#romance drama

[hellish-cruelty]

Maggie Cheung on the set of Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love (2000).

[fo0lishl4m]

Mastermind

summary: There are secrets and tension between you and Tori. She is your brother's “best friend”, who treats her very badly, but you're trying to help her.

pairing: Tori Spring x gn!reader

note: the reader has an older brother and is an idiot, the reader's last name is Winter, little development, first part

chapter one | chapter two

I walked into my brother's room, and she was there, sitting on his bed, watching him talk about rugby with monotony. She looked bored. Both of them noticed my silent presence and turned towards the doorway, where I was standing. My brother frowned.

“What do you want?”

“I don't understand my French homework.”

“I'm not going to help you. Get out.”

I ignored him. I remained still, looking at him with resentment, but not because he told me no. I glanced at her and spoke again.

“Mom said not to close your door when you have visitors.”

“I don't care what she says, she's not here."

“I'll go get something to drink.” his friend said, standing up without moving a muscle on her face since I entered the room. She walked past me, and I turned around and followed her as if I wanted to follow her.

Victoria Spring is my older brother's best friend. Damian. Damian is an idiot. He told me he met Victoria when they went on a school trip, she was accompanying her brother, a boy my age, and as soon as they saw each other, they started talking like they'd known each other forever.

I don't believe him.

Tori Spring is a quiet and reserved girl, spends a lot of time in her head, and doesn't express what she feels, neither with words or gestures, which confuses you about whether she's listening attentively or planning to kill you.

Damian is obsessively in love with her.

She acts indifferent and apathetic with every gesture of affection she receives by his part.

If I were in her place, I'd do the same.

I still don't know why she's still his friend, why she hasn't hit him or escaped his sight, at least once a week she's in his room listening to him be an idiot, nodding or shaking her head when asked for an opinion.

At least once a week I see her go down to the kitchen to get a glass of water, as if her throat was dry from talking. I've never heard a word come out of her mouth when I walk by my brother's room.

Today was no exception.

“What was he talking about?”

“Rugby, and his poor performance in math.”

How do you tolerate him? I wanted to ask. I made a silent noise in response, taking a package of cookies from the cabinet and opening it. For a moment, I thought about offering her one and continuing the conversation, but I didn't. I thought, we're not friends. There's no reason to be so open with her.

“Do you know anything about rugby?”

Shut up, idiot. It's obvious I don't know how to start or keep a conversation going. Especially when I'm slightly more open or talkative than her. Barely.

“My brother is on the team.”

It's not an answer. She also has no interest in thinking about one. I wanted to say I was too, but it would sound very...desperate.

Hello, I'm your best friend's brother and I'm desperate to have a good conversation with you before you go back to my brother's room, so let me talk to you about rugby.

“I know how to make diet lemonade.” I said.

'Why are you telling me?' She responded, still with her muted or almost disinterested voice. “Are you going to make some?"

I shrugged. “Could. Next time you come over, I'll have a pitcher of diet lemonade ready for you.”

She didn't ask how I knew she liked diet lemonade, probably thinks Damian told me, but that's not true. He barely knows anything about his best friend. I found out one day when her brother and she were joking about how the school cafeteria's bad mechanism didn't sell diet lemonade. I listened and simply stored the information.

The truth is, I didn't know why I remembered it, maybe I wanted to make her feel good and comfortable in a house as messy as the Winter's.

[xiaohuayaos]

[kateknowsdramas]

I thought only he could be lonely because he can't hear. But I could also be lonely because I can.

[post-it-wall]

[hollymacycomic]

Holly & Macy and Everyone Else

Chapter 4: Page 25

Start at the Beginning | About the comic | Tip-jar 

🌘 Support the comic & read the next page now on Patreon! 🌘

[obscureloftgem]

—“Gas Food Lodging” (1992) | By Allison Anders

Movie Adaptation: Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck, 1972.

[alaparisienne1995]

[heavenlycinema]

Supernova (2020)

Harry Macqueen (Dir)

“You’re not supposed to mourn someone while they’re still alive.”

[poppletonink]

FILM REVIEW: My Fault/Culpa Mía

★★★☆☆ - 3 stars

"I'd do it all with you Noah, you know that, but I won't do anything until the fear disappears from your eyes."

Based on the acclaimed Wattpad story by Mercedes Ron, My Fault (otherwise known as Culpa Mía) tells a Romeo and Juliet inspired tale of danger and love brewed together. Noah is a girl who is forced to leave her life behind and move into the mansion of her mother's new husband. It is here that she meets her stepbrother Nick, who she enters a complicated and forbidden romance with.

With all the staples of your conventional trashy Wattpad romance (including gangs, kidnapping and, of course, an enemies to lovers relationship), My Fault's plot was disastrously confusing, with around twenty different subplots that are difficult to keep track of. Additionally, the scripting was undeniably cringeworthy. Nick calls Noah "baby sis" and "freckles", and proclaims that he just "can't control himself" around her (i.e. he will physically lash out at any other man in Noah's vicinity). While these nicknames add a layer of second hand embarrassment to watching the main relationship within the film, when compared to the knowledge that Nick and Noah are step-siblings with a 5 year age gap, it is clear that dialogue is not the main issue in this film.

