#my mom told me a gardener she hired went to one of the trees said ‘watch this’

[ink-the-artist]

I dare you to get a drill or electric mixer and use it next to the tree.

Is that gonna make the cicadas swarm the drill/mixer to try and fuck it or…?

[fanfic-me-up]

Unwithering | Bakugou Katsuki x Reader (1)

Part Two

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x fem!reader

Prompt: Flower shop AU, “I think I’m in love with you.”

Warnings: Mild Swearing. Flowery language (pun intended 😉... I’ll show myself out)

Word Count: 2,250

Taglist: Reply to this post if you want to be added for future chapters!

A/N: This is for @bnhabookclub​ event going on! Thank you for giving new writers in the fandom, like me, a place to promote their work. Shout out to @smolmilkyways​ for letting me use this beautiful piece of fanart above! Go check them out! Also, thanks @gallickingun​ for letting me tag you in my first fic. You gave me some pretty solid advice that pushed me to get this out here. This was originally a one-shot, but of course it turned into a multi-chap, so stay tuned for more! 

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

“I think I’m in love with you.”

Your fists gripped the hem of your dress. The sunflowers on it reminded you of him; a burning sun at the center of your universe. The boy in front of you crinkled his forehead at your statement; as if the love you spent years building up the courage to confess was no more than a pebble - insignificant - that he could kick to the side without a second thought.

Midoriya gave you a slight thumbs up from the back, but the rest of the boys cackled with no remorse. 

“You hear that, Bakugou? She looovvveesss you!”

“Freaky flower girl and Bakugou sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G”

“Awww is she gonna cry?”

The lump in your throat was difficult to swallow, but you refused to prove them right. It would only add fuel to the fire threatening to burn the seed planted in your heart.

He stepped toward you. The scent of burnt sugar filled your lungs; like fresh apples picked from your mother’s garden, dipped in melted caramel. You heard it’s a side effect from his quirk, but it was the first time you were close enough to experience it for yourself. 

You willed your eyes to find his. The soft breeze blowing past provided a cooling relief to the intense heat felt in your cheeks. When your eyes locked, a spark flashed within his own. You couldn’t catch it in time, but your heart stuttered in response.

 Any chance of a flower blooming died the next moment.

“I’ll never love a weak girl like you.”

A year passed before you saw Katsuki Bakugou again.

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

“Here’s your pickup order, Tanaka-san, I’m sure your wife will love them!” 

You ring up the older gentleman who’s been a regular at your mother’s flower shop for years. His wife loves the smell of scented geranium, a sweet apricot that never fails to remind her of the orchards back home. He’s convinced your flowers are the reason she’s still here; the true medicine to her illness.

You always deny this statement, shaking your head with a playful giggle, but the compliment warms you. It’s nice to hear people cared about your flowers.

“She loves only the ones made by you, dearest.”

He winks as his shaking hands grab the large bouquet. You smile and turn your hand, palm up, towards Tanaka whose eyes never fail to widen in awe at your quirk in action. A small stem sprouts from the center of your palm, growing taller by the second. You hone in on the bright yellow dot on the center of each petal. A wash of white forms around each dot, acting as a transition for the violet that envelops the rest of the petals.

Each petal opens up one by one to reveal a golden bud. 

You hand the flower to Tanaka.

“On the house,” you wink back. 

“Oh very nice, very nice, indeed,” he bows in thanks, “What is the meaning of this one?”

“Irises give hope. In Chinese tradition, it is referred to as ‘the purple butterfly’ because its petals flutter like butterflies.” 

The breeze from outside trails in at the perfect time and the petals flutter about.

“Very pretty,” Tanaka remarks, “I’ll be sure to let the misses know about this one!”

He thanks you one more time before walking out with a newfound spring in his step; the lone flower nestled in the pocket of his worn out janitor uniform. 

You’ve been working at Paradise Blooms for the past three years after your parents separated, and your mom needed the extra hand more than ever. It was difficult balancing school and work, especially when you were busy prepping for U.A. exams last year, but you could never say no to your mom. She’s been the constant in your life since day one.

The back door to the supply room squeaks.

“A little help here?” 

All you see is the top of your mom’s head, adorned with a multi-colored flower crown. Her face is covered by the high pile of crates she’s trying not to drop. You rush to catch the top crate before it tumbles.

“Phew. That was a close one. Thanks, honey!” 

She bends down to take the supplies out, arranging the items on the counters around the shop. She weaves through the aisles - it looks more like a garden than an actual shop, in your opinion, but you think it gives the place character. She stops at the row of potted flowers sitting on the far right of the shop, soaking in the sunlight cast through the window. It’s the new collection your mom got in time for the 2020 Garden Glow Event. Every year, flower shops all over the city participated in an annual gardening event to educate the public on gardening techniques with fun activities for the children. Your mom spent hours on the phone dealing with difficult vendors to get this specific collection for the event. Water sprinkles out from her palm as she takes the time to water each and every flower.

Since there’s no customers at the moment, you grab the broom from the storeroom and set to sweeping around the shop. It’s not long before your mom’s watering routine is interrupted by her phone ringing.

“Hello?” You continue sweeping, gently humming along to the tune playing through the speakers, but your voice catches when you hear, “Mitsuki! Hi! How are you?” 

Mitsuki? Your mom couldn’t possibly be talking to Mitsuki... Bakugou? 

Your knuckles turn white from squeezing the life out of the poor broom as you wait for confirmation. 

“I think I’m in love with you.”

The memories you tried so hard to forget come flooding all at once.

“I’ll never love a weak girl like you.”

You’re snapped out of the memory.

“Yes, bring him in! Great! See you in a few, bye.” 

Your mother returns to watering the flowers like nothing happened - like that single phone call didn’t just turn your world upside down, after you spent the last year flipping it right side up.

“Who was that?” 

You’re afraid of the answer. 

You promised yourself you moved on from Katsuki Bakugou. It proved to be easier said than done. Even if you both went to separate high schools and most of your days were spent either studying or working; at night is when your thoughts strayed. You wondered what he was up to… was he passing all his classes? You’d giggle at the absurdity of Katsuki not being number one. Was he still bullying Midoriya? Did you ever cross his mind?

Was he happy?

Because more than anything, you wished him happiness - even if that happiness was not with you. Was that weakness? Was wishing for someone’s happiness, who could care less about you, considered weakness? 

“Hm?” Your mom turns to you, “Oh! That was Mitsuki Bakugou. Her son, Katsuki - I believe you went to school with him? Well, he needs a part-time job to help pay for tuition. Can you believe he got into U.A.? Mitsuki must be so proud of him.”

“I figured you’d be happy,” she continues, " I know you’ve been struggling with balancing school and work, so I thought having another person around would help lighten the load a little bit. Besides, I owed Mitsuki a favor.”

Your mother blushes at the last part.

Favor? What favor?

But that’s the last thing on your mind when you suddenly feel the need to pass out.

Katsuki… is… working… here? 

“Honey, are you okay? You look a little pale.”

“I - I’m not sure I can…” you trail off. Your mom didn’t know about your confession to Katsuki. When you came home in tears that day, with your dress all wrinkled, you told her it was because kids were bullying you for trying and failing to get into U.A. 

It was the half-truth. 

“Y/N, did something happen between you and Katsuki? I can call Mitsuki back right now if you don’t feel comfortable with him around.” 

It was as easy as breathing or using your quirk, second nature, all you had to do was utter a two letter word and your mom would immediately have Mitsuki on the line, apologizing for the inconvenience, but making sure to recommend a few places in the area who were hiring. A simple “no” and your world would become right side up again, the boy you loved long forgotten during the day and only remembered at night when there’s nothing to consume your mind, but him. 

Taking the easy way called out to you, beckoning you to relinquish your strength, and give in. But if you couldn’t face one boy, then maybe Katsuki was right. Maybe you were weak. 

“I’m fine, mom, I can work with him,” you say.

Pounding footsteps against the pavement outside cut your mom off from her next words.

“OI! LET ME GO, OLD WOMAN, I’LL KILL YOU!” 

“CALL ME THAT ONE MORE TIME AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU!” 

Your breath hitches at the sound. You haven’t heard that voice in over a year; it’s gotten deeper, raspier in tone. You take a few breaths in and out to calm yourself so you don’t melt into the floor at first glance.

The door swings open - the “We’re Open” sign rattles dangerously against the glass -  and in barges Mitsuki Bakugou, dragging her son by the ear.

Katsuki struggles to get out of his mother’s grasp, his arms stretch toward the door, but Mitsuki pulls him all the way inside.

“I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAINING, WOMAN!”

“AND NOW YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF GETTING A JOB!”

“I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT!”

“YOU’LL MAKE TIME!”

Katsuki growls. His palms curving into themselves like he’s trying to reign in his quirk from exploding Paradise Blooms where it stands.

You and your mom look at each other, unsure how to inject yourselves in the rather awkward exchange. Truthfully, you’re not surprised by the interaction; you’ve seen Katsuki and his family at school events in the past. The Bakugous had an… interesting family dynamic. 

Mitsuki notices the both of you watching and immediately releases Katsuki. She smiles and greets your mom with a hug as if the previous interaction never happened.

“Y/Mom’s/N, it’s great to see you! How’s the event planning coming along?”

Your mom and Mitsuki engage in small talk for a couple minutes leaving you to sneak a quick glance over at Katsuki leaning against the door. He’s looking out the window with a scowl on his face. He crosses his arms to stop himself from fisting his palms, a sign you picked up on when he’s itching to get on the field and obliterate. 

You find yourself thinking how beautiful and destructive at the same time.

Once Mitsuki and your mom finish catching up, she directs her attention towards you. 

“And you must be Y/N?  Your mother has told me so much about you!”

You catch the flash of recognition in Katsuki’s eyes, but you’re wrapped in a hug before you can think. The hug is a bit awkward with the counter digging into your side, but the warmth radiating off Mitsuki makes you feel at home. She lets go of you and turns around to where Katsuki is still standing by the door, ready to leave the first chance he gets.

“And this is my son, Katsuki,” she beckons him over, but when he doesn’t move she barks, “Don’t be rude! Get over here and introduce yourself.” 

Katsuki grumbles under his breath, but trudges over. 

“Sup.”

Mitsuki growls and slaps Katsuki over the head, “Oi! Where are your manners!?” 

She glances apologetically, “I’m sorry. He’s… a bit much to handle. I really appreciate you agreeing to hire him. He’s had trouble in the past with defying authority.”

Katsuki scowls at the ground when Mitsuki pats his head affectionately this time. 

“But he’s a good kid at heart, a little rough around the edges, but overall a good kid. I hope you’re able to see that and work with him.” 

She bows; her hand on Katsuki’s head nudges him to do the same. His nose twitches, but he listens this time.

Your mother is an empathetic person, able to walk all paths of life and notice the beauty in each one. It wasn’t like her to turn someone down in need. 

Your mom smiles, “I’m happy to work with Katsuki. What about you, Y/N?”

She’s giving you a way out for the last time. 

Mitsuki looks at you, hope in her eyes.

Doubt laid out its hand for you to take; to lead you away from the pain that still ate away at you everyday. The teasing. The pointing. The rejection from U.A. and from Katsuki. Working with him would force you to face the pain head on.

“I’ll never love a weak girl like you.”

You lock eyes with Katsuki for the first time since that day many moons ago; he’s awaiting your answer, a twinge of hope laced in his eyes overshadowed by a grimace. 

You wonder if you now hold the fuel to the fire threatening to burn the tiny seed of hope he’s trying so hard to bury.

For better or for worse, you were also a person who found beauty in all paths of life.

“Welcome aboard,” you say.

[ask-dynamosparks]

So not Dy content and just a heads up this is gonna be a small life rant, so pay it no mind if ya don’t want to get sucked into life drama. And with that let’s jump in.

So to start things off I’d say I’m doing pretty ok. Physically I’ve been trying to get back into shape and even more recently I’ve been hired on for part time at a mom n pop comic book store as their manga guy. How ever dealing with my dad when I’m at home has been mentally and emotionally taxing. Honestly it feels like I’m dealing with a younger sibling rather than some one who raised me. And when ever I try to bring up my concerns with him he gets really defensive and tries to point the finger at me, so at this point I’ve stopped trying to communicate with him.

Now most of the mental frustration comes from my dad touching and interacting with stuff or activities that don’t belong to him. My dad is the type of person who has that mind set of “If it’s not mine, no biggy if something happens to it. And it’s not my problem if it effects some one.” During the start of quarantine I began to plan stuff out to keep my sanity up, but my dad muscled his way into said activities. As of date he’s killed 2 vegetable gardens, nearly drowned a rose bush, nearly broke a bunch of art supplies I needed for classes, nearly broke my old Wacom bamboo, potentially damaged a few comic books that could be worth money in the future, moved around important documents and checks that tie into me getting a BA, potentially has drowned a Filipino citrus bush, almost destroyed a whisk that is one of the few remaining things that my grandmother left to my mom before she passed away before me and my sib was born, killed a bonsai tree that I kept alive for 2 years because he wanted to ferment stuff next to it, and a few other things and each time I’ve told him not to do that again. A lot of these incidents happened before I got my job, so I’d be digging into what little I had saved up at the time in order to replace things.

Now fast forwarding to now and the reason why I’m posting this. About 2 to 3 weeks ago I was out drinking with some friends, ended up coming home late and noticed a package came in for my mom and dad, so I brought it in so it wouldn’t get stolen. I woke up pretty hung over so I decided to have a lie down on the couch. My dad comes in the the package that I brought in and he’s going on and on about how him and my mom saw this basket and just had to buy it. He then went into a few other things before asking how my night was. The conversation went something like this “So who did you hang out with? What were you drinking? Oh mead that’s some fancy strong stuff? BTW I broke you favorite coffee mug you know the one your friend made you. I’ll buy you a new one. Anyways look at this basket.” At this point I was too hung over to care so I told him not to touch any of my stuff. Later I asked my mom how it happened and she told me it was because he was making beet salad. When the mug broke he tried to chuck it but my mom and sister stopped him had to explain he needed to tell me cause the mug was irreplaceable and was designed by some one who was an avid coffee drinker. My dad responded with “well I didn’t know that” to which my mom and sis responded with “He’s mentioned it a couple times and it’s something that brings him a lot of joy.”

Jump to today and after telling my dad not to touch anything and I found that he’s been messing with my photo equipment. Literally $700+ worth of camera equipment acquired over 4 years left in an area where my dogs love to get their zoomies out. And original it was all placed in an area where they would be safe. So yeah, my equipment for potentially my livelihood was handled by some one who absolutely doesn’t care and at this point I’m emotionally exhausted. Hopefully things might get better, but who knows at this point and it might be after a bunch of stuff gets broken and my anxiety shoots through the roof.

So if you got through all this, thanks for reading my little rant and I do plan on getting back into making more Dy content.

[hiddenwritingsintheworld]

Small Town Missed Connections-Part 1 (Jensen X Reader)

Donations (please help. Jobless, and decided to make this my new job so anything helps out! Thanks!) 

(New Series!!! Hopefully! Only if you all love it!) Shout out to @adriellej for being the best at helping me work through writers block!!! PS dont forget to let me know if you want to stay on the tag list!) 

                You heard your phone chime in your back pocket and a smile instantly appeared on your face. You almost dropped the boxes in your hands as you walked down the stairs from the storage in the upper loft of the building. “Easy, someone’s in a cheery mood today. What gives?” Amanda, the sassy 17-year-old blonde you’d hired for summer help, said as you reached the bottom, allowing her to take the top box. “Oh nothing, I just can’t be in a good mood?” you asked with a smile, which she knew hid a secret behind it. She narrowed her eyes and sighed “fine. But one day, I will get it out of you.” She walked away taking the box with her. “Don’t forget to go through that and price everything! I should still have the book under the counter!” you called out as you walked over to the coffee shop.

               “There she is,” an older more cracking voice called out. You set the box down behind the counter and turned smiling at the older gentleman. “Mr. Zukowski! Good morning! How is the coffee and muffin today?” you grinned asking a bit louder so he could hear you. “Good, good, thank you. You seem busy, I won’t hold you up. I just wanted to tell you, the weeds out front are looking a little tall, I could take care of those for you.” He smiled politely. You let a small laugh slip out as you came around the counter, “Mr. Zukowski, I’ve told you before, you help me out by making sure my coffee and muffins taste perfect. Now, I’ll have Zach bag up a couple of muffins for you to take home, and tell Mrs. Zukowski, I’ll be by this afternoon to check on your guys garden okay? I don’t want you back out there after your accident last time okay?” you nodded to him. “I’ll call someone to come and take care of those darn weeds okay?” you helped him back to his seat so he could finish his breakfast and finish reading the paper.

               “You are so sweet, thank you dear.” Mr. Zukowski smiled and patted your hand as he sat down. You smiled at him before going back over to the counter. “Every day, I don’t get how you do it. That man drives me crazy,” Zach told you as you opened the box. “Zach, it’s people like the Zukowski’s that made this sweet little town, just the way it is, perfect. Now, help me with these fall decorations.” You smiled. After getting everything-and everyone where they belonged, you finally had a minute to check your phone.

               ‘Why good morning, I thought you were never going to text me back’ Jensen texted back right after you’d sent good morning. ‘Sorry, it’s been a busy morning at the shop, now I have some weeds to pull, a garden to check on and I need to do a supply order, do you realize how much I hate ordering supplies. I wish there was this magical little button I could click and bam. All the supplies I need-ordered’ you sent back with a face palming emoji.

               Jensen began typing a response then stopped, then the dots came back again. You laughed at his constant typing-deleting-retyping thing he always did. ‘So, if I could spare your attention for a moment, I took a photo this morning and I wanted to get your opinion on it before I post it on Instagram, so do you have time?’ he asked with a heart emoji. You sent back a thumbs up with a smiley face, ‘For your photos Jay, I always have time. Let me see it.’ You sat back in your office chair and smiled as he texted the photo.

               It was of his lake house, just a side view though, from the front porch. The photo was capturing the early morning sunrise with silhouette of trees against the lake. You stared, mesmerized by the photo, wishing you had a large cup of coffee and were curled up in a warm sweater there on the front porch chair, watching the water as you drank your coffee. ‘Whoa…..that is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, have you posted that yet?!’ you texted back instantly.

               A few moments passed before you had a notification from Instagram, Jays Photography had posted a new photo, with the caption, “Sure missing a near and dear friend this morning, this one is for her.” Two red hearts followed the caption and your heart beat just a tad faster as you liked the photo and replied “What a lucky friend. Photo is incredible. I’m sure she loves it,” you sent the comment and got back to work.

                As the day went on you and Jensen texted back and forth, talking about anything and everything you could want. Business picked up in the afternoon so you’d quickly found yourself busy with customers; meanwhile Jensen had found himself busy as well.

               Jensen had met up with Misha, Vicki, Jared, and Gen and was having dinner all together. “So listen, Vicki and I have been talking and why don’t we all go on a little vacation?” Misha asked the group as they all smiled. “That sounds so wonderful, I can have my mom watched the kiddos and we can be ready to go by the weekend. Where were you thinking of going?” Gen asked setting her fork down so she could take a sip of the strong red wine her and Jared were drinking.

               “Well, we want to go somewhere off the map, a small little town where we can relax and not be bothered by anyone.” Misha told her. Gen nodded after taking a bite of her salad, “There’s the cutest little town I found while googling the other day! We could go there!! It’s like 6-7 hours from here!” she smiled pulling up the name of the town on google.

               The group agreed, the entire time Jensen had remained quiet though, he had been waiting on you to text him back. When you finally did, a grin broke out across his face. “What are you grinning about?” Jared asked as he tried to take a peek at Jensen’s phone. “Nothing, I’m just texting a friend of mine.” Jensen told him. “Come on Jay, you tell me everything, except for what feels like the last 6 months where you’ve been texting someone and not saying a word about it to me. Who is it?” Jared asked again.

               “You never told him about Y/N??” Misha asked popping his head up between the two of them. “Y/N?? Who’s Y/N????” Jared asked before yanking the phone away and began reading through the messages. Jensen glared at him and tried to snatch it back quickly. “What the fuck man! Give that back! It’s mine!” Jared finally gave it back after Jensen had jumped and tried to reach it. “Dude, you need to meet this chick, you guys sound really interested in each other.” He told his best friend, but Jensen glared at him “My cell phone is private, you gonna blurt out anything else?? This girl actually means something to me,” Jensen shook his head and walked off, he’d walk himself home.

               You had just gotten out of the shower when you grabbed your phone, laid down on your bed and texted Jensen again. ‘Okay, finally, we have time to chat, sorry I’ve been super busy with work lately, things are changing and it’s all a little much for me to handle on my own.’ You texted back. A few minutes later Jensen texted back ‘hey 😊 don’t work yourself to hard okay? Believe me, I’m sure my ex-wife has a few stories she could share about how much I worked on my previous job, even though she worked too but that’s beside the point. I’m glad you’re finally able to relax for the night. What did you have for dinner?’ he sent back with another smiley face.

               You laughed and texted the picture of the take out menu, ‘my favorite Chinese place, it’s quick, easy and on my way home from work, plus they have the most amazing egg rolls in the entire world. I love them so much,’ Jay sent a message back a few moments later with two laughing faces. ‘Lucky, I love Chinese, I had dinner with a few friends of mine.’ The conversation carried on until you passed out mid-text. Jensen waited for ten minutes until he finally realized you’d fell asleep. He smiled, wondering if anything would you be able to meet some day? Would you like him, not because he is an actor and made lots of money but because he preferred chocolate syrup over his strawberry ice cream? Or how about the way he watches movies, a medium popcorn, because the small isn’t big enough to share, and it always disappears before the movie starts and the large is too big, way to much salt and butter; two candy choices, a sweet and a sour, both enhance and cancels the salty popcorn, as well as a large soda. How about how he cooks, slow, but to perfection, and there’s always a meat, potato, and vegetable. He was more worried you were just interested in the fame, not for who he really was. But maybe this trip would help him clear his head some.

@adriellej @sgarrett49 @smoothdogsgirl @mrssamfuckingwinchester @hobby27 @traceyaudette @mogaruke @thewalkingdistancefrom​ @booger206​ @ellen-reincarnated1967​ @heimganger​ @moonlitskinwalker​ @teamfreewill-imagine​ @stoneygirl​ @monkeymcpoopoo​ @sandlee44​ @asgardianvamp21​ @frozenhuntress67​ @babypink224221​ @just-another-busy-fangirl​ @flamencodiva​ @for-the-love-of-the-fandom​ @auriel187​ @animenerdz1819​ @jessica-marsh09​ @woodworthti666​ 

[raphaelshusband]

[i] am [l]ucky t[o] ha[ve] [you] | saphael one shot

Raphael Santiago stretched out on the king's bed. He waited a moment for the heaviness to disappear from his eyelids and stood up, sliding his feet into the fluffy slippers. He picked up a cozy scarlet robe from the ground and threw it over him. He walked over to the heavy red curtains and then opened them. A winter landscape greeted him. Each smallest plant was covered with a layer of cold white fluff. He left his room and headed to the kitchen. He descended the red and gold carpeted stairs, running his hand along the cool silver railing.

Raphael started the coffeemaker and placed a mug under it. After that he found a pack of cigarettes, he opened the window to let in some fresh, cool air. Brunet leaned against the windowsill and puffed out gray puffs of smoke as he looked at the snow-covered spruce trees in his garden.

As the cigarette was nearing its end, he put it out in the ashtray and went with the coffee to the living room. He sat down on a gilded couch and a Siamese cat jumped on his lap. Santiago smiled and scratched Amor behind the ear. After a while he heard the doorbell.

Por que demonios?

Ignoring his appearance, he entered the hall and opened the door. His friend was standing on the stone steps. The boy was wearing only a hoodie. He was all red in his face and his hands were slowly turning a bluish color.

"Simon? Por el amor de Dios, what are you doing here? Come in!" He schouted and pushed his friend inside.

"R.. Raphael.. I promise that I won't stay here for long.." He stammered out, teeth chattering.

"You're not going anywhere, come on." Raphael pushed him onto the couch. "Dios, Simon, you have frostbites. Wait, here" he ran upstairs. Raphael returned with a blanket over his shoulder and a bowl of cold water. He stood in front of Simon and wrapped him in a cozy, dark blanket. "I'll make you tea."

"R..Raphael.. no.. don't be silly.." he whispered.

"Simon, you're definitely hypothermic, you need to keep warm," he ignored the boy's protests as he put the kettle on. He realized his appearance and, embarrassed, quickly knotted his robe. Amor, not understanding the situation, rubbed his head against Lewis's knee and began to walk on his lap. "Amor, get off" Raphael ordered, handing the mug to the brown-eyed man in one hand. He took the other one gently in his hands and gradually began soaking in cold water. "I know it's cold, but if I put it in hot, you'd be in pain.. now tell me what happened."

Simon started to cry.

"I'm a Jew, right?"

"Of course."

"My.. my mother is very religious, but also homophobic. I know.. she doesn't show it, but she is.." He sniffed, took a deep breath. Santiago took care of his other hand. "I admitted to her that I am gay," the Mexican looked up quickly. "She t.. threw me out. I don't even know if I can come back for.. for my things.."

"Oh, Simon.." the dark-eyed man stopped and wrapped his arms around the boy. Simon hid his head in the hollow of Raphael's neck and sobbed softly. "Shh.." he placed a gentle kiss on his friend's hair. Simon pulled away from him and stood up.

"I'll go now.. I won't disturb you .."

"Are you kidding? It's cold as fuck outside! Did you eat anything at all?"

"I ate yesterday.. but I found ten dollars in my hoodie so I can go to..

"No." He interrupted him. "You're staying here" Santiago grabbed hm by shoulders and draped in the blanket again. "You'll warm up, I'll give you a clothes to change, and you'll go take a shower. I'll make you something to eat."

"Raphael, stop.."

"I insist" he cut short. I look after the people I love. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"I was wandering the streets.."

"Eres un estupido! You should have come to me right away, not in the morning with frostbites! Drink tea. I'm going to change" he said and returned to his room. When he changed in the dressing room, he take warm pajamas and a fluffy towel from the wardrobe. Then he went back to Simon. "Go take a shower, mi sol. I'll make you breakfast and you'll sleep. Okay?"

"Sure.." he grabbed things and started climbing the stairs.

"First floor, you go to the end of the hall and turn left. First door."

"Thanks" Simon smiled weakly. Raphael went back to the kitchen and filled forgotten cat bowls in the process.

Thirty minutes later Simon was in the kitchen. Santiago offered him a plate of croissants. Brunet sat down in front of the boy.

"What about school?"

"I can't go back. Mom is a lecturer there. Probably everyone knows about it by now."

"Have you thought about changing direction? From what you told me, your mother chose accounting for you. Simon, you love music. You should go this way."

"I have no money .." he replied softly. 

"I could hire you. In my coffee shop," he leaned forward. "You'd show your customers your musical talent every Friday or.. I'd just teach you the role of a barista."

"What? N.. no, no. I can't accept this offer," he shook his head. "I have enough of your help today.. I really appreciate it, but.. it's too much.."

"Think about it, Simon. It might be a good solution."

"Alright.. let me think it over .."

"Come on, I'll show you where you'll sleep" and began leading him to the second floor. When Lewis lay wrapped in sheets, he really wanted to grab Santiago by the wrist and tell him what he felt. He wanted to tell him I love you. But instead he muttered softly:

"I'm lucky to have you."

end of the part one.

