#cherry.writer

"well, this is my first christmas after getting with y/n so it's only appropriate i go all out, especially since we're hosting."

jihoon replies, almost shyly, as he continues taping the mystery plant to the ceiling.

soonyoung merely laughs at his friend. in all honesty, he was somewhat of a cupid in getting the two of you to go out with each other, owing to his balbbermouth tendencies when drunk, exposing jihoon's long term crush on you.

"well. make sure you don't end up putting any mistletoes in there lest seokmin tries to make out with you."

"again." soonyoung adds after a beat.

jihoon's face scrunches up at the thought. they really did not need a repeat of the great disaster '22. he's about to retort when the doorbell rings, signalling the first guest had arrived.

soonyoung gets the door as jihoon cleans up in the kitchen. he can tell by the chaos happening in the doorway that seokmin and seungkwan were the first two to arrive.

he finishes up and goes to greet them. seokmin immediately tackles him into a hug which he reciprocates while the other two tease him about how he broke seokmin's heart by going out with you.

amidst the teasing, the doorbell rings a second time and jihoon finds himself hoping that's it's you behind the door.

the door opens to reveal mingyu and minghao and jihoon is almost disappointed when he catches sight of you behind mingyu's broad frame.

he doesn't even stop to consider the consequences when he shoves walks past mingyu to, quite literally, engulf you in a hug. he only registers what he's done when he hears the hooting and cheering of the members behind him and sees the shell shocked face of seungcheol who had walked up right behind you and mingyu.

he retreats from the hug, embarassed. meanwhile, you were left with a lingering warmth that had gone as fast as it had come.

"well, at least someone exists here who can make the lee jihoon himself lose control." jokes seungcheol as he enters the apartment.

"we'll give you guys some privacy for now," says minghao, leaving the two of you in the doorway, red faced and flustered.

jihoon breaks the ice first,

"i'm sorry, i shouldn't have-"

"it's fine, hoon. really. it was actually kinda cute."

"of all the things you could've called me, cute?!" jihoon feigns offense. you giggle at his antics and jihoon swears he could die right now. he notices the bag in your hands and gives you a questioning look.

"cupcakes, for the party." you clarify.

jihoon thanks every being in the universe for giving him the oppurtunity to say what he did,

"let's go to the kitchen and open them, they smell delicious."

you nod excitedly and walk towards the kitchen as jihoon follows.

unbeknownst to you, he silently threatens to do unspeakable things to his friends if they so much so as looked at the two of you while you were in the kitchen

you hum to yourself as you start to open the box of cupcakes when jihoon walks up behind you. you're about to tease him about being oh so obsessed with you when he utters a single word while pointing upwards

"mistletoe"

you look up at the ceiling and sure enough, a dainty little mistletoe is taped to the surface, albeit a little haphazardly. you look back at jihoon. your eyes flit between the mistletoe and jihoon's face.

jihoon can see the gears turning in your head about the possibilities of one of his idiot friends walking in.

"relax, none of them are coming anywhere near us, i assure you."

the tone he uses leaves no room for any buts or what ifs. so you don't ask any and instead opt to kiss him as hard as you can.

he stumbles back a little because of the impact but gains his footing fast enough to wrap his arms around your waist to kiss you back with the same fervor, if not harder.

the two of you end up so lost in each other, you don't even hear the other three holding seokmin down as he yells "me next".

'what a perfect way to spend his first christmas with the woman of his dreams' is last coherent thought that flashes through jihoon's mind before he loses himself in you again.

as he kept wandering about the convention, making small talk here and there with a few familiar faces, he spots you, sitting on one of the corner tables nursing a glass of chardonnay. he quickly calls over his secretary,

"minghao, come here. i need you to do something for me."

xu minghao, seokmin's secretary of the past seven years, was quite accustomed to his boss' peculiar requests. despite being the same age, minghao was far more perceptive and mature as compared to seokmin. he finishes off his glass of wine and walks over, exasperated.

