hyan

becoming the apprentice of an infamous witch has never been part of your ‘grand plan’.

the plan was to leave your comfortable little rich girl life to sneak your way into the best academy for wizardry, rightfully earn your place in society as an accomplished witch, and live amongst magic for the rest of your life! and all of that you wanted to achieve by yourself. you weren’t some wannabe runaway princess who had some bullshit excuse to want to escape your perfect life—not even your sweet mother, bless her heart, respected or entertained your dreams of being a witch. and of course that led to you resorting to desperate measures to study and use magic without guidance… or a permit.

magic, as you’ve learned, was as dangerous as it was beautiful. people with little to no knowledge of magic aren’t even allowed to get anywhere near it as even the way one interacts with it can either end well or very, very badly. in your case, it was the latter.

you can blame it all on false advertisements though. who ever knew that using a quickspell scroll would blow up a huge chunk of your father’s precious library?! it didn’t say that in the scroll itself—all you wanted to do was create a starry landscape in the room, it was the simplest form of illusory magic! but of course, your inexperience bit you in the ass. you created a spark… then an explosion that woke the entire damn mansion.

you were extremely lucky to have survived with none of your limbs blown to pieces and only a scar on the cheek. and you were even luckier that you were not jailed for attempted manslaughter and the very obvious crime that was the illegal use of magic, as that would’ve landed you in prison your entire life! you did get a mouthful from your parents and your grandparents, and even your aunts and uncles! and when your father forbade you from even surrounding yourself with magic, that was when you finally ran away.

now here you are, eight months later, living in a humble hut, sitting on the edge of your bed at four in the morning as your mentor goes on and on about how she has apparently made a breakthrough. you were barely listening—you have spent too many mornings in this exact situation to know that your wonderfully insane teacher was just… rambling. as you stare at your teacher barely awake, you start to think about how fate had a funny way of having things work out for you in the strangest way possible.

your teacher is kim jiwon, the brilliant witch who had a hand in the creation of the quickspell scrolls that greatly advanced the evolution of ‘accessible magic’ when she was only seventeen! it was one of the greatest feats of a witch from the modern era of magic. it was especially surreal to meet her in front of her hut after being chased down by decaying werewolves after messing with necromancy as she was one of your idols. it might have been strange to idolize someone who was so close to your age, albeit only a few years older, but it really was a dream come true.

enough backstory though. the past doesn’t matter to you anymore. not as much as the present, and certainly not as much as whatever future is waiting for you!

“(y/n), are you paying attention? this is very important! you and i will make it to the history books again after the dust has settled! well… me in the history books again, for the fourth time to be exact—not bragging, it’s just the truth—and you for the first time! alright—”

you yawned, “that sounded very much like bragging to me, ma’am. have you had your coffee yet?”

jiwon shakes her head, “no! caffeine is nearly not as crucial as what i am about to tell you. so—”

you sprang up from the bed, “ah, perfect. let’s go ahead and have some, then you can tell me about your findings. again.” you took a hold of your teacher’s arm and started tugging her out of your bedroom, much to her dismay.

“hey! wait, you didn’t even let me talk about it!” jiwon complains, but she doesn’t bother to resist and allows you to drag her all the way into the kitchen where you sat her down and conjured two fresh mugs of coffee on the table with a wave of your hand. you fight back the urge to smile smugly. it was hard to be humble about how fast and efficiently you have been learning under jiwon. 

if you tried to conjure anything six months ago you would have probably accidentally summoned a horde of undead for jiwon to fend off, but between her being a surprisingly amazing mentor and you being so dead set on learning, it was hardly surprising that you’ve got decent enough experience to enter the academy and pass an assessment or two. maybe even three!

“i must insist that i don’t really like being woken up so early in the morning for something so trivial as a… ‘breakthrough’ in your experiments.” you say after sitting down across from jiwon. she hummed approvingly at the taste of your coffee, and again you fought back a smile. practically wrestled for it to not show.

“listen, my love potion will change the tides! not a single witch in history, all of history, has concocted it perfectly and we’re going to change that. starting right now because i have found a way to make it all work,” jiwon leans closer and grabs both of your hands across the table, smiling brightly at you and your sleep-deprived self. “and it’s all thanks to me.” she says quietly before leaning back to her seat and sipping on her mug.

you blink your fatigue away and sigh, “again with the love potion. i don’t understand—you’re a wonderful spellcaster who has authored the spellbooks that the academy is using to teach their students as we speak. you’ve especially excelled in enchantment magic in your days as a novice! why do you need the love potion?” after your question has left your mouth, jiwon chugs down her coffee and slams the mug down on the table, making you flinch.

“i don’t need the love potion for anything, (y/n). i’m—oh, thank you,” jiwon pauses her train of thought when she notices you filled up her mug again. “i am as you say! i learn quickly and i learn well. i’m gifted with having been attuned to magic since i was an infant and that contributed a lot to me becoming the brilliant witch everyone knows today. being adept in spellcasting has always been a constant in my life but you know what else is?” there was a flicker of insecurity and… vulnerability in her eyes before she masks it with something else entirely.

of course you’ve been aware that jiwon has been perfect her entire life so none of this was brand new knowledge to you. still, you decided to entertain your mentor, “what else, ma’am?”

“potions are my greatest and only weakness, darling. potions! not potions themselves as i can easily nullify the effects of whatever concoction people want to make me drink—and trust me when i tell you that a lot of them were lethal poison, ahaha—but creating potions!” jiwon sighs deeply once again, now deflating on her seat, all sulky about her alleged ‘weakness’.

you chuckled, “yes, i bet it is so hard for you to only have one flaw.”

jiwon sticks her tongue out, “please don’t get all cheeky with me, (y/n). because what exactly did you do when you realized that a future with magic was nowhere near within your grasp before you ran away?” jiwon conjures her own coffee this time, eyes piercing yours as she waits for your answer.

you shifted uncomfortably in your chair, but answered honestly, “i didn’t accept it.”

“exactly. you persevered! even going as far as to give up the future that was going to be fed to you with a silver spoon just so you can whip coffee out of thin air! you challenged your fate and look at the results!” jiwon gleefully beams at you and you find yourself smiling back at her. her joy has always been contagious, and who were you to pass up the opportunity to rave about your own achievement?!

you still didn’t understand, but you always did admire jiwon’s never-ending journey of self-improvement. through teaching you, she’s able to hone her skills and learn new things about magic that she may have overlooked in her younger days. she always strived to know more, turned every situation into an opportunity to test her knowledge and of course, every single one of her self-tests, she passed with ease. you’d think that such a seasoned witch would be satisfied with everything that she has right now, but not jiwon.

“wake up, my faithful student! for this will be the very first time you’ll see a witch perfect the love potion.” jiwon bumps her mug against yours and chugs it down the remnants of her coffee before sending it off to the sink (that was cleaning the dishes by itself, by the way). she immediately sets off to her laboratory, which she likes to call ‘the sanctuary’. as your eyes follow your chipper teacher disappear into the other room, an adorable, furry creature jumps on your lap and greets you a good morning with a purr. jiwon’s familiar, cheddar, is your best friend in the form of a cat with the softest orange and white fur.

“looks like we’ll have a busy day, cheddar.” you leaned down and kissed the top of the cat’s head before letting it jump back down to the ground and stretch. you finished the rest of your coffee and sent it to the sink with unfortunately less care and flair than jiwon did and nearly broke the mug as it fell with the rest of the pile.

once you got yourself situated, you followed cheddar into the sanctuary and found jiwon standing gingerly in front of one of the bookcases in the corner of the room. the sanctuary was a heap of mess that consisted of books, sheets, vials, ink bottles and quills but it was home nonetheless. if you aren’t working on your spellcasting outside of the hut (where furniture wouldn’t disappear, get destroyed, or turned into something else entirely by accident), you were in here honing your craft and studying it with jiwon to watch and guide you. (and of course, cheddar would be there with you too!)

you watched by the doorframe while jiwon walked back and forth around the room gathering books and the random sheets scattered on the floor. you then realized that she must have not slept since she made this supposed ‘breakthrough’, which was probably why she was so eager to down three entire tall mugs of coffee. it wasn’t at all unlike jiwon to stay up until ungodly hours to soak up whatever knowledge there is that she needed to consume but sometimes you do worry for your teacher. she was… maybe a bit too passionate about witchcraft.

but hey, she wouldn’t be kim jiwon if that wasn’t the case.

“how is it that not a single witch and wizard in history has been able to successfully brew up a love potion? wouldn’t that be a fairly easy task to do considering what it does?” you finally asked. you always thought that people never bothered with such a potion—what use would it have after all? but after finding out that not even the most talented witch of the modern age of magic can’t do it… well, you grew curious.

“if it was, then wouldn’t you say that the spell counterpart of the potion should be easy too? you’ve seen the spell used yourself, haven’t you? the caster literally has to play cupid for it all to work! what a tedious spell,” jiwon shook her head, but she chuckled. most likely remembering all the times she has used the spell herself and made her fair share of mistakes. “naturally, the potion is just as complicated if not more, so nobody just bothered.”

you let out a laugh, “that’s it? people just gave up? i didn’t take witches and wizards to be… lazy, for the lack of a better word.”

“you can say they’re not as stubborn as i am, it’s fine,” jiwon spreads the sheets she collected on the table next to a small empty cauldron and a stack of books before she beckons you over. you do as you were told, and stare at the pieces of parchments before your eyes. “we can finish the potion before midnight if we’re swift. i will teach you everything you need to know about it first before we gather what we need.” the excitement in jiwon’s voice wasn’t too hard to miss. if she started vibrating and jumping around the room, you wouldn’t be surprised. she was so sure that this would all work… and so you trust her.

it was about an hour and a half into jiwon telling you every detail regarding the potion when you expertly led her back to the kitchen, sitting her down while you busied yourself with making breakfast for the two of you. however you managed to focus while jiwon talked on and on, you’ll never know… but what was a bigger mystery was your ability to have absorbed every single word despite being busy with another task. maybe it was months-long experience of being under her wing finally paying off, and that despite what people may say about her rambling, jiwon was a more-than-efficient educator.

on top of it all, the actual complexity of what you thought was a simple potion was a fascinating subject to you! you weren’t a talented spellcaster just yet but you were convinced that simply enchanting someone with the spell equivalent of the potion was way easier than going to such great lengths and a huge gamble. if jiwon’s formula was perfect, the person that consumes the potion will be head-over-heels in love with whoever gave them the concoction in the first place. although there was one very crucial ingredient that made you grimace upon hearing it—the hair of the person one wants to be in love with them.

“is the hair really necessary? can’t it just be like… i don’t know, a personal item?” you asked as you brought your perfectly-made eggs to your mouth.

jiwon shakes her head, “it’s just one strand, (y/n). and it’ll basically disintegrate once it’s in the cauldron! nearly every potion that needs a very specific person to target requires their hair, you should know this.”

you grumbled, “of course. but hair…?”

“trust me when i tell you that you’ll find yourself gathering stranger ingredients when making other potions. wait until you have to skin a fish alive.” jiwon teased, then laughed loudly at the sight of your bemused expression.

afterwards, you convinced jiwon that there’s no harm in taking an hour or two off from research and successfully got her to take a well-earned warm bath while you took the opportunity to clean up the sanctuary. before disappearing into the bathroom, jiwon joked that cheddar was now supervising you but you were sure that the damn cat was taking the task seriously with how it watched you intently as you tidied up the room.

in pure jiwon fashion, her bath took forever. in fact, you had a feeling that she had accidentally fallen asleep in the tub. (and you would know because of the rare times she had started up the bath for you and put all kinds of spells in it that made you feel like you were in heaven.) you half sat, half laid on one of the bean bags in the sanctuary, quietly reviewing jiwon’s notes while cheddar purred on your lap.

months ago, you would have been thoroughly confused reading jiwon’s notes and trying to decipher her strange accompanying sketches, but now you’ve become fluent in her little language. it was funny, becoming so familiar with someone who seemed like a dream to you not so long ago. you can thank fate for that. before you met her by chance, you were convinced that the great young witch kim jiwon would be living in a fancy tower in the heart of the biggest city in the world! although you should have known that someone as eccentric as her was the most likely to end up settling down in a dingy-but-comfortable hut in the middle of an unmapped forest.

as you read jiwon’s notes about the potion, you noticed that she had been keeping track of her progress as she studied. some entries were dated eleven years ago! you always knew that she was weirdly hyperfixating on the potion for quite some time, but you had no idea that it had been for that long! no wonder jiwon wouldn’t leave it alone—she can’t just accept that she can’t do this one thing! perhaps you shouldn’t have been so dismissive about her reasons for pursuing what would undoubtedly be a great achievement.

eventually, you fell asleep while you sat on the bean bag. the sheets of paper tucked in between your limp fingers sprawled down to the floor, and not even the way you fell back softly woke you up. cheddar was napping with you too! her head nuzzled on your stomach as she lay on your thigh, purring ever so softly. oddly enough, it was the best sleep you’ve had in a long time. odd, because it was on a darn bean bag with a cat on your lap and in an awkward position! and with you being so deep in sleep, you didn’t hear jiwon skip inside the room with a huge grin on her face.

“you know what, (y/n)! you were right about baths being life changi—” your mentor abruptly pauses when she spots your asleep state. normally, jiwon would shake her head and immediately wake you with how much she has been looking forward to finally creating the world’s only working love potion but instead, she finds herself smiling softly at you. she crouches down, her doe eyes examining your features closely as if it was the first time she was seeing you. in her defense, between her research, studies, and teaching you the basics of spellcasting for months, she didn’t really have the time to realize that wow!—you were beautiful. almost absurdly so!

the longer jiwon stares at you, the louder her heartbeat gets. that she didn’t quite understand and usually, anything unknown to her intrigues her but something as strange as… finding the way your hair fell perfectly on your face akin to the stars aligning in the night sky discourages her to find out more about it. instead, jiwon pries her eyes away from you and collects the scattered pieces of parchment on the floor.

the potion, jiwon thinks to herself. she huffs, gently pats both of her cheeks and puts her notes back on her table next to the small cauldron. that is what matters right now.

although jiwon would have loved to put all of her attention to fine-tuning her notes on the spell, she couldn’t help but worry about the smallest inconveniences that might befall you. for example, she worried that you might wake up with some back pains with how awkward your sleeping position was! she thought about sending you back to your bedroom using a levitation spell, but she knew you would’ve been woken up. and cheddar was all over your lap! what if you hate waking up covered in her fur? should jiwon send cheddar elsewhere? nevermind!

with a flick of her hand, a warm blanket conjures right on top of you and envelopes your upper body, eliciting a satisfying hum from you. jiwon couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she set her eyes back down on her notes, nor could she stop her ears from ringing and flushing red. but she ignores all of these sensations as if her life depended on it—nothing must stop her from accomplishing her life-long quest. not even you! you pretty little thing.

~

“out of all the days the markets decided to be busy…” jiwon sighs as she pulls the hood of her cloak down. she stares begrudgingly at the crowd before the two of you, pouting as she wondered if she could just postpone making the potion for a day. you stood beside your mentor, eyes droopy, lips dry, and still a bit fatigued since you happened to be woken up abruptly for the second time this day only half an hour ago to start ingredient-hunting. you kept your hood up, partly because the sun was blinding and mostly to avoid being recognized as the runaway rich girl whose face has been plastered on a few posters around the town.

when leaving the hut in the daylight, you made it a habit to use a disguising spell to make sneaking around the town a lot easier. but again, you didn’t have the time to do all that since jiwon had already been dragging you out the door while you put on your cloak. ah, if only it was nighttime… you would feel better wearing only your own skin.

“what are you thinking, ma’am?” you asked, and yawned immediately after. like jiwon, you were surprised that the markets were incredibly packed. usually around this time of the day, people would be in schools, or at work, or still sleeping! the thought of a wandering noble or decently-dressed businessman who just so happened to be right where you are made you anxious, but you knew you were just paranoid. you have been in hiding for eight months and things have been nothing but great on your end. your luck wouldn’t run out now… would it?

“well, we do what we came here to do, of course. i trust my cheddar to keep our hut safe if we take longer than expected. now come.” jiwon leaves your side and if it hadn’t been for your equally-as-quick-feet, you would’ve lost her in the crowd. you followed your mentor closely, careful not to raise your head too high and have your face show in the sunlight.

curse jiwon’s eagerness to make that darn potion—she was walking too fast and you could barely keep up now. you can’t even hear whatever she’s mumbling! you squeezed through a small crowd of four women, apologized to a young man after having to push him aside just to keep jiwon in your sight, and apologized even more after making an older gentleman drop a few fruits out of his wicker basket. you tore your regretful gaze from the old man and stopped in your tracks, realizing that your mentor was now nowhere to be found. oh, for heaven's sake!

how in the world were you supposed to find her now? you can’t even look up without fearing that someone might fully see your face and hand you over to a knight nearby! 

your eyes desperately search for jiwon’s blonde hair. it should be easy, it literally never stops shining! your frantic head turns made you dizzy, and the sheer amount of people coming and going from your vision made you feel disoriented. you grabbed onto the arm of a cloaked young lady, thinking it was jiwon… and you thought wrong. you muttered a quick apology and backed away from the stranger, only to bump your back into another one right behind you. whipping your head around, you were met with a well-put older man and your heart drops.

“are you lost?” the man asked. your breath catches in your throat. he doesn’t look like a person who lived in this town, not even the inner city where all the nobles and the aristocrats resided. he had the kind of poise and distinguished nature that you saw only in wealthy men that lived in the countryside. your father. his buddies. your male relatives. oh, goodness. what if he’s one of your father’s men? or worse—one of his friends, and he has spies all around him to get you. no. no way your father would rope one of his companions into looking for you! you can’t be that of an important piece to his little empire, right? he shouldn’t care!

“oh my, you look quite unwell, child.” an elderly woman dressed in elegant but fit-for-travel attire chimes in. must be a member of a small noble house in the inner city. an accomplice? shit. the woman ducks her head slightly to take a better look at your expression, which was so obviously startled and fearful. you looked pale as well and it certainly didn’t help your case. looking away from the woman exposed a bit of your face to the man standing beside her, and maybe you were indeed losing your mind but something in his eyes flashes in recognition… but the look quickly vanished and was replaced with worry.

you nearly trip over the half-untied laces of your boots as you stepped away from the man and woman, “i’m f-fine—i just need to find—”

“—oh, there you are!” an arm snakes around your waist, and from the smell of caramel and freshly-cut grass wafting into your nose, you could tell that it was jiwon. “you have to stay close to me, dearest.” jiwon whispers. she smiles politely at the man and woman and makes the most pleasant of small talks with them before tugging you away gently.

she takes the two of you into an alleyway where it was free from traffic and pulls your hood down, taking a good look at your fear-stricken face, “it’s alright, (y/n). they had no idea who you were.”

“but that man… he looked like he did know me.” you spared a glance at the ever-growing crowd behind jiwon. nobody was trying to come into the alleyway, nor did the man try to follow both of you. you looked back at jiwon, whose hands started releasing a bright, sparkly pink aura.