[lunermagick-sims4]

Griselda’s Stroy

Part 20

  Griselda had been giving some thought to a change in jobs. She thinks it is time to try something new. Dealing with people returning items is getting boring and her boss is not a fan of her anyway.  So at the end of her shift today she is giving her final notice and looking for a new job. She was looking around on the job bank on her phone and found a book clerk job. “Gemma what  do you think about me taking a book clerk job?”  Gemma was doing dishes and she turned around to look at her. “I think it would be great for you. You are thinking of becoming a teacher it be good for you.” Griselda nodded. “Wish it was a library tome of magic or all the supernatural sims of the world.” Griselda laughed and so did Gemma. “That would be a pretty cool thing. I think I could see you being a magical history teacher or something to do with animals.” Griselda thought about it. “That would be neat if there was a perfect job like that for me.” Gemma finished up with cleaning up when there was a knock at the door. Griselda was finishing her application to apply for her new job. She really was hoping that she would get it. “Gemma went to the door and gasp. “Griselda it Leanne. Do I look okay?” Griselda looked at Gemma. “Gemma you look fine. Answer the door silly.” Gemma smiled and took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hey Leeanne.” She stepped out and Griselda went out with her. Storm was out there somewhere so Griselda thought she would stay out to be back up if Gemma needed some support. “Hi,” Griselda said to Leeanne walking by them and towards Storm. Griselda was having fun playing with Storm with the teaser. He was loving it. “Gemma I like you.” Griselda looked over at Gemma, she was blushing. “I am not sure how I feel. I think I need to take some time to think on my feelings and I am not ready to explore this yet.” Leeanne face was hard to read. “I wish it was easy but it not, Leeanne. I want us to stay friends.” Leeanne just stood there. “We can try but it is going to be hard to put everything back into a box.” Gemma looked sad. “I do not want to lose you.” Leeanne smiled. “I am not going any where. I will  give you time to let you figure things out. When your are ready I will be here.” Gemma smiled. They kissed and Leeanne said she would see her at school tomorrow.

The girls went to school the next day and Griselda saw Gemma crying and running out of the school. She followed her with Storm on her heels. Storm follows her every where, he is her familiar and he goes to school and work with her. “Gemma!” Griselda tried yelling after her. Gemma got onto her broom and flew off. Griselda brought her broom out of her summoning place and told Storm to climb on. She followed Gemma till they were in the Realm. They went over by the big tree outside of the HQ.

“Gemma!” Gemma finally looked and saw Griselda. She went to Griselda crying and Griselda hugged her tight. “What happened? Who do I need to burn and freeze and burn again?” Gemma finally laughed. “This group of jocks and cheerleaders are saying I am a fat lesbian and pushed me down. Then they laughed and oinked at me. I just had to leave I felt so embarrassed, as they did this in the hall in front of everyone.” She sniffed. “I did not even realize that you were behind me.” Griselda was pissed!  “I am going after them!” Gemma grabbed her. “No leave it alone. You do not need to get suspended for using magic at school.” Griselda made a fists. “I do not care, no one is going to mess with my best friends. I do well in school my grades are high honours, I will be fine!” Gemma held Griselda back and yelled. “No! I need you at school!” Griselda stopped then and looked at her best friends. She decided to let it go for her friend and let herself cool off. They chatted for hours. “I am going to go to the bathroom change into my work clothes. If you want to meet me at the duelling grounds for a duel. I think it will make you feel better.” Gemma nodded and headed off to get ready to do some duelling before work. Griselda got changed fast to get out of there before she saw Ren or anyone she may know. Griselda went through the portal to the duelling ground and Gemma was already there. “Ready to duel, Gemma” Griselda gave her a sly smile. Gemma gave back the same smile and ready herself. “Your training starts now.” Their magic come in contact and Griselda could feel Gemma’s power growing against hers. “Let it all out.” Gemma went for a hit but Griselda blocked it. Gemma was a little faster with the next hit and she knocked Griselda onto her butt. “Ouch! But great job!” Gemma ran over. “You okay? I just focused that you were the ones I was mad at, sorry.” Griselda got up “it fine I wanted you too” Gemma smiled. “Your a good friends.” Griselda brushed herself off and looked at her phone. “I got to get going.” She hugged Gemma. “Go to your mom’s and I will meet you there after work.” Gemma nodded and followed Griselda. “I wonder where Storm wondered off too?” The girls went back to HQ. Griselda and Gemma was just about to go through the portal back to Glimmerbrook when Storm came running toward the portal. The girls and Storm went through the portal. They got onto their brooms, Gemma started toward her family’s home and Griselda started toward work with Storm on the back of her broom and headed off to her last shift.

After Griselda gave her boss her notice that she was leaving, she felt a big relief taken off her back. She felt so good that she was all done at this job. She got a email from the job bank on her application for the book clerk job and she was hired. “Storm I am so excited to be starting something new.” She told Storm on their way home. Storm was taking in the smells on their way to the house. Griselda saw the house and lowered down and landed. Storm hopped off and she put her broom into her summoning place. She went in and petted Luna on her way to get changed into something more relaxing. “Luna would you like to go to Glimmerbrook?” She spun around in circles. “Must be a yes.” Luna was looking to be weird colour but maybe it just the lighting, Griselda thought. Storm nibbled on some food and after Griselda thought Luna was looking better they all got onto the broom and flew off to Glimmerbrook. When they got closer to the town Griselda took in the view of her childhood home. She smiled grimly. Remembering coming home as a kid and her mom being in the garden waiting for her to come help. Griselda’s mom had long curly hair like hers but her mom’s hair was brown. Her eyes colour was like Griselda’s and when she smiled her eyes seem to glimmer the blue and pink so brightly. After they had worked a while in the garden Griselda and her mom would gather some herbs from the garden. Dad would yell from the house. “Supper, Griselda! Lyra! Come eat!” “Coming Kai!” Griselda certainly got her hair colour from her dad and his eyes were a crimson colour. Griselda mom always kissed him when they got to the house and she always got dirt on him. He would always teased her about getting him dirty but you could tell the two were so in love with each other! Griselda wanted someday to have a love like her parents. After supper she remembered her dad would help her with her homework while her mom always did the dishes. She missed them so much. She realized she was just hovering over the Charm house as she came back to the present and landed near the door.

Griselda, Gemma and Minerva were chatting away. Gemma told her mom about what happened at school before Griselda got there.   Minerva felt that it may be a good idea that she go to the school to talk with the headmaster about the issue. Gemma felt nervous but she knew her mom knew how to handle it. A knock came to the door. “Will you get that Griselda” Minerva asked. Griselda headed to the door and to her surprise it was Ren. Ren looked up and was shocked to see her. “Oh hi. I did not know you were here.” Griselda had not seen him since the party and her heart fluttered seeing him again. He was as handsome as ever. “Your are looking good,” Griselda finally said. Ren smiled. “You are too.” There seem to be a weirdness between them now so Gemma chimed in and broke up their awkwardness. “Ren! Hey! Come in.” He looked at Griselda and came in. Gemma gave Ren a hug an asked, “What are you doing here?” Griselda felt her throat get dry. “I came to talk to Minerva, but I can come back later.” Minerva smiled “Come in Ren.” They wandered into the living room. Gemma was bouncing her way into the living room and Griselda just followed everyone. Gemma sat in the big comfy chair, Ren went for the couch and Minerva directed Griselda to have a seat on the couch as well.  Minerva stayed standing up. “I came to talk about preparation for Samhain ceremony and was wondering if everyone was coming as normal.” Minerva nodded “Yes we are going. Right girls?” Gemma pipped up. “Been looking forward for this ceremony for awhile. I am so excited to be able to see dad. Ren looked over to Griselda. “It is my favourite holiday of all, can see my parents and wear my favourite outfit. I am not missing it for anything.” Luna was running around the house excitingly.  “Oh my! Luna you have grown so much.” Ren got looking at her more. “Griselda her colour is off.” Griselda looked at her little ferret and she was looking blue.” Griselda looked worried. Ren must of known she was worried. “I am sure she will be okay.” Griselda nodded. “When I am done here I am taking Luna to the vet. Storm was sick the other day she must of gotten what he had.” Ren seem to agree that was a good idea. Where is Storm anyway?” Griselda shrugged “I am not sure where Storm is. It been a while since we have been in Glimmerbrook probably visiting his old  stomping grounds.” Ren laughed. “A little adventurous like you. No wonder you guys connected so well.” Griselda blushed. Minerva was talking to Gemma about a few things and Griselda was starting to feel comfortable with Ren again, they chatted on for awhile and she was happy things were able to be normal again with them.

Griselda was heading out and Ren followed her out. Gemma decided to stay a bit longer she looked disappointed that Ren decided to leave but he needed to get back to the Realm. Griselda got Storm onto her broom but Luna was a bit weak now. “I will help Luna.” Ren picked Luna up and got her onto the broom. “Thanks.” Ren was close and Griselda caught his scent of sage. She felt relaxed and the two locked eyes. The spark between them still burned strong. He petted Storm and Luna and cleared his throat and took a step back. “Please keep me update on what you find out about Luna.” Griselda nodded and flew off. Griselda stomach flipped all the way to Brindleton Bay as she worried over Luna and thought about Ren.

A few days had gone by and Ren and Griselda have been messaging back and forth since she volunteers to help with the ceremony for Samhain. He was happy Luna was doing better. Griselda was finishing up getting things together when she heard Gemma on the phone. “What! I just saw her the other day.” Griselda looked over and was concerned. “Gemma, what is going on?” She hung up the phone and tears starting to weld up. “That was Emilie. When she got up this morning and found mom was not awake. She got worried and went in to check on her and could not wake her! It was late for her not to be up and,” She trailed off. “What?” Gemma started to cry. “Mom passed in her sleep.” Griselda felt everything come crashing around her. She went numb, she just started to walk outside the cold air hit her in the face, she just couldn’t be any help to Gemma at that moment, with no destination in mind she just walked. She came to his door and knocked.  She wanted him to be home she needed him to be home. He opened the door, she was so relieved he was there she went into his arms and the tears over come her. His sage smell over come her and she felt safe being in his arms. He never said a thing he just held her close and let her cry.

[americannoona]

Remembering Elizabeth Ch25

It was early, but the sun room was bright and warm. The sun that filtered through the stained glass windows bounced around the room in many shades of yellow, and made me imagine that this is what it would be like to be inside of a sunflower. Sehun brought me here this morning and instructed me not to move. When he left the room, he locked the door behind him, which gave me an uneasy feeling. I hated the clicking noise of a locking door. I fought the urge to unlock it, however, because I figured out that he was keeping me safe from Mi Young. So, I ignored the locked door, and concentrated on the view. 

Outside of the sunroom was a little garden with paths and benches and a place in the middle that would be perfect for an intimate party. As I was staring out of the window, a bunny bounced onto one of the paths. I was delighted to watch it scurry this way and that, smelling everything and pricking up it’s ears at every sound. I was so engrossed in the bunny that I jumped when Sehun opened the door. He laughed. “You are the jumpiest person I know,” he said. He was carrying two plates and wearing an apron that was oddly sexy for something so plain around his middle. “Did you cook?” I asked. “I did,” he said, and laid a plate in front of me with the biggest waffle I had ever seen on it. Until he put his plate down on the other side that is. I watched as he leaned back outside the door and rolled in a little trolley full of things. “I hope there is some milk on there somewhere,” I said. “Of course. Whoever heard of waffles without milk?” he said and smiled. Pouring two glasses of milk, he asked, “What kind of syrup would you like?” “What kind do you have?” “You know what? Try this homemade syrup that Ms. Jung made. She calls it Butter Pecan. I think it’s the reason that Junie hired her,” he said and poured the syrup on my giant waffle. With a little difficulty, I cut a piece off and tried it. I don’t know if Sehun is just an excellent cook or if Ms. Jung’s syrup saved it, but it was the best breakfast I had ever had. “Oh my gosh, Sehun. This is delicious!” I said and crammed another big piece in my mouth. “Why thank you pretty lady,” he said. He took a big bite of his own. There wasn’t much talking as we ate. I hadn’t imagined that I could actually finish that monster waffle, but I guess I was hungrier than I thought. Sehun, who didn’t finish his, watched me finish mine with an amused smile on his face. “What?” I asked with my mouth full of the last bite. With a small breathy laugh, he said, “Nothing.” I finished my bite, put my fork down, and leaned back in my chair. I was so full. Sehun was just looking at me. “The baby was really hungry,” I said. “Uh huh,” he answered. I became a little sad as I realized something. “What time are you leaving today?” I asked. Standing up to clear the table, he said, “I’m not. Today, I’m spending the day with a very special woman.” “Ms. Jung? Are you kitchen help today?” I asked. “How did you guess?” he asked and poked me in the side, tickling me. Trying to get away from his assault, I laughed and said, “That sexy apron gave you away.” “Oh, you like it huh?” he asked and came to lean over me. Then he nuzzled my neck and kissed my collarbone. Leaning into the kiss, I said, “I like it even more up close.” He kissed up my neck until he sucked in my earlobe and nibbled it. I gasped. Then, to my surprise, he stood up and finished cleaning up. I watched him with that mischievous little grin on his face and said, “That was mean.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. The nerve of him! I thought. Just as he went out the door with the trolley, he said, “I had to stop or we wouldn’t do anything else today,” After the door shut I yelled, “I would have been okay with that!”

After Sehun bundled me into his car, he went back in to get the wallet that he had forgotten. I noticed movement in one of the windows above, and looking up, I met the eyes of Mi Young. I smiled and waved, but she didn’t return the gesture. She just stood there staring daggers. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Then I remembered that she had wrapped her naked body around my naked Sehun, and suddenly I couldn’t care less if she didn’t like me. The thought made my stomach churn. Sehun came back out. I rolled the window down and said, “Come over here.” He came to my window, and I put my hands into his perfectly combed hair and kissed him as if I were trying to suck out his soul. He stood up when I let go and staggered backwards a little. “What was that for?” he asked. “That was for me,” I said. “And maybe a little bit of payback.” He didn’t have to know that is was two-fold payback for both him and Mi Young. As he walked around and got into the car, I looked back up at the window, smiled and waved again. She turned in a flourish and was gone. Sitting back and getting comfortable, I thought, I have a real mean streak.

Sehun held my hand as we rode through beautiful countryside. Except for when he changed gears. I don’t know what it is about watching a man change gears in a car, but there is something very sexy about it. “Where are we going?” I asked. “Well,” he said and pressed his lips together. “We are going to make a really quick stop at my Mom’s house before we meet the rest of the guys at a place that I have been dying to take you to.” “Hold up!” I said. “I’m going to meet your mom?” I asked. Sehun’s face contorted as if he were bracing for a smack. “And my Dad.” “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have prepared. What am I going to do? I look terrible. They are going to hate me! Sehun! I’m so mad at you!” I was freaking out. “Calm down,” he said. “Calm down. You look gorgeous and they already know about you. They are excited to meet you.” My heart was pounding. “Sehun! I don’t speak Korean! I’m big and pregnant! I’m foreign! I won’t know how to act!” He actually started to laugh. “They know all of that. None of it matters to them. All that they care about is that I’m happy.” He squeezed my hand. “And I am. Completely.” I felt like I was going to pee on myself. “You know if you keep surprising me with things, I’m going to have this baby early!” He actually laughed at that. “It’s going to be great. It will only be for a moment. Besides, they have seen you once before. You just didn’t know it.” “What? What do you mean, Sehun?” He better not mean what I think he means! “Well, they went with me to the hospital one evening.” He DID mean what I thought he meant. “Dammit, Sehun! That’s terrible. I was in a coma! I couldn’t have looked very nice.” “You were always well kept. You were beautiful. My mother kept talking about how pretty you were and how she prayed every day that you would wake up,” said Sehun. “She did?” I didn’t know why, but that made me feel like crying. Hormones? “Yes. They know how I feel about you and they already consider you part of the family. Now it’s time you meet them in person. I promise, it will be fine,” he said. He turned onto a small road that was mostly hidden by trees. My knee was bouncing and I really did have to pee. I fidgeted with my coat buttons as I watched him turn into the driveway of a beautiful quaint cottage house. I almost felt like the world was spinning because I was so nervous. He came around and helped me get out of the car, and I followed him inside. The inside of the house was just as cute and quaint as the outside. We had gone into a side door, which led to the kitchen. I saw his mother immediately. She was standing at the sink with a knife and a potato in her hands. When she turned to face us, I noticed how much Sehun looked like her. She smiled the same smile that he had and wiped her hands on a towel that was hanging from a pocket on her apron. She began yelling something in Korean and rushed over to where we stood. She hugged Sehun and then turned to me. A tall slender gentleman came in from the far door and grinned from ear to ear. I thought Sehun got his looks from his mother, but now that I saw his father, I knew what he would look like as he got older. Not bad. Sehun said something to them in Korean which I took to be an introduction, and I realized they spoke very little English, if any. His mother held her arms out to me and I let her hug me. She also kissed my cheek. “Hello. It is very nice to meet you,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say. Sehun’s dad took my hand and shook it. He had and even warmer smile than Sehun if that was possible. I listened as Sehun talked to them for a few minutes. Then his mother gave me another kiss on the cheek and Sehun kissed her cheek. They waved as we left and got back into the car. “See,” Sehun said as he put on his seatbelt. “I told you it would only be a moment. And it went great.” “You were right,” I said. I felt a little dizzy from the whole experience. “And now, for some fun,” he said. Putting the car in gear, he took my hand and off we went to some unknown location. Sehun loved to surprise me.

When Sehun next stopped the car, I was overwhelmed at what I saw. It looked like a gigantic amusement park. Lights and exotic looking buildings, and rides, and people were everywhere. “What is this place?” I asked. “This is Lotte World,” said Sehun as if I knew what that was. “We are supposed to meet the guys just inside at the ticket booth.” I didn’t talk as I tried to take it all in. We met up with the boys inside, and immediately I was accosted. Chen and Lay ran up to me and practically jerked me away from Sehun. “You have to ride the swings with me,” said Chen. “It’s safe for pregnant women. I checked. It’s my favorite ride.” “Okay,” I said and smiled at him. Lay jumped in front of him. “First you have to go into the mirror maze with us. You can get lost in there for hours,” he said excitedly. “Alright.” I was feeling a little overwhelmed. The guys seemed like thrilled children on vacation. They were all giddy and energetic. Sehun came over to save me. “Guys, let her breathe,” he said and put himself between me and them. We bought our tickets and went inside. “This is something we do at least once a year before we go on tour,” said Sehun. “Jun insists on it. He says we need to have some fun before we get to work.” “I agree with him,” I said. “I think this is great!” All of a sudden, my eyes were covered by strange hands. Behind me, someone whispered in my ear, “Boo!” I spun around and came face to face with Suho. He was all smiles. I threw my arms around his neck. “Suho!” I noticed standing beside him was Mi Young and instantly my mood dropped a little. He stood back so he could look at me. “Now listen to me young lady,” he said in the fatherly tone I had grown to love, “You take it easy. Don’t get overheated or over tired.” “I promise,” I said. “Sehun has explicit instructions to make you sit down and drink water at least every thirty minutes,” said Suho. “I’ve got it,” said Sehun. Just then, Lay, Kai, and D.O. came running over. “We bought something for Elizabeth to try,” said Kai. He was already laughing really hard. Sehun looked in the bag first. “Oh my Lord,” he said. “You guys are cleaning it up if she vomits. And don’t whine to me if she slaps you.” I was a little worried. I heard Suho ask Sehun, “What is it?” Sehun’s back was to me so I couldn’t hear his answer, but I saw Suho laugh and wrinkle his nose. “Here, take a bite,” said Lay. “Wait!” said D.O. “Make her hold her nose first.” “Cover her eyes,” said Kai still laughing the donkey laugh he always had when he couldn’t stop laughing. I pleaded with Sehun with my eyes, but all he did was mouth the words, ‘I’m sorry’. Big help he was. Kai put his hands over my eyes. He said, “Cover your nose, Elizabeth.” So I did. One of them, I assumed Lay, put something mushy to my lips. I touched it with my tongue. “Bite it you big chicken,” said Lay. I didn’t mind being called a chicken. That insult never made me want to take the risk. I took a tiny nibble. And that was more than enough. “No, no No!” I said, and shook Kai’s hands off of my eyes. All three boys were doubled over laughing. “What in the heck was that?” I asked as I spit out what I could. “It’s stinky tofu,” said Lay still laughing. I smacked all of them in the arm. It didn’t deter their laughter. They ran off to do God knows what. I walked over and smacked Sehun and Suho in their arms for good measure. “Ow! What was that for?” asked Sehun. “Because you deserved it,” I said. He rubbed his arm and then took my hand. “Come on. Let’s go look around.” Suho and Mi Young followed us. I noticed that she wasn’t talking, and I had a feeling that had something to do with Suho. I was sure that Chanyeol must have told him what she had said at the shower. I also noticed that her eyes rarely left Sehun. It bothered me more than it should have. Every now and then one or more of the boys would come and drag me away to show me something or to ride something. I rode the swings with Chen and I think it may have been my favorite event of the night. I rode a swan boat with Xiumin even though it was supposed to be for lovers. Then we all got lost in the mirror maze for what seemed like forever. Suho kept to his word and made me sit down every thirty minutes. I think he could tell I was getting really tired, and he suggested that we all go to eat at the Crystal Palace. It was a restaurant that served western food because he knew that I sometimes had trouble eating Korean food. Sehun ordered me a pizza in the shape of a cat. I devoured it. And then I got really sleepy. We had been there for hours. I think Suho noticed me nodding off a little because he said, “I think that Elizabeth has had about enough today, Sehun. I think you should take her home and let her rest.” “I was just about to suggest that,” said Sehun. I heard a lot of the guys say that they were ready to go home too. So everyone finished up and we headed home. I fell asleep in the car.

At home, Sehun let me lay on the bed while he ran a bath. When it was ready, he helped me in the tub, and then got in behind me. I was so content laying against him as he gently ran a washcloth over me. I didn’t want to mess up the comfortable night we were having, but I knew that if I didn’t bring up Mi Young that it was going to just keep bothering me. I tried to let it go, but it wasn’t going. So I decided now was the best time to bring it up since he was calm. “Sehun?” I said. “Yeah,” he answered. His voice sounded sleepy. “Can we talk about something?” I asked. He was quiet for a minute. “You can always talk to me about anything,” he said. I entangled my fingers with his. “You know that I talked to Chanyeol don’t you?” “He mentioned it,” he said. “I know what happened,” I said. “I know what she did at Christmas.” He didn’t say anything. “Do you still have feel….” I began. “Hell no!” he interrupted. “You should know better. I only see you. In my dreams. In my life. In my future. I only want you. She is an annoyance and hopefully she will be gone soon.” He wrapped his arms around me, and kissed the top of my head. Then he laid his cheek against the place that he had just kissed. We were quiet for a few minutes. I wondered if he had fallen asleep. “I’m going to miss you so much,” I said quietly. “I’m going to miss you too,” he said. “We will Face time every day. And when the baby comes, I’m going to be here. I don’t care what the company says.” “I don’t want you to get in trouble,” I said. He squeezed me. “Don’t worry. It will work out. And that reminds me. I need for you to stay here when I’m gone. Don’t go anywhere.” “What do you mean?” I asked. He sighed. “There are a large number of Exo L’s that don’t like our relationship. That’s why we usually keep the people we date a secret, but with you that wasn’t possible. There are a lot of girls that really don’t like you and some of them are crazy enough to try to get rid of you.” My eyes grew large. “You mean, they would try to kill me?” “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them tried. But don’t worry about it. As long as you stay here, you will be safe. I’m tempted to hire a body guard,” he said. “That won’t be necessary,” I said. “Besides, going anywhere now is getting harder and harder. I just get so tired. It hurts my back to walk around.” “If anything happened to you I would have to kill everyone,” he said. “Everyone?” “Yep. They would all have to go. I would lay waste to this entire country,” he said. I had to laugh at that. He kissed my head again, and said, “Come on silly. Let’s go to bed.”

The next day I was sad. The boys were all off again, and I was alone. Well, almost. After breakfast, I was restless so I started to wander around the house to see what I could get into. Eventually, I found myself in front of the door to the ballroom. I wrapped my fingers around the door handle and very slowly turned. I let go and let the door swing open on it’s own. Standing outside, I stared into the huge empty room. From here, you would never have known that a huge beautiful ball had taken place inside. It was almost spooky. I didn’t will my feet forward, but they carried me inside anyway. It was cold inside. I could tell that this room hadn’t been entered since the ‘event’ happened. Police tape laid around the floor in tangles. Walking out to the middle of the floor, I couldn’t help but look up. The gorgeous chandelier was gone. Only the cables were left. Looking down, I could see shattered crystals and the stains of what could only be blood. I was shocked that it hadn’t been cleaned up. I closed my eyes and flashes of that nightmare came back to me. Kyung had caused so much destruction, but I still felt sorry for him. I hated that he had died. I guess it was God’s final mercy, I thought. My thoughts were interrupted when someone said, “That’s where it happened wasn’t it?” Mi Young stood in the doorway. I stared at her for a minute before I could answer. “Yeah. This is the spot,” I said. It came out in mostly a whisper. I stared at the blood. Strange how I couldn’t tell a difference between his and mine. “Jun said that no one was to come in here,” she said and walked over to where I stood. She looked down at the stains and made a face. “He never told me that,” I said. “I didn’t mean to come here. I just kind of ended up in here.” “Do you think that was the night you got pregnant?” she asked. She really had no couth. I looked at her in disbelief. “Why?” I asked. “Well, everyone knows that Sehun can’t have kids. So either your baby belongs to Park Kyung or Jun,” she said. I was so done. I walked toward her and said, “Listen to me and you listen well. There is nothing sexual between me and Suho. Yes, we have a special relationship, but it doesn’t involve anything romantic at all!” I realized I had gotten very close to her. She didn’t back down, however. “I’m going to take Sehun away from you,” she said. Her face didn’t even change. I couldn’t believe she had the nerve to say that to my face. “You can try,” I said. “I always get what, and whom, I want,” she said. She stood there biting on one of her ridiculously long nails looking me up and down. “When that baby is born and it looks like Park Kyung, Sehun won’t want anything to do with you or it.” I closed my eyes. I needed to find a place of calm before I lost my own couth. I decided that nothing I said was going to find a place inside that infinitesimal brain of hers so there was no use in trying. I turned and walked out of the ballroom. As the door closed, I heard her witch like cackle, and I shivered. Bacon is right. That girl is bat-shit crazy!

