magnanimitty

ari didn't give him a verbal response as she lifted her purse towards him , loosely hanging off her finger and letting it be taken for inspection , though he wouldn't find anything more than her cigarettes and lighter , some loose change , and lipstick she never left home without . her guards held all the weapons and they'd been given firm instruction to remain outside in the car as to not interfere with her meeting .

"Don't worry about it. I didn't think you meant it in a bad way," he reassured her, having noticed that she made sure no one was listening in on their conversation. Yeonwoo was the kind of guy that noticed the little things such as this one. "I'm busy a lot of the time, and it's nice to make people feel less lonely for a few hours. Or help someone to get a family member of their back. But for me, it's mostly to help with sharpening my skills as an actor for the next role I get." The young male had no problem talking about how he viewed his job.

" that's quite a positive way to view your job , " she tried , though deep down hana had so many unanswered questions she was itching to ask without meaning to come across as rude or offensive . he seemed like a nice enough man to take a joke and laugh off the sudden awkward silence that came between them , hana folding her arms over her front and peeking out to the flow of other people passing them by as they stood there .

he  hadn't  expected  her  to  answer  at  this  hour.  still,  the  moment  her  name  lit  up  his  screen,  a  smile  tugged  at  the  corner  of  his  mouth.  her  messages  earned  a  quiet  snort  of  amusement  and  before  he  could  even  think  twice  about  it,  his  fingers  were  already  flying  across  the  keyboard.

📱:  i  did  speak  to  him  and  he  didn't  hurt  me! 📱:  glad  you  like  it.  i  prefer  to  go  by  ‘yours’  but  river  is  perfectly  fine 📱:  okay,  sorry...  that  was  cringe

he  stared  at  the  last  message  for  a  second  before  shaking  his  head  at  himself.  not  long  after,  his  phone  began  buzzing  almost  nonstop  with  instagram  notifications.  sunhee  was  apparently  making  her  way  through  his  profile  one  post  at  a  time,  liking  nearly  every  photo  she'd  come  across.  river  couldn't  help  wondering  what  exactly  was  going  through  her  head  while  scrolling  through  months'  worth  of  his  nonsense.  

then  came  the  selfie.  a  simple  photo  of  her  in  an  oversized  t-shirt,  hair  slightly  messy  from  the  day,  exhaustion  clear  on  her  face  despite  the  grin  she  wore  and  somehow  she  still  looked  ridiculously  cute.  river  found  himself  staring  at  the  screen  longer  than  he  probably  should  have.  if  she  were  there  with  him  right  now,  he'd  absolutely  have  her  tucked  against  his  side  while  they  fell  asleep  together.  the  follow-up  message  explaining  that  the  shirt  belonged  to  everest  and  no  one  else  only  made  him  laugh.  for  some  reason,  that  little  clarification  felt  strangely  reassuring.  his  thumbs  moved  across  the  screen  again.

📱:  i  can  tell  you're  having  lots  of  fun 📱:  fiiiiine,  i  trust  you  on  that  one 📱:  now  go  sleep,  you  silly  girl 📱:  it's  late.  i'll  go  grab  some  shut-eye  too

was the joke cringey ? absolutely -- but did it have sunhee still giggling into her pillow ? tears laced the corners of her eyes at just how awful the joke was and still had her beating her fists into her old mattress at the aggressive butterflies it caused in her stomach , amplified by her brother's approval and rivers amused response to her suddenly stalking through his socials .

[ sms : river ] ok :) please have sweet dreams and take care of yourself tonight

[ sms : river ] i'll come visit you tomorrow , i promise . i'll bring you something sweet <3

sunhee juggled the container of cookies all day during her classes around her books . luckily they'd survived after coming close a few times balancing them during her breaks , yelping as one of her friends caught it just as it almost went over the edge of her desk , and panicking until she saw they were still intact despite the abuse taken from her clumsy holding . she'd carried the same container all the way to the bus stop , through the multiple transfers it had taken to get to the outside of the city to the spot he'd sent her , and walked the rest of the way there . her backpack was nearly bursting from the books zipped in compared to how she usually held them in her hands instead .

