𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑. all falls apart
❨ gen v ❩
YOU WOULD SEE IT ALL THE TIME ON TELEVISION. THERE'S a knock at the front door, and, on the other side is someone waiting to tell you the news that changes everything. On television, it's usually a police or firefighter, maybe someone from the armed forces.
But when Miyeon opened the door ― before she knew everything was about to change for her ― the messenger wasn't a cop or federal investigator. It was Indira Shetty, the business suit she wore was as crisp as a new banknote and dyed to a uniform shade of bleak grey. Above the white collar line, it was as if her face had been fashioned from those inky dots.
"Miyeon?" She asked. She hesitated before answering ― the way she often does when the woman was around her. Miyeon shifted. "I'm afraid I've come with some... news."
She held her gaze on the brunette, noticing her bloodshot eyes. "I'm sorry," she says, "am I missing something? Why would they send you?"
"It's about your parents."
She didn't expect that answer. She didn't know what answer she was expecting but it certainly wasn't that. She tried to piece everything together at that moment. Why hasn't her sister called her? Well, her first guess would be about what happened just that night, even if Joowon did call, Miyeon would hang up almost immediately and then break, she was like that.
"Oh God, did they forget to pay my tuition fee?"
"No..." She begins, swallowing hard.
"No, they're not," Miyeon mumbled quickly. Then she steps outside herself. She half expected her parents ❨ her lovely and silly parents ❩ to jump out from the side of the dorm, Joowon giggling behind them, the lot of them letting her in on the prank she'd not get. But they weren't there. No one was.
Just Dean Shetty, who had crocodile tears streaming down her face.
It occurred to Miyeon, in the quiet, how much she didn't want Shetty to finish her sentence. She didn't want to know. Part of her still wanted to hold on to her last memory of the three of them together ― the moment when they celebrated Miyeon making it to the top ten, smiles on both their faces as they looked at each other.
This is all a joke, an error, a big nothing.
"They've gone missing, Miyeon." No. No. No. "Are you okay?" She shakes her head, her dark brown hair falling out from behind her ears. Shetty half expected her to make a snide remark ― Do I look okay? But she stays quiet. "Miyeon?"
"I don't know," she says, the feeling of someone pressing down on her chest, she could barely breathe. "Why..." She fell to her knees, hugging her chest.
She looks at her. Then she turned away and stared out to her surroundings, her door, the day-lit dorm rooms. She could see directly into someone's room. A couple were sitting on the bed, side by side, eating bowls of ice cream, and watching television.
"What do I do now?" She whispers, her name hanging there like an accusation.
Miyeon pushed her hair behind her ears, and Shetty could see her lip quivering. It was so strange and unexpected ― Miyeon Yu had never cried, at least not in front of her ― that she almost reached out to hold her onto her, like it's something they do.
"We're gonna find the ones that took them," she started, "and you're gonna give them exactly what they deserve."
That was almost a year ago.
One could imagine Indira Shetty's surprise when she saw the father of Miyeon Yu, Yu Intak, standing, greeting those at the gala. The man was somewhat too tall for his build; were he a few inches shorter he would be all the more handsome for it. It was as if he stopped growing only to be stretched on one of those medieval racks a half-foot more. His face was mostly obscured by a beard that clung to his skin like winter-ravaged ivy tendrils.
Somehow he wasn't lanky though, there was bulk on him too; muscles beneath the suit. People around wondered how many jokes and comments about his stature he gets daily, jibes about "the air being thin up there." Though his legs moved slowly he was still walking away as fast as any other parent, each stride carrying him further.
He met Miyeon's gaze not with shyness but with a blunt refusal to avert his gaze first. How odd to see those half-familiar features devoid of warmth, like they were stolen.
And even though she knew it wasn't her father, she wore the biggest smile no one had seen in a while. Everything about her was a soft and understated joy as she greeted each person. She greeted each and every sponsor as they asked them about their day, and their lives and welcomed the emotions that tiptoed out.
Benny was surely going all out for those one hundred dollars Miyeon promised him.
Lace upon silk, the dress she wore was cozy to her body, its touch both light and soothing. She felt feminine and strong in the dress, all the best parts of womanhood blossoming into a broad smile.
Jordan wasn't listening. He'd spotted Miyeon. She'd just crested the room, arm in arm with her father, who they had no question about, it was obviously a shapeshifter.
He stumbled on some words and if anyone asked about Miyeon's childhood he hesitated before Miyeon would interject ― a vein popping out and a distaste look that was quickly hidden as she reminded her 'forgetful' father ― and they were caught in the sway of her hips. It didn't hurt that the knee-high slit in her dress offered glimpses of the calf.
Jordan's admiration of Miyeon predated their current timeline. When they first met, she wasn't much taller than them and she always had Cate by her side no matter what. But it was unrequited love at first sight.
Mortification stabbed his gut as he remembered talking endlessly about her over dinner when the holiday season came to town and all the God U students would be forced back home for the holidays.
His parents would never let them forget it. In fact, they had started to play a little game behind their back, before the day began ― or before Jordan was up to start their day ― they would bet on if he would talk about the girl, paying five dollars anytime they would start blabbing.
Should he have told her about his crush? It wouldn't have saved their life, but it was weird to have secrets from her now. Plus, they always figured they would tell her about it someday ― when it was funny instead of pathetic. But Jordan always figured that someday was coming, and, God, it sucked to be wrong.
The talking and mistakes Benny had made had Miyeon absolutely pissed.
"Are you insane?" she said to him, sparing not even a glance at the table that hosted Cate, Marie, and Jordan just a few feet away from them. "When they ask about me you talk about me!"
