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justanotherwriter243 · 2 years

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Carnation (prt2) - Han Seojun X Reader

A/N: hi :] thank u for waiting for me. once again, this piece is from the kdrama “True Beauty”, as well as a continuation of the first part (linked below). Feel free to message me if u have a question, if u’d like to kno more about the story, or just wanna talk :D. mwah

Summary: You and Seojun reunite at school.

Disclaimer: i’m using the names from webtoon but im following the kdrama timeline. im not caught up w the webtoon. i’m not fluent in hangul. no use of y/n. gn reader.

Warnings: spoilers for ep.8 thru the rest of the season essentially, read at ur own discretion. swearing, mutual pining, right person/wrong time, bad flower knowledge. mentions of suho/jugyeong.

Word count: 10k

prt 1 <- prt 2 -> epilogue

----

Time had passed since that weekend in the snow.

Though, your voice still echoes in Seojun’s mind.

Seojun hadn’t expected to see you so soon after your last encounter, and in his homeroom nevertheless. You, in the Saebom High uniform. Blazer unbuttoned and sweater vest neatly tucked into your bottoms. With one backpack strap on as you walked through the door, walking across the large windows, sun casting its rays onto you. You, who sat two seats in front of Suho and smiled widely as you greeted your friends. Eyes sparkling as you told them about your weekend. His breath had practically been taken from him.

Seojun came to the realization then that he didn’t pay much attention to the people he attended school with. He regretted it. Reminiscent of all the time he had wasted not getting to know you. Seojun had promised himself he wouldn’t let you be just another classmate he never truly got acquainted with. Up until recently, he had meant that completely platonically. As platonic as sneaking glances in between classes in the hallway could be.

That was until the class’ trip to the countryside. Wherein he decided he has to let Jugyeong go, gathering the kiss she and Suho shared on the trip. He knew where he stood with her and his feelings. Seojun had decided it was for the better. Besides, it had led him to discover his blossoming feelings for you. Perhaps it was the way you cheered for him when he went up to sing for their class on stage. Or the way you offered your sour flavored gummies to him on the bus.

Back then, as everyone was boarding the bus, you had noticed the gloomy look on his face. He ended up sitting next to Jugyeong, but the look remained etched onto his face. You figured if he was going to frown at something, you’d rather it be from a bittersweet candy on his tongue than a girl whose bad mood reflected his own. Maybe they had fought, maybe they were just tired. But as you leaned over the middle of the bus, holding onto the seat in front of you for support, and stretched your arm to tap on Seojun’s shoulder--you couldn’t deny the satisfaction of getting the skin in between his brows to relax, even if only for a minute.

In the time that had passed, both of you remained friendly. Eyes meeting in class and softening slightly. Low murmurs deep enough to rumble in one's chest in passing ‘hello’s’’. You did occasionally feel guilty, though. Rumors had spread about Jugyeong and Seojun being in a secret relationship. You, not understanding the circumstances, in turn, tended to not read too much into your interactions with the boy. He was just being nice, you figured. It was better this way.

Seojun, on the other hand, had been under the impression that you and Seung-joon had been dating. The number of times the two of you had been spotted together was increasing. As well as the amount of teasing from your friends.

In reality, you hadn’t made much progress with Seung-joon. That first weekend that you had met up with Seung-joon hadn’t exactly gone to plan. By the time you had found Seung-joon, it was hardly snowing anymore. More of a light drizzle than anything. Yet, the two of you sat on a cold bench anyway. Watching the dark clouds drift off and the sun appear once more. In school, he was often busy playing on the basketball team, and you were busy with the school choir. Since your schedules never overlapped, you only saw him outside of school. You frequently found yourself going to Seung-joon when you truly wanted to be with Seojun. Which only piled onto the guilt you felt.

Now, Seojun and you sat in class. Both actively resisting the urge to make your way to one another. Sitting patiently in your assigned seats as you waited for class to begin.

“Don’t look now, but Seojun is totally checking you out,”

Your head turns without a thought. In the corner of the classroom sits Seojun, one leg hanging over the other. His arms are splayed lazily on his desk, and his eyes are glued to you. A blush brushes his cheeks when your eyes meet. And yet, he doesn’t turn away.

You’re not blind to his staring. Honestly, it’s hard to be. You just question when his eyes wandered away from Jugyeong and found their way to you. Your friend pinches your thigh.

“I said don’t look,” your friend scolds you.

“Am I not allowed to glance around the classroom?” You tilt your head playfully, giving her a snarky response.

“Not when Seojun is looking at you like that,” she’s just as snippy.

“Like what? He’s just being friendly,” you shrug.

“No way,” she’s leaning forward now, voice close to a whisper, “he’s totally into you!”

You roll your eyes. Annoyed at the way your heart skips a beat at the thought. You take a peek at the back of the classroom once more, and find his eyes are still on you. You offer him a smile and his lips quirk in an awkward smile. He quickly offers a poise bow of his head and fixes his eyes elsewhere immediately afterward.

When you turn back to your friend she has a wide smirk on her face. You glare in return.

“Do you think that because you have a boyfriend now more guys will approach you?” She teases you but you don’t find the humor in it.

“Who said I had a boyfriend?” the way your voice drops tells her it's serious.

The smirk begins to fade from her face. She opens her mouth to say something but quickly closes it when she can’t find the words. She glances off to the large window to your left, searching for answers in the clouds. The gears turn in your head.

Before you can reach a proper conclusion, Mr. Han walks through the door and is starting class. Your friend jerks her body towards the front of the classroom, successfully saving herself. Your teacher begins class by saying good morning. You can make Seojun’s voice out through the chorus of monotone students. The usual conversation starts up within the class. Students don’t want to study, Mr. Han makes an agonizing attempt to cheer everyone up, and everyone cringes at the corniness.

Unsatisfied with your classmate, you lean forward and whisper as loudly as you can without getting caught. Letting her know that you are not done with the conversation.

“Did Seung-joon say something?” you ask her and her head slowly turns back to you.

Her face is distressed as she wonders if it’s the right idea to say something. Mr. Han is going on about choosing students to assign the weekly cleaning to. Everyone avoids his eyes.

“Well,” she finally speaks out, “I just heard around that you two went out,”

“Heard from who?” You’re stubborn and she’s lavishly regretting bringing up the topic.

“Just some upperclassmen,” she shrugs it off, “I’m sure the whole class heard about it, it’s not a big deal or anything--”

“Seojun,” Mr. Han’s voice echoes through the classroom. It lulls your conversation.

Seojun, whose eyes had previously been glued to your frame, is surprised when Mr. Han is singling him out. Eyes wide and searching the board for some sort of clue as to why he was being addressed in front of the entire classroom. Mr. Han is staring at him expectedly. When he doesn’t answer, the rest of his classmates’ heads start to turn.

Yours included. Wondering how Mr. Han had voiced your thoughts.

Seojun, you wondered. Had he heard the rumor, too? Did he think you and Seung-joon were dating? Did he know Seun-joon was the one you were meeting that day? Did he suspect he ruined that date?

You turn your head to view him, waiting for him to answer Mr. Han. He’s panicking, though, and you can tell he wasn’t listening to the discussion either. Your eyes meet once more and he stumbles over his words.

“What was the question?” His eyes are blinking in confusion.

A few students chuckle at his puzzlement. A sigh is heard from Mr. Han.

“You’ve got cleaning duty today, do you have a problem with that?”

Once Seojun processes the question, his instincts take over. He cooly tilts his head and winces.

“Ah, I do,” he lies, “Cram school, unfortunately,”

Seojun didn’t go to cram school. He did, however, have to pick up some medicine for his mom to help with the recovery of her most recent surgery. Unluckily for him, the pharmacy is an unyielding 20-minute walk in the opposite direction of his home. It’s times like these Seojun regrets giving up his motorcycle.

“That’s alright. Studying is important, after all,” Mr. Han wearisomely nods his head at the excuse, “we’ve got a quiz coming up,”

The class groans at the words. Their morning is burdened with the reminder of yet another grueling quiz that’ll only deter them further from pursuing higher education. And, though Mr. Han has accepted the excuse, he’s giving Seojun a warning look.

Briefly, you wonder if this has happened more than once. Wonder if while you’ve been distracted by Seojun’s drama and dating rumors, you’ve completely missed him dodging every academic duty that’s been thrown his way. Irritation blooms in your chest at the thought, and you realize you’ve never once seen Seojun get cleaning duty. His leave of absence suddenly makes you think.

“Any volunteers to take Seojun’s place?”

While Mr. Han is distracted again, you address your friend once more, needing more information.

“What did you hear about Seung-joon and me?”

She’s disappointed at the way you haven’t dropped the subject yet but knows now more than ever you won’t stand down. Hesitatingly, she tells you what she knows.

“Students were saying that Seung-joon was going to ask to be your boyfriend, but judging by your reaction I’m guessing he . . . “ the words die off.

You shake your head at your friend. Sure, the two of you hung out, but neither of you had taken it to the next step. Seojun had prevented you from doing so, and you’re sure Seung-joon noticed your hesitancy. Leaving you on a plateau of confusing, mixed-up emotions.

Mr. Han’s attention goes to your side of the classroom. Obviously taking note of your chatter.

“Suho, take Seojun’s place, will you?”

Suho, sitting a couple seats behind you, politely nods. Everyone else in your section lets out a sigh of relief having not heard their own names, you included.

“And one more student,” Mr. Han pretends to think before your name flies out of his mouth, “You two should be fine, yes?”

You don’t have time to react because another voice cuts through the classroom.

“No!” Seojun rises from his seat, chair squeaking as he does so. The class turns to him at the sudden outburst. The panic is evident on Seojun’s face as he searches for a way to fix his mistake.

“ . . . way,” he finally says, “No way, today is Monday,” He feigns surprise. Eyebrows rising and eyes nervously blinking.

“Thank you, Seojun, you may take your seat now,” Mr. Han says.

“It’s Monday, and I just remembered that I don’t have cram school on Mondays,” Seojun finally reaches a conclusion, sitting down awkwardly.

“What kind of cram school doesn’t start on Mondays?” Hyunkyu, the bowl-cut-haired man, challenges him. Seojun resists the urge to get back up and smack him hard enough to knock off his glasses.

“Which means, I can totally stay after school today to clean up,” he gestures towards you, “We both can,”

The pharmacy doesn’t close until 7 anyway, and the dusk sky looks prettier after he’s spent his day staring at you.

Mr. Han scratches the back of his neck, “Alright, Seojun and--”

“Mr. Han,” you squeak out, one hand raised slightly in an attempt to remain polite, “I hate to do this, I really do, but I’ve actually got choir practice today--”

Mr. Han cuts you off with a sigh, hands covering his face in exaggeration. Remembering the predicament you’ve told him about before. The class stills in fear that he’ll have an outburst. The silence is louder than ever as Mr. Han stays hidden behind his hands.

“Sorry,” you manage.

His hands drop and he shakes his head, “I should’ve done a better job at knowing your guys’ schedules. I am your homeroom teacher, am I not?” Nobody responds.

“Suho and Seojun will have cleaning duty today, that’s final,”

----

Suho is nowhere to be seen. It’s not too long after dismissal now, most students heading home or chatting with classmates as they walk the same way. And Seojun ends up in his homeroom classroom by himself.

Seojun thinks maybe Suho is avoiding him. Perhaps he finally got the courage to disobey Mr. Han, and decided not to show. Hell, Suho is probably with Jugyeong at the moment, spending time together behind closed doors. A more commonly occurring thing now that the two were secretly seeing each other. This left Seojun alone, standing in the back of the classroom, shoving dusty science textbooks into an equally unkempt bookshelf.

Time moves far too slow for his liking and the endless list of tasks seemingly gets longer. The ticking of the clock makes his frustration rise. As the long hand ticks 15 marks forward, Seojun has to face the reality that Suho isn’t showing up any time soon, and he’ll most likely end up cleaning the entire classroom on his own. At this rate, he could probably make it to the pharmacy before it closes, but he’d get home not too long after the sun lays to sleep for the day. He grumbles at the thought.

Seojun’s strategy to combat said thought is simple. It goes like this; Stack as many of the same books together as he can, grab them all at once, and slide them into the corresponding shelf as quickly as he can. This is the most efficient way, he decides. He makes a show of squatting as he grabs a new pile.

“Need some help with that?” You stand at the back doorway of the classroom. Your hand is gripping one strap of your backpack, a habit Seojun now picked up on with how often he looked for you when you’d walk to your seat. Which he had memorized the day he first noticed you, making note of your friendliness towards your classmates. Smiles across the board when you’d greet them all. Even Suho sparing you a nod. It made Seojun’s insides itch.

Your voice startles Seojun. It makes him turn too fast, causing his grip to loosen mid-transfer. He’s nearly dropping the textbooks. You’re quick to rush to him, though. Your feet glide across the floor and your hands fly up to stabilize the texts. You reach him just in time.

The position is awkward, though. The mound of books is tilted. Corners of books stick out uncomfortably and are on the verge of slipping out of the stack. Seojun’s hands desperately hold onto the books. Your hands are adjacent to his. Clutching where you can so you don’t drop anything, elbows stretched as you try to cover more room.

In the heat of the moment, your body has pressed itself as close as it can to the books. The rough corners press into your skin anywhere it sees fit. The same goes for Seojun. The only thing that separates you two is a cluster of An Introduction to Calculus. You knew there was a reason you disliked calculus so much.

Seojun’s pupils are blown wide and his mouth is parted. You can’t help but stare at the hair that reaches the back of his neck. It’s almost nostalgic being this close to him again. Memories of the cold that brushed your skin that afternoon, what felt like eons ago. Fingers tight and shaking to grip him closer.

He catches you staring and embarrassment floods your veins. You pull away, forgetting the mess you’re tangled in. This results in the books slipping out of place.

