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#nct x oc
polarisjisung · 5 months
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SILENT TREATMENT
synopsis: your boyfriend broke some guy's nose for you, but what he doesn't realise is he also broke his promise to you
wc: 0.9k
pairings: bf!jeno x fem!reader
genre: fluff
warnings: mention of blood like once (feel the need to mention I don't want to romanticise violence 💀)
notes: jeno lee is driving me insane.
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Jeno doesn't like it, the silence. He liked to hear you ramble about nonsensical things, the sound of your awkward chatter filling the room, not the incessant pattering of rain against the roof above.
That's the first sign, he figures
On most days, you'd warn him before pressing an alcohol soaked cotton swab against his wounds, delicately pressing down on his jaw with a worried stare. Today you grip his chin firmly, tilting his head upwards and swiping over the cut less gently than before.
That's the second.
The air is cold coming in through the open bathroom window, the dim lighting not sufficient for him to make out your features, when you step a little further away, but still just enough for him to notice the way your nostrils flare and you bite at your lip when reaching for the antiseptic gel kept in the cupboard to your right.
Three of three, he thinks, and jeno comes to the only valid conclusion there is.
Your usually talkative, enthusiastic, and bubbly self now so cold and stand offish, it only meant one thing, something you could argue the lee found entertaining judging by the innocent smile on his lips.
"Are you angry at me?"
A glare is the only response jeno gets.
Not angry enough to leave him to tend to his own wounds, he figures, so really just how angry could you be?
"ow, it hurts" he whines cautiously, taking ahold of your hand as it passes over the deep red, bloody incision in his bicep— which by the way, was doing nothing to help you maintain your rage.
your eyes, however, don't widen, and your lips don't move forward into a pout, you don't react.
nothing except pulling your hand back.
maybe you were a little angrier than he thought.
"silent treatment huh?" he seems amused, a short chuckles escaping his busted lip as you  disinfect the wound, the laugh echoing through the room.
You couldn't stay mad at him, not for long at least, jeno knew that much, so despite watching you walk away to replace the first aid kit just where you found it, ready to use the next time jeno got himself like this, he knows he hasn't got a thing to worry about
Equally, you know jeno just as well, and you know that walking anywhere in his reach would end in you wrapped up in his arms, being showered with soft sweet apologetic kisses like always
Only you both realise your phone is left forgotten on the counter beside him, and if bothering your boyfriend after a long day wasnt on your list of things to do, scrolling for unnecessarily long hours through twitter certianly was.
In hopes to outsmart him you try and lunge to grab the device, only to find yourself in the very position you imagined, lee jeno's strong arms wrapped around your waist, sweet brown eyes staring back.
"can't run now can you baby?"
You scoff, only managing to turn your face away from his— getting uncaged from his arms was far beyond you.
Jeno let's his head fall into the crook of your neck, your floral perfume overtaking the medicinal smell in the air as he pecks the corner of your lips, slowly tracing your jawline with soft kisses until you finally turn to face him again.
"I'm sorry" he whispers, calloused, bruised hands holding your chin with utmost tenderness. The rough skin of his thumb traces over your lower lip, a soft kiss placed there once again.
"you said you wouldn't"
jeno pauses, confused.
"you promised you would stop"
the desperate tone in your voice is clear as day, and it doesn't take jeno much longer to realise, this wasn't about what he'd done, it was about what he'd said he wouldn't do
the cracks in your shaky voice are enough for the bitter taste of guilt to bubble in his stomach and rise to the tip of his tongue, your glossy eyes staring back, disappointed
"I'm sorry" he sighs, eyebrows furrowing as he stares down at you, "I'm so so sorry my sweet girl."
The hair messily sprawled across your forehead is pushed to the side by his index finger, an apologetic kiss pressed to your temple. Jeno's hand is placed at the crown of your head, soothingly passing his fingers through your hair when you're pulled forwards into his chest, resting your arms at his side as you let your weight fall onto him.
"Please, don't get hurt because of me" your hands reach for his, and jeno realises you're asking him once again, to promise he wouldn't do it—this time he doesn't know if he can.
"I can't stand it." his tone differs from the sweet one he uses with you, or the mocking one he'd taken on earlier, now he spits harsh words at the floor, eyes rolling instinctively. "those scumbags talking about my pretty girl like that."
you notice the way his fist tightens, the plasters you'd just placed over his knuckles slipping off his skin in seconds.
"if you can fight them for me" with a cold hand against his cheek, you reach up to guide his eyes back to meet yours, "can't you, not, fight them for me too?"
he smiles— you giggle, the very man who'd just taken on another 2 guys almost twice his size just a few minutes ago now looked at you with a wide grin and two crescent moons in place of his eyes.
"I'll try" and suddenly you wear a smile just as wide as his "I'd do anything for you"
You don't doubt it.
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ohmygs-blog · 1 year
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✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚
texting the dreamies!
— “dirty” texts
! suggestive / nsfw
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2K notes · View notes
2jisungs · 5 days
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phone number
mark lee x fem reader fluff wc. 466
notes; first work in a couple days, srry if it’s bad..
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you excitedly browsed the clothing options in the store you were at, trying to find something up to your standards. you were hoping to find something good, since this is your first mall outing since you moved to vancouver. it shared some similarities with your home town of toronto, but it overall just felt.. different.
you continued looking until you found something you’ve had your eye on for a while; a black long-sleeved shirt. it may not seem like much, but you’ve been looking for one for ages, and they always seemed to be out of stock.
your luck seems to be at an all-time high today, since you were also lucky enough to find a pair of baggy jeans. they were quite literally adorable, with little star-shaped patterns sewn in. you almost let out an excited squeal at your lucky find, but was able to contain yourself at the last second.
you decided to go buy the stuff you found, since you knew that staying in here for any longer would just fuel your shopping addiction. calling yourself a shopaholic would be an understatement. you remember receiving your first paycheck at the age of sixteen, immediately blowing it all on clothes, makeup and lip glosses. you were young and dumb, but you felt your best during those times, it’s hard to believe that was four years ago.
“um, just these, thank you.” you told the cashier. he took your clothes from you and scanned them, occasionally giving you little glances.
“that’ll be 46.59, please.” he replied. “also, um, if you don’t mind.. you’re like.. really pretty, can i maybe get your number? i’m mark, by the way.” you smiled and nodded. he gave you his phone and you took it, typing in your number.
to be honest, you liked him too. he was really cute, from his wolf cut to his grey sweatpants. you were actually about to ask him for yourself, but luck seemed to be on your side today.
“i’ll text you when i get home, mark?” you told him, giving him a smile. you saw the tips of his ears turning red, and he tried to prevent a grin before answering.
“u-uh, yea, sure. i’m actually clocking out right now, my shift’s over. if you don’t mind, i can walk you to your car?” mark suggested, resting his arm on the back of his neck.
you nodded, leaning over the counter and giving him a peck on the cheek. he immediately turned red and looked away from you, biting his lip.
“y-you can’t just kiss me l-like that..” he stammered. he briefly looked away from you, quickly clocking out, concluding his shift.
“i did though? let’s go now.” you said, earning a nod from his end.
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technologyculturedneo · 7 months
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SOS: Am I Alive?
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“As long as I’m still here, you’re still my bitch.”
SUMMARY. Tending to commit crime and causing havoc, Mark and Haechan tagged along with their brothers find themselves trapped in a rich mansion with two spoilt wealthy girls. Dae and her sister Yezi pray for their father (Chenle) or even the police (Jaemin and team) to save them as they’ve failed to hold their own ground. With no saving arms in reach the girls end up submitting to all of the boys request, including degradation and demoralization- all in the name of preventing bloodshed.
PAIRING(s). Burglar, Delinquent!Mark, Haechan, Jeno, Renjun; Police!Jaemin, Jisung; Husband!Chenle, OC (original character) 
GENRE. Longshot. Angst. Crime. Strangers to lovers. Smut (non-consensual). 
WARNINGS. Alcohol, smoking, marijuana use, toxic relationship, family, swearing, s content (non con, choking, restrains, intercourse, degradation)
Read next: SOS: Poison In My Mind
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S1: E1-7
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"But mum I've got tickets-"
"Even if you have tickets, the answer is still no if you don't place all your assignments on my desk." Our step mum, Chungdae, drones out like a machine to my 16 year old sister, Yezi, while focusing her mind on preparing a meal for my dad. “Just because you’re homeschooled shouldn’t give you the right to flunk on your assignments whenever you want.”
"Come one mum, Professor Doyoung said it'd be okay if I hand in my work on Monday. Which means, I still have today, tomorrow to finish the work." Yezi points off her fingers seemingly desperate in trying to convince mum. “Come on mum,”
“I’m not off. And I don’t care how many days you have. Those are my rules. You’re not going anywhere until your work is on my desk. All of your work.”
One thing Yezi tremendously fails at doing is trying to get mum to say yes to anything. Already knowing that, it would be fair to not even approach mum with any proposal, unless of course it’s educational content- not some kpop meet and greet. 
"Come on mum. You let Dae do it all the time. It’s not fair." Yezi nags, slowly losing her cool and temper. But mum is immune to it all by moving back and forth from the cooking book to the pot on the stove that’s steaming hot.
Pointing my fork, that has a pineapple slice, to Yezi, I chip in to defend myself. "That's because I'm in college, responsible and go to events that actually benefit me in the future." Yezi rolls her eyes. "Not what you do-"
"That's because you're boring. B O R I N G. Boring." Yezi deadpans leaning over the kitchen counter, blocking my mum from reading the ingredients book with her hand. “And mum you don’t need this book. I hate all the dishes here-”
“It’s for dad you idiot.” I remark getting irked by her nagging tone. “Not you.”
“Did I ask you?”’
“I don’t need your consent to speak.” I counter back munching on the rest of my pineapple salad.
Mum picks up the homemade cooking book that Mrs Chittaphon gave her, a book given in order to prepare new and cultured dishes for my dad.
Mrs Chittaphon is our Thai neighbor who over the weekends (for free) teaches Yezi how to speak Thai. She’s also the person I blame for influencing Yezi in a lot of weird eastern side culture. Not that it's a bad thing to learn about another culture, but I think it’s personally annoying hearing Yezi continuously watch 'Thailand dramas' and claim that their history facts are all that.
But regardless, at this point Mrs Chittaphon is almost like family, simply because she's Thai who speaks Chinese and is familiar with Chinese culture- and we're half Korean half Chinese, who speak no Chinese or Thai. 
I think my dad just wants us to keep the ‘Chinese culture’ by being with someone of our own, and someone like Mrs Chittaphon who speaks many languages being Korean, English, Thai and Chinese. Her presence is essential to my dad, as he gets the piece of mind that culture is not lost. So thus, she's almost like family. Almost...mostly to my dad and Yezi, to me and mum she's a mean lady from Thailand who's married to a monk man, Mr Chittaphon. Or as we like to call him Ten, because it takes 10 seconds for him to curse us out whenever we step foot on his perfectly trimmed garden whenever we visit.
The reason Mrs Chittaphon is so close to us, is because my dad mentioned that it would be nice if mum learnt a few Chinese dishes, so that he would feel more at home instead of eating salads and unseasoned Korean diet meat. The other reason is so that mum could also become 'friends' with Mrs Chittaphon and learn Chinese. Which is impossible, the lady and her husband basically hate mum- having to do with the reason that she’s my dad’s second wife and that she knows nothing about China. Can they blame her, she’s never been to China before, she’s full Korean and knows very well about her motherland, our motherland.
Fine culture is what graces our lives, yet mum is more humbled and not as flashy as dad, me and Yezi.
"Sweety don't call your sister boring," mum says distantly, trying to focus on the ingredient list. Crinkles appear on her forehead when holding garlic and ginger. “Which one is it?” She mutters.
"Okay fine mum, I promise before 4 p.m. I'll get all my homework done and it’ll be on your desk ready for Professor Doyoung who'll come Monday. Then can I go?" She proposes with perky attitude. Shaking my head and placing my bowl in the sink washing it- I wonder on the final verdict from my mum.
"You can go. As long as Dae goes with you."
"Oh my fucking god. What?"
“Language Yezi.”
"I don't wanna go to her stupid thing." After drinking my glass of water, I turn around drying my hands. “It’s useless to me.”
"Mum she can't go! She'll ruin the whole thing!" A frown and sharp stare attacks Yezi’s eyes as we stare brutally at each other. “Just look at her.”
"Oh come on sweety she won't ruin the whole thing-"
"Yes she will!" Yezi boils out and screeches- catching us by surprise. "Come on mum, she's the best at all she does and all she does is make people hate her!"
"Sweety don't say that about your sister-"
"Mum I don't even want people thinking we're related!" Yezi exclaims again. "I could get stoned for knowing someone like her."
"You pissy brat!" I throw a spoon at her to which she dodges and throws back her shoe.
"Girls! Girls!" Mum stands in front of me. "Dae you're 19 years old, act your age, you're too old for partaking in this behavior."
"Tell her again, and don’t forget to mention she’s too old to still be living in her parents house." Yezi folds her arms fuming. "Mum pay attention to me leave her alone," She whines again.
Cooling down, I take a seat down on top of the counter and fold my arms glaring at her. "Why are you screaming when she's right here? You're so annoying."
"And you suck."
I roll my eyes mocking her tone. "You suck."
"Ugh! I'll just have to go ask dad," She huffs.
"Sweety, don't. Listen. He came in late last night. Let him him rest." Rigidly  leaving the ingredient book on the counter, mum walks to Yezi holding her shoulders.
Our dad, Zhong Chenle, an infamous Architect designer and real estate agent for his own housing and company creations. He works around the world designing and building houses for rich and partly famous people, he showcases a lot of his work in London, the States and China, thus making him constantly on the move and travelling. Being the heir to the family business, he’s often on work mode and hardly gets time to rest. On the days that he does have time to catch a break, he prefers to spend it with us, yet mum advices and convince him to catch a break before engaging with the family. 
Right now if Yezi had to go to him, disrupting his sleep, he would allow for her to go to that meet and greet and also for her to go alone because of the guilt he feels for not being around- if anything Yezi has a sharp tongue and can make anyone upset with her words. Unfortunately, my dad is weak to that. He’d even go as far as giving her extra money to waste. There’s always something about him throwing money at us to cover the guilt he’s feeling, it somehow makes us all feel better. It’s something dad constantly does, to the point where I also believe that throwing money at all my problems will make them mysteriously hush down. But seriously, money talks and has the ability to shut out all the guilt. So even though mum doesn’t like that we disrupt him from his sleep and make him feel guilty, we still prefer to run up to him just to get the dad bank. If we don't bother him then who will?
"I want all your homework on my desk before 4 pm and you’re going with Dae end of discussion." Mum says walking back to the counter and book.
Yezi's face becomes as red as a chili pepper about to explode. She stomps her way out the kitchen- like every other time when things don’t go her way.
"Oh shame are you going to cry because things aren’t going your way again? Spoilt brat." I mumble the last part when her door slams loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. “Such a brat.”
Mum lets out a breath going back to her station. She clears her throat, "Your sister is something else. It feels like she’s a riffle gun just shooting out nonstop." She sighs. "I wonder how your mother did it."
I smile at her. "You know mum, you're too nice for your own good. You need a back bone," 
"What do I do now?"
"Don't give up. Just have a little more strength and stop treating her like a baby, she's already spoilt." I hug her from behind hanging my head on her shoulder. I don't like seeing her stressed out because of Yezi or anything. She's a really good woman who I've grown to love. “Plus, dad will enjoy this dish. You know he loves it tradition style,”
“Yezi said he’d hate it.” She laughs a little, "I am glad that she's not the only child."
"And I'm glad that my dad remarried,"
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Haechan, a young thug, drives to his usual parking spot which is by a small arena venue. He isn't expecting a mob of girls to be flooded at the parking rentals. Turns out there is an occasion this evening, in the small assembly. 
It’s in the afternoon when he parks his car, and together with his partner in crime Mark, they carefully snuggle into the cars around to get out a ‘thing or two’. Easy money is following a large crowd and getting lost in a sea of people. So while Haechan only came to park his car, he found himself staying longer because this spot right here was gold free of charge. And as the sun slights sets Haechan and Mark’s eyes peer over at all the girls that leave the venue. “Who are we gonna rob?” Mark enquires having his eyes fixed on the cheer filled girls leaving the arena and entering their cars- some of which Haechan and Mark had already stolen from.
Now the sun is out of sight and the once fully packed arena is now almost vacant with about 8 or 9 cars. Throughout the wait, he and Mark drink light beer beverages and smoke in the car to not draw any attention to themselves. The only thoughts in their head is who to rob next.
After the meet and greet: 6pm on the dot.
"OMG did you see the way he looked at me!" Yezi squeals beside me jumping up and down with all her gift bags and posters in her hand.
"Please there were 3 other girls behind you whose breast were practically begging for attention,"
"Do you enjoy sucking the fun out everything or are you naturally a bitch?" Yezi sends sharp eyes in my direction but I ignore her. I'm missing out on spending time with my friends for her stupid meet and greet and she's bitching. "You're negative because they didn't look at you,"
"Neither did I." I fake a smile going back to texting my friends in our group chat.
The event went successfully well and was kind of fun, as much as I don't want to admit. A lot of girls were there wearing nothing but the most revealing of clothes, few were decent but majority were overruled by revealing clothes. Yezi wore a black jumpsuit with a white top inside- upon seeing the styles in which the girls were dressed in she nagged and whined about how she should've worn a skirt too. I on the other hand wore all black, long sleeved shirt and high waist skirt with my black knee high socks and black boots. I dressed up, because I was still going out and thought I might as well be presentable. But eventually after getting bored, I found myself outside texting with my friends and waiting for Yezi. But now that she’s done, I have to multi task in ‘talking/ignoring’ her as well as texting my friends.
Hendry: u still out?
Me: Yep and my sisters bitching
Hendery: send her over, we've got an ancient Chinese healing that will whip her back into shape
Xioujun: I wonder why ur sister likes those type of music- Chinese melodies is where it's at!
Yangyang: You guys clearly haven't heard of WAP. That’s literally where it’s at.
I end up sending a message to my dad once Yezi is done mingling and getting contacts with some of the other girls. Feeling lazy to walk to the bus stop or order an uber and listen to my sister talk non stop about her experience that's not even interesting- I text up my dad.
"Are we walking?"
"No, I sent dad a message." I answer. "He'll be here soon,"
Yezi sighs joyously staring out into the empty. "Imagine I marry him and become Mrs Min-" I burst out laughing at what Yezi says.
"That name is awful. It sounds like that house cleaning product Mr Min,"
"Dae you are so heartless. Every time I try to talk about the things I like you shut me down."
I roll my eyes but stop halfway when catching something behind her. A guy. He’s leaning on a wall, drinking on a glass bottle of what looks like Terra beer. Chugging a mouthful of the alcohol- he downs the remaining in one gulp. He does all that with his eyes on me... Uneasiness washes over me. But I try to ignore it.
The event ended half an hour ago resulting with majority of the fans and people leaving. There’s only a few people loitering around outside the building and inside as well. Yezi and I are part of the few inside the building sitting on the vacant chairs, as the workers clean up... so maybe that’s why he’s looking at us...at me. Maybe because he works here and is possibly a manger trying to lock up...otherwise it wouldn’t make sense why he’s looking at me.
The man downing down his beer for a living propels himself to lean on the wall. He looks zoned out and not here, yet his whole figure screams out that he’s not acting normal. He’s got such a defined face, and his eyes although small are distinctively on me. My heart beats in speed when he tilts his head to the side his eyes going down my sitting figure- 
“It’s like you don’t even care about me.” 
Yezi’s voice brings me out of the trance I seemed to have gotten myself in with that guy. Peeking back only for a little bit, his lip curls up into a sly smirk. This time he preys open another can taking a big gulp of the can still with his eyes on me. I gulp down and look away feeling uncomfortable watching him drink on while using me as some sort of muse for him to watch. 
“Earth to Dae? Hello?”
Shaking my head and blinking my eyes away from the guy, I pane my view back to Yezi only to be irritated by the sight of her face- which is so close. 
“Look Yezi, if I don't care, I don't care. Go marry that cleaning product and leave me alone."
"That's his name." She says clinching her jaw and looking away while shaking her head. “And I wasn’t even talking about that.”
“Yezi piss off, I’m busy.” My eyes focus on the chats sliding up by every new incoming message. 
Trying not to mind the drunk gaze that heavily lingers on, I try to focus on the chats. I finally relax and we fall in deep silence. She takes selfies with her items while I chat on, but then she stops, her eyes looking back occasionally.
"Dae," she whispers my name.
"Hmm,"
"Is it me or has that guy been looking at us?" She tilts her head nudging to the side. I follow her head and my eyes land on that guy again. This time he’s seated on one of the chairs.
He’s seating backwards on it, while leaning his drowsy head on his arms as his lazy eyes directly rest on me. Our eyes meet again, and just like before, he doesn’t back away maintaining a firm stare. Aside from this present moment, a part of me feels like I’ve seen him before. His jet black hair and his buff build being contained by the leather jacket he has- only enhances his appearance as if I’ve seen him before.
"Uh let's go outside and wait for dad." I end up saying feeling a bit creeped when his eyes begin to travel down my body.
Yezi and I make our way outside instantly spotting one of our dad's black vehicle’s pulling in. "Thank the heavens." Yezi begins jogging towards the car, while I take my time walking on the parking lot- afraid I might slip with my high boots if I run.
However I quickly regret my decision when hearing faint whistle sounds. My head turns to the side spotting an almost faded rusty car, with some guys whistling out. “Yes babygirl, fuck, yes,” A guy moans out looking at me. “Just like that, fuck-”
“Shut the hell up.” The bitter tone of my dad can be heard resonating out the car, and I can only assume he’s talking to the boys because no sooner then later, they let out mocking laughs.
“Fucking sexy girl,” The rude insolent boy comments again. Getting to the car, I finally get in the front seat hearing the boys whistling grow louder in praises. “Yes baby,”
“What- what-” My dad’s about to get out his seat and open the door but I close it shaking my head. As irritating as it is, I can’t have my dad about to lose his mind on his day off.
“Dad, just ignore it. They’re a bunch of low, poor class, hooligans who don’t deserve an ounce of our energy.” I fiercely comment. “Are you really gonna get mad, when they’re car looks like that? They’re not worth it dad. It’s okay.”
My dad’s sharp glare leaves the window as he takes a deep breath and looks to Yezi behind. Yezi’s eyes immediately calm down and she tries to change the atmosphere in the car. “Dae’s right dad, besides look what I got! San threw it to the crowd and I caught it!” She announces brightly- easily getting my dad to smile tightly. The anger and irritation still evident on his face- yet it fades for Yezi’s sake.
"What did you get?" He asks with a clear genuine interest, even though his eyes shoot glares towards the car once more time before he drives off. Meanwhile the question sends Yezi over the top as she basically starts to yell about the event pointing at her items. 
My dad laughs surprisingly being stunned by the ‘shirt’ Yezi caught, as he drives out the venue. I look out the window shaking my head and not wanting to listen. I end up making eye contact with the guys who made those idiotic comments. One of the guys licks his lips and sends me an air kiss. I fake a smirk his way giving him the middle finger mouthing out 'fuck yourself' before rolling up my tinted window.
He laughs and slowly waves.
Creeps.
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Minutes before...
A luxurious black Range Rover slowly drives past Haechan’s small red and rusty old car, catching his attention behind the wheel. He stares at the big car as it drives past and stops by a parking space. “This is it.” He mumbles.
Something about the way this car carries itself turns Haechan on.
"What a sexy car," Haechan's cold eyes checks out the car mumbling out praises. Sternly looking at the black posh Range Rover he adjusts himself on his seat wanting to see clearer. "Mark, Mark look at the car, look at the car." He whispers out.
Mark, on the passenger seat adds more ‘relaxation’ to Haechan’s high when he blows gusts of weed into the air, before placing the bunt between his lips inhaling again. With all the windows up, the smell lofts around the car leaving the boys in all zooted smiles and high. Mark turns to the spotted car that Haechan motions to and sits up.
Just like Haechan, he’s struck by the glossiness of the car. Seeing the lavish car, his head lights up with another idea. “This night is already beginning with a bang.” Mark comments. 
In the back seat Renjun, Haechan's adopted brother, tries to sleep with his head against the window, with his neck in an uncomfortable angle as he half listens to what the two in front were talking about, while also keeping his nose stuffed in his mask to avoid the weed smell. Unlike Mark and Haechan, Renjun only wanted a ride from campus and back home, and was not a part of their crew. To his surprise, he was dragged everywhere and witnessed the menacing actions and robberies his brother performed.
The two juvenile boys, Mark and Haechan watch the car as their minds wonder darkly in the same orbit. They give each other mischievous smiles, having the same idea. "Are you in?"
"Let me finish my bunt," Haechan snickers just as Mark puffs out another wave of smoke out in the car. “Here comes Jeno, he looks drunk as fuck.”
Jeno, Mark's young brother stumbles into the rusted car in silence. 
“Geez man, how much did you drink?” Mark turns to his brother in the back seat catching his drowsy state. Before Jeno can answer, his eyes look out the front window getting a glimpse of the last two young girls leaving the center and going towards a Range Rover. A few minutes ago, he found himself inside the building drinking can after can without his brother’s watch, meanwhile his eyes also kept still on the two girls lounging around. Most specifically, he kept his eyes on a girl named Dae. His mind wondering around on how it must feel to be rich.
"This night keeps getting sexier, look at those girls Haechan," Mark breathlessly chuckles.
Mark’s gaze holds onto the girls, or rather the one trailing behind with her arms folded and her hips moving hypnotically. Her skirt is short and shows a portion of her milky legs, and the way she walks seems almost too purposely- otherwise his pants wouldn’t be bugging so much. Maybe it’s the weed, but he’s pushed into ecstasy wanting to have the girl. 
“I need to have that,” He opens his door, stepping a foot out, leaning over the doorframe and begins whistling. “Hey babygirl, come over for a bit?”
“Mark get in the car-” Haechan starts laughing when the man in the fancy rich car gives them a sharp look, glaring at them. 
Mark, despite the warning, ignores the gnawing and death eyes of the man continuously cat calling the girl. “Yes baby fuck, yes,” He moans, his hand patting his bulging member. “Just like that-” Profanity words can be heard from the car however that doesn’t stop Mark from hooting his mouth towards the girl, leaking his lustful comments. The girl even goes further to ignoring him. “Fucking sexy girl,” The moment she gets into the car Mark- like the dog he is hypes her every moment whistling out and praising her. “Oh yes, yes, yes, bend that body for me. Oh- oh yes, just like that, fuck. Yes baby,”
The posh car abruptly stops once the girl closes the door and Mark can see the man in the car trying to come out. Must be the father. Mark takes on the challenge now directing his attention to the supposed father. “Big boy wanna come out? Come out big boy,”
“Idiot,” Haechan is bowling in laughter when Mark gets back in the car, closing his door shut chortling a little when nothing happens.
“2 baddies,” Mark comments inhaling the bunt getting high  again. “And a grumpy man,”
“Mark you fucking shit head.” Haechan finally calms down from his goofy laugh. He drinks his last can of beer in one big gulp letting out a strong groan by the substance hitting his throat bitterly- yet tasty. “Let me get in on some of  that,” He sticks his hand out to Mark, who offers him to take a huff and puff of his weed. Haechan gives back the stick shaking his head exhaling out.  
Haechan rolls down his window with force while applying speed wanting to see the fuming pretty girl in the massive car more clearly. Mark chortles rolling down his murky window too, wanting to see her face. "Ah, fuck, she’s so sexy," Mark puffs out from his weed bunt again. "Jeno you seeing this?"
Renjun’s eyes are grave serious when looking at the mess the two boys in the front wheel caused. “Is that Dae? What the hell are these two idiots doing cat calling her like that?” He quietly asks to Jeno, who’s is extremely quiet yet drunk. “You need water.”
Jeno watches on, stuffing his hands in his leather jacket while looking out the window to the car and ignoring Renjun's words.
"She's looking, she's looking," Haechan gets on cloud 9 sitting up on his seat and blows her an air kiss. Jeno in a calm daze watches her, she casually throws her middle finger up in the air. 
"Who taught her to do that?" Mark asks taking a whiff of his bunt and puts it in his mouth breathing in. “Rich bitch,”
Haechan laughs bitterly, "Daddy's little rich princess."
“I’d love to be her daddy,”
"Can you guys stop that. She’s got enough intel to call the police on you guys. Her and her father." The 'sleepy' Renjun states in a raspy sour voice as he watches the girl in question roll-up her window. He suddenly sits up groping his neck in pain. “You should just be lucky they didn’t get your number plate.”
"You know the girl?" Mark asks in bewilderment.
"Yes. Dae, proud, top of her class, rich, narcissist. We go to the same college," He enlightens both Mark and Haechan. “Her father is a real pioneer. He’s known to have built some faculty buildings on our campus, as well as upstate houses and penthouses in extremely rich areas.”
“He said rich right?” Haechan chortles. “Rich bitch,”
“I don’t know about rich, but I would love to teach that brat a lesson,” Mark scoffs throwing his finished bunt out the window, already beginning to roll up another one. “She should learn to respect her elders,”
"Let’s just go home." Jeno speaks up with an irritated throat and throbbing head, either trying to deprive the older ones dirty thoughts into something else or, away from Dae.
The Range Rover already begins to drive out the entrance gate, causing Donghyuck to quickly start up his own small car, with a little rustle his car starts. “We’ve been waiting all afternoon for something. Should we follow it?” He peeks in Mark’s direction who nods his head.
Haechan and Mark exchange quirky looks again recalling their initial plan.
While Jeno and Renjun share worried looks, Renjun is the one to voice out a question that seems to already be answered the moment the car starts moving in a similar direction as the classy car. “Donghyuck, what are you doing? Why are you following the car?”
"If it’s not already clear,” Donghyuck, just a few cars behind the black vehicle watches as it takes a left turn to a road he’s never gone on before. “I want that car."
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"Don't forget to do the dishes Yezi!" Mum reminds while forcing her foot in a pair of white heels going together with her sun dress. “Do I look okay?”
I nod my head watching her frantically moving around her wardrobe looking for a scarf or jacket.
"Don't forget okay. I left sticky notes on the fridge and in the cooking book." Mum says running around her room making sure all her stuff are in her carrier bag. “Don’t leave Daegal outside, nowadays she seems to like being outside,”
"Don't worry mum, Yezi and I will be fine. Besides, Dad will be here." I point behind her to dad who's putting on his black blazer. “It’s not like we’ve been left motherless before,” I darkly joke, causing dad to peek up from his phone shaking his head. “What? Too soon?” I chuckle.
“Yes honey I will be here, stop freaking out,” Dad states while going back on his phone. “She’s arrived at the airport, c’mon let’s go.”
Him and mum are going to the airport where Mrs Chittaphon is at.
Mrs Chittaphon mentioned that she was going to China for a few weeks and offered to take mum along with her, dad gladly accepted on mum’s behalf. It was exciting at first since dad thought he could go too, but Mrs Chittaphon sternly said she wanted mum, so not wanting to ‘disappoint’(?) Mrs Chittaphon she agreed to going. Still scary and shocking since they don't get along that well, but my dad assured mum that it would be a bonding experience.
Escorting mum with her bags, we follow dad out to the garage as he selects a car. Switching on the brown Jaguar with the remote he opens up the boot while mum and I fill the boot with her bags. Our little dog, Daegal barks around the tires of the wheel keeping my dad in a smiling trance as he looks down at her. Daegal loves this car the most. This is like a special car for them, since this is the car he had when he was still in the dating phase with my mum and he got Daegal for the first time too.
Yezi finally comes out the parking with silk pink pajama shorts and a merch t-shirt with a face of one of the guys we saw today... it’s probably the shirt they tossed out and she caught. When we came back from the venue Yezi went straight to her room, posting pictures and unwrapping her merch. She has been there ever since asking for nobody to disturb her, but yet as soon as my dad starts the car she's out the house. She gives dad a tight hug and walks over to us. She smiles and gives mum a big and tight hug. "Have fun in that country with no internet. We'll miss you and also thank you for letting me go," she let's go of mum and looks at me sticking out here tongue. "I hate you and I still think you're annoying."
"The feeling is mutual." l I can't hide my grin. I know Yezi loves me. “Isn’t that the cleaning supply husband you wanted to marry?” She hits my shoulder mumbling profanities going back in the house.
"Guys don’t fight.” Mum lets out closing the boot and turning to me. “I guess this is it," mum says.
"Don't say it like that, we'll see each other in like a few weeks time." I open the front door for her and she gets in. I bend down to see dad in the car busy with Daegal on his lap while massaging mum’s hand.
“Why are you shaking,” Dad laughs teasingly. “Daegal, why are you shaking? I wanna know, I wanna know,” He plays with the dog on his lap gently setting her in the backseat. I guess he's taking her with him.
"Dae make sure to lock the house and close the front door, I left it open for Daegal to enter, but she’s already here. Make sure Yezi sleeps on time, she's got a bad habit of sleeping past midnight," Mum says rubbing her hands together looking to dad. "Okay,"
"I'm coming soon." Dad says and drives out. I head back in the house looking at the control panel waiting until I hear the car out the driveway. Meanwhile I switch on the lights outside. When I hear the car drive out I press the button that closes the garage.
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Haechan's car comes to a stop, parking down the road and away watching from afar. They’ve been seated in the car for some time, simply taking in the view of the enchanting residence. The neighborhood is built on exquisite land and even the air itself smells different. All the boys in astonishment take in the sight of the various mansions around.
Haechan blames it on the cream sunset that slowly sets behind the dwelling place of the deluxe rich family, creating a luxurious and costly aura around the house, for him to be taken aback and in almost tears. “This is bank,” He mumbles already scheming inside his head.
The house the boys arrive at is everything one would desire. A palace, a fortress, a gold dripping tap with four stories stacked high adorning lavish balconies and vast verandas covered by gardened fence built on polished bricks- even the garden itself was cultivated, refined and neat. The design, the layout of the house, is something out of a novel, a comic book, a past that with held old money and a future that would take over the rich. The scenery itself is ingenious and and screams out rich. The house itself looks grand and high class, even the heavily guarded gates are artistic with the layers of polished Chinese ancient styled stone. 
Jeno, partly drunk looks out his window to a particular floor on the house- the one which he knows is her room. Dae. She was breathtaking and he couldn't help but become attached to her. What started off as something small, turned into stalking. He didn't consider it to be stalking until he realized that he had more pictures of her in his photography collection them anything else.
Following Renjun one time to school, he found himself becoming obsessed with Dae and her charming glow. There was something about her that he couldn’t put his finger on. Although arrogant and proud, she seemed like the type of person to wear a mask of faces, and that’s what made Jeno curious about her ever since. He followed her once or twice back home escaping her glances- the days he followed her was when she would sneak some guy back to her place. Those where the only days where she’d walk from school to home. It only took one to three trips for the sight of her house to be so deeply engraved in Jeno’s mind.  
He took pictures of the neighborhood and her house, in particular her room when the curtains where open. It was tough taking from the ground level especially since the house was tilted high- but taking pictures none the less only made him fascinated, especially whenever she was by her window. He’d snap a shot avoiding any preying eyes. Whenever he would take a picture of the residence he was greatly reminded and would feel belittled by the differences between their two worlds. 
Their house itself was a stone mark of being high in status and above everyone else. In some parts, Renjun was telling the truth when he said she’s a narcissist. It came out naturally for her because her family is beyond rich and wealthy, they’ve entered god mode. It’s something she tried not to show to others lower then her, but it still showed by her appearance. She was prideful and like Haechan said, a rich princess in her daddies castle. 
“How long are we gonna sit here?” Jeno asks when the throbbing pain slowly kicks in is head. He leans forward on his seat taking the can of beverage in the cup holder. Picking it up, he drinks on it letting out a satisfied grunt. Being an alcoholic had it’s perks. He’d drink and feel woozy for a certain amount of time before returning to a hinged conscious version of himself- even though he’d still be tipsy, he’d still be conscious. Right now more than anything, he wanted to be unconscious of the actions he knew his brother and friend would take.
Mark and Haechan hold similar thoughts being, tonight would be a fortuitous night. 'The bigger the better' Mark always said. The mansion is situated on the far side and Southern hills of the city. In this area all the house's are far away from each other, almost by a bridge gap, but yet this house is steep and the highest on the hill sitting at the top. It should’ve scared the boys away, but for some reason Mark and Haechan were determined. They’ve only robbed one floored houses, and to at some point robbed apartments- yet looking at the wide spread mansion and all it’s charms, they know this is something new for them and should tread carefully. 
"Until the sun goes down. We wouldn’t want god to disturb our luck,” Haechan mumbles with lustful eyes, raping the house bare. “Rich people," He scoffs. "They just can't relax without making the rest of us feel like shit," His awestruck emotions quickly turn sour after digesting the house for way too long.
While following the Range Rover they had to refuel, almost got lost, nearly got pulled over by the police- twice! At some point there was a security border gate for the area of houses situated on the hill, fortunately for them, Mark who was already used to cracking safe boxes, put his skill to the test when entering a 4 digit code. He got it wrong 2 times, but was lucky on his third try. 
Despite all the drawbacks, it seemed like the mansion they were going to rob wanted to be robbed- nothing held them back at this point. It was all worth it since the prize would lead to a glorious landscape of house. "They've never walked a day in our shoes, might as well teach 'em a lesson," Mark runs his fingers through his dark hair that was unevenly cut with scissors.
The mansion is perfect for the plans Mark and Haechan had. Jeno, still half drunk, saw it as an opportunity to get closer to Dae and see where she lived up close. His fantasies coming to life.
"Guys this is wrong. Please can you just turn the car around and let’s go home. Please." Renjun on the other hand, the only one feeling petrified for his life, urges the boys for them to snap out of their high and return home. Never in his life has he ever gone through the motions of being mad- but right now in this car he felt as though he’d gone mad. How is he the only one to realize that this is wrong?! The only one sober and trying to wake up the conscious of the drunk and high guys. "Guys you need to snap out of it!" Renjun fusses getting quiet and then louder by the second. "You know the embassy will send me back to China if I get caught in this mess. Or worse, we could all be sent to jail! Donghyuck!”
"Jail isn't a place I'm afraid of." Haechan leans back in his seat, eyes dead set on watching the house. “Besides, we didn’t do anything yet. Stop crying like a little bitch.”
"Jeno! Don't tell me you're also going along with this?" Renjun asks his friend, confused and shocked that he too would even consider what the others were thinking.
"Renjun I’m just sitting. Please stop screaming in my ear-" Jeno pushes Renjun off his side. “Just enjoy the view-”
"No!" Renjun yells again gaining a glare from his brother in front.
"Listen here you twat. You're only here for a ride so shut up," Haechan glares at his brother from the rearview mirror.
"No Donghyuck! You know this is wrong. Mum can't handle any more of your troubles." Renjun points at the silent and not interested Mark. “Mark, do something, why are you allowing this to happen? It’s all your fault why we’re here. Just say something, anything and Donghyuck will listen to you.”
Mark thought about the fortress and also wondered about the girls, in particular the one with the stunning legs. His fantasies already playing out like a movie in his head. Waiting outside felt like hell especially since he had to bounce his knee to ignore the poking in his pants. Rolling up another wrapped weed bunt, he smoked it and let the lucid fantasies play out in his mind. 
Feeling and groping her body, her breast, her ass, those juicy thighs- tearing off her clothes from her body and slapping her around until she was red. Choking her while his fingers worked inside her slippery wet pussy. He could almost feel the stickiness between his fingers and how good they’d taste in his mouth. Grabbing her by her long hair and making her suck his long cock and-
"Mark!”
His head jerks away from the distant thoughts hearing a wailing Renjun in the backseat. “Why can’t I have my thoughts in peace?” He mutters turning his head to Haechan. “Did you really have to bring your orphaned brother here? He’s starting to piss me off.” 
Renjun abruptly cuts Haechan before he can even speak. “You turned Donghyuck and Jeno into thugs-"
"Listen up you ass whip, I didn't change anyone. The thug life chose Haechan and as for Jeno," Mark smirks at his young brother, who watches the house intensely. "He liked what I offered."
Mark rolls up another weed bunt feeling good and settling himself to be comfortable to let his imaginations wonder off again.
"Besides, do you see any police around? Live a little Injun," Mark smiles while licking the edge of the wrapper of his bunt. “Now shut the fuck up.”
"It's Renjun. And we’re all going to go to-"
"I’m gonna say this once, since you didn’t catch me clearly. I said shut the fuck up. If I repeat myself again I’ll deport you back myself to the border that you jumped over." Mark sits upright on the seat and turns to Haechan once dismissing a defeated Renjun once he’s finished making his weed bunt. "Do I look high?"
“Nah you’re good.”
“Good.” Mark nods his head stashing his wrapped weed bunt in his pocket along with a packet of cocaine from the dashboard. 
“What’s that for?” Jeno in the back asks curiously. 
“My dear brother, this is for when the fun will begin.” Mark drapes his black hoody over head. “What are we waiting for?”
"Nothing." Haechan replies leaning over to his side opening the dash panel, grabbing and gripping his pistol by its edge taking some bullets. He fixes his snapback on over his black lengthy hair, making sure his eyes are covered.
"Jeno you coming?" Mark asks.
"Mmhm." Jeno silently replies making Renjun’s jaw drop.
“I thought you said you’re not gonna-”
“I just wanna see inside the house.”
Renjun scoffs. “And you’re saying that confidently as if you know that you’ll excel in getting in the house.”
“Hey border jumper,” Mark slurs on Renjun with a cocky laugh. “If you could jump over from your country to here, what makes you think we can’t do just that?”
Renjun humphs. “Because this isn’t some country you can jump into. This is a freaking house- a house you can’t get caught in! This is Zhong Chenle’s house-”
“I don’t give a fuck of who this Zhong Zhong guy is. Clearly he’s also a border jumper-”
“He is a multi millionaire. This home is a line straight to hell if you get caught in it!”
“Clearly you don’t know me or your brother.” Mark chuckles picking at his own gun. “I gracefully walk into prison when I’m caught. Besides, what will a border jumper do to me? Haechan, I like your brother.”
Haechan rolls his eyes, finding the whole encounter between Mark and Renjun hilarious. He’s partly sober, yet also partly drunk, but one thing in his mind that’s clear, is the mansion. “That house is calling my name, are you ready?”
“Yeah.” Mark confirms and Jeno simply sticks out his thumb, taking another can of beer in his pocket.
"One more thing," Haechan says. "Let's use codes instead." 
"Mark." Mark says not bothering with a nickname knowing that none of them ever called him. “You don’t even have to call my name, just look at me and I’ll understand what you need. Jeno?”
"Uhm, I don't have one."
"How about Zeno?" Haechan suggestions making Jeno breathlessly laugh. 
“You really hate me, don’t you.” Referring to a nickname Jeno once gave himself when he was young. Zeno Zee The Zuperzero.
"Okay then Zeno and Haechan." Haechan points to himself turning to Renjun. "Stay in the car and if you wanna piss do it outside, not inside."
"What are you even saying? You guys do know you're gonna get in trouble? Big trouble. Donghyuck you can't be serious. Are you guys really going in there?" Renjun asks but no one answers him, they all leave the car treading carefully along the sides of the neighborhood before making it to the edges of the house.
“It’s either I’m high or this house is fucking huge.” Mark mumbles looking up the walls. Seeing no sharp barricades he pats Donghyuck. “Let’s climb over the wall.” 
As the wall is built on furnished stone, they find it simple to go over the wall with their climbing skills, jumping down to the soft grass. Briefly chuckling amongst themselves and preying closer to the house. 
Haechan being the lead, walks along the sides of the house deciding to move to the back. The front door was off limits knowing that they would immediately get caught, even though it was wide open they couldn't do it. The temptation too real.
The boys crouch by the wall of the house reaching a large back open space with a covered swimming pool. "How do we get in?" Jeno asks, his heart pounding loud from the adrenaline rush he felt.
“C’mon,” Haechan speaks as though he’s been around the house before. One thing Haechan always knew about breaking and entering houses, was that the layout was always the same. Small houses had joined sets, while big house had disjoined sets. Meaning that either everything was outside, or it was all inside. And by the tough exterior of this mansion, Haechan knows it’s a joined house. He just had to find another opening- and as if luck is truly on their side he spots a long drive way with a garage and right at the bottom there’s a little box. “Bingo.” He nods his head. “You got a knife?”
“Always,” Mark nods his head understanding that he needs to defuse the box, to make it easier to enter. Whether their are security camera’s or not, Mark and Haechan continue by chance. 
“What if they catch us?” Jeno asks wondering why everything felt easy.
“It’s always like this.” Haechan speaks lowly. “Rich people with such high security, don’t really think they’ll get robbed and so they don’t keep their guards up. They think that nobody else is around them- so why look around when they can only look up? The only problem, is that they don’t see the troubles down below.”
“It seems too easy.” Jeno mumbles chuckling.
“They’re never prepared for the unexpected.” Haechan speaks again. “They think, their untouchable. That they can’t get robbed.”
“What happens when we go inside?” Jeno curiously asks.
This time Mark turns to his brother with high red eyes. “Just follow us, and you’ll be okay.” Their about to sneakily run through the drive yet right on cue- the garage slides up very slowly and majestically, revealing a brown Jaguar that’s making it’s way out.
"Shit!" They all say and duck hiding themselves behind the wall and tall garden bushes. Mark spots two people behind the dark tinted windows of the car as it drives out.
"There there there!" Haechan silently yells, the boys speed up while crouching towards the open garage before it closes. Pressed up against walls, still crouching and panting hard Mark hits his brothers side, feeling ecstatic that his brother tagged along.
“Fuck yeah!” Mark whisper yells hitting on Jeno. “Nice, boy, nice.”
"Holy shit," Haechan lets out when the lights of the garage dim down and he sees what’s actually inside the garage. “Mark, fucking look at this shit.” Standing up looking around the garage, he’s joined by Jeno and Mark who peek around. The two boys look around too and their eyes light up in the car. Rows of gleaming glassy fancy rich motherfucking cars, all different brands and colors. “You gotta be shitting me.”
Haechan practically jogs to the cars touching each one and checking their brands. Mark looks around a smirk placed on his face, "I told you, the bigger the better."
Jeno bites his lips and heads towards the wall of keys. "Is it this easy?"
Haechan notices the keys and pushes his gun in his back pocket. "Damn." Haechan mouths. "Mark start working on the fuse box. We need to get the garage door open if we’re going to get them out."
"Look," Mark nudges to a door that's by the corner. "Fuck me, let's cause some trouble first before we go,"
“Nah, that’s too risky.” Jeno shakes his head still a bit drunk but well aware of the pressing conversation and the two boys already walking to the door. “You guys only wanted the car.”
“You pussy,” Mark laughs walking towards the door regardless. “I saw two people in the car leaving, if I’m correct it looked the grumpy man and a high class maiden with a tote hat. Let’s cause shit, come on, Zeno.”
Jeno nervously sighs feeling hot. “Shit, okay.”
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"Dae!"
"What?" I ask entering the kitchen, where Yezi's washing the dishes. I open the fridge taking out a can of cold drink.
“Those guys at the parking lot were pretty rude.” Yezi mumbles. “Are you okay?”
I turn to Yezi hearing her concern and feel a bit touched. “A bit disgusted by it, but I’m okay. I just hate that dad had to be there for that,”
“Did you see his face?” Yezi asks peeking at me with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen him look so dead ass cold. He even stopped the car ready to jump out and fight.”
“He was about to explode, I know.” I lean on the counter shaking the image of  my dad in anger out my head. 
“Low life boys are such fucking pricks. Which is why try your best to keep up the standard when it comes to guys. No disorder, just respectable men in suits with paper. I don’t even wanna marry a guy from here, I want a man from Thailand,”
“Those pricks in the car could be from Thailand.”
“Ew no. They weren’t from Thailand, you could see them, they’re from here, the disgusting and filthy side though. I want a respectable intelligent Thailand man.” Yezi states blissfully. “I mean, a respectable man who prides himself yes, but also a man who isn’t all about intellect. No.”
“What? Why?” I question.
“Because I want to have fun. And a guy who’s studied his whole life, won’t understand when I tell him ‘we should have fun’. He’ll look at me and say I’m a child.” Yezi reasons. “For example, that sugar daddy guy Kun, the one you were dating,”
“It was just a fling, we weren’t dating. What could he offer me that dad hasn’t already gotten me?” 
“Uhm sex?” Yezi laughs.
I shake my head blushing at the mention of him. A nice sweet rising businessman who wanted to spoil me rotten with gifts and everything money can buy.
Yezi’s eyes widen. “He was so fucking hot and he knew how to have fun. I wouldn’t mind him taking care of me for the rest of my life. I want someone like that, chilled and not too serious but still respectable and decent enough for dad,”
That makes me laugh. “I think dad’s a bit disappointed that I didn’t want to take over the family business. So I’m gonna have to pass on a man taking care of me. I need to sustain myself and prove to dad why I chose journalism,”
“Uhm because you suck at math? Thought it was obvious,” Yezi jokes around. “I also don’t want anything to do with architecture. You better pave the way nicely for me,”
“What do you want to do?”
“Duh, a man who knows how to have fun? That’s what I want to do.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I’ll cross that bridge when I’m there. Hey by the way, where's Daegal? Mum left the front door open for her, but she still hasn’t come in,"
"Dad took her. Please don’t forget to close the door," I mumble yawning a little. "I'll be in my room."
"Wait, wait. Dae, look over there by the corner," she motions with her head to the window. I walk to her being confused by her stricken face. Looking above the sink window out to the street below, right across the street at the far end there's a small car, all rusty and crispy.
"What's wrong?" I ask shrugging my shoulders opening my can.
"Its on our street, dad didn't call any one over and Mrs Chittaphon isn't here, so who is that?" She asks watching the car. She washes her hands wiping them with the cloth. She goes out the kitchen into the living room, I follow her just in time to see her sending a silent alarm to the police station.
"Really Yezi? Like seriously? Dad's gonna be pissed. That isn't a toy you can just play with you know." I walk past her and to the kitchen to throw away the can while picking up a banana. I begin walking up the stairs eating the banana. “Yezi lock the garage door as well as the front door,”
“But you were in the kitchen just now, why didn’t you close the garage door?” Yezi whines.
"Because I didn’t open it,”
“Well neither did I,”
“Oh well, you’re gonna have to close it. I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when dad's back, I wanna be present when he yells at you for playing with the silent alarm," I head to my room leaving her in the living room watching TV and ignoring me.
I enter my room closing the main light switch but suddenly feel eerie when thinking of the car that was outside. Come to think of it, it looked like the crispy car from that center. Opening the twinkle lights setting the color mood to red, I pounce on my bed picking up my phone. 
Feeling skeptical again, I get off my bed and walk over to the window. Checking the window, I pull open the curtains only a little watching the car.
That car does look suspicious. All the way from the the second floor of my room, I can see light coming from the front door. Damnit, Yezi being stubborn in her not closing the door will- Before I can even close the curtains to my room to go downstairs and close the door- I catch a glimpse of a person getting out and running towards... our house. The person disappears down below and I can’t see him anymore. After waiting a bit trying to determine if I’m being paranoid for no reason, my eyes enlarge when seeing the person’s hand gripping at the top of the bricked wall and hurling himself over. Shit! “Yezi! Close the-
"DAE!" 
My heart accelerates at the sound of Yezi's blurted scream and I pounce out of my room sprinting from my floor and the long corridor all the way to the stairs. My heart bloating and swelling up as I try not to panic rapidly going down the stairs- I instantly freeze in my tracks, by the door of the living room as something cold and hard presses against my head stopping me altogether. My whole body trembles in cold sweat and I look to the side when my eyes meet Yezi's bloodshot stare in pure fear looking up to the man that has her trapped on the chair. His whole body lunges close to her with a sickening smile as she has both her hands covering her mouth. My body shivers just looking into her tears fall from her eyes as she trembles in uneasiness. The hooded guy resembles the pervert who kept patronizing me while I walked to my dad’s car, he even sounds like him.
I focus my attention on the guy who's holding the gun to my head, disgusted by that same dirty smile plastered all over his face, my mouth shakily opens up as I gasp out in horror. It's that guy from that center, the guy who was in that car. "Oh my god.”
“We decided to come out because the sun went down. We didn’t want god to see this.” He smirks. “Oh sweet cheeks, why do you look so nervous to see me?"
"Please. What do you want?" I ask holding back my tears from spilling but fail as they start blurring my vision. I gulp down the lump in my throat, yet my tears still fall over my cheeks. I back up just as he positions himself in front of me.
"Awe, where's the confidence now?" He chuckles running the barrel of the cold metallic gun down my chest and over my stomach. My body is paralyzed in a gripped dread as I feel the gun pass over my skirt before he puts it underneath and pushes the barrel in between my thighs rubbing it against my shaken core.
“Please,” I tremble when he begins to rub it while forcing both my hands above my head.
“Please what baby?” He darkly laughs whispering in my ear. “You want it?” I briskly turn my head to the side. Seeing Yezi now up on her feet visibly trembling while the hooded guy positions himself in front of her. She still has her hands covering her lips with tears streaming down her face. 
“How old are you?” The hooded guy smiles and runs his long slim fingers down her chest and over her silk pajama shorts. “16? 17? You’re so perky, I bet you would be such a good fuck.” He then positions himself behind her and wraps one arm around her abdomen before thrusting his covered member into her. Her gasp is mixed with a sob and I cry. 
“Please stop, we’ll give you anything you want, just stop please.” My croaked voice trembles to the guy who’s hands play with my exposed skin by pinching and groping my bare things underneath my skirt, yet still with his gun in hand.
"Anything? He laughs out. “I want your pretty little middle finger," he smirks. "In my mouth.” He pushes me hard against the wall with his gun now moving away from underneath my skirt and between my legs to his pocket. Freeing his hand and allowing himself continue to touch me while his teeth sink into my warm neck causing me to squirm and whimper. "You're so fucking hot you know," he whispers in my ear. I quiver as his fingers go up my exposed skin under my crop top fumbling with breast that’s covered by my bra. Cowering and shaking under his control my hazy eyes meet Yezi’s pain stricken eyes as she’s now seated on some guy I never thought was in the room.
“You still a virgin right?” The hooded guy asks to the man who Yezi sits on. The guy shamefully nods his head but moans when the hooded guy stretches open Yezi’s legs and grips her hand forcing her to palm the man underneath her. “You can’t have a big boy body but have never been touched before. Come on girly, make my brother feel good.”
“No!” Immediately I push the guy off me with shock strength panicking and coming back to my senses. He stumbles back but gets back at me with speed slapping my face tightly. 
“Don’t play with me rich bitch,” The guy in front of me warns forcing both my hands up.
"Haechan she's mine," The hooded guy says forcing Yezi up with a playful smile. “Take this one, she’s a fucking virgin. She’s still tight.”
I now notice that the other guy in the room is the same guy from the center. My eyes widen when I do realize that it is truly him, the one who was watching me while drinking. He palms himself before taking something out his pocket- a beer can and opening it. Drinking, my eyes watch his adams apple and I’m stunned that it’s actually him. Silently observing, he sits on the chair shaking his head and ruffling his hair groaning out. I should've known from the moment that I saw him that something bad would happen. But not only that- he looks familiar again.
“Dae! Dae!” My eyes snap to Yezi who’s now being forced on her knees while the hooded guy lifts his hoody and starts fumbling with the belt on his pants.
"Please let go of me!" My attention is forced to the guy with a snapback. I try to push him away but he pulls out the gun and straight into my mouth. 
“What’s wrong?" He dangerously whispers in my ear with a cold laugh. “I thought you had a sugar daddy. You should have experience in this stuff. Be a good rich bitch and open your legs,” he leans in closer to me again his hands going back to where they were. I bite my lip feeling the urge to beat him away from me.
"NO!" Yezi shrieks out loud when the hooded guy grabs a handful of her hair, leaning down and whispering to her.  "NO! PLEASE DON'T!" Yezi urges in piercing screams. 
Finding fear strength again, I sharply knee the guy in front of me in the groan and he doubles over yet grips the gun to my head.
"Fuck. Why’re you being so difficult sweet cheeks, just give me what I want and I'll let you and your sister go." He says. I spit on his face and try to run to Yezi but the guy grabs a handful of my shirt pushing me back to the wall roughly. "You fucking cunt. How dare you spit on my face?" He whips of my spit, pressing me harder to the wall.
Yezi screeches and fights the hooded guy with her hands and legs- the adrenaline finally kicking in her when she tries to resist the man with his belt open. The guy is strong and rapidly turns her around and plants her face roughly to the pillow on the chair. "I like rough sex, so if that’s what you’re into I’ll gladly comply. So stop squirming!" he says and then looks at me pulling down his hoody. "I wanted your sister, but you’ll have to do." I gulp feeling all the nerves in my body heighten. “You’re gonna watch me fuck your sister.”
"Zero get me something to tie this girl up." The guy in front of me says. The guy on the couch, Zero, gets up and walks out to the tv set, ripping out  the cables from the various power supplies coming closer to me. His eyes are hooded and he looks a bit unstable- he’s drunk. Now that I think of it, they all look like their not conscious with their red eyes and uneasy postures.
Haechan grips both my hands and uses the cable ropes from the TV, that the Zero guy hands over. “Haechan, don’t tie it too tight.” Zero mumbles out to the Haechan guy in front of me.
"Alright here's what's gonna happen," Haechan presses himself against my back leaning to my ear. "Show me daddy's possessions and goods and then I let you go okay sweet cheeks?" My face is red as all the blood and tears rush up. Regardless I nod and he pulls me up and pushes me out the living room but I bump into another body and both me and the person scream out.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GUYS DO!!?" We all get startled by the loud voice. The hooded guy and Haechan rapidly turn with their guns ready to shoot. I turn to look up at the guy in front of the living room entrance and see a panicked looking guy- Renjun?
"Renjun!" I call out his name and try to escape to him but Haechan's hand grips my shirt and brings me back to his hard chest.
"DONGHYUCK WHAT THE HELL! YOU SAID YOU ONLY WANTED THE CAR-" Renjun is on panic mode and looks to all the guys in the room. His breathing is uneven and he grabs his hair.
"Oh great the border jump decided to join. Haechan handle your brother before I do." The hood guy says. I look to Yezi noticing that the Zero guy ties her hands behind her back with her legs also in the process of being tied. She squirms and shakes but the hooded guy holds her down firmly with the pistol in her mouth. He looks up and smiles at Renjun. “Came to  have fun?”
I look back at Renjun whose eyes are wide open and his hands are still on his hair. Is he confused at what's going on? "Renjun do something please!" I yell with a trembled tone.
"JENO WHAT THE HELL?! DONGHYUCK! MARK PLEASE LET HER GO! YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO JAIL! HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GUYS EVEN GET IN?!" Renjun yells walking over to Haechan, who points the gun towards Renjun.
"How the hell did you get in? Don’t tell me you walked in the front door like a little bitch. I told you to stay in the car!" Haechan says pushing me back and I stumble falling to the ground- into the arms of the drunkard Zero guy. He pulls me down on the chair laying my back flat. I'm about to scream but he forcefully puts his hand against my mouth. 
"Don't scream I’ve got a fucking headache already. I won't hurt you, I promise. Just don't scream please, please." He begs in a whisper tone looking sincerely tired.
My tears slowly start to come out and I can't handle or control the flow that leaves my eyes while hearing the two boys fighting. Now there are four boys in total. Renjun, the one complaining and fighting, Zero (or rather Jeno as Renjun called him) the drunkard, the one hooded guy called Mark, who’s sitting by the edge of the chair smiling at the two fighting. And finally the ‘sweet cheeks’ guy Haechan. My heart pants when Haechan grabs Renjun by the collars before harshly punching him down.
“Give him another one!” The Mark guy cheers Haechan on. Haechan gets on his knees holding Renjun’s collar again. “Come on border jumper, show him-”
Suddenly the house makes a noise, making everyone fall dead silent. It sounds like the doors and windows are closing, imprisoning us! Haechan gets up moving to the curtains by the corner living room pulling them open. I see the metal bars locking the house and I gasp- the control panel. Snapping my head to the control panel I see the Zero guy with his finger on one of the buttons! He pressed on it, the lock down button.
"What the hell is happened?" Haechan asks with befuddlement.
"Calm down it's just on lock down mode." The Zero guy says breathing out. "There's bars around the windows and main doors leading to the outside.”
Haechan moves back to Renjun. “Take your ass back in the car and wait for us. We won’t be long-”
“Speak for yourself Haechan, my dick is loaded-”
"Fuck you Mark!" Renjun gets up on his feet again glaring at Mark before turning to Haechan again. "Donghyuck this is serious, if we don't-"
"Stop saying my name." Haechan lands another punch on Renjun’s face and I shut my eyes crying out. I can hear Yezi crying out when the Mark guy on the end of the couch leans closer and slaps her butt. His knee sinks on the couch and he places his body on top of hers with a dark chuckle-
Bzzzzzz
All heads turn to Jeno who looks back to control panel when the buzzing sound comes again, it's the outside buzzer connected to the monitor panel. He presses on a button and waits.
'Hello? Mr Zhong Chenle?’
Oh my soul! It's Officer Suh Johnny from the police department. I hope he didn't come alone. My heart raises up in anticipation.
Renjun raises his hands to his hair ignoring the blood that slowly travels from his hair over his head as he crouches down, a string of curse words leaving his lips. “Donghyuck-”
“Shut up you bitch.” Haechan growls out and in an instant draws closer to me, pulling me up and heading towards the speaker pushing the Zero guy away. He places the gun on my head again pushing it against my head. He breathes heavily in my ear, "If you dare defy me I will blow your brains out and rape your sister. Do you hear me!" I rapidly nod not having time to think about it. "Answer it." Haechan leans close and presses the ‘answer’ button on screen. Johnny’s face appears on the screen taken from the outside camera.
"Ye-s he-llo," I say trying to make my voice come out natural as possible.
'Miss Dae is that you?' The male police officer asks.
I look to Haechan and he nudges me to answer. "Ye-es it's, it's me." I squirm a bit, making Haechan angry he pushes the gun harder against my head making me cry.
'Miss Dae what's going on? Are you okay?' He looks around concerned.
I think of a lie quickly and answer, "Yes I'm okay- it's just it's just, I'm watching this movie with Yezi and it's so sad." I lie holding in my tears.
The police officer seems to believe it as he smiles a little. 'I understand. There was a silent alarm sent to the department and I was close by deciding to check on you guys. Is everything alright?'
"Tell him it was an accident," Haechan whispers in my ear- strangely calm as if he’s used to this.
"It was an accident." I repeat.
'That's okay this happens all the time, but may you please come to the gate for a bit.' I look at Haechan who shakes his head. 'There seems to be an abandoned pick up trick on your street and your house is under locked.’ The officer says seriously. ‘Are you sure everything's okay?'
"Tell him some people are fixing the lights," I repeat what Haechan says.
I look over to Haechan who looks tense and looks over to the couch. I follow his gaze watching the hooded guy get off Yezi with a gun in hand. They eye each other down before the hooded guy nods, hastily taking off. Haechan presses a button- the unlock button- and the house starts to unlock itself.
“OFFICER SUH! THERE ARE 4 MEN IN THE HOUSE! PLEASE WE NEED HELP!”
Haechan’s eyes enlarge the moment Yezi yells out. “MARK FUCKING SHOOT THE POLICE!” Haechan yells out and ditches me running out of view the same place Mark ran to. The Zero guy quickly comes and stands next to me as we both watch the screen of Johnny on full alert with his gun positioned forward as he looks at the gate. 
“OFFICER SUH RUN THEY’RE COMING-” Jeno is quick in shutting me up frantically covering up my mouth with his whole arm while he forces me back.
BANG! 
A gun fire breaks out but I can’t even see where it’s from as Jeno drags me back.
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BANG! 
Mark shoots again from far sprinting forwards when he sees he’s landed a shot. The gun fire echo's around the whole house and also around the quiet deserted street. Mark uses the front door to escape running down the driveway before reaching the house entrance gate, he holds the gun steady in his hand and watches the police male figure try to crawl away. He doesn't get far, only two walking feet away and Mark chuckles.
Officer Suh Johnny holds onto his radio by his collar still pushing and dragging his body forward. The thoughts running in his mind is to protect the girls and send backup quick. "Back up.. please. Mr Zhong's residence. 4 men. Pick up truck aban1doned. 2 girls inside. Hurry. I've been hit."
Mark watches with fascination, the thought that the police had a shot at escaping death makes him chuckle.
Haechan appears at the doorway seeing Mark between the bared gates at the end of the walking way. He runs to where Mark is and his eyes fall to the police officer. He looks over at Mark, who's still smiling and looking at the male. "What the fuck Mark. He's still moving." Haechan says calmly. “Kill him already.”
"He won't get far," Mark smirks and points the gun once again aiming for his back unaware of the bulletproof vest.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
While he shoots, Haechan watches the officer. “He’s got a bullet proof vest.” Johnny’s back arches obviously in pain and he wiggles on the floor, a crimson color of blood trailing behind him as he still wiggles and moves on the floor - trying to get away.
"Damn, he's strong 5 bullets and he's still going on. Wow, what it means to be a fighter." Mark pouts his lips loading his gun again with an evil smile and red high eyes looking ahead in delight. 
“Shoot his head.” Haechan says. “We need to take care of those bitches fast and leave.”
“Let's see how many it'll take to finish him." Mark is deaf to the rest of Haechan’s words and aims his gun at the polices head. “You ever seen a head explode Donghyuck?”
“No.” Haechan shakes his head still with his eyes trained on the wiggling police officer who was now closer to his car.
“I have.” Mark’s lip twitches in a pained smile that’s quickly covered by his horrendous laugh. “It was my father’s head. It bursted out like...” Mark pulls the trigger on the police officer and splatter chunks of blood spurts out. “Bang. Just like that. And I shot one more time, to make sure he was dead.”
BANG!
Similar actions are done back in the living room by Renjun as he holds onto his chest every time the gun goes off. His bottom lip trembles, and just like the crying girls he’s also in tears and afraid. Standing up in absolute fear he tries to breath but gets his heart shocked when the gun fires three more times and it becomes silent again. The silence too tense and almost tangible.
Yezi wails around the couch tears streaming down her face, Dae on the other hand didn't even budge from the floor with Jeno right on top of her. Jeno held her down with his eyes trained on the monitor screen. Dae knew that something was wrong when Jeno’s eyes widen every time a gun shot was heard. Officer Suh must’ve been on the receiving end of those bullets otherwise Jeno wouldn’t be letting out a breath of relief and grabbing his canned drink and downing down another lump.
Renjun roughly pulls his short hair back and furiously marches to Jeno pushing him back. "Jeno, they killed him. Stop drinking we need to get out of here." He pushes him again and Jeno falls on the ground- losing his balance totally- the alcohol merging with his senses. 
Dae takes her chance and tries to get up even though her hands are tied up behind her. She runs with speed to another corridor in the dark hallway, to where another monitor is. Her teary eyes see the still body of the officer on the ground with blood pouring around him and she trembles and with her tongue she firmly sticks it on the screen trying to send another silent alarm. Her tongue hazing on the screen until it’s sent. 
Her whole head snaps back when hearing Yezi wail out louder. She panics and carefully goes back to the living room seeing Haechan squeezing her neck tightly slapping her cheek again. Cowering back in fear she tries to run back to the hallway again but hits into a hard chest falling back down. Mark is in front of her with a smirk. He pulls her up by her hair clicking his tongue. “I found her.”
"You think you can get away from me sweet cheeks huh," Haechan bitterly laughs walking away from Yezi. “I was teaching your sister a lesson for opening up her big mouth. Jeno told me you snitched as well, so I think you deserve this too-” The moment Haechan reaches Dae and Mark his hand swings back and he gives her a wild back hand slap sending her flying to the ground as Mark let’s her hair go. This time Haechan grabs her hair pulling her up. “I hate when my plans go south-”
"Please! Let me go! Donghyuck-"
He slams her back on the floor before grabbing her hair and dragging her to get to the living room. He throws her on the floor once they’re in the living room again. She let her tears fall down screaming out when seeing Yezi’s red face with tiny bruises. Haechan points his gun at her and clicks his tongue. "Don't you dare say my fucking name ever again!"
"Donghyuck! What the- what the hell!?" Renjun taunts out again hurrying over to his brother gripping his shoulders. "Mark shot the police! He shot the police! You said you were gonna steal the car! Not tie up the girls and shoot the police!"
Haechan becomes silent in hearing that, the image of the police’s head being shot several times still fresh in his mind, he gulps and points the gun to Renjun. "This wouldn't have happened if you stayed in the car like I told you." Haechan says holding the gun back down. "You could've warned us that someone was coming or you could've told the police a lie!"
"What lie? That my brother went to hijack a car!"
"I didn't say the truth! I said lie! Lie! You could've lied for us!" Haechan grabs his hair feeling stressed not knowing where his 'in and out' plan would lead to. "We need to get the hell out of here before more police come. We need a plan Mark. Jeno lock the house again, just in case somebody comes unprepared."
He looks over at the girl on the couch and the older girl on the floor, he sighs and scratches his head removing his cap letting his black long hair fall over his forehead as he scratches his head. 
Breathing out he begins talking. “Right. We’re gonna take a car-”
Sirens are heard outside startling everyone in the house but not as much as the bursting gunshots that shoot from the outside.
Renjun curses ducking his head down. Yezi and Dae look around in relief thinking they're safe but it’s when Dae notices that Mark is nowhere to be seen that she begins to panic. Especially with Jeno leaning on the wall watching the monitor, struggling to stand straight still downing the last bits of the can before smiling. “Mark is fucking awesome.” He whispers out. The sirens stop but the gunshots continue on. After some time the gun stops too.
Dae's view:
The hooded guy appears by the door, looking jolted, signaling Jeno to lock the house. Jeno presses the button and looks around as the house makes the imprisoning sound again.
"Yah! Mark what the fuck? Were those sirens?" Haechan quizzes.
"I don't know." Mark leans on the door putting more bullets in his gun. He pushes the gun in the front of his jeans, he pulls up his jersey revealing another gun, he pulls the other gun out and puts bullets in that one too. I watch his actions, afraid that he might kill Yezi and I. "I pretended to be a fucking gardener and they said another silent alarm was sent." Mark scoffs. "It's either that or that dead cop called for backup."
Haechan eye's immediately snap to mine.
"Another silent alarm was sent. Oh fuck I hope you had nothing to do with it sweet cheeks." He comes close to my face pulling me up to my feet his black eyes burning into my brown eyes. "Aggh!" He throws me back on the floor making Mark quickly hover above me. He makes me sit down properly and rubs my back lightly.
“Don’t worry baby girl, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Are you okay?" Mark darkly chuckles laughing out. Why is he laughing as if everything is funny? His red eyes, show how high and wasted he is, just like Jeno who can barely stand straight. My body shakes by his touch and I gasp out when leans his head and dives straight for my neck. I close my eyes and twitch a bit when his teeth nibble on my skin, as his hand immediately spreads my legs while his palm cups my-
“Mark you can’t be serious- we’re about to get caught in a cross fire and you’re fucking making out with her?” Haechan questions pacing around. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Haechan yells out. Pulling his dark hair back. He puts on his cap backwards and sits on the couch.
"Jeno tie her legs up." He points over to me. "Put that one in a room," he points to Yezi.
"What? After all that's happened you still-"
"And I certainly don't want you around!" He points to Renjun dead shot. "You're gonna keep an eye on that girl and Jeno, watch her." Haechan bosses around. "Put them in separate rooms. Mark and I are gonna scoop the place, get what we can and fill it in a car. When we’re done, we leave." 
“Be good baby girl,” Mark gets up following Donghyuck, not before patting my head.
Jeno and Renjun are silent but soon obey.
"Now how do I carry her?" Renjun asks looking at Yezi, who looks like a net.
Jeno picks me up gently putting me up on my feet. I look back at Renjun who's trying to lift her up. Renjun’s soft eyes turns to me, his eyes in pain as he looks at me and Yezi's hands tied. He looks down with shame. "I'm sorry.."
I'm unable to reply as Jeno pushes my back.
"Lead the way to your room," his deep voice makes me shiver. I walk slowly, climbing the steps.
"I like your style, I couldn’t stop looking at it at that center," he says very quietly. The alcohol can be smelt from his breath. I look down, seeing my crop top exposing my bare stomach and my high skirt exposing my bare legs.
S1:E8-15
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Zhong Chenle's pov:
"Please take care of the house and the girls and-"
"Don't worry, my love. Everything will be okay." I kiss her lips softly drawing her body near, ending with a sweet peck. "Now go before Mrs Chittaphon takes the flight without you. It’s a miracle she waited for you." We both turn our heads to where Mrs Chittaphon is by the terminal gate staring at us. Seeing that our attention is on her, she turns around and is out of sight.
"Shoot." Chungdae laughs kissing my lips again before quickly walking off.
"I love you!" I scream out waving my hand. She turns around her face pink, revealing a row of nervous perfect teeth. She blows out a kiss and I cringe while catching it and looking down at the heart before shaking my head and placing it in my front pocket. Knowing she’s expecting one back, I peck the palm of my hand and blow it out towards her. She catches it like a giddy little girl before speed walking to the terminal gaze. Standing in place simply watching her until she’s out of sight I breathe out feeling suddenly empty. I already miss her and the aeroplane hasn’t even yet taken off.
We were under the impression that the plane would leave exactly at 7pm, so by 6.30 we were already pulling into the parking lot (as our home isn’t that far from the airport) to our surprise the plane is said to leave at 8pm. The reason we even came late instead of at 5pm like Mrs Chittaphon suggested was because Chungdae didn’t want to spend hours talking with Mrs Chittaphon. But even though coming late, she still has a hour hour and 30 minutes to chat with Mrs Chittaphon.
Oh well. Two weeks. I’ll see my wife again in two weeks. 
I get to my car moments later getting myself some coffee, seeing how two lurking people are staring at my car. "Daddy look, is this Jaguar as fast the real Jaguar?” The kid’s eyes light up as he bounces up and down. “The Jaguar! The Jaguar!" The boy's father looks over at me smiling an embarrassed smile taking a hold of his son’s hand who was about to touch my car. 
I return an awkward smile and get in the car thankful that the little boy didn’t set a print on my car. Making myself comfortable and seeing Daegal still sleeping on the passengers seat, I place the little treat bag on the chair and turn on the engine. Wanting to be bit spontaneous, I put on a show for the little boy by making my engine roar to full maximum power.
As expected:
The kid
Loses
His mind.
He begins to jump up and down literally screaming in joy, "Oskar vrrrr ! Oskar vrrrrr! Oskar vrrrrrrr! vrrrrr! vrrrrr! vrrrrr! vrrrr!~~" he chants aloud bouncing around his father.
His father gripping him trying to bring him back on Earth. I laugh silently carefully driving out the parking spot and eventually out on the road, pushing down on the accelerator making my car go as fast while passing the other cars on the highway. Taking my eyes off the road for a second, I peer at my phone that’s planted by the phone grip. I press long on it’s side turning it on. I chuckle to myself when thinking of my wife and how she always nags about me having a phone when I hardly even use it. While it switches on, I turn on the radio switching through the channels to find any music station as my CD record has no CD’S of my taste whatsoever- most likely because of Yezi, it would explain those random Thai CD’s.
Upon turning the radio, my face frowns when I hear my name on one of the stations. I quickly go back, finding the chatting team.
‘From what we hear the police have barricaded and surrounded the mansion, it’s also been reported and said that his two daughters are inside with those burglars.’ The hostess speaks causing my anxiety to rise. I’m sure that I heard my name a second ago- but among hearing that two daughters are trapped in a mansion with potential burglars my heart pounds harder. Did they just say police have barricaded and have surrounded the mansion? ‘But can you just imagine the intense amount of fear traversing through the father at this moment? His own home that he built with his very hands being used as a prison for his daughters. What sick cruelty.’
‘It’s moments like this when you realize that even millionaires who try to live amongst the ordinary- still get picked on by burglars.’ A male hosts comments. ‘I personally thing it was a mistake for Zhong Chenle to pick out a situated area like that. I understand he’s humble enough to reflect that he’s richly ordinary, but maybe a more reserved area would’ve been well fitted for him and he wouldn’t be stuck in this predicament of having his daughters trapped in a building,’
Did I hear right? 
I’m not even sure because all I can hear are the heavy thuds of my heart.
‘I agree. Let’s just hope the situation gets better,’ The hostess comments. ‘This has been Build Architect Talk on 94.7 highveld stereo, send your comments through twitter on what you think about the-’
My heart races to the same speed of the car, the wind swamping through the little space of the window. I slow down the car seeing the traffic lights a few pints away. I stop at the red light picking up my phone urgently now noticing the white light that flashes through HOME LED. Oh my god.
_____________________________________________________
|*⚠3 ALERTS FROM: SYSTEM HOME
______________________________________________________
|*▶1 NEW VOICE MESSAGE            
______________________________________________________
|*↙ 9 missed calls
______________________________________________________
|* ✓ FRIEND REQUEST(s) ON FACEBOOK
___________________________________________________________
|*Yezi: Dad please buy some takeaway for us?
____________________________________________________________
|*$ Cash Transfer/Deposit
____________________________________________________________
Why are there three alerts from system home?
I click on the Alerts patiently waiting for the system to load. I breath out only expecting to be proven wrong by what I just heard from that radio station. How could the radio station be informed before me? But then how would I have been informed if my phone and any other gadget used to contact me were off- Two silent alarms sent?! My head begins to throb as I read the feedback report and the times the house was locked? If two alarms were sent on different times it means that it was not accidental and the girls sent it for valid reasons. But now reading the report of the house being locked multiple times only sends me in a frenzy. What the hell is happening? The 9 missed calls are all from different people- but none from the girls. 4 are from the police?
