moving still

+

when wonwoo makes a grand appearance at the jeons’ annual charity gala, everyone promptly freaks out, mainly because the last time they saw him was three years ago before he’d been shipped off to boarding school in the united kingdom. it was the consequence he had to pay for totaling the porsche he’d gotten for his seventeenth birthday, and for driving while under influence. since then, even his friend group acted as if he’d moved to the afterlife, and everyone quickly followed along.

everyone except you. it was you he was looking for as he stood next to his father during the dinner. while his father went off on a spiel about new beginnings and vast improvements— in the business or in him, wonwoo doesn’t know— his eyes scanned the ballroom, zoomed past the blinding jewels on the necks of the other girls to find the brightest one of them all, those eyes he missed so much.

when he does find you, looking so sweet and bright in the dress your mother adorned you in and the jewels on your ears and neck, he cracks a smile. he’s too far away to tell, but he knows you smiled in return.

the topic of the night is of course wonwoo. you take a shot every time you hear someone mention his name or boarding school, and your vision is blurred soon enough. you’re lucky that your parents were placed on a table across the ballroom, and you make it out of the area right as your friends on the table are gathered watching a video of yuna strutting down the london fashion week catwalk just a few weeks ago, too distracted to notice you’ve downed about a dozen flutes of champagne at this point.

you stumble out into the hotel lobby, giambattista valli heels clicking on the fine marble. the receptionist stays silent, knows you have the power to fire him at the moment if he chose to interrupt, well aware that you’re the heiress of this very hotel you’re standing in.

he stays silent, only speaks when you ask him the way to the open-air swimming pool. you can’t make out the letters on the nametag pinned on his chest, and you meander away before he even finishes his sentence.

the fine marbling of the floor guide you to the elevator, and you press the floor of the swimming pool with the heel of your palm. when the brassy silver doors slide open, the air that’s significantly colder in higher altitude sweeps in and pushes your soft tendrils of hair off of your shoulder. you head straight for the bar, and your guess isn’t wrong, as you see wonwoo perched on one of the stools, sipping on a bright cranberry-colored cocktail.

wonwoo hears your heels before you call out to him, and spares you, turning in his chair to face you. your eyes don’t know where to place themselves, bouncing between his eyes and his pink lips. his hair now reaches to brush over his eyelids, and he blearily blinks them away, and it spurs the affection for the boy that you’d thought disappeared along with him.

exhale. “why didn’t you tell me you were back?”

wonwoo blinks again. “must’ve slipped me.”

feels like a small slash to the blooming endearment in your chest. you should’ve known better than to expect him to remember after all the seasons that have passed. it was probably easier for him, being in a place where each nook and cranny didn’t remind him of you as home did for you.

“we have a lot to catch up on, darling.”

you huff, stepping towards him. “damn right we do,” lips hovering dangerously close to each others’. it’s wonwoo who curls his hand around your nape and pulls you in, the taste of vodka citron— you note that his favorite cocktail still hadn’t changed since the last time— and champagne mixing together. the slide of his tongue is familiar, almost untelling that you hadn’t even seen each other since you were still in your school uniform. wonwoo’s hand rises to rest on your cheek, thumb nestled by your ear the way you liked it, taught him when you were younger.

+

a light mist fills the air that sunday morning. seungkwan hasn’t seen mist in the city since the rainy season. perhaps it’s the few cold days of the summer that comes by every june or so. it covers the lenses of his glasses as he strolls to the flower shop, pushing the door open with the hand that isn’t carrying his cup of iced americano.

the lady behind the counter glances up from where she’s sorting the cash register, and her eyes crinkle as she smiles as she sees him. she brightly welcomes him, and seungkwan hums in return. it’s one of the few things seungkwan loves about this city; how everyone feels like family.

the kind lady shows him the new stock of daisies and chrysanthemums that just arrived a few moments ago, still in their packaging, and yet to be sorted. seungkwan even manages to charm her and works out a deal to get just a reasonable amount off of his grand total, with laughter and sincere promises to help her pick out the best vitamins to take at the pharmacy across the store.

as her nimble fingers arrange the flowers on the decorative paper, she continues to chat with seungkwan like he’s her son. “who are these beautiful flowers for, child?” she asks as the plastic crinkles while she ties a pale pink ribbon around it.

seungkwan’s demure smile turns into a bashful one, and he just pretends to casually shrug it off. “just someone.”

she giggles at his response. “ah, ‘just someone’. such beautiful flowers from such a lovely child for ‘just someone’.”

seungkwan feels a small spark of warmth when the lady’s fingers brush against his as she hands the wrapped bouquet to him. it feels comfortable, like a mother’s caring hold, and she sends him off on good wishes for the day and to stay healthy.

as he bounds down the street heading to your apartment, he takes glances at the flowers in his hand. he adds that to the growing list of reasons why he loves this city; the flowers are as exuberant as the glint in your eyes.

there’s also one more thing he loves about the city: how strategically close by everything is located. he arrives at your building before the ice cubes in his to-go americano water down the drink. he takes a quick sip before he greets the security guard a good morning and buzzes for your suite. the response is not a second later and seungkwan’s heart feels like it’s about to burst from the endearment. 

when you swing the door open, clad in pajama shorts, and what seems to be the hoodie he’s declared missing from two weeks ago, the look in your eyes makes it look like a million dollars just presented in front of you.

