shery

two strangers crossed paths on a random friday afternoon. the stars aligning themselves in eros' love cauldron. a boy who fell first, a boy who fell harder. tale as old as time. but what if this ordinary story transforms into utter chaos? can this newfound love survive the joke of fate? are soulmates real or a remedy to console one’s heart? old kindlings and new buds of love await you in this twisted tale.

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destiny works in such funny ways. one day, you are happily celebrating your birthday with your boyfriend, and the next morning, you find him in your bed with your cousin. it was comical, really. a few hours ago, the boy you thought you were going to devote your whole life to was making you love declarations. how he was happy to have you in his life. that pretending to be your best friend in front of your religious parents was a sacrifice he would take on.

rayan could not blame his cousin for this. maybe he was too feminist for it. or it was the fact that she did not know that he was gay, and the boy she hooked up with was his boyfriend. with tears forming in their eyes and a manic laugh escaping their mouth, rayan just closed the door and ran towards the only place that would not feel suffocating at the time.

“i’m going to kill him.” even at thirteen, amina was ready to throw hands at the older boy. she never liked that white giant, always telling her brother to break up with him. “can you call lucy please? i forgot my phone in my room,” rayan wearily asked his sister. the whole situation drained any energy they had left inside their body. amina eyes were full of sympathy and compassion for her brother — this being rayan‘s first relationship that was actually progressing normally.

lucy arrived at the asifs' house just a short while later. and the first thing she did was beat the hell out of miles. rubab, the cousin, was extremely bewildered and was asked to leave the room.

“why?” that was the only question the blonde had for the now beaten-up cheater. but that was a century-old question. why did you cheat on your significant other? was it falling out of love, the sheer excitement of doing something forbidden, or just an ugly character? and just like in those soap dramas, our cheater did not have any answer either.

the rest of the afternoon was spent between consoling a heartbroken teenager, as good and quietly as you can in a brown household, and planning the murder of another.

maybe it was the absurdity of losing his first real boyfriend to his cousin. maybe it was the fact that they knew that they would eventually lose miles to a girl. the walls around his heart, walls that were carefully kissed away, were quickly rebuilt. and within a week, the jester of love was back. only a worried sister and soulmate could see beyond the elated mask.

mir geht’s gut wenn du weg bist. wenn ich weiß, dass du weit, weit weg bist.

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rayan was no stranger to having crushes. in fact, his first crush was a boy in his nursery — he was a born lover boy. his friends were used to him acting lovesick and going back to normal within a week; after all, there was only one person who had mastered the art of taming the love fool. they were the couple everyone desired to be, or everyone was sick of seeing. but as legends say: the greater the love, the greater is the act of betrayal.

“i can’t believe gray fell in love with juvia while messing around with you.” lucy did not want to see rayan go through the same heartbreak as in high school. after breaking up with their boyfriend, the raven-haired boy lost all of their spark and whimsy. what was really the point of life if you could not even trust the person you loved? it took lucy and amina a great time to get the old rayan back, though they could not love away all the scars.

“not really his fault, i kind of pushed him to get his shit together and confess already." rayan let out an exhausted sigh. it is not like he expected much from gray. they were just casual. casually exchanging bodily services without getting attached. but you don’t pour out your heart to your casual fuck buddy, do you?

“do you still love him?”

gray would have made a great boyfriend. he took rayan out to dates, made them surprises, and even visited them on campus. a dream boyfriend. though this dream was unreachable, the male lead already gave his heart away to a water goddess.

but lucy was not talking about the icy bad boy. nor about rayan’s countless other flings. the one tall brown-haired boy who turned rayan’s life upside down. elevated him to cloud nine and crashed the cloud into the deepest pith of hell.

every time rayan thought about his ex-boyfriend they had a grim smile on their face. those thirteen months have been the best of his love. he never felt more loved. more wanted. more worshipped. their mouth trembled. “does he talk about me?”

“he barely talks to me. not after that incident. jaemin and renjun tried to fuck up his drinks so he could get fired.” hearing that his friends were looking out for him made the heartsick fool feel better in his stomach. so what if boys men always ended up disappointing him? he would always have his chosen family by his side. this village they fought so hard to get. burned so many bridges in the past for. rayan was content with being the supporting character in his friends' lives.

but it would feel so fucking good to be loved.