Speed dialing Dae’s number- her phone rings and rings until my call is directed to voice mail. I try again two more times- but they all go to voice mail. I try Yezi-
HONK! HONK!
Getting startled by the car behind and the bright green light on the traffic light I curse out. I press on my paddle at the green light speeding down the road ignoring all the speed limits and pass the other cars in a flash.
“Please be okay. Please be okay.” I mumble continuously while swerving through the other cars my heart beating on raider and loud for the whole world to hear.
I'm startled again when my phone vibrates on my lap. I pick it up immediately answe’ring the call, swerving the car avoiding accidents.
"Dae?" I call out my voice rising.
"Mr Zhong Chenle. Thank god we finally got a hold of you. Sorry for the intrusion but this is urgent-”
"I'm sorry I can’t right now- I need to get to my home-”
The guy over the phone calmly interrupts with a bold statement that paralyzes my core. "This is regarding your house with your two daughters. I think it would be best if you drove to your residence as soon as possible," The officer cuts off sternly. I hear my heart pound hard against my chest, my vision becoming blurry.
"My god what happened to them." My emotions get heightened and the words from the radio all come back to me.
"Mr Zhong please be calm everything will be okay. Drive safely and get home as soon as possible.”
Once the call cuts- I drive anything but safely on the free way continuously pushing the limits to the point where I’m even unaware of the trial of traffic cops following behind me, my only concern; that my girls are safe. It’s only when I drive into the residents housing area do I notice that on my street- a large gathering of police cars and men in uniform surround the house all proactively doing something. I barely shut the car off but all I know is that my feet are hot when running out and straight to the gate of the entrance gates. I’m about to open up the gate with my remote key but I’m hurled back by strong arms holding tightly onto my whole body.
“My girls! My girls! My girls are in there! LET ME GO!”
“Unfortunately we can’t do that.” 
A voice cuts me short of breath as I stare wide eyed to one person I’d really not like to see. 
“Zhong Chenle, CEO of G.H Constructions, the same man who evicted me and 29 other people from a main land building, all in the name of building a fucking bus station-”
“Moon Taeil, is this really necessary now?” Chenle yells out. “My daughters-”
“Yeah they’re in house, we know. We’ve been trying to reach you, but you were M.I.A. on all the calls, so we had to proceed without you. And for your information it is General Moon, respect the initial-”
“General I don’t think that’s necessary right now.” A punctual and straight voice interrupts Taeil’s ‘superior speech. I pant out frustrated when the hands of the Officers around me let me go and I turn to the new officer showing me a screen on the tablet. I dive in closer gripping the tablet seeing an image that’s been zoomed in. It’s Yezi’s window. She’s pressed against the window with a gun to her head. “The moment we tried intruding, this is what happened.”
“Tried?” I stand back looking at all the cars around. “You mean to tell me that even with the number of police officers out here- you still haven’t done anything but tried?!”
Moon Taeil steps forward with stern eyes. “Mr Zhong. We are tying to do our job-”
Staring at him in disbelief I grab him by the shoulders shaking him up. “If you’re considering this just a job then you should go! My two daughters are in there and all you can do is brag around about your new job and title? I can make one phone call right now and you’re entire career is over-”
Taeil tsks while scoffing. “You’re children are hostages in that stupid mansion and all you can think about is ruining me? Haven’t you already tried that? I wondered why you never even cared about the 29 people who were left homeless, I should’ve realised back then that it’s because you’re a narcissist. Even your own girls are there but you just want to-”
“That’s enough General Moon. You placed me in charge of this case, now with all due respect I need you off the premises effective as of now.” The Officer commands with his hands sharp out the ‘General’. He sharply turns to me with stern eyes. “Mr Zhong I need you to calm down. Engaging in trivial matters right now isn’t good for your blood pressure or ours. We need to stay clear and focus. Now if you may, follow me.”
“Who the fuck is that?” I glare at the Officer man walking away. 
Moon Taeil scoffs. “If you must know everything, he’s the man you will be answering to if you want your daughters to leave there safely. Now if you’ll excuses me, I’ve got errands to attend to. I would say all the best, but I don’t even think you care.”
I try getting a grip of myself and not allow myself to lunge at the parting General. My daughters are trapped inside the house right now, and all the barbarian officers can think about is their stupid titles and power over me. 
“Uh Mr Zhong, I’m Officer Park Jisung,” An officer appears in my face looking a bit hesitant. “Officer Na Jaemin sent me to fetch you-”
“I’m coming.” I sharply glare. “And who is he?”
“Officer Na Jaemin?” The Officer Park’s eyes widen. “He is second in command and one of our youngest military transfer. The Chief and General recruited him after an impressive take down of a kidnapping situation. He did that all by himself." Jisung chuckles. "Chief calls him a man team."
“Youngest? How old is he?” I ask before looking up and down at him, seeing he’s also young. “And how old are you?”
"Oh," Jisung chuckles again. "He's 23 years old. Don’t let the age fool you, he’s a gifted prodigy recruit straight from the highest military academy. He's got honor badges and was the top of his class, passed with flying colors and dignity. He respects and handles all situations well, so he’s age is just an age, but mentally, he’s on fire." Jisung continues rambling on about the achievements of the Officer as Chenle zones and follows in the direction the stern serious Officer Na Jaemin left to. 
After turning around several police cars I finally find the ‘Officer Na’ and make my way towards him. “Officer Na, tell me if you’ve got a way to end this right now. If not then I can make a phone call to National Security and end it quick.”
Officer Na raises an eyebrow in my direction seemingly trying to refrain himself from making a haste comment. “I understand your dying urge to save your daughters from the scene, I have kids of my own, but they’re mice and their trapped inside my apartment with a frenzy crazy cat.”
My eyes enlarge. “Did you just compare my precious daughters to your-”
“Here’s what we know so far.” Officer Na cuts throws revealing a journal with hand written notes. “You’ve got two daughters by the name of Dae and Yezi. They were in the house until they sent a silent alarm to the station around 6.57pm. By the details of Officer Suh, now in another place, he stated there was an abandoned car parked by a distance on this street. This car right here-” Officer Na turns to the vehicle on the side and I pane my eyes as well doing a double take. I’ve seen this car bef-
“My god.” My eyes enlarge. “Those perverts.”
“You know this car?” Officer Na asks and I bite my lip in fury.
“Continue with what you’ve gathered.”
“Upon checking the security footage by the neighbors house, there car seemed to have arrived minutes after yours drove in. And that was around 6.10pm. It stayed and rested there with no movements. Around 6.30pm we saw 3 boys exit the car and make a straight bee line for your house. They climbed the gates and that was the last we saw of them. Moments later we saw your gates opening and a car getting out, we assume that was you and your wife, and that was around 6.45. From our calculations between 6.45 and 6.57, 13 minutes were in between. And we assume that the 3 boys somehow entered the house, to our surprise one more guy left the car at 7.00pm and climbed the gates over and entered, resulting to their being 4 boys in total. Officer Suh, who’s now in... critical condition, arrived at your house at 7.09pm and constantly kept speaking into the monitor. He mentioned your eldest daughter Dae answered the monitor and her voice sounded shaky, he heard voices in the back and persisted to ask about the abandoned car. She stated somebody was fixing something inside, and that’s when he knew something was wrong. He offered for her to come to the front, but before any movements could be done he heard the girls over the monitor yell out that they were trapped with four boys and that they were going to kill him. Just like that rapid gun fire came his way. He sent a distress call of a hostage situation of 4 burglars and 2 hostages- from the security footage, it shows he was shot about 7 times while trying to make it to his car.”
“Where is he now?” I ask in worry. If they shot him mercilessly, how sure am I that my daughters are in ‘safe’ hands. 
“Right there in the ambulance truck.” Officer Na motions with his hand. “Like I said, he’s in critical condition.” Officer Na states, avoiding to mention that Officer Suh is now dead, after being shot on the back of his head. “After he sent the distressed call around 7.12, another silent alarm was sent 7.13pm and 4 officers we’re already on the move in 2 separate cars. Upon reaching the house and seeing the Officer Suh’s body on the ground they proceeded with caution where they met a ‘gardener’. They explained the situation and the ‘gardener’ supposedly shot out to them to which they returned in a shoot out battle, where unfortunately the ‘gardener’ had the upper hand. By now we know you have no gardener and that it was actually one of the boys. From the means of it, after searching their car, we’re 100% sure that most, if not all the boys are under substance influence as we found marijuana and weed plants in the car, multiple of beer cans scattered around and dust of cocaine on the dashboard.”
Officer Na turns the pages of his book, but I quickly ask. “What else did you find in the car? Anything about those boys?”
“We looked for anything else to identify the boys as the security camera couldn’t capture there faces- we found nothing but a school bag. Within the school bag there were art supplies and sketches and drawings of flowers and portraits of people- that’s not important, but what is important is that it belongs to a scholarship student Huang Renjun.” Officer Na points to the hood of the rusted car, were smiles files and notebooks were place. “We did background detail on him and found out he was adopted by a widow, Mrs Lee. We gave her a ring, but she was at church. She ended up calling back and we asked about her adopted son and the mishaps he caused. To which she was flabbergasted as Renjun would never do such a thing. The usual mother talk. However, as she was completely against the idea of her adopted son Renjun causing malicious crimes, she was purely certain that her own son Lee Donghyuck was involved. Lee Donghyuck, a mastermind of schemes and trouble, he’s a regular at juvenile prison. Commits minor crimes and serves his time for a short sentence, before doing the same thing. He’s a kid who’s seen trouble one too many times. And from that information we know for certain that Lee Mark is also involved.”
“Brothers?”
“No.” Jaemin shakes his head. “They first met in juvenile prison when they were 13. Know Mark, is one of those kids you never want your child to come across. Buys and sells drugs to minors, is always in possession of illegal cocaine and  frequently gets into fight with anybody that looks at him. So it’s no brainer that him and Donghyuck are a match made in heaven. They were inseparable since meeting, they mixed up in the wrong crowds together, caused twice as much damage then they did alone, served their sentences together, and eventually joint by the hip by a common love for crime. Where one is, you’ll most likely find the other. So now we know for certain that Lee Mark, Lee Donghyuck and his brother Haung Renjun are there. As for the fourth guy, we assume it could be Lee Jeno, as he’s Mark’s younger brother and every time Mark isn’t with Donghyuck, he’s with his brother, Jeno. But we don’t know yet. Jeno has no criminal record, went to primary school and dropped out of high school performing side jobs here and there.”
“What side jobs?” I ask.
“He’s a self proclaimed photographer.” Jaemin answers, spreading out the printed photo’s of all the boys on top of the car. Where Mark and Donghyuck both are mugshot photos, Renjun and Jeno are seen in high school photo’s. Renjun an honor student, and Jeno a shabby looking boy who barely smiled.
“They are so young.” I mumble. “How old are they 17?”
Jaemin grunts. “These are old photos. They’re all in their 20′s currently. Mark and Donghyuck are both 21, Mark being the eldest and Renjun and Jeno are both 20, Renjun being the eldest.”
“We assume they’ve got eyes on the premises outside, partially because as soon as we tried to enter from the back, they held up your daughter Yezi by her window and we withdrew from anything further.” Jaemin says yet, he leans over the car unwrapping a white A3 folder. “As we’re talking now, a team led by my best man Officer Sungchan are hidden inside the premises outside the garage door. On my go, they’ll enter as soon as I give them the greenlights. Speaking of greenlight, are their any surveillance cameras in the house- so that we can get our setup guy to activate?”
I shake my head. “My family disliked the ideas of the cameras in the house. They didn’t like the idea of being ‘watched’ so I took them out. The only camera’s we have are outside of the house.”
“That’s okay. With your 2 daughters in there, we need to be extremely careful otherwise-”
“Officer Na! Officer Na!” 
We both turn our heads to a an out of breath officer. It’s Officer Na who grunts. “Jisung I told you to stay off the scene. And what the hell are you doing with that damn dog?”
Seeing the white fluff ball in his hands, I instantly go over and pick up dog from him. “Oh Daegal, where you sleeping in the car?”
“That’s yours?” Officer Jaemin questions with confusion before looking to Jisung. 
“I was outside off the scene like you said, but I saw Mr Zhong’s door open and I could hear a dog barking. When I went closer, I saw the dog and also-” He looks down when the large phone in his hand began ringing. “The phone keeps ringing.”
I take a hold of my phone seeing Yezi’s contact ringing on the screen. My eyes widen instantly answering the call. “Yezi-”
“Shhhh. I’m sorry sir. My name’s Huang Renjun and-” I place the phone away from my ear setting it on loud speaker for Officer Jaemin to hear. Surprisingly I can hear stone hard Chinese leave the young boy’s lips. “- telling you this to help get us out of here. I don’t know what was going on in there minds but I swear they didn’t hurt the girls. I just need help- I’m not sure how long they’ll be down there but we need help.”
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Yezi watches as Renjun keeps one of his hand on the phone and the other on the cold cloth covering his bruised cheek. “Are you sure he’ll answer?” Renjun looks to Yezi on the bed still with her hands tied up. Feeling bad that she was in this situation he untied her legs and allowed her the space to cry until she composed herself. Now after having charged her phone it was 15% he opened and searched through the contact until finding her dad. She said, her dad would know what to do.
“Yes he will.” She whispers. “I saw the police outside when they pressed me against the window. I’m sure he’s there now.”
“But it’s been ringing and he’s not- oh.” He’s stunned when hearing the connecting sound.
“Yezi!”
He hears Zhong Chenle speaking into the phone and he can’t help but break out into Chinese while feeling panicked. The words flow out so fast that not even the people on the other hand get a grasp of a word he says. He silences down when hearing a voice over the phone.
“Listen here. I need you to calm down and breath okay? The only thing we heard was your name, Renjun right?”
“Yes.” Renjun answers in a much calmed tone while standing up pacing nervously. 
“Okay good. It’s Renjun on the phone, he somehow has your daughters phone-” Renjun can hear the voice, but the male isn’t talking to him. Meaning he must be on speaker. “Where are you now?”
“I’m in...” He looks to the girl nervously. “What’s your name?”
“Yezi.”
“I’m in Yezi’s room. They sent me here to make sure she doesn’t escape.”
“Yezi’s room?” The Officer asks and from the outside they look up as soon as they see a figure approaching the curtains. The curtains open up a little and Renjun places his hand on the window. “Hold your fire,” He hears the Officer speak. “Okay Renjun, I need you to listen to me and answer my questions. We already know you, your bother and his friend are in the house, failure to come to a middle ground will put you all in danger-”
“No disrespect sir, but I’m already in grave danger talking to you. My brother could appear any moment and I can see the police want to shoot me-”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. Relax,” The Officer interrupts hearing the panic through the phone. “Renjun remain calm okay, we’re not going to shoot you okay? Listen to me, can you confirm this? Are their 4 boys in the house?”
“Yes.” Renjun looks carefully to the door. “Me, my brother Donghyuck, his friend Mark and his brother Jeno.”
“Did you guys bring any weapons?”
“I don’t know but I saw Mark and Donghyuck with guns-” Renjun scratches his head pacing around and walking to the window again looking at the scene outside before, seeing a hand wave.
“That’s me, you’re talking to me.” The Officer comments. “Are-”
“Officer I’m scared right now, but I can’t go to jail! My mum is sick and-”
“Renjun I need you to calm down buddy, it’s alright-” 
“No it’s not- Donghyuck goddamnit. He just likes following Mark around and-”
“Lower your voice.” Yezi whisper yells in panic, feeling scared nervously looking to the door. The fact that Renjun was badly beaten on the face and shaking like a fish out of water only made Yezi more anxious that something bad would happen to him if he was caught.
“Okay I’m sorry. I got carried away for a minute- they’ll be finished in any moment.”
“Do you know what the other boys are doing now?”
“Donghyuck and Mark said something about filling up a car with materials. So I think they’re both downstairs. Jeno and I are upstairs in each of the girls rooms.”
“Were you the one holding the girl Yezi by the window?”
“No- that was Donghyuck.” Renjun answers remembering the scene. “They tied her hands and legs up, so when Jeno helped me carry her to her room, I undid her legs but she tried to run away and then Donghyuck held her at gun point shoving her to the window telling her he’d kill her for everyone to see.”
“Where’s Yezi now?”
Renjun looks back at her. “She’s on the bed, she told me where her phone was and said to call her dad.”
“You guys did good, don’t stress.” The Officer says before speaking into the radio monitor to which Renjun makes out. “Stand by.” The Officer looks back up and clears his throat. “If it’s possible, I need you to stay on the phone with me okay? We’ve got a plan, but we need your cooperation, cool?”
“C-cool.”
-
“Something’s wrong.” Donghyuck mutters looking out the creak of the window behind the blinds. As soon as they put the girls in their rooms, him and Mark searched around the place for anything valuable and began stashing it inside the car. Upon Yezi’s outburst and attempt to escape, Donghyuck warned her by forcing her against the window. His initial plan was to scare her by throwing her out- but as soon as he saw the arrival of the police cars and the officers outside he panicked. He placed the gun to her head before closing the curtains and commanding Renjun to watch her. 
When he got downstairs, he was surprised to see mugshots of himself as well as Mark. Mark was sniffing in powder of cocaine while watching the news. After much convincing for Mark to hurry up in stalking the car with materials- he found himself inspecting the downstairs window again. The police were outside...doing nothing. 
Which was strange at first, but then Donghyuck thought that maybe it was because of holding Yezi at gun point. Even so, right now there still seems to be no movement. No one is doing anything, they’re just standing outside. Plus, one of the officers keeps looking up- not to the window he’s peeking out of, but instead to one of the girls’ room- most likely Yezi.
“Yho Haechan, you need to see this,” Mark stands by the living room door. Donghyuck get’s up from his position against the wall following Mark who goes into the kitchen and then gets to the door leading to the garage and stops before peeking inside. “Look,”
Donghyuck leans against the door looking inside. The light are switched on and the large black Jeep car has the trunk open. It’s the car, they plan on taking. “Do you see that?” Mark asks.
“What?” 
“Under the garage door.”
Taking a look at the garage, my dead tilts to the side upon seeing something weird. There’s a twig like stick poking from underneath the door. “Is that...”
“A tactical electronic under door camera from Call of Duty? Yes.” Mark nods his head. “I was walking around and noticed it, I tried not to be obvious but I purposely moved around it enough to see it’s a camera. They’re watching us. Follow me again.” Following Mark we make it to the living room where the monitor is set. “I kept fiddling with this trying to see if I could turn on the garage light, and as soon as I saw this-” He points to the screen where there are buttons of: Porch, Garage, Swimming Pool, Back Yard, Veranda, Hot tub, Garden and many of the outside areas. “When I saw this, I thought is was the lights for outside, but then when I clicked garage, I saw this.”
He clicks on ‘Garage’ and surely a surveillance footage of the outside comes up. The area around the garage, the drive up path and the little bush around. 
“Check this out,” Mark points to the long thin black stream line- the same one we saw in the garage- it’s connected and it’s leading straight to the bush, where Donghyuck makes out a hand. “Do you see it?”
“They’re gonna come in through the garage?”
“I counted and saw 6 here.” Mark comes out of the garage footage and moves to the yard footage. “Counted 4 here,” Mark comes out again, while going to the next footage and the next. “Swimming pool 2, veranda 2, porch 2, hot tub, 2 and garden, there’s only 1 guy. In total there’s 19 guys around the house right now, ready to take us out.”
“I bet they’re waiting for a signal.” Donghyuck’s eyes widen and he drags Mark to the living room blind where he was. “If they wanted to take us out, they would, but look.”
“Wait a minute-” Mark leans closer squinting his. “Is that Officer Na Jaemin?”
“The parole officer?” Donghyuck going to the other side of the curtain. He can’t see the faces clearly but still sees that one officer looking up. “With one command they’ll come barking in.”
“We need to stop it.” Mark comments rubbing his red nose. The extra intake of cocaine in his system made him extra alert and attentive to any small movement around. “Is he on the phone?”
“He is.” Donghyuck answers, still wondering why they’re not doing anything. 
“Oh I know that look,” Mark laughs while looking at Donghyuck’s face structure. “We’re about to have some fun aren’t we?”
“They don’t know who we are if they think they can fuck up our plans.” Donghyuck mumbles with a pissed off tone and trudges towards the stairs- having a feeling that the Officer is surely looking at something on the window. Perhaps the same window where he threatened the girl- 
“C-cool.” 
Donghyuck barges into the room instantly catching Renjun off guard as he was talking into a phone. Balling his fist Donghyuck lunges to Renjun punching him on his already busted up face. “Fucking knew it!” He lands a fierce punch and grabs the phone placing it to his ear ignoring Yezi who cries out in the back worried about Renjun. Donghyuck points a gun towards Yezi causing her to rapidly silence up. “Get the fuck here.” He grates through his teeth at her. 
Meanwhile over the phone, he hears the familiar voice. “I assume this is Lee Donghyuck on the phone,”
“How do you know my name?” Donghyuck asks already anticipating to connect the dots to what Mark said. It really could be the Parole Officer, Na Jaemin. “You know what, let me make this quick and clear. I spotted some of your men by the garage and around the house. Get them off or I start shooting.” Donghyuck is quick to pulling the curtains open before grabbing Yezi by her neck and slamming her against the window throwing the phone after placing it on speaker and pulling out his gun. 
“Donghyuck w-”
BANG!
Yezi screams out shutting her eyes as soon as Donghyuck shoots out the glass window. “CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU?!” He yells out the window down to the officers. 
“SEIZE FIRE DON’T SHOOT! I REPEAT DON’T SHOOT!” Officer Na Jaemin yells out to the other officers, with his hands up. “Seize your fire Donghyuck! Don’t shoot!”
“Give me the phone Renjun!” Donghyuck yells out to Renjun on the floor. Like a wounded puppy, Renjun gets up with more blood pouring out on his mouth and nose as he scampers to the phone and hands it to Donghyuck. Grabbing the phone from him, Donghyuck continues to point the gun to Yezi, who’s got her eyes shut tight as she’s trembling with tears running down her face. “Get them out now or the next thing I target is her.”
“Tell him about that Officer I shoot in the head.” Donghyuck hears Mark from behind. Mark leans by the door lighting up his brown wrapped weed stick. He looks down seeing the carpet is stained with blood from Renjun, who’s face is botched up making Mark chuckle. “Border jumper, what happened?”
“He was snitching like a bitch.” Donghyuck comments for Mark to hear before talking back to the Officer. “If you think I’m bluffing, you’ll see blood flying out.”
“You’re going out of line Donghyuck-”
“I didn’t ask any questions! Get them out now and then we talk!” Donghyuck cuts the call closing the curtains- yet the wind still blows lightly on the curtains. He pushes Yezi to the ground next to Renjun before pointing the gun to the both of them. “I’m asking this once,” Donghyuck shoots the floor making both Renjun and Yezi yell out by the blowing wind of the gun shot on the floor. “Who’s idea was it to call the police?” Donghyuck asks, knowing very well that if the Officers couldn’t hear the screaming, then they most likely heard the gunshot. “Mark check on the monitor, make sure their all going.”
Mark puffs out once before leaving, he winks to Yezi on the ground. “I’ll be back for you babygirl,”
“Renjun, do you want to end up with a bullet in your head?”
-
With her hands and legs tied with a scarf that Jeno found resting around the room, Dae’s laying on her bed with her mouth stuffed with socks that Jeno found in her drawers. Ever since being placed in my room, he walked around lazily and wobbly as he tried to tie her up. His headache only irritated him more. The fact that he was trapped in a room with a girl he’s watched from afar, a girl that he had fantasies about- the fact that he was trapped with her and his head kept pounding only made him irked with annoyance. Maybe he shouldn’t have drank so much. After tying her up, he warned her not to do anything stupid and ended up going downstairs to help Renjun carry the younger sister into the room upon helping Renjun, he went downstairs (while Donghyuck ran upstairs because Yezi tried to escape) and found Mark sniffing some cocaine on the table.
“Mark we should get out of here.” He said to his brother who was down on the table blocking one nose airway while sniffing in the powdered substance from the table.
“Jeno, you’ve got a beautiful girl laying on her bed right now.” Mark started, his reddened eyes telling Jeno just how high he was. “Seize the moment, everything you want to do, simply look around and do it. You’re free. Enjoy these minutes right now, because what will happen next, will be dark. Which is why I’m preparing myself.” Getting back on the table sniffing out the lines, Jeno got up leaving Mark alone. Not wanting to confront the girl who he’s admired since, he walked into the kitchen taking his brother advice. Everything and anything he wanted to do... he didn’t want to remember hurting anybody or even remembering what his fantasies wanted to do to her- so he looked around the fridge and cabinets for anything strong like alcohol or even wine.
Getting out the kitchen, he ended up finding a wine cellar. With various flavors and brands from all around the world, this wine collection was absolute heaven for Jeno. Best part of it was that the flavors where from the weakest to the strongest. He took 4 bottles the absolute strongest and found himself in Dae’s room- chugging down the 2lt glass bottle of a bitter drink until his mind went blank. His eyes couldn’t help but admire the red mood lighting around her room. Not only did it create a dim sensual feeling but it made Jeno feel really drunk as the only color he saw was red.
He walks around her room, touching on all her stuff, opening and closing drawers either observing or blanking out. Dae’s eyes observe his every move- the fear of running away so strong but after what happened and how she heard Yezi screaming out and some bullets shooting out- she didn’t want an encounter with the person shooting the bullets. Her best option was to comply, and so far the only thing she could do was sit still and watch a drunken Jeno barely standing up straight and leaning here and there every while.
He leans forward on her desk as an attempt to get balance, but also because of a book that’s wide open. Her handwriting looked so decent and modest, as if she herself were a machine. Even in his drunken state he felt her superiority. Something as simple as handwriting showed her status and her level in society. Jeno liked that she didn’t even need to try to show how powerful she has, the air she breathed showed that she was a somebody. Picking up the book and stumbling back a bit, he trips his way over to the bed before sitting down with a hard fall. He groans from his head being dizzy before placing the book on her lap. “R-read it,” He slurs out before swinging the bottle back into his mouth.
Dae looks down to the book in her lap and back to the drunk male who could barely keep his eyes open. “Why?” She shrieks back when his body fumbles on the bed over her legs before weakly placing himself beside her.
“I said read it,” His words come out slower then before but his eyes are now open- attempting to stay open as he looks down on the page.
Taking a deep breath trying to calm her heart, her eyes scan over the words. She wrote this entry today after getting back from the meet and greet. “I swear on my entire life that I will work as hard as my father, to achieve all that I’ve reached out for. I will work my ass off until I see myself going higher instead of lower. After the sight my eyes bare witnessed to this evening, I know for sure that I never want to be poor. Upon finishing my home school studies and started attending an actual university, I was stunned by the different types of people who’ve walked crazy journey’s to get to where they were. One of the guys who I’ve recently started to get to know, was this boy from China. I mean, he’s lived here most of his life, but I found it interesting how he’s from China. His name is Renjun-”
“I knew I wasn’t tripping when I saw his name.” Jeno mumbles upon hearing his friend’s name. “Carry on,”
Dae bites her lip, feeling aware and cautious of her writing. She knows what it’ll led to but she prays that Jeno’s half conscious doesn’t hear a thing. Little does she know, Jeno’s conscious is wide awake upon hearing his friend’s name. Why would she be writing his name?
“His name is Renjun. He’s an Art student. I think he mentioned something about art therapy...Can’t you do something else? Like-huk-” Jeno’s hand lifts up to her throat, slapping it before carefully massaging yet squeezing it. Dae feels his fingers tightening on her neck and she shrieks in pain.
“Is there something wrong with your voice box?” He questions blinking his heavy eyes. “I said read it.”
Once letting go, Dae pants out and looks down on her book feeling angsty. “Art therapy. He’s a top achiever in all his classes. On Monday, we were told that all the top achievers would be treated lunch at the ‘Royale Cuisine’. I thought it would only be the rich and smart students, little did I know that he would be there. You could just see it, he didn’t fit into our type of world, but yet he tried. As if thinking that coming to our country and working hard will get him somewhere. I hated him at first, because it was funny how he thought he had a chance, but now believe it or not, I’m actually intimidated by him, by how he thinks he has a chance. After the trip, his invalidated self came up to me and he actually spoke. I can’t even believe that he had the nerves to come and talk to someone like me. His conversation was too useless to remember but I do remembering telling him that my dad owned part shares to the school and that anything he said badly against me would only get him in deep trouble- basically just letting him know of my position above him and him below me.” 
Dae licks her dry lips feeling hot and embarrassed reading her words out loud, trying to lower her tone to one of humility, her words still strike so hard and are so condescending on their own. 
“Someone like him, can’t just walk up and talk to me. It’s humiliating and embarrassing on both hands- for me to be seen with him and for him to think he even has a chance. I watched him walk off and he went off to this other boy who I’ve started to notice more. I don’t know his name- but I’ve caught him a few times secretly taking pictures of me. I don’t want to be retarded and think he was taking pictures of me when he wasn’t- but I will say I’ve caught him on multiple occasions with a camera in his hands and aimed at me. So to make it easier for him, I walked up to Renjun and told him to take me a picture and keep it for his friend- so that his friend will stop taking pictures of me. He was confused but took it and went his way. I saw that creepy stalker again today, I saw him enter a car with other low class friends and I even think that Renjun was there. Someone like him, like Renjun, should never be allowed out of the cage he crawled out of. In their poverty stricken world, they are the dogs that scamper around for food- they are the type to run around with their brains gone and rob stores to get money so that they can even try to afford food. How can he even dream that big to think he can talk to me? That’s why I have to work hard- to make sure that someone like him will never forget his place. Someone like him will always be made for the - AHHH!”
Dae finds herself yelping out squeezing her eyes shut when he throws the glass bottle roughly against the wall- he rolls and stumbles out of bed bending down to get another bottle. “Why’re you yelling princess? Are you disgusted that someone like me from my poverty stricken world, managed to get in your highly praised house? You’re a bitch. A heartless-” 
He scoffs still standing woozily and forcing the thub off the green beverage bottle. Popping it open he takes a deep swing of the liquid, his face imitating the harsh taste as it pours down his throat. Barely even finishing the bottle his legs loosely lumber to Dae on the bed and he grabs her cheeks tightly crushing and squashing her jaws inflicting hot-blooded pain on her. Tears form by her eyes and her face becomes red- just what he wanted to see. 
“You think you’re so high above the clouds?” His lip quivers with anger. “I bet if I punched you in the face right now you’d bleed like every other low life dog, wouldn’t you?"
“No- please don’t-” 
“Please?” Jeno babbles out. “You know that word? Someone like you, a rich narcissistic bitch, knows the word please?” Jeno jerks her head once with vigorous anger. His grip tightens on her jaws as he still squashes her cheeks watching the tears leave her eyes and her lips quivering. His words come out flimsy and fragile while looking deep into her eyes. “Tell me Dae.  Why am I poor and you’re rich?” Dae looks into his wobbly eyes while her own tears pour out silently. “Is your money guaranteeing your safety right now? Is it protecting you from someone like me? You’re such a bitch.” 
Jeno seems to come back to his senses when he blinks. He clenches his jaw before picking some socks on the floor and stuffing it in her mouth.  
“Shut your mouth if you don’t want to die.” He pushes himself off her looking around her room. “I may be a low life, but at least I can keep my room clean.” 
He bends down still with a heavy brain mixed with alcohol and begins cleaning. Once in a while, he slits his finger tips accidently while trying to pick up the broken glass pieces on the floor. He groans wiping off the blood on his jeans before carrying on to clean the floor, until there’s nothing left on it. He rubs on his eyes picking up another drink and laying on the edge of the table drinking, while looking at her. His alcoholic mind blurred with her belittling words- looking at her was beginning to piss him off.
Upon finishing 2 and a half (not to mention that one bottle he broke) out of the 4 bottles he brought in, he takes a seat on the edge of the bed, holding onto his head jolting straight whenever his body slightly jerked back. He feels tired and weak- but Mark and them aren’t yet done. 
Dae gets startled with shock when his heavy body falls flat on the bed passing out completely. Her eyes widen seeing the weightless body of the big man on her bed. Hastily, she fumbles with the scarf tied tightly on her wrist trying to get it off. Her wrists buckle and turn in uncomfortable angles while her teeth grip on the scarf material pulling with all her might. Whatever this knot was- it was messy, drunk and complicated but eventually she breaks free from the hard material with red bruises around her wrist. She quickly tries to unfasten the material around her ankles too, realizing it’s faster to attempt to get one leg out. 
Picking the sock out her mouth throwing it on the floor when she gets one leg out with a struggle, she carefully sets on foot down on the floor glancing down at his sleepy face. Finding balance while setting her other foot down on the ground, she attentively gets up hearing her heart race against her chest. 
The moment she lets out a shaky breath of relief his eyes snap open- his pupil freezing her in place. Her gasp is shortened as she bolts for the door but is instantly grabbed from her shirt before both his heavy arms haul over her mouth and body- one tightly over her mouth and the other compressed around her torso. Even though drunk- his grasp around her is paired with precision and weight. With much pain being inflicted upon her, her arms shoot up grabbing onto his own arm around her mouth trying to prey him off so that she can breath.  
His tongue pokes against the side of his mouth as he shakes his head at her poor attempt. “With all the riches you have, you couldn’t even afford lessons on self defense? What bull crap are you trying to do?”
In that moment, her door opens up with Renjun. Dae’s eyes are wide open when seeing his clobbered face full of swellings, bleeding forehead, nose and lip and raptured busted lip and nose. He holds onto his jaw with his own hands his eyes enlarging. 
“What the hell happened to your face?” Jeno too is in shock upon seeing his friend’s face.
Meanwhile Renjun’s eyes are engulfed by the red lighting room as he witnesses Jeno manhandling Dae to her bed- picking her up and swinging her back with ease. He grabs the scarf she broke free from and begins tying her up while also kneeing her stomach down on the bed. She cries out in pain- causing Renjun to watch defensively. His face already hurt from Donghyuck using brute force against him- when he took the blame for Yezi’s suggestion.
He was sure that her room was red instead of his own blood blurring his vision. But the sight of Jeno being violent has him blinking in pain. With his lip being slit, his mouth hurt whenever it opened by he needed to stop Jeno. “Jeno stop-”
Jeno groans out holding onto his head when he’s done tying up Dae on her wrists and ankles even tighter. “Shut up Renjun. My head hurts like a bitch Renjun.”
“Please let her go-”
“Why do you even care right now?” Jeno bursts out asking his friend who’s following behind him while he attempts to open up another bear bottle. “Why do you care so much about these heartless girls?”
“Because this is wrong.” Renjun lets out weakly and closes the door behind him. “Did you hear those bullets earlier? Jeno, Donghyuck is losing his mind and the police are outside right now. Mark and Donghyuck both know what they’re in for- but we don’t. Jeno just stop for a minute-” Renjun rounds around Jeno holding onto his shoulder trying not to cry. The only person who would listen to him was Jeno, and if that didn’t work, then he’d have to kiss everything goodbye. 
“Why’re you crying Renjun?” Jeno asks seeing the brim of tears pool by Renjun’s eyes. 
Renjun ignores Jeno and ask. “Why did you even agree to join them when you know deep down that this is wrong?”
“I wanted to see her.” Jeno rolls his eyes pointing to her. “But that was a complete waste. Fuck my head hurts.” He snorts a dark chuckle. “She’f fucked in the head-”
“Jeno! Look at you right now! If she’s fucked up in the head then what about you? You were supposed to be the bigger and better man out of-” 
Jeno grabs onto his hair backing away with boiling rage. “Fuck Renjun- better man for who when those police are out there aiming at us? It’s no use fighting at all when we’re already being accused-”
“I’m angry too! I’ve done nothing but worked hard but now I’ll be charged as a criminal with my stupid brother.” Renjun pants out. “Jeno, it’s hard being wrongfully accused but it’s even worse when the people looking down on you are are clods who have never read a book or traveled more then twenty miles from the place where they were born. Please, Jeno.” 
Looking up into Renjun’s eyes seeing that one is clogged with blood and the other is swelling around, Jeno can just imagine the amount of pain Renjun has endured this night alone just wanting to stand up for this being wrong. Jeno breaths out even with his throbbing head- he can barely stand up straight but when he does he nudges his head towards Dae on the bed. “Is she a clod?”
Renjun breaths out lowly holding onto his left eye. “Jeno we need-”
“I don’t want to do anything without cleaning you up,” Jeno gets down picking up his beer bottle. “You look like shit,”
Renjun gulps down a lump acknowledging the discomfort and soreness all over his face. He looks to Dae on the bed who has her eyes wandering all over his face. “I’m sorry to ask this but, do you have medicine?”
Dae nods her head her heart swelling in pain upon the face of a person who has been trying to simply get his friends out the house. “There’s medicine in the washroo-”
“Save it princess, we don’t need your help.” Jeno’s groggily lets out, still bitter about her view on Renjun. The door creaks open causing all eyes to move to the direction of the door.
Mark’s eyes are in awe looking up to the twinkling lights that set a red mood theme- unaware of the eyes that fall on him. His eyes move over to the bed where Dae is placed and he can’t help but be lust struck by her position, especially combined with the red lightening around the room. 
“Your sister should really know when to shut her mouth, I wish her luck with Haechan, he’s sure gonna lose it,” Mark chortles inhaling onto his weed turning his gaze to Jeno crouching on the floor and Renjun with one hand to his face. “Border jumper, things would’ve gone easier if you stayed in that car. You wouldn’t have been beaten to a fucking pulp? You’ve chosen death.”
"Why are you here?" Jeno asks when he senses his brother glaring holes into Renjun’s head. It’s hard enough feeling like his whole world is spinning, but to have his brother on the edge and influenced to knock out Renjun has Jeno trying to focus and stay clear of his brother. Jeno gets up grabbing Renjun’s wrist making wearily line for the door- only to be blocked by Mark.
“You wanna leave?”
“We can’t leave him alone with her,” Renjun whispers hoping Jeno can hear.
Jeno rolls his head around lazily looking at Mark. Mark sees the impatience in his brothers eyes, not only is he dead drunk, but he’s pissed, only making Mark laugh. 
“Are you guys done searching the house? We’ve overdue our stay.” Jeno grunts out bitterly.
“You can make yourself comfortable in the car,” Mark moves out the way but Renjun un-grips his wrist from Jeno’s hold looking at Mark. 
“What are you planning on doing now?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know snitch,” Mark walks away from Renjun edging close to the bed where Dae lays. “How you doing baby girl?" He asks causing her to shift uncomfortably and away from him. He gets one knee on the bed with a coy smirk on his face looking down at Dae. He wanted her. Badly.
“Mark-”
“Why can’t I have my thoughts in peace?” Mark groans shutting his eyes. "I'm not gonna repeat myself border jumper. Get out.”
Renjun on the other hand enquires again while forcing Jeno’s weak grip away- again. “Mark haven’t you guys caused enough trouble? Can’t we just leave? Enough is enough-”
“Enough is enough.” Mark mimics in a high pitched voice. “You sound like a fucking little girl nagging. Leave.”
“No.” Renjun surprisingly stands his ground. 
Mark turns his head to Dae leaning over with the bunt in his hand passing it through her lips. “Since you like expensive things, why not put this in your mouth. Don’t drop it.” Mark cheekily warns before shutting her eyes with his other two fingers.
Before anything else can happen Dae hears ruffling and pounding going against the wall. She peeks her eyes open before shutting them tight again sharply inhaling her own breath to not draw out a cry and also not to make the stick between her lips fall. 
“How many fucking times do you want me to remind you that I’m not your brother? I’ll kill you with my bare fucking hands and deport you back to your fucking country you cunt.” Mark has Renjun hurled up against the wall with his bare veiny hand around Renjun’s throat. 
Renjun’s face is red tightened in grief while gripping onto Mark’s hand. Jeno lunges in trying to get Mark off of Jeno- but it’s too late when Mark lands a straight punch right into Renjun’s face causing him to get knocked out on the spot.
“Fucking cunt.” Mark mumbles when being pushed violently from the back just as Jeno attends to Renjun. Crouching down and picking up his friend from the shoulder, Jeno struggles to be balanced straight and sways to the side from Renjun’s heavy lumpy body to his own mass weight.
Dragging his own mass as well as Renjun’s body weight out the red room, Jeno leaves behind a panicked Dae alone with Mark. The bedroom closes shut with Mark cockily turning around as he nears the bed with Dae slightly trembling. To Mark, her vulnerability is the hottest thing he’s seen. Hand tied in front, legs trying to break free of the knot around her ankles, weed stick in between her lips and the coated sinister red room, he can’t help but bite his lip at the sight of her. 
“You know, we were in the house when you and your sister had that little chat about ideal types and whatnot. And I’m curious to know, did you really have a sugar daddy? Did you have  sex with him? Even with all the money your father has, you still went ahead and had a fucking sugar daddy?” He chuckles removing his own jersey remaining in a black t-shirt. “So tell me, how good did he fuck you?”
His hands gently skim the scarf material tied around her ankles, before his attention diverts to her shoes and he begins to unfasten them. His eyes preying up on her slim and juicy thighs with such lust. A leering smile coats his lips once he gets her shoes off and looks at her small feet. He sinks into the bed like a predator about to devour his prey slowly crawling up her legs while his head lowers allowing his nose to smell on her smooth delicate skin.
“I’m guessing he was old,” Mark lowly laughs when pressing little kisses over her belly that’s exposed by her crop top. “You know guys with money, they only have sugar babies for sex because no rational girl can climb up on their tiny dicks. So tell me baby girl, did you climb up his tiny dick?”
Dae’s breath hitches when his lips move up to trail against her neck planting kisses. Feeling him suck a hickey on her neck she shuts her eyes feeling mixed emotions swirl in her stomach. Unintentionally her body reacts to his teeth that graze up her earlobe. Her reaction edges him to breath down her neck lapping his slippery wet tongue over the bruised hickey spot. With his legs on either side of her body, he feels himself growing hard with how heated up she was. Moving back a little, he admires the hickey he gave her as he removes his weed bunt from her lips. In haling it and blowing it on her trembling lips he chuckles.
“If you did climb on that fucker’s little dick, you’ll be surprised when you see my massive cock,” Without wasting another moment, his tongue brushes up against her lips before he sucks-hastily getting into her mouth with his greedy tongue. The kiss is sloppy, messy and Dae finds it the most difficult to breathe. 
“I bet you’ve never been kissed like this before.”
S1:EP 16-20
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5 minutes before
“If I even so see one cop car tailing us, we’ll kill them.” Donghyuck spits out through the phone before cutting it and turning to Mark who leans by the door way of Yezi’s room. 
“Where’s your brother?”
“Who knows?” Donghyuck glares at Yezi on the bed. She’s back to being tied on her hands, as Donghyuck can’t trust her. The tears are still running out her eyes. It’s because of her he had to beat up his brother and now she’s crying as if he hit her. “What the fuck are you crying about now? Do you want me to give you a reason to cry?”
“Leave her alone,” Mark chuckles a little. “What the hell was that about? On the phone?”
“Bargaining with the officer. They intersect and the girls will get hurt.” Donghyuck gets his eyes off her crying face to her hands that are wrapped around a tight fabric of a scarf.
"Are we taking them? As sex slaves?" Mark questions, the thought of touching the girls tingles his senses.
"No, as wager so they don’t think we’re bluffing." Donghyuck shakes his head closing the curtains walking over to the bed. He runs his fingers through his hair removing his cap completely shaking his messy tossed hair. Mark takes a whiff of his weed. “This whole thing has fucking been brought out of proportion. We can’t afford to take them with us.”
"Actually, they could become sex slaves while we’re on the move.” Mark suggests.
"We go with them in the car, drive until we lose the cops and then ditch them when we're done?" Donghyuck thinks out his head. Following as his brain connects the dots to what Mark says. Donghyuck is hesitant in agreeing but his lips move and his voice projects what he knows Mark wants to hear. "Good plan,"
"I know." Mark says cockily.
"We still need a backup plan.” Donghyuck says. "For instance, we’re shot down while pulling out the driveway, even if we had to hurt the girls, we’d still be caught. We can’t afford getting caught. Or the drive way-"
"Burn it."
Donghyuck pauses, trying to figure out what Mark said. "Did you just say..."
"We.." Mark looks around Yezi’s room just as she looks up in horrid fear and he gestures around with his bunt. "Burn the house." 
Donghyuck twists his head and this time it’s evident on his face that he doesn’t want to agree. “Mark I think you’ve smoked enough weed for tonight, put it down and-”
"The officers can't see with smoke around. They’ll be too occupied in the girls wellbeing. We find another way out and make a run for it,”
Donghyuck sighs. 
“Come on Haechan.” Mark peers into his friend’s withering eyes. Mark knows how much Haechan hates when things don’t go according to plan, he also knows how stuck and conflicted his friend is, considering it’s not just the both of them but their brothers as well. Mark can only imagine how much pressure Donghyuck is feeling for involving Renjun. “You, me, Jeno, Renjun settle around and linger on for a few more minutes and then we burn it. The cops come charging in and we run off- with the duffle bags no need for the car if we’re at risk.” 
Hearing the logic behind Mark’s words, Donghyuck nods his head seeing a plan he can agree to. “That sounds like a plan.”
“Good. How much time did you bargain for?” Mark asks before scoffing. “Do you really believe he’ll stick to his words? Officer Na? We can’t trust him, you know that right?”
Donghyuck nods his head. “I asked for 20 minutes, but I know they’ll be barking down in 10. All I know is that we have to leave as soon as possible. Have you have a duffle bag?”
Mark nods his head throwing the duffle bag over his shoulder to the ground. “Found these in the master bedroom. How much do you think we’ll get selling these?”
Donghyuck crouches down on the floor opening up the bag. His eyes enlarge as his hands run through his hair. Jewels, gold pieces, other ornaments and gadgets. “Fuck. Their filthy rich.” Donghyuck mumbles.
“Fucking bastards. The only filth here is you. Scampering around like dogs looking for bones.” Yezi quivers with tear venom in her eyes. “You don’t even have shame. You wanna burn down our house so you and your useless brothers can escape? You fucking beat him up without mercy.”
“Speaking of which,” Mark snickers at her outburst and pats the door. “I’ll check for your brother.” And he closes the door leaving an unbothered Donghyuck with a possessed Yezi. Possessed by anger.
“You people are monsters.” Yezi continues to tremble out of sheer anger more than fear. “Have you no mercy at all? No remorse? No humanity?”
Donghyuck ignores Yezi, still looking around the bag at the different jewels adorned, his hands scheming the different gadgets. According to Renjun, the owner of this house is an architect, so business related matters would be within all his gadgets. No humanity? Donghyuck rolls his eyes feeling generous. He picks them all up; the phones, laptops, tablets etc. getting up and planting them on the table. However looking down on her table he’s surprised to see an expensive laptop on the desk along with a tablet. Of course their father would also buy them these. Taking her gadgets instead, he places them inside the duffle bag- ignoring her continuous hate speech.
“What the fuck is wrong with you people? What the fuck is wrong with you!? Normal people don't do this. Do you think just because you've robbed us you'll gain something? You're so pathetic.” Yezi’s mouth firing all the words that strike up in her heart. The distaste too severe for her to shut up. “You’re so fucking worthless. No amount of money will ever change that.”  
Donghyuck finds himself looking around her room, nonchalant to her blabbers. His eyes scan for anything else that may be of value. Before scoffing up when finding something appealing to his eyes.
“You say I’m worthless?” He holds onto a test paper. “If I’m worthless for doing the unexpected, then you are worthless for these marks? 58 out of 100, is that your best? I scouted 80′s and 90′s in my school days. You’re even more worthless with these marks, but let me guess, since you’re some big shot family, society will overlook these marks right? And give you anything you want on a silver platter right?” Donghyuck taunts. “Worthless.”
Yezi being baffled curses out. “Fuck you. How dare you call me worthless you filthy bastard?”
“How dare I not.” Donghyuck mumbles going back to opening up her wardrobe and picking out anything that catches his eye. Without all the father's gadgets in the duffle bag, there's still room for more things the he and Mark can sell. Ignoring her tantrums, he continues to stuff the bag with clothes before moving to the window watching the officers outside. Hopefully Mark's plan works out well and they can leave without any eyes on them.
“Jewelry, electronics, thrifts, even clothes. You’re parents must be so ashamed of you.” Yezi ends up saying in huffs of anger. “Their lousy son, breaking into homes to create self worth by selling stolen goods. Are you even proud of yourself?”
Donghyuck picks up the phone, Yezi's phone, that’s on 7% and begins his search on locations. “What’s the address of this place?” Donghyuck asks unbothered.
“Why? You’re really planning on using me as a sex slave to fulfill your fucked up plan and escape?”
“Fucking hell,”  Donghyuck sighs in disbelief. “Can’t you just cooperate for 2 fucking minutes? Aren’t you tired of bitching? Don’t you want to see your fucking rich father already? Just cooperate and I’ll fucking leave.”
“Fucking leave to your fucked up family?” Yezi pants out. “No. How can I cooperate with you, when you're planning to use me and my sister for you sick deeds! And why can't you cooperate with the police for 2 fucking minutes?"
"You're a pain." Donghyuck holds onto his neck. "I need to leave before I lose my brain here."
"You won’t leave. You need to go to jail for all this mess you’ve caused! Let your useless family see their shameful son!”
“Useless family? Is this how your parents raised you? To look down on families. What can I expect from a worthless class bitch.”  Donghyuck turns his head in her direction with stern eyes. Not expecting his reaction, Yezi feels the urge to pounce on his family some more. He's getting tired of hearing her voice. “What’s the fucking address?”
She’s pissed that he feels no remorse whatsoever about what he’s doing. “You’re so shameless!”
“Fine. You wanna be stubborn? Be that way.” Donghyuck sighs, deciding he doesn’t want the address anymore. He's about to look away but the pent up frustration builds up in him and he turns towards Yezi to complain. "I fucking hate you rich people. Always feeling entitled to everything and wanting the fucking law to be taken seriously on those who aren't up to your level. What if I told you right now, that you and I aren't any different? I bet you the second you're in trouble or in a puddle, someone else takes the blame for your mess. The system is fucked up and you're just as fucked. It’s clear you lack the skills to live in the 'ordinary' world.” Donghyuck responds. “Otherwise you would’ve known that the world is a dark place. You getting robbed, is something that happens every where so get over it. You're not as special as you think.”
“You’re so awful. Is that what your family taught you?” Yezi shakes her head with tears brimming in her eyes. Tears of anger. “How dare you come in my fathers house and try to rob us and have the nerve to say the systems fucked? Hello am I the one disgracing my family?”
Donghyuck rolls his eyes sitting by the edge of the bed trying to think while ignoring her words.
“What can I expect from a low class worthless scumbag as yourself? No value, no integrity, no humility- nothing but cheap upbringing by-”
Donghyuck sighs leaning his head back with his eyes closed. "You and I both sweet cheeks. You're just like me.”
“You’re wrong. I am nothing like you.” Yezi spits. “I was raised much more privileged and dignified then you. Because I have two parents who love me. What would you even know about love? Nothing! You look like the type of guy who was rejected, thrown to the curb- all because your parents didn’t love you. My family raised me with love. Something that you can’t relate to-”
Yezi's tantrum speech is endless and her nagging voice is the only voice fueling up the room, Donghyuck tries not to be enraged by her words. Yet the images coming to his mind of his family, sets him on edge. What would she even know about love when it was given on a silver spoon? His own father’s prime example of love was to follow his heart and leave his family behind so that he could unit with his new lover. His mother’s prime example of love, that can even be described as the bane of her existence, is to always be together and survive as a family. If it weren’t for his mother, Donghyuck knows that he would’ve long abandoned his mother the way his father did. But because she’s been consistent in keeping the family together- no matter how much trouble he caused or how long he would’ve been locked up for- his mother always had her arms open for her son to return-
“You’re not worthy of love, or any type of affection. You are a crude pathetic excuse of a human being. Instead of taking the blame you're throwing it to far more superior people then yourselves. You've got two legs and hands, yet the only thing you can think of is causing trouble and expecting to bare fruits. The only fruits you bare are of pain, so it’s no wonder your parents never showed you any love.” Yezi’s voice continues to nag, bringing Donghyuck out of his own thoughts and into Yezi’s hateful spite words. “Your parents failed at raising you. You are nothing but a product of failure who resorts to using his useless brain to fucking up people’s lives. It's clear that you're only this way because of your pathetic fami-"
“You're talking so much crap right now. Can't you just shut up?” Donghyuck groans out in anger. He gets up running his hand down his face. "You think you're better then me? Right now you're the one proving to me how much of a bitch you are-"
“You’re the real bitch here.” Yezi strikes. "A low life bitch-"
Donghyuck grumbles as he gets down to zip up the duffle bag. “You’re getting on my last nerve. Shut up.”
"Why? Because I'm telling the truth? Because you're a disappointment to your family?"
“It’s either you’re the biggest disappointment in your family or you just like talking a lot of shit.” Donghyuck’s jaw tightens when spotting the Officer Na who sticks out 10 fingers.
"Talking shit?" Yezi pipes up after a second of silence. "I don't know anything about shit, so tell me, does your father talk shit, or maybe your mother? In fact, while talking about your mother, tell me, does she ever regret giving birth to you?” Yezi voices out while watching him stand by the window. He stands there, peeking out the window and attempting an escape in his mind, meanwhile, Yezi thinks of her dad. The thought of these boys using her and sister makes her so upset that the only thing she can do is cry. The tears well up by the brim of her eyes, but she doesn't want to let them out. Not in front of a low life. Her crying would only make him feel good. “I wish your whole family dies.” Yezi spits out with venom sniffing back her tears.
"Just shut fucking shut up already!"
“I really hope your stupid family dies. Your pitiful brother, your scornful friends, your hopeless family-"
"Aren't you tired of talking-"
Yezi yells out again. "All of them! Your garbage father, your disgraceful mother! I hope you all die and go to hell! Just die! Die! Die! Die!"
"You finished?" Donghyuck asks after closing the curtains when seeing the other man who's standing with Officer Na, peek at the window. That must be their father. "I need you to shut up now."
However Yezi's eyes are drenched as the tears spill out nonstop. "I wonder if your mother ever feels ashamed of you, out of all of you, I hope she dies the fastest. For giving birth to such a thing like you, she should be punished in hell for committing the greatest sin of all."
By Yezi's ill mouth begging for his mother to die, he can't help but stop in place. His death glare egging Yezi. “Don't talk about my mum.” Being triggered by Yezi's sentence he deeply breathes in and tries to regain his composure. His mum is sick right now. She's been looking for means to pay off her medication refusing for any help from him. The last thing, he'd want right now is for his mother to die without him helping her to get the money she needed for treatment.
"Why shouldn't I talk about your wicked, shameful mother who's spoilt you rotten-"
"Shut up." He whispers trying to breathe in and out while closing his eyes.
"A disgraceful woman like her should be hanged and burnt and go straight to hell-"
By her absentminded sentence his hand is faster then her lips' when he sharply slaps her head to he side glaring down at her. "I said shut up!"  
“Why should I stop? If I too had a son like you, I’d want to die! To be put into an early grave-”
He grabs onto her neck banging her against the headboard of her bed. “Do you wanna die-”
“At least if I die I have a clear conscious unlike you and you’re trashy-” Donghyuck bangs her again but her mouth doesn’t stop talking- only cutting him with her words with full force matching the fire in his eyes. “Your useless worthless mother will go to hell for raising such a disgusting-”
“Are you fucking deaf?”
“I’m not deaf you shitty bastarded! I'm just saying facts about your worthless, useless, pathetic mo-"
“I said close your fucking mou-”
“Or else what?” Yezi challenges not being able to back down even with Donghyuck grabbing her by her hair pulling towards his face. “You’ll teach me a fucking lesson?! What am I going to learn from someone with no value who's unlucky?”
“Do you want to be taught a lesson?” Donghyuck pants with rage.
“On how to be a useless mother who gives birth to disap-”
“Bitch.” Donghyuck’s hand, hard and tight when he smacks the side of Yezi’s face. Yezi’s breath hitches and she peeks back into Donghyuck’s burning red eyes.
“She must be so ashamed of you! You’re an unlucky bastarded only making those around you suffer-” Yezi’s eyes bulge out again as she gets another tight back hand across her face.
Donghyuck spits out. “I dare you to speak again!”
“You'll pay for this! You filthy! Cheap! Vain! Unlucky! Worthless! Useless! Pathetic! Miserable! Fucking–”
Donghyuck pins her tied hands above her head. “Unlucky? Me? Really?” In a quick move he grabs the material of her merch shirt ripping it off her body completely exposing her. She yelps kicking her legs up but he gets on top of her pinning her down on the bed. “I’m gonna enjoy making you my bitch.”
While Donghyuck throws the ripped material of her top on the floor, he reaches in his pocket for his corkscrew knife. Cutting the material of her white bra from the middle- he’s eyes darken as her boobs pop out and splatter side ways. From the way she rambled on and on made her sound like a child, however upon seeing her body Donghyuck feels excited and doesn't waste a second instantly covering her mouth.
Even though her mouth ran too much for his own liking, the sight of her breasts gives him edge to be inside of her.
Just as Donghyuck positions his hardened member against her shorts penetrating her covered core- Mark is in another room turning Dae over and allows his hands to go up her spontaneous sides and gifted behind, lifting up her skirt taking in the glorious view of her black lace underwear. His eyes are enlightened each time he takes in the sight of her body. In reality he never cared if a girl was rich or poor, all that mattered was for the girl to look after herself, and looking at Dae, he can tell that she pays extra attention to her body. His hands roam over her two firm and smooth behind instantly feeling pleased by how soft they feel. He smacks her ass once just to watch her butt shake. A sight to behold, he licks his lips his hands kneading on her flesh with desire and lust. But unlike Donghyuck, he takes his time in admiring Dae's precious ass. The cold rings press against her warm skin making her shiver arousing him more when seeing what the cold does to her shaking ass.
Dae grunts and whines softly when his hands begin massaging her- a little then she likes. Her eyes flutter closed when feeling her half thong slide in between her cheeks when, Mark, in his own world, grips her underwear watching the material disappear between her ass. He chortles in pleasure before sinking his face lower until Dae can feel another form of heat. His teeth biting on her ass- leaving kisses and hickies- The feel of his teeth sinking in makes her grunt and arch her back trying not to make a sound. She didn't want to make a sound, making a sound would only mean that she enjoyed it and that's the last thing she wants him to know- OR EVEN THINK. He paws her ass and grips her flesh smacking it and watching it change color. Mark takes his time, despite the time limit and enjoys each tingle when his pants seem to get tighter. His eyes were practically being mind fucked and his hands were stimulating his own urges. As Mark takes his time, giving Dae's body attention- Donghyuck is nothing like Mark.
Yezi is short of breath and trembling begging the predatorial eyes of Donghyuck.
"Please don't-" She cries, her voice lowering by how he's going. Reaching his sweatpants he pulls down his front releasing his hardness barely looking into her face when his knife breaks through her shorts watching her squirm and shakes. He smirks and viscously pulls aside her white panties- his dick having it’s own brain as it pokes into her. He spits down into her core and by a rapid instant she gasps by the moisture being stunned and truly afraid. Her lips are frozen shut only quivering as her eyes watch all that's happening to her.
"Don't-”
Her ear piercing scream erupts throughout the whole room the moment Donghyuck thrusts straight into her. He roughly pushes deeper into her smirking by her cries. He quickly let's her hair go covering her mouth while pushing the knife close to her neck as he continuously thrusts his hardness into her slamming himself roughly as pleasure shoots all over his body especially lower abdomen. "Ah fuck you're so tight shit." He fills his cock inside of her making sure his whole dick enters her warm, squishy core- "Ah shit! You feel so good aguh shit, oh fuck, agh," Donghyuck moans out incoherent words laying himself over her body his hips moving extremely fast. It's been a while since he's last been in a girl, but all the girls he's been in- have been so loose. However her body was just right, the feeling of her heat taking him easily after a while. "Ah shit, you're a virgin right?" Donghyuck can feel her mouth opening up and his ears can hear her inaudible sounds of desperation. Tossing the knife on the bed, he grabs her neck straggling her and blocking her airway. Looking into her tear filled eyes that shut with a mixture of hatred and the burning slow pain...that slowly turns into something else. Her mind is muffled with extreme stress as she refuses to let those feelings out...the feelings of pain turning into...sadness of being used? She refuses completely refuses- her tears still pouring out while she squeezes her eyes shut. Her hands struggle in the knot using her tied hands to try and push him but Donghyuck uses the hand on her neck to pin her arms down again.
“Fucking bitch.” Donghyuck moans out- his strokes hitting differently and deeper. “I’m gonna fill your pretty little whole with all of my cum.” He whispers into her ear licking on the brim still having his way- getting dizzy from all the pleasure he’s in, he’s so amerced into her that he accidently lets her mouth go- she shakes her head screaming out her sisters name but as quick as his hand leaves her mouth- it's back and he slaps her cheek forcing her head to the side and keeping his hand on her hair grabbing the knife planting to her neck. “I dare you to make a sound.” He grabs her face forcing her on her headboard as he changes his thrusts into rough strokes pounding into her- her cries coming out arousingly for Donghyuck- who thinks she’s moaning. But at some point- as all the pain subsides, she grunts angrily at the pleasure boiling into the pits of her stomach. She didn’t want this. “Dae-” Her mouth keeps rambling- yet her voice gets hoarse with each pump his cock produces into her.
Jeno downstairs- hears the scream the first time Yezi let’s it out and ignores it. He lazily continuous to whip out the blood with a damp warm towel on his passed out friend- as he failed to find the first aid kit. Renjun, still knocked out- jolts up when Yezi screams out again. In pain his eyes widen and his head snaps to Jeno. His heart beats with worry and he peeks at Jeno. “Why haven’t you helped them? Why are they screamin- Jeno-”
“Renjun-”
“Jeno I don’t like this.” Renjun breathlessly talks out feeling dizzy and drowsy. The adrenaline over his body striking up his nerves and paranoia.
“Renjun-” Jeno groans out when Renjun flinches by the contact of the hard cloth.
“Jeno-” Renjun gets up grumpily. “Please-”
“We’ll help them after- you’re in-”
“How can you be so heartless?” Renjun panics with stress. “We’re here and they’re screaming!”
“Sh- shit” Donghyuck in the room groans as he thrusts into Yezi once more, his hard heavy thrusts turn into slow, long strokes as he feels himself pouring out in pleasure erupting in pleasure. Staying still for a few seconds as he fills her with his cum. “All mine-” he pants as he kisses her trembling lips roughly before going slowly and eventually softly. Her mind still hazy from the fucking, mascara running down her cheeks as he chuckles at the fucked out image of her in front of him.
“Still wanna run your mouth?” he softly asks as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear- he pulls out slowly. A tiny whine escaping her from the emptiness of his member. Her worn out eyes going down to his cock that was coated in cum- tears filling up her eyes again. She watches a wet string line of whiteness flowing from his member.
Her eyes still in black out dots cries out silently filling unclean- still crying out her sisters name. Her low shaky breathes and pants reach Donghyuck’s ears and he groans out sitting on the edge of her bed cleaning himself with the torn shirt.
Dae, on her back, in her room struggles to close her legs when the baby blue vibrator Mark found under her bed fits perfectly into her tight hole as his fingers work on her swollen clit. Cum trailed down her pussy, lubricating her asshole which Mark still found fascination upon- while pumping his own cock. He changes her position again, wanting another view. With her face stuffed to the bed and her butt propped out with her legs spread open on demand, it’s difficult for her to closer her legs- even harder to stop them from shaking and trembling.
Eyebrows pushing together, her mouth slowly gapping, legs shaking and sweat coating her chest and forehead- feeling her stomach twirl with the need to let go, she edges on refusing to please his oggling eyes. "Come on babygirl, let me taste you, fuck. I wanna see you leak," Not ready to let go, a small grunt leaves her lips, curling her toes as the coil in her stomach tightens- she’s taken by surprise when the vibrator bursts out of her tight whole by the amount of squirts that leave her whole by force. She closes her eyes in tears- her legs shaking while Mark marvels out by her squirts.
"Ah, Ah! Yes, fucking cumming... I'm gonna cum!" He says as the other hand that was on his dick stroked hard and fast. Mark slaps her ass multiple times turning her body around on the bed so that her face was now in view. Not minding the tears- he grabs her shirt pulling her up and in a quick movement both his hands grab the edge of her shirt and he pulls roughly tearing it up watching her boobs pop out- “Fuck yes.” Mark moans out- fapping harder, his own set of cum flows out his dick onto her chest and he moves up trying to force his hard dick in her mouth. She twits and turns her head- but when the knife comes out and parts her lips- she has no choice but to look into his eyes in unease as her tongue comes out and licks his tip.
Mark hisses at the contact. He grabs his own base rubbing his cock in onto her mouth. He fucks himself in and out of her mouth grabbing a hold of her hair. Watching her gag before closing her eyes tightly.
“Fuck baby,” he groans out, “So fucking good.”
Dae doesn’t know why she let Mark use him- when minutes ago she was fighting and resisting his touch. But the moment she heard her sister- her baby sister scream out her name- her whole body froze. The pain in Yezi's voice- blocked out the sneaky fingers of Mark that entered her when she was distracted from the scream. From what Mark mentioned- Dae only thought of the worst. Could Donghyuck be doing what Mark was doing to her?
She feels useless alternating between fast and shallow when swallowing and taking in Mark’s dick in her mouth. Mark edged himself- loving the feel of her warm mouth that got him on the brink of bliss.
The sounds of his ecstasy fills the dark red room. Deep gasps, shorts breaths, hisses, throaty grunts, quiet moans. He was basically masturbating with her body and mouth- so when a clouded Jeno busts into the room in attempt to proving to Renjun that the boys where doing nothing with the girls, catching his brother on top of Dae and fucking her mouth- he’s beyond enraged and his eyes are snapped in paralyzing shock. Snapping out of it, he pounces on his brother tackling him to the ground- his fists catch his brother, Mark, off guard as he continues to strike blow after blow-
His intoxicated and tipsy brain is in pure dejection when seeing the girl he’s admired lay motionless on her bed, her legs open and her eyes trained to the ceiling as the tears slowly leave her eyes. While Mark is still on the ground- Jeno gets on the bed taking off his own jacket pulling her skirt to cover her wet parts. He can’t even bring himself to look into her eyes- but when he lifts her stiff body up covering her with the jacket - he lightly hits her cheek. “Hey, hey, stay with me Dae, stay with me,” As drunk and clouded as his brain is, the complete zoned out stare she gives- springs all his attention on her. “Dae- Dae- I need you to listen to me-”
Dae doesn’t even hear a thing when looking into Jeno’s lips. She can see they are moving, she can feel his hand wiping on the cum that’s dripping out her mouth, she can see him-but all that’s in her head is her sister. Her little sister, being defenseless against a grown guy forcing himself in her. “I couldn’t even protect her,” Dae cries out weakly. “My sister,” She hiccups but Jeno consistently shakes her, his own eyes suddenly watering.
Is this what Renjun was feeling? Powerless to stop all the deeds being done.
Whatever Renjun felt- Jeno knew it was nothing like the emotions he felt when looking into the eyes of the girl he failed to protect from the destruction him and his brothers have caused her family. “Dae, you need to listen to me. You can save your sister-”
Jeno’s words are cut off when a heavy blow knocks him off the bed. Mark stands up whirling his hand around as he glares death eyes at his brother. “What the fuck is your problem-"
“Dae go now!” Jeno yells out when Mark goes over to him grabbing his shirt.
Prior to Jeno entering Dae’s room- Renjun limps around the empty living room waiting on Jeno- as seconds turn to minutes Renjun feels oddly strange. His eyes looking out the curtains watching the officers climb the fence and running towards the back where he couldn’t see. Time is moving fast and it only makes him worried- especially after seeing the cop- he tries to climb up the stairs, but his leg stings. He keeps forcing himself- if only he can get himself on the first floor. If only he can reach Donghyuck and try talking to him again. He knows Donghyuck has a limit to when it comes to hurting people.
And as Renjun takes a step at a time up the stairs- Donghyuck is still seated on the edge of the bed flicking the corkscrew blade in his hand open and shut. His eyes are fixed on the broken window as his ears listen to the little girl behind him let out weak cries. He’s emotionless, trapped in a state of limbo just listening to her sweet cries of sorrow. Broken and sad. Her cries sounding similar to the one he'd hear his mum weep alone in her room whenever she felt hopeless. It feels like a trance, he can't see Yezi, but he sees his mum. Vulnerable, alone and sad. The last thing he wanted was to have sex with Yezi- to rape her, the last thing he wanted was to disappoint his family. Again. Fail his mum, again. Make his whole family ashamed. Once again, he let his emotions get the better of him and as a result he's brought back to the days as a kid when it was only him and his mum.
Single mother. Broke. Heartbroken. Lost. The only thing he remembered about his dad was how much he hurt his mum and degraded her so much that he allowed for others to do so as well. When his dad left, he left his mother burdened and shattered. While Donghyuck was just a boy, who wanted his mum to no longer be in pain, Haechan (his alter ego) had a bad temper and hated seeing his mum in tears. From an early age, he would lash out whenever and where ever, because people would bad mouth his mother. He wasn't the type of kid to take nonsense, so it was engraved into him at an early age- in order not to let people talk bad about his mum, he would let people talk bad about him instead. He could take it, he really could. He couldn't stand to hear his mother crying and thinking suicidal thoughts. So he allowed himself to be the bad guy, to take on all the hate anyone would throw. The more gruesome and dark he'd be, the more attention was off his mother and on him. Of course some would say it dates back to how she was a bad mother- but to his own mother, Donghyuck would never allow himself to look down on his mother.
Maybe it's how all women sounded when they cried, but Donghyuck can't differentiate the voices between his mum and the girl behind him. Her tears seclude him from the personality he evolved into. Haechan seems nowhere in sight- it's only the little boy Donghyuck feeling ashamed and remorseful for his actions.
The moment the room is silent, Donghyuck carefully turns his head to the side.
The pain still there. Tangible in her heart and soul, she whimpers while hugging her body shielding herself from the preying eyes of the cruel rapist. Donghyuck quietly sighs out. He wants to say something. He wants to apologize, but her bare back causes a heavy weight to befall upon his shoulders. Would his mother be proud of him?
"Stop crying." He lets out lowly. "Please don't cry..." he whispers.
Yezi's hoarse voice breaks into the silence as she quietly cries, quietly calling her sisters name and choking on her own tears.
Donghyuck’s jaw trembles. He kept falling, failing, getting tricked and losing a piece of himself every time he was out with Mark- and if he’s honest, also when he was out alone. As time passed, it no longer became about shielding his mother, it just enveloped into him to be ruthless. To others although he looked worthless, pathetic and a bad son, what those people never saw were the times he’d pay for his mother’s surgery, buy food and groceries for the house, or pay for his brother’s high tuition fees- All he wanted to do, was make the people he cared for to be happy.
Who could ask for a better life then that?
But seeing the girl, Yezi shivering and exposed- his walls crack and break. He raped her.
He gets up from the bed picking up some clothes on the floor. Getting close to her, his eyes flame in remorse when seeing her red blotched face and torn clothes. He really did that?
“Are you cold?” He finds himself asking as he clings onto her hands and breaks the scarf off that tied her- holding tight when she tries to pull away. Having changed his mother many times when she was weak- his grip on Yezi doesn’t wither while he dresses her up in a yellow short that seemed long enough, keeping silent as she whispers for him to die and how much she hates him and how he’s a rapist.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Donghyuck’s head snaps to the door and he holds onto his own gun when the door bursts open and Jeno stands there panting and bleeding and alert.
“Are those gunshots?” Donghyuck asks blaring wholes at Jeno.
Jeno points out and looks back into Donghyuck’s eyes. “M-Mark shot Ren-Renj-”
Donghyuck’s eyes widen even before Jeno can finish his words. Donghyuck bursts out the room anxiously running passed the red room and furiously down the stairs. Spotting his brother at the bottom of the staircase with blood- Donghyuck breaths out rigidly sprinting down until-
In an instant an explosion erupts from downstairs causing the bottom of the house to erupt in flames. Donghyuck’s eyes widen and he yells out. “RENJUN!” Getting up weakly on his feet and still sprinting down into the heavy smoke of fire that’s coming from the garage with all the cars- Donghyuck makes out Mark’s figure shooting out to the open garage door. Quickly pulling his brother’s arms and coughing out- Donghyuck’s eyes water with the stinging from the smoke. He moves his way towards an empty hallway that’s clear of flames. Looking down at Renjun’s bloodied form- Donghyuck’s eyes search all over until he finds the new source of bleeding from the side. He presses down with his hand earning an aching grunt from Renjun who flickers his eyes.
The tears pour out by themselves when Donghyuck tries to remove his hoody to try and wrap it around Renjun. “RENJUN! STOP PLAYING!" Donghyuck’s shaky fingers get in contact with Renjun’s skin slapping him lightly, trying to keep his eyes open. His cheeks bounce softly with every pat. "Please Renjun you twap, don’t die on me, don’t die on me,"
[flashback]
“How’s my mum?” Donghyuck rushes across the corridor upon seeing Renjun. Renjun is seated on the plastic chair his leg bouncing up and down in worry.
“She’s my mother as much as she’s yours-”
“You’re not her blood child, so don’t you dare try and pull that card orphan boy.”
Renjun glares upwards into Donghyuck’s eyes. “You really wanna do this here? Oh yeah? Okay you, her blood child who's full of worth, is that right? Oh god help me! How can you be so cruel, inconsiderate and so self involved? She’s in the hospital because of you. She got a phone call from the police department again- because she somehow had to look for money to bail you out of prison- do you even know how much she’s owing our neighbors? Do you know how much weight she’s lost just because of you, her blood son? Do you even know that her stress levels are above the maximum limit- only because she worries about you? The left side of her whole body isn’t working because of her blood pressure- she went into hyper shock this morning all because of you- her blood son! Every time she’s in pain- it’s always because of you. Every time she’s drowning deep in stress and debt is always because of you- for crying out loud- I gave all the money you gave me for school fees just so that she wouldn’t stress about money- do you even care about her? Why do you keep flaunting that blood son title if you don’t even act like a blood son? I may be an orphan but she’s given me a life more than my own mother could ever given me. I recognize all the struggles she’s undertaken just so that I could be a part of her and your life. She’s given me everything and for that I’m eternally grateful. She’s clothed me, fed me, given me the love and warmth I never thought I could receive- but yet here you are. You only show up when she’s in trouble- you only show up when she’s in pain- you only show up when we’re at the lowest and right now you’ve got the biggest nerve to bring out blood son? Are you serious right now Donghyuck? Her blood son hasn’t even seen her smile once but he’s got the nerve to own up and claim to that position. You haven’t even been living with us for the longest of time, but you’ve got the balls to barge in here and say you’re her blood son? Idiot. Please leave. Please leave before something bad happens to her because of your presence.”
Renjun glares at his older brother in pure anger and resentment. Every word he said came from the depth of his heart. Renjun, from the first day he stepped foot into his new 'home' was grateful for all that his new mum had done for him. Upon meeting her son, Donghyuck, Renjun assumed that he'd get along well with the older boy. But Donghyuck would always show his superiority over Renjun and the fact that he was the only son to his mother. No matter how hard Renjun tried to befriend the older one- Donghyuck wasn't kind enough to roll out the welcoming carpet. But after that day- after that day when his mother almost died, Donghyuck had a change of heart regarding both his mother and orphaned brother.
[End of flashback]
It happened 3 years ago, but till today- Donghyuck would never forget the urge he got to want to be like Renjun. Renjun was adopted yes, but the way Donghyuck’s mother would put Renjun on a high pedestal only made Donghyuck want to keep the state of happiness around his mother. He liked the peace and joy his mother was in when being with Renjun. Although it was a working progress, Donghyuck tried as hard as he could- to accept Renjun. After all, Renjun was remarkable. He'd bring back home marks that were astounding, he'd get scouted by top businesses wanting to work with him and he'd especially get praise for his artwork whenever he'd win competitions. With all those marvelous achievements, Donghyuck felt some sense of pride towards the boy considered his 'brother'. From that day on, he vowed to be Renjun’s brother.
The change happened bit by bit- he would suddenly pick Renjun up from school- try to initiate conversation with him- he would go supply shopping with him and even going as far as attending Renjun’s stupid award ceremonies. Donghyuck knew himself- he had a high temper and easily irked, but something about being with his mother who looked upon Renjun with angelic eyes made Donghyuck content.
Even though he was never his mother’s pride and joy, as she constantly was quick to pick Renjun over him any day- somehow made Donghyuck want to be close by to where Renjun- because wherever Renjun was, his mother was always there rooting on for him he was glad that she could be proud and joyous of his brother.
So seeing Renjun in pain and bloated with beatings- Donghyuck feels himself about to lose his mind. Did he really do this to his brother?
[Flashback]
"So, I want to run something by you," Renjun says sitting on the grass, next to Donghyuck who's smoking weed while taking in the warmth of the sun on his skin.
"What?" Donghyuck asks with no emotion, his eyes closed, his lungs breathing in and out the toxic fumes of air.
"On what conditions would you willingly beat me up?"
The question causes Donghyuck to hold the air in his mouth a little longer then usual. When puffing out the air, his eyes open squinting at the bright sun, before he turns his gaze to Renjun who's got his fingers scissoring the grass- trimming it with his fingers. "What?"
"I want you to beat me up."
Donghyuck blinks once. He sits up and sighs out. He offers Renjun a smoke to which Renjun refuses. Donghyuck puts it back in his mouth only staring at the boy. "You wanted to run this by me?"