+

the checkered picnic blanket beneath your bodies provide plush comfort and protect both of you from the scratchy grass. it’s a bit later in the day, so the sun isn’t blaring down as harshly on you anymore, painting you with a warm yellow glow that jihoon swears makes you look like an angel. you’d only barely managed to get out of bed after the clock struck noon, summer break finally providing you with a chance to sleep in pretty much every day.

according to jihoon, the large tree providing cover for you was about two hundred years old, planting its roots firmly into this very ground you lay on long before you were even born. perhaps it had seen numerous other couples before you also lay and rest upon its strong bark, the leaves rustling in the early evening breeze filling your ears. tracing his delicate fingers on your knuckles, jihoon mumbled to you that he wished for the both of you to stay as strong and firm as the tree, your affection for each other lasting even into the centuries to come.

after demolishing the chocolate-dipped strawberries and large cheese pizza you’d brought over, jihoon took to laying down on the blanket, and you followed along. tingles burst down your arm when you realized he’d already had his arm stretched out for you to lay your shoulder on, without you even asking him to. the pull you have on jihoon is gravitational, so forceful that your actions have an effect on his. when you pull away to laugh about the novel he’d been reading out loud, he’s already adjusting for when you return to his side, and there isn’t any shifting around when you do, he’s already where you need him to be.

jihoon’s touch skitters on your bare arm as he continues reading. his voice has a lilt to it, and you’re much distracted by how rosy his lips look as he pauses to frown at what he read a few moments ago. you barely manage to catch the last of the paragraph he’s reading before he presses down on the corner of the page to mark his current position. he leaves it somewhere next to his jacket, and turns to his side, now facing you. your breath hitches when you meet eyes, and your cheeks flush. jihoon only snickers at your reaction, feeling incredibly fond.

“were you even listening to me read?” he chides you, poking you on your forehead, then fingers raising to rake through your hair. you bit on your bottom lip before you shake your head, and then you bark out a laugh. jihoon frowns, grumbling about how he’d spent hours picking out a novel from the bookstore, piling through titles to see which one you’d like best.

you leave a quick kiss on those lips like you meant to, effectively quieting him. “you know i love your voice. i love the way you describe the characters, i love that you did all this for me —your hand stretching to gesture at the picnic— even though you made me get up before 1 p.m.”

you falter off, then bring yourself to look into his eyes when you finish with, “and i love you.”

+

it’s the first day in the month where it hasn’t been pouring cats and dogs, and the golden sun filters into the room in a naturally picturesque manner. the faint hum of the washing machine fills the room with a calming buzz. the kitchen is fragrant from the tea you’re brewing, and your fingers drum on the countertop along to the beat of a song that’s been floating about in your mind.

mingyu can’t find it in himself to interrupt you for you look so peaceful and content. the warm light that shines upon your linen shirt illuminates your figure beneath the material, and kisses your cheeks so beautifully he almost gasps. 

something warmer than the lurid glow of the sun envelopes you from behind. you feel mingyu’s giggle rumble in his chest where you’re pressed against, and it sets about butterflies wildly dashing in your tummy. he rests his chin on top, and gently sways the both of you where you’re standing. your hands come up to his circled around your waist, and continues to tap along to the slow and steady rhythm.

the growing whistle of the teapot joins in on the band of white noise filling your ears, and the peace is interrupted with the shrill beep of your washing machine indicating it’s done tumbling and ready to be dried. you let out a heavy sigh, begrudgingly having to get out of this comfortable hold only mingyu can provide.

“and that’s my cue,” you mumble as you pry mingyu’s arms off of your body, allowing you to turn around and face him. the biggest puppy like grin adorns his face, and the burst of endearment in your chest almost pushes you to kiss him right then and there. “won’t you help me? it’s all your clothes in there anyways.”

mingyu snickers at your attempt of a jibe, crossing his arms on his chest. “no, but i will meet you at the laundry rack. for now i’m just going to head back to the living room before the commercials end and— oh i think i hear the opening credits!”

the peck he gives you on your lips is quick and flighty, too quick for you to comprehend, and he swiftly disappears at the corner. you hear his quick footsteps pad down the hallway, and his pitchy giggles. you can’t even be mad that he ditched you, just that you curse at him that he hopes he misses this episode and will have to catch the rerun some other time.

helps you after you drop your books ⤻ choi seungcheol

the empty seat next to you at the lecture hall ⤻ yoon jeonghan

falling asleep on their shoulder in the bus ⤻ hong jisoo

mistaking you for someone else ⤻ wen junhui

saw the other crying in their car at parking lot ⤻ kwon soonyoung

awkward wedding table seatmates ⤻ jeon wonwoo

a package sent to the wrong apartment ⤻ lee jihoon

offered to stand under their umbrella when it starts to rain ⤻ xu minghao

getting the last macaron in the display ⤻ kim mingyu

finding and returning your cat ⤻ lee seokmin

sitting next to each other at the movie theater ⤻ boo seungkwan

crashing into you while skateboarding ⤻ chwe hansol