#wooseok angst

You both forget that this day is PE class of Teacher Chang-wook having a class in Basketball Court, that when you and Joshua don't noticed that two students are being left to university, precisely to men's locker room where you're sex session with Joshua, before one spoke "so the story is truth that professor y/n is the one taking your virginity with Jaehyun and Yoshi" said Q who wanking he's cock, ready to filled your hole with he's cock and hot cum too. Before Joshua get your leg's wide open, ready to filled with new cock, "Wooseok and Q, what are you waiting for, fucked this bitch hole with your own cock" said Joshua to Q and Woo-seok, that both are hypnotized to your twitching hole that filled with Joshua's hot cum, that sends you moaning nonstop from pleasure of being filled again, while Q's cock slowly putting deeper inside your hole, before you hugging him and Q just penetrating your prostate non-stop with he's big cock. While Woo-seok cock is being sucked y/n, sending Woo-seok moaning nonstop from pleasure of your wet tongue and hot mouth, "ohhh fuck, just like that Q, filled my hole with your cock~" said y/n while Q just penetrating your hole nonstop with he's cock, you said after removing Woo-seok cock that are stuffing your mouth, "so it's true that your hole is fucking so good~" said Q penetrating your prostate non-stop while sucking your nipples, before both Wooseok and Joshua put their armpits to lick the sweat like drugged to you, also sniffing their manly scent sending you crazy, while being penetrating by Q with he's cock. "Fuck yesss, yesss Q fucked he's cock nonstop sending him moaning nonstop" said Joshua the eldest from the three, while you're using your tounge licking Joshua and Wooseok's cock until to their ball's, before sucking one of their cock while you wanking the other one, that you don't know we're being fucked by three students, being fucked in the locker room that are full of moans and scream from pleasure of your mouth and hole.

That you're doing foursome with two nerd's name Woo-seok and Q, last is the school's president Joshua's cock, that their cock is getting bigger signaling that they all three are ready to filled your mouth and ass with their hot cum, "fuck i am gonna fucking cum" "we also" said Q, Joshua and Wooseok's before they cummed to your mouth to your face, while last is Q cummed deep inside your hole that are being mixed with Joshua's cum.

That even when Q's cock removed to your hole it's hard and ready for another sex session, but Wooseok and Joshua will filled your hole by Double Penetration, sending scream from pain of Wooseok big cock and Joshua's cock, sending you almost reaping apart from the their cock being penetrated by them, that you don't noticed that you cummed twice after you penetrated by Joshua, Q and Woo-seok cock to your mouth and hole. That even just few minutes and instantly get turned on again, and just filled your hole and prostate non-stop with their cock, where you're being lifted by Wooseok and Joshua while penetrating your hole with their cock nonstop, while both kissed to produce more cum and filled your hole with their cum, that you're sleeping even the three wanted to filled your tight pink hole with their hot cum. "Omg professor is fucking week" said Q while cumming inside you last time, that even you're fallen asleep from being exhausted, but still the three use your mouth and hole and filled it with their cum, and now three is wiped their sweat and cum to their body, before them puting clothes again one by one, before Joshua put some dildo to your hole to avoid their cum leaking between your legs, and now carrying to Joshua's house we're all you four take some rest.

Now professor y/n is now sleeping we're is being carried by school president Joshua, while they're completely dressed while leaving the locker room, luckily no one see's that nerd Wooseok and Q, doing naughty things with school president Joshua or not, it's your on choice but you're being fucked again, and just like that you're being fucked by Joshua with he's friend's that are popular in the school too, like Jock Nerd and Ace Basketball Player Winwin, but your hole still have a rest for just one week and four day's, and still being penetrated again by male students on your school that you're teaching. But of course the even you're healing your hole and your lower part by almost two, now you're still teaching in the university even your lower back is still sting's, that sends you being teased by students, more of male students in the university, that after a almost two weeks of your lower part and back is completely healed and not sting's anymore, that you finish compute the grade's and finish scoring the project to your students activity sheets, that you think the day when you're being fucked by the president Joshua and get caught by two students name Woo-seok and Q, cause you forget that their are PE class by PE Teacher Chang-wook. Now you're back of woken up from the back memories, after you finish your last sex session with President Joshua and two nerd's Woo-seok and Joshua, cause both change their clothing that you forget that their are PE, we're Chang-wook a almost 30+ year's old that doesn't look 33 year's old, that the day of you are become new professor in the university, but he doesn't that one's the secret of you being fucked by graduate students name , and the now the school president Joshua, he just like he's students experience your hole too, the hole that every men in the university crazy about, but you don't know that you will be fucked by him with he's friend that are Professor too in the university. But story is just next day we're you fucked by him with he's friend, cause just like that you're being fucked by popular students in the school, we're the best students in the school we're they're the one of ace in school for competition's, like Science, Sodoku, Math Competition and Basketball Leagues, and just now you're being fucked by Joshua and get caught by also excellent students in the university, name are Wooseok and Q just like Jinyoung that good in every subject except one, that are PE class we're both luckily have improvement after they get a taste of your hole.

Changgu whisks something in a bowl as he greets you. “I was just about to make some scrambled eggs. Want some?”

“Yes, please.” You smile warmly and plop yourself down on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. 

Yanan prepares a second cup of coffee and places it in front of you. “You’re in awfully high spirits this morning.”

“Yeah, thank you for that,” you raise an eyebrow as you blow on the top of your steaming coffee. Yanan gives you a flirty grin before drinking his own coffee and then peeling off to grab some fresh fruit from the refrigerator. 

Changgu pours the eggs into a frying pan and starts cooking up your breakfast. “Glad to hear you had fun last night. You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“It was… great.” There are a million stronger adjectives you could use, such as amazing, incredible, magical, mind-blowing… but you don’t want to boost their egos too much. “Do you guys do this often?”

Changgu shrugs. “It’s sort of an occasional thing. Our tastes in women don’t always overlap, unfortunately. And even if we find someone we’re both interested in, she might not be interested in both of us.”

You hum and nod. It definitely doesn’t seem like something that could just magically fall into place super frequently. But based off of last night, you’re willing to bet that both boys are impressive lovers even on their own. They were each so attentive and responsive, and the amount of aftercare you received when you finally wrapped up the night made the whole night absolutely heavenly.

“So _____,” Yanan leans over the island, pushing a bowl of fruit your way. “I meant to ask last night, but you’re old enough to come out with us to Andy’s next time, right?”

You frown slightly. “Not quite. I just turned twenty, so I technically have another year. Although I do have a fake ID that works just fine as long as there’s no one there to call me out on it.”

He scoffs, clearly remembering the run-in with Professor Yang that ruined the night last time you went out with them. “Yeah, Hongseok really knows how to ruin a good time, doesn’t he?”

“Why do you insist on calling him by his first name?” It catches you off guard every time, especially because the professor has been so explicit about his preferences when it comes to the way students address him. You’re willing to bet that, based on the way he and Yanan interacted and the fact that Yanan uses his first name, they must know each other outside of school. “Do you have something against him?”

Yanan takes a long sip of his coffee before responding. “Perhaps I do. But I’ll tell you this, he sure as hell started it.”

You raise an eyebrow, intrigued. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Changgu pipes up as he transfers the eggs to a plate. “That’s a pretty big can of worms you’re trying to open.”

“Well you can’t just say something like that and expect me not to be curious! Now I need to know.”

Yanan pulls up a stool. “I went to a different school for a year and a half before transferring here. Washington University.”

You immediately recognize the university as being the most prestigious school in the city. It’s stupid expensive, and it’s really hard to get in. “You went to Washington?”

He nods. “And so did Hongseok. I met him there while he was getting his Masters degree. We both worked in the Mathematics Department office.” Yanan bites down onto a strawberry. “We got along okay, but I wouldn’t say we were ever friends. Our work schedules occasionally overlapped and we were cordial with each other. But one day he heard me bragging to a friend about how I’d slept with my Economics professor to boost my grade. Business school wasn’t for me, so I did what I could to make it a little easier.”

Your eyes widen and you’re struck with something that feels kind of like… panic? “You slept with your professor?”

“I did,” he responds proudly. “And then Hongseok turned me in to the Dean. She got fired and I lost all of my scholarship money, so I transferred. What are the odds that he’d end up over here too?” He chuckles darkly.

Yanan interrupts your train of thought. “I think he was just pissed because he worked so hard and he didn’t think it was fair that I was trying to take the easy way out. To that, I say that nothing in life is fair and he needs to get over himself.”

You try to seem as natural as possible despite the slight discomfort seeping into your bones. “Oh man, I can’t believe you had to transfer because of all that. That basically changed your whole future, right?”

“It did, but I’m not terribly torn up about it.” Yanan dismisses the thought with a wave of his hand. “I had fun with my professor, but I’ve enjoyed my time at this school more than I ever did at Washington. It might be less prestigious, and I might be getting a music degree instead of a business degree, but I didn’t ever have much interest in business anyway.”

You nod slowly, at least glad to hear that Yanan’s doing okay. “You still seem to have a bit of a grudge towards Professor Yang, though.”

“That I do. Not just because he turned me in, though. I don’t particularly like the way he looks down on me all the time. He’s got a real ego problem.”

“You’ve got that right,” you murmur, thinking about the way Professor Yang first confronted you at the beginning of the year, how he assumed you must have been obsessively crushing on him to the point of intentionally seducing him at the wedding. He does seem to be quite a bit self-absorbed.

Changgu speaks up. “What about you, _____? It seemed like you and Professor Yang were pretty familiar with each other.”

And just like that, your ease gives way to mild anxiety. “Oh, I’m just in his class.” You try to brush it off.

Changgu nods, but you’re not really sure that he believes you. He serves you your eggs. “You know, I followed the two of you outside when he insisted on sending you home. Things between you seemed… heated.”

“Mm,” you hum, letting yourself take a bite of your eggs as you scramble to come up with an excuse. “It was just all of the adrenaline from the surprise performance I had to give, you know. And it’s easy to just return his fire with fire, especially because, you know, he’s messed up my grades a few times and I’ve had to have multiple talks with him about that, so like, there’s just tension, you know, but it’s not really a big deal or anything...” Like an idiot you ramble and over-share, just like you always do when you’re put on the spot.

“I see.” Changgu raises an eyebrow.

Yanan’s brow furrows as he tries to comprehend the beans you just spilled. “You’re telling me that Hongseok, the mathematical genius, messed up your grades?”

“Yeah, it’s so stupid, right? I don’t know what his deal is.” You force out an awkward laugh and follow it with a lie to try to soften the damage you’ve done. “It happened with my friend, too... I think he must just get distracted while he’s grading or something. Who knows?”

Yanan seems unwilling to let it go as he presses, “He boosts your grades?”

You nod, completely incapable of thinking through actions or words before letting them happen. “Ah, yeah. But it’s kind of a mix, I guess.”

And then the shittiest grin comes to Yanan’s lips. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t tell me he’s got a thing for you.”

It’s such an easy conclusion to come to, and you led him right to it. Now you’re totally frozen and unsure of how to respond. How are you supposed to answer that?

Changgu comes to your rescue, placing a hand on Yanan’s shoulder as he speaks. “Even if he does, it’s not her fault, and she doesn’t seem particularly comfortable with all of this, so why don’t we let it go? It’s all speculation, anyway.”

“Of course.” Yanan nods curtly, and an uncomfortable silence falls between the three of you.

The irony of this whole situation is not lost on you. If anything happens between you and Professor Yang, he’d be nothing less than a hypocrite now that you know he got Yanan in trouble for the same behavior. And if Yanan were to ever hear about it, you’re not confident that any interest he has in you would overshadow the opportunity for revenge. You’re just collateral damage in his feud with Professor Yang. 

Getting close to these boys might be more dangerous than you originally thought. 

Monday night rolls around, and you know you should be getting ready to head out for R&B ensemble… but instead you just anxiously pace through your living room, completely unsure if you can work up the courage to see Kino tonight.

You haven’t said a word to each other since your birthday party. He hasn’t even texted to indicate he wanted to walk with you to practice tonight, and you can’t say you blame him. You were kind of a huge dick to him after you kissed. You weren’t really in a good frame of mind to actually talk it through with him at the party, but the longer you wait to talk to him, the less of an excuse you have. You’re completely sober now, and you were yesterday, too. He’s one of your best friends - there’s no reason why you can’t talk to him about this. 

Really you know it’s because, no matter how close you are with him, you’re absolutely terrified about how badly the conversation could go.

You care about Kino so much. You honest-to-God love the kid. But do you care about him romantically? 

You pull your phone out and write out a quick text to Wooseok: Not feeling well, so I’m going to rest tonight. Can you tell teach I’m going to miss practice?

You just can’t work up the nerve to go in tonight.

Wooseok responds: No prob. U need anything?

You: No I’m ok, thank you though.

Wooseok: K. Rest up, short stuff.

