#oliver.dan

This is possibly one of the worse nights of Seo Dan’s life. That says a lot since she’s been through some painful things, like having the man she loved fall into a coma from saving her, or losing her father when she was young, or when her first crush decided to go out with her out of responsibility and nothing else. There’s a lot, but this? This is definitely up there. And who is to blame? Oliver.

Dan isn’t a crier. She’s always been very stoic and faced things with a calm and cool demeanour. She’s only ever cried twice in the entirety of her youthful life, once when her father died, and right after the man she loved got hurt. Now Oliver is going to be third man that made her cry. 

Clutching the blanket against her chest, Dan cried silently. How could he do this to her? After everything... she trusted him. She let him into her life, into her home. And this is how he treats her? 

Seo Dan, I’m sorry...

That’s not good enough. That can’t be good enough. He broke her heart. A ‘sorry’ can’t mend her broken heart, now can it? What’s the use of saying ‘sorry’ if he knew this would hurt her like this? This is entirely preventable. This is on him. 

“Why did you do it?” Her voice broke as she spoke for the first time after crying for almost an hour straight.

“You said this, this Notebook, was a romantic comedy, I do not see anything comedic about this. She didn’t remember him at the end! Then they died!” 

Seo Dan felt like she was a ball of tension. She has her first concert with the NY Philharmonics in less than two weeks and she’s been practicing non-stop. All of her waking moments were dedicated to practicing. She’s skipped so many meals simply because it was far too inconvenient to order take out and have to stop practice just to open the door and then eat. 

The only reason she’s even survived this long is because of her boyfriend. It’s so weird to call Oliver that, her boyfriend. But that seems to be the role that he fills in her life right now. They had gone on their first date a few months ago, and they’ve been steadily seeing each other... even though Dan was mostly occupied with her rehearsals and Oliver was just, she doesn’t even know what he does in his free time. Is she a bad girlfriend for not knowing these things? She never paid attention to other people, it’s usually people volunteering information about their lives to her. She’s never had to ask or figure it out on her own. Clearly, she’s never dated anyone seriously (or at all) before, so this is all.... very confusing.

Well, perhaps she’ll have to make more of an effort to get to know Oliver. It does seem like it’s rather one-sided what with him lavishing her with attention and her being rather aloof to him. She does like him. Seo Dan is not the most friendly person and because of her mom, she only see other people as competition rather than an ally. So when she says she does enjoy Oliver’s presence and general existence, she really mean it.

Which is why Dan let herself be taken off to a car ride with Oliver in broad daylight, when she should be practicing her piece. He had called her up randomly, as per usual, and asked if she wanted to do something fun and before she can even reply, he told her that he was waiting for her downstairs and just hung up. Absolutely infuriating, honestly. But she did realize that it’s been almost a week since she last saw him, and a part of her did miss seeing him.

When Dan asked Oliver where they were going, he, honest to God, said wherever the road leads them. Dan had never wanted to bang her head against a tofu more than then, or maybe bang Oliver’s head because ugh. But soon, Oliver started pointing out places to her, suggesting that they should come back together when spring comes around. It was nice, a very low key kind of nice. It wasn’t one of those fancy dinners or outings that Oliver used to take her, this was just the two of them, spending time together.

But in Oliver’s natural fashion, things got silly. When they got onto the highway up to the Hamptons, Oliver put on some music and of course, being the man that he is, decided to sing along. At first, Dan was surprised because how can someone sing so confidently and sound so bad? Then she just started laughing because Oliver was clearly enjoying himself and didn’t care for a thing. 

It was a good decision to come out after all. Maybe she’ll do something nice for her boyfriend in return... soon.

It shouldn’t have happened like this.

When Dan woke up this morning, she was in a very good mood. She had just received an invitation to join the New York Philharmonics and she had jumped and cheered when she found out. She had even called Oliver in her excitement to share the good news. 

Oliver insisted to take her out to dinner that night to celebrate her achievement. The fact that he wanted to share her happiness made her feel some sort of way, so Dan decided to say yes. It would be their first date and she was okay with that. 

Feeling like a girl who wanted to impress the guy that she likes, she made appointments to get her hair done and redo her manicures. She spent the rest of the day shopping for a new dress and accessories to go with it, making sure that she would look the best for tonight. 

So when the time finally came for Oliver to pick her up, she was prepared. She had her favourite hair clip on, a new dress, pair of new heels, and a shy smile when Oliver complimented her. 

The restaurant was a fancy one, they had a splendid time. Dan was still the same person that she is, but she made an effort to be more open with him. Oliver on the other hand, was a little different, she noted. He was still a little weird and have questionable train of thoughts, but he was very sweet and he made her feel like she was the center of his attention. All in all, it was a lovely date. 

When it was time to take Dan home, they decided to park the car a few blocks away and walk the rest of the way so they could spend a little more time together. 

Everything had happened so quickly. 

One minute she was smiling at Oliver’s animated gestures as he recounting something that happened in his past, the next they were interrupted by a masked man with a gun. Oliver had immediately stepped forward to shield Dan from the possibility of getting hurt when the assailant pointed the gun at them. He had demanded for something, Dan’s hands were trembling. It wasn’t the first time she was in this situation, and the last time something like this happened, she had almost lost the person that she cared about.

When Oliver tried to diffuse the situation, the assailant had gotten more agitated. It was then that Dan realized what he was about to do. With a shout, Dan pushed Oliver out of the way as a shot rang out. 

