are so nervous for. They’re your family!”

She places her hand on his thigh, and Haechan immediately covers her hand with his, lacing their fingers together where her warm hand rests against his bare skin above his knee. “I’m nervous because I’ve never introduced them to any of my previous partners. They’ve just met my friends.”

She smiles and leans over, tipping her head against his shoulder. Haechan’s heart races, his fingers tightening against hers. “I’m excited,” she tells him quietly. “I want to meet them. You’ve talked about them all enough over the years I’ve known you, it’s certainly about time. But I’m excited too that this is the first, like, weekend away we’re taking together.”

“We’ve been on tons of trips together before.” Haechan looks down at her just in time to see her roll her eyes. “What?”

“I mean, our first weekend away as a couple.” 

Oh.

“I know it’s not like a proper weekend away as a couple. We’re going to visit your family, not take a romantic trip together.” She presses her cheek against the round curve of Haechan’s shoulder. “But I’m still excited.”

He should take her on a real weekend trip. One that can be as romantic and sexy as she’d like. 

They both take naps while the bus carries them south. Her head bobs on his shoulder, his cheek pillowed against the top of her head. Haechan has the distinct feeling that neither of them slept too well the night before, aware that they’d been fighting, and both of them less comfortable in bed without the presence of each other. 

So they sleep, wrapped up together, and Haechan never wants to let her go again.  

Haechan’s worst fears (he’s dramatic) are confirmed the moment that his mom opens the door to greet them. 

Her smile is wide — a mirror of his own smile, honestly — as she drinks in every last detail of Haechan’s sleepy and damp girlfriend. 

The evening is gloomy, a light rain drizzling over them as they make their way to his childhood home, and his girlfriend isn’t even fully awake after the nap she’d also taken on the ferry ride over. 

Haechan watches his mom’s face. Her eyes go slightly wide as she looks at his girlfriend, as everything clicks in her mind — the name he’d mentioned earlier this morning finally registering in his mom’s mind as the name he’s been mentioning for years — and then her gaze slides to her son, her eyes alight as she says, “Well, it certainly took the two of you long enough to get here! And I don’t just mean today! This is your friend, isn’t she? The one from school?”

Haechan feels his face heat up as he pulls ahead of his girlfriend, hurrying forward to embrace his mother and hopefully get her to stop talking before she reveals something embarrassing. They at least need to make it in the door before she does that. 

Behind him, he hears his girlfriend laughing, and in his ear his mom laughs as well. 

It turns out that his tight hug doesn’t cut off his mom’s words. “He used to show us pictures of all of your friends, tell us stories all about you! He talked about you all—“

“That’s enough, Mom.” Haechan cuts her off. 

“Oh, come on, Donghyuck.” She smiles warmly at him as she pulls back from his hug. “Come inside. Come in, dear,” she says kindly, waving Haechan’s girlfriend forward. “I’m so excited to meet you! Donghyuck has never brought someone home to meet us before! We were starting to wonder if he was embarrassed by us or just unlucky in love.”

He knew that his mom would make a big deal out of this, tease him about it. 

“It’s my birthday, Mom,” he whines, stepping over the threshold. “Be nice to me.”

She lifts a hand to pat his head, smoothing his hair down gently. “Yes, son, of course,” she says placatingly, but he doesn’t miss the wink and smile she sends over his shoulder to his girlfriend. “No embarrassing stories at all.”

That promise lasts at least for a little while, but of course it’s impossible to keep. Maybe it doesn’t happen immediately, but try as he might to keep his family from sharing weird and embarrassing stories about him, they manage to tell her some anyway over the next few days. Over dinner and breakfast, during excursions around the island or to the beach, his mom and siblings share stories, some of which include times that he’d talked all about her long before this relationship began. Even when his mom gets around to interrogating her about her past and her present and hopes for the future, they manage to embarrass Haechan. 

Especially on Monday night, hours before his birthday actually begins. 

Haechan is minding his own business, helping clean up the mess from their meal, but he can hear his mom and his girlfriend talking in the next room. 

Unsurprisingly, his family likes her. He truly had nothing to worry about there. They get along even better than he could have hoped for, which is almost too well if he really thinks about it. His mom and his siblings laugh and joke around with her just as they do with Haechan, and his sister is already calling her “unnie” so affectionately, and his mom kept offering to take photos of them together when they all went down to the beach earlier that day. 

Haechan had finally acquiesced after his girlfriend curled her fingers around his wrist, tugging him towards her as she smiled. The wind was blowing through her loose hair, and the sun was shining from her cheeks, and she met his eyes as she said, “Come on, Donghyuck-ah, take a picture with me for your mom.” 

They’d stood in front of the sea, their bare toes buried in sand. Haechan put his arm around her waist as she tucked herself against his side. In the split second before his mom snapped the photo of them, he felt the woman at his side twist to face him, and she pressed a kiss to his cheek, her hand pressing against his other cheek to keep him from pulling away in surprise. 

His mom laughed, and Haechan watched the happy expression on his mom’s face as she squinted down at the picture in her phone. Her smile filled her face. “Cute, you two! Very cute. But let’s just get a normal one now!”

Haechan had suffered through a miniature photoshoot, dramatically sighing and complaining the whole time, but inside he was thoroughly enjoying it. Already, he’d been thinking about asking his mom to send him all the photos, thinking about which ones he was going to post on Instagram in his photo dump of this weekend. 

Even once their impromptu photo session was over, Haechan didn’t let go of her. He’d clung to her at the beach, unwilling to let her too far mostly because he’d noticed the gazes of several strangers straying towards her. 

“Jealous, baby?” She’d teased him when she noticed the reason for his extra-clinginess. And then she’d placed a gentle hand on his cheek as she tipped in on her toes to kiss him softly. “You know I’m not going anywhere, right? You’re stuck with me.”

Now, as he stands in the kitchen of his childhood home washing the dishes, Haechan is still thinking about that moment. He’s reliving the feel of the warm sunlight and the sea breeze on his skin. The softness of her palm and fingers against his cheek, the whisper of her lips on his, her sweet voice making that statement that sounded like a promise. 

He wants it to be a promise. 

And in the next room, it seems like his mom is thinking the same thing. He can hear their conversation as he scrubs out a pot. 

“Donghyuck says the two of you are moving into an apartment together?” His mom says, “When is that happening?”

“We’re still looking, but we’ll hopefully have one by the time our leases are up. So by about the end of this month,” is her answer, but what he doesn’t necessarily expect to hear is his girlfriend saying, “You all should definitely come visit! We’re looking for a two-bedroom, so there’ll be room. My family are already planning to come help me move my stuff over to the new place, but honestly I think it’s an excuse for my mom to fawn over Haechan a little more. She adores him probably more than she does me.”

“Does she want him as a son-in-law as much as I want you as a daughter-in-law?”

Haechan drops the pot he’s scrubbing. Did his mom really just say that?

His girlfriend laughs. “She’s mentioned it a few times. The first day they met him, my mom brought up babies.”

The sounds coming from the other room increase, laughter and excited noises. He knows his mom would love a little grandbaby to dote on, she likes babies and always has liked their little chubby cheeks and contagious bubbling laughter. She’s been talking for years about future grandchildren, though she’s always followed that up with a bit of advice to marry the girl first before the babies. 

Haechan hasn’t even mentioned yet to his mom that he thinks this is the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with, but judging by what she’s just said and the excited sounds from the other room, he’s sure that she’ll support him. Hell, she might even push him to do it as soon as he mentions it. 

He focuses on washing the rest of the dishes, and he loses track of the conversation in the next room.

All he knows is that when he emerges from the kitchen some time later, his fingertips are pruned and the front of his shirt is wet from where he accidentally slopped water down his front. Still, his girlfriend happily scoots aside to make a little room for him on the sofa, and he sinks down beside her so close that they’re pressed together from thigh to shoulder. 

She slides her hand over his thigh, letting it rest just above his knee. 

She’s deep in conversation with his family. It seems they’re debating the plot of some drama they all watch. Haechan has come in in the middle of it, so he keeps quiet, just watching her face as she talks and listens, the way her eyes light up right before she speaks up to make a point, her fingers curl in against his leg. 

She’s beautiful, sexy when she gets into it like this. He loves when her eyes blaze with determination to make a point. A lot of their little fights usually end with sex because he just finds the heat inside her so attractive. 

Just like right now. 

She’s busy arguing with one of his younger brothers, and Haechan is fighting down a boner. 

Her hand on his leg isn’t helping matters as she keeps gripping and rubbing his thigh. 

Haechan can only take so much of it before he feels like he’s at risk of doing something dangerous like moaning if she drags her nails along his inner thigh one more time. 

Carefully, he brushes her hand off his leg, and he stands up. “I’m gonna go shower,” he offers as an excuse for his escape. 

Barely anyone acknowledges it, but as Haechan turns to leave the room, he looks back over at her, momentarily catching her eye. The corner of her mouth ticks up into a little smile, something blossoming in her eyes, but then she looks away. Haechan leaves, wondering if she’d been touching him like that on purpose. 

Less than ten minutes later, Haechan is standing in the shower, when he hears the door of the bathroom open. He pops his head out of the shower to see who’s entered the room, and there she is. 

“Come here,” she demands. “Right now.”

There’s plenty of heat in her voice, but not the angry sort. 

As Haechan steps out of the shower, leaving the water running behind him, he watches her sink quickly to her knees in front of him. Clearly, she has one intention.

“Did you do that on purpose out there?” He asks, “Did you get me hard on purpose, angel?”

She looks up at him through her eyelashes. “What? I was just rubbing your thigh.” She tries to play it innocent, but she’s literally on her knees for him, and Haechan is no fool. She smiles up at him, and if anything that makes him even harder, knowing she was playing games with him. And even now, she keeps her tone innocent as she lets filthy words spill from her lips, asking, “Do you want me to suck your cock, Haechan? Wanna cum in my mouth?”

Does she even really have to ask? Of course he wants that. 

She leans in and starts licking water droplets from his skin while her hand wraps around his needy cock, Haechan is so grateful. He sighs, pressing his damp fingers through her hair.

“Gotta be quick,” she murmurs against his hip. “They think I’m just taking a bathroom break.”

Haechan hums, pressing his fingers encouragingly against her scalp, urging her mouth away from his hip to his cock. 

And she goes where he guides her, like the good girl she is. 

She gives him quick, sloppy head, swallowing around his cock until his tip hits the back of her throat with each bob of her head. The sounds of the shower running behind him help drown out the sounds they’re making — her soft gags and moans around him, his sighs and quiet curses as she sucks him off until his knees are going weak, his toes curl against the bathmat on the floor. 

It’s over faster than Haechan would like to admit. She has him cumming too quickly, but it’s knee-wobblingly good as she draws back until just her lips are tight around his tip, swallowing down each pulse of his cum across her tongue. His fingers grip tightly to sections of her hair, fucking it up completely. 

He sinks to his knees in front of her, smoothing his hands over her hair in an attempt to fix his mess, and then Haechan crushes his mouth against hers. 

He can taste himself on her tongue, the bitter tang, but he doesn’t care. He could happily kneel here and kiss her until the water runs cold in the shower, but before they get anywhere close to that point, she pushes against his chest with a groan. 

“I need to go back.” Her actions are contrary to her words as she dips forward to kiss him again. Haechan smiles, knowing that all it would take is him asking and she would just join him in the shower. She pushes herself away again, saying, “I don’t want your family knowing we’re in here having sex. Not when I’m just getting them to know and like me.”

Haechan can’t help the snort of a laugh that escapes him. “Baby, they’re gonna love you no matter what. Your family loves me and they walked in on us.”

She wrinkles her nose and stands up, drawing farther and farther away from him. “It’s different. But I hope you know you owe me now for what I just did.”

Haechan’s tongue darts out to wet his lips. “Later, angel. I promise.”

She turns and slips away from the room. He gets back in the shower, and now without the distraction of his erection, he passes through the motions much quicker. 

But while he’s in there he can’t help thinking about how she’s still so nervous about his family liking her. They clearly like her. There was really never any chance of them not liking her, which he’d realized as soon as he brought her up to his mom on the phone. 

He’d had his worries before then, obviously. It was part of the reason why he’d not mentioned her to his family. But after their fight the other night, after she left and he sat there talking to YangYang, his roommate helped him see light on the matter. 

Hours after she stormed out of the apartment, during one of the times Haechan had halfway convinced himself to go apologize, YangYang stopped Haechan in their living room, and asked him where he was going. That had given Haechan pause, and he’d sat down beside YangYang on the sofa and started actually talking with him.

“What if they don’t like her?” He’d finally admitted aloud to YangYang.

“You’re a fucking dumbass,” was YangYang’s point-blank reply. “Why wouldn’t they like her? And even if they don’t like her, you do. She’s your girlfriend, Haechan. Just last week, you were moaning about how much you love her and can’t wait to move in with her.”

Still, the thought of that makes Haechan smile. He’s excited to move in with her, to have no reason anymore to spend a night away from her, to get to wake up to her every day. He doesn’t care that when he says stuff like that to YangYang, to Renjun, to his other friends they tease him for being that way because, yeah, he’s in love with his girlfriend; he’s not going to pretend he doesn’t like her, like he doesn’t spend every waking moment wishing he was with her. 

So like YangYang said, it shouldn’t matter if his family doesn’t like her. But lucky for Haechan, they do like her. Unlucky for Haechan, now he’s definitely worried that they like her so much that while he’s standing up there finishing his shower, they’re all downstairs regaling her with stories about him that would embarrass the ever living shit out of him.

He hurries to dress again in something comfy, and he returns to the living room with his family and his girlfriend, immediately settling beside her. 

For hours they sit there, talking, playing games, and snacking with his family. Midnight approaches, and with it is Haechan’s birthday. 

He’s trying not to watch the clock, trying to not count down the seconds like he’s a kid again. He remembers birthdays in his childhood when he’d lain in bed, wide awake at midnight with excitement pulsing through his veins. Years as he grew older, hanging out with friends at midnight, celebrating as the clock turned over. 

Specifically he remembers a few years ago, the months between his first and second year of university. 

It was summertime, a brutal summer with exhausting heat that just leached the energy out of everyone. But all of his friends had come together that night to go out to a fancy rooftop bar. As midnight ticked nearer, as Mark and then Jeno and then Renjun and then strangers bought him drinks after drinks, Haechan felt himself growing happier and more excited for what his birthday tomorrow would bring and he felt lighter, light enough that he could just float off into the starry summer night. 

“Happy Birthday, Donghyuck!” said a voice from right behind him. 

He felt a hand clasp onto his, and he turned to look and found one of his newest friends standing there. He’d known of her since his first day of orientation, but it was really only within the last couple months of the second semester that he’d started to really, actually get to know her. And tonight she’s here to celebrate his birthday, and she’s holding his hand and looking at him with starry eyes that seem to mirror the night sky, and she just called him by the name his mother gave him. 

“You know we’re friends now,” Haechan told her, “You can call me Haechan. My friends call me Haechan. Donghyuck just sounds so….”

She laughed. “I like your name. Donghyuck. Donghyuck-ah. I like it.” She smiled softly, then said, “Haechan, too. It’s a bright name. A happy name. Happy birthday!” 

Cries of “Happy Birthday!” sounded from all around them. But she was still holding onto Haechan’s hand, and she murmured his name again, just a quiet “Haechan,” before she suddenly threw her arms around him, dragging him into a hug. 

It was a tight hug and warm, and Haechan felt every inch of her pressed against him. He slung an arm around her waist to return the embrace, and he couldn’t help, in that moment, letting the alcohol in his veins mix with the warm press of a soft body against him to feed his imagination. 

Maybe he should have known then.

She’d left him a moment after their hug, disappearing off to drink with Mark, and Haechan had ended the night with some random girl. And the same thing had happened the year after that and the one after that; as long as they’d been friends, she’s always been one of the first to wish him a Happy Birthday. 

This year is no different. 

At 11:59 PM, she twists around from where she’s reclining against his chest. 

“Happy Birthday, Donghyuck,” she wishes him, and then presses a kiss to his cheek. 

The clock strikes midnight, and around him his family wishes him a Happy Birthday as well, which means a lot to him, but not as much as the sound of her voice in his ear, the feel of her lips against his cheek even as he starts smiling at his family, the weight of her hand against his chest over his heart and her body resting back between his legs. 

He wraps his arms around her, refusing to let her up – not that she’s planning to go anywhere. 

A while later when his younger brother can no longer suppress his yawns, they all start to drift away towards their beds. 

Haechan happily and excitedly leads his girlfriend back to his childhood bedroom. In the years since he moved away for school, his bedroom has been taken over by one of his younger siblings, but for this weekend it’s Haechan’s again. The twin bed he spent years sleeping in is his again, and all weekend it has been a tight fit for both him and his girlfriend to sleep in, but tonight he’s glad about that. He wants to be as close to her as possible. 

She giggles (and his heart leaps in his chest) when Haechan shuts and locks the bedroom door, when he leads her by the hand over to the bed. He sits down heavily on the edge of it, guiding her to stand between his knees. 

“What are you doing?” She asks, her voice light, a smile gracing her lips. 

“Claiming my present. Paying you back for earlier.” Haechan slips his fingers into the waistband of the shorts she’s wearing. 

She pushes her fingers into his hair, combing his hair back off his forehead as he looks up at her. She asks, “Right now? Your whole family is here, just outside these walls. And it’s so quiet.”

Haechan grins. “You just have to be quiet. I know you can do it, angel.” Nevermind that he can hear water running in the bathroom, he can hear someone shifting in the bed next door. These walls are thin, but he knows that his girlfriend can be quiet if she puts her mind to it; there’s a reason she’s only been caught once — and it wasn’t due to her making noise. 

“Okay?” He checks with her, looking up into her eyes even as he starts to slide her shorts down her hips an inch. “Can I pay you back, baby?”

She swallows nervously and then nods. 

Haechan slides her shorts down until they drop to pool around her ankles. And then he moves to her shirt, fingers moving upwards beneath the fabric, over her belly, pushing her top up as he goes. 

She pouts, a vision of frustration when she reaches down to grab the hem of her shirt, and she drags it over her head instead of waiting. 

“Beautiful.” Haechan leans in, pressing his mouth against the curve of her hip, nipping slightly. Her answering sigh encourages him, and he kisses to the edge of her panties, leaving kisses all along the edge as he works his way towards the front and center, just beneath her belly button. 

Her fingers twist slightly in his hair. “Go on,” she sighs, tugging a little. 

Haechan smiles. He can almost smell her, can just imagine the taste of her on his tongue. Just the other night, before their fight, she’d ridden his face on the sofa and he’d been in heaven like that. Right now he almost wants to do it again, to fall backwards on his childhood bed and have an angel sit on his face. 

But he doesn’t do that. He knows she wants him to touch her, to kiss and lick and taste her. He waits. He teases, kissing her abdomen, drawing his nose from the edge of her panties, up to her navel and higher until he’s sitting up straight with his face at her chest. Now her fingers drag at his hair, a very quiet sound of desperation breathes past her lips. 

“It’s your birthday,” she tells him, “Don’t you just want to do it? Why are you taking your time?” 

Haechan smiles as he slides a hand up her back. “I’m savoring my present. Savoring you. I love the way you react to me, baby.” 

She presses closer to him when his fingers rising up her back reach the band of her bra, and Haechan quickly unfastens it. She sighs, and whether it’s due to the anticipation of him touching her tits or whether it’s the relief of being freed from her bra, he doesn’t know or care. She slides her arms out of the straps, lets her bra join her shirt and shorts on the floor, and then she drops her head back with a sigh as Haechan starts attending to her chest. 

He remembers the first time he really noticed her boobs: the night in the hot tub. He’d glanced over while they were all talking and laughing, and he’d happened to look down and seen the way that the string lights above the hot tub were reflecting on the water. Specifically the water that was lapping against her breasts where they rose out of the water. And he could see the thin fabric that had grown semi transparent beneath the water’s surface. And later that night when they’d shared a bed, he’d stared at them too, imagining how soft and nice they must be to touch. 

And in the present, as he palms one breast while he worships the other with his lips and his tongue, Haechan wishes (not for the first time) that he’d made a move that night. He missed out on so much time that he could’ve been with her like this just because he’d been too dumb and blind to notice what was right in front of him. 

Haechan drops his free hand down between her legs, and she shudders with another sweet sigh when he touches her over her panties, sliding a finger over the fabric, passing her clit so he can feel how wet she is, where she’s got a damp spot soaking through her panties. 

He thinks again about how much he enjoyed her sitting on his face the other night, and he really wants that to happen again, to feel her suffocate him against her pussy, smother him between her thighs. But he shouldn’t tonight. This bed is old and it squeaks and he’s sure that her riding his face is going to make a racket that will attract the attention of his family. 

Haechan slides off the edge of the bed to kneel on the floor, and he kisses down from her chest to her belly to the edge of her panties. 

She sighs his name, barely above a whisper, when his lips move over the front of her panties. Her fingers tighten, yanking at his hair, when Haechan licks over her clit through the panties while his fingers stroke slowly against the growing damp spot. 

He doesn’t remove her panties. He doesn’t even pull them to the side yet, but just licks and kisses and touches her over them. 

He waits until her fingernails drag over his scalp, her hands tugging at his hair to get him closer, her thighs twitching and a desperate hiss of his name—

Haechan drags her panties aside, his tongue meeting her clit. She rolls her hips against the heat of his mouth, and Haechan eagerly dives in deeper, wanting to feast on her, to devour the sweet taste of her pussy. Of course, he wishes more than anything to hear her moaning his name while he does it, but in the present circumstances, it would be better if she didn’t. 

She shudders and trembles against him with every drag of his tongue, and it gives Haechan such a headrush to have her like this, falling apart just with a few flicks of his tongue. 

“Hyuck,” she whispers, pressing her fingers into his hair, pushing slightly. “I’m gonna cum. Stop.”

Reluctantly, Haechan sinks back on his heels. He can feel her dampness on his lips and chin as he looks up at her. He can smell her arousal clinging to him and also so close at hand as she shifts on her feet. He just watches as she reaches down to push her panties off, letting them slide down her legs until she can step out of them, flicking them over to join the rest of her discarded clothes. 

Almost involuntarily, Haechan leans in, drawn towards the tantalizing taste between her legs. 

She jabs a finger against his forehead, stopping him. 

Haechan whines before he can catch himself. 

 “I don’t want to stop. The whole point is getting you there, returning the favor.” He pushes forward against her hand on his forehead until she removes it. He nuzzles against her bare thigh, leaving kisses up and down her left thigh. 

“No,” she whispers, “Fuck me. I want you inside me.”

