Realistic or Modern 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 ```

[mother of sorrows]

​

 

[.V1LLAINISM._]

YO TAEWON

On Friday, March 25th, Yo Taewon took his final breath. Not literally, God no, but it sure has hell felt feel like it. For his hubris had been pierced by none other than a dagger, torn like a one-winged bird laying on the damp spring floors, dreading the continuation of life after the conversation he’d just endured with his mother and father. After all, parents will never stop being parents, it was stupid of him to ever think so. Even his who were superficial gremlins of the night would time and time again barge into his life unannounced and stir up a commotion. This was one of those times.

His morning began with a thud- quite literally- as he slipped out from under the covers, onto the cold hardwood floors and into reality. Though even that had done little to deter him from his slumber. Groggily muttering a ‘fuck,’ he tried to rub the exhaustion from his eyes, face scrunched from the sudden assault of hardwood. And to top it off, his head began to pound with the consequences to his own actions. He continued to curse up a storm of expletives, everything from the elementary “crap” to sentences that would make even the devil sob and repent. He really needed to stop with the parties. He also really needed coffee. And a bagel. And a new chandelier..
Last night was… unique to say the least.
But back to the point.
What Tae really did not need however, was the sudden apparition of his parents standing at his doorway at the asscrack of dawn (it was really 9:30). And yet, there they were. Plain as day.
Greeted with the dumpster fire of a suite past his shoulders and the dumbfounded look painted across his face, it was obvious that he was about to lose whatever argument they’d brought with them this time. This was not going to go well.

~~~

“Tae you’re 26 now and you’ve shown absolutely no consideration for your future. None. I will not have a son of mine waste his life away do you understand?”

This conversation again? Really? He rolled his eyes. So much for “good morning”s and warm welcomes.

“-What your father is trying to say,” his mother began to interject, “Is that I -well we think that it’s best that you start looking at potential suitors. Honey I think it’s time you-“

-And that’s when he heard it. Those two words that every moderately young adult is afraid of hearing. His eyes widened in horror, zeroing in on her lips as all time slowed, voice inhuman and demonic as if uttered a cinematic:
“-Settled. Down.”
Snapping up from the haphazard position across his loveseat, Tae finally woke up.
This was not happening. Someone pinch him, punch him even.
“I want grandkids!” -Kill him now- “You’d have the cutest babies! aww I can just imagine!”
No. No, no, no, no, no. Make it stop, please make it stop.

His father cleared his throat, commanding the room once more like the cold bastard he was. Y’know it was a shame that Tae looked exactly like him. That he laughed like him, talked like him. Some even say behaved like him but he refuses the thought.
He would much rather take a swig of his own vomit. The chunky kind.
“You’re settling down and that’s final. The Yo’s have always had a powerful legacy and I’m not letting anyone destroy it. Do you understand?”

Opening his mouth to fire an equally sharp retort, Tae faltered at the pleading gaze of his mother. The gaze which begged him not to tear up the room with their insolent quarrels, their thundering voices, begged him to be better than his father.
His eyes flickered over to the manicured hand that gently squeezed his knee, expression softening.
He sighed.
And reluctantly, as if silently admitting his defeat and waving his little white flag, he uttered the one sentence his father would only ever accept.
“I understand.”

~~~

Tae’s morning continued as per usual.
Well, save for the half-traumatizing conversation with his parents and consequently sour mood, sure, it was just your average Friday morning.
Slender fingers violently pushed up the locks decorating his forehead, followed by a huff of exasperation.
“They can’t just do that can they? I mean it’s ridiculous right? Are we in the fucking 16th century?” he indirectly scowled at his one and only confidant, Jiyoung.
She was an adorable little thing, doe-eyed and a crime princess in her own right, though more crackhead than royalty if you asked him.
But most of all, she was his very best friend. His only friend to be honest.
And on this unholy day, the pair were tucked away comfortably in one of the booths at their favorite cafe. The Maple Café. It was a local business, one that was as overpriced as it was classy but he didn’t mind, he damn near had just about all the money in the world dwindling at his fingertips. Though he’d had better Americanos he’d have to admit, and better scones… and better bagels. Now that he thought about it, it was probably more of a comfort thing. But regardless, The Maple was his and Jiyoung’s go-to, it always has been and it probably always will. In fact he often muses about growing old and dying right there in that very booth, turning full Prince Philip alongside the rest of the regulars. But now was no time for jokes. No, he had a serious matters on his hands. He had to be an actual adult.

