#he had a home a dad. food shelter school everything else he would need.

[dukeofthomas]

@daisybell-on-a-carousel you are so right and correct. perfectly said perfectly conveyed oh my god

The thing is, I actually think it's a super interesting angle to look at the intersection of trauma and mental illness and vigilantism and coping mechanisms with Jason's character.

But, for me, if you want to seriously ask at what point does Jason need therapy more than he needs the vigilante lifestyle it's not Red Hood Jason you should be looking at. Red Hood Jason was literally murdered and the mysteriously resurrected. That's not something you can therapy your way out of! That's something that no amount of talking will ever help you understand, because it's a completely incomprehensible event!

No, if anyone needs therapy it's 12 year old Jason.

It's 12 year old Jason, who has poverty trauma and homelessness trauma and prison system trauma and parentification trauma and drug related trauma and, depending on your reading, potentially sexual trauma.

It's 12 year old Jason, who is taken in by Bruce - a man who is *also* severely traumatised (in extremely different ways) and chooses to dress up as a Bat and punch people about it instead of seeking healthy coping strategies.

It's 12 year old Jason, who Bruce decides - without psychiatric training or so much as a second opinion - needs the same outlet that "helped" Bruce and "helped" Dick.

And by the time aditf rolls around, Bruce is maybe just realising that he's made a mistake. But it's too late, because for two years he's told this child - a child who arguably feels indebted to him, a child who is extremely isolated and had very few if any other trusted adults to talk to - that violence and avoidance is how you deal with emotions.

I think that's fascinating to think about!

That Bruce's own failure to process his trauma left him blind to what Jason might actually have benefited from! That if Bruce had noticed Jason struggling earlier, if he'd reacted differently or explained himself better in aditf, Jason might not have felt the need to travel around the world alone looking for a woman he'd never met and only just learned about!

That if *Bruce* had been healthier, had been to therapy instead of throwing all his energy into vigilantism, none of this might have happened!

Reframe Red Hood Jason as a tragedy of Bruce's own making, not because of the classist bullshit that Jason was always going to end up a criminal and Bruce failed to stop that, but because Bruce's terrible coping mechanisms became *Jason's* terrible coping mechanisms and nobody likes to see the worst parts of themselves in the mirror.

[evil-women-step-on-me]

Sayeon Lee: A Tragedy of Her Own Making

"Am I a bad person? Or just a weak one?"

It would have been easy for Sayeon Lee to be drowned out by her more colorful supporting cast.

The main three, for example, have their own main character-level backstories. Ryujin's adoptive family was massacred by the Aberrant Corps, the organization she is then forced to join; she seeks to avenge them by killing the Level 9 officer behind her family (and maybe crush's) death. Iseul's father was an apparent beacon of goodness within the shady Aberrant Corps and died before Iseul came of age; Iseul strives to succeed him, even though the Corps is a darker organization than he could ever imagine. Min was stripped of his essence at a young age, the trauma forming his stoic, mute personality. He joins a gang of criminals led by a woman he probably loves- even though she will never love him back- at least not in the way she loves her real sister, Sayeon Lee.

And who is Sayeon Lee? She's a hard worker. She… goes to school. She had maids? Her day-to-day existence is pretty cushy. It's explicitly stated that Sayeon has never worried about money, and probably food. Samin provides her with everything should ever need. As Officer Cha drives her to the Corps, Sayeon worries about her salary.

And despite how sheltered Sayeon is, and how "normal" her goals are compared to everyone else's ("Make the world a better place"…. ok, gurl) Sayeon still manages to be a devastatingly tragic character. To me, the reason is simple: Her tragedy is largely of her own making.

After Samin killed her best friend's dad, Sayeon could have reacted in so many ways. She could've tried leaving the home, or she could've not. She could've accepted Samin (and her family's) criminal history by acknowledging many of their actions as necessary, or she could've not. She could've lived her life and tried embracing the things that bring her happiness- or she could've not.

She doesn't, she doesn't, she doesn't. Sayeon chooses, inexplicably, to become a prosecutor. She studies until her nose bleeds so that she can get into a top school and put people like her sister in jail. She rejects having friends, hobbies, comfort, or any leisure throughout her teens just so that she can fulfill this purpose. She, essentially, rejects happiness itself.

And she didn't NEED to. From the start, no one has forced Sayeon to do anything. In fact, she has something that no other member of Cell 4 has: the backing of an ultra-powerful, ultra-rich family member who would do literally anything for her, no strings attached. Sayeon is the single most privileged member of Cell 4.

Ryujin didn't choose to be captured by the Corps. She didn't choose to sit in jail for years. Iseul is happy to be at the Corps, but he didn't have a choice in that either- unlike Sayeon, he isn't conveniently related to a family of supercriminals that would bail him out if he wanted something different. Min has had so little choice in his life that his character is basically defined by it. Even now, he is watching Sayeon on another person's orders. Does he even know he has a choice?

By contrast, Sayeon is FREE. She's still bound by society in some ways, so no, she won't become a prosecutor. But she had a choice between the Corps and a luxurious underground life as the untouchable sister of a superpowered heiress, who built an entire criminal empire just to protect her, and loves Sayeon with her whole heart and more.

And Sayeon still chose the Corps.

Sayeon is so mad with guilt and grief, so stuck on the idea of becoming society's Perfect Angel, the embodiment of her country and culture's ideals in some twisted form of repentance for something that she didn't even do- the actions of her family, which she did not choose and could not control- that she rejects happiness every time.

THIS is her fatal flaw. THIS is Sayeon's tragedy.

Not that she doesn't have a choice. But that she's always had one.

[jeskoholic]

The Uninvited

Dreamcatcher Gahyeon x Male Reader

MASTERLIST

Tags: Serial Killer, Rich Heir Gahyeon, Mansion, Butler/Bodyguard MC, Thriller

TW: Extreme Violence, Blood, Graphic content

Long Story again, btw (what else is new?)

Wordcount: 44339

NOT A SMUT.

Enjoy!

---

Fate has not been always kind to a person like Y/N. As far as the young man could remember, everything that happened after he moved out from his parent’s house has always involved some sort of a challenge. That would not only include the constant struggle to make ends meet in a daily basis, but also by having the weight and pressure placed on his back. After all, being the first born and the breadwinner in a family with three other siblings who are still going to school, things are bound to be difficult from the get-go especially with his father getting fired from his job previously. That was the penultimate reason why he decided to not pursue college entirely and try to earn money to help his family even in the smallest of ways.

Y/N spent most of his twenty-one years of existence chasing shifts for a living; travelling on different places inside South Korea’s borders where he could find a stable job with a reasonable salary. If there’s an opening, regardless if it was far from his home or it operated in a schedule that was not to his liking, he’d take it just to earn money. It was also because of that very premise that he learned to live by himself independently and spend every day life on the simplest of ways possible to save and provide financial aid for his family.

However, with that kind of choice things never became a walk in the park for him as expected. Having huge responsibilities placed before him would inevitably lead him to a bitter sacrifice, as one job was never enough to sustain for his needs while at the same time having enough to give to his mom and dad. Eventually, Y/N had to work on at least two shifts for a single day to compensate for the escalating needs for schooling. It even came to the point that he was no longer sure what he was living for; whether he was appreciating his life for what it’s supposed to be or if he was just merely waiting for a miracle as he let himself get dragged in the messy journey of his every day routine.

But then, like wheels, life would not always be on the side that was rolling flat on the ground. It would not take a bit longer when Y/N would find the fortune that he has been hoping for since he left their house. It was something that was unexpected but well-timed nevertheless.

Y/N had just come home from another tiring graveyard shift from the nearby fast food chain, entering the small apartment he has been living on alone for almost four months now. It may have been due to his grisly routine of coming and going at the house that it was left ultimately tidy for what it was worth; every corner was spotless because he barely even had time to even lay a single piece of dirt on the floor. Upon entry, it was the familiar sight that always greeted him: the white sofa opposite the television and a glass table in between them; the small counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and around the living room was a door that headed to straight to his bedroom.

It wasn’t exactly as large as others thought it would be, but with no one else to live with he would often feel like most of his rent was going to the unused space of the house. It was more like he was paying just for the bed and the bathroom. He really cannot do anything about it since it was the most convenient place considering that it was nearest to the fast-food chain, saving him transportation fares and actually be able to travel by foot. For the most part, though, the unit was really living up to what Y/N would like to use it for: a place to sleep and a shelter during the rainy days and to him it was more than enough.

Just as he collapsed on the couch after throwing his rather sizeable backpack elsewhere on the living room, Y/N felt his phone vibrate from his pocket with an incoming call. He immediately fished the phone out despite being slightly annoyed; he had a hunch that this was from work anyway. If there was something that really irritated him the most was when people (especially his co-workers) would call him right as he got off from the night-long journey. In his head, the chain was a few minutes of walk away so he could not think of a good reason why they would not tell him things before he went home; he was supposed to rest already after a whole night of serving customers. With that in mind, he did not even check the identity of the caller and instead went to answer it right away.

“Hello…?” He asked the opposite line, maintaining utmost tone of courtesy as he could while masking his exhausted and irritated demeanour.

“Hello Y/N? This is Ki Bum. You told me to call you in case I got a job offering, right? I got something and I think you might be interested in it.”

Y/N’s eyes widened upon hearing the voice and immediately sat properly.

“Oh, Ki Bum, it’s been a while, yeah. It’s too early in the morning, too. I just got home from shift so my head was a bit groggy and I didn’t check who was calling me so I apologize if I didn’t recognize you. You said something about a job offering…?”

“Actually, I got a rather interesting one. I don’t think you had any experience on these types of work so I really doubt that you’d go for it, but since you asked me to inform you if there was a job offering, it was worth a shot.”

“You know that I’m not that really picky as long as it’s something I can learn and eventually do. Besides, I heard rumours that the fast-food chain is renovating soon, so if that were true I would really need a good job to keep my rent up as well as send money to my family. Well, you know how it goes. I could never have asked for a better timing, man.”

“Alright then; if you want cash then you’ll really have to be willing to do anything, my friend.”

“What is this job about anyway? Are you sure this is legal? With how you’re sounding it feels like it’s not,” he joked.

The man named Ki Bum from the other line chuckled.

“Of course it’s legal, come on Y/N. When did I give you things that are against the law? Okay, so the thing is, the job opening is to be a butler for a rich family, the Lees. The job was opened recently because the late family butler had died out of old age a few weeks ago and so they are looking for a suitable replacement for him.”

A butler…?

Okay, that’s something different.

“Wait, you said that the Lees are a bunch of wealthy people, right? Why are they looking for a butler publicly? They could possibly just get one from a security agency or something, right?”

“Yeah that’s the thing, there have been a lot of other people that tried applying for the Lees but no one actually lasted. Most of them would quit a week into the job because of reasons that they are not interested to disclose publicly. The only word I heard was they were really hard to live with, but even that is unconfirmed. The salary offer’s really good though so there are a lot that’s interested. I guess the Lees were meticulous in picking the applicants as well that no one else was able to pass the public screening ever since it was posted a week ago. I told this to you because I know you don’t have a criminal record and that your track is pretty decent so if you’re up to it, I think you can go in. I’d say you have a fat chance of going in.”

“That’s very tempting, you know. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to be a butler. I don’t even know what that does. Maybe you can enlighten me on that?”

“I’m not really sure too, but all I could say is that you would live with them so it is a stay-in type of deal so you won’t have to worry about rent, water, electricity, food, or anything. Everything’s pretty much there already and all you have to worry about is whatever the fuck is the reason the other applicants are leaving. I think it’s just minor, you know. Just think about it, Y/N. it’s a good offer if you have nothing to lose, really.”

Wait, butlers still exist to this day?

Wow…

It’s really tempting, to be honest.

However, I won’t deny that it sounds too good to be true. There are a lot of things to consider when something like this is offered on the table.

I have a feeling that there’s a drawback somewhere that I got to find.

I need to think this through.

“Ki Bum, I’ll call you back man. I need to think about this for dinner… or breakfast, whatever. I haven’t eaten anything since I ended shift and the hunger’s clouding me from thinking straight. Thanks for the information, though, and I really appreciate it. I’ll just call you back when I have my decision.”

“Alright, man. I’ll send the details to you about the salary and everything so that you’d know. I’m hanging up.”

The thought of the sudden job offering was lingering in Y/N’s head for the rest of that night. He cooked food for himself, and eventually washed the dishes all while his mind was in deep consideration of his friend Ki Bum’s offer. It was definitely something that was hard to resist; having to stay in and live with the family instantly eliminates all need for him to pay rent and even think of food for himself. That alone was something good on itself already. All things considered, it was a job that he felt like was perfect for someone who lives alone like himself.

One thing was bugging him though: if it was really that good then why do they have utmost difficulty looking for a suitable replacement for the old family butler? Was the household of the Lees really so sophisticated on choosing their butler that they have difficulty securing one for the position?

But then again, a large part of the consideration for the job acceptance was the salary. Ki Bum has messaged Y/N of the complete details and everything, including the salary and day-off privileges. To him, everything was to his favour from the get-go and there was no real reason to not accept it rather than having to dread living with an unfamiliar family’s mysterious house. Y/N also thought that it would be this large mansion that he would have trouble walking inside of.

The salary was established and really reasonable. The schedule was fixed and very convenient to his liking. There would be no rent to pay because he would stay inside the house.

What could possibly go wrong?

Y/N has been considering it for almost two hours after Ki Bum has made his call, and as he lay inside the dark-curtained and really gloomy atmosphere of his bedroom, he gently peered on the sunlight bleeding through the gaps of the windows. Morning has started to come upon him as his body began to embrace its own ‘night’. His eyes were beginning to get droopy from the dim surroundings of his bland bedroom and his body was already telling itself to sleep and take a rest for the shift that was before him. However, before Y/N could doze off and call the ‘night’, he messaged his friend Ki Bum again for the last time, apparently making up a solid decision:

Ki Bum, I have been thinking of that job offering you told me. If I accept it, when would we start?

---

The processing of Y/N’s papers for his resignation at the fast food chain took faster than he would have thought it would, but then it was quite convenient to both parties in the long run. The chain wanted to let go of its part-time employees in preparation for the renovation, and Y/N wanted to be freed from work as he has a better future that was waiting for him.

It was finally official. Y/N has passed the interview and submitted all the requirements for a position in the Lee household, even passing the initial interview. Everything went as planned and he was able to settle all his transition to another job within a single week. The only thing that was left was to meet the people who would be his bosses and in turn be the people he’d be living with for the rest of the year, possibly.

With that, he took all the necessary deals to aid his departure; finally informing the landlord for his apartment and informing his family about the new job. They were not exactly thrilled to hear about it considering it was a stay-in job and they won’t be able to see him unlike now, but again the salary being taken into consideration and the privilege of having to stay inside a multi-millionaire tycoon family house was more that reasonable enough. The deal has been set, and the next thing Y/N knew was he is inside the Lees family car and is being driven to the house located on the farthest seaside border of South Korea just as the sun was about to set on the virgin horizon.

The car itself was regal as he expected it to be. It was a long and black sedan Benz that had its interior completely coated in brownish-black leather, in turn emitting a very stock scent as if it was never used before for businesses such as this one. However, despite being distracted by a lot of features inside the expensive car for most of the trip, his attention was soon turned towards imposing entrance of the Lee Family Manor. As soon as the driver exited the highway and headed towards an uphill side road, they finally reached a tall, black iron gate followed by a long, stone pathway bordered and lined with hedges while tall, leafy trees loomed overhead like a canopy.

I’ve never been in this side of Korea, Y/N thought to himself as the car grazed the lengthy path. I never knew they had these kinds of architecture here. I honestly feel like I’m in Europe.

Wait, I’m still in South Korea, right?

And just as the path was totally different from what he was expecting, the Manor itself seemingly solidified his foreign impression of the place. The Lee Manor felt very out of place indeed as it was this huge, imposing establishment on the end of a long, grass path; it was this handsome building that peered over the hill right at the end of the straight drive, lights were shining on its windows with the final stretches of day was in toll. The castle-like features of the place, with its wrought –iron barred windows and its pointed towers, finally showed itself in all its old, ancient-like beauty. Y/N found it really hard to believe that it was a household that existed in the same country that he’s been living in.

At this point, he was really glad to have said ‘yes’ to the job offer and the sight of the house alone convinced him that his rather impulsive decision was correct. No matter how scary the house may look like at first impression, there was no denying of its ancient appeal like it had a lot of untold stories behind it. It was a whole new experience for Y/N, to say the least, and he always loved new sights because he knew he’d grow and learn from it. This one, in particular, was really inviting.

It was clear that the place had its obvious inspirations from Old English castles, yet as they treaded further it still had that aura of being South Korean just with the vibe that it was pulling off. It was needless to say that the mesh of the two choices in design certainly went well for the Lees who were the current owners of the house after being passed on for many generations in assumption.

The driver pulled over just below the wide stretch of stairs leading right towards the manor’s main entrance. Three figures stood on the oaken doors waiting for the arrival of the newcomer, each wearing a doll-like smile etched on their individual faces. Y/N could only assume that they were the Lee family, although he could only speculate as he could only recognize one woman from the news.

They must be sisters, he thought towards the three women who stood waiting for him.

“Thank you for coming all the way here, Mr L/N and for considering us for the job,” the tallest woman among the three greeted with a smile as Y/N exited the car and walked up the stairs towards them. “My name is Lee Siyeon and I’m the original heir and caretaker of this land. Right now, I’m just living here with my family.”

Lee Siyeon’s name was pretty much well-known in South Korea as the rich CEO of a famous entertainment company called Happy Face and her pictures were pretty much scattered all across the news when it came to the industry. Y/N always knew that she had that very intimidating look on her whenever he saw her on the news, but now that he’s face-to-face with the woman behind the success, Siyeon was indeed really imposing. She had that aura of professionalism around her, duly emphasized by the watching blood-red tuxedo that she was wearing as well as her wolfish smile.

“I could have wished that I interviewed you personally had only my schedule permitted,” she added as she welcomed him with both arms open. “But I did read your file and I was impressed with your work history. It was really a lot for someone who’s at your age. I could really use someone like you who’s hard-working in this house.”

“T-Thank you ma’am,” he replied rather nervously.

“Please, we’re going to be living in the same house now, so please call me Lady Siyeon. There’s no need to be shy, Mr L/N.”

“You can just call me Y/N, Lady Siyeon. With all due respect, I think Mr L/N is too much.”

Siyeon chuckled.

“Alright then, Y/N it is if you insist. Now, I would you to meet my family. This is my wife—“

‘Wife’…?

“This is my wife, Bora,” Siyeon gestured towards the smaller woman dressed in a long black dress on her right. “She’s more used to being called Sua because that’s how she was known from her previous job. She’s the matriarch in this house and would be the person that you’ll be reporting to for most of the time.”

Lee Bora or Sua as she was introduced by Lady Siyeon was nothing short of a beauty that encompassed her unbelievably youthful appearance, radiating with her porcelain-white skin. She was this small-framed woman with a plain face, harbouring a really intense expression displayed by her sharp, pointed nose, thin red lips and her deathly stare. As she got introduced, Lady Sua seemingly dropped all of her scary expressions from previously and instead gave the new family butler an unexpected smile before she moved to shake his hand with her cold, manicured hands.

“Thank you for accepting the job,” she, sufficing what appeared to be a forced smile. Y/N felt her freezing hands as she shook his, as well as briefly smelling the faint scent of alcohol on her breath. “You can call me Lady Sua as well. I hope we get along really well because we’d be talking to each other more than my Siyeon.”

“Y-yes ma’am… I’ll try my very best, Lady Sua.”

“And this is our only daughter, Gahyeon,” Lady Siyeon spoke once again, finally gesturing to the girl standing behind her own wife.

Gahyeon was a really young woman, just a few months over nineteen years of age and had a really round face with a pair of dreamy, round eyes. She stood there with a really uninterested expression, but she made sure to return Y/N the sentiments he gave her by smiling and nodding in courtesy before turning her gaze away from him before he could even reply in kind. If anything, it appeared as though Gahyeon was forced by both of her parents to greet the new family butler with how uninterested she looked. It was as if she was on a wrong place.

“Please follow us inside, Y/N. We’ll personally tour you inside the manor. I would suggest that you take note of the important places because people often get lost inside this huge house. We don’t want our new house butler to end up on a wrong room on his first night here now, don’t we sweetie?” Lady Siyeon asked with a smile as she hugged the tight waist of her wife, lady Sua.

“Of course, honey. Don’t worry Mr L/N, you’ll get used to the place soon. Just be careful in heading in the wrong room…”

Then she supplied him with an eerie giggle.

That was perhaps the reason why this job was so often evaded by the people who would apply for it. The family set-up is already as unusual as thought, but as much as he didn’t want to admit it the two ladies had that weird aura upon them that he could not explain. Lady Sua especially has that unnerving stare upon him; certainly that icy-cold handshake he did with the main matriarch of the house was something that he did not want to overlook. The freezing sensation was still fresh on his palms as he followed the rest of the Lees inside.

Also, there was that weird, uneasy feeling ever since he exited the car to greet the Lees. There was that sensation that was telling him to repeatedly check behind him despite knowing there was nothing there but the long stretch of trees that lined the manor. Still, that sense of foreboding was still with him; it was uncomfortable and downright hair-raising.

He feels like he was being watched by someone all this time.

---AN HOUR OR SO LATER---

“So, have you familiarized yourself on the essential places?” Lady Siyeon asked Y/N as soon as the house tour had reached its conclusion. Luckily for Y/N, the trip around the labyrinthine house was made a lot-less intense with the introduction of the different people that he would be working with and their subsequent accompaniment along the rest of the mansion.

Surprisingly enough, majority of the staff of Lee Manor were females especially those who are in charge of household duties. The male staff members, on the other hand, had jobs that were limited to either being mostly outside of the huge manor or having them not stay inside the house at all. Whether it was a peculiar coincidence that Y/N was the only guy living amongst females was still up for speculation. Whatever the answer was, he wanted to throw it elsewhere for the sake of his stay inside.

“Yes, Lady Siyeon. I have familiarized myself with the locations, especially the pantry and the wine cellar as Lady Sua had emphasized,” earnestly replied Y/N. “I may need a little bit of tour of my own to get a better grasp of where’s where.”

“That’s good to know. If you have any problems, you may ask a lot of our in-house staff for the things that you need. You still remember their names, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. I do remember their names quite clearly.”

Even though the tour was done, Y/N could not help but be amazed with how enormous the mansion of the Lees was. As much as it looked like a simple manor outside; with all the stairs and ladders going to different places, coupled with the Blackstone walls and the halls decorated with portraits and frozen statues around the corridors, it was definitely like a well-hidden castle inside. He could now finally understand why the place was in so much need for security personnel and housemaids to keep everything under control. It was merely not to keep the place safe and going, but also to have people deployed on various points of the large house that someone can find a person they could talk and interact with.

Having to live in such a huge mansion with no one to see would definitely take a toll on one’s sanity, or at least that was what Y/N had in mind throughout the tour. If he was to live here alone, it was easy to imagine that someone else was lurking around the corners and easily invisible to the eye. The place had that lasting impression with it.

Maybe it was the same reason he was feeling uneasy when he first arrived. Perhaps everything was just his imagination because he was nervous to stand opposite Lady Siyeon and her family.

“That’s really convenient Y/N. I’m glad that you’re really invested in this tour. Now, if you don’t mind, can I have a word with you for a second?” Lady Siyeon’s wolfish features were prominent as she moved closer to Y/N for her question.

“Of course, Lady Siyeon; I’m all ears, ma’am.”

“Please leave us for a moment, sweetie,” she said towards Lady Sua and Gahyeon who were following them gradually throughout the entire tour. “And please take Gahyeon upstairs in her room. She seemed to be really tired after all of this.”

“Ugh, finally,” Gahyeon muttered, although it was perfectly audible from where Y/N stood.

Lady Sua nodded and gestured for her daughter and the rest of the house-maids to return to their normal errands, all while leading her seemingly impatient daughter upstairs.

“Let’s proceed here,” Lady Siyeon gestured towards the guest couch situated near the main entrance of the house. Y/N was sure that even she heard what her daughter said and it was quite obvious that she was blatantly ignoring it in front of him.

I wonder if she’s always like this, he thought to himself as he took a seat opposite Lady Siyeon. I hope it won’t be difficult to be around Miss Gahyeon.

“Okay, now that we’re seated and we’re all alone, I want to say a couple of things for you, Y/N,” Lady Siyeon began the moment that the pair of them sat opposite each other on the entrance couch, the soft footsteps of the ladies disappearing in the distance. “First, I would like to thank you for even considering of taking on this job. We’ve had a lot of unruly applicants during the past week and it was clear that they’re just in for the money. Our family, well mine in particular, does not exactly have a smooth history when it came to normal media in rumours that I don’t want to disclose, but thank you for not thinking about those things when you applied for the position.”

I have no idea what the rumours are, to be completely honest.

“Honestly, Lady Siyeon, I took on the job because I really need something to provide for my family. I would lie if I would say that the salary was not an inviting factor for my application, but for the most part I felt really drawn to the job that when a friend of mine tipped me about this, I didn’t let it stand for long. I immediately gave you a call. I knew I had to take it because everything was beneficial in my part, being a person who’s been chasing shifts.”

“That’s interesting of you. I love how brutally honest you are, Y/N. I prefer it than sugar coating obvious lies, and I did check how much work you’ve been in. Almost three shifts in one day are really impressive.”

“T-Thank you, Lady Siyeon…”

“Now for my next point, have you heard of anything… anything that is rather unusual about this house? Anything from before you’re considering your application here?”

“Nothing else about anything, Lady Siyeon; aside from the fact that you need a new butler because the previous one you had died of old age.”

“Is that really the only word you know about this family?”

“It is the only word I care about, Lady Siyeon.”

Lady Siyeon beamed, her eyes glinting like the frame of the golden cabinet near her.

“That’s really good. From what I get, you don’t seem the type who would listen on rumours as well. I got that impression when you were walking around us during the tour. I think we’re going to get along really well.”

“Thank you, Lady Siyeon. That means a lot.”

“But of course, I owe it to you why I had to ask that kind of question. After all, this house does not exactly have the best of reputations when it came to the outside world. They take the rather isolated nature of the place to induce a lot of twisted speculations for me and my family, and even slandering the previous generations of the Lee household. I could see why; the CEO of an entertainment company lives with her family alone on a very secluded place of South Korea away from civilization, and inside a large establishment that felt very out of place for what it is. It was easy to speculate on things that one does not understand…”

I don’t think she needs to tell me this, but I understand where she’s coming from. The place does look out of place and it has that eerie feel to it. Not to mention, I falsely had an odd impression towards Lady Sua back at the entrance because of her cold stare and equally freezing touch. All that fantasy of having to live with vampires and something of the supernatural kind of got me with that impression. It’s ridiculous now that I’ve even thought about it.

They were a unique bunch of individuals, that’s for sure. However, I should not give this house my sole verdict when I haven’t even slept on a single night in here. It’s way too early to pass judgment.

I’m pretty sure I’ll get the hang of staying in this house given time, and at that I’m sure I’ll have someone in this house that I’ll get along with.

Hopefully

“I must admit that the set-up is really unusual, Lady Siyeon, but on top of that I can’t see why it would be much of a problem for the reason I came here for.”

“I appreciate that, Y/N. I really do. I’m glad that you’re not really digging too much into what the others are saying about me and my family. It’s one more thing to not think about. In all honesty, I’m quite surprised. You don’t seem to have a look that you’re bothered with anything else inside this house. I’ve had a lot of applicants who were really problematic during the past weeks and it was relieving to have someone like you around. I really feel like we’re going to get along, Y/N. It’s more defined now than before.”

Y/N beamed at her as he was quite unsure what to reply to Lady Siyeon. It was rather odd to have her compliment him in the manner that she did especially on their very first day of meeting, but on the other side of the equation it was understandable for her to react like that. If her stories were true, then it was quite a given why she would act like that.

However, with Y/N’s silence looming in the air, Lady Siyeon could only assume what transpired during his silence.

“I apologize,” she began once more; this time turning her gaze away from Y/N and settling somewhere on the window overlooking the look entrance. “I’m getting a bit off tangent because I just want to show you how thankful I am for you. I hope you understand.”

“Don’t worry, Lady Siyeon. I came here for the job and that’s the only thing that I’m interested on.”

“Great, because I think you’re going to need that kind of mind-set for my next point. Now that I’ve mentioned it, I actually asked to talk to you to give emphasis on my second point: I want to ask for your utmost understanding with regards to my daughter, Gahyeon.”

“Miss Gahyeon…? Is there anything about her that I should be worried about?”

“Well, Sua and I… with the set-up that our family is in, being the hands-on managers for the company ought to bring bitter results in the long run. It was quite unfortunate to admit that my daughter, Gahyeon, is one of the sad consequences for that. Sua and I are natural workaholics, and so because of that we never really got to see Gahyeon grow up. The next thing we knew, she was already a young lady and had grown without our guidance and perhaps even our attention. It’s needless to say why she’s a bit distant towards us, and we only have ourselves to blame for that.

“I’m telling you this, Y/N, because with the environment that Gahyeon grew up in, she has a tendency to be really… a bit of a problem in more ways than one. I don’t think I could justify it properly when I’m describing it, and you need to see it to understand what I’m talking about. Maybe you already had a hint when you first met her a while back.

“What I’m trying to say is that… please extend your understanding of her. I’m really impressed with your qualifications despite not having a prior experience, Y/N, and so I would like to see you in this house for as long as you’d like to. I hope that my daughter would not be that much of a burden to you and your job.”

I see now… I get why Miss Gahyeon acted so uninterested when I saw her.

She probably hated going there and meeting me for the sake of her parents.

Y/N rose his head up and stared at the sharp gaze of Lady Siyeon.

“I would do that, Lady Siyeon, to the best of my abilities. I could feel how much your daughter means to you, and with that in mind I’ll do my best to understand her in every turn.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you. Well then,” Lady Siyeon held out her hand for Y/N to shake. “Welcome to the family, Y/N.”

“Thank you so much, Lady Siyeon,” he replied as he shook her slender hand. “I promise I would not let you down.”

“We’ve already prepared your room and it’s upstairs. Your work starts tomorrow, but for tonight, I want you to enjoy your first evening inside the Lee household, Mr Y/N L/N.”

---

After that long introduction towards the whole inside of the house (in turn meeting some of the nice mainstays inside the mansion as well), I finally called it a day after a short dinner with the Lees. For some reason, their daughter Gahyeon who was right at the edge of her teenage years was absent from the family dinner and I was left to spend the night with the two ladies Sua and Siyeon. However, with the fore warning that Lady Siyeon gave me, I was not quite surprised of Miss Gahyeon’s absence. Perhaps it was once again a really stern decision for her to not attend the dinner for everyone else. The dinner was left to be done with one chair vacant on the long, wooden table, and I had a huge feeling that this won’t be the last time that I’ll see that empty for what it is.

I must say, despite the family having a really ominous impression from the outside and the manor itself giving an eerie aura when I first saw it, the house was indeed one of the nicest houses I’ve ever been in South Korea. Having been able to walk freely on its premises as I treaded my way once more towards my assigned room, I could see it clearly now. Everything was delicate down to the very last detail. Honestly, it’s hard to think that such a historic place exists in this country, on such a pristine and well-maintained condition at that. Just by seeing how old the place was, with all the generations this place has been passed on I’m pretty sure that despite being absolutely renovated, it has been a silent witness to a lot of stuff that happened within this manor.

I’m pretty sure that there’s been a lot that happened.

My room wasn’t particularly special or extravagant in any regard, but it too shared the same aesthetic as the rest of the house especially when viewed from inside. It was a rather spacious room on the second floor of the house located not far from the manor’s main staircase, with its walls held in the same rocky, old stone finish emitting a rather gloomy mood. I was privileged with a spacious bed, a wooden closet and drawer set that was admittedly too large for what I would use it for, a study and bedside table, and my own television set that was resting on a wall-mounted shelf, among others. If it was not for the large set of windows on the opposite side of the door, it would feel like I was cramped inside of the room and isolated from everyone else. It honestly felt like a really old hotel room; everything was provided for and if I didn’t know better, I could literally live here with no care whatsoever. As much as that is really well-prepared for, with such a fortunate find something’s bound to have a drawback.

The room, as mentioned, was located very close to the main staircase with a long hallway in front of it. It may seem good as I could easily walk around the most necessary locations of the house with ease, but with its placing I could not help but hear every single commotion going along the hallway and beyond. It does not help that the wooden floors only made it easier for the steps to echo across the said walls.

And by steps, I meant everything; including ones that I could only hope was not real.

I was on my third night of stay in the Lee Manor and am about to conclude it with a good night’s sleep. The day was really exhausting from the get go; I would argue that it has been the most tiring of my days so far as I had to run a lot of in-house errands for both of the lady matriarchs. That sense of exhaustion would naturally lead me wanting to get sleep as soon as possible, and because of that I fell asleep the moment I finished preparing and when my body finally hit the bed.

It was on that exact same night, I was jolted awake a few hours into my deep slumber. There was no concrete reason for that of which I could exactly pin-point; I just woke up with my breath hitching and my body sweating from head to foot. On top of that, I could feel my heart beating so fast against my chest as though it was ready to burst out of my ribcage any given time.

That was just the least of the evening’s peculiarities. My room only had a single set of curtained windows, and from where I was laying I could see perfectly that I was concealed behind the huge cloth, but despite that I could not shake the feeling that there was someone or something that was watching me similar to when I first arrived here. It felt really odd considering it was a really closed room and Lady Siyeon assured me that the room was not placed with unnecessary private surveillance, and I am damn sure that I’m alone in the room…

However, no matter how much I convince myself that I am alone, I can’t shake the feeling that I was being observed upon. I got the feeling that it was the very reason I was jolted away in the first place.

I immediately rushed to check the time on my phone and it was already 3:17 in the morning right after the night I slept. I wanted to bring myself back to my sleep and dismiss this strange feeling as naught, but due to my heightened senses as well as my heart still beating faster than normal, I could not bring myself to do so. It was also perhaps due to the rising and unexplained anxiety that I was feeling deep inside.

But then as I turned on the base of the bed, I began to hear soft clacking from the outside. It was like someone was walking down the stairs during this time of the night. What intrigued me was it sounded so high-pitch as if the person walking around was wearing heels as it stepped all across the wooden floor. Of course, I shaved off the thought of it as I may have been imagining stuff post-sleep; but then the noise was so loud at this point that it was way to noticeable to blatantly ignore.

Clack, clack, and clack…

It went on and on for a good minute or so before stopping and resuming again, all in the same hypnotic pattern.

The sound was just so loud and distracting that I began to listen as I lay on the bed, ignoring all desires to fall asleep with what’s going on. Instinctively I checked for the gap under the door of my room from the distance of my bed, hoping to see something or someone walking across. But then I realized that the manor’s lights were purposely turned off during the night as Lady Siyeon’s form of energy conservation, and thus my small desperate moment wrought nothing.

The clacking of the feet continued for a few more minutes as if the person was walking all around the house in patrol. I would hear the steps getting near before fading to the distance and eventually coming back once again. My heart kept on racing every time I heard the steps walk right in front of my room and for a moment I was preparing myself in case the person decided to open the knob of my door. But then the steps came and went like it did like nothing happened. It continued for what felt like twenty minutes or so before disappearing without a trace just as fast as I began to hear it.

Strange enough, as soon as that weird, noisy night walker went off and the manor fell strangely silent again, I instantly felt my exhaustion over my body once again. Just like that, the all unsung feelings were lost as my heart rate finally returned to normal and my consciousness finally fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning wondering if everything was just a dream. The sun has begun to peer inside the curtains of my room and yet it still was able to remain its dark atmosphere, and just by waking up inside that room alone it awfully felt like it was still night because of how dark the surroundings were. I gathered my thoughts for a bit that day and wondered to me if I should speak a word to anyone about last night’s incident because it truly was concerning.

If it was a thief then the Lees should be alerted by it, but a part of me wanted to observe for a bit because I do not want to look like a fool in front of them. It was even Lady Siyeon herself who said that there were a lot of rumours surrounding the place. I could only assume that whatever transpired, if it was not a dream or a hallucination, was the cause for one of those rumours.

I think I need to do some investigating on my own.

---

It may have been for my best interests that I never mentioned anything about that unwanted night walker because it was sure to stir up commotion. Plus, I also promised to Lady Siyeon that I would not be swayed with anything I hear outside. I should still confirm whether it was a legit phenomenon or was it just a product of my imagination. If everything goes really bad, there’s only one thing clear:

I have to do this on my own for now.

With that, I tried gathering information for the next days to catch the supposed ‘night-walker’ in real time. I even placed my phone in a scheduled alarm at 3:10 AM just too hopefully get something out of it, but to no avail. Perhaps I had just imagined that strange occurrence and if ever I actually dreamt about the entire thing because of my impending anxieties about the place, then I’d humbly take it as my own mistake. Maybe this entire thing is just so pointless and I’m just being paranoid for nothing. At the time I was also adjusting to the new sleep schedule and perhaps it was the product of the new sleep schedule.

I dismissed the idea of the supposed ‘night-walker’ out of my head and busied myself on the more important aspects of my job as a family butler. Thanks to the repeated practice of alarm and walking back and forth on the places I’m supposed to be working on, I managed to get used to the usual routine of Lee Manor and roughly have a picture of the floor layout in my head. Well, with the Lees being as rich as I know them, their lifestyle was surprisingly simple and easy to understand, but not necessarily easy to follow. Work days start really early, and me being a chief manservant of the large manor I have to wake up earlier than the Lees themselves, along with other staffs that help prepare the start of the day for our bosses. 5 AM was the time when the two Ladies wake up in preparation and their daughter Miss Gahyeon would follow an hour later. The three women of the house then leave at around mid-seven with Lady Sua and Siyeon heading to their entertainment company while Miss Gahyeon goes to her university.

But like what I mentioned, it was easier to track on paper but it was getting more and more difficult as I get to experience it with the passing days. More often than not, the normal schedule would be bashed because of unwanted events from the very people who were living on this house.

I have witnessed some mornings where the house halls would be filled with Lady Sua and Miss Gahyeon’s arguments. It would often involve a wide range of unwanted activities by the only heir to the family, but for the most part it would often involve Miss Gahyeon not attending her classes to spend days out with her friends. Both their shrill voices cut the morning silence in more days than I could even count, and what sucks about it is that I and the other staff members could barely do anything about it.

---ONE MONTH LATER---

It was almost a month after I first stayed in the Lee Manor, and this morning I was personally requested by the two ladies to drive Miss Gahyeon to her university since they could not make it in time due to their business commitments.

I’m not honestly fond of this but whatever.

“Good morning, Y/N,” the manor’s main cook, Miss Jessa Avarice greeted me as soon as I entered the kitchen hoping to for an early breakfast. She was this beautiful bespectacled woman in her mid-thirties and one of the staff members that I really am close with. “You’re up earlier than usual. I absolutely didn’t expect to see you on this hour. Did the lady Siyeon asked you to run an errand for her?”

“Well the lady actually did ask me for a favour. Lady Siyeon mentioned earlier that she and Lady Sua would have to attend an early morning business for their company and so I have to bring Miss Gahyeon to university on their behalf.”

“Oh… Miss Gahyeon, eh? I wish you good luck with that, Y/N. You’re going to need a whole lot of it,” Miss Jessa said towards me as she plopped open the steel cover of the container and poured a good amount of stew over the rice. “We all know how… special Miss Gahyeon is.”

“I want you to know that I completely agree with that but I don’t want anyone else to hear it,” I replied with a slight chuckle. “I’m pretty sure we’re not the only ones that share that opinion in this household, Miss Jessa.”

“Well, it’s rude to talk about people who are not here so let’s just put it that you need an immense amount of patience for whatever’s to come. Here’s your breakfast, Y/N. Eat up and make sure you eat as much as you could. You’re going to need a whole lot of energy for that one,” she said as she handed me the bowl.

“Why don’t you join me for breakfast, Ms Jessa? I don’t think there’s any other person that could join us early in this morning.”

“You’re right. I forgot that I actually haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I’ve been up for more than an hour cooking. Thanks for the invite!”

I guess that would do. I do hope that Mistress Gahyeon isn’t as bad as I’ve been hearing because honestly Miss Jessa wasn’t the first person who ever warned me of her.

I got that aura about her since I arrived at the mansion, too. Not to mention, with all their arguments with Lady Sua she’s really stubborn in most aspects.

“Are you always the first to wake up this early, Miss Jessa?” I asked towards the main cook as we sat opposite each other in the servant’s dining table. “Don’t the other housekeeper’s join you?”

“Actually no; sometimes Soo-bin wakes up and does a routine check,” she replied after swallowing a mouthful of rice and stew. “But I think that’s excusable since he’s the head of security here anyway. I would often walk into him roaming the perimeter of the house as early as 3 AM.”

The moment she told that to me, something hit my head. I knew I had to ask her this one question I’ve been thinking of for a month since my stay here. It was the first time I would open up to someone about that small incident.

“As early as three in the morning… Miss Jessa, could sir Soo-bin also patrol inside the house during those times?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. We have some CCTV scattered all over the manor and I don’t think that would be necessary for a person like him. I’m not so sure though if he does that as well. I won’t be surprised if he did honestly.”

Okay then… perhaps that strange walking I heard a month ago was indeed sir Soo-bin or possibly the other guards that are patrolling the area.

And also… dammit I forgot about the CCTV. How come it never crossed my head that I could check that place whenever I could? I would’ve easily dismissed my head from worry the very next day. I even had to endure it to check if something was actually happening outside.