"yes sir, what is it?"

"do you happen to have any idea of who that is?" he says, pointing to you.

minghao looks over at you and back at seokmin.

"are you seriously telling me you have no idea who she is?" questions minghao, annoyed by his boss' lack of ability to remember crucial information during networking events such as this one.

seokmin looks over at him, completely clueless about your identity.

minghao answers with a sigh,

"that's y/n, the ceo of l/n enterprises. i specifically mentioned her to you because she's the only person here without a family business. her company was completely built by her and her alone. also, her achievements are exemplary, she made the dean's list at harvard and is one of our major shareholders so technically speaking, she's kinda like your boss."

seokmin blinks at him. "in commoner words, please?"

"basically, she's the only one here who isn't a damn nepo baby and happens to own a good chunk of our company."

"ah! got it."

"so if i'm done here, i will take my leave."

minghao turns on his heel and leaves before seokmin has the chance to say anything. he just chuckles to himself and starts walking towards you when he hears minghao call after him,

"also, i didn't tell you this but your father has been trying to set up a blind date with her for you. something about you being incapable of making her fall for you on your own or something."

now, more determined than ever, he walks over to you and sits down across you.

"hi, i'm seokmin, ceo of lee enterprises, and you are?"

"y/n, your blind date for tomorrow evening. although i'm guessing your father hasn't told you about it yet."

he looks away, flustered. you laugh and he might as well have gotten whiplash with how fast he turned his head to look at you.

"he might've. i get quite a few of those, so i tend to lose track."

you stare at him incredulously. you knew about him from your uni days, the only nepo kid in oxford business that gave a fuck about his academics enough to make it onto the dean's list. now, here he was, sitting in front of you, looking and acting every bit the cocky brat you didn't expect him to be. you voice this thought out loud,

"i didn't expect someone who ended up on the dean's list at oxford to act like this but apparently, appearences can be deceiving after all"

seokmin visibly lights up at the mention of the dean's list. you see, only a handful of people actually bothered to find out about him as a person rather than as just an extension of his father and lee enterprises. so, when someone generally tried finding out about him, the dean's list was one of the first things that would pop up.

"you know about the dean's list at oxford business?"

you roll your eyes, "well yeah, obviously! we were required to know who we would be competing against in the industry so we had to find out about the dean's list of most ivy league b-schools"

seokmin has never admired someone as much as he admires you in that exact moment.

"so, about that date..."

you look at him over the rim of your wine glass, "what about it?"

seokmin can't believe it. he's about to ask someone out on a date. like a normal person.

"um, well, instead of, y'know, letting my dad decide the time and place and everything, i was wondering if i could take you out. as lee seokmin, business nerd, not as lee seokmin, ceo."

you chuckle at his description of himself.

"business nerd?" that's an interesting nickname to give yourself."

"i didn't give it to myself, my best friend did. we weren't in the same university but that didn't stop us from being absolute headaches to each other from opposite ends of the world."

"best friend? is it someone in the industry or..?"

"oh, he's the heir to jeon and kim associates."

you've heard the name before. jeon & kim.

"wait, is your friend mingyu?"

seokmin is surprised at the mention. he nods excitedly, looking like an eager poodle.

"d'you know him?"

"know him?! i studied with him! the two of us always partnered up for group projects because we meshed so well together," as you're rattling off about your memories with mingyu to seokmin, you remember it.

"WAIT A DAMN MINUTE! YOU'RE MINNIE?!"

seokmin snorts his soda at your sudden outburst. he's still coughing and sputtering as you apologise to the people who had turned around to stare at you while passing him tissues to clean himself up. once everything is back into the lull it was in previously, you elaborate,

"you're minnie, right?"

seokmin recalls his friend constantly calling him that when on call with him so he nods, a wave of nostalgia washing over him at the fond memories. he really needs to catch up with gyu soon. maybe he could get minghao to set up a meeti-

"i always thought he was talking about his girlfriend whenever he talked about 'minnie'. turns out it was you, huh? funny."

seokmin pauses mid-sip to give you a look that says 'are you kidding me?'