Renjun nods his head. "So, in order for me to get a grant at the Social Security Agency as a foreigner, I'd either need to be disabled or married, however upon reading over the conditions there were sections that kind of resonated with our current living. Such as the foster child grant, whereby a foster child is placed in your custody by court and if ever the family needs aid- extra cash for the child then they can fill a form. However, right now my identification documents aren't in the right state and mum doesn't want to take any risks in changing them because of how they threatened to deport me. So it's out the way. There's also a section that states if you've been a victim to gang fights or fraud, or government fights or fraud file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online- and I'd be willing to do that, but going up against the government is not my cup of tea. Which then results in this non-profit organisation that I saw in our area. It helps abused children and their families with a free counselling service. It deals with issues such as physical and sexual abuse and so on. The 'requirements' are being abused or mistreated by either a family member or community," Renjun takes in a deep breath waiting upon Donghyuck's words.
"So you want me to beat you up to get money?" Donghyuck concludes watching Renjun nervously nodding his head. Puffing out some smoke Donghyuck runs his hands through his hair. "Where's mum?"
"She went to church."
Donghyuck nods his head. "What do you want the money for?"
"She told me not to tell you because you might do something crazy again..." Renjun anxiously let's out before taking in a deep breath. "She went to the hospital for her regular check up and the Doctors discovered something-"
"What?" Donghyuck stops smoking urging Renjun to speak on.
"She's got a brain tumor and since they found it early in it's developing stage they're willing to remove it. The surgery sums up to 7k maximum. They set a date for 2 weeks from now, but she said she'd get back to them in order to sort out her account funds and records. Donghyuck, I went with her to the bank and she doesn't have enough. So, she wanted to reject the surgery and go for treatments instead. But...brain tumors are deadly and she could die-"
"Don't even finish that sentence. She's not going to die." Donghyuck breathes out. He sinks back in the ground and smokes on the weed bunt again. "I'll get the money and I want you to give it to her. If she asks where you got it from just say you won a prize or something. There's no way I'm beating you up for a grant that may or may not be approved - or even helpful."
Renjun's eyes widen. Although he's grateful, he's also on edge of where Donghyuck will get the money. "What will you do?"
"I've got a friend-"
"Mark?" Renjun questions. "You do crazy things when you're with that guy."
"Listen here twat." Donghyuck sighs sitting up once again. "Mark isn't someone I want you to linger around. He's not your friend, neither is he mine. If you think I'm 'crazy' then it means you haven't crossed Mark yet. He's dangerous. Profoundly dangerous and smart and that's a deadly combo. We just get along because we find common interests in things- making money by the means of extracting from people who don't deserve it. Okay, I'm no hero or Robin hood or whatever, but that's just a logic to keep me sane. As long as mum's happy, as long as you're happy, automatically that makes me happy," Renjun smiles a little. Donghyuck never says sappy sappy things like that, so for him to be saying it now means that he's being vulnerable. "So I'm not gonna beat you up. I would be absolutely crushed if something had to happen to you especially on my account. You're my brother and you make mum happy and I don't want to take that away by hurting you,"
Being flustered by all the strange praises and acts of brotherhood Renjun's ears turn a shade red. "Hey," Renjun clears his throat. "Can I ask you something?"
"You've been talking, I don't know what's different if you ask a question. You'd still be talking," Donghyuck mummers.
"Would you go to rehab?"
"I don't need it," Donghyuck answers simply. Taking one last breath of the weed, Donghyuck throws it behind him to somehow prove a point. "I can control myself."
"I..." Renjun shuts himself up quickly before shaking his head.
"I'm in a good mood today. Say what you want to say or go away." Donghyuck closes his eyes now wanting to sleep under the sun.
"I've seen that you get pretty violent when you're on drugs." Renjun says. "And I'm just hoping that you can really control yourself, because if you get the money and mum gets the operation, we'll need to be on our best behavior to not cause her stress."
[End of flashback]
Mark full of anger dodges the blasts of flame as well as rapid fire that blazes all around the kitchen. He sprints away reloading his gun with his last round of bullets. As he's away from the flames and engulfed in smoke- by a specific hallway where he once saw Dae hiding in, he spots Donghyuck on the floor cradling Renjun. There's only one way this plan will work without them having to carry excess baggage or being tailed by the police- and that's to leave the excess baggage.
"Haechan we have to move right now." Mark announces. "Let's go, both of us."
Donghyuck hearing the low voice of Mark before feeling a hand grab on his shoulder instantly turns his head to Mark with bloodshot red eyes. "You shot Renjun?" Donghyuck's voice comes out low but the growl and grunt that follows afterwards makes Mark stunned. "Did you?! Huh!?"
"Fuck man chill! Now's not the time to-"
Before Mark can finish his sentence he's sprung backwards as Donghyuck furiously tackles him to the ground rapidly landing a good rock hard solid punch over Mark's cheek. Blood bursts out of his mouth as Donghyuck lands another aggressive punch on the other side of Mark's face. Being dizzy by the impact Mark lays motionless panting out while Donghyuck grabbed his collar. It's true they were both skilled in combat, however compared to themselves, Donghyuck was actually a much better fighter while Mark was a better gun man. So when Donghyuck hurls out his fist tightly to knock out Mark- Mark is quick to pull out his own gun and blow out straight on Donghyuck's abdomen.
"Fuck!" Donghyuck aches whilst Mark uses the opportunity to elbow him in the face. Getting up lazily on his feet, Mark pants up spitting out the blood before pointing the gun one more time towards Donghyuck's leg.
"See you in prison." Mark mummers quietly. "Or not."
BANG!
Jeno is mindful when carrying Yezi bridal style trying to maintain all his strength and composure on not dropping the girl. Upon bursting into her room and informing Donghyuck of Mark's madness- Jeno quickly went to Yezi's side. However the blood stain that was on the bed and seemed to be dried out on her leg only made Jeno more weary of what Donghyuck did to the poor girl. Renjun was right. He was right about the girls being defenseless against the hard cold boys in their homes. As soon as he lifted her up he could hear her crying lowly and calling her sisters name. But now upon going up the stairs of the third floor where their parents master bedroom is, he jogs to the open door going straight to the private bathroom where he left Dae.
Dae is still motionless hugging her knees staring at the shower. Hearing footsteps she snaps out of the nothingness and sees Jeno with- "Yezi! Yezi!" Dae crawls over to where Jeno lays down Yezi. Jeno gets up grabbing a shower head and flickering it on splashing his hand with some water to sprinkle some on her face. Yezi awakens from her trance of trauma and shoots up blurting out tears and sounds of pain. The sight of the two sisters grabbing onto each other hugging, comforting and embracing their sorrows almost makes Jeno feel so ashamed. He was late at doing what's right, stopping his brother, rescuing the girls and failing to keep his best friend alive. Sinking down against the polished wall far from the girls he lets himself finally breath out as he sniffs back a cry.
This is not how this night was supposed to go.
And as far as he's come, he still needed to save the girls. Sniffing back and getting up he walks out the bathroom moving around the enlarged brown themed room until he sees the curtains leading to the balcony. He opens it up, seeing their at the back of the house. Down below there's a swimming pool and... two officers. He quickly runs back to the bathroom looking down at the two girls. "Can you walk?"
Dae's legs were weak and she couldn't even make a run for it when Jeno was still occupied with Mark. After mindlessly giving Mark a fisted backhand, he managed to dodge his brothers grasp as he ran to Dae on the bed, throwing her over his shoulder and running to the door slamming it shut with the key before he ran and ran- and went up the stairs where he saw an open door. Getting inside, Dae instructed him where the bathroom was. Her legs were sore. As for Yezi, the blood stain alone made him feel uncomfortable. Yezi buries herself deeper into Dae while Dae looks up with dark eyes that are smeared with her messed up make up, she shakes her head.
Jeno gulps and runs his hands through his hair. "Alright, look." He blinks sharply trying to focus. "There's some cops outside near the swimming pool. I don't think you guys can get out through the front door, so this is the only way."
"Take Yezi, I'll try to walk," Dae attempts to get up balancing on the basin. Jeno picks up Yezi who is wildly trembling. He wants to apologize, but the words are stuck on his throat when thinking of the blood. For fucks' sake why Donghyuck and Mark have to go so far? Going over to the balcony door the lights are all turned off and the floor shakes after a loud explosion. Yezi squeaks covering her ears. Jeno hurriedly moves to the outside seeing the two officers running to the cause of impact getting out of view.
"Shit." He curses. He sets Yezi down avoiding her eyes that are worriedly moving around. He hurries back inside trying to make his way in the darkness using the moonlight. Dae is shaken up when Jeno puts his hands on her. "It's only me." 
She breaths out and slowly her grip on her skirt stiffens and her eyes open wide. "What happened?" She whispers, the pitch black bathroom suddenly has a threatening view. Jeno's arm wraps around Dae carefully bringing her close to him. The distant sound of crinkling fires and the light wave of smoke passing in the air makes Dae more panicked.
*
Mark curses as the power erupts, only leaving the flames to bear out light through parts of the house. He secures the baggage of goods in the duffle bag over his shoulder as he quietly wakes out of Yezi's room. The air is hot. He covers his nose with his hand. Going upstairs will only corner him, so he seeks to go downstairs again. But at this point, downstairs is spreading with rapid hell flames and he can hear the police calling out.  
Hearing the police march in union, he ducks and finds himself in the darkness of Dae's room- he feels on his temple when the heat wave brushes past the open wound given by Donghyuck. Thinking about Donghyuck, Mark hopes that Donghyuck isn't caught or trapped in the fire. The blood drips down his forehead and he groans, he grips the bag in his hand...
Looking at his hand, notices a little red light beam. He's quick in moving away grabbing the alcohol bottle and flicking it out the room. He grabs a few more bottles- mostly likely Jeno who drank and he charges out the room in speed towards the staircase where he thrusts his hand to throw the bottles watching it catch flames and shatter over the police who are covered in protective gears. Shit! He won't be able to escape. Running back to Dae's room he grabs the nearest piece of material and stuffs it in the bottle before taking his lighter and lighting up the material and letting his lighter touch the tip of the blanket with the fire- he watches the fire spread all over the blanket- leaving it inside and he runs out the room running into the hallway before jogging up the stairs. He turns back when hearing the loud explosion again burst and erupt from Dae's room. Now two floors are burning he stands up and throws the bottle near the police officer on the carpet. The fire from the bottle crushes to the floor creating an explosion.
Outside, Chenle cries on his knees on the ground as he watches his house burning up in flames. Officer Na and the rest of the police squads had gone inside after the sign was clear for them to go. It first started with the garage explosion that Chenle knew that the mission wouldn't be easy. He thought after waiting a couple more minutes that the police Officers would be out hand cuffing the boys- instead he watched as two officers with heavy bodies on their backs ran out placing the two bodies on the stretchers. Whether those were one of the boys or their officers- it was difficult to tell.
Chenle hauls himself up from the floor with tears running down his face to the snots mixing with the streams, he begins to run to the open gate where the rest of the squad disappeared to.
"You can't go in! You can't go in!" He's stopped by an alarmed and panicked Jisung. "Officer Na-"
"FUCK MY KIDS ARE GOING TO BURN! LET ME GO!"
In him yelling out loud at the top of his lungs, he hears a distant yell. "Daddy!" Both him and Jisung's head snaps to the opposite side of where the Officers left.
"I'll go and check it-"
"Fuck you!" Chenle fits off running in the direction of the open yard with Jisung hot on his heels.
S1:EP18-20
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"I have to go," Jeno suddenly says. "Go to your sister."
"No, no, no, please don't leave us." Dae begs trying to see him in the dark while holding his top, fear crawling all over her.
Jeno is flushed by her grip and holds onto her hands. "Get yourself and your sister out of here. Yell or something." Jeno gets up and moves to the door. He carefully moves along the passage going down the stairs but is completely stunned when his eyes are engulfed by the flames. He turns his head back when hearing a voice yell out "Daddy!" in distress and he hopes the girls are getting out safely. He goes down the stairs avoiding the fire and heat it causes and without a plan he attempts to look for his brother yelling out, "Mark!"
Little does he know that as soon as he got out the masters bedroom, Mark instantly hid himself behind the corridor wall. Watching his brother leave, he hears the yell of one of the girls calling out to their father. It's too late to use the girls as sex slaves, but if he wanted to get out of here in one piece, it was worth a try. He gets inside the dark room instantly freezing when hearing low pants.
"Jeno?"
It's Dae. Mark matches her voice and hastily while being stealthy he covers her mouth backing her up against the wall while she tries to fight with her fists. Yezi is still outside screeching out her father's name being unaware of Dae who tries to fend for herself. The tears are brimming by her eyes as her fists really try to get rid of the man in front of her. In the dark, she makes out his eyes and she can't forget the wild look he generates.
"YEZI JUMP!" Dae yells out when Mark lets go of her mouth in order to pull her close to him. Just as fast as his hand is off her mouth it's back against her mouth but this time he drags Dae behind and out the room as he legs kick and struggle to follow on.
Yezi's head snaps back when hearing Dae yell out. Panic overcomes her again and she hesitates on whether to jump as told or go back. Her legs ache when she stands so she takes it upon herself to jump instead. Getting over the rail her legs throb and hurt in pain before the adrenaline pushes her off and she jumps. The bind of the pool net catches her gripping her with the tight rope and cold waters. All the new felt pain is gone when seeing her father running with speed towards her- while few other officers are behind him. He's quick in tripping his way on the net securely getting closer to his daughter, his last daughter who is bloated with tears upon seeing her father.
"Dad!"
Tears are overflowing when Chenle holds onto his daughter with all his might his hands moving all over her head and back- the pain his ears feel when hearing her weeping. "It's okay baby, it's okay baby, daddy's here, I'm here now okay. Nothing's going to happen to you, you're alright, you're alright, don't cry my child, don't cry. Oh god, my Yezi," Chenle digs his head into the side of her head. "My Yezi, my girl, my baby, don't cry,"
It's as if he already knew the traumatic experience she faced in the house, from the way she was crying and gripping onto him, to the way her tears were ever flowing and voice was hoarse. His poor daughter was so shaken up that she began hyperventilating and shaking badly.
"My baby," Chenle leans back removing her hair from her face trying to look into her red eyes that are filled with horror. "Come on," Too overwhelmed to ask for Dae he helps her off the pool net and follows the Officers as his heart pounds in his chest for his eldest daughter. "Come on Dae," his lips tremble.
The house is falling apart, some of the ceiling is on the floor with hoards of flames. Jeno only realizes now that he has no plan. As he thinks to himself he is down the last step his eyes enlarge when he's being grabbed and forced against the wall as soon as the flames that were in front of him gage furiously.
Officer Na grips Jeno by the collar while Jeno panics. "Please I'm innocent!" He screeches.
"Innocent?" Officer Na scoffs. "Where's your brother?"
"I- I don't know," Jeno's eyes enlarge when panicking that Mark still hasn't been found. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Dae! Dae! She's with her si-sister- the master bedroom- Mark, Mark could be th-"
"Come here," Officer Na roughly picks up Jeno by the collar, "You're gonna help me look for your brother," Jeno struggles to stay on his feet as Officer Na runs side ways avoiding the fire while strongly gripping to Jeno's jersey. "Good working men and a women died this evening because of the chaos you boys erupted," Officer Na grunts when heavy wood from the ceiling lands on his shoulder. "Damn," He grunts as he and Jeno try to climb the stairs only to fiercely stop when a fire bottle comes out of nowhere shattering against the wall. Jaemin and Jeno both shift forward by the blast of the bottle erupting in flames behind them.
Jaemin saw something similar to this, a bottle flying out from the darkness and hitting one of his Officers in the face- instantly burning him up. At first he thought it was mishap disaster but now seeing it again- he knows it might be Mark, after all, Donghyuck was rushed out of here in terrible condition.
"Is that your brother?" Officer Na looks up through the empty staircase spotting a shadow move away. Holding Jeno by his collar with his gun pointing Jeno in the back- he runs up the stairs as quick as possible pushing Jeno forward. Once away from the smoke lit second floor- he holds out his gun shooting once to alert Mark.
"EHY MARK YOU RASCAL!!" Officer Na yells. "COME AND GET YOUR BROTHER!"
A fire bottle comes out of nowhere at their direction yet again. Officer Na is quick to duck dragging Jeno along with him.
They run up the long criss crossed stairs, up to the top- getting on the third floor where the fire was still at bay simple steaming the smoke everywhere. A smoke screen of air. Shooting a couple of bullets in the direction where the bottle comes from, Officer Na ignores Jeno's plead of not killing his brother.
"Watch out!" Jeno eyes enlarge a second too late as the bottle thrushes against Jaemin's shoulder setting his leather coat jacket on fire. Catching fire and nearly plunging the Officer in smoke, he's quick in removing the leather piece stepping it quick to not let the fire spread on the carpeted ground.
A laugh is heard somewhere in the midst of the clouded air. Mark. "Be careful Officer Na, you might hurt her."
Her?
"You rascal!" Officer Na yells holding Jeno close. "I'll kill your brother this second. Where are you? There's no where to go."
"Maybe you're right, but I know you're bluffing. You won't kill him." Mark says, sounding close. Mark peeks his eyes around the corridor revealing himself. Across from him with a large gap separating him from the Officer, he walks carefully. Right through the smoke, Dae's pleading body comes into view. She's cuffed in his shirt and her mouth is stuffed with something not clear. Mark picks her up tightly holding her neck. "You won't do it, because if you do, I kill her. And you know I'm not bluffing."
Officer Na clinches his teeth together looking at Dae. Her eyes are puffed and she's bloody resembling Mark's state. The burn mark over her arm is evident to Jeno and he cusses inside when her eyes swell up in tears staring at him.
"Hand her over now!" Jeno snaps his eyes to Mark by the words of the Officer.
"Fuck Mark! Let her go!" Jeno yells out. As much as he tries to understand Mark, he can't seem to wrap his head around why Mark is going over board and literally fighting till the death. "Come man, just give it up already. You're surrounded man."
Mark chuckles. "By who?" He looks around. "Everyone's already dead, except him." He points to Officer Na.
Officer Na walks slowly closer to Mark holding the gun sharply to Jeno. "Do you wish for your brother to die?" Jeno holds his jersey at the back struggle to keep up with the police harsh grip almost tightening around his neck.
Mark doesn't budge but holds Dae tightly on the back of her neck now forcing her on her knees with the gun at the back of her head- causing Officer Na to freeze. "I killed one of your Officer's like this." Mark presses the trigger and Dae's eyes pop out in patronizing fear when nothing happens. The sound is voided by the sock stuffed in her mouth- but she lets it out. Officer Na and Jeno both have widened eyes hearing the gun go off and watching Dae quivering so hard that she's practically levitating from the ground. Mark's raspy laugh gets their gripped horrored eyes on him. "Safety's on."
Pressing on the trigger again- Dae feels her skull heavy and sore. But nothing happens again. She can't see anymore. The tears drowning out all her senses.
"Fuck it! Stop!" Officer Na feels useless watching a psychotic Mark toy around with their emotions.
"The guns empty." Mark mumbles tossing the gun down- yet in a sharp move he spins Dae around strangling her neck while picking her up. "You're such a fun sized human being," Mark laughs looking into her blotched eyes before turning to Jaemin. "You want her? Too bad, because I want to get out of here."
"Are you willing to negotiate?" Officer Na questions trying to maintain composure.
"I've watched my prey choke before, but they were all men," a raspy laugh leaves Mark's throat. "I've never seen a girl choke before."
Weapon less? Officer Na acknowledges. He nudges Jeno to stand and tosses his gun aside. "Mark." With his arms out but Mark quickly gets her underneath his embrace.
"One more step and I'm cracking her neck." Mark warns with red eyes. "I'll twist it so hard she'll die in an instant. Do you want that?"
"What do you want?" Officer Na grumbles.
"Get out the way. And don't follow me." Mark shifts his eyes between both the men. The fact that they were both standing only made him on edge. It's a 50-50 percent chance. Anything can happen. Literally anything. Because when Dae hastily beats her head backwards colliding into Mark's face- both Jeno and Jaemin gallop to the delinquent. Jeno with a bold diving punch and Officer Na with his taser- they both get Mark in a haste that when Dae can even open her eyes- she's in Jeno's arms just in time for the floors to creak and fragments of the cement below compresses and tramples-
"Run!"
Jeno takes the lead caring Dae and with her passed out weight he dashes towards the masters room with Officer Na bearing a knocked out Mark picking him up by his torso over his shoulder. The floor collapses from within however Jeno hurls himself over the balcony fence jumping straight into the net with Jaemin doing the same as well- just as the house tramples and bursts up into flames from the inside out- not to be caught up in the distortion of the building Officer Na gets out his knife and rips the net allowing them to sink into the water. Jeno thrushes straight into the water holding onto Dae shaking her body to wake her up quick in enough- but she's completely passed out from fear.
From the outside, where the other Officers and news crew watch the house detonate and bursting in flames- the firemen make their move as the other Officers move in hopes of finding Officer Na. Chenle shelters Yezi from the view- but still Yezi bursts out screaming when seeing their house compress and explode in flames. Chenle tries to be strong but the words exit his mouth and all his emotions are set wildly. "DAE!" He let's go of Yezi moving out of the ambulance truck and runs to the scene being stopped by a set of Officers.
*
"She's alive, but unconscious. The impact from the burns, the frantic emotion imbalance, the aggressive intake of smoke as well as water and distorted state set her to a mild panic which gave her a heart attack. In covering, she'll survive, all she needs now is rest." Officer Jisung explains to Jaemin, Dae's state of condition. Jaemin breathes out nodding his head.
"Thank goodness. Thought we really lost her back there," He recalls how fast Jeno kept trying to breath air back into her before the other Officers stepped in. At this moment, standing with Jisung in the hospital foyer, Jaemin sips on the plastic cup filled with dark coffee. After this hectic night, he needed 8 more shots of coffee if he was going to survive the war and rage that the millionaire Zhong Chenle was charging into for the full physical actions and trauma set and cost of both his daughters and of the damages to his home. "What about the boys? I would not want to be them right now."
Jisung lets out a breathless chuckle. "Likewise. Renjun and Donghyuck are actually in severe surgeries right now. Renjun might not make it. Several broken ribs, his face is erratically beaten up, dislocated joints, critical fire burns, apparently was also shot on his hip, severe intake of smoke and fractured hips and spin. Donghyuck was shot twice, once in the abdomen and the other by his leg, critical burns, heavy intake of smoke and raptured kidney, but he'll live. However on the other spectrum, Mark and Jeno are both in scathing health. Jeno had drunk one too many bottles and was running on adrenaline out through the night. His intake has now kicked in and he's in a deep sleep like coma. So deep that the doctors patched up the burns without a dosage of anesthesia. Mark very strangely is fine. The doctors haven't yet discovered why he hasn't woken up yet, although they assume it could be because his system is filled with cocaine."
Jaemin nods his head after hearing all their conditions. He turns to Jisung. "Thank you for rescuing me."
"Oh," Jisung looks flattered and blinks twice shaking his head. "It's no problem-"
"No seriously," Jaemin insists. "I prefer fire over water any day. So diving into the pool was my worst nightmare. I can't swim for shit. After I cut the safety net and fell inside that pool to stay alive, I drowned just trying to stay alive. Mark shot up like an eel and began choking me. Hell in water. So when I say thank you, I say it with every breath I have. If it weren't for you, I would've been in there with them, or worse, dead. And now that I think of it, you're actually pretty good and handy on the field. You really jumped in and fought underwater, carrying both Mark and Jeno, going back Dae and swimming down in the deep to get me. Despite the house burning up and shooting fragments of scorching cements and walls, you got us all out. By yourself. That bravery deserves a medal."
Jisung humbly places his hands to his side smiling down. He recently entered the police force as an intern and was partnered up with Jaemin. Jaemin being an idol in the police force that he's always admired and wanted to be like. But it wasn't easy even talking to him. For 3 months now Jaemin never acknowledged his existence- except for when he needed paperwork to be done. They never went on field missions together, Jaemin did his things privately and never asked for help, Jaemin moved through his work as if Jisung wasn't even his partner. In fact Jisung wasn't even supposed to be at the Zhong resident mission, he just happened to overhear and ended up going- only to be reprimanded by Jaemin. That's why it feels like such a huge honor to be praised for doing his job, his skills that he acquired over the years in military bootcamp, he feels honored to be acknowledged for something that landed him the position as an intern in Korea's most respected police institution- next to Officer Na Jaemin.
"Thank you sir,"
"I'm the one thanking you, don't steal my spotlight." Jaemin jokes before turning serious again when seeing Mr Zhong Chenle. "Has your daughter Dae woken up?"
Chenle shakes his head his jaws clinching with anger. "I'm from speaking with Yezi." He breaths out angrily. Having Yezi, his loudest daughter, talk in a muted way because of what one of those guys did to her breaks his heart. They raped his daughter. They deserved to die. "I want them, all of them, to suffer the highest punishments'."
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"Mr Zhong Chenle, from the highest billionaire family of the Zhong's, is a self-made millionaire, a CEO at the world's top 10 best architectural planning's, G.H Constructions, with favorable clients, world wide recognition and enlightened public views, has finally taken to court a case that's been on lively and well-known by the democratic public, after 3 full weeks of silence. The attackers have awakened from their coma and are expected in court today. We hope that justice will be served. This has been Build Architect Talk on 94.7 highveld stereo, be sure to send your comments through our twitter page on what you think will be the outcome of the case."
The court building at the central House of Law, is ruled off by police officers who barricade the parameter from journalists, news crews and the general public. Zhong Chenle is seated inside one of the prestigious high court rooms looking at the peace symbol of justice hoping for the highest punishments to be served. Seated on the front row is the family of Chenle; their step mother Chungdae, Dae, Yezi and Chenle. Beside them is their lawyer, Lee Taeyong. Behind them, or scattered around the spacious court room are 4 Officers who were at the scene that will testify as witnesses, Dae's friends; Xiaojun, Yang Yang and Hendery are seated on one row a couple of seats behind. Officer Na Jaemin and Jisung sit some rows behind keeping mind of the door and whoever enters. Chenle strictly ordered that no press should enter. On the other side of the court, there's a lady in a heavy black padded jacket, she has strands of grey hair and looks agitatedly worried and sick. Yezi doesn't know the lady, but from a flashback that reaches her mind she wonders if that's Donghyuck's mother. If anything she didn't look like a wicked monster, she looked like a shriveled stressed out mother. Yezi almost forgets that Donghyuck isn't the only son being charged, Renjun was well. She turns to Dae by her side and holds onto her hand tighter.
"I'm scared," She whispers.
Dae, someone who's always realistically aware of her own capabilities, but also aware of her own limitations, not tempted by vanity or self-importance, is seated with her legs together in worry. For the first time in her life she looks precarious and anxious. She gulps holding onto Yezi's hand tighter. "Me too." They look into each other's eyes coated with fear before leaning onto each other embracing and comforting the other. Chungdae who's on Dae's side rubs onto her back while Chenle rubs onto Yezi's back, he and his wife make brief eye contact before the front door opens and all eyes move forward.
The public defender walks in, making brief eye contact with Taeyong in front. One thing that always made court cases troubled were public defenders- especially if they were defending guilty attackers. Why were they defending the attackers? The court appointed lawyer, or rather the public defender, Nakamota Yuta takes a seat on the opposite side of the court placing all his materials down. Despite being on the enemy side, he had reason to believe that if the boys where to be charged, then they would be charged correctly and not through bribery of the wealthy. Justice had to be served through the proper means of the penalty not because a rich father wants what he wants. No sooner then later the door opens and instantly Dae and Yezi tense up.
Donghyuck is the first to walk out in a white shirt and white pants, in handcuffs, he looks cold and angry. The next to walk out in handcuffs is Renjun, he's got a thick plaster over his arm with a sling attached and his neck is wrapped in thick bandages, while also his face is red and only his cheek is merely a yellow purplish blue with a plaster on over his jaw, he looks abashed and remorseful as he follows behind Donghyuck. The police guard in charge helps them enter the attackers zone and makes them sit removing their handcuffs.
The lady in the heavy padded jacket hesitantly stands up getting the attention of both Renjun and Donghyuck, it’s their mother. She walks up cautiously being cautious of the strict eyes of the police guard. She holds out a yellow file that Yuta gently takes knowing it's contents. Instead of taking a seat at the back where she was before, she sits on the row right behind them timidly. Renjun feels the tears prinkle from his good eye, but he refrains from crying, especially with straps of bandages being laced over and under his eye. Even though he was grateful to being alive, there's nothing in this moment that makes him grateful. He wished he were dead. While the public defender Yuta opens up the file and explains to Renjun what's going to happen to him, Dae's breath is uneven while facing the door at Mark who enters in the white uniform as well looking emotionless. He turns his head towards the girls and upon making eye contact with Dae, he smirks.
Nothing but fear runs down her spine and her grip gets tighter to which Yezi also returns when seeing the sinister smirk. Jeno, too in handcuffs follows behind Mark with his head down. He had a headache, from staying up all night to stressing about today, he hated the lights in the room and the fact that he would be facing the girls again. If anything the headache probably came from thinking too much about the girls- it only made him stressful. He and Mark woke up from their coma sleep earlier then Renjun and Donghyuck. So the two brothers had faced a lot of time together, which ended up being pretty ugly and made the boys bitter towards each other and towards the girls. Jeno couldn't even remember the full night. He remember drinking in the car and breaking in but from their his memories fogged up, but one thing he remembers is Dae and her biased rich mentality. However when Dae spots Jeno, her heart simmers down... he was alive. For some reason, a reason yet to be discovered, she felt fond of him. Perhaps she wanted to thank him. After him reading her diary, him saving her from his brother and helping her escape has her heart in esteem.
Hatred boils in Donghyuck upon seeing Mark, who betrayed him at the last minute and shot on him and his brother. Mark takes a seat next to him. It takes everything in Donghyuck not to lose it and hit Mark- but by his own will power he can't, instead it's the hand that lands over his clutched fist that he stops and takes a breath. Renjun holds firmly over Donghyuck's fist the moment he sees it forming. The last thing he wanted in the court room was another hectic scene- especially in front of their mother.
The judge in his black robe with maroon straps enters the room with everyone standing up as instructed by the officer. The judge takes a seat fixing the glasses on his face. "Trail case of Zhong Chenle against juvenile boys. I am Kim Jungmyeon Suho, present for the position of primary judge. The court is now in session." After the Judge Suho introduces himself he beats his gavel on the desk and an Officer closer to the stage stands up presenting the case to the jury of people who sit on the opposite side of the stage. He goes over each of every time slot and the given description of what happened on the day within the hours that the boys attacked.
Lawyer Taeyong stands up introducing himself to the judge and jury before mentioning the girls, the victims, and briefly tells the story of what happened using quotes and phrases the girls had said. He explains his theory of the case, the key elements to be proved, photos and evidence of the scenes, he touch basis on the side witnesses and what they'll testify, as well as emphasizes with conveying emotions of the themes expressed in the house. He looks to the jury stating what he wants from them, to punish and convict the boys of their crimes if possible at the same level and degree punishment. He takes up to 5 minutes but for Dae and Yezi, it feels like they were reliving the traumatic moments in the house being trapped with the boys.
The public defendant Yuta stands up introducing himself, and already the way he speaks brings Taeyong to the trials he recalls fighting against Yuta. Yuta is no ordinary public defendant, if not, he's the best lawyer, but for some reason he was always on the contradicting side and took favors of the attackers. Any case he fought against, he'd usually win, but the same goes for Taeyong, any case he'd pursue, he'd also win in it. So hearing Yuta speaking on the point of view of the boys, he wonders what's up the man's selves.
"The facts of this case are straightforward, nothing to defend there. My clients are charged with penalties and the evidence will show their participation in breaking and entering, offence related to fraud and theft, dealing in drugs, smuggling of ammunition and attempt at human trafficking-
"You're forgetting rape and murder." Taeyong raises his hand stating boldly.
Yuta looks to his side nodding his head firmly. "Of course. Rape and murder. In this case you will see the evidence leading to their crimes. However this I'll be countering with acts from the article laws. This is a civil case and the boys must prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence." As Yuta speaks, Donghyuck is puzzled as much as pissed off by their defendant who seemed to be digging their early grave. For sure by this rate they would get the full penalty and more. "Articles such as Article 14, 15, 17 and more stating negligence, justifiable acts, crimes committed through commission and omission and more. Seoul's Neo Cultured Law exists to protect, as well as encourage individuals to report illegal activity in their communities. My clients here aren't responsible for the full claims given, for these reasons after you've heard all the evidence, at the end of this trail I ask that you return a verdict in favor of each of my clients. Or rather at the end of the trial, I ask you find the defendants guilty of the severity of what each one did."
"So he wants the punishments to be fair?" Jisung whispers to Jaemin, who nods his head. Thinking back to what the father wanted; whereby all the boys be punished with the same crimes.
"That would mean each of them will have a punishment given according to how severe they acted." Jaemin briefs before Taeyong calls out to him as the first witness. As soon as he's finished, Jisung goes up next answering the questions from the lawyer and so do all the other witness officers. Yuta is up next bringing to the witness stand the mother of both Donghyuck and Renjun. As respectful as he can be, Yuta creates a story based on values and needs, making sure that the elder woman is not ridiculed by any of the people in the room- he knows how biased the rich and wealthy could be. His one witness.
Everything seems to be going well, the whole ordeal and flowing of movements is going in favor of Taeyong- as the boys crimes are evident and in need of punishment. Yuta is well aware of the bricks he has to place in order to get a fair sentence and knows that his chance of favor will begin when the judge speaks. Although it might be harsh, he knows his way to get the right sentences out of the jury and judge. The attackers are told to stand in front of the judge as their pre verdict would be given. Facing the judge, Renjun, Donghyuck, Mark and Jeno all anticipate their sentence. Mark and Donghyuck knowing the judge Suho, knows that if he gives his verdict, they might spend a long time in prison, meanwhile Renjun and Jeno are petrified of the daunting eyes of Suho. Being placed with chairs behind them, they sit and wait on the judge.
"Lee Jeno rise." Judge Suho calls out. Jeno stands up and moves over to the seat in front that's close to the podium of the judge. Sitting down he keeps his head down and his hands on his lap. "The crimes to be charged given by your public defendant are detention, fine and house arrest. Lee Taeyong, do you agree?"
"Negative." Taeyong stands up peering at Jeno, who still has his head down. "On the offender Lee Jeno, we'd like a full maximum sentence of imprisonment for breaking and entering, dealing in drugs and offence related to theft."
"Nakamota Yuta, is there an agreement?" The judge asks.
"Negative." Yuta stands facing Taeyong who still stands. "As I stated in the beginning I'll be referring to Article 15 for Lee Jeno's case. Article 15 states, Misunderstanding of Fact. Jeno's act was performed through ignorance of the facts which constituted especially more to severe crimes performed by the other members. The act states that he shall not be punishable for such severe crimes not committed by him-"
"Your honor-"
Yuta quickly dejects Taeyong's protest. "If anything, the witnesses and even victims can testify to his innocence."
Taeyong snaps his head to Yuta's direction. "Which victims?"
"Miss Dae." Yuta calls while picking up a sheet of paper. "In your questioning with the police you stated and I quote, 'He only tied up our hands because he was told to do so, but throughout the night he did nothing more but drink and eventually helped my sister and I escape. He also helped out Renjun.' Are those your words Miss Dae?" Dae's eyes are wide when looking at her dad and lawyer, the words were true.
"Y-yes," She meekly answers causing Jeno to look up. According to what Mark said, Dae turned her back against him. So to hear that he helped out and get a blurry image of bursting in her room with Mark being on top of her gets him to snap his eyes in Mark's direction. Did Mark lie to him?
"Not only Dae your honor, but the Police Officer Na Jaemin, witness, can testify in the last minute assistance of Jeno in capturing the real offender. There is a recording of him saying that and a questioning of him thanking Jeno. Officer Na, am I lying?"
Jaemin composes his reaction, avoiding the intense eyes of Zhong Chenle from the front. He simply blinks. "No."
"Another testimonial is Officer Park Jisung, who stated as that Jeno performed CPR, well mannered and well trained if I can add, on Dae who had drowned. So you see your honor, Lee Jeno is only guilty of breaking and entering. Because the dealing of drugs was not performed by him-"
"Your honor-"
"According to the doctors report and Dae's statement, his system was only filled with alcohol, no drugs as being claimed." Yuta pauses briefly peeking at Taeyong who clinches his jaw. "As for offence related to theft, Jeno clearly left the house with nothing in his hands but a dying Miss Dae as everything was burned down, so no charge there. And for that, we ask for the minimum sentence of detention for his participation in breaking and entering, a fine for his drinking actions and house arrest to keep him in one place."
"You're honor that's preposterous-"
"Is it?" Yuta questions. "What's actually preposterous is you throwing in drugs- which is something he didn't even do, all that to get him a sentence? If the police officers and victim herself can testify in his non involvement in the severe matter what makes you butt in? In fact, before the fire erupted, a police recording by Renjun stated that Jeno was the one who patched his injuries, injuries given by Lee Donghyuck. Your honor, my client is only guilty of breaking and entering."
Taeyong clinches his jaw staring wide eyed at Yuta. So he was going with that approach huh? Not only Taeyong but Chenle has fierce eyes. If Jeno was off the leash so easily- what would that mean for the others? "Taeyong?"
The judge beats the gavel dismissing Jeno and calling up Renjun. Taeyong gathers his papers on Renjun making sure that he would at least pin him down as he's an immigrant who performed illegal activities in Korea.
"The crimes to be charged given by your public defendant are suspension of qualification, minor fine and house arrest." Renjun's eyes are widen when hearing suspension of qualification. This would mean they'd kick him out of school...or worse. "Lee Taeyong, do you agree?"
"Negative." Taeyong firmly responds reading from his deck of papers. "On the offender Huang Renjun, a Chinese citizen, we'd like a full maximum sentence of imprisonment for breaking and entering, Offense related to exchange control, extortion, fraud, document forger and compelled rape."
"Nakamota Yuta, is there an agreement?" The judge asks unaware of the eyes that widen up by the surprise word.
"What do you mean compelled rape?" Yuta questions strictly looking to Taeyong, before looking to the judge. "No your honor, I do not agree."
"I didn't r-r-rape anybody-" Renjun's bottom lip trembles and his eyes water switching his eyes from the judge, to Yuta, to the girls briefly before looking at his shocked mother and brother. Donghyuck shakes his head knowing very well that Renjun didn't rape anybody- because the coward is still a virgin. He knows that he raped the girl Yezi and Mark had his way with the other girl Dae. So what where was this coming from?
"Your honor. My client did not... should not be charged for rape as he-"
"Your honor, my client Yezi, is the victim of rape, underage rape, that was forced on her-"
While Taeyong gives a brief description of what he's client Yezi testified, Yuta scampers though his papers to Yezi's statement remembering that he read she had no memory of who raped her. His eyes widen when realizing that the closest description of her rape was detailed as Renjun was in the room with her. What's strange is that Donghyuck who stated to raping her is not even mentioned by the lawyer Taeyong - who pines that Renjun is the rapist. Renjun is a stuttering mess and is crying while trying to defend himself.
"How can you be certain that from the description given it was Renjun? From her statement-" Yuta tries to speak above a wailing Renjun still trying to be respectful to the present girl, Yezi in the room. If it's something she truly can't remember then Renjun is in trouble. "My client did not-"
"My client was traumatized by the force of the grown man that she blacked out-" Taeyong continues looking firmly at the judge but when Donghyuck bangs his fist on the table standing up- everyone is in shock.
"Judge Suho I don't know what bullcrap their talking but I'm the one who raped that underage girl-"
"Donghyuck-"
Yuta's warning call is in vain as Donghyuck continues his speech directed to the judge who beats his gavel. "Order-"
"Fuck this order! Renjun did not touch that girl-"
"Control your individual Yuta." Taeyong warns. "We can charge him for being indifferent to sensitivity and being-"
"And what the fuck do you mean she doesn't remember?" Donghyuck continuously raises his voice, his anger shooting up the roof when he glares back with hell flames in his eyes as he peers at Taeyong before looking down at Yezi. "You fucking bitch- You don't remember who touched you? Do you need me to remind you who? Huh?! Who ripped off your clothes-"
"Donghyuck control yourself!"
"Who cut your shorts with a knife?! Who fucking ripped off your white panty?! Who kissed you?!-" In a quick movement he gets off the front row of chairs charging towards Yezi who panics- her father, Dae, Chungdae and Taeyong all have wide eyes ready to throw the guy off.
"Donghyuck!" Even as his mother and Yuta, yell for him to stop it- Donghyuck still speaks up above all the noise even though he's instantly strained by the guards.
"Order!"
"You still don't remember? Did that jog up your memory?!" Donghyuck is forced against Lee Taeyong's table as they try to restrain him but his eyes are firmly on Yezi who pants out unable to look away from the rageful eyes of the man. "Bitch who touched you?! Broke your fucking virginity?!" Staring at Yezi with blazing eyes, Donghyuck doesn't hold back even as the tears pour out her eyes vigorously. Looking into her eyes, he knows that's she knows that he did it. He knows she's lying and pretending- and that only enrages him since she's the one who caused him to take drastic measures to shutting her up from talking about his mother. "Do you not remember my tongue on your nipple?! Your pink nipples! Do you not remember me slapping you?! Do you fucking remember saying my mother should die!? Do you?! So who!? Who?! Who touched you?! Who fucked you black and blue? Who fucked you?! Who?! Who?!"
"You!" Yezi cries out as Dae and Chenle cling to her side while the Officers take him away as he grunts out. "You- it was you!" Yezi yells out all the rage coming back to her of that night. Her fingers pointing on Donghyuck. "You fucking monster!"
"Order!"
"Yezi calm down-" Chenle shields his daughter tightly holding onto her feeling his heart break when her cries get louder. "Baby it's alright, okay? Please just-"
"No." Yezi cries softly her words being a mumbling mess. "It was him, only him. He raped me. Daddy it was him. He raped me." Yezi breaks down into her fathers arm as her cries are pained by the memory. "It was him."
"Fucking bitch." Donghyuck grunts out when they restrain him against his own table cuffing up his hands again. "I fucking told you didn't I?!" Donghyuck still yells at Yezi. "You fucked up rich people always feeling entitled and wanting the law to be taken seriously on those who aren't at your level. What did my fucking brother do to you huh? I told you we aren't any different! The second your weak ass pathetic self is in trouble someone else takes the blame for your mess. You fucking mess with my brothers future again and I'm gunning for you! How dare you!? How dare you! You fucked up bitch! Fucked up system! Fucked up court! Fuck!"
Just as Donghyuck is dragged out the court room by the officers including Park Jisung, Mark pays attention to the continuous gavel that's been beating on the podium as the judge tried to maintain order. Even for Mark, that felt personal. Blaming the border jumper for a crime he didn't commit- he'd also get upset. Renjun has his head face down on the table as he silently cries- for the crime that he was about to be charged with. He didn't even remember her name, but he knew that he helped her the most between the girls- he even took a beating for her from the person who actually raped her. But she was about to blame him.
A 10 minute break is given by the judge who's astounded by the down turn.
The girls and their father are in the separate room with their lawyer. "At this rate I don't think it's possible for the boys to get the same punishment. At the rate Yuta's going, it's best we stick with the crimes' they committed rightfully. Are you okay dear?" Taeyong asks when Yezi is done drinking her beverage of coffee. She nods her head.
When Taeyong told her not to say anything without a lawyer, she stuck to silence. And when the father suggested that all the boys serve the same sentence, Taeyong said it would be possible to do so if they committed a sexual offense or if they committed murder. Only Mark and Donghyuck would be charged higher, but it was his suggestion to use the 'amnesia' technique to pin point Renjun- if her word would be stronger then anything Yuta would say- but then Donghyuck just had to stand up and confess- dramatically.
"What about you sir?" Taeyong asks. "We can take drastic measures to get them all in the same sentence but we'd be playing dirty and Yuta likes the dirt. Plus, it wouldn't be worth it if the girls aren't mentally strong for this."
"No forget it. As long as they all go to prison, then fuck it." Chenle immediately answers still rubbing Yezi's back. "Let this be over with. Opt for a restraining order as well, if they do get out of prison soon then I don't want them anywhere near my family."
Getting back inside the court after 10 minutes, Yezi and her mother Chungdae are watching from the empty room through the camera feed as Yezi feels too nervous to return. Dae sits next to her dad as they bring Renjun back on stage.
"Have your charges changed, Lee?" The judge asks.
Taeyong nods his head. "Yes your honor, we want to charge him with breaking and entering and offense related to exchange control, extortion, fraud and document forging."
"Yuta-"
"Negative. I don't agree with the charge. My client has renewed papers-" Yuta lifts up the yellow file with the renewed documents of his passport.
"But when committing the crime, his papers where out of date and expired. Meaning we had an illegal citizen breaking and entering into a Korean household-"
"Your honor-"
"If we take it a step forward, he forged his papers and identity while getting into Korea's high institute-"
"That has nothing to do with this case-"
"Yes it does." Taeyong firmly speaks picking up a paper. "Huang Renjun entered the same institute as Dae. He tried to get closer to her and even at some point took pictures of her. Who knows, maybe he's the real mastermind behind this whole plan-"
"What the hell are you people even talking about?" Donghyuck questions out furiously whilst his leg bounces in anger. "I was the one-"
"Okay fine. Mr Lee Donghyuck wants to take the blame for that too? Fine. Can Renjun at least admit to the crimes of forging his documents?"
"I-I-"
"My client-"
"You illegal foreigner, entering into our country with wrong papers, you have the nerve to go to school with forged documents, you break into a home and did who knows what to those girls- and sit here with a busted up face, broken bones claiming you did nothing?" Taeyong fires out glaring wholes into Renjun's eyes. Renjun's lip trembles and he cowers looking away from the lawyer. His mother sinks in her seat shedding light tears. Donghyuck breaths out heavily- restraining himself remembering the warning he got. "Your honor those are our charges. If the public defendant can't agree to it, we leave it in your hands." Taeyong ends his charges firmly, being fueled by anger.
The boys were the bad guys in the situation, why is that even a question?
The judge beats the gavel when Yuta says nothing else looking at Renjun with remorseful eyes. If anything, Renjun didn't deserve to be punished, after everything he said, he and Jeno were the ones who helped the girls. Up next to Donghyuck and he sits down.
"Permission to speak." Donghyuck firmly starts even before the judge can speak.
"Granted."
"I know what I did, I wasn't drunk or high, so I can remember every single word that left my mouth, all the actions I did and most certainly knows who snitched on me." Donghyuck starts. "I plead guilty to all my crimes, only the crimes I committed. I stand by the book of law, every word that comes out of my mouth is the truth. I'm the one who forged my brothers papers-" It's a lie. Donghyuck knows it, Renjun knows it, his mother knows it and Taeyong and Yuta are both puzzled knowing very well that he's lying. "I forged his papers for him to go to school and try to at least have a good life because the fucking goverment didn’t want to do shit for him. I planned out the entire scene of breaking into that rich man's house. Renjun didn't break into the house- I forced him in the house and threatened to kill him. I had weapons with me, a gun and corkscrew knife. I tied up the girls and sent them off to their rooms with my brother Renjun to watch the underage girl and Jeno to watch her." He points at Dae before firmly looking to the lawyers again. "I stole from all the rooms. I barged into my brother when he was on the call with the cops using the underaged girl's phone. I beat up my brother with my fists. I raped that underaged girl and I beat up Mark who shot my brother." Donghyuck leans back in his seat with burning eyes. “I smoked weed too, but that’s not illegal.”
Yuta said it was best for them to admit to their crimes in hopes of perhaps getting the judge and acclaimed sit in jury to see how sincere he was.
"Your honor. For Lee Donghyuck we want the charges of breaking and entering, forging of documents, offense related to theft, smuggling of ammunition and firearm and rape." Yuta states.
"Mr Lee do you agree?" The judge asks.
Taeyong turns his head to Chenle as confirmation. Chenle nods his head with his arms around Dae. "Positive."
"Good." The gavel is beaten down. Donghyuck gets off his seat going down the stairs before passing Mark.
"Why didn't you take responsibility for my crimes too?"
"Fuck off-" Donghyuck attempts to hit Mark but the guards following behind him quickly hold onto him.
"Order!" The judge immediately says hearing Mark chortle lowly.
Yezi watching from the room, recalls his words and the argument that led up to her being raped. From the way he confidently said his crimes- including his brothers crimes as well, Yezi feels how much his family means to him. The fact that he's willing to take the whole bullet and weight and punishment over his brothers crimes- shows how Yezi that the words he spoke to her that night were true. He may be a low life, but just like her, he was raised more dignified with honest values. And since he's a low life, he knows the spectrum of how the world works against him. Maybe his parents didn't love him, but he loved them. In him defending Renjun the way he did, just shows Yezi that he would willingly die for his brother- even though things in the house looked fragmented, Donghyuck's security and protection over his brother showed mightily. Even though he raped her selfishly, Yezi knows through her own words, it's what provoked him to inflict on her, the pain.
As Mark sits down, he doesn't say anything and waits on the judge. Being caught wasn't in his plan at all, he tried to avoid prison. But now that he's caught, he doesn't mind serving the sentence assigned to him as long as he's with Donghyuck. They really needed to speak.
"Mark you're charged with, murder, attempted human trafficking, smuggling of firearms, dealing of drugs and breaking and entering with intent to commit crime." The judge reads and turns to Taeyong. "Do you agree?"
Taeyong nods his head and while the judge asks Yuta, Mark's eyes pane over to Dae. She holds in her breath not being able to look away from his eyes. He forced her into sexual activity that she didn't want...rape. But for some reason, it's not listed as a charge.
"You having pity on me babygirl?" Mark asks, not aware that he interrupted Yuta's speech, who tried to debunk the other claims- even though they were all true.
The sight of Mark on top of Dae with his cock inside of her mouth burns in Jeno's head as he pants out. Especially when he thinks of how he held her and she cried in his arms. Why wasn't she telling that he used her?
"Order!" The judge beats the gavel. "Mark you may sit. We'll have a 5 minute break and we'll call you back in for the final sentence."
Mark doesn't say anything not even hearing what the judge or lawyers say as his eyes are still on Dae. It's either she didn't confess it because she didn't want him to suffer more punishments, or could it be that... she liked it. The thought of Dae being aroused makes him chuckle with excitement. "That was fun," He mutters out.
Meanwhile Jeno turns his head to the back where her father is now hugging her. With her head over her fathers shoulder, she accidently meets his eyes and he begins to wonder why she didn't confess it. He was lucky to leave with a light charge, but barging out like Donghyuck did for Renjun could only affect his charge more. So silence it was. But the burning image in his head doesn't sit right with him, especially since Dae's eyes seem to understand his conflict. Something must've happened for her to keep her mouth shut.
While the rest leave, Yuta walks forward to the boys with his hands in his pocket. He breaths out running his hands through his hair. "We asked for the minimum sentence for both Renjun and Jeno, so your serving might be 1-2 years of imprisonment. Donghyuck and Mark, minimum could be 15 years and maximum could be 25 years. With parole I can simmer it down to 5 years. That's only if you've truly learnt your lesson. Despite your charges, Renjun you asked me if they'd charge you for burning the house. The answer is no. Miss Yezi claimed that Mark stated he would burn the house, but when checking the footage outside, the house erupted in flames due to the oil leakage from one of the cars before it bursted. So damage of property is not in your case, besides he's got insurance for that." Yuta adds. The only person who needed parole was Renjun and Jeno, the rest should be convicted, but Yuta isn't about to say that. As long as his job is finished and he got the rightfully claimed punishments then he was satisfied. "Actually Renjun, even with your renewed papers, there's a high chance they might send you back to China for imprisonment, so try not to be shocked when they give that sentence."
Donghyuck clinches his jaw the whole time, even as Yuta leaves the judge comes back and everyone is seated again and their told to rise. He knows he deserves punishments, Mark deserves it, Jeno... the point is, Donghyuck knows that it was his fault in the first place why Renjun was dragged into all of this. Is wasn't his fault. He didn't deserve the punishments. So when the Officer spokesman begins to read the servings, he hopes in his head that Renjun will get a lighter sentence.
"Lee Jeno. Guilty, of the said charges. His sentence, 10 months in county jail and 2 months of community work in house arrest. Huang Renjun. Guilty, of said charges. His sentence, 12 months imprisonment and will be deported to China for another 6 months of serving."
"Th-that's 1 year and a half," Donghyuck whispers and turns to Renjun. "Yuta can probably simmer it down. Don't worry okay, it's cool."
Renjun bottom lips trembles but he nods his head agreeing with Donghyuck. He's just upset that he has to be deported back to China.
"Lee Donghyuck. Guilty. His sentence 10 years in prison with parole and community service of 2 months. Lee Mark. Guilty. 15 years in prison with parole."
While the boys are stunned by the minimum sentence received Lee Taeyong as well as Chenle are enraged with the sentences. What the fuck is 15 years? For rape and murder? 10? 15? Chenle can only sigh in bitterness as his hands move up and down Dae's side.
"Your honor. My client opts for restraining order as well."
Yuta nods his heads. "And my client Renjun opts for a recheck on being deported. He's got his papers in order and article 16 of Mistake of facts, applies for today's time. He's papers are in order."
Taeyong rolls his eyes. "Even if his papers are in order, he should still be punished and learn never to walk around a foreign country with fabricated documents. Does he even have legal adoption papers?" Renjun flinches by Taeyong's harsh tone.
"That's not-"
"Your honor." Taeyong cuts Yuta in anger. "We do not agree to the appeal."
Judge Suho beats his gravel. "All sentences are to be carried out with no changes. Restraining order granted. This court is now dismissed."
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5 Years later
The metal gates slide close after Donghyuck steps out. He rubs his wrists looking up to the hot sun taking in the air of his new freedom. Finally. He’s out.
-
Getting out of prison with a warrant wasn't easy at all, but not as much as it was to get a job of any kind with so many prison charges. Thankfully, Donghyuck's mother came to his rescue. She worked as a day care teacher assistant and their school was in need of a cleaner. It wasn't a luxurious position, but Donghyuck took it just to prove to his mother that he was serious in mending their relationship.
So being a 'janitor' his main responsibilities included getting on the school grounds early, cleaning up classes when students were not inside, disposing of trash and waiting until the school day was over and all the kids went home to clean again. Those were his responsibilities, but it became tough when parents didn't pick up their kids on time at 13.00. Donghyuck hated when parents would fetch their kids late. Reason being, because he'd need to make sure that the school was 100% empty before him to go home. And if it was not 100% empty, then he wasn't allowed to go home.
Donghyuck picks up the heavy green plastic of trash consisting of used but not limited to dirty recyclable materials, and walks out the classroom and onto the hallway that would lead to the playground field where all the different sets of dumpsters would be. After dumping the trash inside and closing the lid he digs into his pocket to his buttoned phone to check the time.
15:29.
Thirty more minutes until he could knock off. Upon walking back to the classroom, his eyes squint into the playground distance to the empty entrance gate- well not so empty. What catches his eye, is some sort of homeless looking guy in dirty black sweatpants and a faded out red Coca-Cola t-shirt with holes, walking towards a child sitting on a bench. Donghyuck sighs and walks towards the entrance. His whole presence alone causes the homeless guy to deviate and part away crossing the street. The vulnerable child isn't even aware that she's been spared from danger as she continues humping on the bench. Getting a bit sexual and seemingly trying to reach her pleasure.
Donghyuck scratches his neck wondering if he should be stopping the child or tell his mum once again. Even though they still weren't on good terms, he promised to be on his  best behavior if it meant his mum helping him out. 
Getting closer to the bench, Donghyuck notices the child seating down yet rocking her hips back and forth on the bench- almost grinding herself on it. 
The sight is perverse. 
However for Donghyuck, he'd gotten used to only one of the day care students who was consistent in grinding on anything and everything when she was bored. Areum.
Making himself more visible to the young girl, Donghyuck sits on the bench next to her. Her motion stops and she peers to the elder sitting next to her, a bright smile coating her lips. "Hi Mr Sunshine!"
"Hey Kid." Donghyuck greets in a mumbling tone making the girl chuckle. With his hands in his pocket and peering down at the girl who slowly continues to grind herself again, Donghyuck sighs. "Where's your parent?"
The child blinks causing Donghyuck to internally roll his eyes groaning lowly.
"Where's the person who's going to fetch you? You mum or dad or guardian?"
"Oh! Mummy's at work." She says nodding her head. "Uncle Jung is going to fetch me."
Donghyuck nods his head allowing the silence to take over. However his attention draws to the girl once again when she rocks her hips back and forth again. It's not the first time she's done this, however, every time that she does it, Donghyuck feels slightly uncomfortable. He's caught her on this bench all by herself on multiple occasions grinding for pleasure, not only the bench, but sometimes in class as well, on her chair. Donghyuck just wonders what exactly is going on in her head, while she literally dry humps the bench.
"Why are you doing that?" Areum peeks up and blinks her eyes. Donghyuck breathes out. Not wanting to say foreign words or words she's never heard before, he motions with himself and dry humps the bench similar to what she was doing. Areum catches on and smiles.
"It's a secret!" She leers. Despite her words, she seems excited to share the so called secret. And Donghyuck takes advantage of that, throwing his best cunning and charming personality.
"Can I know the secret?" Donghyuck asks with a pretense stunned face, being cunningly friendly. "I thought we're friends?"
"Okay." Areum looks around skeptically. "It's a secret." And laughs. "Uncle Jung said I should tell no one, even if its nice."
Donghyuck's brows furrow. "What's nice?"
Areum laughs covering her mouth frantically. In Donghyuck's head she looks the happiest while trying to be cryptic. She stands up and jumps up happily before her fingers begin to move. Donghyuck's eyes widen when she lifts up her white skirt revealing her yellow panty. He hesitates for a second until he realizes that her hand fumbles and makes it's way inside her panty. He's quick to taking her hands out while having a morbidly shocked face.
She giggles, being way too excited. "Let me show you."
The secret? The secret has something to do with an uncle and a child? This only makes Donghyuck widely panic. "Fuck,"
"Oh oh." She covers her mouth in sudden surprise. "Do you also play fuck like Uncle Jung?" Before a smile latches onto her face. A chill runs down Donghyuck's spine. "Uncle Jung said fuck is a game. It's my favorite game." She whispers out.
His eyes widen. In all his years of being in prison, he sorta had the chance to reflect on where he'd like to be once he's out. And right now, talking to this girl feels dangerous. It's a problem. And this is not what he wants at all. If he tells his mum, there might be a high case of him being in a feud with the family of the young girl's parents. At the same time because the daycare already don't like him, he and his mum might both be fired from god knows what- Donghyuck is aware of how much they're waiting for him to slip up. But yet, he can't stop himself from asking. "Can you tell me more about his game? I don't know it."
"Don't tell anyone. Not even Mrs Chittaphon. Or mummy. Only Uncle Jung and I play this game," She nods her head and smile. "It's a nice game. I get to sit on him and ride the horsey!"
Donghyuck's eyes burst out of their sockets. Just as his lips become dry. He clears his throat asking. "Does he remove your clothes?"
She shakes her head. "No." She smiles. That sort of makes Donghyuck cool down again, however he's still in edge by the word horsey and what exactly she rides or what exactly has he shown her. "Can I show you?"
Donghyuck shakes his head with a tight smile, feeling bad for the little girl who seems brainwashed. "It's fine, I don't want to play the game today,"
"Uncle Jung likes to play it after work," Areum smiles. And that literally breaks Donghyuck's heart. Such a small, sweet and innocent little girl being manipulated by a ravaging uncle wolf.
"What does he do in the game?" Donghyuck asks after gaining her trust by sealing his lips shut with an invisible key.
"He tickles me here." Areum points to a part in her skirt (most likely her private area) and that makes Donghyuck mad. The urge to telling his mum growing. "And does like this," using her middle finger, she surprisingly rubs it on her yellow panty causing Donghyuck to quickly hold her hand.
"Your fucking uncle is raping you." He can't hold himself back when he glares into her eyes while shaking his head.
"My playing uncle is raping?" She asks with a puzzled face. "What's rape?"
Donghyuck sucks in a breath, and with distress he runs his hands through his hair. Before he turns back to Areum his eyes latch onto a black vehicle pulling up on the street. "Shit. Hey sweet cheeks, I need you to listen alright. Don't tell Uncle Jung that you told me, okay?"
She instantly nods his head. "I won't tell him. He'll be angry with me. Don't worry Mr Sunshine, it'll be our little secret."
The black vehicle parks right in front of them, with Donghyuck creating some distance while Areum can't stop giggling at her secret. A man, smartly dressed in a suit with parted hair, steps out the car with a charming smile growing on his lips when Areum jumps from the bench running to him. Donghyuck stands up with his hands stuffing in his pocket.
"Uncle Jung!" Areum cheers hugging him by his legs. Upon hearing the name, Donghyuck's eyes do a double take towards the man. The man squats all the way down with an antagonizing friendly smile, and puckers his lips allowing for Areum to kiss his lips before she giggles like the naïve little girl she is. She begins jumping up and down in place while the man stands. "Did you buy the toys?"
"My little puppy, I bought you so many toys for you to enjoy. They're gonna make you feel real good," Hearing the voice of the older male, his underlying tone of condescension and how much authority he has over the little girl, Donghyuck can't help it when his fists tighten into a ball. His jaw clinches when the male with a charismatic smile grins his way. "She wasn't a bother was she?"
Donghyuck's jaw locks and he looks away, only making Jaehyun continue as if he didn't get ignored.  
"Either way, thanks for keeping her company."
Placing Areum in the backseat and placing her bag in the boot, the man known as Uncle Jung gets into his driver's seat and begins driving away. Donghyuck can only stand with his fists balled up as he watches the car stride away. In his head, although the situation was sickening, he already told himself he wouldn't get involved. His mum's reputation, as well as his own reputation was on the line.
"Poor girl." Donghyuck sighs walking back in the school. Little did he know that the little girl in the car of the grown old ‘uncle’ was his own ‘bastard child’ from the night he raped Yezi.
*****
The End: to be continued in SEASON 2: SOS: POISON IN MY MIND 
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WC.  47k if you like reading longshots then this if for you
155 notes · View notes
ppangjae · 2 years
Text
FIVE PLUS ONE | JAEHYUN
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SYNOPSIS. Five times world-renowned chef Jeong Jaehyun tried to end your journey to be a chef  because you weren’t ‘qualified enough to be a chef’ and that one time you proved him wrong. 
—or: your villain story quite literally 
PAIRING. jaehyun x fem!reader
GENRE. fluff | angst | enemies to lovers!au | chef!jaehyun | aspiring chef!reader
WORD COUNT. 28.8k+ words (is this my new record? omg)
author's note. i posted a long time ago about how i must write a chef!jae fic and now, here she is. i'm so sorry for such a long wait (and all those postponements oop) but i'm glad that she's finally done and posted for you to enjoy reading! i hope you enjoy this fic as much as i enjoyed writing it :-) also pls reading the author’s note at the end for all my thoughts about writing this fic! happy reading~
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THE FIRST TIME.
The first time you and world-renowned chef Jeong Jaehyun crossed paths was when you were doing your culinary internship at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy. In fact, you had no idea who Jeong Jaehyun was. It was your second day of internship at the Michelin-starred restaurant and because you needed a bit more time to adjust to the new working environment, you worked as a waitress. You had no customer complaints about working as a waitress for the first week and had agreed it was the best way for you to get accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. While you had no idea who Jeong Jaehyun was at the time, he made sure you knew who exactly he was when you had accidentally stumbled over your two feet and spilled his glass of Barolo all over his cream-coloured button-up shirt.
“I’m so sorry!” You exclaim, looking at him with extreme horror all over your face. Your knees were planted onto the red carpet floors, and you were too horrified and embarrassed to bring yourself back up onto your own two feet. You would rather be sucked into the red carpet floors and the pits of darkness, never to be seen again. Slowly looking up at him, he stares down at his stained shirt before meeting your gaze.
Your blood has never run cold until that very moment. He reads your name on your name tag with a piercing gaze before muttering. “Please get back up. You’re just creating a scene and humiliating yourself even more by gathering attention from other customers—”
“Oh, mi dispiace! Here’s a napkin, Mr. Jeong!” The executive chef, Alessandro, rushes over to the two of you with a large napkin. You’re not sure if you should be relieved to have Alessandro come in to save yourself from the embarrassment, especially with Mr. Jeong staring straight at you with eyes like shooting daggers. You’ve settled on standing behind Alessandro, feeling completely ashamed and embarrassed of yourself. 
“Is she new?” Mr. Jeong asks, burning two holes through your forehead with his dark brown eyes. With your head hanging low, you could only momentarily distract yourself by noticing that the heel of your two-inch black high heels has completely broken off. 
Great. You had just bought these high heels, and they've already broken. You’re left with no choice but to glue the broken heel back on. 
“Yes, she’s new. I apologize, Mr. Jeong. She’s still in training, and thus, she’s a little flustered," Alessandro explains. You don’t have the strength to look at any of them, but the damage has already been done. You’re no superhero with the power to turn back time and undo mistakes. Although, you wish you did have those superpowers at this very moment.
Your conscience forces you to do what you’re supposed to do. First, apologize. Second, make an offer to clean up the spill. Three, offer compensation after consulting Alessandro with ideas. Four, scan the tables around and apologize for the commotion. You learned this in culinary school. You draw in a deep breath, stepping towards Alessandro’s side and forcing yourself to look at Mr. Jeong.
That piercing gaze… that stone-cold face… You wonder who did him so dirty to be so cold-hearted. 
“I apologize, Mr. Jeong. The mess will be cleaned up and we’ll get you a new glass of Barolo. In compensation—” You begin until Alessandro decides to finish it for you.
“In compensation, your main course will be on the house. We deeply apologize, Mr. Jeong.” Alessandro bows and you take it as your cue to bow with him.
Mr. Jeong slowly nods his head. You can still feel his burning stare. Who is he? Why is he being acknowledged with such high regard? Mr. Jeong mumbles, “no worries, do you mind showing me where the washroom is?”
“Yes, Mr. Jeong. It’s right this way.” Alessandro takes over and leads Mr. Jeong to the washroom. As they’re walking away, Alessandro flashes you a look. It’s not a warning look. But with his gaze, you can tell that he’s telling you to head to the storage room to clean up the spill before Mr. Jeong comes back to his table. 
As you head to the storage room to grab hot towels, you bump into one of the other waitresses, Stella, who looks just as horrified as you are. Your legs almost give out at the sight of her. 
“Stella, do you mind taking over his table? I don’t think I can—”
“No, yeah, sure, I’ll take over that table for you. Are you sure you’re okay?” She asks with a face filled with concern. She bites her lip. “You do know who that man is, right?”
You slowly shake your head. “I have no idea who he is—”
“Oh mio dio!” Stella gasps in shock. “Bella, that is Mr. Jeong Jaehyun. Chef Jaehyun. He is a world-renowned chef. He owns five three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the world—”
“World… renowned… chef…” You trail off, growing more horrified by what you’ve done. 
“He’s won almost every cooking competition you could think of. He’s a legend. Both of his parents are culinary chefs too. His parents also teach at one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea for its culinary arts program. He started cooking when he was only ten years old—” She continues to hammer it into your head that the man you have spilled expensive wine all over is a living legend that cannot be messed with.
And you… have messed with him. 
Unknowingly.
“A legend… started at ten years old… won every competition…” 
You’re going to pass out. You feel faint. Your legs feel like jello. You’re surprised that you still haven’t been sucked into the red carpet floors. Maybe fate wanted you to experience this humiliation. Did you do something horribly wrong in your past life to deserve this? It’s only been the second day of your internship and you already want to go home. Hell, you haven’t even started cooking—which is why this culinary internship is for—and you already want to go home to your parents and cry your eyes out. 
“Yeah. He’s a big deal, Y/N. But don’t worry, I got you covered. I’ll take over his table. In the meantime, you stay here and get yourself together, alright?” Stella reassures you. 
You slowly nod your head, falling back against the stool. Stella grabs some towels and leaves you in the storage room all by yourself. Complete shock and embarrassment, you’ve really dug yourself a huge hole. After you’ve gathered yourself together, you head towards the door to look out the small round window that peeks into the restaurant. You could see Stella wiping up Mr. Jeong’s—or should you say Chef Jaehyun’s—table. When Chef Jaehyun returns, she greets him with a wide, pearly-white smile. He returns the same energy as her, almost mirroring her warm and bright aura. It’s a complete one-eighty from how he was with you. You can’t help but feel small. You can’t help but feel miserable.
Maybe you’re not fit to be working in a restaurant. Maybe you’re not fit to be working in a kitchen.
If you can’t even handle guests on the floor, what makes you think you could handle cooking meals in a kitchen? What makes you think you could even step foot in a kitchen? As a chef?
Maybe you’re just not fit to be a chef at all.
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As you clock out of your shift, you kick off your high heels to replace them with a pair of running shoes. It’s almost midnight, and you’ve spent the closing hours cleaning up the dining area and the kitchen. It’s been hours since your encounter with Chef Jaehyun but it still feels fresh in your mind. You don’t think it’ll ever leave your mind for a while. 
You hear Stella call out your name as you put on your sweater. Looking over your shoulder, you spot her entering the room with a box in her hands. You quirk an eyebrow out of curiosity. 
“Hey, bella. This is for you.” 
She hands you the box, and you take off the cover to see a new pair of high heels. They look just like the ones you had on earlier, but it has a shiny finish. It’s an expensive brand as well. You place the cover back on, shaking your head and returning it to her. 
“Oh, no, Stella, I don’t think I can take this.” You hand back the heels to her.
She shakes her head. “Oh, no, bella, this is not from me. These heels are truly for you. I was just told to hand this over to you.”
“Oh…” You mumble softly. “Alright, then. Thanks, Stella. Thank you for having my back.”
“No worries, beautiful.” She smiles. “Now, forget about what happened today because tomorrow will be a new day! I don’t want to see your frown tomorrow morning when you clock in, alright? Promise?”
You chuckle. “I promise. By the way, do you know who gave the heels?”
She waves it off. “Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about who gave them.”
“What secrets are you hiding from me?”
“I’m not hiding any secrets from you, beautiful. In fact, I have no idea who gave them. Alessandro just told me to give them to you.”
“I should probably thank Alessandro for these,” you mumble softly.
“Oh, no, these aren’t from Alessandro. He just told me that someone dropped by to give these heels to you and then he asked me to give them to you before you leave.” 
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THE SECOND TIME.
You didn’t think Mr. World-Renowned Chef would come back, especially on the last day of your culinary internship. Ever since your full experience of a nightmare with Chef Jaehyun, you were quite surprised that the restaurant made you stay. You were expecting them to kick you out and let you find your way on your own. The first time you encountered Chef Jaehyun, you were a waitress. But this time… you’re a line cook.
And you’re cooking two dishes for him.
“Bella, is the filet mignon and gnocchi Sorrento ready?” Alessandro asks when he pops into the kitchen.
Ever since Alessandro announced and acknowledged Chef Jaehyun’s presence in the restaurant, you’ve been a jittery, nervous mess. This is all because you want to prove Chef Jaehyun wrong. You want to see him sit in his chair and dig into the dishes you’ve made for him, appreciating every single second of your hard work and effort. There are many dishes in the hot sanitizing bath; most of them are yours because they haven’t turned out the way you want them to be. You’ve been assigned two dishes; the filet mignon and gnocchi Sorrento and tiramisu. Two completely different dishes, one is the main course while the other is a dessert. 
“It’s ready.” You answer, placing the dish of filet mignon and gnocchi Sorrento over the counter for Stella to serve the intimidating chef sitting right outside of the door. In terms of what happens beyond that door leading to the dining area, you hope it’s everything but a repeated nightmare.
You take a step back and wait for Stella to return to the kitchen with Chef Jaehyun’s input on your dishes. A couple of minutes later, Stella returns to the kitchen with not a single trace of a smile spread across her lips. You wait in absolute terror. 
It’s almost as if you’re experiencing a real-life Kitchen Nightmares episode. But the chef tasting the food is not Gordon Ramsay (fortunately). It’s Jeong Jaehyun (unfortunately). 
“He doesn’t like it,” she mumbles softly. She draws in a deep breath, eyes finding yours. “He actually wants to have a word with the chef who made it.”
“Oh god,” you groan, rubbing at the temples of your head. You’re feeling a migraine beginning to throb every single angle of your head. It feels like your head is becoming a construction site, pulsing and pounding painfully every thirty seconds. “I’m going to pass out.”
When you step out of the kitchen, you nervously make your way toward Chef Jaehyun’s table. He’s sitting there, eyes shooting daggers right through your head. He definitely remembers you. There’s no doubt about it. There it is… the same piercing gaze he gave you the first time you encountered him. But that piercing gaze that he gives you is for a similar reason.
You messed up.
And he’s going to grill you for it.
You clear your throat and muster up a small smile as you reach his table. “Hi, Chef Jaehyun, I’m—”
“Y/N.” He cuts you off. You clamp your mouth shut. You were hoping he would be a bit nicer this time around. With the way he shuts you down, you’re starting to learn that you shouldn’t hope for better outcomes in your miserable situations. He tilts his head. “You’re the one who worked as a waitress for my table during my first visit. It’s quite surprising to see you in a chef’s apron. So… tell me, are you actually a culinary intern?”
You slowly nod your head. “Yes, chef.”
“Well, you have many things yet to learn. I’m surprised Enoteca Pinchiorri even considered taking you in as a culinary intern because the dish you had sent out to me is quite… disappointing.” One by one, his comments throw axes at your weak heart. “Take a good look at the gnocchi. Is this hand-made?”
“Yes, chef—”
“It’s rubbery. You’ve added too much flour.”
“I apologize, chef—”
“And I asked for a medium-rare for the filet mignon. It’s well-done.” He points at the filet mignon that he’s sliced with a fork and knife. You feel defeated yet again. You’re not sure if you would rather have the same person or a group of people criticize your cooking. “You should be grateful to be an intern here at this restaurant. This isn’t something you should be taking for granted. It’s not something that should be taken lightly. Other aspiring chefs desire to be in your shoes but don’t have the resources for it.”
“Again, I apologize, Chef Jaehyun.” You bow at him. “I’ll work harder.”
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to your co-chefs. You are lacking in many skills, Y/N. Take this and my comments as a way to improve, or else you will never make it as a chef in this industry.”
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That night, you barge into your bedroom with red, swollen eyes and a heavy heart. There must be a reason you keep fucking up in front of Chef Jaehyun. But you’re not sure if you’re courageous enough to be able to withstand such embarrassment. You want to go home. You want to stop your journey of becoming a chef. If the world’s most renowned chef thinks your cooking is horrible, how different would it be for a regular customer?
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to your co-chefs. You are lacking in many skills, Y/N. Take this and my comments as a way to improve, or else you will never make it as a chef in this industry.”
You feel crushed.
Just like your dreams of becoming a chef.
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THE THIRD TIME.
When you told your father that you would take a chance at MasterChef, he didn’t believe you until he saw you on his TV screen. Ever since you signed up to be a part of the competition, you’ve worked diligently to create the perfect dish to cook and present to the chefs. But when you stand behind the curtains that lead into the kitchen, you can’t help but grow afraid that all you’ve tried to remember and keep note of has completely vanished from your brain. You can’t afford to mess up.
You can’t afford to lose this chance, this opportunity.
It’s been years since your mother passed away due to cancer. She had run a diner, Mina’s Place. She named it after her. It was the only diner in the city that had good reviews. The reviews were a reflection of her passion for cooking. She loved cooking for others but mostly for herself. She had many skills. She perfected many dishes. The university nearby had a highly reputable culinary program, and the professors of that program had frequented the diner from time to time. They would always tell her that there was something special about the diner and that it was surely on its road to something even bigger. 
But before your mother had seen the highest success of her dream, her diner, she fell ill and was diagnosed with cancer. In a short time, her health deteriorated, and she eventually succumbed to her illness, leaving the diner and bringing all its light with her. 
If there was something you wanted to get out of this competition, it was a reputation. It was another chance to continue your mother’s dream. You know that this is something your mother would have wanted if she was still alive, to see her diner up until its end. But she was the one who let go first. Your dream is to bring back the diner, and you’re not sure how, but all you want is to fulfill her dream. 
Your mother’s dream has become yours. 
“Let’s welcome the next potential contestant, Chef Y/N. She’s interned at many restaurants in Florence and wants to open up a restaurant of her own someday.” The host introduces you as you wheel your cart into the kitchen. 
When you reach the workstation situated right in the middle of the room, you place your things down before looking up to introduce yourself to the judges. As you look up, the first person you meet eyes with is Chef Taeyong. Chef Taeyong is known for being the co-owner of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Florence. You’ve always wanted to become a culinary intern at his restaurant, but you always chickened out. Standing right next to him is Chef Doyoung, who nods his head at you. Chef Doyoung is known for being a world-renowned chef in the making. He was the winner of MasterChef four years ago and since then has opened a lot of successful restaurants, all of them with Michelin stars. And standing right next to Chef Doyoung is—Chef Jaehyun?!
When Jaehyun’s eyes land on you for the first time in years, his eyebrows raise with surprise. Seeing you for the third time cannot be a pure coincidence. He tries to compose himself and get himself together when you finally acknowledge his presence. From the corner of his eye, he could see Taeyong glance at him. His shoulders tense up, but he feels them slowly relax when you look away from him. 
“Plans to open up a restaurant, huh?” Chef Doyoung smiles and you bite your lip, nodding your head in reply. “You know, that was my plan when I started my journey here in MasterChef. My plan worked out in the end! That means you can fulfill whatever your heart desires, as long as you put your mind to it.”