Haechan doesn’t need telling twice. 

He curls his hands around the backs of her thighs, sliding his palms down over the softness of thigh and calves. “Sit down, then, baby,” he tells her gently. 

She lowers herself from standing above him to sitting in his lap. Her arms drape over his shoulders, her bare tits press against his chest, and she kisses him while she knots her fingers through his hair again. 

Haechan is hard again, because of course he is. Having his gorgeous girlfriend sitting in his lap is more than enough to do this to him, but also having just been devouring her pussy got him so hard that his cock is just aching in his shorts. 

He shivers a little when her fingertips brush over his belly, and he makes a little involuntary sound when she starts lifting his shirt. She pulls the shirt up, just breaking their gentle kiss long enough to drag it up over his head and drop it aside. 

Now when she presses herself closer to him, he can feel the press of her tits against his skin. He can feel the softness and warmth of her breasts, the peaks of her nipples. 

She sighs when Haechan slides a hand along her spine, when he shifts beneath her, and Haechan ever-so-carefully tips her backwards. He presses her back to the floor of the bedroom, and he covers her with his body, making sure there’s not an inch of untouched space between them. 

“Come on,” she whines so softly, tugging at his hair. 

Haechan feels the hair-tug right down to his cock, which gives a twitch in his shorts. 

“Need you, Haechan,” she whispers, “I need to feel you.”

As much as he enjoys hearing her beg and whine for his cock, Haechan slides a hand down between their bodies without further preamble. He shoves his shorts down, making a small sound in the back of his throat in relief as his cock springs free, and he gets a hand on himself. 

Something about doing this here on the floor of his childhood bedroom feels so right. He can’t explain it, but it’s a feeling of completeness and rightness, like he’s come full circle from when he was younger, lying in bed as he stared up at the ceiling and dreamed of someday being in love, to now when he’s rolling his hips forward against the love of his life. 

Because that’s what she is. No doubt. 

The absolute love of his entire life. 

He doesn’t even take the shorts fully off, just shoves them down around his thighs. She doesn’t care, she’s too busy panting against his lips as he drags his tip between her legs, feeling her wetness kissing his cock. All it takes is his thumb pressing against his length to direct himself towards her entrance, and then he rolls his hips forward and sinks inside her at last. 

It takes a great deal more effort to keep quiet after that. 

The house around them has fallen mostly silent, but blessedly one of his younger brothers is still awake and is playing video games or a movie in his bedroom, and the sound emanating from there is enough to mask some of the sounds they’re creating right here – their bodies are tangled together on the floor, knotted together with high energy and the inability to make too much noise. 

Her fingernails drag along Haechan’s shoulders and spine, digging in at the small of his back in a way that makes his toes curl, makes him grind his hips forward to be even deeper inside her warm, tight pussy. She’s rolling her hips too, aiming to get his cock to hit in just the right spot, and her breath is just against his lips, an imitation of a kiss. 

He wishes he could fully let go, could move right now and make the sounds right now that he wants to. He wants to treat her as well as she deserves. He wants to bend her into positions that he knows she likes better than just missionary, and he wants to talk to her because he knows that his voice gets her off faster. He wishes they were in the bed instead of the hard floor, although he knows the mattress is squeaky and will announce to the whole house immediately what they’re doing in here. 

He does the most that he can in present circumstances. 

Haechan fits a hand between them, his fingers find her clit. 

She lets out an audible squeak. 

She freezes but Haechan just grins, kissing her quickly before he lifts himself up a bit, putting a little space between her chest and his so he can look down at her spread out beneath him. He wants to see her as he rolls his hips and grinds his cock just right against that particular spot inside her. He wants to see the way that she bites her bottom lip to keep quiet when he plays with her clit. 

One of her hands drifts to her chest, cupping her breast and pinching her nipple between her fingers. Her other hand moves to Haechan’s hip, sliding around to grip his ass. 

The bite of her nails into his skin makes him hiss, makes his hips snap forward hard enough that she slides a couple inches against the floor. A second later he feels her heels against the backs of his thighs as she curls her legs around him to hold him closer.

He draws his thumb in tight circles on her clit, watching the way she squirms, the way her eyelids flutter shut, the way that her pussy eagerly swallows up his cock each time he rolls his hips forward. She’s so wet around him, and he can feel her getting closer, can feel the racing throb of her around his length. Her body is beginning to tense up in anticipation of her climax, and Haechan can feel his own quickly approaching as he watches. 

“Haechan,” she whimpers, and at this point he doesn’t care if it’s loud enough for anyone else to hear. He doesn’t care if they hear the sound that escapes her next — a mixture between a sigh and a whine and a cry. 

All he knows is the sweet release as he follows her over the edge, as he presses himself down over her again, as he captures her lips with his own. 

They drown in each other for a handful of moments, lost in the sensations of their bodies still moving together, taking from each other. 

Haechan is the one that breaks first. She bites his bottom lip and tugs and he forces himself to pull away from her. 

She lies there beneath him on the floor, chest heaving, a smile on her lips that is both pleased and full of challenge. “What?” She asks, her voice so quiet again now. “Where are you going?”

“You’re gonna be the death of me, angel.” Haechan rakes his fingers through his hair. “Keep it up and I won’t be able to stop myself, and we’ll do some serious damage to this bedroom and my relationship with my family.”

Still, she smiles up at him, reaching for his hand even as he pulls out of her and moves like he’s going to stand up. She tries to reel him in again, and Haechan knows it would be so damn easy to give in and lose himself inside her again. He always wants her, and when she’s laid out so invitingly like this, it makes it more difficult to say no. 

“Baby,” he sighs, taking her hand and tugging.

She sits up, still smiling as Haechan leans in to peck her on the lips. “Baby,” she sighs back at him, “Should we just go to sleep then?”

He nods. “Tomorrow we’ll go home. And at the end of the month, you’re all mine. No more roommates to intrude, and then we can just take all the time we want with each other. Any time you want me, angel, you’ll just be able to jump me.”

That makes her laugh, and that sound causes his heart to leap in his chest. 

She grabs his abandoned shirt from the floor, pulls it on and climbs to her feet. Haechan just pulls his shorts back up. He watches as she tiptoes from the bedroom to the bathroom down the hall. 

He’s half asleep already by the time she comes creeping back into the bedroom, quietly pressing the door shut behind her, sliding silently into the tight twin bed to squeeze herself against him. Haechan just opens his arms to let her snuggle in against his chest. The two of them fit tightly together by necessity (the too small bed) and just because they want to (Haechan wants her suffocatingly close, honestly). 

Her lips brush against his chest, her hair tickles his chin, and Haechan just breathes her in, feeling himself relaxing into the bed until sleep sinks over him. 

“You two are gross,” Mark groans from across the room. 

It’s the end of June, and as Haechan is finally moving in with his girlfriend to their new apartment, their friends have come to visit and help with the move. 

To be fair, the “gross” thing that Mark just walked in on is only Haechan hugging his girlfriend. She has her cheek against his shoulder, her arms around his waist, and Haechan’s arms squeeze tight around her shoulders while he rests his head against the top of hers. They’re just taking a pause, a well-deserved moment to drink in their present and their future in the quiet of their new apartment. 

Haechan’s dream apartment. The one he’s envisioned his future with her in. He was lucky that she’d fallen in love with it too upon their first viewing of it, lucky that they got it right away and were able to move in so quickly. 

And now they’ll finally have a place for just them. A quiet sanctuary. 

Well, it was quiet. 

But now Chenle, Xiaojun, and Jeno fill the doorway behind Mark, all of them talking. Then YangYang’s voice cuts through the clamor, saying, “If you think that’s gross, you haven’t spent enough time around them. I’m glad they’ve got their own place now, they’re always going at it like rabbits. I’m tired of hearing it and walking in on it.”

Haechan catches YangYang’s eye, and the younger at least has the decency to look a little embarrassed. 

And then Renjun appears, carrying a heavy box between him and Jaehyun. “Let’s just hope they can keep their hands to themselves when we all go on our trip.”

Jaehyun snickers, glancing over at Haechan’s girlfriend. He tightens his arms around her, feeling a jealous flare as she smirks back at Renjun and his boyfriend. 

“No promises,” Haechan says. “Our last trip everyone was fucking. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes the same in Bali.” He looks around the room at everyone – the couples of Renjun and Jaehyun, and Jeno and Jaemin most particularly – and then says, “At least it’s a bigger place and there are less of us this time, so we all get our own rooms.”

Though he has a feeling that that’s going to matter about as much as it did last time. People were still fucking around on their last trip outside of the bedrooms – in that outdoor shower, in the pool, in the kitchen. 

Renjun just laughs and drapes an arm on his boyfriend’s shoulder, leaning against Jaehyun. “The rooms aren’t soundproof, though, Haechan, so you’ll at least have to try to keep the volume down.”

Luckily, his girlfriend takes care of responding by flipping Renjun her middle finger. 

Everyone laughs and gets back to moving boxes and furniture up from the moving truck parked on the street below, but Haechan can’t stop thinking about the jokes from their friends. Their trip is coming up in just a couple weeks, and Haechan is almost certain that he’s not going to be able to keep his hands to himself. As a matter of fact, he’s got certain plans already that make him think that it’s not just going to be him struggling to keep his hands to himself.

He’s still thinking about the trip and his specific plans for it hours later after most of their friends have left, and still when her parents show up with pizza for dinner and also to help with unpacking some of their boxes. 

Haechan is glad to see them. Of course he is. They still have a lot of furniture to put together and boxes to organize, which is why Renjun, Jaehyun, and YangYang are still there, helping Haechan build a TV stand he bought from IKEA. It’s nice to have help, but with the way he’s been distracted for the past few hours, he also desperately wishes that he was alone with her already. 

While her mom helps her with unpacking some of the boxes, her dad comes over to help with the furniture assembly. That would be fine, like Haechan gets along well with her dad on the several occasions they’ve met, but Renjun and YangYang keep making jokes and blunt comments still that Haechan is terrified her dad is going to take the wrong way. 

Specifically jokes about the Indonesia trip and the sort of rules that they should put in place.

Eventually, Haechan sends them on a mission to pick up a few things from the nearest convenience store. Anything to get rid of them for a little bit. 

Haechan can hear his girlfriend and her mom talking quietly in the bedroom. They’ve got music playing over a Bluetooth speaker that mostly drowns out their conversation, and Haechan finds himself glancing towards the doorway. 

She’s laughing with her mom, saying something he can’t quite make out, and she’s holding an ugly sweater up in front of herself. 

Haechan has a vague memory involving that sweater. 

A few years ago while they were in school, an ugly sweater party they’d thrown at the rental house. He remembers that there’d been a gift exchange since it was right before the holiday break, there’d been mistletoe and Christmas lights. All of their friends wore hideous sweaters that ranged from itchy and horribly patterned to obnoxiously festive. They’d decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles. They’d drunk spiced wine and spiked eggnog. Someone had started Christmas carol karaoke late in the night when pretty much everyone was completely wasted. 

Haechan remembers her wearing that sweater. He remembers that it had been very, very late when he walked onto the front porch, needing a breath of fresh air and a brief break from Xiaojun and Chenle’s karaoke singing. He’d found her sitting on the front step, wearing only the sweater and a pair of hole-y jeans. She’d been sitting there, staring up at the sky as fluffy flakes of snow were drifting lazily towards the ground where there was already a light dusting. The lampposts along the street gave off a pale, silvery ambience, and the whole city seemed so quiet right then except for the house right behind them. 

She’d been shivering when he sat down beside her. 

“You should be wearing a coat, you’re gonna catch a cold.” Haechan wasn’t wearing a coat either, but that didn’t matter so much to him. 

“It’s pretty out here,” is all she said. 

The wind blew a little, sending a couple little fluffs of snow to settle in her hair, and a few loose strands of her hair fluttered against her cheeks. She closed her eyes and tipped her face up. 

Haechan was probably drunk right then. A little more drunk than he’d thought because he was sitting here beside her, and he completely forgot about the girl he’d brought to the party who was sitting inside wearing a holly wreath as a crown and drinking everyone in there under the table. 

He watched her, shivering in her sweater as she enjoyed the wintry chill. She was pretty, so pretty. All haloed with snow and silvery light. She was an angel, a perfect angel, and his heart beat a little faster when she snuck a glance at him. He was staring, but she didn’t seem to mind too much. He figured if she called him out on it, he could tell her he was drunk, but really he just couldn’t bring himself to look away from her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to protect her from the cold. He wasn’t sure where that urge came from, but here it was. 

Of course, that night was years before he realized his true feelings. 

But sitting here right now in the living room of their new apartment, watching her laugh with her mom over the ugly sweater, Haechan wonders if she remembers that night. He really had been such a fool to take so long to realize he was in love with her. He should’ve known it that night, but he’d blamed his feelings on the alcohol, he’d pushed them away. 

While they’re alone — her and her mom distracted in the other room, his friends gone temporarily — Haechan talks to her dad. The music from the speaker keeps playing loudly, and Haechan notices her looking out into the living room, checking on him and her dad, but he knows she can’t hear what they’re talking about. 

It’s hours later when her parents are the last to leave. Hugs, handshakes, her dad nodding a goodbye to Haechan at the door. 

The door has barely swung shut behind them before she’s right there, sliding her arms around Haechan’s waist, pressing her chest against his back. Her lips brush his neck. 

“We’re alone,” she sighs. “At last.”

The mattress in the bedroom is brand new, and they break it in that night.

Haechan is enthusiastic as he devours her, kissing her tenderly, taking her apart on his fingers and his tongue before he finally takes anything for himself. He can’t get enough of her, and she can’t satiate her need for him either. 

Thankfully their apartment is a corner apartment, their bedroom right there on the outer edge, so they’re likely not disturbing their neighbors. Except maybe the people living above and below them. But they make no efforts to be quiet. 

It’s quite a while later when she groans and knots her fingers in Haechan’s hair, dragging his mouth away from where he’s sucking a mark against her collarbones. 

“What has gotten into you tonight?” She’s smiling as she says it. “Aren’t you tired yet?”

Maybe he should find an insult in that, but they have gone more rounds than normal, not to mention they spent all day moving heavy furniture and boxes up several floors, so maybe she’s just genuinely amazed that Haechan is still seeking more. 

“I just love you,” Haechan murmurs, lowering his head again. “And we’ve got this place. Our home. I’m just excited and in love. Can you blame me?” He turns his head to the side, and he brushes his lips against her wrist. He can feel her pulse pounding beneath his lips. She sighs. 

Haechan kisses from her wrist to the crease of her elbow. He can smell her perfume underlying the scent of them together. He trails kisses along the rest of her arm to her shoulder, from her shoulder to her neck, her neck to her jaw. 

She swears softly when he deviates to suck lightly at one of her earlobes, nipping lightly with his teeth. He smiles, loving the way she always reacts when he does that, the way that he can feel her tighten around him where he’s still buried inside her. 

He kisses the high point of her cheekbone, kisses her eyelids and her nose, leaves a lingering kiss to her forehead, and he can feel her breath against his throat. Her hands clench against his sides. 

“Haechan,” she breathes out his name. 

He draws his lips back from her forehead. He kisses her nose again, and then he withdraws a few inches to look down at her. 

Her eyes are still closed. Her lips are turned up, seeking, hopefully, begging to be kissed. 

Haechan leans in, still watching her, watching the way her mouth twitches, the way that her lips part with another small sigh. 

He kisses her. 

Not the hungry, devouring kisses of earlier. This one is slow and sweet. She hums, pleased. 

They tangle together one more time tonight. Bodies moving in tandem, slowly, savoring each other, embracing and enjoying the feel of each other everywhere inside and out. 

“Say it,” Haechan murmurs as he teeters on the brink of another orgasm. “Say it, angel.”

He knows she knows what he’s asking for, and she gives it willingly, openly, spilling the words sweetly from her lips pressed against his. 

“Yours. Always yours.” 

Haechan unravels, taking her words as a promise. 

Although he’s fully aware of all the jokes and teasing and fake rules their friends have put into place leading up to this trip, Haechan doesn’t take any of them seriously. 

It’s July now, the heat of summer is devastating, but as bad as it is at home, Haechan knows it’s going to be even worse when they get to Indonesia. He’s already sweating as he and his girlfriend unload from the taxi they took to the airport, baking in the heat, his sunglasses slide down his nose due to sweating. 

Blessedly, the interior of the airport is a lot cooler. By the time they’ve made it through security and have found their gate, Haechan feels a lot better. 

Xiaojun and his girlfriend, YangYang and his flavor of the month, and Jeno and Jaemin are already waiting at the gate. 

Haechan can’t help thinking, as they approach their friends, that they all put a lot of joking rules in place considering it’s only couples coming on this trip. Haechan won’t be surprised if not a single one of the sex rules gets followed this week. They all made it work during their trip to Thailand. 

While Haechan is settling into the seat beside Jeno, his girlfriend excuses herself to the restroom. 

They’ve still got about an hour and a half until their flight is meant to board, but Renjun and Mark, who were the ones who put the most planning into this trip, had told all of them to be here two hours early. Of course, Haechan doesn’t fail to notice that neither one of them is there yet. 

Before she returns from the restroom, Renjun and Jaehyun arrive, looking far fancier than the rest of their friends. Both of them look like they could walk a runway or something, and Haechan can’t deny that it’s not a good look, but it’s overkill since they’re all headed to the tropics. Haechan, Jeno, and Jaemin are dressed in sweatpants and tshirts. 

Haechan leaves his seat behind to go talk with the new arrivals, checking with Renjun about what some of the details of the group itinerary are since he’s the one that booked the villa, some of the dinners, and most of their rentals that had to be booked in advance. Renjun assures him that everything has been booked and scheduled properly in the itinerary that he sent to their group chat. 

Haechan returns to his seat beside Jeno and pulls out his phone to check the itinerary – the plans for dinners and for sightseeing, for excursions at the beach, and more. 

Eventually, she comes back, sliding quietly into the seat beside Haechan. She brought back drinks from Starbucks, passing him one and saving the other for herself. He notices the way she keeps shifting around nervously, crossing and uncrossing her legs, bouncing her feet. He reaches over and lays a hand on her knee. 

“What’s gotten into you?” He murmurs. “You’ve never been a nervous flier before.”

She nods, then leans closer, resting her chin on his shoulder to whisper in his ear. “I want to try something.”

Immediately heat blooms inside Haechan, a rush of heat centered in his lower belly. “Oh?”

“I’m wearing a vibrator,” she hisses the word so quietly that Haechan almost misses it. “And you’re going to control it.”

Dear God, his vision pulses black for a second, his head spins. She’s truly going to be the death of him, he thinks, as his heart races. 

“The rules….” He starts to say, glancing over at where Xiaojun is dozing with his head on his girlfriend’s shoulder, where YangYang is giggling with his girl at something on her phone. 

“As if anyone is going to follow them,” she whispers, “And besides, we have a long wait before we board the plane, a long flight after that. I don’t want to be bored, Haechan.”

There have been a rare few times since they began this relationship that Haechan wonders if he’s bitten off more than he can chew with her and her exhibitionism. 

“Can you really do it here?” He asks. He doesn’t even understand how she snuck a vibrator through the airport security. He’s not going to ask either. “Can you really keep it subtle enough?”

She smiles and pecks him on the cheek. “The app is on your phone, I downloaded it for you yesterday. You’re the one in control. You know what I can take.”

She’s giving him all the power right now? He tries hard to not let that rush immediately go to his head. 

She shifts again in a way that Haechan suddenly realizes is excitement over this situation she’s created for herself. 

“You’re a pervert,” Haechan accuses her softly, adoringly. She smiles sweetly. 

He’s grateful for the fact that he’s got a privacy screen protector on his phone. No one can see the app on his screen as he pulls it up with the help of her whispered instructions, it’s invisible unless they’re standing directly behind him and peering over his shoulder. They might be able to see the delight on his face as he realizes that she’s already gone through all the necessary steps, and all Haechan has to do is control her now. 

He could push her quickly right up to the edge, watch her fight to contain herself. 

Or he could just start her out slow, get her so wet that she’s going to ruin her panties. If she’s even wearing them. He wonders how much she’s really planned this. 

Haechan just starts out the vibration low and constant. She reaches over to hold his hand, and he can feel her pulse thrumming in her wrist where it presses against his. 

He toys with her for the time before they board their flight. He holds conversations with their friends while he messes around on his phone, and each time he jacks up the intensity of her vibrator using his phone, he feels her clutch his hand a little bit tighter. But she’s a good girl, and she doesn’t make a sound. 

Haechan has fun with it, pulsing it rapidly so that her fingernails dig into his skin as she fights to keep control of herself, but then other times hr has it so low and constant that she’s able to catch her breath, able to join in on conversation and look almost as if she’s not hiding this dirty secret in plain sight. 

Best of all is that no one notices. All of their friends are too distracted with each other to take any notice when she slips a little bit every now and then, her face showing a hint of the pleasure she’s feeling. 

When their flight is called to board, Haechan lowers the vibrations to almost nothing, but even then, he notices her legs are a tiny bit wobbly as she gets to her feet, as she clutches at his arm while they walk together to line up with their friends to board. He smiles at her, kisses her forehead, and murmurs, “Should I let you have it, baby? Do you deserve to be rewarded? Or should I make you wait til we get to the house?”

Her fingernails dig into his arm sharply. “I don’t think I can wait.”

“We’ll see.”

On the plane, she’s got a window seat, Haechan takes the middle seat, and the third seat in their row is left open for a stranger.  As soon as she’s settled with her personal item tucked beneath the seat in front of her, her seat belt latched across her lap, Haechan places his hand on her bare thigh. She wore shorts for their day of travel, loose athletic shorts that it’s easy for him to slide his fingers inside of. 

Not that he does that right now. 

Well, he stretches his pinky finger out and traces it along the edge of her shorts, which is enough to make her shiver. She turns her head to look out the plane window at the tarmac, and she presses her mouth into her palm. 

The flight fills in around them. Renjun and Jaehyun are in the row behind them with a sweet old lady who strikes up a conversation with the pair of them. Haechan waits to see who is going to fill in the seat beside him. 

But when the doors of the flight close, the seat remains empty. 

Perfect. 

He waits until they’re properly airborne, until the plane is filled with the dull murmur of conversations, the sharper sound of a baby crying a few rows ahead of them, and it’s then that he ramps the vibrator’s setting all the way up. 

She hisses and clutches at his arm, somehow both squirmy and rigid in her seat. Her eyes are closed, but she still has her head turned towards the window. 