Dropping your phone onto the couch, you resort to just jumping up and down because you’re so full of nervous energy. You don’t even want to start thinking about everything that’s transpired between you and Wooseok on top of your situation with Kino. He also hasn’t said much to you since the party, and you can’t help but wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that you ditched your own party to bang Yanan and Changgu.

That shouldn’t have bothered him since you agreed to only be friends, and it’s definitely not a decision you regret making. That night with the two seniors was incredible, even if the morning after took a turn for the worse.

Inevitably, your mind returns to Kino. You let out a low groan and burst into the bedroom where Nailah has been studying.

“Nailahhhhh,” you groan. “I don’t know what to do.”

Nailah holds up a finger and continues reading, and you just stand there jittering in silence while you wait for her to finish. After a solid thirty seconds that feels like five minutes, she snaps her textbook shut and looks up at you. “What’s wrong, boo?” 

“I have to talk to Kino but I don’t want to.”

“About what? The fact that you guys made out?”

You bite your lip and nod. “I haven’t talked to him since the party and I feel awful about it and I know that we need to just have a conversation but I’m terrified about what’ll happen and I honestly don’t even know how I feel?” Words come out of you stupidly fast as you try to express everything that you’re feeling.

She checks her phone, presumably to see what time it is. “Don’t you usually have a class tonight?”

“R&B Ensemble. I’m skipping. Not ready to see Kino yet.”

Nailah gives you a once-over, gets up from her bed, and starts digging through her dresser drawers. “You’ve got too much energy. Let’s go to the gym and work this out.”

“The gym?” Your mind briefly flashes back to the last time you went to the gym with her and you crossed paths with Professor Yang. That’s… potentially less of a problem right now. Hell, seeing Professor Yang working out would probably be a welcome distraction from everything with Kino. So what if he’s there? Besides, Nailah’s right - it would be nice to do something with all of this energy you’ve got right now. “Okay, yeah. Good idea.”

Nailah sits you down at the bicep curl machine and she squats in front of you while you try to do a few reps. “So talk to me about what happened. I know what I saw, but I want to hear it from you.”

You let out a strained exhale as you pull the handles up towards your chest. “I went out for some air, and Kino came out, and we were dancing to the music and I told him I love him.”

“What?” Her eyes widen.

“I do, though!” You pull up again. “Like the same way I love you, you know? And I think he took it to be something romantic, and then he kissed me. And I kissed him back.”

“Did you like it?”

Pull. “I did. He’s a good kisser.”

“But you’re conflicted.”

“Yeah.” Pull. “Because I don’t know if I like him that way. And I think he might like me that way. And what if I decide that I don’t like him that way, and then it ruins our friendship?”

“Is there a chance you might like him that way?”

You drop the handles. Is there? You think about all of the times you’ve hung out in practice rooms, all of the notes you send each other during class. And then you think about the dance showcase, the feeling of his fingers intertwined with yours, the press of his lips as he kissed your forehead that night. It’s undeniable that your heart beats a little faster as you think about him. “Shit. Maybe?”

“Okay.” Nailah nods. “Maybe isn’t a great answer.”

“I know,” you grumble. “That doesn’t give me any kind of clarity.”

“So just imagine that you talk to him about the kiss, and he tells you he likes you and he might even be interested in dating. How does that make you feel?” Nailah asks, and then she gestures to the machine to encourage you to keep going.

You pull up again. “I feel overwhelmed.”

“Now imagine that instead, he says that he was confused and he didn’t really mean it. He wants to stay friends. How does that make you feel?”

“...less overwhelmed.”

“That says a lot, doesn’t it?”

“But what if I’m only overwhelmed because it’s different, not because I dislike it?” Pull harder. “What if I’m less overwhelmed by staying friends just because that’s what I’m used to?”

“Well that’s something you’re going to have to examine. I don’t have the answer to that.” Nailah stands, crossing her arms over her chest.

You huff loudly, letting go of the bar again. “Why is this so difficult?”

“Are you telling me that you’re surprised that you don’t know what you want? Sweetie, indecision is your middle name,” she teases. “You made out with Kino and then slept with two other guys all in the same night. And don’t even get me started on whatever the hell is going on between you and that Wooseok kid.”

You feel your cheeks grow warm from embarrassment. “What do you mean? Why are you bringing up Wooseok?”

“I’m not dumb, _____. You’ve obviously got something going on with him. So ‘fess up.”

“Can I switch machines first?”

Nailah stands and gestures for you to come along. You sit side by side at two leg press machines, and you try not to feel intimidated by the amount of weight she sets on her machine. Once you’re both settled in, she looks over at you expectantly.

“So…” You try to figure out where to start, and then you decide you just need to dish the whole story. Besides, he’s already told Yuto about all of it, so you should get to have a confidante, too. “I offered to tutor him in music theory because he was struggling, and it was totally fine. Then one night he invited me over to his place when I was feeling particularly… feisty… and we got drunk and made out.”

“Ah, the Queen of Bad Decisions strikes again.” Nailah chuckles. “Continue.”

Her comment makes you roll your eyes, but it feels good that she’s so lighthearted about it. “So then we talked about it later and decided that we both would be okay with, like, occasionally hooking up in a totally casual way.”

She nods slowly. “You know, if I remember correctly, I believe I actually suggested you try hooking up with him, didn’t I?”

“Sure did,” you acknowledge with a flat tone, remembering the lunchtime conversation you had that feels like forever ago.

“And how long has this been going on?”

“Maybe like… a month and a half?”

“Okay, okay.” Nailah just keeps nodding. “Obviously I approve, but it’s also important that you feel comfortable with your choices and you’ve got a lot going on right now.”

It feels good to get all of this off of your chest. So good, in fact, that you contemplate filling her in on everything regarding Yanan and Professor Yang as well. But at this point nothing is happening between you and him, so there’s really no reason to talk about it. “You’re right. There’s just… a lot to think about.”

“Maybe Thanksgiving break will be good for you. You can head home, spend some time with your family, and avoid all of these boys for a long weekend. That might give you the time you need to clear your head and figure out what you want.” She pushes the machine with her legs, thigh muscles impressively bulging.

“Yeah. That’ll be nice.” You really are looking forward to heading home in a few days. It’ll be so nice to see Minseo again and get a break from all of the drama you’ve managed to create for yourself. “Can we be done here, now? You know I can’t match your stamina.”

Nailah laughs and gives one last push. “Sure, sweetie. Let’s head home.”

Even though working out with Nailah and talking it over with her helps you feel a little more at ease, it still doesn’t prepare you for the phone call you receive when you’re back at the apartment. 

Your phone lights up as it vibrates, the name City Boy pulling up on the screen.

“Nailah, he’s calling me.” You panic.

“Well answer it.” Nailah encourages you. “Now’s as good a time as any to talk it out.”

You almost let it go to voicemail, but at the last second you swipe to answer. Awkwardly, you say, “Heyyy! Kino, hey. What’s up?”

“Hey, _____.” He sounds incredibly mellow. “Are you feeling alright? Wooseok said you’re sick.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… just had a headache, that’s all.” You rub your forehead as you try to figure out what to tell him, and you duck into the bedroom to have a private conversation. “Thanks for checking in on me, though.”

“Of course.” Pause. “Um, so you’re probably home right now, right?”

“Mhm. Just resting,” you lie.

“Flash your light for me. I’m in my room, too.”

You do as he asks, and then you sit on the floor by your floor-to-ceiling window and look for his signal. Once you spot his room, you say, “Found you.”

Kino waves gently up at you, and you wave back. Then he clears his throat and runs his hand through his hair. “So I guess the reason I actually called is because I kind of had the feeling you might be avoiding me, and I know it’s not even a big deal because it’s only been, like, two days that we haven’t talked, and it’s totally understandable that you might want some space, but I just felt so bad that you didn’t come to rehearsal tonight and I don’t want you to avoid things you love because of me.”

You wait until he gets it all off of his chest, sitting quietly while you try to figure out how to respond. 

“I’m really sorry, _____. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that when we were both kind of out of it. And now I’m just terrified that I messed up so badly that I’m going to lose you completely, and I can’t stand the thought of it.”

“Kino…” 

“You don’t have feelings for me, do you?”

You can hear the reservation in his voice. This is terrifying territory for both of you. You take a deep breath and respond as honestly as you can. “I don’t know. I care about you a lot, but I’m not sure yet if any of it is romantic.” He doesn’t respond right away, so you ask, “What about you? Do you have feelings for me?”

Kino sighs quietly. “Actually, I don’t know, either. I might. But if that’s not what you want, I can absolutely squash that so we can keep being friends. That’s the most important thing to me.”

You sit quietly for a moment. “I think I need time. I’ve just never really thought about you that way, but then after you kissed me… I don’t know. I’m really sorry that I’m so confused by all of this. I really wish I could give you a straight answer.”

“It’s okay.” Kino’s voice is warm. “You don’t have to push yourself in one direction or the other. We can just sit on it for a little bit, and maybe talk about it after break once you’ve had some time to think?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” you respond softly, grateful that he’s not pushing you for an answer one way or the other.

“But I guess one thing I’d like to know now is, are we still friends?” 

“Yes! Of course we are,” you respond without hesitation. “No matter what we decide, we’ll stay friends at the very least.”

“Okay good.” He smiles up at you from his window. “You’re going home for break, right?”

“Mhm, I’m taking the train out on Wednesday night,” you say. “What about you? Are you visiting your family?”

“Yeah. I don’t really want to, though.”

Based on past conversations with Kino, and the emotional performance he choreographed for the showcase, you’ve pieced together how he doesn’t have a great relationship with his parents. But you’ve never gotten the full story. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Kino sighs. “It’s just hard to be around my parents. My mom is emotionally abusive and my dad doesn’t do anything to stop it. If I were an only child, there’s no way in hell I’d go back there for Thanksgiving. But I miss my sisters and I need to make sure they’re doing alright.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that. I think your sisters are really lucky to have a brother like you.”

“Thanks. I feel guilty enough that I even went to college in the first place, and I know I don’t visit home as often as I should. It was easier for me to protect my siblings when I still lived there, but I was also at my wit’s end. I can’t tell you how much better I’ve felt since starting college, as long as you don’t count the guilt of abandoning my siblings.”

“You have to look out for yourself, too, though. If you had stayed home and taken all the blows, what kind of life would you be making for yourself? If your sisters are anything like you, then I know they’re kind-hearted and strong, and they’ll make it out of the house too when it’s their turn.”

Kino sniffs, and you wonder if he’s crying. He’s just far enough away that it’s hard to tell. “You’re right.”

“You should invite your sisters to hang out with us sometime. We could all go do karaoke together or something.”

“I’m sure they’d love that! That would be really fun.” Kino sounds a little lighter now. “Thanks, _____. I’ve been so stressed about my family situation since I know I’m going home this week, and talking to you really helps me feel better.”

“Of course! What are friends for?”

“I need to get going, but there was actually one more thing I wanted to ask you about.”

“Go for it.”

“Can you be honest with me about Wooseok? You two just got so close so fast, and it’s not like that’s a problem or anything, but… do you like him? Are you two a thing? Because I’ve been suspicious for a while and I think knowing if there’s something going on between you two will help me figure out what I’m feeling.”

Your heart drops into your stomach. Why are you so afraid to be honest with him about it? At this point you’ve denied it quite a few times around him, and it sounds like he doesn’t fully believe you. So you really have no choice but to tell him the truth. 

He continues. “Do you remember the night you got drunk with him and then crashed at my place? You told me about what you two did, and I just… I want to know if it happened again.”

You swallow hard, and then spit it out. “We’re just friends, but we’ve slept together a few times.”

“Ah.” Kino sounds disappointed. “And you don’t have any feelings for him?”

“I don’t.” You adamantly respond, but even as you say the words you’re not positive they’re the truth. So you say, “I mean, I don’t think I do.”

“Got it. Well thank you for telling me. I have to get going though, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

You’re surprised by how abruptly he excuses himself from the conversation, but you don’t really feel like you’re in a place to ask him to stay. “Okay. Talk to you later.”

He hangs up without saying goodbye, and you can tell that must have hurt him. You had no choice but to be honest, because it’s time you start facing your messes - even if it creates new ones in the process. But as you flop back onto your bed, you realize that Kino’s response speaks volumes about how he actually feels about you.

Anxious, you check the time on your phone again. Shinhye should be here by now, but she’s nowhere to be seen. It’s just you at the bus stop. You decide to call her just to make sure she’s actually coming.

She answers on the third ring. “Hey, _____…”

“Shinhye, are you coming? We’re going to be so late to Professor Yang’s exhibit.” You bounce on the balls of your feet as if that will help keep you warm.

“I don’t think I can make it, actually, I think I’m coming down with something. I just really don’t feel well.”

“Oh no! I’m sorry,” you pout. “That sucks. Well get lots of rest then, okay?”

“I will.” Shinhye sighs. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I just, like, took a nap and I thought that I set an alarm, but apparently I didn’t.”

“It’s totally okay. I’ll see if someone else can go with me. You just get better.”

“I’ll do my best,” she chuckles lightly. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you.”