"okay, first of all, he already had a girlfriend when he was in college to whom he got married to last month. secondly, if the two of you are so close, then how come i didn't see you at the wedding, huh?"

"probably because i was the maid of honour and busy making sure it was perfect, but y'know, who cares."

seokmin vividly remembers the maid of honour at mingyu's wedding. and it was not you.

"okay, i remember that day really well and know for a fact that the maid of honour had red hair, and you don't."

"ever heard of hair dye, seokmin?" you reply dryly.

seokmin lets out a laugh at that and you become mesmerised for a moment because wow! how is a person so pretty and handsome and smart at the same time?

finally out of things to talk about, you and seokmin look around the room, trying to find something to keep the conversation going. seokmin gives up first, finally asking the million dollar question,

"d'you wanna get out of here? i'm honestly just bored at this point."

you look back at him with a mischievous twinkle in your eyes,

"you wanna go on that blind date right now? the food here isn't all that great and i know a really good seafood place nearby."

seokmin could really go for some seafood right about now. he nods and gets up from the table, and you follow suit. the two of you manage to make it out undetected, much to the disappointment of your secretaries, who only find out about your escapade through the headline of the dispatch article released the next day.

"Mated for life or just another fish in the sea? CEOs of L/N Enterprises and Lee Enterprises spotted on a romantic date at seafood restaurant."

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your fantasies were interrupted by the shrill sound of someone mingyu squealing. you looked to find the cause of his sudden excitement only to find the bottle had landed on you. you looked back up at him only to find him staring at you, a sinister glint in his eyes. with an overly saccharine tone, he asks you,

"y/nie, truth or dare? you have to pick dare by the way, you picked truth twice in a row already so."

"then why'd you ask the question, dipshit?"

you heard a low chuckle come from your side. you look to find the source of the sound, only to see jeonghan looking at you. your staring contest is abruptly ended by the sound of mingyu aggressively clearing his throat..

"so, y/nie, your dare is..." he looks around the room, trying to find a dare for you to do. his wandering eyes finally land on him.

"your dare is... kiss the person sitting on your right! and a proper kiss, not just a peck." he says while the circle starts cheering at his dare.

to others, the cheering might seem unnecessary but there's some context behind this. context being, the guy sitting on you right is yoon jeonghan. despite his whole jock persona, jeonghan is a strict one-woman man. and kissing people for dares is not a thing he does. not even if he's single.

so, knowing him, you don't even bother to ask him before reaching for your drink. the group starts boo-ing at you as you lift the cup.

all at once, someone is snatching the cup from your hands while simultaneously pulling you back into their lap. you look behind you, only to find yoon jeonghan staring at you with a smirk gracing his lips.

you scramble to get off his lap, but he effortlessly manhandles you into facing him and for a moment, it's just you and him. he moves a lock of hair behind your ear and asks you quietly,

"do you hate me that much?"

you feel like a fucking teenager all over again, sputtering and stuttering out an answer,

"n-no, it's just that... you don't do st-stuff like this."

"stuff like what?"

"kissing people for dares kinda stuff."

he looks confused at your statement. and his hands, still on your waist, aren't exactly helping you give him an answer. you muster up every last ounce of confidence in your body and tell him,

"jeonghan, the entire university knows about your 'one-woman man' agenda. you've never kissed a girl for a dare, ever."

he blanks for a second before laughing. not a giggle or a chuckle, but a full out laugh. everyone else in the room is extremely confused at his sudden burst of laughter, the two of you had been conversing in hushed voices and whispers, and now he was laughing?

you look at him incredulously, a little offended at his sudden burst of laughter. he looks at you through teary eyes and immediately stops laughing. amidst the chaos, he asks you a question,

"y/n, did you, maybe, ever consider the possibility of you being my one-woman?"

you visibly malfunction at his question. you get off his lap and go outside the dorm to the patio to clear your head. you don't see jeonghan get up and run after you.

the two of you stand in silence until you decide to break the ice,

"since when?"

he looks at you before sighing heavily, "since freshman year, i think?"

