—☆paradise

she’s calmed down now. his warmth and soothing aura working its full effect on her confused and scared mind and she nods at his question. it’s not that it could be dangerous; she has a chance on ten of having a normal pregnancy. so ninety percent chances of having complications; that’s how her doctor back in jeju put it. she’s considering telling him more about her past, more about what she had to go through as a kid. it’s a missing piece of a puzzle that explains her family dynamics in a way, it’s a missing piece of her own puzzle. but what if the way he sees her changes?

but before she can say anything, he takes the discussion another way. she could get lost into those eyes forever, yet right now she can barely look at him even if he’s cupping her face. she nods. he does know her pretty well. “can’t we order those things and get them delivered?” she says on a whiny tone. the young woman still forces a smile on her lips, a thank you for his kindness and understanding. “we? you promise?”  

"i promise." jinyoung says with a gentle smile, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. she knows he never makes promises lightly and always keeps them. he would never let his girlfriend have a baby on her own and not be there for the both of them, no matter what happens. even if they ended up separated, even if their situation was difficult, even if she were sick, he would take his responsibility all the way. if she's indeed pregnant... there will be obstacles, and judgement. but he'll be with her and respect her choices. that's the least he can do for causing it in the first place.

his smile make her smile, and when she’s by his side, it’s easy to see that she’s the happiest woman on earth. “talk for yourself!” she exclaims with a soft laugh. her writing is beautiful and has been praised many times by her teachers. but writing is another game. she believes that anyone who has an eye for matching colors perfectly on a drawing isn’t a normal human being. having an eye for those kind of things must be a mutation of some sort. his comment about his father make her laugh and stare at him fondly because she could very well picture jinyoung being the same if he was the same age as his dad. he’s an old soul in a young body in a way. that’s why her parents like him so much. his aura and manners are everything parents can dream of for their daughter. 

injustice 2 shoulds like the kind of violent game her own brother would spend the night playing at. “it sounds scary…” she comments, lips coming together in a pout. scary isn’t the exact word to describe this; omnious might be more like it. but it’s not a no. she actually drops her bags, approaches the joystick and starts tapping random buttons. “how does this work…” she mumbles to herself. “multiplayer, right?” she turns her head towards jinyoung. “a little help here, oppa?”

"honestly, i don't know if it's scary..." jinyoung admits, though one glance at the screen tells him it's not that bad. sure it's somewhat violent because the goal is to battle opponents but it doesn't seem bloody like other fighting games he's seen, mortal kombat being one example. "i guess we'll have to fight against each other," he says with a playful grin, nudging at her side. he watches mina fondly as she tries to navigate the mode selection screen. why is it that everything she does is adorable? he hopes she doesn't end up being secretly good at games because he's in for a bitter defeat. jinyoung sucks at any game he's ever tried.

it might not be in a material way, but this man knows how to spoil her how it matters the most; with love. it might sound cliche, it might sounds cheesy, but she really could live off water and his love until the end of time. his answer obviously pleases her as her smile gets even larger. this is happiness. his tender gesture of affection bring a soft pink tint to her cheeks. those sweet moments don’t make her shy anymore; they fill her heart with tenderness and love that she cannot put in words. his following idea does make her frown a bit. “oppa…” she’s not sure if it’s still this post-mga mood that is making him talk but she knows his finances are thin. “we don’t have to spend so much money… we could just go to our usual place!” it’s not too far from where they live, and while not fancy, the food is always good and the atmosphere warm. 

he notices her doubtful look right away. he expected it in a way. everyone close to him knows jinyoung has been struggling financially since he moved to seoul as a teenager. he had help until he graduated high school but after that he was pretty much on his own, and had to find resources to be able to keep living in such an overly expensive city. despite her shopping addiction, mina has always been very understanding of his situation and supportive whenever he had to work double shifts. she was always sure he would make a fortune one day due to his talent.

that's not exactly what happened. he just got lucky, and that's a bit more shameful to announce.

she’s still in the midst of her yelling when she suddenly hears his voice, and suffice it to say, it takes her by surprise. her demands are cut off, suddenly turning into a scream that sounds like bloody murder, her body whipping around in a split second, taking on a defensive stance like she’d been taught in taekwondo. her vision goes from left to right to left, looking for danger, completely overlooking jinyoung for a moment simply because her subconscious knows he’s not a threat. when it finally settles that he’d been the one to interrupt her noisiness in such a manner, she’s once again continuing on in a loud voice.