Seojun’s eyes widen almost comically. You realize your mistake and attempt to catch what you still can. Both you and Seojun lean down at the same time in an attempt to catch them, knocking heads in the process. You both recoil and your efforts are to no avail. The math textbooks hit the floor with loud thuds.

Maybe nostalgia is just that. Feelings of reminiscence to bring back the hammering of your heart that serve you no true purpose. You rub your forehead in defeat and avoid his eyes.

“Sorry,” you say, swallowing, “I didn’t mean to startle you,”

“It’s okay,” His own hand is rubbing at his forehead,

“What are you doing here?”

His directness catches you off guard. This was not the same Seojun that had blushed when you caught him staring this morning.

“I told Suho I would come,” And here Seojun thought Suho had finally gained some guts, “But then I got caught up in convincing my choir club to let me leave early. They all thought I was meeting with Seung-joon,”

At the mention of him, Seojun visibly deflates.

“--But I told them you were waiting for me,” you finally look at him, “And they finally let me leave,”

Seojun tries to not let your words affect him so much. He nods as he processes your words.

“I felt bad for leaving you stuck with Suho. Not that I don’t like Suho, or--or that you don’t like Suho. You two just don’t--” you stop yourself, “I just didn’t think it was fair for me not to do my part in cleaning,”

Seojun’s eyes are soft when you look at them. His face is relaxed and oddly comforting. You can’t help the way your heart rate picks up.

“Shall we get to it then?”

----

You move towards the podium at the front of the classroom, having finished putting the textbooks away as well as dusting the shelf. On the podium sits a small potted plant. Green has sprouted and you can see a hint of yellow where the flower will bloom. The soil stares at you expectantly. You spot a spray bottle on the inside shelf of the podium and grab it quickly. You’re not sure where to start but you decide to go for it. How hard could it be to water some plants, right?

The ‘pshh’ of the water makes Seojun look up from where he’s scraping gum off a desk. You try to ignore him as you aim haphazardly for the soil. It’s pointless as Seojun gets up from where he’s crouching and makes his way to the podium. He reaches you and carefully examines your actions. You look up at him, waiting for whatever he wants to say.

“May I?” his hands go up to yours, you assume he wants the bottle from you. You give him the go-ahead and start to hand him the bottle. Seojun doesn’t grab it, though. Instead, he cups his hands over yours and carefully guides the nozzle. He moves in closer to do so, his shoulder nudging with yours. You’re surprised at how natural his hands feel against yours.

“Tulips don’t need very much water,” he carefully examines the soil to see what parts are moist, “if it gets too soggy, it’ll rot”

He guides your finger to spray softly on the soil. You’re all too aware of the way his body fits next to yours.

“How do you know it’s a tulip?” you narrow your eyes and he simply uses one hand to point at where the flower is sprouting.

“The bulb,” he gives you no further explanation.

In the corner of the room, your phone goes off with a notification. The ding rings loudly in the quiet classroom. It startles you and makes you pull your hands away from his. Leaving the spray bottle in his hands.

Guilt starts to pound at your chest. You feel as if the two of you have been caught. You know it’s Seung-joon checking up on you. Yet, you don’t move to check it. Seojun glances at you, but when you don’t say anything, he decides to do the same. Paying it no attention as he focuses on the plant in front of you two.

Seojun delicately holds the long, green stem of the plant as he sprays water with his opposite hand. You watch with careful eyes as he does so, trying not to let awkwardness overtake the room. His eyes are squinted in concentration and his focus is on the potted plant. You appreciate his attentiveness.

It becomes clear to you that Seojun isn’t as intimidating as the entire school has made him out to be. Surely, he hadn’t been kicked out of school. He isn’t a gangster who gets expelled for starting fights or getting into trouble outside of school. No, he’s a teenager with an oddly large amount of knowledge of flowers. One who knows enough about greenery to tell apart nonflowering tulips and daisies, you’re sure. A young man whose only worry in the world is ensuring this very tulip gets the right amount of hydration. You think about asking him about it.

“I guess you know a lot about flowers,” you say.

Seojun’s vigilance is broken and you half regret speaking. He looks at you, lowering the spray bottle. His eyelashes look pretty from here. You panic.

“I just mean with how often you bring--”

He lets out a chuckle. Your heart skips a beat. His lips settle into a gentle smile as he lowers his body to take a closer look at the soil.

“I like to think I’m coming close to an expert,” there’s a teasing undertone in his voice and it makes you scoff.

He looks up at you and you can’t handle his long eyelashes blinking at you like that. You fail to bite back a smile so you attempt to hide it by looking away from him. He notices, though. You click your tongue.

“I wouldn’t have said it if I knew it’d feed your ego so much,” you tease back but he shakes his head.

“Ms. Yoon is the flower expert,” you meet his gaze as he explains. “She owns the flower shop I go to. That woman knows everything about botany. She’s taught me all I know. From how much sunlight a plant should get to the significance of gifting different types of flowers,”

Your mouth falls open and an ‘ah’ with it. He surely must have known what giving you carnations insinuated, then. Perhaps it's why he blushed so hard that day. You find yourself nodding as he goes on.

“If not for her,” his eyes flick back and forth at nothing in particular, “I would have killed any plant I’ve come in contact with,”

You imagine Seojun entering a flower shop. The sight is almost laughable. Probably overwhelmed as he takes in all the different colored petals that surround him. Eventually working up the courage to ask an older woman in an apron for help. A blush spreading across his cheeks as he asks what kind of flowers would be best to congratulate someone.

Your thoughts are brought back to reality as Seojun sighs deeply. Looking at the soil once more.

“You should have more faith in yourself,” you scold him.

He looks back at you with raised eyebrows. Your words contradict what you said earlier about feeding his ego. He stands easily and his presence overshadows yours.

“I have no trouble being confident in myself,” his teasing returns, “Now, we should let this soak.”

He sets down the spray bottle onto the podium. Then walks back to the desk he was working on, crouches, and starts scraping at the sticky substance under it again. You wonder again about him.

“You know, if I’m being honest,” you’re saying the words before you can give them a second thought, “I didn’t think you liked me all that much,”

Seojun’s head shoots up, his face filled with puzzlement.

“Why would you think that?”

You pick up a rag and head towards the windows, trying to distract yourself. Seojun keeps a steady gaze on you. You look away, his full attention too much for you. Embarrassment creeps up your neck when you realize you have to respond.

“Well, it’s just that,” you start wiping down the windows, “with how we ran into each other at the mall, and earlier in class today, I just kind of figured—“

“I do like you,”

Your hands freeze in place. The way the words sound on his tongue is enticing. And you find yourself enjoying them more than you think you should.

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” you swallow hard, “people will get the wrong idea,”

You do your best to naturally fall back into the work. Though it’s awkward, you continue. A particularly cloudy spot on the window gives you trouble. You use all your force to scrub at it.

“So? You’re Gowoon’s friend, we should get along,” So he had recognized you.

Gowoon and you were friendly, sure, but not enough for Seojun to have the need to be familiar with you.

“Yeah, Gowoon’s friend,” you grumble.

Gowoon’s friend. Gowoon. Not Seojun’s. Not Seojun’s friend because of course, you aren’t friends. You’ve barely had three conversations together if that. Being in the same class doesn’t automatically make you two close. Neither does what happened at the mall during the first snowfall. What happened at the mall was a coincidence. A mistake; a distraction. A distraction like the stupid stain on the window that isn’t going away no matter how hard you--

Water hits the window. It has you freezing. You’re surprised as you turn to face the perpetrator. Seojun holds the spray bottle from earlier and you can see regret creep onto his face for the second time since you’ve conversed with him. He had finished scraping under the desks.

“Thanks,” you mumble as you finally rub the spot out.

His gaze lingers on you briefly before spraying the next window pane. He’s gentle in the way he holds his own rag, Spritzing and letting the liquid drip before running the damp rag along the glass. The way his tough demeanor falls as he wipes the window has you thinking back to your thoughts at the beginning of class that day. You figure there’s no harm in asking. This way, you can confirm your suspicion.

“Can I ask you something?” You don’t bother to stop your thoughts now.

“Sometimes I speak without thinking,” he interrupts.

You’re surprised when a loud laugh leaves you. Seojun finds relief in it.

“Not what I was going to ask, but I’m glad you’re self-aware,” you relish in the playfulness while you still can, “Actually, I was going to ask you something a little more serious. This might not be my place to ask—and you don’t have to answer if you don’t . . . “

You trail off as his face falls. Like he knows what you’re going to ask. Which you think is impossible because you can hardly collect your thoughts enough to get a sentence out. Still, he looks at you as if he can read your thoughts. Seriousness falling onto his features.

“How come you’ve never had cleaning duty before,”

You both know that’s not what you’re asking. You know why he’s never had cleaning duty before. It’s because before he hardly went to school enough to be assigned to it. Even now that he was consistent with coming to school, he always found a way to weasel out of most extracurricular activities that required him to stay any longer than the average school day.

It couldn’t be what everyone said it was. That he ran around with sketchy people, beating others up and challenging students from other schools with bad reputations. There was no way Seojun could hurt a fly with the way he handled the bulbing plant. Wiped at the window. Scraped at gum, even. Motions as smooth as rocking waves, careful not to scratch the desk. The way his warm hands passed you textbooks. Fingers sweeping against yours. Bracelet shining when it caught the light--

“Gowoon’s always been better at the school thing,” he finally says, chewing on his cheek, “And I’ve always been better at taking care of our mom,”

Seojun hates the way pity fills your eyes. It’s the way everyone looks at him after they find out the truth about all his absences. Sadness combing over their body and sympathy filling their words. He half regrets the words leaving his mouth, that is until you reach up and squeeze his arm.

“Sometimes,” you speak, not quite sure if you’re going to say the right thing, but trying regardless, “the world throws things at us,” You’re not meeting his gaze, “And we can’t do anything about it except face it and bare our teeth. It’ll be painful and heart-wrenching. And it’ll feel like no one can understand what you’re going through. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through it alone,”

The moment your eyes meet his, Seojun’s breath leaves him. He feels a sudden rush of fear. Fear at the way your words comfort him more than anyone else’s ever have. Even Gowoon's and his mom’s. Maybe it’s precisely because they’re coming from you and not anyone else. The fear yanks him by his neck and makes his heart speed up. He’s overcome with the thought of kissing you, and it terrifies him.

Seojun thinks back to this morning when he saw you enter his homeroom. He couldn’t help but stare, then, at the sun-kissed skin that he caught flashes of behind your collared shirt. Swallowing as he remembered how close you two had gotten that day outside the mall. Enough so that he could smell your perfume through the humid air. It was sweet and alluring. It fit you well. If Seojun concentrated hard enough right now, he’s almost certain he’d be able to smell it again.

Seojun is afraid at the thought. He quickly takes a step back, causing you to drop your hand.

“I know,” he brushes it off, “I--thank you,”

Your brows furrow sweetly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“It’s okay,” he’s quick to reassure you, “My mom--she’s--she’s better now. She spent some time at the hospital and is recovering well,”

Relief floods your system.

“That’s good!” you’re too loud, “That’s great, um, must be why you returned to school, huh?”

You feel silly at your previous attempt to comfort him. He didn’t need to go through things alone, of course, he didn't. He has actual friends and family, after all. Gowoon and Jugyeong, Chorang—

You self consciously run your fingers through the rag still in your hands. Mind whirling through ways to make conversation.

“Yeah,”

Don’t let the conversation die. Don’t let the conversation die. Don’t let the conversation--

“Oh,” you speak, “that must be why you visited that flower shop to begin with,”

His eyes are narrowing and his lips quirk up.

“That and I wanted to congratulate Gowoon for making the choir club,”

You’re startled at the way his tone turns into a light, feathery one.

“Sorry, I guess sometimes I speak without thinking, too,”

Now, it’s his turn to laugh loudly.

----

The sun makes its way lower and lower as you and Seojun finish cleaning up the classroom. Double-checking books and gathering up all the trash as you two work in comfortable silence. The only thing left on the list is to lock up and properly dispose of the two garbage bags sitting in the corner of the room. You’re a little sad to see your time together is coming to an end. You stall by going over the to-do list, humming as you pretend to think.

“I think that’s all for today,” you sigh out.

Seojun comes in close and examines the list over your shoulder.

“Guess so,” his voice rings in your ear.

Your hands tightly clutch at the clipboard that holds the list, bare nail beds on display. Your thumb brushes over the paper, self consciously.

“Should we take out the garbage--?” you’re asking, turning your head over your shoulder to look at Seojun. His face is much closer than you anticipated, nose mere inches from yours. You’re both surprised by the sudden invasion of space. The two of you quickly pull back, embarrassed.

“Sure,” he mutters.

Both you and Seojun gather your things in silence.

“Alright, let’s go,” He makes a beeline for the exit, grabbing one of the bags as he does so. You rush to grab the other garbage bag and lock up the classroom. You have to jog a little to catch up to him, already nearing the end of the hallway.

“Is your boyfriend not walking you home today?” he says it nonchalantly, but the fact he’s noticed Seung-joon says he’s been paying attention to the two of you. You make your way down the stairs.

“My boyfriend?”

“Yeah, that guy,” he grips the bag tightly, “What’s his name, Seung-min?”

A smile spreads across your lips. It’s ironic. Considering all that differentiated their names was a single character, you found it hard to believe he didn’t know Seung-joon’s name. A little round circle that effectively changes the way your tongue shapes the words. A mere consonant separates the two boys.

“Seung-joon doesn’t walk me home, just to the bus station,” you state calmly, “And he isn’t my boyfriend,”

“Isn’t he?” Seojun attempts to speak in an indifferent tone, but his face betrays him.

“No,” your response is immediate as you reach the bottom of the stairs, slowing when you’re unsure of which hallway to walk down. Seojun makes the decision for you when he turns left. The longer way, you note.