he  took  his  phone  back  and  slipped  it  into  his  pocket  without  even  checking  the  contact  she’d  entered.  there  would  be  time  for  that  later,  once  he  got  home.  “well,  it’s  fine  even  if  you  don’t  post  that  often.”    truthfully,  he  was  curious.  what  did  she  post?  his  own  profile  was  a  chaotic  mix  of  viral  dance  videos,  clips  of  him  riding  his  bike  and  photos  showing  off  outfits  he  thought  looked  particularly  good.  recently,  though,  he’d  developed  a  habit  of  posting  sunsets—-  snapshots  taken  from  different  places,  different  corners  of  the  city,  each  one  somehow  unique  despite  being  the  same  sun  at  the  end  of  the  day.  she  was  definitely  in  for  an  experience  if  she  ever  decided  to  scroll  through  his  account.  “i’ll  follow  you  later,”  he  promised.  “and  i’ll  definitely  call.”  smiling,  river  wrapped  his  arms  around  her  one  last  time  and  pulled  her  into  a  gentle  hug.  he  gave  her  a  light  squeeze  before  finally  letting  go.  “you  can  trust  me.  pinky  promise.”  holding  up  his  hand,  he  extended  his  pinky  toward  her.  once  she  linked  hers  with  his,  he  gave  it  a  small  shake,  sealing  the  promise  in  the  most  childish  way  possible.  “now  go  get  some  rest,”  he  said  softly.  “i’ll  see  you  soon.”

river  stayed  where  he  was,  watching  until  she  disappeared  through  the  building  entrance.  only  once  he  was  certain  she’d  made  it  inside  safely  did  he  pull  his  helmet  back  on  and  start  the  bike.  the  ride  home  was  uneventful  at  first.  until  it  wasn’t.  somewhere  along  the  way,  he  ran  into  the  last  person  he’d  expected  to  see  that  night—-  everest  himself.  with  neither  of  them  seeming  particularly  eager  to  head  home  just  yet,  they  somehow  ended  up  sitting  on  the  rooftop  of  everest’s  building.  river  nursed  a  can  of  soda  while  his  best  friend  cracked  open  a  beer.  they  talked  for  a  while.  nothing  overly  emotional,  nothing  dramatic.  just  the  strange  way  the  two  of  them  had  always  supported  each  other—-  through  teasing  remarks,  half-serious  conversations  and  the  kind  of  understanding  that  came  from  years  of  friendship.  eventually,  the  conversation  ended  and  river  found  himself  back  on  his  bike,  heading  home  beneath  the  city  lights.  the  moment  he  pulled  into  his  parking  spot  and  killed  the  engine,  his  hand  was  already  reaching  for  his  phone.  helmet  tucked  under  one  arm,  he  unlocked  the  screen  and  immediately  opened  his  messages.  despite  the  late  hour,  despite  knowing  she  was  probably  asleep  by  now,  he  couldn’t  help  the  small  smile  tugging  at  his  lips  as  he  started  typing  a  message  to  sunhee.

she had been asleep . the continual dinging of the notifications had sunhee groggily opening her eyes to see who could possibly be messaging her this late , then seeing river's name appear on her screen had her jolting upright in bed and pulling her phone to her chest with the biggest smile on her face .

[ sms : kaien ] it's you ! you spoke to everest ? did he hurt you ?

[ sms : kaien ] i like your name 😍it's so unique ! i love it . what do you prefer to go by ?

she didn't ask the extent of what he'd told her brother , chewing her lip as she thought about how that conversation could have gone down without river getting punched at least once .

sunhee was already finding his instagram and liking pretty much every picture she scrolled past , heart eyes so wide she barely registered how tired she really was . did he want a picture of her too ? she was already too blinded by her infatuation with him to really process how tired she looked , snapping a quick picture of herself with her palm under her chin and grinning , just the top half of her form with her way too large shirt and messy hair , and sent it off .