You hang up and frown. You were really hoping she’d come with you today. Professor Yang had announced in class this morning that he’s got an exhibit tonight, and anyone who attended would get extra credit for the class. You’re genuinely interested in seeing more of the instruments he’s made, so you’re excited to go. You just don’t know if you want to go alone.

You could call Kino, since he’s usually your go-to guy whenever you need a companion, but you still feel weird about the way the conversation ended last night. It would probably be awkward for the two of you to make the trip together.

And there’s Wooseok… Maybe you should give him a ring. Things have also been a little off with him since the party, but it feels easier to ignore that weirdness than the tension between you and Kino. You go ahead and give him a call.

“_____! Heyyyy,” Wooseok drawls. “I miss you.”

“You miss me?” You laugh quietly, immediately recognizing the boozed-up drawl of his voice. “Or are you just drunk?”

He gasps. “How did you know?”

“Wooseok, it’s a Tuesday night. What are you doing getting hammered?”

“My morning class tomorrow got canceled because of TURKEY DAY WOOOOOOOO- OH SHIT-”

You hear a crash of glass, and your eyes widen. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, totallyyyy- totally fine. It’s fine. I just dropped my cup, but it’s fine. I was talking to you so I got distracted.”

“Is Minho there?”

“No, he went home already. Can you come over? I wanna see you.”

“I can’t right now, I have somewhere to be. But if you put the alcohol away and just drink water for the rest of the night, I think I can come over later.”

“Yes, ma’am. Gotta drink that water. I can do that.” 

“Good,” you laugh. “Be careful, okay? And don’t try to pick up the broken glass with your hands. Just sweep it off to the side and we’ll clean it up later.”

“Why do you sound like my mom?” 

“Because that’s what you need right now,” you laugh. “I’ll text you later, okay?”

“Okay. You’re great. Bye.”

You hang up. That was a bust. After a few minutes you still can’t think of anyone else you’d want to invite. But then the bus arrives and you decide that you’d rather just be on your way than try to find another person to come with.

It’s a long ride, and you’re later than you wanted to be. By the time you arrive, you pass a few other students from your class on their way out. Actually, the whole place looks pretty empty. Did you miss it?

The door is unlocked, so you let yourself in, the little bells on the handle jingling to signal your arrival. In a matter of seconds, Professor Yang’s head pops out from around a corner.

“Hey, we’re actually clo… oh, hi.” When he sees you, his eyes widen a little, made all the more obvious by the round frames that sit atop his nose. You've never seen him in glasses before, and it's a good look for him. But he could pull off literally anything, so you’re not surprised.

Still, you frown, feeling like you really wasted your time hauling ass the whole way up to the north side just to arrive as soon as it's ending. You should have just gotten on the earlier bus instead of waiting for Shinhye. “Shit, I knew I was running late, but I didn’t think I was going to miss the whole thing.”

Professor Yang steps out into the exhibit room, pulling back the sleeves of his deep blue sweater. “It’s okay, I’m not going to kick you out.” 

“It sounded like you were about to,” you joke, trying to make light of the situation.

“Yeah, but you’re…” Professor Yang looks for a brief moment like he’s having difficulty deciding how to qualify you. “...my student.”

“I am,” you respond awkwardly. “Um, I know you were going to give us extra credit for being here, but you don’t have to do that since it's clearly over.”

He glances at the watch on his wrist. “If you let me show you around and tell you about some of the instruments for, like, fifteen minutes, I can give you credit.”

“That sounds good to me." You smile, but unfortunately your stupid ass can't just leave it there. You tack on, "Teach me, Professor.” And you laugh awkwardly, immediately regretting everything.

He chuckles, possibly out of politeness, and leads you to the first guitar on display. “You’re already familiar with this one. She’s the one I keep in my office.”

“I remember,” you admire the gorgeous instrument as you slip your coat off, already getting warm now that you're indoors. “She’s the reason why I was so excited to see what else you’ve built.”

“She’s one of my best, so don’t be too disappointed in the others,” he laughs.

As he walks through the exhibit with you, he speaks in detail about each of his creations. He explains to you how he decides what type of wood to work with, and his process for cutting and shaping the instruments. His collection is mostly guitars - some twelve-strings and classical guitars included - as well as ukuleles and mandolins. Although he suggested he’d only take up fifteen minutes of your time, he speaks with you about his instruments for well over an hour, and you soak up all of the information he’s willing to share with you. 

During your tour, you notice more than a few empty instrument stands. “Why are some missing?”

“I sold them,” he explains. “Part of the purpose of this exhibit was to sell some of the instruments I’ve built, and the other part was to get commissions. I was successful in both parts.”

“That’s amazing! Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” He beams. “I’m eager to start working on the new projects.”

“Where do you do your building? Do you have all the tools at home?”

He shakes his head. “Definitely not. I rent a workshop space. Or if I’m able, I’ll try to do some work in the shop we use for class.” With another glance at his watch, he takes a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m sorry for talking your ear off. It’s getting late so I should really start getting packed up.”

“Oh, it’s like over over?”

“Yeah, tonight was the last of two nights. So I have to clean up, close up, and get the keys back to the shop owner first thing tomorrow morning.”

Without thinking, you offer, “I can help."

“Nonsense. I won’t make you do that.”

“You have a lot of instruments, it’ll be a lot faster if you just let me help. I don’t mind it. Honestly.”

He surveys you, angling his body directly at you for the first time all night - not that you're hyper-aware of his body language or anything. “Alright. Let’s go get the cases.”

You bring the custom-made soft cases from the back out into the exhibit space. He has them organized well, so it’s easy to find which instruments belong in which cases. In no time, you’ve got them all cased up and ready to go.

Carrying a few instruments at a time, you walk with him through the back door to the small parking lot - only three spaces available behind the building. He walks up to the dinkiest little Nissan and manually unlocks the front door, pulling a lever on the floor to pop open the trunk.

“Wow,” you can’t help but laugh. “I didn’t expect you to drive such an old-looking car.”

“Yeah, I’ve had this thing for forever. I have other more important things to put my money towards.” He lifts one of the guitars he holds, making it clear that his luthier hobby preoccupies most of his funds. 

Together, you make a few trips to grab all of the instruments and load up his car, carefully placing each instrument into the trunk and back seat. Once he’s packed, you check your phone for the next bus time. The next bus isn’t for half an hour, and you frown. The damn thing is always running late anyway, so you know it’ll take much longer than thirty minutes.

“How are you getting home?” He asks, as if reading your mind.

“The bus. It’s not too far from here. I should probably head out, actually. Don’t want to miss it.” Even though you know the bus won’t show up for a while, you intentionally excuse yourself with a lie. It’s best that you just head on out.

Professor Yang checks his trusty watch yet again. “I’ll give you a ride.”

Your eyes widen. That’s the complete opposite of what should happen right now. “No, no, it’s okay. I don’t want to inconvenience you. I take the bus all the time and it’s really not a big deal. Plus it drops off right across from my dorm so it’s actually really convenient for me.”

He shakes his head, unwilling to accept it. “It’s late, it’s cold out, and this isn’t a great neighborhood. Even if it were warmer out, I still couldn’t let you stand around out here by yourself.”

You’re hesitant to accept, although a car ride does sound pretty nice. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

He nods confidently. “You’ve shown that you can be mature about our relationship, so I think this is something we can both comfortably handle.”

It’s a weird compliment, but you’ll take it. You really have been trying hard to just let things be normal between the two of you, and it seems to be going okay. And then you have an idea - as in an attempt to prove just how normal everything is, you ask him, “Do you need extra hands to help unload at your place? You’ll have to make a million trips by yourself. Since we’re... okay with each other and everything, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

He takes a moment to think. “I suppose it would be helpful.”

“Cool. We’ll just unload and then I can probably catch a bus from there. Maybe a taxi if you’re close enough to downtown that it won’t cost me a fortune.” 

“I can still drive you the rest of the way,” he insists.

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be weird if other students at the dorm saw me getting out of your car? They might get the wrong idea.”

“I’ll drop you off a block away, then.”

“Fine,” you concede. Somehow it feels like you’ve won. Profesor Yang didn’t seem to think it was possible that the two of you could look past the one night you spent together and just get along normally, yet here you are making totally regular plans to just be in each others’ presence with absolutely no tension or weirdness whatsoever. That’s a success in your book.

You hop in on the passenger’s side. The inside of the car looks about as nice as the outside, and you suppress your giggle. It shouldn’t be so funny to you that an all-business guy like Professor Yang could still drive some piece of junk car. It’s kind of endearing that he’s so… normal. 

And then he gets in, turns on the car, and does the fucking dad thing - the thing where he puts the car in reverse, places a hand on the back of your seat, and completely fucking twists around to look out the back instead of just using the mirrors.

“Oh my God,” you can’t control your laughter.

Professor Yang throws a weird look your way as he backs out of the parking space. “What are you laughing at?”

“You really are an old man. You know, they give you mirrors for a reason. You should be careful twisting your back like that, you’re going to pull something in your old age, what with that frail, old-man body you’ve got.” You snicker, mimicking an elderly person with lower back pain.

“What are you talking about?” His eyes widen and he brakes, his hand still on your seat as he faces you. “First of all, I’m not even thirty yet, so cut it out. And I’m not going to address what you just said about my body because we both know that’s not even close to the truth.”

You ignore the fact that he very clearly, possibly intentionally, just reminded you that you quite intimately know what his body is like. You ignore the fact that the way he’s posed is actually really hot because of how his jacket hangs open and his sweater pulls tightly across his muscled chest. You ignore the fact that it would be so easy for him to lean over the console and kiss you. 

You swallow hard. There are a million red flags, but you ignore them all. Remember that he’s completely over you.

“Okay but you did just address it by saying that,” you say, trying to sound unaffected.

“Come on, I can’t just let you talk about me that way. It’s a lot of work to stay this fit and here you are calling me frail and old like you’re not-” He bites his tongue. 

“Like I’m not what?” Into it? Attracted? Drooling about it every time you picture him shirtless?

“I was going to say, ‘like you’re not walking around in a twelve-year-old’s body,’ but then I decided that would just be mean.” 

Your face heats up. You really shouldn’t be talking about bodies with him right now. Not when he just said that the two of you are mature enough to just be normal with each other. It’s so tempting to remind him how not prepubescent your body is, but you finally use some good judgment and decide to watch your words. “It’s just as mean as me calling you old, so it’s only fair.”

“I guess so.” Professor Yang laughs quietly, and then he falls silent. Maybe he’s fighting the same battle as you, trying not to picture you under him. Or maybe he actually has his shit together and this isn’t an issue for him. 

For once, he finally trusts you to be normal around him. You can’t blow it.

As you drive through the city, you tune into the rock music coming from his stereo. And the music selection is so ironic it fucking hurts.

“Don't want to be no uptown fool Maybe I should go to hell, but I'm doin' well, Teacher needs to see me after school...

“I think of all the education that I missed But then my homework was never quite like this Ow got it bad, got it bad, got it bad, I'm hot for teacher I got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher...”

You just sit there in wide-eyed terror as Van Halen streams from the speakers, and it takes Professor Yang a minute too long to realize what’s playing. He sucks in a quick breath when he notices, and scrambles to change the station. 

He settles on another rock station that’s currently playing Def Leppard, and you try to make light of the situation. “Do you only have rock stations programmed on here?”

Professor Yang clears his throat and tries to relax back in his seat, casually gripping the bottom of the steering wheel with one hand. “I just have a favorite genre, don’t act like you’re any different. I’m sure I could probably guess what you’re listening to.”

“Go ahead, then.” You laugh. “What do you think is the last song I played on my phone?”

His lips press into a line as he thinks. “Okay, this is somewhat of an educated guess. I’m going to go with “Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder.”

“Solid choice, but that’s not it.” You don’t actually remember what you were listening to earlier, but you know it wasn’t Stevie Wonder. 

“Plug your phone in, then. Let’s hear it.” He fishes out the aux cord, holding it out to you. 

“Oh man,” you laugh as you pull out your phone. “You’re really gonna slam me if I’ve got something stupid pulled up.”

“That’s the point. I’m testing your taste.”

It feels like he’s in exceptionally high spirits tonight. Maybe it’s because the exhibit went so well. Whatever the case, it helps you feel lighter. You plug in the phone and open your music - and luckily you’ve got a damn good song ready to go.

“You know The Emotions?” You ask him.

“Sounds familiar.”

You press play, and “Best of My Love” picks up somewhere in the middle.

“Oh, I think I know this song!” He pipes up. “Wow, I haven’t heard this in forever.”

“It’s so good! One of my favorites, actually.” 

“Demonstrating free love and affection That you give so openly The way I feel about you, baby, can't explain it Want the whole wide world to see Oh, woah You’ve got the best of my love...”

You force yourself to avoid looking over at him as you listen to the lyrics, realizing just how terrible this song choice actually is given the history between the two of you. But still, it’s a little less applicable than Van Halen, so you leave it on. You just remind yourself yet again that you’re over him, and he’s over you. Whatever’s going on between you now is totally, completely normal and regular and fine.