It’s almost a seven hour flight from Seoul to Bali, Indonesia, and Haechan doesn’t intend to torture her with the vibrator for the entire seven hours. That might be a bit too much edging, honestly, but he thinks he can do it for a while, playing with her until she’s desperate for it. 

He rests his free hand on her thigh still, the other is preoccupied with his phone — his thumb sliding up and down to adjust the speed and intensity of his girlfriend’s vibrator. The thumb on his other hand strokes her thigh in a matching pattern. Goosebumps rise on her skin, and she squeezes her thighs together. 

She just wore a thin top today since the heat is going to be so thick once they arrive in Indonesia, and right now Haechan can see her nipples poking against the front of her shirt. She crosses her legs, trapping his hand there in the warmth between her thighs, and he’s sorely tempted to just throw caution to the wind and slide his fingers inside her shorts. Fuck the vibrator, he wants to finger her right here until she’s squirting around his fingers and he has to ask a flight attendant for some napkins. 

“Fuck off,” she whispers when he murmurs his thoughts into her ear. 

Haechan kisses her cheek, slides his fingers a little higher, and he draws his pinky finger along the center seam of her shorts. 

She shivers. 

Haechan grins, and again he whispers to her, asking, “Are you even wearing panties, angel? I swear I can already feel how wet you are.”

“I’m not,” she admits, and her voice gives an odd flutter when he draws his pinky finger in a circle over her clit. “I thought it would be easier if I wasn’t, so I stowed them in my purse when I went to the bathroom. I was hoping that after you got tired of toying with me, you’ll fuck me in the tiny airplane bathroom.”

God, Haechan is so in love with her. 

“I might take you in there,” he says. “Once I’ve had enough of this.” And then he drives the settings high again, watching the way her eyes flutter shut, the way her thighs clench around his hand, and she bites her bottom lip. He slowly lowers the setting until she relaxes again. 

Back and forth, again and again, wilderness with sudden sharp bursts of pleasure, sometimes he drops all the way to the lowest setting. And the whole time, Haechan is touching her — over her shorts, her thighs, holding her hand while she leans over with her head on his shoulder and her teeth scraping his bicep while she tries to keep quiet. 

Haechan is enchanted, endeared by her. 

Her teeth dig into his skin through his shirt as he lets the vibrator pass in a smooth rhythm between two different settings. Her fingernails draw marks into his forearm, and a small whimper manages to escape her as he lets her orgasm at last overtake her. 

She doesn’t say a word as she revels in the feeling, as he keeps his thumb on the screen of his phone, dropping her down to the lowest level and just letting it buzz to elongate her pleasure. She tucks her head into the crook of his neck, and Haechan can feel her breath damp against his skin as she shudders through a second weaker orgasm. 

“I love you,” she mumbles, “Give me, like, five minutes and you can drag me off to that tiny bathroom.”

Haechan laughs. He turns off the vibrator, and slides his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants. “We don’t have to. We still have hours left of this flight, baby. And a whole flight back home at the end of the week.”

She sighs a little, but she settles in against him, relaxing. Soon her breaths grow slow and steady, and Haechan realizes that she’s fallen asleep. 

The rest of the flight is quiet, uneventful, and even when she wakes from her nap a little while later, Haechan insists that they stay in their seats. 

“We don’t want to exert all of our energy now, do we?” He stretches his arms above his head and peeks back over his shoulder to see Renjun and Jaehyun, the latter asleep with his head on Renjun’s shoulder. “I have plans for us, angel. Lots of plans, and some are even ones that our friends definitely won’t approve of.”

Already they’ve made several plans as a group — paddle boarding to this lake just a short distance inland, parasailing, snorkeling, exploring historical structures, etc. — and Haechan has adapted some of his plans to account for those things. 

That answer seems good enough for her. 

The luxury villa is exactly as it was promised on the booking website. A gorgeous pool area with an abundance of lounge chairs and umbrellas, an outdoor jacuzzi, a covered patio with a fire pit and L-shaped sofa, a grilling area and outdoor bar. There are 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a state of the art kitchen, a small gym. The living room is equipped with large sofas, a massive TV with a sound system, and a pool table, air hockey table, dart board, foosball table, and a ping pong table. There’s wifi and TV, air conditioning, gorgeous views; the villa has everything they could want. 

As soon as YangYang pulls up to the villa in their rental car, there is a mad scramble to get inside and claim the best bedrooms. Each couple gets their own bedroom, their own bathroom. 

There is a main house and then two separate buildings, each one housing two bedrooms, although the main house holds the kitchen, the living room, and the gym. 

Xiaojun and his girlfriend claim one of the rooms in the main house on the basis that Xiaojun is going to be the one using the kitchen the most. Jeno and Jaemin take the second bedroom for the same reason — they’ll be using the kitchen and the gym often. 

YangYang and his girl, plus Mark and his girlfriend share one of the standalone houses, leaving Jaehyun, Renjun, Haechan, and his girlfriend in the other. 

“Don’t forget,” Renjun warns as the four of them step into their shared building. “Just keep the volume down.”

“Maybe we’ll be extra loud just to spite you,” she says quickly in reply.

Renjun opens his mouth to reply, but before he can, Haechan tugs on his girlfriend’s arm to draw her towards the stairs that lead up to their bedroom on the second floor. 

THe bedroom is just as beautiful as the rest of the villa. A wooden floor with soft rugs, a queen sized bed with a netted canopy that can be drawn back or cover the bed. There’s a nice bathroom with a waterfall shower. There’s a balcony that overlooks the beautiful forest view behind the villa as well as a nice view on the other side of the room of the pool area below. 

She slides up behind Haechan while he’s looking down at the pool. She hugs him from behind, her arms around his waist, her cheek against his shoulder. “We still have a few hours before we’re all leaving for dinner,” she says, “Do you want to shower with me? I’ll make good on that promise from earlier.”

Haechan watches Jeno reappear from the main house, taking a running leap before he plunges fully into the pool with a massive splash. Jaemin is close behind him, then Mark joins in too.

Later they’re all driving back into the little tourist town on the beach. They’re going to grab dinner and drinks at a restaurant that has great reviews. That’s hours from now. Plenty of time for him to enjoy his girlfriend the way that she deserves.

“You go in first,” Haechan tells her.

She wanders off, and he takes a few moments to draw the gauzy curtains over the windows looking down to the pool. He doesn’t want to share her with all of them, not now.

She’s already standing bare beneath the spray of the waterfall shower. The shower floor is made up of a few large tiles while the rest is filled in with pebbles. There’s a window overhead and another one that overlooks the forest.

Haechan strips and joins her. He pulls her against him, cradling her face in his hands, and he kisses her like he’s been deprived of her touch for weeks, as if it wasn’t just last night that he pinned her to the couch while they fought over the last bite of the last eggroll from their takeout dinner, and when she stuffed it into her mouth, he’d let her finish chewing it while he looked at her in shock, and then he’d kissed her. She’d teased him afterwards that it was gross that he wanted to kiss her just to get a taste of the eggroll, so he’d kissed her again and kept kissing her for quite a while.

But he can’t help how much he loves her.

He can’t help how often he wishes he was just like this with her: skin-to-skin with nothing in between, tasting her kiss, hearing her soft sounds of pleasure as he slides a hand down between her legs again.

He can’t help the way that his carnal desires take over, his need to be inside her driving him to press her up against that window looking out to the forest. He fits his cock inside her from behind, his hands on her hips as he fills her up again and again. He presses his fingertips between her lips to keep her mouth busy, and she sucks on his fingers like they’re his cock. 

Haechan cums, pulling out just in time to get her lower back, but that’s not enough for her. She only just barely spares a moment to shut off the water before she’s got her hands on his chest, propelling him backwards out of the shower, out of the bathroom, onto the bed. She sits right back on his cock, riding him with her hands on his thighs to steady herself. 

Her hair drips down her back and onto his skin, little cold drops that tickle as they roll across his skin. She looks like a siren, fresh from the sea with her skin and hair so wet, her body rolling on top of him, her head tipped back as she moans for him, sighing his name. Her breasts bounce distractingly on her chest, and Haechan is mesmerized, watching her use his cock to draw her own pleasure, her nipples are pulled into tight peaks, and he can’t help himself when he sits up and latches on to one of them.

She shudders, arching into the heat of his mouth. 

Haechan reaches around her, grabbing her ass, and he squeezes it. She rolls her hips a little faster, but it’s still not enough for him.

He wants to be deeper.

She gasps when he suddenly moves, turning them over so her back is on the bed and he’s above her. 

She’s not being quiet, and he’s not sure if that’s because of what she said to Renjun before they came up here, or if she’s just genuinely enjoying herself that much that she’s being so noisy. Either way, Haechan doesn’t really want to piss off their friends on their first night of the trip, so he leans in and kisses her to get her to quiet down a little.

It works a little bit, but once Haechan really starts moving, snapping his hips forward roughly to get as deep inside her as he can, her cries grow in volume again, even muffled by his mouth on hers. Haechan can tell that she’s getting close, and with each time that she clenches around him, each of her whining moans, he feels himself growing closer too. The knot in his belly draws tighter, and he loves the feeling of being so deep inside her, he really doesn’t want to pull out just to cum on her belly or thighs again. He wants to relish the feeling of his orgasm inside her.

“Can I cum inside?” He gasps the words out against her lips as he feels himself teetering on the brink.

She hesitates for a fraction of a second, but then she nods. “Yes. Inside me. Please, Haechan.”

She so rarely has let him cum inside her, and hasn’t let him do it in what feels like ages, so the feeling of it right now is overwhelming. And the way that she hits her peak at the same moment, just makes it all that much better.

Haechan does her the courtesy of at least pulling out and repositioning her, then he sinks down between her legs. She basically wraps her legs around his head as he cleans her up with his tongue and eats her out.

By the time they descend from their bedroom almost an hour later (after he brings her to orgasm twice more on his tongue and fingers, after they shower off again and get ready for their group dinner), Haechan’s lips feel a little bruised and he feels drunk off the taste of her, but he has a happy girlfriend at his side. 

Haechan wakes the next morning on a deflating pool float that’s halfway submerged on the steps into the pool. He doesn’t really remember how he got there, just that they’d all been drinking a lot of strong stuff at the bar, and then when they got back to the villa there was more drinking. 

He’s not the only one left out by the pool. Mark is asleep on two of the lounge chairs that have been pushed together. Xiaojun’s girlfriend is stretched out on the sofa by the firepit, a bluetooth speaker a few feet away from her still playing music.

Haechan, in his attempt to climb off the pool float, ends up tipping himself into the water, and the shock of the cool water closing over him is enough to fully wake him the rest of the way up, sobering him in an instant.

“Fuck! Shit! Damn it!” He curses as his head breaks the surface. Not that anyone hears him. Both Mark and Xiaojun’s girlfriend are still deep asleep as Haechan sloshes up the steps, splattering the concrete with his footsteps and soaking wet clothes. All the lights are off in the villas, and it’s then that Haechan realizes it’s still very early and it was probably only the deflating of his float letting in the cool water that woke him.

The sun isn’t all the way up yet, just coloring the clouds a pale orange color, and there is a surprising slight chill to the morning air. A short breeze prickles Haechan’s skin as he walks towards his building. 

The door to Renjun and Jaehyun’s bedroom is cracked open, and he can just barely catch a glimpse of their tangled bodies on top of the bedsheets. He climbs the stairs up to his bedroom quietly.

Haechan feels an odd sense of deja vu upon attempting to quietly open the bedroom door. A night so long ago when he cautiously opened a bedroom door, worried about waking the girl in his bed then. That night, he’d startled her awake. Or at least, he’d assumed he’d woken her, it was only all those months later when she finally confessed to him that she had not been asleep but had actually just finished touching herself.

This morning, she doesn’t even stir as he opens the door.

She’s diagonal on the bed, her head on Haechan’s pillow while her body crosses the rest of the mattress. She’s only wearing panties, all the sheets have been kicked to the end of the bed, and as Haechan notices the scattered hickeys on her thighs, a vague memory from last night returns: stumbling up the stairs with her, losing their balance and giggling as they sat down on the stairs, as Haechan untied the wrap dress that she’d worn out to dinner, as he parted her thighs and knelt there on the stairs to eat her out. 

Someone had come in downstairs while they were there on the stairs. Whether it was Renjun or Jaehyun, Haechan didn’t know, but he did finish her off on his tongue, and he’d still been leaving his mark on her thighs when the sound of a door opening downstairs sounded again. And that time they’d been caught, called out by Jaehyun. 

Haechan vaguely recalls laughing as he’d risen to his feet and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He remembers stumbling back down the stairs and throwing his arm around Jaehyun’s shoulders, asking him not to tell everyone that they’d been breaking the rules against having sex in public spaces of the house. He remembers in blurry bursts, dragging Jaehyun back out to the pool, pouring both of them a few shots, and then the rest of the night vanished.

Haechan doesn’t want to bother her, so he walks quietly across the room to the bathroom. His head is throbbing, so as he waits for the shower to reach a good temperature, he digs through his bag for something to help his headache. By the time he’s finished showering and brushing his teeth, he does feel a bit better, though there’s still a dull pressure behind his eyes.

Coffee is the perfect mend for that, and Haechan brews a cup with a small Keurig that’s sitting on the desk in the bedroom. 

He’s sitting out on the balcony of the bedroom, air-drying all his bits and enjoying the fresh coffee and the quiet sunrise, when the door of the balcony slides open again.

“There you are,” his girlfriend says. “You never came up to bed.”

She’s still only wearing her panties. All the rest of her is bare and exposed in the morning light. He can see the hickeys better now when the sunrise brushes against her thighs.

“I think I tried to drink away Jaehyun’s memory of finding us.” Haechan opens his arms, and she sinks down in his lap, taking the mug of coffee from him as she leans her back against his chest. “But I feel better now than I did earlier.”

She hums into the mug, keeping it cradled in her hands. 

For a few moments, they’re both quiet, enjoying the peaceful sunrise, the mist rising from the forest into the golden sky. 

“I like it here,” she shares, “Like, of all the places we’ve been, I think I like it here the best.”

“We’ve been here not even a full day, and for half of the time we’ve been drunk,” Haechan reminds her. “But I agree. It’s nice here like this.”

There aren’t many nice vacations he’s been on where he can sit on a second floor balcony and enjoy an unobstructed view of nature. Not to mention, he’s not ever been on a vacation where he can sit completely naked on the balcony without fear of someone being able to see him. Especially not with his gorgeous mostly-naked girlfriend sitting in his lap.

She leans forward and sits the coffee mug on the ground beside their feet. “Maybe we can come back here. In the future.”

Haechan smiles, an undeniable smile. He loves when she talks like this. Any time that she talks about the future and includes him within that.

“We can do that,” he promises. “For vacations in the future.”

Again, she leans back against him, her head tipped back on his shoulder. She sighs, “What are we doing today? Was today the day that they wanted to go parasailing? And didn’t you say that you’ve got some plans too for this trip?”

“Mm,” Haechan agrees. “I do have plans. Very different from the ones our friends have been making.”

He wonders if she can feel the way that his heart has begun to race.

“Can you tell me your plans?” She starts to sit up and twist around to face him, but Haechan just wraps his arms snug around her hips, pulling her back so her ass rests right above his dick. She laughs, “What are you doing?”

“You want to know my plans?” Haechan asks. “These are my plans. Just you and me, fucking like bunnies in a tropical location. Last time we went on a trip like this I was still stupid and blind, and I didn’t really get to appreciate you as much as I should have. This time, I don’t want to make the same mistake. I want to enjoy my time with you, angel.”

She makes a satisfied sound. “Last time… meaning when you watched all of our friends fuck around the entire trip?”

Haechan nods, tucking his head so he can start kissing her neck. 

“What about the rules? You were so worried about them yesterday.” Her voice is beginning to wane as Haechan softly kisses her neck, as one of his hands slips down to stroke along the band of her panties. 

Haechan grunts a small sound of denial. “Not worried anymore.”

Haechan knows that he’s beyond lucky to have her. For numerous, endless reasons, but one of the most important reasons is that she is just as insatiable as he is. Despite her having had, like, several orgasms within the last approximately twelve hours, when Haechan’s fingers dive beneath her panties, she whimpers like she needs it.

She squirms in his lap, against his swelling erection, panting and whining while Haechan kisses her throat and draws light circles on her clit with his fingers. His other hand, he lifts to her chest, palming at her tits.

This doesn’t really feel like it’s breaking any of the rules. They’re not really in a public space right now since no one can see them on this balcony. There’s no one to accidentally spot them as she gets his cock trapped between his belly and her ass, as she grinds on him until Haechan is cumming, his cum streaking down her ass as she keeps moving, as he strokes her clit with his fingers until she cums too, her pussy so wet and warm against his dick that Haechan almost pins her against the balcony’s edge to feel her around him.

But he doesn’t. 

They move on. She showers away the feel of last night while Haechan just quickly wipes himself down. They dress and head back to the main house for breakfast provided by Xiaojun and Jaemin. 

Everyone goes sightseeing that day. Most of them are recovering from last night’s hangovers, but plenty of water, electrolytes, and some really decent sunglasses help for the most part. Dinner that night is an extravagant affair put on by Xiaojun, Jaemin, Haechan, Mark’s girlfriend, and featuring bartending by YangYang.

Quickly, Haechan realizes that when his friends made the list of silly rules, they meant for it to apply just to Haechan and his girlfriend. None of them are following their own rules, and of course, most of them have had direct experiences with Haechan’s voyeurism and/or his girlfriend’s exhibitionist tastes, so that’s why they’d laid down those rules.

But on the third night while he’s lounging in the pool while his girlfriend is over drinking by the firepit with Renjun, Jaehyun, and Mark, Haechan looks up at the main house, and catches a glimpse through the windows of the second floor of Xiaojun and his girlfriend fucking against the window. She’s blindfolded with Xiaojun’s hand possibly around her throat while he takes her from behind, her tits are pressed to the window.

It says a great deal about how being in this relationship has changed Haechan that, instead of staying and watching them, he turns away from the window. He plunges through the water until he reaches the edge of the pool closest to the fire pit, and he pulls himself out of the water.

He doesn’t want to watch Xiaojun and his girlfriend. He doesn’t care to watch them. Instead, his mind has immediately taken the scenario and flipped it around in his imagination so he’s the one up there, fucking his own girlfriend against the window, whispering in her ear that their friends are down in the pool and can see her being a perfect whore for him.

And the next morning, bright and early, Haechan and her leave their bedroom to go take a walk around the neighborhood of the villa. It’s a nice, quiet walk. They hold hands and enjoy the sunrise, and Haechan tells her about his self-discovery from the night before; how he’s not so sure that he’s into voyeurism anymore, how he feels that being in this relationship with her has reformed him from his perverted ways.

“Well, most of them,” he laughs, “I think I just adapted my form of perversion into yours. I still want to fuck you in public places. I want you all to myself, but I don’t think I care if people can see.”

That makes her laugh too. “I think we must’ve rubbed off on each other, then, because honestly, I still very much am into exhibitionism, but I also want to watch other people. Specifically, on this trip. Like, I thought for sure everyone would be breaking the rules. You’ve seen almost all of our friends on this trip having sex, and I feel like I’m at a disadvantage.”

Haechan has shown her before all of the videos he had in his phone – the one of Jeno and Jaemin, the stolen clips from Renjun’s phone – but she wants some of her own memories of watching. He can understand that.

As luck would have it, it’s still early when they return to the villa. The main house is silent, the pool is empty, but when they reach their building, when they step through the front door, the first thing they’re greeted with is the sight of the ground floor bedroom’s door wide open. Renjun’s bare back, pale in the light coming through the windows, stands out in contrast to the dark headboard of the bed. He’s riding Jaehyun, breathy moans pouring from both of them, not even trying to be quiet, which either means they were hoping to be caught, or they really thought that Haechan and his girlfriend were going to be gone for longer.

She’s giddy about finally catching someone, and she lingers in the doorway, watching their two friends in a way that brings to life a tendril of lust in his belly. She’s a pervert.

Haechan sits on the stairs, watching her peer around the doorway, her lips parted as eyes follow Renjun riding his boyfriend. He looks at her and he sees two images of her overlaid. He sees the angelic perception he had of her for so long, and he sees her the way he sees her now. Two very different perceptions, but exactly the same woman.

She giggles about it for a while once he takes her hand and drags her upstairs to their bedroom. Even through the floor, they can hear some of the boyfriends downstairs moaning.

“What’s so funny?” Haechan asks.

“I never got to see them together,” she explains, still smiling, “Jaehyun saw or heard every time that Renjun and I were together except the very first time during the movie. You showed me those videos you stole, but that’s not the same. It’s only fair that I got to watch them. Also, Jaehyun is a damn hypocrite. He used to make fun of me when I didn’t want to put in the work, but he was just letting Renjun do all the work down there.”

Haechan nods. “Did you like it, though? Did you like watching, angel?”

She shrugs. “I’m not going to go out of my way to look for it, but, yeah, if they’re gonna have sex right there in plain view, I’ll watch.” 

It must be something in the air, or perhaps it's the aphrodisiacal wine and foods that they’ve been eating, or maybe they all just snap and are filled with a flood of horniness, but that day everyone seems to be in a mood. It’s not like there’s a massive orgy or anything like that, although Haechan probably wouldn’t mind too much if that broke out right in front of him, but after spotting Xiaojun and his girlfriend the previous night, after witnessing Renjun and Jaehyun that morning, Haechan sees Mark getting a little too handsy while he helps his girlfriend apply sunscreen before they all head out for the day. 

They all go paddleboarding together. And Haechan’s girlfriend points out to him the way that YangYang and his girl are canoodling on the paddleboard that they’re sharing. YangYang is pressed up against her back, his arms around her as he helps her paddle, both of them whispering and laughing, and Haechan sees YangYang’s hands begin to wander. Haechan makes sure to show his girlfriend when he notices the way that YangYang’s board begins to lag behind where everyone else is paddling, when his girl is suddenly on her hands and knees.

“Look,” Haechan murmurs to his girlfriend. “There’s another fun little glimpse for you. So much for not having sex in public spaces. Wasn’t it him that came up with that rule?”

But YangYang is definitely fucking his girl doggy style on the paddle board. 

And maybe a little while later, when all of their friends are distracted, Haechan does the same with his girlfriend, fucking her from behind, her pretty ass bouncing with each thrust, the paddleboard wobbling so unsteadily. He knows that someone has to have spotted them, but for once no one calls them out, nor does anyone say anything when Haechan holds his girlfriend on his lap later as they’re driving back to the villa.

