#jongdaely

“What decision?” He looks thoroughly confused with his brows furrowed, and lips downturned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

You bow your head again. “Please let us consummate tonight, Jongin.”

His golden skin flushes, eyes widening at your unexpected request. “I—W-What?”

It’s hard not to let out a small smile upon seeing his flustered reaction. You look into his eyes, hoping to convey your sincerity. “I would like to be husband and wife with you in truth. I have given you a very hard time and...” The words get stuck in your throat, and a bitterness covers your tongue. “...I have my reasons for being so distant, but I would like to take a step forward. Even with my faults, will you accept me as your wife?”

Unsaid: Can I trust you?

Jongin’s face flushes a much deeper color, his hand coming up to hide his embarrassed expression. “Even if you don’t ask, I have accepted you as my wife long ago.” He smiles, eyes shining in the dim room, so very beautiful. “This makes me very happy.”

He takes a step towards you, shyly and almost unsure. You feel your own cheeks heat up, realizing just how bold your request was.

He touches your cheek tentatively, looking deep into your eyes and you find your answer.

You can trust me.

He leans in, warm lips grazing yours and it’s the first kiss you have with him since the wedding. It’s soft and pleasant, your eyes sliding closed when he comes back in for another kiss, this time longer, pressing against you with just the slightest bit more pressure.

You wrap your arms around his neck pulling him closer, giving him permission though you already said this is what you wanted.

His fingers trail your waist, reaching your back where the strings that keep your dress together are. Gently pulling them loose, his lips move to your jaw, your neck where he wanders a bit more, pressing hot kisses to your flushed skin.

You lean back, allowing him better access to your neck and you breathe out, the room steadily becoming warmer. 

This feels strange; a good kind of strange. It’s comfortable, slightly ticklish and you don’t want him to stop. Another tug at your dress and it comes loose. His kisses begin to move downwards, towards your chest and it’s embarrassing, but you let him take the lead.

He teases a nipple, the surprise and pleasure sending shivers up your spine and you moan. You curl your fingers into his dark hair as he pampers your breasts with gentle bites and kisses.

Your head is already going fuzzy, your legs beginning to tremble. Something strange is happening to your body, something you’ve never experienced as a mermaid. “Ah, Jongin...”

“It’s okay,” he whispers reassuringly, pressing another kiss to your lips. “Just relax.”

You nod, letting him wrap you up in his warm embrace. He carries you to the bed, laying you down carefully. You reach for his cheeks, feeling the heat, and you bring his lips to yours again. Your dress pools around your hips, leaving the top half of you completely bare. Jongin proceeds to remove his shirt, exposing his lean body to you.

Mermen never wore any shirts, so you’re quite accustomed to seeing the bodies of men. But somehow seeing Jongin’s body makes you so shy, you end up averting your eyes.

You hear a quiet chuckle, his large hands grabbing yours and pressing it against his chest. “Don’t feel shy, you can explore if you want.”

Timidly, you trail your hands across his stomach, feeling the muscles ripple beneath his skin. You can hear his breathing quickening, his skin almost searing. There’s a big bump in his pants, a curious sight you’ve never seen before. You touch it gently, feeling Jongin jolt, his hand quickly coming to grab yours. “Ah, you—” He looks even more flustered than before, sweat beginning to bead across his toned body. He let’s out a rough sigh, pressing your hand to his lips. “You really want to kill me, don’t you?”

You tilt your head at him, confused. His gaze has changed now, dark eyes burning with lust. It makes you shiver, excitement and nervousness battling inside you.

He pulls the dress completely off you, exposing you fully. Caught by surprise, you press your legs tightly together to hide your most sensitive part to him. You don’t understand these feelings, these sensations. You want him to touch you there, and yet you really, really don’t. “D-Don’t look.”

“Why not?” He presses another kiss to your wrist, then leans down to press one against your lips. His other hand kneads at your thigh, trying to get you to relax but it only makes you more nervous. “I want to look at my beautiful wife.”

Beautiful, he said. You don’t think it’s possible for your face to get any hotter, and you cover your face desperately with your free arm.

He eases your legs apart, watching you carefully. You look at him from between your fingers, not sure what happens next. This is all so new, so strange. His fingers slide across your opening, making you jolt and gasp. Your whole body is trembling with anticipation, the heat concentrating in your core.

“So wet.” He murmurs, sounding quite pleased. You’re not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing though. “Relax.”

His fingers teases your entrance again, and this time he presses a little harder, thumb rubbing against a spot that has you gripping the bedsheets so tight, your hips jolting.

