✶ 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭

BENEATH THE WISTERIA ( writing for yuna / @yunabh )

WHERE LONG AGO MEETS US ( waiting for dasom / @dasom-bh )

ONCE LOST, NOW FOUND ( writing for yujin / @yujinbh )

EVENT

A FLOWER'S MEANING ( waiting for dasom / @dasom-bh )

ONE LIP, TULIPS ( writing for honey / @honeyxbh ) dropped

DERNIERE DANSE ( writing for xiaolin / @bhxiaolin ) dropped

( ... ) “Are you ok?” Only after confirming his brother wasn’t hurt, he opened the car door and checked outside. “Looks like we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.” He sighed, not only because it’d be a long walk in the snow but he also didn't want to leave his car behind. Looked like the universe was conspiring against him. His mood was getting worse by the minute.

truth be told, yeonsu was only half listening to yujin’s attempt at calming his nerves. it wasn’t intentional - of course - yeonsu just… couldn’t seem to grasp one thing amidst all the noise in his mind to focus on. one would think having a voice on the outside would help but it seemed to do the opposite in that moment. yeonsu is trying to process yujin’s words as he stares at the endless snowbanks outside his window when the car suddenly jerks to the side.

before he knows it, the car is spinning before it slides across the icy road and runs off the road into a ditch.

the impact is sudden and startling but nothing seems to be damaged. the shock brings yeonsu to immediate focus as he looks around to assess the situation before turning to look at yujin who is quicker to react.

“yeah, i’m okay.” yeonsu is ready to offer yujin the same question however stops in his tracks when yujin expresses that they’ll have to walk to the gala. a part of him is in a bit of disbelief considering they haven’t even stepped out of the car to see how bad it was. although, in the back of his mind he knows well that yujin has much more experience with the modern cars and therefore able to determine their course of action without doing so.

with a deep sigh, yeonsu holds the urge to roll his eyes back before he simply tries to open his car door before realizing that the bottom is propped right up against a snowpile making it impossible for him to leave. and maybe the irritation is misdirected, but yeonsu doesn’t put in any attempt at hiding it when he turns to glare stare at yujin. “my door is stuck.”

"ahh... maybe once as a young child. my mother was sick and our laundry hadn't been done and i had yet to learn how to clean my own clothes..."

"one day maybe if i find someone i truly love and want to start a family with. i'd love to have a family one day after all."

"i don't know. very honestly. as much as i want to leave now, or for things to return back to normal- there are things i've seen and learned that can be changed if i stay. things that could be changed for the better that wouldn't ever if i chose to leave."

"maybe my late teenage years? living freely with my only worries and responsibilities being to tend to the fields. the experiences and fun i had will always be memorable during that time."

"um... i'm currently single. may i ask who's asking and why?"

nevermind the answer that sits in the back of yeonsu’s mind. if there’s one thing yeonsu knows to be the truth, it’s that he hopes his family will continue to be healthy and only meet good things. 

“wishful thinking… i would wish that my family would be well- to have and receive everything they deserve and more. living in that town isn’t the easiest… and now that i’m not there with them i really just hope that they’re not suffering.”

"someone diligent. a person who works hard and truly puts in the effort is most admirable."

yeonsu smiles at the thought and recalls all the memories that come with the question. “back home, every winter it was a tradition for us to spend a weekend making tangerine jam. well, usually it was tangerine but if there was a different fruit we had excess of then we’d use that.”

“we’d ration what we were able to make throughout the year and if we had more, we’d gift some during the holiday season to neighbors.” with that thought, yeonsu wonders how the weekend session of jam making went this year. he also wonders if his family has enough to send him a jar or two to use for himself whenever he’s feeling homesick.

the next question has yeonsu considering a little more. “hmm, i suppose if we got caught in a snowstorm together finding or making shelter would be the most important thing depending on where we are. the snowstorms i’ve experienced outside of the capital were nasty, but as long as you don’t panic and know what to do, everything will be fine.”

“all in all, i think we’d manage to be safe- you wouldn’t have to worry, miss kang.”

( ... ) as she perused through the different stalls, she found a familiar face in the foreground of her vision. making her way over with haste, dasom quickly adjusted her hair as she moved, stopping only a few steps behind the other. the younger figured that she'd wait patiently until he'd disengaged from his conversation with the vendor before surprising the gladiolus heir with a bright greeting.

something about the old woman’s voice is calming. at least- it catches yeonsu’s attention out of all the buzz surrounding the market as citizens go on about their errands and shopping. she’s tucked into a small corner between two larger stalls, making her look much smaller than she seems (in yeonsu’s mind something about the look in her eyes reminds him of his mother) and maybe that’s why he stops.

she says a few things as he stares at her before staring into the flower in her hands- completely unaware that he’s already tuned her out. he does catch something about ‘good luck’ however before he nods figuring that she’s going about her sale’s pitch to convince customers to buy what she has to sell. 

it’s a quick exchange as yeonsu pulls out a generous amount of coins and hands them to her with a quiet, “keep the change.” he’s already turned and started walking away as she thanks him for his kindness and in doing so, missing the way she also chimes about good luck (because if yeonsu had been truly listening- he’d have heard that the story behind that flower was very much significant to beonhwa’s culture of love).

( ... ) "i..-" she shouldn't be stuttering, she's usually calm and poised, a perfect image of what someone in her house should be, but right now she's a mess trying her best to calm her heart down while it continuously bangs against her chest like a drummer boy. "sorry!" she blurts out, pushing herself up in panic, only to bump her head with his, and falling back down to the ground. earlier, only the back of her head was hurting, now? it was also her forehead.

his finds himself frozen with nothing but panic blaring through his mind as he hears the automatic eruption of whispers and gasps in the area of everyone that had bore witness to the incredibly scandalous position he put them into. most importantly, yeonsu knows there’s no way of getting out of this mess without any unwanted attention. 

worse come to worse, maybe there would be gossip for a week or two at the most but for sure - something else much more gossip worthy would occur between then right? and if yeonsu was lucky, maybe this little mishap wouldn’t be the biggest gossip piece created from the festivities of the holiday season.

it’s only when the female beneath him makes the first move- accidentally hitting her head against his that yeonsu realizes he’s yet to remove himself from the precarious situation. “i’m so sorry.” yeonsu hurriedly echoes after her as he finally peels himself from the position he’d been in, giving her space as he quickly looks around to see how many people are around.

“are you alright?” yeonsu swallows the utter embarrassment and humiliation that burns in his cheeks, hanging onto the last pieces of dignity he can find as he reaches a hand out to her from where he squats.

this comes easily to yeonsu. they all tied back to family and home. 

“the first would have to when the fields grew. i still remember the first time i ever saw the crops peaking through the soil after the first time i had ever helped on the fields. the feeling of knowing that my hardwork was paying off- the feeling of understanding what fruits of labor meant.”

of course, it still took many more months until any of the crop were fully grown enough to be harvested. but the lesson was one that left a lifelong impression.

“the second one would be the first time i went hunting with my father. he had only agreed to take me after i became sufficient at archery so that i could actually do something useful instead of scaring away the animals in the woods.”

the memory is full of excitement and laughter for yeonsu as he recalls how in the end, he did indeed scare away a number of rabbits earning a small lecture from his father.

“i suppose the third was the last town celebration we had. it’d been a few rough months during the astrantia season with the suffocating heat. crops and wells dried out but the town was able to make it through and ended the tough time with a celebration in the rain.”

his fondest memories all related to the hardships he had endured, and it seemed that the ease and resources readily available at the tip of his fingers in beonhwa reminded him of the lessons with each passing day.