just breathe

“When I told you that I wanted to talk to you, this wasn’t my plan” JC laughed and look at the house, for someone who had seen a lot of trash he hated being scared, so going into a haunted house was not his first choice of fun, but what was the worst that could happened “ You are coming out alive cause I need you Isa, but a pizza and beer sound like a pay.”

“Well---it’s Halloween and it’s my first in Westwick for about ten years, so suck it up, champ!” Isabel giggled softly as she practically dragged JC along the street, so they could go into the haunted house in the corner. “You need me? Why does it sound like you’re going to ask me for a favor?”

Zoe had always been a fan of Halloween, loving the excuse to dress up and be someone different for the night. With the Halloween festivities going on around town, she thought she’d venture out and have some fun. Having met up with Isabel, she looked at the other girl. “Fine, I’ll go in. Hopefully I won’t get scared too bad. I don’t need to be going into early labor.”

Maybe it was because she’d been spending a lot of time with Daehyun and his kids, so whenever someone mentioned motherhood to her, for the past couple of weeks of so, it’d started to make her feel a little restless. She’d never wanted to be a mother and here she was, basically taking care of two toddlers. Seemed too ironic. “I don’t think anything around here would be scary enough to make you go into an early labor. How far along are you?”

Though her response seemed like it was a genuine one, he wasn’t sure how to take it. Hyunjin wasn’t planning on flirting with her to begin with but that just made it clear he shouldn’t, even jokingly. “Ah, gotcha. I dunno. No real reason. Just something to do. Chat with new folks.” He made a vague gesture towards her while shrugging with a smirk. “Cool…” Once he had another drink in his hand, he went ahead and ordered some fries since she was up for splitting them. Hyunjin took a sip before turning back to the brunette. “Are you one of the fortunate people that gets to enjoy the weekend, or are you stuck working? I could assume the prior since you’re at a bar but everyone knows what assuming is. I try not to make an ass of myself when I can help it.” He smiled. “Hyunjin, by the way. Or Jin for short.” 

“Chat with new folks.” Isabel repeated his words with a smile and she nodded at him. She remembered when she still had time to do that, before she didn’t spend most of her days in LA either auditioning for shows, rehearsing for shows or shooting low budget movies that would probably get her nowhere. “Here I thought I was the only one who liked doing that. Glad to know I’m not.” Although her weekends were usually packed with children’s activities now that she was dating Daehyun, Isabel could say that she had the weekends off, after all, she wasn’t working. “I am. Usually I spend with the boyfriend and his kids, but no work for me... What do you do?” Her fingertips tapped on her glass, feeling the sweat streaming down it and wetting her fingers as she watched him with a smile on her lips. “I’m Isabel. Bel or Isa for short. Nice to meet you, Jin. Thanks for being a champ and offering to share fries with a stranger. Not many people would.”

(– @dhyunn

☠ = pushing them against a wall .

Isabel’s eyes widened. All it took was a brief second, but she was still surprised by her boyfriend’s actions as he pushed her against a wall and smirked down at her, his hand finding its way under her dress. She’d never seen Daehyun like that and to say she didn’t like it, would be a filthy lie. Holding onto his arm, she sunk her nails onto his skin, feeling her heart beating in her throat as her green hues were glued to the dark pools in his eyes. The kids were spending the night with Jae Eun, so they had the house to themselves and after Daehyun had been battling a cold, it felt more than necessary that they’d have a day alone, to catch up and just enjoy each other’s company. Usually, Isabel never really complained about having the kids around, and if she wanted to have moments alone with Dae, then they’d go out. It was as simple as that.

But now she wasn’t really thinking about his kids, or Jae Eun or anything else. Her mind was focused on him, on the way he was looking at her and the way his fingers brushed against her inner thighs, then hitching further up making Isabel anticipate for his next move.

(– @jinahmin

₪ =  asking them out for dinner

Isabel was in a rehearsal break when she decided to check her phone while hydrating herself. Whoever said that musical theater was easy, had definitely not been in a musical before. As she replied to a text, an unknown number appeared on her screen and with a light crease on her brows, she answered it only to be greeted by Seok’s girlfriend. Sean’s mom. She’d seen the woman a few times, always in the company of her boyfriend and also a couple of times the week before, when Isabel had gone to Sam’s school to pick him up because Daehyun was struggling to leave the bed due to his illness.

Jinah. Yes... that was her name.

She was inviting Isabel for dinner, which seemed fair, since their boyfriends were so close and both Sam and Sean seemed to be glued by the hip. “Yeah! Yeah, that’d be amazing, actually.” Isabel beamed. She’d always been a very friendly person, but lately, she’d been focusing on her career so much, that things had been rather slow for her and whenever she had some free time, she was either with Carly or Daehyun. “How do you feel about going to Calabasas for it? There’s this new restaurant there that I’ve been dying to try! I can give you a ride if you’d like! What do you think?”

(– @lucxscasillxs

✘ = hugging them

Isabel could feel herself shaking in his arms. Maybe she should have told him sooner... he could have helped more, especially with their parents, but as her bump grew bigger, she found herself in need of buying new clothes... especially new pairs of jeans and maybe some oversized sweaters, but those she could easily steal from Lucas’ room if necessary. She couldn’t tell her parents, she couldn’t ask that of Carly, not when her best friend was already going through so much already, so she decided to tell Lucas that she’d gotten pregnant and ask him to loan her some money for clothes. Vivaan was already in New York, so there wasn’t much he could do... plus, he’d never seemed interested anyway.