“What am I going to do?????”

But for now, he’d remain the 20-something spoilt manchild that he always was, at least for a little while. What? He loved to complain.

The heir’s half-cries became muffled as he buried his head in his hands, elbow accidentally shoving the mug that sat nearby, splashing at least a quarter of the murky liquid onto the table.
This was it. This was his 13th reason.
He grumbled.

“I’ll be back”

But that’s what they always say.

With his eyes trained carefully on the floor, Tae cursed underneath his breath, finding it extremely difficult to both avoid the dewey shoe tracks and their owners’ ill-mannered feet at the same time. Just why did everyone suddenly feel the need to manspread today?
Somewhere along the lines however, his precise navigations had failed him, making whatever was left of his Americana (he wanted a refill) rain right back onto him … and the stranger that had oh so savagely bumped into him.
What. The. Fuck.

Now, a normal person would gasp in shock, reach for a napkin and profusely apologize for bringing such a disaster. But Tae was no such normal person. No, he was a man at the very end of his limit. And there was nothing more cruel than a person like that.
“Wha- ? What the fuck?! My fucking shirt!” He barked.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
Charming, isn’t he?

coded by kaninchen

 

[mother of sorrows]

hyun-ah

mood.

location.

the maple cafe

outfit.

uniform

There are moments, flashes of them, in which you realize that the strand you're holding on to is actually much thinner than you thought.

For Hyun-ah that line gets tested on the daily. Everytime she has the audacity to think 'hey, things are going alright', the world will raise a judgemental brow and send her tripping over it's foot. Endlessly she will fall; endlessly she spills over just a drop of coffee on the wrong day and has to chain herself from commiting second-degree murder on the nearest innocent. A grand comedy with her as the main fool - the overexaggerated one, the one that gets angry over the smallest thing to send the audience into laughter. Just yesterday she could hear the imaginary set giggling in her ear when she came home at midnight, exhaustion and raw nerves grinding together; before finding out her brother took her spare key to go to a club. Without asking her.

Nobody ever asks Hyun-ah. Not even if she ends up locked out in the dark, cool spring air shivering across her skin. Angry, cluthing her work bag, standing in front of the family door - she could practically hear the director, the audience and the paid actors behind her. Laughing. Her life is about the worst TV show there is, zero stars out of two hundred.

A break of uncharacteristic luck that her parents came home half an hour later. But even when she slipped out of her uniform and under the covers, breathing into the silence of her room, the door's disapproving surface still stood in front of her eyes like a guardian of well-deserved sleep. As if to ask her, one last time; what are you doing here?

It's selfish, she knows. Stupid. Ridiculous. There are people dying in this world, withering away without a family to hold their hand as they go. There are wars. Even to her parent's struggles, Hyun-ah's dwarf in comparison - a spoiled little kid, thumping at the walls when asked to deal with the slightest frustration. Hyun-ah has no children, no spouse, no debt (if you ignore the school fees still biting at her heels) to lose sleep over. The least she could do is work her jobs and not give them more to worry over when their back are already hunched with the weight of the world. It's not a kindness, what she's doing - it's the least she can do to repay them for all they've done. They haven't had it easy, and still don't, but they left them to their own devices or dropped them out on their behinds, letting the world eat them to the bone.

Hyun-ah knows shes a burden. She's another head to pay with blood for. That's why she doesn't want to complain, not to them - she's not sure she can handle their tired, wrinkled faces drop with more sadness than they can already bear.

(One might wonder, though. Where does the line between self-sacrifice and self-slaughter begin?)

So. Yes. She knows she's being a selfish brat. But when she finds her new dress missing, she still gets angrier than a normal, everyday adjusted person would think she should.

''MI-GYEON!''

Her little sister's face drops into a surface of innocence far too fast at the absolute weight of Hyun-ah's stomping, sending their little brother running to hide with how the stairs shook. The house croaked at the terrifying rage of an older sibling that's just been victimized, the very foundations nervous at it. Mi-Gyeon sat there at the humble dinner table, small hands placed prettily on the worn wood as if expecting a job interview and not a potential murder. She had the audacity to look annoyed at Hyun-ah's bellowing - as if the dawn white fabric on her had every right to be there and Hyun-ah is the one that's being unreasonable. Like a frozen over leaf in a winter morning it shone, demanding a month of Hyun-ah's wages and a lake of tears to go with it. Not in her closet, but stolen in the night by her sister.