As you both quietly listen to your music, you wonder what’s going on in Professor Yang’s head. Eventually he speaks up, and it’s a completely different topic.

“I’m excited to see how your dulcimer turns out,” he says simply.

“Me too. I feel pretty good about it.”

“I’m impressed with what you’ve done so far. I think it’ll sound quite nice once it’s finished.” He makes a right turn, sparing a glance your way. “The true test will be part of your final.”

“What do you mean?”

“For the last day of class, you’ll have to write and perform a minute-long piece on your instrument.”

You squint skeptically “Don’t you think you’re giving me a bit of an advantage by telling me that now?”

“Do you know how to play a dulcimer?”

“No.”

“Do you have access to one that you could practice on?”

“No.”

“Then no, I don’t think you’re getting an advantage. I’m going to tell everyone else about the assignment next week. They’ll all have just as much time to prepare as you.”

You suppose that makes sense and he isn’t actually giving you any kind of benefit, but you can’t help thinking of all of the bogus grade adjustments you’ve had to confront him about. It sits with you weirdly, and you struggle to decide whether you should say anything about it.

Eventually you reach your destination. He lives in a cute little neighborhood on the north side in one of those little houses that has been converted into apartments. There aren’t any open parking spots on the street in front of his place, but he manages to find a spot on the next block. 

As he parallel parks, he turns around in his seat again to look out the back. And this time when he twists, he hisses and grabs his back like he’s in pain. “Ah, so old…”

It’s incredibly obvious that he’s faking because he’s a terrible actor, and you laugh. “This is why we have mirrors.”

He laughs with you and finishes pulling into the space. You both hop out and grab a few instruments from the back, and you let him lead the way down the sidewalk.

Professor Yang pauses at the door while he fishes for the right key. “I should warn you, I have a cat. Are you allergic?”

“Nope,” you smile. “I love cats!”

“He can be a little shy so he might not say hello.” He opens the main door and holds it open for you to step inside. You’re confronted with two more doors - one straight ahead and one to the right. He slips past you to unlock the one in front of you. He flips the light switch, illuminating the full length of the wooden staircase that heads directly up into his apartment. “Sorry to make you go up and down so many stairs. If you want, you can just stay down here and I’ll do all the heavy lifting.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” you scoff. “I’m here to help. I’m not just going to stand around and watch.” You confidently cross the threshold into his apartment, taking the literal first step into his personal life. You feel kind of nervous about coming inside, but you suck it up. This is only a big deal if you make it one, and you refuse to do that.

The stairs drop you off at a hallway that stretches off to your left, and an open kitchen and living room area is off to the right. You can’t see too much of it because the lights over there are still turned off, but you can see the tall window-doors that lead to the balcony outside.

“You can drop them off in the living room. Don’t worry about taking shoes off since we’re just heading back out again anyway.” He comes up behind you and flips another light, illuminating the living room and kitchen.

You do as he instructs, placing the instruments against the wall in the living room. The room is minimally decorated with a nice couch, a single armchair, and two large bookcases filled to the brim with books - save for the one shelf that is packed with vinyl records. It doesn’t surprise you to see so many books and records - he seems like he’s very well-read, and he’s enough of a music lover that of course he’d enjoy listening to records.

As much as you want to check out his collection, you know that you shouldn’t explore his apartment. You’re here to unload his instruments. That’s it.

You force yourself to turn away from the bookshelves and vaguely gesture towards the stairs. “Shall we?”

It takes a few trips, but eventually you get all of the instruments inside. All the while you’re incredibly aware of how close he is when he holds the doors open for you, or how damn cute the back of his head is when you’re following him down the stairs. You hate it - how can the back of a head be cute?

Over and over, you remind yourself: I’m over him. I’m over him.

You set down the last guitar with a small sigh. “I can’t imagine you having to do all of this by yourself. I’m glad I came to help.”

“I could have handled it, but thank you for your assistance.” Professor Yang steps into the kitchen. “Do you need anything to drink before I take you home?”

“Oh, no, thank you.” You shake your head, not wanting to impose. “Um, but can I use your restroom?”

“Sure. It’s the second door down the hall.” He gestures around the corner.

You follow his directions. When you’re finished peeing and washing your hands, you notice a pretty blue cologne bottle sitting on his counter. You pick it up and sniff it. Sure enough, it’s exactly the cologne you remember smelling on him. It’s absolutely delicious, and against your better judgment, you spritz it once on the inside of your jacket, zipping it up to lock in the scent and hopefully keep him from noticing the weird-as-fuck thing you just did.

When you come out of the bathroom, you head back towards the kitchen, but just then he comes out of his bedroom, startling you and nearly bumping into you.

“Oh!” You shout as you jump backwards, laughing. “Sorry.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“It’s okay.” You brush it off.

He sniffs the air, and that’s when you know you fucked up. “Did you spray my cologne?”

You bite your lip, knowing there’s no point in lying. “I did.” He looks at you questioningly, so you fill in the gaps. “It just smells really good. I’m sorry.”

Professor Yang just watches you, and you’re fully aware of what a terrible idea it was to spray his cologne. And also what a terrible idea it was for you to even step foot into his apartment, let alone get in a car with him.

The rapid beating of your heart tells you that you’re still not over him. You don’t want to be over him.

What are you doing here? Why did you let yourself get to this point? 

You need to leave. You need to turn around and get yourself out of this mess. But for some reason, you’re completely captivated by his gaze, frozen in place and entirely unable to save yourself from the impending disaster.

It’s been far too long since he’s said anything, and you’re dying to know what’s going on in his head. “What are you thinking right now?”

Too honestly, he responds, “It’s a bad idea for me to answer that question.”

“That answer makes it so much worse. What am I supposed to assume you’re thinking when you say that?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t assume anything.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you just answer my question.”

He huffs. “I’m thinking that you shouldn’t have come here. That you’re only twenty. That I can’t trust myself to…”

“Hm?” You hum, encouraging him to finish his sentence.

“I can’t trust myself to make good choices around you.”

Your heart beats wildly in your chest. Is he struggling just as much as you? Is he feeling the same pull of temptation, knowing that you’re all alone in his apartment, literally steps away from his bedroom? You have to be careful about what you say. “You’ve been doing a great job so far.”

“Why are you here?”

It’s obvious that he’s questioning your intentions, just like he did the first time he realized you were in his class. “I swear I just came to help with your instruments. I’m not trying to be sneaky.”

“Right.” Professor Yang’s lips press into a tight line, and you’re dying to know what’s going on inside his head.

It feels like he’s faltering. Like he’s holding your gaze for too long, keeping you in this apartment longer than you should be. You can’t help but feel responsible for getting yourself out of this before you both make a mistake.

But… part of you doesn’t want to stop this moment, doesn’t want to break free from whatever trap you’re falling into. 

“I don’t know what to do.” You don’t think carefully enough about your words. “It feels like… we’re already keeping a secret. One more won’t make a difference.”

“You know damn well that the secret isn’t the issue. You’re my student. That’s the issue. It’s morally wrong.” Even as he speaks, you can feel that he doesn’t totally stand behind his words. Like he’s trying to convince himself that it would be wrong to act on whatever he’s feeling right now.

You remember everything Yanan told you about how Professor Yang has always had a rock-solid stance against teacher-student relations… But it seems like he could be questioning his own morality. If he really wants to shut this down, he could just break out of this moment and head for the car, drive you home and forget this even happened.

But he doesn’t.

It’s painfully silent between you - no one wants to make a move, no one wants to withdraw. You're desperate to just talk about all of this, but you're terrified of what could happen if you speak. You’re just stuck in this awkward limbo of not knowing what’s going to happen next.

You want so badly to reach out to him. To pull him close and feel him. You wonder what he’d be like as a lover now that you’re no longer strangers. It would be so easy for you to find out…

You take one small step towards him as a small sign that you’re open and willing, academia be damned. Professor Yang’s lips part ever so slightly as he scans your face, but he doesn’t back away.

Suddenly, there’s a noise in the kitchen, and you jump away from Professor Yang as if you’ve been caught - but it’s just his cat spilling its food all over the kitchen floor. 

Still, that cut in the tension is enough to pull you out of the moment and help you clear your head. This is bad, and you need to leave. You refuse to look at him as you mutter, “I need to go.”

The second you try to pass him to hurry down the stairs, he turns and reaches out, grabbing you by the wrist and stopping you in your tracks. The heat of his hand sears your skin.

“What are you-”

Before you can finish your question, Professor Yang pulls you into him, wraps an arm tightly around you, and presses one long, powerful kiss to your lips. 

Your whole body lights up from head to toe. It’s an adrenaline rush like no other, a hit of the drug you were hopelessly addicted to that one summer night. This is exactly what you’ve been craving - his strong arms and soft lips remind you just how badly you’ve wanted his touch.

When he breaks the kiss, he presses his forehead to yours, breathing shakily. “Why can’t I get you out of my head?” And in that moment, it’s shockingly clear to you that he’s struggling with all of this just as much as you are. 

God, you’re so done for. This man completely owns your heart. Without a doubt, you’re a complete and total sucker for him. And it’s frighteningly easy for you to own up to that, as you say the most dangerous thing you could possibly say: “You don’t have to, Hongseok.”

His jaw visibly clenches when you say his name, and his voice is strained when he finally speaks. “Tell me again that you need to leave. Tell me to drive you home right now.”

“If I don’t?” You challenge.

“Then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t keep you here.” Hongseok swallows thickly. “So tell me I should take you home.”

Your pulse is through the roof as he pulls back and your eyes lock, and you know that you’re way too impulsive to do as he asks. You’ve been pining after this man for months, and here he is, kissing you and practically admitting that he feels the same way. You can’t just go home now.

“I don’t want to go home.” You grab onto the hem of his sweater and tilt your chin upwards, inviting him to kiss you again. “I only want you.”

This feels nothing like the night you met him, when he was playful and sure of himself. It’s like you can sense all of the weight he’s carried with him over the last few months. His eyes scan over your face, and you get to see the slightest smile on his lips before he finally leans in to close the gap.

Just like that, you get everything you’ve wanted from him. Hongseok’s lips are just as plush as you remember and you completely melt into the kiss, and his rough hands cup your face. You feverishly return each kiss, grabbing fistfuls of his sweater and pulling him towards you. Your nose bumps the rim of his glasses, but you don’t mind it one bit.

Hongseok kisses you like his life depends on it. He yanks your jacket off of your shoulders, tossing it onto the ground as he backs you into his bedroom. Every time he cups your cheek or grabs your waist, you feel like you could just shatter in his hands. 

You’re finally getting your fix and you love it. 

His passion is explosive as he kisses you, wrapping an arm around your waist to pull you in close. The strength and heat of him surprises you, as if your body has forgotten what it’s like to be with him. His lips are so soft and warm, and you’re swallowed whole by your insatiable lust for him.

You slip your hands under the hem of his sweater, desperate to feel his skin. You can feel every defined muscle as you drag your fingers across his back, and you moan quietly against his mouth when you feel his hand reach down to squeeze your ass.

Pleasure shoots through you with every small contact. His breath mingles with yours and gives you life, each kiss keeping your heart beating happily in your chest. Everything just feels so damn good. 

You both stumble towards his bed, tearing at each others’ clothes until you finally get that sweater off of him and he gets you out of your top as well. The backs of your legs bump into the edge of his bed right before he pushes you back onto the comforter. You fall onto your back, and he leans over you, his mouth latching onto your neck as his hand fiddles with the button of your jeans.

You drag your fingers through his silky hair, and you feel him suck deeply on the skin at the base of your throat. It’s just strong enough to hurt a little, and you dig your nails into his back. “Oh my God,” you moan, absolutely possessed with lust as he marks you.

Hongseok yanks off your pants, and releases you so that he can unfasten his own. You prop yourself up on your elbows to watch as he unclothes himself, his round glasses still perched on the bridge of his nose. He is just breathtakingly gorgeous.

There’s so much you want to ask him - was it hard for him to see you in class? Has he been thinking of you this whole semester? But you don’t ask any of those things, because you’re terrified to draw attention to your academic relationship. Sleeping with your professor is obviously the wrong choice to make, but you honestly couldn’t give a shit about any of that right now. It’s almost thrilling for you to know that you’re doing something you shouldn’t - but if you remind Hongseok of that, there’s a chance he’s not on the same page.

Hongseok smiles at you with that drop-dead gorgeous grin he has, and you know that at least right now he’s content to have you like this, spread out on his bed and waiting for him to finish getting naked. And that’s enough for you to decide to let the whole thing go and just enjoy living in the moment. You’re not going to ruin this by worrying.

As soon as he drops his pants, he’s on you again, like he couldn’t stand another second of distance from you. Hongseok’s mouth peppers your chest with kisses as a hand snakes beneath your back to unclasp your bra. He frees you from the garment, and his mouth eagerly wraps around one of your nipples, tonguing it and sucking gently.

“Bite it,” you plead, and he very willingly does as you ask. His teeth pinch your nipple, and you nearly cry out because it feels so good.