“I truly believe that if you put your mind into something, it'll be easily attainable if you put in the work and effort.” Chef Taeyong agrees with his co-judge. “Do you have anything planned for today?”
You clear your throat. “I’m planning on baking up a dish that my mother used to make for me. Well, it’s a dessert among many desserts that my mom used to make for the family.”
“But will this dish be enough to give you a spot in MasterChef?” You almost choke on your spit when you hear his voice for the first time in years. Chef Jaehyun. His voice still sends shivers down your spine. As you slowly look up from the stove, you find him already looking back at you with the same piercing gaze that you never seemed to forget. 
You gather yourself together. You nod. You like to believe that you’ve learned to handle your nervousness and anxiousness. “More than enough, chef.”
“You seem to have a close relationship with your mother,” Chef Doyoung begins. While you’re conversing with the chefs, you’re preparing your dish. You start by dipping the truffles in melted chocolate. “Is she the one who inspired you to join MasterChef?”
You smile at the thought of your mother. You answer as you place each chocolate-covered pumpkin pecan truffle onto the plate. “Yes, chef. She’s very special to me. I just want to make her proud.”
“Well, what are you making us for today?” Chef Doyoung questions. You’re placing the spiced pumpkin roulade next to the truffles and adjusting them to make the dish look presentable overall. 
“I’ll serve you a spiced pumpkin roulade with pecan maple truffles. It’s something my mom used to make every Thanksgiving.” You answer. “It’s also my dad’s favourite dessert, and because it’s his favourite, my mom would make it for him every now and then. I would have to sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a bite because the whole thing would be gone the next day.”
Chef Taeyong chuckles. “Sounds sweet, spicy, and delicious. It also sounds like it brings warm memories. You have five minutes left, Y/N.”
Five minutes later, your dish is ready. You place it right in front of you at your station. Chef Taeyong is the first one to taste your dish. He heads over to you and picks up his spoon. He scoops a spoonful of everything in your dish underneath the warm spotlights that shine over your station. Pumpkin pecan truffles… spiced pumpkin roulade…
“Do you mind walking me through this dish?” Chef Taeyong asks. 
“What you have on this side are the truffles… the pumpkin pecan truffles, to be exact. It’s glazed with maple syrup.” You explain before pointing to the sliced pumpkin roulade on the other side of the dish. “And on the other side of the dish is a spiced pumpkin roulade.”
“You seem nervous,” he says softly. 
You let out a shaky laugh. “I am indeed quite nervous, chef.”
“How bad do you want this, Y/N?” He asks. 
“So bad.” You answer simply. “You don’t even know how bad I want this.”
“Let’s see if this dish is enough to earn you a spot in the competition.” He tastes your dish.
You study and observe him as he tastes the hints of pumpkin and pecan, all punched deep with some spice. You fiddle with your fingers nervously. It’s a bad habit of yours. If there’s one thing that you wanted to get out of this audition, it was at least one yes. One yes is enough for you to be satisfied. But oh, how you want this so badly. 
“Wow.” He tilts his head with surprise. It’s almost as if he’s caught off guard. “It’s delicious.”
“R-Really?” You blurt out before shaking your head. “I mean—thank you. Thank you, chef, that means so much to me.”
“It tastes amazing.” He smiles before heading back to his seat. 
You’re starting off strong. You like what’s happening. Two more chefs and your fate will be determined. You hope fate is on your side this time. You know you deserve a break from all of your horrible chances with luck and fate. You deserve this. You’ve worked so hard for it. It would be a huge disappointment if you didn’t earn a spot in the competition. 
Next up is Chef Doyoung, who grabs his spoon and digs into your dish without uttering a single word. Once he’s finished tasting your dish, he folds his arms and raises an eyebrow. “Y/N, are you satisfied with how your dish turned out today?”
“More than satisfied, chef.” You mumble softly, but there’s a hint of a lack of confidence in your voice. You’re sure the chefs could pick up your low self-esteem. Chef Doyoung purses his lips into a tight line.
“Are you a perfectionist?” He asks. 
“I try to be, chef.” You answer.
“Well, perfectionism is one of the best qualities to have as a chef.” He adds. He clasps his hands together and sucks in a deep breath. “I taste a light hint of lemon, but I am immediately kicked with the spices. I could taste the hint of cloves that burst right through the hints of lemon. I think you have a great sense of flavours. You have a great sense of spices. This dish has the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and savoury.”
“Thank you, chef.” You smile, not sure how to contain your happiness. 
“Well done,” he complements you before heading back to his seat. 
Last is Chef Jaehyun, who walks up to your station. Your smile immediately vanishes from your face and is replaced with horror. You’re especially nervous around him. With all the horrible encounters you’ve had with him, you wish he had a poor memory because you wouldn’t want someone like him to remember you. You’re looking everywhere but him. 
“I’m not a fan of sweets and desserts.” He says flat out. You wince. “That should be more than enough to make you nervous.”
“I hope that with this dish, you’ll start to appreciate desserts more, chef.” You mumble softly. It’s just barely above a whisper. You sound like a guilty child admitting fault after being caught lying. But you’re not lying, not at all. You’re just nervous. 
“is this dish going to change my mind? Is this dish going to be enough to change my mind about desserts?” He continues to grill you, and you let your head hang low.
“I just… want to impress you, chef.” More like prove you wrong. 
“I hope this dish doesn’t disappoint me.” His low voice sends shivers down your spine. He takes a spoonful of the cake and the truffle before shoving them into his mouth. 
It feels like it’s just the two of you at that very moment. It doesn’t feel like Chef Taeyong and Chef Doyoung are there. Your entire body feels tense just standing within his line of sight. He folds his arms and looks down at your dish. “It’s good. But it’s not good enough. There’s something that’s lacking in this dish. Do you know what that is?”
“What is it, chef?” You ask. 
“The presentation.” He answers. “Look at how you presented this dish to us. It does not look MasterChef-worthy. The presentation of this dish, I might say, is predictable. The presentation of a dish that you make is something you must pay attention to because if it doesn’t visibly look good, your customers would assume that it doesn’t taste good.”
“I understand, chef.”
“Thank you, Y/N.”
Chef Jaehyun definitely remembers you. Why? Because he loves nitpicking every single lacking detail of your cooking. He truly never changed. He’s still the same cold-hearted, selfish, rude prick. 
The three chefs discuss their decision. You continue to fiddle nervously with your fingers to calm yourself down, to distract you from what’s about to come. You’re so sure that you’re not going to get a spot in the competition, and it’s all going to be because of Chef Jae—
“Y/N?”
“Yes, chef?” You blurt out with surprised, caught off guard eyes. 
“It’s a yes for me,” Chef Taeyong smiles. 
“It’s a no for me,” Chef Jaehyun says. “Simply because you’re lacking in presenting your dishes. I think that is very crucial to becoming a chef. I was not impressed with your dish simply because I’m not a fan of desserts. I was hoping you would change my mind, but I guess it just fell short.”
“I understand, chef. I agree that I could’ve paid more attention to the plating.” You nod your head in agreement. For the first time, you agree with Chef Jaehyun. 
“Now, that leaves the pressure on me.” Chef Doyoung smirks. “If I say no, you won’t have a spot in the competition. But if I say yes, you will advance in the competition, and you will have your own MasterChef apron.”
“You won’t regret giving me a chance, chef. I want this so bad.”
Tension continues to fill the air. Chef Doyoung’s touch gaze softens, and you feel your tense posture relax. He clasps his hands together before saying, “it’s a yes for me. Congratulations, Y/N.”
“Please come up and take your MasterChef apron.” Chef Taeyong gestures for you to come up to the front. 
“Oh my gosh,” you sigh with relief. “I promise I’ll do my best, chef. Thank you so much for taking a huge risk on me.”
As you near the three chef judges, you stand in front of Chef Taeyong, who helps you put your apron on. You smile, taking his hand that he extends out to you to shake. Moving onto Chef Doyoung, you shake his hand, thanking him many times for giving you a chance. Last but not least, your eyes meet Chef Jaehyun. You’ve never been up close to Chef Jaehyun like this. He’s quite handsome, you think to yourself, but it’s also a shame that he’s such a rude, cold-hearted person. He extends his hand out to you for you to shake. When your hands interlock, you can’t help but notice how warm and soft his hands are. The both of you exchange such intense looks. You’re the first one to break away, pulling back your hand. 
“Long time no see. Congratulations, Y/N.”
“Thank you, Chef Jaehyun.”
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THE FOURTH TIME.
On a quest to become MasterChef, you are expected to learn how to work with a team of chefs. The round that awaits you is a team challenge, where you and a couple of other contestants will work together to cook up a full course meal. The team challenge usually occurs after the first mystery box challenge and elimination round. Sitting at the front of the kitchen is a box filled with two different coloured aprons, red and blue. These aprons will split everyone into two teams based on their apron colour. From the corner of your eye, you can see your station mate, Taeil, gawking at the box at the front. 
He turns towards you and whispers, “I hope we’re on the same team.”
You flash him a small smile. “I hope so too.”
Ever since the competition began, you have learned how to become a competitive chef. You’ve also learned how to make connections and new friendships. It’s what you have learned to value the most, especially working in an industry that relies heavily on networking and connections. Two rounds into the competition, you became friends with Taeil simply because he cooked up his dishes right next to you, and, over time, he also looked out for you and helped you with your dishes. He’s completely different from you. You’d like to think that he’s the complete opposite. But somehow, you both work in tune with each other. You wouldn’t have asked for a better station mate. Both of your different personalities shined the most in your cooked dishes. 
“Y/N, please step up to the front and pick your apron for the team challenge.” Chef Jaehyun calls out to you, and your heart beats out of your chest. You share a look with Taeil. 
As you make it to the front of the kitchen, you stick your hand into the black box to pull out a red apron. You avoid eye contact with Chef Jaehyun like you always do, but you could still feel his burning gaze. You always feel insecure and nervous around him. How embarrassing it must seem to him. 
“Taeil, your turn has arrived. Come up and pick your apron.” Chef Taeyong smiles. 
You wish Chef Jaehyun was like Chef Taeyong. Nice… sweet… genuine. He genuinely wanted every contestant to be successful, whether it be in their dishes or their confidence. You wish Chef Jaehyun would forget about all the horrible encounters you’ve had with him. You wish Chef Jaehyun would break out of his shell and turn his cold personality into a personality similar to his co-chef.
When Taeil arrives at the front and sticks his hand into the box, he pulls out not a red apron but… a blue one. The both of you share looks, and a pout can’t help but form across your lips. Chef Jaehyun notices your slight pout, and you immediately let it drop from your face. Taeil returns to his station, and you begin to overthink. Who are you going to work with? You’ve only become acquaintances with the rest of the contestants. Taeil is the only contestant you’ve become close to and the only contestant you consider a good friend. He’s the only contestant you see having a friendship with even after the competition ends. 
After all the contestants have been called up to choose their team, the chef judges have you gather together. You and Taeil wave goodbye as you both part to your own assigned teams, you with the red team and him with the blue team. As you walk over to your team, you can’t help but notice how you’re the only woman. Your teammates are Junhwa, Jay, Mason, and Euntae.
“Today’s challenge will be quite different because you’re all expected to work together as a team with your teammates.” Chef Doyoung announces. “For today’s team challenge, we will be headed to the beach to cater for a wedding.”
Your head shoots up. You’re doomed. You know that your team is done for even before the team challenge begins. Junhwa was just saved from the elimination test the other day because he had messed up his dish for the mystery box challenge. Jay hasn’t been up to par with his dishes and has yet to cook up his best dish in the competition. Like Junhwa, Mason had messed up his dish for the mystery box challenge but was saved from the elimination test by Chef Doyoung. Euntae, however, is the only one on the team that’s been performing well in the competition. But as for you… you’re not sure where you stand in this competition. 
“Let’s all head to the location and we’ll explain more about the team challenge.”
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It’s the perfect day to have a wedding on the beach. The wind currents aren’t strong, but they bring a light warm breeze. The wedding takes place on a weekday which explains the small number of people hanging out at the beach. When you all arrive at the beach, the first thing you spot is two different cooking stations, differentiated by your respective team colours. You draw in a deep breath. This is going to be a long day. 
“Everyone, please gather around as we begin today’s challenge.”
Everyone gathers around the three young world-renowned chefs following the producer's command. You can see Chef Jaehyun staring right at you from the corner of your eye. He’s drilling two holes through the side of your head. It’s almost as if he’s praying and manifesting for you to mess up in the team challenge. You wouldn’t be surprised if you mess up and his prayers and manifestations were served right to him on a golden platter because his intensity and strive for perfection always cause you to do so. 
“Today, you will be cooking up a three-course meal for wedding guests at the beach. The couple that will be wedded later on today has laid out their menu and their expectations.” Chef Doyoung explains. 
You have learned one thing so far; never have a team of aspiring chefs competing in competition be in charge of cooking and serving your guests’ food. Why? Because there’s huge room for failure. Food poisoning? Traumatizing. Undercooked food? Horrifying. You wouldn’t imagine getting married and having scared chefs-in-the-making cater to your guests at the reception. To you, it sounded like a nightmare waiting to unfold right before your two eyes. And here you are now, living out that nightmare in disguise. 
“The menu consists of cranberry and brie bites for the appetizer, roasted pork loin on wild mushroom risotto for the main course, and a spiced carrot cake for the dessert.” Chef Taeyong reads off the menu that the wedding couple has put together for their guests. 
You hold in a sigh of relief. You think you could handle doing the appetizer and dessert. Baking is your expertise. It’s something your mother loved doing the most. Baking up a dessert can be daunting and taxing, but once you’ve mastered the basics, everything you pop into the oven will come out beautifully. You’ve spent most of your childhood sitting in the kitchen helping her make the desserts. You’ve spent most of your childhood sitting in the kitchen and breathing in the aroma of sweet desserts. 
You just hope that your team leader assigns you the appetizer or dessert. If not… you’re not sure how you’re going to put up a good performance. Will you be eliminated? Is this going to put you at risk for elimination? 
“Have you all picked a team leader?” Chef Jaehyun asks. 
On the blue team, Taeil raises his hand. You smile. Taeil is quite the introvert, but you know that he’ll be able to bring his team together and make the most out of it. On your team, Euntae raises his hand. It was predetermined that he would be the team leader mainly because he’s the only one who’s been doing well in the competition. 
“Taeil for team red and Euntae for team blue.” Chef Jaehyun notes it down on his notepad. “Alright. Let’s have you go over to your stations to start prepping for the service.”
“You will have one hour and thirty minutes to complete your three-course meal.” Chef Doyoung announces. 
“Please use your time wisely because regardless of whether your dishes are done, they will be served to the guests.” Chef Taeyong warns you. Everyone falls silent. “Your two goals are one, to make sure that there is food on the table for every single guest and two, that the food you serve has been cooked to perfection.” 
“Yes, chef.” Everyone says in unison.
“Alright. Get ready because your time starts in three…”
“Two…”
“One…”
“Go!”
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Thankfully, you’ve been assigned to work on the spiced carrot cake. Euntae and Jay will work on the roasted pork loin on wild mushroom risotto. Euntae will work specifically on the roasted pork loin, and Jay will work specifically on the wild mushroom risotto. Mason and Junhwa will work together on the cranberry and brie bites. It’s been about twenty minutes since the timer started, and you’re almost done mixing the batter for the cake. You’ve added carrot bits and slices in the cake batter to make the carrot stand out when someone takes a slice out of it. You’re also planning on making a cream cheese frosting to drizzle on top of the cake. 
“Y/N, make sure you don’t go off track with the cake, alright? I know you’re excited, but we don’t have much time left.” Euntae commands, and you nod your head.
Euntae is such a perfectionist. It’s been obvious since the start of the competition. He’s been winning almost every challenge. If he wasn’t the winner of the challenge, he would most likely be second. Carrying your team must be difficult for him because most of his teammates have been performing poorly. 
“Yes, I’ll work faster.” 
“And make sure you follow the demo recipe.” He adds. “I don’t want you making something completely different from what we’re asked to do.”
You like to think of your dishes as an experiment. Most of the time, you depend heavily on your sense of taste and extensive knowledge of spices. Thus, this results in you neglecting recipe books and instructions. You like experimenting in your cooking because there’s a thrill when something turns out delicious. There’s a sense of excitement and surprise when two unlikely ingredients somehow pair well with each other. 
Euntae probably notices your experimental way of approaching your dishes. He doesn’t want you to fuck everything up. You can’t blame him for playing it safe. You would do the same thing. 
“This look different to you?” You ask, pointing to your cake batter.
He dips his fingers into the batter and tastes it. “Put more clove. I don’t taste the kick. I thought spices were your thing?”
You purse your lips into a tight line. He looks taken aback by your confused gaze. If there was one thing you wish you could change about yourself, it’s how you are easily readable through your facial expressions. Your emotions are easy to detect because they’re spread across your entire face. Knitted or raised eyebrows, jutted chin, pouty lips, you’re very expressive with your emotions. 
“It is. I did put in clove. Is it not enough?” You dip your finger into the batter to taste it yourself. Indeed, you taste the kick. Your gut tells you not to add any more of the spices because it will be too spicy for the guests if you add more. “I don’t think we should add more. I think it’s enough—”
“I don’t taste the spices, Y/N—”
“Well, I do—”
“But I’m the team leader, right?” He reminds you. You clamp your mouth shut. Where is all of this coming from? How could he talk to you like this? You could feel your gaze hardening at him. “Do you want me to save you a spot in the competition? You do, right? So follow what I tell you to do, and everything will be fine.”
You squint your eyes at him before shaking your head. “No way. I’m not letting you sabotage my cake.”
“And I am not letting you bring the entire team down. We cannot afford to lose.” Jay butts in as he shoves you aside to place a pan on the stove. You almost stumble back, and you’re on the verge of tears. 
“Ugh, this is ridiculous.” You mutter to yourself, grabbing your bowl of cake batter and moving to a different table in your station to work. You’re standing alone as the rest of your team gathers together to talk about how they will prepare the dishes. You feel left out. You feel like an outcast. You wish you were on Taeil’s team. 
You feel like this is planned. 
You feel like they’re planning to sabotage you. 
“Y/N?” Chef Doyoung calls out to you. 
You look over your shoulder to see him waving you over. You dust your hands off before heading up to him. You don’t know that Euntae walks over to your bowl of cake batter and puts in a couple of more teaspoons of clove and cinnamon behind your back. He adds a bit more than what is required. Chef Doyoung folds his arms at you. 
“Yes, chef?” You mumble. 
“Why aren’t you being included in your team?” He asks. He noticed, and that’s all that matters to you. 
You shrug your shoulders. “I’m not quite sure, chef. We have different opinions on how we should make the spiced carrot cake. Euntae thinks there’s not enough spice, while I think there’s more than enough.
“Trust your gut. But you should also keep in mind that this is a team challenge. You’re all supposed to work together as a team.” He reminds you. “I’ll let you get back to work.”
“Thank you, chef.”
Suddenly, Chef Jaehyun yells out. “Your spiced carrot cakes should be in the oven right now or will be undercooked!”
Upon returning to your station, you grab your bowl of cake batter to pour it into a baking pan. Hurriedly, you place it into the preheated oven. You do not want to mess this up. You can’t mess this up. If your team fails the challenge, you are at risk of being eliminated. 
You can’t afford to lose the competition. 
You can’t go home. 
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You’re not surprised that the cranberry and brie bites were almost burnt out of the oven. You’re not surprised that your two teammates were running behind on time with the roasted pork loin and wild mushroom risotto. At this point, you wouldn’t be surprised if your team were unable to put out your dishes on time. 
When you pull out the tray of cranberry and brie bites, you place them on the table. One by one, you place the burnt ones aside and the good ones on the serving trays. Standing behind you, Mason and Junhwa continue to panic, not even bothering to help you save their dish that they’ve been assigned to do. 
“Y/N, what are you doing?” You feel yourself stiffen. Chef Jaehyun stands next to you and looks at the burnt and unburnt cranberry and brie bites. He clicks his tongue and lets out a frustrated sigh. “Were you the one assigned to do the bites?”
You shake your head. “No, chef.”
“Who was assigned for the cranberry and brie bites?” He asks your teammates. 
“Us, chef.” Mason answers. 
Chef Jaehyun points at you while looking at Mason. “And why is Y/N taking over your task?”
“Because she likes getting into everyone’s business—” You hear Euntae mutter underneath his breath. You’ve confirmed it: Euntae is plotting your elimination. He hates you. 
“She said she would help us salvage some of the cranberry and brie bites for the guests. She’s picking it out for us while we make another batch.” Junhwa explains. 
“And you’re both just standing there and watching her?” Chef Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows with anger. “Where’s your team leader?”
“Here, chef.” Euntae walks over. 
“Where is the direction, Euntae?” Chef Jaehyun frowns. You could see steam coming out of Chef Jaehyun’s nostrils. “Your teammates are lost. They’re panicking, and you’re just standing in front of your pan doing your own thing. You’re in your own little world, Euntae. It’s time to wake up.”
“Excuse me, I have to take out the carrot cake.” You mumble softly as you excuse yourself to head to the oven. You take a quick peek before putting on your oven mittens to take the cake pans out. 
It comes out beautifully. They’ve baked and risen to perfection. You can smell the strong aroma of spices. Hidden within the sponge cake are the grated bites of carrot, giving it a beautiful orange colour. From your periphery, you see Chef Jaehyun walking over to you. You hold in your breath. 
“Can I have a taste of the cake?” He asks. 
You slowly nodded your head. “Yes, chef.”
Chef Jaehyun digs into the cake with a small teaspoon while your teammates gather around to watch. He winces, and you wish you could disappear. You’ve noticed that he always winces and grimaces with disappointment whenever you mess up. It’s like you could tell what’s about to come before it even happens. 
“You were in charge of the cake, right, Y/N?” 
“Yes, chef.” You mumble. 
Clatter. He tosses the teaspoon onto the table and frustratingly runs a hand through his hair. “You can’t serve that. It’s too spicy. You’ve put too much clove and cinnamon.”
You look at him confusedly. Completely flabbergasted, you take a bite from the cake yourself and indeed, it’s too spicy. It’s overpowering the sweetness of the carrot and sugar. But wait—you never added any more clove or cinnamon. 
“You can’t serve this. This entire team is set up for failure. You cannot save yourselves from this challenge. Take off your aprons. You don’t have any more time to send out any dishes. You’ve completely failed the team challenge.”
You glance at Euntae, who avoids your gaze. He turns around and walks back to his pork loin and mushroom risotto pan. He tosses the pans into the sink out of frustration and anger. 
Euntae sabotaged you.
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At the end of the team challenge, you and your teammates find yourselves standing in front of the three disappointed chefs. You’re too ashamed of yourself to look at them. You distract yourself by fiddling with your fingers. You were thinking of all the ‘what if’s’. What if you were on the blue team? What if you paid more attention to your teammates that were plotting your failure? What if you worked harder? What if—
“As you are all aware of what happened today, your team lost the challenge. This only means that not one, not two, but four of you will be eliminated from the competition.” Chef Doyoung says. 
“But first, we are going to tell you what you did wrong and where you all went wrong.” Chef Taeyong frowns, “as a team.”
“The first thing that went wrong were the cranberry and brie bites. They were overcooked to the point that they were burnt. You had only realized that they were burnt when you took them out of the oven too late, leaving you no time to make another batch.” Chef Doyoung explains. 
“We are aware of that, chef.” Mason and Junhwa speak in unison. 
“The second thing that went wrong was the spiced carrot cake. I was surprised that Y/N put too much clove and cinnamon into the batter. From your audition, Y/N, you had a good sense of the spices, so I figured this task wouldn’t be difficult to do.” Chef Taeyong outlines the second mistake of the team. 
“The third thing that went wrong had completely gone over our heads.” Chef Jaehyun begins. “We were wondering why out of all the dishes you were assigned, the roasted pork loin and mushroom risotto turned out fine.”
“It was because we—” Euntae begins.
“It was because you wanted to sabotage your own teammates. Am I right, Euntae?” Chef Jaehyun catches him red-handed. “Don’t try to lie to us. Don’t you dare try to lie to me because I saw it myself.”
“I did not sabotage any of my teammates—”
“Y/N, you know why your spiced carrot cake was too spicy?” Chef Jaehyun asks you. 
You courageously look into his eyes. “Why, chef?”
“Because your own teammate, Euntae, sabotaged your cake and added three tablespoons more of clove and cinnamon, which is way more than what we asked for in our demo.” Chef Jaehyun reveals. “I saw it happen right before my eyes. Euntae, if you were going to sabotage your teammate, you should’ve made sure that none of us chef judges would see it.”
“Chef, I—Y/N has always been doing her own thing in the competition, and I didn’t want her to sabotage our team by doing things the way she wants to,” Euntae explains. 
“You’re supposed to work together as a team.” Chef Taeyong shakes his head in disbelief. “Did you plan this all out so that Y/N would be eliminated from the competition? Don’t lie to us because I overheard you planning this out with the rest of your teammates.”
“I—”
“Okay. That’s enough.” Chef Doyoung raises up his hand to shut him up. “We have made up our minds on who will be leaving the competition.”
“The first contestant that will be saying goodbye is…”
You clench your eyes shut as you wait for your name to be called out. You hate everything that’s happening right now. You’ve never been so careless. Now, you pay the consequences. 
“Jay. Please say goodbye to your teammates.”
You feel your heart drop. 
“The second contestant that will be saying goodbye is…”
Your heartbeat begins to pick up its pace once again. Once your name is called out, you’re going to have to pack your things and head back home. 
“Junhwa. Please say goodbye to your teammates.”
You hold in your breath. 
“That leaves Y/N, Euntae, and Mason.”
You close your eyes again, praying that your name wouldn’t be called out. You’re already thinking about what you would say to your father if you’re eliminated from the competition. 
“Y/N, please say goodbye to your teammates…”
Your eyes flutter open. This is it. You’re officially eliminated from the competition. You shake hands with your two teammates who have completely sabotaged you. You’re keeping yourself together. You’re holding yourself back from bursting out into anger. 
“Because you will advance to the next round of the competition. Euntae and Mason, you are both eliminated from MasterChef, please take off your aprons.” 
Your heart stops. Wait.
“Wait, what?” You look at the chefs in shock.
“Y/N, you are the only one that will stay in the competition.” Chef Taeyong smiles. 
“It was a tough decision.” Chef Doyoung adds. 
“But we do not tolerate cheaters in this competition. You are innocent and had no bad intentions, Y/N, which is why you are safe from elimination.” Chef Jaehyun confirms everything for you. “But that does not mean you are safe from the remainder of the competition. What this means is that we will all be putting more pressure on you to be the best chef you say you are.”
“I will do my best, chef. I am confident that I will win MasterChef.” 
Chef Jaehyun purses his lips into a tight line. 
You feel your blood run cold. 
“Don’t make us regret choosing to save you from elimination.”
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THE FIFTH TIME.
“Don’t make us regret choosing to save you from elimination.”
The pressure is all on you. Chef Jaehyun’s voice echoes throughout your head the entire hour that you’re granted to create a dish. In this round, all of the contestants are given a mystery box filled with random ingredients. In your mystery box, you were given beetroot, beef tenderloin, and blackberries. They are three completely different ingredients that you’re not quite sure will mesh well together. 
Five minutes before the timer started, you decided to make beef tenderloin with roasted beetroot, all covered by a blackberry sauce. And now here you are, thirty minutes in, and you just hope that your dish turns out well. 
“Hi, Y/N.” 
“Hi, Chef Jaehyun.” You mumble softly, checking up on your beef tenderloin to see if it’s being cooked correctly on the skillet pan. You’re hoping to cook the tenderloin medium-rare to keep the monochrome colour of your dish. 
“What are you making for us today?” He asks. 
He’s distracting you. Whether it’s intentional or not, it’s breaking your focus. You clear your throat as you answer, “beef tenderloin with beetroot, all covered by a blackberry sauce.”
“Are you sure this is going to work out well? It seems quite… difficult to pull off.” He grabs a spoon and digs into the blackberry sauce that you have boiling in a saucepan. He tastes it and steps back, tilting his head as he loses himself in thought. “Interesting. You’re truly making this difficult for us, huh?”
What is he trying to say? You bite your lip, pretending to ignore him. “It should work out well. It is a mystery box challenge, after all. I’ve been given three ingredients that you never truly see together in a dish, but here we are.”
“The blackberry sauce is perfect. But regarding whether this blackberry sauce will complement your beef tenderloin and beetroot… you’ll have to prove that to us.” He gently places his spoon into your sink and moves on to the next contestant.
“You have fifteen minutes left! In about five minutes, you should all be plating your food!”
You turn off the stove to cool down your blackberry sauce. With fifteen minutes left, you need at least five minutes to let the beef tenderloin rest. You’re still not sure if it’s cooked medium-rare. It’s a risk you’re willing to take. You take the skillet pan off of the stove and transfer the beef tenderloin onto a wire rack for it to rest. As for your beetroot, you take each slice out to begin plating them.
“I’m not going to lie, that looks incredible, Y/N.” Taeil compliments you. You almost jump in surprise. You’ve been so focused on making sure you do well in this challenge that you forgot about Taeil. As you glance at him, he lets out a low chuckle. “Sorry for scaring you. I’ll shut up now.”
“Thanks, Y/N. I just hope it’s edible.” You crack a joke to ease your nervousness. He snorts.
“I’m sure it’s edible. You’ve made it this far, Y/N. You should give yourself more credit for your hard work.” He reassures you.
One minute left on the timer, and you’re placing the beef tenderloin right in between two slices of beetroot. To complete your dish, you drizzle blackberry sauce all over the dish. To amplify your dish even further, you take a couple of blackberries and scatter them across your dish. Overall, your dish is a dark magenta colour. Monochromatic. 
“Five…”
“Four…”
“Three… Two…”
“One! Time’s up!”
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“Y/N, please bring up your dish.”
With shaky hands, you grab your plate and head up to the front. You place your dish down onto the table that stands right in front of the chef judges. Each one of them looks surprised to see what you have presented to them. Chef Doyoung is the first one to take a bite. He steps forward and grabs a knife and fork, slicing himself a bit of beetroot before poking at the beef tenderloin.
“How did you cook the beef tenderloin?” He asks.
You bite your lip. “I was hoping to cook it medium-rare. But I didn’t have enough time to let it rest, so I’m not quite sure if it turned out that way.”
“Well, let’s take a look, shall we?” He insists. You slowly nod your head. Standing behind him, you can see Chef Jaehyun standing on his tiptoes to get a look at the tenderloin. As Chef Doyoung slices through the tenderloin and you sigh with relief. “It’s perfect. You doubt yourself a bit too much, Y/N. The tenderloin is indeed medium-rare.”
“Thank goodness.” You let out another sigh of relief.
He takes a bite. As he chews, you study him and wait for his reaction. When he finishes eating, he clasps his hands together and breaks out into a smile. “I think it’s quite delicious. I would definitely serve something like this in my restaurant.”
“Really? Oh wow… thank you, chef.” You beam.
“Blackberries, beef tenderloin, and beetroot. These three ingredients seem hard to cook together, but you balance them beautifully. The plating is amazing. You’ve improved your plating skills since the start of the competition. Overall, this dish is my favourite.” He places his cutlery down and flashes you one last smile. He heads back to stand next to Chef Taeyong, who’s the next one to step forward and taste your dish.
“First off, the dish looks lovely. I love the monochrome theme you have going on here. It amplifies your dish. But as for the taste, we shall find out.” Chef Taeyong takes a bite of the beetroot and tenderloin, making sure he dips it in the blackberry sauce. He tilts his head and lets out a chuckle. “That’s… amazing. You truly have a great sense of your spices. I wouldn’t even have thought of making a dish like this with these three ingredients. Well done, Y/N. You continue to perform well in this competition. I also see Chef Doyoung serving something like this at his restaurant.”
“Thank you, chef.” You hold in a happy sigh.
Next up is Chef Jaehyun, who barely waits for Chef Taeyong to step aside for him. He quirks an eyebrow at you before digging into your dish. “After we spoke earlier, I wondered how you could pull off a sour blackberry sauce with savoury beef tenderloin and beetroot. They are two unlikely tastes that should not be paired together.”
“It is a mystery box, so I just tried to work with what I was given. I hope it tastes good for you, Chef Jaehyun.” You avoid his eyes. But you could see him trying to look into them.
He takes a bite. He chews and swallows. He places his cutlery down and purses his lips into a tight line. “I’m going to be quite honest. I don’t like it. The sour blackberry sauce completely overpowers the savoury tenderloin and beetroot. However, I could definitely see why others may like it. This dish is catered for people with a specific palette. I’m not one of those people. The plating looks beautiful, however.”
“Thank you, chef.” You whisper.
“As I’ve said time and time again,” he says sternly, “you are making this extremely difficult for us, Y/N. You need to step up to the plate. I know you can do it. You have the tools and the talents to do it. You just need to use them.”
As he turns his back to you, you can feel your eyes well up with tears. Throughout this entire competition, you’ve learned that you not only want to win it, but you want to prove Chef Jaehyun wrong. He’s ignited a fire within you, a burning passion. His brutal honesty truly gets the best of you. 
If you can’t prove him wrong, what’s the point of continuing your journey?
He’s a world-renowned chef. He knows what tastes good and what doesn’t. He knows whether a chef will be successful in the field. He knows everything about the cooking and food industry. If he thinks you’re not fit enough, then maybe you’re truly not fit to be a chef.
You’ve already tried to step up to the plate, but he thinks it’s not enough.
You’ve already used all of your tools and talents, but he thinks it’s not enough.
You’re not enough.
What is considered enough?
He looks over his shoulder, and you hear him mutter.
“We saved you from elimination. You must prove to us that saving you was the best decision. You must prove to us that you are more worthy of winning than your teammates that were eliminated. Remember that.”
A tear almost slips from your eye.
You give up.
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THE ONE TIME YOU PROVE HIM WRONG.
“I have come to the decision to withdraw from the competition.”
“If that’s your decision, then so be it. We regret seeing you go. Thank you for showing us your talent. You may go and pack your things because your journey at MasterChef ends here.”
Upon entering the huge kitchen, you head towards the light switches to turn on the spotlight for your workstation. The kitchen has never been so quiet nor has it been so peaceful. You feel your feet being glued to the ground, almost as if they’re keeping you from leaving. When you were a kid, you loved ditching your homework to spend time with your mother in the kitchen. You would even take a stool from the dining room to place it right next to her to have a full view of how she cooked your meals. Your home kitchen was your safe haven, your safe space, where you could truly be yourself. It was what brought you closer to your mother. It was what reminded you of your mother. 
But you had no choice. You force yourself, trudging your way towards your station to pack up all of your utensils. From cooking knives to ladles, you packed them away in a moving box. From your favorite fine China dishes to your custom-made chopsticks, you admired them one last time underneath the spotlight before tucking them away. You turn on the sink to dampen your towel. You wipe down your station one last time before wringing the towel out. Letting out a sigh, you wipe the beads of sweat that are forming on your forehead. This is it. Your journey at MasterChef ends here—
“What on earth are you doing?”
Looking up from your counter, you spot Jaehyun walking along the front of the space. He’s the last person you want to see. He’s the last person you want to talk to, especially right now. He has his hands tucked into his pockets as he makes his way towards you.
“I’m packing up my things.” You answer simply with a blank face.
“Why are you packing up your things? The competition isn’t over yet.” He finally makes it to your counter. Underneath the spotlight, he notices how bloodshot red your eyes are. You’ve cried all night over this competition and it brought you to your decision of withdrawing.
“The competition isn’t over yet for my fellow contestants,” you begin, “but the competition is over for me.”
“I’m not sure if I understand what you’re saying—”
“I’ve withdrawn from the competition.” You make it make sense for him. Jaehyun takes a couple of seconds for your words to sink in. Once he’s processes your words, his eyebrows furrow in confusion and frustration. 
“What?” He blurts out. “W-Why?”
You grow confused. That’s his reaction? “Shouldn’t you be happy that I’m leaving the competition? It’s one less thing to worry about, right? Your decision in choosing chefs to advance to the next round won’t be hard anymore because I’m leaving. Everything will be better without me—”
“Why would I be happy over a contestant’s voluntary withdrawal from the competition?” He cuts you off. 
You fall silent. Suddenly, you have no energy trying to defend yourself. With everything piling up, you’ve decided to give up. Everything that has happened to you in the past has led you to this moment. From spilling wine all over Jaehyun’s drink to messing up Jaehyun’s dish at your internship in Florence to your time here at MasterChef, it has brought you to the conclusion that maybe Jaehyun was right: you’re not fit or qualified enough to be a chef. 
“In a competition, you should not associate your emotions with your overall performance. Whatever you create here in the kitchen is what we judge.” He says sternly with his hands placed on top of the marble of your countertop. “You and I are both aware that this is a competition. You are aware that your performance and the dishes you create are going to be commented on by judges. But as judges, we make those comments, good or bad, are to help you improve.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t feel like comments to me. I don’t feel like you’re helping me improve. I feel stuck with no direction given. I just feel like you have this predisposed idea of who I am after all those negative encounters we’ve had in the past which is why you treat me like this.” You finally get it off of your chest. You feel extremely vulnerable in front of Jaehyun. All of your emotions that you’ve held in for so long are beginning to hit the surface. “And this is why I’ve decided to do everyone all a favor and withdraw.”
He pushes himself off of the countertop and holds in a sigh. You let your head hang low. His eyes land on the cardboard box sitting on the floor. It’s filled with all of your cooking utensils. He sees an old washed out apron sitting right on top of all the pans and dishes. Stitched right near the upper corner of the apron is a name. It’s not your name, but your mother’s name. The apron has been through a lot. It’s been through  a lot of washes. It’s been through a lot of spills. But you have never once thought of throwing it out because it was the only thing you had left of your mother. Aside from all the memories you have of and with her, of course. 
“Well, withdrawing from the competition means that you’re aware that you have no confidence in yourself.” 
“I hope you’re hearing yourself right now.” You mutter softly.
“Do you really think you’re not fit to be a chef?” He questions. 
“Well, you sure make me feel like it—” You scoff. 
“Cook me your best dish, then. If I think it’s horrible, then maybe withdrawing is the best decision.”
“I thought you’ve already made it clear that I’m not fit or qualified enough to be a chef—”
“You have sixty minutes.”
“Chef—”
“Your time starts now.”
Before you could protest, Jaehyun turns his back towards you and walks away. You’re trying so hard not to burst out into flames. The urgency to flip him off makes your blood boil. As he takes his seat at the front behind the judges’ table, you bend down to finish packing up your things. Jaehyun seems to pick up that you’re not taking up the challenge. 
“You claim that I was discouraging you this entire competition. You said that you have potential. You want to prove me wrong, right?”
You stop in your tracks. You sure do. You want to prove Jaehyun wrong so badly. With a burning passion. When he sees that you’ve stopped, he knows that he’s slowly changing your mind. 
“This is your chance to prove me wrong. Prove to me that you deserve to stay in this competition.”
You will yourself back up, fiery eyes meeting him. He knows that he’s turned the gears in your head. After you’ve given it much thought, you decided that if you were going to withdraw from the competition, you might as well show him what kind of aspiring chef they’re going to regret letting go of. You guess it was a pride thing. But you’ve never wanted to prove Jeong Jaehyun wrong so badly until now.
Jaehyun stares at you as you walk away from your station and into the large pantry with all the fresh ingredients. A smirk slowly begins to spread across his lips. You’re grabbing many ingredients from the pantry. There are some questionable pairs but ever since the start of the competition, you’ve always been experimental with your dishes. Surprisingly, they always turn out delicious no matter how ambiguous the ingredients are relative to each other. You finally return to your workstation to begin cooking your dish.
“Fifty-five minutes left,” he yells out to you.
You slightly jump. It’s just the two of you in the kitchen. If you were quite honest, it felt a bit intimate. But you felt a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Here you are, cooking for a world-renowned chef, after voluntarily withdrawing from a competition that he judges for. Here you are, cooking for a world-renowned chef who asked you to cook him a dish to prove him wrong. 
A deconstructed pie. That is what you have in mind.
There are two ingredients that you’ve never paired together before; grapefruit and basil. You’re planning on making a deconstructed raspberry and basil pie. The pie will consist of basil jelly and grapefruit curd, topping it all off with Italian meringue. 
“What are you making?” Jaehyun asks when he walks up to your station.
“A pie.”
“In an hour?” Jaehyun questions. You slowly nod your head, trying to keep yourself focused on your work. “Pies usually take more than one hour to make.”
“It’s going to be a deconstructed pie. Grapefruit and basil. Instead of using the crust, I’ll be using graham cracker crumbles.” You explain while juicing your grapefruits. 
“Grapefruit and basil? Don’t you think that those two together would be a bit… risky?” 
You shake your head. “Basil goes well with lots of fruits. I wouldn’t be surprised if basil went well with grapefruit.”
“I’ve tried a grapefruit and basil pie once. I don’t remember where, but it was delicious. I have high expectations for this. Yours will be the second grapefruit and basil pie that I have ever had in my entire life.” He comments. What a way to put the pressure on you. You don’t say anything. “Alright, then I guess—”
“You’re distracting me.” You cut him off. “Do you mind going back to the front and sitting there while I continue doing whatever it is that I need to do?”
“Sassy,” he grins. “Fine. I’ll be up at the front. You have forty-five minutes left.”
Forty-five minutes left to prove yourself. At this point, you’re not trying to prove you are worthy of staying in the competition. You’re trying to prove that you are nothing what Jaehyun thinks of you. You’re trying to prove Jaehyun that you are fit and qualified enough to be a chef and that this is made for you. It is something you love doing. It is your passion.
Jaehyun plops his butt down onto his seat and watches you cook up your dish. You’re making grapefruit zest while making sure the grapefruit curd isn’t being overcooked. He finds himself staring at you with awe. 
When Jaehyun met you for the first time, he didn’t like you. You ruined his shirt. His favorite shirt. But another reason why he didn’t like you was because you didn’t look confident enough. When Jaehyun met you for the first time, you were hiding behind the executive chef, too humiliated by your own actions. He saw right through you at that moment. You had an inferiority complex. You were not confident enough in yourself. You were shy. You always doubted yourself. But when his eyes met yours, he saw a fire ignite within them. 
When Jaehyun met you for the second time, you weren’t a waitress. You were a line cook. A culinary intern. You ruined his dish. When Jaehyun met you for the second time, he still didn’t like you. It was because after all the months that have passed by, you still don’t look confident enough in yourself. It made him uneasy. But the only difference that time around is that although he still didn’t like you, he knew that eventually, he would, because he saw potential. Leaving the restaurant that day after tasting your subpar dish made him uneasy, knowing that he could’ve done something to lift your spirits up. He knew that he had to do something to make you learn how to be confident in your cooking because that was the first step to making perfect dishes. If you were confident to cook, your dishes would reflect it. When Jaehyun met you for the second time, he realized that he didn’t like you because you reminded him of himself.
When Jaehyun met you for the third time, you were taking a chance at MasterChef. It was a year since the last time he saw you. On your first and second encounters with Jaehyun, the both of you were in Florence. But the third time, the both of you are in Seoul. It almost seemed fated. When Jaehyun boarded the plane in Florence going back to Seoul, he couldn’t get you off his mind. What if he tried to lift you up? What was it that he could’ve done to encourage you? He regretted being cold to you. He knew that if he had just been a bit nicer, a bit more sincere, it would’ve further ignited the flame that was already lit within you. It was like the heavens had heard him and sent you to him for a third time. 
He knew this was his third and final chance to make things right.
“Twenty minutes!” He yells.
“I heard you loud and clear, geez.” You place a hand over your heart as you continue your work. 
You’re working on your Italian meringue. It was something you learned how to do while you were doing your culinary internship in Florence. Making Italian meringue is completely different from making regular meringue. It requires more precision and accuracy. It requires more attention to detail. If you mess up the meringue, you’re practically messing up the entire dish. 
You don’t want that happening. That’s the last thing you want.
While you’re waiting for the sugar water to boil at an ideal temperature, you’re beginning to plate your dish. Gently and slowly, you place a layer of grapefruit curd at the bottom of the bowl. It acts almost like a bed for the basil jelly and Italian meringue. At perfect timing, the sugar water has reached its ideal temperature and you immediately take it off of the stove. You walk over to your stand mixer, turning it on and gradually pouring in the sugar mixture into the egg whites. The egg whites slowly turn into a beautiful meringue. Sweet. Fluffy. Almost like marshmallows. Once you’ve poured the entire sugar mixture, you continue to mix the meringue until the bottom of the bowl runs cold to the touch. 
“Fifteen minutes!” 
Jaehyun waits for you to say something but nothing comes out. He checks up on you and realizes you’re too focused on placing the meringue into a piping bag. He never knew how pretty someone could look under the harsh light of the stage kitchen. The brightness only highlighted your features that were solely focused on creating the perfect deconstructed pie. 
This was a first for Jaehyun—being mesmerized by a contestant under his wing. And as his heart caught on fire, much like the gas stove he used to use when he learned to cook all those years ago, Jaehyun also hoped it would be the last.
Having the chance to see you again is definitely a chance given by fate. The idea that you could be gone from the competition out of your own will absolutely terrifies him. It’s the last thing he wants. He wants you to realize how much talent you have. He wants you to realize that you have a lot of potential. He wants to be close to you. He wants to get to know you more. He’s only been able to do that through your dishes. Lately, it’s been hard to look directly into your eyes because it makes him grow nervous. While you’re the only contestant that’s around his age, he’s never felt more connected to someone until he met you. You most likely feel the complete opposite of him, but this is because he has the tendency to push people away. He pushes you away because he’s scared that once he screws up this chance to make things right, he might not forgive himself. It’ll be all his fault.
“Ten minutes!”
You’re piping the Italian meringue onto the bed of grapefruit curd. After that, you’re slicing up the basil jelly into small cubes. You place the basil jelly cubes on top of the grapefruit curd along the Italian meringue. Lastly, you’re grabbing a handful of graham crumbles and scattering them carefully on top of the Italian meringue, basil jelly cubes, and the grapefruit curd. Your deconstructed pie is almost done. You rummage through the drawers to find a torch. You light the torch on to slightly toast the Italian meringue. You don’t want it to burn, you want a nice toast on the top. 
“Five minutes!”
You fix up your dish one last time with roughly four minutes to spare. You slowly head up to the front of the kitchen with your deconstructed pie. Jaehyun meets your gaze and he smiles. Oh, how you wish you could wipe that smile off of his face. Placing the dish right in front of him, you step back for him to taste it.
“Do you mind going through how you prepared this dish?” Jaehyun asks as he opens one of the drawers to pull out a spoon.
You clear your throat. “It is a deconstructed grapefruit and basil pie. It consists of grapefruit curd as a bed layer with basil jelly, graham crumbles, and Italian meringue.”
“Why did you choose to make Italian meringue instead of the usual meringue?” He asks.
“I chose to use Italian meringue for this dish because Italian meringue has a more marshmallowy, soft, fluffy consistency in comparison to ordinary meringue.” You explain. “I think the soft, fluffy texture of Italian meringue fits perfectly with the creamy grapefruit curd and basil jelly.”
“I’m going to take a spoonful of everything.” Jaehyun begins as he scoops a little bit of grapefruit curd mixed with graham crumbles, a single basil jelly, and a single Italian meringue. The both of you meet eyes and he puts the spoon into his mouth. 
As he’s taking a moment to savor the flavors, you let your head hang low. You’re expecting him to let out a frustrated sigh. You’re expecting him to come up with the rudest comment on your dish. It’s horrible. It tastes horrible. You’re waiting for those words to come out of his mouth—
“It’s… delicious.” 
Your head shoots up. He digs in for another spoonful of your deconstructed pie. “Sorry… what?”
“I said,” he says, “it’s delicious.”
You let out a breathless laugh. Were you hearing things right? Jaehyun quirks an eyebrow at you and you straighten up your posture. “Sorry, I just—this is the first time I’ve ever heard something nice coming from you.”
“It not only tastes delicious but it tastes familiar.” He mumbles softly. “It reminds me of this diner my parents used to take me to after basketball practice. The diner was somewhere near Yonsei University where my parents used to teach. That diner served grapefruit and basil pie. I think I was about twelve or thirteen years old. It’s been a while since I’ve had it but I could still remember it so vividly—”
“Mina’s Place?” You whisper.
Jaehyun’s eyebrows raise with surprise and his face is overcome with realization. Mina’s Place. The reason why he hasn’t been to the diner in a while is because it closed down when he made a visit. It was a sudden shutdown and his family never knew what happened to the owners. They were unique and both of his parents’ favorite place to wind down after a day of teaching culinary students. That diner’s grapefruit and basil pie had inspired him to follow the footsteps of his parents. It was the unusual pairing of basil and fruit that made him curious, it was what drove him to start cooking. 
“Yeah… Mina’s Place.” He mumbles softly. “It’s too bad it closed down too soon.”
Your head hangs low again. Mina’s Place was your mother’s product of hardwork and dedication. Your late mother had bought the space and created it into a diner where she was able to cook up whatever she wanted for her guests. It was what made her happy. But when your mother started to grow sick, it was your father that took over the diner in hopes that she would return. But your mother’s health continued to deteriorate until she passed away at an early age of forty-seven. Ever since her passing, the diner wasn’t the same. Your father had decided to sell the diner to a young couple who were looking to start their own restaurant. 
Your mother’s best-selling item on the menu was the grapefruit and basil pie. Until this day, you are grateful that she managed to pass the recipe down to you. You had loved and admired your mother’s love for cooking. You would spend most of your days watching her cook. You would ditch everything to learn how to cook, especially from your mother. The deconstructed pie that you had made for Jaehyun is a representation of how much you miss her and how much she inspired you.
“Thank you,” you whisper. Jaehyun looks at you confusedly. “Thank you for cherishing my mother’s passion, for cherishing her love of cooking. She would be thrilled to know that there was someone who loved her grapefruit and basil pie.”
“Y-You’re joking,” he shakes his head. “She’s your mother?”
You purse your lips into a tight line, nodding. “We closed down the place because she died of cancer. It didn’t make sense to take on the diner after her passing. My father had no idea how to cook.”
“Y/N, I’m so sorry—”
“I decided to study culinary arts because it’s the only thing that reminds me of her. It’s the only thing that brings me closer to her. I also wanted to open up a diner in her honor, to celebrate her life. I think that’s what she truly wanted… to spend most of her life with her family and at the diner.” You chuckle, wiping away a tear that slides down your cheek. “And don’t apologize. You had no idea.”
“But still, I—”
“I’ve decided to stick with my decision regardless of whether you enjoyed my dish or not. I’m going to withdraw from the competition.” You clasp your hands together. 
Jaehyun watches you as you carefully take off your apron. You place the apron right next to your dish before bowing to him. “Y/N, no—”
“Thank you for everything, chef. It was an honor cooking for you and I’m glad you enjoyed the pie.”
“Y/N, no, please. Stay here with—” Me. That’s what he wants to say. It almost terrifies him that this is the first thing that crosses his mind. It catches him off guard. He’s never had the urge to let you stay. He’s never been afraid of losing you. He’s never been terrified of slowly realizing your importance and your effect on him. “The other contestants. You’re worthy of the chance. Just like them.”
“I’ve already told the producers—”
“We can always take it back. You can always take it back.” He cuts you off. “Don’t withdraw. You have so many more things to accomplish, to conquer, to show off. You have talent, Y/N. Withdrawing from the competition will be the biggest mistake of your life—”
“Please don’t say all of that if you don’t even mean it—”
“I mean it. Stay.” He’s so close to begging. “Your mother was one of the few driving forces that led me to becoming a chef. If it weren��t for your mother, I probably wouldn’t be standing in front of you right now.”
“You’re lying,” you shake your head in disbelief. “You’re just making this hard for me.”
“Stay for your mother. I’m sure she would want you to finish the competition regardless of whether you win or not—”
“But you wanted me gone since the first round—” Never. He never wanted you to leave. He wanted you to stay. He wanted to help you. He wanted to encourage you to work hard for your dreams. 
“Do it for her. Do it for Mina’s Place.”
You fall silent. For a moment, you could hear your mother’s voice chanting you on. You could hear her giggles and laughter. You could see her bright smile. It makes your eyes glassy. Your eyes trail down towards the pie that you made. As you fixate on the pie, you wipe away a few more tears.
“Yes, chef. I’ll stay.”
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“How did you change her mind?”
Taeyong stands next to Jaehyun and watches you as you return your things back into their respective drawers at your station. Taeyong, along with Doyoung, had expected your station to be empty the following morning. But there you were, absolutely present, setting up your station before the next round of the competition begins. Jaehyun shoves his hands into his pockets and watches you intently, not being able to tear his gaze away from you.
“Let’s just say I worked my magic,” he answers softly. 
Doyoung glances at his co-judge, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. He follows Jaehyun’s line of sight and it lands on you. Taeyong seems to pick it up as well and a cheeky grin spreads across his lips. Taeyong has worked with Jaehyun for many years. They opened up one three-Michelin starred restaurant in Florence together and they ran the restaurant for many years. From Jaehyun’s inner thoughts to his feelings, Taeyong knows him so well. In fact, Taeyong hasn’t seen Jaehyun like this in so long. 
Work has been the main priority for Jaehyun. Taeyong was always trying to get his best friend to loosen up and meet some people while they were in Italy. But Jaehyun was always closed up and always stayed back in the kitchen. It was sad for Taeyong to see his best friend have a lack of social life—moreover, a dating life. Jaehyun’s last relationship was a couple of years ago and it ended on horrible terms. In particular, his breakup happened right before he boarded his flight to Italy. Taeyong knows that it left such a negative impact on his best friend. Jaehyun had promised to never fall in love again after his breakup, devoting his entire life to cooking and being in the kitchen… never leaving it once. 
But seeing how Jaehyun looks at you, Taeyong is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Alright, chefs! We’ll be starting in ten minutes! Relax, grab a drink, and we’ll regroup.” Doyoung announces. 
You suck in a deep breath, heading towards the water dispenser to get yourself a cup of water. Taeil follows behind you, grabbing himself a cup of water too. He tilts his head in confusion, analyzing your every move. You seem to notice and when the two of you finally make it up to the balcony that oversees the entire kitchen, you face him.
“Is there something on my face?” You ask.
Taeil shakes his head. “No! No, not at all. I was just—I thought you said you were going to withdraw from the competition.”
You take a swig of your water. “I did. But… I changed my mind. I decided to stay.”
“What changed your mind?” Taeil questions. Everyone’s beginning to gather at the balcony before the new round of the competition begins. 
Before you could even answer Taeil’s question, Chef Jaehyun stands in the space between you two. He leans over the railing of the balcony. You and Taeil share a look. You clear your throat, adding a bit more distance between you and Chef Jaehyun. Taeil studies your body language and it’s almost as if he reads your mind. Ah, Chef Jaehyun changed your mind. 
“Ah, I see.” Taeil slowly nods his head. “Well, good luck, Y/N. I’m sure you’ll do well in the next round.”
Taeil leaves you and Chef Jaehyun alone to talk with other contestants. You’re looking everywhere but at Chef Jaehyun, busying yourself by the water in your cup. 
Jaehyun can’t comprehend what’s going on with him. He can’t find the courage to look at you. But when he does, he can’t seem to breathe because his heartbeat picks up its pace. He clears his throat. “Are you ready for the next round?”
You finally look at him. You straighten up your posture. “Yes, chef.”
“Y/N, no, please. Stay here with—the other contestants. You’re worthy of the chance. Just like them.”
“Don’t withdraw. You have so many more things to accomplish, to conquer, to show off. You have talent, Y/N. Withdrawing from the competition will be the biggest mistake of your life.”
“I mean it. Stay. Your mother was one of the few driving forces that led me to becoming a chef. If it weren’t for your mother, I probably wouldn’t be standing in front of you right now.”
It’s hard to get rid of Chef Jaehyun’s voice out of your head. Whatever happened a couple of nights ago in the kitchen felt a bit too intimate. You were cooking one of your best dishes, a dish that meant a lot to you, for one of the most famous chefs in the world. It was just the two of you in the kitchen. Chef Jaehyun had begged you to stay in the competition. All of those events that night were driving you crazy.
What Chef Jaehyun does next snaps you out of your thoughts. He places his hand on your head and ruffles your hair. Your eyes slightly widen and you freeze. “Good luck.”
When he leaves to speak with the other contestants, you’re left all alone by the balcony with a heart beating so fast. You almost drop your cup of water but you catch yourself just in time. You place a hand over your heart as if it’ll help it stop beating so fast.
There’s been a shift between you and Chef Jaehyun ever since that night. 
You’ve always despised Chef Jaehyun. You didn’t even like him to begin with. Not one single bit. 
But now… you’re not quite sure anymore. 
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“There are only two more rounds left in the competition. But this round determines who has a chance to be the next MasterChef. Who will make it to the final round of MasterChef? We shall find out! For today’s challenge, the three of you will be paired up with one of us to cook up a special meal for your own friends.”
There are three contestants left in the competition. Those contestants are you, Taeil, and Seokjin. Each one of you is called up to the front to pick a slip of paper from a box. The chef that’s on your chosen slip of paper will be the chef that you will be paired up to cook with. Whoever you end up with wouldn’t matter because the three of them are perfect in their own way.
Chef Jaehyun is a perfectionist. He’s also competitive. He loves making sure that the food he puts out is more than perfect. It gives him relief and satisfaction knowing that his customers love the food that he makes for them. He’s surely known all over the world for being overly meticulous. He’s also known for running many successful restaurants. He has strong ties with restaurants in Florence. Being paired up with Chef Jaehyun means that you are guaranteed to make a successful dish.
Chef Taeyong is also a perfectionist but not as competitive as Chef Jaehyun. He always makes sure that he thoroughly enjoys the process of cooking. He’s almost like a mother. He cooks for people because he genuinely enjoys doing it. It’s a hobby that he enjoys doing and somehow, it brings him fortune and success. Being paired up with Chef Taeyong means that you’ll not only make a perfect dish, but you’ll also have fun making it and create a story along with it.
Chef Doyoung is not a perfectionist, but he has a great sense of his ingredients. He knows the compatibility of ingredients, which is something every chef wants to have. It’s a trait that is rare to find in chefs. This trait had led him to win MasterChef when he was a contestant. To others, his dishes might be ambiguous but once people try it, they would have never imagined such a dish to work out. Being paired up with Chef Doyoung means that you are willing to take risks that will elevate your dish and bring out uniqueness. 
When you open your slip of paper, you almost let out a laugh.
Chef Jaehyun.
Fate loves playing games with you. 
“I got Chef Jaehyun,” you hold up your slip of paper. You and Taeil exchange looks. 
When your eyes meet Chef Jaehyun’s, he bites back a smile that’s threatening to spread across his lips. The two other chefs can’t seem to hold back their smiles either. You look down, growing too shy with all of the attention on you.
“I got Chef Taeyong.” Taeil shows his slip of paper.
“And that means I got Chef Doyoung.” Seokjin finishes, holding up his slip of paper.
“Perfect. We’ll start in five minutes. During these five minutes, we will all discuss with our partners and plan out our dishes accordingly.” Chef Taeyong announces.
When Chef Jaehyun heads over to your workstation, you can’t seem to compose yourself. Your mind is going insane. You’re not sure if you’re going to end up regretting having Chef Jaehyun as your partner or be grateful that he could help you secure a spot in the finals. 
“I’m surprised you’re not sick and tired of me yet,” he mumbles. “It’s just always gonna be you and me, huh?”
“I’m surprised you’re not sick and tired of me yet either,” you shrug your shoulders. 
“I guess fate likes the two of us together.” He says, avoiding your gaze.
“I’m sure fate hates me and is punishing me by pairing me up with you.” You mutter underneath your breath. 
“I heard that.”
“You were supposed to.”
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Working together with Chef Jaehyun is a pain in the ass. 
“The sashimi should be cut like this!” 
“Yeah, I know! I can see it!” 
It’s been non-stop bickering for the past fifteen minutes. There’s forty-five minutes left before you have to send out your dishes to your friends. With the grin planted across Chef Jaehyun’s lips, you’re not sure if he’s doing this for fun or if he’s genuinely being strict and serious. 
“You’re in the way.” You nudge him aside to grab the bottle of Japanese mayonnaise. “Do you mind checking on my rolls?”
“They look good—”
“You didn’t even look at them!” You look at him as if he had ten heads.
“I don’t need to look at them to know if they look good or not.” He rolls his California rolls. “You need to be more confident in yourself. Do you think they look good?”
“Of course, because I made them.” You fold your arms.
“Then they look good! You have to trust yourself, Y/N.” He slices through the California roll before rolling each of them into Panko. “I feel like you don’t trust yourself enough.”
Chef Jaehyun’s right. You don’t trust yourself enough. When he notices how silent you’ve gotten, he finally takes a look at your California rolls. He analyzes the contents of your roll before smiling. “It looks perfect to me. You see, I didn’t need to look at them to tell you that they’re good. You put the right amount of crab meat. There’s a balance between the crab meat and rice. The roll is consistent. The rice is sticky enough. It’s perfect, Y/N, stop doubting yourself.”
“Really…?”
“Really. Now, get back to work because we don’t have much time left.”
As the two of you both get back to work, Jaehyun can’t seem to stop himself from smiling. If there was one thing he wanted to do with someone special to him, it was to make a meal together. He learns more about someone through the art of cooking. You’re an expert at baking and inherited those skills from your mother. You know your spices so well that they come to you so naturally. You know how to balance your ingredients. You know when two ingredients work and when it doesn’t. 
You’re the complete opposite of him. Jaehyun is an expert at everything but baking. He doesn’t have a great sense of spices and would often plan out his dishes carefully. Making a perfect dish doesn’t come naturally to him. He’s more on the practical side of cooking. Jaehyun thinks you’re the perfect match for him. Whether it be in the kitchen or as someone he’d like to pursue… he’s not sure. 
It would be a huge lie if Jaehyun wasn’t attracted to you. He doesn’t know when the switch happened. Maybe he liked you from the start. 
It’s almost as if fate had you written in his stars. When Jaehyun had been dumped by his ex-girlfriend right before he boarded his plane to Florence, he was devastated. He was devastated knowing that his ex-girlfriend whom he was planning on proposing to was cheating on him that entire time. He was devastated knowing that he lost one of his few passions; the love of his life. Heartbroken. Closed off. Focus on working. Focus on hustle culture. Never falling in love again. That was Jaehyun’s mindset.
But now that he thinks about it and all the encounters you’ve had with him, meeting you for the first time in Florence must be a fateful encounter. From spilling expensive wine all over his shirt to serving him a horrible dish as a culinary intern, no matter how embarrassing those experiences were, it must be fate. You make him worry about you. You make him think about you a bit too often. He goes out of his way to make sure nothing horrible happens to you. He doesn’t want you to be hurt.
Meeting you may be a special event that has happened in his life.
“Chef? Chef…?”
He snaps out of his thoughts. You’re giving him a funny look.
“You were saying?”
“You have some seaweed on your face, chef.”
“I-I do? Where—”
Before he could even wipe his face with his hands, you’re already reaching up to rub off the seaweed crumbs off of his face. He freezes in his spot. His eyes look down to meet yours. When you finally brush the seaweed crumbs off of his crimson red cheeks, your eyes shift to his. It’s your turn to freeze. Out of instinct, Jaehyun gently holds your arms. He holds you so carefully… almost cautiously. Somehow, he can’t speak. Somehow, everything that surrounds the two of you becomes nothing but white noise. His eyes slowly trail down to your lips. 
“You have fifteen minutes left! Fifteen minutes!”
You both are startled, repelling from each other. To calm your unsteady heart, you focus on finishing your last few sushi rolls before you begin plating them. Jaehyun stands more than a meter away from you, not making any sort of conversation with you for the remainder of the fifteen minutes. His heart is beating so fast that he’s afraid you could hear it ramming out of his chest.
It’s all starting to make sense. To him, at least.
He’s slowly—but surely—falling in love with you.
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The morning of the final round of MasterChef, you wake up still in disbelief that you’re one step closer to becoming the champion. In the semi-finals, your great teamwork with Chef Jaehyun has secured you a spot in the finals, giving you a bigger chance of winning the entire competition. There’s no backing down for you. The possibility that your dreams can come true is still surreal for you and now you’re willing to put in all the effort to make sure that possibility becomes reality. 
As soon as you enter the kitchen, you spot none other than Taeil, who’s already setting up his station. You and Taeil both find it funny how although you’re both closest to each other and have become good friends in the competition, here you both are, competing against each other to become the champion of MasterChef. It’s a friendly competition. You can’t imagine finishing the entire competition with anyone else.
“Hello, chef.” You greet him.
“Good morning, Y/N. Today is the day.” He smiles. “Good luck. Let the MasterChef win.”
Everyone begins to gather around. Your friends and family and Taeil’s friends and family. The three chef judges make their ways to the front after getting their hair and makeup done. The kitchen is set up differently this time around. Instead of the normal rectangular work stations, the station is set up as a circle that surrounds both you and Taeil. The two of you will work on opposite sides of the circle.
As you and Taeil get settled and wait for filming to start, your eyes catch Chef Jaehyun’s. You’re almost surprised and a bit taken aback to catch him already looking at you. He’s dressed up quite nice today. He’s wearing an indigo suit with his hair styled back. He has such prominent eyebrows, you notice, since he’s always had his hair down. He’s… handsome. 
And he smiles at you.
Not knowing what to do in return, you flash him a small, timid smile before looking away. In just a few minutes, the final round will begin and your fate will be determined. You spot your father who’s wiping away tears with his handkerchief. Sitting in his arms is a framed picture of your mother. Your eyes slowly tear up but you blink them away. 
“We will start in three… two… one… action!”
“Welcome everyone, to the final round of MasterChef.”
“Today, we will find out who is this season’s MasterChef.”
“Will it be Taeil? Or Y/N? We shall find out!”
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For the final round of MasterChef, you and Taeil will be cooking up three dishes for the chef judges. The first dish will be the appetizer. Following the first dish is the entree. The third and final dish is the dessert. You and Taeil were given a week to figure out what you’re going to serve the chef judges. You have decided to base your dishes around the theme of apples. All three of your dishes contain apples.
The first round of three begins and you’re cooking up your first dish. For your first dish, you’re creating a scotch quail egg that will rest on top of a bed of parsnips and potatoes. You envision this dish to replicate a bird’s nest, where the bed of parsnips and potatoes act as the nest that protects the scotch quail egg. The scotch quail egg is different, however, because you will incorporate apples into the coating that surrounds it. 
“Your time starts now!”
You and Taeil busy yourselves at your own sides of the circle. You’re beginning your dish by boiling a pot of water for your quail eggs. At the same time, you’re bringing out the ground pork and a couple of red gala apples. As you’re cutting the gala apples, you make sure to cut them into cubes to make them stand out in the scotch egg. From the corner of your eye, you can see Chef Jaehyun step off of the stage to head towards you.
“Hello, Y/N.” He greets you as he approaches your side of the station. “What are you making for us?”
“A scotch quail egg,” you mumble.
“With apples?” You hum in reply. “And what are you going to do with the potatoes?”
“I’m going to slice them up to replicate a nest for the quail eggs to rest on.” You answer.
“That seems like a bit of an easy dish, don’t you think?” He purses his lips into a tight line. “Do you think it’ll be enough to impress us?”
“Yes,” you mumble, trying your best not to let him distract you. 
“Are you sure your quail eggs are going to be cooked properly? They shouldn’t be—”
“Overcooked, yes, I am very much aware of that, Chef Jaehyun.” You cut him off.
He chuckles. Your ears perk up. “It seems like you don’t want me around. Am I distracting you?”
“Yes,” you answer and everyone around you laughs. “I guess you’ll just have to see what I have planned for you when I serve it to you later.”
“Sounds good. I’m excited to see what you bring to the table, Y/N.” He searches for your eyes, but they’re busy looking at other things. In reality, you’re just too shy to look at him. “Good luck, Y/N.”
“Thanks, chef.”
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Returning to your station, you keep the judges’ comments on your appetizer in your thoughts to improve on the next dish. The next dish that you’re going to cook up for them is the entree. Because your appetizer was easy to make, this left you ample time to begin preparing for your entree. You plan to serve the chef judges an entree dish that you call, rabbit two ways, in which you will serve them two different kinds of rabbit meat while incorporating bursts of apple flavors into it. The timer starts and you and Taeil get to work.
“I like how you presented this dish. It looks like a bird’s nest!”
Chef Taeyong’s comments on your dish had given you the motivation and desire to win the competition. From the start of the competition all the way to the final round, Chef Taeyong has been nothing but encouraging and genuine. All of his comments and advice shaped you into who you are as a chef today, at this very moment. 
“Although there are some burnt potatoes and parsnips in my dish, I think that it surprisingly complemented the sweet flavors of the apple in the scotch egg.”
Chef Doyoung, a MasterChef champion, is someone you always looked up to. You remember watching the season that he was competing in and having a gut feeling that he would make it to the final round. There was something special about Chef Doyoung and his dishes. Every dish he created had its own story, and of course, it would always look and taste delicious. Hearing his comments throughout your journey in the competition has also helped you learn and create a chef’s mindset. 
“I think I would definitely serve something like this as an appetizer at one of my restaurants. The presentation is spot on. I couldn’t have imagined a scotch egg to be presented in any other way. It’s almost as if you’re recreating nature, mother nature I would say, through your dishes. The flavors balance so well, which is not surprising because you’ve always had a good sense of your spices. Very well done, Y/N.”
Chef Jaehyun, although you disliked him at first, has truly been the one who wanted to see you succeed. Ever since he had tried to change your mind about withdrawing from the competition you couldn’t help but think that he was the one who truly liked you and your performance in the competition all along. If he didn’t try to change your mind, you would have probably withdrawn from the competition and returned back to the starting position of your journey. Chef Jaehyun has made you realize that if you truly want something, you have to work extremely hard for it. He made you realize that you’re better than what you think and most of the time, you’re just being hard on yourself. Someday, you plan on thanking him for being tough on you because it helped you on your journey to becoming a chef.
As you heat up the pan on the stove, you slice and dice up your apples to fuse them with the rabbit meat. Placing them onto the pan, you begin creating your artichoke puree that will amplify the flavors of the dish. From time to time, you could check up on the rabbit meat to make sure that you weren’t overcooking it. Overcooking rabbit meat would be horrifying because it would only mean that you would have to cook a new batch in so little time. It is extremely crucial to your dish. 
“You have fifteen minutes left!”
You spent the remaining fifteen minutes focusing on the rabbit meat since you have finished making the artichoke puree. After already beginning to plate your dish with the puree, you place the rabbit meat onto a frying rack to drain out the oil. Your hands are shaking out of complete nervousness. You want this so bad. But the fact that you’re serving a dish that you haven’t even tasted is such a huge risk to take. 
“Five minutes left!”
Drizzling a bit more of the artichoke puree on top of the rabbit meat, your nervous hands cause you to drizzle a bit more than needed. Pulling out a clean towel, you wipe off some of the puree that scattered on the sides of the dish. Glancing up at the time, you have one minute left to spare. You take these last few seconds to make sure everything looks good before handing them over to the servers.
“Time’s up! Hands up! Servers, please head to the back to serve the dishes.”
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The last and final dish you are going to serve the chef judges is dessert. Dessert is your expertise. Everyone is aware that if there was one thing you excelled at as a chef, it would be through your desserts. You would like to thank your mother for exposing you to the world of baking at such a young age. It truly helped you later on in life, especially in this competition. For this dish, you decided to create a dish that represented a fallen apple or an apple that has fallen from an apple tree. The dish is simply an apple panna cotta, but you will be presenting it in such a way that it looks like an apple that has fallen onto the ground. This dish is going to tie up your ‘apple’ series and hopefully help you win the competition.
“Hey, Y/N. I’m back.” Chef Jaehyun smiles as he visits you at your station once again.
You smile back at him. “Hi, Chef Jaehyun. Is there anything I could help you with?”
“You could help me by letting me know what you’re planning on serving us for dessert.” He grins. 
“I guess you’ll just have to find out,” you mumble softly. 
“Mysterious.” He nods his head as he begins to move on to Taeil’s station. “You’re going to surprise us?”
“Yes, chef.” You reply.
“Well, I hope it’ll be worth the surprise! Good luck, Y/N.”
“Thanks, chef!”
For your dish, you’re not planning on serving them a whole apple. You’re going to recreate the apple by making apple jelly. The apple jelly will be shaped like an apple by pouring the mixture into a silicone tray. Since an apple has seeds in the middle, you are going to toast up some pine nut seeds and place them into the middle of the jelly mixture once it’s set. To recreate the red color of an apple, you are going to place a red glaze all over the jelly. Since this dish is going to replicate a fallen apple, you are going to recreate soil by grinding up a mixture of nuts and raisins. This will act as the bed for the fallen apple. Lastly, you are going to recreate the leaves of the apple tree by using sugar and water, and the twigs of the branches with a sweet dough.
“You have twenty minutes left!”
You pull out your silicone trays and you nearly have a heart attack. The jelly is not completely set but you don’t have much time left to keep it in the fridge. You still have to plate the entire dish. Taking the toasted pine nut seeds off the stove, you place them onto a tray to cool down. One by one, you shove pine nut seeds into the apple jelly. The seeds keep popping back up, which confirms that your apple jelly still isn’t set properly. But with the time you have left, you have to take this risk. 
“Ten minutes left!”
You begin plating your dish. To plate your apple-themed dessert, you grab the bowl of fake soil that you created with an assortment of nuts and raisins and scoop out two spoons to create a bed for the fallen apple. After you do that on three plates, you carefully pop out the apple jelly from the silicone tray and place it on top of the soil. Then, to decorate the apple jelly, you stick your fake twigs into the jelly and place sugar leaves on top. As you grab the pot of red glaze, you stop in your tracks. 
From the corner of your eye, you can see Chef Jaehyun looking at you as you freeze in your spot. You look deep in thought. Suddenly, you shake your head and place the pot of red glaze back onto the countertop. He tilts his head in confusion.
“Ten seconds left!” 
Everyone is beginning to count down and you’re making final touches to your dish. Taeil, on the other hand, already has his hands up to indicate that he’s already done.
“Time’s up! Hands up! Servers, please take the dishes to the back.”
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“Alright, Y/N, please tell us what you have served for us.”
Stepping forward, you clear your throat. Each one of them looks at you with anticipation, but it makes you grow even more nervous. You feel more nervous than how you were at the start of the competition. When your eyes meet Chef Jaehyun’s, your mind can’t help but go blank. He gives you an encouraging smile and it’s enough for you to snap back to your senses.
“For dessert, I’ve recreated a fallen apple by making an apple panna cotta. The fallen apple is supported by a bed of soil which is recreated with an assortment of nuts and raisins. To replicate the twigs and leaves of the apple tree, I’ve made a dough for the twigs and used a sugar glaze for the leaves.” You describe your dish. All of their eyebrows raise. You’re not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“I saw you holding a pot of red glaze earlier and I assumed that you were going to use that to glaze over the apple jelly. But I see that you’ve decided not to use it. Is there a particular reason why you decided to do that?” Chef Jaehyun asks as he’s digging into your dessert by taking a bit of everything onto his spoon.
“I decided not to use red glaze for this dish because I felt like it would look a little bit too fake. I also think that it wouldn’t match the overall colors of the dish.” You explain. 
Chef Jaehyun smiles. “I think that was good judgment on your part. If it doesn’t look like it belongs on your dish, then don’t add it. Well done, Y/N.”
“Let’s all dig in.” Chef Doyoung insists.
As they all taste your dish, you nervously fiddle with your fingers. After they have all finished tasting the different components of your dish, they look back up at you.
“I think this is a unique dish, Y/N.” Chef Taeyong begins. He’s the first one to make a comment on your dessert. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The presentation is spot on again. I really like the balance of sweetness from the apple jelly and the richness of the soil. I enjoyed this dish. Thank you, Y/N.”
“Thank you, chef.” You mumble.
“I agree with Chef Taeyong.” Chef Doyoung smiles. “I really like how the jelly melts in your mouth and how this is counteracted by the crunchy texture of the nuts. The presentation of the dish is executed very well, it looks like a fallen apple. You’ve done a beautiful job, Y/N.”
“Thank you so much, chef.” 
“I agree with all of them.” Chef Jaehyun chuckles. “I see why you decided not to add red glaze to this dish. It would have completely ruined it. I am not one who likes desserts, but this has completely changed it for me. I love how it has the right amount of sweetness. The nuts balance well with the sweetness due to it being so rich in flavor. I would also serve something like this at my restaurant. You’ve come a long way, Y/N. You’ve done an excellent job in finishing up your three-course apple menu.”
“Wow, that means a lot, thank you so much.” You sigh with relief.
“Alright, we’re going to have a bit of a meeting now.” Chef Doyoung chuckles. “The two of you can go back and meet with your family while we go over your dishes and choose this season’s MasterChef.”
“Good luck, Y/N and Taeil.”
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“We have finally come to a decision.”
Everyone is gathered near the front of the kitchen. The three judges are standing right in front of you. You and Taeil share glances. Taeil flashes you a huge smile that you mirror back at him. It feels like a dream standing in front of the three chef judges, waiting for them to announce the winner of MasterChef. The journey that you took on this competition is one that you will never forget and one that will change your life forever. 
“It was hard to choose a winner for this season’s MasterChef.” Chef Taeyong begins. “Because the two of you have come such a long way since the start of the competition. The two of you have been through tough challenges and elimination tests, but you persevered, and that’s why you’re standing here today.”