“Don’t you two spend most of your time together?”

“Not necessarily,” You speak carefully, “He’ll walk with me when he can and texts me throughout the day,”

“Why don’t you tell me what you think a boyfriend is supposed to do,” Seojun is teasing you now. Glancing at you way too often for him not to care, you think.

You‘re rolling your eyes lightheartedly. Shaking your head, you explain.

“Just because we text doesn’t mean we’re dating. Dating someone is more than that. It’s going out of your way to make time for them. It’s listening and communicating with one another. Someone who is comforting, but still scares you a little.“

Seojun chuckles at the thought.

“Seriously! Someone whose name gets you excited. Makes you feel–”

“Safe,” Seojun finishes.

Heat rushes through your body as you force yourself down from your soapbox. You reach the end of the hallway and turn a corner.

“Yeah,” you mutter quietly, the back exit door getting closer and closer.

Though you’re embarrassed, you have to admit that you don’t want your time with Seojun to end.

“Seung-joon,” you hesitate, treading ahead decisively, “He doesn’t do the things he does because he feels that way,”

“Has he told you that?”

“He doesn’t have to,”

You pause to walk out the single exit door. You go through first and hold the door for Seojun, he simply looks at you. Staring from the other side of the doorway. The air is fresh and you try not to shiver as he does so.

“What?” You ask him, tightening your own grip on the garbage bag.

“Is Seung-joon the one who called you that day?” That day at the mall, weekends ago.

You hesitate, but answer with a soft, “yeah,”

“And he’s been texting you,” he tilts his head toward your backpack, where your phone resides. Referring to earlier when your phone had gone off.

“Yeah,” you echo.

“Maybe you should have more faith in yourself,” the line repeated at you sounds foreign.

He smoothly walks out of the building and makes his way toward the large trash can towards the back of the building. Leaving you holding the door, staring dumbfounded.

“What do you mean?” You jog to catch up to him, the garbage bag rattling in your hand.

You’re reaching the dumpsters all too quickly. Seojun lifts the lid of one and swings his bag up and into it. Then, he turns to you, hand-stretched out expectantly. Your face is heating up as it takes you a second to realize he’s asking for your own garbage bag.

“Is it that unlikely that he likes you?” He says as he disposes of the bag.

“Nobody’s ever shown interest before,” you tell him, and he looks back at you with his eyebrows raised. Almost like he’s saying, “Really?”.

Maybe he had seen the way boys flocked at your feet. Maybe he had made notice of your friendliness. Maybe he was curious about you. Your knees nearly buckle at the thought. You shrug, kicking at your feet as you realize you’ll have to say goodbye soon.

“Not seriously, at least,”

He hums at that, eyes narrowing.

“Is someone picking you up?” He asks, hands in his pockets, wanting to move on.

“No, I take the bus,” you tell him, “is someone picking you up?”

He shakes his head, lips pursed pensively.

“Shall I walk you?”

“Which way are you walking?”

You both flush. You point first in the direction you're going. Seojun’s house is the opposite way. However, it’s the very course Seojun must walk to the pharmacy. Down the narrow path that wraps around the school. Towards the front. There, a bus station sits two blocks down the road from the main entrance. As you both begin to walk that way, you enter a passageway with high walls and hardly enough walking space for one person.

But instead of Seojun staying behind or walking in front of you, he stays close by your side. It makes your arms rub uncomfortably, but it brings you warmth so you stay like that.

“I’d give you a ride on my motorcycle, but I stopped driving it,” he rubs his neck sheepishly, scrunching up his long arm to reach.

“Oh, that’s right,” you recall, “because of your girlfriend,”

Your statement is meant to be teasing, but you can’t help the slight jealousy that leaks from it. Seojun quickly turns to you, stunned at how you know that.

“Who--?”

“You kinda gave her your keys in front of the entire class,”

You remember the day, long ago, Seojun walked into class and dropped his keys on Jugyeong’s desk, rumors quickly spreading as she tried to return them. The whole school speculated over them.

“Oh,” he remembered, “right,”

His eyes glance at your side, trying to read you.

“She’s not my girlfriend, though,” he told you and you hum in disbelief, “Really--my mom just asked her to look after me,”

He’s digging his own grave. Seojun can tell you don’t believe him, so he goes on.

“There’s nothing going on between the two of us,”

You look up at him, face unreadable.

“Hey, my lips are sealed,” you arch an eyebrow, tempting him. You want to hear him say it. You need to, “Just because I don’t have a partner doesn’t mean you can’t,”

“Seriously,” he defends himself, “It’s kinda like what you were saying,”

The two of you turn quiet as the statement settles in. Like what you were saying about Seung-joon. It’s unreciprocated. Hollow, in your case. Maybe the two of you were destined to fall in love with people who didn’t feel the same. It was comforting to know Seojun was going through the same thing you were. You hum at the thought.

“It’s different, though, no?” you wonder, “Jugyeong seems to like you enough,”

“Seung-joon seems to like you, too,” he counters.

“It’s just that—“ you chew on your cheek.

“It’s just that?” He bumps into your shoulder teasingly. Your opposite side rubbing against the wall.

You glance at him and sulk. You didn’t like the butterflies that started in your tummy. And you definitely didn’t want to keep talking about Seung-joon. But something about Seojun’s presence was so comforting, and maybe you hadn’t been imagining the jealousy behind his words. Maybe if you pushed him a little further, you could test the grounds, feel him out.

“I heard around that Seung-joon was going to ask me out,” you finally tell him.

It’s hard to decipher the look on Seojun’s face.

“Officially, I mean” You explain.

Guilt creeps up Seojun’s neck. He tries to move further away from you, but considering the narrow pathway, it doesn’t do much.

“But, you know, to be honest, I don’t think he actually wants to,” you admitted, “Which I know sounds stupid because he’s the one who approached me, but I don’t know—I,” you trail, “I’ve never felt at comfortable with him, I guess?”

Seojun looks over at you with sad eyes.

“It’s not stupid,” it comes out soft.

“You don’t have to pity me,” you scoff.

“I’m not,”

His tone is genuine. Everything about Seojun invited you in, eased your mind. The way his eyes turned soft and the way his lips would hang ever so slightly open. When his warm body would turn towards you and unconsciously lean your way. It was so contradictory to the way you and Seung-joon interacted. The very juxtaposition made both your head and heart spin.

Especially on that day where you had met up with Seung-joon after the snow. You explained to him that you had gotten lost on the way, but you could tell he knew it was a lie. That was your first mistake. Your second was thinking about Seojun for the remainder of your date. Quietly sitting, staring at the sky, wondering if Seojun had run after Jugyeong. Said date took notice of your distracted mind and ended the date early saying he had homework to do.

“He hasn’t even attempted a kiss,” you huff out, not realizing you were getting lost in thought. Seojun’s brows furrowed.

The two of you turn the corner, finally freeing yourselves from the narrow passageway. You can see tall, thin trees start to appear more frequently. Its pigmented leaves contrast it. The sidewalk is large now. Yet, the distance between you two is unchanging. You take uneven steps, purposely causing you to bump into Seojun. It gives you an excuse to keep brushing your arms.

“Seojun?” You ask him and he hums, “You’re a man, right?”

That was reassuring.

You notice the change in his stance and you take it as a sign that he’s offended.

“I mean—“

A soft ‘ne’ falls from his lips. You quickly look at the side of his face, hoping to catch his eyes, but they’ve focused straight ahead on the pathway. This was it.

“Would you kiss me?”

Seojun almost trips when you ask the question. He catches his feet but stops in his tracks. You stop next to him and he doesn’t know if he wishes you were closer or further from him.

“What?” He turns his body to face you and your eager eyes await him. Air stops reaching Seojun’s lungs.

You’ve walked further down the path now. The colors of fall compliment your skin. The white trunks speckled with brown line the wide sidewalk. Yellows and reds litter the floor. Leaves that crunch under your feet. The setting sun rests softly in the distance. Its warmth leaves you, but Seojun doesn’t feel the cold.

You stand with your hands clutching at your sides. They shiver in the cold air. They stubbornly refuse to grab the mittens inside of your backpack. Too impatient to bother, and not willing to cross your arms for warmth. Your eyes are unmoving. They still patiently as you wait for his answer.

Suddenly, Seojun wishes he could take your picture whilst you’re looking at him like this. With your shivering hands and restless thoughts. Eyes shining as they reflect the sun back to him. He knows, though, that he wouldn’t be capable of capturing your beauty.

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Would you have made a move by now?” Your stare is intimidating.

What was Seojun supposed to say? That he did want to kiss you? That he’s wanted to kiss you since your eyes first met? That his heart does backflips and his mind goes blank whenever you ask him questions like these? Because they do. And he does.

Seojun’s tongue clicks against his teeth and he forces his lungs to breathe once more.

“Are you asking me what I would do or what I would do if I was Seung-joon?”

You think for a second. The wind picks up.

“If you had watched the snow with me--”

“We did watch the snow together.” he doesn’t miss a beat and it makes you think again.

“I mean if you were Gu Seung-joon,” you miss the way his eyes squint in annoyance, “And we had planned to watch the snow together. Would you have kissed me when we finally met?”

The birch branches shift around you as a breeze blows through the air. Muted yellow leaves cascade from them and are blown into the sky. Nature scatters dead leaves on the dirt-covered sidewalk. They dance as the wind touches them, twirling as they hit the ground.

They remind you of the snow that day.

“Not if you didn’t want me to,” Seojun finally answers.

“Do you think it seemed that way?” You’re puzzled. Seojun bites on his cheek.

“From what you told me,” his eyes wander from yours, “didn’t it?” You’re silent, and Seojun doesn’t wait to see if you’ll speak, “What about you? Why haven’t you kissed him? What’s holding you back? I thought you liked him,”

You breathe. Your eyes don’t move from his. The leaves twist and turn around him. You wonder if he’s cold.

“I guess my heart was still holding out for someone else,”

The features on Seojun’s face soften. His eyebrows unfurrow and he realizes how tense he’s standing. Shoulders scrunched up anticipating your next words. Teeth grinding unconsciously, making a pang of pain start towards the back of his head. He has to make himself take in air.

His lips part to exhale and you watch as the cold air comes out of his pretty lips. Your eyes stay on them. You may do something stupid if he doesn’t close them soon. It’s only when the cold air wisps through the air again that they close. Your eyes hurry back to his.

His heart stutters. Wind blows his hair out of his face and he resists the urge to fix it. His forehead is on display and he hopes he isn’t blushing. Could you have been talking about him? He felt stupid as his blood pounded harder at your words.

“Then you should talk to Seung-joon,” he pulls his gaze away from yours and decides to keep walking.

You, however, don’t move. You watch as his feet lift off the floor, one after the other. Leaves parting to make way. The cold air makes a shiver run through your spine. It tickles the back of your neck and itches your scalp. You’re chewing on your bottom lip and you know you should stop. But when he finally notices you’re not following him and turns back, you bite harder. The wind is making his hair go everywhere now.

“What about you, then? If—“ you hesitate, “If there were no conditions?”

If things were different; if he wasn’t into Jugyeong, and you weren’t into Seung-joon. The leaves continue to float around him. Time slows as you wait for him to say something. Your entire focus is on him.

“Would you have kissed me?” The question is repeated, but it holds a different weight now.

“It doesn’t matter,”

Rejection is so much worse than you can ever imagine. You’re expecting it. He said it himself, you two should get along, as friends. No more than that. It’d be betraying Seung-joon, who had approached you at the bus stop. He had been patient with you when you were late to watch the snowfall. Understanding, even, when it comes to your hesitance. Seung-joon and you were meant to get to know each other and eventually date.

But something about the way Seojun’s name fit with yours made your heart skip a beat. When he’d stare at you like you were the most important person in the world. And speak to you with kindness you’ve never heard from him directed towards you. Having him say those words of denial had you breaking you out of delusion.

The perfect fantasy world where the only thing you ever had to think about was your happiness. Where you could watch the snowfall with whomever you wanted. And not stress about studying hard and getting good grades.

“If not for the conditions, we wouldn’t have been in the situation in the first place,” he swallows, “It’s pointless to wonder what could have been,”

He tells you what you think you want to hear. What he thinks is best. He knows that before that weekend under the snow, he most likely wouldn’t have given your existence a second thought. He’d think of you as just another singer in his sister’s club. An acquaintance. Another student living in the background of his life. An extra in the scenes that took place in front of his eyes.

You liked Seung-joon. He was the reason you were at the mall that day. He’s the man who you were supposed to fall in love with. Watch the snow with. You’re supposed to go to Seung-joon’s basketball games and he’s supposed to go to your choir concerts. Seojun had come in and ruined it for the both of you. Guilt ate his stomach for stealing the experience from you. What was worse, he kind of enjoyed the feeling he got whenever he was near you. A part of him wondered what it’d be like to like you, and have you like him back.

“Right,” You seemingly shrugged it off.

Your response was casual. It was the correct response. It was the only response you could’ve given to his harsh one. Seojun hadn’t expected anything else. So, why had it made him feel worse? Strings tugged at Seojun’s heart. He couldn’t help but feel selfish as he wished for more from you. He liked Jugyeong. No--he likes Jugyeong. He went to a baseball game for her with Suho. If that doesn’t speak volumes he doesn't know what will.

If that was the case, though, why had he been so eager to spend the afternoon with you? This was turning out to be one big, confusing mess and it was making Seojun’s chest ache. He thinks he might end up chasing it if it means he can see you more often.

You stand a few feet from him. Your hands are shaking, and you’re not sure if it’s from the cold or the nerves working their way through your body. Regardless, you smile softly at him. It’s a sad smile. Full of what-ifs and lingering what could have been’s. It’s accepting.

It catches him off guard, and it’s surprisingly contagious. Seojun would smile back if he wasn’t terrified.