I walked down a hall that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t follow me down. I didn’t come this way very much. I wanted to get as far from her as possible so I headed for the double doors at the end of the hall. I had never been in that room before. The doors were unlocked so I went in. Suho told me that nothing was off limits to me so I didn’t feel guilty being snoopy. When I went in, I was amazed. It was a grand master bedroom suite and grand it certainly was! None of the bedrooms in this house were as majestic as this one. The bed in the middle was the biggest I had ever seen. I would swear that all of Exo would fit into it. Huge armoires were on each side of the room. There was a seating area in front of an enormous fireplace. Books sat everywhere. The room was very male. Dark cherry wood and gold fabrics. This is Suho’s room, I thought. I didn’t think that because of the state of the room. I knew it because I could smell him here. No one smelled like Suho, and he was everywhere here. Being in this room was like being hugged by Suho. My eyes kept going back to that monstrous bed. I really am tired, I thought. Suho wouldn’t care if I took a little nap in his bed. He probably would insist on it instead of making me go all the way back upstairs. I mean, he isn’t even coming home anytime soon. I convinced myself that it was what he would want me to do. Honestly, I was itching to see what his bed felt like. I sat on the edge and let myself fall back. Instantly I realized my mistake. Suho had a waterbed. And now, I was stuck. I tried and tried, but it was no use. I couldn’t get out of the bed. I couldn’t roll onto my front to get any leverage, and I couldn’t roll out because the sides were too high. “Uh oh,” I said out loud to myself. If I don’t get out of here now, I could be here until tomorrow. Suho might not even come home tonight. I began to struggle. Then I began to panic. I kicked and wiggled and pushed and pulled. My hair was a crazy mess, and I was covered in sweat. I had all but destroyed the bedclothes. It was no use. I was well and thoroughly stuck. I laid there with my eyes closed, breathing hard, and wishing I could curb my curiosity better than I did. My mouth was dry. My back hurt. My clothes were all twisted around my body. That’s when I heard… “Hmmm.” Oh. My. God. I knew that Hmmm. I had heard it many times. Slowly, very slowly, I opened my eyes. What I saw created a mixture of emotions that I didn’t quite know how to handle. First of all, I was saved. So that was good. It wasn’t Mi Young and that was also good. But what I saw standing before me also made me tingle all over, and that was bad. Very bad. It wasn’t something I could control. There stood Suho. In only a white towel. Dripping wet. Wet hair. Wet chest. Wet thighs. Oh God! Stop looking! I urged my eyes closed, but they wouldn’t obey. Sehun. Sehun. Sehun. Sehun… He just stood there looking at me. At least he was smiling. After a couple of minutes of us just staring at one another, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Well! Aren’t you going to say anything?” I asked. He held his pointer finger against his top lip and finally said, “I don’t know what to say.” That was fair. “Want me to explain?” I asked. “Is that possible?” asked Suho. His face was laughing even if he wasn’t yet. He put his hands on his hips and I so wished he wouldn’t do that. “Yes, actually. Well, uh, you see, uh, I was trying to get away from your cousin and I wound up in here somehow. I was tired, and I only wanted to lay on your bed for a moment. I didn’t know it was a waterbed and then, well, as you can see, I got stuck. I’m stuck, Suho.” He did begin to laugh then. He bent over in laughter. After a few minutes he composed himself. “Are you going to help me?” I asked. To my surprise, he climbed in the bed and lay beside me. I forced myself not to look. He laid on his side with his arm under his head facing me. “Hey,” he said. “Yeah,” I answered. “Hey. Turn over here and look at me.” Is he doing this on purpose??? Slowly I turned on my side, my huge belly between us, and looked at him. He brushed my hair back with his fingers. I know it had to be all over the place. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” he said. “I thought you were gone to practice with the other guys,” I said. “I’m having a bit of a slow morning,” he said. “And thank goodness I did.” He laughed. Now that I looked closer, I could see that his eyes looked weak and washed out. There were deep dark circles underneath. He must have had another migraine. “Suho, are you okay?” I asked. “Yeah. I’m okay. I just get headaches sometimes. When the weather starts getting cold, I get migraines from time to time.” “I’m sorry,” I said. It made me really sad. “It’s alright. But what I wanted to talk to you about was Mi Young,” he said. I watched Suho squint against the light. “I’ve heard a lot of things about her. I’ve also heard a lot of things from her,” I said. “What kind of things?” “Well, today, she told me that she was going to take Sehun away from me,” I said. “Please ignore her. I’m going to send her home as soon as I can. I didn’t want her here right now to be honest, but my mother insisted. I’m sorry she has been such a bother,” he said. “It’s not your fault, Suho. I understand. She’s family. I try to hide from her mostly,” I said and laughed. “I’m starting to worry that maybe she has a problem. I don’t think she really wants Sehun. She just can’t stand it that he wants you instead of her. I want to help her but to be honest, I don’t think I can handle one more problem right now. I think I’ve reached my limit,” he said. I thought I saw tears forming in the corners of his eyes. I don’t know if I can stand to see Suho cry, I thought and I could feel tears welling up in my own eyes. I laid my hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes, forcing a tear to run down over his nose and drip onto the bed. “What can I do to help, Suho?” I asked. I was right. I couldn’t stand it. My heart was breaking. His eyes remained closed as I stroked his cheek. “You don’t need to do anything. You are perfect,” he said. “You are the one thing I don’t have to worry about right now. The one thing that actually makes me happy.” He was crying harder now. And so was I. “There is just so much,” he said. “I’m so tired. I don’t want to go on this tour. I can’t get rid of these headaches. I didn’t need Mi Young on top of everything else. Trying to make sure that everyone else is doing okay and is ready for the tour feels like an impossible task. I feel like I’m being pulled in every direction, and I’m coming apart in the middle. I’m just so tired. I’m so tired.” I couldn’t stand it anymore. I pulled myself close to him, as close as I could with a baby in the middle, and put my arm under his head. He slid closer to me too and laid his head on my chest. I held him as he cried. It was all I knew to do. We just laid there. He cried for a long time, and I think it was something that he had needed to do for a long time. The baby started to move her feet up and down my tummy, which was against his tummy and he could feel it. He looked up at me with swollen eyes, and with his hand raised over my stomach he asked, “May I?” I smiled at him and nodded. He put his hand on my stomach so gently that I could barely feel it, but the baby seemed to. She put her tiny hand against his and pressed. He looked up at me with the sweetest surprised face. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. “Did you see that?” he asked with his mouth hanging open. I nodded again. He put his hand back down and she did it again. He began to giggle. “That is incredible,” he said. “She knows who her family is,” I said. He laid his hand back on my stomach and laid his head back on my chest. Thank God Sehun can’t see us right now, I thought. I don’t know how long we laid there, but soon we were both asleep. Whether anyone liked it or not, it was completely innocent.

We woke up with a start when Suho’s phone began to ring. He sat up and looked at me like he was in trouble. His eyes were huge. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “Please don’t tell Sehun about this.” I tried to sit up with less luck. “It’s okay. We didn’t do anything wrong. And I won’t tell Sehun. I promise.” It would be a cold day in hell before I would tell Sehun about this. I didn’t want anymore worries on his mind. Suho’s or Sehun’s. He got out of the bed and then helped me up. Answering his phone, he caught his towel just as it began to fall. I caught a small glimpse of the backside of Suho before I looked away, and I was not sorry. I heard his half of the conversation. “Hello?… Yeah, I’m feeling better…Oh, uh, yeah. I know where Elizabeth is. She’s fine. She probably just forgot her phone upstairs.” He turned to me and raised his eyebrows. “She’s fine, Sehun! I’m looking at her right now…Okay. I’ll have someone go get her phone…How is practice going?…Tell him not to worry. He’ll get it…. I’m going to get dressed, and come on down there…Yes, of course I’m dressed but I need to change….Why? What happened?…I’ll take care of it when I get there. Tell him I’ll get it….Alright….Yes… I said I’ll get her phone…Bye, Sehun.” “Sehun has been trying to call me?” I asked. “A lot apparently. He worries because Mi Young is here,” he said. “I’ll go up and get my phone, and call him,” I said and started for the door. “Get back here!” said Suho with that fatherly authority that I was used to from him. “Come here.” Obediently, I walked over to where he stood. He kissed my forehead. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded. “Are you?” I asked. “I have to be,” he said. His smile seemed sad. “Now, you will go to my study, get a book, and hide from Mi Young until we get back. We won’t stay all night tonight. I promise. Tomorrow I’m sending her back to her mother.” “What about my phone?” I asked. Suho walked over to the intercom on the wall, pushed a button and said something in Korean. Then he walked back over to me. “Your phone will be in my study,” he said. He put his hands on either side of my face, and looked at me. He kissed my forehead again, and pulled me into his chest in a tight hug. “Thank you for today. I really needed that.” “I love you, Suho. I’ll always be here when you need me,” I said. “Promise that you’ll come to me when you need someone.” “I promise if you do,” he said. “You are my savior after all.” I smiled up at him. He turned me toward the door and smacked my backside. “Now do as I said. I have to get dressed.” I did as I was told.

I went to the library before going to Suho’s study and looked through all of the books, but none of them appealed to me. I decided to look in Suho’s private collection. It took me a few minutes to locate the right book, but I finally did. I pulled it out and hit the button behind it, which opened the shelf to reveal a hidden room. This was where the good books were hidden. If you liked romance novels anyway. Looking around, I was delighted to see that Julia Quinn had started a new series, and it looked like Suho had all of the books in the series so far. I grabbed the first one and went back out into the library. Suho’s study was at the end of the hall so I waddled as quickly as I could and went in, locking the door. My phone was laying on his desk and was already ringing. “Hello,” I answered, a little out of breath. “Are you okay?” I heard the familiar voice ask. “Yeah, I was just hurrying. But I’m okay,” I said. There was a pause, an intake of breath, and then, “Where in the hell have you been? I have been calling all morning! Do you know what goes through my head when you don’t answer me? You are supposed to keep your phone on you at all times!” I waited patiently for him to finish before saying, “I’m sorry. I forgot it. You’re right. I’m so sorry for worrying you.” I tried to sound really sad and contrite. “Well, just don’t forget again. I was scared to death,” said Sehun. “I won’t. I’ll do my best. I love you. Please forgive me,” I said. “Of course I forgive you baby. I’m sorry. I’m not really mad. I was just worried,” he said. “I can’t wait for you to come home. Suho promised me that you would be home tonight,” I said. “Actually, we are all going to be there. Suho wants us to have dinner together tonight before all of the craziness starts tomorrow.” “Yay!” I said. I was excited to see all of the boys together again. Especially since I knew it wasn’t going to happen again for quite awhile. “Dinner will be at seven. I’ll be home around five so just try to keep away from Mi Young until then,” he said. “Suho has me locked in his study reading,” I said. Sehun didn’t speak for a minute. Then I heard him say something to someone in the room behind him. Then to me he said, “You know, I’m starting to wonder about you and Suho.” “Sehun!” I couldn’t believe he said that. “You aren’t serious are you?” He laughed a little and said, “Nooo. I’m joking. I have to go. I love you and I’ll see you in a little while.” “I love you too,” I said. With that, he was gone.

I read for a little while but, as I do, I got restless. I decided to bug Ms. Jung for a piece or two of her Yakwa. I knew she had made some and was trying to hide it from me, but the smell was impossible to hide. Sneaking out to the kitchen, I found that I was alone. I knew where she typically hid snacks from me and Lay so I looked there and…Jackpot! Grabbing two pieces of the Yakwa, I sneaked out the back door as quietly as I had sneaked in. For some reason, stealing that snack was extra satisfying. Even more so when I gobbled it down as soon as I got into the little theater. I looked through the catalog of movies and decided to watch a comedy. Settling in, I let the movie keep my mind from wandering. It was so lonely in here when I thought back to all of the fun I’ve had with the boys in this room. I think I had a memory for each one. After the movie ended I thought, Well, that’s two hours out of the way. What now? Five o’clock is so far away. I guess I could use some exercise, I thought. I made my way upstairs to find something to swim in. Buckling myself into the little chair was such a pain, but the one time I tried to walk the stairs didn’t go well. I had to sit six times and rest and it took forever to get to the top. Then at the top, I had a few stomach pains so I didn’t try it again. I didn’t have a swimsuit so I decided on a large t-shirt tucked into a pair of Sehun’s shorts. I grabbed a VIXX cd on the way out of the room, and then I had a brilliant idea. I could almost see the light bulb above my head. I have Leo’s phone number. I wonder if he would like to come and swim with me. I took my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the number. I looked at it for the longest time, my hands shaking. There’s no way he will come, I thought. Then I thought, Then what is the harm in asking? Before I could chicken out, I hit the call button. My heart was pounding. Someone picked up on the second ring and answered in Korean. I couldn’t speak for a second. Then he said hello again in Korean. “Hello? Leo?” I managed to get out. “Yes?” His voice was so soft. “Hi, uh, this is Elizabeth. Sehun’s girlfriend. The one from the baby shower,” I said. “Oh, yes. Hello. How are you?” “I’m doing well. I sort of had a question,” I said. “Okay,” he said. “Are you busy today? Are you doing anything right now?” My voice was shaking. “No. I’m free today. I was going to meet Hakyeon for lunch in about an hour,” he said. I could tell he was very puzzled. “Well, I’m here alone today and I was wondering if you would like to come over for a swim. You could bring N and we could have lunch here.” I crossed my fingers. He didn’t answer immediately. Then he said, “Hold on for a moment please.” I heard clicking and I knew he was texting. Finally he came back and said, “We would love to. Can we bring Binnie?” “Hongbin?” I asked like an idiot. “Yes. Would that be okay?” he asked. “Absolutely!” I said. “You can bring whoever you want.” “We will bring lunch too if that is okay,” he said. “That would be perfect!” I was so excited. “Can you send me the address?” he asked. I don’t know why I assumed all idols knew where each other lived. “I have to get it but I will send it as soon as I do.” “Thank you for inviting us. It will be about an hour. Will that be okay?” he asked. “That is great!” I said. “See you then.” I hung up the phone with shaking hands. Oh my God! I can’t believe I just did that! I looked over to the mirror and thought, I can’t wear this! What am I going to wear? I don’t know why but my first thought was to text Suho and ask him what I should wear. So I did. I got a text back that said, You invited VIXX to swim in my pool? Uh oh. Am I in trouble? Is that okay? I sent. My hands started shaking again. My phone dinged. That’s fine. I’m just surprised they are coming. LOL What should I wear? I sent. Then I felt guilty. Just that morning he talked about being overwhelmed, and here I was bothering him with a silly non-problem. Quickly I sent, NVM I found something. Are you sure you aren’t mad? He wrote back, Not at all. I don’t know what Sehun will think though. He knows you have a crush on Taekwoon. He’s not coming is he? Oh no. I do NOT have a crush on Leo. And yes. He’s coming. DON’T tell Sehun! I got back, Too late. :( Sorry. Have fun though. And don’t forget, we have dinner scheduled for tonight. Please don’t invite VIXX. I would like for it to be just us. I got two dings. One was from Sehun. Yep. I’m in trouble. Suho wrote, I’m not trying to be rude. I just really want it to be us. Before I could answer Suho, I got two more dings from Sehun. To Suho I texted, I won’t invite them. I promise. It’s not rude. How mad is Sehun? I got another ding from Sehun. Then one from Suho. I clicked on Suho’s. I think he’s more panicked. He wants to come home but I won’t let him. You better read his messages though. Love you. :* I clicked Sehun’s name. So many messages came through. You invited who to swim with you??? Is Taekwoon going to be there? Why aren’t you answering me? Dammit! I’m just going to call. Who did you ask? What did they say? Who all is going to be there? I hurried and sent Sehun a message. First of all, I love you very much. Then I sent, I was bored and I thought it would be nice to have some friends over. Don’t worry. We are just swimming and having lunch. They will be gone before you get home. My phone rang. Closing my eyes I answered. “Hello?” I could hear heavy breathing. “Sehun?” “Are you trying to kill me?” he asked. “But why?” I asked. “We are just going to be swimming. Nothing is going to happen.” He was quiet. “Are you really that upset with me?” I could feel tears starting to form. “I didn’t know you would get angry with me.” “I’m not angry. I just don’t trust anyone. Can you blame me?” he asked. I thought back to Kyung. “No. I’m sorry. I should have asked you first,” I said. “Nooo,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel that way. You didn’t do anything wrong. I love you. Go have fun but keep your phone very close,” he said. “I promise,” I said. “Please don’t worry.” “Is he better looking than me?” Sehun asked. “What? Who?” I was surprised by his question. “Nothing. Just nothing. I want you to wear something that covers everything. Pants and long sleeves,” he said. “I’m not going to do that, Sehun,” I said. “I know,” he said in a sad tone. “I don’t know what you are worried about,” I said. “I’m hugely pregnant. No one is looking at me and thinking anything sexy. I promise.” “I do,” he said. I smiled. “Really? You think I’m sexy right now?” I could hear him smile finally. “Always. Why do you think I panic?” “I can’t wait until you come home,” I said. “Me either,” I could hear Chen yelling something in the background. Or was he singing? “I have to go. Have fun and please text me a lot.” “I will. I love you.” “I love you too.” Then he was gone.

I got the address from Suho and sent it to Leo. I still wore a pair of Sehun’s black shorts, but I found a cuter shirt to wear. I made my way down to the pool. While I waited for them to arrive, I found some music to play, and got out towels for everyone. I had some drinks brought in from the kitchen. It didn’t even take them an hour before they arrived. I had already slipped into the warm water, and floated around for awhile. When they came in, I swam over to the edge of the pool. I was so nervous. As soon as they came in the pool area, N held up a bag which I assumed contained food, and waved. “Hey! I hope you work up an appetite. We brought a lot of food.” “I’m pregnant. I always have a big appetite,” I said. Hongbin carried a couple of bags. He was all smiles. Leo carried a few containers, but he seemed shy like he usually does. To my surprise, Hyuk came in behind them. The more the merrier! I watched as they took off their shoes and shirts and said, “I’m so glad you guys could come. I’ve been bored out of my mind.” Coming over to sit on the side of the pool where I was, Hyuk asked, “Exo has their comeback this week right?” “Yep. So I’m pretty much alone all of the time. I hate it,” I said. N, Leo, and Hongbin came over and slipped into the water. “I wish I could have a few days alone,” said Hongbin. He laughed. “You think that, but after you run out of things to do, it’s lonely,” I said. N swam to the other side of the pool. Leo hung out on the side of the pool and Hongbin was treading water. I looked up at Hyuk, and he smiled the most mischievous smile before slipping down into the water. Then he said, “Time to get this party started.” He disappeared under the water and I felt him grab my ankle. After that, all I saw was water and air bubbles. He pulled me under and in the process kicked water all over Hongbin and Leo. The party was on indeed. It was no holds barred. They were gentle with me, but only to a point. They still had no problem with throwing me, dunking me, or splashing me. I watched as they raced each other and played chicken. N was on Hyuk’s shoulders, while Leo was on Hongbin’s. Then they switched. I was shocked at how strong N was. We played for at least two hours until Hyuk said, “I’m starving. Let’s eat!” Everyone agreed. The boys helped me out of the pool. It’s funny how being in a pool makes you feel a hundred times heavier when you get out and walk around. I realized that maybe I had overdone it a little. I pretty much fell into the chair at the table. I knew I was the host, but I let the boys put the food together and serve me. I tried some things that I hadn’t dare to try before. Hyuk and N wouldn’t take no for an answer. I found that I liked more Korean dishes than I had thought. VIXX was easy to be around. They were a very comfortable group of guys to hang out with. I mostly watched them joke around with each other and I answered questions every now and then. I sat beside Leo and he would lean over and tell me little things about the others. He would also talk about himself and ask me questions about me. I could be really good friends with Leo, I thought. We were all thoroughly exhausted and full when N looked at his phone and said, “Oh my gosh. We had better be going. I’ve got a thing tonight I have to get ready for.” I looked at my phone guiltily and realized that I hadn’t texted Sehun once. When I looked up, I noticed Mi Young watching us from the door. I almost felt a little guilty for not inviting her. I should have. Maybe she would be nicer if she was included. I looked at her again and thought. Maybe not. The boys started to clean up, but I told them that I would get it. “Thank you guys so much for coming. I had such a great time,” I said. “Thank you for inviting us,” said Hongbin. Hyuk poked my cheek and said, “I hope you’ll invite us again. Maybe Wonsik and Jaehwan can come next time. Maybe even some of the Exo boys too.” “I definitely will,” I said and poked his ribs. To my surprise, Leo gave me a hug, and then the boys left. I decided the best thing I could do now was to take a nap before dinner. I could barely walk but I made it to the stairs and rode my little chair to the top. I dragged myself to the bedroom, planning on taking a shower, but I fell on the bed and passed out until a warm hand shook me awake.

Through blurry eyes I looked up into the face of the one person I was aching to see. “Hi baby. Did you have a good nap?” asked Sehun. He sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled down at me. I rubbed my eye and smiled back up at him. I felt groggy. I really did overdo it. He rubbed my cheek with the back of his hand. “Wanna come have a shower with me?” he asked. I just nodded and closed my eyes. He stood up and took my hands. “Come on silly,” he said and pulled me to my feet. I was sore. In the shower, we took turns washing each other, and then kissing, then shampooing each others hair, then kissing. It was a most enjoyable shower. It took longer, but it was way less boring than my usual showers. We got dressed and headed down for dinner. I wasn’t very hungry because I had eaten so much for lunch. Sehun hadn’t yet asked me about the pool party. I figured we would talk about it after we went to bed. Kai, Chen, Xiumin, and D.O. were already seated. Sehun pulled out my chair, and then sat beside me after I was settled. He always put me between him and Suho. Bacon came in and sat across from me. “So, how was your VIXX party?” he asked. I heard Sehun sigh. “It wasn’t a party,” I said. “We just swam some, and had lunch.” “Did you play music?” he asked. “Yes,” I answered. “Was there food?” he asked. “Yes,” I answered again. “Did you have fun?” he asked. “Yes I did,” I said. “Then it was a party,” he said and flicked his napkin before laying it in his lap. The other boys burst out laughing. Lay came in and said, “You had a party without us!” He sat beside Bacon. “It wasn’t a party!” I said. “And with VIXX of all people,” said Kai. “They are the least party people I know!” I didn’t bother to answer. I knew that nothing I said was going to matter. I looked up at Sehun for help, but he stuck out his bottom lip and shrugged to let me know that I had done this to myself. Then he kissed my cheek. Xiumin was grinning at me. “What do you think Xiumin?” I asked. I was hoping I at least had an ally in him. “You definitely had a party while we were working,” he said. My mouth fell open in surprise. “Et tu Xiumin?” I said. I didn’t know if he understood what I was talking about. “We work our legs to the bone dancing to put food on your table,” he said, “and you have all of the fun with the group that shall not be named!” Chen almost spit his water on the table, and everyone died laughing. Even I had to laugh at that one. Mi Young came in and sat beside Sehun. That aggravated me. The boys got quiet. Suho came in and sat beside me. He reached over and squeezed my hand. I noticed Sehun glancing at our hands. Does Sehun think I have something going on with Suho? I was really starting to wonder. Chanyeol came in, and sat across from Mi Young. He looked like he was in a bad mood. Suho and I grabbed our napkins at the same time and raised them. We looked at each other and waited for the other to open theirs. Neither of us did and we ended up giggling. I let him go first. The food began to be brought in. Suho clapped his hands and said, “Ok everyone, this is going to be the last sit down meal that we are going to have together for a long time. So, everybody enjoy the food and I thought that maybe afterward, we could watch a movie before bed. We start stages tomorrow and it’s going to be the last time we will have to relax for awhile.” “Yay!” said Lay. I smiled at him and he grinned back. That boys smile could melt candy. I’m just saying. His smile always made me want to stick my fingers in his dimples. I couldn’t help but notice that Mi Young was helping Sehun a lot by putting food on his plate. She looked over at me and I scowled at her. She smiled like a snake. Anytime she got up, she just had to run her hand across his shoulders. And throughout the meal she would whisper things to him and giggle at any response he gave. I ignored it. I knew that would upset her a lot more than if I responded. I noticed all of it, but I refused to let it bother me. I knew who Sehun belonged to, and I also knew that we had been through too much for him to fall for her bull. I also knew that Suho promised to send her home soon. I took a lot more teasing about inviting VIXX. None of it was really serious. I’m glad I did it! Now I know how to get to Exo! Suho looked a lot better. His eyes were bright again and he was so smiley. I think he was happiest during times like now. He seemed to thrive on family time. I started to think that what he needed was a family. A wife and children. That will be the ultimate Suho. I almost couldn’t wait to see it. Sehun put his hand on my leg under the table, pulling me out of my thoughts. I gave him my hand and his swallowed mine. His hand was so warm. He stared at me. I whispered, “Is everything okay?” “It will be when we get out of here,” he said. He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling in frustration as Mi Young touched his other arm. I leaned over to Suho, and said, “Sehun and I are going to go ahead to the theater so I can get the best seats.” He nodded and wiped his mouth, throwing his napkin on his plate. “Go ahead,” he said. I stood up and pulled on Sehun’s hand. He pulled his other arm away from Mi Young’s grasp and laid his napkin on his plate. I glanced her way as we left the room, and I was happy to see that she was fuming. Before we went into the theater, we went to get the biggest fluffiest blanket we could find. In the hallway on the way back, without warning, Sehun pushed me against the wall. Holding my arms over my head, he gave me the longest, hottest, sexiest kiss he has ever given me. When he pulled away from me, I was breathless. He was too. At that moment, I didn’t want to go into the theater. I wanted to push him into the nearest room and completely molest him. Maybe that’s what he wanted too, but I didn’t want to disappoint Suho. I knew how much he was looking forward to this, and I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it. So, against everything in me, I took Sehun’s hand and walked him to the little theater. We took the seats that we usually sat in. They were just private enough to make out in during most of the movie, yet close enough to still be part of the group. Slowly the other guys started to fill up the other seats. I liked to watch the interactions of the boys. I really got a show tonight after Mi Young came in. She sat only a few seats away from Sehun and I. I’m sure she would have sat closer if we weren’t already in the very back corner. It became comical though after Chanyeol came in. I was a little surprised to see him. I had thought he would have just gone home. He didn’t say a word at dinner, and I assumed that he wanted to be alone. He sat down right beside Mi Young on her right side. Mi Young looked shocked, but she didn’t do anything. I elbowed Sehun and pointed at them. His eyebrows came together in a confused expression. We watched as Bacon came in and sat on her left side. After a few minutes, she got up and moved to the other side of the aisle. Then, a few minutes later, Chanyeol and Bacon got up and moved to the seats beside her again. Again, she waited a couple of minutes and got up and moved. They followed again. Chanyeol looked back at us and winked. I lost it. I couldn’t help but cover my face with the blanket and laugh. Suho came in, and the boys started yelling at him. “What are we watching?” yelled D.O. “Let’s watch something scary,” said Chen. “No Chick flicks!” said Bacon. I didn’t care what we watched. Most of my attention would be on Sehun. The lights went down and the movie started. It was a sci-fi movie so most of it was dark, and I was perfectly happy with that. As soon as it started, Sehun grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me again like before. After that, we slid down in the seats, pulled the blanket up, and made out for most of the movie. Sehun hadn’t been this affectionate since I came back. So many things went through my mind. Is he afraid I am losing interest in him? Does he think I want someone else? Has someone said something to him? And the one thought that worried me most was, Is he more turned on being around Mi Young? I was afraid to voice any of those things. I almost didn’t want to know, and decided that he would tell me if it was an issue. Maybe I should stop being so affectionate toward Suho. Sehun has never seemed to mind before, but I can see where it would start to bother someone after awhile. I know how I feel. I know I only want Sehun forever, but he doesn’t know that. I decided to start keeping all kisses just for him. After the movie, Suho told everyone to go home and get a lot of sleep. I kind of felt bad because I knew that Sehun would be getting a lot less sleep the the other guys. Kind of.

