Student!taehyung - Tumblr Posts

Amor, tam pulcher - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut

❁wc: 10.15k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehuung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.35k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.67k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

Chapter four is up!!!

04| Like old times

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wc: 6.67k

date: 08/06/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

"Oh, my lord! I don't know what to wear Daphne!"

"Shit! Don't scream into the phone now" she guffawed.

Six in the morning and Cleo was already screaming out of frustration. They spent the past week hanging out and catching up on anything and everything without worrying about what the future awaits. Daphne was also frustrated but had other ways to show it—not by screaming on the phone.

"Girl at least you're only bothered about your outfit. I'm the one they'll be staring at," Daphne lamented, phone between her ear and shoulder as she opened the shirt in her hands to see if it was it. It wasn't. "Oh please. They'd be staring because you're the prettiest human out there that isn't in the rich kids' group," Daphne soughed at the reply insisting that Cleo herself told her that and she didn't carve it out from her ass.

"I'm being for real girl. They'll be staring for days, forever even. You're gorgeous," Cleo lovingly spoke while angrily trashing a shirt behind herself and digging further into her wardrobe. "Why are you saying all this just now? I don't want to have that many eyes on me, Cleo. Okay, I'll wear a mask then."

All this aside, Daphne was calm about her outfit. She'd finished creating it and laid it on the bed.

"Sometimes I wish our school had uniforms. It'd save me all this stress," Cleo screamed as her phone was away from her, "But I know I'd regret it right the following day."

A lace ruffled white tank top, low-rise jeans and a light cardigan because the weather outside didn't foretell a nice day. That was Daphne's outfit.

"I'm going in the shower Cleo so scream if you want me to hear you," she announced as she stripped out of her clothes and went in, "Don't worry. A little girl whose name starts with D and ends with E told me I'm already screaming!" the reply made Daphne burst into laughs loud enough to cover the water's sounds momentarily, "Please be more specific. My sister's name is Dayanne," she laughed while a few steps away from her house, Cleo was rolling her eyes.

"I think that if I go with a dress I don't have to bother about top and bottom matching. What do you think Daphne?!" she yelled, grabbing three dresses and placing them on the little empty spot on her bed for her to take some pictures and send them to Daphne.

Since the latter was in the shower, she couldn't check her phone yet and simply yelled back: "I'm just thinking now. What if you wear that yellow low-rise skirt you showed me the last time with the cool belt we bought the other day?" she suggested, closing her eyes as her hands combed through her hair.

Cleo gasped like her friend's advice was a blessing from above, "Oh. My. God. You're so right! Oh god Daphne. What would I do without you?" she smiled as she opened her drawers in search of it. Once she found it, she hurried in front of the mirror to see how it looked before gasping again. "Daphne! What shirt am I going to wear with it?!" she yelled, keeping the skirt aside and diving back into her wardrobe. Her room was a mess at this point. The respondent took time before replying as she was rinsing her face.

"I don't know. Send me pics," she responded, getting out of the shower and into her towel. "I already sent you some pics but those are dresses," Cleo replied, switching between two shirts to go with the skirt. Hurriedly, she wore the skirt and each shirt and after taking pics, she sent them to her friend, urging her to choose while she showered.

Firstly, Daphne wrapped her hair in a towel and got dressed before checking her messages which she did right when Cleo got out of the shower. "The second shirt," she typed before turning the blow dryer on. Cleo didn't speak further and focused on getting dressed—undergarments, skirt, shirt and socks. Unlike Daphne, she'd already washed her hair the previous day so she went straight to doing her make-up.

"Oh my god," she sighed, "What time is it?" Daphne squinted her eyes to check her phone as her hair was hitting her face nonstop, "Half past six Cleo!" she screamed and hurried up with styling her hair. Cleo was exhausted as she manually blew on her face to speed up her concealer application. Not helping with the tension, Daphne and Cleo's dads called from downstairs to remind them of the time. "Yeah Dad, I know!" she whined as her mascara wasn't feeling her and constantly messing up.

Daphne applied lipgloss to finish her make-up and hurried with putting on accessories and running downstairs, thanking the heavens she'd prepared her bag the previous night.