[ sms : kaien ] what your insta is making me do rn

[ sms : kaien ] it's everest's shirt i'm wearing . promise it isn't another boyfriend's or anything !

toshiaki drank from his bottle, making sure he gets enough water for his throat so it wouldn't crack on him and set it on the floor away from the camera stand. "it actually depends on the day." he answered and grabbed his towel so he can wipe down his face, running his fingers through his damp hair to slick it back away from his eyes. "and what parts of the body i am targeting that day. each muscle require different kind of weights and movements." he explained with a soft smile and looked over to doyun.

doyun was doing that stare again when his hair was pushed back . then , a slow look , down his frame and settling back on his arms so intensely she didn't hear him right away and had to reprocess his words .

dowon coughed and winced when a particular movement pulled at his wound, his fingers curling around ari's wrist to keep her close even when the guards showed up to 'rescue' them, the audacity of them to being late. his fingers tightened around ari's wrist when the guards was pulling her away from him and shook his head. "she's coming with me. i want her to be checked over." he said in his most serious voice, staring down one of the guards, a trick he had picked up from his older brother.

as her guards started to move dowon's bloody body , ari didn't leave his side once . it was difficult for her to keep her grasp on his hand with how soaked her palm was with his own blood , trying to calm her frantic breathing as he was not so gently laid in the back of the vehicle . the larger men were surprised to see how panicked the usually calm woman was as she crouched down beside dowon as the car weaved in and out of traffic , sometimes jostling her , though refused to leave his side .

" i can take some time off to visit my parents with you . " if it meant taking another step closer to their future , and a potential proposal , harper would quit her job entirely to spend it with him . she didn't push the topic any further as to not frighten her easily startled boyfriend again , dipping under the water to rinse out the last of the product from her hair , and came out whipping her head to the side so all the drops splattered all over him .

For a moment his face showed genuine surprise, but just a moment later he chuckled again. "You're the first one to guess one of my jobs on the first try," Yeonwoo said, having no problem admitting that is how he earned money. "And complimenting people is something I often do, yes, but I also mean what I say."

" wait ? you're kidding . damn , you're not kidding . " hana had started to laugh at what she thought was a joke , but when his expression didn't change , she realized he wasn't and her face dropped .

he  watched  her  with  something  dangerously  close  to  adoration  in  his  gaze.  the  way  her  hair  swayed  when  she  shook  her  head,  the  soft  giggle  that  escaped  her  over  something  as  simple  as  him  booping  her  nose.  it  was  endearing  in  a  way  he  hadn't  expected.  as  she  stood  there  smiling,  he  caught  a  faint  trace  of  her  scent—-  perfume,  maybe  or  shampoo.  either  way,  it  was  familiar,  lingering  somewhere  in  the  back  of  his  mind  from  that  night  they'd  spent  together.  “i  would  do  all  of  that  for  you,  yeah,”  he  said  quietly.  “too  hard  to  believe?”

too hard to believe ? sunhee's hands were still covering her face , mustering a little nod when her fingers dropped to peek at him as he pulled out his phone and asked for her number , briefly hesitating before she took it and typed her number in way too quickly with a heart emoji next to her name . her feet patted the pavement tapping happily when it was handed back over to him , any worry she had about being cautious already thrown to the wind and toppling headfirst into another crush despite her attempts to distance herself from relationships for a while .

he  hadn't  expected  her  to  be  quite  so  surprised.  if  he  was  serious  about  getting  to  know  her,  then  talking  to  her  brother  was  simply  part  of  the  deal.  it  was  the  clearest  way  he  could  show  that  his  intentions  were  genuine.  “yeah,”  he  said  with  a  small  shrug.  “i  told  you  i'm  close  with  everest.  i  don't  think  it'll  go  that  badly.”  or  at  least,  he  hoped  it  wouldn't.

" you'd do all of that for me ? " she asked . there it was ; sunhee turning into a giggling little girl at the nose boop and covering her face to giggle at how precious it made her feel with a shake of her head with her hair loosely whipping around her face . it was hard to believe river was the same guy who had taken her to his home and fucked her until she'd forgotten the fact he was her brothers best friend , now someone with a sweet boyish charm .