𖥻 chapter twenty seven
"why so secretive over something
so fucking important, huh?"

꒰💭꒱

─ paris, 19/11/19 07:30 AM

"hey babe!" juyeon seemed far from giddy after coming back home, and mia found it weird (extra weird). planting a kiss on her cheek, the girl smiled while looking up at him. "hello croissant stealer, did something good happen and I have to put up with you hopping around like a bunny?"

he nodded, his lips forming a straight line as he took a seat across her. his hands cupped his face and squeezed his cheeks, as mia stopped eating her cereals (the new pack that jacob lent her, after quite the begging). "seems like you wanna tell me something?"

she intertwined her fingers together, as she waited for the raven to speak up. he puffed his cheeks, trying to form sentences on his mind to start his speech. mia had started growing impatient, for having to clean up the house before leaving.

"wanna talk or nah?" she said, as the boy blinked for a couple of times, tilting his head in confusion. soon enough tho, a gasp leaving his mouth while jerking up a tad bit. "oh right! I almost slept on the table hehe."

he scratched his nape in awkwardness, mia smiling at him while nodding. "go on!" she encouraged, him smiling sheepishly before he opened his mouth. "I-"

the doorbell rang, as mia furrowed her brows before standing up and opening it. "well well well, good things come early in the morning they say." she said, juyeon frowning while turning around to face their morning visitor.

"no one ever said that." eric aggressively denied, his pointer shaking left and right in front of her face. juyeon stood up from his seat, opening his arms wide enough to welcome the young boy, who had by now dyed his hair dark brown with blonde strands ("a bee!" mia had exclaimed when she first saw him, grabbing the worn out from smashing in any insect possible vogue magazine and almost hitting eric's face).

"good morning eric, why so early?" thinking of their conversation last night, eric had asked both the favor of driving him to work, for having his car fixed ("that car of yours takes over a week to get fixed, I wonder what you did with it!" mia had commented, eric sighing over the phone while executing a spell on his mind).

"I woke up with this illusion that I'm late. lucky me, you two are awake, but even if you weren't, I have my crystal like voice and this alarm in here to wake y'all up-" "we need no lava like voice of yours and no alarms from hell, thank you eric!"

mia struggled with her shirt's zip, for it being at the back of hers. she internally (and maybe externally) cussed the time and place she decided to buy this specific shirt. glancing over the table watch, she had ten minutes left until they had to leave.

what could she do? she's never really asked for juyeon's help, tho being together for almost a year (three hundred and sixty four days, to be exact). could he probably...nah, she can do it by herself, she can just keep trying, and trying- "mia, we have five minutes left!"

she panicked, hearing how his voice was nearing, the door opening. she turned around, holding the shirt close to her chest while trying to cover her lingerie. juyeon, having his gaze glued on the floor, didn't notice the red blush on her cheeks (how much her standing figure).

"u-uh-" "shit!" raising his head, he met eyes with the flustered girl, immediately sealing his vision with his hands as he almost tripped over a shoe thrown on the floor. "I-I'm sorry babe, I'll take my leave-" "juyeon wait-"

the boy stopped, still looking outside the door, having a glimpse of eric looking at himself in the full-body mirror, fixing his hair with his tongue poking his inner cheek. rolling his eyes at the sight of the boy, he turned around and saw mia hanging her head in embarrassment.

he closed the door, taking some steps closer while pursing his lips. "what is it love?" she took a deep breath, turning around while looking over her shoulder. "can you...zip this up for me?" she asked in a low voice, juyeon chuckling while coming closer.

he kept the cloth close to her body, his hands hovering over the zip while keeping his eyes glued on her hair. he leaned closer and plant a kiss on her bare shoulder, her flinching at the sudden contact.

"I couldn't help it." he whispered in her ear, mia smiling as she kept the shirt on, juyeon zipping it up. he tapped her shoulder, making her turn around. "we need to go, and if you ever need any help with this shirt, I'll be more than glad to help." he winked, making her yelp in surprise. "you little-"

"WE'LL BE LATE, LOVE BIRDIEZ!" eric yelled from the living room, juyeon opening the door and peeking his head through it to look at him. "keep styling yourself and we'll be back." "I-" "you. now shush!"

"I don't get how this idea popped in my head." eric mumbled while seated on the back, mia chuckling while looking at him through the rear mirror. "why? regretting it? ain't we fun to hang with?"