The next morning, Sehun left me early. He wouldn’t be back until late. It made me want to cover my head and stay in bed for the rest of the day. I did go back to sleep and skipped breakfast. But I had a Korean lesson at noon, and I was looking forward to seeing Gyehyeon. We could have lunch together. I got dressed, picked up my phone and headed to the library. My phone dinged. Expecting to see a message from Sehun, I was shocked to see the name Taekwoon. It took me a minute to figure out that is was a text from Leo. I waited until I reached the library before I opened it. Thank you again for inviting us to swim. We had a wonderful time. I sent back, Thank you for coming. It gets pretty lonely here by myself, and you guys really did me a favor by keeping me company. After a minute I got back, Some of us are starting musicals pretty soon, but if you need us, let one of us know, and we will see who is available. I wrote back, That is so sweet Leo. It feels good to know that I have made such good friends. The next text said, We are happy about that too. Talk to you soon. :D I sent, Be safe :D Getting that message made me feel a lot better. Gyehyeon came in carrying all of his books, and his clothes were in complete disarray. “Are you okay?” I asked almost amused. “Not really,” he said and slammed his books on the table. I watched as he angrily went through his books and papers and pulled out what he needed. “We don’t have to do this today if you don’t feel like it,” I said. I could tell he was having a bad day. He folded his arms on his books and laid his head down. I heard him mumble, “I’m sorry. Everything is going wrong today.” I put my hand on his arm. “You know what? I really don’t feel like doing this today either. And I’m starving. I didn’t have breakfast. So, would you like to not study and say we did, and go pig out?” He looked up at me, and I couldn’t help but smile. His glasses were crooked and his hair was sticking up on one side. His tie was horribly tied and off to the side. It looked like he had been roughed up by a big bully. “Come on…” I said and stared at him. He smiled a tiny sideways smile. “Normally, I wouldn’t agree to this. But I don’t want to work so much today.” He shut his book. “Let’s eat!” I went to the intercom and pushed buttons until someone answered me. “Hi,” I said like I was on the phone, “Could I have lunch sent to the day room please?” I didn’t even know if the person I was talking to spoke English. I thought they were going to ignore me until I heard, “Yes, okay.” Pushing the button I said, “Thank you.” Gyehyeon was laughing at me. “I don’t think they understood a word you said.” “I guess we will see when we get to the day room,” I said. “I need to teach you some phrases that you can at least use to talk to the help,” he said. On our way to the day room, we came across Mi Young. I knew she had to be bored and lonely like I was. She had been alone for days, and I sort of felt bad. That’s when I made a huge mistake. “Good afternoon, Mi Young,” I said. “Hello,” she said. She only looked at Gyehyeon. She really does only care about men,” I thought. “Gyehyeon and I were on our way to the day room for some lunch. Would you like to join us?” I asked. Her face lit up. “Are you sure it’s okay?” she asked. “Of course,” I said. “I would love to,” she said and turned to join us. Walking went slow for me so by the time we made it to the day room, the food had already arrived and the table set. I asked Gyehyeon to ask the maid to set two more places, which he did. I was anticipating a little awkwardness. I didn’t know what to expect from Mi Young, and poor Gyehyeon was already having a bad day. We sat down and I said, “Gyehyeon is my language teacher, and Mi Young is Suho’s cousin.” They made their greetings. Then Mi Young asked, “Why do you call him Suho? That’s his stage name. His real name is Junmyeon. Haven’t you noticed that everyone else calls him Jun?” The girl has no filter. She also doesn’t know how to act in mixed company. “Yes, Mi Young, I know that is his real name. When I met him, he introduced himself as Suho, and as he doesn’t have a problem with me calling him that, then I do so.” She looked at Gyehyeon. “How is she doing with her classes?” Gyehyeon got nervous and began to stutter as he looked at me, “Uh.. Well… uh…” I spoke up. “That is really none of your business, Mi Young.” “I was just making conversation,” she said. I turned to Gyehyeon. “So, what was going on today? You looked like today wasn’t going so well for you,” I said. Looking over at Mi Young, he still stuttered a little. “Well, uh, my alarm clock didn’t go off, and I had a flat tire. Then I got a phone call that my Mom fell and she is in the hospital. They think she has a broken hip.” “Oh my God, Gyehyeon. Do you need to leave? Do you need me to go with you?” I said. “No, no. It’s okay. My father and my brother are there. I will go when I leave here. She is busy having tests right now anyway,” he said. “I’m so sorry. If you need anything from me, just let me know. Anything,” I said. He smiled. “Thank you.” Mi Young reached over and grabbed Gyehyeon’s arm. “Me too,” she said. “I’ll be here for you too.” Looking a little perplexed, Gyehyeon said, “Thank you very much.” Being the ever consummate gentleman, he served both Mi Young and me. We had nice conversation for a while as we ate. Then Mi Young just couldn’t help herself. “Sehun called me this morning,” she said. I looked up at her over my empty plate. “And what did he want?” I asked. I couldn’t seem to keep my voice calm and even although I did try. “He just wanted to say good morning. He asked me to bring his dress shoes down to the studio in a little while. He forgot them this morning in his rush,” she said and popped a torn piece of bread in her mouth as she smiled. Sitting back in my chair, I tried to discern if she was lying or not. “Well, don’t go to all of that trouble,” I said. “I’ll have them sent to him.” “It’s no bother at all,” she said. Gyehyeon was looking back and forth at the both of us. “He said I could stay and have dinner with him if I wanted,” she said. “Now I know you’re lying!” I said. “Am not!” she shouted and stood up fast, knocking over a glass of ice. I stood up too. Only slower. “You know it’s easy for me to find out don’t you?” I said a little louder than I had meant to. “Why did you have to wake up?” she shouted. I was taken aback. “Everything would have been perfect if you had just stayed asleep! He only stays with you because he feels obligated over that damn baby! It isn’t even his! It’s Park Kyung’s baby! It’s probably a psycho like he was!” Gyehyeon stood up. She walked around the table to stand in front of me. “He wanted me first!” she screamed in my face. Calmly I said, “He found better.” Then I saw stars. I literally saw stars. Mi Young hit me. And not once. Or even twice. I was dizzy and disoriented. I felt her put her hands in my hair and pull me to the floor. Gyehyeon was trying to get her off of me, but it’s hard to control a crazy person. In my dizzy state, I could hear her screaming that Sehun was meant to be hers, and that if she had to kill me to get him then she would. I could feel kicks to my back. I curled into a ball to protect my baby. She kept kicking my head and back. Then I could hear people entering the room and the attack stopped. I just laid there and tried to catch my breath. My back really hurt. Gyehyeon was bent over me. “Are you awake? Can you hear me?” he was saying. Slowly, I uncurled myself and let him help me sit up. “I’m going to call Mr. Kim,” he said and pulled out his phone. It took me a moment to realize he meant Suho. “NO!” “No?” he asked surprised. “No,” I said. Don’t tell any of them. Just help me get upstairs please,” I said and tried to stand. He helped me stand and said, “But Miss Elizabeth, we should tell him. You are hurt. He will know what to do.” “I know what to do,” I said. “I just need to lay down.” I could tell that it went against everything he wanted to do, but he did as I asked. Buckling me into the little stair chair, he said, “They are going to find out anyway.” “I know, Gyehyeon. But I’ll be okay by then and they won’t worry so much. I’ve been enough of a bother, and I don’t plan to mess up anything else,” I said. He followed my slow chair to the top and helped me get out. “Where is Mi Young?” I asked. “The guards locked her in her room,” he said. “They didn’t call Suho did they?” My voice was panicked. “I told them that you didn’t want them to, but I can’t promise that they didn’t,” he said. I felt my pocket for my phone. “Sehun would have called by now if they had told them.” Gyehyeon helped me into my room, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. “You know what?” I said. “I think I need a hot bath. That will fix everything.” “I can run one for you if you’d like,” he said as he helped me sit on the bed. “Would you? I asked. “That would be wonderful.” He went into the bathroom and started the water. “I’m so sorry about all of this, Gyehyeon,” I yelled. Popping his head around the door, he said, “You didn’t do this. That crazy girl did. This is all her fault.” He walked over to the bed and helped me up, and walked me into the bathroom. On the counter was a towel and washcloth. “I could get you a clean outfit if you’d like,” he said. “That’s okay. Thank you so much. You are my hero today,” I said. I hugged him. “Will I see you next week for our lesson?” “Of course. I’ll be here at ten. Are you sure you don’t need anymore help?” he asked. “I’m sure. Could you just lock the door on your way out, please?” He gave me a little bow, which I found quaint and cute. “Goodbye, Miss Elizabeth. I’ll call you this evening to see how you are feeling.” “Bye Gyehyeon. Thank you again.” I waited until I heard him lock and close the bedroom door, and then I almost collapsed. My body hurt so bad. Even though she hadn’t hit my tummy, it felt strange. It felt stretched somehow and tender. The worst was my back. I undressed and slipped into the bath. The hot water felt like heaven. I laid there and let the hot water work out the pains in my body. After awhile, I felt good enough to get out, and get dressed. When I sat up though, I noticed something that filled me with fear. The water looked pink. I stood up, and looked down at my legs. Red lines ran down the insides of my legs and into the water. My heart stopped. I didn’t know what to do. I sat back down and washed the blood from my legs as if it was the blood that was the problem. I could see my phone on the counter and it seemed a thousand miles away. I also knew that I had to get to it and call for a paramedic. I stood back up and got out of the tub. Blood instantly ran down my legs and began to stain the carpet. Grabbing the phone, I made my way to the bedroom and found clothes to put on. I wasn’t thinking straight and didn’t know how to keep the blood from getting everywhere except to put a washcloth in my underwear. I also couldn’t remember the number for emergency. I looked at the phone and at the bottom it told me to call 119 for an emergency. I made my way out of the bedroom. The hallway looked longer than I remembered, and I was beginning to feel dizzy and sick to my stomach. I felt faint. I held onto the wall as I walked and noticed that I was getting blood on the wall. I looked down and saw that I was once again covered in blood. I was leaving a trail. I dialed 119 as I slowly walked down the hall. I knew that I was also going to have to call Sehun. If I didn’t, he was going to be furious. A Korean speaker answered the call, but I knew they would have an English speaker there. “I need help,” I said. A moment later, the English speaker came on. “What is your emergency?” “I’m eight months pregnant and I’m bleeding,” I said. I was starting to feel pain. Finally making it to the chair, I didn’t bother with the buckle. I sat down and rode the chair down the stairs as I explained to emergency that I needed a paramedic. After asking for the address, they said that one was on the way. Thank God I had to get the address from Suho before. They wanted me to stay on the line, but I could feel myself starting to blackout, and I had to call Sehun. Hanging up on the woman, I decided not to call Sehun directly. I didn’t call Suho either. I called Chanyeol, but he didn’t answer so I left a message on his phone and I tried not to sound panicked. I didn’t know any of the managers numbers or where Exo was exactly so I couldn’t call them. Against my better judgement, I dialed Sehun’s number and got his voice mail. I tried Suho’s and got the same thing. They must be on stage.   I got my coat on and got out the front door. It was so cold! And it had started snowing a little. The cold woke me up a somewhat so that was actually a plus. Walking out to one of the little stone benches, I sat down, but soon after I slid down to the ground. My eyes were going out of focus, but I could see that the bleeding had gotten much worse and I was basically sitting in a puddle. I wanted Sehun. I looked at my phone. There was Leo’s number at the top. Without thinking, I hit the call button and the speaker button. After a few rings, Leo came on. “Leo?” “Yes. Hello,” he said. “This is Elizabeth,” I said. “Yes. I know. How are you?” “I need help. I need Sehun, but I don’t know where he is,” I said. I was losing consciousness. “Elizabeth? Are you ok?” He sounded worried. “No. I’m going to the hospital. Can you find Sehun for me?” Then I was gone.

I woke up in a hospital with a nurse looking down at me. She started to talk to me, but I had no idea what she was saying. My head was aching. I looked around for Sehun, but I couldn’t see much. Then as if I had conjured him, he was beside me. He looked terrible. I could tell that he had ran his hands through his hair many times. He tended to do that when he was nervous or scared. Suho appeared beside the bed too. He looked strained. “I’m sorry,” I started to say. “Shhh, don’t talk,” said Sehun and he put his hand on my head. “Is the baby okay?” I asked. He began to rub my hair back from my face. “She’s just fine,” he said and smiled. “There was so much blood. Will she be born now?” I asked. He smiled and shook his head. “No. She is staying put for now. You had a little tear, and they fixed it. You are both fine.” “I don’t want to stay here. I hate hospitals. I want to go home with you,” I said. I felt like if I had to stay here for even one night that I would go crazy. “You will. Don’t worry. They are replacing the blood you lost, and then I’m taking you home,” he said. Suho hadn’t said a word. He looked distraught. “Suho?” He didn’t hear me. He looked distracted. I asked Sehun, “Is Suho okay? Is he mad at me?” Sehun smiled. “No, he’s not mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong. No one is mad at you.” “He looks upset,” I said. “He’s trying to figure out what to do,” said Sehun. “About what?” I asked. “About Mi Young.” I didn’t want anymore trouble. I just wanted her gone. “He needs to find her a doctor,” I said. “He’s thinking about having her arrested,” said Sehun. “No!” I said and struggled to sit up. “Suho!” I yelled. Sehun tried to get me to stop and lay down, but finally Suho looked at me. “Suho, I don’t want anymore trouble. I don’t want to press charges. Mi Young just needs help. She has mental problems. Promise me that we will just send her home and get her some help.” “But she tried to kill your baby,” he said. His face was pale and he looked like he was going to fall down. “Sehun, please get Suho a chair. Suho, she didn’t try to kill the baby. She never touched my stomach. Not once. The girl just needs help. Mental help. Promise me we can send her home, find her a doctor, and forget about this whole thing,” I said. I ran out of breath trying to get it all out. “Okay,” he said, and sat in the chair that Sehun brought over. “I don’t think he’s okay,” I whispered to Sehun. Sehun’s mouth was a long straight line. They were both pushed past their limits. “He will be,” he said. “You just rest. We can discuss everything at home tomorrow.” I let it go. I could tell it wasn’t helping to talk about it. Suho stayed on his phone, whether on a call or texting. Sehun sat back in a chair with his head leaning back against the wall. It seemed like it took forever, but finally the doctor came and released me with instructions that I was to stay in bed until after the baby came. By the time I got home and was tucked in, it was morning and Sehun had to leave again. They had more schedules today, and on no sleep. I couldn’t have felt guiltier if I had murdered someone. Well, not much more. I was allowed to go to the bathroom on my own, but that was it. Suho had gotten a nurse to take care of me. I felt silly. By that evening, I was over it. And I was going to have weeks of this. I was going to lose my mind. Around midnight, Sehun came in exhausted. He didn’t turn the light on when he came in. I think he assumed I was asleep, but I watched his silhouette cross the room and begin to undress. He slipped off his shoes and undid his tie. It pleased me so much just to watch him. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off, hanging it from the chair. Taking off his pants, he laid them over the chair as well. He slipped off his socks, and came over to the bed. He got in gently and slowly so he wouldn’t wake me, and I still didn’t say a word. After he was settled, he sighed. I could tell he wasn’t going to sleep immediately. I knew he was laying there going over the whole day in his mind. I rolled over and slipped in under his arm, laying my head on his chest. He stroked the arm that I had laid across him.   We laid there and didn’t speak. I listened to his breathing until it became slow and even and I knew he was asleep. Finally, I could rest and fall asleep myself.

The next morning I woke up alone. I cried. After awhile, I sat up, and ate the breakfast that had been left for me. I turned on the tv and then turned it off again. I picked up the book that Suho had sent for me to read and read a whole paragraph before I put it back down again. I was restless. My body was sore from the bruises, but I didn’t feel like I needed to lay in the bed all day. I went and had a shower. I noticed that the blood had already been cleaned. That means that Suho had seen it. That didn’t sit well with me. What also wasn’t sitting well with me was that I had no idea what was going on. I sent Suho a text. Then I sent Sehun one. After my shower, I still hadn’t heard from them. I knew they were busy, but I was starting to think it was intentional. I wonder if they are angry with me. Or if they have just had enough of me. Maybe it’s time I plan a trip to America so I can visit my family, and not be a worry for the boys until after their tour is over. I couldn’t face getting back into that bed alone so I sneaked out of the outer bathroom door. I went down the back way to the sun room. If I can lay in bed, I should be okay laying on a couch in the sunroom, I reasoned. On my way there, I passed the ballroom. I stopped at the doors and laid my hand against them. Why am I so drawn to this room? I always have been. But now it’s a thing of nightmares. So why do I still have trouble passing it without going in? I turned the doorknob half expecting it to be locked, but it turned easily. I let the door swing open, but I didn’t go in. It was just as it had been the other day. Police tape laid in criss crosses all over the floor. Chairs were overturned. The dark stain in the middle of the floor looked black and ominous, like a hole that was yearning to swallow me and take me into the past. I was drawn to it. I walked over to the dried blood in the middle of the floor and marveled at how big the stain was. I don’t know what possessed me, but I had such a need to lay in the middle of that dried puddle that I couldn’t fight it. And I didn’t. I laid down and closed my eyes. I think I was meant to die here, I thought. Why didn’t I? Why did God let me live? Was it the baby? I kept thinking that if I had died, I wouldn’t be such a problem for the boys. It would have ended then and there and they would be back to their normal lives now. Memories of last year came to me in flashes. I thought of how I had run into Kyung on the street. If I had just kept going, who knows what my life would be now. I would definitely be in America, and I may be married to a different man, having a different baby. I remembered how it hadn’t started out that bad. True I was locked up, but Kyung had treated me really good. Then I had made the mistake of telling him no to marriage, and it was like I had flipped a switch in him. He went from sweetness and light to complete and utter darkness. He didn’t just create fear. He was fear personified. It was as if his soul had left his body and what was left was a sadistic shell inhabited by a monster of unfathomable evil. I shivered. My eyes flew open. Why am I having such dark thoughts? It has to be this room. All of this pain needs to be washed away. Standing with a lot of difficulty, I knew what I was going to do. First, I turned on the lights and shut the door. I didn’t need anyone seeing me and forcing me back to bed. Next, I went around and picked up all of the police tape and threw it away. I went around and straighted all of the chairs and tables. I left the hardest part for last. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t want to clean the stain. It was the last part of Park Kyung left in this world, and I felt like it wasn’t right to erase him completely. Then I thought of the baby. I patted my tummy. I’m wrong. It isn’t the last thing. I had to sneak out to get the bucket of water and cleaner that I needed, and then back out to get the mop. It was going to take a lot of work, but I had nothing else planned for the day. I could go slow. Clean a little. Sit a little. So on and so forth. And that’s what I did. It took an hour but I had cleaned the spot so well that you couldn’t tell it had ever been there. I took a push broom and walked around sweeping up all of the little crystals that had flown around the room from the fallen chandelier. I found a particularly beautiful one that was still intact and shined like a diamond. I put it in my pocket. Walking over to the door, I turned and admired my work. The room was no longer ominous and threatening. Once again it was shining and warm and ready for another grand ball. My heart felt lighter. I turned off the light, left the room, and shut the door. Looking at my phone, I was disappointed to see that no one had bothered to answer me. I headed for the sun room. I knew who I was going to contact.

I grabbed a blanket and made myself a cozy nest on one of the puffy couches along the wall. I pulled out my phone and sent a text. Hello. I wanted to thank you for helping me and to say that I’m sorry I got you involved. I waited to see if I would get a response. It only took a couple of minutes. Hello Elizabeth! Don’t be sorry. I’m glad that I could help. Are you doing okay? I wasn’t even sure what part Leo had played. So I decided to ask. I’m just fine. They put me on bed rest, but I am a bad patient. I keep getting up. LOL No one will tell me what happened. I woke up in the hospital, and no one will say how I got there or how Sehun found out what was going on. Will you tell me? I fluffed up the pillows behind me as I waited for a response. The phone rang and startled me. I wasn’t expecting that. “Hello?” I answered. “This is easier than sending a long text,” said Leo. “No, this is fine,” I said. “ Well, after I got your call, it scared me. I didn’t have anyone’s phone numbers, but I knew Wonsik had Kai’s. So I called him and he knew how to get in touch with Kai. So all I really know is that he called the studio where Exo was playing, and told them there was an emergency. Then Kai took it from there,” he said. “That helps a lot. And again, I’m really sorry. I panicked. I didn’t know who else to call,” I said. “Are you really okay? What happened?” he asked. “It’s embarrassing really,” I said. “Suho’s cousin, Mi Young, has a crush on Sehun. She got really upset at something I said, and lost it.” I heard him laugh a little soft laugh. “So, you got your ass kicked?” he asked. “Leo!” I said. My mouth was hanging open. He laughed harder. After I thought about it, that was exactly what happened. I laughed too. “Well, yes, if you must know. But in my defense, I am very pregnant. I had to protect my baby,” I said. “Well, I’m happy that you are okay. We have all been worried. We thought maybe the baby was coming early,” he said. “Not yet,” I said. “I’ll let you know when that happens.” “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to let you go. Again, I’m glad you are doing good,” he said. “Thank you again Leo. You were my hero,” I said. “Anytime. Talk to you later,” he said. “Bye,” I said. Then he was gone. Well, at least he answered me. I looked at my message to Sehun, and felt a little perturbed. I thought about planning a trip to America, but I decided I should talk to Sehun about it first. They may not even let me travel right now. It just seemed like the solution to everyone’s problems. I would be safe with family, and Suho and Sehun could do what they need to do without the added problem of me. My attention wandered outside the beautiful giant windows and into the garden outside. It was still snowing gentle slow flakes that blew around the walkways. I watched as what I assumed was the same bunny from the other day, bounced around and nibbled on little sprigs of green that sprouted up out of the snow. I would like to have brought him in out of the cold, but I knew I could never catch him. As I lay there daydreaming, my eyelids became heavy. I yawned. I didn’t realize how tired I had gotten from all of the cleaning, and I quickly slipped into a very cozy nap.

When I woke up, a different Sehun than the one from the day before, was sitting across the room eating something in a bowl. “You have black hair,” I said. Without even looking over he said, “Yes I do,” and took another sip from his spoon. “Now, would you like to tell me what you are doing down here?” I sat up and combed my fingers through my hair. “I got bored up there, Sehun.” I knew I sounded like a little girl who was trying to get out of trouble. Which might be what I actually was. “Well, since you can’t follow the rules, would you like to join us for some lunch?” he asked. “Us?” I asked as I stood up and walked to the table. “Jun is coming. He wanted bread,” said Sehun. He slurped his broth. I sat down, noticing that there was already a place set for me. “I’m surprised to see you two home,” I said. Sehun began putting food on my plate. “Since we had hair appointments today, we skipped rehearsal and came home for lunch.” His temperament seemed a little cold so I asked, “Are you angry with me?” The answer came from behind me. “No, he isn’t angry with you. You haven’t done anything wrong,” said Suho as he sat down. He searched for a place to sit his bowl of bread. “Sehun is stressed. He tends to brood when he has a lot on his mind.” Sehun didn’t look at either of us. He just smashed his lips together in a long thin line, and scooted food around his plate with a fork. “Good afternoon, Suho,” I said. He smiled at me. “Good afternoon, Elizabeth. Did you have a nice nap?” “I had a wonderful nap,” I said. “I think you will be happy to know that Miss Ahn has been sent home to her mother, and has an appointment with a psychiatrist at the end of the week,” he said. “That is wonderful!” I said. “Thank you for doing that.” “It’s what she needed,” he said. “Along with an ass-whipping,” mumbled Sehun under his breath taking some bread from the bowl. “That too,” said Suho. “But we will let Elizabeth take care of that next time she sees her.” He smiled at me again after taking a big bite. “If I ever see her so much as touch Sehun again, you can count on it,” I said and smiled back. Suho put down his spoon, folded his fingers together and leaned against the table. “Now we need to talk about next week.” “That’s when the tour starts right?” I asked. “Yep. And we won’t be home for awhile. I have plenty of security, but I’m considering hiring a special guard for you,” he said. “That isn’t necessary, Suho. I’m perfectly safe here,” I said. “I’m starting to wonder if you are safe anywhere under any circumstances,” he said. Sehun laughed at that. “I’m sorry I’m such a bother. I was actually thinking that maybe I should go home to my family until you get back,” I said. “Don’t let me hear you call yourself a bother anymore!” said Suho. “And I don’t think it would be smart for you to go on such a long trip right now.” “But it’s the perfect solution,” I said. “I would be safe and you wouldn’t have to worry while you are on tour.” “No,” said Sehun. He put another piece of bread in his mouth. “But this is going to be hardest on you,” I said. “I said no,” he said. “You aren’t going anywhere. I told everyone that I am going to be with you when the baby comes, and I will. I don’t care what I have to do to be there,” he said. I didn’t really think that idea was going to fly with Sehun anyway. “Listen,” I said, “You guys go to work and do what you have to do. I promise to take very good care of myself, and when the baby is due, or I have any feeling that I think she might come early, I’ll let you know immediately.” “Oh, I’ll be here a week before the due date,” said Sehun. “I don’t think a few Exo shows will fall apart without me.” “I’m sure more than a few thousand girls bought tickets just to see you,” I said. “I’ll do a live fan meeting or something. They will be fine,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m serious. I’ll be fine. You both go to work and don’t think about me,” I said. “Well, it’s settled then,” said Suho. “Now, we really do have to go or we will be late. Do you need help getting back to bed?” “I’m not going back up there today. I’m staying right here. I’ll have someone bring me a TV and a game system and me and Harvey will run around for awhile,” I said. Sehun and Suho looked at each other. I didn’t know what the big deal was at first. “Do you have to talk about Harvey?” asked Sehun. I hadn’t realized I had done that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it.” He kissed me. Holding my chin in his hand to make me look up at him, he said, “Please lay down today. If anything happens to you I’m going to completely lose it. I’m not kidding.” “I promise. I love you very much,” I said. “I love you too,” he said and kissed me again. I watched as they left. I hated when they left.

The next week was very lonely for me. I might as well have not seen Sehun at all. He came in after I was in bed and left before I woke up. I expected it, but I didn’t like it. At the end of next week, they would be gone for weeks. I wouldn’t even have Sehun beside me at night. I tried not to think about it. I had no idea what I was going to do to keep myself entertained. Even Leo wasn’t going to be available because he started doing a new musical. A couple of days before they were going to leave for the tour, I started feeling strange. I felt more pressure and some pain, but I kept it to myself. Suho already looked like he was about to explode, and I wasn’t about to add to that stress. I tried to lay down most of the time. A few times, I even had some strong pain across my tummy and it started to feel really tight. I was somewhat worried. It was still a couple of weeks before my due date so I tried to keep calm. I told myself that it was just my body getting ready. On the evening before they had to leave, the boys had all gathered at the house to get ready and to make sure that everything was in order. Some of them were in the pool. Some were in the game room, and the rest were in the music room. Suho, Chanyeol, and Sehun had gone to the studio to put things in order there. It had started to snow and the weather was predicted to get pretty bad. It wasn’t supposed to be so bad that it would deter the boys from traveling though. I got a text from Sehun saying that they may be a little late getting back because the roads were getting slick. I sent him a text making him promise that if they got stranded over an embankment, that they would keep warm inside each others shirts. My answer was a text that was just a string of emojis that made it clear I was getting a spanking when he got home. I laughed so much at that. Laying on a couch in the music room, I was listening to Bacon and D.O. practicing some of their music. All of a sudden, I was hit was a searing pain across my abdomen. It took my breath away, but I tried to hide it. I sneaked out of the room and went to take a bath. Sometimes the warm water helped calm the pains down. As I ran the water and prepared the bath, I was bent over with a pain. My tummy felt like it filled up with air and was ready to pop. It subsided so I slipped into the bath. Laying there, I had three more pains that stole my breath. Clearly the water wasn’t working. I decided to go to bed early. Getting out of the tub took some effort, but I made it and dried off. I kept having pains as I got dressed. They seemed to be lasting longer each time. Getting into bed, I grabbed my phone to text Sehun. I wanted to make sure he was okay. He let me know that they might be even later than they had hoped because some of the roads were closed due to the snow and others were blocked with wrecks. I went ahead and let him know that I was going to bed early because I felt bad and I was having some pain. My phone rang. “Hello?” I answered. “What kind of pain?” asked Sehun. “I’m fine,” I tried to reassure him. “Elizabeth! What kind of pain?” he asked again. “My tummy has been hurting a little,” I said. I tried to minimize the truth. I heard him sigh. “You’ve been doing too much. You should go to bed.” “I’m already in bed,” I said. I scooted down to get comfortable, and a huge pain hit. I couldn’t hide that one from Sehun. “Elizabeth? Are you okay?” he asked. He sounded like he was starting to panic. I couldn’t talk as long as the pain was growing. “Elizabeth? Hey! Elizabeth? Answer me dammit!” I could hear him, but I couldn’t get enough air to make words. “Elizabeth! You are scaring me!” he said. Finally the pain was subsiding and I could breath again. I picked the phone back up and said, “I’m okay. It just hurt for a minute.” I was breathing hard. “I’m going to call the doctor,” said Sehun. “No. No, no. I’m okay. I just need to rest,” I said. “I don’t care. I’m calling the doctor. You stay in bed. He’ll be there as soon as I can get him there,” he said. “It isn’t necessary,” I said. There was a bottle of water across the room on the dresser that I desperately wanted because my mouth was dry. I pulled the blankets back to get out of the bed, and what I found shocked and scared me. The blankets, my gown, and the bed were all soaked. “Sehun?” “Yeah?” “It is necessary. My water just broke.”