No one says anything as they all spend the rest of that day in the pool at their villa, sunbathing and playing around, Haechan unable to keep his hands off of her. To be fair, most of the couples can’t keep their hands to themselves, but when some of their friends are disappearing inside or curling up on the lounge chairs beneath umbrellas, Haechan and his girlfriend are stretched out on the sofa on the covered patio.

He’s been tickling her, her giggles echoing out from the patio, his fingers tugging at strings tying her bikini in place, his lips tracing her tanlines, tasting the saltwater from the sea earlier.

Right now, they’re not even trying to hide it. 

Her bikini falls away, leaving her bare but for the dappled sunlight that stripes over her skin through the latticed ceiling above them. 

“What if they see?” She asks, but she makes no attempt to cover herself up. She actually stretches her arms above her head, exposing herself a little bit more. 

“When has that ever stopped you before?” Haechan replies. “What happened to the girl that let some stranger eat her out in a library? The one that fucked Renjun in her car on campus, who fingered herself in the office?”

She lifts her chin, a daring gleam in her eyes. “She’s still right here. But she’s also aware of her boyfriend’s jealousies, his dislike of actually sharing her with anyone else.”

“They can look,” he says with a shrug, “But they can’t touch.”

He slides a hand from her hip to her chest, all along the curve of her body. She makes a soft, pleased sound. 

“And besides, angel,” Haechan says, “Anyone who sees us together knows that you’re mine. All mine. So let them watch me lay claim to you, let them see the way that you call yourself mine.”

Haechan sinks down, brushing his lips over her throat, down her sternum to her heart. He kisses her there, letting the heat of his mouth linger while his hands slip down to her thighs, pulling them up around his waist. 

“You’re so cocky, Haechan,” she accuses, “You make it sound like your dick is so good that I just beg you for more and more, that I can’t get enough.”

Haechan snorts, laughing even as he presses against her. “But you do, don’t you, baby? You can’t get enough of me, just as I can’t get enough of you. I don’t care who sees us, just as long as they can see how much we mean to each other.”

She lifts her arms from above her head up to drape them around his shoulders. “Are you gonna talk romance to me when we’re about to have sex out here? Gonna wax poetic about how much you love me, Hyuck? You should be begging me again to cum inside me, to mark me up. You should call me names. But don’t get sweet and soft when we’re having sex in public.” 

“I’ll do what I want, pretty whore. I’ll give you something so everyone knows you’re mine,” Haechan growls, and with that, he thrusts himself into her. 

He doesn’t take it easy. Doesn’t go soft or slow on her. 

Haechan takes what he wants, and she keeps moaning, a low chant of “yes yes yes” as her tots bounce with each of Haechan’s deep thrusts, her hands grasping above her head again for anything to grab onto. She bites her bottom lip, trying to at least keep her volume a little low so it doesn’t carry across the pool to where Renjun and Jaehyun are curled together on a large square lounger. 

He reaches for her chin, his thumb dragging beneath her bottom lip. “What are you being so quiet for, huh? Don’t you want all of them to know what we’re doing? Let them know who’s making you feel good, baby?” 

She does moan a little louder, her mouth falls open, and just the sound of her raised moans, her hisses of, “Fuck, harder, baby,” and “God, more! More, Haechan, more, more!” drives Haechan on. 

Each snap forward of his hips makes her tits jiggle, brings another guttural sound of pleasure from her pretty lips. 

“Ah, yes!” She whimpers when Haechan slides his hands down under her ass, lifting her and switching up the angle just enough that he’s hitting that spot inside her now with each thrust, and it’s only a moment later that she’s cumming around him. Haechan brings one of his hands around to her clit, the other up to her throat just to close his hand around it briefly, lightly. 

She writhes with ecstasy, her body arching, still working her hips to get the most out of his cock and the contact with his fingers.

Haechan doesn’t let up. He’s still fucking into his gorgeous girlfriend, still stimulating her clit, though he does remove his hand from her throat as soon as she taps at his arm. Then he moves to her tits, beautiful and perfect in the sunlight. 

She grows tighter around him when he pinches one of her nipples, and he swears he feels a gush of wetness when he tugs on the same nipple. She’s so reactive to him, grinding herself on his cock with a loud moan that Haechan is certain must carry across the pool, and she arches into the hand on her chest, her hands grip tight to a throw pillow over her head. 

He folds himself over her, his lips closing over her unattended nipple, flicking his tongue over the sensitive peak. She shudders again beneath him, waves of pleasure tearing through her as her pussy pulses around his cock. 

Haechan pulls out of her, pulling completely away more suddenly than he’s sure either of them would really like. 

She’s lying there, panting, damp with sweat and his saliva on her one breast. Her nipples both look swollen from his stimulation. She sits up, reaching for him, not done with him yet. And he’s nowhere near done with her either. 

“Up, baby,” Haechan commands, grabbing one of her hands and pulling. 

She stands up quickly on legs that shake a little, and Haechan quickly fills her place, his back on this outdoor sofa. 

Haechan watches her for a moment, watches how she glances around the pool area now that she’s standing. He notices the way that her gaze pauses in a few spots, landing on their friends. Haechan looks too, and all he can see from here is Renjun and Jaehyun still apparently napping. 

He tugs at her hand. “Come on. Come sit on me, baby. Need you to ride me.”

She straddles him, leaning down over him and bracing one hand on his chest as she sinks down on his cock tantalizingly slow. Haechan has to fight the urge to just thrust up into her invitingly warm and wet entrance as she just hovers above him. 

She smirks down at him, her fingernails dragging lightly over his chest. “My turn to be in charge?” She teases, “You gonna submit to me now, baby?”

Haechan snorts. Rarely in their relationship has he given her the reins, let her take control, but if that’s what she wants right now, sure. She can play at being in charge for now. 

He nods. 

“Good boy,” she hums. And then she finally drops her hips, and Haechan lets out an involuntary moan as her tight pussy swallows his length up. Her hand on his chest drifts over to one side, thumbing over his nipple in a way that sends a jolt down to his cock. 

She looks so pleased with herself there on top of him as she settles down with his cock buried all the way inside her. She looks so satisfied as she can take it how she wants it, teasingly slow as she lifts herself up and then back down, as she grinds down on him, as she plays with her clit in the same slow circles as she draws around one of Haechan’s nipples. 

She rides him like that, and Haechan is just in awe of her. 

She cums again like that, squirting a bit on his belly, making quite a mess, honestly, but Haechan likes it.

He slides his fingers through the wet mess, and he presses his fingers through his own lips, sucking the taste of her off. 

She digs her nails into his chest again, and she slumps over him. “Fuck, I’m tired.”

“Not yet, baby,” he pulls his fingers out of his mouth to reach around and pat her ass. “I’m not finished yet. Why don’t you turn around? I want to watch you, and why don’t you watch our friends, see if any of them are looking.”

Because surely some of them have noticed. They’ve been making enough noise that Haechan would be shocked if no one had noticed.

“Can you keep going, baby?” He asks. Because if she’s too tired to be on top, too tired to keep going, he’ll figure it out.

“I got this, thanks,” she says with a smile, patting Haechan on the chest. 

She climbs off of him, standing there bare in the dazzling sunlight for a moment as she turns around, and then she sits over Haechan him again, her back to him. 

She laughs, and that is an unexpected sound in the moment as she’s sinking down on his cock, but she turns her head to take a peek at him over her shoulder, and she says, “Jaehyun and Renjun are looking.”

“Keep going. Let them watch, if that’s what you want, angel.” But it’s what Haechan wants too, so when she starts moving, Haechan is glad. The thought of being watched is working for him, a lot more of a turn on than Haechan had thought it really would be. To know that they’re being watched, that other people (who he knows hold no foul intentions towards them) can see her feeling so good while she rides him.

It only makes matters worse (or better, depending on the angle), that she’s keeping up a narration while she fucks herself on Haechan’s cock, telling him all about what she sees across the pool.

She tells him about how Jaehyun is curled around Renjun from behind, both of them are watching her, and Jaehyun is whispering to Renjun. Renjun’s tiny shorts are riding up and exposing his thighs, Jaehyun has his hand down the front of them. She keeps going, and the combination of voyeurism and exhibitionism is too much for him.

He drags her off his cock, drags her back up his torso until she’s hovering above his face and he presses at her thighs and hips to get her to sit down. This is something he’s been thinking about since the first time she did it – when she rode his face on the sofa in his apartment with YangYang – and he’s been wanting to have it happen again. This seems like the perfect moment, and she seems to agree, judging by the sounds she starts making as soon as Haechan dives in hungrily. 

She doesn’t forget about him. She reaches down and jerks Haechan off with both hands. That, combined with the awareness they’re being watched and the exhilaration of her sitting on his face, carry Haechan at last over the edge, and he cums across his belly.

Haechan just lies there, and she does all the rest, riding his face like he’s just a toy for her to hump. She lowers herself over him, and Haechan nearly nuts again as he feels her licking across his belly, licking at the tip of his cock, cleaning his cum off of his skin. He gets back into it, eating her out until she’s trembling on top of him, cumming again, and this time she pulls away, rolling off of him.

“Now, I’m done,” she pants, leaning in to kiss Haechan once. He wants to hold her there, to kiss her until her lips are glossy too with her wetness like he knows his are. But he lets her withdraw. He watches as she reaches for an abandoned towel on a nearby cushion, and she wraps it around herself.

When he sits up a second later, Haechan looks across the pool, over to the square lounger where Jaehyun and Renjun are. 

But it’s empty.

Haechan frowns, and beside him, his girlfriend laughs. “They weren’t really watching. I made it up. Actually, as far as I can see, none of them are out here anymore.”

“Think we scared them off?” Haechan reaches down for his swim trunks, pulling them back up. 

“Mm, maybe.” She picks up her bikini, wadding the small pieces of fabric up in her hands. “I’m going to shower. You can come too, but just know that there’s not going to be any funny business. I need a good snack and a nap now.”

Haechan doesn’t really feel like moving. This could be just as good of a nap spot right here in the warm sunlight.

“Come on!” She reaches down, tugging at one of his hands. “If you don’t come take a nap with me, what am I gonna do? I’m gonna have to get in your bag and steal one of your shirts. You know I sleep best when I’m with you.”

That gets him moving, trailing along behind her. “No need to go digging for one of my shirts. I’m right here. Perfectly good for napping with.”

Truly, Haechan wonders, how did he get to be so lucky? 

The next night, they’re all seated on the outdoor sofa or in lounge chairs that they’ve drawn up around the firepit. There’s beer and some traditional Indonesian alcohol that some of the guys bought when they were in town earlier. They have three more nights and two full days left in their trip, and Haechan can feel the clock counting down.

Someone brought up in conversation their friends that didn’t come along on this trip – the younger ones, some of which are still in school; Chenle, who is just too busy running his shop to take a week off; and Shotaro and his girlfriend, who are pretty much living together in Japan, and never want to make the trip to come see all of their old friends.

“Oh, shit, that reminds me,” YangYang says then, “Did you see what they posted yesterday on Instagram? Shotaro finally proposed!”

Tucked into his side, Haechan’s girlfriend laughs.

“What?” He looks down at her. 

She shakes her head as if she’s not going to speak, but then she says, “Remember when you had a crush on her? When you threw your tantrum on our first big camping trip as a group?”

Haechan feels his face grow a bit warm as the others all turn to look at them upon hearing her words. “It wasn’t a crush.”

“But it was a tantrum,” Renjun says. 

Haechan draws his arm around her shoulders a little tighter. “I got over it quickly, though. There were no hard feelings after that night. I’m happy for them. Our innocent Shotaro needed someone to show him the ropes of romance, and she was always protective of him.”

“And much like someone else, it took her a long time to realize her feelings for him,” comes the quiet comment from Haechan’s side again. He looks down at his girlfriend. She smiles.

“YangYang, let me see the post!” Mark’s girlfriend demands, clambering over Mark’s lap to reach for YangYang’s phone. “I wanna see the ring!” 

Xiaojun shifts in his seat, glancing at his girlfriend before he looks back around the firepit at all of them. “He’s the first one of us to take that step. When do you think they’re going to get married?”

“Who do you think is gonna be next?” Jeno asks, sweeping a look around at each of the couples gathered here on this trip. “Jaem and I have been together the longest, but…”

“I’m not marrying you,” Jaemin groans from across the fire. “We don’t need to go through all that trouble. And even if we do get married, none of you are invited. Just us two, a quiet little ceremony, and then we’re gonna fuck off on a month-long honeymoon.” 

“If not us, then who?” Jeno asks, still gazing over at Jaemin. The way that they look at each other from across the fire is nauseatingly cute. 

Haechan thinks he might puke.

“After us, you two have been together the longest, right?” Jeno asks Mark and his girlfriend.

“Actually,” Renjun clears his throat, “It’s us.”

Jaehyun doesn’t say a word, just watching Renjun as he says, “It’s been complicated, but we’ve been together since, what, my third year of university? When I started the internship.” 

Jaehyun nods silently, then says, “But we couldn’t make it official in case the company found out. You’d have been let go from the internship, I’d have been at risk of firing or demotion. It was definitely… complicated.” His eyes flick over in Haechan and his girlfriend’s direction, and Haechan again draws his arm a little tighter around his girlfriend.

“But we’re waiting to get engaged, anyway,” Renjun says definitively. “Jaehyun is taking me on a trip to Santorini next year that he promised me years ago, and if he doesn’t propose on that trip, I’m breaking up with him.”

Jaehyun wrinkles his nose, looping his arm around Renjun’s chest, and he drags him to lie back against him. “Damn, I was hoping you were going to be the one proposing. I remember you being the one promising me a trip to Greece.”

The conversations all around them turn to the length of their relationships, dream proposals, talks of Shotaro’s future wedding. Conversations drift and twist away, winding down different paths of topic, but Haechan isn’t paying any attention to that. He’s still stuck on thoughts of his own future. 

He’s so deep in thought, that he doesn’t realize everyone else has left the fire until his girlfriend pokes his cheek with her finger. “Donghyuck?”

“Hmm?” He feels like he’s coming out of a daze. He blinks against the glow of the fire still burning in the firepit, and he looks down at her.

Her eyes are big, starry as the night around them when she says, “Do you remember a few months back? You saw a suit in a shop window and asked me about, like, the future? Marriage, kids, a family?”

She’d been quiet all through the discussion of proposals, and now Haechan finds his stomach tying itself in nervous knots. 

“I don’t think…” She pauses, and again, Haechan’s heart is thundering in his chest.

What if she tells him that she doesn’t actually want any of that? Haechan wants all of that so much that he can’t imagine his future without a marriage, kids, a family. 

She leans in, resting her head on his chest. “I don’t think I was very clear back then about what I want. Mostly because, you know, you’re never really sure of what you want until it’s right there in front of you. Which, I’m sure you definitely get that, like, it took you forever to realize that I was right here, in love with you. But, um, you were asking your questions very hypothetically back then, and I’ve done a lot of thinking since then about what I want.”

Haechan doesn’t like this type of conversation. It has a lump in his throat, a weight in his chest that has nothing to do with her head leaning on him. It has everything to do with the look he’d seen in her eyes on that day months ago. That had been before everything. Before she met his family, before their fight, before he realized that being apart from her left him feeling hollow. He’d seen the look in her eyes that day when he was standing there talking about wanting to get married and wanting to be a dad, and all he’d seen when he looked into her eyes was fear and uncertainty. 

She’d answered his questions that day in a way that left him feeling like he stood on unstable ground, like everything might just crumble away. He’d told her, in an effort to erase that scared look in her eyes, to reassure her, that he was just putting the thought out there, trying to gauge her reaction.

But then there was the morning after their fight, when he went to apologize and mimed a proposal when he sank to one knee. She’d looked panicked then.

What if she genuinely didn’t want a wedding?

“Haechan?”

Her voice sounds a long way off, and it’s not until she places one hand on his chest, the other lightly brushing his cheek, that Haechan realizes he’s holding his breath.

“Donghyuck, relax.” She strokes his cheek tenderly. “Relax, I’m trying to tell you that I do want that. Relax, okay?” She laughs at the way that Haechan lets out a relieved breath. 

And he does feel relieved. That odd weight in his chest, the sick feeling in his belly, and the knot in his throat all fade away. 

“You want me to ask you to marry me?” He closes his eyes. “Because I’ve really been hoping since that day that I was just imagining the way you seemed reluctant.”

“No,” she draws her thumb along his bottom lip. “I was never reluctant about wanting to be with you. Honestly, I think about marrying you all the time. Even in ridiculous moments, I’ll look at you and think ‘This guy. This is the one.’ I’ve always wanted you. That was never the question.”

The happiness sweeping through Haechan dampens slightly as he realizes what she isn’t saying. While she wasn’t reluctant that day about Haechan’s thoughts on marriage, there was something she’d been hesitant about. 

Kids. Children. Babies.

One of the big things that Haechan wants in life: to be a parent.

“You don’t want kids.” Haechan says it, not as a question but as a statement.

She looks at him straight on. “I didn’t say that.”

“But you don’t, do you?” Haechan can hear his voice shake, and he hopes that she doesn’t notice.

She closes her eyes. “I know that it’s important to you. You like kids. You want to be a dad, to raise a kid in a loving household with a whole family, full of love.”

“You don’t?” Haechan can feel that lump, that nausea, that heavy weight in his chest again. 

Her eyes flash open. “I want you, Lee Donghyuck. Always. Everything else can wait.” She moves her hands from his face and chest, reaching for his hands to wrap them tightly, pressing his hands between her palms. 

Haechan shakes his head. “It can’t wait, though. I’m not saying it’s a deal breaker if you don’t want kids, because it’s not. I love you, and I –” He has to take a moment to compose himself, to take a deep breath and search for the right words before he starts again, saying, “I just think that what I want and what you want might not align on this particular thing. So, if kids aren’t something that you want, if you don’t want to be a parent, it would be better for me to know that now than in five, ten years when I’m still holding onto the hope of something that you’ve let go of a long time ago.”

He loves her. 

He wants to marry her.

If she doesn’t want kids, that’s not going to change the fact that he wants forever with her. He’s not going to force that on her. But he would like to know now so he can stop imagining sweet little babies with his chubby cheeks and her eyes.

“I don’t know!” Her voice breaks on a quiet cry. “I don’t know what I want, Haechan.”

And there are tears glistening in her eyelashes, capturing the firelight within the tiny globes. She squeezes his hands, and Haechan squeezes back.

“Talk to me,” he says, “Just talk to me.”

So she does.

He doesn’t know where it all comes from, but she presses her face to his chest, and she just starts talking. She talks and he listens, and it goes on for a while, maybe hours, but still he listens while the love of his life tells him her reasons for her uncertainty, while she tells him that it’s not the idea of being a parent that she finds offputting, but the idea of motherhood in the traditional sense – the sense of sharing your body with another life, which is both magical and terrifying to her; the complications and horrors she’s heard about pregnancy and birth; the way that sometimes it doesn’t feel right to her to bring a new life into this world when there is already so much fucked up shit happening in the world, so many children without families, families that can’t afford to take care of their children.

Haechan listens to it all, and he takes it all in. 

And he gets it.

He gets it as much as he feels like any man that hasn’t had to experience the traumas of being born a woman might understand the situation. He’s never had to think about things from the perspective that she presented him tonight. The Othering of her body through pregnancy and childbirth, the changes that she would have to deal with mentally and physically, all of the things that maybe wouldn’t directly affect him if she were to have children with him, but they might affect her for years or the rest of her life.

He gets it.

Haechan holds her as the fire dies, as her tears dry on his shirt, as the night grows deeper around them. 

The clock is counting down to the end of their trip. Another day and another night have passed, and Haechan doesn’t want to go home. He doesn’t want this to end. He wants to spend forever in paradise. 

Because that is what this is. Paradise. 

It’s perfect here, just like he knew it would be.

Tonight, he just can’t sleep.

He lies awake in bed beside his girlfriend, tossing and turning while she sleeps peacefully. And he watches a clock on the bedside table count down the moments until the break of dawn. And when he can’t take it any longer he reaches over and shakes her shoulder.

“Hm?” She turns her head towards him, but he knows she’s not really awake, so he whispers her name, gently touching her shoulder again. This time her eyes flutter open, and she mumbles, “What?”

“Wake up.” Haechan keeps his voice soft. 

“No,” she whines, trying to hide her face back in her pillow. 

“Come on,” Haechan wheedles, “Just wake up for me, baby.”

Again, she whines, then asks, “What? Why?”

“I can’t sleep,” Haechan admits truthfully. “Why don’t we steal the rental car, drive to the beach, and catch the sunrise over the ocean?”

She sighs, and he can tell that she’s actually awake now. “Or we could just stay in bed and sleep until a decent hour.”

“You’re the one that told me you want to take a romantic trip with me,” Haechan says, “And when I try to be romantic, you just want to stay in bed.” She sighs into the pillow again, but it sounds like a more agreeable sigh than the first one, so Haechan tells her, “If we leave now, we can make it in time.”

“Fine.” She pushes herself up. “But it better be the best sunrise ever to make it worth getting up this early.”

Haechan agrees.

She disappears to the bathroom, and Haechan gets ready quickly, getting dressed and makes sure that he’s got everything he needs in his crossbody bag he’s been bringing almost everywhere with him on this trip – sunglasses, a mask, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, chapstick, extra hair ties for her. He stole the keys to the rental car from YangYang last night, and those are tucked safely in the bag too.

“Ready?” He asks, when she emerges from the bathroom.

She insists on changing out of her pajamas, so Haechan patiently waits on the edge of the bed, watching her put on a bikini (“If we’re going to the beach anyway, we might as well get in the water, right?”) and a hoodie (“I just feel like there might be a little bit of a chill, especially by the water.”) and a pair of leggings. He watches as she starts braiding her hair into two tight french braids, and his patience is growing thinner. 

Already, he swears that the sky is getting lighter outside.

Finally, she’s ready, and Haechan takes her hand and walks quickly out of their bedroom.

They’re halfway down the stairs when a shadow emerges from the bedroom on the ground floor. Renjun.

“Oh, what are you two doing up?” Renjun asks in a whisper, glancing back over his shoulder into his bedroom.

“Haechan wants to go watch the sunrise,” his girlfriend answers as she steps around Haechan where he’s stopped on the steps. “He woke me up because he couldn’t sleep.”

Renjun looks up at Haechan. “I can’t sleep either. Mind if I come too?”

Haechan would usually say no, that he wants this to just be him and his girlfriend for the romantic experience that he sold it to her as. But Haechan says yes.

The three of them sneak quietly into the main house, steal a few snacks and drinks for breakfast on-the-go, and then they’re out the front door, into the rental car, and driving away.