“You have both improved and learned a lot since you started your journey here at MasterChef, and your journey continues even after the competition.” Chef Jaehyun clasps his hands together. “I personally think this season is my favorite. This final round has been special. You both served dishes that we have never even seen in the previous seasons of MasterChef. The both of you should be extremely proud of yourselves for making it this far.”
“But we do have to choose one MasterChef winner. The winner will be getting the first prize and a chance to open up their own restaurant or catering service. This will put you out into the field of cuisine and culinary arts, something that we’re all sure that you both came here for.” Chef Doyoung smiles. “Shall we announce the winner?”
“I think we should.” Chef Taeyong chuckles. “It was such a hard decision but…”
“But we have finally chosen this season’s MasterChef.” Chef Doyoung finishes it for him. “Y/N, Taeil, could you please step up to the front?”
You and Taeil head towards the front, hand in hand. Taeil gives your hand a tight, reassuring squeeze. Standing right behind him is his own family. Standing behind you are your relatives and your father, but also your mother, who’s looking down at you from the sky. 
“This season’s MasterChef is…”
You close your eyes. Your heart begins to beat faster than horsepower. You would feel like the only woman in the world if you hear your name being called out. Standing right here, with Taeil, in front of three world-renowned chefs, is another reminder of how much you wanted this, why you started this journey, and what you want out of it. It’s not only for you, but for your mother, who would always chase her dreams. 
“Congratulations, because you are this season’s MasterChef…”
“Y/N! Congratulations, you are this season’s MasterChef!”
It’s all a blur. Confetti shoots up into the air and falls down like snowflakes. You open your eyes when you feel yourself being attacked by your family with hugs. Taeil’s hand never lets go of yours and he pulls you into a tight, celebratory hug. Your eyes well up with tears. 
You can’t believe it.
If only your mother was here to celebrate your win with you. But you’re sure that she’s up in the skies, cheering you on, celebrating your achievement. It’s hard to breathe because it all feels so surreal. When you blink away your tears, your vision becomes clear again and you see the three chef judges coming in to join the big hug. Chef Jaehyun falls within sight and you share gazes.
He flashes you a wide, warm, genuine smile while mouthing ‘congratulations’.
Your heart skips a beat but you pay no attention to it.
You mouth back a ‘thank you, chef’.
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AFTER MASTERCHEF.
It’s been a couple of months since you won MasterChef and you’ve been assigned to work alongside Chef Doyoung at one of his new branch locations. You’ve been assigned this job in the meantime while you renovate your new diner that you’ve always wished of running. 
If Jaehyun were to be honest, he was quite sad (or should he say, jealous, but he will never admit it) that you were assigned to work with Doyoung. The days after MasterChef have been uneventful and boring. Everywhere he looks, it reminds him of you. Everything he does, it reminds him of you. Stubborn to admit it, he misses it. He misses you.
And so when he steps inside of Doyoung’s new branch location of his restaurant, Doie, he hopes that he could catch you there. Why? Because finding you has been extremely difficult these days. 
As he steps into the restaurant, he heads straight to the front desk. The woman working at the front slowly looks up and upon realizing who’s standing right in front of her, her posture straightens.  
He flashes her a warm smile. “Is Chef Y/N here?” 
“O-Oh! You’re Chef Jaehyun!” She exclaims. 
He smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “Yes, that’s me. I decided to drop by and check this place out. I had only found out that Chef Y/N was assigned to work here in the meantime before the opening of Mina’s Place.” 
“Unfortunately, Chef Y/N already left. She left a couple of hours ago to attend to some personal matters.” The woman frowns, spinning a pen in between her fingers. 
“Oh, is that so?” He’s trying so hard to hide the disappointment in his eyes. “I guess I was a bit too late.”
“Do you want me to pass a message on to her, chef?” She asks insistently. 
“Oh, there’s no need. I guess I’ll just drop by tomorrow.” He says with defeat.
Why is it that it used to be so easy to bump into you? Why is it that it’s become so difficult to bump into you now? Why is it so hard to cross paths with you now? It’s been so easy to find you before. But now, when he tries to find you, he can’t. It’s grown into a difficult game of hide and seek.
“Actually—” Jaehyun begins before cutting himself off. “I’ll be right back.”
He rushes out of the restaurant and spots a flower shop right across the road. Stepping inside of the flower shop, he’s greeted by an elderly woman who’s watering a fresh batch of tulips. She places the pail of water back onto the black and white tiled floor. 
“Hello, young man, how can I help you?” 
He lets his eyes wander around the shop. He can’t seem to figure out what to get. 
“I’ve been wanting to get a bouquet of flowers, but I’m not quite sure which flowers to put together.” He scratches the back of his head. 
She giggles sheepishly. “Is it for a young lady that’s taken your interest?”
He’s caught off guard by the question. He lets out a shaky, breathy laugh. There’s no way he could be feeling this way for you. Even if he does feel like you’re someone special to him, it’s something that will take a while for him to understand. Liking you is one thing but falling in love with you is another.
“I—I mean—Yeah, I guess so?” He sounds confused.
She tilts her head. “You guess so? Well, young man, the fact that you’ve stepped foot into my shop to get a lovely lady a bouquet of flowers must mean something. She must be someone special.”
The old woman has a point. He wouldn’t be going out of his way to do all of this for you. He wouldn’t be trying to find you. He wouldn’t have the urge to talk to you, to get to know you more. 
“I guess you’re right,” he slowly nods his head when everything slowly becomes clear for him. “Alright. Do you mind putting a bouquet together for a young woman that I’ve taken interest in? I want her to like me just as much as I like her.”
The old woman breaks out into a wide smile. 
“Right away, sir.” 
When the bouquet of white daisies and red tulips is wrapped and bundled together with a plastic wrap, Jaehyun pays for the old woman’s efforts and time before heading back to the restaurant across the road. But before he leaves the flower shop, the old woman gives him words of encouragement. He gives her two thumbs up and heads back. 
The woman standing at the front eyes the bouquet of flowers in his hands when he enters. He places the bouquet on top of the counter. “I’m back.”
“You’re back, indeed.”
“Do you mind giving Y/N these flowers when he comes in tomorrow? You could place them in a vase to keep them fresh too.” He asks.
She nods her head. “Will do, chef.”
“Alright, thank you so much. I’ll head on out now—”
“Chef Jaehyun, are you sure you’re just going to give her the bouquet of flowers without a note?”
Shoot. He turns back around. “You’re right, I didn’t write a note.”
She slides over a stack of sticky notes and her own pen. “Here you go, chef.”
He grabs the stack of sticky notes and walks over to one of the tables for two. He plops his butt down onto one of the chairs and thinks about what to write and what type of note he wants to leave you. To him, it seems like he’s been sitting there for hours. There are so many things he wants to tell you, but he’ll have to say them one by one.
To Y/N, 
I dropped by Doie in hopes of seeing you. Would love to meet and catch up with you over a cup of coffee. I miss hope that we could get in touch soon. On the back of the note is my number. Hope to hear from you soon.
Jaehyun
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“A short video?”
The production team exchanges looks before nodding their head. Jaehyun has been called to have a meeting with one of the food companies that he helps endorse. The company is popular for their gluten-free food products. From gluten-free flour to gluten-free bread, the company most likely carries it. It was the first brand that Jaehyun endorsed mainly because he’s always been picky with his food, especially since his mother’s allergic to gluten. 
“Yes! With Chef Y/N! It’s a promotion video for one of the new brands we’re carrying here at the supermarket. We’re planning on having the both of you shop around one of our supermarkets and use the groceries to create a dessert for Valentine’s Day.” One of the PR managers explains.
“Did Chef Y/N agree to do the video?” He raises an eyebrow. 
“Yes, she just got back to us this morning. She’s interested in doing the video.” Another PR joins the conversation. 
“Great. I’ll do the video.”
Everyone looks at each other weirdly. That was such a fast response. They always had trouble negotiating with Jaehyun mainly because of his busy life. But this time, it was different.
“O-Oh? That’s perfect, chef!”
“When do we start?”
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A couple of weeks later, you arrive at a supermarket that’s been closed off to the public until noon. It’s been a while since you last saw Chef Jaehyun. You were quite surprised to hear that he had decided to do the cooking video with you. You were even more surprised when the PR team had told you that the MasterChef viewers had voted for the two of you to collaborate for the video. As for the reasons why the viewers voted for the two of you specifically… you still have no idea.
“Chef Jaehyun will be arriving in a bit, he’s running late because of traffic.” The videographer informs you. 
“No worries, I’ll keep myself busy in the meantime.” You smile, heading inside of the supermarket to take a look at the groceries. 
You start off in the produce section, trying to see what you can come up with for the video. There are fresh large strawberries that you think would be perfect for chocolate-covered strawberries. After all, you and Chef Jaehyun are supposed to create a dish that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. You try to look for other alternatives, steering away from doing the basics. 
“Miss Y/N? Chef Jaehyun has arrived. He’s just outside of the supermarket.” One of the PR interns approaches you, almost startling you.
“Oh! Yes, alright, I’ll head on over with you right now.” You join her as you both walk back outside of the supermarket. 
As you walk through the automatic doors, the first thing you spot is a tall figure standing a few meters away. He’s talking to the videographers and the PR interns who are telling him what they have planned for the video. You hesitantly approach them, mumbling a soft, “hello.”
When Chef Jaehyun turns towards you, you see his eyes slightly widen before a flame ignites within them. For a brief moment, you get lost in his eyes because you find yourself focusing more on trying to steady your fast heartbeat. When you come back to your senses, you’re the first to look away. 
He clears his throat and you feel his shoulder brush against yours. “Nice seeing you again, Y/N.”
“Nice seeing you too, chef.” You mumble softly. Why do you feel shy?
“Are the two of you ready to start filming? From the scripts that we sent you, it’s going to be a casual type of video.” The videographer explains. “Just to briefly brush over what we have planned for the video, the two of you will be shopping for groceries that the company carries and sells and you will both cook up a dish together. It will be Valentine’s Day themed.”
The both of you slowly nod. “Are you ready?”
You look up to see Chef Jaehyun already looking down at you. You flash him a small, timid smile. “Ready, chef.”
“Perfect! Let’s start with the filming. Be yourselves and of course, have fun!” The videographer clasps his hands together and he pulls out his camera. 
You brace yourself.
It’s going to be a long day, that’s for sure.
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“Hello everyone, I’m Chef Jaehyun.”
“And I’m Chef Y/N.” 
“And today, we’ll be shopping around for ingredients to cook up a meal that you could cook for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day.” 
Chef Jaehyun pushes the cart while you look for some fresh fruits in the produce section. The two of you have agreed to cook two different dishes, a dessert and a main course. Chef Jaehyun will be in charge of the main course dish while you will be in charge of the dessert. 
“To spice things up, we have a couple of questions to answer while we shop.” You begin while you’re grabbing a bag of raspberries. 
“You’re going to play the couple game!” One of the PR interns says from her script. Your eyes almost bulge out of its sockets. You don’t remember a couple game written in the script. From the surprised look on Chef Jaehyun’s face, you don’t think he remembers it either. “We will give you two options and the both of you will answer on the count of three. Think of it as a compatibility game!”
“C-Couple game? Compatibility game?” Chef Jaehyun chuckles sheepishly. 
“First question! Fried chicken or pizza? One… two… three!”
“Chicken.” You both answer in unison.
“Wow, the compatibility is strong right off the bat.” The PR intern giggles. “Next question! Snow or rain? One… two… three!”
“Snow.” You both answer in unison again. 
“Wow, this must be fate.” The PR intern swoons. “Third question! Ice cream or cake? One… two… three!”
“Ice cream.” Chef Jaehyun answers.
“Cake.” You answer.
“The last few questions will only get interesting from here. Next question!” The PR exclaims. “Fall in love with your childhood best friend or fall in love with a celebrity! One… two… three!” 
“Fall in love with your childhood best friend.” You both answer.
“Interesting. Next question!” The PR continues to read off of her list of questions. “Choose the one who likes me or choose the one I like the most? One… two… three!”
“The one that I like the most.” You both answer. The PR intern grins as if her mission was accomplished successfully. 
After all of your horrible encounters with Chef Jaehyun, this was one of the few times that you were actually on the same page as him. The only times that you felt like he was on your side was when he begged you to stay in the competition and when he was your partner for semi-finals. You were slowly starting to forget about cold-hearted Chef Jaehyun, the perfectionist that loved to nitpick every single detail of yours. This side of Chef Jaehyun… is a side that you want to see often. 
In fact, you wouldn’t be surprised if you fell in love with him.
“Last question before we let you finish grocery shopping,” the PR intern snaps you out of your thoughts. “What are your ideal types?”
“I like someone who is easy to talk to, someone that I can communicate with without feeling embarrassed. It’s nice to have someone who’s transparent.” Chef Jaehyun is the first to answer the question. 
“How about you, Chef Y/N?” 
You think about it for a moment. You hum to yourself before shrugging your shoulders. “I don’t think I have an ideal type.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“Because I think that no matter what you like in a certain person, when you actually fall in love with someone, that person could be completely different.” You explain.
“You’re a hopeless romantic, Y/N.” Chef Jaehyun nudges you.
It’s an odd gesture, coming from him. You bite your lip, nudging him back. 
“If there’s a hopeless romantic out of the two of us, it would be you, Chef Jaehyun.”
The PR intern chuckles.
“It would definitely be you, Chef Jaehyun, since you were born on Valentine’s Day!”
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At the end of the shoot, you and Chef Jaehyun had insisted on cleaning up the kitchen before leaving the set. You’re busy washing the dishes and he’s busy putting the ingredients back into the cupboards and fridge. From the corner of your eye, you can see Chef Jaehyun leaning against the countertop, watching you. You almost drop the dishes into the sink, catching yourself right in time.
“How have you been?” You hear him ask.
You bite your lip. “I’ve been well, chef. You?”
“Better now that I’ve seen you again.” 
You clear your throat, letting out a lighthearted chuckle. “I’m not sure how you want me to react to that, chef.”
“Did you… get them?” 
You furrow your eyebrows in confusion. “Get the…?”
“The flowers…?”
“Flowers…?” You place the dishes back into the hot bath before gasping. “Oh, right! The flowers! Yes, I got them. Thank you, Chef Jaehyun. You didn’t really need to.”
“I wanted to give you a gift since I heard that you’re planning on opening a diner,” he mumbles softly. Is he… blushing?
“It’s true.” You smile. “I’m going to make my mother’s dreams come true.”
“I’m sure she’s proud of you.” He flashes you a smile. It’s a different smile. This time, you can feel the genuinity he’s expressing. It feels sincere. “Have you finalized a grand opening date?”
You turn off the faucet and wipe your hands with a towel. As you turn towards Chef Jaehyun, you don’t realize how close he’s been standing to you. You almost stumble back. Gulping nervously, you nod your head. “Sometime in July.”
“I’ll keep my schedules flexible in July, then. I’d love to join you for the grand opening.” 
“Oh, you don’t need to, chef. I’m sure you’re busy with other things.”
“If it’s for you, why not?” 
The two of you stare at each other. His eyes slowly trail down to your lips. You lick them out of instinct, frozen with your feet glued to the floor. As you fake a cough, he regains his focus and is the first to pull away from you. 
“Jaehyun? We have to get going for your next schedule.” His manager calls out to him.
The two of you glance at each other. He gives you a look you can’t seem to read. Jaehyun doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay with you. He wants to spend more time with you. He’s aching to get to know you more. There’s a sense of urgency and neediness. 
“You should get going, chef.” You mumble shyly. “Wouldn’t want to be late to your next schedule.”
What Chef Jaehyun does next completely catches you off guard. He ruffles your hair before caressing your cheek with the same hand. With widened and surprised eyes, your heartbeat picks up its pace. He smiles. It feels warm. He feels warm.
“I won’t be able to see you for a while but Happy Valentine’s Day, Y/N. You don’t know how happy I am to see you again.”
When Chef Jaehyun’s figure gets smaller and smaller, your heart feels tighter and tighter. You’re not sure how Chef Jaehyun feels about you. But what you’re sure of is that you no longer despise Chef Jaehyun. 
You’re slowly falling in love with him.
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[NEW] COOK UP HEARTWARMING VALENTINE’S DAY DISHES W/ CHEF JAEHYUN AND MASTERCHEF CHAMPION Y/N  1.2m views | 56k+ likes | two days ago
COMMENTS:
[pinned comment] Chef Jaehyun Official: Happy Valentine’s Day everyone~ #chefjaehyunxYN should we do another video together?
pastrychef_amy21: omg is it just me or does anyone feel like chef jaehyun has a crush on chef y/n?? doggolover312 replied: omg I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT NOTICED.  luminescencexx replied: the way he looks at her >> get you a man like chef jaehyun ugh he’s handsome AND he cooks??? perfect package kjhdskjfh
galaxiesandstarsxo: they act like an old married couple sobs i always found their bickering cute since masterchef doggolover312 replied: but doesn’t chef jaehyun have a gf? i swear he did galaxiesandstarsxo replied: i think they broke up a long time ago? they were supposed to get married apparently… but something happened. they even unfollowed each other on socials doggolover312 replied: omg if that’s the case… chef y/n you still have a chance!!
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It’s your last day helping out at Doie and it feels bittersweet to be leaving. Here, you close a chapter to open another one. You’ve been helping out in the kitchen at Doie for months, right after you had won MasterChef. The time you were at Doie is something you’ll cherish. But you’re moving on to make bigger moves, making you and your mother’s dreams come true as one of them. 
On your last day of work, Chef Taeyong decides to surprise you with a visit. You’re in the middle of cooking up a dish when he arrives and asks you if the two of you could have a chat. You both find yourselves sitting in the loft that’s been closed to customers for the season. 
“How have you been?” He asks. 
You smile. “I’ve been well, chef. I’ve been enjoying every single day.”
He chuckles. “I can definitely see that you’re enjoying every passing day. You’re a MasterChef, after all.”
You cut right to the chase. “Am I in trouble, chef?”
“No, not at all. Far from it, actually.” He shakes his head. “I wanted to talk to you about something… or should I say, about someone.”
“Who?” 
He snorts. “Jaehyun, of course. Have you seen him recently?”
“Yes, chef. We filmed a video together for Valentine’s Day with one of his sponsors—”
“Now that makes sense!” He exclaims. He sighs with relief. “He’s been acting incredibly weird lately. In fact, he’s been acting weird for the longest time, since MasterChef, and it’s been driving me nuts.”
“Chef Jaehyun? Acting weirdly?” You ask confusedly. 
“How do I put this?” He sighs. “He likes you, Y/N. You may not think he does and he may not think he does either, but I see it. It’s crystal clear. It’s as clear as day.” 
You fold over, bursting out into laughter. It’s the reaction he expected from you. He got the same exact reaction from Jaehyun. Complete disbelief. Complete obliviousness. 
“Oh no, chef. I don’t think he likes me—”
“He does, Y/N.” Chef Taeyong cuts you off. “Listen, before his flight to Florence, his ex-girlfriend dumped him because she was cheating on him. Ever since then, Jaehyun has been such a cold-hearted person and worked his ass off. But I always felt that there was something off about him.”
“He got dumped before flying out to Florence?” You purse your lips into a tight line. “Maybe that’s why he was such in a bad mood when I spilled wine all over his shirt—”
“You both met each other before MasterChef?” Chef Taeyong flips out, eyes rounding like saucers. “In Florence, too?!”
“Yes…?”
“Makes sense.” He squints his eyes. “He kept talking about this restaurant, specifically about this waitress who somehow became a culinary intern—”
“That was me—”
“—and how he kind of regretted being so cold and rude to her because he truly saw potential and thought that she needed a boost of confidence—”
“He saw potential in me even back then—”
“—wait, the girl he was talking about was you?!” His jaw drops. 
You slowly nod your head. “I was the waitress who spilled wine all over his shirt. I was the culinary intern who messed up his dish. All those horrifying encounters with Chef Jaehyun had led me to think that he absolutely hated me. He was blunt and honest, which made my unconfident self to join MasterChef to prove him wrong.”
“And you did.” Chef Taeyong smiles before it turns into a grin. “But Y/N, you got it all wrong.”
“I got it all wrong? How?”
“Jaehyun never hated you. He never disliked you.” He confesses. “In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Jaehyun’s a weird guy, I know.”
“H-How? I don’t—I don’t understand.” You scratch the back of your neck, face filled with confusion. 
“When he told me about a waitress spilling wine all over his shirt, he laughed and said it was like fate was telling him to wake up.” He chuckles. “When he told me about a culinary intern messing up his dish, he couldn’t help but regret being harsh to the intern and wanted to go back but he already had to fly back to Seoul.” 
You’ve never really thought of how your encounters with Chef Jaehyun looked through his point of view. Now that Chef Taeyong was laying it all out for you, you were slowly realizing that your low self-esteem and confidence caused you to immediately conclude that he hated you. 
“Huh—”
“When you auditioned for MasterChef, Jaehyun actually wanted to say yes. In fact, he was the first one to say yes, but the producers of the show told him to say no to add more drama for the viewers.” He continues. “For your team challenge, Jaehyun was the one who spotted Euntae sabotaging your cake.” 
“It was him?” You whisper. 
He nods his head. “When we were deciding who to eliminate after your team lost the challenge, Jaehyun was proactive in convincing us to keep you in the competition. You were close to being eliminated but Jaehyun kept telling us that you had potential.” 
He saw potential in you. He was persistent in keeping you in the competition. In the end, Chef Jaehyun really cared. 
“I—”
“The day after I found out that Jaehyun stopped you from voluntarily withdrawing from the competition, I was curious as to how he managed to make you stay.” He smiles. “But when I looked at him look at you, I had already gotten the answer.”
You fall silent. Chef Jaehyun did everything to make sure that you felt like you were fit to be a chef. But you were just closed minded and immediately shut him down. All of his actions translated into intentions out of hate. You wish you had known, perhaps you would’ve developed a great friendship with him. You’re surprised he’s still coming back into your life to try at being friends with you after being so rude to him. 
“I’ve worked with Jaehyun for many years. I know him so well. I can read him like a book. When I saw how Jaehyun looked at you that day, I felt relieved because I’ve never seen him like that for so long.” He places a hand on your shoulder. “If my best friend decides to pursue you, just know that he has good intentions and that it’s a huge step for him, especially after a heart crushing breakup.”
“That is, if he really likes me.” 
“Oh trust me, honey, he does.”
Chef Taeyong lets out a sigh. The two of you stand there, looking out at the blue skies that overlook the busy streets of Seoul. Your life may be busy, but you wouldn’t trade it for anything else. You’re living out your dreams. 
“Hey, Y/N?”
“Yes, chef?”
“The reason why I dropped by was because I wanted to give you this.” He pulls out an envelope from a bag filled with many other identical envelopes. 
You quirk an eyebrow. “Can I open it in front of you?”
He hums in reply. “Go ahead.”
As you open the envelope, you pull out a white card. It’s almost as if you could read his mind. As you slowly open the white card, you let out a gasp.
“You’re getting married?!”
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THE GRAND OPENING.
It’s been a year since you won MasterChef. It’s also been a year since you started planning to start your own diner in memory of your mother. Mina’s Place. You decided to keep the name because it’s one of the few things that remind you of her. You even made sure the interior and exterior of the diner looked exactly how it did when the diner was still open. From the yellow seats and booths, the use of purple and lavender lighting to the gray tiled floors, you kept everything the same. The only difference is that the diner is located in a different area, right in the middle of busy Seoul. 
Today is the grand opening of the diner and you’re expected to serve a large group of customers. PR and advertisement has been your best friend, but your appearance and your win at MasterChef drove the anticipation of the diner’s grand opening even further. 
You arrive at the diner at six in the morning to prepare all of the ingredients. From the ingredients to the grapefruit and basil pie to the ingredients for your Korean brisket and kimchi burger, you had prepared them all on your own. It was only until eight that your co-chefs and waiters and waitresses had arrived to prepare for the grand opening. Around eleven-thirty, customers, Instagram influencers and foodies began to show up at the door, forming a long line around the strip.
“Chef Y/N?” One of the waitresses, Luna, pops her head through the door.
You’re crouching down, filling up the mini fridge with cartons of milk. You dust your hands off your apron and you slowly get up. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“Someone’s here to see you,” she flashes you a warm smile.
You look at her confusedly. “Are we missing someone on the team? I don’t remember anyone telling me that they were going to drop by—”
“It’s Chef Jaehyun,” Luna bites her lip. She’s biting back a huge smile.
Your eyebrows raise. Confused, you continue to gather yourself. Chef Jaehyun? “S-Sure, you can let him in.”
Luna leaves the kitchen to go fetch Jaehyun and you finish placing all the cartons of milk into the mini fridge. Moments later, you hear footsteps entering the kitchen. You stand back up, bumping your head against the table and groaning in pain. Crouching back down over the floor, you hear footsteps begin to scurry closer to you. 
“Oh! Are you okay, Y/N?” 
Before your hand touches the sensitive area, you already feel a familiar hand gently rubbing it to soothe the pain. You freeze up in your position, gulping nervously. Suddenly, Chef Jaehyun’s face is right in front of yours. He has a look of concern. Looking back at him with slightly widened eyes, your mind is completely wiped out of thoughts. What is this feeling? You’ve never felt this way before. You’ve never felt your heart beat so fast. You’ve never frozen up in front of someone. You’ve never lost your train of thought because of someone. 
Seconds later, you clear your throat, pulling yourself away. You’ve finally come back to your senses. “Chef Jaehyun… I had no idea you were planning on dropping by—”
“I wanted to join you in the ribbon ceremony for the grand opening!” He exclaims.
He remembered? He knew it was today? You and Chef Jaehyun have never established some sort of friendship after the competition. You like to think that the both of you have achieved the status of being acquaintances, but definitely not the status of being friends. 
“A-Ah,” you mumble softly. “Thanks, chef. You didn’t need to, I feel like it would be a bother and I’m sure you have other plans too—” 
You’re not sure when things began to change. You’re not sure when the atmosphere began to shift between you and Chef Jaehyun. It’s almost as if you’re seeing a different person. He’s much brighter, nicer, happier. Why is it making your heart swell? What are his intentions?
“I wouldn’t miss the grand opening to Mina’s Place for anything else,” he says softly. “Hey, Y/N?”
You raise an eyebrow. “Hm?”
“I got you a present to congratulate you on the grand opening of Mina’s Place.” 
“A present?” You blurt out. “Oh, no, Chef Jaehyun, you didn’t need to—”
“I wanted to.” He cuts you off. “Let’s go?” 
For a brief moment, you see his hand reach out to grab yours but he quickly pulls away upon realization. The two of you are not that close for such skinship. When he realizes it, he looks back up at you with panicked eyes. Was he really going to hold your hand? You clear your throat, tearing your eyes away from his. Instead, you both walk out of the kitchen side by side.
Sitting on one of the light brown hardwood tables is a lavender box wrapped with a thin white ribbon. You glance at Jaehyun as if asking for permission, he gestures to you to go right ahead. Gently untying the ribbon, you take the lid off the box. A small gasp escapes your lips.
Sitting inside the box is an apron, but it’s not your regular apron. The apron looks just like the one in your old family pictures. Yellow with white straps. It’s simple and clean. It’ll show the stains of your hard work. It’ll feel like home. 
But when you pull it out, there’s one little difference to the design. There, embroidered in white on the top left corner, reads the words “Mina’s Place.” It looks just like your mother’s handwriting, the original font of the brand, and it makes your eyes well up with tears. For a brief moment, when you hold up the apron, you could imagine your mother standing right before you with it on. 
“Chef, I—” You’re having trouble forming the right words to say. 
“So she’ll be with you, right above your heart, every step of the way,” Jaehyun pauses for a moment, “Chef.” He gives you a smile so fond, you are again struck with disbelief. 
Hearing the word ‘chef’ come from Chef Jaehyun is something you want to hear over and over again. You want it to play through your head like a broken record. Chef Jaehyun has always been hard on you, but you knew that he was only hard on you because he only wanted the best. Chef Jaehyun is always hard on everyone and you failed to notice that. He truly wants the best for the people he works with and most importantly, the people he teaches. Maturing is realizing that you were ignorant of Chef Jaehyun’s true intentions and immediately thought negatively of him because of your past encounters with him. 
“D-Do you mind saying that again?”
“I’m proud of how far you’ve come, Chef Y/N. This is only the beginning.”
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After a long first day of opening, you and your team of chefs and waiters and waitresses see the last customer out. The grand opening has been such a dream to you. There was a long line that wrapped around the block. The diner was packed with many people. The line never truly saw its end until an hour before closing. When the last customer walks out of the diner after complimenting how delicious their food was, you feel your legs give out and you sigh with relief. Slowly getting back up onto your feet, you head to the back kitchen to congratulate your team.
“And we are officially closed until tomorrow morning!” You exclaim. That is, until you spot a celebratory cake sitting right in front of you on the countertop. Your team of chefs and waiters and waitresses have their phones on and recording your surprised face. “Oh you guys, you shouldn’t have!”
“Congratulations on your grand opening, chef!”
Your eyes scan the kitchen. There’s Luna, a good friend of yours from university who worked as a waitress at a hotel restaurant. She quit her job in a heartbeat after you had offered her to work front of house with a better pay. Standing right next to Luna is Minhyuck, who just graduated from culinary arts college and has been wanting to get into the kitchen as soon as possible. You saw your younger self in him, which is why you hired him on your team. Right next to Minhyuck is Yena, a rookie pastry chef that’s planning on entering MasterChef and figured working with a MasterChef champion would help her. Next to Yena are Wheein and Dohyun, who are line chefs and also your co-culinary interns in Florence. Lastly, there’s Mark and Donghyuck, two best friends and college students who were looking to get jobs as waiters.
“You guys are going to make me cry.” You pout your lips.
“To Mina’s Place!” Mark exclaims.
“To Mina’s Place!” Everyone else exclaims.
You smile, leaning in to blow out the candles. Everyone cheers. But slowly, everyone puts down their phones and stops recording video. You look at them confusedly as they begin to flash you encouraging and cheeky smiles and grins. 
“Why are you guys looking at me like that?” You ask.
“Well, would you look at the time, we should get going!” Dohyun looks down at his wristwatch, avoiding your question.
“Oh, yeah, you’re right. My mom’s going to kill me!” Wheein is rushing to gather her things.
“Wheein is my carpool driver, so I should get going too.” Yena bites her lip.
One by one, everyone starts to leave the kitchen and the diner. When it’s just you, you slowly turn around to see Chef Jaehyun entering the kitchen. He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck nervously. You tilt your head in confusion.
“Y-You’re still here, chef?” You question.
He nods his head. “I wanted to drop by and see your last customer out.”
“O-Oh, you didn’t have to—”
“I wanted to.” He smiles. “I was wondering if you could…”
He falls silent, having trouble finding the right words to come out. You stand there, expectantly, waiting for him to finish. The first thing you notice is how red Chef Jaehyun’s ears are becoming. The second thing you notice is how he can’t seem to look directly into your eyes. The third thing you notice is that… Chef Jaehyun has become shy and nervous around you. Have the tables turned?
“If I could…?”
“If you could teach me how to make the grapefruit and basil pie.” He blurts out and it comes out as a jumble of words. 
You bite back a smile. “Are you going to steal my recipe and start selling grapefruit and basil pie at your restaurant?”
“Of course not,” he panics. “I would never do that.”
“I’m not sure if I could trust you,” you fold your arms, continuing to tease him. “Jaehyun.”
“I won’t,” he says softly, finally finding the courage to look into your eyes. When it sinks in that you called him by his name, his gaze softens. You feel your heart swell. “I promise. That is, if you promise me one thing too.”
“Of course,” you smile. “What is it?”
“You’ll accompany me to Taeyong’s wedding.” 
“I’d love to, in fact, I was invited as well—”
“As my date.” He finishes. You almost choke on your spit. 
Is this really happening? Jaehyun looks incredibly nervous. You bite your lip to stop yourself from smiling so wide. You slowly nod your head in response.
“I’d love to, Jaehyun.”
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THE ‘REAL’ FIRST TIME.
When Jaehyun’s parents pick him up from elementary school, it’s pouring showers outside. But the only thing that lit up the gloomy streets of Seoul was Mina’s Place, a diner that he and his parents would frequent every Friday to reward their efforts for the past week. Both of Jaehyun’s parents are well-known professors at Yonsei University, specifically in the culinary arts program. Jaehyun’s father was a chef alongside famous chefs like Baek Jongwon and Lee Yeonbok. Jaehyun’s mother was a pastry chef who was known for her win at a famous pastry competition back in her days. 
And Jaehyun… was a mini chef in the making. 
On a gloomy Friday afternoon, Jaehyun and his parents sit in their usual corner of Mina’s Place. A woman seeming to be in her late thirties heads over to their table with a menu. She’s wearing an apron and a chef’s hat. 
“Welcome to Mina’s Place, what can I get you started for today?” The woman asks, pulling out her notepad after gently placing the menus down onto the red table. 
“Hi Mina, we’d love to have the usual!” Jaehyun’s father exclaims. “That grapefruit and basil pie has never left my mind since the last time we were here.” 
“That’s such a relief to hear…” The woman, whom Jaehyun now knows is Mina herself, sighs with relief. She writes it down in the notepad along with his mother’s order. She clicks her pen before stuffing it into the pocket of her yellow apron. “I’ll have your orders ready in a bit. In the meantime, make yourselves at home!”
Jaehyun’s eyes wander around the diner. Although this diner was the place he and his parents would frequent, this diner was extra special for a reason. That reason being that his parents got engaged right in front of the diner while it was owned by different owners. During that time, the diner wasn’t Mina’s Place yet, it was a fast-food restaurant. 
Jaehyun’s attention is disrupted when Mina comes back to their table with their orders. His eyes land on the little girl standing right beside her. She has such large innocent eyes. She looks curiously at him. She seems to be somewhere around his age. She’s sporting a mini apron that looks exactly like Mina’s. 
“And who is this cute little girl?” He hears his mother ask Mina.
Mina places her hand on the little girl’s shoulder, bringing the little girl closer to her. She cuddles against Mina. “This is my daughter. Her name is Y/N.”
“How old is she?” His mother continues to ask questions out of curiosity. 
“She’s ten.” Mina pinches her daughter’s cheek. 
“Oh, she’s two years younger than Jaehyun!” His father joins in the conversation. “They could be friends!”
Jaehyun makes eye contact with the little girl. She looks up at her mother before looking at both of his parents. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she looks back at him and sticks out her tongue. He feels taken aback, eyes slightly widening. 
“I think they would get along quite well!” Mina smiles. “Doesn’t little Jaehyun want to be a chef when he grows up?”
“He does,” his mother nods her head. “Does Y/N want to be a chef as well? Take after you?”
“She sure does! They could even go to culinary school together! Maybe go to a cooking competition or something!”
Friends? Jaehyun scoffs, sending a glare at the little girl. They have an intense staredown. To the adults, it looks like they’re staring at each other because they have crushes on each other. But in reality, Jaehyun’s having a staredown with the little girl because she provoked him. He pokes his tongue at her in return. Her eyes widen as if she did not expect him to put up a mini fight. They could even go to culinary school together? There’s no way that that’ll happen. Cooking competition? Absolutely no way. 
“I think my little daughter here has a crush…”
“Jaehyun, sweetie, isn’t Y/N so pretty? You can’t seem to stop staring at her.”
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THE REALIZATION OF (MANY) THINGS.
“That was you?!”
“I can’t believe that was you!”
Sitting by the water fountain, you and Jaehyun talk about your real first encounter with each other when you were kids. From the outside of the reception venue, you can hear the DJ playing a remix of cha cha slide and the guests chanting along. Taeyong’s wedding has been memorable. It was nice to see one of your mentors getting married to the love of his life. Not only that, but you’ve been having a great time with Jaehyun. Since it was getting quite stuffy inside the venue, you and Jaehyun decided to stroll around the garden outside to get some fresh air. 
“You know, sometimes I think that we’ve always had fateful encounters.” Jaehyun begins. He’s aching to hold your hand. But he knows that he wants to take things slow and carefully. He’s so in love with you that he doesn’t want to mess this up. 
“Fateful encounters? What makes you say that?” You ask.
“I came out of a horrible breakup before flying to Florence to run a restaurant with Taeyong. It was such a huge coincidence to have a beautiful woman spill expensive wine all over my shirt.” He chuckles.
You jokingly glare at him. “It was an accident.”
“I know, I know.” He waves it off. “It was an even more big of a coincidence to have the same beautiful woman serve me a dish at the same restaurant.”
“Makes sense.” You nod your head in agreement. “And then we met again at MasterChef but I was a contestant and you were the judge.”
“You know, when I heard that you were withdrawing from the competition, it was like my entire world was crashing down.” He says softly. “It was like I was reminded of all the times I’ve met you and how I couldn’t let you go. I had a feeling that there must’ve been a reason why I met you after getting dumped by my ex-girlfriend.”
“But you showed me that it’s worth working hard and that it’s worth chasing your dreams.” You smile. “I haven’t thank you yet for that but... thank you, Jaehyun. If it weren’t for you, I would probably fly back out to Florence and pick up another job as a waitress.”
“And yet, I would still look for you.” He confesses. “If somehow you stuck with your decision of withdrawing, I would’ve still looked for you, no matter how far the distance.”
“Really?” You whisper.
He smiles. “Yes. I mean, how could I forget the beautiful woman that spilled expensive wine all over my shirt?”
You playfully slap his arm. “You’re really going to tease me for that for the rest of my life, huh?”
“Of course, if only you allow me to be with you for a long time.” He says and it slowly turns into a soft, shy mumble. “Agh, this is so hard!”
You quirk an eyebrow. He’s turning away from you, throwing a cute little fit. “What’s so hard?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you something but I keep getting nervous because you look—” He stops himself. “You look so pretty and whenever I look at you, I lose my train of thought and all of the things I’ve been wanting to tell you.”
“What is it that you need to tell me?”
“Our fateful encounters.” He begins to tell you, with his back facing you because he’s too nervous to look at you. “After MasterChef, I did everything I could to find you, to see you, to get to know you more. When Doyoung told me that you were going to be working at his restaurant for a while, I kept visiting in hopes to see you but you weren’t there.”
“You did?”
“Yes, which is why I gave you those flowers!” He exclaims. “And then when we were asked to shoot that Valentine’s Day video, I agreed to do it in a heartbeat when I found out that you were going to be joining the project.” 
“Oh...” 
“It used to be so easy to look for you because of all of our fateful encounters. But after MasterChef, it’s become a mission to find you. But now that I’ve finally found you again, I knew that I couldn’t let you go no matter what.” 
“Jaehyun...” You trail off. 
He sucks in a deep breath before slowly turning back around to face you. “Y/N, I hope you know what I’m trying to say, where I’m trying to get at with this... but...”
“But?” You have a feeling you know what he’s going to tell you, but you would rather wait for it to spill past his lips. 
“I’m—” He begins before looking down at your feet. His eyebrows raise in shock and he lets out a small gasp. “Oh, you’re wearing them.”
You almost want to curse at your two feet for ruining the moment. You look down at your heels that you’ve chosen to wear to the wedding. It’s the pair of heels that Alessandro had given to you when you broke your heels after tripping over yourself and spilling wine all over Jaehyun. 
“These heels? Yeah, I was given—”
“You’re wearing the heels that I gave you.” He cuts you off.
“You were the one who gave these?” You whisper.
His eyes meet yours and he chuckles, nodding his head. “Of course. When you got back up after tripping over, I noticed that your heels broke and so I stopped by one of the shops along the strip to get you a new pair. I think I dropped it off with Alessandro because I was running a bit late to—oof!”
“It was you. It’s always been you. This entire time.” You crush him with a hug. He’s caught off guard and sits there in shock for a brief moment before melting into your embrace. 
He slowly pulls away and grabs your hands. “As I was saying...”
“As you were saying...” You continue.
“With all our fateful encounters... with those pair of heels... with all of the times I’ve crossed paths with you, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way in so long.” He continues. “Y/N, I’m so in love with you. I’m already so nervous telling you this right now, especially while holding your hands. I just wanted you to know that I have feelings for you and you could completely reject me, I understand—”
“I’m in love with you too, Jaehyun.”
“Really?” He whispers, still in shock. “You’re giving me a chance?”
“Only if you give me a chance.” You chuckle.
“You don’t know how happy you’ve made me, Y/N.”
“You don’t know how much I want to make you happy, Jaehyun.”
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WELCOME TO THE NEW SEASON OF MASTERCHEF.
“For today’s challenge, we will be recreating Y/N’s most famous dish!”
All of the contestants let out gasps when you step onto the stage to join the three chef judges. The judges for the new season of MasterChef remain the same; Chef Taeyong, Chef Jaehyun, and Chef Doyoung. After having them beg you to guest on the show, you decided to give it a shot.
“For today’s challenge, you will be recreating my famous dish of a deconstructed basil and grapefruit pie.” You smile. “To start this challenge, let us all gather around the front so that you could learn how to master your own deconstructed pie!”
You begin by making your way towards the demo station where you will be showing the contestants how to make your famous pie. Everyone joins in and gathers around you to get a glimpse of how to make your famous pie themselves. Standing on the stage a couple of metres behind you are the three judges, you watch you begin your demo.
Jaehyun folds his arms and lets out a happy sigh. Taeyong glances at him and quirks an eyebrow. “I wonder who that beautiful woman is cooking at the demo table over there.”
Taeyong snorts and rolls his eyes. “Jaehyun, that’s your girlfriend.”
Jaehyun chuckles, nodding his head. “Oh right... she is. That’s my girlfriend—actually, my fiance.”
“Your what? Since when? H-How—” Doyoung and Taeyong share shocked looks while Jaehyun digs into the pockets of his jeans to pull out an engagement ring. Your engagement ring, to be exact.
“Since last night.” He holds up your engagement ring in one hand and shows his engagement ring that he’s wearing on his other. “She doesn’t like cooking with her engagement ring so I’m just holding it for her.”
“Dude...” Taeyong clenches his chest.
Jaehyun snorts. “Dude...”
“Wow, I’m really the only one left that’s single, huh?” Doyoung sighs.
The two chefs comfort him by patting his back.
“She’ll come around soon, Doyoung. You just gotta be patient.”
“You never know, she’ll be a chef too!”
“Chef Jaehyun?” 
The three of them shift their attention back to the contestants. You’re the one calling out to Jaehyun. He quirks an eyebrow. “Yes, Chef Y/N?”
“A couple of the ladies here are wondering if you’re single,” you chuckle. 
Jaehyun shares a knowing look with you. “Well, I hate to disappoint but I just got engaged to the love of my life.”
They let out sad sighs and groans before everyone gets back to learning how to make your famous pie. Taeyong smirks. 
“You’re breaking so many hearts right now, Jaehyun.”
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💌 author’s note. she’s FINALLY here 😩 again, i apologize for keeping this off for such a long time. i’ve been super busy with school and just life in general. to everyone who’s been super understanding and patient, thank you so much. from the bottom of my heart, i sincerely thank you for waiting for such a long time. i also wanted to thank @sehunniepotwrites for hearing me voice out my frustrations and all of my excitement throughout writing this fic. nikki truly saw all of the emotions that i’ve experienced and gone through while writing chef!jae. i remember always wanting to write a chef!jae fic and bring chef!jae to life, but there was a lot of pressure and the feeling of doubt.. i felt like i had to do it justice and the fear of not writing it to the best of my ability (esp with me being a perfectionist), it was something that held me back from finishing this fic. but i managed to pull through and i realized that it doesn’t matter, what matters is that i enjoyed writing this fic and if that feeling of enjoyment can be felt through those who read it, that’s more than enough for me. but anyways before this gets longer, thank you so much for reading!
and as always, feedback and comments are always appreciated!
taglist (some of the tags didn’t work so if u didn’t get the notif, i’m sorry!): @anya-writes-stuff​ @swifterauhl​ @tyongblr @alwaysthefirstsight @doyoungsmovingcastle​ @pinkyzae​ @sunshinein17​ @jaehyunnie77​ @dreamycomets​ @seventeeneration​ @srutz​ @coupsiesluv​ @nctdom​ @moonchele​ @freshprunecowboyapricot​ @chimmybaek7​ @forhaever​ @ten10vly​ @fluffyjaes​ @gyujaehyun​ @so-showme-ill-shownu​ @winniet​ @yipyipmorals​ 
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ncityprincess · 1 year
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how taeyong is in bed
mdni!
-oh boy
-mr. ty track
-this guy is an enigma
-he LOVES sex
-a super duper freak
-this is a water sign we're talking about here
-he's a wildcard honestly
-he absolutely is a giver in the bedroom
-does whatever he can to make you feel good
-loves to feel up your body
-kisses literally every square inch of it
-likes really long foreplay
-will probably give you sensual massages as foreplay
-definitely has an extensive collection of massage oils
-scented and non scented
-loves messy kisses
-likes to make you suck his fingers
-but also likes to suck your fingers
-love you to be aggressive and needy when you're receiving oral
-wants you to sit on his face
-loves when you grind against it
-obsessed with the idea of you using him to get off
-wants to be your source of pleasure
-EXTREMELY VOCAL
-AND SENSITIVE
-secretly loves when you play with his nipples
-also loves to worship your breasts
-he loves to rub his face against them
-extremely sensual
-loves watching you masturbate
-especially when you tell him he can’t touch you or himself
-loves feeling trapped and helpless
-he loves to spoon you from behind and drill into you and grab your face to give you a sloppy kiss
-likes it when you choke him while you ride him
-would definitely let you tie him up
-likes pain mixed with pleasure
-more so receiving than giving
-like getting his hair pulled
-and being marked up
-loves giving and receiving love bites
-moans very loudly when he comes
-can probably go for back to back rounds
-because he's full of energy
-would tuck you in and make you a warm meal after you guys finish
-and dress you in his warmest clothes <3
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pagesofmiracles · 9 months
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cyberdating 🎮
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summary. where jisung and reader end up dating on roblox for shits and giggles but don't realize their feelings turn into something more . . .
game 13. single era
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notes. heyyyy guyssss OK PLS GIVE ME SOME IDEAS FOR LIKE SUB PLOTS BECAYSE IK WHAT TO DO WITH JISUNG AND YN BUT THEN THAT WOULD BE BORING IF IT WAS JUST THEM
[ home page 🎰 ] [game 12] [game 14]
taglist. open ! comment or send an ask to be added !
@renjunoya @haechansbbg @maleegayuh @jisyng @iscocohere @jaeminnanaaa17 @jising-jisang-jisung @jaeminanklelicker @adriloren @xoxoparkji @hinaaloverr @yooonz4u @ahnneyong @rikirritated @antiv3nus @makiswrld @gyehyeonist @int3rstell4r @lesserakura @qiankunslove @aussiekpopginger @lynnfv @milkpier @moonstar127 @woonhakist @mika-t3t @gothhyucks @he4rtsforyujun @rksbae @jisungiscutee @beemarkie @produmads @welljustshit @suungs @nagyaons @leewonha @chimicurri-a @vianna99 @shwizhies @savluvsmingi @ilovewonyo @haychhans @222brainrot @jinsfavoritedoll @pkjay @iwouldbangchan @meltinghershey @electriccrimsonudon
bolded can't be tagged :(
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haeflmz · 7 months
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The Sin Eater.
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Title: The Professor Is Weird.
Pairing: mark lee x fem!oc.
Genre: Horror occult, romance, fantasy, age-gap, slow burn, non-idol au, angst, fluff.
Summary: where an unexpected curse takes over baekhwa private school, jeong haelim gets involved into the world of occult.
Warnings: jumpscares, suicides, gore mention, hallucinations, mental health problems are spoken here, stress and strong language used.
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Baekhwa institution. Private all girl school where students only care about one thing; grades. In this world of books and cramming for exam seasons it is nothing but overwhelming competition and criticism. Crippling at the young generation. Teachers putting high standards and expectations onto students. Only the most important people in society enrol their children to this private school.
South Korea’s most popular and successful institution able to only breed the most talented minds.
At least that’s what people outside the school think. Haelim has always felt trapped in this world they call ‘greatness’. There is nothing great about it. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous to be born into this world just to work a nine to five job in ten years time?
She wonders if there was another world out there, a world where routine doesn’t exist. A world where this cage wasn’t forbidding her from being her own person.
“Haelim mind getting the biology books from E21 classroom?”
No physical response from the young girl seated in the wooden oak chair with the hair tied up in a ponytail. Bangs covering the gentle fluffiness of her eyebrows while her dreamy eyes stare out the school window, finding the clouds to be more interesting itself than the book on the desk.
“Haelim!”
The girl’s voice brought her out of the dream-like state only to look back. She fixed her round glasses when the sight of a taller girl, long raven black hair and grey shaped eyes staring at her.
A sigh escapes from her lips. “You’re day dreaming again? Haelim what did I say about you doing that.” Kyujin clearly wasn’t happy knowing that the girl was ignoring everything around them.
She dismissed the scolding, her face turns to the girl once again once the glasses were fixed on the face.
“Sorry. What did you need?” She asked and earned a hand point to the chalk board in front of the classroom.
It showed in bold writing on it: ‘Bring biology books from E21.’ Written by the teacher that wasn’t in today due to an illness they were run down with.
Kyujin then saw the expression on Haelim’s face come to a realisation and without a single thought she stood up.
“I’ll get it.”
“Be quick with it, some of us have grades to prove!”
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Coming down the hallways Haelim reaches the door knob opening the door to a very dark classroom. Searching for the light switch quickly, Haelim soon could see everything in the empty space.
The desks were all neatly set up. Chairs were on top of the desks, the teacher’s place was all clean and empty.
The background in the classroom was what Haelim needed. She walks over to the very back to find the biology books all piled up. The dust on them was obvious to the human eye.
Haelim lifts one biology book dusting it. “Ugh… dust.” She shakes it off one by one from each book until…
A loud thud from outside brought her attention. Following outside the classroom, many students started to pile around in circles.
The teachers rushing down the hallways in panic while some girls were starting to scream. Haelim was in panic wondering what was going on?
The whole school came over to witness one thing; a pool of blood sieving on the ground running the school courtyard to go red. Cries overheard with the overlapping of students recording. Haelim was shocked standing on the second floor looking over to the courtyard with everyone else.
From all four floors each student was seemingly looking down at the dead girl that fell from the high railings, down into the courtyard, squished by the concrete floor.
“Oh my god…” Haelim was shaken up holding her palms over her mouth.
The many teachers rushed over to identify the body. From the high view no one could really tell who it was…
The teacher turns the body around, the blood spilling was nearly as big as a puddle. The horrifying young dead girl on the floor looks unrecognisable from what everyone remembers.
“It’s upperclassman Joy!” Eunchae gasps crying.
Haelim’s eyes widen when a sign of a star crossed over with blood imprinted on the corpses’ hand.
Something wasn’t right about these reoccurring events…
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The teachers dealt with another suicide event at their school. It only started two months ago. Another death after another which leaves the students becoming infected with fear.
Haelim wasn’t convinced that this was just a coincidence however.
In deep thought Haelim completed ignored her two friends; Chaehyun and Seoyoung.
They were discussing the suicide of Park Sooyoung — also mostly known as Joy amongst other students. It was unfortunate.
It didn’t even make sense? All the top students are disappearing one by one. Joy was a bright student, she was the most happiest person Haelim has ever saw. The most positive that is.
There was no way she had a reason to end her own life. Haelim was certain the previous suicides of the girls were the same.
“Is she day dreaming again?” Sighs Seoyoung while watching their friend in deep thoughts to the point of dissociation.
The blonde girl, Chaehyun, brushes the behaviour off. Haelim has always been a hidden reserved person who doesn’t even let a single person in that head full of thoughts. “The police are closing the case off as suicide again.”
Haelim breaks out of the haze, looking to Chaehyun. “Again? Isn’t that a bit strange that these reoccurring deaths keep happening in this school.”
The two girls shrug. Seoyoung goes back on her phone with a frown. “The teachers don’t want Baekhwa to get bad reviews and ratings.” Of course, it’s all about money at the end of the day.
It was selfish, the poor parents must be grieving the loss of their child and the police refuse to investigate.
Chaehyun saw Haelim’s upset and disapproved face, it was written on it that this was upsetting her a lot more than others. “Hey don’t get too worked up over something that happened. Joy was a stressed senior going through harsh exams, it was most likely because of that.”
“Still…” Haelim quietly turned around sighing. “Okay you’re right.” Giving into her friend she didn’t bother saying much else.
Getting up from the chair Haelim would go to the exit leaving the classroom, Seoyoung and Chaehyun give each other glances back shrugging off. They didn’t bother to ask where their friend was going because they know Haelim is in her own little world.
As usual, Haelim was the one left overthinking this situation. Heading out for a small walk to clear her head before any of the classes resume. She happens to catch a figure suspiciously entering a classroom. Raising an eyebrow, the figure was tall and slender. Black hair fluffed out with round glasses and loose casual clothes.
It doesn’t look like anyone Haelim saw around the school before. Following the same classroom entering it.
The sight of the man searching the desks underneath. Haelim stood there with a determined gaze.
“What are you doing?” Sternly calling out, the man lifts his back around to look at the young girl who was standing in front.
Haelim takes a step forward when the man was quiet. Clearly he was searching for something, and that something he didn’t find because his face was readable. He looks like he got caught red-handed.
“Who are you? I have never seen you around before.” Haelim tilts her head.
He stammers. “I— uh… uh…”
“Are you a pervert?” Haelim assumed. He looked a little weird, like he was doing something inappropriate.
She checks under the desk for any cameras. Previously in the school there was camera footage and many girls were recorded under the desk without notice.
Quickly at the assumption he flinched. “No! I’m not anything like that.”
“Oh yeah? That’s what they all say!”
“jeong haelim?” The voice coming through was an elderly woman. The man and Haelim break their eye contact to look back at the teacher going in the classroom.
“Oh miss song.” Haelim said back in confusion. The teacher looks back at the man. “Mr Mark? What are you doing here.”
Mark was quickly flustered and he gently laughs it off by rubbing the back of his neck.
He clears his voice. “I must’ve got lost in the wrong classroom, Miss Song.”
Haelim didn’t understand, was this guy not a pervert who got into the school by chance? She felt awful and embarrassed for assuming that the new enrolled teacher was a pervert. She even accused him of it too…
Haelim saw him turning to her with a smile. “Nice to meet you Haelim.” She awkwardly nods her head with no words.
Mark walks out with the box of his teaching things following Miss Song out of the classroom. Haelim’s widen eyes were full of surprise as she watched him leave.
‘dammit jeong haelim what a way to make a first impression on your new teacher…’
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@haeflmz 2023 ©️ everything belongs to me.
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eurydicesflower · 9 months
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a lonely flight in Milan, or, when the daylight shines in Baguio (lty)
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Pairing: Taeyong (NCT) x fem! Reader Tags: Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Relationships, and Light Angst Also very much self-indulgent Warnings: None Word Count: 7,478 words Summary: People come and pass by, some stay, some don't, and some left a remainder of their lives to us. A/N: So, I had these fic idea based on the movie I have watched on Netflix the other day! So I thought why I not write yet another self-indulgent birthday fic like I used to. And if you know the reference of this fic, well, it is based on ‘That Thing Called Tadhana.’ But then again, this is loosely inspired from that movie, and I added my own elements a la eurydicesflower. Also posted on: Archive of Our Own
The airport staff have been looking at you with worried looks. You're already frowning to the bone as you discard your stuff from your luggage. You really don't have any other choice but to throw away half of your clothes to the airport trash bin. Your luggage exceeds more than 23 kilograms and your luggage weighs 30 kilograms. You deeply sigh as you throw away the stuffed toy dog into the trash. Your lovely thongs? Down the trash. “Fuck this life.” You curse under your breath as you tuck in your luggage again so you can weigh it again.
You have been doing this for the last 30 minutes now. And if the weighing scale would not allow you again to board the plane, you are ready to burst out in flames. When you weigh your luggage again, you grit your teeth in annoyance because your luggage was only more than two kilograms, meaning you will be throwing more of your clothes in the trash. You curse under your breath as you drag away your luggage. Here you go again, beside your buddy for tonight, the trash bin.
“Miss?”
Someone calls your attention. You are about to lash at him, but you decided that it was not worth all of your energy now that you had poured all of it on discarding your clothes.
“You seemed like you needed help with your luggage?”
You gaze on your luggage and look up at him, saying: ‘No shit.’
You turn your back against him and you hear the man before you sigh, and crouches down to level with you.
“I can help you with your luggage. You can put most of your things on mine since I don't have much.”
You turn your attention to him again, and he shows his luggage. It was a smaller one compared to yours. It was a pink one with numerous cartoon stickers on it. You recognize characters from Spongebob to Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle.
“Why are you helping me? Do we have the same flight?” You asked.
“You’re going to Manila, too, right? So, I guess helping someone wouldn’t harm me in any way.”
You slowly nodded your head, but you are still skeptical of the man.
“You’re not a killer, are you? Are you sure you're not going to kill me?” You look up to him, and to your surprise, the man laughs heartily, and his eyes crinkle when he smiles. You roll your eyes at him but the moment you stare at him for a moment, maybe because of the stress, you don't bother looking at the man’s face. But the more you stare at him, that man was so fucking handsome as hell. It was not an exaggeration because who would have thought that you will encounter a man like him in a fucking public airport? Like who would have thought that of all places, you will meet a man that is sculpted by the gods itself, handcrafted like he had come from a webtoon with the mix of elvish and angelic look in a public place like this?
‘Excuse my language but who the fuck are you?’ You mumble out loud in awe.
You don't seem to realize that he had heard what you said, and he extended his hand to you, and introduced himself.
“Taeyong Lee at your service, ma’am. I have friends in Manila right now and I had to meet them there before I go back to Seoul in one week. I promise you that I won’t kill you. Did that help?” He smiled with his eyes.
“That’s what killers say, though…” You told him as you shook hands with him and told your name while still giving a skeptical look.
“And that’s what killers often say, too.” His smile grew even more as you rolled your eyes but it made your lips curl into a small smile.
“So, now that we are acquainted, let's start repacking, shall we?” He said before you proceeded with moving your things from the trash bin to his luggage.
The man, no, Taeyong’s company made your night bearable after the stressful time you had in Milan. Normally, you don’t trust anyone, and of course you wouldn’t forget the saying ‘Don’t talk to strangers,’ but what if that stranger has genuine intentions? Though, you know for sure if you let your guard down, maybe this man was lying and he would just proceed to kill you right now and stuff your dead body inside your luggage and then—
“Hey, you’re zoning out, you okay?” He asks, snapping you away from your fleeting thoughts.
You found yourself nodding quickly and mumbling ‘I’m fine,’ as you helped him move your things onto his small luggage. All those thoughts slowly disappearing, you surprisingly enjoyed the stranger’s presence.
-
You are seated by the window during the plane ride. Beside you, there was Taeyong who was taking a nap. You don’t know what to talk about so instead, you put on your earphones so you can listen to music. As you open your music app in shuffle, coincidentally, it is playing Cornelia Street by Taylor Swift, specifically the Live from Paris Version. Your tears are now building up in your eyes as you listen to the song.
You are once again brought back by the memories you had with your ex-fiancé.  You sang the lyrics as you started to cry out loud. He was the one who had dedicated this song to you. You could remember his acoustic guitar, and singing to you at dusk during your second anniversary. He even brought you your favorite strawberry cake, and celebrated under the stars. He was a romantic, and you fell through him.
You love him for what he was worth, and you had hoped he was the same. And all those years you believed him, did he ever really love you?
You don’t seem to notice that Taeyong gave you a box of tissues not until it was placed down on your lap. You looked at him, and held back your tears.
“Oh, I don’t need it—”
“You need it. Go on,” he said, not taking the tissue box from you.
Even though you refused to take it from him, sooner or later, you will cry after you repeat the song more than five times now. And the tissue box? It’s almost half empty, wiping all of your tears and snot. Taeyong only looks at you with pity, though, he didn’t say anything nor tease you. He gives you space to let out all of your emotions until you have used up all of your energy which in the end, you are now leaning against him as you fall asleep completely.
-
For fuck's sake, do people not have any shame doing PDAs? That’s just plain rude and insensitive. You grimace at the couple and say, “Go take the Taxi first. I think you two needed a room now.”
You roll your eyes at bitterness.
“Aren’t you going home now?” Taeyong stands beside you as you wait for another taxi to come in.
Being patient is an understatement for the man beside you because Taeyong had been with you from the Milan airport until you waited for your baggage at the Manila airport. He was not asking questions unless you talked about life stories with him. And for a guy like him, you didn’t know why he was sticking with you even after you gave him snarky retorts after a long flight from Milan to Manila.
“I don’t want to go home yet...” You confess as you stare down at the taxis in front of you. You don’t want to go home yet. Not now. You can’t just show your face at home. It feels like there is something you wanted to do, but you just can’t seem to know what it is, so now here you are at the airport, giving side-eyes at every couple you see.
“Then, why don’t we go find something to eat first?”
The moment he asked that, your tummy rumbled. You didn’t argue at him anymore because you were already hungry, so now you two were at a Japanese restaurant. You were the one who suggested it since you are craving tempura and sushi, and here was Taeyong together with your little trip.
“What did you even do back in Milan? Like why are you there in the first place?” You asked curiously. You don’t know a thing about him ever since you two met in Milan. Although obviously, this was the first time you two have met.
“Now you wanted to ask about me?”
“Of course, at least I know something about you before you can kill me.” You roll your eyes at him while he scoffs playfully before he shakes his head at your morbid remark.
“I was there for a job because my client wants me to be there in Milan.” He starts off with a small shrug.
“Woah, you’re big time. What do you even do for a living when you have a client based in Milan?”
“I’m a graphic designer. And yes, I design.” He cuts you off before you tease him. “And coincidentally, I just found out that my friend was there and he was one of the models there in that same agency. We decided to catch up there while we were not too busy with both of our jobs.” He shares casually, and shows some of his sample works with you from his phone.
One of the pictures had caught your attention when you noticed that one of the female models seemed familiar to you. You kept on staring at it for like five seconds not until Taeyong asked if something’s wrong.
“No, no, I’m fine…” You smile at him and steer away the conversation even if you know there will be more questions inside his mind.
“Since you’re an artist then? So, what are your hobbies?” You look at him with curiosity while you move your hand under your chin.
“What is this? A job interview? Do I even get hired for your company, ma’am?” He raises a brow while a small curl tugged on his lips as he looks at you. Meanwhile, you throw an unused napkin on his chest to rub that cheeky smirk on his face.
“I am just asking and I am curious.” You pout, and he just laughs it off.
“Well, I have these tattoos that I designed.” He rolled up his sleeves and showed some of his tattoos.
“I never knew that you had tattoos.”
That’s because he was wearing a long-sleeved white button-down shirt. Of course, I wouldn’t see it.
“Yeah, you can take a look.” He shows his left and right arm respectively to you. On his left arm, it has a tattoo of a cartoon dog, and a shooting star. You can’t just describe all of the tattoos but he does really have a bunch of them. There was even a rabbit balloon tattoo on his right arm. “I also have the word ‘understand’ on the back of my arms.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I try to be someone who tries to understand people,” he says.
“That’s… profound...” You mumble in awe and he nods.
“And I also forgot to mention that I have one on my sternum.” He points at the middle of his chest.
“You had a tattoo there?” You scoff unbelievably.
“You are a pervert.” He grins widely when he sees the flustered look in your face but you are quick to dismiss his comment. “Excuse me? You are the one who told me you had one on your chest.” You scoff as you cross your arms as Taeyong smiles cheekily at you.
“Do you want to see it then?”
Before you can even bite back a snarky refusal, he unbuttons his white shirt and shows you his twin dragon tattoo on his sternum. You didn’t even try to stop him, you just stared at it like it was the expensive dress you saw at a boutique in Milan. ‘It’s beautiful,’ you muttered to yourself.
“Does that hurt? I’ve read that when you have a tattoo there, it's one of the most painful parts...” You ask in a hush tone, curiosity laced in your voice.
“Well, I slept through it so I don’t think it hurts.” He shrugs before buttoning his shirt back. “So, are you happy you saw a stranger's tattoo?” He asks, and once again there was that lopsided smirk on his lips that you wanted to wipe off of his face.
“Shut up.” You smiled at him either way, and proceeded to eat your dinner when it had arrived.
-
You insist on ordering a bottle of beer, but you don’t seem to realize that you’re about to have your seventh bottle of beer with you. You don’t even know if Taeyong was drinking with you, and the fact that he hadn’t left you, you don’t know why. Instead of leaving you alone in the restaurant, he was out here with you, listening to your ramblings about your pathetic fiancé. You tell him all about your ex. You tell Taeyong all the things that made you fall for him and all the things you love about him, and all the reasons why you are so stupidly in love with him.
“That man... He's the one I was supposed to marry yaknow...” you slurred. “For eight years. Eight fucking years, we've been together and he fucking cheated on me on fucking Milan of all places.” You chuckle bitterly as you recall the day you saw him there. You even dressed to the nines. Donning your hard-earned Prada black satin dress, and Dior pump, you went to his place where he was staying there and then instead of seeing your ex-fiancé alone, he was with another woman. He was supposed to be the one surprised, not his mistress and it was absolutely not your own fiancé.
People are right about trauma dumping on strangers especially when you had liquor on your side. The story comes out of your mouth automatically, and it felt good telling all your problems to him that night. Letting out your grievances onto someone you don’t know never felt so good and that night, you felt you were not being judged by him.
“That's because you love him,” he said in between your rants.
“Love him? Yeah, I may love him but I am fucking stupid enough to love him. Fuck him. But yeah… I love him… I love him… Jae… I miss him…” You choke out a sob as you take another swig of your beer. You don't count how many beers you have drunk already but you are sure that you're about to pass out and vomit the last food you ate.
“Do you know where Baguio is? Because I want to go to Baguio.” You grin sheepishly at the man beside you. The only thing you remember before you completely pass out was you finally vomited on the gutter and Taeyong was comforting you, and he never left your side.
-
You woke yourself up seated at a bus seat with a blanket wrapped around you.
‘Oh, fuck now where am I?’ You quickly blink your eyes as you scan the surroundings, and your eyes fall on the man you met at the airport.
“Where the fuck are we? Where are you taking me?”
“Milan.”
“Fuck you.”
He just grins at you and you roll your eyes.
“You know I am gullible you know.” You grumble in annoyance and wrap the blanket even tighter around your arms. You turn to your right side and rest your head against the window so that you can ignore the man beside you. But even if you ignore him, you can’t shake away the unnerving thought about going home and not going on a road trip with a stranger you met at the airport.
“Where are we going?”
“You told me you wanted to go to Baguio so I messaged one of my friends about it, and told me to go to the nearest bus station so now we’re on the way to Baguio.”
“I said that? We’re going to Baguio? When?”
“I don’t think you’ll remember but you told me that last night.”
Your head was still throbbing from the hangover, and it didn’t help when Taeyong had told you that this was your idea to go on a road trip on the way to Baguio.
“By the way let me ask you something: What’s in Baguio?”
You sighed deeply, and massaged your head. “Stop asking me questions.”
“Okay.” He shut his mouth afterwards.
You thank him silently before you focus your eyes on the plantains you pass by. You count the cows, and the goats you see until you get bored and finally decide to answer Taeyong’s question.
“Well, Baguio is where he and I had our first date on our first anniversary. So, we decided to celebrate there.” You started. “Baguio was very special to me, but now…”
“Do you want Baguio to revisit those old memories?”
You bit the inside of your cheek. You can’t just tell everything to Taeyong but apparently you have told almost all of your life to someone like him who had only been your companion since last night. And maybe this was just like a start of something new, and maybe the universe was just acting upon its powers and made you meet this kind of man— charming yet quite intriguing in a way that you didn’t even feel anything suspicious because there was just something that you couldn’t explain. That something was already on the tip of your tongue.
“Maybe I just wanted to make new ones and replace those bad memories?” You trail off your words. “Like I don’t know if you’re familiar with how a female lead in romcoms do— when they tend to get broken hearted because of their ex and then they will go soul searching— just like that. I wanted to do something like that.” You let out the lump in your throat, and you never felt so relieved when you had told someone about that. It was out of your agendas the whole week, but the choice is really yours, it’s either you head back and go home and sulk for the rest of the month, OR, go to Baguio with Taeyong and make some new memories.
And in the end, you choose the latter.
“Count me in, though, technically I am already here with you, but you get the point—let me help you with that if that’s okay for you,” he said.
You chuckle at him. You don’t really expect that a man you just met would just do this, but who are you to refuse? If he was willing to help you, then why not? Maybe he has a reason why he was doing all of this. You just hope that it is with good reason or else you are ready to raise your fists against him if he ever does something bad to you.
“Well, be my guest.”
-
Your bus arrived at Baguio and you two found yourselves wandering around. You asked him if he had booked a hotel because there’s no way he could book right away in the city, turns out he had a friend who happened to have a lodging in the city. You now wonder who the hell is this man and why does he have so many connections to easily book an accommodation. Once you had left your belongings in your lodging, the two of you wandered around Burnham Park.
You take turns to point out what you see around the park. One time, he had pointed at a Papillon dog and he told you about his pet dog, Ruby, who had passed away recently. He also explained the meaning of his tattoo, and the answer to your question on who that dog could be was finally answered.
When you two decided to buy some snacks around, you two found a small ice cream shop. You noticed that he definitely like Strawberry flavor because of the way his eyes sparkled and grinned as he received the ice cream. You told yourself that it was so cute of him and you even ended up ordering one even though you are planning to get Cookies and Cream.
And once again, he was listening to your ramblings again as you two sat at the park, watching the park goers come and go.
“Wait, what was his name again?” He asks when you are in the nth time telling him about your ex-boyfriend.
“Didn’t I tell you already?”
He just gave a shrug as his response.  
“Why didn’t you say so? Well, he is Jaehyun. Jaehyung Jeong. He's a photographer for models in famous magazines like Vogue, Esquire and Elle. And Milan happened to be one of the places he was assigned to. I was really happy for him, honestly. Like his partner, I am very supportive of him even if we are in a long-distance relationship. But we made it work. We never failed to update each other. We even had these scheduled video calls every night for almost two years but one night… I don’t know how or why or when it had happened, but that particular day, he seemed preoccupied…”
You remember that night. He was in a rush. Didn’t even take a time to say a word to you right after you just told him about the project you landed on your job.
When you thought that would be the last time that he would do it to you, you didn’t think that it would also be the last time you called each other every night. But then again, you were understanding to him, and you just let it go without confronting him about it.
When the usual nights you were in your pajamas and waiting for him to call, it turned into weeks to months waiting for him to call instead of just messaging you like he had gone cold.
“Did you ever get to know the reason?”
“Oh, yeah damn right I did but that was when I flew all the way to Milan. You know, to know the answers to my questions.” You smiled bitterly before you resumed telling bits of the story to Taeyong.
“I didn’t believe it when I didn’t see it even though my friends already told me something must have happened so… I gathered up all of my savings, and even asked my friends to back me up, and thank God they were all supportive of me because it is never easy to be flying alone in a country that you’re not familiar with— you never know what you should expect… But deep inside, I think I already knew the reason why but… I wasn’t just ready to hear it even though my friends kept on telling me that...”
Taeyong then offers you a cup of juice, and you chug it in one drink and you close your eyes and sighed deeply.
“I am just in denial, Taeyong…” You trail off your words. “I am just in denial to the point I thought he would be welcoming me in his arms but instead…” You choked out a sob. “Instead, I saw him with another woman…” You stop yourself from tearing up with a forced smile.
“Am I stupid?”
“You did that for love. But yes, you’re stupid.” He tried to lighten up the mood. It didn’t help boosting your mood, which honestly you wanted to shut him up, though right now he was the one who had been patient with you right now, so you silently thanked him with his blunt honesty.
“I just can’t believe you would be the one accompanying me for the rest of my days here at Baguio.” You said afterwards. You then roll your eyes at him when he shows a glint of teasing in his smirk.
“By the way? Don’t you even have work the next day?” You ask him jokingly.
“What? Do you want us to go home now that we just arrived?” At first you thought it was a joke, but his tone had changed onto sincere concern.
You shake your head, and say, “I still wanted to stay here.”
You swear you saw that his eyes speak happiness to you even in a brief glance, and you? You felt the same, too.
“I’m still on leave till Tuesday. And it’s the weekend, right? So, I can still accompany you till Sunday night, and we’ll part ways after that.”
“Right. Right, you’re just here to accompany me.” You said, brushing off the fact that it kind of bothered you that you two will part ways in the next few days and now your time grows thinner and thinner, the eagerness inside you makes you feel more curious about who and what he really is like. A stranger who you had been accompanied, no longer than a week, but it looked like you had known him for so long, like a friend who you had just reunited with after years of not meeting, and then one day, you met at the airport, and caught up like nothing happened. But the truth is, you just really met him for the first time, and you know nothing about him.
You might be repeating yourself over and over again with this encounter with him, but it really feels surreal that you had been together with him. you, who came from a bitter breakup while he... You really don’t know a thing about him aside from what he had shared to you. And the thought of it saddens you even more.
Every time you tell him stories about yourself, it makes you wish he would tell something about himself, too. Maybe you were just so easy to trust him, you had opened your door and led him to a glimpse of your life story, while unlike him, you were still a stranger— and maybe you should do that now.
Despite being slightly disappointed, you spent the day with him with the two of you wandering around the streets. Lots of heartfelt laughs were exchanged between the two of you that, you know, it was as genuine as you hoped.
You two almost didn’t realize that it’s about sundown when you two stopped by an overlooking place.
“Hey…” He said momentarily as he rested his arms on the railing.
You hum as a response. “Yeah?”
“You know how I told you about being stupid earlier?”
“Yeah, how can I not forget that?” You scoff jokingly.
“Well, I could say I’m the same.”
Now, that piqued your interest. You don’t want to go back yet. This is the first time you will get to hear something from him aside from knowing his tattoos, and his dog, Ruby. Taeyong tells something about his love life, how that woman wanted to be with him already but he was this coward, although he loves her, he refuses.
“I wanted to start a life with her but... I was too afraid that I might not be enough. So I did the cowardly thing and broke up with her. I thought I did the right thing, but in the end… So, long story short, I realized I’m still in love with her but it's fucking too late...”
He had a small bitter smile on his face, his eyes remained on the grass before him as he recalled the events.
“She had an engagement party a year ago; I saw it on her Instagram. Most of my friends liked it and of course, I liked it and commented 'congrats' to her. I don’t want to come off as a bitter resentful ex but... If that’s the thing that will make you do for the sake of the person you love, then maybe I really did the right thing— To set her free.”
“Do you still love her?” you ask him. Same question he asked you when you had told him about your ex-fiancé.
Taeyong only shrugged off his shoulders. “I don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no. But then again, if she's already happy with her life, and then I am happy— in that way I can now move on with my life.”
“You’re a fighter.”
Taeyong shook his head. “That’s what just love does to people. Even the most logical and sensical people would go nuts in the name of love.”
You smiled lightly.
And yes, he was right.
“So, the both of us do have broken hearts, huh?”
He only hums in response.
After that, a short still silence wrapped between the two of you as you two watched the sunset above the pink-purple skies. You never had the chance to see the sun set for so long, you are always occupied with work. And for so long, this was the first time you got to see it— a fresh start.
“Why did you help me back in the airport?” You break the silence for the first time with one of the questions you seemed to forget to ask.
“Honestly, I won’t just stand and not help someone who’s in need.”
“And you didn’t think twice about helping me?” You ask, still couldn’t believe that he would do that without further question.
“I would be lying if I didn’t find you pretty at first sight, but the point is— Yes, I didn’t think twice.”
You smirk at his first remark, but then again, you do think that he was handsome the first time you saw him.
“You think I’m pretty?” That’s not the point, but you just wanted to tease him and it worked, he fiddled with his hands, and was smiling shyly. Before he could get flustered, he changed the subject.
“So, what are you planning next after this trip?” He asks instead.
“I don’t know…” You honestly really don’t know yet. Hell, you will be going back to reality on Tuesday, and you will get back to finding a new job right after you had left your previous job so that you can stay in Milan for about a month.
“But one thing for sure, I hope I can move on from him.” You say firmly. But right now, you wanted to rest here for a while like you wouldn’t think of what was about to happen in the next few days.
“You’re not talking about him since earlier. Which is a good start, you know.”
You match his perfect smile.
You know that this will never repeat ever again. This was spontaneous, you never planned all this Baguio Trip and you know to yourself that this will never occur ever the same again if that person with you is someone like Taeyong.
“Thank you, Taeyong.” From the bottom of my heart.
 -
Later that night, the two of you head back to your lodging. While waiting, you stand before the balcony and wrap yourself with a shawl that cold night. You are waiting for Taeyong, who had ordered food delivery and was waiting at the lobby.
You almost forgot that your phone didn’t exist after being together with a stranger for almost 24 hours now. Opening your phone, there are so many missed calls and unread messages— some of them came from your friends and from your mother, and one unnamed number.  You read through your messages, and all of it was full of worried text and ‘How are you’s?’ You messaged them one by one, and told them you were fine and you were fine together with a friend in Baguio. Once you’re done, you dialed one of the numbers and you waited and waited until they picked up the phone.
“Hello? It’s me.”
-
24 hours is not enough. But maybe it is worth it to have someone to accompany you like this. The moments last. You dusted your clothes, worrying that there might be small particles of dirt there even if there weren’t. You smoothed your hair, checked your makeup, and smiled at the mirror until you heard his three knocks and you’re ready to seize the day with your newfound companion on your last day in Baguio.
“Hey. Something just came up.” His eyes darted on the floor, unable to look at your gaze. “I think I won’t be able to be with you until Tuesday morning.”
You tightly grip the doorknob as discreetly as possible. “Oh... It's fine.”