“that man hails from the south and owns a small fishing business. he’s travelling all the way over here to get a feel of the community and scope out a business opportunity. trust me, (y/n),” jiwon smiles reassuringly before whispering an incantation under her breath and making a circular motion with her hands. she has successfully had you under the guise of a lady of her age with silver hair. jiwon then brushes your hair away from your face. “you’re safe.”

you hold on to jiwon’s words for dear life.

the two of you walked out of the alleyway and once again joined the crowd. jiwon made sure to cast a spell that made the two of you bound to an invisible string that would tug one closer to where the other is. just in case you lose each other again. your hand itches to reach out for jiwon’s, but you wondered if that was pushing the boundaries of your relationship as teacher and student… but it wasn’t like you wanted to hold her hand out of romantic intent! recognizing that absolutely insane train of thought, you came to the conclusion that you were thinking too much about it and instead just kept up with jiwon as much as you could.

jiwon visited one stall after another. she was either shopping to restock her potion ingredients or chatting with the vendors. yes, it did require the two of you to stay in one place longer than needed but at this point, you were used to it. sometimes, you even joined the conversation just to do something—it was all very entertaining, surprisingly. while jiwon did ease your worries earlier in the alleyway, you still couldn’t help but look over your shoulder from time to time as well as instinctively turn away whenever you were met with a knight doing their rounds in the streets. one can never be too sure, after all.

eventually, you were holding two wicker baskets full of potion ingredients as you and jiwon ventured deeper into the markets. you stopped in front of a store that you have come to know as jiwon’s second home, considering the shop was owned by one of her long-time friends, jang wonyoung.

“ah, of course. it’s busy inside here too.” jiwon sighs as she enters the shop with you following closely behind. you followed jiwon as she carefully made her way up multiple flights of stairs, avoiding bumping into people as best as you could. still, however, a young boy who wasn’t looking at where he was running off bumped into your shoulder as you took a step up the stairs, making you lose your balance and fall. but then, you feel something akin to that of a rope tightening around your waist and pulling you safely up the top of the stairs and right onto jiwon’s back.

“s-sorry! i fell and the spell just… pulled me here.” you uttered, suddenly feeling warm from how close you were to jiwon. this sensation was vaguely familiar to you. cheeks hot, goosebumps all over your body, skin tingling and are you… blushing? blushing?!

jiwon merely smiles at you and takes a gentle hold of your wrist, “come on, wonyoung is waiting for us.” she safely guides you through the crowd. a few of the people that work in the shop that you have come to know smile and wave at you, some even tried to make conversation with you but you couldn’t seem to focus at all. not when jiwon was now holding your hand instead of your wrist. if you had known that she would be so casual about hand-holding, you wouldn’t have fought for your life following her through the streets earlier!

after climbing up a more fancy set of spiral stairs, you and jiwon have finally reached the small room at the very top of the shop. and as if on cue, the door swings open, revealing the beautiful and truly magical interior of the shop owner’s study. jiwon enters the office with you in tow, and as soon as you step inside, the disguising spell immediately wears off; it seems the defensive charms set up inside the room were working as perfect as ever.

you were then met with wonyoung, who was sitting comfortably by her desk flipping through books that were suspended in the air. wonyoung visibly lights up at your arrival, dropping her books on her desk neatly and removing her speed-reading glasses.

“good morning, my favorite witches! what kinds of trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?” wonyoung stands up from her seat, walking all the way around to the front of her desk and leaning her back against it. her eyes flicker down to your and jiwon’s linked hands, and a smirk spreads across her glossy lips. 

you noticed that wonyoung’s adorable familiar, cherry, was nowhere to be found. not on the floor of her office anyway, but instead, the fluffy white bunny was hopping in the air, bumping into several floating books as she made her usual rounds around the study until she eventually ended up beside your foot. the bunny rubs its cheek against your ankle very briefly before hopping away once again.

“nothing much. we went ingredient shopping and thought of giving you a little visit! and,” jiwon clears her throat, bites her bottom lip nervously before speaking again. “i—we need access to your dungeon.” jiwon waves your joint hands and puts on a tight-lipped smile. truthfully, you have no idea what was going on. this was the first time jiwon has ever spoken about wonyoung having a ‘dungeon’! you were really hoping that it was just an inside joke between them, being long time friends and all, and that sweet, beautiful wonyoung doesn’t actually have a… you know what, you can’t even imagine it!

“oh, jiwon… i told you that if taking a young one as a student proved to be too much, you can just hand her over to me! there’s no need to throw (y/n) in my dungeon.” wonyoung sighed with her hand over her heart. you quickly took your hand out from jiwon’s grasp and stepped away, looking at your mentor in disbelief until you saw her shake her head and chuckle while wonyoung started laughing.

ah, ‘twas a joke.

“you know i would never discard (y/n)!” jiwon pulls you over closer to her side once again and gives you an only slightly awkward side hug. she pats your hair and looks at you lovingly, laughing when you eventually return her affection and bashfully put your arm around her waist and squeezed her gently. 

has she always been this doting? after your lackluster nap, did you somehow wake up in an alternate reality where jiwon was uncharacteristically touchy-feely? as confusing as it all was, you were… somewhat okay with it! if anything, this was a sign that you and jiwon are getting closer! from the scene in the crowd earlier, the binding spell, the hand-holding, and now all this… you can definitely get used to it.

wonyoung crosses her arms, “what do you need from there? i mean, yes, i’ll let you in but i need you to promise me that you’re not unleashing that elven demon lord we sealed years ago—”

“—pardon?” you asked, mouth agape in both shock and… admiration? even if wonyoung was joking or merely exaggerating whatever she has stuffed in her ‘dungeon’, you don’t doubt that they can seal away a powerful foe. you have literally witnessed jiwon defeating trolls quadruple her size and strength using only her wits!

“ah, how is the old fella? still bitter and angry that a pair of young adults ended his thousands of years old dream of world domination?” jiwon asked, giggling. oh, she wasn’t kidding? neither of them were kidding?! a part of you wanted to barge into that dungeon and see it all for yourself. who knows what other ridiculous greatness is hidden there?! infamous enemies of the old, magical artifacts, never-before-seen treasures, forbidden knowledge… if you somehow managed to be allowed in there, you would be the happiest little wannabe witch in the whole galaxy.

“nevermind that for now, jiwon. what do you need?” wonyoung asked. she was starting to get impatient, and a bit suspicious. judging by the way she warned jiwon with her eyes. you don’t exactly know what the warning was about, but you did know that jiwon absolutely cannot say the wrong answer to that question.

“right! we almost got off track there, huh, (y/n)? haha!” jiwon gently elbows your arm and you look at her with your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

wonyoung groans, “jiwon.”

“do you remember ten years ago, we were twenty-two, and i… attempted to create the love potion and failed horribly?” jiwon asked with great shame. it was in her voice, her expression, even the way she stood! you almost wanted to laugh because she looked funny, and the thought of your mentor failing so horrendously that it became her greatest embarrassment in her otherwise flawless career was something worth giggling over because of course! of course kim jiwon’s biggest failure would be an inaccurately-made potion! you were willing to bet that it probably wasn’t even that disastrous and jiwon was just overreacting and being the perfectionist she always is, and has been, apparently.

“yes, jiwon,” wonyoung’s eyes flicker between you and jiwon—she was trying to piece something together but you don’t know what. surprising, considering that wonyoung and jiwon have been friends for so long. wonyoung should know that jiwon has a thirst for knowledge that can never be quenched right? why does it look like there’s something she knows about jiwon’s intent that you don’t? okay, maybe you were in over your head a bit. “whatever you want to do with it, i forbid you from doing it.” wonyoung moves away from you and jiwon, walking towards a bookshelf to the left and busying herself with rearranging the books.

“we haven’t even told you! it’s brilliant, wonyoung. i have it all figured out!” jiwon chases after wonyoung with you in tow, acting as if you were some kind of charm that will make wonyoung change her mind as long as you were present.

“right, right. do you remember what happened when you thought you had that potion ‘figured out’ ten years ago?” wonyoung asked. her tone was stern and serious, but she let out a chuckle at the memory. you looked at your mentor for answers, but jiwon was too busy scratching her head as she tried to use her words correctly.

“um… i was really happy to become the godmother to your and gaeul’s kid very early on in my life—ow!” jiwon winces as wonyoung pinches her cheek before she moves on to a different shelf. now this was a shock to you. the possibility of wonyoung being a mother didn’t even cross your mind, but now that the image is there and confirmed… it does make sense, what with how much she parents and scolds jiwon in person and through the letters they send each other when they can’t immediately see one another.

“you made me swear an oath to keep the formula as well as what was left of the potion in my dungeon forever, and being the good and responsible friend that i am, i’m keeping my promise.” wonyoung flips open a book and skims through it, not sparing jiwon a single glance as she speaks. 

again, jiwon runs over to wonyoung’s side with you still being dragged around like a rag doll, “good point! and thank you for keeping it there for all these years but since i was the one who gave you that responsibility, i have every right to lift it from your shoulders as well.”

wonyoung pauses, allows jiwon’s words to soak in, and sighs. she closes the book in her hands and puts it back on the shelf, then she finally faces her friend once again, “you’re right. but you made it very clear back then that we should never tamper with what you created ever again.” this time, wonyoung sounds anxious. you hear in her voice that she was definitely going to allow jiwon in her dungeon to retrieve the original formula, but she sounds absurdly worried.

it got you thinking just how big of a mistake jiwon ended up making that the potion needed to be locked in a dungeon—with an elven demon lord, no less!

“i know better now, wonyoung. i promise i’ll be careful,” jiwon takes a hold of wonyoung’s hand, smiling adoringly at her friend. wonyoung stares at your mentor for a good few seconds, deeply wondering if there was something more behind her intent. “i promise.” jiwon squeezes her friend’s hand tightly. and that, apparently, was enough for wonyoung to accept everything as is and trust jiwon with access to her dungeon.

you were then politely asked by jiwon to wait outside of the shop. you tried to ask questions, mostly out of concern but also because you wanted to invite yourself in wonyoung’s dungeon but jiwon was very insistent that you wait outside and keep quiet about wherever she and wonyoung had gone. you obliged, of course—perhaps going into a powerful witch’s dungeon would be too much for a novice such as yourself. perhaps jiwon was just keeping you safe. like she had been this entire day! so, you don’t let your curiosity eat away at you and silently wait for jiwon’s return.

passers-by ignored you as you stood patiently beside the shop door. it made you wonder whether or not you truly looked ‘one of a kind’ compared to the locals of this part of the outer city, so much so that jiwon altered your appearance to the point of looking like any other person around. you leaned back on the concrete wall behind you and just as you got comfortable, the building started shaking.

“what in the hells—” you stepped back as the shop door swung open and out came a few customers screaming, terrified.

“not to worry everyone! our shop owner’s just doing some hard work!” you heard an employee say from the inside of the shop. with all the dungeon talk from earlier, it was impossible to think that jiwon and wonyoung weren’t behind this panic. wonyoung’s workers seemed to be used to it though, and even a couple of regular customers ignored all the shaking and continued on shopping… was this a regular occurrence? what a peculiar world. you don’t rush back inside the shop like you wanted to. despite being worried sick for your mentor, you stood idly by outside of the shop and waited like a puppy on a leash.

you eventually just took a walk around the shop’s vicinity and played with magic, picking up a few pebbles from the ground and turning them into very small figurines of animals and other creatures. you kept the figurines safe in your wicker basket—cheddar would probably appreciate them! or she would… tear them down but either way, she would love them!

you circled back around the entrance of wonyoung’s shop and to your surprise, jiwon was on her way out. she had been saying goodbye to wonyoung’s employees one by one as she exited through the front door. tucked in her arms were some old, wrinkled parchments and she was holding a… cage? you watched, confused, as your mentor approached you with a skip in her step. how could she act like she wasn’t holding what looked like a cursed thing?! is that even safe to be swinging around in public?! perhaps wonyoung had valid concerns…

“let us go home and make history at once, darling!” jiwon once again casted the binding spell on you and herself before handing over the parchment to you. you noticed that she looked disheveled, there was dust all over her clothing as well as parts of her hair, and she had a small cut on her right cheekbone that was bleeding.

“did you… hurt yourself, ma’am?” you asked although you knew you were very much staring at a minor injury.

“oh, this? it’s nothing! as it turns out, the old man did need a new lock on his cell. so, wonyoung and i got to work, but he sure had a lot of energy!” jiwon guffaws, and you were simply baffled at how it all seemed like just another chore for her. maybe it really was better for you to stay behind and wait for her—you might’ve not been able to handle it all. “he tried to fight back with all the power he’s been saving up for the past decade but he is well beyond his prime so it was fairly easy to force him back into confinement! but he’s not important. let’s get our priorities back into place!” jiwon loops her arm around yours and drags you back into the crowd, towards home.

you saved your many, many questions about your mentor’s strange life for tomorrow. as jiwon said, you have history to make after all!

~

upon further inspection and by having common sense, you could finally confirm that the object inside the cage that jiwon retrieved from wonyoung’s dungeon was, indeed, ridiculously dangerous. 

it wasn’t cursed, per se. curses can’t be kept in a pretty little bottle with a pink ribbon, nor did they smell like honey and fresh tulips. curses also didn’t radiate light. well, they do—but they weren’t… captivating. alluring. and… arous—

“jiwon, could you explain something to me? why is it that i… feel like i want to fuck while i look at this thing?”

a brief silence cuts the thick air around the sanctuary, and you find yourself being surprised by your own words. you have never called jiwon by her name, nor have you ever talked about such a topic with her! a blush creeps up your cheeks, and suddenly you can't face jiwon at all. something was off about that object—your entire body felt like it was on fire just by looking at it! yet you couldn’t stop looking at it, and you didn’t want to move away from it either. you stare and stare at it… until jiwon snaps her fingers right on your ear and you finally break out of a haze you weren’t even aware you were in.

“ah, i should have known better. my apologies, (y/n)! i had forgotten that not everyone is immune to my… wretched creation,” jiwon pulls you away from the glimmering bottle and takes you to her desk where it was now full of ingredients and an assortment of random items that it supposedly needed for this brew. from this distance, the object didn’t have that much of a pull on your heart and entire being. good. “that thing is my awful first attempt at making the love potion and as you can see, there are a lot of things wrong with it.” jiwon sheepishly smiles. her ears were red, seemingly from the embarrassment of letting her student see her failure.

cheddar, curious as ever, jumped up to the stool where the potion sat and started pawing at it, seemingly amused by its color. and then she started licking at the cap, making you laugh and making jiwon sigh deeply.

“cheddar, don’t touch it!” jiwon shoos her precious familiar away and the cat jumps back down to the ground and scurries off elsewhere, but you knew that it was just going to find yet another thing to make jiwon grow grey hairs about.

“may i ask why it is glowing? and why did… i feel like… that?” you asked. it was despicable enough to be thrown in a dungeon where a whole demon lord was confined in—you were sort of terrified at what it was truly capable of.

“i misjudged everything while i was working on it and the finished product made the drinker feel not love but instead… lust,” jiwon shakes her head. “don’t get me wrong, however. for centuries, potions that increased the drinker’s sexual desires have existed but mine was… well, the council considered revoking my rights to practice, research, teach, and create magic as well as throwing me in jail if it hadn’t been for wonyoung who defended me in court.” the older girl recalled the memory lightheartedly, but still, you knew that it wasn’t very fun experiencing that moment back then.

“what?! even as the single most influential witch of our time?! because of a failed potion?” you couldn’t believe your ears!

“why, yes. i mean, just think about what it was able to do with you! and you never even had a single drop of it! it’s an abomination, and i realize now that i’m a pretty awful teacher for exposing you to it… but unfortunately, it holds a few of the same ingredients and procedures to create my love potion and that is why i retrieved it from the dungeon,” jiwon smiles at you, then guffaws. “although, i did make wonyoung swear that oath… which was ordered by the council. and i was warned that i will get a little more than a slap on the wrist if i were to interact with the potion in any way… but ah, it’s been ten years! who even cares anymore!?” she keeps on laughing, and you get the feeling she did not actually find any of this funny and was actually scared for her life. as she should.

oh, heavens… if you weren’t going to be found by your father, you were going to be in jail for affiliating yourself with a criminal!

realization strikes you, “you mentioned that wonyoung had an unexpected pregnancy… did the potion do that?! does it impregnate women?!” you exclaimed.

jiwon gasps, “no! all the potion does is make the drinker awfully horny! what happened is that gaeul, wonyoung’s wonderful wife, volunteered to allow me to see if i succeeded with the potion and… she and wonyoung were very, very horribly sexually active for nearly a whole month until i was able to find a countermeasure. and yes, i know what you’re thinking—gaeul, a woman, doesn’t have the… tool to make a baby inside wonyoung so how could i have become the godmother of the beautiful and adorable jang hyunseo nine months later?” the older girl takes a deep breath and for the first time in her life, shrugs upon being asked a question. “magic, literally. something happened while gaeul was intoxicated and all of a sudden my best friend became a relatively young mother.”

your mouth hangs open at the unhinged story you were just told. a witch’s life sure is strange. is that how your life is going to be after you’ve earned the right to call yourself a witch? not the pregnancy-by-magic part, of course. who would even be there for that to happen to you?! jiwon is the only person you’re around with and… well, anything could happen but that doesn’t mean it should! what are you even talking about?! you have got to get away from that darn potion.

“but enough about the past. i will not make the same mistake again. i cannot! not with a reliable, intelligent student like you to have my back on all of this.” jiwon caresses your cheek. you don’t flinch away or look at her incredulously like you usually do when she does something too weird or questionable—you don’t even feel awkward. you actually lean into her touch and you… get closer. jiwon retracts her hand, but she doesn’t move away.

very quickly, your eyes flickered down to jiwon’s lips before coming back up… only for you to see that jiwon’s own eyes had been doing the same. “careful, ma’am. i don’t think you’re completely resistant to the potion like you thought you were.” you say, grinning.

“oh, my… don’t give in to it, (y/n). this is exactly how it will get you!” jiwon replies, laughing before putting distance between the two of you. it didn’t really matter anyway—you closed the distance once again, suddenly feeling addicted to jiwon’s scent. you lazily leaned on the table, never staring at the sheets long enough and always finding yourself looking back at your mentor, who was amused, by the way. mostly because she knew that if you were in your right mind, you would detest the way you were acting under the slightest influence of the darned potion.

“fighting it is so mentally exhausting though… i don’t really feel like wrestling it.” you sighed. you summoned a chair behind you and sat on it, laying the side of your head on the table and staring up at jiwon. the older girl stared right back at you, amused and concerned at the same time. she knew she shouldn’t let you completely fall victim to the spell… but she had to admit, you were adorable like this. your face was slightly flushed—no doubt that you were slowly losing bits and pieces of control over yourself, including how you behaved.

“if you’re talking like that, then you have already lost. come on, (y/n), i need your help finishing this potion. set yourself straight, please.” jiwon sounded serious for once. no matter how much she wants to see more of this funny side of you, her study will always come first. and it was as if the last remaining bits of your normal self heard her words and ‘woke you up’. ashamed at how you were currently acting, you shook your head and did, in fact, ‘set yourself straight’.

for the next two hours, you ignored the failed potion’s pull. you wished jiwon would put it back in its charmed cage so you would have a less difficult time trying to put all of your attention on your work, but the older girl was too focused. the glass of water you brought from the kitchen just for her remains untouched, and even the sweet pastry that jiwon herself bought earlier from the markets had gone hard and cold on the next table over. you were getting worried about her, but you dared not to make her think that you’re not doing your job for a second.

jiwon has entrusted you to make duplicates of the love potion by yourself. see, when it comes to your brewing skills, you knew you were beyond decent. hell, your first time making a healing potion was perfect—even jiwon herself was very impressed considering you have never brewed anything in your life! it was the one natural talent you had when it came to magic, so it made sense that jiwon wouldn’t think that you wouldn’t fuck any of this up. however, you can’t help but question her faith in you still. something as important as creating history’s first working love potion should be a job for a skilled witch such as her! not a novice like you, no matter how talented you are at brewing!

and as expected, you found yourself stuck at a certain step.