''Give me my dress back, now!''

Hyun-ah rose an accusing finger, at the face of which Mi-Gyeon widened her eyes with offense that absolutely did not belong to her. Like the dress.

''I didn't know it was yours!''

''Like hell you didn't. Now give it back!''

Mi-Gyeon lurched from the table at her threatening approach - but if she was known for anything it was for her pride, and so her little sister dug her feet into the ground to glare back with all the same might. ''I already said I'm gonna wear it to Sung-ho's tonight!'' She yelled back, making the house sign and worry. ''I can't change it now!''

A slipper appeared in Hyun-ah's hand. Like a shadow of a sword hovering over the neck of a to-be executed.

Mi-Gyeon stared at her for a moment. Stared at the slipper. Her face showed internal calculation, apparently weighting how she might get out of this encounter without a smack flying right at her.

Her decision - a lighting fast blast to the kitchen and a panicked cry of 'MOOOOOOM!'

Their tiny kitchen coughed with hot air and precariously balanced pots, cooking surfaces fighting for who will get freed first. Sweet cabbage drifted in the air, gently sizzling with thick noodles in a dark sauce. In this chaos of domesticity their mom stood, pale upon pale upon exhaustion; worn hands brushed away water on her old apron, the same one as Hyun-ah remembers from her childhood. Mi-Gyeon hid behind her, black eyes round and faux-terrified ''Mom, Hyun-ah is being violent again!''

Hyun-ah stiffened with insult, barking out; ''Mom, she took my dress! I just got it!''

Mom just looked tired. Very tired.

She cast a listless eye at the slipper in Hyun-ah's hand and then on the fluttery white dress - closed her eyes as if summoning some long-lost sense of patience. She stepped away from Mi-Gyeon gently, put a warm hand on Hyun-ah's shoulder.

And then made the decision she always did.

''Hyun-ah,'' she said in that brittle voice of hers, speaking with hours of minimum wage and no thanks. ''Just let her have it this once.''

''But -''

Her protest was stabbed and bled out by the pleading look in her mom's frown, squeezing her shoulder. ''You're moving out in a week and then you'll be free.''

Again, that line between cutting yourself off to feed your family and slaughter of yourself for the sake of it. A thin line on which Hyun-ah never knows the side she's on. She doesn't say that her and Kai are going out drinking later. That she worked her ass off to pay for this one, simple luxury and she doesn't even get to wear it first. That Mi-Gyeon didn't even care to ask.

Nobody asks Hyun-ah. They only wait for her to nod and hold her wavering throat together.

She does exactly that. Mi-Gyeon's slippery sweet smile is like salt in the constantly bleeding wound.

-

Somebody died somewhere, but Hyun-ah couldn't help but not cry a little bit on her way to work.

-

The smell of spring knocked on every window, the blossoms on the trees shyly opening their first eyes; it's still fairly cold in the darkness of the night, but in the light, fresh sunlight you can hardly remember anything outside of here, now. Even the most bitter person in this town would be hard-pressed to not open up a window and let the breeze in, washing away the funeral decor of winter's last days. The Maple Cafe fluttered with life, newly re-born plants and the smell of coffee that absolutely does not demand the price tag it has.

Colorful flowers laid like sleeping women over every available surface of the cafe, coiling and twisting and growing. Hyun-ah watched the day reflect off their leaves distantly, head resting on her hand. The counter's dug into her elbow even beyond her deep thoughts, letting out deep signs every so often to make sure Kai hears them. She's sweet like that, to be concerned - a person rarer than love in this world where most humans are just okay. It would be easy to hate Kai for how beautiful she is, for how she catches the attention of a room without even noticing; very easy, yeah, to gain resentment. If only she wasn't so nice that you'd feel like an asshole for even thinking of glaring at her.

''We going drinking to Jo's again?'' Jo's, their stomping ground and possibly the shittiest bar in all of the country, is known for two things. Cheap alcohol and their toilets reminding of an SCP containment breach.