[yjk-imagines]

Been rereading my favorite Zekk stories this week. Was tired of not being able to find enough stories about Jaina, Jacen, and Zekk pre-Jedi Academy

“How did your parents fall in love?”

It was late at night, and they were trying to see the stars. By the way that they moved ever so slowly, Jacen suspected that the few stars they were actually able to see were the ships coming in and out of Coruscant's atmosphere. However, when you loved flying and mechanics as much as Jaina or Zekk did, that was enough. Jacen didn’t mind so much either, as he was more preoccupied with trying to see if the gardens’ latest resident, a red furry beetle he couldn’t name, would trust him enough to leave his nest of woven leaves and land on his hand.

He smiled in a way that matched Jaina’s grin, though his back was turned to her. 

“Uncle Luke hired Dad and Uncle Chewie to help him rescue Mom,” Jaina said, barely holding back laughter.

Jacen crawled back over to sit next to Zekk, their legs dangling over the edge of the rooftop garden. “Mom kinda started rescuing herself halfway through. Shot a hole in the wall and led them all down the garbage chute.”

Jaina’s giggled began to spill over, and her voice rose comically to imitate Uncle Luke’s impression of their mother back when she was just a touch more arrogant, “Into the garbage chute, Flyboy!”

“Dad practically told Uncle Luke the day that they met that he was either falling in love with mom, or he was gonna kill her because she drove him insane.”

“I think Peckhum told me that’s what love is, though,” Zekk said, pulling one of his legs up to his chest, “Someone who annoys you so much but you can’t live without them.”

Jaina innocently wrapped her arm around Zekk’s and leaned her head on his shoulder, “Well I don’t think I want someone who’s annoying, I mean Jacen already fills that spot pretty well-”

“Hey!”

“-But I don’t think I could live without either of you.” She finished, ignoring Jacen’s protest.

Zekk was quiet as his gaze turned from their pretended stars to the Coruscant traffic miles below their feet. and even Jacen felt a little humbled to hear his brash big sister admit that she couldn’t live without him.

“Why’d you wanna know?” Jaina asked.

Zekk shrugged. “I just heard some scavengers talking today, they were wondering how a nobody like them wound up marrying the princess who’d rule the galaxy.”

“Mom doesn’t rule the galaxy, though,” Jacen said. Unconsciously, his right arm wound around Zekk’s for security while the fur-beetle began to crawl up his left arm, “She says she just helps other people run it without turning into a firefight.”

“Irregardless,” Jaina shot Jacen a glare for derailing Zekk.

“I think it’s just ‘regardless’,” Zekk put in.

“Irregardless-” Jaina insisted stubbornly, “-Uncle Luke says no one’s a “nobody”. Everyone’s something. Everybody matters to the force. And the force knew that Mom and Dad needed to meet so that they could have us.”

“And Anakin.”

“And Nik. And now here we are!”

“You guys are gonna have to explain more about the force to me when you guys get home.” Zekk sighed, shaking his head. “It sounds weird.” 

His snarled black hair batted Jacen in the face, and sent his newest friend flying back to the security of the bushes. Jacen didn’t care enough to chase after it. He’d grown too tired by now, and this whole escapade of sneak-Zekk-into-the-most-secure-building-on-the-planet-if-not-the-galaxy was moot if they weren’t spending their last night on Coruscant with their best friend. 

“Don’t worry, Zekk,” Jaina grinned, watching as another cruiser took off from their eye level and shot towards the sky, “When we come back, we’ll make sure you know everything every Jedi has ever learned.”

“Well, maybe not that much,” Zekk chuckled.

“What about you?” Jacen asked. “I know you’re with Peckhum, and he’s like this old bachelor or something, but do you know how your parents fell in love?” 

Zekk was quiet for a long time, and Jacen was afraid that he’d just made his friend upset, but Zekk shrugged, “Da watched Ma painting the town square during a rebuilding year, and he couldn’t tell if he loved her or if he wanted to be her. He didn’t remember what she painted, because she painted something new every year, but he remembered every single color she used, and he would list them all for me when I went to bed at night. Sometimes I think he just made up a list to make it longer so that I’d fall asleep faster.”

“What are some of the colors you remember?” Jaina asked quietly. Zekk was leaning his head on top of Jacen’s now.

“Well, there was blue, like the sky, yellow, for the sun, white, for the flowers, and green, for all the grass and plants that would grow in the next seven years.” 

“Green,” Jacen hummed appreciatively.

“Just like your eyes!” Jaina turned her head upward, and was met with Zekk’s soft smile.

“Yeah. I guess my mom painted my eyes when I was born.”

Jacen laughed, and nearly fell off the roof.

“Now that was funny,” Jaina laughed at the look on Jacen’s face. 

“Love you too, sis.”

“Jacen? Jaina?” 

The three went silent, and as still as three twelve-year-olds could manage.

“I know you’re up here,” Their mother said, joining Dad at the doorway that led to the apartments below, “Hello Zekk.”

“Stupid force,” Jaina hissed as their parents came around a cluster of potted trees and spotted all three children, too guilty and too tired to bother hiding.

“Hello Your Majesty, General Solo.” Zekk nervously waved hello as they scooted back from the edge of the roof in unison.

“You kids know you’re not supposed to be on the edge of the roof when you’re alone like this,” Han said sternly, “You’re supposed to be setting a good example for Anakin.”

“Don’t worry Zekk, we’re not mad at you,” Chief of State Organa-Solo said gently, avoiding a rift as if she were on the senate floor. She unfolded the blanket she’d been carrying, wrapping it around the three shivering children. Zekk’s shorts and vest, the chic-est fashion from the Coruscant underbelly, didn’t provide much cover, and Jacen and Jaina’s light pajamas were meant for a climate-controlled apartment and plenty of downy blankets.

“You’re mad at us though, huh?” Jacen mumbled. He and Jaina stared at their feet, and Zekk couldn’t help but copy them.

The Princess Leia shook her head and knelt in front of them, “Well, we can’t exactly punish you when you’re heading out with Uncle Luke first thing in the morning.

Jacen and Jaina looked at each other, and then at Zekk, and their parents understood.

Han sighed. “Regardless, you kids can’t be sleeping out here all night. Let’s all head inside and get some rest.”

“Can we have some hot chocolate?” Jaina asked.

General Solo chuckled as he took his daughter’s hand. “Don’t push your luck, kid.”

“What’s hot chocolate?” Zekk asked.

Han stopped for a moment, and Leia laughed in exasperation. 

Jacen hopped from one foot to the other as he sensed the change in the force. “Come on, Zekk!” He grabbed the hand that wasn’t holding Jaina’s, and pulled Zekk inside and out of the wind, “Jaina and I’ll make it for you.”

[suburbantimewaster]

Most Hated Characters

This is a list of characters I hate because they’re poorly written, not because they’re written to be hated.  So Joffrey from Game of Thrones is safe.

Ross Gellar (Friends): Where to begin with this guy.  He obsessed over a girl since high school and, when he gets together with her, acts like a possessive douchebag to the point that he doesn’t like Rachel going to a work lecture with a colleague.  Then complains about her actually having a life outside of him when she gets a career in fashion.  Even though, earlier, he didn’t like that Rachel was just a waitress.  Not to mention his misogyny, where he refuses to hire a male nanny who was qualified in every aspect expect for being a man.  Then makes a huge deal about Ben playing with a Barbie doll.  Not to mention that he whines and whines about every small thing that goes wrong in his life, even though a lot of them are his own fault.  People who complain about the live-action Jafar being too whiny seriously need to take a look at Ross Gellar, the king of whine.

Dawn Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): While I absolutely love this show, and Buffy Summers is my hero, there is one thing I would desperately change about this show and that is Dawn Summers.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved her whole key arc in season 5 but, in season 6, I just wanted to strangle her.  She complains constantly about how Buffy doesn’t spend enough time with her because she has to work at a crappy job to support her.  Which, if Dawn hadn’t purposely flunked her classes, Buffy wouldn’t have had to quit college and get anyway.  Dawn regularly does stupid stuff, such as accidentally inviting a vampire in the house, and we’re supposed to side with her because “she’s just a kid.”  Other than being the Key, this girl contributes nothing to the show.  They should have just killed her off in season 5 instead of introducing that stupid plot hole just to keep her.

Every Single Character in the Big Bang Theory: That’s right, I hate them all.  Sheldon for being a whiny spoiled brat, Leonard for being an entitled “nice guy,” Howard for being a perverted manchild (the latter staying even when he married Bernadette), Raj for being a whiny douchebag, Penny for acting like an entitled alpha bitch who mocks the guys’ interests even though they’re scientists and she’s a waitress, Bernadette for being an evil bitch to the point of making Howard give up his Tardis (I’m never forgiving her for that), and Amy for being every bit as evil and manipulative as Sheldon, even though she’s supposed to be the one that suffers.  That’s right, everyone in this show has done something that makes me want to throw my shoe at the TV and my mom and I continued watching it just for the sake of completing it.  Don’t get me wrong, I watch many sitcoms where the characters are insufferable douchebags, such as Seinfeld, but the difference is that the writers embraced the douchebags and rolled with it.  Not try to make us sympathize and say that they’re good people deep down, which they’re not.

Ahmed (Thief of Baghdad): Okay, I did like his storyline in the beginning about how he learned not to trust his Grand Vizier Jaffar (the one Jafar was based off of) and how he went out into the world but, after that, everything interesting about him goes out the window.  Throughout the movie, all he does is whine about his nameless princess and how he can’t live without this girl he knew for all of five minutes and who he met by breaking into her garden.  The first time I watched the movie, my thoughts were “My God, shut up about your stupid princess already.”  Is it any wonder that, when the movie was out, so many women wrote to Conrad Veidt saying that they would’ve chosen Jaffar over Ahmed any day?

Jack and Kate (Lost): That’s right, I gave Jack and Kate an equal spot.  I’ll admit, Jack got cool at the end when he was all about the island but it doesn’t make up for seasons of bad writing we had to sit through about how everything on the island doesn’t make sense.  Jack, you live on an island with a giant smoke monster and you saw your father’s ghost.  The laws of reality are being severely challenged for you.  Also, you had no proof that not pushing the button wasn’t going to blow up the island and you were willing to risk everyone on said island just to prove that you were right.  Not to mention all the pointless flashbacks I had to endure starring you, such as that stupid flashback about the tattoos.  It couldn’t have been something he did in medical school when he was drunk, it has to have some super special significance.  Kate, on the other hand, started out cool but quickly became disappointing.  You had a hardcore criminal on the show and her major plot was her stupid love triangle between Jack and Sawyer.  Her reason for killing her stepfather (actually her real father) wasn’t because he was abusing her but because he was part of her.  Seriously, what the fuck?  She forces herself into the final climax by shooting the smoke monster, even though she had no personal conflict with him, and she wanted to get off the island, despite being a wanted criminal.  I know some people have to want to leave the island, but you have to give them a legitimate reason.  Wouldn’t it be more interesting if Jack wanted to leave and Kate wanted to stay, giving them a conflict that didn’t have to do with the love triangle?

Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation): The very character who started the trope Creator’s Pet, which used to be called The Wesley.  He was the irritating boy genius that was smarter than everyone, even the super smart robot.  Wesley played around in Engineering on duty, seeing how he could boost the sensors.  When Data asked how I was asking why.  He’s forced into the plot just to prove how smart he is, one time being given command of an entire project filled with older and far more experienced officers.  He’s the only one who figured out that Data was Lore, even though it was super obvious to the point that a 5 year old could’ve figured it out, but everyone else was taking their stupid pills so that Wesley can look smart by comparison.  Even Will Wheaton himself admitted to hating the character of Wesley Crusher.  This is how NOT to write a boy genius while Peter Parker from the MCU is a great example of how to do Wesley Crusher right.

Neelix (Star Trek: Voyager): Words cannot describe how much I hate this stupid alien.  He was supposed to be the breakout character of Voyager, a combination of Odo and Quark, and he came off more like Michael Scott on a starship.  When he wasn’t incessantly bugging Tuvok, who made it very clear that he wants to be left alone, he was making adjustments to recipes no one asked him to make adjustments to.  Neelix also forces himself into situations where he’s not wanted or needed, such as insisting that he be part of the security team.  Not to mention his possessive jealousy over Kes makes Ross Geller look like a supportive boyfriend.

Connor (Angel): Meet the son of Angel and Darla that nobody wanted.  He’s an unlikable bigot who tried to kill Angel and, even though he was misled, wouldn’t even consider that he was wrong.  Then there was that whole Jasmine arc where he knew all along that Jasmine was evil, but went along with it anyway.  At no point does he try to help Fred, who’s been there for him and cared for him, and he screws over not only the Angel crew, but everyone on Earth because he went along with a lie.  Supposedly it was because it was “the best lie he’s ever heard,” but if that’s supposed to make me feel sympathy for him, you’re barking up the wrong tree.  He got less annoying once Angel rewrote his memory.

Lana Lang (Smallville): I have saved the best, or worst, for last.  Meet Lana Lang, Clark’s love interest who’s so amazing and strong, even though we never see evidence of either of that.  All she does is get captured, have various stalkers declare their undying love for her, mope about her dead parents, who died before she could even remember them and was raised by a loving aunt and makes Clark mope about how he can’t be with her.  She’s supposedly running the Talon (the coffee shop), even though she’s in high school and has no business training whatsoever.  So many men declared their undying love for Lana Lang, it was ridiculous.  This small town nobody had more stalkers than Lex Luthor, and he was the heir of a wealthy entrepreneur.  Later on, she gets tougher by learning martial arts in the span of one day and ends the show by getting navy seal training.  Then we have to have this whole sad scene about how she and Clark can’t be together because she sucked up kryptonite inside of her.  Though, when they were together, she wasn’t really a great girlfriend considering that, when Bizarro replaced Clark, she had to be told by Chloe that her boyfriend’s an imposter.  When Lana leaves the show for good, you’d think we’d get a break from it but no, we have to hear over and over about how amazing Lana is and how no one can ever dream of matching up to her perfection.  Every time people talk about what an unbelievable Mary Sue Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery is, I want to show them Lana Lang.

[makinoemii]

  “Travel is never a matter of money but of courage”. -Paolo Coelho-

Stressful week? Want to unwind and escape away from City life? I bet we’re on the same shoes or maybe not. Some love to go to work because work is work and we need it to sustain our daily needs. Some go to work because they have to in order to survive. And some work not because of their self but because some members of the family depends on them. And what keeps me driving to go to work despite the fact that I love traveling and adventures? Right! I need to go to work because my family needs me and nature’s waiting for me to discover them.

I intend to write my thoughts about my unanticipated wonderful experiences together with different people, student, etc. Throughout my journey for this year “2018”, I’ve met different people and amazing experiences which made my year wonderful and memorable.

  Let’s start from my hometown in Tabuelan, Cebu. Located in the northern part of Cebu, you’ll found a wonderful white sand beach. Two years ago Maravilla White Sand beach was not very popular until a resort called “Tree Sunset Beach Resort” meters away from Maravilla went viral online for its unique concept that was very suitable for young adults to hangout with and have fun away from the city. After that resort became popular the public beach of Maravilla became a spot for those whose on their budget or a group of people having their team building or just chilling along the beach.

And this was my favorite in Maravilla White Sand beach, the sunset. The place very much comparable to Boracay because in Maravilla the sunset’s so wonderful and Instagram worthy to those who love photography.

If you love to beach as your prenup or pre-wedding photos, Maravila’s the best location. It’s not too crowded and it has a long shoreline and wonderful spots for your partner. Take note no need for you pay just to do photo shoot in the whole place. 🙂

So how to go to Maravilla? That’s a good question. All you need to do is to go to Northbus terminal. You have options depends on your comfort zone.

You can take “Inday Meme Bus” that will go directly to Maravilla public white sand beach. But this bus is not like “Ceres bus liner if your familiar”. This is an ordinary bus and the seat’s not really spacious. Mostly the bus is crowded over the weekend because most of the local’s from Tabuelan will go home.

Take a V-hire if you want to save time. However; there’s no guarantee that the V-hire will go directly to Maravilla. Some V-hire’s will pass by the beach and some will just have their stationary at the public Market. Because the other V-Hire’s will be heading to Tuburan. So you need to take a motorcycle that would take you to Maravilla.

The third option is most likely the same with the V-Hire. Take a bus “Ceres bus liner.” Going to Tabuelan-Tuburan, and once you reach Tabuelan public market take a motorcycle to Maravilla.

So the choice is yours and Maravilla’s waiting for you guys. 🙂

  Next stop, let’s have the latest viral instagramable destination within your reach in Cebu City, @Neri’s Ville Selfie Corner. Expected expenses are the following:

P100 per way by motorcycle or (habal-habal) and that’s per person. The motorcycle can accommodate 2 people. Before it was only P80 per way, however due to its popular in demand they’ve increase the fare because of the waiting fee. But if you have car then your good to go.

P50 for the entrance,parking fee at Neri’s Ville when we went there if you have your own car was for free.

Jeepney fare if your from Ayala or Colon in Cebu City take a Jeepney that will go directly to “Pit-os” Talamban or 62B & 62C jeepney code. Fare was less than P20 each.

Operating hours; From Mondays-Sundays 8AM-& 7PM.

And always be a responsible visitor, follow the Leave no Trace policy guys.

  During our visit, the owner herself was painting some inspirational travel line’s along the stairs and in the entrance part there was a constructions on going. The place was really cute and don’t expect that they have an expansive place once you enter Neri’s Ville selfie Corner.

We had our first stop at their mini hobbit house. We couldn’t ask someone to take us this photo so we set our small tripod and use the small Bluetooth remote in taking the photo.

Even though we reach the place around 9 o’clock in the morning, group of people were already there mostly occupying the hobbit house. And we we’re not given the chance to take some photos because they’ve stayed longer like no plans of going out so that other guess will have the chance to take photos.

So what we did, was just took a selfie together with my pretty student “Yoyo” her English name at the back the yellow mini hobbit house.

This was one of my favorite spot, in front of this was a spider swing.

And of course the most popular one, the Bali inspiration of everyone this spot was considered the most popular online.

Probably our number spot, since the scenic view’s like a painting and it was pretty amazing when we check the photo after the criminology student took this for us. “Thanks to them”.

I had a shot conversation with the owner and she told me how there mini garden went viral suddenly. She said “someone visited their place, took some photos then that person posted their photos in Social Media account, Boom! It became suddenly a hit, especially millennial babies love posting photos that has a nice and interesting ambiance. To their surprised, they suddenly open their place to the public and tried their best to upgrade and do a lot of stuffs to make it more interesting. One thing that made this all worth it, was motorcycle drivers was able to have extra income because people from time to time visit the place especially to those who don’t have their private transportation. And I really adore the owner because she’s very open for suggestions and improvement of their place though it was not that really a huge place. Keep it up!

After Neri’s Ville we went to Balaman to chase the sunset. And this iconic color hanging bridge was located in JVR’s Island in the Sky Resort.

Before we had our visit at JVR we head first in Manunggal Peak to had a short hike however, they wont allow us to do so unless we have a guide. We reached the place almost 4pm and we tried our best to haggle not to have a guide instead we will pay an entrance fee that they have before for P80. But they insisted that it was not okay, we need to have a guide for them to allow us to reach the peak. It was disappointing because the motorcycle was already a total of P300 back and fort then we will pay another P400 even though it was already late. So what we did, we gave up and head directly @JVR Island in the Sky Resort.

For only P50 you’ll have a great sunset view from this resort. There was a new resort nearby calles Florentino and their sunset view was very awesome too.However; I wanted to be more unique and capture nice nature view with my Coco.

Coco’s smile while we chase the sunset was so precious. I’m glad that she liked this resort to forget the unfortunate experienced when we went in Manunggal.

Thank you so much Coco for trusting me in taking a great adventure with you on your stay here in Cebu.

As the sun sets let the peace and harmony be with you Coco to ease the pain and burden you carried after your Mom passed away. I hope that you’ll remember all the good things that you had together with her and strive for happiness in life. Fighting!

      Best of Top of Cebu Restaurant.

Before we end our journey on that day, we need to fill in our hungry stomach. From JVR Island in the Sky Resort, we went to Sirao Peak for a short hike even though it was already dark and called my friend nearby to fetch us and take us to Top of Cebu.

My apologies for the quality of the photo. Meet Juan or John one of my hiking buddy who lives nearby and we ask a favor since we were lucky on that night that he’s available to fetch us from Sirao Peak after our short hike.

We waited for around 20-25 minutes before our dinner was served. We ordered, Busay express as I remember, sisig rice and fiesta rice and for our main course was chicken adobo sa gata and grilled pork belly. While waiting for our food, our three San Mig Light was served first so we had time talking with one another.  For more details please visit their Facebook Page.

For your reference you can check out their menu. I did not personally took the photo for this menu. I’ve search through google’s image and it was the same menu as what I have in my phone.

One of my light room preset was responsible for this awesome photo. Thanks a lot Coco for the wonderful dinner we had together with Juan.

Give your best smile after dinner 🙂 It was so funny that our outfit was too sporty during our visit. But who cares right? We’re here to eat and enjoy the wonder city lights view on top.

This is #CEBU a must photo you ought to take once you dine and visit Top Of Cebu.

As for my personal thoughts about the food? Guys, it was superb! I gave it two thumbs up! Top of Cebu’s a sister restaurant of Lantaw but my honest opinion will go to Top of Cebu. Their food was really tasty, of course Lantaw’s food was tasty as well but Top of Cebu was for me ahead 2 points when it comes to serving and variety of cuisine and its taste. Both have a reasonable price, and serving time was completely the same. But the food was really different and interesting, plus its wonderful ambiance.

Somewhere in Malubog Lake in Toledo, Cebu.

Our next destination for our second day was a hiking morning @Mt.Tagaytay in Toledo, Cebu.

Mt. Tagaytay in Toledo, Cebu was pretty amazing and was really good for beginner hikers.

However; we were not lucky enough as we arrived because the weather was not good and it was already raining. We had our stop at a local house and we can’t afford to hit the trail on that rainy day. We were so lucky that the owner of the house invited us over and she gave us another option where we should go since the weather’s not with us.

Our guide kuya Nilo took us to the mini falls and we hike along the stream.

But unfortunate event happened after we took this photo together with my student. The water suddenly went up and there’s no way for us to cross that river going back.

Coco with the country’s national animal. 🙂

Before we reach this part of the river, check out my first photo. We need to hike up to the mountains and find our own trail so that we can go back. Our supposed destination was the mini falls because of its rock formation, the tunnel and also going to the lake after this mini falls. But we were not lucky enough to achieve our plan. We gave up and went back for our safety. Good thing that our guide was part of the barangay official so he was very kind and also worried a lot since I am with a foreigner. Hopefully next time we will be able to achieve our goal. Total budget that we spent for this trip was the following:

P80 each for the habal-habal or motorcycle ride. Before it was P60 each but a sudden increase was expected as Mt. Tagaytay became popular online.

P100 V-hire Express, from Cebu to Toledo. But you need to tell the driver to drop you at Brgy. Magdugo. Landmark was Julies bakeshop and motorcycles are already lining once you reach the place.

The total experience was priceless though we were not lucky enough to reach our destination. Well there’ll be a next time, hope to make it happen soon.

How come the water suddenly went up after I took this photo. 

Just keep smiling and going, it’s not the end of the day. Tomorrow will be a better day for us.

  Disconnect to connect, together with Mr. Bacalla at Bacalla woods and campsite in San Fernando, Cebu.

After our unfortunate yet memorable experience in Toledo, we directly went to Bacalla woods to stay for overnight. Best thing to do if you want to have a reservation is to contact them directly through this number 09238256945. They’re more active if you contact them directly, compare through Facebook and Instagram.

FYI: BASIC OVERNIGHT camping fee is P200 including breakfast on the next day, maintenance of the campsite and for the usage of cr, electricity, drinking water and kitchen.

For DAY USE its P100 per person, 1-7 years old is for free, 8-12 years old will be 50% off.

You can bring/cook your own food for the rest of the meals w/no extra charge.

Please bring your own tents, hammocks, sleeping bags if you only wanted to pay the basic camping fee.

THE FF: ARE THE RENTAL RATES: Hammock P150 each, Tent for two pax P300, Tent for four pax P600 and Tent for ten pax P1000. Payag Igloo for 4 pax is P800 and Room, P1300.

Just to give you an idea of what we can do here, please click this link.

For Final booking transaction, please deposit 50% down payment to BDO checking account name: Ian Vicent Bacalla, account number will be given to you through text confirmation. Or send the downpayment thru Palawan Express Pera Padala to Ian Vincent Bacalla, mobile number: 09238256945.Then send them the tracking number.

First DP first serve basis, they need to book your activities ahead of time. Strictly Leave no Trace Policy. LET’S HAVE A PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE WITH NATURE AND IT’S INHABITANTS. CHILL DOWN AFTER 10PM. DRINK MODERATELY.

Here’s how to get there: From South Bus Terminal ride a ceres bus going to San Fernando. When you reach Pitalo Church a few meters aways you will be approaching a bridge near Pulchra Resort. The first street on your right is “Eskina Ilaya, get a motorbike for P90 each. The campsite is 7Km away from the National Highway Main Road.

Quite long right? This was the exact message we received after we sent our down payment through Palawan Express. We arrive the place around 9pm.

After we settled our things in our Igloo accommodation I boiled some water for our noodles.

It was indeed a nice night to reflect for our adventures as we sat down eating our cup of ramyeon. For our night at Bacalla we considered ourselves lucky enough because we own the whole place. No other guest so we really felt at home in the woods. No signal? Not a problem, you really need to get disconnected to get a proper connection with people thru real communication.

We had a wonderful sleep and was able to wake up early because of the awesome morning breeze. Our breakfast was served ready as we head to the table and sat down. Played at the hammock a bit to relax and feel the morning breeze. Everything’s pretty refreshing and great.

Our wonderful Payag Igloo accommodation. Credits to Coco for this photo.

Indeed, life’s better at the mountain. 

Yoyo was very happy that she saw her favorite quote “LIVE LAUGH LOVE”. 

So here we go, the most iconic and popular spot in Bacalla, their Bali inspiration infinity swing.

Leaving Bacalla Woods with a big smile. Thanks a lot Yoyo. 🙂

Everything went well, we had an awesome experiences and memories that we can treasure as Yoyo’s heading back to Taiwan very soon. Please check this link.

The link on top was our last adventure in the south of Cebu. We did the full course canyoneering in Badian, Cebu. And chase the sunset in Basdaku, white sand beach in Moalboal before they go back in Taiwan.

Meet Yoyo, she’s my best buddy student. We had a lot in common, and shared wonderful adventures together. See you in Taiwan. 

            Unanticipated Attractions in Cebu, Philippines Stressful week? Want to unwind and escape away from City life? I bet we're on the same shoes or maybe not.

[libraryscarf]

Payback

“Hello, Yato. I would like to hire you.” Yato held her gaze for a moment, and then a lopsided grin crept across his mouth. “So,” he said. “You’ve come to the delivery god.” She nodded stiffly, unable to smile back as her gut gave a sudden, wrenching twist. “It’s…” She swallowed, loudly. “It’s kind of a weird job.”