I’m so dumb at times. Someday, this stupidity is going to kill me and I know it.

“Why, Y/N is something bothering you?” Miss Jessa asked and it returned me back to earth. “Is there a problem?”

“Oh, no it’s nothing. I’m just curious so that if I happen to bump into him when I’m doing my midnight peeing, at least I won’t be surprised, right? Sir Soo-bin’s really tall and I’ll be scared of him in case that happens.”

She chuckled.

“You know what, you better eat up. I like your style of starting the day in a really uplifting mood. You would need it because Mistress Gahyeon might stress you out later.”

She probably would, but I certainly hope not.

---

“Good morning, Miss Gahyeon,” Y/N greeted the young heir of the Lees with a bow as soon as he saw her. Gahyeon was dressed on a matching pair of pink silk pajamas, her hair tied on the back of her head in a tight bun. “Your breakfast is at the ready and prepared for.”

“Hello… Y/N, Can you please cut it with the formality? It’s too early in the morning for that,” she replied with a rather annoyed tone of which Y/N elected to ignore out of respect for her family status.

“It’s a common courtesy, Miss Gahyeon. You and I both know that it has to be that way.”

“If that’s the case then I’m not interested getting courtesy from you. I don’t mean to be rude, but you and I are just about on the same age bracket, right? I can’t help but feel that you’re making me older than I’m supposed to because of all the pleasantries. Stop it for the love of god I’m just 19 and you’re what… 21?”

Y/N merely smiled and waited for her reply. Gahyeon took a few steps down the stairs and passed Y/N, but not before ultimately looking back at him to speak once again.

“I’m heading to the dining room for the breakfast. Oh and Y/N, please tell the driver that I’m heading my way to school today on my own. I won’t need Mr Jeon for this morning because I’ll have to drive the car instead. I have a personal errand to run. I’d rather not let my parents know about this as well. Please keep this between us, alright?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Gahyeon. I don’t think I could do that. Lady Siyeon specifically requested that—“

“I heard it loud and clear. I know what she said, Y/N. But where is she? Is she even here? She won’t know if I rode in the car or not if you’re not going to tell her, right? You’re not a snitch, are you Y/N?”

Crap, I need to convince her. I can imagine thousands of ways this thing could go wrong.

“I apologize but I must insist, Miss Gahyeon. Lady Siyeon and Lady Sua are worried that you might not go to school today since you’re not with them. I am here to assure them that you’re in the place where they want you to be which is why Mr Jeon and I would accompany you to the university. We just want you to arrive safe and sound.”

“You don’t need to be concerned for me. I can handle my own, but I can understand the care. You want to keep your job, after all. However, I already told you, Y/N. I’m driving the car on my own and I’ve already made up my mind. I’ll take it home in one piece and they won’t even know I took it out of the garage.”

“But—“

“Oh cut it, Y/N and stop being stubborn. I told you; I already made up my mind and you can’t change that already. I can handle myself. Don’t be too persistent because it’s already irritating.”

Y/N was about to reply to her with another insistent statement but the Lee’s heir turned her back on him right before he had the chance to do so. He wanted to go after her; force the idea that the thing she was planning might get really awry because of how she’s acting but he ultimately decided not to pursue it. Y/N had the idea that she’s the type of person who would easily listen to other people. If she was, then perhaps she won’t be having the almost-regular scheduled fights and arguments she always had with Lady Sua. She was really stubborn and would stop at nothing to get what she really wants.

However, he was troubled as he stood there. He wanted to call Lady Siyeon about the plans of his daughter and how he was unable to stop her. A part of him, thought, did not want Lady Siyeon or even Lady Sua to worry about it now that they both have an important business to attend to. Y/N had a feeling he had to do this with the help of the other people in the house.

Plus, he did not like the idea of Miss Gahyeon calling him a ‘snitch’. Somehow there was something about it that irritated him. At least he could play around the loophole and get what was beneficial for everyone.

“You seem pretty struck. What are you doing standing there?” He head a deep, raspy voice approach him from behind. It was a voice far too recognizable even if he did not look around. “Is everything alright, Y/N?”

The rather tall figure approached Y/N as he stood on the stairs debating the proper decision. Mr Jeon was this tall Korean man in his mid-forties who was relatively large built and served as the family driver; however with his broad-shouldered physique and deep voice, he could easily pass as a bodyguard as well given how intimidating he looks. Despite that, he’s quite the jolly man who enjoys the roads and is in for a good conversation for it.

“Oh Mr Jeon; I just …. I just talked to Miss Gahyeon and apparently she does not want to be driven to the university. She insisted that she’ll drive on her own as well. I somehow expected this, but now that I’m on the situation, I am really concerned. Mr Jeon; I know that it is a bad idea to begin with but something is telling me that I should not tell Lady Siyeon about this. I don’t want to ruin her during the meetings.”

Mr Jeon sighed. “You know Y/N; I won’t have served in this family since Lady Siyeon was just a girl to not know what to do when things like this spring up. The best thing is quite obvious: I suggest you message Lady Siyeon of Miss Gahyeon’s plans. I’m pretty sure she’d be better aware of what’s to happen than not.”

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we be the first ones to act since we’re here in the house with her?”

“We should, but it’s not like there’s that much we can do. You know our young Lee heir, right? Miss Gahyeon’s always been like that so there’s no telling her otherwise when she made her mind. You better make the call before Mistress Gahyeon leaves otherwise things might go south way worse.”

“I’ll trust your word on this Mr Jeon. I’m going to make the call to Lady Siyeon as soon as possible.”

He nodded. “On that note, I’ll go back to bed and catch a few more hours of sleep. It seems like I won’t be needed for this day anyway. Good luck with that, Y/N.”

“Thank you, Mr Jeon. Have a good sleep.”

With that, Mr Jeon turned and walked upwards the grand staircase but not before giving Y/N a tap on the shoulder: a gesture he would often equate to a good luck charm.

You’re not a snitch, are you Y/N?

Gahyeon’s rather low-pitched voice seemed to echo inside Y/N’s head as he fished his phone from his pocket. It was quite irritating to hear that, but then again he preferred to get on Miss Gahyeon’s bad side rather than face the wrath of the two Ladies of the house.

Especially not Lady Sua; he has seen so much of her arguments with her daughter and her voice has a tendency to shriek so loud that it was so terrifying to even hear.

I guess I am a snitch, but this is for your welfare, Miss Gahyeon. Apparently, you are way too much for anyone to control so I’ll have your parents do it for everyone.

I’ll have to message Lady Sua. I’m not that comfortable with them yet that I’d give a call right away. It’ll also save some time in case they’re on a meeting.

Message: To Lady Sua

Lady Sua, apparently there has been a change of plan due to your daughter’s insistence. She wanted to drive the car to university on her own and insisted that no one should accompany her. I thought you ought to know about her plans in case you wanted me to do something about it.

He immediately pressed ‘Send Message’ without giving himself another chance to think about doing it otherwise. The only real thing that was holding him back was the thought of Miss Gahyeon hating him from the get-go and calling him the dreaded ‘snitch’.

I hope I’m doing the right thing, he thought to himself.

--- FOURTEEN HOURS LATER---

An entire day passed until the skies darkened and we all welcomed the warm night. Lady Siyeon and Lady Sua had just arrived home about an hour ago, and as expected their young daughter was still nowhere to be found. It went exactly as I thought it would, but what was rather intriguing was the fact that neither of them seemed to be really bothered by what was going on. In fact, Lady Sua herself even voted against the idea that I presented when I volunteered to search for her. I could only assume that Miss Gahyeon seemed to do this a lot when I was still not their manservant. It was a lot more appalling when everyone else was acting like it was something normal.

I still have to see what was in store for the Lee daughter. With how calm and composed Lady Sua is, I have a bad feeling that it would go down really bad. It was like the calm before a raging storm and I am very much terrified of Lady Sua when she’s really angry.

I just hope that the whole ‘snitch’ factor won’t pull me down so hard. I really hate that word.

Hopefully

The rest of the security personnel inside the Lee manor were called off patrol for this night and were asked to briefly join the dinner with us. That was when I noticed how they all acted as if nothing peculiar was happening in the background despite the family literally not having the youngest member there. No one else dared mention Miss Gahyeon’s absence nor did both her parents seem to give a fluke about it. I was the one who was internally freaking out; like I was channelling the worry that they were supposed to feel and it was really concerning.

After the dinner, Lady Sua asked me to do two things: move the ornate chair from the couch and table nearby and place it on the middle of the entrance hallway and to fetch her bottle of ‘Boca’, her favourite brand of wine and one thing that arguably makes her a lot more intense. I stood on her side waiting for further orders all while I watched the Lee family matriarch sit on the chair with her legs crossed as if it was some sort of a throne, wearing a really stern face as she waited for her obnoxious daughter to finally come home.

I dared to not even speak to her as she waited. Lady Sua was definitely intimidating e as she drank from her wine glass, each tension of the moment emphasized with her sharp eyes and her nose. All I could do was stand in place with a slight shiver as I handled her serving platter and the bottle of Boca.

It felt like thirty to forty minutes had passed when the door finally moved with a heavy creak. As much as Lady Sua seemed to have been preparing herself for that very moment, I must say that I was rather surprised by the Miss’s sudden appearance. I was preparing myself for probably a sign or even a hint of a car before the door would open just as how she said she’d be leaving earlier in the morning. Apparently, that was clearly not the case; Miss Gahyeon entered the main door as slowly and as sneakily as she thought we could while definitely unaware that her mother was waiting for her.

I felt my heart skip a beat. I already know what was coming and I wanted to feel really sorry for Miss Gahyeon even before it all went down.

“You’re quite late in the evening to go home, don’t you think?” Lady Sua’s high pitched voice echoed dangerously on the empty halls of the manor, every syllable having a deadly tone. “I thought you brought the car? How come I didn’t hear or even see its lights when you arrived?”

“How did you know about the car eomma?” Mistress Gahyeon replied as she gave her mother a surprised look. Her face was then permanently stuck in a state of shock knowing how bad her situation was. “I just came home from university. What’s the big deal about it?”

“Don’t make a fool out of me, Gahyeon! Fourteen hours you spend outside the house having the car with you and you expect me to believe that you went your way and actually studied for real?”

“Well, guess what eomma; even if I did go to school for real I’m sure you won’t even believe me anyway,” Gahyeon snapped back as she abandoned all attempts to conceal what she had been doing during the majority of the day. “It’s not like anything else I would do would change your impression of me, so I might as well do the bad things you think I am doing because it’s easier that way anyway. At least I could get the punishment for things I KNEW I did, right?”

At that point, I wanted to excuse myself because it was truly excruciating to listen to. I honestly did not want to stay and listen to them argue first hand like this because it was so uncomfortable, but then I could not even bring myself to talk to Lady Sua because she was too full of tension as she sat on the chair. I was also holding the bottle of wine that she was drinking including the small saucer where she places her wine glass. I really have no choice but to watch Miss Gahyeon get scolded by her mother in front of me and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“HOW DARE YOU TELL THAT TO ME?” Lady Sua lost her calm and stood up, walking the first few steps towards her daughter. “Siyeon and I have been working our assess off more than ten hours a day just to give you a good life, and the least thing we’re asking you to do is do your best on school! I just can’t understand how easily you could throw your life away! A lot of girls your age would even kill to have a life like what you have; to even lay a foot in this expensive household!”

“Did I ask you to work day and night for me? Did I ask you to enrol me in a university that I never really wanted, especially on a course that never really interested me? You always tell it to my face that I should be grateful for everything that you have done and because I’m in college as if it was a crazy privilege, but you and Siyeon never understand that you were the ones who forced me into taking subjects that I never liked! Can you blame me if I spend the rest of my days out with my friends who truly understand what I want and who I really am? Can you blame me if I hate everything about this fucking household because you and Siyeon never really listened to what I really got to say? You really expect me to show interest in something that I was forced to do? Everything about this is bullshit!”

“DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURFSELF?” Lady Sua’s voice finally grew really loud, now echoing towards the rest of the night-quite halls perhaps even waking some of the already sleeping staff. “We chose for your university because you’re the next in line for our businesses, how hard is that to understand? We want you to be ready when you’re of age, to finally take care of the company that Siyeon and I nurtured throughout the years! Look into the future, Gahyeon! You’re going to be sitting on a huge sum of luxuries if you just put your patience and interest on what my wife and I want you to be! Take some time to appreciate what’s ahead of you, for fuck’s sake!”

“THAT’S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM! It’s always what YOU and Siyeon would want, but you never asked ME what I want! I never got to be myself like the girls on my age because the two of you always choose things for me! You never considered what I was thinking inside; never what I have to say on things that are supposed to be MY decisions! I never asked nor wanted to be your daughter, so stop forcing me on things because that’s not me! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I REALLY WANT, EOMMA?!”

I know I was just standing behind them but I could already see Lady Sua’s body tremble from all the tension she was feeling. Her small frame was relatively similar to her daughter; if only Miss Gahyeon was not a bit taller than her I’m pretty sure she would’ve been terrified of her own mother.

How am I feeling about this exchange? Well, I just want to get out of here for sure. I already feel very invasive but the two of them are really intense that I just could not do anything about them. Not to mention, I dare not interfere on their heated debate because I ultimately think that this is too much for me to handle. I barely think I could make a difference.

“We’re not having this conversation again, Gahyeon. You better sleep already. We’re done here,” Lady Sua replied sternly as she turned her back from her daughter and headed towards the chair.

“Why not…? Why won’t we have it, eomma? Is it because you know that I’m telling the truth; that the reason why I turned out the way I am because you and Siyeon never listened to what I have to say ever since I was a child? Is it because it finally hit you that you can barely control me because you never really cared when I was growing up? And now you would even rub it in me that I’m very ungrateful despite ending up in you supposed ‘privileged’ family?” Miss Gahyeon had finally snapped as well, scoffing against her mother with rage and fury flaring through her young eyes and nostrils. “You know what? If had it my way, if in the rare instance that I even had a say on what’s going on with my life; if ever I knew how awful I would turn up, I would never choose this family to grow up in. It’s so hard to make you two fucking understand that it’s not wealth that I want, even so more than that. I’d rather choose to be born poor in a group of people I could actually call my FAMILY rather than have this crap right now. You made my life miserable when you took me here; I feel worse than a prisoner.”

Lady Sua’s shoulders were rising and falling with her emotion. I could tell with her momentary silence that she was digesting what her daughter told her, however something was telling me that her pride simply would not let up given how intense and extreme her emotions are at that moment. Her fists were balled up so hard against her palms that her long, manicured nails seemed to be digging against her skin.

“Go to your room,” Lady Sua finally said on what appeared to me as her final attempt to stay calm for the sake of her daughter. “Go to your room and stay there for two days. You won’t be going anywhere unless I say so. This conversation is over.”

“Oh don’t worry eomma. Even if you don’t ground me, I have no intentions of going anywhere. I’d rather stay in my room than go to that stupid university and study stuff I won’t use in my life anyway. I’ve had enough of that. In fact, of all the bullshit that you’ve been giving me, being grounded for days is what I truly consider a privilege.”

“JUST GO TO YOUR ROOM AND I DON’T WANT TO HEAR A SINGLE THING FROM YOU FOR THIS NIGHT! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”

I transferred my gaze from absentmindedly looking at the elegant carpet to actually look towards Miss Gahyeon. Her eyes were noticeably quaint; yet I could see from where I stand that they too were more taunting than angry as if she expected such a response from her mother. Her lips curved to an obvious sneer, as if absolutely enjoying the way her mother was flaring up in front of her.

“Sure thing, eomma” She replied with a rather sarcastic nod; carefully walking towards her mother’s supposed throne. “That’s always your solution, isn’t it? Even in punishments you always want to be on top. Don’t worry; you’re doing me a favour by not making me go to school. I saw it coming anyway, and I spent the entire day doing whatever I want to force you to lock me in. It’s better when I don’t have to see all your faces. Oh, and if you’re looking for the car, I left it in Seoul. It got towed away when I illegally parked so that’s one more thing you should attend do rather than scolding me. Good night.”

Gahyeon did not even bat a single eye at her mother as she walked up the grand staircase like it was normal. Lady Sua, on the other hand, stood there with her nostrils flaring on her small face, her hands clenched to fists while he sizzled with anger. The moment that Miss Gahyeon was completely out of sight, Lady Sua stretched the hand holding the now-empty wine glass towards my direction, beckoning me to fill it up with another glass to possibly satisfy the uproar of her emotions.

“I’m sorry that you have to witness that,” Lady Sua told me as I filled her glass with Boca. Her emotions seemingly have subsided as she began to recognize my presence in the room. “I should’ve asked you to leave the moment I saw her enter. It must’ve been very difficult to listen through our arguing. I got carried away because of her.”

“It’s understandable, Lady Sua. Rest assured what I heard would stay with me and me only. As far as that exchange was concerned, I was never in it in the first place.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” she replied before drinking the entire contents of the newly-refilled wine glass in one go and then placing it back on the small platter on my hand. “Please bring this up to my room with another wine glass. I need to have some thorough discussions with Siyeon about the car. A little of this drink would hopefully ease up the conversation.”

“I will, Lady Sua.”

“I’ll go ahead. I need to let off some steam after that stressful conversation. Please follow the wine as soon as you could. Oh, and please fix the chairs for me. I’m really tired.”

“Certainly, lady Sua; please have a good night. I’ll follow with your wine shortly.”

The Lee Manor matriarch did not even reply to me as she simply nodded and turned in place before walking with soft stomps on the manor’s grand stairs. I was left there to stand, admiring the soft silence in the night the very moment that the storm had just passed by.

---

Y/N did as Lady Sua requested and immediately fetched for an extra wine glass to bring up the master bedroom. However, as he descended towards the kitchen from the aftermath of the confrontation, he casually asked Ms Jessa to prepare a quick meal that he intended to bring upstairs on his way back. It was not requested by anyone in particular, but he thought that with the time of the night he knew someone might be in dire need of it.

The Lee family manservant walked the long and tiring hallway heading away from the master’s bedroom after delivering Lady Sua’s request. He then bid the two ladies a good night while attempting to conceal the plate of food he brought with him. And so, with everything taken care of and the teeth of the night beginning to sink further as the clocked ticked, Y/N approached the only room in the house he never got the chance to enter.

Y/N gave three swift knocks on the old oaken door, quite noticing the faint scent of lilac-flavoured cologne on the entrance.

“Excuse me, Miss Gahyeon. This is Y/N. Are you still awake?”

In all honestly he was not hoping for a good reply from the other side. To his surprise, Miss Gahyeon’s reply came shortly after the short exchange and she was nothing short of pissed from hearing him.

“Y/N…? What are you doing in front of my door? What do you need at this time of the night? Has eomma thought of a way to make my situation worse already?”

Despite her tone being full of anguish, there was an undeniable hint of sorrow. If Y/N did not know better, he won’t be surprised if he’s going to see Miss Gahyeon’s eyes all puffed from crying. That exchange earlier was not exactly light in the heart to begin with.

“I apologize for knocking at this time, but I’ll have you know that I came here on my own accord, Miss Gahyeon. I give you my assurance that I am not with anyone else nor did someone ask me to go and check on you. I just thought that maybe you’d like something that I have here with me.”

“Which is?”

“I figured that maybe you haven’t eaten yet. You must be really tired, so I brought some food because I thought you might be hungry.”

There was a brief pause with Gahyeon not uttering a single word from the other side of the door. For a moment, Y/N thought that she simply did not want to interact with him. He even considered to leave and bid her good night; But just as he was about to take the next steps away, he heard a series of clicking from the other side of the door. Miss Gahyeon carefully unlocked it quite unexpectedly yet fortunate at the same time. He immediately turned towards her and the round, confused face of the Lee family heir peered through the small gap of the door, her face indeed red and puffy from all the crying she did when she shut herself in. The rest of Gahyeon’s body was concealed behind the oaken doors as she moved to speak to Y/N.

“You brought me what again?” She asked once again unsure of what she had heard the first time.

“Dinner, Miss Gahyeon. Like I said, I thought you might be hungry. I just want you to be full in case you haven’t had your supper when you came home.”

Y/N eyed the young woman, and maybe he had just imagined it but Gahyeon’s face turned a lot more scarlet.

“You… you really did that?”

Y/N nodded.

“I mean, I just thought about it… if you already ate then that’s good. I can just bring this back to—“

“You-re… I never had someone in this house do that to me…. Whenever I went home after hours, I haven’t had food sent directly to my room like this… are you sure no one asked you to do this?”

“I can promise you, Miss Gahyeon. I did this on my own accord and not by anyone’s orders.”

“That’s… that’s really thoughtful… “

Gahyeon’s expression changed into something Y/N never thought he’d see from her. She stood on the gap of the doors and her face was hung in appreciative delight, albeit quite confused as well.

Is she being serious right now? Y/N thought to himself while he waited for Miss Gahyeon’s response. I was the first person in this house to ever do this to her?

In that case, I guess I can see why she’s acting the way she is. Maybe a little bit of concern was the one something that Miss Gahyeon was really yearning for.

“I’ll be honest, I already have eaten on my way back here… but I really appreciate you coming all the way up here and thinking of me… it’s … wow.”

“Oh, well, in that case I can just—“

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want it to go to waste because I really appreciate your concern… in this house I don’t get to see that too often…. why don’t we just eat it together? Why don’t you come in, Y/N?”

‘Come in’…?

Y/N opened his mouth to protest against the idea, but before he could even speak Gahyeon’s head already withdrew from the door and went back in. A series of clicks and clacks were then heard, signalling the unlocking of what seemed to be a multitude of locks on the Lee heir’s room. Then, it was the feminine scent of Gahyeon’s room that greeted him as the young woman walked further outside to greet him and it was quite safe to say that he was taken by surprise.

Normally, whenever he would see Gahyeon walking around the premises of the house, she is either on her school uniform or sporting a usual combination of loose shirts and pajamas. However, this night was an exception as perhaps Miss Gahyeon was planning to already head to sleep. She was wearing a tight pink tank under a long yellow jacket that stretched down to her legs, a pair of white shorts, and black slip-ons. Gahyeon had her wavy black hair tied in two buns on either side of her head, accentuating her unseen charm that she was finally able to channel through her uniquely curved lips.

It was quite the first for Y/N to even see her in that fit despite staying for the manor in perhaps a decent amount of time already. It was true that behind the countless arguments and unending show of stubbornness by the young Lee throughout the days that he was there, it was no secret that she had a charming demeanour and a really well-cared body at that. She was nothing short of stunning as most of her visuals were spent locked inside this very room; the very room that Y/N would be entering on the next few minutes.

“Please come in. I apologize for the mess,” Miss Gahyeon said as she gestured towards Y/N to enter. “I don’t usually get people here. Even Sua and Siyeon don’t go here even if I let them.”

The room gave the same kind of surprise that Gahyeon’s fit gave Y/N; as it was more on the unexpected side for a girl he knew to be so secluded from everyone else to be harbouring some kind of amazing room with her, at least that’s what Y/N thought. Gahyeon’s bedroom was a spacious one sharing the same kind of internal structure with the rest of the house, albeit obviously housing a lot more of personal touches by the Lee heir herself.

A large four-poster wooden bed was visible on the immediate left upon entry with either side having a small wooden bedside table, placed opposite a tall shelf full of walls with a ladder located right beside it. Gahyeon’s study table was on the far side of the room placed neatly in front the large wall of curtained windows that offered a nice view of the back garden gate and the shyest portion of South Korea all in its nightly glory.

However, despite the slight mess of the room with multitude of books and diaries scattered over the entire smooth, carpeted floor, what caught Y/N’s attention was the ceiling. Gahyeon’s room already has a high ceiling in itself and was already beautiful with its galaxy-like painting with all the stars, but below it hung a rather accurate depiction of the solar system, complete with each of the planets hanging by chains and emitting a faint light with the sun being the centre and serving as the main light source for the entire room. With the choice in design, it was quite a drawback for the room to be a lot darker with its heavily-neutral colours emphasized by the overhead galaxy stretched towards the rest of the room’s walls. However, it did contribute to the overall aesthetic of the house as it was really magical to just even look at.

Y/N walked inside the girl’s room seemingly in a trance. It was quite fortunate that Gahyeon managed to break the ice just before he could lose grip on the plate he brought.

“You can place the food on the table,” Miss Gahyeon’s voice echoed inside the tall room. “You can just shove some of the books to the side to make some room for it.”

The Lee daughter then moved back towards the door where Y/N came from and closed it in the quietest way possible followed by another series of locks. With that, it caught Y/N’s attention and he turned towards her apparently ignoring the request to put the food on its rightful place.

“You don’t mind if I lock the door, right? I’m not used to leaving the door open especially at night. I don’t like it when people go snooping on me.”

“O-of course it is okay, Miss Gahyeon,” Y/N said with a nervous tone, finally placing the food on the desk after shoving a couple of books to the side as per request. His hands were so cold and shaking from the tension he was feeling.

What the fuck...? He thought to himself. Why am I so nervous?

Get things together, Y/N. You’re in a girl’s room and you should act as calm as possible.

There’s nothing to get tensed about. Don’t be inappropriate for fuck’s sake.

He turned just in time to see Gahyeon plopping herself over the bed, landing with a bounce on the mattress. She then took a remote from the bedside table and pushed a button. That was only the time did Y/N realized that there was a TV placed on the shelf opposite the bed; its soft audio broadcast serving as a fitting background to all that was going on.

That was not the only thing that caught his attention that very moment. As he moved to place the food on Gahyeon’s table, he noticed something hanging on the window. It was similar to an ornament with a size no bigger than a saucer, all made of hand-woven metal strips with its central detail encompassing with variations of curvatures and polygons all struck in an elegant yet sophisticated ensemble bearing a resemblance to a lotus. Three feathers were swaying on its base despite the absence of wind inside the faint room. He saw it before but he never really thought that such a device could be found inside such a rich house like the Lee’s. It was a device that filters bad dreams; a dreamcatcher.

I never thought I’d see something like that here.

“Please take a seat,” Gahyeon said from the bed as she, too, sat upright to speak to him. “Just turn the chair around so that I can see you.”

Y/N nodded and did as he was requested. However, after that, there was no follow up. For the first time since entering the Lee manor, Y/N felt shyness overcome his normally sociable persona. The fact that he sat inside the room of a really beautiful and wealthy girl sitting on a bed with him locked inside in late hours. The context itself was too much for even Y/N to comprehend, and the sheer thought of it alone seemed to tie his tongue all over itself.

How did I even get talked to this? It’s too awkward to be sitting inside like this! I’m even almost at the same age as Miss Gahyeon…

I should relax. I’m sweating profusely… shit.

“Sorry if I asked you in,” he heard Gahyeon’s voice cut through the silence once more. “I understand if you’re really awkward. I locked you in, after all and it’s just the two of us here. I can see why you’re uncomfortable.”

Y/N stiffened a smile.

“My apologies, Miss Gahyeon; normally I would not mind getting in your room but given the time of the night, I would lie if I would not say that it is a bit awkward.”

“Well, that one’s on me. I just don’t want others to go walking around and seeing us conversing on the door. Plus, this is my way of showing my appreciation for the food. Now that I’ve thought about it, I feel guilty for being rude to you this morning.”

“It is fine, Miss Gahyeon. That’s not that of a big deal. I believe that everyone should at least think about how you’re feeling. You’re a member of this house, after all.”

Gahyeon sighed and pouted.

“Not everyone thinks that way, you know. In fact, they’re so indifferent in this house that they won’t even mind if you sleep inside here for this night. That’s how indifferent this house is. I guess that’s why I felt that I was going to melt when you said that you brought me food… sure enough, I was not hungry but it’s just… it’s just the thought… let’s just put it that it fulfilled something that I haven’t felt for a long time.”

Despite saying something that was borderline unnecessary initially to prove her point, Y/N saw Gahyeon’s expression trail off with her voice. The stern, stubborn, and fierce daughter of Siyeon and Sua was reduced to nothing more than a girl seated on top of her bed with her eyes on the brink of tearing up and her face showing the greatest signs of sorrow that stretched for what felt like years. Whatever weight she was feeling, it might be really strong considering all Y/N had to do was to offer her dinner out of contempt, and now he wanted to stay inside the room despite previously wanting to exit as soon as possible.

“I would understand if you’re really confused with me right now,” she added, continuing the sad stream of tone that her voice had as she spoke. “I feel really different from the one you see around, right? Even I was rude to you this morning. It may not look like it, but I’m completely aware on how I project myself to others. It’s just… It’s when I’m inside here, alone, that I can finally be myself without judgment.”

Y/N nodded.

“I’m sorry, but I’m sure this would turn up to be a venting night so I hope you keep up with me, Y/N. I don’t have that much people that I trust with what I’m feeling, so if you don’t mind I’ll just keep on going.”

“I don’t mind, Miss Gahyeon. It’s really flattering that you trust me with all of this information when all I did was to serve you food.”

She smiled.

“You just won it by doing exactly that. I may look really disrespectful to others, but I do know when to trust people when they deserve it; oh, and since food was introduced to the conversation, why don’t you show me what you brought there so we could share it?”

“I asked Ms Jessa to prepare something and she made a platter on such short notice,” Y/N explained as he reached the platter that was on Gahyeon’s desk. “There are potato slices and some fine cut grilled meat from the dinner. She thought you’d like to eat light given the time of the night.”

“Let’s share on this then. It doesn’t look much but if I’m going to eat all of that, it’s pretty heavy,” Gahyeon said as she leaned to reach the platter before plopping it over the sheets. “You can move closer too so you can get some.”

“I don’t think I should—“

“I had a hunch you’d say that. I know you’re a bit shy because of this entire work-courtesy thing, but for once you and I are in my room. I believe I could enforce my personal laws in here.”

“Well, in a sense, you’re right. If that’s the case then I’ll just share the meal with you as per request.”

“Yeah, don’t be shy. There’s no one else in here. Believe me when I say that when we decide to do something in here, no one would ever give a fuck. That’s the extent how indifferent the people in this house are, and I guess that springs out from Sua and Siyeon. They pretty much set the standard in this place so it’s expected for everyone else to treat me like they do.”

That was a rather unnecessary example to prove her point but I’m on the same boat as her. Honestly, setting aside all awkwardness, I think I can begin to understand why Miss Gahyeon turned out the way she was; a young girl that was full of hate towards her parents and people around her. With everything removed out of the picture, I can see the real here: a person who was neglected because of her family’s businesses and ultimately yearns for love and affection. Her being all friendly with me just because I gave her food out of spite definitely gave me that impression.

I used to dread being around her because of how difficult I thought she was, but now that I can see what made her do all that, I feel really sorry for her.

Miss Gahyeon is just misunderstood.

If I want to further understand her, then I should know more about her.

“You know,” Miss Gahyeon cut amidst the silence as Y/N was absorbed in his own thoughts while munching on a piece of potato. “If there’s anything you want to ask me, Y/N, go ahead. I’m pretty sure you have a lot of questions going inside your head especially with me being all friendly to you. You can ask me anything; after all, you’ve been so nice to me so I think it’s just my way of giving back.”

Damn, that’s a really perfectly timed offer. It was as if she’s reading my mind.

Well, if we’re here anyway, I might as well ask away. I would lie if I would say I’m not interested on what’s going on inside this household.

“I do have a few questions, Miss Gahyeon, now that you’ve introduced it. If there’s anyone in this house I know the least of, it’s definitely you.”

“When you’re in here with me, just ‘Gahyeon’ would do. We’re about the same age, right? Maybe just a few years or so apart, yeah, but I’m more comfortable with just my name.”

“Okay then, umm, Gahyeon, I am aware that your parents were relatively distant towards you when you grew up, but I’m surprised how you call them by their names like it’s just normal. Are they that absent on your youth that you just… they feel like completely different people?”

I don’t think I can get used to that.

“For one, they are different people, Y/N. For the sake of context, they’re really different from me.”

“How come you can say that?”

Gahyeon smiled.

“I’m adopted, Y/N. I’m not really the daughter of neither Siyeon nor Sua, in case you haven’t noticed that or you’re revelling in the illusion that the three of us are all related by blood.”

Y/N’s face was held in confusion. In all honesty, he thought that Gahyeon would be related to either Lady Siyeon or Lady Sua in some degree, but having known that she’s actually adopted into this family filled another piece on the puzzle in his head. Obviously, he thought that Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon were too young looking for the age of their supposed daughter. That alone debunks the rumours about the Lee family matriarchs taking some sort of blood potion to retain youth; already a twisted premise in itself but the truth just added another answer to an unasked question.

“There’s that,” Gahyeon continued as she finished chewing on another slice of meat. Y/N, on the other hand, braced on his chair as he knew Miss Gahyeon was about to tell him a lot about her life’s story. “Well, you can say that it was the reason why I’m very much a shut in inside this house. I was never meant to be in here in the first place.

”You see, my real mother died giving birth to me and so I was left in an orphanage. I spent most of my younger years growing up in there, making most of my memories with the people I was with inside that institution. I was about eight years old when they said that I was being sent to a rich family at their choice. Of course, in all sense in the world I would really be happy because I can finally get out of the small confined rooms that I know for all my life, but at the same time I hated the fact that I had to leave the friends I met there, some of whom I already grew up treating as my sisters as well as my protectors.

“That was when I arrived in this house, and arguably the beginning of the shittiest years in my life. Sure, the house was large and spacious, way different from the small orphanage that I grew up in, and I could definitely buy anything that I could have ever wanted; but who would know that such wealth could bring such a huge cost. I grew up not even seeing Sua and Siyeon be proud of what I had achieved in school; they were absent during my awarding ceremonies because they have their business to attend to. They weren’t even in my graduation because they were in an overseas trip with an investor and yet they still manipulate everything in my life. It was exactly because of that why I lost all interest to do well in school. They won’t even care, so what was the point?

“Well, Sua and Siyeon always prepared the best for me, and I cannot deny that for a fact whatsoever. However, the problem is that they’re doing too much for me to the point that I can’t even do what I like; something that I know would make me happy for what it’s worth. You heard every conversation we had, right? I think it pretty much explains itself. Sua and Siyeon always had a say on what I have to decide on with my life, and I never got the chance to show them how much potential I can do on my own. It’s also why I felt so off whenever I’m with them; it’s not that I’m ungrateful to them for giving me a good life, but a part of me wants to go out the way I want it to. I want to decide for myself and live my life the way I want it too, deal with my own demons and get over my struggles with no one else backing me up.”

“I take that this is also the reason why you hated going to university, Gahyeon?”

She nodded.

“The university alone was something I don’t like, as well as the classes they enrolled me in. They’re in charge of the entertainment business after all, and someone had to take care of the company after them. It’s just a shame that I’m not interested in all that. It sucks that both of them are trying to groom me into a person I am clearly not.”

I never knew it was this complicated.

With that, the pair of them fell silent as they both tried to digest what had happened.

“Do you hate me more now, Y/N?” said Gahyeon, effectively breaking the silence while supplying him with a sly smirk. “Would you have preferred me as the bratty heir that you know because that’s a lot better than the ungrateful daughter that is opposite you now?”

Much to her surprise, Y/N promptly shook his head.

“While I would say that some of the things you’ve done are not the best, I don’t really blame you for everything. It must have been really hard living all those years trying to be someone you’re not; doing things that you don’t like and choosing options that you were never comfortable with in the first place. It takes a lot of courage to do that and I do respect you for being resilient enough. From how I see things; Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon were the ones who brought you to their family so you’re their responsibility from the get-go. You could have easily lived on your own back at the orphanage.”

Gahyeon blushed.

“I really do wish that some people here share the same testament as you do. You’re not the first person I’ve told these about, yet all I got from opening up to people in here were judgment; I’m supposed to be the one who’s understanding because I’m the daughter. It’s just too tiring to hear the same fucking thing over and over again. It feels so sickening too to be restricted on specific things; I just want to go out there and experience what other 19 year olds are experiencing.”

Y/N nodded in silence, unsure what else to reply on the heavy emotion circulating the night’s atmosphere.

The stillness between the pair of them lasted for minutes with the awkward air swimming endlessly. The only noises heard inside the room was the soft crunching from both the meat and potatoes getting chewed on by each of them, and as the noiselessness pursued, it only made things a lot harder to pick up on.

“I didn’t realize I was venting so hard,” said Gahyeon finally after finishing a tender meat. “I just… it was a while since I talked to someone who actually considered how I feel in this set-up. It feels good for a change.”

“It’s an honour to have helped, Gahyeon. Don’t worry about those things; whatever experiences you told me this evening won’t be used against your image. I’m keeping it to myself. It also felt nice to know more about you.”

“I really appreciate that. I hope that next time we see each other on the corridor of this house, we won’t ignore each other, okay?”

Y/N nodded in assurance.

“I will do that.”

“You won’t hate on what would make me happy, right?”

He nodded once again.

As Y/N was stuck staring on Gahyeon’s round eyes, preparing for a follow up to further assure her of what’s next, he was promptly distracted by a sudden deep tone. The source was overhead; a wall-mounted clock that emitted a soft tone whenever an hour has passed. It was when Y/N realized how deep in the evening they both were as it was already eleven o’clock in the night.

“I guess that’s my cue to go,” he remarked after the clock finished its hourly alerts. “I didn’t realize that it was that deep into the night. You need to rest for tomorrow, even if you decide to not go to school and so I need to head out now.”

Gahyeon nodded rather grimly, quite sad that it was time to end the interesting conversation they had going on.

“I can’t go. I’m grounded remember?”

“I’m sorry. I forgot.”

She smiled.

“We’re still going to talk, right?” She asked as she slid herself off of the bed to stand opposite him. “This won’t be the last that we’re going to talk like this, right Y/N?”

“Of course, Miss Gahyeon; even if you won’t have anyone else to talk to inside this house, please do remember I will always have my ears for you. Thank you as well for trusting me with all of these. Like I said, it was very flattering even for me.”

She nodded once more but did not move to provide a reply.

“I’ll take the platter as well. Thank you, Miss Gahyeon. Have a good night and rest well.”

Y/N walked past the standing figure of the young Lee heir and reached towards the bed. However, before he could put his fingers on the platter, he the softest hand grasp him by the wrist and ultimately causing him to stop on his tracks as he moved to turn towards Gahyeon behind him.

“I… I really appreciate everything you did tonight,” she said with her voice shaking on every syllable. “I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for this…”

Y/N smiled in response and held Gahyeon’s hand that was on his wrist.

“You never have to, Miss Gahyeon. I’m here as your friend whenever you need me.”

And with that, a veil of silence shrouded upon the two figures once again. Y/N and Gahyeon stood opposite each other with their eyes locked together; their hands in contact for what felt like minutes. There was no speech as everything they wanted to say was said through their stillness, and Y/N could not help but sweat so hard because of the situation. His increased heart rate contributed as well to the mess of feelings he was already feeling.

There was something fundamentally different with it; like he never wanted to leave the room despite all of his senses telling him to do so.

“I’m sorry for staring,” he finally said as soon as he got caught of himself. “I’ll excuse myself now, Miss Gahyeon. Please have a good night.”

“You… you can call me just ‘Gahyeon’, Y/N, remember? If it’s just the two of us, you can call me by my first name.”

That’s a little too much but… well she requested it.

“Okay then, I’ll have to go Gahyeon. See you tomorrow.”

“See you, Y/N. At least now I have someone else to talk to.”

“T-thank you…”

Gahyeon nodded and watched as the Lee family butler gathered himself once again, swiping at the platter that was on the table before heading towards the door. There was something with Y/N that had her eyes glued to him as he unlocked some of the locks on the door; something that was definitely different like an air of comfort. She had a feeling that Y/N would definitely be her best bet in the convoluted house; unexpected, but nothing short of trustworthy.

Y/N, on the other hand, gently made his way out of the young girl’s room with the cold interior of the Lee manor greeting him as soon as he closed Gahyeon’s door behind him. However, even with that on the picture, including the uncontrollable sensation of his temple beating so hard in conjunction with his heart, he could barely feel his surroundings as he stepped on the carpeted floor. The pace was fast as he was practically brisk-walking out of the corridor in his enthusiasm, feeling how different his considerations for the family became just because of that one conversation. He walked across the hallway, descended down the long flight of his stairs heading to the kitchen with a lot of statements circling inside his mind:

He wants to be there for Gahyeon.

He wants to be her friend if he’ll the only one she’d ever have inside the house.

He wants to protect Lee Gahyeon no matter the cost.

---THREE MONTHS LATER---

A long time has passed since Miss Gahyeon and I had that unexpected conversation inside her room and honestly, it still felt like yesterday since then. Needless to say, I got a lot more close to her in terms of being a friend and a family butler, and in turn developing our comfort for each other for each of the days that the months that passed. While I would still see her arguing countless times with both the house matriarchs Ladies Sua and Siyeon, unlike before there was something significantly different that I observed from her actions compared to her harsh words. Miss Gahyeon notably became a lot less rebellious than she used to be. I could see that she’s more on looking at the silver lining of things and appreciating then for what they were.

I could only assume that my constant late-night conversations with her helped her cope up in some shape or form. Surely, Miss Gahyeon looks a lot more stunning now that she’s taking things a lot more lightly; it was like she was glowing, literally. I would also say that I got a lot more attached with her uniquely curved smile that only Gahyeon could give. I have also noticed that both Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon became a lot busier during the past days and so, with both of them going home late or not going home entirely, it opened a lot of time for me to talk with Miss Gahyeon during their absence.