Cleo was prepping her school bag in the neighbouring house, ensuring she remembered everything in the process. Then she rushed downstairs.

"My dad said we'll get breakfast on the way because there's a high chance of traffic for obvious reasons," Daphne spoke, the call was still on. Nodding, Cleo kissed her dad goodbye and rushed out of the house to her neighbour.

Outside, Daphne's dad had already turned the car on and was waiting for the girls who came simultaneously, both hopping in the backseat. "Y'all forgot nothing right?" he asked for reassurance. They agreed and finally drove off, waving at Granny, Daphne's mom and the dogs.

Ten minutes to seven and they were on the road. As everyone had predicted, the road was crowded, not enough to cause a traffic jam but enough for Daphne to understand that things are like that here. The town feels the first day of school, not just the students or the parents driving them there. The girls weren't talking. No one was. The dad focused on the road, Cleo finished up her hairstyle because she couldn't go anywhere without her hair pins while Daphne did what she'd always do when on the road: observe.

There were cars in front and behind them and she could see that kids were in the back seats by their heads.

Earlier, she was complaining to Cleo about the attention she'd get for being a new student. The other time at El Grillo's Cuisine she understood the reason was her new face in town but this morning Cleo tried to mask it saying that she was very pretty, in fact, pretty enough to look stinkingly rich like the kids they talked about the other day. Funny. If that's what they'd think, then better not let them know the reason why she now lives here in the first place. She chuckled at the thought. No one noticed her though.

The sky wasn't bright that morning but covered in the grey clouds. She didn't have an umbrella on her but didn't bother much. She liked, in fact, loved the rain and, despite knowing that someone would drive them back home once classes were dismissed, she wouldn't hesitate to run under it as she rushed to the bus stop. The cold she'd get the next morning would sound like a mother scolding her child but, like the child she was, the warnings would come in from one ear and go out through the other one.

The air that blew through the car came from the passenger seat window that her father winded down just a little. Seatbelt across her body, legs crossed, left hand holding her bag and right one holding her face as she leaned towards the window. The beauty of the landscape in front of her wanted to make her fall asleep which is strange because she's not the type to be falling asleep in the morning before school—she's been up for close to two hours now.

From her left, Cleo rustled with her things as she was done with her look and, satisfied, she pulled out her phone and took a few selfies. Pictures! It rang in Daphne's head like a bell. She pulled out her phone and made a little video, focusing shortly on her legs to give an idea of where she was and then completely moved to the fields entertaining their eyes outside. Ahead, she could see a line of trees meaning they were close to the little colourful neighbourhood they passed the first day they came here and every other day they went into town.

Cars went and very few came. The collective destination was the schools, that peculiar neighbourhood she'd seen just once that resembled a big campus.

"Come close. Let's take a pic," Cleo gestured as they inched closer to each other and posed. The selfie was soon posted on Cleo's Instagram stories with Daphne's profile tagged in a corner, conflicted with wanting to let everyone know who her friend was but also to gatekeep her somehow.

The past weeks, they were so focused on spending time with each other that social media faded into the background—despite the amount of pictures Cleo took and posted only late at night before going to bed. Cleo hurried to the search box and typed in the username of her crush-yet-not-crush. "Look. Here's him," she called for Daphne's attention. Jungkook had a good amount of followers and posts which allowed Cleo to make her friend have a good idea of him. The latest post was from a few days ago, a selfie taken at the beach with a girl and a boy. Avyanna and Jimin, Cleo explained.

Daphne blinked a few times. When Cleo talked about their looks, she understood but not enough for her to believe that they indeed looked so surreal. She was going to the same school as them? Crazy. They seemed personally and patiently carved by God. His favourite works most likely.

Avyanna had long and straight dark hair. Her face was like that of a model, well-proportioned, with a well-defined jaw and eyes like that of a siren. The type of girls that come up when you type "Dark feminine makeup" on Pinterest. She had her chin on Jungkook's shoulder. Behind, a few steps away, was Jimin goofily posed with what seemed to be a freshly caught fish wiggling in the second slide. He was shirtless and just in shorts like Jungkook. Avyanna was in her bikini top and jean shorts. By the looks of their hair, it was windy.