Chapter 2: The Language of the Elite ( ao3 | ffn )

Hiyori’s shoulders slumped as soon as she walked in. Ami, after shutting the door behind her, raced to the window to follow Yato’s retreating figure down the street with her eyes.

“Okay,” she said after a brief pause. “You did not tell us about that.”

Hiyori didn’t answer. Her blood coagulated with dread as she continued staring at the elegant script that curled its way across the back of the envelope in her hand.

“No,” she murmured. “Please, no.”

Ami tore herself away from the window. “What happened? Did you get served?”

Hiyori looked up, her expression desolate. “Worse. It’s from my mom.”

: : :

“Personally,” said Yama, “I do not see what is so awful about having a fancy dinner with your family. Especially when they’re taking you out to Moon God of all places.”

Yama breathed the name of the restaurant like it was a prayer. “That’s like…sushi heaven,” she said reverently.

Hiyori was holding her head in both hands, her elbows on the dining room table.

“Why couldn’t she just email or text me like a regular person,” she moaned.

The invitation to dinner had arrived on stiff, expensive stationary where the inevitable curly words had instructed Hiyori to attend. Not requested: instructed.

“Because your mother speaks the language of the elite,” Ami said comfortingly. “It can only be communicated underneath a wax seal with the appropriate coat of arms.”

Hiyori lowered her head all the way down to the table, swinging her arms down on both sides of the chair.

“It’s worse than that, even,” she mumbled into the table. Her friends leaned in to hear better, as Hiyori, still plastered forehead-first to the table, informed them of what the conversation had been the last time she was among her extended family.

: : :

It had been several months ago, when her maternal grandparents came to stay at her parents’ house over Christmas. Once her older brother, Masaomi, had showed up with his very nice, be-cardiganed boyfriend in tow, the conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn.

“So, Hiyori,” her grandmother said. “It looks like you’re the last!”

The older woman’s tone was jovial, but Hiyori felt the skin on her arms start crawling up toward her neck like she was covered in centipedes.

“I suppose medical school does get in the way of dating,” she said.

“You haven’t met any…nice young doctors-to-be?” her grandmother asked, exchanging a meaningful look with Hiyori’s mother.

Hiyori fought the urge to sink under her chair, hoping that if she tried hard enough she could simply pop out of existence. Instead, she sipped her champagne delicately and pondered just exactly how disowned she would be if the rest of it just happened to be splashed on her grandmother’s expensive lace collar.

“You remember the Fujisaki family, don’t you?” Hiyori’s mother asked innocently.

Hiyori gritted her teeth until they creaked. “Yes,” she said, through tight lips. “I remember them.”

This champagne would definitely end up all over someone else before the night was over.

“Their son is just a few years older than you,” Mrs. Iki cooed, playing a paragon of innocence. “And he’s doing quite well in his profession, from what I hear. He’s a doctor.”

“How nice,” Hiyori ground out. Her lips were stretched across her face in a taut line, but neither her grandmother nor her mother seemed to notice. She cast Masaomi a pleading glance where he sat next to his boyfriend across the room, but he just gave her a helpless shrug. She glared at him until he turned pale and looked away. Bastard. This was all his fault.

“We should invite them over sometime,” Mrs. Iki continued. “I think you would get along wonderfully with—”

Hiyori set her champagne flute on the coffee table with a brittle clink. Mrs. Iki fell suddenly silent.

“Mom,” she said, striving for a gentle tone. “I do not want to see Kouto Fujisaki again.”

The stem of the glass complained under her grip. “I do not want to see him, ever.”

Her mother and grandmother blinked at her in infuriating confusion.

“Whatever has he done, dear?” her grandmother asked.

This was the worst question of all, because Hiyori did not have a good response to it.

Kouto Fujisaki was charming, witty, and handsome. He was beloved of every mother, respected by every father. He saved kittens from trees for fun. And being around him gave Hiyori the distinct feeling that someone had just poured a bucket of eels down the back of her shirt.

She herself understood what discomforted her so much about him, but it wasn’t exactly a defensible argument in this setting. For a particularly morbid school project, she had had to look up the mugshots of famous serial killers. When the look in several of their flat, dead-fish eyes had struck her as familiar, she realized she had seen that look peering out at her from Kouto Fujisaki’s face. It was a stark, loathsome emptiness that made her sick to look at.

But now, she heard herself say, in defeat:

“Nothing.”

Her mother and grandmother exchanged a look of triumph, and abruptly, Hiyori couldn’t stand it for another second. It was no one’s right to force her on Fujisaki, and she’d hate herself if she lost this most pitiful of contests.

So she sucked in a huge breath and proclaimed, in a voice ringing with victory:

“Actually, I don’t want to see him, because I happen to have a boyfriend.”

: : :

Ami and Yama stared blankly at Hiyori after she recounted the dismal tale.

“You don’t have a boyfriend…right?” Yama asked incredulously, while Ami raised her eyebrows so sharply they could have sliced bread.

“No!” Hiyori ripped her face off the table and stared at them with a forsaken expression. “I don’t! But now my entire family wants to meet the one I already told them I have!”

“Well, why don’t you just tell them you broke up with him?” Ami asked, always pragmatic.

“Because they’ll foist Fujisaki on me again,” Hiyori said miserably.

“You could tell them you don’t want to date,” Yama said, drumming her fingers thoughtfully on the edge of the table.

Hiyori bestowed a bitter glare upon her. “Have you met my mother? That’s tantamount to saying I don’t want to eat. It’s the sort of thing that in her world leads to therapy.”

Yama threw her hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay.”

After a few more seconds of silent deliberation, Ami pushed her chair back from the table.

“Or you could just…get a boyfriend,” she said offhandedly, and disappeared into her own room. Yama followed suit, giving Hiyori a couple pats on the shoulder.

“You’ll figure something out, Hiyo,” she said comfortingly. Then she shrugged. “Hey, maybe Fujisaki has improved since you last saw him!”

After they had both left her alone, Hiyori sat motionless at the table for a long while, eyes frozen on her interlocked thumbs. Ami’s words reverberated in her mind.

And there was a flyer on the telephone pole across the road from the kitchen window, fluttering just within her range of vision. A bold declaration was emblazoned on it, along with a phone number.

“NO PRICE TOO LOW! NO TASK TOO STEEP!”

: : :

Hiyori didn’t give herself time to second-guess her decision, or reconsider the impropriety of asking a boy she barely knew to take money in exchange for pretending to date her. All she knew was that she had tipped the scale into decidedly desperate territory.

But they could help each other. She repeated this to herself, a mantra every few seconds, to keep her nerve up as she walked over to the neighboring house.

“I have a proposal,” she practiced saying out loud, “that I believe can benefit both of us.”

She cringed. Too formal, and a bit of a Godfather vibe. She would just have to wing it. Raising her hand, she approached the door and gave three brisk raps against it before she chickened out. A few moments later, it swung open.

Hiyori expected Yato, but the boy on the other side of the door was a head shorter, blonde, and had such an obviously impeccable sense of fashion that Hiyori instantly doubted he, Yato, and that bewildering tracksuit could share a living space.

“Hi,” she said hesitantly. “I-I think I have the wrong house.”

The boy’s mouth fell open, and his eyes widened dramatically. They were a striking color: a luminous, golden-green that, apropos of nothing, reminded Hiyori of sweet, summer-baked gardens.

As soon as the boy realized he was staring, he shut his mouth with a snap and looked at the ground. “Hi,” he said, anticlimactically. Then he extended a small hand toward her. “I’m Yukine. You’re at the right house.”

“Oh,” Hiyori said. “Good.” She shook his hand, then let go and cleared her throat.

“Um. Is Yato here?”

Yukine glanced up at her, and a mysterious expression flashed over his face before he resumed a normal smile. “Yes, he just got back from work.”

He waved her inside, and Hiyori used every ounce of resolve to avoid gawking openly at the interior of the house. She peered to her right into the small kitchen, where chip bags and an alarming number of pizza boxes littered every flat service. Yukine tapped her elbow lightly, and she jumped.

“You can come in here,” he said, jerking a thumb across the hallway to the small, shabby living room. Hiyori followed him in, then, at his silent invitation, seated herself on the very farthest corner of the narrow couch.

Yukine did not sit down. Instead he turned around, cupped his hands over his mouth, and hollered into the recesses of the house: “YATO, IT’S FOR YOU.” Then he turned back to give her an angelic smile. She returned it, trying not to look terrified.

There was the sound of a door slamming open, of footsteps in the hallway. Hiyori clenched her fingers together. Her knuckles went white as paper, bones pressing sharply against the flesh. Now that she was inside Yato’s house, sitting on his couch, her little scheme suddenly seemed childish, ludicrous, and offensive. This was rude and presumptuous. This was a mistake.

But before she could flee, Yato burst into the living room with his tracksuit half-unzipped. He tipped his head back, shoved a handful of pretzels into his mouth, and said around them:

“Whatiffit, Yukine?!”

Yukine jerked his head toward where Hiyori was self-consciously trying to sit a bit straighter on the couch. Yato’s eyes fell on her, and they widened.

Hiyori would forever have a difficult time explaining why meeting Yato’s gaze made her ribs feel suddenly tight—like her lungs had, for whatever reason, decided they were too big for the rest of her body. They were eyes that didn’t make sense in the rest of his face, the features of which didn’t necessarily abide by the rules of classic handsomeness. Even in his curiosity and confusion, Yato’s eyes burned through the defensive mechanisms she had constructed around this ridiculous request. So she decided she would simply be honest.

It was a relief, Hiyori thought, to feel that she could at least do that around one person.

As she wrestled internally with this, Yato allowed half the pretzels to fall out of his mouth and onto the thinly carpeted floor.

“Hiyori?” he said incredulously. He stared at her, unaware that his shirt was covered in salty crumbs.

She stood up at once, brushing her skirt off, and squared her shoulders. She summoned every ounce of professionalism in her soul as she declared:

“Hello, Yato. I would like to hire you.”

Yato held her gaze for a moment, and then a lopsided grin crept across his mouth. “So,” he said. “You’ve come to the delivery god.”

She nodded stiffly, unable to smile back as her gut gave a sudden, wrenching twist. “It’s…”

She swallowed, loudly.

“It’s kind of a weird job.”

Yato and Yukine exchanged a quick look of apprehension. Hiyori gasped.

“I don’t—I don’t mean anything illegal!—it’s not a hit, or anything—”

Yukine snickered loudly, and Yato scowled at him.

“Out,” he ordered.

“Aww,” Yukine groaned. “The first job you get that’s actually interesting and I can’t even listen?”

“Out.” Yato turned Yukine by his shoulders and marched him into the back. Hiyori heard a door slam, and Yato returned a moment later, brushing his hands off.

“I’m not sure where that kid came from,” he said, shaking his head. “Now all he does is eat pizza and give me sass.”

Hiyori laughed tightly. Her hands gripped each other until her blood-starved fingertips tingled. Yato’s gaze dropped to her shaking hands, then returned to her eyes.

“Is everything okay, Hiyori?” he asked. The concern in his voice was what did it.

“I need you to be my boyfriend,” she burst out.

The words dropped, flat and heavy, in the immediate silence. And then Yato choked on a pretzel.

“You what?” he wheezed. He thumped a fist repeatedly to his chest, his face quickly darkening to a rich, turnip purple that Hiyori chose to assign to asphyxiation, rather than embarrassment.

“I’d like to hire you,” she clarified. “To…to do that. To be my boyfriend. Temporarily.” She drew a deep, shaky breath. “I may have…told my family a few things about my personal life that are not entirely accurate. It’s—um.”

How much, exactly, was she obligated to confide in him about her family issues? Hiyori licked her lips, miserably aware of the silence.

“That point is—I need help,” she said. “And I need it soon. I understand if this is uncomfortable for you, and if you have to say no, that’s fine.”

The acute, awful silence dragged on for nearly a minute. Suddenly, Hiyori’s stomach folded over on itself and she lurched to her feet, sick with humiliation.

“Actually, you know what?” she said. “Never mind!” She laughed crazily, wobbling on weak knees. “It’s fine. I’m—I’m so sorry, this was a mistake—”

Wringing her hands, Hiyori pushed past Yato and into the narrow hallway. She was hurrying out the door when he called after her:

“I’ll do it.”

She stopped, one foot already on the welcome mat. Then, slowly, she turned back. Yato stood still at the entrance to the living room. There were two spots of pink high on his cheekbones, but other than that, his expression betrayed nothing.

“Sure, I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend,” he said. “If you need help with this, then I’m definitely not gonna leave you in the lurch. Besides,”—he flashed her a quick, subtle smile—“I’m pretty good at acting.”

The confidence in his voice helped to untwist Hiyori’s stomach from the writhing mess of knots it had morphed into. She stood on the welcome mat, staring speechlessly at him for several seconds.

“O-of course,” she finally said. “And—I mean—I’d pay you, obviously. Um. Whatever you…you think is…”

Yato waved both his hands frantically, and she trailed off.

“We can cover that later!” he assured her. “Uh…did you want to, maybe, talk more about it, sometime? If I’m going to be your”—he coughed loudly into his fist—“your, uh, paramour, we should come up with some…some facts, right? Backstory?”

“Oh. Yes.” Hiyori stepped back into the house, letting the door fall shut behind her. “We should. And…we should probably do it soon.”

chapter 3 will be posted on may 28! if you're sticking with me through this laborious posting schedule, i love u <3

[deepestwonderlandcloud]

Tatli Ask (Sweet Love) (Can & Ozge) - Chapter Seven: Fate

"Will everything be ready next week?"

Can asked the architect and engineer he hired for the construction of Strawberry Place. He scans the room. It was now all coming together. The low mini chandeliers, tables, chairs, the painting in the walls were almost done. He also had staff. Waiters, janitors, cashiers, junior sous chef. All he needed now was a Chef de cuisine or the executive chef. There weren't really great candidates that they have interviewed for the past few days.

"Yes, Sir Can. Everything will definitely be ready next week," the engineer said.

"Alright, thank you," Can said, then the architect and engineer left.

He sat down on a table, putting his hand on his chin, wondering where he could get an executive chef in time.

"Yo, Can. How's it going?" Efe Sezen asked, putting his arm around Can as he sat down next to him.

Efe Sezen is Can's cousin and best friend. Efe and Can literally grew up together. Since they both were the only children in their family, they treated each other as brothers. Efe has also been beside Can through the first year since Demet died. Can trusted Efe with his life.

"Not good," Can said. "The restaurant is opening next week and I still haven't found an executive chef."

"I thought you auditioned people?" Efe said.

"Nah, it didn't work out. None of them fit the role."

"Don't worry, Can. You'll find one in no time," Efe said, then he checked his watch.

"I hope so," Can muttered.

"Look, Can, I have to go."

"Where are you going?"

"To Dad's office. He said he has something to talk to me about a new business venture," Efe said, standing up.

"Uncle Cinar is having a new business venture again? What a surprise," Can said sarcastically. "I swear, your dad probably already has every department of business. And with all that, he still is behind Mom in the Forbes list of billionaires..."

"Can, Aunt Guldem literally owns one of the largest restaurant chains in the world, Socially Basket. I mean, we own Yummy Crave too, one of the largest restaurant chains but Socially Basket is just more popular. Dad still beats himself about it, you know," Efe laughed.

Can smiled, imagining his Uncle Cinar scratch his head at the stocks sold every year.

"Look, Can, I gotta go. See you later," Efe said, running.

"See you," Can said, taking one last look at the restaurant, then he walked to his car.

***

"What do you think the new client will like? What do multi-millionaires eat?"

Perran asked Ozge, searching for luxury dishes on her phone. Their staff were already preparing for tonight's dinner with the client. Ozge looked for luxury dishes as well.

"How about something new? While I was in Bulgaria for two weeks, I've taught myself how to cook some Bulgarian foods that everyone seemed to love in Sofia. I'll just cook those," Ozge said, already listing everything she will need.

"Do you think the client will like it?" Perran asked.

"Trust me, Mom. The client will love it," Ozge said.

"Well, you're the chef," Perran said. "I'll just help with the organization, daughter. You go do your cooking."

"Alright, Mom," Ozge said, already excited to cook.

Ozge spent the afternoon cooking and preparing. She wore her amber and cream tropical print maxi tube dress and matching 2 inch heels. She tied her hair in a half up, half down hairstyle and put on light red lipstick.

"Looking good, sister," Yaren, Ozge's younger sister said. Yaren is 21 years old, thirteen years younger than Ozge.

"Yaren, why haven't you changed yet? You should go change. It's already 6:30 PM," Ozge said, checking her phone.

"Ozge, I heard the client is handsome and a bachelor. You must be excited," Yaren said, eating popcorn.

Ozge laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yaren, this is all for work. We're grateful for this very generous client, that's why we invited him tonight."

Yaren sneered and gave Ozge her bowl of popcorn.

"Ugh, you're no fun. I'm just gonna go change," she said, then she left.

Ozge got out of her room and went downstairs, leaving the bowl of popcorn in the kitchen. The dinner tonight will be held in the garden. The sky was filled with stars and moon was shining over their table. Ozge went to the garden and admired the food she cooked and set up, excited for the client and everyone to taste them.

"Mom, what did the client say? Will they be here soon?" Ozge asked.

"Yes. He said he's on his way," Perran said, fixing her hair.

"Alright. I'll just go to the kitchen real quick to prepare the wine," Ozge said, running to the kitchen.

***

Can looked out the window. The trees and small houses they passed through was unfamiliar to him. He hadn't been to this side of Istanbul. The suburbs wasn't particularly a place he was fond of, though he knew he should get used to it now. He'd be coming here more often for the strawberry farm, after all.

It took ten more minutes for Can and Halis to finally get to the strawberry farm. It was dark by the entrance, but they saw bright lights just a hundred meters inside the farm. Can wore his usual business suit. Adjusting the tie one last time, he and Halis went to the garden and found Perran and the staff waiting for him.

"Welcome, Sir Can Yaman," Perran said, shaking Can's hand. "Please sit down."

"Mrs. Perran, thank you for this lovely dinner," Can said, taking a seat. "You have an enchanting home."

Perran and all the staff sat down in their seats.

"My family and I are very grateful for you, Sir Can," Perran said, holding Yaren's hand. She noticed Ozge's chair was missing.

"Yeshim," Perran whispered to one of the waiters. "Please tell Ozge that the client is here. She's in the kitchen."

"Right away, Mrs. Gurel," the waitress said, running to the kitchen.

"Mrs. Gurel, I'm also very grateful for your farm. I couldn't open my restaurant without you," Can chuckled.

Perran smiled and nodded, then beamed when she saw Ozge walking up to them.

"Oh, my daughter is here," Perran said.

Can stood up and looked behind him. He couldn't believe what he saw. Or rather, who he saw.

***

Seriously? Seriously?!

Ozge stopped in her tracks, not believing her eyes. The client, the client who just partnered with them is none other than Can Yaman. The guy she's been trying to avoid. Her heart pounded as she walked closer, then dropped when she realized the only empty seat was the one next to Can. Can looked down and smiled, probably laughing at this funny situation. She looked down and slowly sat down on the seat next to Can. He looked at her and she gave him a half-smile.

"Ozge, meet our new client, Can Yaman," Perran said.

"We've met," Can said, looking at Ozge.

Ozge's eyes widened. "Yeah, we've met, Mom. At the airport."

"What a coincidence," Perran said, laughing.

"Is this what they call Fate?" Can whispered to Ozge.

"Fate?" Ozge said. "Annoying, maybe. Not fate."

Can chuckled and shook his head. Perran stood up once more to speak.

"Well, this is a wonderful night and may this partnership not just be about work, but about friendship as well," Perran raised her glass, and everyone followed. "To Strawberry Place and the Gurel Strawberry Farm!"

Everyone clinked their glasses against each other. Can and Ozge clinked theirs, then drank the red wine.

Can grabbed his fork and stabbed the Kebapche. Putting it in his plate and taking a slice, his eyes widened at how good it was.

"This Kebapche is amazing, Mrs. Gurel," Can said. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Ozge did, Sir Can. She's a great cook," Perran said, looking at Ozge.

"How did you know that I like Kebapche? When I was in Bulgaria, this was what I ordered all the time in my favorite restaurant," Can said, savoring the taste. "But yours is definitely better, I must say."

"Thank you. I actually just wanted to cook something different tonight and it turns out I made the right choice," Ozge said, taking a bite of the Kebapche.

Can looked at her, realizing he just found who he was looking for.

The rest of the dinner was great. Can got to meet all of the staff and farmers in the Gurel Strawberry Farm and Ozge got to see a side of him that she had never seen before.

He's actually a nice guy, Ozge thought as she watched Can talk and laugh with one of their farmers.

"What is this, Ozge? Are you crushing on our new client?" Yaren teased, nudging Ozge.

"Yaren, stop it," Ozge rolled her eyes. "I'm just... admiring his generosity... and camaraderie."

"Admiring his generosity or admiring him?" Yaren laughed.

"Shut up," Ozge chuckled. "Why don't you go help Mom in the kitchen?"

"Alright," Yaren said, taking off to the kitchen.

Ozge fixed her hair, slowly walking up to Can. She was nervous again and she didn't like it. It's like she...

"So, how do you find everyone?" Ozge asked.

"Friendly, everyone here is in high spirits. Great to be working with good people," Can said. "How come you never mentioned you own a strawberry farm?"

"Well, you never told me you needed one," Ozge said, and they both laughed.

"Well, I have to go, Miss Ozge. I will see you tomorrow," Can said.

"Just Ozge."

"What?"

"Don't call me, Miss Ozge. Just... Ozge," she said.

Can smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ozge."

"See you," Ozge said.

She watched him leave, wishing he would have stayed longer. Then she caught herself wanting that for quite a while.

Ozge, you're not liking him. No way.

***

"Nice to see you smiling again, Sir," Halis said, as he looked at Can through the rearview mirror.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you seemed kind of sad last night when we got home, but now you're smiling again," Halis chuckled. "Is it because of Miss Ozge?"

Can laughed. "That girl is weird... but lovely. Kind of like the heat on a summer's day. You say you don't want the heat, but then realize it's what you wanted all along when it starts raining."

Can slumped back in his seat, actually glad he came to dinner tonight.

[allofusandco]

Is this a date?

Ronnie and Nik on their first date.

With @moonoverbourbon

Ronnie:

Veronica had a couple of days off – too many nights in a row on stakeout, and her body clock was completely upside down. She needed some time to decompress and rest up. She’d imagined breaking into the market in a new city would be difficult, but whether it was that people recognized her name, or that they didn’t, she’d been outrageously busy since she’d set out her shingle in New Orleans.

She sat on the swing seat on her porch. A tiny bijou home in the Garden District – she loved it, and it had been shockingly easy to buy, after only a short stay in a rooming house a ten minute drive into the city proper. It was far too big for her, and she didn’t like to think about the rooms that were closed up and gathering layers of dust. She also didn’t like to think about the boxes of things she hadn’t yet unpacked. Well, another six months, maybe? She liked the little office looking out into the greenery, she liked the kitchen despite the fact she only ever used the microwave and the coffee machine, and she liked her bedroom, tucked in the back (how anyone could sleep upstairs in this humidity without an air conditioner, she’d never know).

So, she had the night off. And Nik had only sent that one adorably shy message so she had his number. Apparently he couldn’t summon up the guts to make a date for dinner.

Fine, fine. Veronica was a lot of things. Shy wasn’t one of them. She tapped out a quick text.

[@nik]: I give up. It’s Sadie Hawkins week. I have the night off, and I’m taking you for dinner. I guess you’re working tonight, which means an early one. [@nik]: I mentioned I don’t take no for an answer, right? Where should I meet you?

–––––

Nik:

Spineless.

Nik was a spineless coward. He’d had Veronica’s number for nearly a week now and had only managed to text her once. She’d even said she was asking him out, and he still hadn’t worked up the nerve to set up a date. Tonight he was off work (actually had the next two nights off…) and had repeatedly pulled up her number to shoot her a message. Every time, though, Nik had closed out without sending anything – he simply couldn’t figure out what to say that wouldn’t make him sound like a completely desperate moron.

He was all set to try it again when her text message came through. Grinning like a fool, Nik typed out a quick reply now that the ice was broken.

[@Veronica]: I was just about to text you. I’m actually off tonight, and would love to have dinner. There’s a place in the Garden District on Magazine Street –  The Rum House. Meet you there at 7:30?

Then he tossed the phone down on the worn couch in his small apartment and rushed off to get ready. He hadn’t given himself much leeway, so it was going to be a rush job. Nik hoped she didn’t mind a little disheveled.

—

At 7:28, Nik was standing in front of the Caribbean inspired restaurant dressed in faded blue jeans, a grey Henley, and black Doc Martins that he’d had forever. He’d picked casual for a reason, not wanting the pressure of having to get all fancied up on top of the other first date jitters.

Flashing her a smile as she approached, Nik closed the distance between them and handed her the pale pink rose in his hand. “You look lovely, Veronica,” he said leaning in to kiss her cheek. Before things had gone sideways with his family, his mom had impressed on him the importance of treating a lady with the utmost respect. Nik knew how to be chivalrous and polite…even if he didn’t get out much.

“Thank you for texting,” he said, holding open the door for her and flashing two fingers at the hostess as she grabbed menus to lead them to their table. “I was working up the nerve; I’m pretty useless when it comes to asking a beautiful woman out on a date.” Pulling out her chair, Nik took his own only once she was seated. “How has work gone this week? Any more cheating spouses?”

–––––

Ronnie:

That was close enough to walk, Veronica realized. She thought she’d even seen the place, but short of being asked to investigate it she might never have gone inside.

[@nik]: Sounds perfect. I’ll see you there.

Veronica took her time getting ready – it was such a novelty, not dressing for a job (variations on ninja-esque or completely dowdy to avoid being noticed, all the way to absolute vamp if she had a job baiting a potentially unfaithful partner) that she found herself frowning at her wardrobe like she couldn’t remember sho she was, when she wasn’t being someone specific.

Probably, definitely, time to hire an assistant.

Anyway; a pretty blouse, light enough to cope with the humidity, and a denim skirt which modestly hit her knees, and a pair of boots which were probably going to prove to be a mistake but that made her legs look incredible. Was she really doing this? A date?

“Yes,” she told her reflection, once the cherry red lip gloss was in place. “You’re going on a date. It’s a thing people do when the meet a mysterious stranger with fanfiction blue eyes and curls you sort of want to pull.” She stepped away, and back again. “And dimples,” she told her reflection. I’ll see you later.”

She left the house with half an hour to spare, wandering through the pretty streets, enjoying the natural air conditioning providing by the trees. The Garden District lived up to its name. She checked her small handbag on the way out the door – not that she was paranoid, but a tazer was never a bad thing to remember, and she’d already shown one would-be mugger why it was a bad idea to mess with Keith Mars’s daughter.

She grinned widely, and bit her tongue, when she saw the rose.

“Chivalry’s not dead,” she said, on tip-toes to receive a kiss to the cheek. “I’ll have to alert the media. There’s a rumor going around than men have forgotten how to woo a woman.”

The blush was so worth it. And of course he followed up by holding the door, and her chair. He was racking up brownie points by the dozen and it was only seven thirty-two.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, waving his apology away. “It’s been a while for me, too. And honestly, I surprised myself the other morning. I’m out of practice, but I’m a sucker for dimples and blue eyes, so there.”

She took the menu. “I think I need to start with a ridiculous cocktail. Something with things hanging off it. I don’t even mind what it is, as long as it turns my tongue a different color. Oh, but a daiquiri,” she said, with a wink. “They won’t actually make me pick a rum, will they? Watermelon daiquiri, heavy on the decorations.”

She put the drinks list aside. “All the cheating spouses,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure New Orleans economic life would grind to a halt if I stopped them all. I keep telling the men – buy jewelry, and promise never to do it again. But do they listen?”