The pain was instant and searing. It tore through her body like she was a piece of paper. She closed her eyes in pain as she fell to the ground. She had no idea what happened after that, she only came back to when she felt someone lifting her upper body up. She opened her eyes and found Oliver’s face. His normally relaxed and happy demeanor was gone, instead, he looked panicked and worried. She could see his lips moving, but she couldn’t hear anything. 

The relief that washed all over her when she realized Oliver was safe combined with the pain of getting shot brought tears to her eyes. She kept him safe. 

Dan cried for the fact that she might never get the chance to experience all the things Oliver promised that they would do together. She cried for that fact that she only realized she did, in fact, liked Oliver when it was too late. She cried for the fact that she’ll never get to see her family again. 

As she grew weaker, her sobs lessened. She knew she was going to die, but at least she gets to die in the arms of someone who truly cared for her. With great difficult, she lifted her hand and guided Oliver’s head down. Lightly, she touched his lips with her own before smiling.

“Don’t forget me.” 

Prompt: Dan gives up their life so that Oliver can live.

When Oliver called her in the middle of the night, Dan didn’t expect it to be for this reason. She just just recently forgiven him for the fact that he’s tossed her life upside down by confessing to her. It was in the middle of the winter, but to Dan it was basically living in Arctic. It was much colder than she was used to in South Korea. 

For some reason unknown to her, Oliver decided to call her when he’s sick. What was Dan supposed to do? She’s an only child, she has never taken care of another sick person. So instead, she just brought over whatever left over food she had in the fridge and some medicine she brought over from Korea. 

After managing to pull together a simple soup (she was quite proud of it too, given it didn’t burn), she went over to Oliver’s bedroom. If it wasn’t for the overly large lump on the bed, she would’ve thought he wasn’t there. Holding the soup in one hand, Dan went to grab the edge of the duvet and pulled it back to reveal Oliver; only for him to pull the cover back.

Slightly annoyed at his antics, Dan took the spoon and gave the top of his head a nice metallic kiss. She didn’t just cross the city in the middle of the night, in winter, to play tug-a-war.

“Get up.” 

“Because... because people leave.” Dan stared at nothing, her eyes glazed over from all the alcohol she’s consumed in the last hour or so.

Her mind wandered back to the time when she was still living in Korea. The people she loved and cared for. All of them left eventually, nobody stayed - definitely not for her.  

“What’s it matter to you?” Her speech began to slur and her accent became more pronounced. She slowly turned her head to look at Oliver. Oliver, who wasn’t supposed to be here but somehow found her in this hotel bar, here of all the places in the city. Maybe he’s psychic... or he’s just really weird.

“You... Do you know how fucking annoying it is for men to be...!!” Dan gestured with her hand as she tried to find the English word for what she wanted to say. 

“Beat up the bushes?” She said with a frown. It was definitely something to do with the bushes, or was it the trees? 

“Am I so undesirable?” Dan whispered brokenly as she peered up from her lashes at Oliver. 

Dan had the worst day of her life.

First, she woke up late since she had just downed almost a whole bottle of vodka the night before -- she had forgotten that she had rehearsal early in the morning instead of the usual time in the afternoon. She had made it to the rehearsal hall with seconds to spare, which meant she had to rush to set up her cello. The conductor had scolded her for being late and not being ready. This all threw her off her groove and she made a few rookie mistakes during rehearsal which resulted in many frowns from the conductor.

Second, after the disaster of a morning rehearsal, Dan went to get lunch at a restaurant near the hall, only to have her heel broken off. So instead of getting food, she had to call for a cab to get her home since she can’t possibly be seen hobbling in a broken heel in public. That’s far too shameful and unseemly. Hungry and annoyed, she decided to just stay at home and make ramyun.

Which led to the next disaster. While waiting for the noodle to boil, Dan’s mind wandered to the events that happened the day before. She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn’t realize the water had boiled. When she finally came back to reality, she could smell the noodles burning in the pot. Rushing to turn off the stove, Dan slammed her hands on the kitchen counter and cursed in Korean. 

Hungry and pissed, Oliver decided, at that specific moment, to show up at her door. Standing at the doorway, she crossed her arm. Her entire demeanor suggested that she’s not in the mood to entertain Oliver. She glared at the reason of her horrible day. If only he didn’t kiss her yesterday and announced that he wants to pursue a relationship with her. Now he’s all she can think about.

“What made you think something’s wrong?” She snapped. 

Dan had just gotten into bed when her phone rang. Nobody calls her at this time of the day. Well, nobody really calls her at all. She’s tried to be more outgoing ever since she came to the States, but still, it’s hard with her personality. 

‘Oliver Calling...’

Oliver was... a lot. They ‘met’ in a dark cinema theatre and for some reason, he managed to wrangle her number from her by the time they went their separate ways. 

Dan accepted the call and greeted Oliver with a simple ‘hello’. But instead of receiving a ‘hello’ in return, he said the strangest thing. She was stunned and she had no response to what he just said. What was she suppose to say? Thank you? I’m sorry? 

Not knowing what’s appropriate to say in a situation like this, Dan decided she didn’t want to say anything that might hurt Oliver’s feeling.

“Okay.” 

Dan was settling into her seat when the person sitting next to her spoke up. She shifted her gaze over to the voice’s general direction and found that nobody else was within their vicinity. So that can only mean one thing. He was talking to her.

Her face was the picture perfect reflection of a still pond when she finally dropped her gaze onto the owner of the voice. Was he hoping to elicit a response from her? Well, he will be sorely disappointed. She wondered briefly that if it was allowed to just choose another of these numerous empty seats -- it certainly doesn’t seem like anyone was going to be coming to this particular movie theatre room after all. 

She gave a curt nod and turned her attention back to the silver screen.