Cleo scrolled down further. The first slide was a video. It was Avyanna focused on making her cigarette next to a dark-haired boy who wasn't Jungkook. "He's Taehyung, the other living example of beauty and brains," Cleo continued. For a few seconds, his face wasn't in the camera as he too was focused on making his cigarette. He fully came into view when he licked his cigarette closed. Daphne was stunned, to say the least.

He was heavenly, she thought. Too pretty to be real. He looked slightly cold, the kind of cold that you inch closer to because it has its peculiar warmth. The video went on but Daphne was focused on him and him only. Avyanna turned her cigarette on and passed him the lighter. He'd charmed Daphne. He was just turning on a cigarette but she found it very attractive. She quickly checked and memorised Jungkook's username hoping to find Taehyung from him later.

They continued scrolling and finally found the last person in the friend group: a blondie with silky and straight hair. It was a three-picture post of them sitting around a table covered in food. Lunch or dinner, they couldn't tell but they were having a meal together. Adrielle was her name. She too was drop-dead gorgeous. Her looks were the complete opposite of Avyanna's: doe eyes and soft features. The human definition of beauty and brains indeed.

Faces like these were astonishing, she thought. She's seen pretty people before—she's been told to be very pretty too—but not to this extent. What Cleo said earlier about her looks was very nice but now Daphne thought that she wasn't that pretty, pretty enough to look as rich as them because goddamn, they were very pretty, ethereal. The type of beauty that money empowers.

Daphne's been told a lot of times about her looks. It is what made her popular in the city. But because of the type of people she prefers, she didn't have friends—friends in the real meaning of the word: she considered a friend someone whose company she enjoys even without speaking or having to interact; a person who she just likes existing with. Her classmates in the city thought they were friends but Daphne was just being nice and polite for the sake of it.

Daphne's mom was worried because of it. She knew how pretty her daughter's looks and personality were so seeing every day on her own with no one she could call a friend, she was worried—especially because Daphne's always been like this. She hoped the natural pretty privilege thing would kick in at some point but it never did—or at least, it didn't bring Daphne the type of friends she can call as such.

Despite how contrasting her personality is with Cleo's, she's the only person, apart from Willow, who she can call a friend.

Naturally, Daphne opened her phone and checked her Instagram profile wondering if some pictures were too outdated and embarrassing or if she liked them enough. She barely had posts compared to Jungkook and they barely showed her face. They were mostly pictures of landscapes, the library, her outfits and books—if she happened to be in one, her face wouldn't fully be in the focus, maybe her hair, her cheek but never her full face. Her face was only on the three-slide highlight labelled "Moi". The first slide was a selfie taken on the bus on a sunny day; the second one was a full-body picture taken in front of a monument; the last one was a mirror selfie taken before going to her sister's graduation party.

Her profile picture showed not her face but only from her chin down to her chest, focusing on her necklace and her lacy top with hair surrounding her face. She had two other highlights: one for her travelling and one she recently created dedicated to her dogs.

After inspecting everything, she archived only one post, kept the rest up and turned her phone off only after reposting Cleo's story on hers.

Around forty minutes later, they were in town. As promised, they quickly stopped to get breakfast, nothing special but croissants and chocolate milk.

It was half past seven when they drove past El Grillo's Cuisine, close to a quarter to eight when they parked next to the terminal. They got off just as others did. The parking space was slowly filling up. Toddlers, kids, middle schoolers and high schoolers were everywhere.

Once the car was closed, following her father and Cleo's lead, they started trekking up to the school. The gates were still closed, yet there was a huge crowd in front of them, so big that Daphne wondered where all these students came from. This town couldn't contain all of them, could it?

"Come on, Daph! Let's go!" Cleo spurred, a wave of tension overwhelmed the respondent who looked for her father as if asking for permission to scurry off with her friend but also calling for help. Reading through her eyes, he gave a thumbs-up, kissed her goodbye and assured her everything would be okay. Daphne smiled and nodded without knowing what she did it for. Was she sure of herself? Probably not.

Turning around and finding her hand in Cleo's, she sighed in relief and clung closer to her. At least she wasn't alone.