At this point, having worked for a lot of hours inside the Lee household, I am pretty much feeling that I was ‘one’ with the family. I am so close with all my co-workers and fellow in-house staff, especially with the chief cook Miss Jessa, whom was always my partner in a lot of things that concerned for the Lee service. It made work a lot lighter and easier to breeze through and for once I actually enjoyed staying in and doing every day jobs even without seeing my family, surprisingly. Of course, I am not forgetting to provide for my siblings as I kept on sending them a portion of my salary every month whenever I could. On top of that, I feel really happy to have contributed to Miss Gahyeon’s brighter mood. It felt nice to finally make a difference in my life. I could never have asked for anything more and life moved ever so swimmingly.

It was a cold Saturday night and I had just finished sorting out the trash from the wine cellar. I exited my way towards the small door on the east wing of the house holding a large trash bag full of broken wine bottles and other garbage from the room specifically, and I was about to place the bag in the garbage bin when a bright light from a car approached me coming from the far end of the manor’s east gates. The blue Mercedes then turned and halted near where I was standing followed by the swift opening of the rear doors. The figures of Lady Sua and Siyeon, dressed in red and white blazers and dress pants respectively, then emerged and greeted me arriving fresh from their trip from Gangnam earlier that day.

“Good evening, Lady Sua, Lady Siyeon,” I greeted with utmost courtesy as I bowed while still holding the trash bag on one of my hands.

“Hello, Y/N,” Lady Sua greeted in return, closing the rear passenger’s door and bowing in conjunction. “Is Gahyeon here already?”

“She’s not yet home, I’m afraid. Miss Gahyeon did tell message me earlier that she might come home late after dinner. I think she had to attend to a short errand.”

“Well, for once I’m glad that she’s not home yet,” I heard Lady Siyeon’s voice call from the other side of the car as she exited the Mercedes through the door. She then turned towards Mr Jeon, the driver who was inside the car, and spoke to him for further instructions. “Please don’t park the car next to the Maserati. I find it really difficult to pull out from parking when this wide thing is next to the coupe. Thank you so much, Mr Jeon.”

“Is there something wrong, Lady Sua?” I asked towards the smaller-framed Lee wife.

“Well, we actually have something to talk about with you, Y/N. It won’t take that long but it’s very important. Can you meet me and Siyeon at the study room upstairs? We’ll talk there. Please bring a bottle of ‘Piri’ and three glasses while you’re at it.”

“That’s duly noted. Do you need any food with that, Lady Sua?”

“Siyeon and I actually ate while we were on the conference in Gangnam, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Yeah, we have something really important to tell you,” Lady Siyeon said after the Mercedes driven by Mr Jeon pulled off drove towards the garage. “As soon as you’re done with the trash, go and fetch some ‘Piri’ and head to the study immediately.”

“Understood, Lady Siyeon; Should I ask a maid for your bags? In the current state of my hands I can’t—“

“It is fine, Y/N. These are not that heavy and we can actually manage. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“Well then; I’ll just clear the remaining garbage out and head straight towards the study as per request.”

“Thank you, Y/N. We’ll see you later,” Lady Siyeon said towards me, supplying a wide smile before bringing her arms around Lady Sua’s waist. “Shall we go, honey?”

“Let’s go. My body is in dire need of a change of clothes. See you, Y/N.”

I nodded and bowed in courtesy, walking swiftly to the side to make way for the two matriarchs as they walked the few steps up towards the old manor. In a matter of seconds, the two Ladies disappeared with their heels clacking noisily on the granite floor, a few metres before they reach the carpets. With that, I was left with virtually how I arrived outside; alone in the dark and cold night with a bag of trash that was deceivingly heavy despite its appearance.

I had to walk a few steps to get to the main garbage bin where I would put the trash bag of bottles, and as I treaded the dimly-lit pathway to get there I began to wonder what the two Ladies have to talk about with me. I simply could not help my naturally curious mind to speculate about it, considering it was a bit sudden for what it is. If anything, I was so sure that it had something to do about Miss Gahyeon because they specifically asked me if she’s home yet; but with regards to what it precisely is, I really have no clue. I could only think that they want to give me a task that should be kept a secret from Miss Gahyeon.

The garbage bin has been full recently because the house has been a lot busier with preparations that I know not of, and so because of that I had to gently sort out the multitude of trash bags inside the bin with my gloved hands. That task alone caused a lot of time for me to get things sorted on the correct sections and ultimately I had to spend a few minutes standing out on the cold night.

And then, in an instant the hairs on the back of my neck stood up followed by the sudden shiver running from head to foot. I was so preoccupied with the trash that I was not able to check my surroundings beforehand, and so as I perched there frozen in the cold night, I began to get extremely sensitive with my environment. My heart skipped a beat and my breath began to hitch out of nowhere. I wanted to move by my body was too afraid to even twitch in the smallest degree. I then felt something around me; something that was really odd. It strangely felt the same way when I first arrived in the Lee Manor three months ago, only now that it was a lot more terrifying and pronounced with how dimly-lit this part of the manor was. The fact that there are a small string of trees outside the fence near me added to the terror, not to mention how alone I was outside…

I felt like there were eyes on me.

I was being watched.

With that sudden jolt of realization, I gathered courage and turned as quick as possible in hopes to catch whoever was out there. I scanned the surroundings, but I could barely see through the large thicket of trees on the far side of the fence and through the dead silence of the evening. It was too dark after all, and all I have to rely on was the small light coming from the lamp-post, and I must say it did nothing to help.

“Who goes there?” I asked towards the silence, unsure if I would like my question to be answered or not.

But of course, there was no response. However, the wind breezed rather strongly after that and in turn a couple of leaves rustled with the incoming force as if the wind itself was speaking to me.

Maybe I’m just staying outside too long. I forgot how freezing it is at this time of the night.

I really should stop drinking too much coffee during the afternoon. I’m getting way too nervous at a simple task such as this.

With that, I decided to shake the ordeal off as I picked the remainder of the bags and rearranged them as fast as I could. After all, the whole thing must have been my imagination and there was no sensible way in the world that there would be a person outside there in this time. If there was, I hope they freeze on the biting cold. They deserve it for fucking with me just like that.

With a soft voluntary shudder to hopefully shake off the unsung feeling, I brisk-walked towards the inside of the house and I made sure to not take a second look on my back in case there’s was something that I didn’t want to see. However, as soon as my steps found the brighter area of the house I was a lot more relaxed. I just realized that I took too much time because of that stupid feeling hindering me alone for what I was planning ahead when I came there in the first place.

I had to meet with Lady Siyeon and Lady Sua upstairs.

---ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES LATER---

Y/N had just exited the study room of the Lee matriarchs in a convoluted mess of emotions; it was so bizarre and mixed that he had no idea how to exactly tackle the conversation that would follow. Sure enough, the following week after that very night would involve a lot of shifts and turns, hopefully for the better as he would be open to a lot of opportunities. However, despite the situation showing a lot of benefits on its face value, Y/N can’t remove his uneasy feeling that there was supposed to be something that would make things wrong. It was too good to be true, in his opinion.

Once again, it may have been just his imagination after all. He was just overthinking and perhaps overwhelmed with all the responsibility suddenly placed on his shoulders.

He began to pace the interior of the Lee manor which unusually lit very brightly as the night’s peak approached. It was already past ten in the evening and he had left the Ladies to do their personal business on the master’s bedroom, and that was solely to fulfil the final task he had for the evening.

Lucky enough, the news of Miss Gahyeon’s arrival thirty minutes prior contributed to the progression more than it ever could have. The request from the Lee’s felt more like a teaser for what was to follow for the week ahead; like it was their way of picturing how he would handle things for his own once the plan was set in motion. The thought of him being the person to tell Miss Gahyeon alone was already intense enough on its own right.

Y/N finally reached the door that he already was familiar with. Gahyeon’s room emanated the same flowery scent even when closed, and Y/N made sure to brush his suit clean of creases even for the final act of the night and mentally prepared himself for what was to follow. Once his mind was set on the right place, he brought his hand on the door and gave three soft knocks on Gahyeon’s own, wooden door.

“Good evening, Miss Gahyeon; are you there? I came to tell you something. I think it’s a bit important.”

Then there it was, the series of unlocking came from the other side of the door followed by the small creak of the heavy door, and just like that Gahyeon’s round face peered through the half-open gap of the door supplying Y/N with a very wide smile. She still had the ghost of her school-tied hair on her as some of her wavy crown had some notable deep creases on it.

“Hello, Y/N! I began to wonder where you’ve been. I didn’t see you around when I arrived home. You said you came to tell me something?”

“Yes, actually; I was talking to Lady Sua and Siyeon when you arrived home and they personally tasked me to be the one to relay this information for you.”

She pouted.

“Oh, are you sure that won’t ruin my mood, Y/N? If it’s from them then I really have a bad impression already. Things like this don’t usually end on a good note.”

“Well, normally it would be bad but I’m not sure how you’re going to take it so, I’d rather let you hear it first.”

“Is that so? Well then, come in and let’s talk about it here.”

With one last smile, Gahyeon fully unlocked the door and finally let Y/N inside the room before proceeding to lock it securely once again. Y/N then walked inside the room that he knew way to familiar already at this point, generating a level of comfort that could only be achievable with the amount of time he has spent inside. Still, the same flowery scent of Gahyeon was still lingering in the air and having to smell it after that so much that happened within that night was nothing short of relaxing.

“That premise is pretty interesting,” Gahyeon said as she plopped herself on the four poster bed like she always did. “Like I said, when eomma would relay things to me, they would not usually end the way I want them to. I’m taking your word for it that it’s really good.”

Y/N sat on the same chair opposite the bed and said, “I did say that I’m not sure how you’re going to take it in, but I’m sure over-all you’re going to like it. Quite frankly, when they asked me upstairs I thought they’re going to talk to me about spending all the time in the past months going in your room willy-nilly, but fortunately nothing of the sort was addressed during the conversation.”

“Y/N, please just head straight to the point. You know I’m not patient, right? I can barely even hold myself now knowing you have something interesting to tell me.”

“Okay, I apologize; so the reason Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon called me upstairs to their study was because they wanted me to watch you for the next week.”

“Why? Is there something about to go down?”

“Yeah, they said that—“

“And for next week, we have a long list of weather systems that would unfortunately affect the following nights. South Korea is expected to have a couple dozen thunderstorms during the evening, and so excess precautions are necessary. In other news—“

“Sorry,” Gahyeon said immediately after turning the TV off with the remote. “I forgot that I had it on timed mute when you knocked. So, what were you saying, Y/N?”

“What I’m saying is, next week Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon are heading off for a business trip. Since I happen to be the butler of this house and primarily the person who’s in charge of what happens inside, they have personally asked me to take care of you while they are heading off for their business trip. They told it would only last for a few days although it could still change depending on the transactions. Long story short, they’ll be gone for at least a week or so and they left me in charge of the usual stuff, but they added you specifically.”

“Wait, they’re going out of town?”

“I think it’s overseas. I heard them mentioning a flight so I trust that wherever it would be, I think it’s out of the country for sure. For all I know, it might be really far given the amount of time they said they’d be gone.”

“Oh my…” Gahyeon’s expression turned from interested to somewhat grim.

“Why? Is there something worrying you about this entire trip?”

Gahyeon shook her head in a slow, cute way.

“Nothing really; it’s just… normally I would be happy with them leaving me alone like that, but for some reason I can’t help but feel uncomfortable with the entire idea. I mean, sure I get the house for my own and I can do whatever I want without having to worry what they would think… I’m not really getting what I’m feeling.”

“Is there something else that’s bothering about it?”

“I think it’s probably just me, Y/N. I have a feeling that I should be worried about their trip. I don’t know; it feels really out of place, ill-timed.”

“Should I let the ladies know that you feel this way, Gahyeon? I’m sure at some degree they might act on something.”

“No, Y/N, it’s fine. I really appreciate it. Besides, even if you tell that to them it’s not like they’re going to cancel their trip just for me. You know how it goes right?”

“I can’t agree more.”

Gahyeon sighed.

“I think I’ll get the hang of it once they’ve left. I’m sure this is too much to take in for me.”

“Maybe you should get some rest first. You just arrived from school after all, and maybe all of this would hit differently after a nap or so. Are you hungry? I can bring some food up for you.”

Once again, Gahyeon shook her head.

“I don’t think I’m hungry, but I’m definitely tired. You’re right; maybe a short nap could bring a different perspective on all this. I’ll do that.”

“In that regard,” Y/N said as he finally stood up and walked across the room, heading for the door. “I’m going to leave you for now. You need some rest.”

“Y/N…” Gahyeon called just as he had his hands clasped on the door knob. In turn, Y/N looked back towards her only to see the young Lee heir walking towards him from the bed.

“Yes, Gahyeon…?”

She then proceeded in front of him. In that moment, Gahyeon and Y/N stood opposite each other near the door separated by a few inches. It was indeed way too proximate for comfort, as Y/N could practically see the intricate details of Gahyeon’s beautiful face. Sure, their heights made a huge difference but he could not help but get lost on her ethereal round eyes as he stared back down towards her.

To his surprise, Gahyeon moved to fetch his right hand with both of hers. The sensation of her soft skin sliding against Y/N’s was electrifying, and within a split second of contact he already felt his spine shiver with the sudden development.

“The reason why I’m feeling really uneasy with this is because I feel like I’m being watched.”

So she felt it too, Y/N thought. That confirms my suspicions. Everything was not just my imagination as Gahyeon felt it herself. No wonder she’s getting really scared knowing we’re going to be left with just us and the other staff inside the Manor.

However, as much as it provides a better traction in my investigation, I don’t want to add to her already uncomfortable feeling by telling her I felt it as well.

“It sounds crazy,” Gahyeon continued, averting her gaze from him but still remaining her grasp on his hands. “I mean, we’re inside the house and everything, but… I’m just feeling really anxious. I’m sorry, i—“

“It is okay, Gahyeon. I understand. Whatever is causing all of this to happen, I’ll make sure to look into it before they leave tomorrow afternoon. No one will touch you as long as I’m here, Miss Gahyeon.”

Gahyeon stifled a smile as she stared towards him. Then, she moved closer and closer to him until their bodies hit. Gahyeon then moved her hands on Y/N’s back and gave him a tight embrace, leaving the young butler dumbstruck and frozen for he did not know what the reasonable action was. He stood there feeling the entirety of Gahyeon pressed into his, sending a thousand sensations all over his body that rendered him unable to process what he was supposed to do after that.

“Thank you. Please take care, Y/N. Please make sure that we’re going to be safe.”

With that, Y/N too gently moved his hands to embrace Gahyeon as well. It was the power of that statement alone that drove him to the edge and remind him why he signed for the family in the first place: by serving them no matter the cost. If there was indeed someone lurking in the shadows, threatening the peace of the house, then he would do all in his power to stop it from happening.

It’s like what he said: No one will touch Gahyeon as long as he’s inside the house.

And as he separated from the embrace and gave Gahyeon a smile of encouragement before proceeding to exit the room and tread the hallway, he knew he had to do something about it.

He had to take the liberty to find answers to everything that was happening around them for his and Gahyeon’s sake.

---APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS LATER---

“Hello, Mr Jang?” Y/N’s voice echoed inside the small room, visibly startling the man who was sitting in front of the monitors inside the manor’s security room “Can I come in for a moment?”

“Y/N…! I didn’t expect to see you here at this time of night!” the man replied with a rich, baritone voice as he brought his legs off of the table. “By all means; welcome! What’s up? Have some trouble sleeping?”

“Well, not exactly. I was just wanted to ask you a few questions. I just have something that I have to get off my head.”

“Sure thing; Take a seat,” the tall man gestured towards the chair beside him, of where Y/N casually sat on while Mr Jang minimized the screen to the side, revealing a whole multitude of panels before him.

Jang Soobin was the head of security for the Lee Manor and he was this tall, middle-aged, bespectacled man with a relatively muscular build. He wasn’t exactly as intimidating compared to Mr Jeon on first appearance, but it was the harsh cuts present on his fore arms and the deep, chiselled curves of his muscles that were the testament to his training. It was quite surprising to see that considering he spends most of his time on night watch duty.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Y/N? I don’t usually get visitors, you know, not even from the two Ladies. I’m surprised that of all the people I would expect to be here, it would actually be you.”

“Well, I should have done this a long time ago but work sapped it from my memory, Mr Jang. I wonder if you could still access pre-recorded files from, say, a couple of months ago….”

“Three months…? You got to do a lot of digging but the videos are definitely there. The files are sent on a secure and encrypted server anyway, so it’s definitely going to be there. From what month are we talking about?”

“Let’s say… about three months ago. I just need to see what happened on a specific time in the night.”

“I don’t want to sound nosy, but why would you want that? It’s not often that I get to backtrack something from that far. Usually it would be only a couple of days; weeks on the maximum.”

Y/N gulped and thought of a convincing excuse on the spot.

“I… well, I had to prove something for Miss Gahyeon, you see. We kept on arguing about a certain night because she… she claimed that I was on this specific place inside the manor when I’m not. She’s insisting on losing something that she claims was on my possession. She’s really upset about it and I wonder if I could peer into the archives for a bit and settle the issue once and for all. I just… I just want to prove to her that I’m not on the place that she’s telling me I was.”

Is that convincing?

I hope that’s convincing.

“Oh, Miss Gahyeon,” Mr Jang replied after pushing his glasses further up his nose bridge. “I can see why you would want to check that out. It must have been hard being pestered by her too often. Well, I can and will most definitely help you, however, I still have to keep my eyes in the panels here so…”

“If it’s too much then I can go, Mr Jang. Honestly, it’s just a thought. I don’t want interfering with the security system of the manor for something that would equivalent to children’s argument. I’m sure the ladies might get mad at me for doing that, too.”

“I didn’t say I won’t do it, you know,” Mr Jang said, smiling. “I’m going to have you check it on another computer. I mean, it is a lot of back logging and I don’t think I can afford to go digging that far especially when I have to take my eyes off on the stuff I promised to keep watch. I hope you understand.”

“Of course, Mr Jang; I’d gladly do it. I was the one who asked for it in the first place.”

“Good, well then; fire up that monitor on the other table and I’ll send the file for the entire month there. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you, Mr Jang.”

“Oh and just open the computer and not fiddle with the drawer there, okay?”

“Why? What’s inside the drawer?” Y/N asked out of confusion.

“Nothing really; I just put an emergency crowbar there in case things get dicey. I just don’t want you moving it in case you thought it was misplaced or something.”

“Of course, Mr Jang; I’ll do the backlogging and that’s all I’m going to do.”

Y/N was more than happy and equally surprised that his little plan worked, and so as me moved towards the multitude of monitors located directly opposite on Mr Jang’s table, he finally felt relieved that he got to find the answer he’d been looking for. Honestly, he could easily have forgotten about that small chance encounter when he first arrived at the manor. However, with the recent development of him during the trash earlier that evening and with Miss Gahyeon’s claims of being watched, he simply can’t bring himself to ignore what was happening. He definitely needed for find answers for all of those because it was too much to ignore at that point.

He sat on the opposite side of the table as the file from the entire month of his stay came on his notifications tab. Upon opening it, it housed hundreds of hours of videos he had to plough through. But then it was the mind set of finding the answers there that was fuelling him for the rest of the night.

“Just check the files there. I’ll just go to pee for a brief moment,” Mr Jang said. “If you know what specific time you’re looking for, then I think you’re going to find it a lot easier.”

“Thank you, Mr Jang. I’ll check things out.”

With that, Mr Jang went out of the room and left the deathly silence of the room up in the air once again. If it was not for the soft rumble of the CPUs around him, his stay inside the room would be deafeningly scary. Y/N then proceeded to scan towards the plethora of folders inside the server, eyeing the specific date for that one night that mattered to him the most. It took a bit of finding, but luckily he finally reached the day and the couple of hours that are on that specific time bracket.

“Here we go,” he muttered to himself as he finally opened the CCTV footage.

The video played like he expected it to. He arrived at his room on the third night of his stay in the manor, and he could even feel his own enthusiasm from across the screen as he went in. It was perfectly normal and it went on for a few more hours like he expected, and so he slowly pushed the button to fast forward the entire video. Nothing was happening for the most part, nothing unusual of the sort. The night progressed as it should be with the hallways empty for the rest of the lonely evening.

And then, in a split second Y/N’s heart nearly fell out of his ribcage. He rushed to the controls and played the footage in normal speed before he reversed to get a clear view. Much to his horror, it more than revealed to him what his worst fears had been throughout his stay in the Lee manor.

He may have repeated the footage a couple of times, working in believing what he has seen. He even double-checked the information of the footage to be absolutely sure that he was on the right day, and it was unfortunately the correct file that he was looking for. It was more inclining to him not wanting to believe what he is seeing, more than anything else. In a feat that he thought was utterly impossible, he was seeing it exactly as it unfolded on the screen. It was beyond logic and comprehension but the footage shows more than what he could have asked for; it showed the truth.

Y/N moved to check the other angles after that one short clip, but to no avail. Every other video simply did not show the continuation of the said clip hopefully from a different angle, and having seen that it turned out that way only made things a lot more complicated and a lot more difficult to even take in.

He sat there with his hand over his mouth and his face wet with cold sweat; all signs of exhaustion and desire to fall asleep thrown outside the window with what he was witnessing with his own eyes. The video was definitely not tampered from what he could tell, and he thought it would have been better if that was the case. With trembling hands, Y/N proceeded to close the tab and the monitor, breathing heavily in his seat as he heard Mr Jang’s footsteps come back from the main door.

“So, how is it? Have you found what you’re looking for?” he greeted as he entered the room.

“Y-Yeah, I found what I needed. T-Thank you, Mr Jang…”

“Are you okay, Y/N? Your face seemed to have lost its entire colour. Have you always been this pale or is it just the lighting of the room?”

“R-really…? Well, I think my exhaustion has finally caught up to me,” he stifled as he stood, however it was proven to be really difficult with how shaky his knees had been. “I think… I think I need to go now.”

“Okay then, if you say so. Does that mean that you found the answer to what you’re looking for? That’s quite quick. I’m impressed.”

“Y-yes… apparently I was the one at fault for that and Miss Gahyeon was right all along. I think I’ll just need to talk to her about it tomorrow and wish for the best.”

“Oh, I get it now why you’re looking like that. Well, in that case you better get all the rest that you need. Good luck for that; you’re going to need a lot of it.”

“Thank you, Mr Jang. I’m heading off. Good night.”

He bowed in haste before swiftly walking out of the small room and into the hallway heading to his room. In a perfect world, he would be absolutely happy that he found the answer to something that was bugging him for so long, but with that specific revelation he’s not quite sure if he wanted to in the first place.

There was a person that was walking back and forth after he went to sleep that night. His suspicions were in fact true and everything was not just a fragment of his imagination. There was a figure that was clacking on the hallway on that night that woke him up from his slumber. However, he realized why no one else seemed to be surprised by the figure in the middle of the evening, let alone intrigue even the watchful eyes of Mr Jang. The man was in fact walking back and forth of the hallway and even visible on other angles of the CCTV, and that amount of noise would definitely get the attention anyone who’s there.

However, he could definitely understand why no one else was freaked out for seeing a person at that time and place. On face value, it is easy to tell that it was normal, but it was something fundamentally impossible to happen. He perfectly saw himself walk inside the room and fall asleep without going out in some shape or form, which does not make the answer sensible in any way…

The man that he has been the cause of his discomfort; the same person who was giving Miss Gahyeon the worry that she was feeling was himself.

He saw himself in the CCTV footage.

---THREE DAYS AFTER THE INCIDENT---

It has been three days since I discovered the footage and I still can’t bring myself to believe it. I’ve had sleepless nights just for thinking about it; the image playing over and over again inside my head like a pin-hole movie but it still yielded the same result.

One thing was for sure; whoever was that person is clearly impersonating me. There’s no other way that I would find myself on the other side of that door because I know for a fact that I was sleeping inside the room. I KNOW THAT IT’S NOT ME. I don’t know how that person managed to look as accurate as I was on that very evening, even down to the smallest detail of my uniform and even my face. But to be fair, the clip was shot in a very dark angle of the hallway and so the camera had to rely on its partial night vision to catch the video in real time, and I’m banking on that one factor that would give away the idea that it was a different person.

I now regret not checking the CCTV when I first had the chance. Now I feel more endangered than ever that I got the house to take care of myself. Who knows how much of this phenomenon happened? If this… fake Y/N really was roaming the halls in my guise, what do they want exactly and why haven’t I seen him before?

Money…? That’s the only reasonable explanation for their motivation.

If three months had passed since that incident, then why aren’t they doing anything yet?

Are they looking for a specific timing?

Regardless, I need to check into this person. I’m the one who’s being framed here and I need to take care of others. However, I elected to keep a low profile in case that person is inside the very manor. I also had to balance my personal investigation and taking care of the manor really well. Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon had left the Manor three days ago as planned, and now I have to watch over their only daughter, Miss Gahyeon.

If I didn’t know better, these impostors targeting her is not a possibility. I had to do my job a lot better for her.

I promise I will catch that mother fucker.

---EVENING ON THAT VERY DAY---

The night had fast approached faster than I, or pretty much every one else inside the house anticipated. Luckily, Mr Jeon and I had just fetched Gahyeon from the university just before the downpour began, and here we were inside the manor taking care of the other premises of the house as to prevent unwanted waters from entering the house. Miss Gahyeon has gone out and headed upwards her room to change and get some rest after the long day, all while the remainder of us kept check of all the preparations in case the storm worsens.

Well, it was said in the news before that the following days after Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon’s departure would be raining, but none of us expected something this bad. After the sudden downpour from earlier, the skies began to grumble and unending series of flashes occurred. The thunderstorm has progressed for over an hour since it began, and with its sharp lightning cuts on the sky, it was wise to assume that a power outage might come soon. Not to mention that the thick droplets of the angry rain outside rendered everything practically zero-visibility even through the windows. Things are really getting worse ever since we arrived from Miss Gahyeon’s university.

If anything, I am most worried for the welfare of the staff for the sudden occurrence of the thunderstorm. After all, some of them were still outside running their various errands when the rain came. I highly doubt that they could make it back here in time given how dangerous it was outside. The worst part is most of them were out. It was because of that fact that I decided to head upstairs and check on Miss Gahyeon and make sure that she’s well in this current time. It has begun to get really cold as well even with the majority of the manor’s windows closed. I could feel the chill in my body as I walked upstairs.

“Miss Gahyeon, can I come in?” I called towards her after giving a few soft knocks on the wooden door. “I just want to check on you and see that you’re doing fine.”

“I’m okay here, Y/N,” she called back after unlocking the door. “I just got dressed. You can come in.”

I may have entered with a bit of haste for as soon as the door was swung open by the Lee heir herself; it felt as though I literally jumped straight inside of her own room. Gahyeon may have felt the sudden action too as she was a bit startled with it, but deep inside I kinda hoped that she would understand given the sudden emergence of the storm.

I didn’t even bother to sit at the chair where I always sat whenever I was there. I was so preoccupied with checking almost every aspect of the house that I no longer had time for the formalities. It was only when I was about to speak to Gahyeon did I notice how she was dressed all in black; a turtleneck jacket, a pair of fitted jogging pants, and socks on matching slip-ons all on the same colour. I must say that it was rather unusual to see her wearing that as Gahyeon would often wear something that was either brightly contrasting or light to feel.

Well, black clothing does generate a lot of heat by itself. I take that she wore it to be a lot warmer in the cold weather.

“Is there something wrong, Y/N?” I heard Gahyeon’s voice and it did more than shake me off of my trance. “You’re sweating and you look really pale.”

Before I could reply, there was a flash seen outside the window which was followed with a loud boom right after.

“S-sorry… I just wanted to check on you. The rain came really harsh and very sudden. With how sharp the lightning has been for the past minutes since the rain began, I feel like a power outage is about to come soon. I doubt they’re going to keep the power under these circumstances. We should be prepared for that in case it happens so… do you have any emergency lights here?”

“I have a flashlight, yeah. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it, though. I was tired when I came home from university and I think I’ll just sleep this storm out.”

“That’s a good call. At least you won’t have to endure everything here. The storms pretty bad; it’s raining really hard outside and I can barely even tell what’s going on even if I press my face against the windows. Some of our household staff is out for their respective errands and with how the storms going on, I doubt that they can go home under these conditions. We’re understaffed for as long as this rain keeps on going.”

Gahyeon’s face expressed a look of concern.

“It’s that bad, Y/N? Oh my god, I never knew they were out this evening. I thought they were supposed to head out earlier…?”

“I thought so too… regardless, we’re really in such a shortage of people right now and even Mr Jang’s out there for his family. I’ll have to go on rounds and make sure that everything’s alright.”

“Please take care, Y/N. I don’t want something bad to—“

BOOM

There was a bright flash that bled inside of Gahyeon’s room. It flared so bright that it almost rivalled the room’s own, magnificent lighting followed by a loud booming sound similar to an explosion. The next thing I heard was Gahyeon squealing in panic of the sudden lightning that possibly struck nearby, and just like that the power was cut and the once-lit room became really dark. Everything happened within a split second of our conversation that I didn’t even notice how Gahyeon was clinging unto me in the middle of her lightless room.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” I heard her say in the darkness as she continued to embrace me a lot harder. “I… I got startled and you’re the nearest thing I could grab…”

“It is fine, Gahyeon. I got startled, too. It happened so fast…”

My voice slowly trailed away as I continued to speak. True enough, the impact of the sudden lightning strike fizzled as quick as it presented itself, but with the aftermath of that short phenomenon I was so speechless with Gahyeon and I’s proximity. Her face was inches from mine as we were holding each other in the dark; she was so close that I could feel her hitched breath softly graze the skin on my face. Despite not really seeing her, I was sure that she’s staring at me in the darkness. The thought of that alone was more than enough to get my heart racing after that sudden bolt.

We stood there for a good few seconds before I caught up to how awkward this was. I immediately turned the direction of my face away from her and directed it to somewhere else. With that, I also felt her grip on me loosen as she too began to step back.

“I need to turn the generator on,” I said in attempt to sway away the topic. I would lie if I’d say that it’s not awkward. “Are you going to be okay if I leave you here for a moment? I’ll go back to as soon as I make sure that everything’s accounted for.”

“Okay, then, Y/N. Please take care. I’ll turn my emergency lights on and attempt to sleep through the storm. Don’t worry about me, Y/N.”

At this point I am confident to say that I knew Gahyeon enough when there’s a hint of terror on her voice. Luckily, I somehow anticipated this situation when I discovered the threat of the night-walker.

“Here,” I told her as I fished a small radio from my pocket and handed it to here. “This is a device that operates on radio frequency, or what they call a walkie-talkie. It’s a lot easier to speak through this because we’re on the same house and signal won’t be an issue. In case you need me to come to you, just press on this green button near the power on and speak. I’ll hear you anywhere inside the castle. I’ll answer to you no matter what.”

“I will. This would definitely help a lot,” she replied as she held on the small radio. “I’ll definitely use this. Thank you, Y/N.”

“I’m heading out, Gahyeon.”

I felt her grasp on my hand just as I was about to head to the door, effectively stopping me in my tracks. I then turned towards Gahyeon although I perfectly knew I won’t even be able to see her because of the absence of power, but to my surprise I felt her all over me once again. The Lee heir threw her arms on my neck and gave me a tight embrace that was a lot more tender and warm than the one she did out of surprise previously. It was not due to an emotional impulse, but rather something she did out of her own accord, out of her own free will.

“Please take care, Y/N. I still want to see you after this, okay?”

I felt really warm but at the same time surprised at her statement, but with how she worded that i felt really comfortable opposite her. And so, I also slowly placed my hands behind her as I too joined her hug for the first time ever. It was surreal and I never even pictured myself doing this to the daughters of my own bosses, but I can’t see anything wrong with it. It was just too much to take in in one sitting.

“Of course, Gahyeon; we’ll still see each other later or in the morning once everything is okay. You better get the rest you’re looking for. Leave the rest of the worrying to me.”

“Alright then… you worry about the manor and I’ll worry about you.”

“Miss Gahyeon…”

“Okay, okay,” she said as she finally walked back and effectively breaking out of the embrace. “I’ll go to sleep. I’ll see you later.”

I bowed in response to her and finally headed out of the door, but not before making sure that Gahyeon locked the door completely behind me. I never thought that I would even exit her room feeling really pumped and enthusiastic out of nowhere. That hug was something else and if it wasn’t for her sweet, innocent statement, one could definitely interpret everything in a different manner. If only the manor was an issue, I was sure that I’d love to stay a lot longer inside her room and accompany her until this is over. However, I know how tempting that situation could be and so it was for the best that I insisted to leave before I could even do something that I would not like for the love of me.

After all, all I could do in the dark premises of the power-cut manor was walk on the hallway with nothing but my trusty flashlight with me. Getting to the generator room would be a top priority because it was so hard to navigate inside the labyrinthine mansion with such a pathetic light at my disposal.

This would be a really long night, and I could already tell it.

I better go to the generator room immediately.

---

The manor’s generator room was ever so conveniently located at the bottom-most part of the basement, obviously hidden from view from the rest of the house with how noisy it could get once it is running. It was this secluded room that rarely had visitors from the house, and so it had the unpleasant scent that immediately greeted me as soon as I opened the door. Not to mention that the path heading there was so fucking dark that I could barely even tell what was around me, and the small portion that my light was able to show me did so little job on helping me walk my entire way down there.

I was so deep inside the house that I could barely even tell if there was still rain going on outside, but that did not stop the most isolated part of the manor from being hauntingly cold because of its location. In just a matter of seconds after I set foot inside the room filled with pipes and generators I began to imagine a lot of unfortunate scenarios that definitely did not help in a situation like this. My grip on the flashlight tightened and my senses flared to its maximum, preparing myself in case someone… or something… suddenly springs out of the isolated room. I really had no idea how on earth am I going to defend myself when I’m literally blind on all sides, but in my head at least I could anticipate something before it happens.

With all that overthinking, I felt my anxiety take over me as well as the adrenaline starting to kick in. My heart was racing so fast inside my chest that I could feel it leap out any moment, and at the same time I was trying my best to find the main switch that would turn all of the generators and supply the manor a much needed supply of electricity. Luckily, I manage to make it at the other end of the room unscathed except from a couple of cobwebs caught on my uniform.

My hands then grasped the cold steel wheel and gave it a quick tug. Soon, the lights of the generator room began to flare with red, signalling the supply of fuel has finally made it into the respective generators. And then, thanks to the glaring red light from the corners of the room I was able to make out of the mainframe switch with ease. I flicked a few here and there, and paused before I pulled the large lever down that would turn everything on.

CRANK

The descent of the lever was met with a sudden rumble from the noisy generators, and in turn finally bringing a fraction of power and light on the secluded room followed by the undeniable scent of gasoline. The red warning lights from the corners finally turned white and I can finally see pretty much everything inside the room.

I then moved to approach the generator that was on the far end of the room after noticing that it was the only thing that was not emitting any sort of noise compared to the others. True enough, not only one, but two generators were simply dead and not working as soon when I tried to pull their respective switches. I don’t know too much on machineries like this and even if I did, I really doubt that I could fix it on a situation like this. I’m sure that it was not a good priority now.

With that, I returned towards the main switch and powered down the malfunctioning generators before closing the door and heading back towards the rest of the manors floors. The generators have fortunately restored power for the most part, as I could see some of the bulbs emitting a much fainter light than usual. I take it that the absence of the two generators is the reason for the mediocre power. Fortunately, the security units could be powered on even with the limited supply and that was definitely what I needed.

I proceeded towards the security room where the CCTV cameras direct the live feed. Upon entry, I could already hear the soft humming of the CPU fans in the silence as if they were happy to once again be supplied with even just a mediocre amount of current. I then rushed towards the master unit and booted it up; each second spent waiting on its start-up feeling like it was another second that we’re plunging in deeper to danger.

There has been this uncomfortable feeling that made me really anxious. It was perhaps due to the fact that I am aware how understaffed the manor is right now, and in case something fucks its way to us I’ll have to be more than prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect the house.

The master unit finally opened and the screen displayed the various sections of the manor through the respective CCTV footages, albeit some are obscured by the downpour especially the ones that are exposed outside. However, there was one small message under the hot bar that was as ill-timed as it could ever get:

WARNING: No storage network or drive detected. Live feed is not being recorded.

Crap, it must have been the outage; or worse, the lightning might have struck whatever was supplying the manor the internet that was necessary.

But I should not let that stop me. I need to work with what I have. At least the cameras work and it’s definitely better than me having to stroll around the entire house just to check that everything’s okay. If only Mr Jang was here, it would be leaps and bounds easier and a lot more controlled.

I’m so fucking tense.

I then sat down on Mr Jang’s chairs and began to scroll through the feed, carefully scanning through the cameras from around the house in case something peculiar happens. I was about to check the backyard cameras when I was startled from a static noise that came from the radio on my pocket.

*Shhhhhhkkkk* “Y/N…? Are you there?” *Shhhhhhkkkk* “Can you hear me?”

I immediately pulled the device out to answer Gahyeon.

“Hello…? Gahyeon, I’m here. I can here you. Is there something wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong, I just wanted to check on you. I also had to practice this radio thing so that I won’t have to do it in another time and I just noticed that the lights were partially restored. Where are you right now?”

“I’m at the security room looking on the cameras. I just restored enough power that they’re working sub-optimally, but just sufficient that I can monitor what’s happening around. It’s not the best but good enough for what it is.”

“That’s good to know. I also called to say good night… I’m about to sleep now. It’s still raining super hard outside and I don’t have anything else to do.”

“Alright, have a good night’s sleep, Gahyeon. When you wake up, things would be fine. This storm shall pass too.”

“Okay… good night, Y/N! Thank you for your hard work. I’m … hanging up, I guess?”

“Good night, Miss Gahyeon.”

There was another batch of static noise from the other side of the line and then there was just silence. I have to admit; that one small though was the one thing that was helping me move forward. It made the job of watching over the CCTV feed a lot easier than it was when I first arrived here.

As I sat, a lot more relaxed after that call, I continued to repeatedly scan the surroundings with something suspicious. So far, there was nothing that was going really ubiquitous. Some cameras were really scuffed because of how strong the rain was outside, but for the most part I could only see the hallways with the usual household maids walking to and fro, perhaps preparing to sleep as well. Everything was going well and I thought I could sit back for a bit while I checked around…

…Until I saw something that was very peculiar.

I caught the unusual thing on the corner of my eye as I was mindlessly pressing the ‘next’ button to scout for the other cameras. I then immediately pressed back to confirm what I saw previously. True enough, there was something at some place in the house that was not supposed to be there, or at least not that I’m aware of.

It was the live feed that came from the backyard entrance. The camera was placed on the guardhouse entrance, giving a good view of the gate and whoever was there. However, as I returned the footage I could have sworn that the gate was locked previously, only now that it was held open with an unknown black pickup truck parked in the middle of the gateway.

It was easy to dismiss the unknown truck to possibly be a car that drove another member of the house towards here, and if that was the case it would be perfectly normal. However, even amidst the blur of the water droplets finding their way on the lens, a series of flashing occurred and I could not see it with the angle that the CCTV was placed. There was a slight shake on the screen followed by a brief static running through it like the camera was glitched. And then, there was a series of sparks before a figure ran on the corner of the street, heading straight towards the house.

I felt my adrenaline pump in me as I suddenly felt something was wrong with what I was seeing. The guard house emitted another series of soft sparks that stretch through the visibility of the screen, and that alone was enough reason for me to switch my channel and radio in.

“Hello, Mr Han, is everything okay?” I asked through the radio as sweat began to trail down from my forehead. “What is going on inside the guard house? Mr Han, please come in! Mr Han!”

There was no response. I had a bad feeling about this and so I grabbed the nearby crowbar situated over the counter on the way out as I ran out of the security room and headed towards the back gate. I repeatedly called for Mr Han over the radio while I sprinted, and like before there was no signs of response from the other side of the line. Whatever happened there was definitely bad; otherwise Mr Han would have responded to me the moment he could.

Who is in that pickup truck?

Is that person even a resident of this house?

Could it be…?

I had no time to waste overthinking of whatever was going on the guard house, let alone whoever was that person driving the pickup truck at the backyard. All things considered, it might actually just be a staff that had arrived home and that something happened with the connection that Mr Han could not reply to me through the radio, but in the off chance that it was a person who’s a threat to this house’s safety then I don’t want to push our luck.

I need to get there no matter what.

“Y/N, are you headed somewhere?” Miss Jessa called towards me as I approached her from the other side of the hallway just outside the maid’s quarters. She was already dressed on her mint-green pajamas and I could only assume that she was about to sleep. “It’s already night and the rain doesn’t look like it will let up. What is that that you’re holding…? Is that a crowbar…?”

“I just need to check something on the back gate. Please stay inside and be vigilant. This will be quick!” I told her as I zoomed past her rather confused figure. However, as much as I wanted to I don’t have the luxury of time to explain to her what was going on. I’d rather have her stay inside and be safe than be thoroughly worried of what was going on.

With that, I darted past the back door and grabbed an umbrella from the nearby post but not before raising the crowbar in anticipation in case someone… or something unwanted shows up. I gently pushed the door open and as expected it was the torrential downpour that greeted me. The surrounding area of the back gate was barely even visible, but I trusted my memory on finding the short way towards the gate where I could still see the pickup-truck, its lights illuminating straight towards the wet trunk of the nearby tree.

I proceeded outside with utmost caution and descended on the small flight of stairs heading down the grassy garden, trying my best to be extremely aware of my surroundings as I scanned what I could see around the rainy environment with the crowbar held high. I pictured in my head how idiotic I may have looked like going around with this, but I have a feeling I would need it with whatever I was about to discover on the guard house.