“ma’am… i—just how are we supposed to make this potion without a… volunteer? whose hair should i put in this?” you asked, looking over at your mentor who has not said anything for the past two hours you’ve started working on the potion.

jiwon replies, “i used my own hair, and you’re the volunteer, (y/n).”

you blink. slowly. “i beg your… pardon?” yes. yes. yes! something inside you was screaming in festivities. it must be the failed potion getting the best of you again.

“i must admit… i somehow forgot about how we must put our target’s hair in the potion. i got too excited after i came back from wonyoung’s dungeon that i couldn’t have us scout for potential volunteers for this brew so,” jiwon smiles beautifully at you, acting as if she wasn’t staring directly at your panicked expression at the moment. “we must take matters into our own hands! you must fall in love with me, (y/n)! hahaha!” she joked. she then takes your hand, puts two strands of her blonde hair on your palm and nudges you back over to your station.

with your mouth still slightly agape from what jiwon had just told you, you dropped the strands of hair in your cauldron and watched as the boiling water finally showed the pastel pink color instead of red. fearful that you had made a mistake, you looked over jiwon’s table and saw that her brew showed the same colors as yours did! surely that meant you did your work correctly, right? there was only one way to find out… but you and jiwon can’t both be intoxicated with the potion, and how would that even make sense in jiwon’s case?! she can’t fall in love with herself!

you were quickly regretting ever entertaining jiwon’s briefing of her breakthrough earlier in the morning. once you were completely under the effects of the potion, you would have no control over your feelings, thoughts, the things you will and everything you would do! a nightmare scenario that you can’t believe jiwon would willingly want to go through just to ‘make history’. your head was starting to hurt just thinking about it!

“moment of truth.” jiwon hands over a small vial with a reasonable amount of the potion in it. you stared at the pink liquid for a good long while, swallowing deeply and accepting your fate once you took the vial from your mentor’s hand. your eyes flickered from the failed potion to the one in your hand, and finally onto jiwon, who was smiling and nodding. her thrilled expression did not comfort you one bit, nor did it convince you that this was a good thing to be doing considering that you just thought about all the things that could go wrong once the potion settles in your system.

with a grumble, you attempted to escape the situation one last time, “is… is it too late to go to the bathroom?”

“drink it, (y/n).”

“…yes, ma’am.”

and down it goes. somehow, it tasted a lot like peaches. so much so that you wondered if jiwon snuck a whole slice of peach in her cauldron just to make the potion taste better. it was harder to swallow than you thought—it was like trying to swallow orange juice with a dry throat. it stung, the taste stuck in the back of your mouth, and you knew you were going to smell it in your nose somehow for a few days. still, you finished the vial and put it down on the table, wiping the residue off of your mouth and taking a deep breath.

jiwon puts a hand on your shoulder and makes you face her, “does anything feel different?” she asked.

“it hasn’t sat long enough inside me yet, ma’am. i don’t know,” you answered truthfully. sighing, you nodded your head towards the door. “i’m going to have a glass of water.”

once you were out of the room, jiwon saunters over towards your station and stares at your cauldron. she can confirm that you did everything correctly judging by how carefully and truthfully you followed jiwon’s instructions, but she couldn’t help but suddenly feel anxious. she takes a glance towards the kitchen, where you’ve run off to take a break, before walking back to take a look at her own cauldron.

“eh?” jiwon’s eyebrows furrowed tightly once she notices that the potion that she worked on is now too bright and deep of a pink. it was a concerning contrast to your friendly pastel colors that remained the same and did not change like jiwon’s did. oh, heavens… there was no way she made a mistake, right? not again! but she can’t have made another failed potion that greatly increases the drinker’s sex drive (and gets people’s best friends pregnant!)  because if she did, she would know!

so, what the hell did she just create this time?!

not only was this embarrassing as hell but it was also very, very dangerous! the nature of whatever she just shoved down your throat remains unknown until you start showing signs of peculiarity which means she can’t brew up an antidote of some sorts to snap you out of it all and coming up with such a thing is no easy feat, even for her! jiwon knows that wonyoung will absolutely have her head once she tells her about this… but whatever this was, jiwon just hopes it’s not the same as the failed potion.

first of all, she wouldn’t even know what to throw at you to relieve you of your… needs. the hut was pretty far away from the nearest town, the forest is unmapped with no other living soul around, and she certainly can’t throw herself at you! that’s just wrong! jiwon has heard that things such as ‘pleasure toys’ have been pretty popular among the nearest surrounding communities but jiwon doesn’t have any! and rightfully so. she is not one to participate in those kinds of activities! 

she digresses—maybe this will all be easy for both of you to navigate. it could just be a potion that will give you boils all over your body, and jiwon knows an easy fix for that!

“yeah… yeah! it could also just be a singing potion where it would make her sing every time she opens her mouth! haha! yeah, that’s… that would be funny…” jiwon scratches the back of her neck, laughing awkwardly as she falls deeper into a pit of anxious delusion. it was when she realized that you had been away for longer than eight minutes that she thought to check on you in the kitchen. she was really hoping to find you covered in boils, or randomly belt out a note once she sees you but alas, she was incorrect.

instead, jiwon finds you sitting on one of the chairs around the table, quietly sipping on a glass of ice-cold water. she tilts her head to have a better look at your face from a distance—no boils. you weren’t singing… but you weren’t jumping on her and demanding her to have your babies either! jiwon cautiously approaches you with a spell on the tip of her tongue just in case you try anything funny, but all you did was tear your gaze away from the glass of water and look at jiwon.

the older girl stares right back at you, analyzing your eyes and the millions of emotions that just went through you upon setting your eyes on your mentor. you were frozen in your seat, mouth slightly hanging open and failing to get any words out of your throat, and you looked to be in pure awe at the mere appearance of the woman you have been living with for eight whole months.

“hi, you.” you greeted with what probably was the brightest smile jiwon has ever seen on your face.

jiwon returns the smile, albeit awkwardly, “hello, (y/n). are you feeling well?” she asked. she took note of how quickly your face got red and how you suddenly got all jittery and nervous when she got closer, but she wasn’t able to make a proper conclusion about the effects of the potion since you started bashfully giggling.

“i don’t think i’ve ever felt better, ma’am.” you replied. you sounded sincere enough… even though you really were acting quite strange. jiwon doubts that you would stare at her for so long with nothing but devotion in your eyes. the only time she has seen that happen is when the two of you first met all those months ago—when she saved you from those undead wolves and took you in as her apprentice.

“that’s great to hear, but are you sure the potion didn’t… um, do anything to you? i mean, you’re acting quite differently… and can you tell me why you’re wearing my coat?” jiwon asked now that she noticed that you had yourself wrapped comfortably around one of jiwon’s fancy coats that you had no doubt wonyoung picked out for her, knowing that jiwon does not really have an eye for fashion but you digress!

“why, it’s a very cold night out here in the forest! and this is so comfortable and warm… not to mention that it smells so good,” a blissful sigh escapes your lips as you bury your nose on the collar of the coat. you then looked back up at jiwon and gasped softly. “is that your perfume…? or is that just… how you smell? because if it is… then wow.” you stood up, got up close to jiwon (who didn’t react fast enough and was thus frozen right in front of you) and grabbed her arms, pulling her close.

jiwon, flabbergasted, doesn’t do anything. she stays still as you tilted your head and put your nose down on her right shoulder, your hands slowly but surely now holding her waist, keeping her still. as a witch of her caliber, jiwon would feel very offended if all her potion did was make you sensitive and addicted to scents!

“u-um, (y/n)... you’re a bit close—whoa, hey…!” it took all of jiwon’s strength to suppress an unholy sound from coming out of her mouth when you completely pressed up against her and hugged her. strangely enough, jiwon didn’t feel like resisting against you, even though she was very much overwhelmed at the way you were behaving. she trusted that you wouldn’t hurt her, that you wouldn’t do anything that would be a cause for her to retaliate physically. your embrace was awkward and clumsy, but as seconds passed by, jiwon was feeling more and more… at ease.

“oh, jiwon… you’re so warm… i never would have known.” you whispered. there was a tinge of longing and regret in your voice. you held her like you would a lover—tight, but not so much that it would suffocate her. tight in a way that made her feel safe. protected. loved. nobody can blame jiwon for letting her guard down just for a moment to hug you back, right? it wasn’t everyday she allowed herself to feel like this after all. she doesn’t even mind that she could practically feel your eyelashes brushing against her neck due to how close you have gotten, nor did she pay any attention to the small circles you were making on her lower back with your finger.

“what do you mean, ‘never’? i could have hugged you at any moment if you so wanted.” jiwon says with a smile that she couldn’t be bothered to hold back. 

she hears you laugh softly at her words before completely resting your face on the crook of her neck, “do you mean that?” you mumbled.

“of course,” jiwon replies quite swiftly. even she was surprised about it, but you didn't give her a lot of time to dwell on it further when you raised your head to stare at her. well, her lips. and jiwon wasn’t completely clueless when it came to things like this, okay? obviously, there was only one thing you would do next if she allowed you to have that opportunity but in her state of quickly-rising panic, she looked away. “let’s figure out what that potion did to you, shall we?” jiwon gently pulls away from your embrace and sits you back down on a chair.

judging by the dazed look on your face, jiwon assumes that it was going to be hard to get you to behave properly.

meanwhile, you watched closely as she sat across from you, and of course you couldn’t resist the temptation to scoot your chair just a bit closer to still feel her warmth. you really, sincerely don’t know why your precious mentor was looking so different all of a sudden. her hair looked a lot brighter and she wasn’t even directly under the lamp above! her big, gentle eyes looked so perfect that you could stare at them forever, and the more she looked at you with so much concern and worry, the more you did feel like just staying still and taking her all in.

“well, i don’t exactly know where to start, but i’m just going to ask you questions that might be a bit out-of-pocket but as awkward as your answers might be, we will know whether or not we got it all right or… terribly wrong.” jiwon tucks some strands of her beautiful golden locks behind her hair and looks at you, carefully observing the smallest of actions that you make. you smiled at her. your hands itched to hold hers. you remembered how healing it was when she held them earlier through the crowd inside wonyoung’s shop.

but instead of listening to that tiny, innocent voice on one side of your head, something else tugs at your innate, underlying desires and threatens to bring it all to the light. jiwon continues on rambling about the love potion, reiterating the effects it should have on your entire being and state of mind and shamefully admitting that she may have made a mistake on her brew that you unfortunately just so happened to consume when that familiar feeling of hunger starts slowly washing over your senses. 

you blink and take a short glance behind you, towards the sanctuary. you could see the failed potion glowing angrily from where you sat. it was calling to you. and you recognize that it was quite terrifying to think that it would affect you this much even from such a great distance, but you realized that it was not because it was so powerful, now that you were truly examining the bottle where it has been sealed for the last decade. the cap was loose, and that’s why it had been growing stronger for the past few hours that you and jiwon were busy working on your brews.

and the culprit? the fat cat with white and orange fur that was conveniently nowhere to be found because she knows her witch will absolutely lose her goddamn mind over all of this.

“(y/n), are you listening?” jiwon tugs at the sleeve of your shirt, bringing your attention back to her. you weren’t listening, and you have come to the decision that you will not be listening for the rest of the night. it was hard to pay any attention to a single thing. what with the failed potion slithering through the cracks that the ‘love’ potion had created in your mind now that the latter was starting to truly make itself comfortable in your system.

something foreign has become a strong voice inside your head. it was as if all the hidden, unspoken things you have strongly felt towards jiwon all this time have made themselves seen. and it feels… great.

it feels great to not run away from your heart. to not turn away from what your brain is telling you you should chase after. to not deny yourself of love. of fondness. of closeness. of pleasure.

you want her… you need her… and you shall do whatever it takes to have her.

and somehow, you agreed.

“all i have to say is that we were successful, jiwon… everything is so clear to me now,” you sat even closer to your mentor. she had no idea just how much you wanted to pounce on her, but she’ll know about it soon enough. you put your hand on her knee as you leaned closer, your eyes glued to her plump, pink lips. yes… the only pair of lips you’ve wanted to have all over your body this entire time. “we should celebrate this wonderful feat.” you suggested with only one activity in mind.

jiwon looked especially delighted to hear your confirmation. her eyes lit all the way up, making it impossible for your heart to stop beating erratically, “have we really created the world’s first working love potion?! have we really, (y/n)?” she puts a hand on top of yours, squeezing gently.

“i believe so. and it’s all because of you, really… that amazing mind of yours. your drive,” feeling particularly courageous, you gently pushed jiwon’s long, golden hair to her back—it was necessary for you to see her face up close without any obstructions. she was too beautiful to be hidden away, truth to be told. but hey, if she didn’t live in seclusion in a dangerous, magical forest then you wouldn’t have found her, right? maybe it was all a blessing, and a message. one that said that jiwon was only meant to be seen and loved by… you. “i can’t believe it took me this long to finally take this leap.” with your free hand, you cupped jiwon’s cheek with your one free hand, smiling lovingly at her.

the older girl blinks, “hm? what are you talking ab—” you don’t let her finish her words. you crashed your lips onto hers, hungry and needy. her lips were everything you hoped for. pillowy soft with a burst of flavor that fed your desires and had you chasing for more. your hand slides down from her cheek to the collar of her shirt, grabbing a fistful of the soft material to pull her closer. it was then you felt her grab your wrist and move back slightly to take a breath or maybe even try to stop you, but you don’t let her separate your lips for too long.

you took a tighter hold of her shirt and connected your lips again and this time, she was less resistant and melted into you a lot easier. your hands now held jiwon’s face, controlling the kiss and even pressing your thumb firmly against her chin to make her open her mouth, which she does obediently. a moan slips out—you couldn’t tell if it was from you or jiwon but this only fueled your lust even more. it seemed to have affected jiwon too, now seeing that she had her hand up your thigh, slowly creeping up towards the hem of your shorts.

a shiver crawls down your spine. you can’t bear it. you pulled jiwon to stand up with you and started leading her towards the sanctuary where your heart screamed at you to go. you feel her hands touch you everywhere. her fingertips tug furiously at the waistband of your shorts and the slightest touch of her cold fingers brushing against your warm skin had you reeling in the best way possible. but suddenly, jiwon pins you against the doorframe and leans back. confused at the absence of warmth on your lips, you opened your eyes and… wow, she looked stunning. lipstick in disarray, hair disheveled, chest heaving up and down, and her eyes holding nothing but desperation and need. that’s a side of hers you’ve never seen before, and it was delicious to see.

“i can’t fight it, (y/n),” she glances at the failed potion, spots that the lid was completely loose, and scans the air. traces of powerful enchantment magic were scattered around the entire room, which means it was impossible to escape its effects. “i can’t resist…” jiwon mutters under her breath with a sigh of defeat. 

she knew in her heart that you bringing her into the sanctuary was intentional and she wanted to be mad at you for it and most of all, for taking advantage of her softness for you. but whatever irritation she felt was now slowly turning into love… and now all she wanted to do was pour all of that love into you in the one way she only knows now. sure, a simple kiss or even some flowers would be nice… but oh, it was all so clear to jiwon now too that she wanted to give you more.

“it’s okay…” slowly, you started leaving kisses from your mentor’s cheek all the way down to her jawline, where you have decided to leave your first mark of the night. a nice little love bite from you. jiwon looked perfect with it. she still looked reluctant, however. you had no idea she was such a fighter… but you should have expected it from the most talented person you know.

“it’s… i-inappropriate… and wonyoung would really kill me if i acted on it…” the older girl says. it was clearly her last line of defense, otherwise she would have pushed herself off of you already.

jealousy was all you felt upon hearing wonyoung’s name leave jiwon’s mouth. “don’t think about her,” you said rather sternly, shocking even yourself. “besides, she doesn’t have to know. nobody does.” and it’s all thanks to you again, you wanted to add because really, neither of you would be able to do this if jiwon had lived in a lavish mansion in the city with bustling streets all around, but you used your lips for something better instead.

you leaned in for another kiss but this time, you were a lot gentler and jiwon was less… frantic. her shoulders relaxed and her lips fell into a steady rhythm against yours as if it was part of her daily routine. and now both of you were thinking that maybe it should be. this didn’t even feel wrong! what was jiwon even talking about? ‘inappropriate’? the two of you were exactly where you needed to be. and when you pulled her further inside the room, the world was suddenly nonexistent.

you pushed the older girl down on one of her comfortable bean bags—she didn’t seem to mind. jiwon watched intently as you took off your shirt and shorts without delay, and you didn’t miss how she shamelessly licked her lips upon seeing your body. she even beckoned you back over using her fingers, grinning when you scoffed but obliged anyway. you weren’t embarrassed to admit that seeing jiwon express her need for you so freely turned you on more than the potion did. in fact, there was exactly no room for embarrassment when you’ve enthusiastically allowed jiwon to grab your hips and made you grind yourself on her thigh.

at least it was temporary relief for your core, so you didn’t complain. you held jiwon’s stare as you rocked back and forth, even going as far as brushing your hair behind your shoulder so your bare breasts were on full display just for her. that seemed to have tickled something in her brain quite nicely judging by how the corner of her lips tugged up slightly. you put one hand down on jiwon’s forearm and the other on her shoulder while you increase your pace, your moans now getting louder and a lot higher. jiwon liked that even better! so much so that she grabs a hold of your ass, squeezing lightly and still guiding you.

however she managed to act crude but appear innocent and angelic as ever was beyond you. not that you could use your brain to think anyway. nobody can blame you for that though, not when you were damn near reaching the pinnacle of ecstasy the longer you rode jiwon’s thigh. your climax only becomes nearer and clearer when the older girl unexpectedly slaps your ass and slightly digs her surprisingly long nails in your skin. you whimper weakly and quite awkwardly when an ounce of shame manages to slip through your feeble heart and mind, quickly reminding you that yeah, you are acting like this for your teacher!

your teacher that was nine years older, your teacher that was your senior in every way possible but most importantly in magical terms what with her years and years of experience that you severely lacked, your teacher that technically is the cause of your intoxication but… can you really resist those big, brown eyes? those soft lips that you have come to know so well in so little time? those hands that you have always secretly wanted to hold and be held by? no, you couldn’t.

(the potion told you so. but you knew deep in your heart it was all true.)

“you’re not going to cum just from this, are you…? you haven’t even been doing it for long either.” jiwon asked, thoroughly entertained by how carelessly you were moaning now. she must admit that she appreciated you making her sit down because she wouldn’t have traded the view of your face scrunched up in pleasure and your breasts bouncing slightly because of your constant movement for anything else. jiwon felt like a nasty pervert for just simply observing but hey, you were the one that was putting on this show for her. therefore it didn’t feel right for jiwon to be a gentlewoman and look away! especially not when the more she watches, the more she wants to devour you.

“no, i’m… oh, goodness… i’m n-not…” you were shaking your head, and yet you held onto jiwon’s shoulder a little tighter when she made the slightest move to move her thigh upward. you really tried hard to look tough but eight whole months of no intimacy practically had you begging to be touched. why, your underwear was soaked, your nipples sensitive and needy, and your eyes were telling jiwon basically everything you wanted her to do to you!