"They'll open soon now. We're just in time. The gates always open fifteen minutes to eight to allow students to settle in before their teachers come in. They only close five minutes after eight," Daphne nodded at the information although she didn't fully pay attention to the words. Her head spun left and right, looking at the people she would attend school with.

As explained, the gates automatically opened and the crowd shrank towards the opening and, once wide enough, they all started racing into the school. Fear, excitement and confusion settled within Daphne as her friend goaded her to run with her. "Come on!" she screamed in happiness.

The confusion on Daphne's face was quickly replaced by delight and she increased her speed to catch up with Cleo's pace. As they all ran into the school, the staff kept screaming, telling everyone not to run but clearly, their words were disregarded.

They ran in and up the stairs to their class. As predicted by Cleo, it was on the top floor but despite the breathlessness, they both kept running. "Number nine!" Cleo screamed calling for Daphne's attention who immediately looked up in search of the mentioned number.

Once they found it, they ran in. Only two people were already in. Cleo proceeded to the set of desks in the second-to-last line and they finally settled down.

"You see?" Cleo began, barely breathing, "We're deskmates and we're not front row which makes the run worth it," Daphne's eyes almost shot out of their sockets, "All this just for seats?" Cleo eagerly nodded, laughing at her friend's disbelief, "Seats that are most likely for the whole school year. Don't complain. You have the best seat and deskmate in class," she boasted, flicking at her hair. Daphne laughed, still in disbelief, and after properly keeping her bag, she finally sat down.

At the same time, five people ran into the class, heads spinning across the room hoping for seats to still be available in the last row but as they proceeded they noticed the new face. Some showed surprise, others just stared a bit while others quickly smiled.

Daphne immediately turned to Cleo mouthing that it was already starting but she replied with a shrug. There was nothing she could do about it anyway.

"Hey, Cleo," a couple of girls walked in and sat in the neighbouring set of desks. Cleo waved back and presented Daphne, "This is Daphne, my best friend," Daphne smiled and waved. Her heart warmed up at the presentation. "Hi, Daphne. I'm Michelle. This is Valerie." The first was a tall, tanned girl with amazing curly hair that fell down her back; she had a crop top and high-waisted pants with a cute school bag hanging by her arm. The second was a short red-haired girl with green eyes and freckles; she was very feminine and girly and you could tell from her cute dress, the little bows holding her hair, the cute makeup decorating her face and the adorable school bag she too had hanging by her arm. Her voice had a pleasing high-pitched tone too—like the nice, shy girl in class.

"Valerie is a smart ass," Cleo whispered as she turned around while the others settled down, "She's always been the class president since our first high school year. She's awesome and very polite". Daphne nodded, glancing in their direction. They were softly laughing with each other before they glanced back. Daphne quickly changed focus, convinced that sinking into the chair would be a great choice.

Soon, the fifteen minutes passed and were enough for all the desks to be occupied. Shortly after the bell rang, a young, tanned, curly-haired female teacher walked in, dazzlingly smiling at everyone, glad to have them back in class. Daphne unconsciously smiled back.

As the teacher walked to her desk, she checked everyone out, gasping if someone had a new haircut or a generally new look. Once behind her desk, she told everyone to sit back down. Her smile never faded away. As she brought her register out, some of the students from the first row started a conversation with her.

She was very kind—at least from what Daphne could tell. The bright smile fully morphed her face, from her lips to her eyes; she nodded to the students' words, gasped in amazement or laughed in amusement. Once she'd found what she was looking for, she seized moving, resting her chin in her palm and listening to the students' stories. Didn't stop them till they were done.

Yeah, she was the teacher everyone liked. The one that cracked the code and could understand teenagers.

Once the stories were told, she finally moved to more serious topics: "So... I hope you all had the best summer holidays anyone could wish for. Hope you all enjoyed yourself... and didn't forget to slip school duties in between," at her last words, everyone exclaimed claiming to have done just that with a funny sarcasm lacing their tone. Her accent and voice were very nice, nicer than the one of a hostess wishing a good flight on an aeroplane. Laughing and asking for silence, she finally started the roll call and, as she did so, Daphne tried her best not to turn around, left and right, to see who was answering the calls. Soon it was her turn and she froze as if she'd forgotten it would eventually happen.