“But we can still do your last agenda.”
‘Screaming on the top of your lungs at the high mountains of Sagada.’
“Are you fucking kidding me?” You look at him unbelievably.
“I mean if you don’t like it, then, we should just plan another one and not this—”
“It’s perfect, Jae! We’re going to do this on our fourth anniversary next week!” You hug your boyfriend, smiling ear-to-ear, you just can’t wait to spend it before he goes to Milan for work.
“Are you alright?” Taeyong asks you, snapping you back from reality where you two were standing in the doorway of your hotel room.
You were holding back tears. Stop it, you weren’t supposed to be crying in front of him again.
“Yes. See you later, Taeyong.”  You said before you closed the door before him.
-
You both rode the bus all the way up the mountains. Both of you will experience for the first time even if in the next few hours, you will part away.
“Do you know this song-?”
You just remembered that you sat away from him and he never said a thing, he respected it. You kind of wish he was sitting beside you like he did during the bus ride to Baguio. And the rest of the bus ride, you just sulk there and listen to your playlist on your own. Later that day, it was almost late afternoon when your bus arrived at the bus stop.
You still haven't talked with each other since the two of you arrived but he already made sure to rent a tent for the rest of the night.
“Sorry sir, we only have one tent available.” the woman told Taeyong.
“It's okay we'll take it,” you heard him reply and waited for the tent.
“Taeyong, what do you mean there's only one tent?” You quickly stood beside him as soon as the woman left her seat to fetch the tent.
“It's fine, you can have it, I'll just have a sleeping bag beside-”
“We can share.” You cut him off.
“Then fine.”
You swore he smirked but it instantly faded away when the lady called him to give away the tent.
-
Even if you just went through with silence as you both set up the tent which almost threw you off in range on how you couldn't figure out fixing it but luckily, Taeyong knows how to build it, fortunately, your mood settled in. You brought some cup noodles for you to eat, and you even left one for him hoping he would eat.
You couldn't just sit there in silence and ignore him now that this would be the last time you two will meet. You can ask his number but are you sure he will give it after you ignore him for the rest of the day? You don’t think so.
Taeyong was still inside the tent after he had finished building it. You deeply sigh to yourself, and go inside to see a sleeping Taeyong.
You saw how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping thanks to the moonlight shining above. You snuggled in, but as far as possible from him, until you had settled lying down beside him.
“Do you think we will ever meet again?”
You were lying down beside him as you gaze above the tent. You can only hear his breath, and you wish he would never hear it nor answer your question because the answer you were waiting for might not be the one that will come out of his mouth.
“I'm sorry I ignored you for the rest of the day. You were a great company by the way. I wish we were friends even after this. I don’t know how I can even ask for your number now that we're back to strangers again.” You were fighting off the little tears that were about to stream down your cheek.
“I hope we can still be friends after this.”
And you turned away from him and faced the other side.
You slowly woke up yourself and there was a blanket wrapped around you. It was still dark outside, you observe. And the man beside you? He was gone.
You start to jolt awake, removing the blanket, and jump away outside the tent from panic. You almost shouted out his name but as soon as you spotted a familiar figure sitting meters away from the tent, your shoulders relaxed seeing him right there and exhaled in relief. He seemed to sense you being awake, so he waved his hand, and smiled solemnly.
“Good morning.”
“I thought you left...” You mumbled.
He furrows his brows at you. “Why would I? Our journey wasn’t over, remember?”
“I thought you left…” You would not dare cry in front of him once more but all of your repressed emotions had flooded and you let your emotions give in. You shielded your eyes with your arms as you cry, and moments later, you felt arms wrapped around you, and you just melted into it and succumbed to comfort.
“I am sorry...” you choke out a sob.
“Don’t be, I understand it so it's okay…” He shushed gently as he smoothed down his hand on your back. “Besides you’re still gonna scream and curse out remember?”
A mix of blue and orange hues painted the skies above as it welcomed the rising of the sun. Like the sun, Taeyong smiles at you, radiating with warmth, and even if you're fresh from tears, you match his smile and wipe away the remaining tears on your cheeks.
“Let's go curse the hell out of my ex and welcome the start of something new.” You grin and he chuckles seeing you back on track.
“Then, let's go, and scream, shall we?” He assists you to stand right up. Hand in hand, the two of you ran almost towards the edge of the mountain with crazy grins on your faces. You two were laughing like it was the end of the world until you reached the end of the cliff.
“I WILL BE THE MOST HAPPIEST WOMAN IN EARTH, AND MOVE ON FROM YOU JAEHYUN JEONG!!!” You were the first one to scream and you can see the delight in Taeyong's face as you said all those words.
“I will never just stay back to the past and move on from you, I PROMISE THAT FROM NOW ON—!”
You didn’t hear the name he shouted from the last one, but what is important is that when you two both welcome the sunrise, you can feel the cold breeze of the morning air which didn’t seem to bother you, and the problems of the past seemed to be forgotten.
“Thank you.” You told him.
“You’re welcome.”
Maybe there was really a reason that the two of you had met in an unexpected circumstance, and here you were, together with Taeyong Lee, promising for a beginning of a new journey. Maybe it was fate, maybe it wasn’t, it doesn’t matter. At least, at that moment, even an unexpected turn of events in our life, like what happened in Milan, you were sure there were more plenty of great things waiting for the both of you, and that includes the sunrise at the highest mountains, and the warmth radiating beside you.
-
You were sure you insisted that you are okay for going home alone, but instead, Taeyong was still true to his word so he was here with you until you go home. From the airport in Milan to driving you all the way back to home, he was there with you, making sure you were safe.
As you were about to arrive where your home is, you noticed that there was black sedan parked in front of your home. It was already 3 in the morning; you wondered who that could be and when you stepped out of the car, a black-haired man in a white shirt, holding a bouquet of flowers, was waiting in front of your home, your question was finally answered.  
Fuck. Your ex was literally in front of your house… Like what the fuck? Why could he be here? Didn’t you already tell him the other day that you are now really ending it for real?!
“Hey.”
Now this is awkward. Jaehyun Jeong was standing in front of your house while Taeyong was right beside you.
“I’m Taeyong, I’m just her friend so don’t worry.” Taeyong introduced himself to Jaehyun as he extended his hand. You kinda wished Taeyong didn’t do that.
“I’m Jaehyun.” He smiled at the man.
Before you could even stop them from further introducing themselves to each other, Taeyong stepped in and said, “Well, it’s nice meeting you, man, but I need to help her unload her bags, so I’m gonna go take care of it first,” he said passively as he waves his hand at you, and nodded his head to Jaehyun. He muttered ‘Wait for me,’ to you before he went back to his car. When Taeyong was walking all the way back to his car, that’s where Jaehyun spoke for the first time.
“I’m sorry.” He starts but you shake your head. “Jae, it’s three in the morning, I’m already tired.” You were still standing there, waiting and craning your head to see if Taeyong was coming back already.
“Is that the new guy you’re dating?” He stops you looking for Taeyong. “Wow, it’s only been a week, and you already found a new man?” His tone seems to be joking, but you both knew it wasn’t a joke. And look who’s talking as if you were the first one who had been the first who had strained your relationship.
“I don’t have time for this, Jae. We’re already done, remember?” You tried to be as polite and dismissive as possible so that he could just leave you alone, and you succeeded.
He clenched his hand tightly on the bouquet’s handle before finally sighing deeply, and relaxed his fingers around the bouquet.
“Fine. I just wanted to know if you’re doing alright, and it turns out, you were okay right now. I wish you well.” He said before leaving you the bouquet of lilies, which was your favorite, and left you alone. Just in time, Taeyong just got back from his car while holding your luggage.
“So, that’s Jae, huh? Did he hurt you—?"
Your first instinct was to hug him tightly. You don’t know if he understands what you’re saying, but you’re actually thanking him for being more present to you than the man whom you used to love. The man was too stunned to speak, yet he didn’t push you away, and he even patted your back as you hugged him.
“You should take a rest now, and it’s nice being with you for almost three days.” He said somberly as you gently pull away from him.   
“Yeah, you, too. See you next time.” You said as you waved goodbye at him.
‘Taeyong hasn’t left, right?’ You asked yourself and you were right, his car hadn’t even left where he had parked. You knock on the window of his car, and he opens the window slowly, and you see him lounging inside the car with close eyes.
“I thought you’re going home now?”
“I thought you’re about to go back to Seoul?”
He smiled cheekily. “I was waiting for you to go inside your home.”
You raise a brow before he raises his hands in the air in defense. “Okay, okay, I just wanted to make sure you’re—”
You peck a kiss on his cheek before you waved goodbye at him and head back home.
And there was a smile on your face when you see one of his keychains from his luggage was there along with a short-written message just above the handle.  
‘Hope we can meet again so I can treat you with ramen next time ; hope you can message me next time on taeoxo on ig, if u want. I will be glad to talk again with u some time : )
- TY’
You left a mental note that you’ll message him when you’re ready. And if he’s willing to wait, then maybe sometimes fate is not cruel as they always tend to be.
80 notes · View notes
sweetiesicheng · 8 months
Text
jaemin - rainy day
word count : 553
happy happy birthday to jaemin !!
-
you were sitting on the couch with a book in your hands. you and jaemin had the day off so you were spending time together at your house since it was raining pretty bad outside. it was still pretty early in the day, but you had gotten up early out of habit while jaemin slept in a little bit more. once he woke up, he decided to shower while you stayed downstairs in the living room of your shared home.
you finished a chapter from your book and grabbed your mug from the end table. you drank a little bit of coffee before drinking the rest of what was left in your mug. then, you set the empty mug down and turned to the next page in your book, ready to continue off of a short cliffhanger that occurred.
rain continued falling outside, but you could still hear the shower turn off once your boyfriend was done. you continued reading, too immersed in the plot to notice that jaemin had come downstairs and joined you in the couch. eventually, you started feeling droplets of water fall into your shoulder as jaemin peeked over to see what you were reading.
"is this the book you bought a few weeks ago?" jaemin quietly asked you. he had a towel around his neck and moves some of it to cover his wet hair.
"mhm," you nodded and continued reading, “it’s really good so far,” you mentioned.
then, jaemin stood up and grabbed your empty mug before leaving the living room. you heard him walk into the kitchen. after a few seconds, the smell of coffee entered the house as jaemin started making a cup for himself.
once his coffee was ready, he came back into the living room, and you glanced up for a second to see him with a cup of coffee in his hand. you also noticed that the towel was missing, but he most likely out the towel on a chair knowing him. you looked back down at your book and continued reading while jaemin sat down next to you.
"baby?" jaemin called out to you.
"yes?" you replied.
"can i hug you?" he asked you.
you instantly smiled at his request before giggling a little, "of course."
you put the receipt for the book, which you used as a bookmark, in the book and placed the book down on an end table. then, you immediately climbed onto jaemin's lap and hugged him tight. jaemin wrapped one arm around your waist, and you pecked his lips before he took another sip of his coffee.
"you looked so peaceful," he commented.
"what do you mean?" you asked him, a bit confused from the sudden comment.
"you looked so peaceful when you were reading your book," he explained. “i feel bad for ruining it, but i really wanted to hug you,” he mentioned to you.
you laughed, "well, it's nice to be in my boyfriend's arms, so i don't mind."
jaemin smiled at you. "love you," he said.
"i love you, too, babe," you replied.
the two of you started cuddling together and enjoying having a morning together. rain continued to fall and started getting heavier, but you didn’t mind. all you needed was your boyfriend right by you and that’s exactly what you had.
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jinisnuggets · 2 months
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ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕖
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ᵖᵃⁱʳⁱⁿᵍˢ: ʰᵘˢᵇᵃⁿᵈ ˣⁱᵃᵒʲᵘⁿ ˣ ᵍⁿ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ
ᵍᵉⁿʳᵉ: ᶠˡᵘᶠᶠ
ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ: 0.3ᵏ
ʷᵃʳⁿⁱⁿᵍˢ: ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵇʳᵉᵃᵏ ⁱⁿ.
ˢʸⁿᵒᵖˢⁱˢ: ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ʰᵃᵛⁱⁿᵍ ᵠᵘⁱᵗᵉ ᵃ ˢᵉʳⁱᵒᵘˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ʳᵉᵃˡⁱˢᵗⁱᶜ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉ, ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵃᵏᵉ ᵘᵖ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᶠᵒʳᵗ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵘˢᵇᵃⁿᵈ ˣⁱᵃᵒʲᵘⁿ.
ᵇʳⁱᵉᶠ ⁱⁿᵗʳᵒᵈᵘᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ ᵗᵒ ᵐʸ ᵇˡᵒᵍ
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It was a normal night, at least for Xiaojun it was. For you…
Well not so much.
Going to sleep everything was okay, it was while sleeping that you just couldn't get a good night rest.
Alarms ringing, an unknown person, your house supposed to be a safe spot, you would've been okay If it weren't for the last part of the scenario…
You husband… Xiaojun, ended up distracting the intruder so you could get away…
Before seeing you forcefully awoke yourself, looking around everywhere upon the unsettling feeling.
“What's wrong…?*
You heard the familiar voice, comforting voice of your husband speak from the other side.
“Xiaojun…”
Your husband couldn't help but grow worried at you scared expression, so he got up and scooted closer to you while pulling you in for a hug as he rubbed your shoulder lightly.
“Babe… what's wrong?”
“Nothing… just a nightmare”
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“...”
“Does it make you uncomfortable..?”
You slowly nodded your head in response to him, he understood and just brought you into the comfort of his warmth
“It's okay… it was just a dream.. not reality”
“I'm just scared that it might actually happen. It's not something that can easily be brushed off.. judging by the fact that it can happen at any moment.”
“I'm sorry… but no matter what I'll always be here.”
You glanced back at your partner, looking at him softly as you stared at him.
“I hope so.”
“Do you wanna sleep closer together?”
You nodded your head slowly and laid down in his arms, as he pulled you close and brushed with your hair.
“If you have another nightmare, hit me so I can wake you up.”
He said it half joking half serious.
“I'll make sure to do so”
“Please do… I hate seeing you like this.”
You looked at your husband in the eyes and nodded your head.
“If I can find you I will.” You said with a giggling tone.
“Thank you love. Sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight Xiao…”
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polarisjisung · 5 months
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MAKEUP, MAKE OUT
synopsis: somewhere between testing eyeshadow palettes and mascara wands, renjun tests the prospect of loving you
wc: 1k
pairings: best friend!renjun × fem!reader
genre: fluff
warnings: none (I hope)
notes: not proofread so there's bound to be some typos
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As renjun finds you positioned between his legs, tapping a light brown shade of shimmer over his eyelids, he can't help but wonder how he'd explain the situation should anybody walk in.
How could he explain the fact that his best friend was quite literally seated on his bed straddling him, so close that from any other perspective you'd look at least half way into a heated makeout session, perhaps something more.
Your hot breath fanning his neck, and his own two eyes helplessly trailing over your soft features, he couldn't bring himself to look away. Each and every time he'd find his gaze falling upon your lips, a deep shade of pink. He wanted to kiss you, he realises.
Best friends didn't do that.
Renjun wonders why the thought even comes into mind or why today was the day, despite your countless other attempts at getting him to agree to let you do his makeup, that he'd said yes.
Though he doesn't have to search particularly far for the answer when you tell him to keep still for the nth time
"stay still jun, ugh, nana would've been a much more compliant client"
Renjun could barely stand the thought of you looking jaemin's way, let alone being half as close as you were with him right now, with those long lashes of na jaemin's, that girls would always fawn over, fluttering so prettily in front of you.
"nana huh" he scoffs, great, you're on a nickname basis now
"so moody" you roll your eyes, somehow still smiling down at the boy who wore a frown on his lips, "you're lucky you look pretty" you laugh.
Your laugh is loud, not in an obnoxious sort of way, but in an unapologetically you sort of way, that renjun loved to hear, knowing you opted for softer, quieter and nowhere near as genuine laughs in public. Some part of him glad that this was a laugh only reserved for him.
"you're saying I need makeup to look pretty?" renjun wonders if you can notice the pink creeping up across his face and spreading over his cheeks, hoping you'd think it was simply the blush you had applied a little earlier.
"of course not, I think you're the prettiest right when you wake up" you don't mean to let it slip, a small piece of information you would've liked to think he could have lived without knowing, softly patting the powder against his skin.
"well I think you're pretty all the time" his lips turn upwards slightly, his hands finding your waist "my pretty girl"
you barely seem to notice as he whispers under his breath, too focused on deciding which lips colour would suit him best, the slight crinkle of your brows no less than adorable
Like every best friend had, he'd thought of the possibility of more, with great consideration.
He'd thought about how walking around with your fingers intertwined rather than an arm lazily thrown over your shoulder might've felt, how introducing you as his girlfriend instead of a girl friend could make his heart leap out of his chest and perhaps most importantly how the thought of seeing you with someone else had him balling up his fists and grinding his own teeth against each other.
He knew he liked you, it hadn't been hard to admit to himself, but somehow it didn't seem so easy with you.
"renjun?" you call for the nth time, "which one do you think is better?" you alternate between the two tubes of liquid lipstick, "one or two?" but yet again, renjun seems to be in his own world, eyes glued onto you and yet somehow he's not listening to you at all.
"jun, you're staring" you wave an arm in front of him
he wonders where he'd given up trying to hide how he felt for you, a lazy smirk lining his lips,
"I am" this time, pulling you closer by the belt loops of your jeans, so your chest is flush against his "my pretty girl"
you hum, reaching for a soft brown lip liner
"what are we?" he asks before you can connect the pencil to his lips, shiny eyes causing your breath to catch in your throat
"best friends"
and for the first time ever, renjun finds himself absolutely loathing the confident tone of your voice. How after all these intimate moments, and far too many not so best friend like thoughts did you not see a thing
"have you ever thought about more?" you're scared to nod, but your head moves faster than you can let out the word no and suddenly it seems honesty is the best policy
"I don't think we've been just best friends for a while now" renjun smiles as the words fall from your lips, music to his ears
"then let me ask you again, what are we?"
"you know what we are jun" your voice is softer than before, an airiness to it that renjun finds himself basking in the warmth of.
"I want— no I need you to say it" his voice has reduced to whispers now, lips centimetres apart
"what if I showed you instead"
his thumb traced over you bottom lip, a soft "okay" muttered under his breath as his hands reached up to cup your face, your lips pressed against his in an instant.
he smiles against your lips, another kiss pressed to your lips before he forces himself back.
"you have no idea how much I've been waiting for this moment" he begins to pepper soft kisses across your face, finally leaning in again, this time taking your bottom lip between his teeth.
You wouldn't dare let him pull away, your breaths deep and rushed as you find your fingers tangled in his soft brown hair, strawberry lips perfectly locked with your own.
but when you do take a moment to breathe, your eyes land on a starry-eyed huang renjun staring up at you, looking like the prettiest mess you'd ever seen.
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ohmygs-blog · 11 months
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✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚:* *:・゚
texting the dreamies!
— “ass or tits?”
! suggestive / nsfw
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from-izzy · 5 months
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navigation ♡
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still me, different page: @from-m-izzy 🔞 @written-letters-from-izzy 💌
nets: @deoboyznet 📢❤️ @k-labels 💙🤍 @k-films 🤎🎞️ @kflixnet 📺🍿
life happens but at least one story a month will be posted!! 🤭 tracking!
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a note from the old me! (to the new me!) 📝 about me! 📝 2023 -> 2024
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about my writings!! 💜 my health and writing! 💜 my favourite ask!
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my account!
deserve | nct na jaemin
outsider | nct na jaemin
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you: my favourite scene | tbz kim sunwoo
[19:32] | tbz kim sunwoo
i'm glad it was you too | tbz lee jaehyun | hyunjae
[02:04] | tbz lee jaehyun | hyunjae
this summer... | tbz lee jaehyun | hyunjae
that's him, that's just who he is | the boyz series
introduction masterlist
especially to you... | (planned to be) multigroup series
introduction masterlist
i'm home | tbz lee sangyeon
[17:58] | tbz kim sunwoo
[06:36] | tbz kim sunwoo
double a decade | tbz kim sunwoo
the warmest winter | tbz choi chanhee | new
[04:42] | tbz kim sunwoo
[03:21] | tbz kim sunwoo
cupid's mistake | tbz kim sunwoo
"what do you think of flowers/bouquets?" | tbz ot11 text messages
hyung 🤍 98 🤍 maknae
[03:10] | tbz kim sunwoo
every day is a lovely day... | tbz lee juyeon (april 3rd!!)
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requests currently closed!!
feel free to do so! any mdni requests should not be sent to this account!
absolutely no pairings from below:
idol x idol brother/sister's best friend x reader/character 5+ year age gap romantic relationships teacher x student
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all videos, images, gifs and musics to their rightful owners! any resemblances to existing persons, places and stories are fully coincidential!! all ideas, plotline, stories and og!characters are mine unless stated otherwise!!
copyright © 2023 from-izzy. please do not distribute my work at any platforms with and especially without credit.
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technologyculturedneo · 6 months
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SOS: Poison In My Mind (Pt 1)
PLAYING NOW: Season 2 of SOS: AM I ALIVE
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“We met in the worst circumstance possible, but yet, even if we had to meet in different circumstances, I’d still fall for you.”
SUMMARY. A series of events following the aftermath of the break in/hostage situation has everyone feeling tense. The Zhong family is torn with disappoints, from Yezi deciding that she wants to keep the rape baby, to Dae leaving the family wanting something else from her life. With months and years treading by, the family is met again in uncanny situations with the same old boys who can’t seem to get away from them.
PAIRING(s). Delinquent!Mark, Felony!Haechan, Boyfriend!Jeno, Brother!Renjun; Policeman!Jaemin, Jisung; Husband!Chenle, Boyfriend!Jaehyun X OC Dae, Yezi (original character)
GENRE. Angst. Longshot. Slow burn. Crime. Strangers to lovers. Smut (non-consensual/consensual). Family.
WARNINGS. Drugs abuse (Alcohol, smoking, marijuana, cocaine, heroin). Sexual content (consensual, child abuse, pedophile). Slow burn (unlike the first book filled with edge and action, here’s a more toned down and summary filled action after the aftermath, lots of convo.)
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S2: EP1-7 The moment the judge hits the gavel, Dae unknowingly lets out a sigh of relief. Laying her head against her dad's shoulder, some tears pouring out of her eyes causing her to hiccup, sniff and fall into a breaking emotional state. Her dad, Chenle hugs her tightly. He feels such an overwhelming amount of pain. He doesn't even know what to say when he watches the police handcuff the boys and makes them line up against the opposite doors, preparing them for their new prison life.
Dae gets her head off his shoulder and with her eyes smudged in tears and nose running just as badly, her face red and voice barely above a whisper. "Dad, I can't breathe," She hiccups terribly struggling to say.
Chenle is attentive and assists her up as he navigates her outside of the Court room. With his arms around her shoulder, he walks with her steadily and his eyes peer around trying to find a specific door, which was right next to the court room. Entering into the room whereby his wife and Yezi are, his heart grows heavy upon seeing Yezi in a similar dreadful position crying her soul out.
Yezi upon seeing her dad gets up as well and runs into her dad's arms. Chenle holds tight, embracing them generously the same way when they cried that he and his ex-wife were splitting. His lips kiss the top of their precious heads just as his eyes shut by the overflow of tears bluring his vision. His daughters sadly crying only causes his heart more pain that as their father he couldn't protect them against the evil of the world. Chungdae, Chenle's wife gets up slowly and makes her way towards her family. She moves behind Chenle and back hugs him, her own tears building up.
Yezi and Dae stretch their arms in sync backwards to wrap around Chungdae. No matter how much she was reminded of being their step mum, no matter how much she fought with Yezi, no matter how much Dae was nice to her without actually allowing her to know her real feelings, and no matter how much Chenle tried to always make her feel a part of his family even though deep down she knew she had a long way to acceptance with the whole family, right now being here with them somehow feels like a new level of depth.
The fact that she cut her trip half way- once her plane landed and Chenle called her to tell her the details she booked the next flight back- and came to serve as support for the girls as well as her husband who continuously blamed himself. It's like she had unlocked a new sacred bound with each and every one of them- although it was because of a traumatic experience, she’s somehow happy to feel included in their suffering of the moment.
Chenle loved his kids, and as Chungdae loved his kids as her own only made him love her more. And right now, as Chenle has all the loves of his life around him- it only tears him down more. If only this was a much pleasant occasion instead of a horrifying one.
Meanwhile, in the courtroom similar feelings and emotions are being done. However, it's only directed at Renjun and his mum.
Renjun is an incoherent speechless dreadful mess as he’s plunged in tears. He wants to shout and cry out loud but he can't even express his overwhelming pain as his own physical state hurts him with every move he makes causing him so much discomfort. All he does is sink his head into his mother's shoulders and shudders as the tears furiously plunge out of his one good eye.
His mother with immense loving arms tightens her embrace- shielding him from the emotions of right now. Her scent sips into his nostrils and despite the ache, he appreciates this comfort which in all his life has always sought out for. The sincere and dear love of his mother. Her heart shreds due to how she failed to protect her son from the boy she gave birth to. Her eyes have sprinkles of water, and her head throbbing with the new forming headache from holding in a load amount of tears. From the moment she took in this lost little Chinese boy as her own son, for the first time in her dark miserable life she could say that she had hope. To see her hope of a son bearing his soul out for a crime he did not commit, stains her soul of feeling like a failure again. She failed with her first son. But right now, she didn’t want it to be the case of her second son. And so she holds in her voice of agony, of pain and whispers with strength. "You're going to be alright okay? I'm not mad at you. You did what was right and I swear it’ll all pay back some day. It looks dark now, but I promise you Renji that…everything will work out.” Her eyes let out some tears before she sniffs. “I promise that I’ll be waiting for you when you come out. Don't be scared my boy, be brave in there. Don’t let them break you. You are my hope and I know this world doesn’t deserve you, but come back to me in one piece okay? I love you so much Renji, so so much you have no idea. Just stay strong for me okay?"
“Okay,” Renjun hiccups out trying to hold it in but the devastation is too much to bear.
Standing in line behind Mark, Donghyuck watches vulnerably.
It pains and even hurts to see his mum in tears and wrapping all her love upon Renjun. Even when the guards break them apart and Renjun gets back in line behind him, he prepares himself for the hug that he knows his mum always gives. He's expecting for his mum's love and attention, even though she might be angry at him, Donghyuck knows that she always gave the best hugs of comfort.
But when she looks at him…
Donghyuck is only able to make out the look of humiliation. Disappointment. And so much sadness as though she’s failed with him. In her eyes that were so full of adoration and affection for Renjun, he gets her capital look of sadness as she covers her mouth and closes her eyes filled with tears and turns away.
Donghyuck sucks in a sharp breath, his glossy eyes stinging from how much tears he's holding back. He gets pushed out of the court room by the police and he follows them to a waiting room. Upon waiting they get taken in for their final prints. Still with cuffs around his wrists, he’s aggressively assisted in getting his finger prints inked and pressed on paper. He does his signature, gets a court mug shot and then initially given a see through plastic bag of a blue standard prison uniform. Mark gets the same color.
Yet, upon seeing Renjun walk out of the prints room with a bag of orange prison clothes… he can't hold in his tears. Renjun sits on the other side of the hallway but still in front of Donghyuck, when he sees that his older brother’s shoulders are sagged so low and he hears sounds of anguish, sounds of agony, does his heart remind him of how much he’s put up with Donghyuck. All he wanted was to be his brother’s friend and getting to know his brother. Unfortunately, trying to get to know his brother would mean becoming him and that’s not something Renjun ever wants again. And so, also silently he weeps again out of his one good eye.
Meanwhile Jeno and Mark have such emotionless looks towards one another. Unlike the other bags, Jeno’s see through bag had a green prison uniform. Mark is so distorted to reality and unfazed with his brother that when Jeno gets ushered out by a new guard he finds himself speaking. “Good luck bro,”
Jeno, in his own unfazed and worn-out actuality mummers. “You too.”
In honesty, for Jeno everything was one big blur. The fact that it was night and he was in the car with his brother, to somehow him waking up in a hospital 3 weeks later with minor burn patches just chaotically threw him off everything he knew as reality. And then he hears that he’s being charged with breaking and entering into a wealthy mansion. It’s the most absurd nightmare he’s ever woken up from- everything was one big drunken blur of memories popping up here and there, but he has no recollection of actually living in those memories. To say he was beyond confused was an understatement. He was just numb yet puzzled that all this happened. All he remembers is being drunk and waking up in a hospital bed weeks later.
The one thing he can remember lividly, was when he entered into the girl that he has admired, when he entered her room and saw his brother forcing her to mouth fuck his crotch- that felt like something he would never ever be able to forget. That is a spare moment that he can’t get out his head. So walking into a prison statement with the least amount of knowledge of why he’s being sentenced, Jeno sucks it up and follows.
Donghyuck can’t stop crying at this point. Even if his voice is low, Renjun and Mark can hear it. Although it’s awkward for Mark, for Renjun it’s a painful and pitiful reality that shit hits hard. Donghyuck’s eyes are shut, as painful reminders of how he not only disappointed his mother and brother, but he also proved Yezi’s words to be true. The words of her telling him how worthless he is. Because truly, he feels like a worthless, filthy, cheap, vain, unlucky, useless, pathetic, miserable and pain for his whole family.
Donghyuck is in tears and can't even say anything when they take Renjun away to his respective bus leading to the county jail center. Renjun can't even say anything when seeing Donghyuck's head hung so low as his shoulders shake and light sounds of grief in emotions are heard from him. In fact, in this moment where he looks at his brother…there’s a slight mounting anger of how he should’ve never tried so hard to get his approval in anything. Donghyuck never ever cared about him. And as he leaves the court and gets into his bus, a slowly fueling hatred grows in him.
It’s only left Donghyuck and Mark in the corridor as they wait for the arrival of their bus that would probably be filled with returning criminals going back to the same prison. At this point, Donghyuck knew the cycle all too well.
He knew that there would be new second time offenders, old gang cliques who committed hard crimes, gang members who’re coming in to deliver a message to one of their old boys in prison, crime offenders who somehow always get away with petty charges instead of life sentences and lastly the guys who had nowhere else to go but prison…and so committing a petty crime to be charged at least 5 years would satisfy their life- these were the people that Donghyuck knew were going to be with him. Donghyuck knew of the type of people he’d see again, and how ecstatic they’d be to see him. Prison life was his home. The only home that welcomed him with open arms every time, with ‘friends’, people who protected him, the officers who alarmingly treated him ‘well’ and the all-time shelter and food that was provided to him each and every day.
If anything, he should’ve been happy to be going back to a place of ‘rest’, but there’s a weight on his chest that’s anchoring him down, there’s a heavy burden on his shoulders that’s sinking him. The fact that it’s not a thought but it’s now his reality. He always joked that one of these days he’d come back as a rapist, but now the dawning weight of his reality sets him in such a dark hole. He has added onto his record something that once hurt his mother. He has added onto his record a pain that’s deep and unfathomable, something that would define him as an ‘experienced criminal’. Donghyuck shudders and blurts out another cry as he sinks his head in between his hands. His own mother couldn’t even stand to look at him. Donghyuck feels so shut out right now. Enraged at himself for being such a fuck up. He can’t believe that he crossed over to a side he’d never thought himself of crossing.
When he feels the harsh hand of the guard, he knows that this time as he’s going to prison it won’t be the usual years of rest, but instead a commencement time of guilt and punishment. He deserved punishment for all that he’s put his family through. For all that he’s put everyone that he has hurt through.
He sucks up his tears but keeps his head down with his jaws locked. Unlike getting in the bus and always going to the back and greeting the old timers who joyously call unto his name- he takes the front seat close to the window. Mark, not obliged to follow, feels in him that his partner in crime isn’t himself and so he takes a seat next to him after acknowledging some of the returning inmates. Mark seated beside Donghyuck feels uncomfortable but can only endure it. Donghyuck has his head against the window his head pining on him. It doesn't sit right with Mark and all he can do is lay his hand upon the ladders shoulder. He had no words because he didn’t understand why he was moping.
Donghyuck can't take his eyes off his mum as she stands outside waving her hand towards Renjun's bus. She's crying, holding onto some tissue papers and looking defeated. Donghyuck's eyes sting when he sees her crouching down still in tears.
She used to look at him like that. She'd cry for him like that. But now she can't even stand to look at him.
As the bus begins moving out the court parking, Donghyuck’s eyes unconsciously catches onto the news crews and reports all withering and surrounding the court as they try to get to the ‘Zhong’ family. His eyes don’t mean to, but they go to the girls who are rushed into such a high class, superior and posh maroon looking car.
It all started with a car, an envious yet spiteful car that seemed in hands reach and just for him. A car that was a whole Pandora’s box. If only Donghyuck could go back in time, to the time that stupid spoilt car carrying those fucking high social brats passed his own rusty faded red car, if only he could go back and peal his eyes off that car and to his brother who only wanted to go home. He would’ve never lusted over the car if he knew what he knew. He would turn to his brother and agree to just take him home- far away from the lives of the rich people. Far away from the life of chaos. And far away from the life he was living.
After a decent and mouth sovereign dinner in a luxurious five-star restaurant, Chenle and his family quietly went back to their respective rental guarded home whereby their new life would begin.
Sitting around the living room, Chenle explains that the insurance company that insured their house will finish in about a month's time. But he wanted to know whether or not they felt safe moving back into that neighborhood or wanted a new place.
It's basically nonnegotiable for them all as they all want a change of scenery. Ever since the incident, the Zhong family were the communities most talked about family for (not only) the outrageous verdicts that the boys got, but also for how 4 lowlifes managed to break into such a secured residential area and well-guarded home. Few of the neighboring families moved out immediately, while others were already preparing to move out, most enhanced their security, so it only made sense that the people in the area didn't feel safe and were contemplating on leaving or staying.
"Another thing we need to address," Chungdae starts, laying her hand on Chenle’s knee, sensing his hesitancy. "Yezi,"
"Yes?" Yezi nervously squeezes Dae’s hand having an idea of what the conversation would be about.
Chungdae silently sighs looking at Chenle before focusing her attention on her step daughter, who had sadly and traumatically become pregnant but had said nothing ever since the confirmation at the hospital. "It's been a month and some days since you've been pregnant-"
"I know." She counts the days every day. "Can we not talk about-"
"And every time we bring it up you try to turn it down. Chungdae has got some pills you can take now to neutralize the thing moving in your stomach. Tomorrow is Wednesday and we’re taking you to the hospital to get it removed." This time Chenle speaks, his voice not too welcoming as if he has an idea of what his 16-year-old daughter is thinking. "If you're thinking about keeping it you can forget it."
Yezi's head strikes up at her dad with wide saddened eyes. She sits on the edge of her seat with prompt and firm lips. But the thing that speaks most to Chenle is the look of fortitude, of resilience of some sort of willpower. "Dad-"
"Absolutely not.” Chenle springs back in distaste of high disgust. “Not in my house. You are not-”
“Dad you didn’t even give me a chance to speak-”
“Speak about what?” Chenle’s got his eyes bulging out of his socket. “This is not a discussion we’re having. You’re going to remove-”
“No!” Yezi suddenly cries back and gulps back holding in her tears.
“You can't tell me you've been seriously thinking of keeping that damned thing-"
"Dad-"
“Yezi that’s enough!” Chenle never yells, but when he does it catches everyone off guard. “Have you gone stupid?”
“Honey-”
“No have you gone mad? Retarded maybe? Yezi this is not up for discussion. You will not have that thing grow in you!”
“Why? It’s my-”
“Have you fucking gone retarded-”
“Dad this is my child!” It takes Chungdae holding Chenle back by his arm when he shoots up from the couch, while Dae holds tightly onto Yezi’s hand when Yezi bursts out in franticness. The tears now streaming out. “I’m not going to remove it. It’s mine.”
“Yezi,” Chenle and Chungdae both call out in a morphed sadness filled with disappointment.
"Yezi," Dae calls in bafflement. Ever since the accident, they hadn’t left each other’s side. They slept in the same hotel room, despite there being enough rooms. They had late night talks whereby they felt comforted in each other as sisters for the first time. Their bound had never ever been like this before, whereby they hardly spoke to each other yet felt distant in their experiences- but at the same time they wanted to protect each other, they wanted to love each other more than ever. But not even Dae could understand the sudden twist and burst of emotions from her little sister. In Dae’s mind when looking at her little sister- after all the talks they’ve had she would have never thought that an idea of even keeping the child was valid. "You want to keep it?" Dae asks quietly.
With the question hanging in the air and all ears attentive to Yezi, while their brains are in astonishment of the seemingly new revelation, Yezi presses her hands to her stomach and nods her head slowly. There's a long pause in the air causing Yezi's heart to beat rapidly and she's afraid to look up. She already knows what her dad will say, what Chungdae will say, what Dae will say, but she doesn't care. “I want to keep it, I need to keep it.”
There’s such a strong tensed silence that moves around the room. Chenle’s chest is mounting with such boiling anger when looking at his daughter.
“Why?” Chungdae asks in confusion, distress and fear especially when feeling her husband’s hand bulging. “Yezi-”
“No.” Chenle is seething through his teeth. The ‘no’ serves as a mind snapping effect for Yezi. She looks up to her dad with tears in her eyes, her jaw trembling.
“Dad.”
“No.” Chenle is firm when saying his final verdict. It doesn't matter that Yezi full of sadness attempts to speak- Chenle doesn’t want it. "No. You are not keeping it. No daughter of mine will-"
"But dad-"
"I said no Yezi." Chenle shakes his head again trying to calm himself down. "You're not keeping it. You're not keeping that bastard of a child. You are going to take the pills now and tomorrow-"
"Dad I'll never forgive myself for killing it-"
"Forgive yourself? You're not at fault here." Chungdae adds with confusion seeing that Yezi shakes her head and seems determined. "And it's not alive yet, you're not killing it. You're removing it."
"Mum please." Yezi sits on the edge of her seat looking desperate. “I can’t do it. I can’t go on with allowing this little thing in me to die. I don’t have the heart to go through with the abortion. I would never forgive myself-”
“For fuck- Yezi!” Chenle can’t believe what he’s hearing. From the corner of the room, the little Daegal is quivering and shivering by the uproar of Chenle’s voice. “No-”
“Dad you’re not carrying this so you don’t understand.” Yezi finds herself breaking free from Dae’s hand and standing up with her arms covering her womb. “You don’t understand how long it took me to get to this point. I’ve thought about it ever since I found out. I will keep the baby. Not because I am excited to have it, but because I don’t want to kill it. I cannot square it with my conscious. It's also a living being and has a right to life, and I shouldn't decide whether it gets to live or not. I don’t have that right and it’s heartless and inhumane even thinking about taking away-"
As Yezi hits nerve after nerve Chenle is so close – a pinch away from forcing his daughter to have no choice, the words that she’s saying only make his blood boil. Her words render Chungdae silent as her thoughts are suddenly on her past mistakes. Not only Chungdae, but Dae as well knows that whether it was intentional or not Yezi was hitting on and referring to the reason her parents split and that was because of Chungdae and her ‘babies’.
“Do you know what pain I’m feeling at just the thought of giving it up-”
Dae can feel the tension slowly rising in the room, and if Yezi didn’t choose her words correctly then most assuredly she would be in big trouble. “Yezi-”
But Yezi’s already so hot with her words and can’t back down as she speaks over Dae shaking her head. “I’ve read the damages that abortions can have on a woman’s body. Dad you should know far better than anyone what abortions can do-” Her jaws tremble glaring at her dad now with such overwhelming anger. “What if I’ll never get a chance like this again? Huh? You and Chungdae have been trying for a really long time but nix and zilch have been the results-”
Chungdae feeling jabbed shakes her head. “That’s not- Sweety please let’s not-”
“You can't even give birth anymore because of all those abortions you’ve had while having an affair with my dad behind my mum’s back. You both took the right away and now you want me to make that same fucked up decision as-”
She’s not expecting the rough hand of her dad gripping onto her wrist and dragging her with such force and strength. “Honey please-” Chungdae has to suck up her pride and wipe her eyes when trying to follow Chenle.
“Where are those pills?”
“Honey please let’s just sit and talk-”
“No.”
"No?" Chungdae follows rapidly behind Chenle who busts opens into different drawers around their room while Yezi yells for her dad to let her go. “Honey please, she’s crying and-”
“Where are the pills?!”
Chungdae is taken aback at Chenle shouting when directing his attention to her.
“This is my daughter! There’s no way in fucking hell will I ever allow her to even consider keeping that thing in her womb! It’s not hers and we’re not raising that thing!” Chenle’s jaw locks when his eyes take notice of the sullen look plastered over her features.
“That ‘thing’ was in my womb too, and I…” The look of guilt coats Chungdae’s face, dampening his mood when seeing how teary and weary eyed she gets. At this point it’s by instinct how he always tries to wipe the tears off her eyes before they fall off. Letting go of Yezi instantly just so he can attend to Chungdae only leaves Chungdae in a remorseful crying mess as she covers her face with shame. “If I hadn’t had all those abortions then maybe we would’ve been… I would’ve been able to give you the child you wanted-It’s all my fault, I’m sorry honey-”
“No, no.” Chenle’s voice simmers down into a low tenderly octave when hearing how broken and crushed his wife’s cry is. He walks carefully towards her, his hands holding onto her shoulders looking just as vulnerable. “It wasn’t your fault. Don’t do that baby, don’t,” Straightaway he wraps his arms around her securing her from the emotions that have resurfaced. “Baby… we made that decision t-together. It’s not your fault.. You didn’t…I don’t blame you at all my love. Please, don’t cry,”
“Yezi’s right-” Chungdae whimpers, not being able to stop the tears as well as remove her hands from her blotched crying face.
“She’s not right, don’t listen to her. She will not disrespect you like that and-”
Chungdae shakes her head, knowing exactly what Yezi meant. Chenle would never understand what it’s like to live with that conscious memory of having done an abortion, only for it to affect everything years later. He would never get it because he refused to come to terms with the fact that she took away the one thing he was really excited about, and that was to have kids with her.
The first few times when they found out she was pregnant was in their mutual decision to remove baby after baby in hopes of Chenle’s former wife not to find out, but after the cat got out the bag and Chenle came clean to his wife of his affair did Chungdae unintentionally decide to remove the baby thinking that this would’ve been the last time she’d see him ever again. Little did she know that it would’ve been the last time she’d ever be able to conceive again.
Her tears are all over the place, loud enough for Dae to even hear. Upon seeing Yezi frantically walk towards the door- Dae stops her. “That was a low blow Yezi. Did you really have to?”
“But it’s true.”
“Just because it’s true it doesn’t give you the right to just bring stuff like that up. You know Chungdae is sensitive to -”
“She’s sensitive because she fucked up-”
“You think you’re not being a fuck up right now?” Dae yanks Yezi by her arm when she opens up the main door. Forcing Yezi to look at her they both look at each other intensely. “Look, I probably don’t have much of a say in you and wanting to keep it but don’t drag mum down-”
“You keep forgetting she’s not my mum,” Yezi rips her arm away from Dae. “And plus. I already spoke to mum- our real mum. She said I can keep it.”
Dae has a puzzled almost annoyed face. “You’ve been talking to her? Yezi do you even know-”
“Just because she used dad, and you didn’t get along with her doesn’t mean she’s not my mum anymore. She’s still a mother to me, I love her more than I ever did you and dad, she’s still my mum and she gave me enough clarity to decide for myself.” Yezi doesn’t look hurt, but her eyes do look somber upon talking about her mother.
Dae can only try to breathe in as she finds the right words to say despite her anger slowly rising. “You’re forgetting that she’s the one who asked for that divorce not dad. She’s the one who left us for her new free life. She didn’t take us with her because she didn’t want us- so what could she possibly tell you about child birth that would make you consider even keeping that thing? The mother that I know would’ve never even allowed you to keep a rapist’s child.”
“You’re wrong, our mother- just like dad loved kids. And it’s not a rapist’s child, it’s my child.” And with that Yezi opens up the front door and bangs it. She has no real destination when leaving the house- all she knows is that she needed to clear her head. It’s past 10pm and she doesn’t even-
“Going somewhere?”
She stops, being startled for a second. Standing by a black vehicle, she spots the Officer Na Jaemin. “Officer Na,” Her gaze being fazed by his presence. “What’re you doing here?”
Jaemin simply stares at the girl. “Patrol work. Your father wanted tight security while being here in the rental house.”
“Tight security by yourself?”
Jaemin shifts his weight a little displaying the black tinted window of the car. He knocks twice on it, causing the window to roll down displaying a shy smiling Officer Jisung. “Yes?”
“Jisung and I are here, there’s two at the back, two on each side, and two at the gates. We’re tight if the time calls for it.” Jaemin points out. “Once again, are you going somewhere? If so we’ll escort you.”
Yezi shakes her head. “No, it’s fine.” Being pissed by the sudden securing of protection she walks back the path to the house but stops midway with a nonstop chaotic mind and walks back towards the Officers. Jisung’s window is rolled back up while Jaemin has his head down within his padded jacket. He blends in so well with the car being black and everything he has on being black- including his hair.
“Officer,”
He peeks up again, and Yezi can see that under his eyes there’s faint marks. He looks tired. “What.” He doesn’t seem the least bit interested in what she has to say, all that he wants to do is sleep.
Yezi however pants in and out looking like a fish caught in water. “I… I want to keep it. I want to keep the baby that’s growing in me.” Yezi’s eyes water. “But I don’t want anyone to hate me for it.”
Jaemin can stare as his ears adjust to the words coming out of her mouth. “You… Did you just say you want to keep it?” How old is she? It’s probably the reason she’s even outside, maybe she wanted a clear head to think better. And if so, Jaemin had to stop her because he was the wrong person for this type of conversation. “Should I call your dad?”
“No-” Yezi shakes her head before hanging it down with trembling lips.
“Look, I’m only 23. I’m a male. And I’m not a part of your family, so you can’t just tell me all these things,” He’s 23, a male and an officer with no family as he was an orphaned boy. There’s nothing that he could say that would be of any assistance to this girl who’s 16…7 years younger than him. However, when she doesn’t move and her shoulders shudder, he grows uncomfortable in his padded jacket and inwardly cusses. He was always the worst when it came to giving some sort of relief. He turns his head to the car just in time seeing Jisung look away.
After a long silence, it takes Yezi blurting out a little cry does Jaemin breathe out his nose and licks his lips looking at her. Yezi tries to contain herself by remaining silent and sniffs back her tears (which made Jaemin feel tight in place) while wiping the back of her sleeve over her eyes. She doesn’t look up, but her body turns around and she begins walking away. It only takes a few steps before Jaemin’s voice comes out. “I can listen.” He speaks out. “If you want to… talk,”
If she came outside, it’s because she most likely had an argument with her family. And the last place she probably wants to go is inside.
That makes her stop in her tracks, and ever so slowly she peers up into Jaemin’s eyes. He looks nervous and almost worried. Nervous to the point that he even stands straighter and gets his hands out his padded jacket. “I don’t think I’ll be of any use,” He shrugs his shoulders scratching the back of his head. “But, I can listen,”
Yezi turns her body around in a slow manner, her eyes are slightly teary but upon gazing into his sincere eyes does she fully turn her body around to face him.
“So,” Jaemin clears his throat uneasily. “You want… to keep it?”
“Yeah,” Her voice is low and shaky. “Because for the first time after the accident, I saw a glimpse of light.” Her hands pressing onto each other as she slowly inhales and exhales looking up slightly to the stars that are a few in the night heavenly sky. “We were in the hospital with my mum and dad, and they did an ultrasound.” A gloomy look gets on her crestfallen face, but Jaemin’s eyes are on the watery glaze that coat her eyes making them crystal clear as if they’re twinkling. “On that screen I saw… this tiny little pea. That little pea in me was so small… and this was the darkest time in my life, but looking at that little dot on the screen I felt…hope. Strangely. I felt something come alive in me again. Like a light in a dark tunnel. And I remembered thinking that, I couldn’t protect myself, you know.” She sniffs and her hands gently cup her abdomen. “I fought and I really tried to stop him from, you know. I fought so hard and I tried. I tried but… there was nothing I could do. So looking at the screen, seeing that there was something moving in me, that this tiny ball was moving around as if it already had life… I knew that even if I couldn’t protect myself, I could protect that baby, because it’s my baby. It’s coming from inside of me, this little pea will somehow become something, will somehow bare it’s own life.”
Jaemin blinks slowly no expression on his face except an honest concern for the girl. “You want to keep the very thing that’s come from something so painful?”
“I don’t even like kids that much, but I don’t want to remove this baby in me. This doesn’t feel like the trauma of rape…but this is me protecting this baby,”
“Protecting it from what?” Jaemin whispers. “What’s your reason for keeping it?”
“It’s the fact that it’s a life-”
“It’s not a life,” Jaemin lowly inputs making Yezi shake her head.
“It’s in me Officer Na, I can feel that there’s something in me.” She breaths out. “Because it’s a product from something so painful… doesn’t give me any right to take away something as precious as life from it, that’s not even born. I… Do I really need a reason in order for me to keep it? Why do I need a reason that will be good enough for anyone to listen? This…” Yezi’s eyes flattering with tears make Jaemin alert in getting his back off the car and stepping forward to the girl. “What would make me any different from a person sitting in a prison cell because they murdered another person? Murdered another human being?”
“That doesn’t count,”
“The only difference is that taking an unborn baby’s life away is somehow legal. That’s not fair. Officer Suh didn’t deserve to be killed like that, but because he was gunned down by someone who intentionally wanted to kill him made that person a murderer. And I would be one too if I took away this baby’s life intentionally- other people can get rid of it if they want, but why is it wrong for me to want to keep it?”
“Hey,” Jaemin’s hesitant and alert when the tears won’t stop falling from her eyes. He carefully lays his hand on her shoulder and clears his throat. “Hey, don’t cry about it.”
“I just wanted some air, I just wanted a break. I don’t want my dad to take this little baby away from me,” Her tears don’t stop pouring out, resulting in Jaemin hesitantly stepping forward and wrapping his arms around the girl. He sighs quietly when she takes another step forward and wraps her arms around his torso crying out.
“It’s okay, just cry it out,” Jaemin finds himself soothing and consoling her. “Hopefully everything will be okay,” He mummers out.
But 3 months later…prior to what Jaemin said, everything was not okay. In fact, things kept falling apart.
Yezi lingers by the doorway of the house hearing the commotion erupting from inside the house, mostly likely Dae’s room. Chungdae who’s standing next to Yezi closes the door and sighs. They just came from another ultrasound from a private hospital and just after receiving good news from the doctor and a lovely sonogram picture of her beautiful looking baby, she walks into the chaos of her family. She thought that after the first month her family would be ‘normal’ again. But from her dad purposely ignoring her presence because of wanting to keep the baby, to Chungdae often being left in the middle of choosing her husband and step kid, to Chenle getting intense stress not only at work and with building the new house (which would be far away) but also from Dae’s excessively new lifestyle- Yezi can only see her family going down a spiraling hill of dismay.
The only thing that’s been uplifting or of any sort of good news, is the media outlets dying down and Yezi being able to continue her homeschooling with Doyoung without getting bombarded by some news crew. Another good thing that Yezi kept looking forward to is surprisingly her new ‘friendship’ with the Officer Na Jaemin. At this point, with her sister turning into somebody else, and Chungdae becoming more motherly towards her, the only person she would truly and freely chat to about everything falling apart and a way to clear her mind was Jaemin. For the most parts he only listened and barely looked like her cared, but Yezi knew better because he’d always be ready to listen to her, and Yezi found it caring that aside from getting Boba coffees for himself and Jisung, he’d also get for her as well (and sneak in some of her pregnancy cravings that Chungdae wouldn’t approve of).
But right now, it’s 5pm in the afternoon and already she can hear the back and forth arguments from her dad and Dae.
Lately, it’s become a habit of her dad and older sister fighting back and forth. Dae found refuge in going clubbing with her friends, getting wasted, getting drunk and coming back home dumb out of her mind, out of her senses. Dae, under the overwhelming pressure of everything; from dropping out of college and getting paid lessons online, to being forced to work with her dad, to getting intense nightmares about being sexually assaulted that night by Mark, to getting pressured from her friends to let loose and party with them- to Dae ultimately deciding that her life is nothing but one big joke.
Slowly, right before their eyes, Dae was becoming an addict to a lifestyle that was highly frowned upon in their family. The once head strong girl of the family was crumbling and numbing her senses to intoxicating alcohol….and worst of all drugs.
“For hell’s sake you’re not leaving the house dressed like a whore!”
“Don’t touch my stuff-”
“Dae- What’s this?”
“Dad I said don’t touch my stuff-”
“Where the hell did you get this?” Yezi slowly walks in the house watching Chungdae disappear behind some walls, probably going to try and calm down the situation. But from the sounds of it, Yezi can hear how her dad is slowly losing his temper.
“Give it back!” Dae yells and a few seconds later she hears Chungdae.
“Dae, what the hell is going on through your head? How could you-”
Yezi jumps a little when hearing a door slammed shut. Next thing a fazed and alert looking Dae stomps into the hallway with the most daring of outfits in the shortest black dress that hardly covers her exposed rare and yet has a spilt on both sides, paired together with fishnet stockings and clicking heels. Upon seeing Yezi, Dae’s enraged face that’s coated in hardcore makeup freezes into one of shame. Her eyes wither and she lightly puts down her skirt while a nervous smile coats her face as she walks to Yezi. “H-hey? You’re back,”
Yezi only has a sad smile on her face hugging her sister and smelling yet again the most nauseating smells of alcohol. “Hey,” She pips. “Are you going ou-”
“Oh what’s this.” Dae completely cuts off taking the picture out of Yezi’s hand and looking at the ultrasound. “Wow. It’s so big now.” Yezi’s eyes water a little while looking at her sister. Her hair which is curly to the extreme makes her look like a mess, her eyes are wide with joy but Yezi knows that her sister’s struggling and to make it worse she’s been losing weight like crazy. “Do they know it’s gender yet?”
Before Yezi can respond she hears heavy footsteps trudging down the stairs and Dae’s anger peeking out of her eyes before she stiffly mummers. “We’ll talk later.” Was a common phrase that she’d say regularly but she never held up to her word and they’d hardly talk.
And just like that Dae stomps away in her high heels, yanks the front door open and slams it just as Chenle in fury steps into the living room with several packets of white substances and needles. He pants and curses before going to the door and pulling it back and storming out.
“Cocaine,”
Yezi looks back when hearing Chungdae leaning by the hallway entrance.
“It was cocaine.”
And because this situation has become far too normal in their house, Yezi moves over to her mum and lays down the wall next to her and comforts her crying frame.
“What are we doing wrong?” Chungdae asks while sniffing in. “Our Dae,”
And so the days go by, with Chungdae and Yezi growing their bond through their mutual love and interest for the coming baby. Going to the hospital together, seeing the ultrasound in high-frequency and hearing sound waves of the baby’s heartbeat create in Yezi a desire to keep pushing despite the pain she feels in her heart of her family falling apart. Chenle in the house becomes scarce, just as much as Dae. While Dae publicly drinks and drowns away her life, Chenle shuts himself in private bars drinking during the night and working during the day. The house felt so lonely, and reminds Yezi of the first few days of how it was like when their mum left them. The house was void without a motherly touch until Chungdae came around. And up till now, Yezi without a doubt aspires to be the light that Chungdae is, smiling despite the pain and remaining strong for everyone.
Chungdae comforts Chenle whenever he lays in bed with her, she comforts Yezi in all times whenever Yezi calls, and she tries so desperately to be there for Dae- who has completely shut down. It’s hard to believe that Dae is her sister, she’s become unrecognizable in the family. It doesn’t help that slowly she started looking like a stranger, skinny form from all the intake of cocaine and alcohol, shaved eyebrows, dyed bleach blonde hair, cutting her hair so short, piercings and a slow growing tattoo kink all over her legs.
6 months later, still with their new house being built and them still living in the rental house Yezi thought their situation would’ve calmed down. However, it just got worse. One too many times she’s spotted Hendery leaving their house while scrambling to put on his clothes after having a steamy night and disrupting everyone from sleeping. She’d only do this whenever dad was not in the house- and if ever dad was in the house and he heard such, he’d be on full defense mode and barge into Dae’s room with repulsion. Of course this would erupt another fight from them with Dae leaving with Winwin, sometimes Yang Yang, but a lot of the times Hendery would be guilty at the scene- soon becoming Chenle’s worst human beings.
“And she keeps sleeping with them in the house. I feel bad that I can’t do anything to even help her out,” Yezi mutters while eating on a secret pack of chocolate balls that Jaemin bought. Jaemin, leaning against the car while watching Yezi (who is seated on the hood of his car) and dipping his fingers in the pack of chocolate balls while listening to her.
“Do you still speak to her?”
“It’s hard to,” Yezi responds. “She’s barely in the house, and when she’s in the house she’s occupied with some boy locked up in the room- but it’s only for a moment before mum or dad barge in and she storms out,”
“Damn,” Jaemin mutters. “Your parents must be the most stressed people in that house right now.” Jaemin acknowledges.
Despite not being on duty of being on night patrol, he’d always come for his weekly chats with Yezi. In some way, he ordained himself as her therapist. Maybe it’s because he wanted to simply be of help to the girl, but in some distorted way…he enjoyed having a ‘friend’ in Yezi. It was odd calling their late night talks as some sort of stress relieve, but Jaemin felt that there was no other way to describe his new found friendship with her. He didn’t have any friends aside from Jisung, but yet when it came to Yezi he found it easy to be around her and just not try to force anything. All he had to do was listen, and she’d do the rest. It became interesting when she’d do the same for him and allow herself to listen to all he had to say.
“Speaking of which, any progress with your dad?” Jaemin asks.
“It’s been months since I last spoke to him. It feels even awkward being in the same space as him. Even if there is an issue between us, I still believe that as a healthy parent he’ll discuss the problem openly with me. Silence is not a solution, but it somehow sums up my relationship with him now.” Yezi mutters and shrugs her shoulders. “He doesn’t even look at me,”
“I’m sorry about that,” Jaemin says sincerely.
“Mum says I should just give him time, that he’ll come around. But I doubt it. Whereby I would talk to him day and night, all we do now is say good morning and good night, at times we go a full day without even greeting each other.” Yezi sighs and puts her hand on her stomach, which was a healthy looking bump after 6 months. “I’m just afraid that the day I give birth to my child, my dad will- oh my god.” Yezi’s eyes grow in brightness her hand quickly pressing and feeling onto her stomach. “Officer Na-”
Jaemin is alarmed and panicked by the smile on her face. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Feel it,” Yezi’s mouth is left agape as the wondrous joy surrounds her. Jaemin doesn’t even need to put his hand on her belly to know that it’s kicking. The way her stomach flamboyantly moves creates a smile to grow on his face. “Feel it,” Yezi urges as her mouth grows wider in joy. “Oh my god, look,”
Jaemin is hesitant when lifting his hand since he sees that even the layer of the shirt is moving up and down from the bumps on her stomach. She’s not even focused on him, but Jaemin’s smile is radiant when seeing how happy she is. The only times he’s seen her happy was whenever they’d talk about the baby- and seeing how her face lights up makes him drawn to her smile.
“Look, look, look,” She presses her shirt down so that her bump is revealed more and so that Jaemin can see how flamboyantly the belly bulges are- the baby kicking or punching and being free with the belly of it’s soon to be mother.
“Wow,” Jaemin chuckles. “That’s a boy right?”
“I don’t know yet,” Yezi smiles and looks up to Jaemin. “Feel it,”
Jaemin lifts his hand up to her stomach and wonders where he should put it on, but then Yezi points to a spot and Jaemin gently lays his hand down. He doesn’t press or remove his hand when in a flash where his hand is that’s where he feels several bulges popping out- beating him. “My fucking soul- Doesn’t that hurt?” Jaemin is startled in shock but laughs nervously when Yezi starts laughing.
Chenle, from his room on the second floor carefully looks out the window when hearing his child laugh. He felt the most pain in him for neglecting his children. Lately, he’s fallen on his path of drinking more wine than he should. He couldn’t help it. He had two daughters who were out of his reach now, and there was nothing he could do to bring them back to him. And just like now, he can only stand and watch from afar how one laughs, while the other is nowhere to be seen but is for sure having a good time.
“Hey,” Chenle doesn’t shift his eyes off of Yezi’s smile. Even when Chungdae wraps her arms around his waist and lays her head on his shoulder. “You know it’s not too late to reconcile with her,”
Chenle sighs and closes his eyes and leans on the window frame as he lifts his arm around Chungdae’s shoulders. “I don’t think she’d want to reconcile with me,”
“What are you talking about honey, you know she’d love to talk to you,” Chungdae whispers while looking up to Chenle. “It’s all she ever talks about. About if you’ll ever forgive her,”
Despite Chenle respecting Yezi’s decision by not interfering in a forceful manner, he believed that silence between them is the only way.
“You know if she was somehow pregnant with someone she knows and wanted to keep the child at this age, I wouldn’t be as hard, but this… It’s an omen. A bastard’s child.” Chenle whispers only for Chungdae to lay her head on his shoulder.
“I know, but a child isn’t an omen,”
Chenle shakes its’ head. “Forget what the media is saying, that bastard child will grow up and will look just like the person who raped her. How do you think the child will feel knowing it’s a product of rape?”
“How do you think the child will feel in a house that’s unwelcoming?”
“It doesn’t belong here,” Chenle whispers. “It’s difficult to wrap my head around her wanting to give birth to that damned child.” He mutters and opens his eyes looking outside again. When he hears another loud laugh from her and the Officer Na rapidly removing his hands and flapping them, a meek smile grows on Chenle’s lips as he whispers. “When she was still in the womb, she’d kick like crazy. It terrified the shit out of me,”
“She needs you the most right now honey,” Chungdae whispers back before turning her gaze outside.
“And I need my daughter back too, but it’s clear she’s not coming back,” Chenle mummers. “That girl right there is going to be a mother to a bastard child, and I don’t think I want to be a part of that life.”
And so it is. The 9th month mark hitting on the calendar alerting Yezi to being ready for any day that her surprise child would come out. She’s saddened that both her dad and Dae are nowhere near her during those days. The new year passes and days progress with Yezi, barely being able to walk with her stomach on full display of the big pregnancy she has. While being small- despite the little weight she gained, she still looked so young and to think she’d bring in life to the world encouraged her to carry on.
February comes along with Yezi getting nervous that she’s not going into labor even when the month is close to ending. Already being worried and terrified, even when sitting on top of Jaemin’s car and expressing her worry- she’s not expectant at all when feeling wet and water dripping from her uterus. “Jaemin?” She nervously calls while having her eyes wide open.
“What? What’s wrong? Yezi, calm down,” Jaemin doesn’t know what’s going on when her face is drained of blood, but when she struggles to get off the car and holds unto the bottom of her stomach- looking shitless scared Jaemin takes a wild guess to know; “Don’t tell me it’s time now? Is it time?”
Yezi can’t speak or produce coherent words when she squeezes her legs together and bends trying to hold under her belly trying to maintain the weight that feels like it’s going to fall out. “Mum! Jaemin call mum! Mum! Oh mu god! Oh my god! Mum it’s coming out!” She implores when the pain kicks in her stomach.
With Chenle not being in the house and Chungdae not knowing how to drive, is panicked when hearing Yezi crying out for her life. Jaemin thankfully is alert and eager to assist when taking both Chungdae and Yezi in his car driving them. Yezi is on the verge- panting and moaning in pain in sweats and looks like any time soon she’ll faint. Chungdae is panicked and in heats of trying to calm down while also telling Yezi to breath and relax. Thankfully even despite the roads being hectic, Jaemin uses his siren and police advantage to cut the stop signs and traffic lights trying to get as fast as he can to any hospital nearby as the one they retained to was too far. It’s close, with Yezi almost collapsing in the backseat does Jaemin eventually get to a hospital carrying Yezi and lunging to the doors.
Triumphantly, the nurses don’t give them any problems and instantly assist when seeing the blood staining her pants and Yezi crying out for her dear life. Chungdae is inside the hospital room with Yezi, while Jaemin is outside reminiscing on such an experience. He’s never felt as heavy weighted as he did and hearing as well as seeing Yezi succumb to pain terrified him.
Jaemin is awakened by a jolly nurse who comes out with all smiles. “It’s a girl.”
Yezi, at 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning of late February, almost having driven herself to the brink of death when assertively pushing out of her tiny body- weighing 5 pounds and 8 ounces (2,500 grams) a beautiful miniature and petite baby girl.
Yezi is in heaps of sweat, her legs shaking in pain and uterus throbbing yet a gleeful and prideful smile lights up her entire face even when she cries after holding onto the little baby girl in her arms. She can’t stop crying for the reasons of both joy and sadness. The little, healthy, bundle of radiance in the baby girl shines so bright and takes away her family not being present. Yezi can’t believe her eyes. A tiny little thing with eyes pressed close and body rigid yet having it’s arms out and gripping onto her hair only overwhelms her, and the joy spreading all over her makes her cry blissfully.
“My baby.” Yezi whispers upon kissing the top of the fragile little head of the baby girl. “Oh my god she’s so tiny. I’m gonna protect you okay, mummy’s gonna protect you and you’re safe now okay? My beautiful baby girl, my baby,” Yezi cries holding tightly onto the baby- and even in return as the nurses gently try to take her away to clean her up- do her tiny little fingers grip onto Yezi’s hair crying when they try to pull her away. The scene is surreal and makes Yezi cry even more.
No amount of happiness that Yezi has ever felt in her life can ever top this moment of paradise and bliss.
“Everything went well,” Chungdae smiles with tears running down her face, while watching the nurses take care of the baby and the doctors closing Yezi’s uterus. “It’s a baby girl,”
Chenle despite not being present still feels in his heart pain for the departure of his daughter upon the new arrival of her daughter. “I’m happy they weren’t any complications,” But despite it all, he still smiles when Chungdae speaks so highly and positive of the baby.
While Chungdae chats with Chenle in a peaceful manner she laughs when watching the nurses change and hand the baby to Jaemin who’s panicked at how Yezi passes out with a smile on her face.
Meanwhile, downtown (2 a.m.) in a local club that’s drowning its customers with music, Dae grinds her body friskily all over Hendery’s toned body blurring out the world around her. The music is loud, the music is bold with slurs and ideologies scowled upon, but that doesn’t stop the others or Dae or Hendery from drunkenly dancing and dry humping on each other singing and cursing along to the songs. It’s when she heavily starts making out with Hendery does she heavily feel the weight and strong sense of someone staring at her- even as she’s drunk she can’t shake that feeling off. Ever since she walked in partly sober, all the way till she heavily inducted herself in the drinks and stashed drugs Hendery had- did she feel as though she was being watched.
Not paying mind to it, her and Hendery take it over to the co-ed bathroom having a rash and messy quickie with both of them barely conscious of their actions. Dae is sloppy when sucking off Hendery and Hendery is lacking when it comes to thrusting with power- but they’re both so high that they barely care and yet still cum to the thoughts of sexual pleasure and having a good time. They’re drunk and high out of their mind when returning back to the dance floor to have another go at wasting their lives away.
Jeno, being sober and cleaning on the counter after the spilt drinks of the dozens of intoxicated bodies, finds it hard to believe that the girl he’s looking at is the same girl he had a crush on. As time goes by, his eyes are only hooked to her in uneasiness and at times even revulsion as she’s not in her right senses and doing things that he’d never thought she’d do. From grinding with one too many men, to making out with anyone that puts their lips on her, to some point even groping and gripping on her like a ragdoll- Jeno can only watch in shock that this lady with short bleached out blonde hair, bright red bra and tight exotically short red leather skirt, dancing her life away is supposedly the same person that he saw in court 1 year ago.
Back then she had a strong persona, charismatic eyes, bountiful personality and good physics coated in her rich glory. The lady he knew had strangers looking at her all the time because of her rich lavish life, as well as good healthy appearance as people wanted to be her, as well as wanted to be friends with her. The same lady he knew made him see rich people in a different light, a light of being beautiful yet so self-absorbed and selfish. However, upon looking at the dance floor at 3 am, seeing a skinny deranged lady dancing like a drug addict commoner makes him worriedly curious about what happened.
There’s no way this was that same girl, there’s no way this unhealthy looking skimpy dancer is Dae. There’s just no way.
He was just in prison for 12 months, yet upon coming out and managing to get a job as a cleaner in a bar- he’s shocked out of his mind at how much a year can change a person. He only started working some days ago, but the moment his eyes landed on Dae and he began seeing her every single night at the club.
And for 2 weeks of Dae not being in the house, and Yezi being discharged and being the happiest she can be when being around her child, no one can take away her joy- not Dae’s messy life, not her father’s absence and lack of response to her- nothing can take the smile off her face. Even when her own baby cries.
“Areum you’ve got the most gorgeous smile, I have ever seen in my entire life, so tell me why, why are you crying so much? Is it because you don’t like your nappy being changed?” Yezi playfully plays with her child while changing the pampers and applying the medicine on her baby’s umbilical cord. Despite the baby girl, Areum crying, Yezi still coo’s cutely and playfully plays with her child while hurriedly changing her and giving her new pampers.
Chenle, who can’t stand the wails, goes into his room where Chungdae is ironing the baby’s clothes. “The baby’s crying.” He proclaims in irritation.
“Be a grandfather and help your daughter,” Chungdae sneakily answers with a mischievous smile. “Come on honey, there’s a first time for everything.”
Chenle despondently rolls his eyes and walks out the room going to the living room continuing to watch the news informatics while he works. He puts the volume louder blocking out the sounds of the whining crying child. In the room, Chungdae can only chuckle as she finishes ironing and walks back to Yezi’s room and coo’s. “Oh oh oh oh oh, why is my Areum crying? Why is my beauty beauty little girl crying huh? Does she want to be warm? Does she want to be warm?”
Truly speaking, this child, Areum brought a wide smile to her face. There’s a first time for everything, and helping Yezi look after her child felt like such a huge privilege for her. She never had this opportunity of caressing and even holding onto a baby- but yet Yezi gave her that integrity and honor of being there as a mother to her child. Chungdae more than anything loved the idea of having children, but when she found out that she was unable to, it crushed her. But now, being a premature grandmother gave her a glimpse into the life of what it’s like having a child. And she so badly wanted to have this experience with Chenle. Which is why when Yezi nervously questions, “Is he mad?”
Her answer is always. “Leave him, he’ll come around sooner or later. He can’t be too angry at our little Areum, hm,” Chungdae brushes her face on the little baby’s belly causing the dressed baby girl to squirm in delight and joy. “Look at that smile, look at that smile, my baby, my little Areum,”
Chenle shakes his head when for a spilt second the silence that consumes the living room from the pause break on tv, Chenle hears both the ladies dumbing down their intellect to speak in foreign baby voices and act cute.
Having the full support of her mother, Yezi is at peace when living her life around the house. Not only does she feel the weight and responsibility of being a mother, but she gracefully embodies and embraces a whole set of accountabilities. When waking up next to her baby, she’s always reminded of how she so badly wants to change her life and make sure that she’s a good, fit, role model and mother for her child. It pushes her to study to the best of her ability. She wasn’t born with a smart brain, but she has been applying herself and trying. And in the same way the nurses cared for her during her whole stay at the hospital, she also wanted to be a nurse who’d help people.
It seemed laughable at first, but when talking with Doyoung (her tutor) and he encouraged her to pursue her growing passion- her life seemed to be heading in a tremendously great path. Every day her face glowed brighter because of her Areum who would always look at her with the most caring of smiles. Her smile reminded her so much of Dae. Although it was annoying at times to see a smile on Dae’s fac, Yezi can now see how much a smile (a genuine) smile costs. Seeing Areum smile, is equivalent to seeing Dae smile. But despite missing her big sister, seeing her little baby girl always made Yezi remember how she wanted to protect her child from any bad omen projecting in this world.
And that means not even letting her drunk and high older sister near her child.
“Why won’t you let me see her?” Dae asks. With big gleaming and jittery eyes, as well as bad breath and coughing consistently, tragedy is all over her, and she’s shaky and has a nervous stance while scratching on her arm- this always alarms Yezi. Her sister was no longer the same. The mere fact that she looks like she’s on drugs doesn’t even sit well with Yezi or even convince her to allow her sister to be anywhere near her child.
Dae, for the worst, turned into the lifestyle that she hated, she smokes weed, sniffs on cocaine, injects heroin in her system on most days, drinks on heavy substances and looks like a completely different person especially with her no eyebrows and that god awful ugly bleached blonde and damaged short hairstyle. This wasn’t her loving sister anymore- this was a corpse living in her sister’s body. And there’s no way she’d allow for a skeleton with no soul to see her baby.
“She’s sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up,” Creating excuses and avoiding her sister has become such a huge burden for Yezi. All she wanted was for her sister to come back, but in this state of drowsiness and confusion only scares her that her sister will never get back.
Everything about her moved differently, her brain started working inversely, even her words weren’t giving life but breaking down and slowing down her speech, her posture was altered, her eye contact was unalike and her lips were always dry, even when she’d lick them they’d always turn white and cracked rapidly. It’s like her sister was morphing into something else, and sadly it wasn’t even a transitional phase, it was a reality that Dae couldn’t escape and Yezi’s heart was in pain seeing her sister like this, every day, without even knowing what she could do.
“Stop lying!” Dae yells and alarms Yezi. “You’re ashamed of me and don’t want me near your fucking child! Who cares anyway, she’s nothing but a pathetic resemblance of the fucker who raped you! You bitch. You dumb fuck always refusing me to see that fucker-” Yezi holds her ground when watching her sister break down all types of slurs. She turns around when hearing her baby crying in the room and ignores Dae shutting the door in her face just as Dae barks louder and emits all types of curses. “She’s also a huge fuck. She’s gonna rob houses, take advantage of people, she’s gonna hate- just like I hate you-”
“Dae? No, stop it.” Chenle holds onto Dae, but Dae thrusts her arms off her father and pushes him back.
“Everyone in this house should just fucking die already! You’re all looking at me like I’m a mess? No, I’m not- you all are!” Dae chuckles, but it’s so sad for Chenle to witness it all happen right before his eyes. “So what if I’m a mess- you all are fucking caged to this fucked up life! Fuck you all!”
Dae shuts her room door still slurring out. Chenle shakes his head, and turns to Yezi’s door. He carefully knocks on it and moments later, Yezi opens it up cautiously, but when seeing her dad she opens the door a little bit wider. “Are you okay?”
Yezi nods her head gulping down a little lump. Chenle nods his head looking in the room towards the bed where the child was, and after looking at her for a bit he nods his head again and walks off.
Not a minute later, Dae opens up her room door and throws middle fingers to both Chenle and Yezi. “Fuck you guys.” Before running out the house in the shortest black mini skirt and nothing on but a leopard bra.
However, Dae, much to her own disliking, feels as though she’s hit rock bottom and is far from any sort of compassion and saving. She’s empty when falling into a darker pit of shame and misfortune night by night. And being out of the house every night only to travel into self-destruction seemed like her only remedy.
With no arms at savings rich, and no family to care for her, Dae cries alone while consuming the drugs and dances every night alone or either with friends, but mostly alone hoping that she’ll just die. Even though the pattern continues every day, the will to die grows the strongest in her.
Her prayer is answered when one night she gets to the club and begins dancing her life away before getting into a petty fight with Hendery (on who gets the bill), to storming out the club in a wobbly unsteady dizzy mess only to be hit with her whole lanky body flying up and knocked off her feet straight into the pavement ground with such crude force, rendering her knocked out and unconscious, almost like death.
They always say that the few seconds of death, you’ll get a 7 second flashback of your entire life flashing before your eyes. Dae is convinced its death because within the seconds of her death she sees a face… a face of a memory she tried so hard to forget by taking in deadly drugs. Gauging down her throat his heavy loaded dick, Mark made Dae feel numb to everything that night, even while she heard her sister crying and yelling when Donghyuck was raping her, Dae can remember Mark cumming in her mouth and she felt so worthless and like a failure for her whole family-
Despite her mind in pure intoxication and dejection, Jeno from the club rushes out to the scene when seeing the car drive away after it swept Dae and knocked her off her feet and brutally against the floor. Jeno as he’s running to Dae on the floor, gets a flash memory of how he recalled seeing her the same way in her room. Despite being a rich girl, she seems to be caught in these situations of being lost and broken.
Instantly he cradles her up and looks left and right to see who can help, but there’s no one in sight or on the street or sidewalk- just the club full of ignorant dancing fools who ignore her and him outside. She’s breathing slowly, her face covered in blood pouring from her head, her eyes shut and body trembling rigidly. He pats her cheek lightly. “Dae? Dae? Come on, come on,” He begs before cursing when feeling her bleeding from her sides and he gets up on his feet with her weak body. He puts her on his back and makes sure her hands are around his neck while his arms are over her legs as he begins running as fast as he can.
Dae doesn’t even hear a thing when feeling the wind blow past her face- looking into Jeno’s side, her vision is blurry and all she can see is death. She hiccups but to Jeno that’s assurance that she’s alive and not dying.
“Stay with me Dae, just a little bit longer.”
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Chenle can’t explain the discontent he’s been feeling with his new reality of life. In a normal life, he’s with his wife and two daughters who go to school, come home, talk about their future, ask him to buy things for them, eat all that they can eat, talk to him and ask for advice or even life lessons. In his dream he’s even gone as far to marrying them off to good men who have wealthy families and he knows that their generation will be able to sustain his wealth and inheritance. He even used to envision his grandchildren and how they’d be and how happy he’d be when dying of old age surrounded by his perfect family.
Yet in some distorted way, Chenle wakes up every day to his real reality being everything he loathes. Falling behind on work, being slow to building their new home because his mind is constantly wrapped around his daughters and all the chaotic decisions they’ve been making.