“are you trying to kill me?” she says in an accusatory tone, lifting the hand carrying the bag of boxes of fried chicken because it’s lighter, pointing a finger directly at him, seemingly inviting conflict. once she’s got that out, though, her body visibly relaxes from the tensed up stance she’d taken, shoulders dropping as her heart rate does. “i try to bring you some dinner and this is the thanks i get?” all said in jest, of course, though she still frowns as she shakes her head. “are you going to let me in, or am i going to have to explain why i gained five pounds a beer belly overnight? i would expect reimbursement, of course.” she adds, with an even more indignant tone, “if i was trying to break into your place you’d be coming home to all your things moved three centimeters to the left and wonder what looks off about your decor.”

besides mina, there's one person that never fails to make him laugh and forget all the negative thoughts on his mind and that is joohyun. and it's partly why, among many other things, their friendship is so precious and important to him. despite their intense and busy lives they always find a way to be there for one another. they don't spend as much time together as they used to but whenever they do, it's quality over quantity. they're moments that just pick jinyoung up no matter what state he's in. just the way she reacts to his sudden appearance is enough to make him burst out laughing and soon he needs to hold his stomach so it stops hurting.

and there are few people who dare make fun of him so truthfully too. she knows exactly what to say to leave him speechless. "you wouldn't dare..." he responds with a mixture of confidence and fear. it would truly be a nightmare for him. the impression that nothing is as it's supposed to be but not knowing the reason why. he shudders at the thought. but she can't be that evil, right? he hasn't done anything to deserve it. "well, let's just say we're even and call it a day." he declares, typing the code in to open the door. they both get inside and he takes the bags from her to bring to the kitchen.

With her arms crossed she started down at the dance game from her spot in the queue. There was something challenging and off-putting with such games, she always felt as though it was an ingenious plot to get people to work out while ‘having fun’. It also made everyone think they can ‘dance’, which was ridiculous because dancing takes more than just following arrow instructions with one’s feet. 

With an irritated sigh, Olivia her glare shifted to the girl beside her who had the audacity to gawk at her. In a bad way. She was a step away from calling out the girl due to her rude behavior when she caught sight of her friend’s boyfriend, “Oh– Jinyoung, right?” She wonders if she should use honorifics with him, but she doesn’t want people to think they’re dating since that would obviously put everyone in a bad place. “Ah I see,” craning her neck to try and see if she can spot her friend, “Have you guys been here a while now? Checked out any of the games that you might like?”

he’s relieved that she recognizes him. it would have been hard not to, though. it’s not out of vanity, but let’s just say mina likes to show her boyfriend off to pretty much everyone she knows.”hyejoo...?” he tries, certain it at least sounds similar to this. it would be embarrassing to be wrong, but his memory rarely fails him. he hopes she doesn’t think he’s weird bringing up his girlfriend right away; jinyoung isn’t all that good with small talk and will hang onto the easiest common thread he shares with somebody. it just makes for a bit of conversation until they can move on to deeper subjects.

[...]

there’s something else in this world that she likes; ice cream (or maybe food in general). but definitely not as much as the above listed. she’s quick to devour her treat, even while tasting the one jinyoung got. in fact, she’s just about to eat the last bite when he comes up with the funniest idea. she giggles while turning her gaze towards him. “oppa, do you remember the last time we tried something new together?” yes, shes’s talking about painting right now. the result was diastrous, especially on her part. but mina is not one to say no. “please don’t tell me that your father isn’t a pro-gamer or something.” she says jokingly. “i dont wan’t you to secretly have a talent in this like last time!”

mina shines so brightly and before falling in love with her, jinyoung thought he would never be able to handle it. he didn't think his shadow deserved such light. but he's come to realize that one goes with the other and maybe it's why they fit so well. it's never too much, it's never one-sided. they both give and take the same amount, though sometimes one needs more support than the other. they end up keeping a perfect balance so that neither feels overwhelmed. the way she reacts to such a simple thing such as ice cream is enough to paint a smile on the man's face. she's as sweet as can be and his heart swells at the mere sight of her.

"hey, it wasn't so bad, was it?" she could argue that he poked fun at her very basic drawing skills but she isn't as bad as she makes it seem. "you don't want your boyfriend to be talented? i see how it is." he chuckles, looking at her. he understands what she means. mina wouldn't be the first to complain that jinyoung always seems to pick things up really fast and have a natural ability at everything he does. which isn't entirely true. there are a lot of things he's bad at, but perhaps he's better at hiding it than most people. with video games, for example... "my dad barely knows how to send texts so trust me, you're safe."