A shy grin crossed her face as she lifted her hand to signal her presence. The teacher warmly beamed making her feel a bit better until her eyes dropped to the students on the left who swung their heads around hearing the new surname.

"So... Daphne, what a nice name. I'm Professor Shannon. Would you like to present yourself to the class? Say a thing or two... or nothing if you wish," the respondent nervously laughed and got up from her seat, "Erm, hi, I'm Daphne. I'm 17 years old. Erm, I like reading, dogs and flowers, any kind". Once she was done speaking, she smiled at the teacher looking for permission to sit back down without knowing that the teacher was still a bit curious: "Is there a reason you moved here?" the bright smile was still imprinted on her face.

Daphne leaned forward on the desk with the help of her arms, processing a sentence in her head. "We moved town. I used to live in the city but we moved here and now live in the same compound as my grandparents. I'm honestly grateful because the distance always prevents us from visiting so now I can catch up on all those missed opportunities," the teacher nodded, commenting on how important grandparents are and how one should treasure their love. With a quick signal, she allowed Daphne to settle back down as a class conversation about her comment started.

By the end of the hour, Daphne discovered that she taught english. The bell rang and the teacher greeted everyone and left. Immediately some boys gathered around Cleo and Daphne's desks. They were mainly there because of Cleo but could use the chance to greet and present themselves to Daphne.

"Hey, Cleo. How have you been doing?" the first one asked, sitting on her desk. Daphne almost flinched backwards at the act but seeing that Cleo didn't show any concern she guessed she was close with them which was proven when they all started high-fiving each other. Once they were done greeting Cleo, they moved to Daphne who was startled but tried to hide it under her smile. "Daphne, is it?" the same one from before asked, leaning his hand forward for a handshake, "Yeah. What about you?"

"Dominic but you can call me Nick," Daphne nodded, shaking hands with him. Almost all the boys managed to present themselves before a serious-looking teacher stormed in.

"Everyone, you may sit down," he sternly spoke. "He's Professor Keeley. A bitch I tell you. He gets off on our suffering," Daphne inspected the described teacher while leaning towards Cleo's whispering voice. "Is he like... the type to assign impossible tasks?" Daphne whispered back for more confirmation. Cleo nodded before they turned forward sensing that too much silence had settled down. They feared everyone heard them for a moment but silence was just the only thing Professor Keeley could work with. Unlike Professor Shannon, he didn't roll call but scanned the register with his eyes till they landed on a new surname.

"Rhodes?" he inquired, lifting his gaze, piercing eyes landing on Daphne once she raised her hand. Her voice was nowhere to be found. She hoped he wasn't going to ask questions about her because she didn't want to speak—besides he didn't look like the one who'd be interested for any reason at all.

The heavens heard her prayers. He simply looked her from her to toe—or at least what he could see from his position—and went on with his life. From Daphne's right, Cleo complained about his manners, thinking that it was inconsiderate of him to be so cold with a new student. Daphne was happy though, a happiness that faded away once she'd discovered he teaches physics. Physics was the only subject she couldn't ace—or at least to her liking. She struggled with it, and being taught by a teacher like the one in front of her scared her.

The bell rang five minutes to ten, signalling break-time. Everyone stood up. Some dashed out of the classroom, others went over to a friend at the other end of the class while Mr Keeley was minding his business at the computer.

Daphne barely had the time to look at her surroundings before Cleo dragged her out of the class. "Let's go get something to eat," she spurred. The halls were crowded at best. Students leaned on windowsills, others were getting snacks at the vending machines, and others were walking to or from somewhere—never forget that some were making out in a corner.

"You down for snacks or do you want something better?" Cleo asked as they were going down the stairs. "I want some coffee right now," was Daphne's reply. Her friend Cleo smiled, emphasizing that going to the bar was the best option for a good coffee.

Shiny feather-white tiles as flooring and brown wainscoting covered the bottom half of the milk-white walls. Recessed lighting brightened the building. These were the hallways. On the bottom floor was the bar, by the entrance's right.