In a split-second decision, Seojun decides to not let it overtake him. To be selfish for once in his life. This time, he is the one yanking terror by its neck. And, rather than letting it lurk over Seojun, he’s going to; force it under his feet, and ride it.

“Instead,” your smile falters as he keeps talking, ”you should ask me what kind of flowers I’ll bring to your next performance,”

The stretch of skin around your mouth morphs. The ends go straight and your bottom lip drops ever so lightly. All of your muscles freeze, and you don’t dare try to move. Seojun is starting to wonder if he’s made a mistake when you finally find your words.

“And what kind would that be?” you’re scared.

“Arbutus,” he doesn’t hesitate, “Pink,”

You blink. Arbutus. Arbutus. You rake your brain for any information you have on the flower and come up blank. You can hardly remember what they look like if you’re being honest. The confusion must show on your face because Seojun starts walking towards you.

His hands are in his pockets, and his eyes are on you. He doesn’t stop until his body is almost pressed right against yours. Mere inches are left. You can hear his clothes rustle. You breathe an all too audible breath and you can’t stop it from escaping your lips not too long after. The air turns white around it and it blows straight into Seojun. His adam apple bobs. He swallows in his already dry mouth. The cold air is no longer noticeable as your bodies are lending each other heat.

“What do those mean?” You can’t help it when your voice trembles.

You’re staring at one another. You’re standing so close. A voice in the back of your head thinks maybe you should take a step back. But your body is screaming at you to close the distance. You know already there’s too much at risk.

And yet the only thing you can concentrate on is Seojun’s proximity to you. The way his eyes are looking at you. The way he’s slowly bringing himself closer. The way the wind blows his hair back, his eyes narrowing. The way his head is moving towards yours. Turning to fit yours. The way you could press your lips to his if you simply tilt your head ever so slightly to the—

“I love only you,”

Seojun pauses. He’s motionless, still. His body occasionally brushes against yours. You’re borrowing the other’s air. Practically exchanging air into each other’s mouths. Stealing as much oxygen as you can from the other.

You realize that he’s waiting for you. He’s wanting to make sure you’re okay with this. Your heart flutters at the thought.

“We shouldn’t,” an obligatory statement that must be said.

“Hm?” his nose brushes yours. Your skin tickles at it.

“You like Jugyeong--”

“You like Seung-joon,” his breath makes shivers go down your spine.

You’re not sure if either of you are truthful.

“I--Can I kiss you?”

A nod, and a hum of conformation.

Your lips hold his. Immediately, the feeling is all-consuming. An overload of senses. You’re all too aware of how awkwardly your hands hang on your sides. His hands hover over yours. They reach out to kiss his palms to yours. You no longer worry about whether or not your nails are bare.

The wind picks up around you. It blows loose leaves on the floor, brushing your ankles. Scattering them across the floor. The setting sun shines brightly in the distance. The sky bleeds orange-pink hues. One color fading into the other.

Having Han Seojun for this chilly afternoon is all you’ll ever need if it means you can feel his lips pressed against yours for the remainder of it. It's awkward and a little bit clumsy, but all in all, the kiss only makes you want to learn how to better shape your lips to fit his. All the flips your stomach is doing don’t bother you anymore with the way his thumb traces patterns on your hand. Souls mending as your bodies melt into one.

You can taste the mashed potatoes he had for lunch on his tongue, and you wonder if he tastes the cherry soda you had. All while he can only focus on how well he can smell your perfume perfectly from where he stands, leaning against you. Only cementing the aroma in his mind.

At this moment, the two of you desperately need each other. Almost like finding a piece of yourself you never realized was missing. Your other half, an extension of yourself, flaws and all. There’s nothing the two of you can’t share with the opposite. You know you can’t come back from this kiss, you’ll regret it the moment you pull away. So, right now, you desperately need to stay like this, clammy hands clutching him tightly, rough teeth bumping together.

That’s why, when he finally pulls away, your head falls onto his chest. It rapidly rises and falls as he catches his breath.

“Don’t hang out with Seung-joon anymore,” He almost whispers,

You lift your head, face heating up at his swollen lips. Shock showing on your face, “What?”

What he wants to tell you is: “Watch the snow with me, nobody else. Because I can’t bear the thought of you standing under the snow with someone who isn’t me. Not with Seung-joon--not with anyone,”

But all he can do is swallow hard.

He likes you so much and it’s horrifying. Because Seojun doesn't think he’s ever felt this way for anyone--and so quickly, too. But he doesn’t want to scare you off. He’s missed his chance with Jugyeong, he knows that. You both mean a lot to him. Now, the question is, who means more? Does it matter when Jugyeong has moved on? Have you? Assuming you return his feelings. You must. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have exchanged spit with him, surely. All of this thinking is making Seojun’s head pound. But perhaps that’s just all the blood rushing to his face.

Seojun is willing to put his old feelings for Jugyeong aside for you. To be ready to love you, at full capacity. Isn’t that what love is? Being willing to put his heart on the line regardless of what the end result will be? Seojun isn’t sure he knows what love is. But he does know that when you stare at him his chest swells so badly it hurts.

“I can’t be friends with you,” his eyes won’t meet yours, “I can’t be just friends”

His hands start to pull away from yours, but you quickly grab them. You can feel the sweat of his palms.

“Seojun, I like you” You reassure him, and his eyes quickly come up. The golden-brown irises shine brightly as they reflect the setting sun, “But I’m not sure if I can be more than friends with you right now,”

Just as before, that sad smile returns to your face. Your eyes are soaked in melancholy. He nods in dejection. You speak slowly. As if you’re saying things aloud as they come to your mind.

“But if, after we’ve--,” broken up with other people, “--settled things amongst ourselves, if you’d like to give me flowers after a performance, I would gladly accept them. Or I can get you flowers, too! What was that shop you mentioned? I can find some pink flowers--arbutus,”

You’re rambling, but all Seojun can do is smile. Walking to the pharmacy will be no trouble now that he knows you’re willing to be his.

“I’d like that,”

----

epilogue

if u’ve made it this far ty for reading I appreciate u. i let my perfectionism get the best of me, but here it is! lmk what u thought, luv y’all.

tags:

@sftpjmn @dramasmarvel @marylimlp @shawkneecaps

#true beauty #true beauty fanfic #true beauty seojun #reader insert #seojun x reader #han seojun x reader #han seojun #seojun han #fanfiction #x reader #kdrama #kdrama fanfic #one shot #fanfic #my writing #imagine #hwang in yeop #han seo joon #hwang inyeop

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tearsona · 3 years

Text

true beauty | h.c. with fem!reader | part nine

a/n: omg long a/n but first of all, this is waaaay overdue. i know i’ve already probably lost more than half of my readers but this is for the remaining few (and me) who would like to know how the story ends!! i’m going tbh, i procrastinated writing this for way too long (i’ve been enjoying my break too much), and the worst also happened, i was working on this but the whole thing got deleted so this is my second time writing the whole thing rip :[

anyway i decided this last minute but as it turns out, there will be a part 10, more like a second part to part 9 / epilogue, bc the rest was supposed to be included in here buuuut i’m going to be away for the rest of the week and won’t be able to continue writing the rest of the scenes so the only time to post is now, since i know ppl have been waiting too long for an update and i didn’t want to keep that any longer (i know id only be stressing over it the whole week if i did jsdkf). so this one and the next part are going to be super duper short but i promise to work on the last as soon as i get back ok!! it won’t take another month!!! lol.

part one | part eight

this is the right thing to do, you think.

no, you’re certain. you’re going to talk to him.

you’re going to confess to seojun tonight. soon. in a few minutes. in a few steps ahead, to the left…

your hands start to get clammy in your pockets. you feel the weight of dread on your feet, like lead.

because even though you’re sure this is the best decision, it doesn’t mean that you’re coming home with a smile on your face afterwards. in a few months, perhaps you’ll thank yourself for having done the right thing, but tonight, it’s not going to feel like so. tonight, you’re going to get your heart broken. even more than it’s already been.

after all, you’re here to get rejected… and only then you’ll be able to move on - when you’re finally rid of the what if that’s been nagging at you for so long. because you realized it wasn’t jealousy or the wanting reciprocation that made your one-sided love so frustrating, it was mainly the suppression, the constant urge to spit it out knowing you couldn’t, that had built up through time and eventually pushed you to make such mistake. after all, feelings are like the weather - sometimes calm, sometimes wild, intense. unpredictable. what happens when you try to force them still and locked in the cramped space of your heart for too long?

at most, you think you can handle the rejection. but going through a conversation that would finally cement the end of your friendship, hearing seojun tell you how much he hates you, that you’re a terrible person, or anything along those lines - will you be able to bear it?

because isn’t that what he’d asked to meet you for? to express his anger towards you? to get closure? especially since it’s been a month without talking - you know that that much time apart allows a lot of space for anything, like regrets, breakdowns, and kissing other people… or seojun finally realizing that he deserves better than you.

but there’s no running away though, because you’ve already agreed to meet with him, and you owe him to at least show up after having practically ghosted him. you’re doing it, but also not just because you need to - you’d be lying if you said that there wasn’t even a tiny bit in you that’s looking forward to talk to him, not a selfish part that’s silently hoping for the zero chance that the boy would be willing to put all of this behind for a chance to restart.

when you reach the place, seojun is already there like he said, but he fails to hear your footsteps over his thoughts. you pause at a distance, allowing yourself a while to stare at him and a bittersweet smile tugs at your lips as you do so. you try to let it sink in - seojun waiting for you here… you and him, sharing the same space, un-against your will, not actively avoiding each other like it hasn’t been for the longest time. you wish you could have a longer moment where you can pretend that the past few weeks never happened at all and, right now, you’re just two best friends casually meeting up on a friday night.

you swallow the lump in your throat when the moment is over.

but before you can even gather the courage to make another step, seojun finally takes notice of your presence. when your eyes meet, you see the mild surprise that flits across his face before he’s pushing himself off the bench almost abruptly. he wonders how long you’ve been standing there.

you lumber towards his spot.

“hey,” you greet faintly once you’ve stopped in front of him. “you wanted to talk…”

the tension that immediately fills the air is thick, just a slight bit nauseating. you look up at him apprehensively and brace yourself for it - it’s only a matter of seconds before the harsh words come out of his mouth. before he confirms all of your expectations.

but it doesn’t come.

suddenly, instead, you feel yourself getting tugged by the arm until seojun is engulfing your smaller frame in his, and immediately your body goes stiff. ultimately, his scent washes over you like a wave, permeating all of your senses and clouding your brain. you almost blurt out an i love you right there, under the influence of his cologne alone.

when your brain has somewhat unscrambled itself, you finally lift your hand to rest on his back in an awkward attempt to reciprocate, causing him to tighten his embrace. he moves one of his hands to cradle the back of your head - an innocent gesture that has your mind spinning. you can feel his heart hammering against both your chests but it’s easy to mistake it as your own when it’s doing the same; in fact, you almost fail to catch his next words over the roaring of your own heartbeat in your ears.

“i miss you,” he mutters; the deepness of his voice and the way his throat vibrates against your shoulder send shivers down your spine. however, you try to focus more on his words - you debate whether you’ve heard it wrong or not as you can hardly believe it; this is obviously the opposite of what you’d been expecting this whole time, and even different from what you’d been used to - hugs were a rarity in your friendship. as well as i miss you’s.

seojun. misses. you.

your eyes sting but you will yourself to hold back. because you’d been so in denial, you never realized just how much you’d been waiting to hear those words during the past month. you’d convinced yourself that you were thankful he’d never called you once in your time apart because it made your situation easier, but deep down it hurt that he wasn’t even trying.

you immediately miss the warmth when he pulls away.

“y/n,” seojun breathes, looking at you with eyes so apologetic you almost feel pity. it takes a few more seconds before he speaks again. “i’m sorry… i realized i was such a terrible friend to you. i—”

“i’m sorry i made you feel like you were a terrible friend,” you immediately cut off, much to his surprise. you couldn’t stand to listen to him apologize when you believe with your whole chest that everything has been your fault. but just like you, this isn’t what seojun had seen coming from the other. truthfully, he’d expected you to be unforgiving, mad like you had been that night. instead, you add, “you’d done nothing wrong…”

you walk past him to take a seat on the bench that he was previously sitting on and he follows. silence lingers in the air for a few moments, both eyes now settled in front rather than the other beside. there’s so much to say that you don’t know where to begin, but you don’t feel the pressure or rush to do so. in fact, you feel a sense of familiar comfort just from sitting next to each other, despite there still being a bunch of words to be said.

words that could still possibly ruin the hopes of rekindling your friendship, you think.

“i didn’t know what you were going through…” seojun says, breaking your train of thought, “i could’ve helped you get the job… i should’ve paid more attention or asked how you were. i get why you were so disappointed. i’m sorry.”

“don’t be, it’s not your fault,” you say earnestly. seojun turns to you but you have your eyes pinned to the ground, feeling the guilt in your chest rise further the more he blames himself. it seems you’d caused him to believe that he wasn’t a good enough friend and you hate yourself for that. maybe you’d rather him be mad at you than sorry after all. you’d left your friendship thinking it would be for the better, managed to convince yourself that you were only putting yourself first as you should, but in reality, you’d handled things so cowardly that it only ended up hurting the both of you.

“how were you supposed to know about it when i never shared anything? you’re not a mind reader, seojun. don’t beat yourself up over it… i mean it,” you say, turning to him with a look of sincerity, “i was going through a lot then, but it was wrong to take it out on you. you were a great friend though. i promise.”

seojun presses his lips together in a line, feeling his heart swell at your words. “still,” he insists, “i could’ve been better, i know it. and i was insensitive with the things i said. i hurt your feelings. but i didn’t mean them that way - i didn’t mean to imply you were unlikable. or unattractive. at all. i… i don’t think you are. i want you to know that.”

you wish the butterflies in your stomach would stop fluttering at such an inappropriate time. over the bare minimum too. and so what if seojun just said that he didn’t think you were unattractive? it doesn’t mean anything. wait ‘til you get rejected later.