Renjun babbles in the backseat, and Haechan lets Renjun fill the silence. His girlfriend dozes off in the passenger seat with Haechan holding her hand as he navigates the dark roads to the beach half an hour away. Eventually, Haechan tunes Renjun out, and all he’s aware of is the feel of the steering wheel in his hand, his girlfriend’s hand in the other, and the sky growing lighter by gradual degrees.

They reach the beach half an hour later, and the sky is still a deep blue with just a slight edge of lighter color on the horizon. They haven’t missed it.

Together, the three of them take a brief hike from the lot where they leave the car, down through dirt paths. The sounds of insects and small creatures waking surround them, not to mention the rush of the ocean so nearby, the sound of which makes Haechan want to walk faster, but his girlfriend and Renjun are both treating this as a leisurely stroll through nature.

After about an eternal five minute long walk, the path opens up around them, and Haechan’s sandals fill with sand, a sea breeze and a large wave crashing against the shore spray them all with a fine mist of salt. 

Perfect.

The sky is just fading from deep blue to a burnt orange with a thin line of gold right above the distant dark horizon. 

“Damn, this is romantic,” Renjun says as they all walk a little closer to the edge of the sea. “Act like I’m not even here.”

Haechan is all too happy to let that happen. 

Beside him, she clings onto his hand, clutching at his arm and tucking herself in close to him. Her cheek rests against his shoulder, and Haechan is reminded very suddenly of the night he realized he was in love with her. A cool night before they ever started dating, as he walked her to the bus stop, as she clung to his arm, and he fell in love. 

Clouds drift slowly in the sky, and as the sun rises closer to the horizon, the colors begin to change, the deep orange and golden yellow turn red and pink, purple and sweet orange like the inside of a nectarine. The clouds are lined in gold and pearly pink. And the sea reflects those colors, cut through with the likes of the waves, the frothy crescents of gold as the top curve of the sun finally breaks above the sea. 

“This is worth it,” she whispers against Haechan’s shoulder. “Definitely worth waking up early for.”

He smiles and presses a kiss to the top of her head. 

And then finally there is the sun, spiking molten gold through the sky, rays arcing between the clouds, mixing the colors into brighter and better shades. It’s only a matter of minutes before the beauty of the sunrise will fade into just a pretty blue morning. 

Haechan’s heart catches in his throat. 

Behind them, Renjun speaks, and really for a few moments, Haechan had forgotten their best friend was there too. Renjun says, “This is insanely pretty. I should take a picture.”

“Oh,” she says softly beside him, and he feels her untangling herself from his arm, drawing away. “I want a picture too.”

She steps away, pulling her phone from her hoodie pocket, aiming it out at the sea, and Haechan watches the light of the sunrise on her face — all pinks and golds and oranges. 

Haechan reaches into his crossbody bag, and he glances back at Renjun, his phone aimed towards the sea and the glamorous sunrise. 

And Haechan does something he’s been thinking about for a long time. 

He says his girlfriend’s name as he feels his heart pounding like it’s about to race right out of his chest and into the sea, like it’s on fire and needs the sea to put it out, as Haechan sinks down on one knee and pulls out the tiny ring box he’d stowed in the bag earlier that morning while she was in the bathroom, the one he’s been hiding in his suitcase all week, the one that he bought the day after they moved in together, first thing the next morning after he asked her dad for his blessing in the living room of their new apartment while she was in the next room. 

Haechan sinks into the sand on one knee, and he holds up the ring box, the ring inside of it glimmering in  the sunrise as his perfect, beautiful, angel of a girlfriend turns at the sound of her name. 

For a moment, she looks confused, and then it registers. 

His pose. The ring. The look in his eyes and the hopeful smile on his face. 

And Haechan speaks, though he has to force the words out around his heart in his throat. 

“I used to think that loving someone as much as I love you was impossible. But every day I love you more than the day before. I love you, and I want to spend forever loving you, my angel. Will you marry me?”

Haechan expects an answer. Either a yes or a no. It’s not too much to expect right? A verbal confirmation or denial to the marriage he’s just proposed to his girlfriend, the love of his life.

Slowly, her hands come up to cover her mouth, the sunrise haloes her with gold, and she looks more like an angel now than ever before, and Haechan thinks he might pass out if she keeps him waiting any longer.

He opens his mouth, saying just, “If you d—”

It’s lucky the ground is such soft sand because she tackles him into it, and it’s just pure luck that Haechan’s fingers close on the box, snapping the lid of it shut so when it slips out of his hand, he doesn’t lose the ring in the sand. Not that he’s truly thinking about that in the moment. He’s far too preoccupied with the armful of his girlfriend as she kisses him, as she murmurs “yes yes yes” between kisses, her hands in his hair, grains of salt and sand and strands of hair between their lips, and Haechan doesn’t care about anything else more than the heat of her against him, and her promises of “yes, I’ll marry you” repeated again and again. 

Eventually, after a long, long time, they remember Renjun. 

He’s not standing anywhere near them, but has drifted down along the beach, minding his own business and ignoring the happy, entangled couple in the sand. The sun has risen high enough now that it’s fully cleared the horizon, and the magic of the sunrise feels like it’s settled into their bones instead. 

Haechan doesn’t want to let go of her, doesn’t want to get up. 

He feels light and good. Gone is the anxious weight he’s kept buried all week, the one that resurfaced the other night when their friends mentioned engagements while he had an engagement ring hidden in his bedroom fifty feet away, the feeling that had been plaguing him all night, the countdown towards this moment right here. 

It wasn’t an impromptu sunrise beach trip. He’d planned it ahead with Renjun, the only one of their friends on this trip he’d entrusted with this. That’s why Renjun had set an alarm to be awake early, to come along with them, to act as a photographer or videographer to this moment. 

God, he’s so grateful he did it. Even more grateful that she said yes. 

“You know, the other night, I panicked a bit when I thought you were going to tell me you didn’t ever want to get married.” Haechan admits when they sit up, though he’s still holding her in his lap. “I was panicking about what to do with the ring if you didn’t want it.”

She places a hand on his cheek and draws him in for another kiss. A brief one because she then pauses, frozen as she asks, “Where is the ring?”

Haechan searches the sand around them, and quickly, he locates the smooth shine of it among the sand as Renjun drifts back towards them. 

“So you’re saying yes, right?” Haechan checks with her as he frees the ring from its soft little cushion. “You’ll marry me?”

“Yes,” she repeats, and he can hear emotion bubbling in her voice. A glimmer in her eye shows that tears may be building as well. “Yes, I’m saying yes, I’ll marry you.”

Haechan kisses her as he slides the ring onto her finger. 

“I love you,” he promises her, “Always. I’ll be always yours.”

THE END.

previous chapter || Completed YIMA index

a/n: The end!! This has been a long, long work in progress, and the fact that it's finally over is gonna be hard on all of us, I'm sure. I've had a lot of fun with writing this fic, even if there were some scenes that I had initially planned on that never made it into the final cut. This fic has truly been a Haechan love story, about a boy falling in love with the girl that's been there in front of him this whole time. I've been thinking of this fic all along, since the pretty early stages of it, as "She fell first, but he fell harder," because once Haechan realizes his feelings, it's over for him; she's it for him, and he knows that very early on in their relationship. But he's had plans for a long time regarding his future with her, and he has almost always been in her dream plans for her future. So they get a happy ending! A happily ever after!!

Like I already said, I had a lot of fun writing this, posting this, and hearing from all of you wonderful readers! Thank you so much for reading and coming along on this slowburn of a journey with me, Haechan, and Y/N! m

[sa7abnews]

My husband works abroad for 2 weeks each month while I watch the kids. The arrangement has strengthened our marriage.

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/11/my-husband-works-abroad-for-2-weeks-each-month-while-i-watch-the-kids-the-arrangement-has-strengthened-our-marriage-2/

My husband works abroad for 2 weeks each month while I watch the kids. The arrangement has strengthened our marriage.

Kalvinder Osahan and her husband, BharminderCourtesy of Kalvinder OsahanKalvinder Osahan's husband, Bharminder, spends half of each month living and working abroad.The mom of two looks after their children solo.She told Business Insider their marriage is strong despite her spouse's routine absences from home.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kalvinder Osahan, 43. It has been edited for length and clarity.I count down the days until my husband, Bharminder — whom I call Bobby — gets home from work every month after a two-week stint abroad.We live in the southeast of England, and since he's based in Germany, there's about 400 miles and the English Channel between us.I'm a stay-at-home mom, and Bobby, 44, runs an aviation consultancy that provides maintenance for helicopters and planes. He also trains people in the industry.We started dating in 2001 after meeting in an ice cream parlor in London. We left the ice cream shop, saw a movie, and went for a long walk together. There was an instant attraction. Bobby told me that he loved me before we even exchanged numbers.I tried not to worry too much when my husband was in the armyHe was in the army, in the royal electrical and mechanical engineers. Luckily for us, he was stationed in the UK for most of the time. But he served in the Middle East and did two four-month-long tours.I would write to or email him every day. He would reply whenever he could, but the communications were patchy. He'd have to line up behind the other guys to use the phone.We married in July 2006 while I worked as a high school teacher. I threw myself into the job, trying not to worry too much about his whereabouts when he was away.Osahan sometimes flies to meet her husband with their two kids.Courtesy of Kalvinder OsahanOur daughter, Ria, was born in 2012 — the same year Bobby left the army after 13 years. I launched my own wedding stationery business before having our son, Guraj, three years later in 2015.Meanwhile, Bobby worked for various airlines. Then, in 2019, he struck out on his own, establishing a company with five employees. Since then, he's worked for two weeks in Germany before coming home for the rest of the month, and he's mostly free to do what he wants during that time.My husband is the provider, and I look after our household and kidsThere have been moments when I've told him, "Why can't we just live a normal life?" But what is normal? "Some workers leave very early and work very late and still don't see their kids," Bobby said. He wants to be the provider while I focus on the house and the children. We know we're fortunate to have this option because Bobby earns upward of $250,000 annually.He runs at 110% when he's working, and then when he's home, he's just so relaxed. We have a full family life, going for bike rides and short vacations. We'll sometimes accompany him abroad. Last Christmas, we stayed in Bremen for a week.I get lonely sometimes during the 2 weeks Bobby is awayStill, there are some cons. Bobby often misses the kids' parents' evenings and other events, such as school plays — but they are resilient. They know that Dad is working hard so we can maintain our lifestyle.I sometimes get lonely, especially at night when the children are in bed. But thank God for FaceTime. It's the best way to keep in touch. We'll also send each other flirty messages anticipating his return to the UK.I always get butterflies when I pick Bobby up at the airport. Our marriage is strong, and we're still very much in love. Others might find our circumstances strange, but it works perfectly for us.Do you have an interesting story about the practicalities of your relationship to share with Business Insider? Please send details to jridley@businessinsider.com

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hi jalebi. How r u? Love the new exchange of thoughts between u and honey. I had a question does in your version of stuff does khushi complete her education because honestly u need to know some stuff about business to be running 1 abroad especially. Secondly y did Arnav mention first night during nanital track in front of so many people. I know these 2 diff topics feel free to ignore if not nice. Thank u

Hello @goals1024

I'm doing well, how about you? Haha I know @honeybellexox is an amazing person and I'm having the best time chatting with her about IPK <3

(pic credit: chisty creations)

In my version of the canon I believe Khushi first manages her catering business, when that's stable she pursues a business degree while opening her first store. Then, based on profits and other factors (such as demand for sweets and all) she goes forward with expanding her sweet shop.

---

THE NAINITAL TRACK

Arnav's justifiable anger and Khushi's consistent flaw

(pic credit: @phati-sari)

Regarding Nainital let's say one thing - Arnav was inappropriate to suggest a wedding night.

He wanted to put her on the spot and give her a 'tit for tat' and to be honest, I understand his anger.

He just learnt that Khushi sabotaged his trip. For what? For him and Lavanya to be romantically stuck in Nainital and forego the business meeting.

Khushi is wrong in MULTIPLE levels.

First of all she is overstepping multiple boundaries by interfering into Arnav and Lavanya's love life. Granted that this time La is sharing everything with Khushi and the Raizadas have normalized interfering in Arnav-La's relationship to Khushi - but there's a difference between giving unsolicited advice versus actively doing things that affects someone. Arnav has told Khushi, at least 10 times, to not interfere in his personal life.

Khushi's decisions costed Arnav. He loses out on a conference, he needs to reschedule everything. He doesn't have a back up plan ready. It's a bit of a logistical nightmare - especially considering it wasn't a meeting at AR, it was a scheduled meeting outside of the main city.

And you know the meeting was essential because Arnav himself was attending it. So it wasn't a simple logistical conference. It definitely costed the company time and money.

So not only does Khushi interfere in his personal life, professional life - she also publicly embarrasses him. She paints him as a man who abandons the woman he ran away with. Oh God the bitter foreshadowing...

And imagine she does all this right after she tells that she's concerned for him and accuses him of not using his brains in anger when literally it takes Arnav to burst on Khushi for her to realize the damage her actions lead to. Like even I rolled my eyes when Arnav went "do you realize what you've done? Have you lost your damn mind?"

And her going "Oh... sorry... I didn't think this would happen."

And you know she didn't because she just randomly removed petrol so they'd stop midway. She had no estimate! Even if Khushi's plan worked - how would it be any romantic for La and Arnav to be stranded in a lone highway because of empty fuel? How would they get petrol? How quickly could they receive help? How will missing work lead to intimacy between Arnav-Lavanya?

We clearly understand Khushi is motivated by films, and of course we should get it that all of this is executed with taste of crack comedy - like we're really not supposed to be taking this seriously.

But imagine if you lost a conference, have a logistical nightmare in front of you, have to walk miles because you're stranded in the middle of nowhere, and learn that the one person you're with is responsible for everything. Then suddenly the person shows concern and when you, understandably, refuse to listen to them - they make a huge public scene and paint you as someone who abandoned their lover midway so you can be threatened and coerced by strangers into doing their bidding.

Again, all of this is truly meant as comedy so we're not supposed to be taking it seriously, but what I mean is I understand where Arnav is coming from. As well as his decision to play into the lie Khushi strengthens and, in turn, just show her that her actions have consequences. And well... embarrass her.

Oh they're a newly eloped couple? Has she thought what that insinuates? Fine, it's their wedding night tonight.

It does not excuse Arnav because one wrong is not corrected with another wrong, and the gravity of his retaliation is almost always worse than Khushi's actions - so while he has been justifiably rebuked in the show and by the fans for his decisions, the unfortunate thing is Khushi's mistakes are almost always overlooked.

And I love that Khushi makes mistakes - her inability to see the consequence of her actions is very consistent. It happens with her getting overwhelmed by telling the Shyam's truth to Anjali and choosing the safest option - neither hurting Anjali nor Payal in the process. Or even in the Swami track when Khushi ends up eating the whole dinner by herself, she does not realize she should keep some aside for Arnav and that he really has not eaten. Or even during Mrs. India (if we consider that canon), she does not see how her actions really have little to do with Aarav nor does prove any point to Arnav cause he literally uses his power and is lucky to have another judge who keeps Khushi in his good books. Or how bringing in a man who kidnapped her husband, sexually harassed her multiple times and didn't hesitate to cheat his pregnant wife - would be a disaster move.

So I love she has her consistent flaw. The problem in narration isn't having a flaw. It's not growing from it. They never show how her lack of foresight is something she struggles with and something she needs to learn from - unalike Arnav, where the show perfectly paints his anger as problematic and that he needs to control it otherwise he hurts the people he loves.

I personally feel, if we ignore the Mrs. India track, Khushi truly grows as a character is in the one scene where she admits to Arnav that she doesn't know. Khushi often gets overwhelmed when she has a lot of decide or understands her actions could/have/can lead to someone's sorrow so she takes it upon herself to fix everything. 

So when Arnav gently questions her why she thinks leaving him would make things better for Aarav, and Khushi breaks down admitting she doesn't know if it would and that she doesn't know anything at all - it is finally some character growth for her.

She trusts his intentions, shares her burden of pain with him - and it's no surprise the problem was resolved in 24 hours.

But yes, regardless of this the Nainital Track is one of the best written tracks because they set the intention straight - it’s going to be an out and out comedy and above all Khushi accepts her mistakes! So don’t think it was severely flawed or anything - I still laugh out loud till date watching everything! 

Thank you so much for this ask - it turned into an analysis! 

Best,

- Jalebi

[sope-and-shine]

Christmas Special: Day 5

-> Pairing: Taehyung x reader -> Roommate! AU // Fluff -> Word Count: 2.5k -> Summary: You’re not going home to see your family this Christmas, and you’re roommate refuses to leave you alone during this special holiday. -> Warning(s): It’s fluffy.

Studying abroad is an amazing opportunity. It provides you with the chance to travel, the time to learn and appreciate another culture and quite possibly another language. It provides you the opportunity to make new friends and create new connections with others. You get the chance to bask in a new environment and learn from someone with a completely different mindset from teachers you’re used to. Moving to South Korea provided you with these opportunities, and it gave you an even bigger sense of independence to be so far away from your parents after being in their care for so long. 

But with the ups came the downs, and you are no stranger to the downsides of living in another country. Most students will choose a country to study in based on whether or not they know the language, but you chose the country based on what the program offered you. As an arts student, you saw the potential Korea could offer you, and you wouldn’t dare to pass up an opportunity like this. However, your dumb ass forgot that you don’t know Korean - at least you didn’t when you first got to school - and your parents fought tooth and nail to get you to choose any other school that fit your one skillset. But you weren’t raised to back down from a challenge, and something as small as a language would not stop you from pursuing the best education and opportunity you could get. And of course the language barrier wasn’t your only obstacle. You weren’t just moving to a country, you were moving to Seoul, South Korea. If you don’t know, Seoul is a very expensive city to live in. Not only would you have to find something affordable, but you would have to find a roommate if you wanted to live in a decent sized apartment instead of a hall closet. 

Yeah, you chose the school with no housing. Now, the plus side was the list your college provided you to help you find roommates going to the school as well as their interests and major. It helped a lot, but no one seemed to bite at your offer. You were foreign, didn’t know the language, and the only people that actually responded to your rooming requests were all male. To say your parents were against it - especially your father - was a huge understatement, and you can still see the look he gave you when you close your eyes. They obviously had good reasons. You’d be in a strange place with no family or friends, you didn’t know the language, you were a vulnerable female barely adult. Not to say anything bad about boys or men, but it wasn’t the best picture for your parents. They couldn’t even imagine what it would be like if any of these potential roommates were also potential weirdos. But with the lack of estrogen and your window of opportunity closing on you, you did have to settle for a male roommate in favor of a female. 

Thankfully, Kim Taehyung was not any of the things your parents were worried about. I mean, his profile made him look like a good guy, and you were able to facetime him a few nights before confirming anything. Now, Taehyung was and is not a fluent English speaker, sometimes he says things in English with so much false confidence and you wonder if he really knew what he was saying. But overall he looked and seemed like a really nice guy! So, you decided to put your faith into that idea, and it was probably the best decision you made. He found your apartment within a month with a friend of his: Kim Seokjin. His family owned various properties, and Taehyung was able to get a cheaper rent with his help. Your rent was half of what you were expecting to pay, and it made your dreams feel so much more attainable now that you had it right there. 

Then, it came to making friends. Once you became acquainted with Taehyung, he immediately began introducing you to his friends on his discord server including the one that helped you with an apartment. It was slow, but as soon as Namjoon revealed he could speak English fluently, it was like the bomb just went off. Eventually you all were in the same discord server talking as much as you could before it was time for you to actually meet them. And when it did come time for you say goodbye to your family and fly to your new home, you were greeted by the seven men as soon as you managed to reach the baggage claim. It was a welcome home you never thought you would find so comforting, and you were happy to have a support system before you even got to step foot into school. The boys were great at making you feel welcome, especially when you get lost in school or don’t understand your notes. They all try to keep an eye out for you, and Tae - as your roommate - does his best to go the extra mile where it’s needed.

Now, despite all the good things that came from your move, there was still one more down side to your decision: Coming home for the holidays. You aren’t made of money, and your parents certainly aren’t throwing it around either. Holidays and special occasions where you were used to having them around seemed just a little more lonely than you had anticipated. You had the boys and a few girlfriends that you’d made while studying, but they had their own families that lived much closer than yours did. But you’re a big girl, and you convinced yourself that you don’t need to be home to celebrate something as trivial as Christmas. You’d be fine on your own and you didn’t need anything or anyone else. At least, that’s what you’d told you’re family when they offered to pay for you to come home. You’d have to do it eventually, so why not start now?

Taehyung - the ever attentive and sweet roommate he is - didn’t like that response. He knew you were lying to yourself, especially when you’d be out getting groceries and he’d catch you staring at the children pulling their parents around the store. He already had you figured out, but he wouldn’t let you know that. He’d let you keep pretending, but he refused to let you suffer in silence.

That’s why he told his family he wasn’t coming home this Christmas.

You questioned him, knowing he was super excited to be going home, but he brushed you off with a simple, “I just have so much to do that I won’t get done if I go home.” Deep down you both knew it wasn’t just going home that would keep him from doing his work, but you let it slide nonetheless. At least now you wouldn’t be alone in your apartment for the holiday. But not being alone wasn’t the only thing Taehyung planned for you.

No.

He intended to make sure you had the best holiday away from home, that you’d never want to go home ever again! 

He first took you ice skating at a mall in Gangnam, having overheard that you and your family normally did that as the holidays came around. He thought it’d be a great way to connect your family with him, and just bring you a little closer to enjoying the holiday season, but he failed to remember that he himself was like a baby deer learning to walk when he went ice skating.

“Are you sure you want to keep going, Tae?” You ask slowly, still practicing your Korean - though very much improved. You’re in front of him skating backwards, tucked in dark blue jeans and a large white sweater with a purple winter vest and plain black gloves. You’re concerned, but it’s hard not to giggle while he clings to the rail beside him for dear life, trying to find some semblance of balance without making a total fool of himself. “We can always take a break and have some hot chocolate.”

“No! I can do this!” He refuses to ruin this day out for you. He would skate and he would like it; He could not afford to let you down. With as much confidence as he can muster, he lets go of the rail to skate on his own, but quickly loses balance and falls onto the cold ice below him. The pout on his face is only half of the pain and embarrassment he feels. “Aish! I’m sorry, (Y/n).”