It's where they've always gone, for as long as they've known each other. Hyun-ah couldn't afford better and Kai had the unfortunate tendency of being terrible at saying no, and at this point it wouldn't be the same if they didn't have to constantly suffer through stench and loud men. It worked well for Hyun-ah and her gasoline temper, to beat any man that dared to act whore-like. Possibly with a salt-shaker. You never know how much these hurt until you throw them at somebody's head.

It hurts - hurts like dropping a bunch of plastic cups and having to pick them up when you're awake only in theory.

Hyun-ah stares at them, scattered across the floor. They look back, far too smug for an inanimate object. Her eyebrow twitched dangerously.

''I'll throw them away.'' She sighed, utterly defeated by the plastic cup's merciless determination to not instantly jump into the nearest trash bin. The evil of it all. The girl let out a fake sob as she picked them up, walking out from behind the colorful counter -

and instantly walk into the nearest person, letting out a curse of surprise.

Followed by a steady stream of it once she felt the splash of coffee hitting her shirt.

Her only clean shirt with her.

Hyun-ah stiffened. Looked slowly, very slowly, very very slowly up at the mess of black hair spewing up a storm. A guy, around her age; she think she's seen him before, sitting at one of the interior benches and talking away with the same girl everytime. She didn't remember his name - but she did recognize that face. The one that, as their co-worked Mi-ok phrased it, she would 'fight a crackhead in a Spencer's bathroom with only her toes for.' Handsome in an effortless way, all the stance of somebody who was never anything less than perfect. He stared at her now with an expression of shock and anger, cursing out so delicately - and she quotes:

''Wha- ? What the fuck?! My fucking shirt!”

Now. If she had only a strand of patience more left, she might have done the right thing. Would have blabbered in apology, desperately reaching for paper towers to give faux-help to something that can no longer be fixed. Even if this is not technically her fault, she knows her place in the world; rich patrons can do no wrong and Hyun-ah will have to grovel for their own stupidity. A customer could set the shop on fire and she would still have to assure them that this is their fault and that it won't happen again. She's used to it, yes - and if she had the energy for it, she would have done it.

But.

Her shirt. Her shirt.

A white flash of the dress.

Before her intelligence could catch up, her steadily built frustration poured out with a;

''Watch where you're going!'' Her feet steadied like that of a soldier protecting his last inch of land, giving the man a glare burning just as angry as the shot-gun fire of curses. ''You walked into me! And ruined my shirt!''

Hyun-ah knew this was a horrible thought; that her job was on a thinning line already, but the side of her that howled with the injustice of it all broke free with no care for any owner. This asshole was the one at fault here, no matter if he's the customer or if his clothes got ruined. Maybe if he actually paid attention to people around him this wouldn't have happened - but no, when do people ever do that? Her cheeks burst with color, somehow being capable of angering herself just by having thoughts. Her power.

quote

♡coded by uxie♡

 

[.V1LLAINISM._]

YO TAEWON

It was like the universe hated him or something. As if he- a single mortal man had done something so terrible, so irreparable that fate herself was taking revenge in the form of this very day. And maybe he has, in one life or another, done something terrible . For one simply cannot obtain his black-carded privilege without inflicting cruelty, nay, one simply cannot earn the riches without demanding them first. And time, history is the most compelling example. But Tae-won has none of that left. His patience wanes every time the clock strikes a new digit; and in each passing minute, each second he inches closer to becoming what he is destined to be, a monster.
Dark eyes burn holes in the same way the stain scorches his flesh, so piercing that it almost hurt. Almost. For what is worse than a little accident? Turning it into an even bigger accident.

''Watch where you're going!''

If there was anything Tae had learned from his father, anything at all it was this: only weak men hash their disputes out in public. Wise men know to smile, ensure no further quarrels and then go on their merry way- or at least, feign it so. Once they set foot back in their offices however, that is when the real problems begin. How many phone calls has Mr. Yo made? How many hushed murmurs, closed doors has he been behind? How many lives has he ruined? Tae can't even think of a number, every time he tries to his head starts to hurt. After all, to anger a man is a dangerous thing in itself, but to anger a rich man? Well that 's purely self-sacrifice.
He thought everybody was smart enough to know that.

'You walked into me! And ruined my shirt!''