"Damn!" Daphne gasped. The line in front of them seemed never-ending especially because behind them more students arrived. "Don't worry. According to what it says here, the next class is IRC and our teacher understands if we come in late because of the line".

Ten minutes and classes would be over for the day but outside didn't seem like day. The dark clouds hovering around in the morning had called for backup and now fully covered the sky, making rumbling noises and quick flashes to lighten the mood.

Daphne was a set of desks away from sitting right next to the window and yet it didn't stop her from looking outside with her chin resting in her palm. On her iPad were notes—with doodles on the side—taken during a very boring philosophy class. Now, don't misunderstand her. She loves philosophy but the professor sitting behind the teacher's desk right now knew all the tricks on how to make everyone's head fall and land flat on their desk.

He had a monotone voice that Daphne suspected wouldn't change even if he was in front of a life-threatening situation. She wondered why he decided to start teaching right from the first day of school. Barely anyone had bought the book yet. He was the only one who had it—plus a handful of students.

Some rustling on her right called Daphne's attention back to class. Cleo was already putting some of her things in her bag, ready to fly out of the room once the bell rang. Two minutes before it rang, Daphne started doing the same, along with two-thirds of the class—her Descartes notes put aside for another moment.

The monotone voice of their teacher went on. He briefly looked up from his book, slurring his words at seeing almost everyone with empty desks but then proceeded without letting his sleepy eyes linger for too long.

The bell finally rang and everyone stormed out monotonously greeting the teacher who simply hummed, taking his glasses off and packing his belongings. As Daphne greeted him, she wondered how could anyone look so done with life freshly out of holidays.

The noise of students exiting the school prevented everyone from hearing the thunders rumbling outside and the downpour that had just begun. Ugh, summer rains.

Daphne and Cleo finally registered the weather once they saw some students racing out covering their heads with school bags which was useless because the strong breeze was blowing the raindrops on them regardless.

As expected, at the parking space was Daphne's father's car. He was inside, obviously, but gestured the girls to hurry up which they did, trying to not slip and fall.

Her classmates were nice and made her realize she was stressing over not—although most of it should go on Cleo.

She'd discovered that Nick plays in the school basketball team and is among the best. He knows Cleo because she plays volleyball and they meet in the school's gymnasium. He's very funny and outgoing. Doesn't ponder much on anything really and is the type of student who keeps the class alive and whose absence is felt strongly.

In the group is also James. He's like Nick's right-hand man. Their personalities match a lot and they're best of friends. He doesn't make as many jokes as Nick but the few he makes surely make you cry and torture your stomach.

They're both good-looking. Tall, nice hair, broad shoulders and fit builds. Nick was brown-haired while James was blondez, a blonde that he claims would wash off through the winter and come back only in summer.

The boys that greeted them on the first day of school were a handful but only these two stood out the most—and hung out with them during breaks. There was a third one but he was very tamed compared to the two best friends. His name was Asher. He too was tall, with broad shoulders and a nice build but he was shy—even shyer than Daphne. His academic performance was the best out of the three. Nick and James couldn't care less, they were all about having fun. No wonder Cleo's so close with them.

Daphne matched Asher's personality because they didn't participate with the same energy and would tell the others to go slow with the roasts they'd be doing to random people they'd pass by in the hallways.

From what Daphne understood after her first week of school, Cleo was popular because she was pretty and a good volleyball player. Cleo looked very kind and soft from her looks so it surprised Daphne hearing the burning roasts her friend could make sometimes. She'd laugh hard sometimes because of how crazy, out-of-line, outrageous and hilarious the jokes were.

She didn't talk with the girls other than greeting Valerie and Michelle every time she saw them in the morning. She found it hard to make the first move so the best you could do was smile hoping they'd reply—they wouldn't.

Jams and Nick brought out a part of Cleo that Daphne didn't know existed. In gym class whenever they happen to be in the same team, they go crazy on their opponents and, mind you, no one can hype them up as much as themselves. When they weren't on the same team, it seemed like the remaining teammates didn't exist and they'd play against each other. Daphne and Asher tried to catch up in the heat but it was hard. Asher tried the most. Daphne simply stayed back to laugh at them.