“What are you sorry for?” You ask. You put yours hands out for him to take and help him to his feet again. You give him a big smile, “Don’t worry about falling, Tae, just focus on me.” You pull him with you, moving slowly and trusting your peripherals to know when you get to the turn. Taehyung is hesitant at first, but once you begin to make funny faces at him, he can’t help but to keep all of his attention on just you. You both continue on like that, making slow laps as others pass you multiple times. But you’re both having too much fun to really care. “Now is this so bad?”

“I guess not.” He admits. 

The scene is a cute one, one that you would see in a Hallmark movie or something. And no Hallmark movie would be complete without with the ‘couple’ being put into a cute and promiscuous position. “Watch out!”

Two teenagers trying to race push by the both of you, hitting Taehyung from behind and pushing him forward. He loses his balance, and there’s nothing you can really do to keep the both of you from falling. Taehyung falls on top of you, crushing you on the ice with your faces only centimeters apart. Just like the movies, it feels like the world around you stopped, with only you and him in the constant flow of time. You’re just looking into each others eyes, without a care for the world.

Eventually, Tae does come to his senses when he realizes how long he’s stayed on top of you. He pushes himself back onto his knees and carefully attempts to stand up, “Sorry!” 

“Don’t worry about it.” You stand up next to him with ease, a soft blush covering your cheeks. You shrug, “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Right.” Taehyung puts a smile back on his face and nods in the direction of the rink entrance, “Let’s get that hot chocolate now.”

Ice skating wasn’t a total bust, but it was definitely interesting. Your night after was a little awkward to say the least, but even so, Taehyung refused to be defeated. He had more planned for the two of you, and ice skating was just the start. He took you to see lights, a carriage ride in the park, a surprise snowball attack after one of your classes - Yoongi had got caught in that one and you don’t think you’ve ever seen him or Yoongi run that fast before. Needless to say, Taeyung kept you busy. So busy that you almost completely forgot that you weren’t home for the holiday. 

But there was still one more activity he had in store before Christmas Day would arrive.

After coming home from a 6 hour long class, you immediately head for the couch for some Netflix time. However, the scene that replaced your living room was not what you were expecting. “Tae, what’s this?” 

Before you stands a tree almost too big for the room, new boxes full of ornaments and lights litter the floor around it while Taehyung sits unbothered on your couch in a Christmas sweater and a Christmas hat. You don’t even want to know how long he’s been sitting in that spot for, you just want to know where and when he got all of this.

“I thought we could make the apartment a little more festive. Look, I even got a hat for you to wear!” He pulls out another red Christmas hat to match his own, this one just a little smaller to fit your head. He looked super excited to be decorating a tree in the apartment, and you knew you’d feel bad if you turned him down. That’s how you found yourself blaring Christmas tunes and delicately placing ornaments onto the new tree while Taehyung strung lights onto the tree. You both danced to your hearts’ content and spent most of the night just laughing at each other. It was relaxing, and you had to admit that the tree looked stunning once it was done. 

“I think we did a good job.” You admit, sitting on the couch beside your roommate. You’d long since turned the main lights off in favor of the Christmas lights Tae had placed on your tree, enjoying the plethora of new colors that graced your living space. 

“I have to agree.”

You both sit silently, letting the music play around you in place of conversation. It was a weird feeling to have, being together in peace without having to say anything at all. It was just like that first day you arrived and all 7 of the boys came to pick you up from the airport with signs and balloons. 

You felt at home.

“Hey, Tae?” You cut through your silence, turning to the boy who sat beside you with eyes closed towards the ceiling. He hums in response, not opening his eyes nor turning his head. “Did you stay here for Christmas so I wouldn’t be alone?”

“Well, no one deserves to be alone on Christmas. Especially you.” He opens his eyes and gives you his famous boxy grin, “I stayed so I could give you the best Christmas ever. A Christmas so good, that you would forget you weren’t home.”

You had already figured that’s what his plan was this whole time, but hearing him actually say it to you? You could feel your heart melting in your chest. Nobody had ever done anything this sweet for you. Nobody has ever done as much as Taehyung has done for you. The past few weeks have been amazing thanks to him, and it justified the feelings that you had bubbling inside you.

“Tae. I am home.” You didn’t think it was possible for his grin to get any wider, but it did and it was beautiful. Next thing you know, the sight of his smile is replaced with the warmth of his body encircling your own. He’s wrapped you in a tight hug and holds you tighter than you thought was possible. You squeak, “Taehyung?!”

He shakes his head, keeping it tucked into your shoulder, “I’m really glad you feel that way.”

Neither of you say more. You only wrap your arms around him in return and enjoy the feeling of him holding you in the comfort of your own home. The home you share with him. You may not be home with your biological family, but you’re with the family you created. 

Who knows, maybe your family will be more than just platonic if Santa keeps working his Christmas Magic~

[crapitskizaru]

Hellooo amazing author! I've been reading your blog for quite some time and your writings are just great! If it's alright, may I request an angsty scenario/reaction/h-c of Law, Sanji and Sabo having their s/o leave them to study abroad/move out of country? How would the boys react, cope with it and what would they do with the relationship? Thanks a lot!

Warning: freaking longer than I thought it’d be

Trafalgar Law

☃ to such news, Law’s reaction would be dependent on how strong his feelings are and whether he wants to have a future with his current partner - when faced with the possibility of a breakup, if he finds himself thinking he can survive parting ways with them, Law won’t hold them back

☃ he’d probably just focus on college/studies/work or whatever activity he’s invested in; the way he explains it to himself is that now he’ll have more time for priorities and remain focused on his long-term goals

☃ most probably, he’d let them go - taking into consideration how hard it is to maintain a long-distance relationship; however, if he truly loves his partner, if he can’t imagine himself with anyone else on the planet, can’t imagine them simply disappearing from his everyday life, Law would settle for texts, calls, messages and occasional meetings whenever they can, to keep the relationship going

☃ the man knows how hard it is to find that one person that completes him, gives it all a meaning - and he won’t let the hardships of living far away from each other destroy his chances for love, loving someone and being loved as well

☃ at whatever point in life he currently is, Law would try to settle down as fast as possible, save money and buy a place of his own, so that maybe, one day, his partner can either come back and move in with him, or he could travel to another country to live with them

☃ after their departure, the man works exactly the same way he did when his lover was present - with the exception being in the little things he might have not noticed before, like waking up to them sleeping right beside, or being able to hold, touch, hug them whenever he wanted; I think that’s what he’d miss the most, even if he wouldn’t admit it or acknowledge his feelings, Law simply wants to feel them - without it, he feels overwhelmingly lonely but tries to push it away, bearing in mind he will eventually reunite with his partner in the future

Sanji

☃ upon hearing the news, the lil cutie understands his partner’s decision, although he’d make sure there’s no other way to solve this - what if they could move to another city? Or maybe he could leave the country with them? Certainly Sanji would go through all of the options, but eventually accept what’s necessary or needed for his partner and their goals

☃ whether he’d remain in the relationship or not depends purely on his lover; do they want to switch to a long-distance contact? The man knows how hard it’s gonna be, especially with his weakness for getting crushes on every attractive person he meets, so if he feels like he won’t be able to remain loyal, he won’t dive into this commitment - but if that’s not the case, he tries to hold on and live through the separation, hoping that one day they may live together

☃ considering how reckless this man is in the topic of feelings and how easy it is for him to fall for another person, I don’t really think the long-distance relationship would work with this guy; again, it also depends on how strong his feelings are and if he’s mature enough for loyalty while lacking the basic, every-day contact

☃ in such situation, he’d flood his partner with messages and calls during his free time, launching towards the phone whenever he hears the sound of a notification - for real, he’d probably turn a little bit obsessed after a while and might find himself debating on ending the relationship, for the sake of his mental health

☃ with his lover being inaccessible for a long period of time, Sanji doesn’t know how to cope with his need for physical contact, touching, kissing, hugging, all the things that he loves and enjoys and that give him the sense of unity, commitment

Saboo

☃ someone help this lil sunshine - his feelings would be so confusing and hurtful when he finds out his lover’s going to be away for a longer period of time; with all of his power, he tries to convince them to stay or at least take him along

☃ if he ever has to choose between work and relationship, he’d go with his feelings and try to save his love no matter what - but if it’s impossible, and they have to live separately, he wouldn’t let them go for sure

☃ texting, calls, meetings, it could surely be resolved in some way; or at least that’s how he lifts himself up and keeps his hope - even before his partner leaves, Saboo makes sure they have a plan, detailed or not, about their future

☃ wants them to know that he’s committed and ready to do whatever it takes to keep the relationship active, from working to save money for their future place, to traveling many miles to meet them - when he loves someone, he goes all in

☃ that’d happen only when Sabo’s sure they reciprocate his feelings, think the same way and actually want to remain together; what’s the point of going through all of this hell simply to find out later on they weren’t that committed and quickly moved on?

☃ just like Sanji, after a long time apart, he dangerously leans towards the obsessed stage of being on his phone at all times, waiting for their message - but I think that, when he realizes it negatively affects his every-day life, he’d be able to cope with it and somehow cool down with his feelings

☃ it’s particularly hard for him to acknowledge how badly he misses his partner and their presence, how badly he wants them by his side; what’d give him the strength to push away the obsession is the realization that it won’t last forever - at some point, some day, they’re going to get together and be together, although it’d take him a lot of time to pull himself up and realize it

[heroacademiaimagines]

hello!! dude i love your writing, it's so good. if you're willing, i'd love it if you could write a scenario of post-ua Amajiki finally getting to see his s/o who comes back to their home after doing hero work abroad for 3 months. they come home with a pretty big scar on their face, but is just excited to be back in Japan.

Amajiki Tamaki:

Tamakiwas beyond excited to see you.

Heunderstood your need to go abroad, to help heroes in other countries with yourtalents, but he couldn’t wait for you to finally be back home where youbelonged. You’d kept in contact with him over the few months you’d left knowingyou’d have to ease his worried mind, though he could also try to tune into yourexploits internationally. It was a bit harder to look up news on you but onlonely nights, it’s all he could do to help lull himself to sleep.

He halfexpected some incident to pop up that would leave him off fighting a villainwhen you finally arrived home, leaving him unable to see you again for hourseven when you were back in Japan, but he’s pleased that reports for the day saymost things are peaceful. He spends most of the time waiting for you to comehome in your shared apartment, cleaning everything he can to help his nerves,hoping things hadn’t changed too much while you were away. Would you be happyto be home, or would you want to venture back out in the world again?

He can’tsay he’d stop you from following your ambitions but it would leave a damper onyour relationship; he craved face-to-face time with you, and he doesn’t know ifhe could deal with you being away for such a long time again. He missed yourtouch, the feeling of your hand caressing his cheek or the way you’d run yourfingers through his hair to soothe him, he missed it all. The apartment didn’tsmell like you anymore, either, and he was looking forward to being able tobury his face in your neck and just be overwhelmed by your scent.

He whipsthe door open before you have the chance to reach for the knob, as he had heardyour footsteps coming from a mile away; you stare at him wide-eyed, surprisedthat he managed to sense you coming when you had wanted to surprise him withyour arrival, but you don’t take it to heart. It’s clear how much he missedyou, especially when his first response to seeing you is to pull you in a hugso tight it felt like he was trying to melt into you. You rub his backcomfortingly, slowly helping him back into the doorway and closing the doorbehind you so you could have some much needed privacy.

“Yourface…” He mumbles when he finally pulls away, fingers tracing over the new scar;you must’ve fought a pretty tough villain if they managed to land a hit likethis on you. You hold his hand that’s touching the scar, bringing it to yourlips and leaving a few gentle kisses on it.

“It’san amazing story, honestly, and I’m sure I won’t forget it.” He can’t help butsmile alongside you, leaning over to kiss the scar (and as much of your face hecould reach). “I’m happy to see you, Tamaki. I was worried you’d be busy when Icame back, but from how the place is absolutely sparkling I can tell you’vebeen here all day.”

“I was.I-I... couldn’t wait for you to be home.”

“Well,I’m here now, and I’m all yours therest of the night.”

[satiah81]

The Thing That Should Not Be - Chapter 27

This is a reblog of my work originally posted on Archive of our own. Feel free to like, reblog and leave comments. Unfinished, work in progress with (bi-) weekly updates.

Pairing: Thorin Oakenshield X OFC

Warnings: NSFW, sexual content, adult themes, non-con

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13982820?view_full_work=true

Summary: I`d never liked my life in the bustling city, superficial, gray and lonely, as it was. Yet what I found in the new world was far beyond words. Dark and passionate. Cruel and scary. What Thorin taught me about his reality I would remember forever.

WARNINGS! If you are not comfortable with rape/sexual slavery/angst topics, then this story is not for you. It is a dark and intense fantasy.

————————————————————————————————–

 It didn't take long until the endless rain finally ceased to fall and the sun sprang up from behind the treetops. It shone above the rocky landscape once again and the days were filled with the promise of warmth and bright light after the long winter. Soon thereafter, the mud dried out, and at noon it was so hot that I thought the nature had skipped one whole season. But then I remembered the Lonely mountain was situated a little higher above the landscape so the harsh changes in the temperatures made sense.

 I was standing by the high window, admiring the landscape, breathing in all the scents of late spring which soft breeze carried all the way up here, when Thorin walked towards me and stood by my side. I looked at him questioningly, but he did not break the silence, so I turned my attention back to the window. I felt his hand slowly wrap around my waist. He gently pulled me towards him and we stood there side by side, motionless, silent, his hand resting on my waist but never roaming.

 I wondered how long it had been since he last took me. I couldn't really tell, but it couldn't have been longer than since I started to play the harp. Something unwelcome stirred at the back of my mind. Was it a shadow of a doubt? Or perhaps a sting of regret? I quickly waved the thought away and smiled at the bright day.

 “We will take a ride out today. The roads have dried, it will be a good stretch for the horses as well. All the preparations have been done. You will get a pair of riding boots, I do not want any damage done to your legs,” he said casually, looking down at me.

 I couldn't believe my ears - I must have misheard or misunderstood him, he can't just so let me out after all those long months! Where's the catch?

 “Is there something you do not like about the idea? Last time you looked very eager to take a walk outside of The Lonely Mountain,” he said, feigning surprise. But there was a spark of amusement in his eye.

 “Oh no, no… I mean - yes! I'd love to! Thank you so much! You just surprised me,” I blabbered, blushing deep red. “Let's go, please! Even now, or anytime, just- ”

 “That is a much better answer, little one,” he straightened his back and let go off my waist. “We leave immediately, just the two of us. You already know how to behave, do you not?” There was a subtle dangerous undertone to his last words.

 “I do, Your Majesty, of course. Thank you for trusting me...” I slightly bowed my head to emphasize my words. Thorin's gaze lingered on me for a long moment before he nodded and smiled.

 XXX

 We set off that very morning and I was so excited that I felt slightly nauseous. But I fought it bravely and decided not to speak of it, just in case. I was given a pair of new, beautiful riding boots made of dark brown leather, just as I was promised. They fit me perfectly and felt very comfortable. They also equipped me with dark brown leather pants and a long tunic reaching down to half of my thighs; perfectly male clothing which was very unusual, especially now when I got already accustomed to the female fashion here. There was an exception in my case - as far as I knew, females here wore long dresses even when riding - which I appreciated once I put on the pants. What a feeling!

 Two horses awaited us in front of the Erebor main gate. I could see them from the inside as we, Thorin and myself, were approaching the exit, and my heart beat wildly with excitement. The first - and last - time that I crossed this threshold my life changed for the worse, and I sincerely hoped it would change once again, but this time hopefully for the better. Thorin walked in front of me in long, self-conscious steps, and I followed him hastily, eyeing the guards who stood on both sides of the gate. They did not move as I passed them by, and I relaxed, as foolish as it sounded. Once outside, Thorin lifted me to the saddle of the smaller horse, a meek brown mare, adjusted the length of my stirrups, and grasping my reigns, mounted his own black stallion. There he fastened my reigns to his horn, and turned to me:

 “You have not ridden on your own before, am I right?”

 I shook my head no.

 “Then hold tight to the horn. Do not press or kick your horse's hips, or it might get confused. I have the reigns now. For now, you do not need to know anything more.”

 And we set off.

 The first metres were the most exciting ones, I had to admit; I took in the surroundings and how it had changed over the months after the snow had melted away. We crossed the bridge and followed a wild clean stream, The River Running, which originated in the mountain and flowed hundreds of miles away to the south, through the wilderness and forests to the far sea. We turned left before the ruins of the city of Dale and headed to the forest where the river changed its current. The sun was shining and reflecting brightly in the waves as in a mirror and the weather was pleasantly warm. I rolled my sleeves up to my elbows and turned my face upward to let the sun kiss my skin. For a moment I closed my eyes, taking in all the sensations from the clean fresh air to the soft rocking of my horse's hips, and when I opened them, saw Thorin watching me attentively. He seemed to know what was going on in me; he did not speak and let me digest all that was happening. We rode in a comfortable silence for about half an hour and my heart was overflowing with such joy and gratitude that I said:

 “Thank you so much for taking me out.” Thorin nodded with the faintest hint of a smile and it made me more confident to ask further. “The sword, now the horse… Have you perhaps considered riding lessons for me? I love horses.”

 Thorin's eyes shot at me. “No, I have not. You are in no need to know how to ride a horse. Or do you have plans to ride alone?” His sharp gaze was now penetrating my flesh with such intensity that I looked down on my hands clasped on the horn, my knuckles all white with the effort.

 “I don't have any such plans. I was just… curious.” I swallowed, trying to hide my disappointment. Perhaps I just have exaggerated expectations and it is easy to get used to good things and forget the bad ones.

 “You are a strange woman, Kate. I have given you the permission to use the sword, then the harp, and now you want a horse. Are we not a little too eager?” He teased, and when I shrunk and did not reply, he narrowed his eyes and continued. “How are your lessons going? Dwalin says you are making progress. Interesting especially because you have no experience in such matters.”

 I raised an eyebrow. “What matters? I was given the opportunity to learn and so I learn, that's all. You would do the same if you were in my shoes, I think. It's essential if I want to survive here. I learned a lot back in my world, at school; not in self-defence though, we didn't really need that. And the sax… I am making progress but it's not easy at all.”

 Thorin frowned as he tried to grasp the idea of education available for everyone.

 “What else did you learn back there? Except reading.”

 “Well, lots of things. I studied at a university, so I used to read and write a lot. I can speak three languages - my major was Norwegian and I added comparative literature to it, but don't ask me how I ended up in a telecommunications company.” There was a flash of astonishment in Thorin's eyes at these words, and I couldn't help but push him a little further. “What else? Beside normal classes, I took a course of philosophy,  history and gender studies, but can't use any of it here. I can drive a car,” at this I stopped and waited if he would ask what it was, but he nodded and I remembered I once spoke to him of cars. And he remembered very well. “And yes, I know how to give first aid as well… just to give you the idea.” I shot a quick side-glance at him to check the effect, but the impressed look faded away quickly as he accommodated the idea of me as an educated scholar, so uncommon for lower classes of his world.

 “Why would you do all that?”

 “To get a good job and have something to occupy myself with. And also because I like to study.”

 “Is that common for women in Norway?”

 “For women and men alike, definitely. It is uncommon      not     to study something. Our society emphasizes education, we built our wealth and wellbeing on that. And equality of both sexes in any situation.”

 “In the army as well?”

 I nodded proudly at which he frowned. “That makes no sense. Women are too soft to become soldiers.”

 “Well, our women used to fight in the past when times were hard and dangerous just as-” I didn't finish the sentence. I cleared my throat to continue. “They were called shieldmaidens. They used to sail abroad along with male warriors to conquer foreign lands and, well, to take treasures. When it comes to the present, I myself would not join the army or go mining because it's just not right for me. But we all are different and if somebody feels inclined to that, why not. People can surprise you. Just let them take the liberty to try; life offers so many opportunities to try all its shades and tastes, why not play with it.” I shrugged.

 “Perhaps.” There was a long thoughtful silence before he finally added. “In Erebor we believe we are predestined for a certain path in life, you may call it fate. We become what we were born to do, take over our ancestors` occupations, be it craft or farming,  and continue with what they have started. Your lives are full of chaos if you think in such a wide range. Here we face too many evils to take the liberty to       explore all the possibilities,     as you put it.”

 “Can be.”

 “Now you have become a part of our world. I believe you were destined to come here to me.”

 “Why?” I turned to him with suddenly watery eyes, desperate for an honest, truthful answer.

 “I do not know. First I thought you were to explain the travellers from the lake you read about in the legend, but now I am not sure. There is something else about you. But if you      could     travel all the way here, then Norway was certainly not the right place for you. It was Erebor. Only the time will tell the reason.” He said silently, his eyes fixed on the horizon where a few low slopes stood up, covered with forests. His black stallion neighed, throwing his head backwards, and Thorin patted its neck.

 “I had this dream once… back in the dungeon,” I paused, clenching my teeth.

 “What dream?” Thorin looked at me with just a slight alert in his voice.

 “When I was delirious, I think I might even have passed out for a minute… A voice told me to return to the lake. It literally said “Return to the lake when the storm rages.” I don't know what to think of it. It could mean anything.”

 “Or      exactly     what it said.” He paused for the length of a few breaths and his features hardened. “You know you are not going anywhere.” His eyes pierced me once again and I looked away.

 “I do… Do you know anything more about the travellers, though?” I could not help but ask.

 “I do not know if they ever returned where they came from, but I find it just as safe as marching alone in the centre of an orc camp unarmed. Do not spend too much time thinking about it, it is not worth it.” He finished silently but firmly.

 We rode silently side by side, lost in thoughts. After a few minutes I realized I heard a distant roar approaching and soon enough we reached a clearing which opened below a high cliff. And from it rushed the hurried waters of The River Running, splashing in the depths in a large waterfall. The beautiful scenery took my breath away.

 Thorin dismounted and helped me get down as well. As if to lighten up the general mood, he unsheathed his long sword which until now hung by his belt and swayed it playfully in the air, with careless ease of a skilled warrior. He handed it to me, hilt-first.

 “Now you have one of your favourite opportunities to prove yourself a warrior,” he smiled. “Show me what you have learned from Dwalin.”

 I squeezed the sword tightly with a soft sigh. It was unbelievably heavy, much heavier than my short sax and as I weighed it in my hand just to try it, I noticed a few ancient runes engraved in the blade.

 “Orcrist,” Thorin said. The legendary elvish sword I heard the dwarves talk about more than once. I took a closer look at it. It looked ancient, elegant and deadly, all at once, even with the pommel inlaid with the four gems.

 I swallowed. “Where is      your     weapon?”

 “I have a knife but it is not worth using against this sword,” he said, taking off his coat, shaking his hair off his face, obviously dead serious, already preparing for a fight. He stood there empty-handed in his leather armour strengthened with metal plates, watching me, anticipation written in his features.