“are you sure, darling?” jiwon says with a sly smile. she knew what the stupid pet name would do to your mess of a brain, and she was right. the only thing you did was whine, falling deeper into submission the longer you chase your quickly oncoming high. at this point in time, neither of you were aware that the longer the potion bottle stayed open, the more of it got out and got stronger. well, maybe you didn’t know that, but there was certainly a constant reminder in jiwon’s head that she was actively ignoring.

she needed you too much to stop now. jiwon doesn’t want to admit it but staring at your pretty face earlier while you were sleeping made her start seeing you in a lot more different lights. one of them was that… well, she quite liked seeing you vulnerable. jiwon liked that you had a fire in you—loved it, even. it was what caught her attention when she first met you. in all of her years of being a witch, she has never once wanted to have a student. she never even thought about it purely because it didn’t interest her but your determination intrigued her, so she took you in. lo and behold, you were one resilient pupil! even when you mess up badly during lessons, you never let it discourage you. it was admirable.

so, seeing someone like you who was usually so strong fall apart before her eyes like this and knowing that the fault is her own… it fed jiwon’s ego real good.

you’ve gotten a lot more desperate—and it’s just how jiwon likes it. you grabbed her shirt and pulled it off of her body yourself. what you needed a lot more than be cum was to feel the older girl’s skin on your own, and when she held you in her arms as she kissed you hungrily, it felt exactly like how you thought it would. like heaven.

it was getting harder and harder to control yourself. in fact, you gave up on that. jiwon’s lips were addictive whether they were against your own or on your body, but especially the latter. she holds your waist tightly as she marks up your neck, covering every inch she could see with pretty, red marks that she knew would stay there for a couple days. jiwon grabs your hair and pulls hard on it, forcing you to expose more of your skin just for her to leave even more of her beautiful work on you.

her kisses eventually reached your chest and she didn’t treat it any differently than she did your neck. you had no idea that her need to let it known that you were hers was so… well, intense. even without either of the potions putting words in your mouth and thoughts in your brain, you have always considered yourself to be jiwon’s. you have never admired any other witch this much, never wanted to spend so much time with another being this much, and you certainly have never wanted to be loved by anyone this much. you would have definitely told jiwon that this wasn’t necessary but ah, you couldn’t deny that this felt nice anyway.

the room starts spinning, colors started to pop a lot more brighter in your eyes, and you were suddenly hearing just about everything—jiwon’s panting and tiny little moans, the sound of her suckling on your tit now that she finally found the time to pay attention to them, the rustling of the leaves outside the hut (heard through the conveniently open window inside the sanctuary), the magic that was oozing out of your and jiwon’s now abandoned cauldrons… it was overwhelming, but at the same time, it wasn’t enough. 

frustration builds up in your stomach due to jiwon not putting her priorities where they should matter. you didn’t bother to wonder if she was purely being a tease or if she had a specific way of going about this because you didn’t fucking care. you could roll your eyes at the way jiwon stared at you with nothing but pure glee through her bangs, you couldn’t believe she was having the time of her life witnessing your misery. perhaps you could push her off and just walk away leaving both of yourselves hot and bothered, maybe she’ll find that funny too!

but who were you kidding? at least ten people would be needed for you to be pulled off of jiwon who, despite your annoyance, was still the only one you wanted. and so, focusing purely on the pleasure you were feeling, you begged and begged for jiwon’s touch, “i need you… please…!”

jiwon, thoroughly surprised that you actually gave in, grins widely. “well… when you say it like that, how could i even resist you?” you didn’t even let yourself listen to half of what she said as you already grabbed her wrist and slid her hand inside your underwear. both of you moaned—you, now that you were finally going to get what you wanted and jiwon, because feeling your wetness on her hand made her brain go on a frenzy. jiwon’s fingertips briefly brushed against your clit, which only encouraged you to use your hips again just in case your mentor missed the goddamn cue to fuck you already.

“please… d-don’t make me beg all night…”

jiwon didn’t feel like fighting against you this time. she figured that you had enough of whatever antics she was planning for you and besides, she wanted you just as much. maybe even more.

“as you wish, dearest.”

one of these days, jiwon was going to get all the courage she needed to conjure up a cock on herself, because holy shit—her fingers were simply not enough. the feeling of your walls clenching up on her digits almost immediately after she had inserted them was incomparable to even the biggest accolades jiwon has ever received in her entire career. the sounds you made were even better, if that was somehow possible. jiwon found herself completely enamored by you, even opting to sit all the way back into the bean bag and just watch you.

every time jiwon would pull her fingers out, you would just slam your hips back down to have them inside you again. you almost looked like you wished she had a dick at this moment too, you wouldn’t hesitate to take all of her in. just like how you didn’t hesitate at all to take another finger in, even moaning purely out of joy once you felt a lot… fuller. you’ve held onto jiwon’s shoulders for dear life, not at all caring that your nails were piercing through her skin, and that blood was slowly starting to seep out of the small cuts you’ve made.

“you’re making a mess of my hand, darling…” jiwon teases all because your slick was starting to make a tiny pool on her palm, but she wasn’t complaining. if anything, it really fed her ego! the only reason you were this wet and feeling so much was all because of jiwon and her work. from the failed potion, to the questionable-but-otherwise-successful love potion—what’s not to be proud of?

“i’m sorry… it just feels too good…” you shamelessly admitted.

“don’t worry about it,” your mentor laughs at your sincerity. she hadn’t realized that you were genuinely too far gone to notice that she had been joking, but now that she does know, it was a bit baffling. but exciting, nonetheless. “you were right… this is a very good way to celebrate, hm? the only way, too?” jiwon quickly taps your chin so you could look at her and her sly grin. the fact that she was having so much fun ruining you both pissed you off and turned you on even more.

still, you agreed with her. “y-yes… ahh, fuck…! oh, jiwon…!” you were embarrassed of how loud you had gotten. it’s not like anyone else but you and jiwon would hear, sure, but perhaps that was what made it all so much worse in your head. but thinking about ways you can look jiwon in the eyes after all of this was a problem not for your intoxicated mind, which had only one goal tonight. a goal that was sure to be met very, very soon if jiwon continues on with her pace. you were barely keeping up with her—every thrust was successful in cutting off the last remaining threads of control you had of your frail mind. and you were starting to feel exhausted as well, even going as far as to rest your heavy head on jiwon’s shoulder, moaning away as she further abused your cunt in the best way possible.

jiwon had her free hand on the small of your back, giving you reassuring caresses and gentle squeezes anytime you needed them. she left deep kisses all over your neck and shoulders which sometimes came with a soft tingle considering she suddenly developed the liking to bite you. every sting that came after each kiss only further intensified the sheer need you had for jiwon, however, as you find yourself asking for more. you placed your hand on the back of jiwon’s head, pushing her closer to the parts of your neck where it felt the best for her to leave her marks. and jiwon didn’t complain at all. in fact, you heard her laughing softly while she did her work, both of them, happily.

“hm… i think this is the one mistake in my career that i’m actually happy i made,” jiwon says. she glances at the failed potion and rolls her eyes. “make that two mistakes actually.” she begrudgingly muttered.

despite the state your head was in, you found the energy to chime in. “and not three? or… fuck—is it t-too early to call this a mistake…?” a part of your heart was hoping that jiwon would disagree. but you wondered why you’d be disappointed if she said otherwise in the first place. the lust that she was feeling towards you was all because of the potion, right? but would she have even allowed it to affect her mind to such a degree if she hadn’t already been feeling something for you? fortunately, jiwon didn’t let your doubts plague your mind any longer.

“why would it be, (y/n)?” jiwon leans away from your neck and stares at you directly. her eyes have softened, even her movements have slowed, and all you thought about was how you wanted to feel her lips on yours again. especially when she looked like she was thinking the same, and wanting the same. her eyes fluttered to a close as you caressed her face. she even leaned into your touch, finding it so easy now to not run away from her loudly-beating heart like she did earlier in the day.

you kissed her, not even questioning how the action didn’t feel so wrong and somewhat dangerous anymore. it didn’t bother you quite bit either when jiwon regretfully pulled her fingers out of you and instead, wrapped her hand gently around your wrist, caressing the back of your hand as you kissed her. you pushed her back down on the bean bag as your kiss grew a lot more passionate over the seconds that passed. and as the two of you lay there while lust reignited in the air, you’d think that it was finally your turn to make jiwon feel as good as she had been making you feel this entire night.

so, you put your hand on her breast. you were slightly annoyed that there was still a piece of clothing in your way but jiwon didn’t even give you the chance to even think about pulling it off of her. the blonde wraps her arms around your waist, quite tightly, before gently flipping you over and gently laying you back down on the bean bag. and almost automatically, your legs snake around jiwon’s hips, keeping her still as her kisses get wilder.

you smile triumphantly when you felt her hands getting hasty once again, and perhaps the reason why jiwon had taken so long to just go ahead and take you before was because the older girl found the first few kisses, touches, and very action of taking your clothes off a… major turn-on. she seemed to be annoyed at the lack of clothing to tear off of you, what with how she tightly gripped your thighs and hips with her semi-sharp nails and how her eyebrows were furrowed as she kissed you.

with that in mind, you guided one of her hands towards your center as you did before—maybe the reminder that she still had a damn job left unfinished will quench the oddly specific thirst she had at the moment. the hair on the back of your neck as well as your arms stood on end as soon as you felt jiwon’s nails grazing your lips. was it pathetic of you to admit that you were already missing how she felt inside you? it might be, but with you naked laying on a bean bag with your teacher directly on top of you, there was hardly anything to be sheepish about anymore.

why would you even be embarrassed about something that felt so good, anyway?

but, apparently this time, jiwon didn’t want to be so… ‘controllable’. she pulled her hand away from your grip, and smirked when glared at her and tried to win her back by tugging her closer.

“you’ve been waiting for a while now, isn’t that right? this entire time you’ve been under the influence of the potions and in addition to the eight long months you’ve been away from your old life… don’t you want to make this just a bit more… grand? something that’s befitting a modern princess like yourself?” jiwon says. you can’t deny that her biting her lip as she looked at you up and down was the reason you instinctively clenched your thighs. “turn around, darling.” jiwon nods at you, expecting you to just immediately do as she says.

“turn… around? w-what for?” you asked. out of all the things you expected to come out of jiwon’s mouth at this hour, it was not that.

“what else for, (y/n)?” jiwon replies with a soft laugh. she doesn’t bother to wait for you to catch on to what she was saying and instead, flips you around herself, and only then did you realize what she meant. anticipation courses through your veins as you get comfortable in your new position—it wasn’t one you frequently found yourself in back when you used to sleep around with people, so it was difficult to not feel excited. you just hoped that it wouldn’t show too much because you knew jiwon would use it against you. even at such a crucial time as this!

jiwon leans down and kisses your shoulder while her hands go back to work. you bask in the feeling of her hands travelling all over your body once again, even whimpering ever so slightly when her fingers brushed against your nipples. and it was a different kind of bliss when jiwon fills you back up but this time from behind. you tried very hard to look strong, to look like you didn’t just want to lay there and allow jiwon to do the worst things in her mind to you but with the witch being so smart that she already had your favored spots figured out… it was useless to even put up a façade.

“down, girl.” jiwon grabs a fistful of your hair and pushes your face down on the bean bag, muffling your moans but effectively making you arch your back further. fuck. it seems like jiwon doesn’t even need to put any effort in breaking you down anymore. good. her eyes would flicker up from your back (where she had made wonderful scratch marks from trying to hold you still) to your face. she could only see a small portion of your expression due to your hair being a mess on your head, but even then, you still managed to make that pool in between her legs worse.

jiwon would have loved to relieve herself, especially if she had to use you… but this was a much, much better way to do that.

at this point, there was no doubt that the potions have completely taken over your senses. you were completely infatuated with jiwon and you were quite literally salivating at every sensation her fingers gave you. you felt whole, complete. there was nothing more that could make you feel better than this, you were convinced of that. and so, you opened your mouth. yet another louder and dirtier string of moans left your throat before all the pleas you so boldly declared seconds after. jiwon was more than happy to fulfill your wishes, making sure that every thrust, bite, and kiss was worth all the trouble that will inevitably follow the two of you come next morning.

but of course it was. this was all in the name of magic, isn’t it? this was clear progress! jiwon should be delighted, and she is. and how much better could she express that than taking you to the very pinnacle of your pleasure and allowing you to finally have that release you desperately needed from no one but her?

“you are… absolutely breathtaking, (y/n).” jiwon whispered as she watched you crumble before her. one would think that she would stop as you’re cumming all over her hand, but jiwon proved to be relentless. her fingers kept on fucking you in that same merciless pace, not at all giving you the luxury of recovery even just for a second. naturally, as soon as you had finished, a second orgasm came right after. you would be embarrassed but really, you were more focused on not passing out from exhaustion.

oh, it gets worse.

jiwon raises her free hand to her lips and licks her fingers before swiftly reaching down in between your legs and rubbing her damp fingers against your clit. you grabbed her wrist with one hand, digging your nails into her skin to make her stop or at the very least, chill the fuck out while the other was kept busy with holding onto the bean bag for dear life. you were so confused because on one hand, this might have been the greatest thing to have ever happened to you in your life but on the other… it was so difficult to keep on pretending like you can take all of what jiwon was trying to give you.

your third orgasm of the night comes to fruition, just like jiwon wanted. the witch then decided to finally slow down… but she shoves her wet fingers inside your mouth. obediently, you sucked on them, licking your juices off of her digits. you think you heard jiwon praise you for being such a dirty little dog for her, but you don’t hear any of it because she goes right back into her work. somehow. but at this point, you really couldn’t keep it up anymore.

“j-jiwon… enough, please…” you mumbled so pathetically weakly that it actually did the damn trick. between your roughed up state, tears, and the most adorable pout known to humankind, jiwon couldn’t find it in herself to push your limits even further. so, she pulls her fingers out of you and allows you to melt into the bean bag.

jiwon, dazed, takes a thorough look-around at the sanctuary and spots the failed potion that is still, as one can imagine, raining enchantment magic fumes. something tugs at her mind to keep ruining you, to continue on wanting you, to completely and just utterly finish what she had started… but jiwon resists this time. looking at you and your roughed-up body, she knew she had done enough. you didn’t need to suffer any more stress about this entire mess tonight, and hopefully, never again!

and so, jiwon makes a move to leave you so she could start the search for the cap that cheddar had successfully taken off of the potion bottle and lock the stupid thing back in its charmed cage so it wouldn’t do any more harm to you or her, but you somehow found the energy to turn yourself back around and grab jiwon’s arm, successfully getting her attention. you couldn’t find your voice, so you merely shook your head at her and gave her a look that you hoped would get the message “stay with me” across.

jiwon doesn’t leave you, thankfully. she brushes your hair away from your face and from where you lay, you can still see her desire burning deep behind her affection. in a way, it flustered you. so much so that you couldn’t exactly meet her eyes when she caresses your cheek.

“you can’t walk, can you…?” jiwon asked, and you would have laughed at her sudden bashfulness if it wouldn’t have made you urinate on the spot because this sure was quite a shift in behavior! you shook your head as an answer, still embarrassed by how you would sound had you actually tried to speak. “we can’t stay here… but i can’t carry you either. do you think you can try to walk? i’ll help you.” jiwon said.

“can’t you just… magic the numbness and exhaustion out of me?” you asked with all the strength you could muster. as expected, your voice was hoarse but you chose to ignore that. you were thankful that jiwon did so as well.

your teacher laughed at your proposal, “it would come at a cost, (y/n). you know this! if i proceed with a spell that grants you temporary relief of your… affliction, it’s all going to hit you the next day like a full swing of an ogre’s oversized baton. i would know.”

“but i can’t move… are you sure we can’t stay here? we had fun, didn’t we?” you asked without even realizing what you had just said. but it was too late to take them back now.

jiwon pauses. there was a hint of interest in her expression before she just laughed softly, “don’t start. you were the one who wanted out, remember?” she says. she then leans down with the very obvious and innocent intent to kiss you, until she remembered that you both had somewhat of a grasp of your minds now and stops.

“i think you’ve done worse things than not asking permission to kiss me tonight.” you teased, cupping her cheeks with both your hands and pulling her closer.

jiwon sighs defeatedly, “don’t say it like that…!” she says, but you kiss her before she goes off on a whole tangent about whatever she was thinking.

it was funny how she made such a fuss about how the two of you couldn’t stay in the sanctuary because of the potion, but now it seemed like she didn’t want to leave anymore. you could physically feel yourself falling into the potion’s trap once again—there was no way that your libido would be ramping up at an alarming rate on a normal day because of a kiss! the familiar surge of desire washes over you, despite your best efforts to ignore it. but jiwon was just one step ahead of her own damned creation.

she pulls away from you and gently but firmly states, “no.”

jiwon grabs the blanket that she conjured for you earlier in the morning and wraps it around your body before urging you to get up. you do as she says, having had enough of the potion being in control of you as well. as much as it was a pain in the ass to drag yourself out of the sanctuary because of how numb your legs still were, it was very much worth all of that trouble because as soon as you stepped out of that room, your mind was a lot more clear.

“most of the magic is still inside the room, thankfully. it should be easy to clear out the rest of the hut but for now… i think it’s best if we shut off this one area for a while.” jiwon mutters before sealing up the archway that led to the sanctuary with a spell. it was completely inaccessible from everyone except jiwon and whoever she chooses can venture inside.

you could tell that even though jiwon was fully committed to helping you get settled under the comfort of your bed, she wanted to take action and get rid of the potion as fast as possible. but you, once again, managed to wordlessly convince her to lay on your bed with you. she doesn’t resist when you pull her underneath the covers with you, and neither does she resist waiting for even a second until she holds you in her arms as you drift off to a nice, well-earned sleep.

jiwon doesn’t sleep until a couple of hours later, mostly due to the fact that she was still mildly under the potion’s influence and found it hard to focus on anything but your bare body laying almost on her own. but she was also thinking about how your relationship as teacher and student would suffer at the hands of this… study. of course, jiwon would totally respect your decision if you decided to part ways with her after this because who in their right mind would even think that this whole debacle was something one can move on from quickly? let alone, at all?!

but it would be a shame. a great shame, indeed. she has bonded so closely with you in just over the course of eight months, thanks to your shared love for learning. watching your eyes shine so bright after every spell casted, after every potion brewed, after every lesson successfully learned, made jiwon remember just why she fell in love with magic in the first place.

she had been in a dark place before she stumbled into you—she had become a legend to many and yet she felt so… empty and lost. jiwon had achieved many great things and it just seemed like there was nothing much she could do in her life anymore. but then she met you, listened to your wishes of wanting to study and practice magic to become a witch, and it all clicked for her because of course! if jiwon had nothing to learn from anything anymore, she could pass her knowledge on to those who deserved it!

and it turns out, as everyone knows now, you did deserve it.

jiwon was willing to deal with whatever repercussions she has to face the next day, but if this was the last time she was going to appreciate you without her pride getting in the way of her feelings, then she might as well do so until her drowsiness finally decides to pull her away from you.

~

three days later, you and jiwon anxiously sat in the dining room in front of an inexplicably-but-understandingly furious wonyoung and her sweet wife gaeul who was smiling kindly to alleviate any fear you were definitely feeling under the weight of wonyoung’s stare, bless her heart.

“i don’t know what i expected to happen, honestly,” wonyoung sighed as she leaned back on her chair. she had many words to say to you and jiwon but she didn’t want to waste anybody’s time by nagging your ears off. especially not when she had just been graced with the information that the potion has been sitting in the sanctuary for three whole days without any attempt from jiwon to get it back in its cage. well, any successful attempts, that is. “but i did expect you, jiwon, to be the most careful you have ever been. which, by the way, you promised before you left my shop with the thing and would you look at that!” your mentor’s best friend laughs, but you didn’t think she was amused at all.

