#yulbe

with the sirens echoing around them, it very well could be their last. every moment spent feels like she’s on borrowed time. who could blame yuji for taking that fleeting moment to admire yulhee’s beauty and excitement in that moment?

when the flush of her cheeks is a vermillion so pretty, she can’t turn her gaze away. the glow of the light behind her silhouette a similar color. she feels like she’s being mesmerized, hypnotized. 

“c’mon!” the girl says, reaching forward to wrap her fingers around yuji’s wrist and tug her along. and who is she to deny? tikis always been weak in the force of yulhee’s joy— and this is no different. it doesn’t matter about the chaos occurring around them, as long as they can make it out together.

(and that’s the problem isn’t it? making it out together. alive.)

yulhee navigates these back streets like she’s known them her whole life, which would normally sound off warning alarms in her head, but every thought feels wiped clean. is this what it feels like to be powerless? she certainly feels like it. every alley they duck down, every corner they turn– it feels like a maze, and yuji steadily begins to feel like she’s being lured into a trap.

you do that too easily, he’s been told before. smiles with teeth and laughter that seems interested even if stevie is anything but interested. it’s fun, to play a role– as long as he gets what he needs at the end of it. look out for the one and only– me, myself, and i. 

maybe in another universe he’d be nicer. more genuine and earnest, like yulhee. but instead, stevie’s rotten to his core and just blessed with a charming grin and a face that could make you sell your soul to the devil. 

too bad, so sad. that’s just the cards life has given them.

it’s easy to wax poetry, strip out bullshit that falls off his tongue easily. like he’s been doing it for years, like it’s nothing but an artform perfected and mastered at this point. and it’s even easier to reach forward in an attempt to brush a stray hair from the girl’s face. it’s supposed to be romantic, flirty in nature, only for stevie to knock over a glass of wine and have it spill all over her. 

“ah! i’m so sorry, i’m so clumsy– oh my god,” he laughs it off, voice squeaky, shoulders shaking with mirth as he rushes to grab napkins and shove them at her, going for more panicked than attempting to laugh at her. it is kind of funny though; if he were an outside, stevie would have snickered.

quickly getting up from his seat, he circles around and gently ushers her up, grimacing at the sight of her outfit stained with wine. what a shame, it had looked nice on her. though he’s sure she can always replace it. “you should probably go into the restroom, probably easier to clean up with the sink.” he speaks, gentle and sweet. “and more towels. oh my god, i’m so sorry about this, yulhee.” he apologizes again, moving over to help her out of her seat, and gather her things.

he can’t help it– his fingers, so twitchy. if her wallet ends up in his hand and tucked into his sleeve, he blames it on his kleptomaniac tendencies. 

“i’ll get you another one,” he calls out to her before she hurries to the restroom, quickly wiping up the mess on the counter, though he keeps one eye on her until she’s all the way out of sight. pushing himself off the table, he gathers up the napkins from the mess and moves back over to the bar to replace her drink. stevie tugs out yulhee’s wallet, pretending it’s from the back of his pocket, and pays with yulhee’s money, making a show and muttering about how clumsy and how much of a loser he is to the barkeep. 

as he returns back to the table, yulhee’s new glass in hand, she still isn’t back yet. which is bad for her– probably because the stain is pretty bad. or she’s scathing and cursing his name before coming back with composure. either or– stevie’s not sticking around to see the aftermath. 

he takes a hefty sip from the glass, going to pat his mouth dry with a napkin. his lips come back in the form of a wine pressed mouth mark, and he smiles at it, amused. “cute,” he mutters to himself, shaking his head and giggling at himself as he sets it down next to her glass. reaching for her wallet once more, stevie plucks out every credit or debit card he sees, and takes about half of the cash inside. he leaves enough to get her home, because come on! he’s a gentleman at the very least. 

sua doesn't deserve her. not in the beginning, certainly not in their rose colored prism in the middle, and not now.

and she feels terrible for it. because it's not as if it wouldn't ever be in the cards. but when yulhee falls to one knee, her heart doesn't skip-- it drops. seeing the ring nearly makes her throw up. because they're surrounded by yulhee's family, her friends, her loved ones. and sua is here, center stage to one of her worst nightmares come to life.

because sua isn't ready for marriage. her silence is deafening in the hall, the only thing playing is muffled voices and whispers, the sound of the radio churning out a tune that sua swears in the moment sounds warped. maybe it's the moment. maybe it's her.

"i..." she starts, when the silence bears too long and she can't stand to look at the expression on yulhee's face. there's a lump in her throat that's tough to swallow. anger licks at her gut, but it's weak; an initial reaction to wanting to cry that's beginning to overwhelm her.

she'd be miserable. a ring so pretty and a woman so beautiful on her arm is a dream to most people. not to sua, not when there's so much else she can do right now. it's selfish, she's selfish. she can't put herself through that. she can't put yulhee through that. she just can't.

"i'm sorry," her voice breaks on the end, hand tugging to her chest as she shakes her head. the champagne in her system causes her to stumble. she feels like she's running-- and in a way she is. like sua always does, time and time again.

it's become an endless cycle by now, one that vinn can't seem to escape. it always starts the same way too—vinn does something yulhee doesn’t like and suddenly it’s the end of the world. her eyes flash with anger, and her voice rises, sharp and cutting. she gets upset at him for the same things she does too, but when he does it, he’s in the wrong. even now she won’t allow him to get a word out to explain himself. she’s yelling at him so loud that he’s certain their neighbors will call the cops on them again. her tirade grows more ferocious when she brings up his past mistakes. she always keeps them as spare ammo for their next fight, ready to point out all his wrongs and drown out her own mistakes.

“why do you always blame me for everything?” vinn’s voice cuts through her insults, his fists clenched at his sides. he finally wants to express what has been running through his mind for the past year they have been dating. he’s tired of it; everything about their relationship exhausts him. he’s reached a point where he doesn't know if he can endure further exhaustion just for love’s sake.

yulhee reacts predictably, her eyes widening before tears spill down her reddened cheeks. she knows those tears usually work, making vinn feel guilty for even voicing any form of blame her way. her body trembles with practiced vulnerability, a tactic to regain the upper hand.

any other time vinn would have given in and apologized for whatever mistake he had made, but today he has reached the edge of the cliff. if only they could go back to how things used to be at the start of their relationship. yulhee used to be so sweet, but it must have only been a facade to lure vinn into all this.

he’s simply tired of feeling like he’s constantly in the wrong, as if nothing he does will ever be right for yulhee. he feels like a disappointment and a failure, all because she always has to point out his mistakes. he has tried explaining before how it hurts him, but she never cares enough, always shifting blame and playing the victim.

“let’s break up. do whatever you want, i don’t care anymore.” yulhee’s words are said so easily as if she doesn’t feel the same type of love that vinn feels for her. he should be used to it by now, but it still stings every time she tells him to break up whenever they have an argument.

his own eyes become watery, but he doesn’t allow himself to spill any tears. he won’t allow her to bring him to his knees again—not anymore. “fine, let’s break up.” it’s the first time he’s agreeing, and perhaps he had seen this outcome a long while ago. things between them have always been rather predictable. even now, he’s not surprised by yulhee’s nonchalant reaction as she walks out of their living room, knowing full well that vinn will stay with her anyway.

but this time, he remains standing, watching her retreating figure with a new determination hardening in his chest.