“i got defensive, i didn’t understand why at that time, i don’t want to make excuses but… i guess i just didn’t want to entertain the thought of—” seojun swallows, eyes previously settled below lifting to meet yours again with somewhat a hopeful look, “—suho liking you.”

you frown at his last words in particular, feeling just a bit embarrassed over it while failing to get what he was trying to hint at. you really hadn’t meant to make suho a big deal that night, you’d merely been trying to get your point across at that time, but it could have been anyone. and after what had occurred between you and the other boy, hearing the words suho and liking and you altogether in one sentence just felt awkward.

“okay,” you reply quietly. but seojun doesn’t think you really understood it the way he’d meant it; he wants to tell you, that the reason why he didn’t like the idea of suho liking you isn’t the one that he knows you’re thinking - just the obvious that he carries a lot of bitter feelings towards the boy - but another. however, even at this time where he’s supposed to be honest about everything he feels concerning your friendship, even at this perfect opportunity, he still can’t seem to have the guts to tell you the words that his heart wants to say the most. mainly because he just realized that he has no idea how things currently are between you and suho, and confessing might just end up making things more complicated. he wrestles with the thought.

seojun immediately thinks about the kiss, and it feels as though someone’s fist had clenched around his heart - it happens every time. but it only gets worse upon hearing your next words: “it’s okay, you know, even if you really didn’t. see me that way, i mean. friends aren’t supposed to anyway.”

“right,” he mutters, disappointment evident in the way he drops his gaze to his lap from yours. it’s as if the wind had blown the words straight back down from the tip of his tongue to his chest, because he no longer feels like saying it, at all. in fact, he’ll bury it there if he must, if it meant he could at least go back to being friends with you again. just like he’s done in the past.

“i broke that rule though,” you say after the dragged silence, as calmly as you can, as if your stomach isn’t currently twisting in knots over what you’re about to say next. “seojun, i got mad at you because… i liked you.”

as you expected, seojun’s head snaps up over the admission. you begin to feel even more self-conscious now that you’re under his gaze, but you will yourself not to let your nerves get the best of you and continue what you’ve started. “i liked you and i got… jealous because you kept talking about the girl you liked right in front of my face, and it was just… i was already having a bad week - bad night, and one thing kept piling into another… the makeup, the job, and then just… i couldn’t take it anymore, when you talked about suho only seeing me as a friend, i knew you said that because that was how you saw me… and it just hit, i guess.”

when you finish, you find that seojun’s lips are parted slightly, eyes wide and blinking like he’s unable to fathom what you’d just said. twice, he opens his mouth to say something just to swallow it back down. it seems that he’s hesitating over his words, or having trouble finding them. eventually though, he manages to let out, “you liked me?”

you bite your lip and hum, “i like you. present tense,” you say slowly, enunciating every syllable whilst keeping your eyes fixated on him for the reaction. he looks stunned still, and though his expression says a lot, the lack of verbal response still keeps whatever’s actually going on in his mind unclear. you feel flustered and drop your gaze to your fidgeting hands at once.

your heart doesn’t stop pounding as though it wants to break out of your ribcage but you manage to say the next words without your voice shaking so much. “when they asked you to pick between love and friendship during that trip, i think that’s when it started going bad. before then, i’d thought i had a firm grip on my feelings. i mean, even through all the people you’ve dated i was fine,” you sigh, closing your eyes for a second longer, “i didn’t just start ignoring you because i was mad at you. i just thought it would be better if… if we weren’t friends. even though i ended up being wrong anyway.”

at this point, you can’t bring yourself to look at him anymore so you don’t, but as you’re waiting for him to say something, anything, you can’t help but be highly aware of his eyes boring into your cheek and it makes you ill at ease. you mentally shudder at the fact that you’d just overshared, but you’re not sure if you regret it completely. still, it takes him an agonizing minute before he responds that you almost lose your mind.

“why didn’t you tell me?” he prompts; you attempt to interpret the color in his tone but can’t, thankfully when you look at him he doesn’t seem to be judging you. instead, his eyes remain intense but gentle, and you allow yourself to relax just a little bit at that.

“for the same reason why most people can’t tell their crushes they like them. i’m sure you know what it’s like,” you chuckle sheepishly. somehow, calling seojun a crush is even more embarrassing than all of what you’d said so far before it combined. “i’m not that bold, you know. and i didn’t to want make you uncomfortable just ‘cause you couldn’t like me the way i did, and risk our friendship changing,” you explain truthfully, “but i guess i still ended up ruining it anyway, i still couldn’t bring myself to tell you in the end and just… ran away from it, sorry.”

seojun nods, but now the expression on his face has changed into something more unreadable, and you hate every second that ticks by knowing that he’s probably feeling guilty, perhaps trying to come up with words to let you down without hurting you. what he doesn’t know though is that you’ve already prepared yourself for it; you’ve already imagined every horrible scene that could possibly roll out while on your way here, and the fact that he hasn’t called you mean things or yelled at your face even once means this is already the best scenario out of them all, meaning you’ll be alright. with that, you amend, “i don’t want you to feel bad for me. i’m just doing this so you can reject me and i can move on.”

you swear that was a smile on his face just now. unfortunately, it disappeared quicker than you could make sure.

“what if i don’t want you to move on though?” seojun asks with a playful edge in his tone, elbow lightly nudging your side but it doesn’t touch because you’re a little bit too far apart. further, he prods, “what if i want you to keep liking me?”

you stare at him incredulously, trying to decipher him. it seems that he’s finally changing back to his more confident self - to the best friend you knew. perhaps he’s trying to alleviate the tense atmosphere into something more cheerful, make you feel less embarrassed; or maybe joking is his attempt at reassuring you that things can still be friendly between you two despite how you feel about him; and you appreciate that - you’re more than relieved to know that he’s fine with all of this - but you wonder if teasing you is the best response he can do to your confession; if he’s avoiding rejecting you because he can’t.

you try to hide your disappointment by huffing out a laugh, “you’re cruel like that?”

“hmm, well…” he muses, “earlier you said you couldn’t tell me your feelings sooner because you didn’t want to make me uncomfortable but…” he pauses, and you watch him dubiously as he slides himself closer until your arms are touching, “what if i liked you back? did you not ever consider that?”

you frown. all of a sudden he’s flirting with you. you would think he’s asking you these questions because he’s genuinely curious, but the restrained smile ghosting his features, like he knows something you don’t, makes you think that he’s simply finding this whole thing funny - of course, you, out of people, having feelings for him must be such a plot twist - and here he is, taking delight in his ability to disarm you. what makes it worse is that even as you’re aware, even if you should be feeling offended by what he’s doing for his own amusement, your heart doesn’t follow - seojun’s flirtatious, hypothetical prodding seems to be taking its intended effect on you.

“well, you didn’t,” is eventually all you reply, fully intending to sound as harsh as you could, and then looking away. “stop.”

“stop what?”

“do you think this is a joke?” you snap as you glower at him, feeling the heat rise to your cheeks. whether you’re blushing over the hypothetical, impossible possibility of seojun liking you - or if it’s due to your irritation, you don’t know. “stop… playing me.”

he’s silent. after a moment, you give in to the urge to take a peek at him and immediately regret it. because now he’s full-blown smiling, and you haven’t seen him do it in so long it somehow takes the breath out of your lungs. you blink, thoroughly dazed for a protracted moment. “w- what?”

“i said, give me your hand,” he repeats, and as if hypnotized, you obey without question. when he places it against his chest you feel it, the rapid beat of his heart, and it’s just like yours. your frown falters by a tiny fraction. “well?”

“well what?” you ask, dumbfounded.

“it’s been like this since you said you liked me,” he urges. and then, he says the next words to you as you had done earlier - slowly, and clearly, “i like you, y/n. i was being serious.”

you gulp and withdraw your hand from his, suddenly unable to make eye contact. “how? i thought you…” you trail off. liked jugyeong, you wanted to say.

“i know, i haven’t been completely honest with my feelings either,” he admits, “but i’ve liked you for a long time. even before all of the people i’ve dated… and through all of them,” he says, and it sounds too good to be true; seojun catches the flicker of doubt in your face even as you want so badly to believe him. “i guess i just didn’t know i did until… well, i mean, i kind of already knew it long ago, but… it’s a bit complicated.” you can tell he’s struggling to put his feelings into words by the way he sighs. and then, as if struck with an idea, he perks up, “let me prove it to you.”

you bite the inside of your cheek and try not to seem too eager when you stare at him.

“go out with me,” he says with a gentle but nervous smile, lightly tugging at the cuff of your hoodie like a kind child, before he adds, “let’s go on dates, y/n… as a guy and girl.”

you think your heart stops beating for a millisecond; you feel the familiar flutters through your stomach, only now wilder than ever. seojun looks solemn enough with his suggestion, but you realize you haven’t even thought that far yet - to be honest, you’ve still yet to process the fact that he doesn’t hate you, after all that’s happened.

there’s so much to think about, so many things to consider, but you don’t let any of that hold you back from the thing you’ve always wanted - longed for. after a thoughtful moment, you nod, and seojun’s previously tense face immediately breaks out into a grin.

“okay…” he breathes.

“okay,” you repeat, biting back a smile.

and then silence comes; you look away, shy. it seems to have hit you both at the same time - that you’d just agreed to go on dates with each other. apart from the earliest days of your friendship, you don’t think you’ve ever seen seojun look so shy in front of you. you feel a sudden thrill of excitement knowing that it’s because of you. you make him nervous. because he likes you, apparently. and now suddenly, everything feels odd… but the good kind.

later into the comfortable quietness, seojun clears his throat and breaks you out of your reverie. “hey, about that thing you said…” he starts and you quirk a brow in curiosity. “when i picked love over friendship, you should’ve known i was only trying to get on suho’s nerves,” he jokingly admits, earning a chuckle and an eyeroll from you.

“both are equally important to me though,” he continues, pausing for a thoughtful second, “but… you’re the most important to me, you know. and if i did mean it - if i had to choose, like, i really had to… whatever i end up picking, love over friendship or the other way around - it doesn’t matter. i can’t explain it, but i’d choose you over both of them. or whichever you are.”

that was… unexpected. you huff, tilting your head so your hair can fall and provide your reddening cheeks with some measure of a cover. you nudge his arm and say, “must you be so cheesy?”

when you think about it though, it makes sense. you’re not quite sure how, but to you, seojun, too, had always been more than just a best friend, and not merely because you had feelings for him - ‘friend’ had always felt too small of a label when you think about the bond you share with this person. you have a lot of friends, and none of them could ever compare, or is as special to you as seojun and suho are, who have been with you through thick and thin. seojun was your number one, your first choice, your go-to; he was the exception to a lot of things - maybe soulmate would be the closest term to call it, if it were real.

seojun laughs, reaching over swiftly but somehow hesitantly, to sweep your hair back behind your shoulder - another innocent gesture that wreaks havoc with the rhythm of your heartbeat - leaving the spot on your cheek his fingers had grazed tingling. you swear you could kiss him right now.

and it’s like he’s thinking the same thing. slowly, his smile fades, gaze still holding yours; the silence shifts, deepens, and when his eyes flicker down to your lips and he inches closer ever-so-slightly, you realize there’s nothing like this - like the anticipation of kissing someone you really like. it’s a new kind of butterflies you feel. a different kind of thrill.

but before he can actually lean in closer, you feel it - first on your eyelashes, and then your cheek. you look away, much to the other’s disappointment, and extend your hand into the air, feeling the droplets of water on the palm of your hand.

“it’s drizzling,” you point out, turning to face him. but seojun’s eyes never left your face. you stand up as soon as you feel more raindrops come, pulling your hoodie over your head before reaching out to take ahold of his wrist. “let’s go.”

you drag him to the nearest cover, running towards the convenience store not too far from the place. finally, you’re in front of the entrance under its roof, narrowly missing the rain that had just started pouring louder and heavier.

“that was close,” he mutters.

“yeah,” you sigh in relief, nodding towards the store, “let’s go buy an umbrella and walk home?”

a thoughtful pause. seojun has another thing in mind.

“or,” he smirks, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “i’ll race you,” he suggests, so coolly that it didn’t register quick enough that he was actually challenging you. one moment he’s there to see the confusion flashing across your face, but by the time realization dawns, he’d already taken off, giggling several feet away from you.

“wha—hey!”

#also if anyone cares its my birthday :P #which is why i couldnt wait to post it today bc i wanted to enjoy the rest of the week wt my family :p #true beauty #han seojun x reader #seojun x reader #suho x reader #lee suho x reader #hwang inyeop #cha eunwoo #lee suho #han seojun #im jukyung #lim jugyeong #tbhc

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skzfelixity · 3 years

Text

Han Seojun Dating Lee Sungyong’s Ex:

warnings: cursing bcz this is seojun

shocked baby

“you dated that bastard? why?”

*shrug*

you had no answer

literally every girl with the first guy she dated because he was an asshole-

#straighttingz

kinda upset he wasn’t your first boyfriend

“what do you mean you were dating him when I met you?!”

ew why did that sound like a dad

remember how he met jukyung?

that’s how he met YOU

but you called sungyong instead of the siren going off

“so you were flirting with me while you were with him?”

“eh I mean, he had probably cheated-”

“I’m gonna crack his head open!”

“seojun no-”

how dare he cheat on the most supportive and adorable s/o ever

you needed to hold him back the next time he saw sungyong in public

boy was ready to swing punches

“y/n, let go! I have to hit him!”