“i know, i know, alright? i was stupid. trying to create the love potion in the first place was stupid and getting my student involved is probably the stupidest thing about all of this but please, spare me the talk, wonyoung.” jiwon said. she was embarrassed to have to recall the events of that night and spell it all out for her best friend, but there was a tinge of irritation there too. in fact, jiwon has been restless and frustrated for days on end. she hadn’t been looking forward to alerting wonyoung about the incident, much less asking for her help to clean it all up. and with the knowledge that wonyoung will probably want to hand the potion off to the authorities for good and potentially tell them about that night as well, it made a lot of sense for jiwon to be so… unlike herself.

what didn’t make sense, however, was how she had gotten so distant towards you.

you could say that it was inevitable considering how awkward the situation really was. who would even look at their subordinate in the eyes after a night like that? no doubt jiwon was ashamed of herself. you just felt bad that you couldn’t comfort her and tell her how you really felt about it all now that you were finally in your right mind. all because she wouldn’t let you.

gaeul was quick to sense the tension between her wife and her friend so she was quick to attempt to lighten the mood, “at least the two of you are unharmed, alright? nobody is hurt, suffering from any side effects, or pregnant, heaven forbid.” she said, laughing, but she immediately pauses and looks at you. “are… are you?” she asked.

“no! no, of course not,” you answered fairly quickly, which loosened jiwon, wonyoung, and gaeul’s tight shoulders and undoubtedly, chests. “we… concluded that pregnancy or any other anomalies, no offense—i’m s-sure you both are amazing mothers—would only occur if the potion was consumed and the drinker had very, very strong feelings of love for the other person.”

“so, neither of you consumed the potion,” gaeul said to which you and jiwon nodded. but she still looked confused. “but wonyoung said the two of you are deeply in—”

“honey. if i may?” wonyoung interrupts her wife with an obviously forced laugh. you chose to ignore how your mentor’s cheeks quickly grew pink at whatever gaeul was insinuating. “jiwon, i don’t want to get you arrested and condemned for the rest of history and be a cautionary tale for young witches and wizards aspiring to specialize in enchantment magic, so… what are we telling the council?”

jiwon momentarily forgets that she was upset at the world and sheepishly smiles at her best friend, “do we have to…?”

“jiwon.”

“just think about it, wonyoung! the legal chaos we would all face! (y/n) included! she’s not an official practicing witch—she would get reprimanded to hell and shoved back into her family with yet another magic-related crime under her belt, which we know she doesn’t want to happen at all. you and i broke the law so heaven only knows whatever’s facing us on the dark side of justice and with gaeul being your wife and the very first… victim of the potion, she would get in trouble too!” jiwon frantically explained. you shuddered at the thought of some knights dragging you to your father’s doorstep and this time as an actual criminal. you can’t even imagine the yelling you would receive, let alone the punishments.

wonyoung was silent, but visibly conflicted. she knew her and gaeul’s daughter would also suffer the consequences should the four of you get… arrested. hyunseo was only ten years old, she does not need her parents going to jail at such a crucial time—which is exam season.

“jiwon is right,” gaeul says. and of course, wonyoung doesn’t fight it because not only did she agree that jiwon was not at all crazy this time around but she also cannot say ‘no’ to her wife. “but there is still the problem of what in the world are we going to do to return your hut to its former, humble glory.”

to your surprise, cheddar jumps up on your lap, probably sensing how down you have been the entire morning due to your dear mentor refusing to hold a conversation with you for more than three minutes. jiwon had forgiven the cat for being the main reason things went haywire that night, but that didn’t stop cheddar from being the cute troublemaker she has always been. but you were glad about that because at least not everything changed after that mess of a study. you caressed the cat’s soft fur, hating how your mind was forcing you to think back on how jiwon’s hair felt all tangled up in your fingers as you kissed her three nights ago.

it was useless to try and ignore the truth about what you felt for your teacher. the love potion, the one that you drank as per jiwon’s request and not the other one, only worked so well because it amplified the pre-existing romantic feelings you already had for jiwon. the very same ones you tried to convince were just deep admiration because she just so happened to be the most talented witch you know. perhaps that was all it was in the beginning, but you knew they developed into something else overtime. you just refused to acknowledge it, for obvious reasons.

add that to the list of reasons why you are particularly bummed about jiwon’s behavior towards you as of late.

“(y/n)? are you okay?” gaeul asked. when you looked up, the three older women were looking at you, worried and alert.

“y-yes! sorry…” you mumbled, embarrassed at how you spaced out during a very important discussion. jiwon holds her stare at your face, probably searching for the real problems but you don’t give her the chance to worry about all of that when there are much, much bigger things to sweat over.

“let me get this straight. you want to enlist two of our friends to cover up this mess—one being yujin, who works directly under the council’s orders as a knight, and the other being rei, the most prized professor of an elite magic school and is a daughter of two council members?” wonyoung says, holding back any and all of the urge to call her best friend ‘dumb’.

“are you implying that they would let their best friends get whisked off to prison just to save their behinds? surely you have more faith in them than that, wonyoung,” jiwon jokes, but wonyoung was still not convinced that any of this would work. you were getting a very strong sense of deja vu right now. it was amusing to think that this is the way the two of them have always been since their younger days—jiwon always doing the most with her talents while poor wonyoung has to basically babysit her. “also, yujin never does her job correctly and even rei has bent and broken a few sacred rules. they’re no stranger to crime!”

wonyoung looks at you, her wife who reached out to hold her hand, and then back at jiwon, who looked like a drowned kitten trying to beg her best friend to go along with her plan. she shakes her head, rolls her eyes, and glances at her wife one last time before admitting defeat and giving in, “i’m going to hell for this.”

later that morning, while gaeul and wonyoung got busy trying to find a way to break the news to their friends, you retreated into your bedroom in hopes of taking a really short nap since you didn’t get a lot of sleep the previous night, or at all. your head has been filled with nothing but worries, it was impossible to even want to fall asleep. for the past three days that jiwon tried to clean up the mess by herself, you were doing absolutely nothing. sure, you could have helped, but jiwon didn’t want you to and frankly, you didn’t know how you could. so, you have just been watching your teacher stress over it all while you waited until you could do something, but it seems like today was not that day once again.

you sat on your bed, now contemplating if you should sleep or see if the witches needed anything from you, however little it was worth. it was hard to be in your room and not think about how jiwon held you in her arms as you slept that night. the side of the bed where she laid still smelled like her, and you felt like such a pervert for even noticing that but it was the truth!

“(y/n)...?”

speaking of which.

you flinched at your mentor’s unexpected appearance, “oh my—! you scared me, ma’am.”

“is this a bad time?” jiwon asked. you shook your head, but you didn’t tell her that this was what you have been waiting for for three whole days. you were hoping that it didn’t show too much either. jiwon carefully approached you and at first, it seemed like she was just going to loom over you as she talked but then she suddenly decided to sit down beside you. it baffled you to think of how awkward things had gotten between the two of you, but you had to find a way to be fine with it because again, what did you expect?

whenever jiwon was anxious, she never knew what to do with her hands, so she tended to fiddle with the hem of her shirt. seeing her do exactly that while she flips her brilliant mind upside down to find the right words to say to you was comforting in an oddly specific way that only you could understand.

“first things first, i’m deeply sorry to have put you through… all of that,” jiwon didn't look at you while she spoke. she couldn’t. “i should have known better, especially since you didn’t. even though the night ended with as little of a mess as possible, if you can even believe it, i practically forced you to be in danger and i did unintentionally put you in such a… demeaning position, what with making you as the volunteer for the love potion and of course, not shielding you from that other abomination.”

you smiled at jiwon even though she couldn’t see it because she had her eyes glued to the floor, “it’s all fine, really. we were just trying to—”

“and because of all that, i don’t think i should be your mentor.”

oh? 

oh, wow.

is this what heartbreak feels like? if so, you weren’t very fond of it.

you took a deep breath, refusing to let your emotions take over you just to discern whether or not jiwon was joking. she decided to look at you now, and those warm brown eyes that you’ve fallen hopelessly for were filled to the brim with guilt. your heart sinks… but you were never one to just give up on anything just like that.

“it… it was one incident, jiwon. worse things have happened while we were doing other studies! i-i almost started a wildfire right in our backyard, i accidentally summoned a supposed-to-be extinct species of a monster that nearly killed you before you conquered it, and you technically were the reason i fell and broke my leg during broom practice because you got competitive over a stupid race!” you were more than willing to tell her other happy accidents that happened throughout your short journey as teacher and student, but you knew in your heart that jiwon herself remembers it all.

it made you angry just how much you wanted to stay with her. truth to be told, you probably didn’t need her to learn magic and become a witch. you could just find another teacher, or do everything on your own like you initially wanted to do.

but… this was jiwon, damn it.

“(y/n), hey,” the older girl holds your hand, laughs when you try to pull away and only holds it tighter. “let me finish, darling.”

and now you feel really dramatic for being on the brink of tears.

“my dear friend, rei, is a teacher at one of the most prestigious private schools for magic in the city, as wonyoung mentioned before. it’s actually the one i graduated from but that’s not important. anyway, the headmistress adores her and allows her to be in charge of admissions and if you think you know where i’m going—no, you don't, so keep your pretty lips sealed tight,” jiwon said. she grins and laughs when you close your mouth like she demanded. “rei runs her own little gathering of the gifted kids that she stumbles into during the practical part of the entrance exams, and i told her about you.”

you nodded, very slowly, “o-okay…? i’m afraid i don’t understand.” you truly didn’t.

“what i mean is; congratulations, (y/n) (l/n), for you have just been accepted at everybody’s dream school and you’re under the direct care of its best teacher! woo!” jiwon starts clapping with the widest smile on her face, which slowly starts to drop when she notices the blank look on your face. “why aren’t you happy? i thought you’d be happier…” your mentor mumbles, scratching the back of her neck.

“no… i-i… there’s just… a lot to unpack here, is all,” you decided to put some distance between you and jiwon for the sole reason that you didn’t want anything to distract you from putting the right words together. not her scent, not her eyes, not her lips, not her hands—nothing. you wished you could express how truly happy you did feel that jiwon believed in your abilities so much that she somehow got you admitted to the school that all the legendary witches graduated from, but there was just this one big question that you knew wouldn’t stop bothering you unless you asked… so you did. “are you… getting rid of me?” it wasn’t easy dragging it out of your throat.

“what? no, (y/n)... this is nothing at all like that.” jiwon replies. she tries to get close to you again but you raise your hand up, stopping her from moving. jiwon respected your wishes and kept her distance, though you didn’t miss the look of hurt on her face. “i understand how it might look and feel like that, okay? i’m desperate to cover everything up, i’m dragging my best friends into my mess, and now i’m sending you off to an academy—i get it. but i’m… taking care of you, (y/n). you want to be a witch, remember? i’m helping you get there. to your dream.”

“but you’re my…” you hesitate and completely halt your thoughts. it’s true that both potions were a pain in the ass to endure but at least it made you brave. it was annoying how you couldn’t just bring yourself to spit everything out, but this was hardly the perfect time for confessions of any kind.

jiwon shakes her head, “i’m really sorry,” her words were but a whisper. “the incident really opened my eyes to… the dangers of you having me as your mentor. i… i don’t know what i’m doing, or if i’m teaching you the correct things o-or if i should at all. magic needs to be handled like glass. it’s fragile, it’s unpredictable, and it’s deadly if not used properly. you’re not going to learn that from me, (y/n).”

you knew she was talking about her reputation and how she ‘unfortunately’ lives up to it. jiwon is no doubt special, perhaps one of the most special witches to have graced these lands, but all that talent, that hunger for knowledge, the ability to want to achieve everything and be willing to do anything for it all came with endless troubles, accidents, and controversy. she was never able to do anything in a simple way but hey, that was the best thing about her. if she hadn’t been a literal blessing to the mystic arts, she would be condemned to hell for all of the stupid and reckless things she has done.

so, you understand. you do, and it fucking sucks.

“i apologize if i’ve made you upset, but believe me when i tell you that this is a good thing. and don’t even tell me that you’ll refuse to attend the academy just because i told my teacher friend about you. some people get admitted for worse and dumber things. but you,” jiwon leaves your bed, moves in front of you and crouches down. she takes a hold of both your hands, and was visibly relieved to see you accept her affection. “you deserve to be there, (y/n). truly.”

your lips quiver and you feel a lump in your throat forming until you hold jiwon’s hands tighter and are able to channel just enough grit in your head to believe that yes. you can do this.

“okay.”

jiwon smiles, and at the very same second that she opens her mouth to probably tell you more about how amazing of a witch you’re going to be with proper training and whatnot, you pull her in for a warm hug. she didn't wait a second before hugging you right back, and it was healing. you would have pulled away a lot earlier if you didn’t feel jiwon gently threading her fingers through your hair and nuzzling her face closer to the side of your head. it didn’t feel like she was aware of what she was doing, but that was more than fine to you.

anything to be in her embrace for a little while longer.

it took everything in your power to not profess your love to her right then and there. you felt safe and secure… but you knew that those exact feelings were nothing but a trap and its sole purpose was to ruin everything good you and jiwon had built up in this one conversation. you keep your mouth shut, but you hugged the older girl just a tad bit tighter. maybe if you bring her heart close to yours, she would feel just how much it beats for her. you wouldn’t need to rely on your words, which you knew almost always failed you when it mattered most.

“i will see if gaeul and wonyoung had managed to get a hold of our friends,” jiwon says as she pulls away. you almost didn’t want to let go of her. “are you coming?”

you flashed her a brief smile, “do you mind if i joined later? i haven’t gotten a wink of sleep lately.”

there was a flash of concern in your mentor’s eyes—she noticed how your smile faltered, how you quickly looked away from her knowing gaze and how you scooted away from her touch. her heart aches at the thought of how she might have hurt you, but she had already said everything she needed to say. there was no use in apologizing to you again. so, jiwon merely smiles back at you, giving you a reassuring squeeze on your shoulder before leaving your bedroom.

instead of sobbing into your pillow like you expected yourself to do immediately once your mentor was out of earshot, you take a deep breath and slap your cheeks. perhaps a little too roughly than you should have, but the pain distracted you from the whirlwind of depressing emotions that wanted to take over your entire being and ruin your day even more. you figured you were well past the point, or age, of throwing a tantrum and crying over something so small. of course, that didn’t mean that you weren’t allowed to be sad about it all. in fact, you absolutely had every right to be sad!

but look at the bright side—you were going to become a witch! if there was anything you learned from jiwon, it was that every nice thing that might come out of a situation outweighs all of the bad. no matter how ‘bad’ it all really is.

plus, there was only really one bad thing that had been plaguing your mind this entire time. for every night that you have spent in this hut, you always went back to the day you ran away from home. you wondered if you had actually told your parents that you were going to seek a way, any way, to study magic with or without their help. would they have given you their support after years of stomping all over your passion? would your father finally stop being such a big obstacle in your path and just let you go on your merry way? would your mother take it upon herself to get you to your dream considering your entire life, all she ever wanted was for you to be content?

well, you’ll never know now. but you could make everything a lot easier for you, your parents, and everyone affected by your actions.

“i can’t see them right now. father would most likely be too angry to listen to me if i speak to them directly, and mother… well, she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it,” you approached your desk. it was littered with parchment, spellbooks, and quills, much like all of the tables in the sanctuary. “a letter. that’s… something. i just need to tell them that i’m okay.”

you dipped the quill into the pool of ink and got to writing. greetings, explanations, apologies, promises, gratitude, love—everything you wanted to tell your parents not only for the past eight months but even your entire life! you were careful not to mention jiwon. you knew that your father would most likely overreact and frankly, your mentor had enough to deal with on her plate! you didn’t want to add ‘dealing with your father’ onto that pile!

as you were fully immersed in laying your heart out on the parchment, you hadn’t realized that jiwon had returned to your bedroom. she spotted your busy hand gliding across the pages and stopped herself from bothering you, opting to watch you from the doorway instead. from your less-than-healthy posture, the creasing of your eyebrows, the slight pout on your lips, and how your hair fell on your face, jiwon is reminded of all the countless nights she caught you studying up until ungodly hours, which would then lead to jiwon going to your room the next morning and seeing you passed out on your desk, drooling and everything.

it was strange—knowledge was everything to jiwon. she loved the hunt for the answers and the search for information that she needed and didn’t need just for the sake of learning more and more. but this… this yearning for your touch. your lips. your voice. your embrace… and your heart—pursuing forbidden knowledge was supposedly jiwon’s favorite thing but figuring out that her adoration for you was more than a teacher simply enjoying her student’s company… well, that was forbidden knowledge jiwon had wished was kept from her.

because looking at you now with all of this knowledge of her feelings for you without any way to express it, jiwon was in pain. and regretfully, she left. if jiwon can’t even handle seeing you with only a few days left until rei takes you to the academy, how would she fare with not seeing you for months? years? forever…?

meanwhile, your movements paused and you turned around, thinking that someone had been watching you while you got busy… but all you saw was a lone shadow retreating elsewhere. you don’t pay it any mind and continue on writing your letter with a heavy heart, but you wouldn’t dare address the way you felt disappointment towards your mentor, whom you expected to come running back into your room and right into your arms.

perhaps you should focus on more… attainable dreams from now on.

~

your mentor’s little troupe was not short of personality, you can say that much.

apparently, jiwon’s friends had insisted that they come to the hut on a long weekend to scope the situation as they were too busy with their jobs and thus, that wait until that weekend was the most anxious week of your life. you’d think there would be nothing for you to fear knowing everything that has happened but upon the realization your future professor might not even like you upon her arrival, you find that there are indeed some things left for you to have you pacing around the kitchen past midnight.

multiple midnights before that weekend, in fact. even cheddar had to intervene one night—aggressively hissing at you and hitting your ankles with her soft paws until you settled yourself back in your bed. and on another night, jiwon unexpectedly witnessed your pacing when she came out of her room to have a cup of water. she, too, nagged at you to go to bed. at least she was a lot nicer about it than her damn cat.

you made a joke about asking jiwon to cast a spell that would take you to dreamland but clearly it was in poor taste, what with jiwon now hating the idea of using magic to hurt you, physically or otherwise. especially otherwise. you made a different joke about casting it yourself instead, which jiwon liked even less.

safe to say you were able to sleep immediately after that encounter, wanting to erase it from your memory as soon as possible.

it wasn’t until you actually met rei that you could finally breathe—the woman was lovely! she approached you like a friend and not at all an instructor. you had been fearing that she would ask you to cast a spell or two as some sort of showcase for your talent and you knew you would have embarrassed yourself as well as jiwon, so you were thankful that all rei wanted to know about you was your name and your favorite color.

all of that led to you having a heliotrope colored bracelet adorned with the academy crest on your wrist. when you had asked rei about why she had given you such a nice little gift, you thought she would tell you that it was a way for the members of her special class to differentiate themselves from the rest of the student body… but rei was truly just a sweet, kind woman that wanted you to feel right at home with her as soon as possible.

and then there was ahn yujin. boy, was she a wonder. she could have been straight out of a fairy tale that you used to read when you were a kid—a rebellious noblewoman who left her family to pursue greatness she wouldn’t have achieved had she kept her head down and accepted her destiny—if she hadn’t also been… such a klutz. yujin looked dignified when she finally arrived at the hut on her horse. she even stepped off flawlessly and offered her hand to rei, who she had been riding with, to help her down. like a prince! but then she approached you, shook your hand, and what came out of those adorable pair of lips was a horrible, tasteless joke that only someone as strange as your mentor would laugh at. and did!

no wonder they were friends. no wonder they were all friends! they all laughed at yujin’s terrible joke!

still, you appreciated both rei and yujin for wordlessly assuring you that you can treat them like you had been treating jiwon, gaeul, and wonyoung. like friends. highly respected and powerful friends, but friends nonetheless!

it took the five of them three days to clear up the sanctuary. the failed potion was once again sealed back into its dastardly cage with wonyoung and jiwon now promising that they will never ever take it out of wonyoung’s dungeon for as long as they will live. gaeul and yujin made a bet that it would take either of those two ten years until they pull the potion out of the dungeon for something stupid. rei betted on eight. and you silently betted on twenty years because you didn’t want to be on the receiving end of wonyoung’s wrath and you do have faith that jiwon would keep her word this time around.

on the night jiwon decided to have a lovely dinner with her friends after successfully cleaning up what was essentially her workplace, you were deeply lost in your thoughts. all because of one naoi rei, who had informed you that very same day that the two of you would be leaving for the academy in two days. she also happened to tell you that right after you finally summed up the courage to send away your letter to your parents.

so, you had a lot in your mind and you wanted to process it all just to avoid another breakdown at night. you politely excused yourself from the table after you finished your food, deciding that the best course of action was to get some fresh air with cheddar in tow.

to be frank, you wanted to be alone but your mentor’s adorable familiar has been strangely attached to you these past couple of days.