The last time you and Hongseok hooked up, you might have taken all the time in the world to get to explore each other’s bodies, but you could tell tonight would not be that way. You’ve both waited long enough for this dam to break and you need him so desperately.

You tug on his hair and he roughly palms you through your underwear, rushed and eager. After just a few moments he pushes your panties to the side and runs his fingers across your slickness. You’re so wet for him already.

He aggressively plunges one finger inside of you, practically shuddering at the way you moan when he does. He pumps a few times before slipping in another finger.

Then he pulls away from you. “Don’t move.” He goes over to his closet, and pulls down a box of condoms from the shelf. You smile, and then become quickly distracted as he pulls off his boxer briefs, his hard cock grabbing your attention. 

He rolls on the condom and yanks you to the edge of the bed, slipping off your panties before bringing your legs to rest on his shoulders. He lines up the head of his cock with your pussy and presses inside of you, covering your legs with kisses and bites as his hips buck into yours.

It’s absolutely incredible and you’re so full with every thrust. His hips snap wildly into you and you moan, loving every second of this. Pure pleasure shoots through you, and then you fucking open your eyes.

It’s easy for you to just screw your eyes shut when you’re having sex, because closing your eyes lets you focus more on the pleasure that you feel. But when you look up to see Hongseok staring down at you with those sharp eyes of his, his rough fingers digging into your thighs, his abdominal muscles flexing every time his cock disappears inside of you… how could you not allow yourself to watch?

“You’re so fucking hot, oh my God…” The words come out against your will, but the deadly smirk on his lips makes you not regret it.

“I know.”

Cue the eyeroll. “And still a cocky little shit.”

“I might be.” Hongseok pulls your legs down so that they fall to either side of his waist, and he leans down over you, his lips brushing your ear. It’s clear that he’s not affected by the insult, and judging by the way the pace of this thrusting increases, you can only assume that he’s trying to prove his worth.

His forearms scoop under your upper back and his hands cradle your head as he fucks you, his kisses overwhelming your senses. You slip a hand between your bodies to rub your clit, and you moan against his mouth.

Pleasure burns through your body, your heart racing with each kiss, each thrust. The only thought in your head is the repeated chant of more, more, more, I need more. His cock slides deliciously in and out of you, completely covered in your wetness, but it isn't enough. Your fingers tirelessly press circles into your clit, but it isn't enough. You need more.

"Hongseok…" You mewl his name when he finally comes up for air. 

His eyelids hang heavily as he hovers over you. "_____…"

Fuck, he's so beautiful. It steals your breath away to see him looking at you like this, breathing hard as he pounds into you. His gaze is possessive, like he's finally claimed you, and you honestly wouldn't mind calling yourself his. But that's neither here nor there. 

You forcefully clench around him, squeezing his cock with all you've got. He certainly notices - he hisses as his eyes pinch shut at the feeling of you so tightly wrapped around his cock. His deep groan sends a shiver down your spine.

Hongseok’s voice is low as he says, “Christ, you feel so good.”

You don’t know what to say, or if you should even say anything. Hongseok’s expression is so serious as he locks eyes with you, like he’s genuinely lost in your gaze. It’s intimidating, yet it makes your heart race in the most incredible way.

You reach up to run your fingers through his hair, noting how easily the soft strands slip between your fingers and how his whole face softens at the touch. Hongseok’s eyes close as he leans into your hand, enjoying the gentle intimacy.

He slows the pace of his thrusting until he’s languidly rolling into you, his arm muscles bulging beneath you as he holds himself up. You move your hand to cup his face, and he presses a kiss to your palm, never breaking eye contact.

Fuck. You remember exactly why it was so easy to pretend like you were in love that first night.

Your fingers trace over his cheekbone, his jaw, his lips, remembering the excitement of exploring him for the first time. This time feels so different - it’s a weird combination of a dangerous thrill and caution. It’s impossible to remove from your mind the fact that you really shouldn’t be doing this - you’re too overwhelmed by wanting him to pay much attention to the rules of reality.

But you see it on his face, too. The trepidation, the hesitation, and the incredible amount of desire that overrides everything else. 

As if Hongseok can tell that you’re beginning to overthink, he presses another kiss to your hand and gives you an easy smile. Softly, he murmurs, “It’s just you and me tonight.”

Aaaannnnddddd suddenly you’ve melted into a complete puddle.

“Just you and me,” you echo. 

Hongseok lowers himself, meeting your lips with another passionate kiss. You grab hold of his hair and return each kiss, moaning quietly as he picks up his pace ever so slightly. His tongue slides between your lips as your hand returns to your clit, electric pleasure pulsing through you once more.

You are absolutely content to stay here all night, trapped in his embrace with his cock thrusting deep inside of you with every movement. You don’t want a single centimeter of space between you and him. 

When you’re both breathing too hard to kiss properly, his mouth travels down to your neck, pressing sloppy kisses along your throat. Every swipe of his tongue draws a quiet cry from you, and you clench your muscles around his cock to return the pleasurable favor. 

You hear a deep moan from him, confirmation that you’re making him feel good, too. It’s like music to your ears; all you want is for him to feel good.

Instead of continuing to touch yourself, you use both hands to scrape the short tips of your fingernails down his back to elicit more sounds from him. And then you cup his ass and encourage him to press harder, deeper. And you keep clenching.

“Jesus Christ,” Hongseok mutters. He’s unraveling in your hands. You can feel it.

“What is it, Hongseok?” You play dumb, letting out a sweet moan just a moment after posing your question.

“You keep squeezing me…” Hongseok’s breath is shaky, and part of you loves seeing him so affected by you. “It feels so good, fuck.”

Digging your fingernails into his ass cheeks, you ask, “Do you want to cum?”

You clench around him again right as he’s about to answer. “Aaahhh… fuck, oh my God.” He looks up at you with the slightest smile on his face. “What are you doing to me?”

“Making sure you feel good.” You smile coyly at him. “Is it working?”

“Yes. Fuck.” Hongseok lets out a short laugh.

Boldly, you ask, “Why don’t you cum for me then? Let me see you cum...”

“Is that what you want?”

“Mhm.” You nod, smiling.

Hongseok lowers his lips to your ear. “Alright, sweetheart.”

The nickname shocks your core - you don’t know why you’re such a sucker for it. You’re inclined to believe that just about anyone could call you sweetheart and immediately have you begging to be fucked. 

What strikes you, though, is the slight difference you sense between hearing the nickname from Yanan versus Hongseok. When Yanan called you sweetheart, it felt sleazy, like he knew what kind of power it would hold and he wasn’t afraid to use it. That was hot in its own right. But when Hongseok calls you sweetheart, it feels strangely gentle and warm. Maybe it’s because of the way he holds you as he says it, the way his breath sweetly breezes past your ear. There’s something undeniably lovely about Hongseok, especially when he’s got you in his bed.

You press your lips to his temple, small moans coming from you as he keeps thrusting. The stretch of his cock feels absolutely amazing, and you’re completely captivated by every sensation - the rolling of his hips, the grip of his hand in your hair, the scent of his sweat mixing with his cologne.

With another clench of your pussy around his cock, you sense him hold back a moan, like he’s trying to hide just how easy it is for you to elicit a response from him. But at this point, you can’t be fooled. He’s so enamored by you that he couldn’t even let you reach the front door. And that fact is absolutely going to go to your head. 

Hongseok loses himself in you, thrusting into you and biting your neck, sucking your skin harshly and drawing a pleasured cry from you. It feels like he wants to absolutely devour you. If you could give him any more of yourself, you absolutely would. 

His breathing becomes ragged and you know that means he’s close. You card your fingers through his hair and whisper his name, and Hongseok lifts his head up to gaze down at you. His eyelids are heavy with lust, his lips parted from breathing hard. 

“_____…” Hongseok murmurs your name, his eyes pinching shut. Your eyes just skim over his face, taking in his gorgeous expression. His hips snap into you a few more times until he empties into the condom, and it’s just as incredible to watch as you remember.

Hongseok almost immediately dives in for another kiss as soon as he finishes. You eagerly reciprocate, still in need of your own release. His lips are devastatingly soft and you don’t think you’ll ever get over it.

Without leaving your lips, he lifts himself off of you, allowing his hand to roam over your curves. You feel terribly empty when he pulls out, but his cock is quickly replaced by his fingers. You groan against his mouth as his fingers gently pump in and out of you, his thumb pressing circles into your clit.

Finally, he releases your lips, and without a word he repositions himself on the bed so that he’s kneeling between your legs, pressing fervent kisses to your thighs. The teasing doesn’t last long, though - surely he can sense how desperate you are for more.

His mouth quickly moves to your pussy, gently kissing and licking your folds while his fingers continue gliding in and out. And then he finally reaches your clit, and your whole body warms with pleasure.

Hongseok’s tongue is wet and hot as it works your clit, and he looks so fucking hot between your legs like this. You’re absolutely drowning in pleasure and it’s everything you’ve ever wanted. 

You don’t dare to hold yourself back, moaning freely to let him know just how amazing he is at going down on you. With each suck, each flick of his tongue, you become more unraveled, the tension in your belly growing astoundingly fast.

You curse under your breath, wishing you could just enjoy this forever. Hongseok’s hand roughly grips your thigh, calloused fingers digging into your soft skin. His mouth sends waves of pleasure through your body. And on top of it all, your heart pounds rapidly in your chest, making you believe there’s a chance this could possibly be something special.

Hongseok’s fingers pulse in time with his tongue, and before you know it the coil snaps. Your entire body tightens and releases as your orgasm crashes over you, powerful warmth racing through your veins. Wave after wave hits you, and Hongseok presses a flat tongue against your clit as you ride it out, and the walls of your pussy rhythmically squeeze his fingers.

It seems like a solid minute of pure bliss before the feeling eventually fades. Hongseok retracts his fingers and lips, and he takes a moment to tie off the condom and toss it into the trash can next to his dresser. And then Hongseok joins you on the bed, wrapping you in his strong arms as sleep tugs at your eyelids.

You wake up unbearably hot, and it doesn’t take you long to realize why. You’re completely pressed up against Hongseok’s naked body, and that man is a radiator.

You smile at his sleeping face for only a moment before you start to fill with dread.

You hadn’t meant to spend the night, but you did.

You hadn’t meant to sleep with your professor, but you did.

It was an accident the first time. This time is completely inexcusable.

What were you thinking? How could you have let any of this happen? You’re fully aware of the consequences and yet you slept with him anyway. And you spent the night.

You peel yourself off of him. He seems to be a heavy sleeper and he doesn’t notice the movement, thank God. You hurry out of the bedroom, pulling on your clothes as you find them on the floor until you’re dressed enough to head out. And right as you reach the stairs, you hear him.

“_____?”

You pause. Of course you couldn’t just slip out unnoticed. 

But you have to leave. You don’t want to talk to him about any of this right now. You’re up to your eyes in anxiety and you just need to get out. You can’t even muster up the courage to turn around and see if he’s out of bed.

“I’m sorry.” It’s all you can think to say as you rush down the stairs and out the door.

The three hour train ride to get you home is too long for you to be left alone with your own thoughts. The fact that your jacket smells like Professor Yang’s cologne certainly doesn’t help. You replay last night’s events over and over in your mind, partly thrilled by the memory of sleeping with him and partly disappointed in yourself for your bad decision-making.

Last night was incredible. Spending time with Professor Yang at his showcase was actually really fun, and you have a new admiration for his talents and intelligence. Chatting with him in the car was so comfortable. And the way he fucked you…

You bury your face in your hands and lean towards the window of the train, hiding because you’re embarrassed to be having such lewd thoughts in public. You pull your turtleneck collar a little higher just to make sure the lovely hickey he left is appropriately hidden.

What are you going to do when you see him in class after break? Just pretend like nothing is going on as per usual, you assume. 

And what does this mean for everything with Kino? You’re supposed to be spending this short vacation thinking about what kind of future you want with him, not figuring out whether you regret an undoubtedly terrible choice you just made.

And Wooseok… you haven’t even addressed the fact that you were supposed to be at his place last night instead of Professor Yang’s. He hasn’t reached out to you either, so you assume that he was too drunk to remember your plans.

You’re going to have to dump all of this on Minseo as soon as you see her at the train station, since she’s the only one in the world who knows what happened between you and Professor Yang this summer. And honestly, you’re not sure if she’s going to be thrilled or pissed by what you’ve done.

You spend most of the train ride trying to distract yourself with music and a book, and by the time you arrive you actually start to feel excited about seeing Minseo. You tuck your book back into your backpack, grab your suitcase from the front of the train car, and step off of the train. The platform is full of other disembarking passengers, and you assume she must be waiting inside the station’s lobby. 

You pull out your phone as you roll your suitcase towards the lobby, and you’re surprised to see that she hasn’t responded to your text confirming what time she needed to be here to pick you up. That’s not necessarily a bad sign, but it’s not promising. You decide to try calling her, but she doesn’t answer. 