Despite this, the casting was perfect and the chemistry between leading stars Nicole Wallace and Gabriel Guevara was outstanding, creating a tense and passionate on-screen relationship between Nick and Noah. The cinematography, too, was great, enhancing the viewing experience significantly. This especially applies to shots relating to the racing elements of the film - an enjoyable subplot which provided dramatic action as a break from the main romance plot - and landscaping shots that showed the beauty of the Costa del Sol (where the film was shot).

Cupla Mía is is definitely one to watch if you're looking for an entertaining romantic drama. It's a film that viewers will likely enjoy or will at least find funny in all its telenovella-inspired glory, providing that you don't take it too seriously.

[hellish-cruelty]

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

[fo0lishl4m]

Mastermind

summary: After trying to give Tori a clean break, you begin to develop a strange connection with her through small talk.

pairing: Tori Spring x gn!reader

note: I liked this chapter more than the previous one, the reader's brother is a cretin, little family context, suggestions of a friendship.

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three

There have always been two rules for me: keep my word and make a good impression. I don't care, and at the same time, it affects me to know how others feel around me, especially when there's something genuinely weird. Something that bothers them. My brother is annoying.

For the following week, in addition to occasionally greeting Tori in the hallways with a wave or a glance, when Friday arrived, I felt a strange flutter in my chest as I saw her enter through the door.

Was it intrigue? Would she like the diet lemonade I made two days before she arrived? Why did she keep coming to this house knowing my brother is disgusting and treats her like a trophy? I don't know, and I wasn't going to ask.

Diet lemonade.

My brother already knew my pattern every time Tori came to the house; knocking on the door with an excuse to get her to leave with another excuse. That's how she and I started talking. Relatively.

I remember little of the first time; I'm sure it was because I didn't understand some task, and I didn't know she was at home. Back then, I didn't even know her name.

It was a peculiar interaction, to say the least. We didn't talk much, but in her monotonous voice, there was an intonation that thanked me for getting her out of there, even if only for two or three minutes, without explicitly saying it. Since then, it became a habit.

Today, I thought of something relatively clever; I called one of Damian's friends from the house phone and told them to bring up a conversation topic about something idiotic.

He accepted without hesitation; I suppose it didn't bother him to bother a friend. He didn't even give me time to say I'd pay him four dollars.

I knocked on the door, he looked at me with disdain, I told him what happened, and he left the room. Tori and I looked at each other.

"I made diet lemonade."

For a few seconds, I swore I saw her monotonous and boring face fade away, and genuine surprise appeared. Only for a few moments, it seemed like she wanted to smile at me. Even her tone of voice changed; it was no longer uninterested.

"Did you?"

I nodded. "It's in the fridge. Probably the first time I've made it."

"Probably tastes different from what I drink at home."

I shrugged. "What's wrong with being different?"

I caught her attention, creating a warmer and more comfortable atmosphere between us. I'm sure of that because we started talking more; I even invited her to come downstairs with me to try the lemonade.

When she took a sip with a straw in the glass, I felt confident enough to smile warmly, something that had never happened before. As she remained silent, not drinking anymore, I raised my eyebrows and asked with my gaze, "What do you think?"

"...It's not the worst thing I've drunk."

"I don't know if you're being rude or kind."

"Why not both?"

"Because you're being rudely kind to my diet lemonade."

"No. I'm being kindly rude."

I laughed. She didn't laugh with me, but she was definitely more relaxed and comfortable. Body language.

"Is it kindly bad or rudely good?"

"Rudely good. You said it was your first time."

"Yesterday, I tried it. It wasn't kindly bad."

"Rudely good." She repeated. She took another sip with the straw and paused. "I'm not going to die intoxicated."

"I didn't do it for that, you'd suspect."

"Probably."

"I made it, not Damian." I added in a lower tone.

She let out a small laugh.

I don't know why we're talking like this, and I know we can't talk forever because my brother will arrive sooner or later. But just by taking the weight off her shoulders of having to deal with my brother, I'll be very happy. I'm satisfied.

"He's capable of intoxicating me accidentally. He's not smart enough to make it work."

"I am too, but I'm more careful."

"Or could I be intoxicated and neither of us would know?"

"Can be."

She took another sip.

"Dying from drinking diet lemonade is what I came into this world for."

"That's an interesting phrase for your tombstone."

"I'll consider it."

It's the longest conversation I've had with someone, especially her. I'm strangely proud of myself.

I knew we couldn't talk forever; Damian enters the kitchen and looks at us in horror, as if he had witnessed the greatest betrayal in history. Tori takes another sip of lemonade, and I go blank.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Irony.

"No, I just came for something to drink. Who were you talking to?"

"A friend. Do you want to go up?"

I know it's not a question she can answer, because she just pours herself more lemonade and follows him to the kitchen door.

Before leaving completely, he turns to me abruptly and adds in a low voice;

"Roughly good."

I smile embarrassed but gracefully. I have never felt so comfortable with someone who barely expressed emotion on their face, and, even with something so basic and absurd, she seems more comfortable in this house. I am achieving my goal.

[xiaohuayaos]

Your shelter is here.

[downton-dany]

Such a flirt

#TillTheEndOfTheMoon Bai Lu Luo Yunxi

[grishaxverse]

jiaxu keeps sister-zoning shang zhi I can’t wait for him to actually fall for her and eat his words

[myromancedramas]

SILENT (2022)