“i’m gonna miss you, my best friend.” you say as you kiss the top of the cat’s head. cheddar only snuggles deeper in your chest, purring at the warmth your arms provided for her in the bleak, chilly night. you looked up at the stars (which you can now see after jiwon so kindly took down some trees nearby that completely obscured the sky—but don’t worry, she planted them elsewhere) and sighed, realizing that nothing could really help you clear your head.

the one thing that weighed heavily of course was how different things would have been today if you just stopped jiwon’s pursuit of making the love potion all those weeks ago. maybe the two of you would be having another stupidly fun broom race, maybe she’d be telling you more bizarre stories she has of when she was a young witch, maybe… you’d even be finding out about your feelings in a ‘normal’ way!

“ugh,” you groaned. “is this really how i’m going to live from now on? pathetically dwell on what could’ve been?! i mean—come on! i have a brighter future ahead of me now! this is no time to think about other things!” you shouted at absolutely no one.

“oh, cheddar… did jiwon tell you? i’m going to that fancy school of witches and wizards-to-be that i’m definitely a few years too old for. not to mention how bad i actually am at spellcasting… wait… jiwon wouldn’t send me there just to embarrass me, right? she couldn’t have!” you start panicking. it wouldn’t be totally impossible. every single person in your life has always discouraged you about your dreams—why wouldn’t this time be any different? just because jiwon is your teacher?

the thought of it all just added yet another layer of bitterness to this… parting of ways.

the doors beside you swing open with a gentle creak and out comes jiwon wearing a pretty coat that was vaguely familiar to you. it was perfect for the night air. her blonde locks glisten underneath the moonlight, some lighter streaks made it look like she had glitter in her hair, making her shimmer more than ever. once her warm eyes land on your own, you turn your head away, heart fluttering slightly.

“i-i’m not here for another pep talk. i just… well,” jiwon seems to ponder her next choice of words before she takes the space beside you. “i’m just here to make the most of your company before you’re gone.” she admits.

her honesty surprises you, making you look at her with slightly widened eyes. jiwon doesn’t say another word, however. nor does she even look back at you—she just stares off into the distance, into the fireflies waltzing underneath the trees and around the beautiful flowers that you and jiwon have grown together in this backyard.

unlike the many periods of silences you have had to suffer through with jiwon after that fateful day, you were too annoyed with being sad to mope under the moon with your mentor. instead, you decided to actively look for something to do… and it just so happens that you noticed something worrisome on jiwon’s hand. it was slightly red and angry, as if it had been… burned?

“are you hurt?” you reached for the older girl’s hand. 

she flinched at your touch, but doesn’t pull her hand away from your grip. jiwon smiles sheepishly, “ah… i must’ve had a minor incident while cooking our meals with gaeul tonight. no worries! i can just snap my fingers and it’ll be like it didn’t happen at all!”

you don’t allow jiwon to move an inch away from you, “let me.” you boldly uttered under your breath. with a quick incantation, green light emerges from your palms and within a few seconds, jiwon’s hand was completely back to normal.

the blonde girl grins at your success, having remembered your previous unfortunate attempts at the basics of healing magic before. “i see you’ve gotten good at that.” jiwon says. she doesn’t let go of your hand, and neither do you let go of hers.

you raised your joint hands to your chest, exactly where your heart lay swelling with pride and pain at the same time. a bittersweet smile spreads across your lips as you speak with barely contained tears in your eyes, “i had a good teacher.”

~

…that should’ve been the end of it all, really.

you’ve said your goodbyes, had your final time together, and by the end of that conversation in particular, you were ready to leave everything behind and start looking forward like you were always meant to! but somehow, here you were in your bedroom struggling to drag one last baggage out of the hut due to an… ongoing distraction.

at first, it was just the impatient tapping against the floor as you packed up the very last trinkets scattered about in your bedroom, then it was the low hum of magic as your doorframe is sealed off from the rest of the world, and now it was your beloved mentor’s lips working feverishly in sync against yours.

in your defense, jiwon’s lips were the best you’ve ever tasted, so can you really be blamed for allowing her to pull you onto her lap for the second time in your life?

but jiwon seems to have caught herself off guard by her own actions, judging by how she suddenly froze and disconnected your lips from hers in record time. her eyes were wide with regret, but with the tiniest bit of desperation that let you know that whatever excuse she was about to spit out is, as the young—younger—ones are saying nowadays, bullshit.

“sorry… i’m sorry, i just w-wanted—”

you cut her off, too blinded by your desires to really care anymore, “save it. we’re already here.” and within a second, she was kissing you again.

now one would think that something diabolical would occur in that bedroom now that both of your feelings were all over the place in this very last day that you would see each other for however many years to come, and truth to be told, you thought something akin to that night would happen… but when jiwon lays you down on the bed in the most gentle manner, you found yourself wanting nothing more than to stay near her warmth just like this. her touch felt electrifying, just enough to incentivise you to take it a step further… but you don’t.

you keep still underneath jiwon with your hands sitting idly on her back, making extra sure to not ruin her clothing too much to avoid suspicion. you were certain that your inevitably messy makeup would give it all away later on but that’s very obviously a problem for later!

“i will miss you dearly,” every ounce of sincerity dripping from jiwon’s words and as well as the look of pure, precious love in her eyes melts your delicate heart. there was the familiar sensation of burning in the back of your eyes that you refused to acknowledge. this was hardly a time to start sobbing! “i have been wanting to tell you… but i was afraid. can you believe that?” jiwon laughs, you do too.

“i suppose it is quite difficult to grasp the concept of you being fearful of anything at all when i’ve watched you take down monsters of every kind right in our backyard.” you smile at the memories, and it seemed like jiwon thought of them too with how her eyes lit up like a blanket of stars in the night sky.

“banishing and eliminating cursed creatures is completely different from confronting the inner workings of my own heart!” jiwon says. upon hearing her words, your heart skips a beat. maybe two or three, really. it should go without saying out loud that jiwon very obviously feels the same way as you do… but any verbal confirmation, no matter how big or small, was always going to make you lose your composure. this instance being the very first didn’t help either!

you were so hung up on jiwon’s tiny confession that you didn’t realize that she had left the bed, pulled you up, ushered you out of your now deserted bedroom along with your luggage (that she made sure floated right behind you as you mindlessly walked in the dining room), and dropped cheddar in your arms. you pester yourself to return to reality as you hold your furry best friend, who seems to have gained a bit of weight in the last two days all because of your departure, allegedly!

“oh, don’t you worry about me, cheddar. i’ll make you proud.” you mumbled into the cat’s thick fur before giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head before putting her down. the cat rubs her face on your ankles before scuttling away, making you feel just a tiny bit worse about leaving. 

but everything else is quickly forgotten when you feel jiwon take a gentle hold of your hand and give you a kiss on the cheek, “come. rei has been waiting.”

exiting the hut, you were met with the image of your future teacher standing by a massive carriage as she gingerly commanded the driver and his help to put your belongings in the vehicle properly. your last baggage zips away towards the carriage immediately, and you don’t even hide your amazement with the fact that rei probably saw you coming before you even knew she was outside the hut.

rei waves at you, points at the carriage, winks at jiwon before disappearing inside the vehicle. “i’ll let you have your moment,” has never been screamed so loudly… and silently at the same time.

a beat passes. you feel reluctant to release jiwon’s hand and yet you say, “i shouldn’t keep her waiting even more…” your mentor merely hums. you weren’t looking at her, you were afraid of what you might end up doing in front of people, but you see her nod her head in agreement. slowly. she was reluctant herself.

you feel jiwon loosen her grip on your hand, which you took as your cue to start walking away but she immediately stops you. she grabs your arm, effectively halting your steps, and her face was beet red as she could barely stammer out, “s-say… after you have finished your studies and become the best practicing witch in that academy—second only to yours truly, of course—and served your time as rei’s most gifted apprentice… would you return to my side?” jiwon asked. easiest question of your life, but the older girl doesn’t let you speak. “not as my student… but as an equal. m-my… partner.”

an overwhelming wave of joy washes over you, and you nod eagerly. you wanted to hug her, you wanted to kiss her until the day ends and another begins but you were able to calm yourself enough to stay where you were standing. and you don’t try to hide the tears that built up in your eyes this time, “of course. just don’t go anywhere.”

jiwon raises your hand to her lips and kisses it like it was the most precious thing she has and will ever hold, “i wouldn’t dare.”

When a full month went by, Y/N assumed the singer had given up. She had bitten off more than she could chew, and when the reality of the situation finally hit her, she ran away and left the doctor behind once again.

Y/N didn't know whether to be happy or sad, so, as always, she focused on her work.

"Think I scared the carrot off?" Yana asked, trying to keep a proud smile at bay.

"Think you're pissing me off." Y/N didn't look up at her. She leaned back in her chair and focused on the document in front of her.

"You're such a sourpuss," Yana tutted, flicking Y/N's earlobe affectionately. Y/N swatted her hand away, but there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"And you're annoying," she retorted. "I'm busy, you know. I have things to do, papers to sign, patients to see."

Yana rolled her eyes, resting her hip against the edge of the desk.

"Or you're just trying to avoid going home."

Y/N almost scoffed. "Yeah, tell that to the eight-year-old diagnosed with a grade 2 astrocytoma."

Yana's expression softened momentarily, a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

"How is Yoonji doing?" she asked softly.

Y/N sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing a hand over her face. "As good as she can be," she said quietly. "It's serious, Yana, and she's young. The next few months..." Her voice trailed off, and she didn’t finish the sentence.

Yana was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Maybe you should go home, Y/N, and come back with a refreshed mind. You've been here for almost three days now—it's not healthy."

Y/N shook her head, though weariness was evident in her eyes. The worry for her young patient weighed heavily on her shoulders, along with the mountain of paperwork on her desk.

"Can't. I have a surgery in two hours," she said softly, her voice betraying more exhaustion than she wanted to show.

Yana frowned, clearly worried. She knew how relentless Y/N could be when it came to her work, but she also knew the toll it took on her.

"Are you even listening to yourself? Three days without a proper break? You need to take care of yourself too. You’ll burn out at this rate."

She placed a hand on Y/N's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "Let someone else handle the surgery. Take a day off. Go home, take a bath, watch some trashy TV, and eat something other than hospital food for once."

Y/N sighed, knowing that Yana wouldn’t relent without an answer. She dropped her pen and turned in her chair to face her friend. "I'll do that after surgery, okay? Don’t worry so much about me. I'm fine."

Yana raised an eyebrow skeptically. "After this surgery, you'll just find another reason to stay. And then another after that. I know you, Y/N."

She crossed her arms, fixing Y/N with a stern look. "You need rest. And if you won’t take it voluntarily, I’ll make you."

Y/N shook her head, smiling faintly as she held up her pinky between them. "No, this is the last one, I promise. My schedule’s clear for tomorrow. I won’t set foot in this hospital."

Yana huffed but couldn’t resist the pinky swear. "Fine," she said, linking her pinky with Y/N's. "But if I catch you here tomorrow, I’ll knock you out and drive you home myself."

She let go of their pinkies and made her way toward the door. "Come say bye before you leave?"

Y/N couldn’t help but smile softly and nod. "I will."

As her friend finally left, she refocused on the documents in front of her. She was supposed to be analyzing the best procedure to adopt with the little girl who still didn’t know she had cancer, but it was a tricky situation. The cancer was advanced, and the only possible surgeries were incredibly risky given the girl's age. Y/N had been trying to come up with a solution for days, but nothing seemed viable.

Y/N sighed and ran a frustrated hand through her hair, not hearing the soft knock at the door or the quiet footsteps coming inside.

Minjeong slipped into the office, a smile spreading across her face at the sight before her. Y/N just looked so captivating when she was focused—her brow slightly furrowed, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Minjeong had missed her.

"You look stressed," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Y/N's head shot up at the sound, her eyes widening in surprise. Minjeong stood in the doorway, her smile soft and warm.

Y/N’s heart gave a sharp thump against her chest. It had been a month since she’d seen the singer. Seeing her again now, after a month of silence, knocked the breath right out of her.

She quickly gathered herself. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her tone coming out a bit more brusque than intended.

Minjeong didn’t let the tone bother her. She approached and took a seat on the other side of the desk.

"I missed you, Y/N," she said softly, pulling a small gift from her pocket. It was a golden necklace with a small heart pendant. "Got this in Berlin...made me think of you."

Y/N’s gaze flickered to the necklace in Minjeong’s hand, her heart twisting at the sight. Her eyes then lifted to meet Minjeong’s, taking in her soft smile and familiar features.

She wanted to stay mad, to tell Minjeong to leave her office and leave her alone. But she couldn’t seem to find the words.

After a few moments of silence, Y/N finally spoke. "You've been gone a month," she said, cursing the slight waver in her voice.

Minjeong nodded, her eyes drifting away from Y/N's. "Yeah, it was the last leg of our tour. We're supposed to lay low for a while now—write songs for our new album and start the whole recording process again." She suddenly looked up at Y/N, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Did you like the gifts I sent you while I was away?"

Y/N frowned in confusion. "What gifts?"

Minjeong's excitement immediately deflated, replaced by a look of disappointment.

"What do you mean? I sent you a letter before leaving. And I sent you gifts after every performance. Bouquets, letters, chocolates..." Her voice trailed off as the realization hit her. "You... you didn't get any of it?"

Y/N shook her head. "Where did you send them to?"

"The hospital," Minjeong replied, her eyebrows furrowing. "I put your name on it."

Y/N paused, an amused expression flickering across her face.

"Right… all gifts sent to the hospital are automatically taken to the donations office. Come to think of it, that’s probably why the kiddos in the pediatric department were walking around with flowers all month."

Minjeong paled at the thought, her eyes widening in horror.

"Shit," she whispered, her voice filled with disbelief. "All this time… I thought you were ignoring my gifts, and you... didn't even get any of them?"

A mixture of guilt and embarrassment washed over her. She had been so sure the doctor was rejecting her gifts.

Y/N smiled slightly, taking a moment to look Minjeong up and down as if to assess her well-being. Touring was incredibly taxing on people, but Minjeong looked okay. Tired, but okay.

"How was Berlin?" Y/N found herself asking without a second thought. Once she caught on to what had just happened, she inwardly cursed herself.

She wasn't supposed to show interest. She wasn't supposed to be interested.

Minjeong's initial embarrassment began to fade as she picked up on Y/N's unintended slip. She leaned forward slightly, her eyes softening with amusement. "Berlin was beautiful. Busy, but... beautiful," she said, her voice quieter now, almost as if she were trying not to break the fragile moment they were sharing.

Y/N did her best to appear disinterested. The subtle way she kept her gaze on Minjeong, how her hands stilled on the desk, and the way her jaw clenched when Minjeong smiled—all of it gave her away.

"It sounds like it," Y/N replied, keeping her tone neutral. She quickly moved to change the subject, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. "At least the gifts went to someone who actually appreciated them."

Minjeong smiled at the small jab. "I'll be more careful next time. But for what it's worth, none of this would've happened if you just gave me your number."

Y/N chuckled, shaking her head as she returned to her documents. "I'm not giving you my number."

"Why not?" Minjeong asked, her voice laced with a mixture of amusement and disappointment. She leaned back in her seat, watching as Y/N worked.

She decided right then and there to reach for her purse as well. She pulled out her phone and notebook as if it were the most natural thing in the world, leaving them on Y/N's desk as she stole one of the doctor's pens.

"'Cause you're perfectly capable of stalking me without it," Y/N declared, watching Minjeong with a raised eyebrow.

She was making herself at home, wasn't she?

Minjeong smirked, rolling her eyes as she settled comfortably into the seat.

"I prefer the term 'determined pursuit,'" she said, opening her notebook and focusing on it.

Y/N watched her for a while and eventually gave up with a head shake. Figuring the singer out wasn't worth her time, but curiosity got the best of her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Minjeong looked up from her notebook, a sly smile playing on her lips. "Working, of course," she said, her tone as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Figured I'd write better songs with my muse in front of me."

Y/N raised an eyebrow, feeling a mix of annoyance and something else she didn't want to name.

"Just don't turn everyone against me this time around."

Minjeong's smile quickly vanished. She found herself hissing slightly and avoiding Y/N's eyes. "I never meant to turn anyone against you, you know? I... I couldn't have predicted that everyone would... react that way. And I was just so angry. I was an asshole. I'm sorry."

Y/N's expression didn’t change at the apology. Again, she told herself she didn’t need it. It had been too long; she had moved on. But even then, her younger self felt a little satisfied at finally getting the apology she had desperately craved.

She returned to her work without saying anything else. This wasn’t about Minjeong; she had a lot to do.

Minjeong pushed her feelings of disappointment and sadness aside to focus on her work. She figured she had to take things slow with Y/N. Overwhelming and annoying her was not the solution, so she opted for small, more discreet moments.

Also, she really did need inspiration for her new songs, and there was no one who inspired her more than the doctor.

So, the two got to work.

Minjeong glanced up from her writing, stealing glances at Y/N in between verses. She couldn't deny how comforting it was to be in the same space as her, even in silence.

Y/N also didn’t seem to mind Minjeong’s company. She’d never admit it out loud, but it felt good having the singer around again. She liked the attention and care that the orange-haired woman seemed to have for her. Sitting in front of her again reminded her of when they were younger, studying late into the night at the university’s library.

Nothing good really lasts forever, though, and soon Y/N’s pager rang.

It was time for her to prepare for surgery.

Minjeong watched her stand up and quickly got up to follow.

"Are we finally going home?" she smiled.

Y/N rolled her eyes softly. "You're going home. I have surgery."

"Oh." Minjeong's mouth fell open in slight surprise. She shrugged and settled back down in her chair. "I'll wait for you to come back, then."

Y/N halted her movements and stared at Minjeong. "It's a 5 to 7 hour surgery."

Minjeong didn't budge. "Even better. You'll be too tired when you come back, so I'll drive you home."

The doctor gaped at her. Minjeong was being so damn stubborn; it was almost as infuriating as it was endearing.

"You can't just camp out in my office for 7 hours," she snapped. "Go home. I don't need a babysitter."