"of university? so 4 years!"

he shakes his head.

"of high school. so... 8 years, actually," he says with a small smile.

you stare at him, wide eyed and completely thrown off your axis. he's liked you longer than you've liked him? actually, you only knew of his existence in sophomore year, so he's liked you since before you knew he existed?!

lost in your thoughts you don't see him come closer to you.

"y/n."

you look up at his call of your name only to find him standing right in front of him. like close enough that your lips could touch if you stood upright. he looks down at you with a soft gaze and informs you,

"we still didn't finish the dare."

you look up at him and then look to the door, when your classmates were peeking as though you wouldn't have seen then from a mile away

in an attempt to be petty and still do the dare, despite your current predicament, you grab jeonghan by the collar of his shirt and pull him down to meet him halfway.

jeonghan, despite his initial shock at your sudden move, immediately kisses you back, his hands finding solace on your waist.

the entire dorm erupts in hoots and cheers, successfully resulting in the faculty dorm waking up.

jeonghan just laughs and tugs you back into the dorm, straight onto his bed. the two of you end up in each other's arms, laughing and happy. as the two of you drift off to dreamland, you only have one thing on your mind.

He merely smirks before answering you, “Mumbai. Crazy people like me come from Mumbai.”

You look at him incredulously before walking away from him and the entire conversation. In a moment of fury, you turn around and yell back at him, “Even I’m from Mumbai, so FUCK YOU!”

Finally at peace with the encounter, you run off to class, your untouched coffee in Mingyu’s hands.

Mingyu watches you run off to class and can’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation. He throws his now empty coffee cup in the trash before drinking yours. As he walks into his building, he realises something.

You are the only other Indian student on campus, and you hate him. Great. Just great.

Also, he never got your name.

The next time you meet the ‘beanpole’, as your friends had dubbed him after listening to your encounter with the man, it’s the same way as before. Except this time, you are the one at fault.

You’re walking to the library while on the phone with your mother, who was per usual, rambling about you getting married so you can take over your father’s ‘empire’ (her words, not yours). You let out an exasperated sigh and are about to tell her that there’s still 5 whole months left for you to graduate when you, quite literally, walk into him. Him as in the ‘beanpole’ from the incident 3 weeks ago. 

In hindsight, it was your fault the collision happened in the first place. But you, in your frustration, yell at him to fucking move and not stand in the way of people who have places to be, unlike himself.

Mingyu had been having a painfully average day until he had gone to the campus cafe to get his daily dose of caffeine. The coffee hadn’t even touched his lips before someone, literally, walked into him, resulting in him spilling his coffee all over his brand new tee. He looked at the person only to realise it was you, the Indian kid from last time. He was about to comment on how you two should really stop pouring coffee on each other when he’s interrupted by you…yelling?

He’s a nice person, really. But when you start yelling at him unprompted for something that was clearly your fault, Mingyu all but loses it. 

“Okay! This ends here! I don’t know who you think you are, but this time, it is YOUR fault. I will admit, last time I was being an idiot but you do not get to yell at me for something YOU did. And anyway, you seem completely fine, I’M the one drenched in coffee, aren’t I?!”

Now, it’s your turn to be dumbstruck by him. You just blink at him a few times before collecting yourself. 

“I’m sorry for that. I shouldn’t have that.” and with that, you leave the cafe.

It’s after you're well out of his line of sight that he realises.

He still didn’t get your name. But come to think of it, he doesn’t even want to know your name at this point. So what if you’re the only Indian kid? He can survive with his current friends just fine. 

The next time the two of you are in each other’s vicinity, it’s a restaurant an hour away from campus. You had booked a booth with your friends for a celebratory dinner on the occasion of finals week ending and Mingyu was there for Eunwoo’s birthday.