“no cuddles for a week if you don’t stop”

he obv stopped but you had to deal with a pouty seojun with 3 hours of cuddling

rip y/n

RANTS ABOUT IT TO SUHO

“and that brazen bastard had the audacity to check her out”

“how do you know he checked her o-”

“I SAW HIS GAZE”

suho is tired of him complaining so he encouraged him to

“yeah... that’s a good idea... punch him twice” while looking at his phone

overjealous seojun

there wasn’t a day when he didn’t think about you with sungyong

“I bet you didn’t laugh like that when you were dating him”

“are you perhaps jealous?”

“me? pfft! nice one, babe! I am so better than him, there’s no need to be jealous”

“exactly”

boosted his confidence

of course he knew that you knew he knew he was jealous and it made that indirect compliment even better

if you had to remind him how much he means to you to make him shut up about sungyong, you did

you were at his place for movie night

and you were cooking with gowoon while he was sitting on the couch

and your phone buzzed

it was sungyong

he literally send him a pic of him STICKING HIS TONGUE OUT

shall we add a middle finger? yk because teenage boys? no? okay-

and blocked him

you’d never know about it but you two have no secrets so he casually told you

“good job, junnie!”

don’t cheer him on, y/n! he’ll do more stupid shit!

since sungyong couldn’t contact you he waited for you a day after school

you saw him and tried to hide behind sooah but

“y/n! long time no see!”

“what do you want?”

“you of course”

nice joke, sungyong

seojun was right behind you hah

he FINALLY punched him

“That felt nice! One more!”

you would have stopped him but sungyong deserved it

CHORONG RECORDED EVERYTHING

a little shaky because of laughing but could still see the main punches

cue y/njun replaying the video til late at night

glares at sungyong when he sees him while sungyong is avoiding his gaze

he never got close to you again

seojun y/n protector!

and a simp but don’t tell him I told you

or else he will hit me like sungyong

but I am a y/n too...

#true beauty #true beauty x reader #true beauty kdrama #true beauty headcanons #true beauty headcanon #han seojun #seojun #han seojun x reader #seojun x reader #seojun x you #hwang inyeop #inyeop

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gyusbambi · 3 years

Text

humph; han seojun (pt 1)

click here for humph masterlist!

part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5

story: frenemies to enemies to lovers, high school au

synopsis: seojun and you have known each other since kindergarten. you’re neighbors and even attended the same singing and piano classes. despite knowing each other for such a long time, you don’t enjoy spending time with seojun. even though you are aware of his unfairness, you keep spending time with him. when will you finally leave your childhood frenemy?

note: it may be boring at first, gets interesting after age 18 ;) humph! is a story inspired by pentagon's "humph! / 접근금지". originally, this is a seungyeon fanfiction, which i posted on my wattpad. words: 3.2k

kindergarten, age 4

"rock, paper, scissors!"

"wait a minute, you cheated again!"

"you were too late. let’s do it again."

why don't you just admit that you cheated?

kindergarten, age 5

"my painting!"

today you are painting your favorite animals in kindergarten. happily, you place your painting of a bunny on your desk before leaving to refill your water bottle.

when you return to your seat, it looks damaged. someone scribbled on it with red color.

"it doesn't matter. my lion drawing looks so much better anyway."

seojun grins evilly while holding your red crayon in his right hand.

usually you would just frown and walk away angrily.

i won't let you off this day, i've been too patient, i deserve to say something too, don't you think?

elementary school, age 6

"ten minutes, i promise! then it's your turn."

you are at the swings today and it's seojun’s turn. ten minutes already passed and you start to get impatient.

"seojun-ah, ten minutes are over. can i swing now please?" sadly you ask with a little pout forming on your lips.

"what? no, y/n, can't you count? it's been five minutes not ten."

he also mumbles, "honestly so annoying."

no matter how sadly i talk, you keep a poker face. you're an ice fairy who won’t budge at all.

elementary school, age 9

seojun and you have been sitting next to each other since kindergarten. most of the time takes more space, spreading his school supplies over your table, pushing you with his elbow while writing.

so you decided to draw a line right in the middle of the table, which is totally forbidden to cross.

"nice hair clip."

when you turn your head to the left, you see seojun leaning forward, staring at your hair. his face is too close to yours which causes a strange feeling in your stomach. there’s a small smile on his face, his cat like eyes smiling as well.

oddly, you feel your face become hot and your heart is beating faster too.

should i see a doctor?

"t-thanks." you mumble quietly while touching your hair clip, trying to avoid eye contact.

"is it new? i've never seen you wearing this one."

"yes."

why does he pay attention to what hair clip you’re using?

"looks cute on you."

your eyes widen.

and so do his.

"alright! it looks alright on you." he corrects himself quickly before clearing his throat.

his face is still close to yours and you wonder why you can’t focus on your school work but keep looking into his eyes.

not until something else catches your attention.

"you just crossed the line again! ah, please just follow the rules once!"

"oh, that..." he trails off while rubbing his neck, suddenly shy from his actions.

middle school, age 14

"we're lost because of you!"

"what are you talking about?"

"you kept rejecting my ideas because you thought you knew better and now we're lost in the forest."

"y/n, stop complaining about everything. we're gonna find a way out.", seojun lets out an exaggerated sigh as his eyes search for a possible way out of the woods.

"i'm going now. find your way out by yourself.",

impatiently, you scoff and head towards the opposite direction, leaving seojun to make your way out of this cursed forest. soon, you realize how bad that idea was, since you’re still stuck in there after a few hours.

when you eventually give up, you fall down on your knees and the first tears start running down your cheeks. the forest is cold, your whole body is shaking and your trembling fingers wipe away the tears. nervously, you sit on a rock, praying for someone to find you.

"y/n! are you there?"

to the sound of someone calling your name, you swiftly stand up.

"y/n, can you hear me? hello?"

han seojun!

finally he appears in front of you with a worried face. the moment his eyes land on yours, his face changes to relieved.

"thank god you're here! i was looking for you everywhere. do you know how wor-"

before he can finish his sentence, you interrupt him by pulling him into a tight hug. you hide your face between his neck and shoulder as you hold firmly on his denim jacket. in fact, you’ve never felt so relieved to see seojun.

the boy himself looks shocked for a moment before he wraps his arms around your waist, squeezing you a little tighter than he usually would. with a soothing voice, seojun rubs your back in order to calm you down.

"it's okay, i found you."

when i see you i get happy again, i'm not sure about my feelings right now, it's the 8th wonder of the world.

high school, age 16

"the upcoming show is the most important one for us. i'd like y/n to perform this time. i can tell that she improved a lot."

your music teacher smiles at you which causes you to smile back even happier.

this is the best moment of your my life. performing in front of so many people! you out of so many others!

"let's hear her play. i want everyone to agree with me."

after you play your instrument everyone applauds with smiles on their faces.

except for han seojun.

"that was fantastic!" your teacher compliments you.

"miss kim, i'd like to try too."

everyone watches seojun step on the stage with surprised looks, until he stands in front of you with raised eyebrows, a small smirk appearing on his face,

"may i?"

rude idiot.

"alright, then. let's listen to seojun’s play too and decide who'll play at the show."

annoyed, you roll your eyes while crossing your arms over your chest. you leave the stage with loud steps and narrow your eyes during his whole performance. after he finishes, his eyes meet yours instantly with a rude smirk forming on his lips. you hate to admit, but he is really good. his musical talent is way better than yours. of course, han seojun always has to be better than you.

"wow! i'm speechless, really! that was wonderful!" everyone agrees with miss kim.

eventually, he gets the play. he steals your performance.

angrily, you pound your fist against the table, wanting to beat that stupid narcissistic smirk off his face. how dare he steal your performance? before you have the chance to snap at others in order to release your frustration, you leave the music room immediately.

why can't he be happy for you, like a friend?

i'll need to get my anger to melt you down, don't cross the line

high school, age 18

it’s another monday morning and you’re walking on the hallway, on your way to your first class. unfortunately, you only had four hours of sleep since you spent the whole night writing your essay, which you forgot was due today. with dark circles, two different colored socks and hair up in a messy ponytail you increase your pace. you already had a quite stressful morning and couldn’t bear more stress, like getting scolded for being late.

speaking of the devil.

all of a sudden you feel someone grip your hair tightly only to pull down your hair tie, letting your hair fall over your shoulders.

with a shocked face you reach up a hand to touch your head and turn around swiftly, ready to face whoever dared to pull your hair so forcefully. somehow, you’re not surprised when you see the too familiar boy in front of you, swinging your hair tie in his hand, eyes focused on the pendant.

“are you crazy?!”, you hiss angrily and clench your hands into fists.

“good morning to you too, y/n. although, you don’t really look like you had a nice morning.”

with a false frown on his face he shakes his head while pressing his lips together.

when han seojun’s eyes land on you, he can’t believe his eyes. your ridiculous expression and your messy hair make him snort and laugh lightly. how come you look so cute when you’re angry?

“i’m not in the mood for getting teased.” you speak through your teeth with forced restraint.

the boy in front of you stares you up and down,

“are you a zombie or something?”

“yah! do you want to die?”, you kick his leg while trying to take away your hair tie from his grip but only end up stumbling over your feet when seojun backs away, arm stretched out, making it impossible for you to grab the hair tie.

before you can react, he starts running away which causes you too run after him,

“yah, han seojun!”

“you’re really a zombie!” he laughs with amusement, still running away from you.

maths class is clearly your least favorite as you struggle with solving the equation. when you almost get the result you feel someone hitting your chair. first you attempt to ignore it and continue doing your work. however, the hitting intensifies which causes you to let out an annoyed sigh and you abruptly turn around in your seat,

“what do you want?”

“do you have the answer for question two?”,

seojun whispers, knowing the teacher could ask him about it any moment.

“you’re at question two?”

that boy is really dumb.

“just answer the question, please don’t play with me right now.”

turning away in attempt to regain control of your features, you try to hide your amusement while looking up your solution for question two.

“it’s 37.5″ you whisper, turning back to him.

seojun looks confused, “i got -2.”

amused, you try to keep your laughter in while patting his soft hair,

“woah, you’re such a genius!”

instead of getting annoyed, a faint blush creeps on seojun’s face.

“han seojun, y/n, are you two bickering again?”

after warning you two, the teacher wants both of you two solve the question on the blackboard.

“agh, this is so annoying. this is your fault.” seojun mutters through his teeth, writing random numbers on the board.

“my fault? you were the one who asked for my help!” you whisper with disappointment before finishing the equation on the board. with a small smile you put the chalk back to its place.

“yah, y/n! don’t leave me!”

you hear seojun mutter with panic as you head back to your seat, unbothered.

in gym class you’re playing one of your least favorite games: dodgeball. you have no clue why everyone is absolutely obsessed with this game or how they convince the teacher to play it every single time. in fact, although you’re not the most athletic, you don’t have any problems with gym class. however, when it comes to dodgeball you tend to hide in the back until you’re the only one left.

you can already predict your teammates’ complaints about you, when the last but one player is out, leaving you alone in the area. frightened you look up to spot han seojun on the other side with the ball in his hand, already aiming at you. he looks ready to throw the ball right into your face. instead of attempting to catch the ball, you close your eyes for a moment, hiding your face with your arms.

everyone watches seojun with anticipation, expecting him to throw the ball at you forcefully. however, the boy himself lowers his arm and his face softens when he throws the ball at your leg softly. you think you would feel the pain in any moment and prepare yourself but you’re surprised when you only feel the ball lightly hit your leg.

next you hear loud cheers from the opponent team as they hug seojun to celebrate their win. whereas your team groans frustrated.

“you could have easily caught that one!”,

chorong whines but keeps quiet when he notices han seojun glaring at him from the other side of the room.

after that, your teacher tells you to pair up. instantly you look around to see everyone happily clutching to their partners. yet, soon you wonder why everyone is surrounding you, staring at you with anticipation. are they surprised that you still don’t have a partner? are they going to make fun of you?

what’s your problem you crazy people-

for the second time this week you feel someone grab your hair. it’s like your’re frozen on spot when a certain someone brushes their fingers over your soft hair. seojun then takes the hair tie from his own wrist (which he had stolen from you) and ties your hair into a ponytail. besides that, you can feel the closeness of his body to yours when he eventually holds your shoulders in order to turn you around.

almost everyone watches you with curious eyes, whispering to each other with surprised faces.

“friends, my foot.” you hear sua chuckle.

he bends down to your height, his face now right in front of yours. still surprised from his actions, you are unable to say anything as you watch him with a blank face. the color of your cheeks turn into a darker shade of crimson when seojun smiles at you happily and brushes a few strands of hair behind your ear before pinching your cheeks,

“we’re partners. right, zombie?”

and you have absolutely no clue if you want to hug him or punch him in the face.

last night seojun and his mum visited you. mostly, they talked about you two. your mum complained about you staying up too long and seojun’s mother complained about seojun‘s obsession with his motorcycle. she worried about him getting hurt to which your mother agreed as well. unintentionally, you revealed that he almost ran you over once, which made seojun’s mum set limits. at first he was mad at you for betraying him like that, but soon he noticed your worried face and decided to tease you a little about it.

now you’re eating lunch at your usual seat next to kim chorong. shortly after, seojun arrives and takes a seat next to you. you only mutter a quiet hello, mouth stuffed with rice, and don’t bother looking up. the sound of keys dropping on the table catches your attention. your eyes wander from seojun’s keys to himself.

“since you worry about me so much, you can have my keys.”

“what?” you swallow your food and frown.

“i won’t ride my bike anymore. you know, because you don’t like it.” he shrugs with a hidden smug and starts eating afterwards.

“yah! are you guys dating behind my back?” chorong pouts after hearing seojun’s words.

“i really don’t know what you’re on. are you sick?” you ignore chorong’s whining and focus on the other boy next to you, who peacefully eats his food.

“nah, i’m completely fine. ah and-” he stops before swallowing his food, “my bike is in front of your house.”