Minjeong's smile widened at Y/N's outburst. She knew she was pushing her luck, but she couldn't help herself. There was something about Y/N that made her want to poke and prod and push.

She crossed her arms over her chest, raising her chin in a defiant gesture. "Do you have to complain about every nice thing I do? You'll be dead tired; I'll take you home."

Y/N's eyes narrowed as she looked at Minjeong. The girl was getting under her skin so easily, and the worst part was that a part of her actually enjoyed their arguments.

Her pager rang again, and she sighed. "I don't have time for this, Minjeong. Stop playing and go home."

She gathered her belongings and left, convinced that Minjeong wouldn't have the patience to wait that long. She figured the singer would last fifteen minutes alone in the office before heading home.

That thought was the reason why Y/N's eyes widened when she returned to her office eight hours later.

There had been complications in the surgery, so it took longer than expected.

Y/N had been certain that Minjeong would have left a long time ago. The sight of the singer laying on her couch, sleeping soundly, both surprised and frustrated her.

Y/N stood in the doorway, watching Minjeong. She wanted to feel angry, annoyed even, at the girl for sticking around all this time. But instead, a pang of concern and fondness took over her chest. Minjeong had just returned from tour; she should be resting well at home.

Y/N quietly walked over to the couch and stood in front of the singer, contemplating whether to wake her or just let her rest.

With a sigh, she walked to her closet and pulled out the fluffy blanket she usually used whenever she stayed back at the hospital. She covered Minjeong with it, watching her turn and sigh in her sleep before returning to her desk to start on her reports.

Y/N settled into her work, trying to ignore the soft sound of Minjeong's breathing in the background. It wasn't easy to concentrate, but she forced herself to focus. She'd get everything done and then deal with the singer, who’d probably wake up any moment now.

But Minjeong slept on, undisturbed, for the rest of the night. Y/N had just finished her tenth report, and the sun was high in the sky when she heard stirring from the couch.

Minjeong groaned, her eyelashes fluttering softly as she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up, a small yawn escaping her lips as she took in her surroundings.

Momentarily disoriented, her mind still foggy with sleep, her gaze fell upon Y/N, who sat at her desk surrounded by piles of paperwork.

The memory of last night came rushing back, and she felt a pang of guilt in her chest.

Clearing her throat, her voice still groggy from sleep, she said, "You were supposed to wake me up."

"You were supposed to go home," Y/N replied without looking up from her report, letting out a yawn. Yana would kill her if she knew she was still at the hospital.

"Why? So you could stay here all night and not sleep? I won't let you, doc."

Minjeong's voice was firm, but there was a hint of concern in her eyes as she observed the exhaustion evident on Y/N's face.

"I was worried about you." Minjeong stood up, her eyebrows furrowing as she walked toward Y/N. With a gentle touch, she reached for her pen. "Still am."

Y/N rolled her eyes at the gesture and sighed heavily. Truth be told, she was exhausted. She could barely remember the last time she slept, and her original plan had been to go home after her surgery. But it’s not like she could just leave Minjeong alone in her office, could she?

"Can you please just go home?"

"I will," Minjeong smiled. She almost felt bad at the relieved sigh that escaped Y/N's lips. "Just as soon as you do the same."

Y/N pursed her lips, her expression a mix of frustration and exhaustion. "You're impossible, you know that?"

Minjeong's stubbornness was both maddening and endearing, and Y/N found herself caught in this strange push and pull. Part of her wanted to yell and demand Minjeong go home, but another part quietly appreciated her persistence.

Minjeong smiled.

This was a tightrope for her to walk, and she really didn't want to mess up. "I'm in love with you, Y/N, and I've been trying really, really hard to make you like me back, so I usually wouldn't be this annoying. But I'm standing my ground on this—you need to rest."

Y/N's breath hitched slightly at Minjeong's confession. It felt surreal to hear those words after all those years. A wave of emotions washed over her, bringing back memories she had buried deep in her heart.

"Why do you..." Y/N started, her voice faltering slightly. Why did Minjeong still like her? Especially after everything she had done?

"I don't need you, Minjeong..." Her voice was firm. "I don't need you, and I don't want you, so for the love of God, can you leave me alone?"

Minjeong's smile faltered for a moment, her heart sinking at the harsh words.

She took a step closer, her expression a mix of vulnerability and determination.

"I know," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. "I know you don't want me, and I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I'm not leaving. Not until I've proven to you how sorry I am."

"You can prove it by leaving me alone and not coming back." Y/N couldn't look at Minjeong—not when the singer was looking at her like that.

So she tried going back to her laptop.

Stepping forward, Minjeong reached over and gently closed the screen. Her hand landed on Y/N's, silently conveying her determination.

"I'm not leaving you alone when you're pushing yourself this hard. You need rest. You need to take care of yourself too, you know."

Y/N let out a deep, frustrated sigh, her shoulders sagging in exhaustion. She wanted to argue, to tell Minjeong to go away and leave her alone, but the weight of the past few days was catching up to her.

She reluctantly closed her eyes, her head drooping backwards against her chair. She knew she was too tired to fight.

"You're infuriating, you know that?" she mumbled, her voice betraying some vulnerability.

"Yeah, I know." Minjeong whispered in response.

She knew she was treading on thin ice, pushing boundaries she had no right to cross. But there was something about Y/N that brought out a protective side in her, and she found herself unable to simply walk away.

"I'm gonna take you home," she quietly suggested, her thumb gently caressing the back of Y/N's hand, "and you'll sleep for the next two days. Deal?"

"Whatever." Y/N huffed softly, pulling her hand away from Minjeong's to stand up. "This changes nothing between us."

Minjeong hid her smile at Y/N's words.

Of course, she didn't expect anything to change overnight, but this was a small win.

She nodded. "I know it doesn't, love. Come on, let's go before you collapse from overwork."

She walked around the desk, gently placing a hand on Y/N's back to help her take her coat off.

Y/N was too tired to put up much of a fight. She allowed herself to be assisted, her body feeling heavy with exhaustion.

As they walked out of the office, she found herself leaning into Minjeong's touch more than she cared to admit. The fatigue had left her defenses down, and she struggled to keep up her usual collected demeanor.

The ride home was smooth, allowing Y/N to lean her head against the window, her eyelids drooping with every passing minute.

"I really wish you were more awake right now. Last time I drove you home, I nearly ran over two people. Look at how much I've improved," Minjeong tried to joke.

Y/N let out a small, tired chuckle. "You were atrocious." She shifted in her seat, subconsciously seeking more comfort.

The rest of the car ride was relatively quiet, with only the occasional sound of the car's engine and the soft hum of the music from the radio filling the silence. Y/N's eyelids grew heavier with each passing mile, and she found herself fighting against the pull of sleep.

As they neared her house, Minjeong glanced over at her, taking note of her drooping head and sleepy eyes. She stifled a smile, finding the sight incredibly endearing.

"Hey," she said softly, breaking the silence. "We're almost home. Hang in there a little longer, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Y/N snapped herself out of her sleep-induced state with a shake of her head.

She looked around the street to keep herself awake, raising an eyebrow at how well Minjeong still remembered the way to her house.

"You still live here, right?" Minjeong asked as she pulled up to the familiar mansion. "Because this is about to be really embarrassing if you don't."

"I sold the house five years ago."

Minjeong's eyes widened. She was about to put her car into park but quickly backtracked, starting to pull out of the driveway. "Shit, I'm so sorry!"

Y/N chuckled. "I'm joking, I'm joking, Minjeong."

The singer let out a sigh of relief, stopping the car once more. She shot a half-hearted glare at Y/N, who was smirking in the passenger seat.

"Not cool, you know?" she muttered, parking the car again. "I swear, I'll punch you next time you scare me like that."

As she turned off the ignition, she couldn't help but notice how much lighter the tension between them had become.

"You're exhausting," she said with a huff. "Let's go inside, come on."

But Y/N quickly shook her head, reaching out for the door handle to leave the car. "You're not coming in."

A pout immediately reached Minjeong's lips. She leaped out of the car and ran to the other side, hoping to at least help Y/N close the door. "I—why not?! I wanna come in."

Y/N dismissed her attempt with a wave of her hand and closed the door herself. She had been nice enough for one day. "Well, I don't want you coming in."

"Why—" Minjeong reached out to wrap her hand around the small of Y/N's back and lead the way to the front porch. "Are you sure you'll manage to get to your room? There are a lot of stairs to climb!"

Y/N, who was trying hard to remain upright, nodded. "I can manage."

They finally arrived at the front porch, and Minjeong watched with a resigned sigh as Y/N opened the door. "I'll be here tomorrow morning to take you to work."

"There's no need for that." Y/N dismissed her again.

"But you left your car at the hospital!"

"I have other cars, Minjeong."

"What about the one you left at the hospital?"

"I'll have someone pick it up."

Minjeong rolled her eyes at Y/N's stubbornness. Why did she have to make things so difficult?

"Just let me help you," she insisted, placing a gentle hand on Y/N's arm. "You look like you're about to collapse any second now. It won't kill you to let me walk you to your room and make sure you actually get there in one piece."

Y/N almost smiled. Almost.

"Don't push it." She threw Minjeong one last glance and walked inside her house, closing the door before Minjeong could even take a peek inside.

So the singer was left standing on the front porch, a smile rising to her face as she slowly shook her head and walked back to her car.

And so, with Minjeong now back at home, a new routine was formed.

The singer would visit Y/N at the hospital from time to time—always careful not to cross the line and always mindful of Y/N's boundaries.

Even then, it was months and months of rejections. If Minjeong put aside a penny each time Y/N dismissed her, she'd probably have enough to by herself one of those good, expensive ice creams from Ben & Jerry's.

Sometimes Y/N was nicer and conversed with her a little. Other times she looked at her face, rolled her eyes and let out a small "Out of my way" as she walked by. It depended on her mood, really.

It was an eye-opening experience that made Minjeong realise she needed to become Y/N's friend first and then move on to something more personal.

So she gave up on the expensive gifts and took her time simply being herself and being there for Y/N. Some days, she was able to spend more time with the doctor; other days, she essentially sat in Y/N's office alone for hours on end as the doctor worked on her patients. She was fine with whatever, anyway. She knew that just being at the hospital made an impact on Y/N. She could see that Y/N was becoming more accustomed to her presence—their tense bond had turned into somewhat of a friendship.

It was a painstakingly slow process but it was finally beginning to bear its fruits.

"So then, what are we doing after that?"

Minjeong perked up at the familiar voice. She was leaving Y/N's office after another day of not seeing the doctor much, but then she turned and saw her—walking down the hallway alongside a little bald girl wearing a beanie.

"Then... then I want to play Lego with you!" the kid announced, looking up at Y/N like the doctor hung the stars in the sky for her.

"You do? No way!" Y/N played along, completely unaware of Minjeong's eyes on her. "What Lego should we build first?"

The sight of Y/N interacting with the little girl was endearing—a side of the doctor that Minjeong had never seen before.

She watched silently from the doorway, a soft smile on her face as she observed the exchange. It was clear that Y/N had a soft spot for children, which only added to her appeal in Minjeong's eyes.

The little girl seemed to ponder her options for a moment, her face twisted in deep concentration. Finally, she pointed a finger in the air, exclaiming, "The Avengers Tower! We should build the tower first!"

Y/N feigned shock, her eyes widening as she responded in an equally enthusiastic tone, "The Avengers Tower? Oh wow, that sounds like a fantastic idea! I'll buy it and bring it to you next week."

"Don't listen to her; the Avengers helicarrier is so much cooler to build."

The little girl looked up, eyes widening when she saw Minjeong standing in front of her. She froze, quickly holding on to Y/N's coat and hiding behind her legs.

Y/N looked down as the little girl clung to her, then followed her line of sight to where Minjeong was standing.

She shot the singer a slightly amused look, raising an eyebrow as if to say, Are you just gonna stand there and watch?

Minjeong gulped, not expecting the reaction. She wanted to make a good impression on Y/N.

Maybe the kid was just very, very shy, and Minjeong scared her?

She was such an idiot.

She turned to Y/N with a helpless look, searching for some assistance, but the doctor did nothing but reach down to affectionately pat the kid's head before smirking at her.

"Hello..." Minjeong gulped nervously, "I'm Minjeong."

The little girl peeked out from behind Y/N's legs, her eyes wide with amazement. She looked up at Minjeong again, and a small squeak left her lips before she ran down the hallway, away from their view.

Y/N chuckled to herself, knowing that Yoonji knew her way around the hospital better than some doctors, and turned to Minjeong again.

The singer's heart was heavy with guilt. "I'm so sorry, I—I didn't want to scare her."

Y/N smiled, walking past Minjeong to enter her office. "Don't flatter yourself; you couldn't scare a mosquito if you tried, Minjeong."

Minjeong huffed in fake annoyance, following Y/N. "Excuse me? I could totally scare a mosquito. I could scare a whole army of mosquitoes."

She sat down on the sofa, pouting as she looked at the doctor, who was busy tidying up some papers on her shelf. "I scared that kid. I'm terrifying," she finished.

"You didn't scare her, you idiot." Y/N chuckled. "Yoonji's a fan of your band. She was freaking out because you're her favorite."

Shr reached for a small white paper and handed it to Minjeong along with a pen. "Sign that for her; she'll be happy."

"She's..." She paused for a moment, as if processing the information, before her eyes widened. "She's a fan? Of... me?"

Suddenly, all her worries about scaring the kid disappeared, replaced by a sense of unexpected joy. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she wrote down a cute note on the paper and signed it.

"Wait... did you just call me an idiot?"

She playfully threw a pillow in Y/N's direction.

Y/N was barely nudged, back turned to Minjeong as she looked through her documents. "Did you just undermine your popularity?"

"No, I—"

Minjeong paused, realizing that she had indeed subconsciously downplayed herself. "Love, I'm a big deal, you know. Don't make me throw another pillow at you."

Y/N chuckled, amused by the antics, and picked the pillow up from the ground to throw it back at Minjeong.

Minjeong caught the pillow with dramatic flair, clutching it to her chest as if it were a precious treasure. With a smug smile, she leaned back on the sofa and playfully tossed the pillow from one hand to the other.

She watched Y/N with a curious gaze. The doctor seemed engrossed in her work, reminding Minjeong that they were in a hospital, after all.

"You should come to my show next week."

Y/N finally looked up from her documents, raising an eyebrow at the singer.

"Your show?" she repeated, not bothering to hide the hint of disbelief in her voice. "Why on earth would I waste my time watching you flaunt around on stage?"

Despite her sharp words, there was a flicker of playfulness in Y/N's eyes.

Minjeong shrugged, recognizing the teasing in Y/N's voice. "'Cause... I'm pretty hot."

She chuckled when Y/N rolled her eyes, standing up from the couch to approach the doctor. "And also because we are always meeting up here at the hospital, and you're always stuck on 'super hot and busy neurosurgeon' mode, so I don't get to see the more relaxed you."

Y/N rolled her eyes again, though she couldn't help but let out a short, amused chuckle at Minjeong's words.

She leaned back in her chair, a smirk playing on her lips. "So... you want to see me more relaxed and think a crowd full of screaming kids is the ideal place for that?"

"Yes," Minjeong replied bluntly, her grin widening at Y/N's sarcastic response. "I think seeing you amongst the crowd, swaying to my music and having a good time, would be very relaxing for me."

She perched herself on the edge of the desk, facing Y/N and leaning in slightly. "Come on, just humor me for one night. It won't kill you."

"It will kill my ears," Y/N said, not looking up at Minjeong. "And my self-esteem. Your bandmates despise me."

Minjeong rolled her eyes, gently smacking Y/N's shoulder. "They don't despise you. They did—but not anymore. I told them about... you know? The whole bet thing being fake. That's why they were so sheepish when they saw you."

Y/N looked up again, a hint of surprise in her eyes. "You... told them?"

She tried to keep her face neutral, but the revelation was unexpected. Despite her best efforts, a part of her warmed at the thought of Minjeong defending her.

She quickly masked it with her usual sardonic tone. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Minjeong shrugged nonchalantly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They're my friends, and they were always giving you a hard time."

She leaned back slightly, her eyes fixed on Y/N's face, trying to read her emotions. There was something in the doctor's reaction that didn't quite match her snarky words.

Y/N shrugged. "Doesn't matter; it's not like we ever saw each other again. They could've gone their entire lives not knowing about it."

Minjeong couldn't help but scoff at the doctor's nonchalant attitude. "Stop downplaying it. You know it's not that simple."

She reached out, gently placing a hand on Y/N's arm.

Y/N tensed slightly at the unexpected touch, her eyes darting down to where Minjeong's hand rested on her forearm. She swallowed, trying to ignore the small flutter in her stomach. Minjeong was messing with her head.

"I don't care what they feel," she muttered, not meeting the singer's gaze.

Minjeong noticed the brief stiffness in Y/N's body and the way her gaze flicked away. She pressed on, her touch light but her words firm. "But I do."

She shifted, moving a little closer to the doctor. "And I would really, really appreciate it if you could come to support me... as my friend. Please? You could even bring that crazy nurse with you or maybe Minji?"

Y/N couldn't help but smile. She knew what Minjeong was doing—giving her an easy out and trying to make her feel as comfortable with the situation as possible. She appreciated it, looking up at Minjeong with a glint in her eyes.

"I haven't talked to Minji in seven years."

Minjeong's eyebrows shot up in slight surprise. "Seven years?" she repeated, her initial surprise giving way to curiosity.

"Why?"

As they spoke, Minjeong was painfully aware of how close they were now, her hand still on Y/N's arm. The doctor's reaction to her touch was becoming a pattern—a subtle shiver, a slight tension in her shoulders. It intrigued Minjeong.

"Well... she let me have a one-night stand with the pretty blonde that completely destroyed my reputation and love life to go make out with another girl." Y/N shrugged lightly. Her instincts told her to downplay the entire thing and not turn it into a big deal, but she had been hurt, and it was a feeling she couldn't easily shove aside. "Not very best friend-like, is it?"

Minjeong's cheeks flushed, caught off guard by Y/N's bluntness. "Um... yeah, that's... fair," she stuttered out, still trying to process the new information. "What about Niki and Yeonjun?"

Y/N tensed up even more.

She knew the entire drama culminated from the two boys being absolute idiots, but they had once been her family. The entire group was incredibly tight-knit. They looked after one another and protected each other. Maybe that's why the entire bet felt like such a betrayal to her—why she took such drastic measures.

"Also cut them off. They tried to apologize countless times, but I guess I just shut myself off after what happened. I didn't know who I could trust, so I trusted no one." Her voice had unconsciously quieted down as she looked down at her own fingers. When she realized what she was doing, she cleared her throat and straightened her body to speak in a firm voice. "Then we all graduated, and I never saw them again."

Minjeong felt her heart drop at the vulnerability in Y/N's voice. It was a side of the doctor she'd never seen before—a side that was raw, vulnerable, and a stark contrast to her usual cool demeanor.

She moved even closer. "I'm really sorry that all happened to you."

She paused for a second, taking a deep breath. "And I'm also sorry that I... that I was part of it."

Y/N would usually have disregarded the entire apology. She would have told Minjeong that it didn't matter, that it happened a long time ago and that she didn't care anymore, that she had moved on.

But this time, she couldn't stop the emotions bubbling up in her throat. She swallowed, her composure faltering ever so slightly as a pang of vulnerability took over.

Minjeong gulped at the silence and pressed on, taking it as Y/N finally listening to her and giving her a chance to properly apologize.