“I swear to God, if you forgot about me…” You seethe an empty threat at your phone as you hang up.

And then you hear your name called over the rumbling of your suitcase next to you. It’s a voice that you never in a million years expected to find here at this train station.

Your eyes dart around the room until you finally locate him, your heart completely stopping and your stomach dropping to the floor. 

He’s actually here. Right in front of you.

Your brother is here.

“Jinho?”

POST SCRIPT | Thank you for reading! Please stay tuned for Part 10, and let me know if you want to be tagged when I post it!

UPDATE | Read Part 10 here!

The tiredness spread on every inch of your body, the pain making itself notice with each step you took while going upstairs, the view of the hall becoming slightly comforting as you searched for the keys in your purse. Before unlocking the door, you took a deep breath, trying to put on your best face and getting in to be greeted with a walking Wooseok that constantly shushed the asleep kid in his arms. When your friend heard the door closing, he turned around to give you a small smile, pointing a few times towards your child.

“Thank you for taking care of him today…” Leaving everything by the entrance, you silently went to him, extending your arms to grab your son and quickly taking him to your room.

As soon as you made sure he was sleeping comfortably and kissed his forehead, you went back to the living room. You were about to grab your wallet when Wooseok stopped you.

“How many times do I need to tell you that this isn’t necessary?” His hands were gentle as he put the money down. Just then was that you noticed the small cut under his right eye.

Getting closer to examine it, you held his chin. “What happened to you?” He blinked a few times, the words not coming out and making you notice the rushed action, instantly pulling away while muttering an apology.

“Ah, I must have gotten it with him… he really likes to play with my face.” Wooseok let out a small laugh as he tapped his skin a few times and checked his fingertips.

“Must be because you have such pretty eyes.” He lowered his gaze, hiding the light blush on his cheeks. “Wait here, I will go look for something to cure it.”

There was no place for him to deny your offer this time as you left him alone, grabbing the first aid kit you kept close just in case and telling him to sit down on the couch. Imitating him, you faced him, cleaning the tiny wound and blowing on it when the alcohol made Wooseok flinch, your expression distracting him from the stinging. He would be lying if he denied that his heartbeat got faster with your every touch, so lost in the moment that it almost surprised him that it was over so soon. Now he felt the bandit on the place and held back a laugh as you took a picture of him and showed how it looked, the Doraemon design making a fun contrast on his usually serious face.

“Thank you.”

“I think it might leave a scar though…”

He scoffed at the mention. “It’s fine, really, don’t worry about it.” His phone rang and right after he picked up his stuff. “Ah, I think it’s pretty late so I should get going–”

A sound coming from the bed room interrupted both of you, making you sigh as you got up. Of course you missed sharing more time with your kid, but it became a bit hard to do so when you came after work, your body and mind not being ready to handle with it even if that’s what you wanted with all your might.

“You can go Wooseok, thank you so much–”

He shook his head. “Let me help and then I’ll go, you look too tired.” Ah, so he noticed. His pace got quicker towards the bedroom. “Besides, you don’t need to thank me every time, it’s been two months already.”

With a slight chuckle, you dragged your feet behind him, laying down next to the small body of your son and playing with his hair as he let out a few cries. Apparently, he had a nightmare and since he was alone, he got scared.

“What’s your plan?”

Your question made Wooseok roll his eyes as if it wasn’t obvious, a sweet melody filling the room as he sang the lullaby you knew well. He was making some arrangements to the song, the beat becoming slower and somehow sadder, but it seemed to work nonetheless. However, like this you got to pay more attention to the lyrics, your sight fixed on his expression and how the feeling seemed to be completely different from other times he had sang it, but Wooseok stared at the way the kid’s eyelids started to close again at the sound of his voice.

When he finished, he looked your way, only to find you sleeping soundly just like the child next to you, the resemblance striking him as funny. He stood up, trying to not disturb you as he put a blanket over you and left the room, flicking the lights off. Grabbing a pen, he scribbled a message on one of the notebooks he had used to color with his new favorite person and grabbed his keys, more like the ones you had given him in case an emergency happened and left the apartment.

The cold breeze reminded him of the song, scoffing annoyed at the lyrics. Well, he wasn’t annoyed at the song itself, but rather the memories it brought to him. It hadn’t been long since you two got in contact again… Years had passed since he heard your name, but three months ago that had changed when he crossed paths with that asshole. No, it wasn’t his intention to listen to his conversation, but he couldn’t quite help himself when he started talking about you with his friends, laughing at the mention of how he had cheated on you and you asking him to leave. After that, he tried to somehow find you, knowing that you would most probably need someone’s help, and at the time he didn’t think about others being able to lend a hand. Maybe it was because he wanted to be the one to be there for you, to fulfill the promise he made when you two were young, or maybe he simply wanted an excuse to see you again. He wasn’t quite sure, even to this day.

But he didn’t need to understand it. He tried to convince himself about it. Letting go of you had been extremely painful for him, and now that he was able to be with you again, he didn’t want to ruin it. So, he didn’t need to understand his feelings now. It wasn’t the time to be selfish.

Ignoring the freezing cold, he put on his air pods and hit the play button, scoffing once again as his healing song started playing. Without putting much resistance, he started walking, humming to the melody while doing it so.

When you walk, your heart will tell you. Wooseok didn’t need to understand, but he really hoped his heart would tell him whether he was doing the right thing or not this time.

It was one of those miraculous days where you got to go home early, your mood brightening even if there was still some tiredness in your system. The reason? Because you would be able to spend some time with your beloved son, and maybe get to spend some time with Wooseok, invite him to have dinner now that you got the time to prepare it, just as a way to thank him for all the help he had provided you the past few months.

You weren’t expecting his call that day, nor any other day, if you had to be honest. It had been some years since you last saw him, things between you not ending well and that weighed you, but there was nothing any of you could have done to avoid it. After your ex and father of your son left, you felt a little bit lost, almost instantly regretting your decisions when the screen of your phone lit up with an unknown number. Slightly scared of it belonging to him, you picked up, your eyes filling with tears as the familiar low voice greeted on the other side of the line, wondering if it was your phone number. Of course he went silent the second you said yes, the awkwardness lingering in the air before he proceeded to ask how you were, and since then none touched the topic about what had happened once a long time ago.

Maybe because both of you knew what happened, and understood each other and your reasons to have done that. You were pregnant, and at the moment you thought about prioritizing family… how were you supposed to know that the man next to you would turn out to be an ungrateful asshole? And although kicking him out pained you, in the end you hoped to have taken the best decision, both for you and for the future of your son, but even then the thought of him asking for his father someday hunt you every day.

Reaching for the doorknob, you breathed in, collecting yourself as you opened the door and heard a cheering scream followed by tiny steps running towards you. The bags on your arms almost fell to the floor as you picked up the overjoyed kid, not caring about the paint in his small hands staining your clothes and kissing his plump cheeks. Wooseok stood up from the floor, giving you a small nod as a greeting before he helped you out with the groceries, taking them to the kitchen and starting to put everything in its place. The subtle detail made you smile; nothing had seemed to change between you two, and it made you happy. It was as if you had never stopped being friends, as if he had never left, making himself comfortable in your apartment after the six months you had shared together.

“Thank you for babysitting him again.” Wooseok sighed frustrated but shook his head the same way he had the last two months, giving up telling you to stop doing that.

The kid in your arms held your face, his fingers leaving a trace of paint along the bridge of your nose before laughing hysterically. “Hyung and I have been painting! Want to see?”

You giggled at his enthusiasm, getting closer to the table where a spectrum of different drawings were spread. Your son pointed out the fox, the cat and the wolf that he drew, ignoring what seemed to be panels that told a story in a similar way to a comic, the style reminiscing you of the drawings that Wooseok used to make when you were young. Right as you were about to read it, delicate fingers covered the paper, your friend coming back just in time to have you more intrigued about the story.

Trying to ignore it, you complimented the rest of the paintings. “You did so well! Aren’t you a whole artist? I think you deserve a prize…” His eyes got bigger waiting for it. “A thousand kisses!”

The whole room was filled with his vibrating chuckles as you snuggled and pressed your lips to his cute face, Wooseok smirking as he saw you two, warmth spreading through his body before remembering he was staying more time than what was needed.

“I should go now–”

“Hyung deserves kisses too!” The innocent demand made you both stop. “He also drew a lot and he’s good, right?”

How to explain this to a four year old? “Well, yes, but–” You could already sense the grumpy expression coming and that usually was followed by a waterfall of questions, so you simply leaned in and pressed a kiss on Wooseok’s cheek.

“That was one kiss.” What a witty kid. “And you should do it like in dramas!” His body stretched to grab one of the drawings by the older to show you an example, but what was pictured made your cheeks burn.

It had been a memorable day for him too, apparently.

“Those kisses are for special people!” Wooseok’s voice got high pitched as he snatched the paper as delicately as he could in order to not scare the kid. “Friends don’t give those to each other.”

The frown on the child’s face grew. “But mom said you were someone special for her.”

“N-no, I didn’t say that–”

“Yes, you did! After the first time hyung came home!” His memory was a blessing when you were forgetting to take something to your work, but right now it was closer to become a curse than anything else.

“Playtime is over, go wash your hands so that you help me cook, yes?” Sighing in defeat, he ran to the bathroom as soon as you put him on the ground, the mention of food distracting him enough to forget the recent argument.

You walked to the kitchen, ignoring Wooseok’s lingering gaze as you ran the water in the kitchen and scrubbed the rests of paint off your hands.

But he had to clear his throat. “So I’m a special person to you, huh?” That was something you wished had changed: his teasing nature.

“Uh, yeah…” The hesitation in your voice was obvious as you turned around to face him, not expecting him to be that close. “Am I?”

By the way his eyes started shaking, you could say he wasn’t ready for a comeback. Even if he hadn’t changed much, you did, and it appeared as if he was noticing it just now. However, his actions didn’t waver as he took a few tissues behind you, dampening them with water and pressing them against your face, cleaning what your son had left.

“You always were.”

It was hard to breathe if he stared at you with such intensity that made you forget how to even pronounce words, the sincerity sounding too real for you to brush it off as a joke. Thankfully, his phone received a message, giving you the perfect opportunity to turn around and hide the blush in your face while grabbing what you needed to cook.

“Hyung, will you stay for dinner?” The small voice caused you to close your eyes, slightly cursing at yourself for not having asked that to Wooseok before.

“Ah, I don’t think I can tonight, buddy… maybe next time, yes?” He ruffled the little one’s hair before grabbing his stuff and walking to the door. “Sorry to leave so hurriedly but I have to be somewhere, is it–”

“Yes!” It wasn’t your intention to raise your voice like that, but the mix of emotions inside you was hard to control. “I mean, yeah… it’s totally fine, don’t worry.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Mhmm.”

If you tried to talk again, you were almost sure that you wouldn’t be able to hide anything, so the only option was to give a short, simple answer. You could sense his hesitation but still the door closed behind you, the air becoming much lighter.

A sigh caught your attention. “I wanted hyung to stay…”

You smiled picking up the kid and handing him the plastic mixing bowl he liked to play with. “Me too, baby, me too.”

After that day, none of you exchanged more words or looks than necessary. He would get home right on time for you to go work, and as soon as he came he would say goodbye. The atmosphere had somehow became more awkward than the first day you met each other again, and it was hard for you to figure how to change it. Each time you were about to ask if he wanted to stay, he had already left the apartment, your anxiety increasing. You didn’t want him to think that you were merely using him as a babysitter, although you had to recognize that it helped you out quite a lot and even more during holidays.

The couch welcomed your body as you flipped the pages of one an album, the unusual silence making you feel lonely and causing you to come up with ways to find comfort, old photos apparently doing the work. You had asked for the day off and it was also the birthday of a friend of your kid, so you dropped him there early and now a good few hours awaited… but it had been so long since the last time you had an opportunity like this that you weren’t sure what to do.

Getting overwhelmed with the nostalgia, you left the photo album on top of the small table and went to your room, taking off the old pajamas and instead trying on a dress you hadn’t worn in a long time. It looked nice… and it also felt nice. You tried fixing your hair in different ways, laughing when you realized you had been making faces in front of the mirror for the past ten minutes.

A knock on the door interrupted your fun, nervousness starting to settle in your system while you tried to remember whether you had told Wooseok that he didn’t need to come today or not. When you got to the door, taking a glance through the peephole was enough to confirm your suspicions: you hadn’t. Hiding behind the door, you opened, him walking right inside with a heavy bag, stopping a second to take off his shoes and then continued, slumping down on the couch.

“I brought the games you asked for, kiddo, better come here before your mom leaves or… Wow.” His eyes finally looked your way when you closed the door, his mouth dropping open before he cleared his throat and stared at the bag he had. “Where is–”

“He had a birthday party today.” He froze. “And I have the day off.” You could see his posture change. “I forgot to tell you, I’m so sorry–”

Not a second later, he stood up, picking up the bag and walking to the entrance. “That’s fine, don’t worry, I’ll leave right now.”