–––––

Nik:

“Chivalry was one of the things my mother drilled into my head from a very young age. She was all for the man pulling out chairs and opening the doors for ladies. It’s become something of second nature, but it gets me yelled at a lot these days.”  Nik grinned, ducking his head behind his menu as he studied the food options he’d already memorized by looking for a place online.

Veronica made mention of his eyes and those cursed dimples, and it had Nik blushing furiously. He wasn’t used to that kind of attention from women that weren’t drunken members of bachelorette parties or tourists that had wandered in after taken a turn off the beaten path. “You look lovely,” he said, not sure if he’d said that already or not.

Hell, even if he had, she deserved to hear it again. She was, he assessed, simply stunning. Nik had no idea what she was doing here with him.

“I don’t know if they will, but I’m sure you can just tell them whatever is on the top shelf. Try Bacardi Reserva. It’s one of the best mass markets out there. I’m not much of a rum drinker myself, but a regular customer brought me a bottle of El Dorado for Christmas last year. It is still sitting unopened on my counter at my apartment.”

Perhaps if the date went well tonight, he’d invite her over for drinks and movies. That was more his speed anyway; Nik wasn’t much of a partier, despite working in a bar He much preferred the low key to the flashy and flamboyant.

“You should come into the bar one night. I make the best daiquiri this side of the Mississippi – or so I’m told. I’ll even throw in a set of Mardi Gras beads and an extra umbrella.” He cracked a smile, finally getting comfortable, and closed the menu.

When the waitress came by, Nik asked if they could just start with drinks and chips. He ordered her watermelon daiquiri for her, using ‘bartender speak,’ so they’d know not to under pour the drink – and he even asked for an extra plastic flamingo and a sidecar shot of the Reserva to float on top. It wouldn’t be one that he made, but it would be as close as he could get for her. For himself, he simply ordered a glass of bourbon, and picked at the chips on the table.

“It amazes me, honestly, that people do that. If you’re unhappy, then bloody leave. My mother cheated on my father.” He paused, wondering if he was saying too much. But no, she didn’t need to know that he was the result of that affair. “They managed to work it out, but I don’t understand how you can do that to someone you love. It’s never made a bit of sense to me.” He shrugged, running a chip through the salsa in between them and popping it into his mouth.

“You’d be surprised at the number of blokes I see in the bar with wedding rings picking up women without them. It never ceases to amaze me. And the tourists… they treat New Orleans like the Las Vegas of the south. What happens here is apparently supposed to stay here. And… I’ve gone off on a tangent. You should stop me by telling me something about yourself.”

–––––

Ronnie:

“Too many syllables,” Veronica said, raising an eyebrow as the waiter came by. She was glad when Nik ordered for her – he managed to sound suitably professional, and she suspected the drink was going to be strong. Lucky the last few years had left her with a better alcohol tolerance than she’d once been able to boast.

“My mom did the same,” she admitted. “And it nearly killed my dad, but just between you and me – nineteen years later he took up with a married woman. Cheating spouses were his bread and butter, he saw what it did to people. If spouses didn’t cheat, he probably would have been out of a job. I kinda grew up figuring everyone cheated except him. And then there was that. So yeah. Big fan of just calling it quits before you do something that will tear your family apart, but then I’d be down to insurance fraud and workplace theft, so color me a big fat hypocrite.” She sat up straighter as the drink was delivered, suitably decorated, and turned. “I vote for a change of subject. Something more cheery, like the state of the Middle East. Or this drink. Wow, that’s… big.” She took a sip through a straw that was dissected by a paper toucan. New Orleans was great. “And it tastes like heaven. I promise you, this is way better than neat bourbon. If you can really beat this, I’ll be there. Is it really alright to give away beads without seeing some skin? I’d flash my boobs quite happily, but last time I did that I got mistaken for a fifteen year old boy and thrown out of the bar.”

Okay, not true, and she wasn’t the surfboard she’d been in school, either, but still. Not a lot of rack.

And she’d made Nik blush again. Smashing. He was so cute when he did that.

“Alright, something about me.” She paused. If she thought about it, it really occurred to her that since the moment they’d met, she’d done an awful lot of talking about herself, while Nik neatly redirected questions about himself right back to her. Well, some people took a while to warm. Not their fault. She spun on her stool so she could better see him – and the room.

“I nearly became a lawyer,” she admitted. “What am I saying? I did become a lawyer. But right when I was supposed to be starting a bidding war between the top tier law firms in New York, I got sucked back to California to help a… a friend who’d been accused of murder. Some people, you know? All they have to do is ask for help and you’ll run. So I kinda pulled on the PI britches again and then…”

And then what?

“I remembered how right this work felt,” she said, laughing nervously. “I could be working sixteen hour days in a corner office, with a closet full of Manolo Blahnik’s and a different Coach clutch for every day of the week, but I think it took me longer than it should have to realized I was bound to be miserable doing it. So I upped stumps and quit. I didn’t want to stay back in Neptune. Too many difficult memories. I more or less dropped my finger on an atlas when I was choosing where to go. But I like it here.” She managed not to embarrass him further by mentioning that the company was good. “The summer might kill me, but I like it. I bought a house. Feels kinda permanent to me.”

–––––

Nik:

A change of subject. That was something that Nik could readily get behind. Talking about cheating spouses opened up a whole can of worms that he’d rather not think about right now, especially when he was attempting not to make a fool out of himself in front of a beautiful woman. This line of conversation always caused him to spiral into the self-doubt that Mikael had caused, the memories of his brother’s death, the loss of the rest of his family.

He’d seen Rebekah last week at an antique store on Royal as he was walking back to the bar from dinner. She looked right at him, but the gaze had been one she might have given a total stranger on the street. So, Nik was more than grateful to change the topic.

Nik caught himself laugh at her reaction to the drink, but he nodded his head. “A change of subject would be for the best I think. We could perhaps talk religion or some other hot bed topic.”  A cheeky grin, and then he was burying his head behind his own drink to hide the growing smile. “They make them bigger, by the way, so if that one is not enough….” Nik held his hands out wide, indicating the size of her head. “We could get you one that would make sure you weren’t walking unaided by the end of dinner.”

That damn blush. He could feel the heat on his skin as he ducked his head at her fifteen year old boy comment. Nik was a man, his first instinct was to look and see if she was correct, but he forced himself to keep his head bowed until the urge passed. “I’d never mistake you for a fifteen year old boy,” he said, but that was all he allowed himself to say about the comment.

He looked genuinely impressed to find out she was an attorney. Nik hadn’t expected that, though he reasoned that she was certainly smart enough to be one. Seeing her in that world though…that was something that he just couldn’t do. It wasn’t like he knew much about her at all, but from what he did know she was a free spirit – a desk job like that would have drained her soul; it would have taken her spark.

Nik was suddenly very glad she had left that line of work – and not just because an attorney wouldn’t have even looked twice at him.

“New Orleans has been in my blood since my family came here from London. This city has a way of digging in and not letting go. It is hot, miserable, and crowded, but the people are amongst the nicest I’ve ever met. History drips from every wrought iron bannister, almost like it is a living, breathing thing. I cannot imagine, honestly, hanging my hat anywhere else.”

The waitress came back, taking their food order and disappeared into the kitchen with a promise that it would be out before they knew it. Nik honestly wasn’t in much of a hurry; he was enjoying just getting to know Veronica and having that brief moment of contact with someone that didn’t want a drink from him. “For what it’s worth, I’m incredibly glad that you think it feels permanent.”  Nik downed the rest of his drink before he could say something even stupider. “I’ve an apartment above a tourist trap T-shirt shop on Dauphine. I’m quite jealous of your house. Is it in the city or out?”

–––––

Ronnie:

“Religion, politics, was the book better than the movie – good topics for a first date,” she said, glad to be off the heavy stuff at least for now. “And if you think I’m going to be walking unaided by the end of dinner now? You haven’t noticed that I’m the size of a pixie.”

Well, five foot one was probably taller than a pixie, but not by much.

Chips and salsa, good start to the night, and something to soak up the booze. Veronica surveyed the restaurant – bar? – whatever, food and drink, it was a place, and noticed there was a dance floor, and a band setting up.

“Aye Carumba,” she said. “You should know, unaided or not, I’ll be dragging you onto that dance floor later, buddy. And don’t try to tell me you can’t dance. I won’t listen to a word of it.”

She listened to Nik talk about New Orleans and wondered about the sorts of people who would adopt a new home town – and really, it couldn’t have been much more different from London. “I guess it’s familiar, what with the snow, and the… I have nothing,” she said with a shrug. “But if I had something, it would have been hilarious. I don’t know, guess I’ve floated around more than I’d ever expected to. Neptune is where I grew up – little town with a huge gap between the haves, who are all involved in computer science, or Hollywood, pretty much, and the have nots, who are the rest of us… but the truth is, after a scandal in my first year of college close by, I left with no regret. I realized it hadn’t really felt like home since Lilly was murdered. My friend I told you about, you know. I went off to NYU and stayed in the city, but I think a part of me knew it was never going to be home, not really.”

She brushed it off. “My house is right here in the Garden District – it only took me half an hour to walk here, and I walk slowly. Still haven’t gotten accustomed to the humidity, you know. You’ll have to see it sometime. It’s my office, too, got a little sign and everything. There’s to levels, but it’s so hot upstairs all I’ve done is determine that I need an air conditioning technician to do something about before I try again.” She tried to ignore the little flicker of warmth she felt when he said he was glad she planned to stay. Too early to wonder what on earth this might turn out to be.

The food was delivered, and Veronica’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“You weren’t joking about the size of the burgers, were you? Holy smokes.” She examined it from four different angles.

“Good thing I can dislocate my jaw, like a snake,” she declared. “If I spill hot sauce down the front of this dress, you can’t laugh. Deal?”

She took the burger in two hands, and attempted that first, crucial bite; the one that might end in tragedy or ecstasy.

–––––

Nik:

He couldn’t dance. In fact, Nik was the very definition of two left feet. There was a mildly (okay, a little more than mildly) panicked look on his face as she spoke of dragging him out on the floor, and he raised his hand in protest. “Had I known there was a dance floor we would have gone to Burger King.” Nik was teasing; he had manners enough to never take a date to a fast food restaurant, but the thought of dancing in front of her was as humiliating as it was horrifying.

“Really though, I’d like to make it through this date without a trip to the hospital after I break your toe. I’m that bad at dancing.” It wasn’t even an exaggeration on his part; Nik could count on one hand the number of times he’d actually danced with someone, and none of them had been pretty.

Home.

When Veronica started speaking of home, Nik got a little wistful and melancholy. He hadn’t really had a home in thirteen years, not since Henrik died. Most certainly he hadn’t had one in the last ten since he’d turned eighteen. There were days when he missed London terribly, but then others when he couldn’t stomach the thought of ever going back there again. Too many ghosts. Too many memories that kept him awake at night.

“New Orleans will suck you in,” he smiled, trying to keep his thoughts on more pleasant topics. “I love the Garden District. So many beautiful houses, lots of great places to set up an easel and paint. I’m there often, painting in the cemetery…don’t judge, it’s peaceful and the light reflecting off the tombs is amazing.” Nik ducked his head, chasing a chip through the salsa absently.

“If you’d like, I can take a look at your air conditioning. I’m not the best mechanical person in the world, but I’m a bit cheaper than the average repair technician. I have a few friends about town who owe me for some free drinks, I could perhaps call in a favor.” Friends was a loose term; Nik didn’t make friends easily, and he tended to spend most of his free time alone. In fact, he had five contacts in his phone, including Veronica, and only one – his boss – was someone he talked to on a regular basis.

The food placed in front of him had his eyes drifting from her face down to his own plate. He’d gone a more traditional Mexican route, but her burger looked delicious. “You have my word, Veronica. I will not laugh nor will I make mention of the fact that your jaw comes with a reptile-like hinge.”  Nik held up his fingers in a mock Boy Scout salute and grinned.

“You have to do the same though. I tend to be a mess, so if I wind up wearing enchilada sauce, then mums the word.” Still smiling, Nik cut into his food and shook his head. Perhaps he wasn’t so horrible at this first date small talk as he thought he was. “Have you found places or things you’re enchanted by in the city yet?”

He couldn’t dance. In fact, “Take a girl on a first date to Burger King and you’re more or less guaranteed that it’s your only date. Trust me, I can teach you to dance. Just for a little while, I swear,” she said, shifting the burger between her hands until she could take another bite. With her mouth still mostly full, she added, “I’m not all that worried about broken toes.”

–––––

Ronnie:

She smiled widely, once her mouth was empty. “You paint? Wow. I always wanted to be able to, you know. I can sing, and when I was a kid, I used to try to bargain with the universe – take the voice away, and let me be able to paint, or draw, or something. Never happened, though. You’ll have to show me, sometime. I can hardly make a stick figure look human.” And this was most certainly true. “Maybe you can find something for my wall. I have nothing but a series of graduation photos, and one of my dad and me in New York City the week after I graduated high school. It’s depressing. I’d totally pay. That would practically make me a patron of local arts, don’t you think?”

There had been a handful of posters – mostly noir detective films from the days of black and white film, but they’d looked so awful on her beautiful new walls that she’d regretfully rolled them up and tucked them in a mailing tube in an upstairs wardrobe.

“But yes, it’s pretty. I love it. I especially love pretending I’m working while staring out the window of my office and pretending it’s seventy years ago.”

The offer to look at the air conditioning was tempting. “If you wanted to look – yeah, by all means. I/m sure I could find a way to say ‘thank you’. Got an old high school nemesis you need the dirt on? I can cook, too. But until I get it fixed, the whole upstairs is of no use to me, so… yeah, please.”

What did she love? What had she… what was his word… found herself enchanted by? Gosh, that accent, for a start. It was tempting to mention that, watch him blush again. She shrugged, instead.

“Everything,” she admitted. “I mean, the people, for a start. That fighting spirit, post-Katrina. People rebuilding their own homes and moving right back in. I love going down to the docks, imagining what it was like back in the day. Places that have been open since forever… you know that bar, Lafitte’s? I go there on Sunday afternoons, sometimes. The food, oh my god. I always like spicy food. Big Mexican population in Neptune. My friend Weevil, I saved his grandma’s job, she used to stuff me full of tacos every time I got near that place.”

Weevil. Thinking of him always made her smile, now he was married, and wrapped around the little finger of a three year old girl who had changed his entire life.

“But I think I prefer Cajun to Mexican, by a very narrow margin. And po’boys – they’re the best. But there’s so many things I haven’t done,” she added. “You know, Antoine’s, and Arnaud’s… maybe there are some things that are better with a friend.”

She set the burger aside for a while, and returned to her drink. Contrary to her brightest hopes she sincerely doubted she could eat the entire thing.

“I don’t know why I like it. I never expected to. You know, I had a friend, once, long time back… her name was Kylie. Friend might be stretching the term. Anywho, she was kind of your standard pretty cheerleader borderline mean girl, until she came out as a lesbian, and then she was a lesbian standard cheerleader borderline mean girl, which is the same thing except like super self-righteous. I ran into her one day in New York, and she said she was living in of all places Alaska. Alaska. Went there for work for like a week, pharmaceutical sales rep, and fell in love with the place, and now she’s… I don’t know, she’s all grown up, despite taking a fifty per cent pay cut to work in the airport in Juneau. She looked so alive.” Veronica shrugged, and reached for another corn chip. “Couldn’t imagine what that might be like until I got here, looked around, and let my heart decide to stay.”

–––––

Nik:

It had been a long time since Nik had tried to teach someone to paint. When he and Rebekah were kids, she’d come to him asking for help with a school project. She had to make a replica globe out of paper mache and paint it blue and green. He’d worked with her for hours before she finally gave up in frustration and he finished it himself.

She’d gotten high marks for it, and he’d never been prouder of a painting.

“I could do that,” Nik smiled, chasing a bite of enchilada through the sauce before popping it into his mouth. The food here was good, but he hardly had an appetite. The thought of actually being on a date with a woman that he found stunning (and who apparently liked him too) had his stomach in knots; it made the thought of finishing the food the furthest thing from his mind. “I’m not much of a teacher, but I can show you some basics. At least get you passed the stick figure phase.”

Nik cracked a shy grin, head bowing as he looked determinedly back at his plate.

Nope. Not the least bit hungry.

He actually hadn’t expected her to take him up on his offer to look at the air conditioning, but Nik wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. He had been put to work more than once around the bar fixing things here and there (really, his boss was a cheap ass and didn’t want to hire a real repair man, so Nik had done in a pinch), and he was sure her A/C wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Besides, if it was a problem he knew people that could help for a few free beers. “I’m off work for the next two days, so I could come by tomorrow and take a look at it if you’d like. I don’t mind, and it would get it fixed all the more quickly for you. I hate the thought of anyone suffering through New Orleans humidity without air conditioning. It’s like hell itself spat out the city some days.”

Listening to her talk about everything she loved in New Orleans was like playing back his own thoughts. The people here were amazing, a mix of overly friendly and family oriented, and the culture couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world. It was truly like the Crescent City was its own country. It shared very little in common with the rest of the United States.

“One of my favorite things to do here is pull out my easels and paints, take them down to the moonwalk, and paint as the sun rises or sets. It’s some of the best lighting and the atmosphere can’t be beat. All the music, the locals, even those drunk tourists – there’s nothing about it that I would chance. And everyone in the Quarter seems to know everyone; it makes keeping things to yourself a challenge as well as a blessing. There’s always someone looking out for you.” It had taken him some time to get used to that, but now he wouldn’t trade his neighbor’s nightly check-ins for anything in the world.

“Cajun food,” he grinned, “is easy to find here, but getting the good stuff is a bit tougher. There’s a thousand restaurants, but most of them are selling you stuff straight out of a can or a box. If you want really good Cajun, you need to go to Arnaud’s. I could take you sometime.” God, he hoped that wasn’t pushing it; they’d not even gotten passed the first drink and main course of their first date and here he was talking about a second.

Nik didn’t even know if Veronica would be interested.

“I’m sorry. That was presumptuous. I just,” he looked down again, fighting the urge to tell her this was the first time in an extraordinarily long time that he’d met someone as fascinating. Nik swallowed down the rest of his drink and nodded at the waitress who was already on her way over to ask if he wanted a second. “I thought perhaps if you hadn’t had much of an opportunity to meet people, you might like a tour.” That didn’t make it sound any better, or make him sound any less desperate, so he shut up and took another bite of his dinner – wishing he could make the floor open up and swallow him whole.

–––––

Ronnie:

“Hell yes,” Veronica said. “The sooner the better. I wouldn’t mind actually using one of the bedrooms as a bedroom, the views from that floor are so much nicer.”

She couldn’t help noticing he wasn’t eating much. Could have been one of those guys who just didn’t, she supposed, hoping he hadn’t dragged himself out sick or something. He looked okay, though, or, cute as a bug, maybe, so maybe he just didn’t have much of an appetite?

Oh well. She could eat for two.

It really was sort of ridiculous. That hair, those eyelashes, those dimples, and he liked to take his easel out at sunrise and sunset. Like he’d been grown in a lab by pixies or something. She liked the image, imagined Nik had a t-shirt that was covered in flecks of paint tucked somewhere, probably khaki pants, but he probably wore bare feet… that time of the day the ground wouldn’t be too hot, right?

And now she was staring like a lunatic. Time for a rapid subject change.

“Why, Mister,” she said, in a sing-song voice, as southern as she could manage (honestly, she sounded a lot like a southern Californian girl trying to sound like she came from the actual south – what a strange coincidence), “if that was you subtly sneaking in an invitation for date number two while we’re still on date number one, I heartily accept. I’ve heard that place is amazing.”

And clearly, the awkwardness was just because they were two adults with inadequate dating experience, and not because he wasn’t having a god time. She felt vaguely smug. See? Take that, world, I’m not ready to learn to crochet yet! And she didn’t have to adopt a cat after all. No. Though it was definitely time to adopt a new dog.

She missed Backup.

“Or, does teaching me the basics of non-stick figure drawing count as a date? And what about the whole air conditioning thing? If I make iced tea – which I’m not completely awful at, by the way, will that count? We might actually be planning dates two to four at this rate. I might have to pull out my day planner.” Did people still have those, though? Veronica couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t keep her entire life in her pocket. Maybe the reference was too old to make sense. Whatever. “I might start to think you like me.”

It was a strange thought, after the last few years, one disaster after another, which she definitely wasn’t going to go into.

Oh, she’d actually just said that, hadn’t she? She giggled, or did something like a giggle – a very girly laugh if nothing else.

“Look at us. We’re not very good at this, are we? Maybe we should just admit it’s kinda weird, but going pretty well, and let’s say Arnaud’s next time you have a night off? I might even wear a dress. I know. That’s definitely date clothes, though, right? And maybe we should be drinking a little faster.”

She reached for her drink.

“So what do you paint? I imagine if you do it down on the moonwalk, which I have not yet managed to see, you like landscapes?”

–––––

Nik:

“I do like you,” Nik blurted out, then dropped his head to study the intricate design of salsa splatter on his plate. He certainly hadn’t meant for that to come pouring out, but there weren’t any take-backs in admissions of that sort he supposed.

Chasing his food around his plate again, Nik finally forked in another bite, his stomach a mess of butterflies that made it almost impossible to concentrate on the enchiladas. “That was certainly not what I’d intended to say,” he grimaced, but ended it with a sheepish smile. “I do suppose if there’s painting that it’s a date though. And…I’m pretty sure my mother would agree that a spot of tea makes it at date as well.”

He’d mentioned his mother with only the slightest twinge of pain – progress, he imagined.

“I’ve never been very good at this,” Nik admitted, feeling all the more silly for the word. “I haven’t been on an actual date in a very long time. I just don’t…” Understand what someone would see in him. That was pretty much the whole of it; Nik was, to his own way of thinking, boring and unremarkable. Besides, he had skeletons in his closet that should never see the light of day. Getting close to people made keeping them hidden all the harder.

“Okay,” he smiled, putting the fork down and finally giving up on trying to work food into his stomach. Too many nerves. “It’s weird, but it’s going pretty well.” Instead Nik reached for his drink, hoping that it would help settle the butterflies enough for him to have a decent conversation and not completely blow this date. “And yes, Arnaud’s on my next night off. Which…” he thought about it for a second, and then nodded. “Is Thursday. It’s better during the week, not as crowded.”

Nik had to admit, he was looking forward to seeing her in a dress.

But he was ever so grateful when the topic of conversation changed back to his painting. That was something he could talk about for days, something he wasn’t the least bit nervous about sharing. Nik finished up his drink just in time to order another from the waitress as she walked passed them. On a nearly empty stomach, it wasn’t taking much for him to start to feel the effects – a warm fuzziness was settling over him, making it easier for him to think of things to say.

“I paint anything that inspires me. Landscapes. Portraits when I have a suitable model. I don’t have a preferred muse; it just depends on what mood strikes me.” He shifted in the seat, pushing the plate to the side so he could concentrate on her. “What about you, love? What sorts of passions do you have?” He’d used passions in a sentence…yup, definitely feeling the effects of the bourbon.

–––––

Ronnie:

Veronica felt like a teenage girl, again, giggling over a boy. She felt the sudden need to shake herself, because as a teenage girl, she had never giggled over a boy. But she’d watched a lot of other people do it, and it was definitely what she was doing now. She half expected Lily to come around the corner, singing ‘Ronnie and Nik, sitting in a tree…’

“I guess I’m sort of a serial monogamist,” she said. “But it’s been a while. My last relationship ended when he realized I didn’t love him as much as he loved me…” Poor Piz. She sincerely hoped he would find a much, much nicer girl to fall in love with. “You can’t force it, though, can you.” And he’d never made her stomach flutter like this. He’d just been easy, solid, dependable, and that was not the stuff of love songs.

Okay, no more exes sounded like a good idea.

“So I don’t think I’m very good at this either, and yet, thanks to the miracle of Mexican food and alcohol, we’re muddling along beautifully, wouldn’t you say?” She hoped that funny little smile of his meant that he’d agree.

“And Thursday at Arnaud’s sounds absolutely perfect.”

Passions. Ugh, she was about to sound so weird. And this really wasn’t the sort of thing she talked about with just anyone. “You know, it’s funny. All those years I worked on my law degree, I would have said I was passionate about the law, and no one would have found that strange at all. It’s about as patriotic as being born with a birthmark the shape of a bald eagle. But it’s not true. It’s justice I’m passionate about. I love my job. I know the law has strictures around it, and that’s fine, most people can work within that. But my best friend was murdered by a movie star so well connected and universally adored that no jury in California would have ever convicted him. But I still proved he did it, and he lasted about twelve hours once he’d been released.” She shrugged. “Karma needs a hand sometimes. But I’ll tell you something else… I can belt out a hell of a show tune. I’ve never so much as come second at a karaoke night. Test me on that sometime. I read a lot. Something I didn’t really do much when I was younger, but I like getting lost in a good book. There’s a hammock in the back yard with a definitely dip in it in the exact shape of my ass,” she promised.

She gave up on the burger – it was just too big. It had won, drat the thing.

Anyway, she was more interested in the margarita.

“I don’t think I’ll make you dance tonight,” she said. “I can’t feel my knees, and by the time I’ve finished this I probably won’t be able to feel my ankles, either. Walking home might not be smart.”

She smiled, sticking her tongue through her teeth, and scrunched her nose.

“What a lush,” she joked. “Oh, well. This is by far the most fun night I’ve had in New Orleans, and that includes the night I pretended to be a cater waiter at a political function and accidentally on purpose spilled an ice cold beer down the back of some slimy advisor’s back for getting grabby with an intern.”

–––––

Nik:

He hadn’t really expected her to say yes to another date. The few times Nik had managed to ask someone out had been disastrous; he was too nervous, to quiet, and a semi-transient bartender in a tourist town didn’t scream ‘potential boyfriend’ material. After a while, he’d just given up. Then she came along, making his heart flutter and his stomach twist into knots.

And somehow – somehow – he hadn’t managed to screw it up yet.

Nik thought for sure he might be dreaming.

Veronica was a breath of fresh air, and he was utterly enthralled – especially when she scrunched up her nose like that.

“I would have paid hard earned money to have seen the look on his face,” he laughed, pulling out a credit card once the waitress dropped the check off at their table. “I can imagine had you been a real waitress that would have been your last night on the job.” Nik grinned, really wishing he was more into politics – had he been there, then perhaps this date would have happened sooner. She made him smile, and it wasn’t something he did often.

“My car is just outside. It’s a bit too far to walk here from the Quarter, so I drove. I don’t mind giving you a lift, and you don’t even have to invite me in for coffee.” There was no pressure on his end, never would be. Nik was painfully old fashioned when it came to dating; he never pushed, and he never asked for anything the other person was not freely ready to give. It was one of the reasons things never seemed to work out for him. “Though, I must say I’m breathing a sigh of relief and not being made to dance. I have a reprieve until at least Thursday.”

He signed the receipt, then stood to help Veronica with her chair.

–

The drive to her house was quick, only minutes that seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Nik was cursing the usually packed streets for being nearly deserted tonight. Once he’d pulled up into her driveway, he let the motor running and raced around to her side of the car and opened her door.

The intent was clear – motor was running, he had no intention of asking for anything more than to walk her to her door.

He didn’t think he’d ever walked so slow in his life, but eventually they came to the front door. Nik leaned in and kissed her cheek, pulling away before she would think he was trying for more. It was gentlemanly, and he hoped it conveyed that he wasn’t some sleaze bag bartender she might meet on Bourbon Street.

“Good night, fair Veronica. Please call or send me a text to let me know when I should come look at your air conditioning tomorrow. I’d rather you not suffer through another miserable day if it’s an easy fix. I had a spectacular time tonight. Thank you for giving me the chance.” He nodded his head, waited until she was safely inside and he heard the door lock behind her, and then jogged back to his car – still smiling, and happier than he’d been in a really long time.