“why?” slightly annoyed, you scrunch up your face.

“because he-” before chorong can finish his sentence, seojun interrupts him,

“because you worry about me.”

“you’re my friend, of course i do.” you shrug and give him a confused look.

suddenly seojun feels like he failed the attempt to tease you. in fact, he’s taken aback by your statement. definitely, he wasn’t expecting you to answer like that. the boy stops chewing for a moment and stares at you.

“i don’t know why you had to leave it in front my house, though. now my brother is going to ask stupid questions.” you groan.

seojun clears his throat, not knowing what to say. neither of you notice chorong shaking his head, mumbling about how oblivious you are.

when you finish eating you grab seojun’s keys, ready to leave,

“i’ll still take these, though!”

a few weeks later a new student called lee suho transfers to your school. since his first day, everyone has been curious about the mysterious boy, who usually spends time alone. you notice that he doesn’t really talk to anyone, although all the girls fangirl over him.

surprisingly, suho and you get closer to each other after one day you talk to him during english class. the young boy seems like a kind and cool person, who only has trouble opening up to people. soon, suho is comfortable with talking to you about anything and you end up being good friends.

clearly, seojun notices your sudden closeness to the new student. something about it seems to bother him. he feels like throwing up when he spots you laughing at whatever he said, or even when he helps you with homework.

why does it had to be you? there are so many other girls in your high school but the quiet guy decided to befriend you?

“so you and y/n, huh?”

as you exit the library to make your way home, you hear han seojun talk to someone in the hallways. hearing your name catches your attention and you quickly hide behind a wall.

“y/n? she’s a really nice girl. i’m glad to have her as my friend.”,

it seemed like seojun was talking to suho.

“you’re saying that she’s your friend?”, seojun chuckles falsely.

“yes, why?”

“you should stay away from her.”

“what?”

“it’s only a matter of time before she breaks your heart.”

what is he talking about?

“what do you mean?” suho asks with a confused voice.

“you heard me. don’t be her friend. she’s not the person you think she is.”

“i don’t think she’s two-faced. besides, aren’t you the one who’s around her the whole time?”

“that’s why i know.”

you couldn’t bear listening to them any longer and walk towards the other direction. you couldn’t believe your ears. why would han seojun say these things about you? sure, he teased you, messed with you and constantly acted unfair but you’d never think that he’d go this far. your disappointment soon turns into anger when you walk home with angry tears.

should i just let it pass? should i just go to you and hold your hand? should i just close my eyes and start over?

not a chance, no!

"why?", you ask with a tightness in your chest as you stand in front of han seojun, near the school gate.

"why, what?"

"why do you hate me so much?"

after hearing your question, seojun frowns.

"i don't hate you-"

"really? that's why you told suho i'm a snitch?"

his eyes widen.

"yes, i heard that but what if i didn't? would you lie to me about it and fake it till you make it?"

"listen-"

"no, you listen!"

seojun is taken aback by your anger. in fact, he has never seen you act this way, despite of the countless arguments you had.

"you've treated me badly many times and i never said anything but you know what's worse? i thought we were friends."

there’s no way that han seojun would fail to see the disappointment written in your eyes. he feels his heart ache.

"we are friends, y/n."

"then explain me why you've been acting like that. tell me why you told suho those things about me or, i don’t know, why you stole my audition. is that what friendship is to you?"

silence. not even a single word escapes his mouth. the boy fears of losing you. is it already too late? would he even be able to make things better if he opened his mouth? he doubts so. if anything, he would make things worse. however, you don’t fail to notice how he wants to tell you something. seojun looks like he’s about to explain everything, all the truth. but he doesn’t.

"that's what i thought.", you nod but with a tightness to it, eyes avoiding his for a moment.

i don't mean anything to you, i never meant anything to you. you just used me and messed with me.

"don't talk to me again. i don't want anything to do with you anymore."

the boy in front of you gives you a long stare and noticeably gulps, unable to say anything. perhaps, if words would leave his mouth, if he could at least apologize, you would forgive him and continue your friendship. as a matter of fact, you hoped for him to do it. however, seeing that he doesn’t bother apologizing, you realize that all this time you’ve been fooled. without waiting any longer, you eventually leave.

maybe forever?

to be continued...

#and then they say women are complicated #part 2 coming soon #thanks for reading #hope you enjoyed it #han seojun #han seojun imagine #seojun #han seojun fluff #han seojun imagines #han seojun x reader #seojun fluff #seojun imagine #seojun x reader #kdrama #true beauty #hwang inyeop

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whoseafraidofliloleme · 3 years

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Invisible (A True Beauty Fanfic) 하나 [Hana] {One}

Summary: YN YLN has always been third in Class 2-5, right behind Lee Su Ho and Kang Soo Jin but with both of them having left Saebom Highschool, this is her time to shine. That is until Han Seosangnim asks her to tutor Han Seo Jun. A guy who doesn’t even know she existed.

Authors Note: I love Seo Jun and just want him to have his happy ending. I’m prefacing this by saying that I haven’t read the webtoon and I’m basing this fanfiction and any future fics I write on the drama. Also, I need more Seo Jun fics in my life so here I am writing my own.

Authors Note 2: I hated the last 2 episodes, apart from the happy ending everything else was rushed and a mess. This is AU because Su Ho and Ju Kyung didn’t break up and are now in a long-distance relationship. This takes place after Su Ho and Soo Jin have left the school.

Ship: Han Seo Jun x Female Reader.

Wordcount: 1075 (I wanted to write less than 1k but I am clearly incapable of writing short things unless it's for uni 😭😂.)

This is probably a mess, but I hope someone likes it. Comments and reblogs with reactions are appreciated. 😂

OC Profiles. True Beauty Masterlist.

Chapter 1:

Being asked to go and see Han Ssaem wasn’t new. Since Lee Su Ho and Kang Soo Jin had left Saebom, you were Han Ssaem’s go-to person in terms of figuring out the mood of the class.

It didn’t make sense to you, most people in class 2-5 didn’t even know you existed or that you were in Class 2-5 and had been with these same people since the beginning of High School.

This is probably why Han Ssaem thought you were the perfect person to ask about the inner workings of the class, you were there but never took part in the madness that was being in Class 2-5.

Making sure there weren’t issues in his class became a priority after the reveal of Lim Ju Kyung’s make up less face, Han Ssaem never wanted any student of his to feel like they couldn’t come to him or for someone to suffer silently.

Reaching the Teacher’s Room and going to Han Ssaem’s desk, you were surprised to see Han Seo Jun standing there. You stand next to Han Seo Jun and wait for Han Ssaem to reveal why you’re here and why Han Seo Jun is there too. He smiles brightly at you and Han Seo Jun, you just nod politely while Han Seo Jun looks bored and his regular resting bitch face was kind of scaring you, he was one person you didn’t want to anger, and he clearly didn’t want to be there.

“Well, Seo Jun, the reason you are here is that your grades have been dropping a bit and I believe a little bit of help will do you good” Said Han Ssaem to Han Seo Jun before he turned to me.

“That is why you’re here YN, I would like you to tutor Seo Jun in most subjects until the end of the year,” He said to you smiling, you were shocked.

You didn’t know what to say, this was not what you thought Han Ssaem wanted when he told you to meet him at the end of the day. Your mind was whirling with all the ways this could end in a disaster.

Once it’s sunk in for him, Han Seo Jun just shakes his head and glares at Han Ssaem, well there’s his answer. Maybe if he was so against this, then you’d be able to get out of it too, this was probably the only time where Han Seo Jun’s reputation comes in handy.

Unfortunately, you thought too soon because the Vice Principal had come out to see Han Seo Jun glaring at Han Ssaem. Had declared that Han Seo Jun would be tutored if he wanted to be able to graduate, without being held back a year. If he still didn’t want to be tutored, then he was happy to expel Han Seo Jun.

Han Ssaem laughed awkwardly at what the Vice Principal said but still looked at Han Seo Jun hopefully and quite reluctantly Han Seo Jun nodded his head and just walked out of the room. Han Ssaem looked at you, motioning at you to follow Han Seo Jun, you stare blankly at Han Ssaem before sighing and walk quickly outside to catch up with him.

“Yah Han Seo Jun, I don’t want this any more than you do but just work with me please” You shout at Han Seo Jun from one end of the corridor. He turns and glares at you, shakes his head and just carries on walking.

Great, now you were going to have to figure out a way to get Han Seo Jun to co-operate with you. This was not going well, and you doubted it would even once the tutoring started. Sighing you started making your way to the classroom where you’d left your bag.

Once you get to the class you see Lim Ju Kyung still there writing something in her notebook. Ju Kyung looks up at you, smiles at you then carries on writing. Lim Ju Kyung was probably the nicest person in the class and once you’d picked up your things you went to Jukyung’s desk and tapped her shoulder.

She looked up at you and took her headphones out of her ears smiling at you and starts to pack up her things.

“Hi YN, are you okay? Normally you’ve left school by now”. You smile at her, waiting for her to finish packing up her bag and start to walk with her out of the classroom.

“Yep, Han Ssaem wanted to tell me and Han Seo Jun that I’m tutoring him, only for Han Seo Jun to disagree and the Vice Principal to threaten him, he just walked out and proceeded to ignore me when I tried to work with him,” You told Ju Kyung as you walked, Ju Kyung linked arms with you and nodded her head before sighing when she heard at Han Seo Jun’s reaction.

“You know, Han Seo Jun is one of my best friends. I can tell him to co-operate with you and if that doesn’t work then I’ll tell his mother and we’ll get him to not only co-operate and even be nice to you” Ju Kyung said as you got to the bus stop by the school and sat on the bench to wait for your bus.

You smile at Ju Kyung, she really was the sweetest person, you often wondered how she and Han Seo Jun ended up becoming best friends especially when her boyfriend Lee Su Ho was enemies with Han Seo Jun at least they had been until Lee Su Ho left for America and they had apparently buried the hatchet.

It wasn’t weird to Han Seo Jun and Ju Kyung comparing the things that Lee Su Ho had sent them from America. This generally consisted of Han Seo Jun complaining about how Lee Suho sent Ju Kyung better gifts because she was his girlfriend, and he was so whipped for her that he sent his best friend random rubbish that he didn’t even need.

Just as you are about to reply, you see your bus coming so you start to search for your bus pass and stand up to get the bus. As it comes you turn to Ju Kyung.

“Thanks for the offer Ju Kyung, I would really appreciate it if you could convince him, he doesn’t even have to be nice about it, I can figure out a way to deal with that,” You tell her as you go to get on the bus, once you’ve found a window seat you wave at Ju Kyung who waves back and shows you her phone, indicating that she will message you. You smile and nod your head at her.

CHAPTER 2

#true beauty #true beauty fanfic #true beauty fanfiction #true beauty tvn #han seojun x you #han seojun x reader #han seo joon #hwang inyeop #lim jukyung #lee suho #kang sujin #moon ga young #cha eun woo #my writing #Zainabs Writing #Zainab writes fanfiction #my fanfiction #invisible chapter 1 #invisible ch 1

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yawnzzznnn · 11 months

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barbenheimer-core · 2 years

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AUDERE EST FACERE !

둘. balenciaga : part one — 3.6k words

Getting used to the new way of things definitely wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. There was no guidebook available to advise her on how to live in a fictional, but very, very real world where the people she knew were reduced to mere caricatures of what they once had been.

She wasn't even kidding. If she thought she had already seen the worst of it when her mother had yelled at her brother, oh boy was she mistaken.

As she had come to find out, no matter if she was in the right or wrong, Ahyeong was no exception when it came to being at the other end of her mother's disappointment.

It became apparent when Hwayoung had arrived at the ER to collect her daughter following a phone call from the receptionist alerting her of Ahyeong's injury.

Drowsy from painkillers and weighed down by the heavy cast on her ankle, Ahyeong gripped the crutch at her side as she walked to her mother's car in the parking lot. The bruising on her foot had looked awful at first, but upon further checking and x-ray scans, her bone was only fractured and the discolouration was the result of the harsh impact on concrete.

Her mother had been eerily quiet ever since she had picked her up at the gate, but as Driver Oh — her parents' designated chauffeur — embarked on the way to their home, Mother finally broke the silence.

Ahyeong didn't know what she was expecting. No, wait, she knew exactly what she expected to hear: the same words her mother had told her when she had scraped her knees on asphalt when she had been a little girl trying to learn how to ride a bike for the first time, asking if she was feeling okay, or if it hurt too much.

Instead, what she got from her mother was: "I wasn't expecting this from you."

Despite the internal heaters of the car that provided respite against the chill of the night, the air around them felt impossibly cold.

"How could you be so careless? Getting injured right before school? If this is your way of rebelling against me, let me tell you, young lady, it will not work," she scoffed.

"Perhaps I've been too ignorant in letting you out of the house so freely. From now on, you're to ask for my permission every time you decide to leave the house. Understand?"

She didn't even wait for her daughter's response and continued on, jaw set in annoyance as she almost spat her next words, "And also, next time you decide to afflict yourself on your escapades, call the housekeeper to get you instead. I had to leave a conference with foreign investors just to pick you up. Honestly, you call yourself my daughter. I wonder what I did wrong in raising you that you ended up like this."

Ahyeong looked on, processing the poisonous words that pricked her skin, and accepted one of the many cruel realities of her situation.

Song Hwayoung, a businesswoman with expectations that were higher than the tallest mountains and a personality as explosive as active volcanoes.

That was the woman sitting across from her at that moment, not her mother.

Her sigh was barely heard over the static hum of the engine and passing vehicles. This was definitely going to take a while.

If she thought that she would be cut slack with a fractured ankle and be left alone to wallow in her thoughts, she was terribly wrong.