"I mean, he's fucking you with his eyes-" "WHAT THE FUCK ERIC!" juyeon had a horrified look in his face, the other two laughing at how his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. "gimme five, for scaring the living shit out of him!"

the sound of their hands clasping came to juyeon's ears, who growled in frustration while parking the car in the private lot for the company's members. he turned around and faced the young brunette, brows forming a thin line. "I'll kill you when I have time. mark my words."

"my name is mOrk, you can mOrk me in your heart." mia whispered, eric jerking up from trying to choke his laughter. "well, this is what they mean when they say that mark is evrywhere!" the raven chuckled at her comment, as he took her hand and pulled her closer to him. "why you gotta be so annoying?"

"woah." eric suddenly exclaimed, making the two turn their heads to his direction. "if yuqi was still here, we'd have double dates and be all adorable and annoying together." he commented, the mood suddenly switching into a sad, heavy one, mostly for the brunette, who all quietly mourned for his loss.

"it's been almost half a year, but he's handling it pretty well." mia said, placing the plates in the sink, juyeon doing the same for the salad bowl. "I don't think he does." he leaned on the counter with crossed hands, mia furrowing her brows while looking at him. "what do you mean?"

"today he broke down, as he did yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and every single day. I know because I'm always there when he does so. it's so damn heartbreaking." he huffed, as mia nodded with her mouth hanging open. "I see..."

silence took over them, as she rinsed her hands clean and wiped the water off by lightly shaking them, juyeon looking at her with a rather big smile on his face. mia noticed that, as she snapped her fingers in front of his face, him blinking for a few times.

"what happened?" she asked, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling into her neck. "I just imagined you as the wife material I'd like to have and it boosted my mood." he whispered, words being muffled by her skin, as a laugh caused by the vibrations escaped her lips.

"really?" she asked, as he grabbed the sides of her apron and fiddles with them. "wearing that cute thing while our kids are running around, cooking food and me coming back all tired and worn out." he said, still looking at his fingers while she raised a brow. "and what about my job? did they fire me?"

he shook his head, the smile still present on his lips. "you'll be working from home, it'll ne more convenient since we have kiddos. it's because you didn't want a stranger to take care of them, as well as not burden our parents with some energetic bugs."

both laughed, mia feeling bliss at the very moment. there was future, he was assuring her in such a sweet way. but, something didn't click well, and that was the woman he met a week or two ago, the woman mrs alec saw hanging out with her boyfriend.

her smile dropped, and so did juyeon's, who seemed to be deep in thoughts. "this morning, you said that there was something you wanted to tell me." she asked, and it seemed as if he was also thinking of it. he cleared his throat, glancing outside the window before speaking up.

"what I wanted to say is...I finally got my promotion." he said with a small smile, as mia gasped and almost hit his jaw with her head, in this small process of jumping (yet both noticed nothing). "are you for real? congrats baby!" she said, throwing her hands around his neck while pulling him closer to lock their lips into a long, sweet kiss.

juyeon would like for this kiss to last longer, but fate did him no favor. he pulled away, clearing his throat once again before mia stopped smiling. "what is it? you shall be proud of yourself, I actually seem happier than you."

she commented with a laugh, but seeing how juyeon reacted with nothing but silence, she put her hands on his shoulder and searched for his eyes. "hey, what's wrong?" juyeon glanced at her, taking a deep breath from the nose and exhaling all the burdensome air out.

"the thing is, I shall move out of paris." he started, mia widening her eyes while listening. "they offered me a big apartment in new york, where the main office is located. the lady mrs alec saw me with was actually the head of the american department."

mia gulped, juyeon taking a strand of her hair and placing it at the back of her ear. "yeah, I guess she already told you. I would never cheat on you, you know." he tried to lighten up the mood by chuckling, yet to no avail. mia had this eplain expression of 'and now what?'.

"another thing is that, when I asked if I could work from here, they denied such possibility. I knew it would be hard for you to leave paris, but-" he stopped, seeing how the girl shook her head for him to stop.

"you did guess right." he started, juyeon opening his mouth to speak, yet she raised her palm and stopped him. "lemme finish. if you really want to go, then you can go. I feel like we can handle a long-distance relationship."

she smiled while uttering those words, yet juyeon stayed with an expressionless face. "well, you may be able to handle it, but I don't think I can." he said, and that's when it struck her, that's when the meaning behind it all was brought in broad daylight...

and mia found her heart breaking when the clock struck twelve in the evening, this way receiving the 'best' birthday present she could have ever asked for.