This was your chance, and it was slipping right between your fingers, so you took it. His steps came to a halt, the grip on his sleeve making it impossible for him to move and you made the biggest effort to get over your fear.

“Would you like to stay?” Wooseok didn’t say anything. “You already came all the way here… and I’ve meant to thank you for these past months.” What a ridiculous excuse.

As if he could read your mind, he turned around, giving you a half smile. “I would like that.”

It was your turn to freeze, appreciating the small distance that separated both of your hands before waking up from the trance to go to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

“Mhmm.”

The silence prolonged, although the weird feeling that was present the other days had vanished. You weren’t sure if something changed, but it made you feel relieved. Quickly, you prepared a cup for each, smiling to yourself when you noticed you still remembered the way he liked it. When you turned around, he wasn’t behind you, but rather checking the album you were flipping through before on the couch. You handed him his cup, cautiously analyzing his expression when he took a sip of it and feeling warm when he smiled.

“Glad you like it.”

You sat next to him, getting comfortable as you peeped over his shoulder to see the picture he was staring at fondly, your heart tumbling seeing it was you and him years ago, the dress you were wearing looking more alive than now. And the look in your eyes was different too, even if it wasn’t evident because you were staring at Wooseok laughing, one of the few pictures you had of him doing it.

“You looked beautiful that day.” It seemed as if he was talking to himself, studying the picture and comparing it with his drawing. “Just like now.”

Taking compliments wasn’t your biggest talent and he knew that, flipping the page and stopping abruptly at the envelope that rested in the next one. The edges were worn out from the amount of times you had opened it to read the letter inside, the words in it becoming your healing song whenever you faced a hardship in the past.

“Ah, that–”

“I can’t believe you kept it.” His eyes looked sad as his fingers caressed his own calligraphy spelling your name on the front.

You had to swallow before answering. “It’s precious to me.”

“My confession letter?” He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “It was so bad.”

Even if he was talking about himself, it made you feel offended, grabbing it and holding it close to your chest. “It’s not!” Wooseok stared at you wide eyed. “The only bad thing was the timing.”

He couldn’t hold back his laugh. “You are right there… I don’t know what was I expecting.” He scratched the back of his head.

“The truth, I guess.”

“What?”

Was there any use in lying about it now? “Well, I liked you too… but I was already dating with–”

“The asshole.”

You chuckled. “Yeah.”

The silence grew between you two, but this time Wooseok was the one to cut it.

“You never told me.”

Shrugging, you caressed the letter. “When I had made up my mind, you had left and I was pregnant, so… I thought the right thing was to move on.”

Wooseok’s piercing gaze was fixed on you, but the confessions were too many for you to face him while saying it out loud, so you kept fidgeting with the end of your dress, remembering how he had complimented you back then during your birthday party and how later his hands had been on the exact same place when you shared your first kiss. The next day you pretended nothing had happened, afraid to ruin the friendship, and it wasn’t until a year later that the paper between your hands confessed that he had done the exact same thing for the exact same reason. But it was too late.

“And what do you think is the right thing now?” You raised your head, finding Wooseok just a few centimeters away from you.

“I don’t know…” Your eyes dropped to his mouth. “I don’t think it matters, either.”

Just like that, his lips were on yours, the same feelings that invaded you that one time making themselves notice again. The electricity itched in your fingertips as the letter slipped of them, his hand resting on the back of your neck to bring you closer, stealing your breath right after you recovered it over and over again. You lost track of time, your chest welling up with all the repressed feelings as he held you between his arms, feeling weightless under his touch and becoming conscious of the burning sensation that his fingers left on your skin as he traced senseless figures on it.

When he finally pulled away, both shared the stupidest grins.

“That felt right, at least.”

Maybe it was the dress, or the kiss, or the situation, or simply Wooseok, but for the first time in years you laughed the way you did back then, and he did the same. Silently, you thanked to the objects next to you for helping you recreate a new cherished memory, although you were sure you wouldn’t need anything to remember this one.

The coffee went cold as the two of you kept talking about the past, confessing each other small secrets, some reminiscing of ancient times while others were incredibly recent, like him saying he was really happy when you cured the small wound on his face, or you telling him that you really loved his voice when he sang and that you wanted to hear it again since that night, or him explaining that the reason why he always left was because he didn’t trust his friend Seungyoun to take care of his apartment not one bit (sometimes threatening him to move his whole studio there).

A familiar melody caught your attention, making you grab your phone and pick up the call ignoring Wooseok’s mocking faces (“that’s my song”), nodding a few times before hanging up.

“The party is about to finish… do you want to walk with me there? It’s not very far away from here.”

“Sure, but under one condition.” You hummed for him to continue as you got up. “Keep the dress on. It really looks pretty on you.”

If it weren’t because you were in a rush, you would have called him out on his cheesiness, but secretly you appreciated it. “Shut up.”

Not ten minutes later you were already walking down the street, close to each other without being able to erase your silly grins from your faces. As you got close to the address, you saw your son running towards you, immediately blabbering about all he had done during the day and greeting Wooseok as if nothing. A few blocks later, he was complaining about walking, saying he was too tired for it and demanding to be picked up and of course Wooseok gave in immediately, the child falling asleep on his shoulder in record time as you continued walking. You felt a small touch on your hand, turning to see the male’s fingers hitting yours on purpose while pretending to look away until you finally held his hand, intertwining your fingers with his.

“You know…” His voice was soft as if to not wake up the toddler. “I could get used to this.” His eyes dropped to your hands and then to his other arm holding your kid. “If you agree on it, of course.”

The tightness in your throat didn’t let you answer, just like the day he had handed you the letter, but this time you simply nodded and kissed the back of his hand, ignoring the pressure in your chest. “I would like that.”

Wooseok pressed his lips together, his eyes becoming small as he tried to hide his happiness.

“I would like that too.”

A sleepy voice added its opinion: “Me too!”

I’m... quite proud of this one. Yes, it’s fucking long for the kind of stories I tend to write but it just;; happened;;; I really hope you enjoyed it tho kasjkdjks. I was going to try and make the child gender neutral but since I wanted them to interact plenty with the kid I just went for he/him pronouns to fit the gif ^^;

~Nani

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭...

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘢 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦...

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.

“𝘖𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥... 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘮 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬!” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮, “𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦-”

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮... 𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴.

“𝘏𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥...” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺...” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩, 𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, “𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵- 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘬?” 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱. 𝘚𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱.

𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘵.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 (𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴), 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘴.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘪𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘶𝘦, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦’𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬-𝘵𝘰-𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.  

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬.

𝘚𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘱. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮... 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨.  

𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴... 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵.

𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥... 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶...

𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄ ༺༻ ┄┄┄┄⊰❀

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧...

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘪.

“𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨?” 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘪 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

“𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵,” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥, “𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘰𝘬...”

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮?”

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵-” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, “𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘵...”

“... 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵...” 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, “𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘪, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰!”

“𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘥! 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶!” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘐𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺. 𝘈𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺.

“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺!” 𝘈 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴.

“𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶!” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘱.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦.

“𝘏𝘪! 𝘐𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯?”

“𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘠/𝘯... 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦.

“𝘈𝘩𝘩 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶!”

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.

𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩, 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘵𝘩. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.

“𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬!” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

“𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵! 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦-” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.

𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

“𝘏𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶-”

“𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳?” 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦.

“𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵? 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵-”

“𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵...” 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱... 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤.

“𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶... 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵?”

“𝘠𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥.”

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱. 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵.

“𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦... 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵... 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.”

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮.

“𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘬-”

“𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘠/𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰.”

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.

⊰━━━ ༻❁༺ ━━━⊰

𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 || 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦 || 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 1 || 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 2 || 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 4 ||  𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 5

You sipped your water defiantly as if the childish act would get your point across. You knew this meant a lot to him, this was meeting his newfound obsession after all; however, he knew how much your internship meant to you. Losing sleep for this band had better come with some new epiphany or some shit, and you didn’t doubt you’d get the information out of Jungkook. Though truthfully, you’ve long since gotten over the fact that you’d probably be a little too tired for your first day on the job. This was more of a matter of making the tall brunet feel a little more guilty just a while longer.

“Y/N,” he began to whine, setting the cup down as he fully turned towards you. When your features showed no sign of softening, he released a huff, “fine then, don’t pretend. But I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

Still, you remained indifferent.

He muttered a curse before trying something else. “What’ll it take to get you to talk? I mean you’re here now. Will you really keep this up?”

You knew you could’ve just opted to ignore this, but you broke your straight face and raised a brow at him for the question burning fresh in your mind. The latest set of the band began to dwindle into the white noise of yells and other discordance.“Why don’t you start off by telling me why the hell you’re so hellbent on coming here?” you asked, now turning toward him. “I know for a fact that missing one concert to see them wouldn’t kill you, so what’s so different about this time?”

He let out a sigh, giving a pained expression—one of obvious embarrassment and sheepishness—as he runs a hand toward the back of his hair. “You’re going to laugh.”  

“I’d like to be the judge of that.” you answered, a little too sharply but you felt relieved when he nodded his head. You had no actual clue what he was going to tell you, nor did any reasonable ideas seem to come up besides maybe asking for an autograph, what with the blank disc in the CD case in hand. But it was an odd conclusion considering you never pegged him as this kind of fan, especially not for PTG. Maybe Big Bang or something.  

As you continued to look at him in wait, he looked away to take another swig of his drink before continuing, “Fine, fine.” He took a breath, meeting your eyes with a nervous glint before saying, “I’m here to drop off a demo.”

You blinked, repeating, “A demo?” Never in your life had you ever heard Jungkook utter anything about a demo. It was something outside of your knowledge considering his usual expertise was always in graphics.

He nodded, “A demo.”

You had to ask, “For?”

His anticipating brows furrowed into ones that of incredulity, even his lips forming a small ‘o’ as he said, “Are you serious?” When you nodded in slight exasperation, he continued without even trying to hide his matter-of-factly tone, “My music.”

“Are you serious?” you asked, brows raised. This was definitely the first you had ever heard of him doing anything of that sort. You were certain that his interest in music was for listening, maybe dabble in producing his own tracks for personal use, not producing or writing lyrics as an actual career. “Are you actually Jeon Jungkook, gaming dork extraordinaire? Future programmer? Or is the real you trapped in the Netherworld?”

He guffawed, shaking his head at you. His features never faltered with amusement, however. “You’re being ridiculous, you know that right? I do like things away from games, like music, y’know. And programming’s everyone else’s expectations...”

“You’ve never shown interest in it until now.” you pointed out. With the smile on his lips, you couldn’t help but return his. Damn your bunny smile.

“Are you still mad?” You weren’t even close to mad. Just curious and kind of confused that he hadn’t spoken of this little dream of his before until now.  

“Is that why you left me?” You groaned, sending a flick to his forehead and relishing in the yelp he released, “Do you feel bad for keeping your best friend up when she has her dream job tomorrow?”

He frowned slightly, rubbing his forehead as he replied, “Of course I do! And I promise to make it up to you for coming with me to this, y’know!”

You had no doubt he’d probably bring you coffee tomorrow or even help you with some of the tasks you might have to do if it involved menial labor, even if he was bound to do these things anyway. Still, you asked, “How do you plan on making it up to me?”

He started listing things off with his fingers, “Free coffee, free labor, oh! And a free spot to tour with me when I hit it off.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that even in feigned anger against him, he was still your best friend. Even though Jungkook hardly seemed like the musical type, you weren’t surprised with the talent he had in his voice. On the rare occasions, he let you listen, you never wanted him to stop. So, with a resigned sigh and shove sent to his shoulder, you said, “Well, I expect all three of those things then—oh!”

From behind him you could see the crowd beginning to look on towards the stage, a little quieter now that the lead singer was saying something. The blond was looking on towards the rest of the bar with swimming eyes beneath the rather bright spotlight. Sweat glistened at the edge of his visage and the last thing you caught from him was a simple expression of gratitude.  

“What?” Ignoring Jungkook’s full-blown eyes, you gestured toward the stage where the total of five men stood on the stage. All of which were already giving a bow, each varying in different sizes (most notably the drummer who seemed to tower over everyone else). Besides him were a bassist with dark locks and a look that could, in other words, kill if literal speaking, two guitarists (one had a regal vibe while the other was most definitely pretty boy with his hair swept aside and the sleeves of his T-shirt very much nonexistent to showcase his well-defined arms), and the lead singer up front with a grin poised on his plump pink lips that you wouldn’t have suspected being in a rock band. “Oh!”

Your best friend’s eyes met yours with urgency, immediately standing as if he were about to run in past the stage and wherever the rest of the members had gone. You wouldn’t be surprised if he had, so you locked a firm grip on his wrist and gave it a shake.

“You’re not leaving me after dragging me out here, you dummy!” you huffed, watching him observe the crowd beginning to disperse. A select few lingered around the back exit, but you were determined to keep your best friend from completely embarrassing himself. He already left you at the beginning of the night, so seeing him go again was just going to rekindle that same irritation of yours from earlier.

“But, my demo—!”