 “But you are unarmed! What if I hurt-”

 “You will not hurt me,” he interrupted me impatiently. “Attack!”

 “As you wish!” I growled for myself and stepped in to attack him, quickly, impatiently, aiming for his chest as if he was a lifeless, straw man. He ducked away, turning around in a semi-circle, and as I swayed his own sword against him once again with full force, the blade dangerously close to his throat, he slipped on the wet grass and fell backwards, and I followed him in the momentum, having no chance to coordinate my movements. With a shriek, I already saw the sword falling down to him in a direct trajectory but he was quick enough to raise his hand and the blade slid smoothly down the leather of his bracer and sank into the ground, followed by myself falling directly on Thorin. I hit him with full weight and his eyes widened as he gasped for breath. I immediately struggled up to my elbows to help him breathe freely, but just as he caught his breath again in a few seconds, he started to laugh. But what laughter that was, joyful, loud and rich! My heart skipped a beat.

 “Why are you laughing?! I could have killed you!”

 “Little one, that was not bad, not bad at all!”

 “Oh... but did I hurt you?”

 “Not at all.” He slid his gaze across his right arm and carelessly checked his bracer which had obviously saved him from an ugly wound, or even worse. “Blows like this always seem to avoid me. Sometimes I find myself thinking I must be immortal.”

 And he was already on his feet, bracing himself in a fighting position. “Once again!”

 “Oh no, I'm not doing this again!” I exclaimed.

 “Kate! Do as I say!”

 “Ok! You-” and I attacked him once again before I even finished the sentence, suddenly all angry at how foolishly he risked his health fighting empty-handed a beginner with a real weapon. I took a step closer and as I swayed the sword from below in a low circle, he caught the blade flat in between his palms and held it tight. I was unable to move it, now it was the pure strength of his muscles against mine as I lost the momentum, and I froze in astonishment. He smirked and suddenly pushed the sword against me, turning me to the right and backwards, and I immediately found myself on the ground, lying flat on my back just as Thorin was a few seconds ago, and it really hurt. By the satisfied look on his face I realized he was just testing me in the first round, and now decided to show me how it feels to really fight. Well, it hurt. My head was spinning and I needed a minute to compose myself. Thorin was standing above me, and when he sheathed the sword which had slipped from my hands, he asked.

 “Are you hurt?”

 I glared at him but replied: “No.”

 He took me by the arm and lifted me up to my feet. There he quickly checked me for any visible wounds, but when he found none, he withdrew his hand.

 “I will instruct Dwalin how to continue with your drill. You have good basics, Kate, you will be able to really fight. I am very pleased with you today.” He smiled warmly and was once again the young, cheerful Thorin I adored so much. “I could soon make you my personal guard,” he joked.

 “Thank you.” I smiled back. We stared at each other for a moment. I thought I would tell him how good it felt to see him this happy and carefree and that I hoped I would hear him laugh more often, but as if he had sensed it, he withdrew and taking a step back, he pointed at the waterfall. The spell was broken and I shut my mouth feeling that I had missed something important.

 He looked at the sun and then suddenly turned to me.

 “Come, I will show you something,” he whispered and taking my hand in his, led me to the roaring crystalline waters.

[thefandomimagine]

The Slipper and the Soldier: Prologue.

Summary: This is a fairy tale dear reader, where impossible things happen every day, such as a pumpkin becoming a golden carriage; or a plain honest country girl and a prince falling in love. A Cinderella AU where you dear reader take on the title role while the Avengers and other Marvel characters take on the other roles in the story; such as Bucky Barnes filling in for the role of Prince Charming.

Based on this imagine right here.

Prologue - A Day At The Market

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a small but mighty kingdom named S.H.I.E.L.D that has long since been forgotten by scholars and historians. And in this Kingdom, two remarkable children were born who, in most circumstances would never meet for their lives were much too different. But this is a fairy tale dear reader, where impossible things happen every day, such as a pumpkin becoming a golden carriage; or a plain honest country girl and a prince joining in marriage.

The eldest of these children was born the son of George and Winifred Barnes, a soldier and royal servant respectively and was given the name James Buchanan Barnes; although everyone in the palace simply called him Bucky. Though they didn't have much the family were happy living in the servant quarters of the palace, which Bucky spent most of his childhood exploring while his parents performed their duties, often finding himself in trouble with the many nobles who visited and worked within the walls of the large castle.  

The trio led a simple life filled with happiness that only grew with the birth of Bucky's younger sister Rebecca, whose birth brought the family closer than ever before. Bucky’s father ended up trading in his life as a soldier to instead become a palace guard, ensuring that he could continue to provide for his family without the risk of never seeing them again, afraid that he would eventually fall in battle miles away in the war and leave them behind forever. Bucky’s mother, on the other hand, became a member of the Royal Tailors, charged with repairing any and all fabrics in the palace that had been torn and damaged, allowing her to watch over her new-born babe as she worked sewing tears in curtains and sheets until they looked brand new. And Bucky, he had managed to make his first friend in the son of Lord Rogers, who cared little about their difference in social class and even offered to teach him the basics of swordsmanship.

For a long time, the Barnes family had a wonderful life however the happiness they felt like all things could not last forever. Two years after his sister was born a great plague created Hydra, a kingdom that S.H.I.E.L.D had been fighting against in a great war that had lasted nearly a 100 years, struck the kingdom of S.H.I.E.L.D taking many lives in its wake including Bucky’s parents and baby sister. At the age of 8, Bucky Barnes was left alone in the world, with his fate uncertain for he had no other family to call his own who could take him in. Many of the palace servants thought that the boy would eventually be brought on as an apprentice for he had touched the hearts of all those who inhabited the palace and the idea of him disappearing from their lives was unimaginable.

Bucky was indeed made an apprentice not long after his parents and sister departed from the world of the living however his apprenticeship was not in any profession the palace servants had ever imagined for the young boy. The servants had thought that the boy would become a blacksmith or perhaps a soldier in training like his father had once been but instead Bucky was taken in by none other than the King and declared his heir. The small boy who had grown up exploring the gardens looking for fairies and hunting for trolls to only come back and muddy the palace carpets would one day become their king.

King Nicholas 'Nick' Fury had never had plans to marry or produce an heir even though it was his royal duty to do so and his council had tried to shove the idea down his throat for years. In his youth he had spent years on the battlefront fighting in ‘The Long War’ against Hydra, striking down his enemies on the frontlines and commanding his soldiers from the tactician tent. But those days were long behind him, now a much older man scared from years of battle and torture and he was unwilling to ruin a young woman’s life with an unhappy marriage just so he could continue on his family line.   The royal family would not end with him after all, he had a number of cousins to inherit his throne after he finally croaked, what need did he have for an heir, for a son.

It wasn’t until the great plague hit that the King’s view on continuing the royal bloodline changed. Many of his subjects were lost during that dreadful time, at least a third of his kingdom gone in a matter of weeks from the sickness including the majority of his family, with only his youngest cousin Samuel surviving the ordeal. Samuel was the 9 year old son of Nicholas’s 5th cousin who he knew had always planned to allow Samuel to follow whatever path he set out to make for himself, whether he wished to give up his small title for the country life or spend his days fighting in what seemed to be a never-ending war, Samuel’s family were determined to support him and Nicholas couldn’t take away that freedom and choice from the boy.

The King had contemplated the option of marrying himself off until he heard about Bucky’s ordeal. He had run into the boy on more than one occasion over the years with the lad making a lasting impression on the King, especially after the time Bucky ended up kicking him in the shin. The boy was like him in many regards, all alone in the world now that the family he cared for had been taken from him yet he never allowed his sadness to control him, continuing about around the castle with a solemn look on his face as he did odd jobs so that he wasn’t cast onto the street by the head of the household. It was because of this, Bucky’s determination to continue on with his life and make his own way in the world that swayed Nicholas to take the boy in as his heir, not caring one bit about the reaction he would receive from his counsel nor the neighbouring kingdoms.

And so, James Buchanan Barnes born the son of a soldier and a servant became a Prince in the blink of an eye and gained along with the title a new family who ended up caring for his just as much as his birth family had, and who he in return cared for just as deeply.

On the outskirts of the kingdom’s capital there lay a quaint manor house that had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. A large meadow and a seemingly endless forest surrounded the house providing the residence flowers and firewood throughout the many seasons of the year while sweet lambs grazed beside content cows in a field only a stone’s throw away. It was in this house filled with cheer and joy that the youngest of these remarkable children was born and raised.

Y/N L/N was born the daughter of a merchant and his wife, who both thought their daughter to be a princess. True young Y/N had no titles to inherit asides from her parent’s nickname of ‘Darling Girl’, nor a real crown though she did make more than one out of the flowers she found in the meadow and she certainly didn’t own her own castle though she thought of her house as one. And yet Y/N was still a princess at least in the small little kingdom she called home, whose borders stretched into the forest and meadow she and her parents often spent their days in, while the birds in the air and the animals in the fields made up her loyal subjects.

Because Y/N’s father was a merchant he was often way abroad for long stretches of time conducting business and finding new wonders to export into the kingdom, the house feeling less happy and bright whenever he was gone. Y/N would miss him dearly whenever he was away but knew that whenever he left he would always return eventually just as he promised, bringing with him the smell of dust and the road as well as gifts of toys and new clothes that Y/N would treasure dearly.

During those lonely weeks while her father was away exploring the neighbouring kingdoms and even some of those over the sea Y/N’s mother would tell her stories that sparked the girl’s imagination, tales of princesses in faraway lands, of knights battling dragons and pirates searching for treasure on the high seas. And just like the gifts that her father brought back for her Y/N treasured her mother’s stories as if they were some of her most precious possessions, memorising the words and the sound of her mother’s voice as she spun the tales over breakfast or before bedtime.

When she wasn’t listening to her mother’s stories or studying with her tutors Y/N could often be found talking to the many different animals that lived on the estate. It was as if the young girl could understand their squeaks and quacks as though they were words and they in return could understand her as well, the evidence of that fact was clear as day after the child had managed to stop the mice from getting into the food in the kitchen pantry by promising to feed them in the morning with the rest of the animals. And so, every morning before her lessons began the young lady of the house would walk around the field, most of the time still dressed in her nightgown trailing off the long list of names that she had given to all of the animals that she personally fed.

There were eight animals in total that Y/N took care of herself that she had befriended over the years. First, there were the four mice, the brother Thor and Loki who always seemed to be fighting with each other, Bruce who the young lady had taken to calling him Hulk whenever he was angry and Vision who liked to bring Y/N herbs from the garden that he believed would help with the cooking. Then there were the two lizards, Tony and Clint, who appeared to like nothing more than to play tricks and pranks on Y/n, moving her shoes from wherever she had left them last or flicking her books to a new page while she wasn’t looking. And finally, there were the two small ducklings Peter and Ned, a pair of best friends who the young lady had been rising ever since she had found them both abandoned by the lake near the manor. The animals were like a second family to young Y/N, telling her stories from the forest and bringing her small gifts of lost buttons and shiny pebbles like her parents did, and they loved her just as much.

And so, for the first few years of her life Y/N was brought up in her own small kingdom filled to the brim with love and happiness, her days surrounded with stories of magic and adventure while her nights were spent listening to her mother’s lullabies while cuddling with the many stuffed toys that her father had brought back for her.

However, sorrow can come to any kingdom and no amount of happiness or love can ward off a plague. It was Y/N mother who sadly became infected, one of many throughout the capital who suffered at the hands of the man-made plague. The doctors had warned both Y/N and her father to stay as far away as possible so that they too wouldn’t suffer from the disease but neither listened to the advice not caring about the consequences. As the household staff had been sent home to not risk infection Y/N father had been forced to take on the role of cook and farmer while Y/N spend every hour of her days curled up by her mother’s side, listening to her voice as she told Y/N the stories she had grown up with knowing in her mind that they would be the last time they were ever told.

In her mother’s final hours a great secret that would see her through all the trails that life had to offer was passed down onto Y/N, who promised her mother through sad sobs that she would always remember for the rest of her life.

Have courage and be kind.

Time passed, and the pain and loss soon turned to memory. With neither Y/N or her father having been infected by the plague that had taken her mother from them the pair grew closer than they ever had before, with her father deciding to leave the travelling side of his business to his associate Thanos while he remained at the family manor to raise and care for his daughter. This arrangement worked for many years until one day when Y/n was 17, a day that she would eventually wish had never come about. Her father had been trying to create a new trade deal with a foreign merchant for some time however the merchant in question only wished to discuss the terms of the deal in person, not moving from his stance no matter how much her father tried to make him budge.

And so, for the first time since her mother’s death, Y/N’s father planned to travel across the great blue sea, leaving his daughter behind in the care of his old friend and business associate Thanos and the company of his daughters Gamora and Nebula. If only Y/N farther knew back than the company and safety that Thanos would come to provide for his daughter, if he had known he would never have left Y/N alone with only her mother’s words for comfort.

Have courage and be kind.

Tag List: imanunbrokenfangirl, cutepanda123417, honeybournehippy, narniandreams, thecutestlittlepiggyismefunkysora, dark-angel4745, hellafiction, pandalandalopalis, janaespecter14, fandom-imagines-forever, writing-sloth,  jackbarakms, bunnysneverdie, highway2hell-24-7, hawaiipeople-blog, random-fandom-boredom, superwholockgeekgirl4life, welcomethefears, fangeekkk,  downforgayships, its-so-hard-to-find-a-good-name,  book-loving--anime-chick, jmbhorses, funkysora,  themazearegames,  way-obsessed5,  book-loving--anime-chick, lynnamin-bun

[kpopreactionstoruinyourlife]

Song Girl - Part 2 - Sungjin Fan Fiction

Song Girl Masterlist

Part 2 - Finding Friends

Summary: Ella meets two tall young men, not knowing they’re about to change her life.

Ella tucked away her laptop and sighed before  poking at her eyes as they burned - she’d been staring at her laptop for too long. After she packed up all her stuff from studying at the cafe, she checked her phone to triple check that she was going to take the correct way home. She’d only been in Seoul for two weeks and had already gotten lost on her way home four times.

Sure she’d been to the city when she was younger with her parents whenever they made their customary trip to Korea every few years but she hadn’t been paying attention to navigating the city. Now she lived there and she was regretting spending their time traversing the city with her nose in a book.

Now she had to fend for herself without her parents to guide her or help her since they, like most of her friends, were back home on the east coast, a good fourteen thousand miles and twelve time zones away.

Instead of with her parents, she had come to Seoul with five other graduate students and three professors/researchers from her university. Her job was mostly the translator and trainer and cultural-in-between of the research team since she was Korean-American and happened to speak Korean fluently.

She was also the youngest person on the team at twenty years old.

Coming to Korea without her parents and living alone, without roommates, had made her more lonely than she was prepared to be. To top it off, she wasn’t close to the other graduate students since she realized their invitations to go out were really invitations to be their personal translator.

Hence studying in the cafe. She was around people at least, not alone in a 500 foot apartment. She still felt lonely and she didn’t know how to find someone, a friend.

To cope with the loneliness, she’d taken to studying and working in areas with people, and whenever possible she went to areas with more expats. She was fine alone, she’d tell herself, just sometimes it got to be too much.

Days weren’t so bad if she got to see a cute guy. That never hurt. Those days she got to go home and dream up an entire scenario about their meet-cute and ensuing romance, culminating in his proposal, which usually took place at the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival.

There had been one especially cute one; she saw him shortly after she’d moved to the city. He was tall, with dark messy hair and piercings in his ears. His nose was a bit wide but his lips looked nothing short of kissable and she’d probably imagined kissing them about a thousand times since she saw him. She’d smiled at him and hoped to see him again.

She’d been back at that cafe, trying to resist the temptation of just writing for fun, usually writing out one of her romantic daydream scenarios,  when she was supposed to be translating papers from English to Korean when she came across a pair of cute guys. They were sat in the next table, chatting over some pastries with coffee in their hands.

Then she realized that they weren’t talking in Korean, but English.

“I’m sorry…” She said, leaning over to them. “But are you American?”

“I am, but he’s Canadian.” The taller, skinnier one said.

“I’m sorry to intrude, I’ve just not heard someone using English in a long time...It’s refreshing.” She said with a smile. Ok, maybe she’d heard the other grad students using English earlier that day but that didn’t really count; really it’d been weeks since she heard people using English on the streets when just a few weeks prior she’d been surrounded with it.

“Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Why don’t you join us?” The taller one said, and so she did. She packed up her laptop and books, and joined them at their small table.

“I’m Jae, and this is Brian.” The tall one said and the other smiled and waved. They both had styled dark hair, spiked up on their heads but where everything about Jae was tall and skinny, even his head, Brian was more broad.

“I’m Ella.” She said with a smile and small bow.

“So where are you from? California?” Brian asked, leaning toward her.

“No, I’m from the east coast, I lived near DC.” She said and they nodded.

“I’m west coast.” Jae said with a casual smile. She wrinkled her nose. “Nice to see your judgment.” He said with a laugh.

“Sorry, I couldn’t live a west coast lifestyle.” She said and he again laughed.

“You don’t seem the type, so what brings you to Korea? Studying abroad?”

“In a way, but I already completed my bachelor’s degree.” She said, blushing a bit. People always freaked out when they learned her past.

“How old are you?” Jae asked, looking wide-eyed.

“I’m nineteen.”

“How do you already complete your bachelor’s at nineteen?” Brian said, slackjawed.

“You skip a grade, and are young for your grade to begin with, and then finish a bachelor’s in three years. I’ll turn twenty next month.”

“Baby.” Jae said shaking his head.

“He just turned twenty-one.” Brian explained.

“Wow, happy belated birthday.”

“Thank you, it’ll be a national holiday soon.” Jae said with a smug smirk.

“What did you mean by you’re kind of studying abroad?” Brian asked.

“I’m here to do research, and get my masters.”

“No wonder you have about five large books in your bag.” Jae said, impressed.

“I like to read.”

“Is that why you skipped a grade?” Brian said.

“Yeah, so what brings you to Seoul?”

“Music.” The two boys answered in unison.

“Oh! That’s fun! I love listening to music. I was in choir for years.” She said and they chuckled.

“Thankfully they gave up on teaching us to dance.” Jae said with a laugh.

“You look like you’d be too long and bony for that.” Ella said and he gasped in offense.

“Excuse you!” He said and she laughed.

“Sorry, I miss the informality of English. I might have taken it too far.”

“I found the woman who can meet my wit.” Jae said. She took that to mean a good thing.

“Except Jimin.” Brian said chuckling.

“But this one might be nice to me!” Jae said, his voice growing louder.

“Who knows?” Ella replied mysteriously.

They got to talking. Ella was right. She had missed the informality of English. She had missed having friends. She hoped Jae and Brian would be her friends. But it wasn’t kindergarten, you couldn’t ask near strangers to be your friend. You had to put in elbow grease, or embarrass yourself, bond yourselves in some way. But eventually their conversation came to an end, but they exchanged numbers.

Maybe they would actually be friends.

[maeisabelle]

Thank You 2018, Welcome 2019

2018 was full of surprises. I can say that almost everything is unplanned. I let things happen. I just enjoyed whatever comes my way. I started with a plan but due to unforeseen events, I decided to let go, just live by the moment, observe, and see where life takes me. I'm not usually like that as I usually want things in my control in some way. But then, by doing so, 2018 had shown me a lot of possibilities and opportunities. I grew stronger, braver, and bolder. Yes, I had my fears. During the middle of year, I was trying to decipher if I would still want to continue working in a foreign country with new people. But I had to face my fears to learn. I loved the challenge. I loved the new learnings especially getting new perspectives, practices, and expertise in my field. I loved knowing more people and their culture. I traveled to different places starting with the different cities in Netherlands such as Hague, Zaandam, Zaanse Schanse, Heerlen, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Hoorn, etc. I also went to different cities in Belgium such as Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, and Leuven followed by the different cities in Germany such as Cologne and Berlin. My favorite is when I went to London to go to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studios and to attend the MarkLogic Tech Summit to meet all the European MarkLogic consultants. During my trips, I met my friends, both planned and unplanned. In Brussels, I met Mavs. In Leuven, I met Pia. In Berlin, I met Bob. In London, I met my Feast friends, Joan and Keren with her husband. And my out-of-the-country highlight is when I celebrated my birthday in Scotland with my cousin Kuya Louie and his wife Ate Louchelle. They are both so generous and kind so when they went to Netherlands, I toured them and treated them for a cruise. Of course, my year will not be complete if I will not go to visit my own country and continent. I visited Singapore and also went to Bacolod, Antipolo, Zambales, Bulacan, and our province Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. I still smile when I remember all my travels this year, along with the experiences, the learnings, and the good company with wonderful people. Aside from travels, I got miles and reward points in my hotels and flights that I was able to use to buy my own Galaxy watch, stay in hotels for free nights, experience the Emirates Business lounge, and have the Gold Skyward status and SPG Platinum Ambassador Elite. I am really grateful for all the blessings I am receiving. That's why I want to share my blessings to others. I am really glad my family were able to successfully pull off my mother's 60th birthday. We all had our share and as requested I sang for my mama, gave a speech, and danced a bit. Haha. I was also able to have mini reunions with my friends, relatives, former housemates and colleagues (former and current). At work, I am learning a lot. I am working in 3 projects currently. I was awarded the MarkLogic's Consultant of the Quarter" once. I was also certified as a MarkLogic 9 Developer in 2018. My goal is to pass the MarkLogic 9 Admin and the AWS certifications this year. To think of it, if I didn't accept the offer of me working abroad because I had to leave behind people I love, I would not experience all of these things. Yes, it was lonely at times. Sometimes, I cried in silence because I am not sure what my future will be. Neither MarkLogic Philippines nor MarkLogic APAC is getting many long-term projects while the other regions are. If I will stay in my current company, my path might be to always work outside the country. I am not sure up until now what path to take. Some are suggesting for me to relocate abroad. Some tell me to settle down already (probably lie low at work). I want to plan my 2019 but I cannot still make up my mind. I tried to have a local business and investments but those didn't give me enough for me to stop working. Opportunities are still with my current field of work. I tried to start and be part of my own startup a few years back but all failed and my teammates had different priorities or something else so I had to let go and forgive. I was aiming for the company I was working with previously to grow big in the Philippines but it didn't work the way I envision it so I had to leave too. I am still grateful though with everything. 2018 and the previous years taught me to trust God more, to pause and listen. I am not sure what will happen in the future, but, I want to live by these verses for 2019:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

I know in time I will know the answers. ❤️ Thank you 2018. Welcome 2019.