I finished treading the stone pavement towards where the truck was parked and I could feel my grip on the steel bar tighten as I approached the guard house. I transferred my gaze overhead only to see the CCTV that provided me with the live feed from this area of the house previously was now busted; it had its frame dangling from its mount suspended by wires and clearly was not working anymore. The guard house still had that same faint sparks I saw from earlier which made my approach to the small room a lot more cautious.

Amidst the constant rain I slowly inched towards the house upon noticing the absence of light. I carefully hid myself from view of the doorway as I held on the umbrella and the crowbar before snaking my way towards the front. I raised the crowbar high up with one hand, preparing for the worst and once I set my eyes on the inside of the room I felt my stomach turn all over itself. I thought I was about to vomit with the surge of shock, disgust and disbelief with what I was witnessing.

Authornim: The following paragraphs would have a lot of graphic depictions of violence here on. Please be advised ahead of time and proceed at your own risk.

Mr Han, or at least what I could tell of the man because of the uniform and the relatively muscular physique of a middle aged Korean man, was seated on the chair with his head hanging lifeless on his right shoulder; a dead expression plastered on his very eyes with the ghost of his final sight still etched with horror on his terrified face. A large, steel pipe protruded from his bleeding stomach which impaled itself through the chair and into the wall effectively pinning his dead body in place. Thick spurts of crimson blood gushed out of his mouth and joined the pool running down the rest of his body, bleeding throughout the path of the chair and joining the wet entrance leading to outside. The table where the controls for the gate were located was clearly hacked with a huge axe-cut left in the middle; the surrounding units sending momentary sparks because of all the components decimated by the weapon.

I felt my knees tremble and I can barely even feel my body because of the horrible sight. Mr Han was always this stern, tough-faced guard of the Lee manor who was always as imposing as ever. Having to see him dead in a really morbid fashion was shocking and borderline weakening that a person with such brutal and inhuman methods could even exist. With how much blood was pooling all over the place, I didn’t even dare move him. He was already dead when I arrived and I doubt anything that I would do could save him in that current state.

My head then instinctively turned around and I could not help but pray that whoever did this to Mr Han was no longer around, but as I looked back towards the manor I saw something far worse.

It was fast, but at the corner of my eye I saw a figure enter the very same doors I exited. It moved so damn fast that by the time I got to look back at it the door was already closing, effectively leaving me outside of the manor and onto the rainy surroundings.

“HEY, YOU FUCKER; DON’T YOU DARE GO IN THERE!” I called towards the man in abrupt desperation but it was to no avail. I then just realized that I may have just made a mistake for calling him out like that.

I saw his faint figure gaze back towards me through the thick rain between us, as if he finally acknowledged my presence there. From where the guard house was located and because of the thick wad of rain, I could only make up so much of the killer’s entire figure: he was a man that had the same built and mass as me; and if I didn’t know better I could say that he almost looked exactly like how I did albeit shrouded, resulting in a vague silhouette concealed beyond the thick downpour.

Holy shit, is this killer trying to frame me for all of this…?

And then, as soon as the killer turned his attention towards me he then immediately moved to head inside the mansion doors that I left open when I exited it.

Fuck…

What have I just gotten the entire mansion into?

---

Y/N’s heart was beating so fast as the thunder and lightning loomed over the raining skies above him. He stood there frozen in front of the guard house with a crowbar and an umbrella in hand, pondering the smartest thing to do in this situation that he essentially created by mistake. Everything began to catch up to him as he went back towards Mr Han’s body and hopefully rummage for something that could possibly help him in this ordeal.

He was indeed not imagining things when he felt that there was someone watching him; and the person of whom he saw walking around the house posing as him in the CCTV was that killer. He was perhaps scouting the house to prepare for this specific burglary, perfectly timed just when the manor was right on the situation that it currently was on: understaffed with most of the security personnel out for personal reasons, no presence of network and signal to contact the outside world, and of course right when the two matriarchs are absent from its premises. It felt like a well-planned and definitely organized break-in; possibly planned ahead of time with all the stalking that the killer has been doing ever since he arrived at the manor. Now, everyone inside was in danger especially the people he swore to protect when he applied for the job.

He felt like he was the last defence of the house in that very moment, and so he thought he ought to get all the help he could get.

“Work, dammit!” he cursed through the air as he knelt beside Mr Han’s body in attempt to connect his phone through the network and call the police. “There’s no fucking signal because of the damn rain!”

Y/N stood up; panic now compromising all of his logical sense and his straight thinking. Adrenaline began to pump in his blood the longer he stayed there, thinking of all the ways he could get inside the manor as fast as possible to stop the killer from doing whatever he wants. He tried to calm himself down and think of the situation through; he needs to get in the back yard’s doors because it was the easiest way to track the killer’s path and not waste time.

And then, for some strange reason he found himself looking back towards Mr Han’s mutilated body and he saw something that could possibly help him in that moment. It wasn’t exactly what he was hoping for, but in a sense it would help having it rather than not: A black handgun was strapped inside Mr Han’s jacket; quite possibly obstructed by his jacket and possibly rendered itself invisible to the killer’s eye. It was a small, fortunate detail and it might be the one shot he would need to make a difference.

With that, Y/N immediately made quick work of the hand gun and carefully removed it from its holster on Mr Han’s body. He held the gun up high and eyed it up close, examining the delicate pistol in amazement as it was his first time to ever hold one that close. If it was under different circumstances, he would be really appreciating its beauty. On that situation, however, that hand gun might place the line between his survival and his death. One thing was clear: he’d rather have that with him than leave it there for the killer to see and use against him, even if he does not exactly know how it works in the first place.

I better not shoot myself with this. Dying by this gun in this situation is not an option; not when everyone’s lives are at stake.

He cocked the chamber and held on the gun on as his other hand had left the crowbar leaning on the door frame, and then he splashed his footsteps on the wet floor finally making his way back to the manor. His breath hitched and his heart pumped harder inside his chest, deeply anticipating what was waiting on the other side of the wooden doors all while aiming the gun with utmost caution. Y/N could feel his knees tremble from where he was standing both from the cold sensation of his wet clothes as well as the sheer tension of the moment, and for a second he felt everything came down on him as he held his finger on the trigger. With one swift motion, he held on the knob while maintaining aim and carefully turned on the knob.

But to his surprise, it rotated freely. The door was not even locked for some reason.

Because of that, Y/N quickly kicked the entrance and aimed towards the frame, only for the dark, barely lit hallway leading away from the back yard greeting in the silence. There was no killer nor even a presence of any sign of life inside as it was merely just an empty corridor, momentarily lit whenever the lightning flashed from outside. Whatever Y/N was expecting to come from there, his expectations were met with absolutely nothing.

I saw that right? He began to think to himself as he made his way inside, albeit still keeping focus as he aimed the gun. I could have sworn I saw someone come in. I saw it with my bare eyes.

I saw everything correctly, right?

However, as he transferred his gaze towards the floor, there were visible muddy footprints that were clearly not his as they were heading back towards the inside of the manor. As much as his head was pretty much playing tricks on himself to the point that he’s almost gas lighting himself right as he walked around the corridors. The lead of the muddy footprints definitely made no sense as it was all over the place as if the killer knew he was leaving tracks for Y/N to see and used it to his advantage.

This is so fucked up. I can’t track him if I’m going to do this.

And then that was when the idea hatched: the security room ought to show the path of the Mr Han’s murderer without him even knowing it. There’s a fat chance that he might have already compromised the only way for Y/N to find him, but there are some cameras in the house that are completely hidden from view, and he was also counting on the fact that the security room’s secluded location would not attract the killer’s interest.

Once again he grasped on the pistol hard as he could while he treaded towards the security room; each step feeling like a torturous choice of keeping things slow and silent as to not alert the killer of his presence but at the same time, each second he spent stealthily going around the manor could mean another life lost in the hands of the culprit. On top of that, he had no leads whatsoever with regards to the motives of the man for entering the Lee manor. It was easy to assume whatsoever as money could easily be a good, twisted reason, but somehow his gut was telling him that it was not the case.

If the culprit was after the Lee’s wealth, it felt too shallow for his methods on the guard house. The infiltration felt so coordinate as if the killer knew his exact move even before he makes it; as if it’s one step ahead of what he was planning to do in the first place. He could only assume as well that it was this very man that gave Y/N and Gahyeon the feeling of being watched and that alone was a testament to hold long he has been watching the house for what it is. Whatever was going on in the background inside of the killer’s twisted head was something far more valuable than just material money…

…or perhaps someone in particular

It was one dark corner towards the security room where Y/N found small traces of the same muddy footprints coming from the direction of the security room. His heart rate increased again as well as the cold sweat on either his temples beginning to feel really super sensitive as they trailed down his chin. The faint lights flashed in conjunction with the sharp lightning outside followed by the sudden booming crackle of the thunder that did anything but add more to the already gut-wrenching atmosphere of the entire situation. Y/N felt his stomach was about to turn against itself as he reached the open doors of the security camera, seeing obvious signs of blood drops on the floor before he finally made his way in.

He aimed the gun at the inside of the security room, clearly expecting a reaction from the man that he expected to be there. However, there was nobody else inside the cold room like it was from the pathway to the guard house. Instead, it was the soft hum of the units that greeted him along with the same message flashed in the screen when he left it:

WARNING: No storage network or drive detected. Live feed is not being recorded.

He proceeded inside of the room after locking it behind him only to notice the mouse clearly smudged in rich, crimson blood that stretched as well towards the keyboard and to some portions of the screen. It was as if the killer had entered the place before him and carefully navigated the system before he could ever do so; possibly even see him when he was walking inside after finding Mr Han’s body.

Fuck, I never should have left this place. I think the entire manor is compromised because of me.

I can still fix this. I need to do this on my own because the phone won’t let up; there’s no way I can call for help.

The least I can do now is to hope and pray that the other staff members are safe from this asshole. I better find him before he does any other casualty. The lives of this manor’s inhabitants are now in my hands.

With that, he quickly ran through the various panels of the security system and deliberately ignoring any of the recent blood smudges on the mouse as well as the keyboard. In his head, there was only one concern and he needs to get to it by any means necessary.

However, during his scanning he caught something unusual out of the corner of his eye. He was pressing the keys so fast that he had to go back a couple of slides again just to check what he saw was true and that his mind was not just playing tricks on him because of what was going on.

True enough, as soon as he got the panel back apparently he did not just saw it differently when he was going so fast, but on that note he could have wished he had just imagined it. It was an eerie message on a panel and it was not supposed to be there. The aforementioned panel was dead on its section but instead of displaying mere static, three words were plastered on the screen with its blaring red text emblazoned on the black background, projecting a font that seemingly were written messily with human blood:

YOU KILLED THEM

Y/N stared at the statement in disbelief. The three words etched in red font felt like it was bleeding on the panel the longer he kept his eyes on it, gently floating to haunt him as he sat there dumbfounded. It was a series of words that could easily misinterpreted in a lot of ways, but with the three words seemingly rattling him from the very core he was able to sit back and catch himself with all that was happening for the past minutes. He has been led by his instinct and adrenaline since he found Mr Han on the guard house and had paid little to no attention to what was going on his body. That was when he realized that his hands were coated with the same red liquid from the monitor as well as some of the scarlet blood splashed over his shirt.

The world felt like it had turned all over itself as there was nothing on that moment aside from the three words. Did he really saw the killer deal the final blow on Mr Han, or was it someone else entirely? How on earth did those splashes of blood reach his shirt when all he did was take the gun from his dead body?

Did he kill Mr Han?

Fucking stop messing with my head, Y/N thought furiously to shake the invasive mess his psyche was on. This won’t work on me, you fucking psychopath. I need to believe what I saw and keep my grasp on what’s real. He’s trying to throw me off.

This isn’t real. This man is playing with my head. I better keep things on track.

With that, he deliberately ignored the blaring message and continued to search on the killer’s whereabouts. He was rapidly pressing the buttons to shift the panel to the next and just like with the message, something peculiar caught the corner of his eye and caused him to jump a few panels back to confirm what he just saw.

The live footage was on the CCTV camera situated on the lower kitchen area where Ms Jessa would usually prepare the food for everyone else. There was still the flash of lightning from the outside, but what caught Y/N’s attention were the two figures chasing each other inside the kitchen ducking from each other’s view on the kitchen counter. One was Ms Young, a housemaid that worked close with Ms Jessa, while Y/N easily recognized the other person: it was Mr Han’s killer from the back gate from earlier. Perhaps Y/N was confused with the rain from earlier that he did not notice how the man actually dressed like; the killer was wearing the exact same clothes Y/N was wearing on that night: the butler’s suit and coat while his face had a cover that concealed his identity. From Y/N’s perspective, the person has almost the similar exact proportions as his and it was so easy to mix them both up. More so than that, Y/N continued to watch the entire pursuit unfold and the sight did nothing but raise the hairs on the back of his neck.

The killer; the man who was impersonating Y/N, grabbed Ms Young by the neck over the counter and maintained grasp on her as he walked around to face the poor housemaid. It was clear on the footage that Ms Young was trying her best to squirm away from the killer, giving him a few punches to unfortunately no avail. The man then immediately yanked her towards the counter with such force that he could almost hear the sound through the monitor; impacting her head on the wooden surface of the counter and leaving her limp, unconscious body to fall on the floor. Then, with trembling fingers, Y/N could not do anything but watch as the killer brought a kitchen knife from nearby and proceeded to stab the limp body of Ms Young twice on the stomach before pulling her lifeless body by her legs out of the kitchen and eventually out of the camera’s frame.

Y/N felt his entire body shake from head to foot just with what he had witnessed. Once again, another member of the house was killed before his very eyes and just like with Mr Han, he had failed to do anything again to help Ms Young. He felt as if his entire body was going to give up with the terrifying sight alone and it took a couple of minutes of him trying to find where the killer took Ms Young’s body to, but after the kitchen there was no visible place to find it. It was only when a strange static noise disrupted Y/N’s gaunt and self-depreciating demeanour as he was finally brought back to earth and the security room began to be visible once again.

“Y/N…?” Gahyeon’s voice from the radio came after a short static. “Are you there? I was awoken by something. I just hope I could talk to you.”

---

I just could not believe what my eyes were seeing.

The man, the intruder who tricked me into checking Mr Han’s dead body on the guard house and the person who played a lot of games in my head with all the messages he’s been sending me previously, had just murdered one of the house residents in cold blood. I knew Ms Young and she has been very kind towards me ever since I first arrive here, and being able to see her go in a very brutal way it was just…

I don’t know how to feel. I should be really mad but I could simply not stomach it for what it is. It was too much for such a kind person like her, and to think that this man was wearing an approximation of my clothes as he did all that… Fuck.

Ms Young, in her last moments, possibly thought that I was the one who was killing her. This is so fucking messed up.

I had every reason to stand up and fight this man head on and make him pay for everything he has done, but as I sat there staring at the corner of the screen where the killer dragged Ms Young’s bloody body I felt every reason to be afraid and guilty. This man singlehandedly killed who knows how much of the people I’ve been living with now; how else could I stack up against him? It would just be a matter of time before this killer would find his way towards me and soon I’ll be joining the pile of dead bodies that died because I let him in.

Maybe he was right after all…

I was the one who killed them.

I killed them by letting the killer in.

Their blood is in my hands.

“Y/N…” I heard Gahyeon’s voice out of nowhere. I think I am starting to hear things because of everything that was happening. I’m not even sure which is which.

“Y/N, are you there?”

It took me a bit to get back to earth after realizing that Gahyeon’s voice came from the radio on my pocket. Having to hear her voice again after what felt like an hour of chasing and pursuing the unknown killer was indeed magical and refreshing to hear. If there was one thing that kept me back on track on that very moment, it was hearing her voice safe and sound.

“I was jolted awake by something. I just hope I could talk to you.”

“Gahyeon, hello, I’m here,” I called to her as I pressed on the mic while I continued to scan the panels hoping for a clue on the killer’s whereabouts. At the same time, I tried to keep my tone as composed and calm as I could. “I can hear you well.”

“Are you okay? You sound really stressed. Is everything alright?”

Dammit, how am I going to explain to her that a killer’s inside the manor? She’s going to freak out!

But I can’t think of a good enough reason to sugar coat everything that was happening. Even if I could, it would feel like I was lying straight up to her while I could easily admit to myself that we’re pretty much in danger. With each passing second that the communications are disabled, it felt we’re delving more and more into out inevitable doom.

“Y/N…?”

“S-sorry, Gahyeon… there are things that are complicated to explain through the radio. I don’t want to scare you but things are not going too well inside the manor.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen”

“Well, a lot of stuff did happen. I’m still trying to work to believe what I saw, but all I could say to you is to keep your door locked no matter what. Don’t open it under any circumstances, okay?”

“What…? Why?”

“It’s for the better. Stay quiet and act as if you don’t exist in your room. Pretend as if there’s no one there.”

“Y/N… please, I don’t like what I’m hearing from you and you sound really different. Can you please just go up here so that I can see what’s going on with you? I’m really worried, Y/N, please come up here. I’m scared for what could happen because you sound so… different.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll go up there and explain everything to you Gahyeon. But before I could make it there, please do what I asked you to do. Lock your door as secure as possible and don’t make any noise until I get there, okay?”

“I’ll wait for you, Y/N. Please make it quick; I’m really scared.”

“Wait for me, Gahyeon.”

I have to be thankful that Gahyeon messaged me when she did.

I think I was about to have a mental breakdown then and there with what I saw, and it was more possibly because of the fact that Mr Han and Ms Young were dead before I could do anything to even help them. I feel responsible for what happened to them, to say the least. Gahyeon’s call mattered in the sense that I could grasp something important; that I could still protect the members of the house that I could still protect and not just give up because of what I saw.

Gahyeon was my end game. I promised myself I would protect her no matter what and this is not the time to give up.

With that, I exited the security room quite a lot more flared up than when I previously entered, but not before moving to place the power grid in sleep mode for the computers and deny the CCTV resource in the hands of the killer. Now, I felt a lot more pumped up and notably a lot more alert than usual and as I walked around the house corridors I was a lot more aware. Somehow my senses feel like they were enhanced a hundredfold; I was ready for the killer even if I manage to cross paths with him.

I aimed the pistol at the ready and proceeded with utmost caution around the house. At this point I have no idea what the killer was doing and why he would even waste time going around like this instead of taking me out. He knows I’m after him from earlier and so I don’t get it why he would resort to small tricks that had the intent of throwing me off. Was he banking on the fact that I’d get swayed off that I’d just quit doing this pursuit in the first place?

Regardless, I should keep my guard up from now on. Who knows what kind of dirty games this person has in his head?

I walked around the main hall of the castle heading towards the main staircase of the manor. I kept my pace to the bare minimum; trying my best to navigate through the flash of the lightning and the boom of the thunder penetrating through the curtained windows as I aimed the pistol where the flashlight was pointed. The manor felt hauntingly quiet, but that was quite expected. I could only hope that the demise of Ms Young alerted the other housemaids and that they hid from the lurking murderer. At this point, my heart was pounding so hard against my chest that I could literally feel my heartbeat on every step that I made. The open area of the atrium-like entrance of the manor overlooking the grand stair case is what I think would be the most dangerous part of the building. The killer could easily attack me from all angles and so I remained vigilant throughout until my feet finally reached the carpeted steps going up.

“Gahyeon, I’m near your room. You can unlock the door now,” I radioed towards her as soft as I could, all while keeping my eyes staked in case something pops up on the corridor heading there. I was sure that it was already nearing or at least past midnight, but my internal body clock could not even acknowledge that I was already tired with all the rush and tension I was feeling.

After what felt like the longest, most drawn out walk of my entire life I finally reached the doorsteps of Gahyeon’s room and I’ve never felt so relieved than ever for this evening. If anything, Gahyeon served like a beacon of hope in this dark, messed up shit storm of an evening.

I turned towards the direction of the corridor aiming at the dark path with the hand gun aimed, prepared in the awful chance that the killer would present itself there.

“Y/N,” I heard Gahyeon’s voice as soon as the door shifted in the smallest possible opening. “What are you doing there?”

“I’ll have to get in now, Gahyeon,” I told her as I gently pushed myself against the door while keeping gaze on the hallway.

Gahyeon, as expected, was quite held in a look of confusion as I continued to peer outside the hallway until I was sure that the coast was clear. After that, I went inside her room and immediately did the first batches of lock I knew and proceeded to face her. Miss Gahyeon’s round eyes were filled with inquiry as well as panic, and I could only equate such expression because she suddenly saw me in this fit even through the faint light of her room.

“Y/N… what happened to you? You look like a mess! You’re suits all soaked in water you must be really cold right now! Let me get you something warm to ease up your--!”

“Shh,” I told her as I held her mouth. For a split second there, I felt a series of steps walking towards us only to disappear as soon as I heard it. I’m not sure if I just imagined all of it entirely, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

“Y/N… what on earth is going on out there?” She said as she removed my hand from her mouth.” Why do you look so dishevelled and stressed out? And… is that blood on your hands…?”

“Let’s calm down first and I’ll tell you everything that’s going on outside. Take a seat,” I gestured towards her bed as I sat opposite her on the vacant chair before I proceeded to talk to her in the softest of whispers I could muster. “I don’t want to lie to you on what’s going on because doing that won’t really help either of us so here’s the deal… someone broke in the house.”

“What…?”

“Yes, someone’s managed to infiltrate the manor and he’s… he’s murdering the staff one by one. I saw it with my very eyes; Mr Han was killed on the guard house and Ms Young was stabbed in the kitchen. I don’t know if there are any of the other house maids still alive but I never saw any of them on my way up. I barely even got here and I think I got lucky that the killer’s attention is on somewhere else inside the house.”

“What are we doing then? Shouldn’t we call the police? This is too serious and staying here is too dangerous! We’re in danger the longer we stay here! How did the killer even get in, I thought the guards were supposed to be watching over the place!”

“I know, but things got a bit complicated… I don’t know how, but this person sure knows when to time this entire thing. It was executed right in the middle of the storm, exactly when our networks and communications would be cut because of the lightning. We’re lucky we even managed to get power back even by just a portion. I tried calling the police but nothing’s going through. As far as we’re concerned, for this night we’re on our own.”

I don’t know if that was subtle enough but I can’t bring myself to tell her how worse the situation was because it’s definitely going south really quickly. Out of my rush to get here I realized I may have effectively trapped myself and Gahyeon in this room with no way out; and with the constant downpour outside there’s no way in hell we could get out through the window. I think I just doomed both of us by heading here, and now the killer might have a good idea where I might be.

Dammit I should be thinking of my moves a lot deeper. This is not the situation I want to be in.

“Y/N…” I heard Gahyeon’s voice as she pulled me from the chair to sit beside her on the bed. “What’s going to be of us? Are we going to make it out alive here?”

“Gahyeon, calm down; we’re going to get out of here and I promise you that. We just need time, okay? We just need to gauge the situation carefully and plan ahead because our lives are on the line. In the meantime, I would like you to calm down so that we could talk this through.”

“Y/N, I’m really scared… I don’t know if we could get out of this…. I don’t know if I could see Sua and Siyeon after this night… I now regret everything that I did to them… I can’t help but overthink the situation…. What if the killer finds us, Y/N?”

“Shhh,” I told her as I made a move to hug and hopefully tone her emotions down. “Don’t say that, Gahyeon. I told you before right? As long as I’m inside this building, no one else can touch you. Not on my watch. Calm down; I’ll make it sure that you’re going to see Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon after this. We’re going to make it out here, okay?”

I tell that to her and yet I’m the one who can’t calm down. Shit.

“What if we…?”

I broke from the embrace and moved to hold both of her ice-cold hands as Gahyeon gave me a really worried expression. Tears are beginning to form on the corners of her eyes and her lips are beginning to quiver, and her grip on mine is beginning to slacken the longer I attempted to hold her.

“Gahyeon, listen to me okay? I know the situation looks really bad right now, but the least we can do is to stay low and wait for the storm to pass. I need you to cooperate on what I plan to do; can you do that for me? We need to be really careful if we want to get out of here, okay?”

“W-what are you exactly planning…?”

I honestly don’t know if this would work, but I could only hope that it would. I’m starting to run out of options and my only objective here is to keep Gahyeon safe by any means necessary.

“You know how I told you to stay inside here and act as if you don’t exist? I need you to do that once again. I need you to stay as quiet and as stealthy as you could while I sort things out with the killer.”

“You’re going to leave me here again, alone? Why don’t I just come with you so that we can go through this together? Why can’t I just come with you?”

“It’s too dangerous if we’re going to do that. I don’t know what the killer wants, but from what I saw with all the things he left around, killing me is a huge priority because I am the only one who knows that he exists. On top of that, the rest of the house thinks that I’m him because we’re dressed so similarly. At least if you’re here, I know that you’re going to be safe. This room is pretty much invisible to him because of its location, and so I would ask you to lock everything that you could lock as soon as I go out. Don’t trust anything that you’re going to here from the other side of the door and only yield to the radio call, okay? That’s when you’re going to know that it’s me.”

“How sure you are that he’s not going up here in my room? How certain are you that I would be completely safe in here?”

“I’ll get his attention as soon as I could. He’s alone, and that’s for sure because I never saw anybody else with him when he entered the house. So, the moment that I could see him with my own eyes, I’ll lead him to the other part of the mansion so that you’re going to have a clear path to head outside. Once everything is clear, I’m going to meet up with you. We’re going to make this work.”

“Are you sure about this, Y/N? What if your plan does not work and he finds me…?”

“Trust me, Gahyeon. It’s the only way I could think of to drive the killer off you, and doing that would make you safe. I need you on this. Are you with me?”

“What about you? If you’re going to wave the red flag at the bull and he manages to get to you. What if he catches you?”

I moved close to her and placed a hand on Gahyeon’s round cheek, placing my eyes on her beautiful round ones that shone even through the flash of the lightning and the minimal illumination inside the room.

“Gahyeon, I will protect you no matter what and I won’t let the killer catch me. I promise I would live and both of us would see the light of day after the storm. I promise you that.”

“You promise me…?”

“I promise you.”

With that, I felt Gahyeon move close to me and locked me in a really tight embrace. It was so tight and warm, so sincere as if it was the best hug she could have ever given me that moment. In my end, I cherished it as well. In the off chance that everything would go awry and in the way that I would not like, this might be the last one I would share with her. I might as well take everything with me because it really was an honour serving in this family even for a short amount of time.

But to hell I’ll die in the hands of that fucking criminal. I won’t lose to him. I won’t let myself get killed by that man so easily. Gahyeon’s life depends on it.

It felt like we were there for a good while as Gahyeon and I remained connected to each other for more than a few minutes. It was definitely very sincere and heart-warming; something that I would definitely need for whatever was waiting in front of me. Honestly, it almost made me stay. That embrace alone made me want to sit inside this room and be with Gahyeon as we hopefully wait everything out. It was something that was easy but very risky in the long run as well.

“Gahyeon,” I told her as I broke off the hug. “I need to go now. Every second I could save is potentially another life that I could protect from him. Wait for my cue, okay? Wait for my call on the radio before you do anything else.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“I need to go for the rest of the manor’s sake. I’ll save as much as I could. Don’t worry Gahyeon; I don’t have any intention of dying this evening. I’ll see you soon. We’re going to greet Lady Sua and Lady Siyeon together once this settles down.”

“Please be well, Y/N. I am holding on to your promise.”

“I will. I’ll be going, Gahyeon. Lock the door as soon as I’m out.”

I gave the Lee heir one last pat on her cheek before moving towards the door. Honestly, I have absolutely no confidence that this plan would work. I was hardly banking on the chance that the killer did not see me on the way up, because in the off chance that he would turn up outside Gahyeon’s room, I don’t know what I could do. I’m not sure if I could even pull this plan off because of all the variables going against me, but for Gahyeon, Lady Sua, and Lady Siyeon, my mom, dad, and my siblings I have to make it out alive. We have to make it out alive.

If it doesn’t work, I will make it work. I’ll bet my life on it.

I opened the Gahyeon’s door with the slowest of motions, careful not to produce any kind of sound as I aimed the gun into the lasting darkness of the corridor. I pointed the pistol onwards, and there I saw…

Nothing

The hallway was as empty as it could get.

With that, I closed Gahyeon’s door behind me and as I walked into another deadly night in the mansion my heart was beating as hard as it ever did before. What happens on the next hour or so would define everything that follows after, and now I’ve never been so eager to see the killer than I thought I would.

I navigated the labyrinthine path from Gahyeon’s room down towards the main staircase of the manor, keeping my eyes vigilant across every open path that could possibly catch me off guard. I have no idea what time it was already but my body was beginning to feel the strain of stress and lack of sleep and it added to the multitude of factors that I had to combat on that instance especially now that I feel as anxious as I ever could have.

However, in line with that, there was also this feeling of strange comfort. I know deep down I feared for my life because I’m betting everything on the table, but for some reason I am really positive for this one. I know at the back of my head that somehow this would work as if I have an internal knowledge that I had the edge against this person. It’s one of those times where you’re afraid but at the same time confident that you can handle whatever goes your way, and I don’t know how I had that sort of feeling with me considering what I just saw with Mr Han and Ms Young.

I think it was just because of Gahyeon. She was giving me all the positive energy and optimism I never knew I needed.

And so, I carefully exited the hallway from Gahyeon’s room and descended to the now deathly quiet surroundings of the second floor of the house. I gripped the gun so hard that my hands are numb against the cold steel with my finger quivering in anxiety as it rested on the trigger. A few more steps down the stairs and the hairs on the back of my head stand with every step I made against the carpeted floor of the manor, and in turn my heartbeat increased when I thought I heard a bone-shattering noise elsewhere echoing across the premises.

It was a short shriek; like a brief cry for help before it was cut out from sound. It was a woman’s scream from somewhere further down the manor like it was on the entrance.

I immediately reacted in impulse to what I thought I heard. While there was that internal panic that I need to go out and help whoever the murderer’s next victim was this time, however I also could not ignore the fact that this son of a bitch has been playing with my head ever since this entire thing began. It was just that sliver of thought that was holding me back in case he’s using false signals again to misdirect me. I took that little brief signal with a gentle caution as I made my way around the manor; this time heading to what I believe was the source of the sound, but as well trying my best to keep my guard up especially on places I cannot see.

What caught me was the fact that the shriek felt so familiar.

After a couple of silent trips across the long and misleading labyrinthine path of the dark manor illuminated with the faint, less-energetic light of the place because of the generator coupled with the eventual illumination of the lightning from outside, I finally reached the long, lifeless staircase that lead directly to the main entrance door of the manor. I was still a bit puzzled and dazed for everything, but further down the formerly inviting place of the front greeted with the suspended chandelier overhead my eyes met the sight that I long dreaded to see. It turns out that the shriek I heard from earlier was genuine as much as I could have hoped that it was not.

The entrance was filled with pools of blood, and it was not splashes of the red liquid but rather a long slather of piles like it was mud smudged across the once-beautiful floor. Bodies were clearly dragged across, among others, but what caught my attention as well as something that broke my heart almost instantaneously. It was so unfair, so weakening.

On the foot of the entrance, lying against the stair’s left, blood stained pillar was a body dressed in the in-house maid outfit that had harsh cuts and skin bleeding behind them with her familiar spectacles laying broken on her side. Miss Jessa Avarice sat against the stairs staring at the entrance, her expression gaunt with her hair flung in all directions. Her stomach was a bloody mess with the crimson liquid flowing to the rest of the floor, staining the carpet with her life-giving fluids. The centre of the wound, however, was not a stab but something that was fundamentally different.

It was a gunshot.

“Miss Jessa,” I called to her in desperation as I approached her whimpering body. She was still breathing, but through her dazed expression I could tell that she’s really in a lot of pain. “Miss Jessa, what happened to you? What did they do to you?”

Her death-filled eyes turned towards me and now through the flashing of the lightning from outside, I could see how much of the color from her face has faded. It was so crushing to see her like that; a person who had been so kind to me since I arrived in the manor, a person who served as my temporary older sister from the beginning. It was so devastating to see her like merely just as a shell of her former self, weak and approaching her apparent death.

“Y/N…?” her pale-coloured lips moved but I could barely hear her speak. “Is… is that… you…?”

“Miss Jessa, it’s me. You’re wounded, so please keep still—“

I was cut by the surprising motion of her blood-soaked hand grabbing on to me. Her touch was freezing, showing the final sights of her warmth on her smooth hands as she tried her best to grasp onto me.

“Miss Jessa…”

“Y/N… why…? Why did … you do that?”

“Miss Jessa, what are you talking about? What did the killer do to you?”

“Y/N… why…? I… why…? Y/N… you… killed… Y/N…”

I met her eyes for one last time to see a tear trail down her cheek before her grip on my hand slacked and her arm fell to the ground. She was already dead.

Fuck

I stood up and scanned the surroundings hoping to see someone I could save, but with my search I only saw a lot more of the carnage that the killer left. In my first descent I was so dumbstruck with Miss Jessa’s figure that I failed to notice a second body seated on the royal chair. It was the tall Korean man in his mid-forties that I learned to know and get along with, and the large built of Mr Jeon lay slumped on the chair motionless as he hung his head low; the hilt of a kitchen knife was visibly protruding on his nape as the rest of his entire body bathed on rich, crimson blood.

I felt my knees gave win with the horror of the murders before me, and with that I felt myself falling back against the stairs on the carpet beside Miss Jessa’s dead body and drenching a portion of my suit with gore. I was shaking. The sheer fact of letting the killer in and having him do this was my entire fault and I played right on the hands of the murderer. I did exactly what he wanted me to do and I should have known better, and now his statement back at the security room has been more evident than ever.

I did kill them.

I murdered Mr Jeon, Mr Han, Miss Young, Miss Jessa, and who knows how much more have died in this house…

I killed them because I let the killer in.

I killed them because I did nothing to stop it.

I’m not even sure if I want to move anymore. I failed this manor already, seeing my friends die just like that… I’ve never felt so powerless… so vulnerable… so guilty. It was so devastating and yet I have no one else to blame but myself. I am the root cause for this massacre.

Is this plan even worth it after all?

My vision became blurred as I felt my jaw quiver from all the emotion. Slowly, I began to tear up next to Miss Jessa’s dead body with the ever watchful windows peering over me. The rain came a lot stronger than it was a while back, and I can’t help but feel as if it was crying with me. It too was mourning my failure.

I failed the Lees.

I failed this house…

I was—

*Shkkk*

I heard the soft static emanate from my earpiece and it somehow brought me back to earth once again. That small noise was more than enough to shake me off my trance and once again be aware of where and what I was doing.

*Shkkk*

There it was again. Is Gahyeon calling me?

I brought the radio unit up as I stood in the middle of the empty hallway, this time trying my best to ignore the bodies of Mr Jeon and Miss Jessa nearby. I tapped on the power and pressed the transceiver back to make sure that the radio was not malfunctioning at this time of the night. It was the one thing I definitely don’t want to happen. I’ve had too many setbacks for that to even show.

“Hello…?” I called upon the earpiece, checking to see if I got my message through. “Gahyeon…? Are you there?”

“Y/N…!*SHKKK*” HE’S HERE!! THE KILLER’S IN MY ROOM!!”

---

Y/N scrambled to his feet the split-second he heard Gahyeon’s distressed voice on the radio and quickly made his way up towards the carpeted staircase. As he ran, he brought the Mr Han’s gun from his pocket and held it as firm as he could, clinging on to it for dear life. It was as if the world had caved in worse than he could possibly think it could; the murderer is already in Gahyeon’s room and he felt so stupid for being distracted with Ms Jessa and Mr Jeon for so long and that he wasted so much time working on believing what he just saw.

Thunder, once again, began to boom outside the Lee manor as the lightning resumed to be a lot sharper than it previously was. The rain has been a lot more audible from the outside too; bleeding the sound of its drops through the faint premises of the infrastructure. Y/N ran across the hallways, passing by a couple of dead housemaids’ bodies presumably placed by the killer himself to distract him on his way to Gahyeon. There was only one thing that was important to him that moment: find and save Gahyeon and atone for how awry his plan has gotten. He could only hope for the best as he was trying his best to not overthink on the already bothersome problem before him.

Please be there, Gahyeon, Y/N thought to his self as he rushed past another dead maid’s body. Please tell me you’re holding out there. Please tell me you’re holding him from the front door.

“Gahyeon,” he called towards the radio in desperation. “Gahyeon, where is he? Is he there inside with you or is he at the door?”

There was no response but the literal void of silence on the other side of the line.

“Shit!”

Panic was definitely the one word that was plastered on Y/N’s head as everything felt worse than it was a second ago. He alternated steps in the manor to the point that he no longer cared; that he was sprinting as fast as he could just to get in time and save Gahyeon before everything goes too late. At that moment, while his feet were grazing the great carpeted grounds of the Lee manor, it was as if he began to see everything that lead him up to that very point, to a decision that would determine the difference between what possibly could be life and death.

“If I accept it, when would we start?”

“That’s really thoughtful of you. Welcome to the family, Y/N.”

“Eat up and make sure you get as much energy as you could.”

“A little of this drink would help ease up the conversation. Thank you, Y/N.”

“You’re the first one who ever thought of doing that for me.”

“I want to see you after this, Y/N.”

He reached the hallway heading straight to Gahyeon’s room and as expected it was as empty and silent as it could ever be. Normally that would be a good thing, but not being able to see the killer up front only meant one thing: he might have already entered Gahyeon’s room. With that, Y/N rushed towards the familiar door with the gun aimed as steady as he could. Slowly, Y/N stepped stealthily across the familiar oaken door, peering inside the small gap that left a faint light bleeding through the rest of the hallway.

Y/N raised the gun close to his face as he began to pray to the heavens for Gahyeon’s safety. His grip on the gun was so tight and his skin was cold against the steel of the pistol that his hands were beginning to shake, coupled with the rising anxiety within his heart as well as the pressure of everything that lead up to that very point. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to what was going on inside the room in turn trying his best to gauge if it was safe to go in or not. There was no noise aside from the constant shuffling, which he could only assume to be from Gahyeon herself. There was that instantaneous reflex to pounce in and go straight for it, but the fact that he could merely here the sound of the murderer around was giving him another reason to hold back. Perhaps it was exactly what the murderer wanted in the first place to get him then and there because it was too good of a set-up. However, along with that he also had to weigh the fact that Gahyeon was captured and every second he had to wait could be a second that she’d lose her life.

There was only one real thing to do and that was to go for it.

With one last deep breath Y/N turned towards the door and kicked it furiously open. Gahyeon’s heavy door swung open with a loud crash, possibly startling the killer that was lurking inside. Y/N then aimed the pistol in response to his surprise entrance, carefully gripping the handle as he scanned the surroundings in a matter of seconds, but the room was just as how he remembered it aside for the most part.

A small tablet was situated on the table showing some of the live footage from the CCTV cameras. Beside it were two copies of the same radio that Y/N gave Gahyeon earlier. The chair where Gahyeon often offered him to sit on whenever he goes to her room was placed right smack in the middle of the room, and instead of being empty it was the figure of Gahyeon herself who sat there all dazed and messed up with her hair flayed all over her face, her eyes held in surprise as she looked for the source of the sound. From where the family butler stood he could see Gahyeon was moving, attempting to free herself from her restraints as her hands were tied on the chair’s backrest with a couple of restraints. Her feet were tied on the chair’s legs, and she could merely tug around in attempt to helplessly free herself.

“MHHHMMM…!” Gahyeon said in attempt to call Y/N’s name, but her mouth had a huge tape plastered on it to even make her voice audible.

“Gahyeon…!”

Upon seeing the sorry state of the Lee heir held just like that, Y/N lost all sense of caution and reason as he reached out for her in a quick rush, walking towards the young woman in attempt to free her. He placed the pistol on the floor beside him and tried to pull on the restraints placed on Gahyeon’s limbs, but the Lee heir merely shook her head and desperately squirmed in place as if trying to convey some sort of message for Y/N to understand.

“Gahyeon, don’t worry. I’m here. I’m going to get you out of here,” Y/N told her as he attempted to fiddle with the locks on her restraints. “I’m going to cut these from you. Trust me; it’s all going to be alright.”

However, Gahyeon continued to violently shake in the chair. Even when Y/N was attempting to remove that held her mouth shut, she would just turn her head away and talk through Y/N using her own eyes. Y/N, on the other hand, was too bent on freeing her that he simply was not even thinking correctly on what the Lee heir could possibly mean by that. He simply took her action as something that she was traumatized about after seeing the murderer up front.

The murderer…

Gahyeon might have thought that Y/N was the killer; after all, it was what the man was dressed in and perhaps Gahyeon was being terrified of him because he thought that Y/N was the killer.

And then, just as Y/N was rummaging through the various restraints on Gahyeon’s arms and legs he felt a soft pat on his left shoulder. Of course, in a natural reflex he had to turn towards the source of the sensation, and in a matter of seconds as his brain registered what his eyes were seeing he realized what Gahyeon was warning him for.

It was mere a split second of sight but he met the killer’s differently-coloured irises in that very moment as the man, concealed with the large black mask that covered the majority of his face. There was an instant panic coupled only with the reaction to flee upon seeing the murderer up close and in a span of seconds, but then the killer was prepared for it. As soon as Y/N realized who he was looking at, the killer already had his arms raised high holding what appeared to be a thick block of wood. The man swung straight towards his face, the next thing Y/N heard was a loud thud before his vision blacked out, followed by the muffled screams of Gahyeon as he fell next to her feet on the steel chair of the lonely room.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Hmmmm…?

I can’t feel my legs.

The rest of my body is being dragged away. I wonder where to?

I opened my eyes and the only things I saw was a blurred mess. I’m being pulled by something on my back, and all I could see were my legs dangling on the mess of the manor’s floor.