-Completed Thread

[showmethedestiel]

Like I said; I don’t like Hospitals

Chapter Fifteen

[Masterlist]

Summary:  You help Misha while he’s going through a hard time. The two of you quickly become friends, but will it lead to something more in such trying circumstances?

Words: 2,009

Pairing: Misha/Reader

The plane journey was long and exhausting – as you had expected. West and Maison had  somehow got their hands on some candy, which meant everywhere you went there was a screaming, yelling, bundle of pure sugared-up energy in tow.

It also meant that now you had two very grumpy children in the backseat of the hire-car – coming down from their sugar-high.

“West, please just give Maison a piece of your apple?” You beg, wondering how much more of this you can take before you jump out of the moving car.

“No!” West yells, “She ate hers already. This one’s mine!”

“Guys!” Misha interjects; voice stern. “That’s it. No more talking until we get there.”

West scowls but says nothing, not wanting to test his exhausted dad’s patience. He crosses his arms huffily and stares out of the window.

You smile gratefully at Misha, who smiles back tiredly before returning his concentration to driving.

You look around at the passing Michigan forest landscape – the nostalgia giving you comfort - recognising the familiar winding roads of your childhood spent here.

“Take a left up here.” You say, noticing Misha’s nearing your parents’ house.

He turns up a long, tarmac driveway, the surroundings hidden by a thick wall of forest.

You hum in contemplation. “This road is new. It used to be a dirt track.” You comment.

After a few minutes the trees thin out, revealing a large, white house – the back of which is attached to a high, walled off area.

“You can park over there.” You point next to your parents’ battered, green, ’93 Honda accord.

Misha pulls up next to it and turns off the ignition as you see your mom appear at the front door.

You get out of the car and stretch, before you start walking over to her.

“Hey mom,” You smile as she envelopes you in a hug.

“Hi honey. How was the journey?” She asks, already walking to the car.

“Not too bad – especially at the times when the kids were sleeping.” You chuckle, opening Maison’s door to help her out of her car seat.

“Mais,” You say, holding her hand as she cowers shyly behind your legs. “This is my mom. Mom – Maison.”

“It’s nice to meet you Maison,” Your mom says, crouching down to smile at her.

“Hi.” Maison replies quietly, her nervous hands bunching the fabric of your jeans.

You hear Misha’s door open. “And this is Misha.” You say, smiling at him.

“Hm,” Your mom says, looking him up and down. You can see Misha getting genuinely a little uncomfortable under her scrutinous glare.

He clears his throat and walks forward, extending a hand for her to shake. “It’s good to meet you Mrs Y/L/N.”

She takes it, her face breaking into a warm smile. “You too Misha. And please, call me Katy.”  

“Where’s dad?” You ask curiously.

“He’s in the garden planting some seedlings.” Your mom rolls her eyes. “I told him you’d be coming this afternoon, but he said the plants couldn’t wait.”

You laugh, “Sounds about right. I’ll bring in our things and then go say hello.”

You put West and Maison’s bags in the guest bedroom; where your mom has found you and your sister’s old beds and put them up so both of the kids have a bed each. You and Misha have your old bedroom – where Misha is currently sprawled out on your sheets.

“This was where you grew up?” He asks, pulling you down to fall beside him.

“Yup.”

“It’s nice.” He emphasises the word nice and you shrug.

“It wasn’t exactly like this when I lived here. My parents fixed it up when me and my sister moved out.” You explain, before adding, “You haven’t even seen the best part yet.”

Misha raises an eyebrow. “And what’s that?”

“The walled garden; A.K.A my dad’s favourite child.” You chuckle, standing back up and pulling Misha with you. “Come on, and be warned; if you insult it you will never see the light of day again.”

Misha makes a faux-terrified face as you lead him out of your room and down the corridor – checking that the kids aren’t destroying their room on the way.

You get to the kitchen where your mom is starting to make dinner.

“I’m just gonna show Misha the garden.” You tell her, unlatching the back door.

“Okay. If you see your father tell him he has to come inside for dinner.” She replies.

“Will do.” You say, leading Misha out of the door and into a spacious conservatory. “First things first,” You say, looking around. “My dad built this.”

Misha raises an eyebrow, impressed. “Nice,” He says, walking around to get a better look.

It’s cluttered with plants, trees and vines – but you’ve always thought that gave it its magic.

“Okay,” You say, opening the double doors to the outside. “And here’s the main event.”

Misha walks outside, squinting slightly in the evening sunlight before his eyes adjust. “Holy shit.” He mutters, taking in the sight.

There’s a canopy of trees; most exotic - flowers in full bloom. The towering walls are covered in ivy, interspersed with roses. At the entrance there are two grand, ancient weeping willows; their branches grazing the grass below like withered fingers.

Misha gingerly pushes them aside, walking forward onto the paving stones. They lead to an oriental style pond, surrounded by a canvas of reds and pinks on the background of their green foliage owners.

As the two of you near the pond, you can see that the water is clear – a majestic koi carp bubbling a friendly greeting beneath.

“How are we even gonna find your dad?” Misha chuckles, still in slight wonder of his surroundings.

You smile, “He’ll be in the greenhouse. Come on, I’ll show you.” You start walking off the path, the grass soft but dry on your shoeless feet. Misha follows you through a thicket of bamboo and over a makeshift bridge crossing a plot of crops of some kind.

The greenhouse is medium in size, but it’s tall. Even so, the plants inside seem to be trying to escape, winding their way up the glass and out of a few cracked windows, too high to repair easily.

Across from the greenhouse is a large oak tree with an old rope swing, now with moss adorning the length. You smile fondly at the memory.

In this part of the garden you can hear more clearly the cacophony of birds singing in the treetops, and you take note of the new ornate bird houses dotted around.

You walk up to the greenhouse, Misha trailing behind – though somewhat enraptured by the scenery.

You open the door, “Dad?” You call. After a few seconds, a wall of sweetcorn plants parts and your dad’s head emerges.

“Y/N!” He exclaims, wrestling his way through the plant. He makes it out and walks over to you.

He goes to hug you, but seemingly remembers his soil-caked gloves, so grimaces and removes them, tossing them haphazardly behind him.

“Y/N.” He repeats, smiling widely.

“Hi dad.” You smile back, hugging him. “Misha, this is my dad. Dad, meet Misha.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr Y/L/N. And can I just say; your garden is… Unbelievable.” He says, shaking your dad’s hand.

You can see his pride as he shakes Misha’s hand. “Good to meet you Misha. And thank you – but really, it isn’t up to scratch this year; only half my rhododendrons bloomed and the sycamore got anthracnose…” He trails off, looking a little distressed.

“Dad,” You scold, “Don’t be modest.” You turn to Misha. “He did this all himself you know.”

Your dad smiles again. “Yes, well. Maybe I can give you a tour of it later.”

Misha grins, “I’d love that.”

“But not right now,” You interrupt. “Mom wants us back inside for dinner.”

Your dad rolls his eyes. “I suppose we’d better go. Did you bring uh… West and Maison?” He asks hopefully.

“Yes, we did.” You chuckle. “They’re inside.”

Your mom makes a lasagne for dinner, and you’re all sitting round the dining room table.

“So Misha,” Your dad says, halfway through the meal. “What are your opinions on our current administration?”

You roll your eyes, but say nothing. Misha glances at you, and you nod encouragingly – silently letting him know he isn’t going to get lynched for being a Hilary supporter.

He clears his throat. “I think our president is a dangerous, racist, misogynistic dick, quite frankly.” He says bluntly.

There’s a moment of tense silence before your dad bursts out laughing. “I think I like you son.” He says, patting Misha on the back.

Misha chuckles, “I’m glad to hear it Tim.”

You smile to yourself, happy they’re getting along.

That night you’re sitting in the living room, around a roaring log-fire. West and Maison are on either side of your dad as he carefully lifts a flat wooden box onto his lap.

You are Misha are sitting on the other couch, and your mom’s in an armchair, snoozing quietly.

“You see,” Your dad says quietly, looking at the children over his reading glasses. “In his spare time, my dad was an entomologist. Do you know what that is?” West and Maison shake their heads. “It means he studied insects.” He says, undoing the clasps of the box. “He travelled all over the world collecting them.” He opens the lid of the box slowly and you see West and Maisons eyes go wide in wonder.

“What is it?” Misha whispers to you curiously.

“Go see.” You nudge him, smiling amusedly as he stands and walks over; dawning a look of fascination when he sees the box.

You know the contents well; a myriad of beautiful and exotic butterflies and moths.

“Are they real?” Misha asks.

Your dad nods. “Every one of them. Most of them are over a hundred and fifty years old now. They’re very fragile, so no touching.” He warns the children.

“They’re beautiful.” Misha says softly.

Your dad smiles and gently closes the lid again. “Indeed they are. Sadly, this is the last box I have left. The rest got lost, or broken.” He says sadly.

“Thank you for showing us.” Misha says, coming back over to sit next to you.

“Thank you.” West echoes politely.

Your dad chuckles. “You’re very welcome. Now I think I’m going to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

“Goodnight dad.” You say, leaning into Misha’s side. “We should probably go to bed too.” You say sleepily. “Especially if you’re going fishing early tomorrow.”

Misha groans slightly. “Remind me why I agreed to that again?”

You poke him, “It’ll be fun. As long as West and Maison don’t get their hands on any sugar.”

You’re staying with your mom to catch up while your dad takes Misha and the kids fishing. You’re sitting at the table with her, enjoying a cup of tea. The others have been gone for a few hours now, and should be coming home in about an hour.

“Your father was really excited to be going fishing with West and Maison today you know.” Your mom muses, smiling.

“I can imagine.” You reply, “I think the kids were looking forward to it too. Although not as much as Misha.” A smile creeps onto your lips.

“You really like him don’t you.” She smiles amusedly.

You can feel your blush despite yourself. “You know I do.” You say, rolling your eyes.

She nods, “Well, you did move across the country for him. It’s pretty telling.” She teases. “You think he’s gonna pop the question anytime soon?”

Your eyes go wide. “Mom,” You scold, but before you can argue, your phone starts ringing. You glare over at your mom while she sips her tea innocently.

“Hey Mish.” You answer.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry,” He sounds panicked.

You sit up, concerned. “What? What is it?” You ask, frowning in confusion.

“It… It’s your dad.” Misha explains; his voice frantic.

You feel your heart pick up speed in fear. “What?”

Chapter Sixteen

Tags:  @bowtiesarecool6288 @ abtmnt 

[lissachan504]

Writing Challenge:

Issued by: @hoseoks-kitten to break my writing stall out. THANK YOU!!!!

Rules:

4000+ Words using the photo above.

Any Genre

Any Fandom/OC count of your choosing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

My adaptation:

Title: Sen (Tieyn’s Journey)

Genre: Fantasy

Fandom: BTS 

AU Character: Prince Yoongi (AKA SUGA)

OC: Tieyn Arah (Egeria ( Water Fae)

Sen (Tieyn’s Journey)

By: Lissachan504/Aka Tumblr Mom.

Word Count:1,573 (the rest in part 2 tumblr is giving me crap)

Part 1:  The Forbidden Dance in the Moonlight.

 Prince Yoongi was the first and only child of King and Queen Min.The Honorable and benevolent rulers of the great eastern lands of Miook. Which could explain why they felt the need to keep watch on him with a careful eye. Not only was he the heir to the throne, he was also their most precious boy and of course, they spoiled him with whatever he desired no matter the cost.

But as Yoongi grew older he began to push away from his parents wanting to explore and experience things on his own. His father took his new shift in attitude as willful defiance against his and his mother wishes, thus they pulled the reins tighter, nearly suffocating him.

 First by limiting his time with the kingdoms alchemist Gi, who was known far and wide for his crazy ideas and theories but a good friend to the prince. Second by hiring a well-established scholar to guide him how to utilize his spare time more efficiently and finally they assigned four brutish bodyguards to follow him wherever he went. Morning, noon and night. They even parked outside his room as he slept just in case he got the notion to pull a little mischief. Something he did quite often.

Soon he felt more like a prisoner than the crowned prince. He hated being treated like a child and began to resent his parents for their lack of trust in his judgment.

 One night, after an exhausting dinner of constant nagging by his mother to chose a bride from the upcoming Blossom Festival. Yoongi decided to slip out of the palace and sneak down to the beach for a quiet walk in the moonlight. One of his favorite things. The ocean waters.

 It wasn’t as difficult as he expected. Once he sprinkled the herbs Gi gave him into the soldier’s nightly rations, they almost instantly fell asleep. Genius. He must remember to thank, Gi later.

The raven haired prince side smirked as he lifted the dark hood over his head to veil his handsome features. Luckily night was on his side, plus not many villagers were out and about at this hour. They feared what may lie in the darkness. 

Cautiously he made his way down the back steps, around the courtyard gardens, and out the rear entrance. It took little to no effort. Most of the wall centuries spent most of their time napping than patrolling anyway.

After he got far enough from the eyes in the watch towers he pulled back his hood and exhaled a sigh of relief. Peace. He didn't know when it happened, but his good loving parent had turned into unrelenting sentinels and no longer cared about his happiness. They only wanted one thing…him to find a wealthy bride and produce and heir. Did he have no other worth than that? He knew what his responsibilities were and he had the intelligence to rule the kingdom fairly as his father. now does. Why do they doubt him so much? It frustrated him to no end.

Yoongi frowned beginning his walk through the thick nest of trees to the sandy beach below. As he sauntered along the well-worn mixed gravel pathway, he picked a pale and silky bloom that had made its home at the edge.

He wanted to make them proud…if they would let him. Also this bride the bride nonsense…drove him absolutely mad. He would pick a wife when he found one not interested in power or coin. Two-faced vain puppets dressed in fancy dresses. Poisoned by their conniving parents to only think of power and position, they latch on to anything with a title. What about caring for the person you marry? Even Love? That frail and delicate emotion that in these times would vanish if you mention it aloud. Maybe he was just a dreamer, but he couldn’t be the only one…

Slowly he raised the flower to his nose and inhaled the light feathery fragrance. He smiled musingly. Why can’t all things in life be as simple as this blossom? After a few minutes of wandering, he came to the end and it opened up onto the soft, shell covered beach.

“ At last…” He whispered, gazing out at the dark waters rolling beneath the glowing moon and them crawl up and down the wet glossy terrain.”Peace”

Still holding onto the flower he traversed the thick lumpy peaks and ridges to the edge of the surf. The warm water rushed up, chasing the translucent ghost crabs as they foraged for food. Cute little things; about the size of a dinner biscuit. Not too smart though. The prince chuckled to himself and continued on his night adventure.

As time grew later, he took notice of a beautiful and mysterious blue glow just beneath the surface of the water.  A veil of black lace and shimmery sapphires. 

He halted, crouching over to examine the light closer. Gi had told him that it was tiny little animals searching for food that made that glow or something like that…no bigger than the head of a pin.  Science revealed oddities as a natural function of nature. Others would disagree saying it was the magic of the sea fairies… such nonsense, although secretly he wanted to believe that there were supernatural beings out there. Sprites, mermaids, sirens..all tales to enchant children, but the stories had to come from a shred of fact.

Gently, Yoongi dipped his palm in the current, fanning his fingers out. The stars of the sea shone brighter from his touch. Back and forth he glided his hand in the frothy surf.  So simple but it gave him so much joy. He wished things could be different.

That's when he heard it...

A faint song hidden within the crashing waves. At first, he wasn’t sure if he heard it until the singing came again. Louder. Where was it coming from? From what he could tell he was the only person who had visited in the last few hours. So who was the songstress? 

Yoongi’s sharp and focused eyes searched for of the source in the darkness but saw nothing but random light and jiggly jellyfish paroling the deep. That voice...he must find her.

Then Bubbles, then ripples started to form a few feet out, just beyond the surf.

“Hmm?” He hummed concentrating on that particular spot.

More bubbles and the lapping waves curled and bowed like the fountain in the courtyard. He should be wary, it could be a shark or giant squid looking for its nightly meal...but he couldn’t move nor could he look away. The song, the somber and hauntingly beautiful song locked onto him and anchored to the sand. Good heavens.. was it a siren?

Abruptly, as to answer his question, the water funneled, winding and spinning like a liquid cone. sapphire and gold lights sparkled from withing, then fanned out, pulling the water into a new shape. A shell? Or a lush flower perhaps.

 Narrowing his view, brought his eyes to clarity. In the center of the magical bloom was a figure. A thin and feminine silhouette. There's a person in there? How could they breathe? 

The suddenly the singing stopped and the being was pushed forward from the spiraling cone, eventually, the waves lay back down with its brothers. Nothing remained of the spectacle but the figure standing on the sea, The seconds that passed felt like hours, even months. He just crouched there likes suspicious frog staring out at what had been.  Had he lost his mind? Did his parents drug his drink at supper? So many questions pulsed through his mind like a whirling top. Then the creature moved, slowly stepping towards him. The closer it came the clearer the image became and to his surprise....it was a girl.

A young heavenly girl, no older than him, tall and slender in frame, wearing a shimmery mint dress to her knees. Her feet were bare, except for delicate thin wraps around her tiny ankles adorned with colorful shells and pearls.

Yoongi raised slowly to his feet, gawking, jaw unhinged and awestruck. His wide eyes followed her as she casually walked over to greet him.  She was beautiful..and couldn't be real...

 Her gaze watched him for a moment before she spoke.

“Are you…a mortal?” She asked in a sweet and soft voice. Her steel colored gems shining like stars in the pale glow of the moon. Was he seeing things?He didn’t have that much wine with dinner…

“Ye..ees. I am.”He said finally. Who would have thought that this world would have such a radiant creature? For real. “Truly?” She asked excitedly. The aqua haired nymph moved in on him fearlessly and cupped his face in her silky hands before he could protest. Her tiny thumbs gently gliding over his skin. He didn't know how to handle this situation. Woman of society never acted with such boldness. They always hid behind frilly words and demurely subtle movements. Not like this...not like her. He found the direct contact exciting and kind of refreshing. “I am…” He stuttered but didn’t push her away. “Who and what are you?” She giggled so pleasantly, musically; it gave him goosebumps. “ I am Tieyn.” Removing her palms from him. “ I am what is called in mortal tongue a water sprite?I come from below and will now begin my life’s journey ” 

@hoseoks-kitten @nyxhikari @hobi-huney @superwholockmarkiplier @nearlyminyoongi Tell me what you think? Should I do this as a real fic on Wattpad?

[chaospenelope]

While They Were Gone

The World Beyond

The house didn't look any different after they left sooner than expected. The yard was free of any cars or large toys but it was mostly unchanged. It felt sad all the same. The FazBear kids would find themselves glancing at it every time they came home as did their friends. They weren't necessarily upset, they just expected something that wasn't there anymore. The twins called their cousins as often as they could, but since the parents were busy pulling double shifts until new staff was hired there hadn't been any planned visits just yet. As summer neared it's halfway point it slowed down enough for a two day trip. "I can't wait to see Faye, Victor, and Amelia again." Spring cheered as she hopped into her seat in very the back of the eight seated minivan. She pulled her stuffed dog, into a backpack and put that onto her lap. "Why are you bringing that thing with us?" Philip asked as he went into the passenger seat in front of them. "Because I wanna..." Her brother rolled his eyes but didn't ask her about it further. He had bigger problems than bothering his little sister. William and Robert sat on either side of him. "Wait a minute, who said I was going to be in the middle seat?" "Cuz your butt's the only one skinny enough to fit in the middle seat. Unless you wanna trade with Chelsea." He motioned toward the oldest sister who was crawling in the seat next to the twins. Philip looked at his mother in the front passenger seat whose shrug told him she wasn't going to help. "Did you remember to bring an extra set of clothes?" FredBear asked his little cub as he made sure the twins were buckled in properly. "Yes Papa." "Frederick?" "Yes, dad." "Alright, let's get outta here." He said as he closed the door. He pulled himself into the driver seat and started the van's engine.

"You have all your things?" Neda stood in the doorway of her daughter's now bare room. All that remained was light blue painted walls, dark blue ceilings with white specks where glow in the dark stars used to be and white carpet. "Yeah. Dad and the movers took the boxes." Penelope tucked her notebook into her black backpack before slinging it onto her shoulder. "Kind of strange seeing it this empty." She felt a conflicting mix of nostalgia, sadness, and joy as she looked at the shell of a house. "You're not actually going to miss this place, are you mom?" "I know the neighbors weren't the best, but this was our home. There were a lot of memories here. As much as I'm happy to leave there's still some things I'll miss." "Yeah, I've had this room a long time. I'll probably miss...Mm. I, can't really think of anything. The closet is nice?" "Your bedroom in the new house has a closet. And, to be honest, a better view." Her mother noted as she looked out the window through a parallel window at a woman who quickly acted like she wasn't just watching them. "What else is at the new house?" "Well, there's two bathrooms, a kitchen, three bedrooms, two stories, three if you count the attic, an office for your father, and hm...What am I forgetting? The living room? Oh, It's completely surrounded by woods." Her daughter perked up as she expected. The small cub loved to climb. "You ready to go?" Phineas walked up to the girls. The large black furred bear carried his son's green Hulk backpack. The boy lazily Leaned against the wall behind him. "The truck already left." "I am!" The little cub jumped up and ran to up to him. "Can't wait to see our new home!" Her father let out chuckle as he looked at his wife. "Told her about the trees, didn't you?" "She asked what the house was like." She said with a smirk, but it faded when she noticed the time on her husband's watch. "We better get going, we don't want the movers to be stuck there without a way to get in. If we make them wait too long they might just leave everything in the yard."

"Are we there yet?" The fox asked in a bored monotone. "Philip, are you serious?" William glared at his brother. "I expected that sort of thing from Spring, not you." "What?" The golden cub looked up from her game. "We're here." The new building was smaller than the last. Around it's yard was a well kept metal fence. The driveway was only wide enough for one car with the other in the garage. There was a stone path leading to a porch with bench swing hanging from the roof. "You're here early!" Faye's voice was a bit muffled by the window. She ran to the door to let them in. "Mom is out getting some light bulbs and dad is in the kitchen. Do you want me to go get him?" "That's alright Faye." FredBear grinned giving her a pat on the head. He headed to the back of the house. The inside was very welcoming. Mangle did a great job placing furniture and choosing colors that made the place feel comfortable and pleasing to the eye. Victor bolted out of his bedroom as the rest of the family settled down in the living room. "There you are guys! C'mon, lets go play outside! There's a swing and slide out there!" "Can we Mama?" "If Teddy says it's safe." "Can I watch TV instead?" Amelia asked shyly. Faye nodded and sat her up on the couch next to Plushy revealing her prosthetic hand. Then followed her cousins and brother. "Don't stick your paws through the fence again Victor." Theodore warned his son as the four kids pitter-pattered across the kitchen to the back door. "C'mon! We can play tag!" The fox poked Freddy. "You're it! No tail grabs!" Then ran off giggling like a madman. "Hey!" He shouted with his own giggles. The two girls split in different directions but he had a vendetta, bolting straight for his cousin. He ducked under the slide in an attempt to cut him off. Victor made a leaping dodge as he bolted back the other side. Frederick knew he couldn't catch up to him in a long distance run so he used in a full sprint. He was inches away when he reached out in a frantic grab. His paw latched on his shoulder as he cried 'it'. Then he quickly grabbed the ladder of the play set to hoist himself up. Victor was about to chase him but saw his sister. She fled once he noticed her. He followed her across the yard swerving around as she made sharp corners just before hitting the fence. He cut her off just at the small freshly planted garden huddled against the back of the house, or he would, if she hadn't tripped on someone. "Are you OK Faye?" Goldie asked as she stood up to offer her hand. Freddy ran up to them with the same amount of concern. "Yeah, I landed on the soft soil." She brushed the dirt off of her white fur and pink shirt. "What were you doing anyway Spring?" "I found a bug!" She knelt back down and pointed at her find. There was wriggling worm pulsating around the moist earth and a pair of pill bugs curled into balls at their presence. "Look, there's more now!" "There's another worm, or is it just the other end?" Freddy asked as he too became invested in the insects. "Guys! You have bugs at your house!" Victor crossed his arms and watched SpringBear pick up a roly poly. She examined it closely, and gently pushing it on it's side. "I love Rollie bugs. They're so cute." She got up and carefully ran to the backdoor still cradling the invertebrate. She ran inside after wiping her paws on the mat. "Papa!" She held her cupped hands up so the large yellow bear could see her new friend. "I found a Rollie bug! Can I keep him please? I'll fed him leaves and give him water everyday." He smiled and patted her head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea Honey Bear. He might miss his family and friends if you take him home. You can always visit him here." "Oh...OK." She hesitantly returned outside where Freddy and Faye were watching the worms race out the dirt. Victor was sitting against the fence pulling up blades of grass. She placed the critter on a bush's leaf. "I'll check on you later, ok Bailey?" "Hurry Goldie! The race is almost over." She huddled up to the patch of dirt that was the center of attention. The two bugs writhed and slithered into the soft ground. The cubs started to cheer them on giving them the names Tube and Segments. It was a close match but Segments had all five of his hearts in the race. "Can we play now?" Victor asked. Then hopped up when a spark of inspiration hit him. "Let's be superheroes!"

The dirt road widened to a clearing with two houses in the middle. The large moving truck was closed and the engine started up. Most of it's contents were placed roughly where they were assigned. "Hey, we might actually get this done before tonight." Neda happily admitted as she finished pushing the drier in place." "We should probably work on the beds next, just in case we lose track of time." "Right, I wish we didn't have to take the bed frames apart..." Their daughter poked her head into the room. "I put all the dishes in the cabinet, can I go outside?" "Sorry Penny, but I need to be able to see you if you want to play outside and your father and I still need to make sure we don't have to roll out the inflatable tonight...But we can have our lunch break under the trees." The breeze gently rustled the leafy branches. The sticks and leaves crunched under their paws as they selected a spot to spread out the freshly unpacked blanket. There was a faint, distant scuttle of life as they sat down. "Such a beautiful day today." Phineas looked up at the sun trickling through the gaps in shade. "Nice weather for a picnic. Bet it'll be even lovelier at night. You could look out the window and see the whole galaxy." Neda opened the shopping bag and passed out the containers of take out. "So how do you cubs like the house so far?" "It's big." "I really like the color of my room. One of my windows is still facing another window. It was covered with a blue curtain. Who lives next to us?" "We haven't really seen them yet. They weren't here when we looked at the house. As long as we stay on our side of the fence we should be fine." Penelope wasn't too sure but at least it was only one side of the house instead of surrounding them. She tried to push the thought away as she ate her lasagna. "The food's good." Nade added, not too sure if there was much else he needed to like this place. "There are a lot of nice places in town; a theater, some restaurants, an arcade. We're not too far from the city either." "Sounds great mom. Can I look around? I'm full." "You can play around the woods where we can see you, but when your mother and I have to go back inside you go in the back yard and stay in the fence, alright?" "Sure thing dad!" She put her leftovers back in the bag. After wiping her muzzle on a napkin she bolted for the foliage. She picked out a big, wide tree with low branches right at the edge of the forest. "Don't go up too high!" "I won't!" Penelope jumped up to grab a strong branch. She latched her arms around it. Then lifted her lower body to secure her legs around it. She pulled herself to the top of the branch and carefully stood up. Carefully walked to the trunk and pulled herself on a higher one. She held tightly on another as she looked at the view until she moved few branches and realized three of them were perfectly positioned to rest on. She noticed something scratched into the bark of the tree. It appeared as if it were supposed to be letters cut in crudely. She could make out a V but the rest of the bark was pulled off. It seemed like another person wanted to erase the mark. She pondered the scribble for a moment, wondering which house this person lived in when they did it and if they were still here.