“so…sungchan huh?” “oh shut up!”

yeah, we were born to be alone. but why we still looking for love?

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ꨄ︎ shotaro osaki

since he came to the city, shotaro is attached to sungchan like a magnet. hard work and discipline made him the owner of one of the biggest dance crews in the state and a very sought-after dance instructor, making him sometimes too busy to hang out with his friends. he also enjoys some basketball sessions with chenle and natsu — a chaotic duo to be around and whose influence leads shotaro to tease his friends. but if you are in a dire situation, you couldn’t ask for a more dependable friend than the king of dance.

ꨄ︎ seunghan hong

childhood friend of sungchan. the first victim who got recruited by the bakery as he couldn’t decide on a major in time. after a lot of consideration, seunghan finally decided to pursue his studies in music, influenced by his friends and coworkers. he was out catching pokemon on his phone on a random eveninh and, as fate would have it, he ran into rayan who was just as into catching the virtual companions — their shared love making them instant friends. seunghan has been giving sungchan private lessons in songwriting — this may come in handy when it is time to declare one's love.

ꨄ︎ donghyuck lee

donghyuck prefers to go by haechan for his musical career, which has only started to bloom. together with his boyfriend mark he produced songs of various varieties and also created the band 7DREAM, which exploded in their local popularity. to get even better at music, donghyuck enrolled as a music major at neo-soul where he met sungchan and jaemin. the latter being dragged by him to everywhere he goes, even making him join the band. being a huge micheal jackson fan, his dance skills are not below his angelic singing — may shotaro use this to his advantage.

ꨄ︎ jaemin na

forced by his parents to go into psychology, jaemin would rather spend his time with his boyfriend and bandmates. his charming character and looks got him recruited by the owner of the infamous bakery and quickly promoted to manager. jaemin was about to beg for a demotion until he saw his new paycheck. the bakery also created their own monthly bookclub where he met rayan, connecting over their shared admiration for cute things and already having a large overlapping friend group. him and jeno also have a very sweet spot for rayan’s sister, a detail that might become a turning point in the story.

ꨄ︎ soobin choi

the newest addition to the group. seunghan dragged soobin to his friends after he got hired at the bakery – everyone blissfully asking why they need this many employees – and was acting all gloomy. as another victim of the teaching major at new-soul, it was only a matter of time rayan also met him, and the great war of custody began. he joined raylu's growing book club as well as the university's drama club. being a very perceptive friend, soobin might have to hop into the role of cupid – helping his oblivious friend. his favorite free time activity is talking to his boyfriend, entangling him in his friends' drama.

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short n sweet staff 🍰

ꨄ︎ yizhuo ning

truly only here for the money and free baked goods. ningning’s parents got her enrolled in neo-soul, demanding that her angelic voice needs to be heard. she is currently working on a duet with donghyuck, whom she met in their shared introduction week at the music department. from her coworkers, she is the closest to lucy. the two of them share their love for fashion, tending to make them both a little loud and touchy with each other — a fact that doesn’t sit well with ningning’s girlfriend aeri.

ꨄ︎ victoria beverly walker

musical prodigy and a rising star through her genius music. preferring to go by pink for artistic reasons, she is rather shy and awkward in front of the camera. rayan has often asked to be her official manager, though she had to decline him after seeing his only credentials were movie stars planet and sims. the staff is very supportive of her rise as the next sensation, but also scared of losing her or that they have to even do more overtime if her fans keep crowding the bakery.

ꨄ︎ miles smith

an upcoming tattoo artist who is working part-time to pay his bills. the owner was unfamiliar with miles’ affiliation with the core staff, surprised when half of the staff wanted to kill him with their glares. miles seems to be talented at sports, becoming training buddies with sungchan, who seems to be the only one not to hate him at his new work. but fate won’t let this new friendship last long after old secrets will come to light.