Where am I?

What happened to me?

I blinked my eyes open but to no avail. I was too exhausted to even feel anything. I’m just being dragged along.

My head also hurts like hell. It feels as if it has been cracked open.

What was I doing…? Gahyeon…

Oh shit… Gahyeon!

Fuck!

I jolted myself awake after realizing what had transpired up to that point. My heart was beating so fast in my sleep that I could literally feel the pulse as it travelled all over my body. My I was sweating from head to foot and anxious of something, but it took me quite a while to get focused on where I really was.

It’s a… it’s a room. I’m inside a really dark room inside the Lee manor. What happened?

Was it just all a dreaded dream?

Have I finally woken up from that nightmare?

I craned my head around to check my surroundings as well as move my body to get in touch with what’s going on, but to no avail. Then I felt why; my hands were tied behind me and my legs were clamped shut. There was also a notable amount of tape wrapped all over my lips as I lay motionless on the floor. I took a few glances here and there and realized I was situated on the part of the manor that was secluded from everything else: the security room.

I have no idea I ended up here because the last thing I remember myself being on was inside Gahyeon’s room. I was supposed to save her but before I could do anything to her restraints I was hit on the head by something really hard that caused me to pass out. Maybe sometime when I was knocked out, the supposed killer brought my body in here thinking that I was dead.

So everything really happened and I wasn’t merely imagining things. The infiltration of the murderer was as genuine as it could get and my illusion of failing to stop him was merely just a hope I stretched out with my thinking. I’m still living in that mess apparently.

Now, I’m tied down on possibly the perfect place for the killer to put me in. I still have qualms why he didn’t just leave me inside Gahyeon’s room for good, or why aside from that painful blow to the head the rest of my body still felt intact over all. I have a few bruises here and there that I could feel as I moved from my position, but I could not feel any wound that was fatal enough for me to be worried of.

Did the killer just leave me alive?

Why would he do that?

Regardless, if he made a mistake of sparing me and thinking that placing me in a room that was on the far end of the house could stop me from getting to him, then he’s absolutely wrong. I don’t know how long have I been knocked out but judging from the pain I’m feeling on my head I don’t think it was that long. I need to get out of here and hopefully save Miss Gahyeon from him.

After I got baited inside her room everything became really clear: the murderer was targeting Gahyeon after all because if he wanted to kill her from the get go, he should have done it already before I even made it back. I could only rule out that this killer’s goal was to kidnap Gahyeon in the first place, possibly for ransom or whatever. Whatever that may be, I need to get out of here for sure.

I’m sure he’s going to leave her alive. It all depends on Gahyeon going out here with him.

I tried to swing my body side-to-side but this killer really thought of a good way to place me locked in here. I realized then that I was on the far end of the security room separated from the security units of the manor and restrained around a large pipe behind me. Even if I manage to free my legs it would be hard to go out because I was pressed tightly against the pipe that there was almost no clearance for movement.

Think Y/N… think…

Think for Gahyeon. You need to get out of here to save Gahyeon.

How can I remove the locks on my arms?

There’s got to be some way.

I fiddled around my surroundings hoping to feel some sharp edge or a small serration that I could hopefully use to free myself. As much as I could feel the strength of the handcuffs on my arms I could feel that what was binding it together was not made of metal. It wasn’t producing the same sort of scraping sound as I slid it on the pipe. I think it was some sort of a really thick string. It’s precisely because of that that I got really hopeful to break it. Slowly, I pushed my hands further up the pipe until I felt an obstruction; although with the slight velocity of my hands going up I did end up cutting myself in the sharp edge of the metal. I then realized it was one of those metal strips they used to keep the pipe in its place and luckily for this one it was one of those rusty ones that had one of its edges really protruding.

Then, I adjusted my body and placed the serrated part against the very cluster of strings that were used to hold my hands tight together. Once I felt that the strings were in place, I began to move my arms against the metal strip, using it as a saw and essentially reducing the bonds of rope that held my arms together.

After a few scratches I could feel the tightness of the cuffs straining against my wrists. The metal repeatedly slid against my skin as I sawed the string off, generating friction that burned against the exposed parts of my skin. Despite that, I moved a lot quicker than before to hopefully compensate for the pain that was sure to come. It took me a few minutes of doubts and determinations until everything finally gave its reward. My arms finally fell loose and they both fell to my side.

I was free.

I could only thank the lords of restraints for giving the killer a weird idea of clasping me with rope hand-cuffs rather than chain ones, but I would not deny that the entire ordeal really took a toll on my hands. As soon as I brought my hands up for view I could see the deep cuts that the sharp metal cuffs did on my wrists as I sawed the entire thing, coupled with the thin trail of red and black coming from the cut I did previously.

With my hands now free I began to work on my legs, which were bound together with a pair of tight cables overlapping together with a lot of knots. I could barely even tell what I was doing because of the dimly-lit surroundings of the security room, but for the most part I could feel what I was doing with my hands. It was a bit tedious, but in a matter of minutes I managed to untie each knotted cable on my foot and finally freed myself of the murderer’s restraints.

I stood up with quite a struggle and my limbs felt really painful for being seated that long. I did a few stretches here and there to let my body catch up and that was the time that I finally felt how dreadful the blow was to my head. Pain began to surge from the impact point of my head as I walked around the security room hoping to find something that I could use in finding the killer inside the manor. Luckily, the killer was perhaps too invested with Gahyeon that he simply forgot that he left me on the very place I could use against him, and he did not even bother to close the generators because I could still see some units flashing with power.

I removed the tape across my mouth with a grunt and immediately went to start up the main security unit, which surprisingly stayed dormant because of my actions previously. Thanks to that, I no longer had to wait for long boot-ups as the live feed of the house footages finally flashed on the screen like it was supposed to. My adrenaline rose once again as I repeatedly scoured for any hints of Gahyeon and the murderer’s whereabouts across the entire manor. Surely, I’ve been knocked out for a couple of minutes and if I managed to find their path, even if they’re about to leave the manor I hopefully could catch up. Whatever follows after that would just be Fate’s will more than anything else.

And then it hit me: if the murderer would take Gahyeon out of the manor then there’s only one way he could go. Surely he won’t leave his pickup truck behind because it would surely contain evidence right? It’s the backyard. By this time I would bet that they’re both making their way towards the gate behind the manor.

I did a couple of fiddling in search of the murderer and as I scanned across the manor did I realize how messed-up the place has been. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before I was knocked out, but now almost every angle that the camera traversed had a dead body placed right under it. Corpses of dead maids lay scattered across the hallways with their blood splattered against the wall as if they were thrown there on their last moments before ultimately falling to the ground to die. There are even a lot of them that I could still recognize despite the gaunt expression on their faces and as much as I do not want to do it, I had to pay a blind eye for them so as to not affect my psyche for what was to follow next.

I first found the footage at the guard house where I found Mr Han’s dead body, and after these times still nothing had changed. The rain was still strong outside along with the occasional lightning flashes, but amidst that the pickup truck was still parked outside with its headlights blaring through the open gate. That was a good sign; it’s a good message that tells me that Gahyeon and the murderer were still inside the manor for all I know.

I then clicked a few panels behind to hopefully catch them heading towards the back gate. It took a couple of clicking here and there until I found them a few rooms away from the main backyard. The killer walked the hallway just outside the kitchen with a girl dressed all in black walking beside her, seemingly disappointed and fearful of her life. Gahyeon had her head hanging down with her long, black wave of hair covering her face as she treaded beside the murderer like a hostage. I could not see any weapon or firearm pointed to her, but with how it looks it appears as if the killer was intimidating her with his mere presence alone.

I need to get to her and fast.

The panel rose once again, bearing the message that reminded me that the live footage is still not being recorded because of the absence of a functioning network, but I paid no attention to that as I proceeded to turn all the units off as a safety precaution before planning my moves for what was to follow. I have a small timeframe with me because of the route that they’re traversing.

Thanks to the tour I had previously as well as the couple of trips I had around the manor I know there’s a way I could get to them without taking the main route, and that is sneaking towards the back of the storage room where the backyard gardening equipment were being stored. There was a door located behind it that gave a shortcut directly towards the back hall from the kitchen.

With that, I made my way towards the door and as I expected the killer had locked me inside the room in case I wake up and manage to free myself from the restraints. From what I could tell, it was tied from the outside. Surely if I could break this with anything then I could surely make my way outside. Luckily, I was conveniently placed inside the security room where I could easily find something to pry the door open with ease; something like a crowbar.

Sure the murderer was in a bit of a rush that he didn’t think of the place he put me in. Maybe he was counting too much on the fact that I won’t free myself from my restraints. If he was hinging on that then perhaps it would have been better if he didn’t tie me with a bunch of ropes.

I rummaged through the corner of the table where a hidden failsafe drawer was located. It was Mr Jung’s idea to put there a hidden crowbar in case it was needed and thankfully it was still there when I needed it. I took the long metal rod from the drawer and began to aim it on the door knob. I then raised my arms and gave it a good swing, effectively dislodging the knob from its housing. One more strike and the inner part of the knob had wrecked itself and it was merely hanging with the knot of wires that held it on the outside. I pressed the flat part of the crowbar, and thanks to it being a bit sharp on the edge I was able to easily penetrate the knot of wires on the door. With that, I began to push with all of my force as well as the weight of my body to pry the crowbar against the wires and hopefully break the part where it was attached on the door to let me escape.

CRACK

I almost fell forward as the door finally broke with a loud bang, sending the dismantled half of the doorknob tumbling on the floor as well as wooden splinters showering all over its wake. I then proceeded to stand up, admiring the wreck of my work that I had done in the past minutes as well as the convenience of the small detail Mr Jang left for me on the drawer, which unexpectedly saved my life and theoretically Gahyeon’s as well.

Now, all that I have to do was not screw this up. I need to get to them.

I sprinted from the floors of the now-open security room with the crowbar in hand as I sped towards the halls and stairs, heading towards the very same hallway where I last saw Gahyeon and the murderer. As I treaded across the floors I knew I would have to ignore the multitude of dead bodies I could possibly come across along the way, I had to silently apologize to the maids I shared the house with for having to ignore their corpses while I ran. It was something that I could not stomach for the time being, knowing a greater danger poses along the way.

It was exactly how I relayed it and how I saw it on the footage from the security cameras; I passed by a couple of dead maids and house staff on the way to the main hallway. Even through the corner of my eye I could see how gruesome their conditions were while they lay on the walls and floors of the corridors. I could only feel sorry for them for a split second as I passed. I would make sure that their death won’t be wasted and soon justice would be served for them.

A few corners later, I finally found it.

It was the final hallway leading to the exit through the back of the manor, and Miss Gahyeon was walking beside the man who intended to kidnap her.

I have to do this perfectly and not screw up.

It really worked out for me that they were really far from me to the point that I could easily sneak in towards the other hallway towards the kitchen, but with that I had to keep their pacing in my head to perfectly estimate the opening I could get for later. It would be really brief, like a sliver of opportunity but it would be all that I would need. It’s a risky bet; all or nothing.

I snuck back towards the kitchen and kept track of them in estimation. It was when I was treading alongside the stoves, counters and cabinets did I notice Ms Young’s dead body lying next to the half-open cabinet on the way towards the garden tools. She has long been dead from what I saw on the cameras, and so I wasted no time paying attention to her dead corpse and exited the kitchen door towards the pantry, where another door linked it towards the storage place. It was a long walk and I had to step over some of the mess and clutter of the storage room as I went by until I finally reached the wooden clearing heading straight towards the right of the hallway.

With that, I inched my way closer towards the short, dark intersection of the hallway. Thankfully, the place was so unused that it barely had any light for it and I could easily conceal myself within the pure darkness of the corridor. Slowly, I had my back against the wall as I waited; carefully listening to the soft steps the pair made as they walked across the carpeted floor. The rain has been pouring stronger than ever on the outside windows and the sound admittedly made the entire ordeal a lot harder. If it was not for the thud that their feet made on the floor I would not keep track of them throughout.

I stood on against the wall, crowbar in hand, feeling almost every vein in my body beating with my heart. Cold sweat began to trail down from my temple as I waited in anticipation and admittedly, my mind was so tense that my grip on the crowbar was shaking and cold. It was an unwanted product of the cold rain as well as the sheer intensity and tension for what’s to come.

My heart almost fell out of my ribcage as the pair of them finally passed where I stood. Gahyeon was placed on the killer’s right, and I was banking on the fact that he had his attention towards her that I would practically be invisible to his right. This was it. All I had to do was knock the killer out and save Gahyeon, and if all else fails I’ll have to kill him if I need to.

I closed my eyes and prayed to the heavens once again as I let them pass the entire opening. And then, with a couple of steps I snuck behind them and yelled at the top of my lungs.

“MISS GAHYEON, DUCK!”

I gave a huge swing out of the crowbar as the killer, and Miss Gahyeon with him, turned back to look for the source of the sudden noise. Equally startled, the pair of them acted out of reflex with Gahyeon jumping to the side while the killer instinctively ducked out of my reach. Because of his immediate action, the large swing from the crowbar missed and hit the nearby wooden shelf instead; the force was so strong that it practically shattered the top of it and sent pikes and shards of wood flying in all directions upon impact.

I raised my head just in time for me to see the murderer rummaging through his pockets, and I could only immediately assume that he was looking for a gun. Once he gets that out and I get shot out of nowhere, I would surely be dead.

Oh Shit.

Upon that sudden realization, I reflexively kicked his stomach while he started to fish out the pistol from his pocket. Turns out I did that in perfect time because just as he tumbled backwards from the impact hitting him on the stomach, the gun flew off of his pocket and into the floor as he was sent crashing on the floor behind him.

My eyes immediately met the gun that was on the floor, and because if that I immediately let go of the crowbar that was stuck on the shelf’s wreckage and instantly reached for the pistol. The killer was still on the floor recovering from my kick previously and all he could do was watch as I pointed his own gut at him, placing my finger on the trigger while I aimed it at him with all violent intent flashing on my head. With my peripheral I saw Gahyeon shuffle behind me as I stood in front of her.

“Stay behind me,” I told her while I glared towards the killer. “I finally got you, you son of a bitch. Your killing ends here!”

The killer could only watch in horror as he lay on the floor, defenceless watching his own gun pointed at himself. How easy it was to finally end it; to bring justice to all the people this man had murdered this evening. All it would take is a simple pull of the trigger and this man would pay for everything he has done. All I have to do is pull it.

Pull it Y/N!

Pull the trigger for all the people he has killed. Pull it for threatening Gahyeon, the very person you swore to protect. Pull the trigger so that you could see your family again and things would be back to how they used to be.

Pull the trigger!

My hands began to shake as I prepared myself for what’s to come. I knew I had to do it. I prepared myself for this very moment even before I went to Gahyeon’s room. I had to end it otherwise who would.

I’m going to do it.

SHKK

Just as I was about to pull the trigger, I felt my grip on the gun loosen because of a sudden force from my back, followed by the immediate painful sensation that accompanied the sound of skin and fabric being torn apart. My entire body went numb and I could only watch as the gun twirled in mid-air and fell out of my reach. I then transferred my eyes to the source of the pain, and I could not believe what I was seeing.

It was a wooden shard from the broken shelf protruding from my stomach in a bloody mess as it got through from my back.

The sight of that alone made my knees feel weak before I finally lost control of my entire body. I collapsed back as I lost support, crashing towards the wreck of the shelf and in turn knocking the crowbar before I finally fell on the floor with my back against the wall and pushing the pike painfully deeper through my body.

I turned my eyes towards the person who did this; the person who used the wooden pike and stabbed through my body to save the man who would have murdered us both in cold blood. My head was in a blurry mess but I could determine who did it all while my blood began to spill on the elegantly carpeted floor; the dreamy gaze, the round face and the uninterested expression that was now held in disappointment and guilt while she laid her eyes on my sorry body.

It was the person I swore to save that drove that pike through my very body.

It was the person that I would give my life to just to save her.

It was Gahyeon.

---

Lightning flashed followed by a boom of thunder, illuminating the grim expression plastered on Gahyeon’s face as she stood there with splashes of Y/N’s blood on her hands. She eyed him with an expression of utmost pity, yet clearly without remorse and regret. True enough, the act was something she knew she had to do but hated in the first place, but now that Y/N sat on the floor writhing in pain with both the surprise of Gahyeon’s betrayal and the sheer excruciating sensation from the wound on his chest, she knew she had done her job for the evening. Her eyes began to get glassy seeing her butler on that state and Gahyeon was only brought back to earth once the presumed killer groaned as he stood from the floor.

“Minji-unnie, are you okay?” she said as she ushered towards the person Y/N thought to be a man, trying her best to help her shaking figure up. “Are you hurt?”

Y/N, as he sat against the wall, bleeding, had a lot of things he took in on that very scenario. He was still not over the fact that Gahyeon did that behind him, and now the revelation of the killer being Gahyeon’s friend and actually being a woman was something harder to take in. He was still alive, for the most part, yet deep down he knew he won’t be lasting that long if the bleeding continues. He could barely even have the strength to talk.

“That… that kick stung,” the killer, otherwise called by Gahyeon as Minji, fully stood up and glared through Y/N’s wrecked figure with fury. “I told you we should have killed him like I did to everyone else. I don’t know why you insisted on sparing him. It’s not like you to ever do that, Gahyeon. You never asked me to hold back against anyone ever before, even when we were still back at the orphanage as kids.”

With that, Minji brought her hand up and gripped the mask that covered her entire face before giving it a hard tug. It revealed a face that was really beautiful, if only Y/N had not knew how gruesome the woman called Minji could be for what transpired throughout the night, he would have taken away by her sheer, deadly beauty. She had a small, perfectly curved face and a couple of sharp-looking eyes with differently coloured irises. Minji then proceeded to remove the skull cap that held her hair tight in the mask, and with one wave she unleashed her length of straight, black hair glistening in the background as the lightning flashed over them once again.

She stood there with a clear hint of anger on her eyes before walking forward to pick up the pistol that Y/N had lost grip of earlier. Minji then cocked the gun ready and pointed it straight towards Y/N’s face.

“Should I end everything right here?” she said towards Y/N. “Just give me the signal, Gahyeon and I’ll do it. He’s pretty much dead already anyway.”

“Unnie, wait,” Gahyeon interfered as she held the barrel of the gun and gently pushed Minji’s hand down, lowering her aim. She then walked a few steps close towards Y/N’s broken figure and knelt beside him, meeting the eyes of her butler and friend for the first time after what happened.

“G…Gah…yeon… “Y/N coughed as much as he could. With each syllable he made, more and more of his liquid essence dripped from his mouth, pooling on his shirt and making it a lot more difficult to convey the message he intended. “W...why…Gahyeon… W…why…?”

Gahyeon pursed her lips in disappointment. Clearly, she regretted doing it to the deepest degree but there was no other choice.

“Why did you come out Y/N? I…I was willing to let you live!” she spoke, her voice cracking along the way. “I was willing to spare you as a reward for being really caring of me for the past months, Y/N… You were supposed to be the only person who would survive that’s why I asked to get you tied on the security room and leave you there until morning. Why did you come back? Why did you force me to do this to you?”

“”S…Save you…”

Gahyeon shook her head.

“No, Y/N… I am the one saving myself from this twisted family. I cannot bring myself to live another day like a prisoner inside this manor, not with a pair of parents that literally don’t give a fuck about me! I need to live a future free from Sua and Siyeon’s tyrant restraints, leading me to become a person I never wanted to be. I need to escape in a way that they won’t find me ever again, and killing the residents of this deserted house is the only way I could get back at each and every one of them for neglecting me!

“I know you have been really nice to me during these past months, Y/N, and of course I do appreciate that. That’s the reason why you ended up surviving this night; it’s because I insisted that your life would be spared. I asked Minji-unnie to threaten you at most and finally lock you up when we’re going to make our escape, but you chose to come back. I can’t stand you pointing the gun at Minji-unnie; I can’t stand you threatening to kill the only friend and sister I had back at the orphanage. She’s just trying to help me for what it’s worth… I’m sorry that you had to go like this, but you left me no choice with your actions…”

“B…but why…? You… Gahyeon…”

Tears began to stream down from the corner of Y/N’s eye to his cheek as he felt the difficulty to even breathe. His eyes as well are beginning to blur. He knew it would only be a matter of time.

Gahyeon then proceeded to cup his cheek and look at him in the eyes with her round pupils possibly for the last time.

“I told you that I still wanted to see you after all of this, and all you had to do was to stay behind and let me escape to my life. All you had to do was to let your emotions not dictate what you have to do for the first time, Y/N. All you had to do was to let me go and yet you still came here. I’m so sorry for this…”

She then stood up and loomed over Y/N’s dying figure, gazing at him with utmost pity on her eyes.

“But… now that you’re aware of everything, I have to do it to you as well. I want to be safe; in case you survive and would snitch on me like the last time you did it. It really hurts me to do this, Y/N, but you sealed your fate the moment you decided to leave the security room for me. I’m afraid but this would be the end for you and I don’t want to leave more loose ends. I need to be absolutely sure this time…”

“Unnie,” she said as she turned towards Minji, who then raised her arm once again to aim towards Y/N’s forehead.

“Gahyeon…” Y/N breathed as she stared on Minji’s face. She glared at him with utmost satisfaction on her eyes as she held the trigger, all while Gahyeon walked past her and darted towards the exit on their left.

“Please do it, unnie,” Gahyeon ordered and not even bothering to give Y/N a final look. “Please do it quick. Put him out of his misery for good. Like I said, I don’t want loose ends for this one.”

Minji nodded and her lips curved into a twisted smile

Y/N’s eyes began to close, and his final gaze was fixated on Gahyeon’s back the young Lee heir began to walk towards the exit…

BANG

The sound of the gunshot rippled throughout the hallways of the manor that rivalled the rolling thunder. Y/N’s head craned violently back against the wall from the bullet’s impact before hanging low from his neck with Minji standing in front of him. She could only loom and admire her final work for that night, eyeing Y/N with utmost satisfaction as she finally got the target she’s been looking for the entire night.

Just like that, the commotion dialled down with Minji and Gahyeon walking side-by-side towards the back yard of the house with Y/N left behind; the echo of the gunshot still haunting the manor like a deathly bliss on each of the bodies there before finally settling down with the rain. For once on that night the Lee manor finally fell silent, only basking on the deep rumble of the rain under the cold carpet of clouds in the lonely night sky as Y/N’s body lay motionless on the floor; his body sending its final goodbye as life finally drained itself out of him, now emptying on the flood of crimson erupting from his dead body.

---END---

MASTERLIST

[timetravesty]

Take Me To the Heart Fair Finale

The finale is here! Please enjoy!💕 Also, to the anon who asked about a fic with Clove being older, it's being worked on right now and will have two or three parts, but probably two!

Masterlist

Warnings: Cursing

------------------------------------------------------------ “Perfect, smile!’ The photographer said as children laughed while puppies ran around the booth, licking the kids and playing happily.

Poppy watched from the side, speaking with parents interested in the shelter puppies as Poppy gave them a great overview. The fair had started out strong, already two hours in and Poppy had already arranged at least fifteen adoptions.

The kids enjoyed looking through the costume racks and taking pictures with all of the shelter animals and their parents were eating it up.

“Golden retriever puppies are wonderful family dogs. Perfect for summer outings at the beach.” Poppy told an elegant looking mother who smiled brightly.

“He is adorable…” The puppy yipped happily, showcasing those award-winning eyes as the woman sighed. “You’ve convinced me Mrs. Min-Hughes. We’ll take him.”

Poppy signaled for a volunteer to help the woman as Poppy came around towards the photographer, tapping his back as the man smiled at Poppy.

“These pictures are fantastic Mrs. Min-Hughes. The children are naturals.” Poppy smiled kindly, walking further around the booth to make sure everything was running smoothly. So far, it all looked good.

Stepping outside of the tent, Poppy glanced outside of the fair that bustled with people. She could hear the soft music playing in the speakers as people chatted and laughed happily. It was a gorgeous day and Poppy was ready to take the crown.

“I’m stepping out for a bit.” Poppy told a volunteer who nodded as Poppy moved to actually look at booths for the fair.

She blatantly ignored Persephone’s booth which bustled with people wanting food as she instead approached Sally’s mother, Alice who currently stood with a large mallet in her hands.

“Hello Poppy!” Alice said as she gestured to her carnival game setup. “Would you like to try one of the games?” She asked happily as Poppy shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest as she observed.

“No, thank you though. I just thought I’d see what else the fair has to offer.” Alice nodded, setting the mallet at her feet as she glanced over at Persephone’s booth.

“If you ask me, something fishy is happening over at the McDermot booth. Persephone keeps looking around as if something were about to attack her.” Right on cue, Persephone sharply pivoted her head to look around, landing on Poppy and scowling before turning away and stalking further into her tent.

“I’m sure there are plenty of fishy things happening at that booth and only one of them has to do with Persephone’s paranoia.” Poppy replied as Alice laughed, looking at Poppy.

“Hey, summer is coming up soon. Do you and your family have any plans?” Alice asked as Poppy tapped a sharp nail to her chin. To be honest, she hadn’t given it much thought. Between the Heart Fair, Clove, her company, and many other things, she hadn’t planned anything for Clove’s summer away from Thatcher. Since Clove was a star student, she didn’t need summer school and Poppy didn’t need to stick around since the PTA board wouldn’t be forming until the following fall.

“I’ll have to discuss it with Bea.” Poppy told her as Alice nodded.

“I think Sally and I will stay in New York this time. Her dad is…” Alice cut herself off as a child came up to her, complaining about a broken lever as Alice sighed heavily.

“These kids…Anyway, I saw your booth and I love your idea Poppy. I’ll put in a good word with the other mothers.” Alice took off a moment later as Poppy took her time to look back at Persephone’s booth where she stood next to a volunteer, probably barking orders into his ear.

Besides Bea missing this fair, Art had contacted Poppy earlier this morning, telling her Joshua had caught the flu, meaning he had to stay home. Poppy wished him the best and promised to send him Clove’s ballet performance recording.

Suddenly, a volunteer from Poppy’s booth ran up to her in a rush, holding up Poppy’s phone.

“Mrs. Min-Hughes, you forgot your phone. I think your wife is calling.” Poppy thanked her, taking the phone and swiping on the call as Bea’s voice came through.

“Bea, is everything alright?” Poppy asked, walking around the fair grounds as kids and parents scrambled around her in a happy daze.

“Yes, I mean no. I mean-” The phone cut for a minute before Bea’s voice came back clearer. “Takeoff is taking awhile, I might not get there until the next hour or two.” The rain pounded hard from the speaker as Bea’s voice tried to carry through.

“What about Clove’s dance? Are you-”

“Pop, I think-” The phone cut again, until it went silent and Poppy glared at the screen.

“Dammit.” She mumbled as she pocketed her phone and walked over to the large stage in the middle. She made her way into the back where she found the Thatcher-Heart performers and Zoey standing next to them all.

“I love your music Zoey!” A little girl yelled as Zoey ruffled the girl’s hair.

“Aww, you are too cute! All of you, let’s take a selfie?” She asked as the parents were momentarily dazed to be standing in the presence of a celebrity. The children crowded around Zoey who tried her best to angle her phone as Poppy walked up to the group and held up her hand.

“Let me?” Poppy asked as Zoey smiled gratefully, crowding closer to the kids as Poppy moved to take a burst of photos. When the flash went off, the kids all jumped around happily as Zoey thanked Poppy just as Clove came up and attached herself to Poppy’s leg once more.

“Is mama here yet?” Clove asked against Poppy’s leg as Poppy bit her lip. She definitely didn’t want to tell Clove that Bea could miss her big performance so she did what she did best.

“She’s a little late, but I have no doubt she’ll be here soon.” Poppy told Clove as Zoey raised a brow at Poppy.

“Aww…” Clove mumbled as Zoey walked up to the two, crouching on her heels and cupping Clove’s cheek.

“Hey, your mama is definitely going to come. Bea wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Zoey smiled as Clove let a small grin slip from her lips as Poppy mouthed a silent thank you to Zoey. Ms. James came around the corner, instructing the little girls to follow her to go over the performance one more time as Zoey stood up next to Poppy.

“Think she can make it here in two hours?” Zoey asked Poppy who sadly shook her head.

“Her connection was terrible. I don’t know what to tell Clove.” Poppy admitted as Zoey nodded. She checked her watch on her wrist as she stretched her arms.

“My set is in a few minutes. If Bea can get on her plane right now, she can make it right before the curtain rises.” Poppy nodded, thinking it over as Zoey began to walk off before Poppy stopped her with a brief brush of her wrist.

“How did things go with Veronica?” Poppy asked as Zoey ducked her head down.

“...I told her she should move to London and sell the New York apartment. We want different things right now.” Zoey said with a shrug, but there was more emotion in the comment as Poppy sighed.

“I’m sorry about that Zoey. Really.” She said as Zoey looked up a second later with a simple smile.

“You know what Poppy? I actually believe that. Thank you.” She gave Poppy one of her radiant smiles before taking off onto the large Thatcher-Heart stage where a crowd of people clapped happily to see her.

A minute later, Zoey started her songs, the melody infectious as Poppy left the tent and moved towards her own, just before bumping directly into Leroy.

“Oh, excuse me.” Poppy said as the man took a large gulp as Poppy stepped to the side.

“No-no problem.” He nervously spoke as Poppy moved to walk away before stopping, turning on her heel as Leroy stood nervously by the large tent, ringing his hands together.

“Leroy… are you alright? You’re shaking like a leaf.”

“He’s fine.” A loud voice said behind Poppy as a burly man came up behind her, overshadowing her as Poppy turned. Normally, she wasn’t one to be intimidated, but the man standing before her was none-other than William McDermot, the head of the McDermot family.

“Mr. McDermot, it’s wonderful to see you again.” Poppy lied as the man straightened his tie.

“Likewise Mrs. Min-Hughes, but my son and I have some business to attend to.” He walked past Poppy, taking Leroy by the shoulder and pushing him into the tent as Poppy raised a suspicious brow.

Should she be prying on a private conversation?

Obviously.

Leaning closer to the tent, Poppy could just make out the sounds of the men’s voices as Zoey’s music continued in the background. While most of it was ineligible, Poppy came away with the good stuff as she quickly walked away from the tent just as the men parted the white blanket,

She didn’t run, but she definitely put some pep in her step as she slid up to the McDermot booth where Persephone gave her a death glare.

“What the hell do you want?” Persephone snapped as Poppy crooked her finger, gesturing for Persephone to come closer.

Persephone tentatively stepped closer as Poppy leaned in, smiling like a cat as she whispered in the woman’s ear.

“I have something very interesting to share with you Persephone and I suspect that you’ll want my information.”

Persephone pulled back as if to snap again, but Poppy didn’t let that dissuade her as she smirked. “I know who your blackmailer is.”

-----------------------------------------

Bea buzzed in her seat as she watched the plane fly over the clouds. Thankfully after her awful call with Poppy, the plane had taken off a minute later and Bea was soaring through the crowds. Even though the plane ride was at least an hour and forty-five minutes, Bea was constantly checking her phone. Once she landed in New York, she would only have about thirty minutes to get to the park.

She was jittering so much, the passenger next to her slyly asked the stewardess if there were any more seats as the man stood up to leave, letting Bea have the row to herself as she kept tapping her fingers nervously on the armrest.

A pretty stewardess approached Bea, offering her something to eat or drink as Bea shook her head, waving her away politely as she glanced out the window.

Obviously, worrying about it wouldn’t make her get any further, but Bea couldn’t help it. She would be devastated if she missed Clove’s performance.

The little girl had been practicing for the past two to three months to perfect each movement. She wouldn’t even let Bea or Poppy see her dance because she wanted it to be a total surprise. Bea had respected the wish, but Poppy was known to peek into the dance rooms every now and then to watch and make sure Clove was okay.

Bea knew Clove was okay. She was a talented little girl, even at such a young age and… she took after Poppy in many ways, meaning she was an absolute winner.

Bea attempted to call Poppy a few times, but had forgotten to pay the bill for it, meaning her phone was pretty much worthless. All she could do was stare out the window and hope that she wouldn’t be late.

Thirty minutes into the ride, the rain started to clear up, displaying the land below as Bea thumped her head against the window. She didn’t ask for much, but she was asking for this one thing.

Bea wondered what Poppy was doing at that moment. Was she tending to the booth? Helping Clove get ready for her performance?

Bea did know that she never wanted to go on a three week trip ever again. Especially if she risked moments like this. It would be a discussion with Kath for later and it wasn’t like she really even needed to stay that long anyway. Most of the time, Bea spent time in the Quebec office, doing what she typically did until the owners of the new design could come by and Bea would walk them through it, finalizing any requests for the owners.

It was definitely a trip that could have been completed in at least a week and a half.

Forty five minutes later, Bea saw the first rise of buildings as the captain spoke through the speakers.

“Attention passengers, please make sure your seatbelt is buckled. We will be arriving in New York in ten minutes.”

The ten minutes passed quickly, a safe landing at the airport as Bea was the first one to pick up her smaller suitcase and practically run out the door. It took some time, but soon, Bea was back on the ground in New York City and only a couple of minutes away from Poppy and Clove.

She made her way towards the front of the airport where Scott was supposed to be parked as she rolled her suitcase behind her. Checking her watch, there was only twenty minutes left till Clove’s performance as Bea scrambled to the front where Poppy’s valet stood.

“Welcome back Bea.” Scott smiled as Bea squished into the car quickly.

“I’ve got twenty minutes to make it to the Heart Fair.” Bea said as Scott nodded, adjusting his mirror before taking off out of the airport. He still abided by all traffic laws as he turned down multiple streets.

“Was your trip well?” He asked as Bea threw open her suitcase in the back, grabbing a small bag with Poppy’s gift and reaching into her backpack to pull out a snowy owl plushie for Clove. When she had gone on all of her other business trips, Bea always bought a couple of candies for Clove to try and also a plushie of the national animal for the city. For Poppy, Bea picked out a figurine of the national flower, something to commemorate the trip. This time, it was an Iris Versicolor she had looked for after a quick google search.

“Good, good, I got you this.” Bea said as she handed the man a small keychain of Quebec. He smiled wide as he took it when they stopped at a red light.

“I haven’t gotten this one yet.” He said as he opened the glove compartment and placed the key chain in a small compartment where a dozen other keychains sat. Apparently, Bea learned a couple of years ago that Scott was an avid collector of city/state keychains. She committed that to memory and the man was always happy to receive the gift.

The two stopped at another traffic light before Scott let out a long sigh. “I’m terribly sorry Bea, but the traffic is heavy up ahead. Probably due to the Heart fair further down the street.”

“Crap.” Bea mumbled as she placed the items inside of her backpack. “How long till it let’s up?”

“Maybe twenty minutes. The park is close, but the streets are packed.”

She had ten minutes left.

“Okay, keep driving and I’ll meet you there.” Bea said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“What are you doing?” Scott asked as he looked through his overhead mirror, raising a brow as Bea opened her door into the stopped traffic.

“The only thing I can do. I’m running there.” Bea stepped out, closing the door and taking off a minute later, weaving through cars and running towards the sidewalks before taking off down the street.

As she ran, she could just see the tips of the tents at St. Belrose Park as Bea picked up more speed, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she ran into traffic, carefully avoiding honking cars as she ran alongside the gates of the park, searching for the entrance.

Running a little quicker, Bea came to a stop in front of the gate with about fifty people standing outside, some leaving and some entering as Bea heard a booming voice through the speakers of the park.

It sounded like Zoey as Bea tried to push through the people as the music in the background faded.

“Now, without further ado! I want to introduce the talented ballet dancers of Thatcher-Heart!” Claps spread through the crowds as Bea finally made her way to the front as a security guard stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Hold on miss, we need to-” Typically, Bea would have never done this, but she was desperate as she quickly stood up as the man did too, believing Bea would comply, before dodging quickly to the side and slipping under the velvet ropes and into the fair.

“HEY!” The guard yelled after her as Bea turned quickly, yelling at the man as she ran backwards.

“I’m sorry! I have to see my kid perform! Put it under Min-Hughes!” She yelled quickly before scrambling back to the front and taking off towards the large stage where many people gathered.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’ll be great.” Poppy smiled as she pressed a kiss to Clove’s head as Zoey called out through the speakers. “I’ll be in the crowd, recording the whole thing.” Poppy said as Clove nodded nervously before tugging softly on Poppy’s sleeve.

“Is mama not here yet?” She asked one last time as Poppy’s brows furrowed sadly before shaking her head.

“No, she’s not here yet, but I promise I’ll tell her all about it.” Poppy said as Clove scrunched up her tiny lips before nodding in agreement. Rubbing the girl’s back, Poppy left the stage just as the curtains were about to rise, standing off to the side was Persephone with a timid expression.

“Are you sure about this?” Persephone asked Poppy who reluctantly pressed a hand to the woman’s shoulder.

“I’ve been at this game longer than you Persephone. I’m absolutely sure.” Persephone bristled at the touch before nodding, holding a microphone of her own as Poppy left to go stand in the front row of the crowd.

Zoey stood near the stage as Poppy smiled at her before joining the other parents in the front row. She pointed at her phone, mouthing that she was recording as Poppy nodded before turning her attention to the stage where the curtains began to rise as the crowd remained silent.

Standing in a long formation, the ballet dancers all had a certain position they stood in as Poppy spotted Clove who looked sadly down at the floor. Poppy’s heart clenched as she watched her daughter lift her head slowly as Poppy sighed. It was a disaster that Bea wasn’t here.

As the music started the first note, Clove’s expression changed as she stared into the crowd before breaking into a wide smile as she looked off. Poppy and a couple of other parents turned behind them to see what was so interesting before Poppy’s eyes widened in shock before delight overtook as Poppy saw someone hanging on one of the lamp posts set near the back of the stage.

Standing on the edge of the rock base and giving her view over the crowd, Bea waved at the stage as a couple of the dancers laughed and Clove smiled happily before the next notes began to play and the dancers began their performance.

Poppy didn’t turn back to the stage just yet, looking at Bea who was hanging causally off the lamp post as she glanced around, before her eyes landed on Poppy and she smiled wide. What Poppy wanted to do was run over there and hug her, but she made herself turn back to the stage where Clove was performing a series of ballet dances.

For a bunch of tiny kids, Poppy had to admit that Ms. James did a wonderful job of artfully arranging the dances for each of the children. Clove was usually in the middle as she did some tiny swirls as the music rang loud throughout the crowd. It was the perfect balance of elegant and carefree. When the last note rang, the group of girls all did their own piece, Clove doing a rather tricky move as they ended perfectly on the beat, panting hard as the crowd broke out into loud cheers.

Ms. James clapped with the crowd as shouts and cheers rang throughout, some noticeably louder than others as Poppy heard Bea’s voice in the crowd, hollering with cheer and exclaiming happily at the children’s performance.

She rolled her eyes happily as she moved towards the back of the stage as Clove ran up to her a second later.

“I saw mama in the crowd! She was here!” Clove yelped happily as the other little girl’s crowded around her and Poppy. Poppy pulled Clove to her side, pressing multiple kisses to her head as Clove squirmed energetically.

“Did you see me mommy?! I did the hard move!” She exclaimed as Poppy laughed, smoothing Clove’s hair back before the little girl gasped before breaking away from Poppy’s grasp and running behind her.

“Mama!” Clove yelled as she practically threw herself into Bea’s arms as the woman set her bag on the floor and spun Clove around. Poppy turned to see the two, smiling wide as she caught Bea’s eye as the brunette winked.

“I saw the whole thing, baby girl!” Bea said as she pressed a large kiss to Clove’s small cheek. “You were amazing!” Bea said as she finally set her daughter down and leaned into Clove’s hug.

“I missed you.” Clove said as Bea smiled, pulling her as close as possible.

“I missed you too, so much.” Bea mumbled before reaching down into her bag and pulling out a large bag of soft candy.

“I promised I’d get you something right?” She also pulled out a fluffy snowy owl plushie from her backpack that was the size of Clove’s head. “Why don’t you go off with your classmates and try some of this?” Bea said as Clove nodded, taking her plushie and her new candy as she pressed a small kiss to Bea’s cheek.

“Thank you mama.”

“Anything for you love.” Bea said as she gently pushed the girl off towards her classmates, who swarmed around Clove as she walked off near the crowd of parents waiting for them. She was chatting happily with them about her new gifts as it was soon only Poppy and Bea, standing backstage with music from the next ballet performance ringing in the background.

Bea stood up, brushing off her kneecaps as she stood tall to look at Poppy.

“Hi sweetheart.” Bea smiled as Poppy returned it, not bothering to walk, but running and pressing herself against Bea, wrapping both arms around her neck in a tight grip. If it were up to her, she would never let go.

“You came.” Poppy mumbled against Bea’s neck as the woman bent down slightly to make up for their height difference. She pressed her nose into the crook of Poppy’s neck as she smiled.

“I promised I would.” Bea replied as the two just stayed like that for a few minutes. Poppy probably had Bea in a death grip, but Bea didn’t seem to mind. Three weeks without her touch and Bea would have let Poppy hold her as tight as she wanted to.

When Bea pulled back, she didn’t pull back far as she looked down at Poppy with smiling eyes.

“My gosh, you get prettier by the day.” Bea mumbled as Poppy rolled her eyes at the obvious flattery.

“Just kiss me Bea.” Poppy said as Bea did, pressing a kiss to Poppy’s lips and wrapping her arms around her waist. They fit against each other perfectly as Poppy took a hold of the hooks in Bea’s jeans, pulling her closer if that was even possible. Bea laughed at Poppy’s neediness as she reached to nip at Bea’s lower lip, running her tongue over it in apology a second later before breaking away from the kiss.