But apparently not.
Just as Tae began to even consider conceding, to let it all go for the sake of his high blood-pressure, she- this lady decided to open her mouth.
He stiffened. What?
It's not like he's never been talked to like that before, no. But also, it very much is. Being the spoiled little prince that Tae-won always was, he 's grown used to people kissing every floor he walks, used to to stiff bodies and feigned respect. To resentment and envy. He merely has the kind of life that others can only dream of, fantasize over during useless day jobs that only do so much as tire them out for laughable wages. He knows all of this yes and yet, never has he entirely come face to face with it.
So to say that he is- if not astonished than more dumbfounded- wouldn't exactly be an understatement.

Dark eyebrows furrowed in scrutiny, fully wondering if the employee had lost her mind on the way to work or something, he wouldn't put it past her. Though she was attractive, he had to admit. Not in the way he was accustomed to but pretty nonetheless, the kind of pretty that makes you wonder: what the hell are you doing in a place like this? Simple, clean, a taken-for-granted beauty. And though the Maple Cafe has never been short of prestigious, it seems like things are beginning to change.
Tae-won frowned, if not for the damaged reputation that this one was bringing unto his beloved coffee shop, then for the unwanted attention. They were making a scene. And a pretty big one too.
An audience at every table, at every pink leather-lined booth and plush ivory seat and all he can do is think: what would dear father say about this? He also wants to die. Yeah, when you go through multiple life-altering events and it isn't even lunch time yet, you tend to do that.
Kill him now.

"Oh! Mr. Yo! I- We are SO sorry"

Then, as if by clock-work another employee appeared. She was slender, tall and short-haired, sort of familiar in the face but he couldn't quite place it- where has he seen her before?

"Here, take as many napkins as you need and...." She trailed off as if at a loss on how to resolve such a dumpster- fire of a conflict "We would like to cover your next 10 visits! Yes, all on the Maple of course, consider it a formal apology heh.."

She didn't talk often did she? Tae looked bored as the employee- this "Kai" woman kept going on and on and on and- wait, what were they about again? The man frowned, quickly forgetting the coffee and quickly getting more agitated by this one's rambling. Was everyone incompetent here? He didn't know, he usually doesn't pay mind to anyone else really. Bastard.

"It's fine" he grumbled, attempting to blot away what hadn't already soaked into his attire. Woefully unprepared to say goodbye to his favorite shirt. He'll have it dry-cleaned- steamed- whatever to keep it in his wardrobe, but then again he wouldn't have to go through all that trouble if it wasn't for-
her.
His anger was quick to resurface and as if to get the final word, one last final jab he uttered: "At least someone has some sense around here" as he shot the woman a final, triumphant look.

"Have a wonderful day" And Tae truly hopes that they do, with what coffee-stained attire and prying eyes that they'll be forced to reckon with. Swirling on his heel, the man was quick to gather his belongings. "Let's go Jiji" he ordered without so much as a second glance. After all, Tae was finished with today but today was not finished with him. Good God.


~~~

"Oh um... Bye!" okay so maybe taking on a job at a cafe that serves purely the rich and the lucky was a bad idea, Kai can see that now. What she cannot see however, is the logic behind Hyun-ah's actions. She knows how hard her life is, she too has had the great displeasure of having siblings and has all the sympathy in the world to offer but this? This was going to get them killed! Or worse, fired!

"Hyun-ah, are you okay?' Still, Kai chooses to swallow her frustrations for her friends' sake. Hyun-ah didn't need another person yelling at her right now, never mind how worried or how angry she is. Never mind that she nearly blew her cover for her. Taking her hand, the bashful employee hurriedly sought after their break room, thankful that the rest of the coffee-drinkers and bagel-biters had since resumed their previous conversations. And thankful that their co-worker Dae-seok continued to work obliviously. She's almost certain that he has no thoughts.

The break room has nearly become a second home to Kai, with it's clean hardwood floors, plush sofas and throw-overs that match the same pink and floral color scheme as the rest of The Maple and of course, the refreshing AC. It was where she'd spent her first few nights, hunched over and with a knife clutched in her hand, afraid for her life and with nowhere else to go. Ah the memories.

"Now, do you want to tell me what's going on?" There was a worry on her face akin to that of a mother's, eyebrows scrunched, lips twisted. In the year and a half she's been here, she's grown quite fond of Sang Hyun-ah. Hyun-ah who, was never afraid to say what she was thinking, Hyun-ah who didn't choke on her words and Hyun-ah who knew a kindness that she'd never met before.

Kai sighed "I have an extra shirt, don't worry"

coded by kaninchen