You gave a huge sigh before heaving him into place at the bar, shooting an adjacent bystander and apologetic look when Jungkook managed to knock into them just a little.

“Don’t be so desperate! You gave them your number while you gave them the demo didn’t you?” You raised a brow at him, realizing you had been holding onto him for too long so you dropped it almost immediately.

He was about to retort before his open mouth shut and his eyes widened once again. Before you could ask him, he just replied, “Fuck. I—I don’t remember.”

“What?” you said sharply against the piercing bass reverberating from the walls. You’re almost certain he hadn’t heard you for a moment but the sudden trance he was under broke. His gaze is trained back on yours with something akin to determination and apology. You repeated, a little more deadpan this time, “What?”

“I’m serious! I don’t remember!” His voice rose about an octave and his eyes began to wildly search for an opening within the crowd. You followed you gaze, only getting lost in the sea of bodies that had seemed to find their way within the center of the vicinity. Their close proximities created a distinct stench of sweat and intermingled with stale beer, only causing your stomach to drop further into your stomach because a moment has barely passed until Jungkook has risen from his spot.

“If you think you’re leaving me behind again,” you emphasized with a glare. Not that there was any particular malice or anything, you just wanted him to understand. “Then I should retract this friendship.” Before he could protest, you said without an ounce of doubt between the blaring beats, “I’m going too, dummy.”

He didn’t protest, looking even more grateful than ever and remarked, “How did I get this lucky to have you as a best friend?”

“Don’t flatter me, Jeon.” You laughed, rolling your eyes in the process. For good measure, you even smiled as you said, “Just get me coffee for the week and we can call this shit even.”  

He ruffled the top of your hair with that bunny smile of his and replied, “Alright. It’s a deal then.” Ignoring your whines, he looked beyond the crowd in search of any familiar faces. It went beyond you how he knew from the dim lighting or the numerous faces that seemed to crowd the entire area, but he looked back at you with determination singed in his dark hues. “I’ll take the backstage area, do you mind taking the back room?”

You nodded, feeling a surge of your own determination because as much as you wanted to complain about being dragged out here tonight, you were also extremely proud of Jungkook for wanting to do something that made him this passionate. It was a far cry from most of the combinations he took a few hours to learn or even his sudden research on the inner workings of computers not too long ago either.

Although you looked over at the back room area with an odd pit growing in your stomach and the sudden steeled nerves at the sight of the small growth of fangirls, you told Jungkook you would be fine before he darted deep into the crowd and hopped onto the stage and went behind the curtains where Hyunwoo probably awaited.

From the sight of the guard by the back room, you had a hope that Hyunsik was in to give you a chance at reaching the back room or at least to pass along Jungkook’s phone number. It’s a feat, of course, between getting shoved by the fans and shoving them right back, you managed to make it past the crowd with little to no scratches and pass the message onto your blond friend before you’re making your way back to the bar.

The messages you sent to Jungkook about accomplishing your dead have gone unsent and even the call you tried didn’t go through. It’s been a half-hour since you two last reconvened and you can feel the sudden high that was enthralling your body beginning to slowly crash.

The seats you once occupied had gone untouched by others, but you catch the unruly sight of dark locks and the hunched over shoulders of the man that you’ve been trying to get a hold of occupying the one beside it and you could feel your spirits pick up.

“There you are!” You pushed down onto his shoulders and gave his head a light smack for good measure, “I’ve been looking all over for you, brat. Did you talk to them about your demo—oh fuck!”

Plopping down onto your seat, you came to two grueling revelations: 1) the man you just smacked was not your best friend and 2) the man was the fucking drummer. And to say the least, your widened eyes or your slightly dropped down lips couldn’t have made your embarrassment even worse.

With a lopsided grin curved on his lips, he replied as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, “I take it I’m not the brat you were looking for.”

You shook your head, immediately apologizing. Out of all the damn things you had to do today, it was assault the one man that was in the band you were dragged out to see.

In response, he extended a hand to you, “S’fine, I’m Wooseok.”

You took it and cringed at yourself, god you idiot, “I’m Y/N. And also very very very sorry. You just look scarily a lot like my best friend from behind.”

“So, scarily good looking then?” He cracked a grin, watching as your features melted from flushed embarrassment to immediate exasperation.

Letting go of his hand, you said with a roll of your eyes, “Apparently you both have the same big ego too.”

“Ouch—actually double ouch,” he said whilst clutching his chest and his head. “To think I thought you were a cute girl who meant no actual harm…”

You opened your mouth to retort and stopped yourself, your immediate question leaving your lips: “Did you just say I was cute?”

“U-uh, well, yeah!” he said with a smile still adorned on his lips and a steady bloom of pink flushed across his cheekbones. It was cute to see him a little flustered, because compared to his stage presence, the difference was exponential. You remembered seeing him up on stage and enjoyed the way he rocked to his own music. There was an aura about Wooseok that reminded you of Jungkook when a fire ignited in his eyes despite all else, even the embarrassment tinging his visage, that struck you. It wasn’t any normal kind, it was like it spoke its own volumes and you wanted keep listening.

“Shy?” you mused, turning toward him and leaning against the edge of the counter. “I promise I don’t bite.”

He rose a brow at you, “And how would I know that, Miss Y/N? We just met.”

“True…” You nodded thoughtfully, the smile curved on your lips still growing, “However, you can continue to get to know me if that’s what you’re up for.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged his shoulders. “Depends on if you’re gonna smack me again. I don’t think my manager or Hui would be very happy if I sustained a brain injury.”

“Oops?”

His eyes narrowed playfully, “Or was that your plan to get your friend a spot in the band?”

“Okay, Jungkook may be trying to be a rockstar but you can rest assured that he did not think that far ahead.” You laughed, running a hand through your hair. “And, anyway, I lost that punk about a half-hour ago and he’s supposed to be my escort home so please lemme know where he is so I can at least go home knowing he’s somewhere safe before scheduling a proper ass kicking for him.”

“Oh, you’re going?” he asked, sounding a little disappointed but you were certain that it was probably the bar’s music wearing down your eardrums.

“I mean I’d love to stay but I have this internship tomorrow and I’d rather not go in completely sleep-deprived. Can you just pass on the message to Jungkook for me? I think the reception here is just shit and I’ve been trying to get a hold of him for like an hour and I refuse to go back into that crowd.”

“Yeah, but are you sure you can get home by yourself?” he asked, tilting his head at you. “I mean it’s obviously not my business but I’d hate it if something happened to you on your way back.”

“It’s usually a safe trek, but if it gives you some peace of mind you wanna walk me then?”

“Really?” His eyes had gone wide, but you could see the happiness in them.

You nodded, rising from your spot. It’s rare for you to extend such a risky invitation to someone but you feel the care flying past your head and the sense of adventure settling in. He was cute so why the hell not?

A grin curved on your lips as you took a few steps backwards as if to beckon him forth.

“I mean… you wanted to get to know me right?”

Waking the next morning by the sudden screeching of your alarm had you jumping out of bed within a blink of an eye. You immediately got ready and started your trek toward the Cube, which wasn’t that far from the bar that Jungkook had dragged you to. And at the sudden recollection of your best friend, you were ready to smack yourself over the head and check your messages when the thought of last night brought back the thoughts of Wooseok.

The last thing you expected was him taking you up on your offer, his own meager steps stepped forth and followed you out the double doors. The two of you relished in the fresh air, trudging through the quaint streets with the occasional passersby glancing at the two of you sideways giggling over everything and absolutely nothing.

Passing the streets the two of you had crossed, you remembered the conversations that you two exchanged and a warmth began to constrict your heart.

“What’s that internship for anyway?” he asked with his arms folded behind his head, taking slightly smaller steps to match yours.

“The Cube,” you answered, almost dreamily. “It’s been my dream to plan events for them and I got the opportunity so I’m really fucking stoked.”

His brows rose for a moment, eyes flashing with something that of recognition but you paid little attention to it as you watched him speak, “Well, congrats. Live your dream~”

You nodded, grinning to yourself, “Thanks. You and me both, right? You love music?”

His head bobbed up and down vigorously, even his hands dropped to move as he spoke, “It’s something different compared to most things I guess. Not a lot of people see a point to it, but I love music so much. It’s something that’s gotten me through a lot, so being able to make a career out of it, share my experiences with others, and even travel with four other guys that’re basically my brothers is fucking…. Just… it’s amazing.”  

“Event planning feels like that for me,” you admitted. “It’s nothing like creating a whole damn album but it’s putting all these pieces together and watch it culminate into something wonderful. I remember planning events for student council and I actually had a blast doing all that shit and sharing it with my friends y’know?”

“I get that. The process is probably my favorite.”

You looked up at him, immediately lighting up. It was the first time you heard someone enjoy the process, so you couldn’t help but give him a nudge with your hip. When he looked over at you in confusion, you grinned, “It’s my favorite too.”

The whole thing felt too begrudgingly short, making you wish it had lasted longer because you actually enjoyed your time with him and getting to know him. He was a sweet guy who was passionate about his music and seeing that kind of interest was refreshing. It wasn’t like Jungkook wasn’t the same way, but the difference was one of them was your best friend and the other was like a newfound door in the metaphorical hedge of relationships in life. As comfortable as you’ve been strolling with your best friend, you liked having that other option especially when he seemed to share your same interests.

Glancing over at the familiar incandescent streetlights, you easily made out the familiar shape of your apartment with a slight heaviness in your chest. “Well, this is my stop,” you said with a now half-smile.

“Really?” he asked, looking visibly disappointed beneath the incandescent streetlights. “Damn… I was having a lot of fun.”

“Yeah… me too.” You relinquished a sigh, standing in front of the complex in uncertainty. “Do you think… maybe we could exchange numbers? I’d like to keep getting to know you.”

“Oh yeah!” He nodded, passing you his cellphone while you did the same. Your heart was hammering but your brain seemed to express its gratefulness at your sudden thinking. At the least, you two could have this and see where things could go from there.

As you received your cellphone from him, he sent you a wink and said, “I hope we see more of each other soon.”

He sent a wave your wave despite the confusion knitted between your brows and you went in to chase the remaining hours of sleep you could muster.

Although the last exchange you two shared was nothing short of confusing, you still couldn’t seem to conceive a theory to what he meant. How could you see him soon? Was he still gonna be in town? You were sure that Jungkook had told you they were going to be on tour all other the metropolitan area.

Speaking of which, you had messaged the dark-haired bunny-like boy to update him on your current progress and asked him how the rest of his night had gone. The unsent messages all now deleted as you made your way into the periwinkle and grey building, waiting by the desk with a sudden spike of adrenaline pumping through your veins.

The young man flashed you a smile, handing you a badge with your name and submitted photo before following him into the main office. From the corner of your eye, you caught a flash of a tall, lanky boy who you could spot anywhere now that he was so deeply pressed into the forefronts of your mind. But as soon as he caught sight of you, he gave a small shake of his head and pointed at the office doors with his eyes.

Oh, you felt your heart sank just a little. And it sank even further when the man in charge advised you against any romantic interactions with any of the celebrities in the office, especially the ones of the rise. Now I get it.

When you saw him again, you only flashed a polite smile and went on doing your assigned tasks for the day. At the least, one of the perks to event planning meant that all the menial tasks could distract you. God only knows you needed it now more than ever.

Your phone vibrated against your pocket as you enjoyed your lunch. Without thinking you read the message, feeling an odd weight settling over you. A smile crept on your visage and it made the weight in your stomach feel even heavier.

[11:40 AM] woo: Hey, sorry about that… company rules suck but it’s good seeing you again. (:

Despite everything in you telling you to ignore it and forget about him if this was against the rules, you wrote back:

[11:42 AM] you: Hey! It’s okay (: how are you?

Immediately afterwards, you received a response from Jungkook:

[11:42 AM] gukster: things went well! I might even be able to get signed!!! Got a meeting in a few days. Thank you so much for coming w/ me ((((:

[11:43 AM] gukster: btw you ok? I heard abt the company rules from hui & i def heard abt you and drummer boy

You replied, letting out a sigh because it was true:

[11:43 AM] you: it’s not like we’re dating anyway. It’s no biggie! And i’m really happy for u!!!! Take me on tour ok?

[11:44 AM] gukster: how about a lunch date? Jin’s sound good? My treat~~~

With a smile, you sent him an affirmation before rising from your spot in the backroom to leave. A part of you feeling slightly better. 

It felt silly to feel a little down about the situation and perhaps you didn’t understand why Wooseok hadn’t brought it up to you earlier when you mentioned it last night, but you could understand if he really didn’t want that to change anything in the moment.

As you looked up to push open the door, you caught sight of Wooseok smiling at you. Without anyone else around, he freely said, “Oh hey, Y/N! You wanna get lunch with me and the guys?”

You flashed him a tight-lipped smile, “can I get a raincheck? I have plans already!”

“Ah.” His features dimmed ever-so-slightly, “That’s fine. Next time right?”

You nodded, already walking as you said over your shoulder, “Yeah, maybe. I’ll see ya!”