“We can continue that later.” Poppy whispered as Bea looked at her like a drunken fool in love.

“Hmm, yes ma’am.” Bea teased as Poppy pulled her back into a hug, relishing in Bea’s warmth as the backstage began to crowd with people again after the older ballet dancer’s performance ended.

“C’mon, we need to watch the upcoming speeches. I have a feeling there is one we don’t want to miss.” Poppy dragged Bea off towards the stage as the girl grabbed her backpack before stopping Poppy in her tracks with a tug on her wrist.

“Hold on, I got you something.” Bea said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small box. Poppy took it with a smile, unwrapping it and seeing the gorgeous glass flower. It sparkled under the light as Poppy’s smile grew.

“It’s perfect Bea.” She placed it back in its box and pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek, before dragging her off towards the front of the stage once more.

The two took their place in the front row as Bea waved at Zoey who was currently talking with a few of her fans. She blew Bea a kiss as the lights dimmed around the stage before Principal Stills took towards the center.

“Welcome all, after watching stunning performances from the Thatcher-Heart dance team, I can only say how impressed I am by every single dancer.” She clapped as everyone joined her, Bea using her fingers to whistle loud as she clapped happily.

“I can confidently say that this has been our most successful Heart Fair in the last couple of years. Thank you all for making this 25th anniversary so special! Now, I have a few parting words for you from William McDermot, a prominent figure within our community.” The crowd clapped as William took to the stage, smiling like a shark among fishes as he made his way to the stage.

“Thank you, Ada and thank you all for coming! As you all know, my family has been a proud supporter of New York through thick and thin. I am here to say that I will forever continue this legacy, through my son and through all of my grandchildren.” He cleared his throat just as Poppy saw a flash of blonde appear from the sides.

Persephone stalked onto the stage with murder in her eyes as she spoke up as William stared in shock at the woman. “Sorry to interrupt William, but I have something to confess.” Persephone said through her microphone as Bea stared wide eyed at the stage like most of the people in the crowd.

Poppy only grinned as she watched, holding onto Bea’s arm as Persephone cleared her throat.

“I would like to confess that I recently received a message a few weeks ago by someone who was trying to blackmail me.” Persephone declared as gasps escaped through the crowds.

“What the hell is she doing?” Bea asked as Poppy squeezed her shoulder.

“Shh, you’ll see.” Poppy said as she continued to watch.

“I was...scarred for the most part. Until I learned who it was.” She pointed accusingly at the end of the stage where a timid figure rested in the shadows. William turned to look as his face heated into the color of a tomato.

“My own husband!” Persephone seethed as the crowd let out a startled gasp. “Leroy McDermot has been trying to blackmail me because of my past, but let me tell you this attendees, it is only to hide his own deficiencies because Leroy…” She glared at the man who was still hiding in the shadows until a spotlight shined on him as he winced.

“Leroy has been cheating on me for the past year with none-other than Claudia Pentworth, his fourth cousin!”

That statement caused alarm as William turned on Persephone and let out an angered huff, face turning so red he looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel. “You bitch!” He screamed as Persephone smirked, holding her microphone so everyone could hear William.

“This woman is obviously lying. My son is a faithful man and he is a good father. I can’t say the same for this skank who lied to my family about the legitimacy of her child’s birth! I am here to say that my son has no child and it certainly isn’t anyone with the same blood as you!” He spat as he gestured angrily at Persephone. He looked to the crowd, expecting acceptance until Poppy shouted.

“Sounds like he’s trying to cover up his son’s scandals by lying about Persephone. Are we really expected to believe that after Persephone’s confession?”

The crowd murmured in agreement with Poppy, slowly starting to yell at William to get off the stage because of the disgrace that is Leroy McDermot. William stared in shock, trying to yell back to the crowd who didn’t listen to him as they booed him off the stage, him and Leroy.

Persephone smirked from the stage before turning back to Leroy who had finally stepped out of the shadows and closer to his father who looked extremely embarrassed.

“She- She’s lying, she just used me for my name!” Leroy cried out, the loudest that Poppy had ever heard him as Persephone scoffed.

“Your name huh? How about this then, I want a divorce.” Persephone spat into the mic as Leroy’s eyes widened as William growled.

“You slut-” He yelled before some security guards came up to restrain the man before he tried anything on Persephone.

“A…a divorce?!” Leroy yelped as some security guards came up to grab him too. “Persephone, I’m sorry honey! I-I didn’t mean any of it!” He pleaded a second later as the guards dragged him off the stage and Persephone stood victorious. The crowd still let out angry cries as William and Leroy were dragged off.

“To think a man like that would blame a young woman for his own son’s behavior!” A woman in the crowd yelled as others agreed. “He should be ashamed of himself.” Another man added as the crowd agreed once more.

Persephone walked off the stage, handing the mic to Principal Stills who took back the stage with wide eyes.

“My that was…I have no idea how to respond to that.” Ada said as the crowd chuckled briefly before the woman smoothed back her hair. “Thank you all for attending. I believe that concludes the 25th Annual Thatcher-Heart Heart Fair, remember to vote for your favorite booths and I will see you all next year.” The crowd clapped loudly for Ada before they began to disperse, parents walking off to find their kids and others beginning to deconstruct the tents.

Bea turned, wide-eyed at Poppy who smiled like the cat who just killed the canary.

“What the fuck just happened?” Bea asked as Poppy brushed her hair off her shoulder.

“Obviously, I found Persephone’s blackmailer.” Poppy stated as Bea’s eyes widened even more.

“How the heck did you do that?” She asked as Poppy smiled wide.

“I overheard the McDermots talking before the program began. Apparently, they were going to bring up Persephone’s infidelity so that they could request a divorce without Persephone taking half of the assets of the company since Leroy didn’t make her sign a prenup. I told her to take the spotlight herself, throwing in Claudia was just the icing on the cake.” Bea nodded, as Poppy tilted her head to the side.

“...You still don’t get it, do you?” She asked as Bea shook her head no.

“Not really, but I know that my badass wife had something to do with it which is cool enough for me.” Poppy let a laugh slip through her lips, just as she felt a finger tap her on the shoulder. Standing in front of her, Persephone cleared her throat, not bothering to look at Bea as she stared at Poppy.

“Poppy, I wanted to…I wanted to…” Poppy raised a brow as Persephone let out a troubled sigh.

“I wanted to thank you for telling me about Leroy. With this out, I should be able to steal half of the bastard’s fortune.” Persephone smiled wickedly as Poppy nodded.

“You are… begrudgingly welcome Persephone.” Poppy replied as the woman nodded, walking off a minute later as Poppy watched her, before turning back to Bea. Bea was watching her too, before turning to look Poppy in the eyes.

“Wait, if you did that for Persephone, what did she do for you in return?” Bea asked as Poppy bit the inside of her cheek. Oh shit…

She didn’t answer as Bea waited before a big grin spread across her face. “...you didn’t do this for anything, did you?” Poppy still didn’t answer as Bea bumped her shoulder against her wife.

“Poptart, did you get something in return from Persephone?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows as Poppy gently pushed her back.

“Fuck off.” She mumbled as Bea reached to pull the girl into a hug.

“What do you know? Fairs make you soft.” Bea mumbled as Poppy silently cursed in her head as Bea swayed them. “I knew you were sweet underneath all of the glitter.” Bea smiled as Poppy did what she could to push Bea off her, but only wrapped her arms around her waist and let Bea sway them. Poppy inhaled Bea’s cologne as she let her head rest against Bea’s chest with a happy sigh.

“C’mon.” Bea muttered, pressing a kiss to Poppy’s head as she moved them away from the stage. “Let’s go get our daughter.” She smiled as Poppy rolled her eyes, breaking away from Bea’s hug and interlocking their fingers.

“She’s going to be extra hyper thanks to all of the candy you bought her.” Poppy commented as Bea shrugged, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“We’ll handle it.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

Wrapping a hand around Poppy’s waist, Bea curled around the woman who purred at the contact. It was a peaceful night in, with Clove finally settling down from her sugar high and Bea able to relearn everything about Poppy that she had missed the past couple of weeks.

Poppy turned over, resting a hand against Bea’s chest that was covered by their bed sheets as Bea wrapped an arm around the woman’s shoulder.

“Is it wrong to say I’m glad the Heart Fair is over?” Poppy asked as Bea thought about it, before shaking her head.

“It was fun, but hectic, I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for the booths.” Bea admitted as Poppy shrugged, pulling herself up on her elbows to look down at Bea who laid against her pillow.

“It’s fine, Alice would have had a fit if you won all of her prizes and the photos from the shoot turned out great, They’ll be in the next edition.” Bea smiled, pulling Poppy closer and kissing her cheek.

“You are amazing.” Bea mumbled as Poppy rolled her eyes playfully, stretching on the bed before relaxing back into Bea.

“It’s odd that I don’t have to think about the fair anymore.” Poppy pondered as Bea laughed.

“Until the next one.” Bea said as Poppy whacked her shoulder, before tracing her fingertips over Bea’s tattoos. Intricate patterns and a gorgeous transparent piece that looked like an old chinese painting was intertwined with the characters as Bea watched Poppy. The two grew silent before Bea spoke.

“Well, if you’re not tired of fairs yet… SweetCreek should be preparing for the summer fair in a couple of weeks.” Bea admitted as Poppy looked up, blonde locks falling in front of her eyes as she smirked.

“Feeling homesick, SweetCreek?” Bea shook her head for a minute, before pausing to nod instead.

“Well, a lot of events happen in the summer. It’s Ryan’s birthday, my parent’s anniversary, and it’s the 50th anniversary of the fair. There was a rumor back in town that a gorgeous meteor shower would fall during the event later that evening.” Poppy scooted herself closer to Bea, brushing her nails over the girl’s cheekbone and then over her lower lip.

“And what’s your point Hughes?” Poppy asked, eyes darting to look at Bea’s lips before seductively narrowing her eyes as Bea watched, hypnotized. Bea cleared her throat as she continued.

“Well, Clove could see her cousins again. You can see Dahlia and my mom. I can teach Clove how to finally ride a horse and we can have a picnic at the Groves.”

“And?” Poppy asked, leaning even closer as Bea gulped. Poppy watched the motion as Bea moved to wrap a hand around Poppy’s waist.

“We can fly down in a couple of weeks, when Clove finishes this semester and you can have Tevon take over for a while since the new issue is coming out. I can take my paid time off since Kath technically owes me.” She blinked softly as Poppy smirked.

“It’ll be good for Clove to see my parents again and I’m sure my mom can set up a spare bedroom in the house. It still has some construction, but it’s mostly finished. I also promised to help my dad with the building of a new barn recently so-”

“Bea, I’ll say it again.” Poppy interrupted as she pushed herself on her elbows and leaned closer to Bea who shivered slightly. Poppy’s long blonde hair fell in waves around the two as she smiled like a fox. “What are you asking?”

“...I guess I’m asking if you want to spend the summer in SweetCreek.” Bea finally admitted as Poppy smiled, reaching to cup Bea’s cheek before leaning down to pull her into a kiss.

“And I guess… I’m saying yes.”

----------------------------------------------

The next part of the parent AU will be "SweetCreek Summers!"

Thank you for reading! 💕

[pricklynoodle]

real or not real

Itadori Yuji/Fushiguro Megumi pairing | Squid Game AU | Rated T | warning: implied character death | ANGST

( yes, writing instead of doing school lol, squid game ruined me so if you want to read this then be warned of SQUID GAME SPOILERS. There's no graphic death, but its sad as hell either way TT)

---

“The player who takes all ten marbles from your partner wins.”

Megumi had always kept to himself, never saying anything unless spoken to, never stuck to groups, and never took the choice to attach himself to something. Everything had an expiration date. Unnecessary things like friendships had never appealed to him. He only needed his sister, and it wasn’t like she had the choice to have him as her brother. But the fact that she still stuck around caring for him until she worked herself to a coma.

So honestly, it’s a surprise why he feels his heart drop when the announcement tells him he has to go against … whatever 310 is to him.

He hardly knows 310, and doesn't know anything about his life actually. Other than that he’s crazy strong, has an impressive pain tolerance, but also the loudest kid he’s ever met. He's always around him, sticking to Megumi like a persistent piece of gum stuck to his shoe. But he doesn't dislike him, but he can't say he's thrilled with him either.

But would Megumi kill him?

Stupid, he tells himself.

“Oh, fuck, I honestly didn’t see that coming,�� 310 says with a grimace, looking at Megumi guiltily as if he was the cause of Megumi’s inner turmoil. He sits down on one of the stone benches. The whole setup was supposed to mimic a typical neighborhood, something Megumi wasn’t fortunate enough to grow up in. The bastards even made the effort to add in the sounds of cicadas from the fake trees, as if this was a completely normal summer for a couple of teens.

Megumi doesn’t say anything, he feels dizzy. He drops down to the bench, away from 310 as possible.

“I’ve always wanted to say this,” 310 says as he rests his elbows on his knees, looking at Megumi seriously, “This whole thing reminds me of Hunger Games.”

Megumi looks at him with furrowed brows.

“You know, Jennifer Lawrence?” 310 pushes. Megumi says nothing. “...Tall girl, big ass? The one with the arrows?”

“Can you shut the fuck up,” Megumi deadpans, then he shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He counts to ten, then glances down at his hand. 10 marbles. “Just tell me how to play this game.”

“I don’t know either,” 310 admits, sounding sheepish. He shrugs carelessly, “This is more of the games my gramps used to play, but he was too busy being sick to teach me though.”

Megumi looks up at 310. He looks tired, but nostalgic. Like he was thinking of a good memory.

310 perks up, grinning at Megumi brightly, “though they said that we can make our own rules. I’ll think of something.”

Megumi nods solemnly. The silence stretches until 310 lets out an ‘aha!’.

“Let’s bet everything and just play one around,” 310 says, even dropping his fist down onto his hand as if it were the best idea ever.

Megumi freezes, staring at 310, was he going to trick him? He doesn’t even know him. They’re not friends. Of course, everything still is a death tournament at the end of the day.

310 seems to pick up Megumi’s reluctance, he jerks his head to the side. He points towards the pair of men competing against each other, looking frantic and panicked.Their faces are sheened with sweat, t-shirts drenched in sweat. It’s… it’s a pathetic sight.

“Fine,” Megumi relents. “What are we playing?”

“Calm down,” 310 chuckles, “are you that excited to kill me?”

Megumi stays quiet.

“We have a lot of time left,” 310 says breezily, pointing towards the timer mounted on the wall. “Let’s do it at the last minute.”

“What do you suggest we do till then?” Megumi asks with a scowl. “Sit nice and pretty, twiddle our thumbs and shove these marbles up our asses?”

“Jesus, man,” 310 laughs, “no just… talk.”

“Talk,” Megumi repeats.

“Talk,” 310 smiles, looking down at his hands. Megumi looks at them too. He remembers the hard calluses on them, when they shook hands. They’re thick and sturdy, and hold a lot of power. He really could have killed Megumi before, just wrap his hands around his neck and it’s all over.

Megumi also shakes away the filthy thoughts of what else those hands could do. Get a grip, Fushiguro.

“Things we couldn’t tell other people,” 310 says, smiling wistfully. “One of us is going to die here anyways.”

Megumi swallows the lump in his throat.

310 smiles wider. He’s always smiling, Megumi notes.

“There’s no reason to feel embarrassed if that’s the case,” 310 tells him, “I promise I won’t laugh when you blush like a tomato.”

“I don’t,” Megumi denies, but he can feel the heat already rising up to his cheeks.

“You do,” 310 says, “but I think it’s cute.”

Cute.

“So, uh, you have someone back home then?” 310 asks.

“Yeah,” Megumi says.

“...like a girlfriend or something?”

“Sister,” Megumi says quickly, “no...never a girlfriend. Impossible for me.”

“Ah, okay,” 310 says, nodding. “Just your sister?”

“I had a dad, but he … never came back.” Megumi confesses, “he was a shitty dad. He was never really home, but he gave us shelter and food. He had a bad temper, but he never hit us. He never liked to be around me especially. I … used to think he hated me.”

“What changed?” 310 asked.

“I… I became him. I understand why he did what he did,” Megumi says, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket. “Doing dirty jobs, stealing, never at home. Hiding from danger. Hiding us from danger. Protection.”

310 nodded, he slid closer to Megumi. Thighs brushing. Silence continues.

“He came here,” Megumi says, looking up at the ceiling. It’s painted a pink-orange gradient, like a sunset. “I found half of that business card in one of his jackets. The last two digits were cut off. I dialed every possible number until I got here.”

“For what?” 310 asks.

“Find him,” Megumi says, “punch him. I would have killed him, I think, if I found out that he left us to rot. Then steal all his money to pay for my sister’s medical bills.”

“Oh, she’s sick?”

“Coma,” Megumi clarifies. “Some rich bastard from work hit her on her way home. He got off easy because of money.”

“I see,” 310 says, clenching his fists. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah,” Megumi says gruffly.

“You’re still getting money though,” 310 says. He doesn’t say but you don’t get your dad back. “What would you do with it?”

Megumi doesn’t even hesitate, “pay for my sister’s medical bills. Buy a nice house for us to live in. A car, if I can.”

“If you can?” 310 says, “where would you drive your car?”

“school,” Megumi says simply. “I would use my car to drive to school.”

310 blinks. “You know, you can do much more with that 40 billion. You really don’t want anything else? Don’t have a destination?”

“I’d go to Sendai.”

“Wh—Sendai? I’m from Sendai. Are you kidding me? Are you going to drive there with a shiny new Toyota Yaris?”

Megumi blushes furiously, “enough about me, ugh, it’s your turn anyways.”

310 shakes his head, but he’s giggling like a schoolgirl. “You really have to think bigger. Have you ever been to the beach?”

“No,” Megumi says.

“You should, one that’s got nice soft sand and blue water. With palm trees too. And you should get piña coladas.”

“What?”

“C’mon man, you don’t get to be frugal with 40 billion. I’ll teach you how to splurge once we get out—”

Ah.

“Right,” 310 breathes out, laughing to himself all silly. “Only one of us leaves.”

Megumi grunts.

Silence.

“...Ever seen a dead body?” 310 asks.

“...I’ve been answering all these questions. You haven’t answered at all,” Megumi points out, feeling far too exposed for running his mouth.

“Ah you’re right! Uh, I don’t have anyone.”

“But your grandfather—”

“He’s dead. For a while now. My mom and dad. Also dead. My brother is on the run. He’s, uh, killed a lot of people. He got the death penalty, so yeah, haven’t really seen him around.”

Megumi looks at him.

“I don’t think he counts,” 310 says, scratching his face. Megumi realizes the scars on his face aren’t from the previous games. They looked healed, puckered and faded from time.“He looks a lot like me, though. A lot of people can’t tell us apart. He hated that. He’s only a bit taller than me, and he loves to brag about it. He has a huge ego.”

“I see.”

“Yeah,” 310 says, but he doesn’t look awkward about it. Just mildly inconvenienced. “Oh, have we really been talking for that long?”

Megumi looks at the time. They have less than 2 minutes.

310 stands up, swiping the dirt off his pants. He pats around for his marbles. “Okay, so you see that wall over there?”

Megumi nods mutely. It’s quite far, maybe around 2 meters.

“Okay, we throw one marble, and the one closest to the wall wins, okay?”

“Okay.” Megumi nods, easy enough.

“Okay, you go first.”

Megumi scowls.

“added rule, we do it together,” he says, jaw clenched.

“Eh?” 310 looks at him, confused.

“I’ve been doing things first, so it seems rather fair if we do it at the same time, with our best effort, okay? I have the blue marble, you get the red one.”

“... okay.”

“Don’t give me a weak ass toss, alright, that doesn’t count,” Megumi says gruffly, narrowing his eyes at him. “Do your best.”

310 nods, giving him a thumbs up. “Okay!”

“On three,” Megumi says.

“Okay!”

“Three.”

“Two,” 310 continues, positioning his arm.

“One,” Megumi does the same.

They both throw their marbles. Megumi’s heart leaps out of its chest as he watches his marble in the air.

Clack!

Clack!

Clack!

Megumi looks down on the marble that lands right next to his shoe.

It’s red.

“Ahh, shoot, I threw it too hard,” 310 says with a pout.

Megumi sees red.

He shoves 310 against the wall. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Whoa! No, you won f-fair and square, man,” 310 stutters. “I did my best shot, like you said!”

“Any idiot would know that shit would bounce right back if you threw it like that!”

310 laughs, “I must be some one of a kind idiot, then.”

Megumi shoves him further into the wall. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

“You can’t kill me if I’m gonna be dead anyways.”

“THEN I’LL KILL YOU IF YOU DIE.”

“See, that doesn’t really make sense—”

“Shut the fuck up! Why did you do that?!”

310 slumps against the wall, body lax. Not looking at him.

“Answer me!”

“You… you have a lot more to live for than me,” 310 says quietly. He looks up at Megumi, tears in his eyes, “what kind of asshole would I be to deny you for a life?”

“You have a life!” Megumi snaps.

“I don’t, not anymore,” 310 sobs, a wobbly smile on his face. “Before my grandfather died, he told me that I should help others. That when it was my time to go, I would die surrounded by others and not end up like him.

“I should use my strength to help others, that’s what I’ve been doing here. Out there, no one wants me to help them. No one wants the face of a killer to help them. No one wants me to be around them. I can’t go to places, I’ve… I’ve always hated what Sukuna did to me. Made me carry his sins, his crimes. The way people looked at me as if I was him. I can’t move forward, not like you.

“I… I never went to school either, y’know. Or I never graduated. When Sukuna became a wanted man, I became a target. I stayed in my room. The doors were locked. The curtains were always down. It was like this for years. I received no support. The only way I could get by was doing interviews with journalists, feeding the narrative. Making people hate Sukuna more, making them hate me more. That’s no way to live.”

Megumi felt the back of his eyes burn, his teeth aching from being clenched too tight.

“Even if...I had the money. I can’t erase what my brother did. I can’t erase my existence in the world. I would just keep doing the same thing everyday. I don’t… I don’t want a bigger house, not when it’s just me who lives there.”

“You and I are not so different,” he says, looking up at Megumi.. “I think that’s why… I want you to win. You get to experience all these normal things, and feel… happy. You have a chance.”

Megumi wipes his eyes harshly, “Shit.”

“That’s true.”

“... What’s your name?” Megumi asks.

“Itadori Yuji,” 310—no, Yuji says. “My name is Itadori Yuji.”

Megumi takes a shaky breath, he raises his hand for him. “Fushiguro Megumi.”

Yuji grins, he clasps his hand onto Megumi’s. “That means blessing, right?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

“I’m glad then, Megumi. That I’m friends with you even through this hell. That itself is a blessing in a disguise.”

“Shut up,” Megumi punches his shoulder.

A guard suddenly arrives, carrying a gun in his hand. Waiting.

Yuji looks behind Megumi’s head. “Ah, I wish we had more time.”

Megumi bites his lip. “I wish I’d… met you sooner. I don't know anything about you.”

Yuji jaw drops, “Okay, I’ll … summarize this in ten seconds! I’m twenty-years-old, my favorite color is green, my favorite manga is Bleach, my type is tall people with big butts! Uhh, I really like watching action films—”

“Not … whatever, nevermind,” Megumi says softly as he listens to Yuji ramble on about himself.

Yuji pauses from his ramble looking winded, “uhm, Fushiguro, can I hug you?”

Megumi freezes.

“I just haven’t had a hug in a long time—” Yuji trails off before he gets cut off with Fushiguro hugging him desperately, clinging to him.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

“...Hey, Fushiguro Megumi, live a long life, okay?”

Megumi lets go.

He turns around.

Eyes burning as he stares unblinking down the path. Footsteps. Silence. Breathing. He feels something salty on his lips when he licks them. It's not sweat.

He... he got attached. He stares forward, he doesn't regret it. Not at all. He got to know Yuji Itadori, the real him, and the pain in his heart is the best he can give back. A reminder that he was more than what people saw him. Yuji Itadori didn't deserve what the world gave him, they did not deserve his cries. The fact that... no one would shed a tear for him.

...Ah.

Megumi notices the dark wet spots on the dirt.

“Thanks for playing with me.”

[kcarreras]

I Wanna Be Yours

Fandom: Outer Banks Pairing: JJ Maybank & Kiara Carrera Summary: It’s been a week since the Pogues arrived back in Kildare, after almost a month stranded on the island. Separated from her friends and under house arrest from her parents, JJ and Kie are finally reunited and forced to confront the consequences their time on the island has had on their relationship... Notes: This one is for @soldatstylesmaybank for hyping me up in her tags - I hope you like it! ❤️

The Pogues had been back in Kildare County for a week now. 

Seven whole days since she’d last seen her friends - last seen him - on the dock after their ferry arrived back from the mainland.

Her parents had been waiting, and were on top of her almost instantly - hugging and smothering her as they led her to the back of her mom’s SUV without so much as a chance to say goodbye.

Since then, her parents had been monitoring her every move to the point she felt like she was under house arrest, and maybe she was.

She’d wake up in the mornings to her mom pulling open her curtains, sunlight flooding the room and rousing her from her sleep, pretending she was there to collect laundry... at 6am.

Her dad would check in with her at night before going to bed, pretending he was only stopping in to say goodnight, but really his motive was the same as her mom’s - he wanted to make sure she was still there.

Her homework was being dropped off at the house by her school guidance counsellor at the request of her parents, after they claimed she needed time to ‘adjust’ to being back. Really, they just didn’t want her having the opportunity to sneak off somewhere - or with someone - she shouldn’t be.

After five days of constant supervision and being on her best behaviour, she convinced them that she should at least be allowed to leave the house for work. Her dad finally agreed that she could cover some shifts at the Wreck, as long as he was there.

It wasn’t ideal, but she’d take what she could get at this point.

The next day was a quiet Sunday in late October, and with little tourists left in the area and the locals at home out of the way of the wind and rain that was rolling in from the coast, the Wreck was empty. 

It was a little after 7pm when her dad made the decision to close early and send the other staff home. Once the last of the servers had left, he flipped the “OPEN” sign that hung in the door to “CLOSED”, and they began to clear up. 

About 20 minutes later his cell rang, and it was Anna. Her tyre had blown out and she was stranded at the side of the road, a few miles out of town. Due to the weather, the roadside recovery company hadn’t been able to give her an estimated arrival time beyond “a few hours”, and so Mike said he’d go and pick her up. 

At first he wanted Kiara to come with him, but she made a strong case for the fact that there was no use in both of them sitting in the car doing nothing for the whole journey there and back, when she could be here cleaning and boarding up the restaurant in case the weather worsened. Her father’s resolve was a lot weaker than her mother’s, who would have dragged her along anyway, and so he agreed.

He gave her the same lecture he always did when she worked a closing shift - make sure all the stoves are off, double-check the storm shutters are latched properly and don’t forget to turn all the lights off. She even jangled her keys in front of him, promising to remember to lock the door on her way out, and that she’d head straight home when she was done. 

Her dad eventually left, and she locked the door behind him before heading into the cleaning closet to grab the mop and bucket.

Her dad had only been gone a few minutes when she heard the rap of knuckles against the door. Assuming he’d forgotten his keys or wallet, she huffed, dropping the mop back into the bucket - now full of hot water and citrus-scented floor cleaner - and headed to the door.

“I swear, Dad, you’d forget your own head if it wasn’t-“ she began, but as she rounded the corner, the air was knocked out of her lungs.

It was JJ. 

He was standing in front of the glass door, hands buried deep in his pockets, shoulders shrugged up to his ears and his hood pulled over his head as the rain hammered down on top of him, dripping from the ends of his blonde hair that stuck out from under his hood and clung to his forehead.

“Shit,” Kie breathed out under her breath, subconsciously running her hands across her apron, smoothing it out across her thighs.

When she didn’t move immediately, JJ raised an eyebrow at her.

“Is there a secret password or some shit I don’t know about?”

His voice was muffled through the door, but she could still hear the humour in it.

When she still didn’t move, he spoke again, a little more serious this time.

“Seriously, Kie? Let me in, I’m freezing my ass off out here.”

She wanted to roll her eyes at the exaggeration, but he was only wearing a pair of long, dark boardshorts that hung to his knees and a washed-out, grey t-shirt with a flimsy navy jacket lying open over top - all of which was clinging to him like a second skin from the rain.

Normally she’d give him stick for being so inappropriately dressed for the weather, but she herself was wearing a pair of light-wash denim shorts and a lemon-coloured vest top with thin spaghetti straps, so she really had no room to judge.

She took another breath, bracing herself as she made her way across the wooden floor, boards creaking beneath her sneakers with every step. She knew the noise would be echoing around the empty restaurant, loud and obnoxious, but she couldn’t hear it over the sound of blood rushing in her ears.

She turned the key that was still in the lock and the door all but blew open into her as JJ tumbled in out of the elements.

“Finally, what took so long?” He asked, pulling his hood down and shaking his head like a wet dog, rain spraying from his dishevelled blonde head.

“Wow, JJ. Really?” Kie complained, stepping back out of his vicinity and wiping splashes off the bare skin of her arms.

When he finally lifted his head to look at her, he smiled, and something inside of her chest cracked open, and she felt some of her previous apprehension leave her body.

“Long time, no see,” he drawled sarcastically.

“Yeah. I almost forgot what you looked like,” she replied back in a similar tone, throwing the clean rag she was holding at him with a grin, before turning away from him.

“Please,” he scoffed jokingly, dragging the cloth across his face as he dried himself off.

“As if you could ever forget this face.”

Yeah, as if, Kiara thought to herself, all too seriously. Outwardly, though, she responded by giving him the middle finger over her shoulder as she continued to make her way back to her cleaning supplies.

“I know you struggle with the cursive,” she called to him, disappearing from view into the cleaning closet, “but you can read the sign that says we’re closed, right?”

“Yeah, I managed that one, thanks. I appreciate the concern, though,” he replied, pulling a stool out from the counter and perching himself upon it as she rummaged around in the closet.

“Luckily for me, I’m not here for the shrimp and grits. Unless…” he chanced his luck, but she stuck her head out of the closet for a second to scowl at him as she replied.

“Not a chance. Everything’s already been cleaned, I’m not firing it all up again to make you free food.”

“Worth a try,” he said with a shrug.

“So if it’s not the free food you’re here for, what is it?” Kiara asked him, her voice sounding distant from inside the closet.

“You,” he said, and she froze, her arm extended above her head as she reached up for another clean cloth and some spray.

After a moment she emerged from the closet empty handed, standing a few feet from him.

“Jay, we talked about this-” she began delicately, but he interrupted.

“No, actually, Kie, you talked. I just had to sit there and listen.”

Kie’s mind jolted her back to the last conversation they had before the ferry docked on the day they came home.

***

They were sitting together on a bench out on the deck, her head resting on his shoulder and their hands clasped together as they stared out to the approaching shore, the announcement signalling their arrival playing out overhead.

“So what happens now?” JJ had asked, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“What do you mean?” Kie had questioned back, lifting her head to look at him.

“Between you and me. I mean, these last few weeks... I don’t know. I guess I just thought things might be different.”

Kie thought back to the last three weeks - the lingering stares, the subtle but deliberate touches, their desire to be around each other all the time becoming more and more obvious as the days had gone by.

She didn’t remember exactly when things changed between them, but she did remember that last night they spent on the beach once everyone else was asleep.

She remembered the sound of his hushed laugh as it faded from his lips, his eyes shifting from piercing and glittering, to dark and wanting, as they fell from hers down to her lips, and back again.

She remembered the heavy breath he took when she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, nervous but excited for what might happen next.

She remembered her breath catching in her throat when he turned at the waist to face her, his hand reaching up to brush a stray curl back from her eyes, before trailing it down her jaw to rest on the side of her neck, fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of her neck as he leaned in.

Her eyes had fluttered closed, and she’d stopped breathing altogether when she felt his breath against her lips.

One of her hands had tugged on his t-shirt, the other pulling down on the back of his neck as she tried to close the minimal space left between them...

But then Pope had stumbled out from the shelter just a few meters along beach, cursing as he tripped over a piece of rogue driftwood in the dark, and they had sprung apart as though they were suddenly allergic to each other.

JJ had cleared his throat as Kiara combed her fingers through her hair, and they jumped to their feet as Pope asked them what they were still doing up.

They made their usual excuse about not being able to sleep, and Pope shrugged, still half asleep as he wandered off behind the tree line, informing them he was going to take a piss.

With the moment gone, they retreated in silence back under the cover of the shelter, unaware that the next time they’d be alone to discuss it, they would be getting ready to dock back in Kildare.

“JJ, I - I don’t really know what to say.”

“Well that’s easy, Kie. You just say how you feel.”

With the dock coming in to view, the sight of her mom and dad standing at the edge, she began to feel overwhelmed, as though she couldn’t distinguish one thought from another.

She knew things had changed between them, and she knew that her parents were going to be unsufferable - that she was probably going to get shipped straight back off the island to boarding school the first chance they got.

She panicked, at what that would mean for her and JJ, and she didn’t have enough time in the next 30 seconds to think it through.

“Kie, what’s wrong?” JJ asked as she abruptly pulled away from him and got to her feet.

“Nothing, I’m fine, it’s just...” she trailed off, and the look on his face as he stared up at her broke her heart in two.

“I think it’s best that we just keep things how they are between us.”

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and if she thought the look he had before was heartbreaking, it was nothing compared to this.

“Okay, but-” he began as his brow furrowed and his cheeks flushed, but she cut him off.

“Look, Jay, we’ve been friends for a long time, right? And these last few months have been crazy... and, y’know, being stranded on an island for three weeks? That shit can kinda fuck with your head. And so I just don’t know if we should let any of that change what we are to each other.”

She was rambling, and he was trying desperately to keep up, but the next minute the ferry shuddered as it made contact with the dock.

“Um, my parents are here. I should go,” Kie said, turning on her heels and practically running for the ramp.

“Kie! Wait a second,” he called, chasing after her, but other passengers on the ferry had begun to make their way in the same direction and a crowd formed between them. By the time JJ had pushed his way through, Kie was already disembarked and down on the dock.

“Kie!” he called after her, hands gripping the railing of the boat as she turned back to look at him. The rest of his friends, now also down on the dock, shouted for him to hurry his ass up, unaware of everything that had just unfolded.

Kie held his eyes for a second, before mouthing a silent, “I’m sorry,” and letting her parents lead her to the car.

***

He stood from the stool, and it screeched against the wooden floor as it slid back towards the counter, putting her nerves even more on edge.

“Look, I know your parents don’t want you to see me, or any of us for that matter. But, Kie, you can’t just ghost us, alright? No one’s heard from you since we got back.”

“That’s not true. You have.” Kiara argued weakly.

JJ scoffed, throwing his hands up.

“A text saying ‘Sorry, gotta dip for a bit,’ doesn’t count, Kie, and you know it.”

“That’s not all it said,” she replied, her voice even smaller now, her eyes dropping from his.

“No, you’re right,” he admitted with a humourless laugh, and it was the most annoyed she had ever heard JJ sound, at least towards her.

“It also said ‘I miss you’. What the fuck was that supposed to mean?” he asked, his blue eyes darkening and his cheeks flushing.

“Exactly what it said! I miss you, JJ. So much. I don’t wanna be apart from you. From any of you, but-” Kiara responded, her voice a little stronger now, almost a shout as her heart hammered in her chest.

“I don’t care about anyone else, Kiara,” he replied, and it was somewhere between a shout and a laugh. Kie flinched at the use of her full name, something he didn’t do very often and it made her uneasy.

It made her feel like they were fighting, which they were.

It made her feel like he was mad at her, which he had every right to be.

It made her feel as though they weren’t JJ and Kie anymore. 

Like they weren’t even friends.

And that made her want to cry. Which was ironic, because the whole reason they were in this situation in the first place was because during the three weeks they had spent stranded together - although probably some time before then, if she was being honest with herself - she realised that she didn’t want to be friends with JJ Maybank.

She wanted more.

“Jay,” she tried again, more softly, stepping toward him, but he pulled back.

“I can’t do this,” he said, and it was so quiet that she wasn’t sure he had actually said it.

“What do you mean? Can’t do what?” Kie pleaded, stepping forward again, taking hold of one of his hands in hers.

She tried to meet his gaze, but his blue eyes were darting around the room, desperately trying to look anywhere but at her.

“Jay, look at me, please,” she whispered, and a few seconds later he did.

“I can’t have this conversation with you if you’re not gonna be honest.”

“I’m trying, JJ. I am. But it’s complicated, okay? My parents said-”

“I don’t give a shit about what they have to say, Kie. This isn’t about them, or anyone else. How we feel about each other, that’s up to us. No one else is allowed to tell us shit about it.”

She dropped her eyes, which were clouded with tears that had yet to fall, and her gaze landed on their hands that were still intertwined.

As JJ slipped his hands from hers, her eyes darted up to his, scared he was pulling away from her. But then she felt his cool palms on her hot, flushed cheeks and her eyes fluttered shut for a second before looking back up at him.

“If you tell me right now that you wanna forget everything that’s happened over the last month…”

JJ took a deep breath, as if he was bracing himself for impact, before continuing.

“If you tell me that you wanna pretend that it never happened,” his voice trailed off, and her hands came up to grasp at his wrists as he continued to cradle her face.

“I’ll do that for you. If that’s what you want. But please don’t ask me to do it for anyone else.”

His head fell forward, eyes closed as his forehead came to rest against hers. Kie squeezed her eyes shut, and the tears finally fell.

JJ felt them trickle against his palms that were still pressed to her cheeks, and he opened his eyes, brushing them away with the gentle pads of his thumbs.

“Tell me what you want, Kie,” 

It was all but a whisper against her lips, which were inches from his as their foreheads remained pressed together, noses brushing.

Kiara’s eyes opened and met his, holding his gaze for a second before speaking.

“I wanna be with you,” she said, and before JJ could register what was happening, she pushed herself up onto her toes until her lips met his.

He was still against her for a second until the surprise wore off, and then his mouth was moving against hers. 

Her hands slid from their position around his wrists down his forearms, pulling gently until he dropped one hand to her waist and pulled her body flush to his.

Her mouth fell open when the front of his body collided against hers, and JJ’s tongue which had been running along her bottom lip made its way into her mouth with a groan. One of Kiara’s hands knotted itself in the damp material of his shirt in an attempt to pull him even closer, the other snaking its way through his hair and tugging gently.

JJ grinned against her mouth, and when she felt it, she pulled back slightly to do the same. JJ took advantage of the brief pause to not only catch his breath, but to reach round behind her and untie the apron that was still around her waist. As it came undone in his hand, he tossed it on the floor behind him. His lips came back to meet hers as his hands slid down her body appreciatively, coming to a stop just under her ass. His warm fingers and the cool metal of his rings pressed into the exposed skin beneath her shorts as he lifted her until her legs were wrapped around his waist.

He walked them forward a few steps, and Kie whined at the momentary loss of contact between their mouths as he set her down on the counter.

She tugged again at his t-shirt to bring him closer, and he gladly obliged, settling himself between her legs. He hooked his hands behind her knees and pulled until they were flush against each other again, and her thighs tightened their grip around him in response.

“Fuck, Kie,” JJ breathed against her neck as his mouth dropped from hers into the crook of her neck, desperate for air.

The words and the sensation of his breath against her skin sent a shiver down her spine, and he felt her arch her back in response as her chest pressed against his. A moment later, her head fell forward to rest on his shoulder, breathless.

JJ’s hands began to wander from where they had been running up and down the smooth, bare expanse of her thighs up to her waist, fingers tracing under the hem of her top that clung sinfully to her curves.

When she felt him hesitate, she lifted her head from where it was resting on his shoulder, her lips brushing his skin as she dragged them upwards across his jaw until they hovered over his again. She nodded, eyes burning into his before they fluttered closed again and her lips collided with his.

His hands pushed under her top, roaming the expanse of bare skin on her back. Kiara’s hands moved to push his jacket off his shoulders, pulling it down his arms until she heard it hit the floor with a soft thud.

The rain continued to hammer against the roof above them, and pelt off the glass windows surrounding them as the last of the sun disappeared below the horizon, casting pink and orange and purple shadows across them and the empty restaurant.

Kiara could feel the strong planes of his chest and stomach beneath the damp t-shirt that clung to him, and she wanted nothing more than to peel it from his skin and have it join his jacket on the floor.

Her hips rocked forward instinctively at the thought of it, and JJ groaned against her mouth as his fingers dug into the soft skin of her hips. 

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a few seconds later a snap of lightning lit up the sky and they flinched, pulling apart slightly.

They were as close as they’d ever been, noses brushing, eyelashes tickling the others cheeks, lips brushing but not quite touching as they caught their breath.

“JJ,” Kie breathed, shifting so her mouth was now against the shell of his ear, and his skin prickled as he hummed in response. 

“I really don’t want this to end, but…” she trailed off with a sigh as her arms came up to drape across his strong shoulders, pulling him close as he straightened up.

“I know,” he whispered against the column of her throat, where her pulse was still hammering, before wrapping his arms around her waist in response.

They stayed like that for a minute or two, just holding each other close and taking in the moment - God knows when they’d be able to have another.

“I’m sorry,” Kie whispered into the silence, and she felt him smile against her neck before he spoke.

“Don’t be. That was further than I ever thought I’d get with you.”

“That’s not what I meant, dumbass,” she laughed against his ear before pulling back to slap him playfully on the shoulder. She let her arms slide down from where they had been wrapped around him until her palms rested flat on his chest.