First it was Yezi and her bastard child, now it’s Dae and her spiraling life going into flames. Truly as a parent, he tried everything that he could to at least even get her to talk to him. Because that was always the first step into redemption; talking. But talking to Dae was impossible. His daughter had shut down in the worst way possible, and he didn’t know what to do.
The longest that Dae has stayed away from home was 4 days, but with a turn of events the longest that she’s stayed away from home is 2 weeks.
“Where could she be?” Chenle grows particularly concerned and troubled. He tries calling, texting but to his disappointment she doesn’t answer her phone or text back, it hardly gets to ‘seen’ and all calls go to voicemail. Chungdae tries calling, Yezi tries calling and emailing but still no answer. They call on her friends, especially Yang Yang, Winwin and Hendery who last claim that the last time they saw her she was in the club.
Before Chenle could take it a step further into filing and reporting her as a missing person, he felt bad as a parent and wondered where he went wrong. It came in an email, of Dae announcing her departure from his life. She made reference to how she didn’t want to carry on the family business, how she hated living her life like nothing happened especially after the aftermath of the accident. But what broke Chenle’s heart the most, was how she begged for him not to look for her or reach out to her, that she didn’t want him as a part of her life anymore, that she wanted to cut all ties with family and go her separate way.
The fact that this was a personalized email only sent to him and not her mother or sister, made Chenle believe that he was at fault for Dae coming to this decision. He didn’t even know where she was.
All he knows is that two months have passed and he hasn’t heard a word from her. If this is what she wanted to pursue then he didn’t want to hold her back.
That’s what he thought, but to Chungdae seeing her husband deteriorate and morph into a gloomy glum man made her miss the fluffy, peculiar, mischievous man she married. There was no light in her husband anymore. He just went to work, came home, ate in his study and fell asleep and repeated the same things everyday but like a droned out machine with no means of survival. Even when finally moving into their enlarged mansion and away from the rental home, he seemed the most distant.
The move in took about a week to settle in as the women were pampering around the house making it more suitable to their liking while at the same time modernizing it to their taste. Despite its beauty on the outside as well as inside, the house was very lonely for Chenle and he hated spending time with his family. And that was because of how they drifted apart. Chungdae and Yezi loved the baby, and Chenle didn’t.
That’s until 4 months later. He gets an off day and decides to spend it at home instead of the office. As predicted Yezi’s with her baby and Chungdae nearby Yezi. Chenle has the first layer living room all to himself and catches up on the latest informatics, however he gets up from his seat deciding to get his laptop and wor while watching the news. It’s on his way walking through the wide hallway does he get to the staircase and sees a little body bag on the floor dressed of a crocodile onesie.
It’s Yezi’s child. She’s on the top of the staircase, seemingly getting her way down by crawling on each step carefully. Chenle, like usual whenever seeing her, pays her no mind and climbs up the long flight of stairs and ignores her getting into his study room and getting his light weighing laptop as well as gadget bag before going back down the stairs. Expecting to see her still at the same spot his heart jumps out of his chest when seeing her on the last few steps but somehow tumbles and rolls down the remaining steps before smacking her head on the tiled ground.
“Shit-” He rushes down the steps and looks at the little girl who’s flat on the floor. He gets near her and gets stunned when she’s kissing the floor. Upon seeing him, she laughs joyously and crawls to sit up on the floor. He sighs in frustration. “Honey! Come get the baby.”
He walks past her and heads outside the backyard porch. He takes a seat on the veranda table with which had a serene view of his large backyard. Sometimes the thought of being rich made him feel better about his problems, as long as he had money he was okay to provide for himself any vacation he needed. With his iPad channeled to the news, while his laptop focused on the project and the tablet on notepad mode, upon seeing nature and the sky Chenle’s able to work effortlessly and soundly with no disruptions.
But he speaks too soon because Areum (being somewhat around 8 months) creeps her way outside on the wooden floor before scrambling out on the grass. Chenle has his eyes on the screen but yet after spotting her he exhales in annoyance. “Honey!” He yells out hoping that she can come and take this baby back inside. “Reckless.” He hadn’t set any barricades for the baby because the baby was always with Yezi, so he didn’t feel the need to secure any areas in the house.
And because of not securing the baby crawls on the grass outside of the shade and explores around. She’s a walking and falling mess- but with a joyous and jolly laugh, whenever she falls down she gets back up and carries on walking. In her onesie she’s playing on the floor by laying down, scampering around, attempting to stand up- she’s like a dog and it doesn’t help when Chenle notices Daegal too surrounding the baby and playing with her.
Her loud squeal in pain causes him to snap his head away from the screen and to her. She wails out after stomping with her hand on the sprinklers and the water splashes on her, and Daegal joins in barking at the sprinklers when it starts spluttering out water. Chenle tsks and ignores her crying, placing his air pods on focusing on his work. That wasn’t his problem… but at the same time he can’t help but be cautious of her moves. “Chungdae!” He yells out.
With no success in getting Chungdae to come and get the baby, Chenle continues with work and ignores the child almost entirely. It’s not until she finds her way back in his line of vision under the shade and sitting down on the wooden floor playing with things, assembly Daegal’s toys does he sigh out. He doesn’t care about her, he only cares that the baby was disturbing his peace and has somehow been set free to move around the house. Where’s Yezi? Where’s Chungdae?
Meanwhile Areum in her own world attempts to stand and walks a few steps only to tumble on the ground in her onesies, what catches his eyes is that every time she’d fall there would be a smile on her face, and unknowingly a smile would also be on his face for a spilt second. He tries as best as he can to overlook the little baby girl, but she makes it so hard, when slowly but surely she moves closer to him.
The next to time he looks away from the screen, she’s standing by leaning on the table bouncing to inaudible music. Upon getting his attention, Areum smiles and moves by hurriedly walking to the chair where he’s sitting and leans on his leg.
“No, no.” Chenle scolds. “Don’t touch me.” Chenle shoves her hands off his thighs.
Areum can only sit on the ground while looking up to the older man with wonder in her eyes. Her eyes that are just so precious and almost melt Chenle’s heart, but his quick in shifting away. In shifting away she only gets closer to him before yawning and rubbing on her eye in a messy state.
She gets back up and holds onto his thigh while minding her own business and playing with Daegal’s toy. Chenle tries not to shove her away, afraid he’ll hurt her but at the same time his eyes constantly move to her wondering if she’s okay.
She’s banging the toy on his thigh and making gurgling sounds while playing with herself, leaving Chenle to simply work and not mind her.
However, after some time, she grows quiet, and still while balancing on Chenle, she slides down his leg and leans her head on his leg. Chenle notices this and tentatively shakes his leg. “Hey,”
Areum looks up, her eyes blinking and wipes on them before making herself comfortable again on his leg. He leans back on his seat after a certain time and looks at her. Her posture looks bent and surely uncomfortable but it doesn’t stop her from sleeping. It’s when her neck starts wobbling and craning does he find his arms stretching down and his hands carrying and lifting her fazed sleepy state.
“You’re heavy,” He mummers before she hurriedly fixes herself comfortably in his hands by laying her body on his chest and her head against the croak of his neck. Chenle is stiff for a minute, and snaps out of it when feeling his dog by his foot. Looking down he sees Daegal wrapping herself in a ball and making herself comfortable. Chenle leans back on his seat and gently rests his hand on the baby’s back, the other arm holding her in place.
He soon finds himself dozing off after listening to the commentary with ear pods in his ear and his vision blurring while he succumbs to the sleep.
“Mum? I can’t find Areum anywhere,” Yezi looks panicked when waking up her mum. Chungdae blinks in haziness but after hearing Yezi’s concern she’s up on her feet.
“She was sleeping with me,”
“Well where is she?” Yezi in heaps of fright dashes out the room and continues to search all over the house, calling her name. She even gets upset that the house is so big. The only place she ever spent time with Areum was on the second floor where her room was- but after searching the entire second floor her heart is in frantic panic when looking all over. “Areum?”
In seeing Daegal stretching by the outside porch door and entering the house- Yezi scampers towards the door being breathless hoping to see her child. But her eyes are too stunned to move when she takes in the sight right before her. Right underneath the shade of the veranda, she sees her dad carrying her baby. The sight itself is wholesome with her dad’s eyes closed and embracing her child in such a manner of protecting her. Her heart fills up with an overwhelming longing. Seeing this sight only enlightens her.
Despite having non-verbal communications with her dad, Yezi had a slight assurance that her father still cared about her every time he paid for her private lessons with the tutor, every time he gave Chungdae money to give her, or even the little moments when he’d stoke up on her favorite foods whenever they’d run out. Despite not talking, Yezi knew that her dad still cared for her. And seeing this sight of him holding her child, gives her some sort of hope. Ever since Areum was born, Chenle never ever held her and refused to do so even in private when Chungdae would ask for help.
But now seeing how comfortable her baby is sleeping on her dad makes her smile. Deciding not to interrupt them, she moves back in the house and informs Chungdae that Areum is safe. After an hour or so, Chenle is awakened when Chungdae lightly tries to get Areum off his sleeping figure. He finds himself holding tighter onto the little girl, but eventually slowly let’s go, nodding his head when Chungdae states that her nappy is full. However, much to Areum’s distaste and drowsy state- refuses to let go of Chenle and holds tighter even whimpering out for the touch of the man who rarely holds her.
“What do you wanna do again?” Chenle asks, while removing his earphone and seemingly looks a little more awake then before. Especially when noticing that the child doesn’t want to let go of him.
“I want to change her diaper, it’s full and she’s gonna get rash,” Chungdae tries again to pull Areum off and Chenle gently tries to stretch her towards his wife, but Areum cries only resulting in Chenle holding onto her again.
“Okay, okay, it’s okay, let’s go,” Chungdae is surprised when seeing Chenle stands up with the child and they both embark inside the house going up the stairs. All this while Chenle holds onto an awake yet sleepy Areum and pats her back lightly. “Where’s Yezi?”
“Studying in her room, we can just go to our room,”
Chenle nods his head and upon getting to their room, he carefully lays Areum down while assuring the little wailing baby of his presence by playing with her hand while Chungdae begins removing her clothes and changing her. Her whimpers die down when Chenle holds onto her hand and playfully tells her it’s okay. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s just a nappy change,”
Chungdae hurries on to changing and cleaning the baby, but at the same time she pays attention to how Areum watches Chenle in awe and silences down whilst smiling and being entertained by him. When she’s done and dresses Areum in another onesie, Areum being tired yet awake and seemingly just staring at Chenle warms Chungdae’s heart.
“What’s wrong with her?” Chenle gently asks while lying on the bed and looking into the young baby’s black eyes. “She’s tired but she doesn’t want to sleep,” Chenle whispers.
“She can’t stop looking at you, at her grandfather,” Chungdae whispers back.
Despite Chenle not liking that word especially used for this child… his heart can’t help when he sees just how much curiosity is in the little girls’ eyes. “Sleep,” he smiles lightly when her features get into a drowsy sleep but her eyes are quick to open to make sure that Chenle is still in front of her. “You won’t miss anything. I’ll still be here. Sleep okay,” Chenle adjusts his posture on the bed to be at the same level as her while he also makes himself comfortable. Soon enough, after much ogling Areum falls asleep.
In Chungdae’s head, the little girl just wanted to take in this special moment of her bonding with her grandfather and didn’t want to miss out on seeing his face close to hers.
And for a few more days, although its scarce to see Chenle with Areum, Areum feels a tad bit comfortable in always approaching him. Whether by running to him whenever her mum would chase her and tell her it’s time to bath, or even by following Chenle around once she’s spotted him. In all honesty, at first it was annoying for Chenle to be followed by the miniature creature bastard child. However, he got used to her petite figure and he’d always be cautious of her movements. Chenle purposely acknowledges her and on other days it seems like he’s almost waiting for his chance to pick her up. And always waits for the signaling. It can be Chungdae asking for help with the little girl, and Chenle simply carries her and holds her while Chungdae works. Other times it’s when he gets back from work and already sees the baby crawling on the floor but when seeing him she attempts to stand and scampers in his direction.
Yezi only having seen the sight once, is surprised when one day, a Saturday, her dad is at home instead of being at work. And it so happens that when Chungdae leaves the house to go to the market, Areum won’t stop crying while Yezi is studying.
“Areum, please stop crying.” Yezi slightly raises her voice being upset. She stands up and bobs on Areum while holding her notebook in the other hand and tries to study, but Areum carries on crying. “Areum!”
That only makes Areum wail out more even going as far as hitting her mum wanting to get down.
“Areum what do you want!? I just wanna study-”
“Hey, hey, hey.” Chenle opens up the door stepping into the room cautiously. “What’s wrong?” He asks while struggling to hear through Areum’s screeches.
“I just wanna study but Areum keeps crying, I gave her milk and food, gave her bath but she won’t stop crying, I don’t know what to do and mum isn’t here-” Yezi herself also looks like she’s on the verge of crying, both from stress of the exam as well as her crying baby. She’s so overwhelmed by her emotions that when her dad offers to watch over Areum, she agrees without a second thought and continues studying while her dad shuts the door and disappears with Areum. It’s only when she’s calmed down and easily studies does she realise that her dad actually spoke to her in a somewhat decent conversation and even offered to take Areum.
Her heart, for a second, seems like it stops beating because of the shock that just happened. Carefully, no longer being interested in studying and wants to see with her own eyes, she walks out her room and tries to spot her dad with her child. She moves all over the house and even outside, but when she doesn’t see her dad, she panics and before she can even call out to them both- she’s surprised when seeing Chungdae block her mouth looking ecstatically pleased and happy. Gently pulling Yezi to the kitchen, they’re both caught in a trans of watching Chenle and the baby.
Chenle is holding on Areum on one side of his hip while holding a piece of a pineapple on a fork. He nibbles only a little and then moves the fork towards Areum. Areum sucks on the fruit and backs away with a sour look on her face just as Chenle moves the fork back silently laughing at her reaction. However, when Areum pounces on and eagerly tries to grab the fork from Chenle’s other hand with extreme force.
And it seems that it’s through that one little moment that a serene feeling of joy passes through the house for everyone. It’s through Areum that somehow the sense of ‘family’ began making sense again. As days pass, it seems like all the family wants to do is build their life and remain connected and not look back anymore. They each continue to strive in building a better life for themselves, Chungdae as the joy of the house continues to encourage as well as bring the family together, Yezi as a persistent graduate embarks on a journey of making her dad proud as well as herself and her baby, Chenle rightfully taking the head in making sure that this time his family is safe and that nothing can hurt them. At the same time, Areum grows in the love and embrace of all her family.
And Areum’s first word much to all their surprise is “Gwanpa”. Chenle never knew the excitement he’d feel when hearing the form of words leave the little girl’s mouth, his little bean. And hearing the word from her mouth, makes him wish that his whole family be together and that he’s willing to reconcile with Dae. No matter what. Which is why, when he sends her an email years later, he’s heart is open to accept whatever the outcome is- but he mostly leans onto the best. He hopes that his daughter Dae, will come back to him.
Especially since she approves his email and accepts his invitation, asking if she can come with her boyfriend who’s helped her get back into shape. Chenle at first is surprised with joy to hear from his daughter, but his surprise turns to stun when he learns who she’s been dating and spending time with for the past years. But all in all, he figures that it’s time to let bygones be bygones, especially within their 5th year, a parole letter from the court comes in and asks whether or not they’ll accept Donghyuck’s appeal for parole.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Chungdae asks while sitting next to her husband on their bed late at night, as they stare at the email together.
Chenle inhales in deeply, re-reading his email before nodding his head. “We’ve moved passed the past and all I want to do is move on. I’m sure from his appeal he won’t be a bother to us. And I sure as hell don’t want to receive emails about them anymore. Granting his parole as well as accepting never to receive emails like this again, will allow our family to finally have the peace we’ve been seeking for. Nothing bad will happen,”
Once Chenle sends in the email, the receivers are prompt to already writing up Donghyuck’s release paper’s and setting up for him to leave within a 5-day notice.
S2:EP7-14
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[5 days later: Thursday 9h30 a.m.]
Donghyuck is up and refreshed before anyone else in his cell. His eyes are trained on the barred windows to the light pouring out of the clouds. This is the day he would step foot outside of this damn prison in hopes never to return again.
“Can’t believe you’re leaving so soon,” Mark mumbles looking up to Donghyuck from his bed. Still being under the covers he watches his friend who’s got bruises on his nose, chin and cheek bone, but still his enthusiasm spreads all over his face. “You’re a free man but you’re already looking so beat,”
“Fuck off Mark.” Donghyuck runs his hands through his head taking a seat on his own bed. His head running free and wild with thoughts. But the one thing that’s pressing his head is that he never wants to come back to prison again. He misses his mum (who has not been sending in her letters to him), he misses Renjun who he heard from the ward guards that he was released 3 years ago. He misses his family, and he knows that they might not be too excited to see him when he gets back, but he wants to show them just how much he’s changed in his mindset. He wants to try and be the son his mum has always wanted, and he wants to be a big brother to Renjun, but most importantly, he wants to live his life the right way. “Even though I’m fucked up, I want to live honestly,” He whispers out.
Mark scoffs and rolls his eyes. “You’re all talk but, you’ll be back here before you know it. There’s going to be something that will just piss you off and make you go crazy,”
Donghyuck tries not to pay attention to Mark and only focuses on the positive, and he gets relieved when he hears his prison cell buzzer ring and looks up to the door that has a square space with bars. Seeing the officer Park Jisung call his name, Donghyuck eagerly stands up placing his hands behind his head as procedure. Officer Park Jisung gets in the cell accompanied by another guard (who stands like a guard dog and watches Mark and the other prisoners making sure that they don’t try and move). Jisung pulls Donghyuck’s hands down and into handcuffs. “Good morning Lee Donghyuck. My name is Officer Park, I’ll be in charge of settling your release papers and getting you out of here. Any questions you have will have to wait until we get to the holding center.”
Donghyuck feels relief wash over him that his appeal had been approved and that he can hear his freedom being doors away. He thought surely that he’d be rejected, but much to his surprise they granted him freedom.
“Why’d they say yes?” Donghyuck asks regardless of what Jisung said.
“Any questions you may have will have to wait until we get to the holding center.” Jisung repeats sternly.
This makes Mark snicker a little while watching his friend being taken away. Donghyuck looks back to Mark with a formidable smile. “Good luck Mark,”
“See you soon bro,” Mark winks his eye and breathes out when their door is banged shut causing the metallic locks to seal up the door again. “I’ve gotta get out of here,”
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The metal gates containing the prison facility closes after Donghyuck steps out. He takes a look back to the buildings that enclosed him and kept him for 5 years. He rubs his wrists looking up to the hot sun taking in the air of his new freedom. Finally, he’s out.
He expects to see his mum as usual, yet when there’s no sign of humans around the area he hangs his jacket behind his back before looking left and right and beginning his walk.
By the time Donghyuck’s legs wear out and he’s tired both physically as well as mentally, he stops by a gas station hoping to make a phone call. He barely has enough coins to make a calling, but he manages with the little he has. He leans by the wall and taps on the memorized phone numbers calling on his mum.
Thankfully the phone clicks. “Hello?”
“Mum,” Donghyuck’s voice is raspy but it can’t contain his own happiness when hearing his mum’s voice. She doesn’t sound sick.
“Oh,” Her voice fades. “Donghyuck is that you?”
“Yes, uh, I got released today,”
“I was aware.”
There’s a moment of silence that passes between them, with Donghyuck waiting eagerly to hear her voice but yet she doesn’t reciprocate his enthusiasm. Sensing that she’s not going to speak he speaks before his minutes run out. “Uhm, I was wondering…if you could let me stay over at your place…” He scratches the back of his head, feeling small and crushed that his mother doesn’t sound pleased to even hear him. “Just until I can find a place to stay,”
Her silence lasts long only causing Donghyuck to worry.
“Please…please mum?” He begs. “I… I won’t stay long. Please, I promise to be on my best behavior, I-”
“You have less than 1 minute.” The operating voice cuts in between, causing Donghyuck to curse. When the line connects again, he waits a bit to hear from his mum, but she still doesn’t speak.
“Okay fine. Just for tonight.” Donghyuck lets out as a last resort. “I’ll be gone in the morning.”
Just when Donghyuck isn’t expecting his mum to accept, she does. “Fine. But we changed the address. Right now, I’m at work, Renjun will arrive in an hour or so, you’ll have to wait outside. We no longer live in 84 Guryong. We’re in Estate Pent Thirty-f-”
“Shit.” Donghyuck tries to look for pocket change to carry on the call, but it hangs and he curses. “Fuck.” A few seconds of rest leads to him looking at the street map outside the gas store to find the address the his mum mentioned. “Estate Pent…” His eyes widen slightly seeing that the new residence is in an area whereby he’s never lived in.
It’s also quite far from where he is. He takes a deep breath and begins walking…
“Need a lift?”
Donghyuck’s ears are alert when hearing a voice. He looks behind him to a guy smiling at a girl. The girl continues walking minding her own business and not focusing on the guy who tries desperately hard to get her attention including whistling. Donghyuck breathes out a chuckle. “Still a dick.”
Jungwoo much to his own dissatisfaction rolls his eyes when the girl ignores him. “Fine. Go away with your flat ass,”
“I gotta advice you bro, chasing chicks decades younger then you will lead you to prison,” Donghyuck speaks loud enough to get the attention of the male in the car. Jungwoo peers to the voice and instantly a smile coats his face.
“Ehy, the boy who went to prison,” Jungwoo stops his engine and gets out the car just as Donghyuck walks over to the man. They get into a bro hug doing a little handshakes before Jungwoo goes all in for a hugr causing Donghyuck to stand in shock before he pushes Jungwoo off him. Jungwoo laughs it off fixing his cow boy hat on his head looking jolly. “Man, how the hell are you out? Did you escape? ‘Cause I know for sure your sentence was much longer then this? Where’s your other half by the way? You hungry? I was heading to lunch, come on. There’s a new joint that opened up serving amazing lobster- you know what it can be my treat, order and eat as much as you like. It’s good seeing you, the streets have been crazy with this boy by the name of Shotaro being all over the place causing havoc on every territory. Thank goodness you’re back, you can teach him a lesson. Wait, did I actually tell you about Sungchan? He was sentenced life in prison just yesterday, but wait that brings me back to you, how are you out? How-”
One thing Donghyuck liked about his old friend Jungwoo was how he always did the talking and never really allowed anyone else to talk but himself. He’d not only ask questions, but he’d answer his own questions and most of the time Donghyuck thinks that Jungwoo doesn’t really care about anyone’s opinion because he’s always talking and likes hearing his voice. So Donghyuck simply sits in the front seat, resting out his legs and allowing his seat to recline backwards so that he can take time to breathe in from his heavy walking. Hopefully when done eating, he’ll set the street address of his mum’s new place.
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After a heavy and amazing meal, Donghyuck is seated outside on a bench in the park under a tree facing in the direction of a clean and solid apartment building. Not only did it reside in a well off area, but the people themselves walking in and out of the apartment looked stable. At first he wanted to go in, but seeing how he was dressed in dark clothes from the night of the accident, he knew that the guards wouldn’t let him in. So now he sits outside, waiting for Renjun or even his mum to show up.
He waits for a really long time until his eyes squint a little by the appearance of a person which resembles Renjun. However, this person has got short black hair, looks angry and is dressed in all black clothes… well his jersey is a mixture of black and white stripes, but it sure as hell makes him look so different.
“Renjun!” Donghyuck yells out the name of his brother. There’s a fleeting happiness that gets upon Donghyuck’s heart when seeing the boy. Just two days ago, he reminisced on the feelings of how he felt for disappointing Renjun. So seeing him causes him happiness. He stretches his legs and begins moving towards the exit of the park going over to Renjun who stands frozen looking at Donghyuck as if it’s a horror movie. “Hey,” Donghyuck greets with a wholeheartedly.
However, Renjun is anything but cheerful. Up close, there’s a permanent resting scowl on his face, and with the short hair Donghyuck can see the faint lines of wrinkles which help to make Renjun look even more angry. “What are you doing here?”
Donghyuck is confused by the tone tilting his head with a confused face. “What’s up with the glum face?”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Renjun remarks looking closed off. “What are you doing here?”
“Mum gave me the ad-”
“The hell she did.” Renjun says distastefully. “Why’re you out? Didn’t you have a full sentence of 15 years?”
Donghyuck tries not to get angry, by holding in his tongue and poking it on the corner of his lip. “You also don’t want me here?” It’s clear how from his reaction that he also didn’t want him around. And to be fair, Donghyuck can understand why, but the fact that Renjun doesn’t even look the least bit fazed makes Donghyuc upset. “Well I called mum and she said I could stay here for-”
“You’re not gonna stay here. Her health’s been good for the past years now, she doesn’t need stress in her life anymore. Neither do I, so go back where you belong behind bars and out of everyone’s hair.” Renjun gives Donghyuck a dirty look before walking past him.
Donghyuck is quick in stopping his brother by the arm before looking to him. “Look Renjun. I’m sorry-”
“Save it. And leave me alone.” Renjun yanks his arm away. “I don’t care if she gave you the address, you’re not getting in. Find another place, in fact consider yourself cut from our lives. We don’t want you here.”
Donghyuck is about to comment out he has no right to speak, but he holds his tongue shutting his eyes tightly when thinking of just how much he tried his best to change in prison. If he continues to allow his tongue to be the master of everything, he’ll end up in prison again. Which is why he lets Renjun go. He stands in place and sighs, before going back to the park and sitting down on the bench with his brain raging but seemingly trying to remain calm. He reminds himself, that he deserves Renjun’s anger. But mostly Donghyuck fears just how much prison has changed his brother. Not only appearance wise, but internally as well. The Renjun that Donghyuck remembers was timid and always on edge, was always looked down upon and was a whining coward. This Renjun is gritty, unwavering, strong minded and angry. Donghyuck can blame it on the prison experience and also with the fact that he may or may not be his brother’s favorite person right now- but damn he’s changed so much. Was this his behavior everywhere, or was it only because Donghyuck was there. Whatever it is, Donghyuck hopes that it’ll pass.
With all the time he spent in prison trying to change his ways and character, he can’t come home to everyone already given up on him. He wanted one more chance, to redeem himself as well as prove that he wasn’t an unlucky fuckup. He needed just one more chance.
And so when the afternoon rolls in and the sky changes colors from blue to a cream shade of orange, Donghyuck gets up when seeing the all too familiar posture of his mother. Donghyuck can already tell that so much has changed. He’s not only happy to see her walking strongly and with a smile on her face, but also she looks really good. She’s dressed in a beautiful floral dress and her back is actually not hunched over. She looks strong. And that makes Donghyuck’s emotions flatter. Seeing his mother after so long causes him to be slightly emotional. Because he knows that soon, her smile will fade when looking at him.
It doesn’t even take a second for her smile to disappear upon noticing him crossing the street over to where she is. Her smile instantly vanishes when Donghyuck’s gaze meets hers. He tries not to break down, but the tears are already building up. His mum hates him. He can’t even look at her, as his eyes blur and he hates on himself for ever using her to the point where he takes away her smile.
However, when Donghyuck’s head hangs and he stops walking, his mum sighs sadly upon seeing her son. She slowly makes her way to him. When standing in front of him, her hand lands on his shoulder. He doesn’t look up and neither does she try to get him to look up. Honestly when he called, she just wished that she changed her number because she didn’t want to speak to him. And seeing him now, she thinks of how much worry he’s put her through. In all the times that he went to prison, she would work her hardest to try and help her son. Everyone called her names, called him names, and it tore her image not only as mother but a woman. Her son was her greatest embarrassment, but he was all she had. And despite the humiliation she’d go through, she still tried, she would drain herself day and night to get some sort of money to bail him out, some money to feed him, cloth him, help him start afresh because this was her son whom she loved so much. At some point, she even became religious and prayed for her son to change. She believed that he would change someday.
But that day, 5 years ago at the court room, she realized just how far gone her son had gone. He seemed beyond saving, and there was nothing she could do. When Donghyuck led Renjun to prison, something in her snapped. She didn’t want to be mother who failed. She knew she did nothing wrong and always corrected him, but his behavior was not a character she raised. So upon Renjun, beaten, in cuffs, accused, mocked and even humiliated- she saw herself in him. That day, her heart broke in ways that her abusive husband had never broken her before. Enough was enough. She needed to break free from the chains of being broken. All she wanted was strength and chance to set her life straight, so when they both went to prison, she was left alone and had been granted a chance to change her life. And when Renjun finished serving his sentence, she made sure that she would be strong for the son she didn’t deserve. She tried to be the mother she had always envisioned herself to be. And thankfully, day by day with a grateful son in her corner she slowly regained the strength she had lost, she became into a better and healthier version of herself.
With a good son in her corner, who always took care of her, reminded her everyday why she was special, she knew that her life was finally making sense. Life was supposed to be this way. And she never wanted to let this moment go. But now standing in front of Donghyuck, her son, her past- she’s expecting to be warm and welcoming to him, but she can’t find it in herself to even smile for her son. But as a way of moving on, she rubs his back. “You’re staying for tonight. You leave in the morning.”
Donghyuck tightens his jaw and nods his head. His heart broken. But he can’t say anything as he feels the lump clogging his throat. He ends up walking, following behind her. The guard is alert when seeing Donghyuck, as hours before Renjun warned him not to let him in. “Good afternoon Mrs Lee,”
“Hi Chanyeol,” She smiles warmly. “Any letter for me?”
The man smiles and shakes his head, always being kind and friendly to the middle aged woman who had nothing but a big heart whenever seeing him. “No, your son took them up,” Chanyeol clears his throat motioning to Donghyuck. “He informed me that, I shouldn’t let the gentleman in.”
She looks back to Donghyuck who still had his hand holding on his leather jacket. Sighing, she turns back to Chanyeol and shakes her head. “I’m guessing he was upset right?”
“Very,” Chanyeol smiles politely. “Haven’t seen him that angry before.”
“Hopefully it’s short lived,” She motions behind her. “This is a guest, he’s only visiting for the night, so don’t worry,”
It’s more than a blow for Donghyuck when he hears his mum calling him a guest. Did he really lose her trust? He tries not to say anything and follows behind his mum who makes her way to the elevator of the polished looking apartment.
Donghyuck doesn’t look around and simply keeps his head down, his own thoughts weighing him down. There’s a feeling of loneliness that engulfs him in anger, but he refuses to display or manifest it. He’s so deep in his thoughts that he doesn’t even hear his mother who speaks. “Have you eaten?”
Hearing the silence, she’s reminded of how her son barely even spoke to her decently in the first place, and so she doesn’t even try to create small conversation with him when entering the elevator. They make it to the 7th floor and Donghyuck follows behind until his mother stops by a door.
Before even opening the door, Donghyuck’s nostrils sniff the scent of a delicious aroma. Hearing his mother laugh, he looks up when seeing the door open revealing a delighted looking Renjun. “Guess what I made? Come in quick before it gets cold, I just took it off the stove now,”
She unlocks the gates and walks in, allowing for Donghyuck to follow in the lively lit home. It feels like a home with all the warmth and love. Already he feels out of place, but there’s nothing he can do but follow in. His mum closes the gate behind still chatting on with Renjun who disappeared somewhere. Donghyuck turns his head to the walls, seeing portraits and pictures of just her and Renjun. There are some medals hung on the wall and trophies as well. “Wow,” He mutters underneath his breath.
The entrance of the house is a narrow hallway, leading to a living room and there’s a door on the side for the kitchen. Donghyuck follows his mum who enters the kitchen. He stands by the doorway watching his mother walking to the stove where Renjun is. The kitchen is large enough that it even has a table and four chairs around it.
Donghyuck wants to walk in- but the moment the lively chatter stops between his mother and Renjun- he looks up. And just as he guessed, Renjun has stern cold eyes fixed on him. “What the hell.” He mutters and peaks at his mum. “You let him in?”
“Just for tonight sweety, he said he’d be gone by the morning,” She gives him a pat on the back.
“But why’d you let him in?” Renjun’s shoulders slump and he crosses his arms. “I thought you said you’re done with him?”
“Renjun, please,” Donghyuck notes how she tries to calm Renjun down by holding onto the sides of his arm. “I know what I said, but it’s just for tonight-”
“I hate to break it to you mum, but that’s how it always starts. You let him stay the night, and the next thing we know he’s out and about causing trouble and continues hiding out here until we’ve got a whole bunch of unwanted debt collectors and police officers barking down on the door-”
“Renjun.” She calls earnestly. “Don’t talk like that, stop it. He’s your brother you-”
“He’s your son, not my brother. He never was.” Renjun drops his arms and turns back to the stove causing for Donghyuck to poke on the side of his mouth with his tongue, while he watches his mother look nonchalant. “I only made enough for you and me.” Renjun turns around and begins plating his meal as well as for his mum. Before he takes a seat grumpily eating on his food.
“You’ve gotten awfully comfortable-”
“And you’ve outstayed your welcome and family privileges.” He sharply remarks glaring at Donghyuck. “You’re making everyone uncomfortable, do us a favor and just-”
“Renjun.” A warning tone leaves their mum’s lips. “Eat your food.” She inhales sharply running her hand through her hair. “Are you hungry Donghyuck?”
He only ate the meal that Jungwoo gave him in the morning, and even if he kind of felt hungry, he didn’t want to. He shakes his head. “It’s okay you can enjoy your food. Uh, while moving did you take any of my stuff-”
“Yes-”
“I threw them out.” Renjun cuts his mum off. Her gaze that penetrates the back of his head is strong in shock. “They were an omen and reflection of bad luck.”
“Renjun-”
“You know what,” Donghyuck grates his teeth before biting on his lip. “Fuck this. I’m leaving.”
“Donghyuck-”
Donghyuck shakes his head pulling his leather jacket back on and moving the door. He opens it only to be stopped by the gate.
“Donghyuck don’t leave.” His mum carefully holds onto his arm looking disheartened. “You said you’d stay for the night-”
“I’m not wanted here anymore, clearly, so just fucking open the gates and I’ll be out of your life forever. You wanted me gone anyway, so I’ll do you a favor and leave.”
“Donghyu-”
“Mum please.” Donghyuck stresses out through his teeth closing his eyes feeling the tears. “You’re clearly fucking healthy and you look great. I don’t want to fuck things up again, so just please open the gates. I’ll go and I promise not to fucking disturb you again.”
For some reason, that only makes her heart hurt. “Just for tonight- I’ll make dinner, please-”
Donghyuck shakes his head and wipes his eyes before forcing his arms out of his mother’s hands and walks back to the kitchen. “Come fucking open the gates or else I’ll break it open.”
“No need to tell me twice.” Renjun grumbles leaving his chopsticks and digging into his pockets bringing out keys. Renjun moves to the gates ignoring his mum who gives him upset eyes. Once he unlocks the gates, Donghyuck pushes past him and leaves.
“Donghyuck.” She calls once, but it’s useless when he turns the corner and instead of using the elevator takes the stairs all the way down.
The security guard, Chanyeol notes that Donghyuck is leaving and he doesn’t say anything.
Donghyuck is angry. Enraged by the stupid tears that clog his vision as he keeps walking away. He wants to hit something- to punch someone- to scream- to shout- to find some way to let his anger out- any other way except through tears. He finds his way back on the park bench underneath the tree as he holds his head in between his hands and stays silent. He sniffs here and there but he doesn’t cry. He allows for himself to feel the emotions of frustration. It’s the fact that there’s a whole in his heart and that he can feel it bleeding- it’s the fact that he wants to let it out but he knows that he can’t let it out without harming someone. But he doesn’t want to harm anyone- he doesn’t want to prove to Renjun or even Mark that he’s the same. Which is why when the first few come out, he doesn’t hold back and allows his shoulders to shudder and his voice to croak as he let’s out his emotions, his tears, his cry.
The whole night, Donghyuck covers himself in self-pity while contemplating on what to do in his life, where and how to try and live an honest life. Unlike when he was in prison, seeing his mother again made him realize that she’s always been there through thick and thin, even though he let her down she was everything a mother could be- he just never cherished her enough and that she was the only one. In her soul she would sacrifice for him to have the best in life…and because he took her for granted, he needed to let her know that he wants to make it right…he wants to touch her soul again, to at least bring a smile on her face. So before the early morning, he’s up from the bench and walks around the area. He cleans up his face in the public toilet washing his face and looking himself in the mirror giving himself some encouragement.
“I look so pathetic.” He mutters before leaving the bathroom.
Donghyuck doesn’t fret when the nearby stores don’t have any positions open, he doesn’t fret when he gets approached by some the old friends he knew who used to steal and sell on the sides of the roads, he walks away from them and persists on his journey to find work. It would’ve been easier if he didn’t get many employers asking for paperwork, degrees or even cv- it was even worse when they recognized him as someone who had a prison record, much worse when they didn’t know and they asked and he had to be honest with them. It’s hard work looking for a job, but just thinking of his mother allows him to try.
Day in and day out, Donghyuck finds himself barely making it through. On the first night he slept in the park opposite his mother’s apartment, but after much nights of sleeping on a bench- welcoming arms came from another homeless man who told him about a shelter that took in ‘straymen’ like himself. A nonprofit organization that helped to feed the needy and gave water once a week. He somehow got attached to the group of stray kids… homeless stray men who stuck together and would share everything they had with each other. Donghyuck didn’t fret when within a week, he found himself sleeping under bridges, on street corners and even sleeping standing up against a building. It wasn’t much, but he got work as a car washer. It wasn’t much because it wasn’t even professional as they’d randomly go up to cars by a traffic light and offer to wash windows. Not only washing cars but he got multiple side jobs; handing out newspapers, collecting any forms of plastic to get recycled and even helping people carry bags that were heavy.
It’s the most humiliated Donghyuck had ever felt, but as long as he was making money- he endured it. He just needed to reach his goal, to at least go to an internet café and forge out documents with his qualification. He didn’t make it far in school because of lack of funds, but Donghyuck did do side programs and got some degree. Even though forging out documents was wrong, Donghyuck had enough of being humiliated.
Together, on most days, he found himself attending ‘church’ with the group of stray kids who would go to pray.
When he thought of religion, he only thought of his mother. There was no one else committed like her when it came to going every day, praying every day and even giving in money she didn’t have. Donghyuck only came because it felt as a way to be close to her.
So he wasn’t expecting when one Sunday after the service he’d see a bright eyed woman waiting for him. His heart felt heavy for a second when seeing his mum standing and smiling. The automatic tears that seemed to only come when he acknowledged her. He looks behind him, wondering whether Renjun was around, because ever since he came out of prison she never smiled at him- so it wouldn’t make sense that 2 months later she’s outside with a warm smile.
Donghyuck scratches his neck and looks away already disqualifying himself from her gaze. Yet he freezes when hearing his name being called. “Donghyuck,”
His head slowly turns back to the spot whereby he saw his mum. His shoulders hang when he notices that she’s approaching him. He can’t even look at her in the eye knowing that he can’t contain the tears just as much as he can’t contain the anger.
Her eyes take in his appearance. He’s dressed in the same clothes that she last saw him in. Although his pants looked faded and bit dirty, his leather jacket was worn out and had some leather falling out. His hair was messy and looked combed down only with his fingers. Even though she’s not able to see his face, she can see how much weight he lost. Prison must’ve fed him well because when she last saw him he looked in good physical shape, but now he looks starved with his jaws smaller and face small. Her son…
It took one tiring, long and so heartbreaking conversation with Renjun, for her to feel so much anguish and guilt for neglecting her son. Despite all that he has done, he was still her son, and if she could protect one and groom him well, then surely she could try again with another. Especially when acknowledging that something was different about him.
“How was the service?” She asks warmly, her smile radiating joy as it covers her sadness.
Donghyuck clears his throat and looks back. Despite it being a welcoming place, he could sense the stares of the people around him and even with a message and word so strong, Donghyuck has never felt so empty before in his own life. His eyes turn back to the ground and he shrugs his shoulders not uttering a word.
This break his mother’s heart. Her son… “Are you hungry?”
Donghyuck sniffs back, blocking out the tears that attempt to fall. He hated how glum and gloomy he’s been feeling and he especially hates how his mother is here. “Uh, I actually have to get going.” Donghyuck doesn’t look to her when he turns around and carries on walking without stopping, even when she calls out his name on repeat. He shuts his ears and even runs- it hurts so much. His heart hurts so much, but he doesn’t allow himself time to grieve as he carries on his walk getting to the back of the shelter where he spent most of his days when he had nothing to do.
He busks on the ground sniffing and wiping his eyes trying to compose himself.
“Donghyuck-”
His head snaps up to the panting woman who holds onto her side bending down trying to catch her breath. “Mum? Did you follow me?” Donghyuck asks, panicked as he moves towards her but doesn’t touch her. “Why did you follow me? You could’ve hurt yourself,” Donghyuck stresses.
“I was trying to talk to you, but you just ran away from me.” She breathes out still hunched and trying to catch her breath. “I wanted…to talk to you, let me catch my breath,”
Donghyuck meekly stands back and watches her. She’s got on a long dress that end by her ankles, it’s black and she has a white cardigan over her dress. Her grey hairs are neatly tucked in a low ponytail. It brings Donghyuck, some form of happiness, when seeing that her health was booming and despite being tired, that she had strength. His only form of happiness was seeing his mum being well. Without him in the picture and with Renjun being by her side she regained the health that he had taken away from her.
“I can’t come back to you mum,” Donghyuck finds himself saying. “I’ll only cause you stress, and you’ll lose weight again, and you’ll get sick again because of me, and i… I don’t want to be responsible for your unhappiness and misery. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be okay…and now that you’re well, I need to find my own way…you don’t need me holding you down,”
These are words to her ears. Hearing her son being so vulnerable causes her to recall of a time when she cradled him in her arms when he was just a child. She vowed that no matter what, she would protect him. Little did she know that his own way of doing things, were for her and not out of selfish reasons. She limps forward and holds her hand out. “Are you hungry?” She asks calmly looking up to him who still had eyes for the ground. “We can talk after you’ve had a meal. Are you going to deny my request to spend time with you?”
Donghyuck visibly hesitates and gulps before shaking his head.
When his mother takes him to a causal diner serving pastry, Donghyuck’s eyes light up when seeing all the meals but his eyes don’t linger long on the food as he focuses on the table. He was so hungry, he only ate once a week during a Thursday when the shelter people would come, but otherwise he lived on water from public fountains.
“What would you like, I’ll pay for it,”
Looking at the menu, Donghyuck looked for the cheapest bun which was a doughnut. “T-the simple doughnut,”
“Are you sure?” His mum asks looking at the menu seeing that it’s the cheapest and most plain. “Come on son, don’t be afraid. I’ve got more than enough,”
Donghyuck chokes up on the word ‘son’ but still shakes his head. “I’m not that hungry though. It’s alright you can eat,”
“The son I knew loved eating,”
“I just don’t want to waste your money. You can use it on something else,”
“I want to use it on you,” She tries to ensure, but the look on Donghyuck’s face showed that was adamant. Even though he didn’t say anything, she could see right through his façade. Something surely changed in her son.
The afternoon he left her house, she couldn’t shake off the guilt she felt for letting him leave. Even though she had a piece of mind without him, it’s the mere fact that he came to her and she turned him away. As his mother, her soul still ached for her son.
“We’ll have the lunch brunch,” She says when the waiter returns. Donghyuck’s ears perk but he says nothing. He waits for his mum to speak, but his nerves get the better of him and he’s legs begin to shake by the heavy silence.
“The pastor told me, that he had seen you a couple of times wandering the streets,” She speaks when noting his anxiety. “He asked me, why I had neglected you.” That makes her pause to take in her son’s fragile and vulnerable state. He looked neglected and deprived of a mother’s love. “His words hit me straight in the heart because he reminded me of all the prayers I made for you. Prayers for you to change, to become my son again, prayers for God to help you find your way. His words, reminded me why I shouldn’t give up on you.”
Those are words to Donghyuck’s ears, they even make him turn red.
“We can start over,” She proposes. “We can put the past behind us, and try again. Are you willing to try again? To rekindle our relationship?”
Donghyuck feels his neck growing hot, but he still manages to clear his throat uttering out a tiny ‘Yeah’ but he’s even afraid of confessing the words out loud just in case it’ll jinx his luck.
“I’m happy to hear that,” She smiles warmly again leaning over the table trying not to push his nervousness. “A position recently opened up in the place where I work. They’re looking for a janitor and security guard, two wedged type of work. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a private kindergarten school and they pay very well. If you’re interested, I can arrange the necessary documents for you, and put in a good word for you. I’m well-respected in the school, so I believe that despite your record, I can put in a good word and it’ll be enough to cover your past,”
- 2 Weeks later.
Donghyuck picks up the heavy green plastic of trash consisting of used but not limited to dirty recyclable materials, and walks out the classroom and onto the hallway that would lead to the playground field where all the different sets of dumpsters would be. After dumping the trash inside and closing the lid he digs into his pocket to his buttoned phone to check the time.
15:29.
Thirty more minutes until he could knock off. Upon walking back to the classroom, his eyes squint into the playground distance to the empty entrance gate- well not so empty. What catches his eye, is some sort of homeless looking guy in dirty black sweatpants and a faded out red coca cola t-shirt with holes, walking towards a child sitting on a bench. Donghyuck sighs and walks towards the entrance. His whole presence alone causes the homeless guy to deviate and part away crossing the street. The vulnerable child isn't even aware that she's been spared from danger as she continues humping on the bench. Getting a bit sexual and seemingly trying to reach her pleasure.
Donghyuck scratches his neck wondering if he should be stopping the child or tell his mum once again. Even though they still weren't on good terms, he promised to be on his best behavior if it meant his mum helping him out. Getting out of prison with a warrant wasn't easy at all, but not as much as it was to get a job of any kind with so many prison charges. Thankfully, Donghyuck's mother came to his rescue. She worked as a day care teacher assistant and their school was in need of a cleaner. It wasn't a luxurious position, but Donghyuck took it just to prove to his mother that he was serious in mending their relationship.
So being a 'janitor' his main responsibilities included getting on the school grounds early, cleaning up classes when students were not inside, disposing of trash and waiting until the school day was over and all the kids went home to clean again. Those were his responsibilities, but it became tough when parents didn't pick up their kids on time at 13.00. Donghyuck hated when parents would fetch their kids late. Reason being, because he'd need to make sure that the school was 100% empty before him to go home. And if it was not 100% empty, then he wasn't allowed to go home.
Getting closer to the bench, Donghyuck notices the child seating down yet rocking her hips back and forth on the bench- almost grinding herself on it. The sight is perverse. However, for Donghyuck, he'd gotten used to only one of the day care students who was consistent in grinding on anything and everything when she was bored. Areum.
Making himself more visible to the young girl, Donghyuck sits on the bench next to her. Her motion stops and she peers to the elder sitting next to her, a bright smile coating her lips. "Hi Mr Sunshine!"
"Hey Kid." Donghyuck greets in a mumbling tone making the girl chuckle. “What?” He asks when looking down at her.
“I have a joke,”
“Go for it,” Donghyuck sighs, already knowing she’d bring another terrible pun joke. She loved doing that for some reason.
Areum giggles and looks up to Donghyuck. “A book fell on my head when I was in the library. I guess I only had myshelf to blame.” She begins giggling. “Did you hear the joke about the little mountain? It was hill-arious!”
“I’ve got one,” Donghyuck finds himself saying. “What do dogs do when they need a break while watching a movie?”
“What?”
“They put it on paws.” Donghyuck shakes his head smirking when the little girl begins dying of laughter. A little back and forth of her terrible puns fills the silent, but after some time she becomes silent. With his hands in his pocket and peering down at the girl who slowly continues to grind herself again, Donghyuck sighs. "Where's your parent?"
The child blinks causing Donghyuck to internally roll his eyes groaning lowly. This job really tested his patience especially when talking with kids.
"Where's the person who's going to fetch you? You mum or dad or guardian?"
"Oh! Mummy's at work." She says nodding her head. "Uncle Jung is going to fetch me."
Donghyuck nods his head allowing the silence to take over. However, his attention draws to the girl once again when she rocks her hips back and forth again. It's not the first time she's done this, however, every time that she does it, Donghyuck feels slightly uncomfortable. He's caught her on this bench all by herself on multiple occasions grinding for pleasure, not only the bench, but sometimes in class as well, on her chair. Donghyuck just wonders what exactly is going on in her head, while she literally dry humps the bench.
"Why are you doing that?" Areum peeks up and blinks her eyes. Donghyuck breathes out. Not wanting to say foreign words or words she's never heard before, he motions with himself and dry humps the bench similar to what she was doing. Areum catches on and smiles.
"It's a secret!" She leers. Despite her words, she seems excited to share the so called secret. And Donghyuck takes advantage of that, throwing his best cunning and charming personality.
"Can I know the secret?" Donghyuck asks with a pretense stunned face, being cunningly friendly. "I thought we're friends?"
"Okay." Areum looks around skeptically. "It's a secret." And laughs. "Uncle Jung said I should tell no one, even if its nice."
Donghyuck's brows furrow. "What's nice?"
Areum laughs covering her mouth frantically. In Donghyuck's head she looks the happiest while trying to be cryptic. She stands up and jumps up happily before her fingers begin to move. Donghyuck's eyes widen when she lifts up her white skirt revealing her yellow panty. He hesitates for a second until he realizes that her hand fumbles and makes its way inside her panty. He's quick to taking her hands out while having a morbidly shocked face.
She giggles, being way too excited. "Let me show you."
The secret? The secret has something to do with an uncle and a child? This only makes Donghyuck widely panic. "Fuck,"
"Oh oh." She covers her mouth in sudden surprise. "Do you also play fuck like Uncle Jung?" Before a smile latches onto her face. A chill runs down Donghyuck's spine. "Uncle Jung said fuck is a game. It's my favorite game." She whispers out.
His eyes widen. In all his years of being in prison, he sorta had the chance to reflect on where he'd like to be once he's out. And right now, talking to this girl feels dangerous. It's a problem. And this is not what he wants at all. If he tells his mum, there might be a high case of him being in a feud with the family of the young girl's parents. At the same time because the daycare already don't like him, he and his mum might both be fired from god knows what- Donghyuck is aware of how much they're waiting for him to slip up. But yet, he can't stop himself from asking. "Can you tell me more about his game? I don't know it."
"Don't tell anyone. Not even Mrs Chittaphon. Or mummy. Only Uncle Jung and I play this game," She nods her head and smile. "It's a nice game. I get to sit on him and ride the horsey!"
Donghyuck's eyes burst out of their sockets. Just as his lips become dry. He clears his throat asking. "Does he remove your clothes?"
She shakes her head. "No." She smiles. That sort of makes Donghyuck cool down again, however he's still in edge by the word horsey and what exactly she rides or what exactly has he shown her. "Can I show you?"
Donghyuck shakes his head with a tight smile, feeling bad for the little girl who seems brainwashed. "It's fine, I don't want to play the game today,"
"Uncle Jung likes to play it after work," Areum smiles. And that literally breaks Donghyuck's heart. Such a small, sweet and innocent little girl being manipulated by a ravaging uncle wolf.
"What does he do in the game?" Donghyuck asks after gaining her trust by sealing his lips shut with an invisible key.
"He tickles me here." Areum points to a part in her skirt and that makes Donghyuck mad. The urge to telling his mum growing. "And does like this," using her middle finger, she surprisingly rubs it on her yellow panty causing Donghyuck to quickly hold her hand.
"Your fucking uncle is raping you." He can't hold himself back when he glares into her eyes while shaking his head.
"My playing uncle is raping?" She asks with a puzzled face. "What's raping?"
Donghyuck sucks in a breath, and with distress he runs his hands through his hair. Before he turns back to Areum his eyes latch onto a black vehicle pulling up on the street. "Shit. Hey sweet cheeks, I need you to listen alright. Don't tell Uncle Jung that you told me, okay?"
She instantly nods his head. "I won't tell him. He'll be angry with me. Don't worry Mr Sunshine, it'll be our little secret."
The black vehicle parks right in front of them, with Donghyuck creating some distance while Areum can't stop giggling at her secret. A man, smartly dressed in a suit with parted hair, steps out the car with a charming smile growing on his lips when Areum jumps from the bench running to him. Donghyuck stands up with his hands stuffing in his pocket.
"Uncle Jung!" Areum cheers hugging him by his legs. Upon hearing the name, Donghyuck's eyes do a double take towards the man. The man squats all the way down with an antagonizing friendly smile, and puckers his lips allowing for Areum to kiss his lips before she giggles like the naive little girl she is. She begins jumping up and down in place while the man stands. "Did you buy the toys?"
"My little puppy, I bought you so many toys for you to enjoy. They're gonna make you feel real good ," Hearing the voice of the older male, his underlying tone of condescension and how much authority he has over the little girl, Donghyuck can't help it when his fists tighten into a ball. His jaw clinches when the male with a charismatic smile grins his way. "She wasn't a bother was she?"
Donghyuck's jaw locks and he looks away, only making Jaehyun continue as if he didn't get ignored.
"Either way, thanks for keeping her company. "
Placing Areum in the backseat and placing her bag in the boot, the man known as Uncle Jung gets into his driver's seat and begins driving away. Donghyuck can only stand with his fists balled up as he watches the car stride away. In his head, although the situation was sickening, he already told himself he wouldn't get involved. His mum's reputation, as well as his own reputation was on the line.
"Poor girl." Donghyuck sighs walking back in the school to lock it up.
"Jaehyun, thank you so much for looking after her," Yezi smiles giving her boyfriend, Jaehyun, a peck on his lips looking up into his eyes while picking up Areum from the floor and positioning her on her hip. "I hope she wasn't a bother,"
"She's never a bother to me," Jaehyun smiles placing his finger over his lip causing Areum to giggle hiding her face in her mother's neck.
"Did you have fun baby?" Yezi asks with a dashing smile making Areum cheerfully nod her head.
"Yes mummy! Uncle Jung and I played together!"
"Yes we did. She's so obedient," Jaehyun has a proud smile looking at the little girl in her mummy's arms, before he looks back to her mummy. "Are you sure you don't want her to spend the night with me while you're on your family dinner? I don't mind, it's Friday."
"I really wish I could leave her with you, but my sister's coming for the first time in such a long. She'd really love to see Areum,"
"That's alright, my darling," Jaehyun pets on Areum's head puckering his lips waiting for her to place her lips on him and she does.
At first for Yezi it used to be weird that Areum allowed for Jaehyun to do that when she was very conservative with people, but after some time and after getting used to it, she found it adorable how Areum opened up to Jaehyun in so many ways. "Have fun alright my little puppy,"
"Okay Uncle Jung," Areum grins and waves her hand. “Bye-bye uncle Jung,"
"Bye puppy,"
"Mummy is your sister really coming?" Areum asks with hopeful eyes, causing Yezi to frantically nod her head. "I can't wait to see her! I have a joke for her?”
“Let me hear it,” Yezi laughs slightly while walking.
“What do dogs do when they need a break while watching a movie? They put it on paws.” Areum begins laughing hard when her mum laughs as well.
“That’s a good one,”
“Mummy are you happy?" Areum asks.
Yezi laughs and places Areum down so they can hold hands and walk in the house. “I’m so so happy,”
18:50
"How do I look?" Jeno asks for the upteenth time, nervously adjusting his long sleeved shirt into his fine ironed black suit pants. He clears his throat testing out his voice with the syllable 'ah'. Dae, standing in front of him with her hands on his shoulders, peers into his wandering eyes waiting for him to relax. "How do I look? Do I look good?"
"You keep asking me the same question?" She lightly smiles, finding his whole nervous state funny.
"That's because you haven't answered me," Jeno inhales and exhales.
"Well, the first time I said you look good, the second time I said you look charming, and the third time I said you look handsome, the fourth time I said you look spot on, and for the tenth time, I said you look, just fine babe." Dae ends up holding onto his fidgeting hands, giving her best smile radiating joy as she leans in close and embraces her lips upon his. Jeno freezes, yet he meekly indulges into the kiss. After a minute, she parts from him. "Baby, relax. It’ll all be alright."
He takes in a deep breath holding onto Dae's waist as he closes his eyes. Taking in another breath, he tries to calm down his nerves. Feeling Dae's hands against his chest, he feels reassured that nothing will happen today, because she is with him. “You look beautiful as always, but tonight you look really happy. I’m happy that you’re sharing this happiness with me,”
After several years- specifically 3 years of them dating, and of them living together and encouraging each other- Dae's father had finally had a change of heart in wanting to see and reunite with his daughter again, and meet the man she chose to love.
Although it happened about 5 years ago, the sight was deeply plunged into Dae's father, Zhong Chenle's mind. It's something that made him feel guilty and responsible for his children’s sufferings. The works of his hands, enclosed and trapped his daughters inside of a hell hole. But as years progressed, and Yezi's child, Areum, grew, he found his stone cold hateful heart slowly melt. The little baby girl looked so much like Dae. Despite being a child of a rapist, she inherited features of the family. Chenle couldn't help but warm up to the little girl whenever she called him 'gwanpa'. With his heart melting by the innocence of the child, he slowly got the strength to look his daughter Yezi in the eye and talk to her. The first few days were tough, as she had been longing and praying for her dad to finally notice her, but eventually she took the same pace as him and slowly they rekindled their relationship of father and last born. And this evening, Chenle was ready to open up his heart again, for his eldest daughter Dae and her new...boyfriend.
The first born, the first daughter of his family, the daughter which always shared her worries and joy with utmost elevation to her father, his first love ever since his ex-wife walked out on him. He wanted to reconnect with her, and never let her go again- even though she chose the path that she was on, he wanted to stand by her and at least try to be in her life again.
So as the sun sets and Chungdae walks around the dining room table adjusting the utensils and making sure the table was set and ready to eat, Chenle buttons up his traditional outfit and fixes his hair in the mirror.
Areum bounces around the room playing with the little dog Daegul, and from time to time looks up to her grandfather. "Gwanpa?"
"Yes my little bean," Chenle responds carefully pressing his hands down his clothes.
"You look nice." Her smile enlightens on her face when he turns around with a smile and picks her up.
"What did I tell you about that word ‘nice’?”
Areum giggles and stands straight. “Nice is dead. Gwanpa you look smart, and rich!” She cheers causing Chenle to smirk with pride.
“Thank you, my little bean." He tickles her stomach. "You don’t look too bad yourself, you look like a royal queen going to a ball,"
"Thank you gwanpa! Gwanpa I have a joke I want to tell mummy’s sister." She circles her hands around her grandfather’s neck as he carries her outside his room and down the stairs.
“She can’t take jokes easily,” Chenle suppresses a laugh when remembering how bad his daughter’s jokes used to be.
After the whole incident that went down and his house burning up, he made arrangements and building construction started again before he instantly moved from the secluded area and settled into a stronghold of fortification that was suitable for his status- in other words, he moved far away into a house of more wealth and power. Just like his previous home, it was situated on a barricaded hill, however instead of it being guarded within a residential gate, he hired his own secretary to look over the massive barricaded land that enclosed his mansion.
So as Jeno and Dae are driving along the road following the GPS signal of the new address of the Zhong Chenle residence, Dae instantly feels little, very tiny when coming to see her father. All that her father was able to achieve in his life time, all his inheritance, fortune, wealthy, position, status, level, money, all of it belonged to only him. A great man, with great power and authority.
"You have reached your destination." The GPS lady says.
Both Jeno and Dae's eyes are enlarged, dazzled and awestruck by the large high-end white concrete border building. "T-this is the house?" Jeno meekly asks. "Fuck me. We literally drove parallel to this wall and you're telling me, that this is the place?"
"There's the gate there," Dae notices the gate a distance away.
Jeno starts his little polished wagon and drives forward to the black high gates. He washed his car and polished it so many times, and even took it to the car wash and had it washed more than 5 times, all so that he could impress Dae's father and have him see himself as a suitable partner of his daughter. But now driving with his red wagon towards the gate, he feels worthless and poor all over again. Who did he think he had become? Just because he loved a rich girl and a rich girl loved him back- didn't make him rich all of a sudden. He was still a poor boy from nowhere.
Dae, seeing the distraught and down casted look shadow on Jeno's face, sets her hand on his thigh that nervously bounced up and down. He takes in a deep breath and presses his lips together when reaching the gate. The gate is completely black and doesn't give any view of what's inside.
Looking at the white wall that has a little black tinted window view, Jeno rolls down his window and awaits for the tinted window to open up. He sticks out his hand and presses on the little poll that had a little intercom.
"Hello?"
No response. Upon waiting for a response Jeno turns to Dae after a while. "Should I knock on the window?"
"No, wait, let me try and send my sister a message and see what we should do," Dae says, bringing out her phone and texts Yezi for the first time in 5 years, stating that she's outside. Yezi responds in a heartbeat making Dae feel much more relieved about there being no hard feelings between her and her family. No longer feeling awkward for being outside for more than 5 minutes. "Yezi says we should tell him our names and that we were invited by Mr Zhong."
"Alright," Jeno nods his head and takes a deep breath. "I suddenly don't feel like wanting to see your family,"
"Me too," Dae replies honestly chuckling lightly.
Living with Jeno, in his world, has really casted some kind of spell on her. From recovering from her overdose and intake of drugs, to being thankful for the hospitality she received from Jeno… the beauty of enjoying life at the expense of very little, is something she grew into. For so long, being away from a prestigious lifestyle, she got to appreciate and adore the simplicity of everything (even though she really had to adjust to many things, she enjoyed the simpler life). "I feel so small,"
Jeno opens up his palm looking into Dae's eyes with assurance. Dae places her tiny hand in his and he lightly squeezes it. They sit silently simply looking at the daunting gates of riches in which resides Dae's family.
"You know," Jeno gently speaks. "On that night, the night Mark, Haechan, Renjun and I invaded your house, we were actually sitting outside, in the car. We came when the sun was slightly still in the sky. We sat outside and watched your house as the sunset over it..."
Dae listens. To think that of all people to save her, Jeno would be the one who helped her escape a deadly fate only made her appreciate the good that was hidden in the rough. As much as she'd like to forget that horrible incident, she knew just how much more guilt Jeno felt every time he brought it up. It still kept him up, and as much as you wanted to heal from the night, Jeno as well wanted to heal from everything he had done that night. And it’s in moments like these when he speaks, you listen and allow him his moment to reflect, just as he allowed you to freely use him as much as you wanted so that you could heal. As he speaks, even though Dae has told him countless of times that she forgives him, Dae knows that every ounce of him wants to move on and feel forgiven. So she quietly sits, and listens. If he was going to forgive himself, she needed to always listen.
"The house, your house...was everything my brother and I always wanted. It was a palace, a fortress, four stories high, huge balconies, large veranda and just so homely. It was modern and even the air itself was something I'd never breathed in before. It was a home we've never had before." Jeno acknowledges. "I just wanted to see how it looked inside. I really wanted to know how the inside of a rich house looked like." Dae turns her head to him, when feeling his eyes on her. She moves between his left and right eye and he smiles. "You left a house that had more than 5 massive rooms, 2 spaciously large bathrooms and enormous backyards to literally cramp up with me in a one-bedroom apartment?"
"Spaciously is not a word and yes," Dae smiles lightly. "I left it all because it was all just material,"
Dae softly says smiling when Jeno leans closer and plants a kiss on her forehead. "Do you want something like this? Do you want materials again? Because I am promise you that I'll-"
"I only want you Jeno," She smiles when whispering softly. "I need you more than anything to survive in this world that was cruel to me. You're my home, and I really mean that. No materials on his earth can replace a soul that saved another soul,"
This time their breathing is in sync when they both embrace in a warm kiss, breathing in and out together allowing this moment to settle in. With their hands still clasped together as Jeno looks out his window to tell the guard who they are he’s stunned when the black metallic gates crank open in a slow manner and Jeno's head snaps to Dae who has her eyes on the road ahead. The gate is wide open with another path to follow, but Dae and Jeno are still in shock.
Jeno turns his head when a voice comes from the intercom. "Please move your vehicle inside the premises, Miss Yezi is waiting by the house."
“Miss Yezi?” Dae has a playful smile on her face. “Wow. I bet you she’s been treated like a princess,”
Jeno snickers while slowly driving his car past the gate and into the premises. The first thing that the couple takes note of, are the lights that are shining down on the pathway. Jeno and Dae's eyes are widely opened and are all over the large sets of trees that enclose the drive way- the long drive way with various gardened plants and flowers. It's absolutely breath taking watching the garden bloom with so much colors of wealth prosperity. In between the curvy path on the driveway, Dae's eyes look out by Jeno's side of his window to the slight view of the mansion that they were soon gonna get inside of.
Finally driving into one straight path, their view gets sidetrack by the large fountain statue of two angles pouring out water. Not only the fountain, but after passing another set of black gates that are already opened and rounding their car past the fountain, the lavish sight of the ever green garden with white little flowers enclose the garden really making the mansion seem like a heavenly fortress.
The houses theme is white. There are high pillars towards the front entrance of the house as well as arched pillars on each side that lead to different roads. Behind the pillars stand 3 large structures of the fortified mansion. The middle portion is the largest with a high double deck structure where all the windows are top to ceiling and are covered with gossamer curtains. The side building structures that are still connected to the middle portion are identical in terms of design and the layers of floors.
Stopping the car right by the side of the path, Jeno's mouth hangs open, not closing at the slightest. "At this point, your dad is trying to show off,"
"You don't say," Dae is marveled by the sight, that she doesn't notice her sister who walks down the lit up stairs heading towards their car.
Yezi's eyebrows furrow when neither of the people in the car get out. She stands there for a bit before walking towards the passenger’s door and knocking twice on the window- knocking both Jeno and Dae back to their senses.
Dae removes the seatbelt and laughs lightly. "This is it,"
"This is it," Jeno nervously says. "Best of luck to us,"
"We need that," Dae leans close to her boyfriend placing a light peck on his lips before opening up her door.
"Finally." Yezi states with a snickering laugh and a smile that eagerly begins to grow. "What was taking you guys so long? After I sent the message and you didn't come right in, I had to check with the gateman and he said the car was just there. But of course knowing you and your ever stubborn behavior, I knew you wouldn't tell the gateman anything,"
"Why should I? I'm my father's daughter, I don't need to introduce myself as a guest," Dae jokes being happy to see her sister. The tears sit on the brim of her eyes, and just like Yezi they instantly embrace each other in a tight hug. Yezi whimpers and holds even tighter.
“Dae,” She sniffs and can’t stop the tears from pouring out. “You look so good, I’m so happy toyou’re your beautiful eyebrows and hair being a beautiful black,” This only makes Dae laugh.
“Don’t remind me of those times,” Dae can’t stop laughing when hugging her sister. “Seeing you, seeing this house, dad outdid himself this time in making me feel bad,"
"Oh please, don't fuel up his ego," Yezi chortles shaking her head but still holding tightly onto Dae with her eyes closed. "He barely leaves the house now,"
Dae laughs at that patting Yezi's back. "Your poor freedom is gone,"
"Oh please, I can leave the house whenever I want," Yezi jokes out laughing with Dae. "I just need to take a bodyguard with me,"
"Bodyguard?" Dae's eyes widen and leans her head back still enclosing her sister in the hug. "Fuck, things have changed,"
"Language." Yezi's eyes widen. "We now refrain from cursing, I don't want my little girl latching onto that stuff,"
"Ncawww, Areum, right?" Dae squeals getting into the hug again as they both scream like little kids. "I can't believe I finally get to see her,"
"Dae! You have no idea how much I've missed this, missed us,"
Dae leans her head back with loving eyes looking into her sister’s teary eyes. "Don't cry bitch, if you cry you know my tears will flow out as well,"
"I know, but I can't help it," Yezi chuckles before sneakily landing a kiss over her sister’s lips. Dae is stunned for a whole minute before laughing out and squeezing Yezi into a greater hug again. After a minute of laughing and saying out their 'I love you', they finally part and Yezi's eyes go down her sister’s attire. "Oh my soul you don’t know how amazed I am by your eyebrows and your hair, and your body and your health! You look nourished and healthy and soo soo good! My sister is finally back!"
Complementing Dae's healthy figure, her black hair in curly waves tucked behind her ear to show off her twinkling earrings, stunning legs in a white tight dress that ends mid-thigh, matched together with a black long sleeved turtle neck inside, white daring heels and finally a tiny white purse.
Dae's hand goes down her dress and she models for Yezi with a joking tone. "I know, I know, I tried," Dae laughs acknowledging her sister and nodding her head. Jeno can only stand by his car smiling at how gorgeous Dae looks. This was the Dae that he always admired, and now that she recovered she looked as stunning as ever.
"I'm not even one to look at, you're wearing designer? Vera Wang?" Dae's eyes marvel at the designer black sleeveless dress that showed off her toned arms and a bit of her belly. And finally the black see-through flowing skirt that has a little tight black skirt inside and is long yet has a long slit up to her thigh.
Yezi also playfully models out and flips her hair. "I knew my sister was coming today, so I had to dress to impress," Yezi laughs.
“You killed it!” Dae encourages with sass making Yezi laugh.
“No you killed it!”
“I just wish I was somebody else to admire how we both killed it,” Dae flips her hair dramatically before Yezi holds onto her sister’s hand and leading her forward.
"Wait till you-"
Dae grips onto Yezi's hand tightly before motioning back to Jeno who is calmly standing like a doorman. When noticing the eyes of the girls on him, he quickly bows his head nervously, making Dae smile brightly. “My person here inspired me to kill it. Come on Jen baby,” Dae marvels and walks to him bravely intertwining their hands. “This is my sister, Yezi,”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Yezi,” Jeno bows again maintaining a positive smile.
"Oh, hi," Yezi's tone simmers down but she tries to maintain the forced fake smile on her face. While Chenle was ready to give Jeno a chance, Yezi wasn't too fond of allowing her sister to be with a lowlife and someone who was involved in keeping them hostage. But aside that, she bows her head as well. "Wow you guys are matching." She takes in the view of Jeno's elegant face that comes out dashingly with his styled and parted hair that gives off a sense of superiority. His style of clothing consists of a white buttoned down long sleeved shirt and black suit pants with his polished dress shoes, and Yezi notes how he's standing and how humble he looks. He can try to look like them as much as he wants, but Yezi still had bitter feelings. "Well, welcome. Come on in," She smiles and stretches her hand out to the stairs leading to the mansion and eventually the people inside, that are awaiting them.
Dae stands close to Jeno, abandoning Yezi's hand to securely wrap it around Jeno's bicep. "Babe, you've got this. Just relax okay,"
When dressing up for the occasion, he thought he went overboard with the dress pants as he never wore suits too much- but seeing how Dae followed his lead and decided to dress up as well, he praises the heavens that they didn't second guess their outfit. What would've happened if they dressed in normal clothes?
Climbing up the lit up stairs together, Jeno and Dae are finally in front of the door.
The double doors are wide open and upon entering into the new ambiance of the home and removing their shoes, replacing them with the white slippers available, Jeno rubs his sweaty hands over his black pants and swallows a clump of saliva in his throat to give it some moisture. He felt like he was going to die, by the pace his heart was beating.
"Babe, you've got this," Dae encourages and holds onto the sides of his face massaging his neck. Jeno nods his head, suddenly feeling selfish. Here Dae was, giving him some air and encouragement, even though she's the one who walked out on her family and was also seeing them for the first time after years.
"You too," He holds onto her hands on his neck and smiles lightly.
Yezi watches from afar, seeing how strangely, adorable they both looked. Her sister, who she never thought could fall in love with someone who had no money, is suddenly looking up into the eyes of her lover with so much care. And the lover, Jeno, who Yezi once thought was just a sick criminal, looks like a little cute boy under the embrace of his mother. Even though she doesn't say it, and refuses to acknowledge it, deep down, they look happy and peaceful together.
Walking over to Yezi with their hands together, Yezi leads them in the house and Jeno has to keep himself from ogling at the house for too long. After passing a long corridor and walking into the entrance of the living room, Jeno's heart stops beating.
In the living room, Chenle and Chungdae stand side by side, with little Areum clinging to her grandmother's hand. When entering the living room, the first face that lights up instantly is Chungdae when seeing her gracious step-daughter who she loved the most. Her teeth are bright and so inviting that Jeno feels at peace when seeing a friendly face. Chenle on the other hand looks composed and modest- but his face morphs into shock when both Jeno and Dae get on their knees and bow down completely with their heads touching the floor.
He and Chungdae share eyes of surprise. Chenle tries not to laugh maintaining a sincere face again, just as Chungdae speaks up. "Oh, much appreciated," She says as Jeno stands and helps Dae up on her feet. The loving eyes from Chungdae and the warm smile, makes Dae want to cry by how familiar her mother's face was.
"Hi mum," Her own smile brightens up her face as she bows again, this time her head lowers slightly. Her mother is dressed in an elegant traditional styled hambok, and Dae's afraid to wrinkle or mess the dress, but when Chungdae steps forward with loving open arms and embraces Dae- Dae's can't help but wrap her arms tightly around her mother's frame "Mum," she lightly cries, laughing a little when her mother kisses her ear.
"My sweet," Breaking up the hug, Chungdae squeezes Dae's cheek and let's her go before looking to Jeno.
Jeno awaits for the smile to wither from her face, but is surprised when it's still there. "Good afternoon madam," Jeno bows down in a 90-degree angle, thinking that when he looks up her smile would've disappeared, however, when it's still on her face, he's completely stunned.
"Welcome," Chungdae bows her head as well patting his shoulder. "And you can call me, Mrs Chungdae, you're welcome here. It's good to finally see the both of you,"
Chungdae steps back and turns to Chenle. Dae and Jeno fix their positions to look at Chenle. Dae is hesitant, when looking into her dad's eyes, but regardless still tries to do so. Her smile is shaking and all she feels like doing is crying. The last time she saw her dad, a lot of harsh words were exchanged- she was not even in the right state of mind for most of those times. Her smile is rocky and her eyes blur up with tears that she can't even look at her father anymore, she hangs her head in shame. Jeno from the side, feels his heart wear down when watching her silently break down in front of her dad. He breaths in and gently slides his fingers in her hand before squeezing it, for comfort and strength.
He then turns to Chenle, who still has his somber eyes on his daughter. "Good afternoon sir. Thank you for your invitation. For allowing your daughter to bring me here." Jeno bows down in a 90-degree angle humbling himself completely. Dae follows as well, bowing down with her eyes closed to maintain herself. Standing up straight again, Dae clears her throat.
"Hi dad. Thank you..." She softly speaks and her voice shakes again not being able to meet his eyes and thus bows down again- and Jeno willingly follows. "Thank you for your invitation. And I'm so sorry for everything I've done. Please can you forgive me, for all the words I’ve said, the stress I caused you and mum, the hate I spread in the house, please forgive me dad. I truly apologize for all that I’ve done, and I beg you to forgive. I said a lot of things to hurt you, but I didn’t mean any of them and I’m sorry for how I left. I’m sorry dad."
"My daughter," Chenle meekly raises his hand laying it on his daughter's head. Feeling his hand on her head, she squeezes her eyes shut to not break down again. Chenle's face is holding back so much on emotions, but it slips out when he feels the head of his daughter. "I forgive you, please don't cry. You know I don't like it when I see you cry,"
"Thank you, for this invitation," Dae stands up straight again with a smile on her face and her eyes still watery. Chenle's hand retreats but he’s taken aback by the wave of emotions that pass over him when Dae engulfs him in a hug so dear and deep. Chenle can’t resist and sets his arms over her shoulders in protection like he had always done. Finally, his daughter has returned.
Smiling when feeling her dad’s arms around, she nuzzle’s her head a little more on his chest, before she separates from him and bows her head down again. Chenle’s face is glowing with pride and excitement and he turns to Jeno who also stands straight. Chenle bows his head quietly acknowledging Jeno.
"My name is Zhong Chenle, you can call me Mr Zhong." Chenle addresses Jeno in a fluid tone, with no harshness or strictness, simple and calm. "What's your name?"
Jeno bows lightly. "Thank you Mr Zhong. My name is Lee Jeno,"
The name makes Chenle tense but he nods his head. If his daughter chose him, then he’d need to get down to the bottom of it and see why. It was up to Chenle to see how serious they were. "It's a pleasure to meet you Lee Jeno," Chenle greets and turns his head to the side, down to the little girl who just looked up with an erratic smile. "This little bean right here is Zhong Areum,"
Chenle introduces them to Yezi's daughter, making Yezi smile. Ever since Areum was born, Chenle refused for the baby to have his surname. So seeing the love traverse from him to her daughter, a flow of content joy washes over her.
"Hi mummy’s sister!" Areum chirpily greets, brightly before shyly leaning on her grandfather when Dae puffs her cheeks in delight. Chenle picks her up patting her back telling her to carry on. She waves her hand to both Jeno and Dae who wave back with big smiles.
"Areum, this is Dae, your aunty," Chenle speaks in a soft cradling voice making Chungdae laugh. "And this is Mr Lee, your aunty friend,"
Jeno doesn’t feel any jab from Chenle referring to him as a friend, but Dae does. She was hoping that her dad wouldn’t diminish Jeno into that position.
"Areum what do we do when we greet people?" Chungdae questions calmly watching Areum.
"Gwanpa, can you put me down, so I can greet?" Areum asks cutely with big eyes. Chenle sets her down patting her head.
"Of course, my little bean,"
Areum places both her hands over her stomach and dress and bows down. "Hello Miss Dae and Mr..." she quickly looks up and looks to her grandfather.
"Mr Jeno," He assists patting her head again as she returns to bowing.
"Hello Mrs Dae and Mr Jeno." She finishes her bow and does a little curtsey with her dress gaining an applaud from Chungdae, Yezi and Dae- automatically making Jeno clap his hands. In his head all he can think of is how she looks like Dae…but as a little girl. “I have a funny joke, what does a clock do when it's hungry?”