ꨄ︎ sabrina annlynn carpenter

the bakery was supposed to be only a pop-up to promote sabrina’s new single and album. but who knew that sabrina would fall in love with having her own bakery and would make it a permanent store. officially her label is credited as the owner and management, a trick to make the bakery less overcrowded and keep the workers’ sanity. sabrina adores her staff and is the best boss you could ask for: free bonuses, paid vacation days as much as they need, and free vinyls of her music. her only demand is providing her with the newest gossip, which will lead her to root for the protagonists to get together.

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ꨄ︎ amina asif

the annoying teen sidekick that has to appear in the story. being rayan’s little sister, amina is often around his friends and also knows everyone’s and anyone’s tea. she is a huge fan girl (like her brother) and a day one supporter of 7DREAM. when rayan took her to their concert, and she got to meet nomin, amina decided for herself to become a songwriter. together with her best friend amelie, she is spoiled by everyone and doesn’t shy away from voicing her opinion — maybe a certain someone has to look out for himself if he breaks her brother’s heart,

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ꨄ︎ lucy heartfilia

beautiful, kind, and smart lucy has been rayan‘s friend since he accidentally got lost in their big mansion. these two often are accused of being a couple, at least from the people who do not know rayan was a walking skittles ad. she often has to look after him, worried that they might do something stupid just to feel the thrill of life. their soulmatism even made lucy attend neo-soul as a literature student, hoping to get one step closer to her dream of being a writer. along the way, she fell in love with a pink-haired basketball player who makes her world feel like cloud nine.

ꨄ︎ renjun huang

sitting next to an anxious and lost rayan transformed the lucy ryan duo into a trio. his life long of being an art teacher and his passion for music make him very desirable to everyone on campus — too bad he already has eyes on someone unattainable. if renjun is not trying to finish his art submission, he is playing with his band 7DREAM — the local celebrities who often perform sold-out shows. as one of the oldest in the group, his task is it to keep everyone in check, especially rayan and rin.

ꨄ︎ runin fang

from deep in the provinces, rin fled from her adoptive family and ended at neo-soul as a political science major. overly ambitious and raw talent for strategies make her a perfect candidate for lecturers to appoint her as the teacher‘s assistant, much to rin‘s dismay, who would rather beat up her rival nezha than correct any papers. her morals can be dubious sometimes; if you come between her and her goals, prepare for your own funeral. but she will sacrifice everything for her friends, even though rin is still not sure how she ended up in this friend group.

ꨄ︎ kitay chen

with an iq of 180 and being the son of the defense minister, kitay could have had a very simple life of being a nepo baby. for some unreasonable circumstances, he chose to enroll himself in the political science courses at neo-soul with the goal to become an even better politician and diplomat than his father. he quickly became friends with rin and their friendship mirrored every platonic love you can find. kitay often has to clean up rin‘s mess, but he does not mind — he would follow rin everywhere, even to his demise. he also does not mind playing the sugar daddy for his friends.

ꨄ︎ meret manon sarpong bannerman

rayan and manon met each other at a networking event. she was networking, and he was getting slutted out. having to rescue him, she quickly made friends with the rest of the group and became an important puzzle piece of their friendship. in possession of an insane face card, she quit university to focus on her growing social media career and is planning to debut as an actress and soloist in the near future. manon has a strong moral foundation and will call out her friends if she needs to. her friends are rooting for her growing career, happy to see their friend succeed and be content with herself.

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ꨄ︎ rayan asif

aspiring to become an english teacher, rayan is enrolled at university of neo-soul. despite having large ambitions and dreams, rayan would rather binge something on their phone or read something from his very growing tbr — at least he doesn’t have to deal with his unresolved emotions. rayan gets easily obsessed with new things, the newest obsession being pokémon cards. they are also a hopeless romantic who keeps getting involved with the wrong guys, craving attention they don’t get. maybe the angel of his prayers will come disguised as a grumpy deer.

ꨄ︎ sungchan jung

sungchan is quite popular as the star of the local football team. furthermore, he is a finance student at the neo-soul, though this degree serves mainly as a backup. he also works at the short n sweet bakery to save some money for his big life plan. getting often teased by his friends for not being interested in anyone else but his own agenda, sungchan wants to prove to them that he is capable of loving someone. this may be easy, as a certain brown-eyed boy seems to haunt his dreams after an accidental kiss and many unplanned interactions. but some past mistakes may come to haunt his perfect life.

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