JJ relaxed his hold on her too, hands coming to rest lazily against her waist as his thumbs traced circles into the bare skin between the waistband of her shorts and the hem of her top.

“I’m sorry that everything is so complicated.” She clarified, her soft, brown eyes gazing into his.

“Don’t worry about it, alright? We’ll figure it out,” he comforted with a gentle smile, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“So,” he said a few seconds later, followed by a cough to break the tension, “We’ve got some floors to mop, huh?”

Kiara tilted her head, a smile breaking out across her face and lighting up her features at the sight of him grinning back at her. 

JJ lifted her down from the counter, setting her on her feet before turning them around so he was nearest the counter and she was facing away from him.

“Better get to it, Cinderella,” he said, smacking her gently on the ass over her shorts, and she turned to shoot him a look of mock offense over her shoulder.

“Aren’t you gonna help?” she asked, nodding her head towards the cleaning closet that was still lying open.

“Sure. In a minute though,” he replied, still leaning back against the counter.

“What’s wrong with right now? I’m working under a time crunch now, thanks to you.” Kiara asked, turning to face him again with a drop of her hip as she crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrow raised at him.

“If you must know, thanks to you,” he began, repeating her own words back to her with emphasis, “I need a minute to… regroup, if you will, before I can move from this position.”

When Kiara continued to stare at him blankly, he dropped his gaze from hers down to the front of his shorts and back again, and Kiara threw a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.

“Right. Got it.” she replied, holding her hands up apologetically but still looking wildly amused. “Sorry about that.”

“Sure you are,” he drawled with a laugh as she moved over to where her apron and JJ’s jacket had landed on the floor, bending over to pick them.

“Not helping, Kie,” JJ groaned from over by the counter and she stood back up, turning to toss the item at him.

“My bad,” she said with a grin, re-tying her apron around her waist and picking up the mop.

A while later, when they had finished mopping the floors and had moved on to polishing glasses whilst Otis Redding played in the background on an old record player in the back office, Kie’s phone buzzed with a text from her mom letting her know they were on their way back.

***

Kiara cried as she said goodbye to JJ on the boardwalk outside of the restaurant, clinging to him as though she might never see him again because, with the way her parents had been acting, it was a real possibility.

JJ whispered comforting promises against her ear and pressed soft kisses into the now all too-familiar crook of her neck. He wiped away her tears and told her he’d see her soon, one way or another, before climbing onto his bike.

She looked on as he reached the end of the road, where he would turn left to go South and she would turn right to go North, and she had never realised it was possible to feel so close to someone and yet so far apart at the same time.

[creepling]

am i not enough? (quackity x reader) - apocalypse!AU

( 。・_・。)人(。・_・。 ) | part of the @quackisinnit 1k event !

THE PROMPT IS . . . “ AM I NOT ENOUGH ? “

pairing: irl!quackity x genderneutral!reader (apocalypse!AU)

word count: 3,306

summary: the reader and alex become a duo while coming across each others paths during a zombie apocalypse. tensions rise as they set up camp in a warehouse, where alex begins to confess how he feels towards the reader. (angst into fluff <33)

tw: zombie apocalypse, blood (ment), cursing, guns, death, eating.

It had been three months since the fallen of mundane life. Three months of complete abnormality, everything known to be in existence that was worth caring about; completely gone. jobs, currency, education were becoming a historic relic. The world was put back to zero. Instead of cavemen and dinosaurs, the new species of flesh-eating corpse’s roamed in packs and seeked for fresh meat. They may have been slow, but they travelled in numbers and they could smell you from a mile away. I learned that your scent became less of a problem when you didn’t keep hygenic. My stence blended with the earth and blood and the roamers didn’t catch us out as much; so we used that to our advantage.

I only had one companion, his name was Alex. He was absolutely dumbfounded when I discovered him. I raided his abandoned home looking for supplies, and when I had to kill a roamer that vacaded in his bedroom; I found him curled up in a ball under his bed. He told me that he had been hiding the whole month when he realised help was to never come; so his only plan was to hide out until he ran out of supplies. That became a problem when I attempted to take them. We made the mutual agreement that if I was to take the supplies, he would come with me. I refused to stay and hide; that is how you get yourself killed. Thankfully he agreed to come with me, and we have been inseperable ever since. However, our bond is nothing close to a friendship, we just had to stick together to survive.

Alex’s main idea was to find a group, hoping by now someone had turned one of the surbubans into a mini civilization. We had travelled between three cities however and we found no sign of good company. As a duo, we have only killed one human within these three months. A man who tried to kill us at gunpoint in hopes of taking our things, to which we scarsely saved our lives by ducking behind a bar table. With one aimless shoot, I shot my gun and it pierced through the man’s chest. I saved our lives, but the sight of the man’s lifeless eyes still haunts me in my sleep. 

One night, Alex found a two-store warehouse to shelter in while on a supply run. He suggested we camp on the second floor and catch up on our sleep and starvation, since we eventually got ahold of sleeping bags and tinned food. I agreed, but reminded him the stay can’t be perminant. He agreed also, still fixated on the idea of finding a commune.

While I made a fire and cooked food, I obvserved Alex drawing in a notepad. I failed to make out what he was doing so I asked, “What are you drawing?”

“I’m trying to draw a map.” He said to me, “It’s not accurate, but it will give us a rough idea of the roads until we find a map.”

“I didn’t take you as a smart person.” I said, hoping he didn’t think I meant it seriously. It was rare for me to joke in times like these, but when I did, my humour came off dry. Thankfully, my comment made Alex scoff out a chuckle.

“And I didn’t take you for a fighter.” Alex said. Since being with each other for two months, we both naturally adopted different roles that benefitted us. Alex was the navigator, the finder; he seemed to have a good sense of direction and I relied on him to not get lost. He also had a good eye and was always good at finding things such as second-way exits or food hiding in obscure places. For me, my job was a lot more physical. I was a good shoot, I knew how to make a fireplace, or bandage a wound. When things got dirty, I would get lucky and save our asses.

“Your food’s ready.” I said, handing him his warm can of chicken soup and a packet of chips. He thanked me, putting his notebook down and sitting cross-legged beside me. As we ate we sat in silence, the only sounds in the warehouse being our mouths chewing the food. We hadn’t ate in nearly a week. I tried my best to chew my chips before swallowing so I didn’t end up with stomache pain, but the instant flavour shot through my tongue and I instinctly ate them quickly. Alex finished his food within minutes, licking the chip packet and his fingers; scraping every last bit of soup from the can and into his mouth. I reluctantly did the same, feeling a little embarrassed; I have never felt so starved in my life. 

“That was fucking amazing.” Alex sighed out, now heating his hands over the fire. I nodded in agreement, collecting the empty tin cans and keeping them next to our things. They will be handy for traps, tying them with strings and hanging them in the woods while hunting would let us know of intruders. It was the small things like that that has made us survive this long.

“Are you gonna go to sleep now? I could keep watch.” I offered, observing Alex’s bloodshot eyes. If we had mirrors, we would flinch at our reflections. Alex looked rough. He always wore his beanie, which he apparently did even before things got bad. He always had a collective spot of dirt on his nose and cheekbones no matter how clean we were, it’s where it always collected the most. His hands were the most dirty, dirt under his short nails and inbetween his fingers. From the rare occasions we touched hands, I felt the softness of his hands, compared to mine that felt aged and rough. His knuckles were stained with blood. Out of both of us, I was covered in the most blood. When I looked down, my hands had a reddish tint, observing more I could see small cuts on my hands from being idle with my knife when striking roamer’s heads. Without having to see, I knew I had sprays of blood on my face from the amount of times I killed roamers. To think when life was normal we cared so much about our appearence, but now activities like doing makeup, brushing your hair, brushing your teeth seemed so pointless. We were slowly becoming used to primitive life and deep down that scared me. I think it scared Alex too.

“I’m tired as fuck, but I know I won’t sleep.” Alex said in a low tone, looking at his hands full of shame. I nodded my head in understanding, knowing exactly how he was feeling. We hadn’t slept properly in months, instead when one person kept watch, the other just lay down with their eyes closed. We forgot what it was like to dream, or to feel hazy. We were constantly alert.

“Since we have no intention of sleeping. Why don’t we play a game?” Alex said. I cocked my eyebrow up in question. What game could we play that didn’t involve making noise and attracting attention?

“We ask each other 20 questions. Normally if you don’t want to answer a question- you would have to do a dare. But hey, wants the point in hiding nowadays?” Alex said, looking at me contently.

“We should be hiding ourselves more than ever, I think.” I said, adding fuel to the fire to keep it burning. “That way no one knows our weaknesses.”

“So you don’t trust me?” Alex said. His question threw me off. It’s not that I didn’t trust him, but maybe I was unwilling to get to know him. I had already lost the people close to me, and I was still in grieving. I was too afraid to get close with Alex. I always had the thought in the back of my head that one day, I might end up losing him. His intelligence may only get him so far.

“I understand.” Alex said, taking back his question. Seeing the hurt in my eyes, he must have realized what I was thinking. He lost his close ones too. We both lost so much, we had a mutual understanding about that. Yet, I looked at Alex, and he still felt like a mystery to me. He always pulled out jokes, even in times like these. However, in moments when he thought I wasn’t looking, I could see the pain concealed in his face. Sometimes I even heard him cry at night when he thought I was sleeping. Maybe it was about time we opened up to each other, instead of feeling like we need to suffer alone. We could be there for each other not just physically, but emotionally.

“Okay then, since it was your idea, you ask the first question.” I said, hugging my legs to my chest. Alex smiled a little at me, going into thought as he tried to think of a question.

“So, what did you do when life was normal?” He asked first.

I let out a sigh then replied, “I had a very normal life. Lived with my family, did average in school, worked a job to get money. I actually had plans of moving out to the city, I always wanted to go to LA. I never really had aspirations, just wanted to be content.” It sounded boring, but I was happy with my life. I had my ups and downs like everyone else. “What were you like?”

Alex smirked and looked away from me, seeming to become bashful. “I was a twitch streamer.” He said. “And had a Youtube channel. God- it sounds so stupid now that I say it. Like it was all pointless-”

“Were you like- famous?” I asked, trying to conceal a smile.

“Um- I guess you could say that. I had millions of followers.” Alex shook his head, “But I also went to college. I was studying law. I was always staying up late, barely sleeping; both studying and streaming all the time. It took up my whole life, that I just kinda forgot about everything else.”

“Well, you were obviously not famous, because I didn’t know who you were.” I jokingly said, nudging his side. That seemed to make him smile and feel less embarassed.

“So how the hell did you learn how to shoot if you lived such a normal life?” He asked.

“I just learned while doing it. My dad kept a gun.” I admitted, looking at the very same gun I had in the holster wrapped around my thigh. “He would teach me now and then how to use it, but I was never a shooter. The more roamers I shot, the more I got used to it.” Thinking about someone close to me made me chew the inside of my cheek anxiously.

To deflate my melancholy, I asked the next question. “Did you always wear that stupid hat?”

Alex chuckled and rubbed the top of his hat. “Yeah, twenty-four seven. I don’t why, I just find it comfortable. My “fans” would joke that I was bald because I never showed my hair.” He said, “God- saying the word fans sounds fucked up . . .”

“Maybe you’ll bump into one of them.” I said, “Heck- maybe there’s a commune right now dedicated to you, trying to find you and keep you safe.”

Alex laughed again, covering his face with his hands. I laughed alongside him, the first time I genuinely laughed in a good few weeks. Looking at Alex, seeing how I uplifted him, it struck a chord with me. As much as I didn’t like to show it, but he made affects on me that were indescribable. He made me feel just a little more contempt, without him I would probably not be able to cope for this long. We eventually locked eyes with each other, Alex’s gaze being longer than I expected. If it wasn’t for the blood, my face would have exposed the blush forming on my cheeks.

“Have you ever fell in love, (Y/N)?” Alex then asked me, which set me aback. The question was out the blew and I think Alex realised that as he looked away shyly, his gaze fixated on the flames of the fire to avoid my gaze. I still stared at him, almost in amazment, trying to conjuct a reasonable answer.

“I don’t know.” I answered. “I have loved people, yes, but- I don’t think I have been in love. You’re suppose to know when things like that happen, right?”

Alex didn’t answer me, he kept staring at the fire. I found myself admiring his side profile, watching how he slowly bit his lip; concealed in thought. I noticed how the glow of the flames contrasted with the darkness of his eyes, how the light outlined his complexion. When I realized I was staring for too long, I looked away, instead my eyes looked out the warehouse window, my eyes tracing the stars in the night sky. 

“I feel like I have known you forever.” Alex admitted all at once. “It’s only been two months, but I have gotten close to you more than anyone I have in my whole life. It might sound crazy but- I believe we were suppose to come together that day.”

My gaze turned back to Alex when I felt his eyes lay upon me. His stare was soft, something I only seen in passing times. I was able to admire him for the first time since we met. In this moment, in the dead of night, away from danger and suspicion; I could look at him with full sentiment. I didn’t need to admire him when he was less suspecting it, afraid of receiving decline or making things awkward. In this moment I realized, I may have developed feelings more than companionship towards him. That excited me. But also terrified me.

“I feel that way with you, Alex.” I admitted, “But . . .”

I decided to choose my words carefully. This conversation was heading in a direction that made me nervous. The world is falling apart around us, and I couldn’t help but question our motives. We should be focusing on survival, not developing a relationship that could be destroyed at any second. Once we step out this warehouse, our chances of losing our lives become high. I wasn’t prepared to damage my mental state, it was already bad enough. I realized my long pause was making Alex shift nervously, so I looked at him in hopes my words would slip from my mouth.

I caved in, muttering lowly, “We should get some rest.” I got up on my feet and was ready to grab my sleeping bag and make up a place to rest, until I heard Alex get his his feet and say words that made my heart sink.

“Am I not enough?”

When I turned to look at him, the hurt was glistening in his eyes. He gulped dryly and he fumbled with his fingers. My eyes shifted from side to side as I was stuck with my words. I kept stammering, and I rubbed my face in stress, ready to plead my case. Until Alex jumped in.

“Don’t think I’m only saying these things to you because there is no one else, (Y/N). I have been thinking about this for a while, everytime I am left with my thoughts. I am certain I will still have the same feelings if we met when things didn’t go to shit. I don’t just think this because we have been the only people for each other. I really really like you, (Y/N). And because of the way the world is, I never want to lose you. I never want you to feel alone ever again. I not only want to protect you because we’re a team, I want to protect you because the thought of losing you pains me so much.”

For a split second I thought Alex was about to burst into tears. That was when I did something I thought I would never do again, which was pull him into my embrace. I hugged Alex so tight that I heard him gasp, freeze, until he eventually wrapped his arms around me and held me just as tight. My face buried into the crook of his neck, feeling the warmth of his body, his soft hands caressing my back and brushing his thumb down my spine in a soothing manner.

“You are enough, Alex.” I said, my words muffled by his body. I reached my lips to his ear so he could hear my words clearly. “I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to like me, or be forced to like me just because we were brought together. I was afraid you thought you were stuck with me.”

I anticipated the day that once we meet other life, Alex would slowly fade away and forget who I was. Once he meets other people, we would go our seperate ways. I never knew why the hypothetical idea pained me so much, until now. As Alex pulled away from my embrace, looking me in the eyes in a loving manner that was foreign to me, his hands on my shoulders, I realized why that idea made my heart feel heavy. I never want him to leave me, I want him to always be by my side. Alex’s gaze was enough proof that he wanted the same.

Stimulated by his touch, I was taken aback when I felt his hand cup my cheek. The warmth of his breath breezing against my cheek, I inhaled as if oxygene was nonexistent. I never realized the proximity between us was slowly closing in and when I did my eyes fluttered shut. Alex hesitated for a split second before pressing his soft lips against my own. My neck bent slightly backwards and I shifted my head to the side to deepen into our kiss, my blood-stained hands grabbing the edges of his open jacket and holding him dearly close. The heat of the kiss intermingled with the heat from the fire, my cheeks and ears grew hot. Alex’s hands were surprisingly warm as he reached his hands under my shirt, pressing his fingers and palms on the middle of my back before running his touch down my spine. My breath became shaky and I felt my legs grow heavy under me, my hands cupped the back of his neck to keep myself uplifted, and luckily Alex’s arms held my weight and pressed my body against his. It felt like hours had went by between our lips moving in sync, our tongues grazing our bottom lip’s, our hands moving and resting on different parts of our bodies. His touch felt contagious, his kisses ranging between soft and passionate. I didn’t want to stop, I never wanted to let go. Between kisses I would mutter you are enough, you are enough which made Alex smile against my lips.

That night, everything we had to worry about became last priority. The focus all throughout was each other, making up for the days where affection couldn’t be shown. In the dead of night, there wasn’t a roamer in sight. Instead of hearing narls and groans or screams of pain, there was only the faint sounds of nature. The full moon glistened, as if to be a prediction for the emotions spilling between us. I promised myself from this moment on, as I admired Alex, I would protect him no matter what. I will make sure he always feels safe as long as he is beside me. He will always be enough, if not more.

TAGLIST: @momo-has-a-gun @diggorysmalfoy @quack42069​ (join my taglist)

[riding-and-dying]

ROD High School AU

Note: Just reposting this officially onto this blog for posterity in case I delete my old blog. Also, I have ROD brainrot again RIP.

Thought of this idea after playing some other dating sim with the trope of girl that has a crush on a jock even tho her bff since childhood likes her, but won’t admit it. Basically everything is the same in turns of school for Brie pretty much.

The option to fake Logan as a student kinda gave me this idea, wherein he’s the number 1 quarterback in the school. Naturally, he’s popular and hangs in a social circle that reflects that. As a result, he’s “friends” with Brent and Ingrid.

Before coming to LA, he moved around a lot with his adoptive older brother, Vaughn (originally, his older cousin, until he stepped in for Logan’s mom). They moved wherever Vaughn thought they would get more business for his food truck, which eventually led them here. Logan didn’t care so long as they had some form of shelter and a place he could go to school to. Also, he’s just happy to be included in someone else’s life.

Vaughn is the main income provider; however, as soon as Logan was old enough to work, he did part-time outside of his school and sports in order to help Vaughn. As Vaughn had a knack for cars, it was natural that he taught Logan his love for them too, so Logan tended to gravitate to labour involving machines, which ended him up working for Kaneko’s Autoshop. The work is demanding but the pay fair, and it came with some bonuses too.

Logan had only moved to LA about 2 years ago, yet he had made a mark almost instantaneously.

Colt is the childhood best friend of Brie because of their moms’ being best friends since their youth. Colt’s mom (whom I dubbed Yuki) is actually her godmother/aunt and same with Colt and Brie’s mom. They even lived in the same neighbourhood, which was surprising since she was a single mother providing for two, but luckily Brie’s mom was owed a few favours by the landlady.

Growing up, Colt and Brie hung out a lot. They loved to practically do everything together. They ate together, napped together, played together, etc. They even went to all the same schools. They had an inseparable bond, unique to them. Colt was also forced to watch a lot of Sailor Moon and the like as a result, but in turn, he’d make her watch Naruto and Bleach, but was forced to stop by their parents after she kept getting nightmares from certain graphic episodes.

Colt was even friend with Riya. Even though he was only a year older than them both (a few months, Brie would retort), he acted like their older brother of sorts, protective yet mean. He liked teasing them a lot, but mainly Brie, but after going too far one time, and causing her to cry, he toned it down. He was also something of a chaperone for them if they wanted to go places but needed supervision.

They often spent time at the other’s place, since they were next door neighbours. It was normal for them to see the other already at their place and having a snack and making themselves at home.

Brie is also familiar with Colt’s dad, and so whenever Colt spends his weekends with his dad at his apartment, Brie tends to visit. She’s also familiar with his “step-mom”, Chia, and considers her her third mom. In turn, Kaneko is like her 2nd dad, weirdly enough.

In regards to Logan and Colt’s relationship overall, they are rivals and don’t get along usually, meaning that someone has to separate them. At the shop, they work harmoniously but still butt heads, while at school they act like the other doesn’t exist to avoid conflict.

Colt is bitter at Logan because of how he suddenly rolled in one day and became his dad’s new favourite while Colt spent his entire life trying to gain his dad’s approval and praise.

At school, Colt is the outcast bad boy with the motorcycle. Logan is the jock with the sleek car. Brie is the honour student that rides the bus… Very different worlds.

However, a bet with Brent changes all of that… Brent betted that Logan didn’t have the balls to get Brie to fall for him. What’s on the line? 10,000$, and when you’re struggling to get by… you don’t back down from that kinda money.

When Brie first met Logan back when they were Juniors, they bumped into each other and Logan helped her up. Ever since then, Brie has had a crush on him, but hasn’t made a move. She’s seen him mostly in the shop, so she tries her hardest to hang around there. When Colt found out why she has been acting weird and visiting the shop more often, he got livid and his relations with Logan worsened.

It’s not fair when the girl you’ve liked since you were kids falls for some nobody that suddenly enters their life acts like he’s king of the hill.

When Logan began the bet, he faked it that he needed help on his schoolwork even tho he’s doing pretty good already, so that Brie could tutor him. He also introduced her into the world of rallies and parties, and before he could stop it, he fell for her.

He even introduced her to Vaughn, which he has never done before with any other girl. He told her about his life on the road and the hardships he faced and the truth of his situation wherein he lives in the slums, and not somewhere great like how everyone at school depicts.

Logan meant to tell her about his bet, but Colt caught wind of it first and blurted it out.

Riya is an ambivalent friend, rooting for Brie no matter her choice. Evidently, Colt’s family and hers want them to get together. Ingrid and Vaughn are in Logan’s corner cheering him on.

[lost-souls-wander]

Hunter x Reader

Chapter 1

It happened very fast, and everything went out of control. One moment humanity was just doing its thing and living in order. The next week however, everything had changed for the worst. All because of some kind of green flue. Don't take me wrong, I was concerned in the beginning, the fear of losing my slightly rhythmic life sure had taken its toll on me, especially after everyone around me started to panic, including my parents.

"HANNA! You cant just leave us! HANNA!-" those were my dads last words to his ex-lover and wife as she had taken the car, and drove off with our supplies and food. Dad was a mess after after what happened. He couldn't properly take care of us anymore, he had lost a lot of sleep in a few weeks time, his behavior also worsened. He was quick to anger, and constantly irritated. So I took it upon myself to learn things on my own as he continued to reign terror on the last of his family. I had snuck out just a few hours before sun rise and grabbed my bike. My fastest form of transport at the moment, and made a quick tour to the library, as usual, but my dad never knew. And it was possibly better this way.It was empty and deserted, I could hear a few inhuman groans here and there but couldn't quite picture what these "zombie" like creatures looked like, our dad was pretty much a helicopter when it came to the outside world when the apocalypse hit and mom left. None was allowed outside the house at all, just him. And he alone went scouting for food and food alone, here and there some materials but never something for us, his children.I could see his state worsening by the day, and considered it top priority to get away as soon as possible with as much knowledge on how to survive as possible. The building of the library was thick with a musty sent of old books and dust, lots of iron too, which I could only guess was blood. I stayed away from the strong scent of iron and focused on getting to the herbology section of the library.In these times mankind forgot that the true power of surviving came from knowledge, no knowledge? No advantage. No advantage? Possibly a gruesome death would follow.My hands brushed the polished wood that kept the books in their place on the shelves, thinking of how many people had touched these books, read through them, and possibly never did something with the knowledge inside. It was a shame really. I wanted to perhaps become member of this society and yet here it was, crumbling away at these un-dead. It saddened me a little, and I was horrified for a while when I heard it. What was I gonna do now? My degree in art and drawing was pretty much useless now. At least I could scavenge for a cabin in the mountains and settle down there, far away from society, where no zombies or humans could reach so I could exist in peace.

I chuckled, a mid-tone raspy chuckle filled my throat and echo'd a little through the empty apocalyptic library as I stopped and continued thinking about what to do and where to go. But first order of business was to get knowledge from the books and find a place to escape to. Grabbing my black old school bag I ripped it open quickly, wanting to fill it with the necessary books and just get out of here, The sounds of the un-dead in the distance was off putting, and I wasn't taking a chance to be caught in the middle of a group of them. I might have not seen them. But I knew damn well that from the clips on TV that those fuckers were fast. And me without my bike? Not so much.

I grabbed the books by pairs, quickly turning them to their back side and skimming through what the book would hold.

Edible herbal plants... Seasonal plants... Look alike's and their dangers... Looked valid enough. It went like this for a few minutes until my bag was full with books about surviving in nature, herbs, and making shelters for the night. Although I doubted it would help against zombie apocalypses it was always good to know how to make something remotely sheltering and how to acquire food from its natural source.

I quickly flung my backpack over my back and quickly took in the noise around me, the hoard had gotten ever so closer, and it started to make me anxious. If I didn't get out of here soon and back home I would be in a LOT of trouble, perhaps more trouble than being chased down the streets by a hoard of zombies. So I speed-walked towards the exit, the broken doors were leaning against the framework that had red and black splotches all over it the doors pretty much being smashed in two pieces by something extraordinary big. A shiver ran down her spine, May did NOT want to know what was big enough to do that.

after leaving the library doors she quickly hid in the bushes, peeking in between the leaves to see there was any danger, the branches poked and prodded at her form, the twigs leaving nasty marks on her clothes and bare skin.

There! in the distance she spotted her bike, old and a bit rusty, but it did the job well, I looked around if there were any zombies walking around and about, the road was clear, and so was the road ahead. It was a bit strange considering I hear an entire group of them just a few minutes ago but that must have been the other side of the building, luckily not the way I needed to go in order to get home.

I got partially up and half crouched/ran towards my bike which was placed against the opposite building in an alleyway, the alleyway was filled with trashcans and bags that had been ripped open by rats and other critters that roamed the streets and needed some food. Not that it was of any use now, it was all rotten and left a horrid stench that made my nose scrunch up in disgust.

I got on my bike and quickly started to get home, it was then that I started to feel like I was being watched. I felt it crawling over my skin that there was something or someone watching me, maybe some of the other survivors? or perhaps a zombie? I didn't want to find out and started to bike a little faster.

And then it happened all so fast, an inhuman growl came from my left and I was flung off my bike, panic setting into my very bones as I felt the bike get out of my grip, my face looked upwards as I saw the dark sky with a few light rays from the sun. I felt the cold harsh ground on my back and the air flew from my lungs as I tumbled down the steep hill, the creature flung with me yelping in surprise at it's own actions, we both rolled harshly down the wall of the construction site that was never finished.

I felt whatever air I had in me leave my body as I harshly was flung onto ground and came to a stop on my back, I groaned in agony face twisting in pain. everything hurt, my shoulders were probably bruised beyond belief and my legs felt like they had been ripped off whilst still being attached to me. And don't even get me started on my head, it hurt like a bitch!

I continued to wallow in my own pain for a brief moment until I heard a scream that sounded like it came from the depth's of hell itself, and a squishing like sound like flesh had been impaled on high impact, until all that was left was sound of screams of pure agony.

I didn't want to look at what had happened, I was in so much pain and the adrenaline was so high in my system that I made a run for the hill and grabbed what was left of my bike and just went, the howls of pain in the background growing fainter and fainter as the black concrete enveloped my mind, the scent of iron in the air was even more noticeable than before, and the distant sound of zombies screaming left me in even more panic than before as I skidded to a stop in front of my house, put my bike back in its place and threw myself over the fence to climb in the tree, and get inside of my room.

I did not come down that day for food or anything else.

That night I laid in bed curled up in fear and confusion, what had attacked me? what was it even? was that a zombie?! panic and fear had settled itself deep into my mind, I did not want to go back to the library in fear of coming across whatever that was, but fear soon turned into a guilty sympathetic feeling as I remembered what had happened to it, it had gotten pierced by metal rods and maybe was there, slowly dying, starving to death. If it even was alive that is.

I shut my eyes, letting my dark room filled with plants and comfortable blankets fall from my vision as I let a restless sleep take over me, for the next up coming week I did not sleep well, only thinking about the creature that might still be stuck there. Waiting for whatever was next to come.

[nolawritesfanfics-deactive]

hello!! can i request a fluff fic with bennet on a picnic/cafe date with his s/o in a modern setting, tysm!!

Hello!!! I love this idea sm, it’s so flipping adorable!! Bennett just existing gives me a serotonin boost but this is just too cute ahdghagshshegsh—

Bennett may be a bit OOC since I haven’t written anything for him yet, so lmk if there are any mistakes!! (^///^)

Genre: Fluff

Summary: When Bennett’s picnic date with you gets ruined, the cafe serves as a form of comfort to both of you.

Warnings: None

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡

Modern!Bennett taking his Gn!(s/o) on a picnic/cafe date

Bennett loves exploring, so picnics are his cup of tea. And when you’re there, his favorite things become ten times better!!

Every week, you decide to go far away from the city, to an empty, open field. No bad luck can find either of you there, since nothing resides there. Or at least, that’s what you usually think.

You would make food together before you leave, hoping that it doesn’t rain on your way over. Even if it does rain and get the food wet, Bennett is happy wherever you are, no matter what! And if everything does get ruined, cafe dates are always a thing too!

Bennett would be so nervous about it too because of his luck, the last thing he want to do is get you hurt. But it happens anyway, which lowers his self esteem by a lot. Please tell him you don’t mind. This poor boy needs lots of hugs and reassurance. (ToT)💖

You loved Bennett, but it was no secret that his luck effected everything he touched. Quite literally. For example, he tried petting a stray cat one time, (which was a bad idea in the first place) and not even a minute later, it scratched both of you and ran off.

At times, it would get a bit frustrating, but you knew that it wasn’t his fault. Whenever you were just hanging out after school, you both would get turned down by nearby stores due to his past incidents with his luck, leaving you to wander aimlessly around the city until you got bored and went home.

So, earlier today, Bennett got fed up with his situation and met you at the front gates. He suggested going on a picnic for a change of scenery. He had already planned everything out, rambling excitedly about all the things you could do there. You reluctantly agreed, silently hoping that nothing would go wrong. It was better than another long walk, at least.

It’s wasn’t a surprise that your boyfriend wanted to go elsewhere for your date, but you weren’t sure if it was safe.

If Bennett couldn’t survive in the comfort of his own home, then how would his luck effect nature? It could rain, getting all of your food wet- but that was only the best case scenario. For all you knew, there could be a sudden tornado or hurricane that hits just as you finish unpacking everything.

Going on a picnic seemed like a death wish, and both of you knew that. So why did Bennett want take that risk?

He said that it was an empty field, so there wouldn’t be any chance of dangerous entities. And, he said that things would be alright as long as you were with him. He thought you were his lucky charm. And in truth, you were.

When he met you, he felt like the luckiest boy in the world. You gravitated towards each other, quickly becoming friends, then working your way up to something more. You were precious to him, and he was precious to you.

So, you and Bennett set a date for your picnic. Thank the archons that today was that day. Today was Saturday, the only day that contained endless free time.

You had been so excited that you could hardly sleep on the nights before your meet up. To make things worse, you woke up way too early out of excitement. But, on the bright side, this meant that you could prepare more.

You grabbed a package of cookies and sandwiches, along with your phone in case of any emergencies. After throwing all of these into your backpack, you left your apartment and headed off to Bennett’s house.

The walk there wasn’t too long, especially since you were familiar with a few of the shortcuts lying within the city. A while ago, Fischl had introduced you to them, all while reciting a monologue about her “secret base”. (Which really just ended up being her room.)

You dashed down the empty sidewalk as soon as Bennett’s door came into view. A rush of adrenaline hit you as you climbed up the cement stairs. You knocked on the door, which flung open almost immediately, revealing Bennett.

A blush washed over Bennett’s cheeks as he looked at you. “(Y/n), Hey! P-please, come inside!”

You nodded and happily followed him inside. His Dads were scattered all over the living room, making breakfast and going about their day as usual. As you entered, all of them greeted you. They added in a few comments about how Bennett never stops talking about you, much to his embarrassment.

It wasn’t the first time you had visited Bennett’s home. In fact, you were practically family to everyone related to him. Sometimes, if you two got bored, (which was quite often) you would sleep over at his house, or he would sleep over at yours. It was safe inside, which was a harsh contrast to what the outside world was like.

Whenever you wanted to go on dates together, both of your families would help set them up for you. They knew Bennett would need the help, especially with his terrible luck and romantic obliviousness. However, it turned out that he was pretty much fine on his own. But, if either of you needed help with anything in general, you knew you had support.

You chuckled and took his hand. “You ready?”

Bennett nodded, grabbing his bag. Soon enough, you were being pulled out of the room and onto the streets. The sun had fully risen, indicating that today’s weather would be optimal for a picnic. You had no idea where he was taking you, but you trusted him enough for your anxiety to subside.

There were a few close calls with wild animals and speeding drivers, but overall, Bennett’s luck seemed to be doing alright today. All you needed to do was get to your meeting spot without getting hurt, and everything would be fine.

Or so it seemed.

The houses and tall buildings started to fade as you ventured far outside the city. In front of you was a massive open field, Cecilias and Windwheel Asters scattered all over the grass. Your heart swelled at the beautiful view before you, grasping your beloved’s hand even tighter than before.

“Benny… this is amazing- how did you find this place?” You breathed.

“Ehe! Well, one day I was trying to walk school, but I got lost and ended up here. Looks like I got pretty lucky after all!” Bennett said, sheepishly tubbing the back of his head. “Come on, let’s go set up.”

You set down your bag and started unwrapping the food you brought. Bennett laid out a blanket beside you, and started unpacking food of his own. When you both were finished, you sat next to him, laying your head on his shoulder.

Heat radiated off of Bennett’s skin as he wrapped an arm around you. He was internally sent into a flustered panic whenever you made contact with him, which wasn’t a surprise. Right now, hugging you was the only way to hide the fact that he was blushing furiously. Besides, the feeling of your arms around his waist made him feel safe.

The only thing you could hear was the steady, fast-paced beating of Bennett’s heart, and the rusting of flowers and grass. Almost ten minutes passed before you pulled away, looking at his face. You smiled as you observed every detail of his eyes.

Suddenly, an ear shattering clap of thunder echoed throughout the valley. Not even a second later, heavy rain was pouring on both of you, completely destroying your food. The two of just sat there in both despair and surprise, watching as your picnic got ruined.

Why did this happen? The weather was perfectly fine this morning- what changed? Bennett silently cursed his luck for ruining his date with you, his demeanor shriveling as the rain continued to pour. Normally, He wouldn’t let something like this get him down, but today it was harder.

“I-I’m really sorry, (Y/n)…. I swear, it wasn’t meant to turn out like this- ah!”

Noticing the change in his mood, you pulled Bennett up and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Don’t worry! I don’t mind the rain, but we should leave so that we don’t get colds. If you want, I know a nice cafe we can go to instead!”

Bennett blinked a few times, obviously surprised by your cheery attitude. Most people would’ve given up on him at this point. However, you stayed with him, which is one of the many reasons why he loved you. You never gave up on him, no matter how many times your plans were ruined.

Bennett nodded his head with a determined grin before scurrying to help you pack up. The thunder you had hear a few minutes ago had started up again, making both of you nervous. So, as soon as you were done, you led him to the cafe, holding his hand.

At this point, both of your clothes were completely soaked and water was dripping from your hair. But neither of you minded, you were just happy that you got to go on an adventure together. You and Bennett bolted towards the cafe as soon as you saw it. Warm, pastry scented air hit you two, beckoning you inside.

The cafe was busy, many people coming here to take shelter from the rain. But, there were a few tables left so you told Bennett to grab one while you got some coffee and cookies for you both. Luckily, the cafe was swift in their preparations, causing you to return to Bennett before anything went wrong.

You sat across from your boyfriend, smiling as his eyes lit up at your presence. He opened his mouth to apologize, but opted to bite into a cookie you bought him instead. Anxiety was radiating off of him. So much so that it physically hurt to watch.

So, you held out your hand for him to take. You knew that he didn’t have anyone else to come to for comfort, and that he would get chewed out for the smallest mistakes. You wanted to help him, and teach him that it’s okay to be loved, even if it’s a foreign experience for him.

Bennett was finally starting to realize that. He was finally staring to realize why you stayed with him. It wasn’t out of pity or spite, no, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It was because you genuinely loved who he was as a person, despite his bad luck.

And that meant more to him than anything in the world.

So, he took your hand, and silently made a promise to you.

{🔥..^v~} “(Y/n), for all of the times you’ve helped me… I promise to stay by your side whenever things get rough.”

[blueeyedheizer]

together - warren worthington III

REQUEST: "reader has a super strength/metal skeleton mutation because she was in the lab as Wolverine, then she and Warren get close at the school because they both have terrible pasts and they get together and help each other through and become known as some of the best X-men and they’re so good because they love each other so much..."

WARNINGS: mentions of violence

A/N: had to take some liberties with the request because I don't have enough X-Men knowledge to give it proper justice. I honestly don't really like how this came out and the horrible headache I currently have doesn't help, but I tried my best!

•••

When you first joined Charles Xaviers' school for mutants you were at your lowest point, the concept of happiness was something you never thought you'd ever be familiar with.

The day your parents found out about your mutation, they immediately kicked you out of the house. Well, your father did. When you left home, you mother was crying and pleading for your dad to be understanding, saying that it wasn't that bad and that it could've been a worst mutation. You could easily pass as a regular human being. But the man saw things differently. You were a monster, no longer worth of a roof to live under, no longer worth of love and protection. You hugged your mom goodbye and left without a word, knowing it was better not to start a fight.

You wandered in the streets for a little while, using your savings to buy yourself the minimum you needed to survive.

That was until you were caught and put in a cage to fight against Warren Worthington III. He was far stronger than you were and although you had no broken bones by the end of the fight, you were left with deep bruises all over your body.

You weren't made for fighting. Your mutation was nothing but strengthened bones, there was nothing special about it. You had never been trained to use it to your advantage, so you really weren't stronger than the average when it came to fighting. You just happened to have extremely strong bones. If anything, the burden was even more exhausting.

A few days following the events, when he was himself in search of a shelter, Warren found you almost dead on a poor excuse of a mattress, tears soaking your cheeks as you barely managed to breathe. Your limbs were barely responding, you felt like your body was weighing ten times its weight and your metal bones weren't helping. To say you were absolutely terrified when you saw him would be an understatement. He had showed no mercy during the fight, so when he tried to pick you up, you used the last of your strength to kick him as hard as you could, which earned you a string of curses from him. He was close to giving up on you, but your cries and whines of pain forced him to walk back to you when he was about to step out the door and disappear from your life forever.

The two of you stayed hidden in that small abandoned basement for a few months until Kurt eventually found you. You were in a better shape, but you were far from being completely recovered, especially not mentally. But although Warren hated the idea of having to share a place to live with someone (and he was constantly being a pain in the ass about it), he always made the effort to go out and look for food for the both of you and always made sure you were safe. You owed him everything.

And just like that, you were both under Charles Xavier's protection. Surprisingly, you and Warren parted ways as soon as you joined the School. You quickly fit in with everyone and had a close group of friends meanwhile Warren insisted on staying alone. He had his own dorm and never ate breakfast with everyone else. A few people had tried to approach him, but he wouldn't let anyone get close. You were dying to see him and talk to him again, but you weren't sure if the feeling was mutual.

"Have you tried talking to him?" Jean asks, picking into her plate before bringing the fork to her mouth.

"What?"

"Warren. You're thinking about him. Have you tried talking to him?" she repeats and you shrug.

"I tried the first couple of days."

"Why don't you try again? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you again."

"I don't know. He wasn't really fond of sharing a place to live, so I doubt he misses me so much." you chuckle.

"But you miss him."

"Yeah. Kind of." you chuckled while nodding before looking over your shoulder, discreetly looking at Warren. "He's a good guy, you know." you admit. "He doesn't give off the best vibes when you don't know him, but he's got a big heart."

--

Jean's pep talk about how you should try and get in touch with him again made you realize how much you actually missed him. So that night, you decided to sneak out of your dorm and pay him a visit.

Taking a deep breath you raised your hand, letting it hover over the door for a moment. Deciding that it was too late to change your mind you eventually let your hand hit the wooden surface, giving it three knocks.

No answer.

You tried again, more firmly this time.

"Piss off."

Your heart skipped a beat when you heard his voice. It'd been so long. You tried to suppress a smile as you came to the conclusion that he really hadn't changed since the last time you spoke. He really wasn't interested in having company.

"It's me, Warren." you tried, leaning your ear against the door to hear better, but all you heard after that was silence.

Defeated, you were ready to retire back to your room until you were stopped by the sound of the door unlocking and cracking open slowly.

"What do you want?"

You took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"I miss you, Warren. We haven't spoken in what feels like an eternity and I just miss it. Our conversations, everything. I know you probably don't feel the same way but our late night talks meant a lot to me, and I just want to know how you're doing or at least—"

"Come in." he interrupted you.

That night, the two of you stayed up until 4 in the morning, just catching up and getting to know each other more than you already did. He didn't want to admit it, but Warren had missed you deeply as well.

You came back the day after, and sneaking into each other's dorm at night eventually became a routine for the two of you.

Your friends had noticed how close you had become, and you even often stayed with Warren instead of going out with them. One night, he told you all about his scars and how he got them, and you did the same with yours. You told him all about your family, how they kicked you out after finding out about your mutation, and the conversation ended with you crying on his shoulder and him promising to never let anyone or anything hurt you again.

The two of you became inseparable, always hanging out together, training together and always supporting each other during the hardest times. When you struggled to find a purpose to your mutation and started saying hurtful things about yourself, Warren was always there to remind you that it made you special, that you are one of the strongest people he knows and that you'd eventually learn to use your mutation, which you did.