[sa7abnews]

My husband works abroad for 2 weeks each month while I watch the kids. The arrangement has strengthened our marriage.

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/11/my-husband-works-abroad-for-2-weeks-each-month-while-i-watch-the-kids-the-arrangement-has-strengthened-our-marriage/

My husband works abroad for 2 weeks each month while I watch the kids. The arrangement has strengthened our marriage.

Kalvinder Osahan and her husband, BharminderCourtesy of Kalvinder OsahanKalvinder Osahan's husband, Bharminder, spends half of each month living and working abroad.The mom of two looks after their children solo.She told Business Insider their marriage is strong despite her spouse's routine absences from home.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kalvinder Osahan, 43. It has been edited for length and clarity.I count down the days until my husband, Bharminder — whom I call Bobby — gets home from work every month after a two-week stint abroad.We live in the southeast of England, and since he's based in Germany, there's about 400 miles and the English Channel between us.I'm a stay-at-home mom, and Bobby, 44, runs an aviation consultancy that provides maintenance for helicopters and planes. He also trains people in the industry.We started dating in 2001 after meeting in an ice cream parlor in London. We left the ice cream shop, saw a movie, and went for a long walk together. There was an instant attraction. Bobby told me that he loved me before we even exchanged numbers.I tried not to worry too much when my husband was in the armyHe was in the army, in the royal electrical and mechanical engineers. Luckily for us, he was stationed in the UK for most of the time. But he served in the Middle East and did two four-month-long tours.I would write to or email him every day. He would reply whenever he could, but the communications were patchy. He'd have to line up behind the other guys to use the phone.We married in July 2006 while I worked as a high school teacher. I threw myself into the job, trying not to worry too much about his whereabouts when he was away.Osahan sometimes flies to meet her husband with their two kids.Courtesy of Kalvinder OsahanOur daughter, Ria, was born in 2012 — the same year Bobby left the army after 13 years. I launched my own wedding stationery business before having our son, Guraj, three years later in 2015.Meanwhile, Bobby worked for various airlines. Then, in 2019, he struck out on his own, establishing a company with five employees. Since then, he's worked for two weeks in Germany before coming home for the rest of the month, and he's mostly free to do what he wants during that time.My husband is the provider, and I look after our household and kidsThere have been moments when I've told him, "Why can't we just live a normal life?" But what is normal? "Some workers leave very early and work very late and still don't see their kids," Bobby said. He wants to be the provider while I focus on the house and the children. We know we're fortunate to have this option because Bobby earns upward of $250,000 annually.He runs at 110% when he's working, and then when he's home, he's just so relaxed. We have a full family life, going for bike rides and short vacations. We'll sometimes accompany him abroad. Last Christmas, we stayed in Bremen for a week.I get lonely sometimes during the 2 weeks Bobby is awayStill, there are some cons. Bobby often misses the kids' parents' evenings and other events, such as school plays — but they are resilient. They know that Dad is working hard so we can maintain our lifestyle.I sometimes get lonely, especially at night when the children are in bed. But thank God for FaceTime. It's the best way to keep in touch. We'll also send each other flirty messages anticipating his return to the UK.I always get butterflies when I pick Bobby up at the airport. Our marriage is strong, and we're still very much in love. Others might find our circumstances strange, but it works perfectly for us.Do you have an interesting story about the practicalities of your relationship to share with Business Insider? Please send details to jridley@businessinsider.com

[alldayieat]

Colombia is one of my favorite countries to visit

What’s yours?!

The first time I visited Colombia was back in 2009, I was there just before their annual flower festival which is hosted in Medellin, Colombia.

I’d say there were three main factors that contributed to my decision to visit back then-

While on a different trip in Ecuador, on a long bus ride to the rainforest I sat next to a Colombian. We had some small talk and told me for my next trip I must visit Colombia. The way he described it I was sold.

After I got home from Ecuador, I ended up doing some research and saw a picture of the Valle de Cocora and knew I would be making my way there soon. Especially since it was in the heart of coffee country. And you know how much I love coffee!! Not many places do that to me. Have you ever seen a picture of a place and you just know you need to visit?

Third, I’ve always wanted to try hang-gliding and para-gliding. When I was an undergraduate in San Diego, I always saw the hang-gliders and para-gliders flying around in the air. They have a school there, I think it’s called Gliderport and that’s probably what got me started! Medellin offered the chance to paraglide at a fraction of the cost.

Roughly 8 years later, another opportunity arose.

I’ve been wanting to go to Cartagena ever since my first visit.

I didn’t get a chance to go on my first visit, since I didn’t have time.

And some of the people that I met while in Colombia, ended up visiting and just said I have to go! See a trend? I’m not normally this easily swayed, but it’s been on my must-go-to list ever since!

So in short, we wanted to go to Miami for an event during Miami Music Week. Rather than just going to and from Miami, we thought we should try to use a little more miles and make a loop through South or Central America.

The alternatives were: Guatemala City or Panama City.

For the amount of miles required and the award availability we thought we should take advantage and head down to Colombia and save Central America for another time.

So off we went!

For the flight

I booked a somewhat complex itinerary. Two one-ways with open-jaws as well as stopovers. I normally don’t fly business, but the business award ticket was actually cheaper than the economy ticket. So definitely took advantage of that! Here are each of the legs-

Here are each of the legs-

United Award ticket- 65,000 United miles per person with $90 in fees and taxes

LAX-SAL-BOG in business

AMS-LIS in business (future trip)

LIS-ZRH-LAX in coach (future trip)

BOG-CTG paid coach fare via a saver promo ticket at $30 per person on Avianca

CTG-MIA 17,500 Citi Thank you points per person, zero fees/taxes

MIA-LAX – 12,450 Citi Thank you points per person, zero fees/taxes

For the hotel

We spent 3 nights for 30,000 points total at the Hampton Inn Usaquen. Usaquen is one of the neighborhoods in the northern part of the city. The hotel was a relatively new hotel and rooms were nice, clean and bright. The only negative was that the walls were super thin so it sounded as if your door/window was open when in fact it was not…

Second Impressions

Bogota is a lot more modern and sprawling than I remember. The traffic getting to our hotel from the airport was pretty bad. What should have taken 30 minutes took almost 1 hour and 20 minutes. But that’s just part of traveling.

Getting Around

Is super easy. Last time I visited, there was no Uber and I didn’t have an iPhone or GPS. I used either a paper map or Lonely Planet Guidebook to get around. Yes. Those were the days.

With taxis, you would call and request one and then give a password to your drive before you went anywhere. (For security reasons). The taxi procedure is still in place, but now they also have Uber.

So if you’re visiting from abroad you don’t have to worry about getting into a shady taxi that runs the meter!

Keep in mind that though they have Uber, it’s illegal. So, when you request one, one of you has to sit in the front seat and pretend that you are friends if you get pulled over. Yup!

We made it through without incident and there are many people using it there.

The rest of the time we were on foot.

With the exception of the Ciclovia. A city-wide event held on Sundays and holidays where they close several of the major roads in the city to bikes and pedestrians.

It was one of the most fun things I’ve done in a major city in a long time.

Would be a lot of fun to see that happen in Los Angeles or any other large American city yeah?

Sights

I didn’t get a chance to see Usaquen the first time I visited, but it was in line with my expectations based on what I had read.

It’s a nice quiet residential neighborhood with many good restaurants scattered about.

Usaquen has a Sunday market, which also takes place on holidays. (We happened to be there during mens day, El dia del Hombres)

It’s a pretty small market which you can probably cover in about an hour or two, with lots of arts and crafts and some food stalls.

For the rest of the time, we explored the following neighborhoods (North to South)- Chico/El Retiro, Chapinero, and La Candelaria. Mostly for the purpose of food and walking off all the food we ate.

The only real sightseeing we did was in La Candelaria, which is the historic district.

We did a free tour for a couple of hours which walked through the major attractions and is something I would recommend if you are in the area.

Other things I especially found enjoyable was the Botero museum and the Museo del Oro (gold museum).

Apparently, Botero is working on a kama sutra series of paintings so will be interesting to see how that looks.

The Museo del Oro has lots and lots of gold pieces, my favorites are the ones that look like insects or miniature planes.

The show Ancient Aliens theorizes that the gold pieces were in fact flying machines, not insects. Maybe when you visit, you can see them up close and decide yourself. :)

The last group of pictures are from the Ciclovia bike ride.

That will be it for now, next I will be sharing some of the food we ate while in Bogota!!

Click to enlarge

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welcome gift from the hotel

usaquen street

oink oink

sunday market in usaquen

bla bla bla!

in the historic district

in the historic district

la candelaria graffiti

poker poker pok

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

chicha

hot chocolate drink

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria graffiti

la candelaria street

la candelaria graffiti

monserrate

a gift from the Spanish

the zocalo

the square

gold museum

gold museum – planes or insects?

amazing gold piece

just like in Paris!

man or woman?

botero museum

botero museum

botero museum

botero museum

botero museum

botero museum

mona lisa :)

botero museum

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

art on our bike ride

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

art on our bike ride

art on our bike ride

art on our bike ride

art on our bike ride

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

art on our bike ride

the ciclovia!

the ciclovia!

art on our bike ride

the ciclovia!

  Lastly, if you are interested in traveling with points and miles, I am working on a paid online course that will guide you through the process start to finish.

In this course, I will cover the basics of collecting points, as well as different tactics and strategies to maximize the value of your points.

Most of this is coming from my first hand experience traveling with points and miles, all of which started way back in 2002, with my first credit card!

It will be a relatively short course ~1.5 hours in length, but aims to be a quick way to learn all about points and miles travel in a short and concise series of videos and lectures.

If you’re interested, all you have to do is sign up here for exclusive access to the pre-launch May 1, 2017!

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!

Colombia Trip March 2017 Part 1: Bogota Sights Colombia is one of my favorite countries to visit What's yours?! The first time I visited Colombia was back in 2009, I was there just before their annual flower festival which is hosted in Medellin, Colombia.

[lisamhayes]

3 Steps to Turning a Massive Shit Storm into a Miracle

Crystal couldn't believe her luck. She was offered her dream job in a city she loved. She wasn't even looking. She got the offer out of nowhere and took it on the spot. A former college friend recommended her, and after a brief phone call, she accepted the position for almost three times what she was making at her current job.

Crystal made a quick trip to San Deigo to sign her contract in person. She drove by the cutest little cottage right across the street from the beach when she got lost going to dinner on her first night there. She stopped to write down the number on the "For Rent" sign out front, thinking she could never actually afford it, when the owner stepped outside and saw her.

Although the going rate for houses in that area was around $3000 a month, Crystal signed a lease for $1700 on the spot. The owner liked her, a lot. He offered to show her around the city after she moved in. He was super cute and lived in another house he owned just a few blocks away.

Three years prior Crystal had been in a severe car accident. A lawsuit had been pending for a very long time. Although she'd healed and was completely back on her feet, this suit had been hanging over her head for a long time.

When she returned to Chicago to get ready for the move there was a check in the mail, for a lot of money, and when I saw a lot, I mean life changing dollars. That kind of financial cushion made moving and starting a new life even more exciting.

However, Crystal wondered if she would be lonely living in a new city thousands of miles from everyone she knew. She didn't think about it for long, though. Three days before Crystal was to leave for the West Coast, her sister who'd been living abroad emailed her with the news. She was moving back to the states and had gotten a job, you guessed it, in San Diego. They hadn't planned it that way. It just happened. Both of them were thrilled.

Crystal was beginning to believe someone had sprinkled fairy dust all over her life. All of this was especially surprising considering eight weeks earlier Crystal's life was circling the toilet bowl, or so she thought.

Crystal thought Keith was the love of her life. They'd been dating for three years although for all practical purposes they were married. They shared a home, friends, family, and pretty much every aspect of life.

As with most relationships, it started out like a fairytale. He was her Prince Charming until about a year in he started drinking. As the drinking got worse, her fairytale turned into a nightmare.

However, she decided she would stand by her man and do what it took to help him get healthy. It was hard. He was very verbally and emotionally abusive when he drank. But Crystal was committed. She wanted to grow old with Keith.

It turns out; Crystal was a lot more committed than he was. After everything he put her through, one day he came home and told her he was having an affair and wanted to end their relationship. That very night he packed his things and moved in with her "best friend".

Just like that, everything fell apart. Actually, it had been falling apart for more than a year, but to Crystal, it felt like everything came crashing down all at once. She lost her boyfriend and her best friend all at once.

Three days after the breakup, after a double shift at the hospital where she worked, Crystal was finally home and exhausted. She was too tired to sleep. All she wanted to do was watch Netflix and chill. Then it happened. On a cold and snowy Friday afternoon at 4:45 everything went dark.

Keith turned off every utility that was in his name, which was all of them. No heat, no lights, no phone. By the time she figured out what had transpired all the utility companies were closed for the weekend.

Crystal almost lost her job the next day when she failed to respond to an emergency call from work. She was put on immediate probation. Her supervisor was her former "best friend". It was an awkward conversation.

By Sunday evening it was 41 degrees in her house. As she sat in the dark pouring over her bills by flashlight, she quickly realized she could no longer afford to live there alone.

Two hours later, Crystal found herself in the emergency room at the hospital where she worked, as a patient. She thought she had a heart attack. She was actually dehydrated, hypothermic, and suffering from extreme anxiety.

Crystal laughed when she told the story of getting hypothermia while sitting inside her own townhouse, but none of it was really funny.

So, how did Crystal go from what looked like rock bottom to being charmed in almost every way in such a short time?

It happens more often than you'd think. That kind of bounce back is not uncommon.

Keith had been taking a toll on Crystal for months. She was walking on eggshells every day. She felt completely uncertain and him, their relationship and her sanity. Slowly but surely Crystals dominant vibration was taking a crap.

Where she'd once been a happy high energy fireball, by the end of their relationship she was exhausted, depressed, and anxiety-ridden, even before the breakup.

We can't actually compartmentalize. Life doesn't work that way. Keith was having a massive impact on Crystal's dominant vibration. It wasn't just affecting her relationship. It was affecting everything. When he left her energy started to normalize. Crystal was devasted by the circumstances, but she felt relief knowing it was over. That relief started things in motion.

Crystal was also very aware she couldn't afford to let that energy run on her. She knew she needed to manage it. So she doubled down on energy hygiene and did everything she could from a vibration standpoint to get herself back on track. Without Keith's influence, it was easier than she'd imagined.

I see this happen a lot with things like breakups and job losses. Sometimes what you're holding onto is holding you down.

Here are three things you can do to make the worst pile of steaming shit ever "magically" shift into the best thing that ever happened.

1. Double or triple your self-care

Most people don't do enough self-care on regular days. However, when the shit hits the fan in most cases, even basic self-care is the first thing to go when you need it the most.

When you are highly stressed your body has a tendency to go into an energy reserve mode. You feel more tired and more sluggish than you should. Things start to feel very foggy. What you want to do is nothing.

Self-care creates energy, the kind of energy you need to be clear minded and make smart decisions. Self-care also improves your self-esteem. No matter what's creating the crisis, feeling good about yourself will help a lot.

When a shit storm strikes if the only thing you do is devote yourself to self-care you are well on your way to digging yourself out of whatever hole you've found yourself in.

If you need help putting together a self-care plan, CLICK HERE.

2. Manage your thoughts like an impatient dictator.

Almost everyone feels like their thoughts are beyond their control like they are happening to you rather than being generated by you.

It takes a lot of practice, but you can get mastery over what you're thinking. Learning to do it when you're life isn't on fire is preferable. However, if you're in crisis, there is no time like the present to get really super picky about what kind of thoughts you're willing to entertain.

The first step is to decide what thoughts you will not tolerate. You probably want to start by eliminating any thoughts that are absolute in a negative sense. Watch out for words like always, never, forever, no one, and everyone.

If a negative thought comes up, notice it and stop it. Do not carry on a mental conversation with any thought that sucks.

Secondly, pick some thoughts you'd like to be thinking. You know, the kind of thoughts that seem like total crap when your life is a mess. Practice them like you'd practice anything else you want to master. Repetition is the key to mastery. Find a thought you want to own and practice thinking it, like 1000 times a day. That might seem extreme, but if you find yourself in a downward spiral, it's not.

3. Decide everything is working out perfectly for you and then act accordingly.

It really is as simple as that. Decide. Once you decide everything is working out perfectly, perfect solutions and opportunities are going to start emerging in the chaos. They have to.

Look for as many opportunities as you can to say yes to anything unexpected. Be prepared to take action, make changes, and do things you didn't see yourself doing.

The Universe often delivers the biggest blessings disguised in things that feel like failure, loss or betrayal. If you're up against anything of this stuff chances are high you're in the beginning stages of a miracle. You can activate that miracle by deciding it's happening.

If you'd like another real-life example of someone who rocked this out CLICK HERE to listen to my interview with Ming Chee, the Money Alchemist

*This story was shared with permission and names have been changed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sharing is sexy. If you liked this article, share, comment, or pass it on.

Lisa Hayes, The Love Whisperer, is an LOA Relationship Coach. She helps clients leverage Law of Attraction to get the relationships they dream about and build the lives they want. Lisa is the author of the newly released hit book, Score Your Soulmate and How to Escape from Relationship Hell and The Passion Plan.

[autolovecraft]

For the terror had not been wholly changed to lethal gray brittleness.

That which spoke could speak no more. The ooze and slime at the police station, and removed to some place where he could sink the wooden shelf where they had never even thought a scream had been a good old man—when Ammi looked out again the hapless farmer's mind was bent ever so slightly; but thank Heaven the branches did their thankless and monotonous chores through the aimless days. There was really lucky for Ammi that he lived alone in the well was getting toward sunset, and the way it works ain't like they be here—now it's going home—At this point, as if by some vague fear, he added. I asked old people in Arkham was given a short paragraph in the ancient sitting-room while the men who had been a frantic whinny from Ammi's horse outside, followed at once, so soft as to damn any accountable being to eternal torment.

They were glad of the original fragment during the work. Nitric acid and even the gossips would not be told. It was awful, he added. There was considerable questioning at the bottom of a frenzied runaway.

For over two weeks Ammi saw nothing of value had been dragged by any external forces, Ammi could not have told the men about the house which had stood where the earth had caved in. Then I saw that dark westward tangle of glens and slopes for myself, and that wild things leave queer prints in the well water was hauled up and splashed on the morning, having heard that he lived alone in the meteor had poisoned the whole farm was shocking—grayish withered grass and leaves became apparent to the night, they protest, are very bad, too, for almost at this instant a detective silently called attention to something or else it would soon be built now, and lashed the fields and distorted woods in a state of nervous tension. The stoutest cord had broken their sapling and run off with the greatest reluctance, and did what he had thought he had begun to pervade the entire apartment. Merwin, who shunned all Gardners now.

He also stated that Merwin and Zenas in the substance. Nahum sadly saw that dark westward tangle of glens and slopes for myself, and beams alike. Every person in that grotesque country; and when found they were uncovering.

They were twitching morbidly and spasmodically, clawing in convulsive and epileptic madness at the miles of old legendry at all, as the light from the black and blasted landscape.

Then the lurching buggy had not a present horror numbed him he must search for himself. It was very inexplicable, for they had taken, and probably there was a horrible brittleness, and walked to the sky like the fire of St. Each minute saw it, Nahum included, saw it strengthen, and with its gray desolation outside. Then there was very terrible, especially to little Merwin. Six times within an hour the farmer saw the lightning, as so many others of the same monstrous fire were creeping about the blasted heath was to come—the walls and windows shifted.

The rest of his house is so near the archaic well-sweep was shining now, the dust thereafter consisting mainly of alkaline phosphates and carbonates.

Before that time, even the small island in the valley and the nervous child ringing horribly in his tale.

When I went into the sky like the brittle globule in the woodshed behind, and early in March there was much more recent than I had vaguely wished some clouds would gather, for almost at this instant a detective questioned him he admitted that Nahum had come the runaway in the light from the valley. The rural tales are queer. He dared move neither backward nor forward, but found it was not large, but perhaps they had both suffered from the black curve of the brittle globule in that well was a wild commotion and clopping in the wood. Ammi, when he drove past to see the stony curb by the gossip. What had been, must have been a good idea to analyze the water from that stone poisoned the soil. Their shapes were monstrous, and the leaps of that kind ought never to sprout in a mad cosmic frenzy, till it became common speech that something was wrong with the dank moss and mattings of infinite years of decay. He also stated that Merwin and Zenas were both there, it developed, nearly lost the spirit to bark. Most of the ancient road line, but recognized some solvents as I had expected; but these are all vacant now, that alien and undimensioned rainbow of cryptic poison from the house, barn and sheds. It was morning when I saw the lightning strike the furrow in the woods. There was no wind seemed ever to blow about. The men were frankly nonplussed by the crackling in the acid solvents there seemed to flow directly into the well. Upon everything was a vacant space, and sending forth to the woods across the road, and over all the while the shaft of unknown color had melted into the sky and bedded itself in the absence of his stricken friend, It come from some subtle change in the spring, and at last only because my business took me through and past it. All around the dwindling brown lump near the barn. The men sniffed in disgust at the various social events of the trees slope fantastically, and those shining orchard trees blossomed forth in strange colors, and he dares to do anything then and there. Three of the lamplight it was clear that a faint phosphorescence had begun to exude the faint miasmal odor which struck Stephen as wholly unprecedented.

He had said so he busied himself in obtaining them—and he feared the fall before was freely mentioned, and I wondered how it had come into everything growing now.

There had been suddenly choked off, and the blasted heath. A dim though distinct luminosity seemed to inhere in all directions at random for something—they could not place it. It was just that. Ammi for his haying in the night—the professors gave it a smart blow with a brooding fear he dared not return, and what was abroad that night; and Nahum worked hard at his gleaning of the current Arkham tales is about fat oaks that shine and move as they crossed the rustic bridge over gaps, where the devil held court beside a curious lone altar older than the Indians. But the present was no change in grass and leafage; but even the medical examiner, and it was the surprised response of poor Nahum. It was still alive after a futile attempt to find additional globules by drilling, the sense of logic and continuity broke down.

It had an added shock that the geologist's hammer had shattered, and when he drove past Nahum's house had now become an acknowledged thing, or face another time that gray blasted heath.

Night had fully set in, and there, in part, though this time. Botanists, too; numbers went queer in the well? Is it fastened to the north road.

Even as things were, his mind had snapped a trifle, or any other thing fit such a thing of sinister menace, and hoped that the meteorite. No one replied, but those two crumbling objects were beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the ripening came sore disappointment, for I do not think his tale.