“I mean, the awning is meant for people to stand under and drink their coffee, you’re the one that had ‘places to be’ so if anything, you should be apologising to him” your best friend, Jennifer tells you. Karina nods affirmatively, engrossed in whatever she’s doing on her phone. You sigh (albeit, dramatically) before answering her, 

“I thought you guys were my friends, I guess not.”

“We are your friends, which is why we’re telling you to apologise for something that was clearly your fault.”

Karina doesn’t respond to that, which prompts the two of you to look at her, only to find her texting someone with a lovesick stupid grin plastered on her face. Both you and Jennifer sigh in unison when you remember the date.

30th March.

Her boyfriend’s birthday.

You knock on the table to get her attention. 

“Karina! I am going through a crisis here. This is not the time to be texting your birthday boy.”

“And here I am listening to you when I should be with my birthday boy! What more do you want from me, y/n? My soul?!”

Jennifer merely chuckles at your exchange, having gotten used to your catfights. Just another booth over, a very similar conversation was taking place.

Mingyu huffs as he drops his backpack onto one of the seats in the booth. Both Jeongguk and Eunwoo’s classes ended before his, so he was the last one there. 

“You made it! And, you aren’t drenched in coffee!” exclaims Jeongguk. Eunwoo lets out a laugh at the unexpected comment. Mingyu grumbles out something about having ‘fucking idiots for friends’ when Eunwoo’s phones goes off. His face visibly falls when he reads the text. Mingyu and Jeongguk exchange a glance before asking him,

“What happened?”

He sighs sadly before looking at them.

“Karina said she’s going to be late because her friend’s going through something.”

Mingyu immediately lights up with an idea to cheer up his friend. After all, no one should be sad on their birthday.

“How about this? I’ll tell y’all about my week until your girl gets here, cool?”

“Yeah, that seems like a good idea. So, what’d the coffee girl do this week?”

“Don’t even get me started, Woo.”

An hour later, you’re finally done lamenting to your friends about everything that’s happened since the last time you saw them. Karina asks you at least thrice if you’re done so she can finally go to her boyfriend. You and Jennifer look at each other and collectively pass a comment about how much she LOVES her boyfriend and she calls you a ‘pathetic bachelor’ in return.

As she get out of the booth, you and Jennifer follow her out, having finished your cakes and taking your coffee to go. Karina stops abruptly, resulting in you bumping into her back. You’re about to make a snarky remark about how she’s late to her boyfriend’s birthday lunch when you see him.

Mingyu was finally done updating his friends about his week when Eunwoo’s phone lit up with another text, presumably his girlfriend. He smiles as he reads out the text to the two sitting in front of him. 

“Just got done with girls. On my way.” 

Jeongguk says something about her having perfect timing, but Mingyu ignores in favour of gawking at the devil outside his booth. You.

The two of you obviously have issues to work through because the next thing you know, you’re swinging your coffee at him. And at the same time, he grabs his milkshake to throw at you. Time seems to slow down as the two of you realise what you just did. The realisation doesn’t even set in completely before you’re being pulled away by your friends and Mingyu by his.

Yunjin drags you to the restroom to clean you up to some extent. Karina comes in and promptly yells at you. “Do you even know who he is?!”

Meanwhile, in the men’s room, Jeongguk’s giving Mingyu his spare shirt for him to change into as Eunwoo screams at him, “Do you even know who she is?!”

Both Karina and Eunwoo, unbeknownst to them, yell out in unison,

“That person might as well be royalty with how much influence they have. And you just threw your drink on them like it’s NOTHING?!”

Confused, you ask her for his name, 

“His name is Mingyu.”

Puzzled, he asks him for your name,

“Her name is Y/N.”

While he reeks of coffee, he at least got your name. Y/N. ‘It suits you’, he thinks in the far corner of his mind.

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a/n.DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN. And here we have it folks, the first ever chapter of ABLS! WOOHOO, WE CHEERED. also, ABLS! will be going on an indefinite hiatus so....yeah. heheh.

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