“How does that feel?” He asks, stopping in his actions. You try to speak but you can’t, the words unable to form and only broken syllables leave your lips.

“Good?” He asks again, this time pushing a finger into you. You gasp again, a moan coming out. It feels slightly uncomfortable, but strangely you want more. He starts thrusting his finger slowly into you and you wiggle, your hips moving against him on their own accord. He grins, pleased at your reaction as he enters another finger. “Looks like you’re beginning to enjoy it.”

Oh, you don’t know what to do as he pumps his fingers in and out of you, stretching your walls in the most pleasant way. You didn’t know you could feel this way—you didn’t know it would feel this good. You can only moan and pant, wanting more of that feeling. “Ah...ah, Jongin, please...”

“Okay.” He whispers, seemingly just as breathless as you. “Are you ready?”

You nod, watching him under your lashes as he takes off his pants, revealing what that large bump was just now. Oh, oh! You flush so deeply, covering your eyes again.

“Don’t be scared.” He says softly, pulling your hands away from your face. He brushes the hair from your sweaty forehead, pressing a gentle kiss there. “I’ll be gentle.”

You nod, bracing yourself as he lines himself up. You share a glance, another wave of electricity shooting through you.

I trust you.

He pushes in slowly, and you throw your head back, not knowing what else to do. It’s uncomfortable, slightly painful and you groan, clutching the bedsheets so tightly as tears sting your eyes.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jongin stops immediately, kissing your tears away. “Does it hurt that much? Should I stop?”

You shake your head, reaching for his face. His brows are knitted together in concern, his eyes shining even in the dark. “Keep going.”

He sucks in a sharp breath as he resumes pushing into you, one inch at a time. You can feel him inside you, so big and deep. The pain is slowly disappearing.

Finally he’s inside you completely, his breathing so ragged and muscles flexing as he tries hard not to move. His expression is strained and focused, and you can’t help but press another kiss to his lips. “I’m okay. You can move.”

He let’s out a quiet whine at that, burying his face into your neck as he pulls out, thrusting back in. The pain returns, making you flinch but you urge him to continue. It’s okay, you’re sure this pain will be gone soon; and you want it to hurt.

You want him to remind you that you’re here, that you’re alive in his arms.

He picks up speed, and you can no longer stay quiet. Your screams ring in the room, the sound of skin against skin and heavy breathing. The sweat makes your sight blurry, but his face is so, so beautiful.

He’s so close, so deep, and you feel tears well up. Your emotions are boiling over and it’s hard to hold back now.

You’re so happy.

So, so happy.

“Jongin, Jongin.” You gasp out his name, pulling him closer, closer, deeper, deeper. You don’t want this moment to stop, you want to feel this kind of love forever.

You’re so desperate for it.

You can’t stop yourself anymore.

Jongin breathes out your name, kissing you again and again. You can feel something tightening inside you, building like a tsunami. You scream out when it finally unravels, pleasure washing over you in waves, sapping up your strength.

You feel his heat fill you, and slowly you begin to calm down. You’re still holding him tightly, and he does the same to you, your sweaty bodies pressed close together, so close you can feel each other’s heartbeat, every rise and fall of the chest.

Eventually he moves, pulling out of you. You’re so tired you can barely keep your eyes open, and soon you’re deep asleep, so content for the first time in your life.

Sunlight streams in through the curtains, rousing you from your sleep. You blink, squinting to adjust to the light.

It’s so warm, so peaceful and you can’t stop the smile that blooms on your face. Something shifts beside you, strong arms pulling you closer towards a warm chest and you gasp, surprised.

It’s Jongin. He’s right beside you, holding you close after last night. You’ve never woken up with him before, so this feels surreal.

You turn to face him, his sleeping face makes him look much younger than usual, reminding you just how young he is. It must be hard for him to be king. He looks so content and peaceful, the sun kissing his golden skin and making him look ethereal.

You brush the hair away from his face and he wrinkles his nose, opening his eyes to greet you. “Mm, good morning.”

You smile. “Morning.”

To your surprise, he presses a lingering kiss to your lips, a wide smile growing on his face. His hand comes to graze your cheeks and you see so much emotion in his eyes. “My wife.”

You flush, not knowing how to answer. Yes, you are truly his wife now, in body and soul.

You’re not sure if this decision is correct, but you won’t regret it.

He pulls you back to bed with him, wrapping you tightly in his arms, fingers brushing through your hair. “I was thinking.”

“Hm?” You hum, beginning to grow drowsy again in this comfortable position.

“I would like to meet your family.” He says, making you snap your eyes back open, wide with shock. “What do you think?”

A crippling fear clutches at your heart, and your first instinct is to decline. But he looks so sincere, watching you with those lovely eyes.

