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( song of the day :
wait - exo )

taeil pushed open the glass door of 7-eleven, his eyes immediately darting towards the cashier on duty. he was beyond surprised after seeing an unfamiliar face by the counter.

"uhhh, vernon, right?" he read his name tag once he approached the brunette worker, who then shot him a congenial smile following his entrance. "where's youngmi?"

[ hello : vernon as a 7-eleven worker is totally imaginable 🤩 ]

"oh, she decided to take a break for a while. two weeks, i think?"

these past few days, she acted really weird. he started to notice it all during the phone call the morning after his party, where her voice was tinged with unusual weakness. this sad vibe continued on up to their texting, and she hasn't even replied to his message earlier this morning yet.

"do you know why?"

"no, sadly."

taeil suddenly realized how she'd given him so much comfort to continue with his work daily by her small actions of motivation, and yet he himself couldn't do the same for her. the cheery voice calling out mr. moon always calmed him down after a stressful day. he recalled how she'd brush everything off with an 'i'm okay', but he never really analyzed its sincerity.

were those smiles real?

what happened?

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jace and sicheng exited the stuffy building of grandview general hospital after they drove a panicked seoyeon.

as they walked towards their vehicle, sicheng felt a warm hand brush with his. he flinched a little at the sudden skin contact, looking at his smiley companion anxiously.

"hey, you . . you gotta be careful," he said, hesitantly loosening his grasp. "the networkly dispatch is everywhere. i mean, being in scandals wouldn't be too burdensome to me, since i only have a small circle of people who actually notice my presence and i have no solid reputation to begin with, so that wouldn't really ruin my overall social status, but you━"

"shhh, it doesn't matter to me now," jace placed his index finger in front of sicheng's lips as he shushed him verbally. "if i get my reputation ruined, at least i got to say i ruined it with you."

both of them chuckled, finally reaching jace's car, tinted with a deep shade of shiny red. "should i be flattered or what?"

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seoyeon quietly walked inside johnny's hospital room after being informed that his vitals were now stable and he could already be visited.

she couldn't help but feel immense sorrow after seeing johnny's current condition. he attained a small bruise on his cheek, along with other band-aid covered wounds scattered all over his face. his left arm was in a clean blue cast.

seoyeon sat herself down on the stool beside his bed, her glance meaningfully observing how his eyes were peacefully shut.

"don't leave. you gotta stay strong, okay? you have . . you have to because i━because i . ."

the girl began to stammer with heavy breaths. her attempt of wiping away the tears forming in her eyes failed right away as it now turned into a ceaseless downpour.

"i can't live without you."

he heard everything.

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♤ gabrielle's note

it's chapter 42 and like . . ?? I barely even noticed ,,

the last time I wrote a chapter 42, i killed off a psycho character by making him fall down a high flight of stairs but he pulled his friend in so they died together, then somebody who they thought was dead came back━ . . . damn 😨