Benny grimaced, changing to his own form, mumbling that the shifting was starting to hurt before Miyeon smacked him across the forehead. "You promised that you'd promote me too! I don't see much of that so yeah, I took matters into my own hands!"
Her eye twitched, marching to him and bringing him down by the collar so he was forced to keep his eyes on her. "Why the fuck would my father know about fucking Benny?"
"I don't know I panicked!" Benny said, annoyed he had to do all of this in the first place. Breathing hard from the position she had him in, he kept his head down and Miyeon couldn't blame him. He'd be beaten if he met the eyes of his better, and Benny wasn't sure he could survive that. "I hyped your ass up out there and for what? A measly hundred bucks? I could get that for just shifting into someone's desires! And I get sex!"
Miyeon gathered up the money, making a show of examining the contents, but before Benny could snatch it from her hands, she ripped it. Benny's eyes widened at the unexpected scene, and, hands shaking, he bent to the ground and tucked the ripped pieces under the folds of his suit.
As Miyeon walked past the group, Marie put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay," She whispered, a little crack escaping her notice. Then, louder, she said, "We're trauma dumping."
Miyeon, unable to say no to the girl, nodded and went to sit as she was bid. She made it three strides when she heard him, her father, laughing amongst the crowd.
She guessed it was Benny's way of tormenting her, and though he had no idea the story behind why her father couldn't actually show, he knew it meant a lot to her to have him.
That bastard.
His laughing was like ripples in a still pond after a stone had been thrown in. It radiated outwards through the packed hall of adults and students who had up until that moment been quite loud. Now they too began to simmer and soon the ripples of his laughter became great waves of her mind.
Oh, how she missed that sound.
Cate had finished her story, one that Miyeon heard before on those late-night talks, those sleepovers when being around testosterone was getting to them.
Miyeon blinked to dry her tears, she looked at the three like she was thinking something over, and then she started, more quietly.
"I remember one time when my best friend, Mabel, and I were sitting on one of those concrete blocks in the parking lot near where I used to live," she hesitated, she had only ever told the story to Cate, "it was a beautiful day, and the breeze felt amazing." She smiled at the moment, "We'd snuck out, and we had been playing on our pogo sticks, you remember pogo sticks? Mabel fell, and I don't know why but she was holding a teacup and ended up hitting a man right on the forehead with it."
"She made it in class, it had this drawing of, like, a green and pink butterfly on it or something. But the weird thing was how, after it hit him and fell, it didn't break. It just rolled across the floor, right to me. Then, I swear, it rolled back upright, on its own. I can see it perfectly. I'll never forget that, ever." She choked up, "he got so angry, except Mabel wasn't much of a talker. She was the kind to close up when things got heated. He didn't like that. He put his hands on her, and so, to save her, I transfigured him. He looked awful. Like a monster from a nightmare."
"She was totally out of it, and sitting on those blocks. I ran over to her and sat down right next to her, but she was in her own world. I kept calling her, like Mabel, Mabel, Mabel. Nothing. I yanked her arm, but she barely moved. I started to panic, thinking I'd better go get my parents, but decided against it. I slapped her knee as hard as I could, crying like crazy. But that didn't do anything, either. It was like she couldn't even hear me. I was so scared, thinking what I'd do if she lost her mind and never said anything ever again."
"That was about the time that everyone was doing sun dares. Did you do those? How if you stare at the sun, you go blind? Someone decided that if you stare straight at the sun for thirty seconds without blinking, you get to make a wish. So I did it right there, sitting next to my best friend, crying. Give me my friend back. I was looking straight up, right at the sun, my eyes all the way open. It was a really sunny day, too. Not a single cloud up there. The sun was really bright, white hot, like earlier. I still remember how painful it was to keep looking. But I kept telling myself, I can lose my sight, but I can't lose my Mabel."
"I had no idea how long thirty seconds was, but I held it. I could feel my eyelids shaking, and tears were pouring out of my eyes. I fought with everything I had to keep them open. I had been at it for a really long time when I heard her say, 'You killed him.' Actually, I didn't really hear her words, but I was so relieved to hear her speak. Then she said it again, 'You killed him.' I didn't know what to say back, so I just kept quiet."
Realizing how long she had been talking, Miyeon stared off into the distance. For a while they just sat there with their hands resting on their glasses, gazing over the gala hall.
Miyeon exhaled through her nose and looked at them again, "I panicked, then, again, I couldn't have her telling her mom, so," she dabbed at her lips as she spoke, "I transfigured her too, into the butterfly on her cup, green and pink. I never saw her again."
She lifted her chin from her hands and gripped the glass firmly, Jordan looked at her, sneaking her hand to hers, "A time will come when everything will be clear. I'm sure of it when everything will be alright." Their voice was confident. Miyeon, hesitating, took her right hand into her own, and stroked their fingers with her fingertips, before squeezing their hand and letting go. "I killed my grandpa with my powers." Jordan continued.
For a minute they were quiet, before Miyeon let out a laugh, "No, you didn't." Cate scrunched her eyebrows in amusement.
"Yeah, I know. I was just feeling left out."
Miyeon felt so at ease that it disturbed her, but before she could figure out what the feeling was, Andre interrupted. "Hey! Guys, uh..." He coughed, "I fucked up."
"What did you do?" Cate shared a tense glance with Andre, who was now standing with his fists clenched in his pockets.
"It's about her roommate." He pointed.
"Emma?" Miyeon and Marie questioned, Jordan furrowed their eyebrows, mumbling 'Who the fuck is Emma?' before Marie continued. "Is she okay?" She stumbled on her words.
"I think she's stuck."
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄
are we ready to see minnie kick sams ass or what
and damn. i really am a sucker for they fall harder trope </3
and slow burn, man do i love a good slow burn !
much love,