Two years later, you've been sent on multiple missions together and everyone knows you as two of the school's most powerful mutants. Everyone admires you and the bond you have between one another. The newest mutants look up to you, and you're both more than happy to help when they need training.

The healing from the fear, hurt and rejection that you both went through takes time, but as long as you have each other, you know that everything will be okay.

→ feedbacks are more than welcome. Whether it's just a keyboard smash, an emoji or a single world, it's always appreciated and motivating. ♡

[california-raccoon]

eye’s on the sparrow

He just stares at her, like he’d been wishing for his mom but she appeared instead. This belief - in wishing, in divine intervention, in fate - is probably the reason why he chooses to believe in her. BLEACH / AU / ICHIRUKI • [← PART 1 ○ PART 2: A study of Rukia Kuchiki] 

III.

Of all the things Rukia considers herself as, fortunate is not one of them. Though the echoes of fortune haunt everything she sees and touches, she considers she’d rather do without it all. When she looks in the mirror, she recognizes herself, but it’s in a vague way. She knows what she looks like, but she doesn’t actually know who she is.

It isn’t that she’s ungrateful for what she has.

Her parents love her as much as any daughter; her childhood with them is filled with memories of picnics in the park, trips to museums… the annual cherry blossom festival where she’d walk down the rows of trees, warmth on her face and always two hands to hold.

They have always been kind, giving, and extremely passionate about their work. It seeps into her blood, as if they were related, to work twice as hard, to shine twice as bright. Rukia wears her last name like a medal she’s won and lets it define her completely.

Her father is her pride. He works tirelessly at the Kuchiki enterprises, recently inheriting the company from their now-retired Uncle. She learns importance of proper etiquette and strategy from him. Her mother is her heart, working at a non-profit that finds shelter for the homeless. Rukia used to ask her why she worked, not really in need of anything given their status, but her mom just ruffles her hair, and tells her there’s more to life than money. Rukia understands, because what else had she ever wanted besides the two of them?

Adjusting the hem on her black dress with a tug, she takes one last look at herself before leaving her room.

She is thirteen when she attends her mother’s funeral.

Her mother looks asleep in the coffin, make-up caked on, her giving her an artificial glow like she’s just sleeping. Rukia thinks it’s a pointless gesture, but she appreciates it anyway. She’d like the last look of Hisana not to be the pale image she used to visit in the hospital to say goodbye. The cancer came quickly, too late when they found out. They’ve already been grieving for months.

The event is small and intimate, mostly filled with family and friends. Her grandparents and cousins hug her and keep her soft, reminding her of everything her mother was. When they share their stories of Hisana, they reveal sides of her mother that she’d never known: when she and her friends got lost traveling around Japan during their last high school summer, her first big win gaining a successful client at the office, one of her first dates with Byakuya retold by her best friend. She was adventurous, determined and loved fiercely, they say; she will be missed. Rukia cries. It’s the first time she’s cried since she’d been adopted.

Her dad takes it the worst. After the funeral he floats around like his gravity’s been taken from him, no longer tethered to Earth. To counter this, he chains himself to his desk, focusing on his work to keep himself grounded. She comes home from school to an empty house.

If this is the cost of having a family, Rukia thinks, she isn’t sure it was worth the price. The loss she feels in her chest is too heavy; six years of happiness ending so abruptly that no fortunate person could ever experience.

So Rukia lets herself float. She skips classes and spends the day in arcades, in parks, talking to homeless people and stalking cats.  

It takes her back to another time, hazy infinite summers sneaking out of the orphanage and playing by the river. It gives her the idea.

On a fair winter morning, Rukia takes a train to Karakura. The ride itself doesn’t take too long, and she hides her school uniform with her coat so as not to seem suspicious.

Walking around the streets, the town is quiet and serene. It feels like a dream. The buildings don’t seem as tall as they used to, the distance of things having shrunk between her steps. The river flows beside her at a constant ebb that floods her with nostalgia.

When she reaches the hill, she takes a moment to take it all in. Overgrown foliage and forest trees surround the Torii, weathered and dulled by time. It welcomes her like the arms of the birth mother she never met, but she ignores them in favor of the off-beaten path to the side of it, leading to the gate of a traditional-style house.

The laughter she hears from the children stops her cold on her feet. Rukia hides behind the gate and stands there, watching. The boys are running, all pranks and belly laughs with one another and the girls are gathering the toys to fight back at them. They were playing house when the boys had usurped the game with a declaration of war. There’s one kid, a little too scrawny and too short, who joins in the fight anyway, scrappy and unwavering.

She watches till she realizes her cheeks are wet, tears coming undone at the sight of it all, guilty for everything she’s built up in her head. These kids are tenacious, hoping for a better life that’s out of their control as foolhardy as it is. She was once that child, until fortune smiled upon her and gave her everything she wanted. Who was she to refuse it now when it was all she had asked for?

Rukia’s family may be broken, but it doesn’t mean she can’t try to mend what she has, to be grateful. Her mother was everything to her - to them - and she doesn’t regret anything about her life with her. She thinks of her mother, her ferocity for living, and keeps the spirit close to her heart.

Stepping away from the orphanage, she walks back to the station with renewed energy. The town itself seems to come alive with her. It’s the late afternoon and there are kids playing by the river, others biking past her in their school uniforms.

She deep in thought when a glint of orange across the street that catches her eye. She knows him, she realizes. He looks a little menacing, with a crinkle between his brows and a frown that’s permanently taken residence on his face. The look doesn’t suit him, too angry for someone so young. She doesn’t think she’d recognize him if it wasn’t for his hair. It has to be him though, right?

Rukia thinks she should say something. Hey. Hi. It’s been too long. Didn’t we used to write to each other? …it’s been years. Do you even remember me? The thoughts spill into her head all at once and jumble into a pit in her stomach.

What should she say? What would he think?

She stops walking and settles for a polite wave and a firm “Hello” deciding not to yell across the street. Panic calcifies in her chest when she can’t remember his name.

In the end, he doesn’t notice her. He’s got his earbuds on and when he’s closer she swears she can hear him humming a fast tune. They cross each other on the street with little fanfare.

The moment it’s over, Rukia just laughs, the sound foreign as it escapes her lips. She thinks herself silly for even trying.

Rukia’s mind wanders as she watches the landscape from the train windows morph from open fields back to the compact buildings she’s familiar with. She wonders what happened to him. She wonders if she’s changed as much as him.

-

Back home, she cooks a dinner big enough for two and waits for her dad to come home. He finally arrives two hours past his usual office hours. If he’s shocked by her gesture, its marginally expressed. The stovetop ticks to a lively fire as she reheats the food while he hangs his coat in the foyer. She’s laid the dishes out onto the table into a traditional setting she knows he’d appreciate.

“We can’t do this to her,” Rukia breaks the silence during the meal, fire in her words. “She would hate what you’ve become.”

“She’d hate what you’ve become too, skipping classes all the time.” He responds with ice, eyes low. “Don’t think I didn’t know. Your school’s called me every day this week.”

“You’re right and I’m sorry, but—” She grimaces, gesturing a slight bow to apologize.

“It’s hard to lose someone, isn’t it?” He says softly. “I don’t blame you for taking some time for yourself, but tell me next time… I know your mom usually handled these sort of things better, but…”

Rukia’s eyes are wide, her heart gutted at seeing her dad this way.

“I’ll make a deal with you. No more skipping classes but you have to come home for dinner.”

“I can’t help the office has been busy lately—“

“No excuses.” Rukia interrupts, strengthening her resolve, but her voice cracks. “I hate coming home to this empty house every day.”

There’s no response from him then, but his brows lift slightly in an expression she’s not used to.

“I visited the orphanage today.” Rukia says, the implication unfolding before him. She looks at him and his brows are still raised. “I just - I just wanted to see… to remember that time. I’m grateful for everything you’ve both done and given me, but.”

She takes a breath. There’s no fire in her now, just the calmness of knowing. “I forgot what it was like. Not to have parents. Or anyone. I don’t want to lose it again.”

The chopsticks clink against the porcelain of her dad’s bowl as he puts it down. He looks at her with a warmth that she’s never seen from him.

“I’m sorry… You have a deal.”

They don’t shake on the agreement and neither really speak much after the talk, but she feels the shift in him after dinner. Over the weekend they buy a frame and candles and set up a shrine by the dinner table. They buy flowers every week for Hisana. It’s not a lot, but they’re trying, and it’s enough.

Still, sometimes, she’ll take a train every once in a while back to Karakura.

[havenoffandoms]

Closure

Vesemir knows that there comes a time in every newly turned witcher's life where he yearns for what was before Kaer Morhen. Vesemir knows, because he was once a young wolf himself yearning for a home, yearning to go back to his roots. It was both the bravest and stupidest thing he ever did.

He knew that his young pups wouldn't be any different.

True, Vesemir shouldn't have had favourites. Rennes often gave him into trouble for it, but Vesemir couldn't help himself. And somehow, he always had a soft spot for the troublemakers. Geralt and Eskel had been his cubs from the start. He always had a hard time not laughing every time the duo was dragged into Rennes study to be punished for their pranks. Tormenting an innocent bee by attaching a jug to it had been cruel and unnecessary, which is why Vesemir had taken over that punishment, but otherwise the pups' pranks were harmless. Filling new recruits' boots with honey, catching live rats and hiding them in beds, pouring oil over the hilts of the training swords so they would slip out of the trainees' hands... But Vesemir always kept a stern face when the boys were brought to him and Rennes.

Why is it that whenever something happens it's always you two?

Lambert was also a menace, but not in the same way as Eskel and Geralt were. Lambert was a broken child from a broken home who had seen far too many horrors for someone so young. He refused to adhere to any male authority.

Barring Vesemir, nobody could get the boy to behave.

No amount of discipline, physical or otherwise, nobody could break Lambert. Everyone admitted the fact that he would forever remain a little shit. One day, Vesemir decided to talk to the pup to understand where the hostility came from. Lambert told Vesemir about his abusive father and everything clicked into place. Lambert was a little shit because he didn't respond to threats anymore.

Vesemir was the only one to realise that Lambert did best when praised. The boy positively craved approval. And when Vesemir gave that to him, the pup did as he was told. Mostly...

Vesemir was not surprised when his three pups all followed in his footsteps and returned to the place they came from, despite the advice of their elders not to do so. Vesemir never discouraged them. He understood his pups' need for closure. It was not until years later, when all that was left from the school of the wolf were Geralt, Eskel, Lambert and Vesemir, that his pups filled him in (after ingesting copious amounts of alcohol).

"I went back to good old dad. I confronted him. He didn't recognise me," Lambert's eyes stared blankly at the table in front, "I could tell the tables had turned. I decided to use the fact that he had no idea who I was to my advantage. He begged for the mean witcher who had broken into his home to spare his life like the gutless coward he was. I asked him 'do you live alone? A wife, children?' He said his son was taken away from him, and his wife died of a broken heart after that. A shameless lie. 'Why did you do it, father? Why did you beat ma and me to a pulp every day, every night?' That's when he realised who I was. He dropped to his knees and begged for my forgiveness. Begged... But all the begging wouldn't undo what he did. 'You killed her, didn't you?' I asked. 'Please son, it was an accident. I took it too far, I didn't mean to kill her. Please son, have mercy.'"

"What did you do?" Eskel asked with genuine curiosity. Lambert looked up at his brother, a humourless grin gracing his lips.

"The bastard killed my mother. What do you suppose I did? I avenged her. I told my old man that I wasn't his son, I never was his son, and then I ran my blade through his heart."

The silence that ensued was broken by none other than Geralt.

"When I was looking for Ciri, I got badly wounded. A peasant found me, helped me. I was delirious with fever. That's when I... I saw her. Visenna. I'm still not sure if it was all a vivid dream or her magic. I knew she was a sorceress after all. It wasn't impossible that she was actually there. I knew it was her because I recognised her red hair and her green eyes. The only things I remembered of her."

Vesemir stayed silent, listening to his pups opening up to him. Making eye contact with Geralt would scare him away. So Vesemir kept his eyes on the glass of moonshine in his hand.

"All I wanted were answers. Honest answers. I wanted to know if she knew what happened to the boys who were chosen to become witchers. I wanted her to look at me when I told her that 8 out of 10 boys died during the Trials. I wanted her to tell me that she didn't know this before leaving me at Vesemir's doorstep."

"And did she know?" Lambert asked, voice unusually soft.

"I don't know. I woke up before I could get an answer."

Vesemir did not say a word. Not yet. He waited patiently, knowing that Eskel, dear empathic Eskel, would soon fill the silence with his own tale.

"I too went back to the village I was born in. In the hills near Toussaint. I didn't intend to at first, but a contract near Beauregard lead me down that road. It was several years after Deirdre. After... This," Eskel waved vaguely at his scarred face. "I didn't expect anyone from my family to be alive, much less to recognise me. But hill folk are sturdy folk. Some 60 later, I didn't expect my mother to still be alive. She had me young, too young. Barely 15 summers she had seen before she bore me. I was six when Rennes took me away."

"Your mother was 81 when you saw her next?" Geralt asked, his voice strangely strained, almost as if he felt for the poor woman going 60 years without seeing her first born son. Vesemir supposed that taking on his child surprise had given Geralt a new perspective on these matters.

"Yeah. And... Against all expectations, she recognised me. This frail dying woman, suffering from a terrible pneumonia at the time, recognised me the minute I stepped into her home. The same house I remember. She looked at me and her face instantly lit up. 'Eskel, my son. I knew you would come back'. The healer told me that every time someone came to visit she would utter the name Eskel first, but always be disappointed to find someone else. But this time, it was me."

Eskel paused, the memory clearly painful. Contrary to Geralt, Vesemir knew that eye contact would give Eskel the courage to finish his tale.

"Her hand came to rest on my cheek and she asked me how I got that scar. I told her I didn't want to tell the story, for it was a shameful one and she would be disappointed in her son. She said 'Eskel, no matter what you did, I am proud of the man you've become.' I didn't believe her, didn't want to believe her. And yet, she sounded so genuine. She died later that day, the tune she used to sing to me as a child on her lips. De old hen she cackled, she cackled... Until she cackled no more."

Eskel fell silent, the air around him heavy with emotion. Lambert, who was sat next to him, patted him on the shoulder in a display of male companionability. Eskel did not react but he did not pull away either. Vesemir chose this moment to speak up.

"Lambert, your father was a despicable man. When Rennes claimed you by the law of surprise, he tried to convince your mother to leave too. She wouldn't. She thought that losing a son would kill your father, nevermind losing his wife. Rennes tried to reason with her, but she was already too far manipulated by your father. She refused to leave, but hoped that you would get a better chance at life if Rennes took you away. Your father got what he deserved."

"Geralt, your mother was a sorceress. I would be lying if I said that she didn't understand the process of the Trials. However, it took me seven years to track her down. I claimed you by the law of Surprise when you were not even in her womb yet. For seven years she ran, protected you, refused to let you become one of us. Until destiny caught up with her in the form of Rennes, who threatened far worse would befall her son if Visenna refused to give you up. Two weeks later, you were at our doorstep because she would rather take that chance than have her son murdered before her eyes."

"Eskel, I don't think I ever saw a woman so enamoured with her child as your mother was with you. It wasn't her choice to give you away. In fact, it all happened one afternoon when she had gone to the market. It was the village chieftain who handed you over as a price for killing two griffins that were killing the cattle. I have to say that I was unaware of this until one year when I was travelling the Path myself and returned to that same village, only to have the chieftain recognise me and offer me food and shelter. Your mother instantly knew who I was. She screamed at me with the fury and despair of a woman who had lost everything. By then, you had already survived the trials. That knowledge was only a small comfort to an otherwise broken woman."

"I have done many things in my life, pups. I'm not proud of many of those things. I do hope you will find it in yourselves to forgive me."

And of course they forgave him, although Vesemir didn't deserve their forgiveness. But he had raised his pups well. He hoped that their mothers agreed.

[thenexusofsouls]

Muse: Marie Sebastian

[Bio and other information below the cut!]

Type of Character & Fandom/Source Material: Canon character from the 2013 American remake of the Korean movie Oldboy

FC: Elizabeth Olsen as Marie

Race: Human

Age: 23-24ish usually, after the events of Oldboy, unless we wanna go back in her timeline

Occupation: Nursing student, licensed nurse practitioner (LPN), registered nurse (RN), and/or volunteer nurse, depending on her age. She studied to be a LPN and then went on to get her Associates’ Degree and become an RN. From there she was employed at a local clinic near her home and also volunteered at a mobile clinic, both of which specialized in homeless and domestic violence shelter care.

Family: Adoptive father (deceased); adoptive mother (deceased); biological father (alive but permanently imprisoned and she never knew he was her father); ex-boyfriend, Tom Melby

Potentially Triggering Material in Threads: Incest, torture (These are things involving her father that she was never made aware of in canon… I guess these themes could potentially come to light depending on if any canon muses ever interact with her, but honestly it’s really not likely at all, I just wanted to warn people); drug abuse and attempted sexual assault (These themes are a bit more likely to come up since these things actually pertain to her, if she should happen to want to discuss them with your muse); homelessness; cancer; and medical supplies and techniques.

Negative Personality Traits: Being a former drug addict, Marie can have an addictive personality with regard to smoking, wanting to use drugs again during times of stress, and eating junk food, and she is also incredibly hard on herself in just about every way and takes every bad thing that happens or downturn of her patients’ health as a personal failing on her part. She’s also really, really stubborn, heh.

Positive Personality Traits: She is hard-working, determined, selfless, kind, once she sees someone in need she really can’t turn away from them, and she has a compulsion to help “the little guy” and “lost causes.“

Background: (This is all as far as she knows, since there was a lot going on behind the scenes that was never revealed to her. So this is what happened from her point of view only. If it becomes necessary to get further into the controversial plot of the movie, or if you want to ask about it, feel free to hmu in messages.)

Marie was adopted at age three by loving parents, and she never known any other parents. Her father died when she was ten of pancreatic cancer, but he had been sick for a long time. Marie’s mother was not able to deal with this very well, and so Marie at a very young age had to do a lot for her dad. Her mother became an alcoholic, and Marie came out of it wanting to take care of people and ease their pain like she did for her dad.

She’s very smart and was a good student, but her mother’s alcoholism took a toll on her. By the time she was eighteen, she moved out and was addicted to heroin. For a couple years, she was a functional addict, even starting nursing school while still maintaining her habit. While in school she met a resident named Tom Melby, who eventually became her boyfriend. He did a lot for her, including getting her to rehab and helping her stay clean, but his patronizing tone with her and constant insinuations that she would go back to using really got on Marie’s nerves and she broke up with him. They are still friends, and work together at the mobile clinic she volunteers at. He is still in love with her, but she is definitely done with him romantically and sexually. He’s forever friend-zoned, heh.

During the events of Oldboy, Marie helped an older man named Joseph Doucett clear his name and locate his kidnapped daughter, whom he had not seen in 20 years due to being imprisoned by someone with a vendetta against him. Marie helped him figure out who the man was who imprisoned him and why, and Joe was supposed to go meet this man and recover his daughter. During their investigation, Marie and Joe fell in love and even slept together.

But then… he never came back after supposedly meeting with this man they had researched. All she got was a disturbing phone call in which she heard a man she didn’t know and Joe begging for something on the other end, but no one answered her and the call ended. Besides that, Joe sent her a little gift, a cute trinket from one of those carts in Chinatown that sell little squeaking Buddha statues, heh… and a letter. In short, it said that he had done something unforgivable and needed to be punished for it, and that he was out of her life forever. He thanked her for making him happy for one brief time in his life, and hoped that she would find someone to be with who would treat her well and be a good man, not one like him. Marie was heartbroken and confused, but she still has the Buddha on the dash of her van…

Because of the dangerous people Joe had fought against and an attempted kidnapping and assault on Marie that took place in her own house, she decides to move away, packing everything she owned into her van and starting over in another city.

Potential Starter Ideas:

She could be moving to your muse’s town or city.

Your muse could need medical help that she can provide as a nurse.

There is always a casual meeting in a bar, on the street, or while out for a walk scenario, heh.

If you want to get dark, Marie could need help hiding from some of the people associated with Joe, or could already be hurt by them and in need of medical help herself.

Marvel Verse: In the MCU, Marie was still adopted by the same parents, but is not Joe Doucett’s biological daughter. So this detaches her from his story, but keeps her background, personality, drug addiction, history with Tom, and occupation as a nurse intact. She is a third Maximoff sibling, four minutes older than Pietro and sixteen minutes older than Wanda. She’s identical to Wanda, but Pietro is fraternal.

Like Wanda, Marie is a natural born witch, and her magic manifests in similar ways to Wanda’s, except that hers is golden orange. Her powers involve supernatural healing of others (healing outright with no negative effects to her, much like how Wanda healed Vision but instead of just sealing wounds, Marie can actually heal them fully); healing by “acceptance” (taking wounds or illnesses onto herself to save someone else, which is much quicker but more dangerous for her); offensive magic via “transference” (the wounds and illnesses she takes from her patients she can turn back around and give to others as a way of attacking them or just defending herself, including the pain and all associated symptoms); soothing of negative or overwhelming emotions; memory recovery from injury or illness.

Marie was raised a devout Christian, and when she was little and first began displaying her magic, her mother told her they were “witch’s gifts from Satan” and that she should never ever use them. Marie took this very seriously, but still didn’t understand how healing could be bad, so she sometimes still heals when no one is looking, especially when lives are at stake. For the most part, though, she hides her powers, thinking they are wrong and that there’s something evil about her.

Most often, I imagine that Marie would be found by Pietro, Wanda, Vision, or someone else looking for her after discovering files that mention the twins were actually triplets. Marya and Django (or whichever set of parents we use for the twins), simply could not afford three children and had to make the painful decision to give up one of them, when Marie was three. She was adopted by an American couple after spending time in an orphanage in Transia.

Fun facts: Marie likes to garden in her spare time, she loves animals, and she’s very good at crossword puzzles!

[melancholic-pigeon]

WIP Wednesday #12

Set shortly after Percy and Jason meet in freshman year of high school (14/15 years old). Content warnings for domestic violence, child neglect and abuse, alcoholism and food insecurity.

"That's horrifying. You know that's horrifying, right? Please tell me you know that's horrifying." 

Sally hears Percy's voice before she gets to the kitchen. She's heard it like that before, and it never means anything good. 

She makes her footfalls heavier so that the boys aren't startled by her approach. She's ready to appear in the doorway and smile like she didn't hear a thing and ask them how their studying is going and if they'd like a snack— but Percy cuts her off before she can even open her mouth. 

"Can Jason borrow you for a second? I'm trying to prove a point." 

She looks at the two of them, textbooks and notepads and mechanical pencils spread out on the table. From the work on the paper, they haven't done much more than they had the last time she checked in, an hour or so ago. 

Percy's frenetic, though he's trying to hide it. She doesn't know Jason all that well yet, but he's sitting very still, and she gets the feeling he's holding something in, too.

"If he'd like to, certainly." She rinses out her mug and puts on the kettle, her back to them so that Jason has a second to think about it. "Hot cocoa or tea?" 

When she turns around, his face has changed. Not by much, but she can see a tiny shade of nervousness. 

"Cocoa, please. Thank you." 

He's almost painfully polite, much more so than a fourteen year old boy should be in such a casual setting. She keeps hearing her son in her head, and tries not to speculate on what he found horrifying. 

"It really wasn't that bad." 

"I'm gonna make the cocoa." Percy gets up from the table in an explosive movement. "Because otherwise, I'm just gonna interrupt you every two seconds to tell you that it was worse than you're making it out to be."

Jason rolls his eyes, but it makes him relax a little, too. 

"I never said the whole thing wasn't bad, just that I didn't suffer. All of the really terrible parts happened to Thalia, not me. She made sure of that." 

Percy makes an indignant noise. There's a picture starting to form in Sally's head, patchworking together from the pieces she already has, and she doesn't like it. 

"You don't have to say anything until you're ready, sweetheart." 

She doesn't even think about it. It's second nature with Percy's friends by now. Jason, she reminds herself, has only been around for four months; his eyes widen, like it's the first time anyone has ever called him that. 

Maybe it is. Maybe that's why he's so nervous. 

Percy clatters around behind them. She can hear the kettle starting to rumble and the soft exhalation from across the table. 

"It seriously wasn't," Jason repeats, like he's trying to assure himself more than Sally. 

She can remember thinking the same thing, going through the same process, telling herself that at least her first husband only used his fists. 

"Tell her what you told me," Percy insists over the clinking of the spoon as he stirs the cocoa. 

Jason meets Sally's eyes, with a vulnerability she hasn't seen him wear so plainly.

"I don't know how much Thalia's said about it. I'd assume not a whole lot. There's stuff she still won't tell me, either." 

"She's trying to protect you." Percy puts Jason's mug across from him and takes his seat again. "And she's allergic to sharing her anxieties, for a much better reason than I thought." 

"It's a habit. She was maybe nine years old, tops, when she started shoving it all down." Jason frowns, running his fingers over the handle of his mug. "I didn't have a clue how bad it actually was, because she hid it from me. All I knew was that when Mom was gone for a while, we'd play a game where we'd hunt for all of her empty bottles and cans, and Thalia would let me win and take us to the gas station and buy me a snack as a prize so I wouldn't whine at her while she was getting the rest of our groceries." 

There aren't really any good possibilities in a situation like this, but Sally's heart still plummets into her gut. 

"He thought it was fun," Percy mutters darkly. "Like a field trip where he got treats, instead of his third-grade sister stealing, skipping meals and collecting booze receptacles to exchange for coin deposits because their mom was too busy getting plastered to feed them and their dad cared more about his reputation than the welfare of his children."

There are a million things she could say, including every word that's come out of Percy's mouth so far. He's looking at her, weighed down by the same helpless rage he often carries when they talk about things like this. She feels it too, just as bitterly, though she's no longer apt to show it on her face like that.

"That's awfully young to be left on your own," she tells Jason, taking his hand. She can feel her eyes stinging as he squeezes back, hard, his jaw held tense. "And kids notice. It was hard on you, too, even if you didn't know why." 

She feels Percy grab her free hand under the table. She'd tried everything she could think of to shelter him— and all he learned from it was how to keep his own secrets from her. 

If she hadn't found his stash of concealer and powder, she'd never have known he'd somehow learned the same trick she used. If he hadn't walked in on her with the palettes in her hands and tears streaming down her face, he never would have known it wasn't just him.

They don't keep secrets anymore. It's terrifying, but it's worth it; with honesty comes trust, and now Percy doesn't try to hide when something's wrong. At least not with her. 

"Sometimes I wonder if that's why she's so tiny." Jason stares into his cocoa, still holding onto Sally's hand. "I don't think I went to bed hungry more than once or twice. Thalia used to do it all the time. She'd tell me she ate while I was asleep, and since I was, like, two, I didn't know any better but to believe her." 

Suddenly, Sally understands why Thalia was crying so hard.

("He's gotten so tall— I couldn't feel his ribs—")

She can still vividly remember staring at the cupboards while her little boy clawed at her leg, realizing there wasn't enough for them both and she was still two days away from getting paid. She went that long once, and only broke her fast because she fainted at work. 

Her manager— one of the rare good ones she'd had— had kept her clocked in, hauled ass across the street to buy her a peanut butter milkshake and made her sit in his office and rest for the remainder of her shift. After that, he worked hard to push through the promotion that the store manager kept finding excuses to avoid, and with it came enough of a pay raise that she didn't have to do it more than once or twice a month. 

She'd been twenty-four at the time. Thalia wasn't even in double digits, apparently.

"I'm okay, Ms. Jackson. It was a long time ago." 

She realizes she's tearing up only when Jason cuts through her thoughts. He's smiling, and he really does look healthy and cared for, if a little coltish.

"Honey." She lets go of his hand to grip his shoulder, her grip almost as tight as her throat. "I'm not your teacher. I'm a friend who wishes she could go back in time and adopt you. Please call me Sally." 

It lightens the mood like a match illuminating total darkness. Jason slumps in the chair with a breathless laugh, glancing nervously at her. 

"It's a hard habit to break, but I'll try." 

She wants nothing more than to pull him into a hug, but she doesn't want to spook him. She smiles back at him instead, as warmly as she can possibly manage.

"Trying at all is something to be proud of." 

-Untitled WIP from Sally's POV! stellarverse AU, shortly after Jason and Percy meet freshman year of high school. Some additional excerpts of published fics for context below the cut.

On the one hand, it makes him giddy to expose Jason to unconditional parental support, but on the other, the fact that he has to go to Percy's parents for that support because he can't get it from his own is spittle-frothingly rage-inducing. 

When they're at home, the only thing they have to worry about is not getting too handsy in front of the baby or scarring Percy's parents for life, or at most, doing the dishes because Jason felt it was his duty as guest. He'd vehemently insist, saying it was the only way he could think of to express his gratitude, which would make Percy's mom tear up and hug him tight and tell him that being good to her firstborn was all the thanks she needed. 

She's always liked Jason, and she's always worried about him, too. She's certainly heard enough of Percy's ranting to stay on top of the situation, and was already known for remembering everything she's ever been told about someone's tragic backstory. Jason, like most of Percy's friends, was desperately lacking that energy in his life, and by the third visit he'd given her a rundown of his entire life history. 

I feel like I can tell her anything, he'd said to Percy later, thrown off his game by a particularly raw word-vomit. Every bit of it is massively unfair–that Jason's stepmother takes out her anger over her spouse's infidelity on the children who'd had no choice in being born, that his father didn't care enough about him to do anything more than show up once or twice a month and give him a blistering, vaguely threatening lecture, that his mother had barely even remembered he existed, and only by enough to make herself look more pitiable. 

Most upsetting of all was that his sister–seven or eight years old then–had essentially been forced to parent him through toddlerhood by herself, because no one else was paying enough attention to stop a two-year-old from trying to give himself a lip piercing with a stapler. Half the time, nobody else was paying enough attention to feed him, either.

It makes Percy want to throw something out a window. Fortunately for everyone, while she's in agreement, his mom has a lot more experience in channeling her anger productively than he does, and isn't prone to agitating herself into letting it boil over. She focuses instead on making her apartment the coziest, homiest place she possibly can, on showering Jason with all of the maternal adoration and pride he'd been missing out on, and letting him know he could show up on her doorstep at three in the morning without notice and she'd welcome him inside with open arms and a mug of hot tea. 

- I Guess You're Just What I Needed

Thalia had made a game out of collecting the recyclables strewn over the floor, which just meant that she'd cheer him on and make a huge celebratory fuss when he found something plastic. The glass and aluminum were 'big-kid stuff', so she didn't have to worry about him hurting himself on sharp edges or hard surfaces; she diverted his desire to be just like her by pretending his contributions were heavier, so he could feel like he was helping. 

She'd gather them all up in a little red wagon and take Jason to the convenience store down the street to exchange their loot for deposits. His job had been putting the plastic in the machine, one at a time, while she held him up so he could reach. They'd put the change in a coffee can, already rattling with whatever bills and coins she'd found in the mess of the apartment, and use it to re-load the wagon with as much prepackaged, shelf-stable food as it would get them. 

Sometimes, they'd get someone nice behind the counter who asked where their parents were and went thin-lipped when she tried to deflect it by lying that their mother had a migraine, and they'd end up with twice as much food as they had money for. Those trips always made Thalia more nervous, and she'd tended to startle every time the doorbell rang for at least a week afterwards. 

Back then, the routine felt normal, even pleasant; he learned quickly to associate it with a full belly and a feeling of safety. Like so many of his scars, he hadn't realized how deep it was until he related the story in the Jackson-Blofis kitchen, Sally's eyes filling with tears as she took his hand and squeezed until it hurt.

-We Should Have Each Other With Cream, chapter 11

See also my "thundersibs" tag.

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Winner’s Curse Ch. 22

“Please please come in quickly,” the honorable wizard Yen Sid urged Uma, barely muffling his own coughs from the dusty air of Judge Frollo’s “house.” Quite ironically or perhaps more telling, Judge Frollo’s abode was the basement of a brothel. A cruel twist of temptation or perhaps a house of convenience since it was no secret that Frollo indulged in his hypocritical desires while preaching at his imaginary pulpit during the day.

But Uma wasn’t here to hear how she was destined for hell. It was night, the perfect time to meet the rest of the Anti-Villain Club while Frollo was away.

It felt like the situation was getting more dire the more time past. Amplified by the restlessness Uma felt because they weren’t getting anything done!

Sometimes Uma wanted to give in to her temptation to just dump the Auradonians for themselves. They didn’t really offer her any information or skills that she needed. Plus, they were slow at best. Uncaring and disobedient at worse, far more concerned with their own problems and feelings. They didn’t know how to work with a team or for a cause other than themselves.

Such royal behavior. Must be nice to put your moods first when your need for food, shelter and safety were never in question.

So it was a breath of fresh air to meet with the Anti Villains. Though they did not give her the assuring efficiency of her pirate crew, they were still Vks, her people. And she would need all the allies she could get if they were to stop the Coven.

Yen Sid gestured to the faded rug with, of course, an image of a man bleeding and crucified while a red devilish monster stabbed at his torso with a pitchfork.

Frollo’s erstwhile, rebellious daughter, Claudine took the head of the rug with Diego De’Vil and Yzla on both sides of her. Harold, Jason, Hadie, Big Murph, Hermie Bing, Eddie Balthazar, Celia and a blonde girl that Uma didn’t recognize rounded out the rest of the circle. Uma took place across from Claudine and Yen Sid stood by, pacing around.

“What news can you give us?” Yen Sid asked, starting the meeting abruptly.

Uma hadn’t noticed when Yen Sid signalled to her from the alleyways but the elder wizard looked even older. He was hunched over, not from age but like there was an invisible yoke on his shoulders. His face was riddled with new lines of wrinkles, stress and fatigue. And he was pale. So pale.

Uma had seen that sort of sickly paleness before. The sheen of sweat from a non-existent flu. He looked like death. The Isle after 20 years was starting to take its toll.

Though Uma had no personal attachment to the wizard nor did she care for his method of teaching goodness so Vks would be accepted in Auradon, when they should be accepted because they like any other person should have a home without abuse or poverty, she respected what he was trying to do. He didn’t see them all as one mass of worthless deviants to be scorned and ignored. He could have stayed in Auradon, doing nothing like all the rest of the so-called good guys, but he didn’t.

And this place was slowly killing him.

This place was going to be the death of all them if Uma’s revolution didn’t work.

Uma cracked her neck, inhaled and began to brief them, even though her report didn’t offer much encouragement that their plans were going to be successful.

“Our communications link with King Ben no longer works thanks to the Isle’s crappy service. However, we were able to inform him that the invasion is taking place in less than a week before we were cut off.” “Circe is officially on our side and will assist Yen Sid on more complex, powerful spells against Nerissa and the others.”

“The rest of the Coven-” “Believes.. Well actually tolerates the idea that you and Calix are still loyal. Lala still is on their side but Jade thinks she can convince her to switch again. Zevon and Ginny are lost causes. But you are going to round up your crew, and Harriet’s crew for extra manpower.” Yzla interrupted, and shrugged at Uma’s glare, “Jade told me.” “Ah yes.” Uma pursed her lips, shaking it off to not act too ruffled. She had been aware that Yzla and Jade were close but she didn’t particularly like that they were discussing things without her. That’s how plans got overturned. And people were overthrown.

Uma pushed that thought away as too paranoid. After all, they were all here for the same thing. Escape, not power.

“Yes, so you already know that. I do believe we will be able to persuade the rest of the Isle on our side.” “Wait the rest of the Isle. Like you mean some other kids right? Or the Hun gang. Not not the whole Isle?” Eddie asked. “I meant the rest of the Isle. The adult henchmen. The orphaned kids. The Huns, the mercenaries, the prostitutes. Anyone and everyone who has no power or big villain names.” The rest of the club looked at turns confused, intrigued and disbelieving at her.

“They are like us. They gain nothing from the Coven gaining more power. They get everything if they helped the revolution. No more oppressors. And a promise from King Ben to take all of us off the Isle to better housing, new jobs and actual food. A better life.”

“Whether Mal likes it or not.” Uma added internally. That had been the one thing she managed to speak to King Ben about, and surprisingluy he agreed wholeheartedly. He had seemed horrified when she described the living conditions that children dealt with. The way teens had turned to violence among other things to survive their abusive parents. He didn’t think he’d be able to convince Auradon should be abolished completely. Big villains would probably stay indefinitely. But he was welcome to her suggestions for programs to hep Vks.

“That’s why I need your input. King Ben is putting me in charge of VK Integration Programs and I want to know what we need.” “Uh, that’s nice. A truly Christian thing to do,” Claudine sneered saracastically, she had always been the most doubting of anyone having good intentions what with who she had for a father, “But shouldn’t we get out of here before we plan any VK Integration Programs?”

“This is part of how we are going to persuade the rest of the Isle to help us,” Uma smoothly bridged the two disparting ideas, “We need solid plans with how, what, when. Something solid and real that people can imagine and believe in. When the other Vks and adults hear of these programs, these programs that are as real as when King Ben invited the Core Four, they will be willing to fight for their chance to get in. They will rise up against the Coven so that they could be free.”

Claudine and Diego still looked suspicious, but Jason, Harold, and Big Murph practically had stars in their eyes. Hermie was smiling shyly and Hadie was tapping his chin thoughtfully. He was the first to pitch in.

“I think there should be something for the victims of Hans and Lars.” Everyone turned to look at him which caused the spiky-blue haired teen to flush and clam up. , Uma nodded empathetically, “Continue.” “Well, I mean-uh.Well we all had it bad. But Prince Hans is another level of bad. I went there once with dad for one of Staylan’s parties and I lurked around and man, that dude is nuts. He has photos of his “harem” all “sexy bruised” and stuff. And Lars…”

Uma narrowed her eyes. She didn’t need Hadie to elaborate on Lars. Gil had already told her everything she needed to know about the icy sadist. It was a term that was generally thrown around for an island full of villains with bloodlust, but Gil described the sickeningly calm way Lars acted. How Lars almost described it in seductive terms the way a whip would constrict a person’s throat until the breath left them. The calculating gaze he’d watch the ones he picked as “lovers.” Apparently a sadism that he picked up from his dad.

“Yeah, everyone knows Drizella is his favorite. Poor Dizzy.” Eddie shook his head.

Dizzy had always been left alone with her grandmother, Lady Tremine, but Uma had always assumed that Drizella, like almost all the parents on the Isle, was neglectful and uncaring. She hadn’t thought that Drizella may have been dealing with her own things.

And why wouldn’t she? That was Gil’s mother had to go through everyday with being Gaston’s unfavorite. While Uma was more concerned with the kids on the Isle, she could see now that some adults may need help too.

“Great. Center for sadist victims. What else have we got?”

“Do we have to go to school if we go to Auradon? I just don’t think I need it. My band is doing pretty well and I bet those royal dorks never heard music like mine.” Diego mock-shredded on his guitar

Uma cocked her head. She got his point. She didn’t think there was anything Auradon Prep had that could teach her anything useful. Like smizing as she heard from Celia Faciliar’s letters from Freddie. Plus there were some teens near adulthood like Harriet who probably wouldn’t want to be forced into classes when they could get jobs. Same with adults who never learned to read in their lives and still didnt want to.

“I’ll talk about it with King Ben. What else?” Uma said.

“Food that isn’t covered with flies. Fresh food, not trash.” Hermie said.

“Uh that’s just a given. None of their food is rotten.” Celia told the lithe brunette before Uma could clarify that good food comes with the territory.

Several ideas were thrown around, but the main ones came down to food, homes away from the possible revenge of their parents and others, and none of the Goodness 101 that Celia heard Freddie taking.

“Great. Now the important thing is that you spread the word of these programs to the other. You have to make people want this badly enough that they will fight. Act like its their only chance because it is. From there, I will send my crew to organize them to key points and learn some better and dirtier fight tactics.” Uma announced.

The rest of the Club nodded somberly at the announcement. There was not much emotion from Uma’s command. No relief, excitement or even nervousness. Just a numb sort of nod that they understood. But the words, “This is your only chance,” clearly rang in their heads.

It was now or never.

Everyone slowly got up to leave, thinking their own thoughts except the blonde who slipped to walk next to Uma, expertly slinking through the alleyways.

“Hi, um, I know we haven’t met before but um.. I’m Cosette.” The literally dirty blonde introduced in a fake high voice, clearly highlighting her nervousness, “I’m Gaston’s daughter. Gil’s half sister? You know Gil right? I mean, of course you do. I’ve seen him and everyone knows he hangs with you. I’m sorry I’m babbling. It’s just this is all so new-”

Uma stopped walking so she could give her her full attention. Yes, now that she stopped to actually look at Cosette, she could see a bit of the resemblance. The blonde hair, the high forehead and cheekbones. She looked older, maybe Harriet’s age, though her ample chest peeking from her corset gave the impression of a woman in her 20s. Unlike Gil, she didn’t have the usually confused look in her eyes. Just scared.

That look heightened Uma’s protective instincts. The helpless usually did that, as unvillainous as that was, plus the Gil resemblance.

“Why haven’t I heard of you before?” Uma asked skeptically even though she was pretty sure Cosette was honest.

“Um I’m a girl. Dad wouldn’t acknowledge me. Actually he tried to throw me away and try again which is why Mom left and… it seemed safer to avoid him. But- but I heard from Celia about this Anti-Villain Club when I went in for a reading, and Celia said you’d come so I thought I’d ask you. You know, for permission.” Uma thought. The story was realistic enough. But there was too much to do right now to focus on a family reunion. Unless…

“I will. You have my word. But first, how good would you say your fighting and/or spying skills?”