“It was an accident...” She mumbled against her brother’s chest, feeling the tears streaming down her face. “It was an accident... but I--I’m taking care of it, I promise!” Isabel pulled away, so she could look into his eyes. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but Isabel feared that’s what would happen sooner or later. “Just don’t tell mom. Please don’t tell mom or dad. Please.” With that, she returned the hug, going back to crying some more.

“Oh god…“ Was the what came out of Aster’s mouth as she heard the story. Taking a deep breath and letting it slowly out, the brunette thought of what to say that would encourage her friend. Sometimes, she was so good at giving advice, but others she would feel completely speechless. “Isa, you have to remember that as much as things with Vivaan hurted you, your relationships are not going to be the same.“ She decided to start with that. “You’re an amazing talented woman and any guy would be lucky to have you by his side as a partner.“ She hugged Isabel’s side and thinking only good thoughts, trying her best to pass only soothing energies to the older woman. The apartment’s buzzer broke the moment between the two. The pizza guy had arrived. “hold that thought.“ She said with a smile, swiftly opening the big door and making her way to the old industrial elevator. She was fast coming back up, too. The smell of fresh hot pizza filled the loft.

“As I was going to say… I doubt he would do anything like tell you to fuck yourself. Specially because you speak so highly of him.“ She gently pushed the box to the front, almost forcing Isabel to smell it, too. Hoping that the fragrant pizza would cheer her friend up. Carbs are your friends in these situations, her momma would say, and if there was something that Aster did, was definitely listen to her mother’s advice. “C’mon, even Rachel forgave Ross and he didn’t deserve forgiveness. You just have to be sincere with your feelings towards him and tell the truth to him.“ Aster knew that it was simpler to say rather than do it but those kinds of things were best talked through. “And last, but not least, he doesn’t sound like Vivaan at all, so you’re safe.“

Isabel knew that Aster was right, but she was still slightly worried about things turning south when she least expected them to. “I know...” The brunette sighed, leaning into Aster when the other woman wrapped her in a small hug, which, given all the energy Aster would emanate, was enough to make her slightly better. “I’m just scared, that’s all. I know that Dae is nothing like Vivaan. He’s sweet and funny and he cares so much about everyone around him.” Much unlike Vivaan who only seemed to care about himself, and Isabel---but she guessed that part was also wrong, because in the end, he only cared about the part of Isabel who was constantly on his shadow and praising him. The second she tried stepping out of his shadow and becoming someone of her own, things would turn south and they would start arguing. She only wished she could’ve gotten out of that toxic relationship earlier. 

When the pizza came, Isabel couldn’t help but to feel relieved because pizza was usually her go-to food whenever she was feeling like shit. Granted, ever since she started seeing Daehyun, she’d grown used to eating ramen whenever they’ve both had tiring days and didn’t feel like cooking. Grabbing one slice, Isabel took a bite, letting the taste hit her tastebuds and groaned with pleasure. “Why is pizza so good? Why are carbs so good but so bad for us? Why is Daehyun so hot, I hate him. No but really---I know what you’re saying and I agree... he’s not like Vivaan, but it doesn’t make me any less scared that this won’t work. I just need to stop being such a pussy, I guess... but it’s hard.” After another bite, Isabel leaned back against the couch and sighed. “What about you? What’s going on in your life? We’ve been talking about me and I want to know about you now.”

Serenity stuck her tongue out at Bel. She might be absentminded, but she still could pretend that she wasn’t. While her friend was checking out, Serenity checked out the store. It had changed so little since she last was here. Granted it had only been a few Thanksgivings ago when her mother forgot to buy a turkey, but that felt like ages ago. “Matty couldn’t believe that I forgot his. I cheated with Zeb and asked my mom. Don’t tell him that I said that.” Walking next to her friend as they used to really made it feel like she was back. It almost felt like she was going back in time. “My parents are doing great. I think that Matty and Greta are back together which is either wonderful or cause for alarm. As for Zeb, only he knows. I still have so many people to catch up with though. How have you been?” 

It was still amusing how things worked in Serenity’s mind, so as the blonde asked her not to say anything about forgetting Matt’s number, Isabel moved her fingers across her lips as if zipping them up. “Don’t worry, Matt will never know. Not by me, that is.” She laughed softly, before finally bagging everything she’d bought and then stepping out of the line so they could leave the store and just head home. “Matt and Greta are back together?” Wow---that was... impressive. Isabel thought about Vivaan---if they would ever get back together in the future if they talked about things and worked their issues out. It seemed something so impossible to have, especially now that she was dating Daehyun and things were going great. “You haven’t spoken to your brother yet?” Maybe she had, but Ser’s brother had always been a weird one... at least in Isabel’s opinion, it was. “I’ve been good... great, actually. I just finished a run of Into the Woods in LA and I’ve been getting some callbacks for the auditions I’ve made. I went to a party with Greta a couple of weeks ago with all of these Hollywood hot shots, so it’d been fun trying to venture into TV and movies. I’m currently shooting scenes for this Hulu show... it’s been fun.”

“I think so –it’s the doctors that don’t seem to agree.” he said, chucking lightly and took another bite of his burger. “You know me. If I can’t be still for too long. And someone has to bring some fun  to this place. It’s too serious. I think I’m the highlight of the nurses’ day.”

“Silly doctors.” She shook her head, nudging him with her shoulders. It had been so long since she’d last seen Kai--and obviously Isabel was happy to see him alive and well. Maybe he was at a hospital, yes... but he looked healthier than when she’d left for New York. “How many nurses have fallen in love with your boopable nose already, Kai?” Bel chuckled, poking the tip of his nose. “Still ever the heartbreaker?”