"I shouldn't have written that song, and I shouldn't have let everyone turn against you. It was my fault, and I didn't protect you when it was the least I could've done. I really, really am sorry, Y/N."

Y/N's face softened at the singer's sincere apology. She felt herself resisting it, but the vulnerability and genuine regret in Minjeong's eyes gave her a strange urge to reach out and comfort the singer. She fought against it, cleared her throat, and averted her gaze.

She knew she should resist, protect herself, and keep up her front. But as she looked up at Minjeong again, her resolve faded.

"I forgive you, Minjeong," she muttered, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

Minjeong exhaled, a wave of relief washing over her. "You do?"

The singer felt her heart flutter at Y/N's forgiveness. The soft look in the doctor's eyes, the way her voice had lost its usual sharpness—it all felt like a weight being lifted off her shoulders. Hell, it felt like more than that; she felt like she could finally breathe properly again.

Y/N nodded, reaching out for Minjeong's hand to play with her long fingers. It was a good distraction. "It wasn't your fault that you overheard Niki and Yeonjun. I do wish you would've talked to me before deciding to play me, but... I understand that you were hurt."

"Thank you..." Minjeong murmured, biting her lip to contain her growing smile. "And for what it's worth, I never really played you. I was just falling for you more and more every day and pretending I wasn't."

Y/N's breath caught in her throat at the singer's words, the gentle confession catching her off guard. She looked up, meeting Minjeong's eyes—a mixture of surprise and something else in her gaze.

"You weren't?" she managed to say, her voice slightly breathless.

She was suddenly hyper-aware of their close proximity, the way Minjeong was practically sitting on her table, leaning down to be closer to her, and the way her own hands were still playing with Minjeong's fingers. Everything felt overwhelmingly intimate.

Minjeong chuckled softly, a small, self-conscious sound.

"No," she admitted, her eyes glued to the way Y/N's hands played with hers. "I fell head over heels for you. Then I heard about the bet and told myself that I could get over my feelings after playing you too."

She paused for a moment, still watching their joined hands. It felt so natural, so comfortable.

"It scared me when all that time went by, and I still couldn't get you out of my head," she added in a whisper, the confession heavy with all the emotions she'd been holding back. "That's why I'm so adamant about getting you back... I know you're the one for me, Y/N."

Y/N felt her heart skip a beat at the singer's words. The intimacy of their proximity and the way Minjeong was looking at her sent a shiver down her spine. It was like the world around them had faded, and all that existed in that moment were the two of them.

She swallowed hard, her fingers still wrapped around Minjeong's. The confession was a lot to take in, and it took her a few moments to find her voice.

"Is that so?"

Minjeong hummed softly, smiling as her eyes dropped to Y/N's lips. She found herself unconsciously leaning in, wanting nothing more than to taste their softness for the first time in so long. She was close—so incredibly close—already closing her eyes as pure ecstasy began to take over her body. But then two hands landed on her shoulders and gently pushed her back.

"You keep those lips away from me, Kim Minjeong," Y/N chastised, an unwanted smile slowly taking over her face.

Minjeong pouted, her eyes snapping open at Y/N's words. "But I want you so bad," she protested, her tone whining and petulant.

She was just millimeters away from Y/N's face, her heart racing in her chest. The closeness, the way Y/N's hands felt on her shoulders, the way they were both smiling—it was all too much and not enough at the same time. There was no doubt in Minjeong's mind that Y/N could feel her racing pulse under her touch.

"That's too bad." Y/N patted her arm and fully pulled her back. "You'll have to work more for it."

Minjeong huffed softly. "I've been working so hard, though."

"Work harder then," Y/N taunted, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. Her heart was racing, and her hands were trembling, but she was not going to let Minjeong win so easily. Not this time.

Minjeong nodded, reaching out to pull a strand of hair behind Y/N's ear. She couldn't complain; her heart was already practically bursting with happiness at the forgiveness she had been given. She wouldn't push her luck too much.

"Will you at least come to my show then?" she asked in a soft voice.

Y/N had to fight hard not to shiver under Minjeong's touch and her soft tone. Damn, she had missed her so much.

She paused for a moment, eyeing Minjeong critically before replying. "If I say yes, will you stop pestering me?"

It was a genuine question. Y/N had been enjoying their banter—their playful back-and-forth—but she also had Yoonji's case in the back of her mind and needed to focus on it.

"Yes, I will stop pestering you," Minjeong promised with a smile.

She took Y/N's silence as a reluctant agreement, her excitement flaring up within her again.

She chuckled, giving Y/N's shoulder a firm slap. "You better keep your word!"

Minjeong grabbed Y/N's phone from the table, unlocked it by pointing the face lock at her, and quickly sent herself a message to finally have her number.

Then, without warning, she leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Y/N's head before leaving the office.

She was absolutely ecstatic to finally have Y/N at one of her shows. So much so that she sent all the details of the gig that same night, a full week before the concert.

On the day of the show, Minjeong couldn't keep her feet from bouncing with each step she took. She was as excited as she was nervous, knowing that this was a big step in their relationship but also feeling the pressure of having Y/N watching her.

She asked her makeup artist to prepare her with even more attention than usual, talked with her stylist to make sure her outfit was on point, planned the entrance access with her security to give Y/N no trouble going backstage, and gave it her all during practice to ensure everything would go perfectly.

The girls noticed her newfound excitement but didn't comment on it, simply smiling at how happy she was.

But that happiness was whipped away when the show started and ended without any sight of Y/N.

Minjeong tried texting her. She called countless times. Then she gave up on waiting for nothing, an hour after the show ended.

Minjeong stepped inside the familiar hospital at one in the morning, no trace of her usual smile present on her face. She was angry, hurt, and confused—a tangled mess she had difficulty dealing with.

When she reached the office, she didn't bother knocking. She pushed open the door to find Y/N crouched down outside on the balcony. Y/N was facing away from Minjeong, but the singer could see her shoulders heaving up and down.

Minjeong stepped forward, the anger quickly giving way to concern.

"Y/N?" she called out softly, her voice cracking in the still night air.

Y/N's shoulders were shaking, her breaths coming out in strangled gasps. It wasn't a sound or sight Minjeong was familiar with—not when it came to the woman who was always so composed.

She stepped closer, crouching down beside her.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I-I couldn't— I couldn't do it, Minjeong."

"What do you mean?"

Minjeong reached out, gently placing a hand on Y/N's back and rubbing small circles.

"What's wrong?"

Y/N did her very best to compose herself. She hated that Minjeong was seeing her like this, but right at that moment, she couldn't help it. She could barely breathe properly, much less control her tears.

"She died. I couldn't—I couldn't save her. I—I tried— I tried so hard. I wasn't—enough."

Minjeong took a sharp intake of breath, her heart sinking as the realization hit her.

Yoonji?

Y/N had grown so attached to the little girl.

She wrapped her arms around the doctor's shoulders in a tight embrace, pulling her close.

"Hey, no. No," she whispered fiercely, her fingers curling into the material of Y/N's scrubs. "You are enough. You're so much more than enough."

Y/N shook her head, her forehead dropping to Minjeong's shoulder as her tears kept falling.

"I wasn't."

"Stop saying that," Minjeong chided gently, one hand coming up to run through her hair while the other still held her tight. "You're the smartest, strongest person I know. You're more than enough."

She paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

"You can't save everyone, Y/N. You can't blame yourself for that."

The way Minjeong was holding her, the soothing tone of her voice, the gentle way her hand ran through her hair—it all overwhelmed Y/N. It made her heart ache and her chest feel heavy.

She shook her head again, a strangled sob escaping her.

"I tried—" she started, before cutting herself off.

She had tried so hard. She had put in every last ounce of effort, every last trick she knew.

She was about to leave for the show when a nurse called her, telling her Yoonji was having a seizure. She left everything behind, ran for her life. Used every drop of knowledge in the emergency surgery.

And Yoonji still died.

Minjeong's heart broke at the sound of Y/N's strangled sob.

She held her tighter, her own eyes wet with tears as she continued to run her fingers through Y/N's hair, trying to soothe her.

"You did everything you could," she asserted, her voice cracking.

She leaned forward, pressing her lips to the side of Y/N's head in a gentle kiss.

Y/N squeezed her eyes shut, her tears falling faster now. The last time she felt so utterly helpless was when she was watching her life fall apart in front of her very own eyes years ago.

Now this felt more crushing. The weight of the failure, the guilt of not doing enough, it was crushing.

But the feeling of Minjeong's arms around her, the soft kisses to her temple, stopped her from breaking completely.

She turned to bury her face in Minjeong's neck, taking comfort in her warmth and scent.

Minjeong continued to hold Y/N tightly, running her fingers through the doctor's hair and whispering words of comfort and reassurance. She could feel the sobs racking through Y/N's body, the raw pain and grief of the loss.

"I'm here. I've got you," she repeated in a soft voice, feeling her own eyes starting to water again.

She wanted to take away Y/N's pain, to make it disappear. She didn't know if that was possible, but she knew she would try.

And try she did.

The two sat on that balcony for the next half hour, unbothered by the cold wind blowing at them or the countless times Y/N's pager rang.

When the tears finally eased up a little, Minjeong helped Y/N up and directed her to the couch to help her change out of her scrubs.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, love," she let out softly, noticing the reddening of Y/N's cheeks.

"Shut up," Y/N replied quickly, sighing when Minjeong pressed a soft kiss to her cheek and continued assisting her.

Right as Y/N finished getting changed, the door burst open once again. This time, a tall, worried nurse ran inside. She glared at the sight of Minjeong but quickly shoved that anger aside to hug her best friend.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Doctor Kim told me what happened."

Minjeong watched as Yana pulled Y/N into an embrace, her heart still heavy with a mix of sympathy and helplessness.

"I—" Y/N started, her voice breaking as a fresh wave of tears hit her.

Minjeong stepped back then, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment between the two friends.

She grabbed Y/N's bag and shoved all her belongings inside it before leaving.

The sounds of the two friends inside the office were muffled but still reached Minjeong's ears. Her heart ached, both for what Y/N was going through and for the helplessness she felt, witnessing it all unfold.

So she waited outside, leaning against the wall of the corridor and scrolling through her phone idly. It seemed to take an eternity, but the office door finally reopened, and Yana stepped out, glaring at Minjeong.

"My shift is not over for another five hours."

Minjeong nodded. Even if her shift was about to end, Yana would probably fight to be the one taking care of Y/N. "I'll take her home; don't worry."

Yana squinted her eyes at her, walking closer so the two were standing face to face. "Break her heart again, and I'll break your face, Winter." She let the name out with disgust laced in her voice. "I'm not kidding."

Minjeong swallowed hard at the threat, knowing all too well how serious Yana was about it.

"I won't; I promise."

She held the other nurse's gaze, trying to convey her sincerity through her words.

"I'll take care of her."

And she meant it.

"Yeah, don't get too comfortable with her and don't you dare push the limits."

Yana wanted to go on and warn Minjeong about every boundary not to cross with Y/N. She wanted to threaten her with every little dangerous thing that came to her mind, but then her pager rang.

With one last warning look, she sighed and walked away.

A more composed Y/N was the next to step out. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she looked absolutely spent and emotionally exhausted.

"Come on, let's get you home." Minjeong reached out to wrap her arm around Y/N's back and lead the way out of the hospital.

This time around, the ride back home was completely quiet. However, when they arrived at Y/N's house, the doctor opened the door and pulled Minjeong inside with her.

Y/N led Minjeong into her house, her steps slow and heavy. The grief still weighed heavily on her heart, her mind replaying the events of the day over and over again.

Once they were inside, she let out a deep sigh, slumping her shoulders. She looked at Minjeong, her eyes tired and red-rimmed.

"Can you stay with me tonight?" The question escaped her mouth before she could stop it. She quickly shook her head. "I mean—only if you want to, of course. You're probably tired from the show and—"

Minjeong was already nodding before Y/N finished her sentence. "Of course," she replied quietly, her eyes holding Y/N's in a reassuring gaze.

Seeing the doctor look so worn tore at Minjeong's heart. She wanted nothing more than to take away the pain, to do something—anything—to help.

"Come on," she said gently, taking Y/N's hand and guiding her toward her bedroom. "I'm not leaving you alone tonight."

She helped her settle in—brought her water as Y/N changed into her pajamas and helped her dim the lights after she laid down. It took a while, but after some long moments of crying, Minjeong finally managed to get Y/N to fall asleep.

Minjeong herself was spent, but she had difficulty closing her eyes, wanting to be there in case Y/N had a nightmare and suddenly woke up.

She shifted closer, adjusting the covers on Y/N to keep her warm, and sat down on the small, fancy couch beside her bed.

At least the lines of worry had softened on Y/N's face, making her look younger and more vulnerable. Minjeong saw the younger version of Y/N in front of her—the one she had hurt. Her heart ached.

Unable to help herself, she reached out to trace Y/N's eyebrows and nose.

"I'm sorry, Y/N."

The soft touch seemed to bring a small sigh of contentment from the other woman.

"I won't hurt you again, I promise."

For the next few days, weeks, and months, Minjeong kept being a constant presence in Y/N's life. She was the first to make her smile again after the entire ordeal—just as she was the first to make her laugh.

Minjeong forced Y/N to take a break from work because, obviously, Y/N had numerous vacations and breaks put on hold and shoved aside for later.

The neurosurgeon was a walking crime with how many hours she had overworked.

And yes, Minjeong knew that was the reason Y/N had managed to pay off her parents' debt, why she had been able to buy all her fancy cars, and why she could provide Rose with the big house she had always dreamed of. But she also knew Y/N deserved to stop.

So, the two spent their free time going on little dates. They closed down the central aquarium of Seoul to wander around without any fans bothering Minjeong. They visited the countryside and spent two nights in a traditional Korean house. Minjeong even managed to convince Y/N to visit the dorm she shared with the other Aespa girls.

They apologized for being so rude when they were younger, and despite it being awkward as hell at first, they all eventually got to know each other and became close friends. So close, in fact, that Christmas was spent at Y/N's house that year.

It was perfect.

Would you like to know what wasn't perfect?

The A Minor that Minjeong had just completely botched.

She groaned, her head falling back in frustration as she ripped the studio headphones off. She was ready to throw them across the recording booth when a soft laugh caught her attention and immediately eased her nerves.

"What are you laughing at, hmm?" She raised an eyebrow at Y/N.

The doctor sat against the wall, surrounded by the comfortable pillows that Minjeong had arranged for her. There was a couch in the studio connected to the booth, but no matter how many times Minjeong had tried to teach her, Y/N couldn't learn what buttons to press to hear Minjeong through the speakers and make herself be heard. So they had settled for this.

"Say, you're the guitarist, no?" Y/N raised a playful eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing in the recording booth?"

Y/N was joking, obviously. She had heard Aespa's songs, and Minjeong had the voice of an angel, but a little teasing never hurt anyone, right?

Wrong.

Minjeong pouted playfully, discarding the headphones to join Y/N. She had been trying to record the guide to the group's new song, but Y/N's presence was way too distracting. "I'm a singer as well! I probably have more talent in my little finger than you in your entire body."

The most acclaimed neurosurgeon of Seoul's most prestigious private hospital chuckled as Minjeong landed right beside, head resting on her lap. "You're certainly right, my Goddess of Modesty. I will forever repent my horrific sins."

She watched with an amused smirk as Minjeong huffed like a kid, reaching out to poke her stomach. "You did more than fine; stop stressing so much."

"You're only saying that because you don't know what it's supposed to sound like," Minjeong mumbled, rolling her eyes as she sat up.

She looked at Y/N with a small groan, their arms pressing together as they faced each other. "You're not allowed to be this beautiful. How can I focus with you being so distracting?"

Y/N laughed at Minjeong's dramatic words. "Is that so? My mistake then, oh Great One," she replied in a mocking tone, her hand coming up to poke Minjeong's side again.

Y/N continued to chuckle as Minjeong huffed and looked away, a small smile spreading on her face.

Minjeong suddenly leaned closer with a raised eyebrow, a teasing remark on the tip of her tongue, but Y/N spoke up first. "Careful, honey, I've been told my beauty can be quite distracting." She reached out gently, and her hand landed dead center of Minjeong's face, pushing her away. "Don't get too close."

"A doctor and a comedian?" Minjeong reached for Y/N's hand to take it away from her face. She intertwined their fingers and left a chaste kiss on Y/N's palm. "What a talent, my love."

Y/N chuckled at Minjeong's words, giving the guitarist's hand a gentle squeeze, her thumb tracing circles on her knuckles. "I mean, not to brag or anything, but I'm also a great cook."

Minjeong gulped, remembering the dinner Y/N had prepared for them last week.

The gesture was incredibly endearing. It had been a cute picnic set in a secluded park. The sunset was gorgeous, the flowers were to die for, and Y/N looked breathtaking—much like the chicken she had cooked. Minjeong had been two seconds away from drinking the water from the small, polluted lake nearby after tasting the spicy food.

Y/N was as close to perfection as Minjeong had ever seen, but no one was completely perfect, and she had finally found a flaw in the doctor: her cooking skills.

Was Minjeong about to tell Y/N she didn't like the chicken?

Fuck no. She'd rather die.

She let out a small, confirming sound and looked away.

Y/N watched with a knowing smile as Minjeong struggled to keep a straight face. The guitarist’s attempt to act casual and not reveal her true feelings about the spicy meal was endearing, to say the least.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Y/N teased, leaning her head back against the wall. “Anything to say about my cooking skills?”

She reached out, her fingers gently poking at Minjeong’s side, just above her hip.

Minjeong tensed at the poke, her eyes narrowing as Y/N continued to tease her. Damn, this woman was perceptive.

With a dramatic sigh, she relented. "Okay, fine. Your cooking..." She trailed off with a grimace, her tongue poking out. "Your cooking is..."

She looked at Y/N, who was watching her with a growing smirk, and let out another sigh.

Minjeong caught Y/N's hands in her own, halting the poking, and spoke up. "It's... perfect. I loved it. You can cook for me every day."

Y/N tilted her head as she listened to Minjeong's words, a knowing smile playing on her lips. It was adorable that the singer was trying so hard not to hurt her feelings. Just like it was adorable that Minjeong had kept eating the chicken that day at the park. Just like it was adorable that she was playing with her fingers right at that moment.

Y/N couldn't stop herself.

She cupped Minjeong's cheeks and leaned in to press their lips together.

Minjeong's heart halted.

Seven years and eight months.

That's how long she had been waiting for.

It was torturous to be so close to Y/N yet so far away. There had been several moments where she was a second away from losing all control and just kissing the doctor. But she told herself to be patient, to give Y/N her time and let her come to her instead of forcing anything.

Seven years and eight months...every second was worth the wait.

She was certain of that as she melted into the kiss.

Y/N smiled against Minjeong's lips, her fingers slipping into the soft strands of her hair. The kiss was gentle at first, a soft brush of their mouths against each other, but as the moment grew, the doctor's grip on her hair tightened, her desire growing with each passing second.

Minjeong deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue gently across Y/N's bottom lip, seeking entry. Her heart was racing, the feel of Y/N's body pressed against her own sending sparks of desire coursing through her veins.

Y/N was the first to pull away, lips brushing against Minjeong's as she spoke up in a raspy voice, "I could cook dinner for us tonight."

Minjeong's eyes widened in panic. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around Y/N's waist, pulling her impossibly closer.

"I'll be your dinner tonight, babe."

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Final Notes: Thank you so so much for everyone who commented on and liked my posts of this series. I honestly don't deserve all the love I've been getting but really appriciate it nonetheless. Thank uuu :)