New world meant new info, things that didn't exist before but existed here in this world. Thank whatever entity existed in the cosmos that the Internet was created, because Ahyeong didn't think she would've known half the things she did now if she hadn't seen the news feed on all her SNS accounts — which thankfully were the same — feeding her with all she missed out on.

First order of business was finding more information about whatever may be relevant to the story she was dropped in. For better or for worse, Ahyeong instinctively knew that she was going to be a big part of whatever charade she was thrown into, and if she went into this blind as a bat, she was bound to crash and burn. Even if she could find a way to get out of here, and it really was a dream (her ankle vehemently protested against that fact), she was not counting on false hopes and delusion. So in order of relevancy, it was.

One person that jumped in her SNS feed far more times than she could ignore was Jung Seyeon. She knew the gist of it; a friend of Suho and Seojun, debuted idol with a soulful voice and wonderful personality, ruined by falsities and someone's needless hate.

Upon laborious scrolling and exploration of trending tags, she gathered that it had been his birthday yesterday, the first after his untimely death the previous year, which also explained the memorial she had seen the other day while on the verge of falling.

What disturbed her was that she had stood in the same place as Seyeon, same building, same roof. It put Suho's reaction into perspective when he had found her, and further mounted her guilt in bringing up bad memories.

Digging up things she needed to know about the story — which was more inclined towards the drama than the webtoon; she had just started watching the show when she'd been swept away so her foreknowledge didn't really count for much — also meant that eventually, she would end up finding out something or the other about herself too. Which she did. She found out a lot of things, on the Internet and also in real life from people she was rather horrified to be associated with.

"Young Miss, you have guests. Shall I send them up?"

Eunjung knocked on her door to get her attention, relaying her message, and waited for her response with all the patience of a saint. She was a godsend and the Song heir couldn't be more grateful for her being present in the family.

Meanwhile, Ahyeong frowned, a confused look passing her features for a second.

Guests?

People coming over to the Song Mansion was not unheard of, but it was rare, and they were all either her parents' acquaintances or some of her brother's classmates. Ahyeong wasn't big on inviting people to her house or making friends beyond the usual superficial ones. She had a few who she loved having around, but never at her house.

Maybe they heard of her injury and came over to check? Dohwa hadn't texted her in a long while — was his number still in her phone? — so he probably visited?

Ahyeong lit up in excitement and sat up in her desk chair — her ankle had gotten considerably better and the cast would be off in a few days — and nodded at Eunjung, who almost chuckled at her eagerness and went downstairs to lead the guests up to her room.

She needed some semblance of familiarity from before and Dohwa was perfect for it. He even was Ahyeong's partner-in-crime when they read the True Beauty webtoon together in the rare days off that they had in the library, so maybe, just maybe, Dohwa would remember.

They didn't know each other too well, only bonding over trash romance manhwas that he dug up from the deepest corners of Seulli High — her former school; she had transferred to Saebom now, albeit unwillingly — but she liked to think he really did care about her.

Footsteps echoed up on polished stairs, advancing towards her bedroom located at the end of the west wing, and Ahyeong was almost vibrating with nerves at the implications of her train of thought.

She might not be the only one who was self-aware — that's what she had come to call this phenomenon — and quite frankly, she was counting on the fact that she didn't have to suffer through this alone.

Misery loves company and all that.

Well, turns out, the misery part of that statement was going to be more prominent when her guests stepped in through the door and Song Ahyeong recognized a gaggle of faces that definitely did not belong to Dohwa.

"Oh my goodness, Ahyeong-ah! Long time no see! I heard you were back so I came to see you! It's been so lonely without you, years go by so fast. How was New York?"

"Did you get souvenirs?"

"Did you really meet that hotshot makeup artist Selly? I saw your post on SNS. Waah, you're really living the life."

Fragile hope that had bloomed in her chest shattered into a million pieces, being flooded by a wave of horrified realization at the presence of the group of girls in her room.

She had been trying to deny it, pretending that she hadn't seen and read what she had, that the description was just that way because of a trick of light, that her eyes hadn't been working, her mind had been frenzied in panic.

Song Ahyeong, The Bully.

As Park Semi and her gang of tormentors stood in front of her with lips painted crimson and sharp teeth gleaming with an unnatural whiteness, Ahyeong realized just what type of crowd she was supposed to be a part of here.

The smile was ever-present on her face, cheeks aching from keeping it up for so long. Having moved their long-awaited meeting to the parlour on the first floor (damn that girl was rich), Semi's hands moved in elaborate gestures to demonstrate her encounters with their favourite victim- er, classmate, Im Jugyeong.

After three long years, Ahyeong was back. The queen b, the it-girl, the ideal student, her "best friend": Song fucking Ahyeong.

Honestly, Semi almost forgot the girl existed. Seeing the Song Heir trending on SNS for having landed back in Seoul was a shock for the girl who had been trying to establish herself as the person-in-charge after Ahyeong had left.

Semi had been trying so damn hard to build her reputation from scratch and was finally at the point where everyone in the surrounding neighbourhoods knew her as "Park Semi" instead of "one of Song Ahyeong's lackeys". But of course, the bitch just had to come back and ruin all her hard work.

She had to restrain herself from turning her smile into an ugly scowl.

She wouldn't do it, though. More like she couldn't, couldn't afford to burn the bridge that she had so painstakingly formed in middle school to rise from the rear end of the social ladder, going from an invisible nobody to a person who turned heads wherever she walked.

And when the opportunity presented itself, she seized Ahyeong's reputation in her absence and made it her own.

How could she keep it up now? How could she manage to compare to her when people kissed the very ground Ahyeong walked on?

Her smile wavered, fingers clenching around the handle of the teacup as she looked at the girl sitting in front of her on a chair that looked akin to a throne, calmly listening to one of the others talk about a particularly funny prank on the class pig with an amicable smile on her face.

The years had done her well, she grumbled in her mind. Ahyeong had gotten noticeably taller. Her occasional ventures into the modelling industry were justified. She'd seen those editorials in high-end fashion magazines. Semi wouldn't be surprised if her height counted in the 170's. It was a far cry from her own small stature.

Moreover, her aristocratic features were sharper and finely regal, lips perfectly plump and full of colour, the natural flush on cheeks that complimented her skin, her elegant posture and long dainty fingers that curled around the teacup, nails impeccably manicured, long legs crossed at her ankles.

For shit's sake, Ahyeong had no flaws. She was the epitome of perfection, anywhere she went, she belonged.

Semi scoffed in her mind, cogs already turning in her mind and forging the beginnings of a plan.

Enjoy the time you've got now, bitch. I'm going to make sure you run back to whatever hole you came from.

Calm. She looked calm. At first glance, that is. People didn't usually try to look deeper into appearances and took everything at face value.

Never had Ahyeong been so grateful for the ignorant nature of human beings.

Her hands looked normal. No, they were shaking with tremors as she tried to control them by clenching them around her cup until her knuckles turned white.

Her face looked passive. Her eyes were dry from not blinking for so long in fear that one of them would do something unsavoury the moment her eyes closed.

She looked fine. No, because she knew for a fact that she was staving off a panic attack.

Bullies. Fucking bullies, tormentors, tyrants, thugs, why the fuck were they in her house and talking to her like she belonged with them?

Her chest was constricting in odd ways, throat clogging up painfully.

When was the last time she breathed?

Was the parlour always this small?

Their mouths were moving, oh, they were talking.

Were there windows in the room? She really wanted to jump off one right now, anything to get away from this mess.

The door slammed open, cutting off the conversation — was it a conversation she was supposed to be a part of? Couldn't remember, she wasn't really talking, too busy trying to get oxygen in her lungs — and snapping the guests' attention to it.

Relieved from the unwavering attention of such unpleasant companions — although they were behaving well and were friendly, too friendly — Ahyeong breathed, taking in as much of the stuffy air as she could before slowly letting it out.

One... two... three...

When she reached ten on her count and everything shifted back into focus, she turned to the person who'd interrupted them and at the same time saved her.

(She hoped to any higher being up there that her guests hadn't witnessed her like that. She'd rather not give them anything to use against her, even if they hadn't shown any hostile intentions.)

Gilyeong stood by the unlit fireplace with a sneer that would've made Severus Snape proud.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

Semi huffed, setting her cup down, and put her nose in the air, flipping her hair back, "A princess, of course."

"I was thinking of something along the lines of a toy rat made of plastic."

Did he just accuse Semi of having her face done?

Bless her brother, she was going to shower him with flowers and gifts for this, because Ahyeong was forever going to treasure the memory of the mortified look on Semi's face.

She barely kept herself from snorting out loud, while Semi's friends held no such reservations, or maybe failed to control themselves, and dissolved into a fit of giggles and hysteria.

"You little-" Semi shook in anger as she rose from her chair, pupils blown wide with rage, "how dare you, you piece of-"

"Careful, Semi."

Said girl froze in her attempt to slap Gilyeong, and all laughter ceased at the sound of Ahyeong's bone-chilling voice that rang loud and clear in the room.

(She was vaguely aware that it was the first words she'd said the entire evening aside from the meekly spoken pleasantries and affirmations.)

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned, eyes narrowed as she pinned a cold glare at the offending hand that was a couple inches away from her brother's face.

As much as Ahyeong liked to playfully gripe with her brother, she never tried to lay a hand on him. And anyone who dared to do so would be spared no excuses by her, much less by a person with such a notorious history.

Semi visibly gulped at that, lowering her hand and letting out a nervous chuckle, "C'mon, Ahyeong, it was just good fun!"

"You and I have very different ideas of 'good fun', Semi," Ahyeong replied, setting her cup of untouched rose tea down and standing up, the other girls exchanging a look and following suit.

"Now, Gilyeong, what were you here for?"

"Umm..." His eyes moved over his sister, the girls and then to the door, "Eunjung said it was getting dark."

She turned to the guests who stood awkwardly in front of her, smiling wide — too many teeth, she later thought, after her brother commented how she looked like a shark — to hide the beginnings of boiling irritation that replaced her prior panic.

"I believe our time has been cut short, and I'm sure we'll have many opportunities to sit and chat again," God, she hoped not, "let's say our goodbyes for now, yes?"

It came off as more of a statement than asking for permission. There was no room for argument.

Gilyeong was boring holes into his sister's head with how hard he was staring, standing beside Eunjung as Ahyeong waved off her old friends — yeah, right, "friends" — and stepped back inside the foyer.

She had obviously noticed him doing so, because she raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

"You're fucking terrifying, you know that?"

Eunjung looked affronted and hissed vehemently beside him, immediately launching in a tirade of "where did you learn such language?", "I should put soap in your mouth" and all that jazz. But he tuned her out, focusing solely on his sister who looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

If it was anyone who had grown a second head, it would be her. Because what in the ever-living heck was that back in the parlour?

Admittedly, a weird feeling had been pooling in his gut ever since he had seen a pale-faced Ahyeong entering the first-floor parlour with people who he didn't recognize in the slightest, and upon asking the housemaid, he came to find out they were some friends from middle school.

That immediately sent warning bells tolling in his mind because the grinch having friends? It was unheard of.

Not that he believed Ahyeong couldn't make friends, it was just that she often didn't have enough patience to deal with their bullshit with the workload that their mum often insisted on piling upon her.

When the thread of nerves in his mind had finally snapped in an hour, he all but barged into their conversation — which looked to be one-sided because Ahyeong wasn't speaking at all, only nodding her head at times, and when he looked close enough he could almost see her shaking- no, he wasn't spying on them — and was pretty sure he was the only one who had noticed her struggling to breathe properly.

Seriously, who were these people?

And then he makes a comment that blows one of the pissy girls' wig off and then he's flinching back because the rat's about to slap him and then he's shivering because his sister looks like she's about to commit murder.

Even their father's monthly tennis matches at the country club didn't give him so much whiplash.

He swore the room's temperature had dropped at that moment. He had scrambled to pull up and excuse as to why he had come in the room, roping Eunjung into it, and he thought he'd seen something akin to relief in Ahyeong's eyes.

But of course, that was soon overlooked when she pulled out her baby-eating smile and dear lord, why the fuck did she look like she would rip their heads off if they didn't leave right now?

She looked like a shark out for blood. And now, he told her so.

Ahyeong looked contemplative for a while before she shrugged and walked past him and Eunjung, who was still ranting about his use of such demeaning language — clearly, she hadn't seen him around his online friends when they went on raids in LOLOL — saying a few words that raised a lot of questions about his sister's overall mental well-being.

"Well, better get used to it because that's how the writer wrote my personality."

It was a mystifying feeling to be in front of a place that was inherently fictional but also real. The school in the drama was located at Yonsei University, but this building's address was further away from the original location that existed in this world.

It was beautiful. The hedges, the undergrowth, the ivy hanging off the old building. Students in Saebom's signature uniform milled around in clusters, either chatting idly or rushing off to their classrooms before the bell would ring.

The sun hit the scene just right, making it seem as though the scene came straight out of a painting. Well, it was supposed to be fictional anyway.

Ahyeong breathed in deep, straightening out her skirt and adjusting the nook of her tie that rested beneath her grey sweater vest. The tailored uniform was fitted snugly on her form.

The cast had come off the previous week after the doctor had given the all-clear, and now her legs were adorned by a pair of ankle-length boots, stockings and thigh-high socks.

She glanced at her watch that peeked out under the sleeve of her plum blazer.

7:43 am.

She needed to be at least fifteen minutes early to get her paperwork sorted out before classes began at eight.

With one last exhale to get rid of her nerves, she nodded at Driver Kwon, grabbed her backpack, and stepped out of the car and right into the eye of the storm: Saebom High.

And so, the plot begins.

TURN.

masterlist

#true beauty #cha eunwoo #hwang inyeop #moon gayoung #lee suho #han seojun #im jugyeong #kang sujin #extraordinary you #lee suho x reader #lee suho x oc #korean drama #kdrama fanfic #kdrama imagine #kdrama scenarios #webtoon

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