You swallow thickly, feeling yourself begin to tremble but you force out a smile, turning quickly away. You try your best to hold yourself together enough to answer, “Yes, of course.”

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High Tides Mini Masterlist

A/N: Is it normal to feel impatient with your own story? I can’t wait until the drama and climax!

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©kimjongdaely

A good use of adverbs (and I use this example all the time) is the title: Killing Me Softly. Because ‘killing’ implies violence, adding the adverb ‘softly’ adds extra depth and makes the readers curious. How does one kill softly? Could it be figurative instead of literal?

If you are able to describe something better with a verb rather than adding an adverb, always use the verb. For example, “walk quickly” to “run/dash/rush/sprint/race.” “Talk loudly” to “yell/scream/holler/call/cry.” But then again, don’t overdo it. This falls into another piece of advice, don’t be pretentious: using words that are too complicated and rare does not make you sound smarter. It confuses the reader and makes them lose interest.

2. Said/say for the win

On a similar note as the pretentiousness tip, “said/say” should be used most often. Overusing synonyms of that such as “yell/whisper/murmur/call/whimper/groan/etc.” will become exhausting for the readers to read and feels amateurish. Using “said/say” more often and then using a synonym when you really need to will make that synonym carry stronger emotion/meaning.

3. Show don’t tell but sometimes you should just tell

A lot of times you see people say “show don’t tell.” What does that mean? It means you should use description to explain something rather than just telling the audience directly. For example, “this chair is old” is telling. You can show by saying: “the chair had multiple scratch marks embedded in its wood. The white paint that once covered it had peeled almost completely. When sat in, the wood would creak and threaten to collapse.” Seems a lot easier to picture, right?

But there are times where you should just tell something. Sometimes, description can be too much. One thing that I find in a lot of amateur writing is the want to explain every outfit the character wears. Nobody cares unless it’s really relevant to the story. I usually only describe an outfit if I’m introducing a new character. Stop doing that, please.

Telling will happen a lot more in 3rd POV limited. Because the narrator is observing what’s going on, they may not know what the characters are feeling, and therefore cannot describe what they’re feeling. So sometimes you’ll simply write: “He watched her sit down, head propped up in her palm.” This also happens when the character isn’t sure what’s going on in someone else’s head. For example: “I watched him stand, grabbing the gun from the table.” This builds tension from its simplicity and directness, and the character (as well as the audience) isn’t sure what the other person is trying to do. Telling will often be followed by showing, and then followed by telling again. They mix together to bring more flavor and tension. Showing will be labelled as (s) and telling will be labelled as (t):

I watched him stand, grabbing the gun from the table (t). My heart jumped to my throat and I couldn’t get the words out when he turned towards me, a determined glint in his dark eyes (s). “What are you doing?” I finally managed to choke out as I took a staggering step backwards and felt my back hit the wall (s). I was trapped (t).

Because I have showed what the character was feeling, putting a very simple “I was trapped” afterwards gives the audience a bigger punch. Again, practice and experience will help you learn when to tell and when to show. Reading a lot is also helpful in that regard. Take note of how more experienced authors show certain things, and when they choose to simply tell. Don’t be afraid to tell...sometimes. But you should still show more often.

4. Stop following all the rules

Everywhere you go, you’ll see lists and lists of so called ‘writing rules’ that you should follow, lists of do’s and don’ts. I guess this is also guilty of that. But listen here: writing is different for everyone. Everyone has different styles. There is no set rule for writing. As you gain experience and practice, you begin to develop your own style and rules. Don’t lock yourself into a box filled with other peoples’ rules. Do whatever the hell you want and as time goes by and you read more and write more, you’ll begin to understand which things you should and shouldn’t do as a writer. 

Take every advice with a grain of salt. Same goes for critiques. Readers will see your work differently than how you see them, and similarly, writers will see your work differently too. Readers usually read for enjoyment, while writers are more critical and nit-picky. But writers will give you advice on how they would write the story, and readers will give you advice on what they want to read. Remember! This is your story. No one else can tell it the way you do, and what they want to see might be different from what you want to write. Again, take every advice/critique with a grain of salt, and do what you want to do. 

But on the other hand, if someone gives you advice that you know is correct, but you don’t wanna do it just because you have to delete a section you really like, or change something major, or think it’s bothersome, etc. you should still do it. There’s a phrase called “kill your darlings,” which applies for character death but ALSO FOR EDITING! If you really like a section but you realize it’s kind of useless, you have to remove it. But don’t delete it completely! You can save it somewhere and maybe it will be useful for another story in the future.