“What?” Dae smiles.
“It goes back four seconds?” Jeno asks but gets surprised when Areum begins laughing and giggling suggesting that it’s correct. That makes the family clap again, making Jeno shake his head with a little smile on his face. Chenle coo's in a baby voice.
"Aigoo, my little bean sprout is all grown up," He picks her up again with a dashing smile, before turning to Jeno and Dae. "Make yourselves comfortable, you can follow me to the dining room,"
Jeno turns to Dae squeezing her hand tighter. His nerves were still high, but upon the warm welcome and the tension sliding down because of the little baby girl, Jeno feels slightly relaxed. "This is it,"
Dae nods her head, following behind Chungdae and Yezi, who follow behind Chenle who is still carrying Areum and whispering into her grandfather's ears. "Gwanpa, is that really really mummy's sister?"
Chenle nods his head with a smile. "Yes, she’s your mummy's sister,”
"Gwanpa, if I’m a queen would that make her a princess? I wanna make her a queen because she looks nice- beautiful,” Areum corrects herself before charmingly complimenting Dae. “Why does she look beautiful?”
"Because she's my daughter," Chenle cackles a little, he never got tired of the endless questions that left her mouth or how much of a chatterbox she was. It's moments like these, where he hopes that his little granddaughter, didn't inherit any bad or foul manners from the savage rapist. She was such a passionate young and vibrant soul that Chenle easily found intriguing and alluring.
“Gwanpa, Mr Jeno looks like a prince, I think he likes her a lot and wants to become a King,”
"You should ask him if he wants to be a king," he pats her nose still answering to her questions, meanwhile thinking of all the questions he wanted to ask Jeno.
"Do you think daddy will go hard on Dae and him?" Yezi asks calmly to her mother.
"Let's hope not," Chungdae replies. "I feel like he might want to embarrass him a bit. He kept talking about that nonstop all through the night, but he did also mention how he wants to reunite with Dae again,"
Yezi groans. "Fingers crossed, it doesn't get awkward."
Meanwhile Jeno holds onto Dae's hand like he's on life support. Dae wraps her fingers tightly against his as well. "No matter how intense it gets, just answer honestly. My dad will try everything he can to belittle you, but remember what I said back in the house, don't let him break your spirit, he hasn't walked a mile in your shoes, so don't mind if he doesn't understand." She says, words that always made Jeno feel more drawn to her.
The dining room is large, and has an extremely large round circular table, with various of decorations and platters of food on a rotating stand. Areum waves her hand to her mum as one of the servants walks away with her. Jeno and Dae, wait for the family members to take a seat before finding themselves next to each other and sitting. Chenle acknowledges that and is impressed.
Dae smiles secretly, knowing that her dad loved order and discipline. And if Jeno could at least show that he was capable and worthy to dine with him, then Chenle would ease up a bit on him. He simply wanted to see how well-mannered the boy was, since he was groomed by misfortune, Chenle wanted to test out how well he could be for his daughter.
Yezi is seated on the right of her father, while Chungdae is seated on the left of her husband and Jeno and Dae sit next to each other- being in Chenle's direct eyes vision. "Shall we eat?" Chenle asks and they all take in their utensils ready to feast.
As the rounding table makes the rounds and the servants walk around the table adding little side dishes here and there, Jeno feels much more overwhelmed then starved. From the many utensils on the table, to the little plates the servants put with tiny looking leaves, Jeno places his hand underneath the table lightly placing it over Dae's leg.
She turns her head to him, seeing him panic. Calmly she leans in and begins explaining that he can eat whatever, which plates he has to put the food in and which plates he dumbs the bones and what's not. Her whispered words of encouragement don't go unnoticed by anyone at the table, especially Chenle who picks up his chopsticks and watches the pair while he eats. Much to his distaste Jeno snickers and Dae does so as well- he ignores it and clears his throat gaining their attention.
"Dae," Chenle starts.
Chungdae nervously turns to Chenle. His first target. Dae looks up and adjusts her sitting position before smiling. "Yes, dad,"
For some reason, Chenle's heart feels a little touched when hearing her say the word dad. It's been a while, a really long while. “It’s wonderful seeing you in strong health. For how long have you been clean?”
Dae clears her throat with a little smile. “2 years now.”
“Rehab or self-rehabilitation?”
Dae answers honestly. “Self-rehabilitation. Actually, the night I left home and went clubbing, I was hit by a car,” This causes all of them to look at her in worry. “I, uh. I broke some ribs and nearly lost my life because I barely had enough blood in my body. A blood transfusion was done, and when I woke up… I felt as though, a second chance of life has been given to me,”
Chenle’s heart aches hearing the story. “Why didn’t you come home after that?”
Dae briefly looks to Jeno, who offers a somber smile before rubbing her thigh. “I didn’t want to live my life like before. I felt trapped, and it wasn’t because of you,” Dae immediately clears up, holding onto Jeno’s hand. “I just, wanted to live alone for a bit.”
“A bit turned into years,” Chungdae speaks sadly but a smile regains on her face. “May I ask you this, this blood transfusion you did that saved your life, was it the young man’s blood?”
Dae nods her head with a smile. “He’s the one who helped me that night. Paid the bills, gave me blood, offered me a place to stay, he was always by my side,”
The warm tone settles upon Chungdae seeing her child look so bright and happy. “Well thank you Mr Lee for that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to see our beautiful girl.” Chungdae smiles. “Pleae enjoy the food,”
Once again, everyone begins eating in a calm atmosphere. Jeno has never eaten so slow, as well as tiny bites in his whole life, however seeing everyone eat in a slow and paced manner, Jeno adjusts himself. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Dae as she snickers here and there covering it with a little cough.
Subsiding his friendly character, Chenle has his eyes on Dae who constantly looks to Jeno. "Dae,”
“Yes?” She instantly looks away from Jeno and to her dad feeling caught. She gulps, just as Chenle prepares himself.
“I’ve tried deviating from my culture merely because I didn’t want my daughters to be bounded by tradition. I’ve given you a good life, good education and have paved a way for a future that you can maintain. The family business of architecture as well as our lifestyle, you left it all for your own self satisfying pleasure because you felt ‘trapped’. I’m assuming you have a lot to showcase for your disobedience. Have you made a name for yourself by walking over our tradition?" The question alone brings Jeno into a front line of defense. Even though Chenle was her dad, Jeno wouldn't allow her dad to walk over how hard she had worked to get to where she was now. She worked extremely hard and Jeno was ready to defend. Unconsciously. However, Chenle unaware of the set eyes on him, continues on. "How's that going? What do you do?"
Dae feels heavy by the sharp arrow that was aimed for her heart by his words. “First of all, I am grateful for all the opportunities I was able to get while being here. Second of all, I never intended to disobey you dad. But I needed to do it for a clear mindset in what I wanted to do, in where my heart felt good. And lastly, I'm a Junior Editor."
"Editor? Junior?" Chenle poses in disbelief. "That's in the writing field. Meaning you don't get paid much, as for junior, you probably don't do much. What do you write about?"
Dae breaths in and nods her head looking up to her father. "I write articles on and for the youths of today and the struggles they face."
"That's like freelancing work." Chenle sighs out trying not to make it a big deal, but he's disappointed. His daughter. His first daughter scrapping by. He glances at Jeno. "And you Mr Lee. What do you do?" Chenle slurps on the fresh vegetable in a bowl, looking already bored.
"Photography."
"Wow, another freelancer." Chenle sounds dishonored much more then disappointed, and he continues to eat his dish of food. Yezi savagely tries to hold in her laugh replacing it with a cough and quickly looking down when Chungdae shoots her a glare. The couple of Dae and Jeno briefly glance to each other in hesitancy, but regardless they eat.
Just as Chenle is about to say something else, Dae along with everybody else get surprised by Jeno's voice. "You know Mr Zhong, not to be rude, and I say this with 'respect'-" only Dae catches on to his mocking tone, and gets worried for him. "Since you brought up your culture and tradition, according to the Zhong's line of history as well as your own private company's humble beginnings, small beginnings was were you started. So pardon me if this comes out rude, but truly I don't think you've got any right to be pissed off, you also left your family to please your own self satisfying pleasure-"
Dae's eyes widen and she places her hand over his thigh. "Jeno-"
But nonetheless Jeno still continues to speak. "To be pissed off at her career would mean neglecting her small beginnings. I don’t know much about your family, but what I do know is that your family’s legacy only grew into millions of because of you. What if Dae’s small beginnings allow her to reach your peak-"
"Comparing my family's legacy and personal company with Dae's quote on quote small beginnings sounds radically obscure. Do you even know who I am? My small beginnings lasted within a year, and I've been making millions ever since. Dae's small beginnings are small beginnings on a scale of failure," Chenle starts while setting his dish down, taking the next set of food while Chungdae grumpily adds some soup for him. She didn't like how his words sounded too harsh. Meanwhile Yezi has wide eyes glancing with a shocked face at her dad and then Jeno. “So tell me Mr Lee-”
Jeno breaths out, feeling Dae sinking in shame when she looks at her food and quietly eats. "You're talking about me as if I'm not here," She mumbles. “And my small beginnings aren’t on a scale of failure, you don’t know how hard I work-”
"Your lover is the one who started with the comparisons and small beginnings. You want to be mad at the truth? Suck it up and continue to embark on your sma-"
"Honey." Chungdae warns looking at him.
Chenle sighs. He nods his head whilst eating as if he's not having the conversation. "Do you believe that she'll make it big in her field Mr Lee?"
"I believe in her."
"I didn't ask if you believe in her. Because I also believe in her. And I much more believe she has a brighter career elsewhere, but what's important now is do you believe that she'll make it big in her field?"
"Yes-"
"Dae who never ever pays attention to the news, the same girl who barely gives an ear to those less 'fortunate' then her? My daughter? That same daughter who would never be interested in anything if it wasn't about her? The same daughter who got involved in hardcore drugs- that same girl caring for people seems unusual. A journalist? On top of that a youth journalist? Youth? Smart mouths with foul brains, those youth? Those same youth? Maybe she gives you a speck of patience, but I know my daughter. Does she really love what she does or is it just some passing want from feeling trapped? Does she have tolerance and patience for others? For you? My daughter wants to do journalism? That doesn't make sense to me," Chenle states out nonchalantly yet sternly. "I've seen her writing. And although phenomenal, she'd need a spark of light in her to empathize with youths. Regardless of what you say, I know my daughter much more then you. I know she's merciful, but in the field of journalism, it'll be used against her. With her temper, she'll easily get frustrated and allow for anyone to walk over her. I can't see, or even bare my daughter within a career where she constantly has to fight,"
Dae's stunned by his words. Never ever had he ever told her why he refused for her to be a journalist, he simply had a strong distaste towards any career that had a lack of funds. "Dream crusher much dad?" Dae chuckles sadly to cover up the pain.
"Dae, are those even dreams? To waste yourself away behind a screen writing for others? Dae. I'm…” Chenle refrains from using the words disappointed, but he’s already hinting at it. “I’m trying to understand. Why- why, why a journalist?"
Dae looks up to her dad in disbelief. "Because I’m a spoilt rich girl who’s gone through an experience that fucking changed my life forever. I left a house of riches to dwell in a place where it’s dark with no light. Why a journalist? Because in that dark dwelling place, I fucking saw a light and I wanted to fucking empathize-"
"Language Dae." Chungdae softly peeps being uncomfortable by all the slurs.
Dae stops and takes a deep breath. "I'm doing this because it gives my heart peace knowing that no one, especially a youth has to feel like they’re alone and that their futures are jokes. I’m saying the truth of my life to reach people in dark-"
"Truth?" Chenle scoffs. "In the world we live in? Truth and people don't go together, because this world loves to be blinded. It’s why the rich are rich and the poor are poor, those who have eyes don’t help those who can’t see. Today a journalist would rather break an untrue story and say an apology later, they could break thousands of hearts, but one apology and everyone forgets. You're telling me you haven't seen those cases?"
"I've noticed that lately."
"You can spend years putting together a story to help someone see the light, only for some toddler with a social media account to just tweet it out, with low grammatical words. As for professional objectivity, try maintaining that while competing against teens dancing at the news, or on TikTok and what not, and in the rare case let's say you do get a real story, you will be backlashed because all you did was your job. The truth hurts and rubs on people the wrong way."
"So what are you saying dad?" She asks seriously trying not to be discouraged. Jeno, places his hand on Dae's thigh, running his hand up and down as a way to calm her down.
"I'm saying." Chenle stops setting up his bowl to look at his daughter. "As my daughter, it's really my desire that if there is anything else you see yourself doing, do that instead." Chenle ends the discussion without much say, getting his next bowl. "You’re smart and if you want people to see the light, use your intelligence to-”
"Mr Zhong, I really do apologize if I'm being rude," Jeno interrupts not being able to be calm anymore, especially after noticing Dae's sagged shoulders. Truly Mr Zhong was a businessman with ideals and head on strong facts. However, that could never beat how much effort and change that Dae has put in. Which is why, Jeno with resilient courage speaks up for Dae. "I hate to break it to you, but the Dae that left your house years ago, isn't the Dae sitting in front of you. Her intelligence has changed and she’s adapted to street smarts too. I agree that Journalism isn't possibly the career that you invasion your daughter in, but she's similar to you in many ways. You started out with a master’s degree in Research, you left Research to join your family’s legacies of Doctors, before leaving it all together and had to dump it all including your family to finding out what you really wanted to do. But I digress, how can you put her down when I read that you even went as low as being a brick man and laying bricks for a living? You eventually decided you wanted a career in construction. Humble beginnings should never be neglected. If you didn't disqualify yourself, why discourage her, your own daughter? And if you're talking about money, then let me I’ll say it now, she makes money more than me-"
"Are you giving me street psychology now?"
Jeno breaths in deeply smirking a little when seeing a challenging look in her father’s eyes. "Street psychology makes you learn lessons the hard and painful way. Being rock bottom teaches you of success that being rich can’t. I've been with her ever since she left your home, so I know what I'm talking about when I say she's had a fall from your grace. But look at her now," Jeno turns to her, throwing a little smile and lightly patting her cheek (causing Dae to smile a little) before turning to Chenle, who even stopped eating to firmly be attentive to Jeno after publicly displaying such a manner. "I too, worry about the giant dumpster fire of twiddling toddler's, but I also don't care about that and I know she doesn't care about that. She writes for a living you know, she's always been writing and has tweaked her personalities here and there to adapt to the life that she's wanted. And if she can write a piece that has touched an orphaned boy's heart and stopped him from spiraling down into a dark path of drugs, then I know and have the belief that she's broken through the noise you’re projecting. I don't know why she isn't saying it now, but she always says, she wants to make a difference in all the ways that she can. That’s a fucking huge commitment if you ask me. And I'm not trying to take your place or anything like that, but even if she does fails in her projects, I’m here for you no matter how many times. You haven't been there for her, so you don't have that right to criticize or be disappointed in her achievements so far. I’m saying all this respectfully. I don't mean to sound rude or come of impolite, but the truth is the truth, and it can rub you the wrong way, so swallow it like a bitter pill."
“Well said, you’re the one living with her.”
Dae has a warm look in her eyes when looking to Jeno, her boyfriend, her choice, her messed up but one of the many right choices. How passionate he's been in defending her, whether it was to someone he never knew or someone she knew, and not allowing anyone, not even her dad, to walk over her. He's made it clear, time and time and time again, how he won't let anybody ever talk down on her or disrespect her. And its kind of alarming for Dae that Jeno just said all that while being ‘respectful’.
It's tensely silent with Chenle paying mind to his food instead, Chungdae and Yezi holding in their breaths, Dae smiling while eating on her meet- and Jeno returning back to his senses and freaking out. "Fuck." He mumbles, but instantly feels Dae's hand on his thigh. He turns his head seeing her reassuring smile. She mouths out a sweet thank you. It's enough to subside his irrational thoughts and focus on how calm she is.
Chungdae smiles when noticing the adoring look in Dae's eyes. Chungdae faces Chenle and picks up another bowl of rice before placing it before him. He looks to her, still eating his own bowl of meat and soup, and as if being summoned by the rice Chungdae lightly grins, and nudges her head towards Jeno and Dae. Chenle takes a look for himself, his eyes catching a sight too traumatic and so heartbreaking.
Dae looking at Jeno, the same way she used to look at him as a child. As a father, his child will always be his child. No matter how irrational, no matter how unclear, no matter how confusing she might be, even when she's falling in love with a foe, she's still his daughter. His first daughter. His first love whom he loves with all his heart. He doesn't know what's the name of the emotion that covers his whole heart when seeing Jeno, an unknown peasant briefly gazing at his precious daughter with stars in his eyes. And his daughter equally having eyes of fierce approval. He doesn’t like it, but he can’t put down how real it looks. He looks at Chungdae the same way too. And that scares Chenle because he doesn’t want her to marry such a guy.
She just came back home. His heart doesn't want to see her go just yet, especially not to a man who he still isn't too sure about. "Mr Lee."
Jeno peeks up and sits up. "Yes sir- I mean Mr Zhong,"
Chenle breathes out. "Are you treating this such as an interview?"
"Interview?"
"Seeing as though you've read my biography and probably Wikipedia, you seem to think that you have an understanding of my background," Chenle drinks a glass of water, firmly gazing into Jeno's stunned eyes. "Is that true?"
Jeno clears his throat, fumbling with his lips before nodding his head. "To be honest sir, I've known your work. The apartment my family and I lived in when we were little was actually designed by you."
"You could afford it?"
"Dad." Dae's shoulder slump.
Surprisingly Jeno chuckles. "It's okay babe- Dae, I mean." He quickly corrects himself, before turning back to Chenle. "I couldn't afford it, but my old man could....sort of. We lived with another family, so although tightly cramped, we all fit in together. To get back to you, being in that complex for a very short period of my childhood was sincerely the most mind blowing experience of my life."
"How so?" Chenle tilts his head. "And which complex was it? Situated where?"
"It's was called Clearview Water Hill. Situated in Goum NC."
Chenle nods his head. "I recall, it was amongst my first private building going public for government uses. It was labeled to be for the rich."
"To be honest, I felt rich as a young boy. The walls, corridors, rooms, even the water was so different. Not only that, but my dad was a construction worker so we watched a lot Construction channels. I had seen you appear time to time on tv. So regarding to me researching about you, I didn't have to do much except read it from Dae's pieces. The things I know about you are actually words Dae had written in her article pieces. She spoke extremely highly of you, it even gave off an impression that being in your presence is surreal. And it is… if I’m being honest."
Chenle is astonished (just when his mind slowly began to wonder if his daughter wanted to replace him), as his quick mind reflex suddenly pauses. His eyes turn from a sharp stare, to being enlightened. "You wrote a biography about me?"
"You used dad for clout?" Yezi laughs a little.
"What's clout?" Chenle asks, causing Yezi and Dae to snicker.
"It's slang dad," Yezi giggles.
Dae runs her hand through her hair swinging it back. "Not necessarily a biography, but advice on how to solidly build a future, brick by brick. I paid almost all my references to you and how successful you've been in paving the way brick by brick for your future,"
Chenle's face remains unchanged, yet Chungdae is in awe because she knows that Chenle is catching butterflies. Yezi is the one to voice it out. "Dae I told you not to boost his ego,"
This snaps Chenle out and he begins laughing. A sound which jolts Jeno out from his crave for the meat. His reaction makes Yezi laugh inwardly.
"Before I feel too honored. I still have to read what you wrote," Chenle remarks. "Word count?"
"2,500."
"Blog?"
"No, it's an article."
Chenle nods his head, shuffling in his seat bringing out his phone. "Name of website?"
"NationsWide,"
"Hmm," Chenle nods his head in approval. He's silent when scrolling through his phone, going through the about page and finding out the ratings of the website. Although it has a 8.8 out of 10 rating due to faulty writers and time consuming management, it has a high rating when it comes to work pieces. "It's a big shot company."
Dae finds herself smiling gladly turning to Jeno who pats her head- forgetting one of the rules that Dae put in place to not make any unnecessary physical contact. But she's happy non the less. “What’s the title?”
“I’m bad with titles, by it’s called Future Bricks Are Better Then Past Bricks.”
“It’s too long girl,” Yezi comments.
“I told her that too,” Jeno remarks smiling ligtly.
“Hey, I like it sounds good,” Dae cutely puffs her cheeks tempting Jeno to kiss her cheek, but he refrains from doing so.
Chenle searches up the title and immediately is impressed when seeing 5 stars in gold next to her article. That's his girl. He nods his head, as a smile crawls up his lips. "5 stars Dae, good job."
Her heart feels good. If it took Chenle simply reading from her article, then it would’ve saved time from Jeno backing her up. It's always difficult to get a reaction or compliment from him, so getting an actual reaction makes her feel joyous. Especially for something that he complained about minutes ago. In his silence of taking interest and suddenly reading his daughter's piece, Chungdae takes it as a cue to speak to Dae and Jeno.
"Are you two living together?" She smiles, causing a smile to grow on Jeno's lips as well.
"Yes,"
"Oh," Chungdae is a very traditional woman and always counters culture over modern society. So hearing that Dae and Jeno live together without having gotten married is a bit...it makes her feel uncomfortable for them. "Living together is such a huge commitment. It requires both of you to have an entanglement that you'll never leave each other,"
Jeno already being informed by Dae that her mother had the tendencies of being culturally educated, clears his throat in answering. "If it sets your heart as ease, we sleep in different rooms...to prevent us going too fast,"
"In going too fast, I assume you're talking about children?"
"Mum?" Yezi chokes on her food. "Please not that conversation, people are eating."
Okay," Chungdae nods her head letting out a little laugh with a hint of ease settling over. "That does set my heart at ease. I'm sorry if this makes you feel uncomfortable but, may I inquire about your financial status Jeno? You mentioned photographer, right?"
"Right," Jeno nods his head.
“Could you tell me more about it?”
"Uhm, mainly I work as an advertising photographer, so I range from models, to houses, to products even nature. So as a whole, I guess that’s stock photography. I have side jobs here and there as part time so yeah," he nervously peeks at Chenle wondering if he'd get pissed. However Chenle isn't even looking or paying attention to them, but instead continues to read, paying his whole mind to the article he's reading. He’s nearly done reading, but his ears also give an ear to hear the conversation.
"Hm." Chungdae nods her head. "Well, it's something. Who supports financially?"
"I pay house rent and Jeno buys our necessities," Dae mentions. But is unaware of Chenle's sharp gaze.
"Excuse me?" He suddenly perks up. "You're paying the rent?"
"Our apartment is under my name so-"
"Because of his felony charges?" Chenle perkily asks to which Dae shakes her head.
"Felony exceeds one year, so no. And he doesn't have a felony charge. It's because of his prison record of 10 months."
"And you're proud to say that?" Chenle mumbles doubtfully while shaking his head, continuing to read. Whilst Chungdae continues to ask Jeno, some more basic questions such as if he's religious, has siblings, has parents, if they know about Dae and his relationship- so on. Some questions Dae had never heard the answers to, as Jeno would completely ignore her or change the subject. Questions pertaining to his family. She never knew his dad died...no wonder he always made dark jokes about not having any.
"Meaning you're much closer with your mother right?" Chungdae questions with a sympathetic smile.
Jeno throughout all the questions that he doesn't want to answer he kept his head down and occasionally looked up from his food- even going on to eating more just to avoid the question or staying silent to ignore. But not knowing Chungdae, he isn't expecting her to nag on and on, and not wanting to make Dae's mother upset or cause Chenle to pin him out again he answers. "She kicked me and my brother out when we were teens."
"Now we’re getting somewhere." Yezi mumbles while folding her arms. "Who's your brother again? Was it-"
"Mark." Jeno stuffs his mouth again. Dae knowing that not only is he (slowly) getting enraged by the endless questions, she also knows how much he hates talking about his family.
So being alert she clears her throat. "Okay, mum I think you've got a pretty broad idea of who he is now,"
Chungdae smiles meekly. "You know Dae, when I first met your dad-"
Much to Yezi's disappointment, who hated this story with a passion (due to the fact that in her mind Chungdae was still considered a side woman) gets up going to look for her baby. "I'm going to check on Areum."
Meanwhile Chenle sets his phone down when he's done reading. Impressed with what he’s read, he approves by giving it a rating.
"As I was saying. When I first met him, he was already self-made, financially stable and had a big job. Everything was already there. However, he didn't tell me any of that. And I, didn't have a clue on who he was at the time. Meaning to say, I didn't have a pretty broad idea of who he was until I found out the basics as: what his beliefs were, what his priorities were, what his family thought of him, what he thought of himself deeply and what flaws made him human. Only when I found out all those things, was I... almost ready to be with him." A masked smile comes on her face. The type of smile that's ready to offend but not wanting to seem blunt. "Jeno, you seem like a fine young man right now. However, I'm worried that it might not be who you are when you're outside of our house. I don't know how you treat my daughter-"
"Mum-"
"Let your mother talk." Chenle blinks once turning back to Chungdae. This was supposed to be a grilling session for him to get to know Jeno. Yet with the way Dae gazes upon Jeno's face, worries Chenle. His heart isn't used to seeing this gob struck look of so called love on her face. Especially since he just met her. It's been years, so he doesn't want to cause tension that'll make her leave again.
It's better Chungdae does it and Dae listens, rather then him doing it and never seeing Dae again.
Up till now, and with the way that Jeno spoke on Dae's behalf on something that she was 'passionate' about, Chenle just doesn't like the idea of his daughter already being tethered to a man.
She still has a long life ahead of her, however being in a relationship limits her life and choices- oh gosh especially on her financial status. He wants his daughter to enjoy life to the fullest. And Jeno can't give her all that.
All that he can give her is words wrapped in love. And he doesn't want that for his daughter. His daughters deserved much more than cheap love and words.
"She has a point. The least you can do, is listen." Chenle says again a bit softly when looking into Dae's eyes. Dae inwardly groans, yet when turning her gaze to Chungdae she sighs with an upset face.
"Even though I didn't give birth to her, I know who she is. And I'm not trying to poke holes in your bubble but I am saying that you're from two different worlds. Two completely separate worlds. You won't clash on a lot of things. And right now, as happy and giddy as this relationship has been, remaining faithful together or even growing together won't be that easy. Jeno, judging from your lack of family touch, and your upbringing from your brother, I'm not too comfortable with my daughter being down below with you. I do see your passion and will to have a better life, but it might not be enough. Right now, I can most likely hope for your future to be filled with growth. Because I don't think it'll be easy. Based on your foundation, of how you both met, I'm still a bit... hesitant in accepting you. I just don't want this to end in foulness."
The silence lingers in the air with both couples, Chenle and Chungdae gazing at both Jeno and Dae. Jeno sets his empty bowl down having being full and listening to all the advice. Dae places her hand on his knee and he sighs. "If I'm completely honest Mrs Zhong, you're right."
Dae peeks her eyes to Jeno, hoping that what he’d say would contradict his statement.
"I do feel out of place at times when I'm with her. I feel that she deserves much better than me. Much much better than me. When driving here I even said that she left a mansion to cramp up with me in a little apartment. Look, I can't understand this, but I really really like your daughter and think that... she can do much better than me." Jeno nods his head agreeing. "But every time I think about her, or me, or, of us being together, I think of how much we've been through. It's true we met in uncanny circumstances but... The fact that she made the biggest sacrifice to stay with me, even though I gave her countless of reasons to leave, she still wanted to be with me, and that gives me the chills. Because she left your world, her world to be...in my world. And I can see where your concerns are, believe me when I say we've had this talk one too many times, but we always come to the same conclusion." His hand securely holds onto hers on top of his knee. "Only time will tell, if really this will work out, but I believe that when I stopped comparing her life before and her life now, it's made my head clear. And when she stopped seeing me as just that guy who broke into her house, we gathered a mutual understanding."
"What conclusions have you come to?" Chenle asks softly, his eyes on Dae yet he asks Jeno, because Dae's eyes are still on him.
Jeno clears his throat. "The conclusion that we're both humanly real and not perfect. And we can't be perfect, but if we keep trying to understand and love each other than yeah. I never knew how to manage my account and all that shi- stuff, but Dae's been really adamant on teaching me. I never knew how to cook. I only lived off by water and bread, but she knows and has taught me so many great dishes, especially the Chinese ones. I never mediated or did yoga before, but with her, every morning we're both up and yoga-ering as a way to restore our mental health. I've never been good at getting attention or knowing how to market, but Dae's a real professional at that and has helped me market my work. Not only to say she's an important aspect of my life, but she came from recovering from overdosing, not that I helped much but I made sure she worked out, ate healthy, spoke her thoughts, gave her a change of scenery, made sure she always saw the sun… I mean, if I also have to list the bad stuff, I can just say, she doesn't know how to keep her stuff organized. Always cluttered, everywhere and plain right messy- respectfully messy-"
"That's true." Chungdae chortles.
"But she's been improving, she now puts the toothpaste back in its case, instead of living it open and on the toilet seat. Not only that, but she used to stress so much so that she never slept, always up at night and working, but along the days I used to show her that she's got enough time to drop he shoulders, breathe, to unclench her jaw, to meet people who will understand her instead of being a kiss ass, to rest without feeling guilty, enough time to try as well as fail, to change paths, to close her eyes, to sleep and rest, to do so many things that she wants to do, her life is long. Another thing, she never knew how to be active, she's ambitious, but lacks the effort to actually move to get things done, she's always online. Yes she does yoga, but she always sat down behind her screen or desk slouching and writing, but now I can genuinely say she's keeping fit by constantly jogging, she exercises as well, and can throw a punch for self-defense, not to say I taught her how to be violent, but for a lady in her form I'm pretty proud that she can throw a man twice her size over her shoulder."
"I did it to him," Dae marvels cheerfully.
"I simply taught her what I know and she taught me what she knows. We're both taking the good in our lives and presenting it to each other trying to make our lives better and throwing the bad away. We read the newspapers together, watch the news, read psychology books and talk to each other and learn about each other. Because I love her and just want her to be happy without any restraints. We are both new to this love, so we're learning with each other not only how to receive love, but also how to give love. You know, she expresses herself through writing, she always writes, she struggles in speaking up for herself or formulating the right words for the right moment, thus it's why she used to be condescending and using her privileges to walk over people. But now, I don't know why she's not doing it now, but she gradually speaks and pushes herself to be genuine and understanding. Mrs Zhong, I understand that you don't trust me with your daughter, but I'm telling you honestly that I'm careful and gentle with her. I don't want to hurt her again, or even allow myself to lose her to a successful man who's got everything. I want to be everything for her. I'm working my ass off in getting to where I want to be, and making sure that she's happy and securely in her field. I don't have it now but I know that I'll get it. I'm trying my hardest, I'm putting my all and investing literally my whole life into this. I don't know what you want, but your daughter is here and she chose me, I can promise you that I won't put your family to shame."
Mr Zhong's ears are perked at Jeno's whole plea. He can see the ambition and drive in his eyes.
"Can I be honest with you right now." Chenle starts being equally respectful as Jeno has been. "I disliked you because you were poor and seemed unable. But. After reading what I've read, I can say that the Dae sitting before me, isn't the Dae with qualities that the world would reject like before. I'm still not for this relationship. But if I can at least have my daughter willingly help others, as well as herself, it gives you, Mr Lee, a mark in my books. It shows me how much you're invested in her. And another thing, if you, Dae, can't be pushed away from following your dreams, I think you'd be an excellent journalist."
"Thanks Dad," Dae smiles looking with admiration at her dad, causing Chenle to return the genuine smile.
"Keep writing pieces about me though," Chenle grins.
"Don't boost his ego," Yezi chuckles covering her face.
"Are you still hungry Jeno? Don't be shy if you want another round," Chungdae speaks up when seeing Jeno look at all the empty dishes. "There's plenty casseroles in the cuisine."
"Oh, no it's okay." Jeno smiles shyly. "Thank you Mr Zhong, and Mrs Zhong for the food. It was delicious,"
"I'm surprised you complimented Dae's cooking." Chungdae laughs before turning back and calling one of the maids names to come and remove the food. "Dae fights a lot when it comes to spices, especially with chili,"
"Well mother," Dae has a smug face. "Jeno here doesn't mind the spice or chili. He likes it hot,"
Jeno teasingly mumbles for only Dae to hear. "We're still talking about the food right?"
She playfully hits his thigh before turning to her mum. "I know what he likes to eat,"
"Honestly if you ask me, I still find it weird how you're with him." Yezi comments when the laughter dies down. Dae's jaw clinches but she eats on her rice (that she asked one of the maid to leave for her) remainign silent. But that's not the case for Yezi who glances up at her sister. "It's strange because I know you, and I know that this is not the type of guy you'd quote on quote fall in love with."
"Yezi." Chungdae calls out calmly, with intentions of warning her.
Chenle nods his head setting down his chopsticks when he's done swallowing a lump of meat giving his plate away to the maids. "No, Yezi's right. It's strange to see this, no disrespect to you Mr Lee, but it seems like Stockholm syndrome."
"That's so unfair. We just finished that discussion." Dae mumbles glaring at her sister and dad. "It's not-"
"I know," Chenle nods his head with a gentle smile. "With the way he's spoken about you, my ideas of him shifted. Perhaps it's not a forced love. I just need to get used to the idea of seeing you with him. That's all,"
"You can't force him down our throats, we still have to get to know him," Yezi comments.
"So Jeno, how about I get to know you more. If it's possible, drop me an email on your availability and I'll set up a date for you to come to my company."
Jeno's eyes widen. "Really?"
"I wanna see how good you are at your work of photography. There's some houses that will be completed within a week from now and I need some photographs. Will you be interested?"
Jeno gulps nodding his head. "Yes sir- I mean Mr Zhong."
"Good. Now if we all may, there's a resting area waiting for us,"
S1: EP14-16
22:48
"I can't believe you lied to my mum that we sleep in different rooms," Dae chuckles when entering the comforts of their shared room turning around to eye Jeno who unbuttons his shirt.
Jeno has a smug look on his face before tilting his head. "I mean, it's sorta true. I told you to take the other room, but somehow you’re always here even though your stuff is there,”
"That’s because it’s lonely sleeping alone.” Dae smiles when kissing his lips. “But still, I don’t know if she bought that.”
“If she did, then it’s best if we keep it under the wraps of how much of a freak you are in my room, in bed.” Jeno lightly chuckles, watching Dae walk backwards while running her hands up her body giving him teasing eyes.
“Regardless, I'm glad it went well.” She notes as she removes her shoes and gathers some wet wipes to clean off her makeup. “Gosh I'm so happy it went well. Seeing my dad and mum and Yezi and Areum was such a serene moment that I’ll never forget.”
Jeno removes both his blazer and buttoned down shirt turning to Dae who’s removing her makeup. “They were welcoming, I’m glad you invited me to experience this experience with you. Seeing you with your family only brought peace to my soul. At least you’re reunited with your family again, your mum, dad, sister…and even that little child. Although, I won’t lie, I’m surprised that your sister…kept that child,” Jeno tries to say without saying it. “It’s just odd,”
“I know,” Dae finishes cleaning the makeup off her face and applying some cream before she stretches her arms moving to the night stand lamp turning it on. “But you know what, she’s still my baby sister’s baby and I’m a proud aunt who gets babysitting rights.” Dae smiles brightly. “I just can't express it in words. I'm so happy right now." Dae smiles and bites her lip innocently. "Hey. Can you help me undo my dress?" Dae moves to the bed sitting down a little bit too exotically but Jeno still makes his way towards her.
Holding onto her calf, he kisses on her knee smiling before trapping her in between his body as he gets on the bed. “You’re so happy you’re getting turned on, I think this will be a problem,” Bending his head down, he softly smudges plentiful kisses along the side of her neck, licking and biting on her soft skin. He groans when Dae's hand secretly finds its way down his covered member and palms him soothingly.
"You forgot to tell my dad how good you make me feel,"
"Is that so?" Jeno rhetorically asks leaving envelope kisses on her collarbone whilst undoing the back of her dress. "Should've told him how well you suck me off,"
Dae giggles when her dress becomes loose, allowing her freedom to remove her arms and then her turtle neck- only resting in a corset and bra. Her lips crash onto his as he mouths his way down her neck undoing the strings of her corset. Having his warm fingers on her skin arouses her body to beg for him. She feels his big hands going behind her back unclipping her bra.
"Is this okay?"
"Mmh," She whispers. “Just do it,”
He continues to mouth his way up her body, her warmth on his tongue when he kisses her again. He strokes her heavy tits. Just as her lips find his again, the taste lingering of the wine present making her suck more on his tongue as he unbuttons his pants and lowers them together with his boxers already revealing his hard on. “I’m happy it all went well, because it means that they’ve given me permission to take you all the time,”
In one swift move he picks her up placing her on his shaft, as they both stare into each other’s eyes strings of moans leave their lips. Upon giving her time to adjust to his member, with her eyes fixed on his own lustful eyes give him the go that she’s ready, and he pounds himself hard once into her core earning him a blissful moan. He comes out slow before, going in hard again and then coming out slow. It becomes a cycle of himself going in and out until he’s sure that she’s okay. Within a second after ensuring, his body presses into her own skin loving the bounce of her breast. His eyes never leave hers, just as his slow passionate thrust becomes heavy and more impactful. His hips bucking into her, rampaging inside of her, her wetness invites and envelopes him with every coming in. Her eyes shut, with her hands on his shoulders, allowing him to do all the heavy lifting. She feels as though she might fly off him with every thrust he engraved into her.
She’s breathlessly moaning out at the top of her lungs, her head thrown back, just as his arms grip onto her waist, humping and grunting every time. She’s moaning out his name, calling out to him eagerly and passionately only making him grow harder inside of her. “Jen- fuck Jeno don’t stop, ah don’t stop~” He’s panting, holding her tight while his stamina takes over him and he holds her into him, allowing her movements and his to be fluid, going up and down, moving together.
She was his first and every time he’d get at it with her, he always felt the same as the first time. Special. He loved being inside her, how she made him feel. Under her skin and inside his head, he can’t help but press her into him hugging her tight as he pounds into her, his eyes on solely on her. Even though the struggle to keep her eyes open, his eyes are on her loving her every expression. She was so beautiful that he didn’t even know what to do.
When they both cum into each other, she’s left shaking on his member from the pleasure and that makes Jeno laugh. “I love when your legs do that, was it good?”
“Mhm,” She moans and slowly rides him circling her hips and bouncing lightly on him again. It goes on for another round, until they're both panting on the bed fully naked with steamy smiles. Jeno groans and curses out when Dae disappears underneath the blanket with a giggling laugh. “Fuck, are you not tired?” Jeno pants, feeling her mouth wrap around his shaft. “You don’t have to do it-”
Aside from having intercourse, the one thing Jeno didn’t ask for was blow jobs. Not only did it remind him of what his brother did to her, but he was afraid that her mentality consumed the behavior from the trauma she dealt with when Mark made her suck him off. Continuing to suck and blow, Dae doesn’t stop bobbing her head and taking him whole. For her, it allowed her to have control over the situation, rather than thinking that she had no power of her own. Jeno's muscles tense with pleasure before his legs are shaking again and she swallows his release laughing out in delight. Aside from them getting together, another thing that solidified them was how she broke his v-card and that for every time that they’d do it, he always felt attached to her and allowed her all the power she wanted with him.
"I'm going to shower," Dae gets off the bed being breathless, skimpily jogging seductively to the bathroom before peeking at Jeno who's eyes latch with adoration, she speaks up. "You should join me,"
"I'm coming," he smiles tiredly. Getting up from the bed stretching his arms, he picks up his own towel walking towards the bathroom however stops when hearing a faint knock on the door. He checks the time, frowning when it's late into the night.
He walks quietly to the door wrapping his waist with the towel. His eyes searching through the peephole. His eyes widen when noticing a familiar figure lighting up a cigarette.
Jeno ducks from the door when the figurine sends his fist flying to the door knocking on it. "Hello?"
Mark?
The person knocks for a while on, still smoking his cigarette. Jeno still ducked is confused and gets startled by Dae walking into the living room with a grin. "They you are,"
"Shh," Jeno mumbles with a panicked voice.
Dae's brows furrow. "Who's there?"
"Uh, I'm looking for someone,"
Dae suddenly hears the voice outside. She was asking Jeno, but hearing the answer come from outside she's perplexed. Looking back to Jeno who's chest goes up and down, she moves closer carefully. It seems he's hiding from someone. "Who're you looking for?"
"Does Lee Jeno, Lee Jeno live here?"
"Uhm.." Jeno sharply shakes his head in panic and Dae catches on. "I'm sorry but it's past midnight, and Lee Jeno doesn't live here,"
"Are you sure about that? Hey, please can you open the door. I'm a relative of his."
"I said Lee Jeno doesn't live here. Can you please leave before I call the police."
It's silent on the other hand before the man speaks again. "Fine, I'll come back in the morning. Let him know." Dae's about to speak in confusion but the person speaks again. "Tell him Mark came by. His brother. Alright. I'm going."
"Brother?" Dae quietly whispers and her eyes enlarge. Feeling exposed as though being ripped of her robe, Dae securely grips on her robe trembling back. "Jeno..." She pants out. "Was that, M-Mark?"
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"I went to the address you gave me. Some woman was there, said he didn't live there." Mark yawns laying back on the ground next to Donghyuck who's looking up to the stars. "And what're you doing here bro?"
Laying down on the green freshly trimmed grass Donghyuck groans and opens his eyes. "I'm not your bro man. You shot me and my brother."
"You're still at that? Let the past be the past. Now that we’re both out, we should be looking out for each other," Mark chortles.
Donghyuck shakes his head. “I never got a proper apology from you,”
Mark fidgets around trying to find a good position. "I'm sorry for shooting at you and your bro. I keep saying that I thought that maybe it was the end for us. You weren't moving and we needed to go. At least shooting at you would permit them to focus on you while I escaped."
Donghyuck turns to Mark with frisky eyes. "You fucking say that with confidence."
"I'm sorry man." Mark apologizes lowly having a smirk on his face. "Should've had your back."
"Whatever." Donghyuck mumbles and sighs out. "Anyway. I saw that address in Officer Park’s visitation book. It literally said Jeno's residence, so I assumed it's where Jeno lives."
"The apartment looks too fire for Jeno. I don’t even think he lives there.” Mark scoffs. “Then again, it wouldn’t be so bad crashing with him.”
"Your brother seems to be in good terms with the police, he occasionally speak to his Parole Officer, Officer Na. So, I don’t wanna crash there." Donghyuck shrugs his shoulders not interested in talking about Jeno. "D'you find a job yet?"
"None. I just came out last week and am not willing to go back, but my patience is wearing thin on doing things the quote on quote right way." Mark sighs. "It's why I'm out here sleeping with you in a park like a homeless kid."
"I’m actually homeless dude." Donghyuck snickers lightly.
"Nah, your mum can take you back any time. You're just choosing not to go. Stubborn."
Donghyuck scoffs. “The day I stepped into prison was the day my family and loved ones began their ‘prison’ time as well. My bad decisions caused me to be separated from my family for years. Life for my family still went on and they had to learn how to navigate through the ups and downs without me. The harsh reality of losing my freedom was that I could not truly help my loved ones in times of need compared to as if I were present. It was a bitter pill to swallow knowing that I had also sealed their fate by my own hands. When I was there with them, I felt so out of place. I don't know how many years have passed, but her and Renjun are like an oil machine. They're so tight together and it makes me feel honestly like a fuck up son and brother. A fucking loser who only goes over when he’s hungry. I..Just left." Donghyuck finds himself honestly opening up. "Life would be better if I wasn't around them. And besides, I see her at work..."
After coming out of prison, he honestly tried to get back in his mum's good books, but it seemed really pressuring. Especially with Renjun ignoring him and pretending he doesn't exist. Donghyuck could feel the tension in the air whenever he was around them and he hated that. Even though he didn't want anything to do with Mark ever again, they surprisingly found each other again. Mark came out of prison by probation and was constantly kept on a leash. So obviously when he found Donghyuck under a large oak tree in a secluded park, he knew that his friend had been staying out of trouble, and joining him wouldn’t be so bad.
“But come one man, don’t you miss having a bed?” Mark asks. “We could crash at Jeno’s place until we get some shit together,”
“You do that. He’s your brother.” Donghyuck mutters. “And judging from the fact that he hasn’t contacted you should tell you that he may not be looking forward to reuniting with you. You said you heard a chick?”
“Yeah,” Mark mumbles. “She was like, Lee Jeno doesn’t live here. But I knew she was lying,”
Donghyuck chuckles lightly. “Well if that’s the case, and he’s got a girlfriend or something, he won’t let you back in easily,”
Mark groans. “I’m his fucking brother,”
“That’s what I said about Renjun, and he hates my guts,”
“Nah that boarder jumper-”
“He’s a citizen now,”
“Wow,” Mark snickers. “Either way, he was never your brother to begin with,”
For some reason that hurts Donghyuck, because he slowly started considering Renjun as a brother and everything he did was always for his mother as well as Renjun’s wellbeing. And despite being in okay terms with his mum, he also wanted to get back on Renjun’s good books. “Well if you wanna get back with your brother, I suggest getting him to sympathize over you because if he’s anything like Renjun, he won’t let you in his house,”
“That’s some brother,” Mark shakes his head. “But it’s cool, I’ll stay with you,”
Mark doesn't want to say it, but it's evident that they only have each other. While Mark didn't want to lose the friend he had, Donghyuck wanted to stay away as far as possible from him. “I thought maybe getting myself in an accident, like breaking my arm or starving myself, would have them take me in easily. But no, they’ve got stone cold hurts. But the little I know of Jeno, if you hurt yourself he could take you in,” Donghyuck plants the seed into Mark’s head. Now he’s just hoping Mark will take the bait.
It's why before dawn, before the sun comes out of its blanket, Donghyuck awakes early and gets ready for his day by simply wearing his leather jacket. His eyes go over to Mark before getting up and heading to his day job.
His mum was kind enough to buy him 2 extra pairs of trousers as well as 2 clean shirts, and Donghyuck kept them in the school’s janitor closet. He knew it wasn’t professional, but it’s not like the school would know- since the school also offered him janitor uniform which was a grey shirt with the school’s logo and white pants. So after cleaning his face in the male washroom, he heads into the tiny janitor’s closet to change up into his work uniform. The choice in color not only made him look approachable, but it singled him out as the cleaner.
Most of the time Donghyuck didn’t have to do much cleaning since the young kindergarten students would always clean up their home room classes early in the morning. Donghyuck only had to handle the staffs’ resting room, bathrooms, hall ways and occasionally cleaning outside the jungle gym. The kindergarten school was a moderately rich school with a big yard and no other buildings around. It had students from the age of 5 to 7, and only 7 staff members (including his mum), 1 principle and 2 janitors- in total 10 workers. The school had 6 working days, so Donghyuck worked Thursday’s to Saturday. With only a number of staffs team, the school wasn’t that big, but it was decently strong in the education department of training young students. One thing Donghyuck liked about it, was that it was a private school, meaning the young students were taught much more than the average kindergartener.
Donghyuck had students politely greet him, had some helping him with picking up trash and throwing it in the bin, and even (on some rare days) shared with him some of their merit sweets. But none of the students were like the little female student known by the name of Areum.
While she was like the rest of the students, politely greeting him, helping him after school when all her friends had gone and even giving him some of her merit sweets- ever since that day that they spoke on the bench, she was attentive to him.
“Hi Mr Sunshine,” She greets in a tiny voice that echoed loudly with a big bright smile.
Donghyuck turns his head down to the little kid, just as his mother who’s walking down the hallway towards him notices the little girl. “Hey kid,” Donghyuck greets noticing she has a basket and opens it up revealing some creamy cupcakes. She digs her hand inside and picks up one with a glittery label on a toothpick that said, Mr Sunshine. Donghyuck’s brows furrow with a little smile. “What’s this?”
“Today is my birthday,” She smiles brightly.
Donghyuck takes the glittery cupcake bending his knees and crouching down to be almost at eye level with the little girl. “You’re a leap year baby? How old are you now?”
“I’m now 6 years old,”
Donghyuck tries not to laugh. “Technically, you’re 1 years old because this is the first leap year in years, but I’m not gonna judge.” She smiles. “Well happy birthday kid. Did you make for your whole class?”
She nods her head.
“You’re a very kind little girl,” Donghyuck lightly pats her head smiling before he stands up. “Thank you for making me a cupcake. I don’t have a present for you now, but I can tell you a joke,”
“Okay,” She gets excited.
“Why did the clown go to the doctor?”
“Why?” Even before Donghyuck can finish, she already starts giggling.
“He was feeling funny,” Donghyuck puts emphasis on the funny as he moves his hands in a wave manner- and of course she loses her mind and topples over while laughing. Donghyuck pats her head cautiously. “Why don’t you head on to class. The bell’s about to ring, hurry,”
“Okay, bye Mr Sunshine,” She cools down from her laugh.
“See ya,” Donghyuck gets back up and drags the rest of the cleaning supplies back into the janitor’s closet. While opening up the door and goes inside, his mother (who stopped walking to watch the interaction) begins walking to the janitor closet only for her to freeze in her steps when noticing an all too familiar face…faces.
“Areum, don’t go too quick,” The lady in a navy nurse uniform turns into the corridor and finally sees the little girl. “Hey, wait up,” She walks with one large brown bag as well as a covered cake in the other hand just as a little girl, the same little girl Donghyuck was talking to, comes over and walks alongside her.
“Sorry mummy,” She smiles. “The bell’s going to ring,”
“Don’t worry about the bell, you’re going to mess up the cupcakes and doughnuts if you run too quick,” A man, standing next to them in a police uniform smiles down at the little Areum.
“Okay, I was just excited,” She bounces up and down. “I wanna give everyone a cake already,”
“Then let’s not keep you waiting,” The man has his hands filled with several plastic bags but still managing to hold onto the little girl’s hand. Donghyuck’s mother blinks twice and has to turn away while the pair and little girl walks past her.
His mother is in shock after recognizing that the police officer was Na Jaemin and the nurse looked exactly the same as the girl that had her house broken into by her son and friends, her name was Yezi. After they pass she quickly goes into the janitor’s room but stops midway when Donghyuck pulls the door open and dusts his hands while eating and chewing on the cupcake, being surprised to see his mum.
“Mum?”
“H-hey,” She greets with a tight smile, but then grabs his arm and quickly dashes outside of the building holding him tight.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Donghyuck asks as he’s being dragged out the building. “What did I do?”
“Donghyuck, who’s that little girl that keeps talking to you?” She asks when they’re outside taking in one big breath.
Donghyuck tries to think for a second when trying to get this mum’s question. “I don’t know, Areum, why? Is it because of the cupcake? It’s her birthday and she gave me one,”
“That’s not what I’m asking, I’m asking whether you know who this girl, as in her parents?” His mother tries to calmly ask out.
Donghyuck furrows his brows and shakes his head while shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know her parents. Why? Did she get hurt?”
Donghyuck’s mother can only stare at him with wide eyes feeling her heart beat fast. Her son just got out of prison and had been doing fairly well for some weeks now. She can’t allow anything bad to happen to him. “Look,” She breathes in nervously. “This little girl, just like all the other girls and boys have parents and families who are stacked with money and power. I just want you to be careful whenever you talk or engage with them. I doubt any of them would approve that an ex prisoner is a janitor at this school, they would lose their minds. I know these people. Which is why, I’m saying this. I don’t want any problems so I’m asking you, please Donghyuck, do not- and I repeat, do not find yourself in a problematic situation involving these kids. Okay?”
Donghyuck nods head when seeing how serious his mum looks. “I won’t. I promise,”
“Especially that little girl who’s always around you.”
Donghyuck nods his head again.
“In fact, I want you to stay as far away from her.” She pats his arm slightly and heads back into the school allowing her hand to massage her neck that became slightly stiff. “I hope he listens,”
Donghyuck doesn’t even have to think of the situation, especially regarding that little girl. If his mum was warning him, it only meant that this girl had parents who would cause havoc in his new path. So continuing to eat his cupcake he walks to the corner of the building and connects the hose pipe to begin watering the grass.
Yezi has to do a double take when seeing the man. Of course she can’t see his face but his backside has her in wonder. Especially since he’s eating a cupcake.
“Are you coming?” She snaps out of her thoughts when hearing Jaemin.
“Yes I am,” She smiles when buckling her seatbelt. “I hope Areum has fun today,”
“Me too,” Jaemin notes and starts up his car. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something,”
“Sure, as long as you’re still taking me to work,”
Jaemin begins driving turning his gaze lightly to Yezi before looking back to the road. “I was taking Areum to school the other day, and noticed something weird,”
“What? She picks her nose? Tells bad puns? Laughs and talks alone? I was worried too, but dad said it’s a natural thing for kids so it’s okay.”
Jaemin’s ghost smile fades when recalling what Areum was doing. “She was...” Jaemin sighs deeply as he himself didn’t even know how to say it. The sight was unusual and made him question what was going on in her head. Yezi takes note of his chilling tone, and watches him. “She’s an odd child, but I worry about her. I know it feels like I’ve pushed the boundary between work and your family, but I really do worry about her,”
“I’m grateful that you’ve always been there for me and my family whenever we called. And ever since Areum was born you’ve almost become like family to me. So I appreciate you so much Mr Na,” Yezi acknowledges Jaemin by meekly smiling in his direction. He was 7 years older then her, but whenever looking at him she always got butterflies. Much to her family, Jaemin was just an officer, but to her- he was like her best friend. “So to have you worried about her, makes me kinda feel anxious. What’s wrong? What did she do?”
“It’s not what she did… more like where did she learn it from,” Jaemin licks his lips peeking at her. “How active are you with your boyfriend? Sexually speaking.”
The question makes her cheeks and neck glow in warmth. She even shifts in her seat trying to remain calm. “Uh, Jaehyun and I… don’t really…we haven’t gotten on that boat yet,”
That’s news to Jaemin’s ears. “Really?” Yezi nods her head. “You haven’t had any inter-”
“It’s kinda hard thinking about sex when I was raped as a child.” Yezi mutters. “Did Areum say something odd?”
“No, no,” Jaemin runs his hand through his hair. He tries to be respectful considering Yezi’s history. “I’m just asking. A-actually, tell me about him. Jaehyun.”
“Pardom?” Yezi has to blow air out of her mouth when finding the atmosphere warm and a little bit too much for her. “You hate when I talk about him,”
“That’s because he’s 9 years older than you,” Jaemin mutters covering up with a cough. “I mean, I don’t have anything against the guy other than he’s 30 and you’re 21. He’s a great guy, has a good looking face, egotistical personality-”
“Jaemin,” Yezi drags out a sigh with her smiley face. “He’s nice to me. But what does asking about him have to do with what Areum did? What did she do, tell me?” Jaemin’s nonchalant face doesn’t budge only making Yezi much more adamant. “Jaemin?”
“I’m just looking out for her,” Jaemin says. “I know you work over time, and your dad doesn’t get back until late and your mum started attending some afternoon yoga classes- but really is there no one else you can trust Areum with? Nanny even?”
“The last time I trusted a nanny, I found her hitting Areum as a form of discipline. I’m not going down the nanny line again. Plus the one’s we have at home only work for my dad and mum. They can watch Areum, but I don’t want them too. She’s my little girl and I don’t want them to pontificate her mind,”
“Come on Yezi, and Jaehyun?” Jaemin’s eyes widen. “He’s a 30-year-old man. Just because he’s got a lot of free time doesn’t-”
“I trust Jaehyun because he makes Areum happy, she doesn’t get nervous or scared around him. And because he’s older he takes his responsibilities seriously. It’s not his responsibility, but he’s passionate about her and that makes me feel some form of safety.”
“The best I can do is drop her every morning to school while you go off to work early in the mornings. If I could look after her, after school, would you allow me too?”
Yezi has an unknown sad frown on her face, but subtly nods. “She doesn’t open up much to people and with you she’s afraid because you have a gun and deal with ‘bad people’, but if it’s what you want to do, I can consider it. But you already have so much on your plate,”
“Trust me Yezi, Jaehyun’s great. But there’s something off… maybe it’s not even Jaehyun. Maybe it’s her friends at school,” Jaemin begins second doubting himself.
“Jaemin what did she do, that has you so worked up?” Yezi pleads this time feeling worried.
Jaemin sighs. “It’s not a big deal, just…” Jaemin’s eyes brighten. “What about your sister? You said she’s clean again, can’t you ask her-”
“I’m not gonna ask her until you tell me what happened with Areum?”
“Fine.” He rolls his eyes, before the nerves kick in again. How would he tell her that he caught her daughter bouncing and even dry humping herself on the backseat of his car? She would be in a frenzy state. But then again, Jaemin could be over thinking it and Areum wasn’t doing anything scandalous and he could’ve saw wrong….no he couldn’t have saw wrong for 18 weeks now. “She humps her seat every morning I take her to school.” Jaemin reveals. “And she does it excessively, like she’s trying to pleasure herself. I, I could be reading too much into it but I can’t help but wonder why she does that. I’ve tried asking her but she stops and then says nothing.”
“So, you’re suspecting Jaehyun of-”
“No, I’m not. I just.” Jaemin stops himself before finding the words. “She’s a little girl and takes things in easily. In a way, if he’s the one watching her afterschool, don’t you think she’s learning things from him? Plus I could be wrong about him, and it’s not him but instead it’s the students at her school. Maybe some male student or even the female students, I don’t know Yezi. If I’m reading too much into it, then there’s nothing wrong and it’s nothing to worry about, but if it’s something true then I think you should check on the people around her because she’s learning some bad things for her age. She just turned 6 today,”
Yezi is in silence as well as astonishment from everything Jaemin says. “Humping her seat how?”
Jaemin doesn’t say anything but then his body starts awkwardly moving back and forth before he starts bouncing lightly on his seat. The scene is erotic and has Yezi’s eyes widening. “Like that,” Jaemin says before stopping and resting back on his seat.
Yezi sharply intakes some air and looks away. Her cheeks are flushed and the tempo of her heart changes. However, for the rest of the ride, she says nothing until Jaemin reaches the hospital in which she interns in. “Have a good day,” Jaemin says, a small smile sipping onto his lips just as his eyes look guilty for causing her tension so early in the morning.
Yezi stiffly smiles and unlocks her door stepping out. She shuts the door and heads to his boot to bring out her work bad- afterwards she goes back to the window and knocks on it. “I’ll call Dae and see if she’s available. Uh, do you mind picking me up afterwards?”
“Time?”
“Half past six,”
“Sure,” He nods his head but he can’t help when asking. “Will Jaehyun be with Areum?”
She stiffly nods her head and tilts her head to the side looking anxious. “I’ll talk to him during my lunch break. Thanks for telling me.”
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For the next coming of days, Yezi is highly cautious of Areum. She tries spotting or even catching Areum when ‘humping’, but just like Jaehyun said perhaps Areum wanted to pee on those days that Jaemin picked her up. Jaehyun assured Yezi that Areum only acts like that when she really wants to use the bathroom. Her suspicion died down when Jaehyun assured her that Areum is a good girl and doesn’t know things like that- and if she did, then he would put it down immediately. And even when Yezi tried investigating by talking with teachers at her school, and with her dad and mum- they were confused by the brass topic. ‘How could she know such?’ They’d ask. Even when Yezi would hump the floor and ask Areum what was happening- Areum didn’t seem to know what her mother was talking about or even doing. So while Jaemin never brought it up again, Yezi was able to relax and hoping that indeed Jaemin might’ve seen Areum in her pressed state and in need to use the toilet.
However, for Donghyuck who constantly watches Areum rub herself on the bench when everyone’s gone gets bothered by it. Like his mother said, he tries to stay away from Areum as much as he can. But he can’t help it, when day by day it really looks scandalous. This little girl was being sexually abused and mind fucked by her uncle.
Donghyuck doesn’t know the depths of it, of how much the little girl knows, but it surely gets on his nerve every time he’d see the smirking uncle touch the girl. Areum, even though Donghyuck didn’t know her, was a sweet little girl who loved making friends with everybody. She was a little class clown who brought smiles to everyone’s faces. Donghyuck remembers when on one assembly, while the students were watching their entertainment of the week by some dancing clowns, Areum got up as well and began dancing- challenging the clowns, bringing smiles and laughter to everyone’s faces. Donghyuck even acknowledges how smart she is, from always getting golden sticker stars on her forhead to the amount of merit sweets she’d get- this tiny little girl was oblivious to the fact that she was being used by her uncle, all in the name of playing.
And so when approaching her after school past 3pm on a Thursday, he notices how tired she looks when dragging her pelvis slowly on the bench.
“Hey kid,” He pipes up with a tiny smile, causing her little drained face to meekly smile.
“Hi Mr Sunshine.” She tries smiling but she looks so tired.
Donghyuck takes a seat next to her on the bench taking a look at her. “No joke today?”
She stops humping hanging her head down.
In her lack of response, Donghyuck clears his throat speaking again. “Waiting for your uncle?”
She looks up and nods her head. Donghyuck feels strange watching her look so drained of energy before her gaze goes back to the ground. It’s silent for a little while before he speaks up again.
“Do you still play that game with your uncle?” The question itself makes Donghyuck itch the wrong way, but when Areum tenses up his face thickens with anxiety. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t like playing fuck with Uncle Jung anymore.” She murmurs out. “But he likes playing it.”
Donghyuck’s jaws lock before he tries asking another question. “Why don’t you tell your mum? Or dad?”
“Mummy likes him too much,” She answers. “And I’m scared she’ll be angry with me,”
Donghyuck finds himself feeling bad for the little girl. She must not have a father, and her mother might be a strict rich parent or something along the lines- Donghyuck thinks to himself. “I think you should tell mummy. If you tell her what uncle does to you, she’ll tell uncle to stop.”
She shakes her head timidly and looks nervous. “Uncle Jung will punish me. He told me to never ever tell mummy or else fuck will become harder,”
Donghyuck’s brows furrow in distaste. That fucker, he thinks. “How about this,” Donghyuck breathes in. “I can tell a teacher and then your teacher will tell your mum-”
“Nooo,” She shakes her head looking petrified. “Uncle Jung doesn’t like bad girls. If I’m a bad girl, he’ll punish me.”
Aside from her outburst in stress, Donghyuck can tell that something has changed in her. Whereas the first few days she looked content of the ‘game’, she now seems more reluctant. “Do you like playing that game?” He asks lowly.
Areum shakes her head before getting up from her seat when a black vehicle stops in front of them. Donghyuck is deep in his thoughts until a car comes. He bites his lip to hold back his anger, but he gets up and walks with Areum until her uncle is out the car.
“Hey puppy,” He greets with the pet name. Donghyuck’s ears are sharp when hearing the ‘happiness’ sip out of Areum. Poor little girl is so afraid that she even fakes her happiness. “She wasn’t a bother was she?”
Donghyuck’s head turns to the man and he shakes his head. “She never is. Hey uh, sir.”
“Yes?” Jaehyun peers back at the man after shutting the door when Areum gets in the backseat.
Donghyuck can’t find the words to say when looking at the little girl in the backseat. He only feels anger boiling in him. She’s trapped in the car with an abuser. “Whatever game you’re playing with her you should stop.”
Jaehyun’s head tilts to the side and he blinks. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Donghyuck turns in his step and walks back to the school.
Little does Donghyuck know when Jaehyun gets back in the car he turns back to Areum who has her head hanging low. “Areum were you a naughty girl today at school?”
Areum looks up and shakes her head.
“Are you lying to me?”
She shakes her head again.
“Does that guy know about the game?”
Areum hesitates a little and her eyes look down. Jaehyun starts his car being angered. He doesn’t say anything except plays his jam as he drives back to his house whereby he’d stay with Areum until 18h30 and take her back home. Upon getting to his house, he helps Areum undress into the spare clothes her mother left over at his house, and begins assisting her with her homework. When they’re done, he allows her to watch tv while he works on his laptop. Initially, they’d have ‘play time’, but Jaehyun is heated with anger that he denies her request of play time and goes into his room. Not long after, Areum knocks on the door and pushes it open.
“I’m sorry Uncle Jung.” Areum apologizes when standing by his door. “I won’t tell anyone again.”
Hearing that, Jaehyun exhales lowly. Recently he started doing things a little bit different with her, perhaps it was too much for her. “What did you tell him? And don’t lie to me.”
She keeps her head down, being scared to look up. “I don’t know.” She admits. “That I play fuck with you and that you touch me here.” She points to her lower part.
(You can skip this part and go straight into part 2- it's overly gruesome and i felt disgusted writing this part. I'm not projecting that Jaehyun would ever do this in real life.)
PLAY: Season 2: Part 2
Jaehyun rolls on his chair and faces her. It took him only a few conversations for him to convince Yezi that he wasn’t doing anything inappropriate with her daughter. And truly speaking he wasn’t…he only liked to show Areum how her body worked and what she should do to relieve herself. He liked to touch…and see how she liked it. Aside from that, he didn’t think that he did anything wrong. She would soon forget about it as she grew up, but for now he was aroused at how the little girl’s body worked. Despite being so young, she reacted pleasantly to all the games they’d play together. He didn’t want to stop, and he surely enjoyed himself while playing with her- if anyone else found out about this, they’d have him imprisoned. “Do you want to see me go to prison?”
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. “No Uncle Jung.”
“Do you want mummy to stop us playing together?”
She shakes her head.
“Then next time, don’t tell anyone. If you don’t like the games anymore, tell me and I’ll stop. But never ever tell anyone again, or I’ll be forced to punish you, and you don’t want to be punished right. Now come to me like a puppy if you want me to be good to you,” Jaehyun gives her a little grin before patting his thigh. She hesitantly gets on all fours and begins crawling to him. Upon getting to his feet she looks up to him sticking her tongue out looking just like a little puppy.
Jaehyun coo’s lightly and carries her over his lap before rounding his chair back to the laptop. “Did you try and relieve yourself today?”
She shakes her head. “No,”
“Bad girls don’t lie my puppy. I’ll ask one more time, did you relieve yourself today?” As Areum sits on his lap, he continues on typing out on his laptop of some orders that needed to be made from his car dealership store.
“I was trying, but I couldn’t.” She shyly admits. “Can I play on the horsey Uncle Jung?”
“I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll let you ride the horsey and then we can play okay?”
She eagerly nods her head, before Jaehyun man spreads his legs allowing Areum to scout over his crotch, she sits on his sleeping manhood and begins grinding on him slowly. Jaehyun grunts lowly and shifts his hips slightly up to give her better access. His member begins waking up when her tiny hips begins to grind faster. Areum closes her eyes, as her fingertips grip tighter onto his thighs as she feels the horsery waking up. She parts her legs a little to see the horsey bump. “Look Uncle Jung, he’s waking up.”
“He likes it,” Jaehyun mutters, now scampering to finish the package details and deals so that he can attend to Areum.
Meanwhile Areum’s body vibrates when it seems like she’s finally hit that spot that was always in need. She let’s out a cute tiny moan, just as Jaehyun hits send and shuts his laptop. “Good Girl.” He encourages when her humping weakens. “Do you wanna play the game now?”
She looks up and eagerly nods her head. Jaehyun picks her up and carries her out his study and into his room. He places her gently on the bed while he moves under the bed to pull out a box of his pleasing toys. He get’s out a pink dildo as well as pink vibrator. Areum’s eyes are already glistening with eagerness and she adjusts herself on the bed.
Jaehyun sets the toys on the bed and kneels down on the floor, pulling Areum to the edge on the bed. She smiles when he gets his hands underneath her skirt and over the strap of her panty. He slowly starts pulling them down while Areum as expected lays on the bed and bucks her hips up to help Jaehyun remove her panty quick. He lifts up her skirt, allowing him the full view and access of her tiny clean and hairless vagina. He stretches her legs seeing her it was slightly wet. He gets the lubricant and squirts out the lube.
Areum shivers by the cold slimy liquid pouring on her lower half. Even though Uncle Jung said that this liquid would help in easing his fingers inside, Areum thought it wasn’t working, since she’s been feeling so much pain. “Uncle Jung?”
Jaehyun snaps his head up being snapped out of the hypnotizing view. “Yes my puppy,”
“Please can you not put your finger inside me again. It hurts,” She mummers.
Jaehyun’s hands move up her small little legs before his thumbs play with her folds by opening and closing them. She was so beautiful, Jaehyun couldn’t wait until she became a teen, she’d have the most striking and juiciest of pussy’s. His thumbs play over her pussy lips mixing and spreading the lube everywhere. His face comes close and he looks up to her who has her eyes on the ceiling while biting her skirt that’s over her mouth. “Because you were a bad girl, I wonder what I should do to you,” Jaehyun mutters as his lips hover over her pussy. “Since you don’t want me to put my fingers… Should I eat you out?”
She disliked having him eat her, but it was better than his fingers. So when she feels warmth over her area she tenses up and squeezes her eyes shut. Jaehyun’s tongue laps over her pussy and he twirls his tongue over her little bud. He’s not soft at all when sucking in her bud and continues to rub his tongue over her whole core. She whimpers while hearing Jaehyun slurping down on her like some kind of meal. Jaehyun grips underneath her butt as he positions her closer to his devouring tongue. He makes her wrap her legs around his neck as he continues to lap at her quickly. The strawberry lubricant mixing with the slightly sweet taste of her own nectar. Jaehyun moans out, when her tiny whimpers begin to pick up and her own core pushes more into his mouth.
“Uncle Jung,” She gasps while getting closer to her edge, but like always Jaehyun stops and she’s forced to let out a whine by the unfinished arousal. Jaehyun smirks and unwraps her legs from his, his lips being wet and coated with lube and her own nectar.
“Because you were a bad girl, I won’t let you enjoy this,” Jaehyun smirks and picks up the vibrator. He switches it on watching it shiver as it begins vibrating. Jaehyun places the triangular shaped vibrating vibrator over the little whole. He carefully sticks it in- causing Areum to squeal delightfully as she bucks her hips into the vibration of the vibrator.
He places a finger over it and glides over her bud enjoying her exasperated faded stare. Since he couldn’t get it from her mother, then Areum was the next best option. Her expressions where fluid with passion. She held nothing in. She looked especially arousing that it just pushed Jaehyun over the edge a lot of the time.
Picking up the soft dildo (which he bought just for her) while his other hand holds onto the vibrator. While she gets closer and closer to her edge Jaehyun prepares himself for when he has to remove it. With one hand he places the lube over the tip of the dildo. And just as her legs shake he stops the vibration. She whimpers like a little puppy and Jaehyun smiles. “Uncle Jung,” She whines but he shakes his head with dark lustful eyes.
“If you didn’t tell, then maybe I was going to go soft on you, but because you told you’ll be punished.” Jaehyun states and directs the soft male dildo penis over her little whole. “Do you wanna ride the horsey?”
Despite being zooted out she still nods her head lazily and shuts her eyes again, preparing herself. Jaehyun prepares to place the dildo’s tip insider her like usual, but something comes over him when seeing the young girl being vulnerable with her eyes closed.
“Don’t open your eyes okay my little puppy,” At that she shuts her eyes tighter, just as he shifts himself and unbuckles his pants. Very slowly he slips his pants and boxers down before standing up and adjusting his cock that’s already rock hard. Using one hand, he places his palm over her eyes covering them from seeing anything, before groaning and grunting when setting his tip over the warm squishy hole. “Ah,” He lowly grunts. “Just the tip,” He whispers to himself, when together with the lube over her core, he gently pushes himself into her warmth.
Unlike the skinny dildo penis, his tip is slightly bigger and thicker causing her to gasp in pain. She tries to get up, but Jaehyun keeps her down, when he continues to slowly stretch up her walls and entering just the tip. He watches as his pink tip struggles to squeeze into the little girl’s hole, but he doesn’t stop as he continues on.
Areum at this point is grunting and squeezes her eyes shut her toes curling and the newfound pain. “Uncle Jung,” She barely manages to get the words out her mouth into a loud audible phrase as the pain consumes her.
What was supposed to be the tip, happened to be half of his dick slowly being riled in and out of her. Jaehyun can tell that she’s passed out because her body is non-responsive to the pain, but he’s not worried because it’s not the first time she’s passed out. And so without having to worry of whether she sees or not he removes his hands from her eyes and continues thrusting in a slow pace until her tiny whole that wraps around him invites him in to slide easily. He only places his dick by half inside of her watching the bulge form on her belly with each and every new thrust.
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PLAY: Season 2: Part 2
(i'm truly sorry for that whole scenery.)
[Taglist: @rizykim | @sexygrass | @jenjaemjam | @lvmarfc | @haechanistfriends | @markleefuckme ]
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ppangjae · 2 years
Text
(ONLY) ABOUT LOVE | Jaehyun (teaser)
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SUMMARY. If there was one person Jaehyun would vow to never forget, it would (wholeheartedly) be you. On the other hand, he just hopes that he’s someone you still (wholeheartedly) remember.
GENRE. fluff | slight angst | basketball player!jaehyun | volleyball player!reader | college!au | cinderella!au | slight childhood friends to lovers!au
PAIRING. jaehyun x fem!reader
EST. WORD COUNT. 10-15k+ words
author’s note. i’ve always wanted to write a fic with a grumpy x sunshine duo. this may not come close to such pairing (it’s honestly more of a shy x hyper duo but it is what it is), but i just wanted to experiment! i’ve also been wanting to write a sports!au... we shall take up the challenge <3
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ABOUT ME, ABOUT US, ABOUT LOVE.
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Within the deepest and most hidden places of your heart, you’ve always been aware of how you felt about Jaehyun. You’ve always been aware of how your heart beats for him, how your hands grew clammy because of him, and how you always felt different (a good different) around him. But you never thought of bringing it up to him or confessing your feelings for him, simply because no matter how confident you seemed to others, there was always that sliver of doubt within you. But standing with him in the middle of a basketball court just minutes before midnight, with his jacket gently draped over you and your hands shyly brushing against each other, that sliver of doubt gradually shrinks in size. 
“Do you think I can do it?” Jaehyun is the first one to break the comforting silence you both shared. Slightly confused, you look up at him, pondering him to continue. “A half court shot.”
Tearing your gaze away from him, you notice that you’re both standing right in the middle of the court. A half court shot. When the two of you were still teenagers, you and Jaehyun would always stick around at the basketball court until the sun was replaced by the moon. You’d often get in trouble for staying out so late, but it was always worth it because you enjoyed spending time with him. You would always ask Jaehyun to make a half-court shot before you both call it a night. He would never make a successful half-court shot, but he always promised you that one day, he would. And he made sure that you would be the first one to see it. Many years later, you’re sure that he’s already made his first successful half-court shot, especially with him being a young basketball prodigy. 
“I’m sure you can,” you smile, “especially with all of the half-court shots you’ve probably made.”
He glances at you, eyes sparkling. “I’ve never made a successful half-court shot before.”
“Oh?” You’re genuinely surprised. “Interesting. Even after all these years? Not even one?”
He shakes his head. “Not even one. But I think I’ve had a lot of practice to get it this time. In front of you. Just like how I promised.”
“You… remember that?” Your eyes meet his. “By that I mean, the promise?”
“How could I forget?” 
Remembering a promise was nothing for him. Remembering a promise was nothing compared to remembering you. If there was one person Jaehyun would vow to never forget, it would (wholeheartedly) be you. It was unfortunate that you left just as quickly as you entered his life. But here you are again, and the feelings have never changed. 
You look away from Jaehyun, afraid that he would pick up your flusteredness. Jaehyun looks down at your hands. He’s aching to grab and hold yours, but he’s unsure of how you feel about him. He would rather sit back and admire you from afar than be rejected and push you farther away from him. But tonight… tonight he feels different. 
“If I make this shot…” He clears his throat. As he’s bending down to pick up the basketball court, you finally return to facing him. He’s dribbling the ball a couple of times to get a feel of it. He’s adjusting his stance and making sure his feet are planted perfectly on the ground. Courageously, he takes the leap by looking at you and mumbling, “then you have to give me a kiss.”
With eyes widening, you hesitate to protest. A kiss? Would it be a kiss without meaning? What are his intentions? Your mind starts like an engine to a car, your thoughts being the gas that pushes it to move forward. Before you could utter a reply, he flashes you a wide smile and makes the shot. Everything around you seems to slow down and all of your focus shifts towards the basketball that’s soaring midair. 
Jaehyun watches the basketball with such an intense gaze, wishing and hoping it would go in the hoop. Your heart begins to pick up its pace, also hoping that the basketball would go in the hoop. As the basketball grows closer to the hoop, the stronger you feel Jaehyun’s presence beside you. Your arms are lightly brushing against each other, sparking the connection you both always had. Jaehyun feels his body tense up when the basketball bounces on the rim of the hoop. He’s almost afraid that the basketball won’t go through the hoop. As the basketball bounces along the rim of the hoop a couple of times, the tension that he feels slowly transforms into a surge of adrenaline. 
You hold your breath.
Jaehyun takes your hand.
The basketball goes through the hoop.
The adrenaline rush that you’re both experiencing reaches its peak. You turn to face Jaehyun who’s smile widens more and more when his hands let go of yours to caress your cheeks. Before you could say something, he pulls you in and presses his soft, plump lips against yours. Your hands make their way around his waist, fisting at the ends of his sweater to pull him closer than he already is. 
At this very moment, everything feels mutual. Feelings seem to be reciprocated. Curious thoughts are given answers. Connections are re-sparked time and time again. Minds and hearts are united. 
And you’re both aware that you both don’t want this to end.
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author’s note. i’m not sure how this sports!au fic will turn out, but we shall give it a shot! (haha, no pun intended) sjkdhfskjdhf let’s see how this will turn out, shall we? 
RE: TAGLIST — if you would like to be a part of the taglist, you know the drill :-) reply to THIS post so that you will be included in the taglist for this fic!
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