School days couldn't be boring with them in sight.

Despite it just being the first week of school, they had homework to do and some teachers had already programmed the dates for their tests. On Thursday, with Cleo's help, Daphne found when the town's library was and was planning on turning it into her second home.

They only went to school by themselves on Friday because the thunderstorms had moved towns for the moment. It was lovely, Daphne thought. At the time they'd take the bus, it was half-empty. Their personally-assigned seats at the back of the bus were always available. Cleo slept through the journey while Daphne read her book.

It was Saturday. Daphne's early bird instincts obliged her to be awake already. She's been so for close to two hours now she spent closed in her room without coming out if not to pee.

She read, updated her agenda, did the remaining homework, cuddled Luke to sleep, arranged her notes, browsed the internet. Everything till she was bored and exhausted. By half-past eight she was finally out of the room to put something under her teeth.

While the coffee brewed, Daphne indulged in an activity she wanted to do since Monday: look for the pretty and astonishing boy who caught her attention.

She typed Jungkook's username, happy she remembered it till today and hurried to the post where Taehyung was included only for disappointment to change her facial expression: Jungkook didn't tag him like she'd hoped. She scrolled further through the posts noticing that he didn't tag anyone on any post.

Clicking out of his posts, she almost did the same with his profile only to be stopped by the highlights. The first was named with an Earth emoji, the second with a two-person emoji, the third with a single-person emoji and the last with a basketball emoji. She proceeded to the second one deducting that the emoji stood for his friends.

She predicted right. The highlight contained a lot of pictures and happily for her, Taehyung was in most of them. Soon she found his profile and showed no hesitation in clicking on it.

He too had many followers but, unlike Jungkook, he didn't have many posts, almost as many as Daphne herself did—the same went with the highlights.

Without noticing, Daphne found herself scrolling through his highlights twirling a hair strand with her fingers. Damn if he was beautiful. She didn't see him all through the week because, from his recent story update, he was still at the beach with his pretty friends.

The smell of coffee quickly brought her back to Earth as she saved one of his posts in her collection too shy to hit the follow button. Laughed at herself for it. If she's too shy to hit a simple blue button, she won't be able to hit on him. She sighed in frustration and proceeded to prepare her latte.

Soon her phone buzzed and Cleo's contact appeared on the screen.

Cleo: get ready

Cleo: we're going grocery shopping!!

Music was playing in the car which was fully occupied. Five young people that were just coming back from their holidays.

One hand was on the steering wheel while the other was on the gear lever. As he controlled the lever, his muscles clenched under the tattoos covering it. A curly mullet hairstyle rested on his head. A lip piercing on the right as well as both his ears. His well-defined jaw clenched as he chewed on his gum. He had loose clothes on, from the shirt to the jeans. An all-black outfit matching the person sitting in the passenger seat. She had a black jean skirt on with a lacy black crop top that was momentarily covered by a light cardigan—black as well.

Hair as dark as his but longer and straighter. Lip liner enhanced her lip shape, eyeliner enhanced her eyes and mascara enhanced her lashes. Her jaw was clenching too as she chewed on her gum. Her eyes were focused on the phone in her hands. Legs crossed and hair combed by the breeze blowing through the window behind and next to her.

In the backseat were the last three people. Two blondies and a black-haired one. The first ones were having a conversation without minding about their surroundings. The dark-haired one was cooped up to the window breathing as much as he could to calm the motion sickness that wanted to settle within him. With headphones on, the music he had playing matched his mood.

They'd just driven past their school and were heading to Jimin's restaurant for dinner but the idea of food bothered his stomach further. Next to him, in the middle seat was Adrielle. Along with Jimin, she had the brightest clothes on. A sundress she'd bought just for that summer.

"Mama!" Jimin screamed rushing into the restaurant and his mother's arms. The rest walked behind him, smiling at his joy. The woman welcomed all of them back and to have a seat as she got them their dinner.

Taehyung stretched out his body before setting. The stressful journey did his joints no justice. As he did so, his shirt slightly rode up revealing the line of his boxers but also enough skin for Avyanna to tickle. "No, absolutely," his amused stern voice spoke, a tired smile across his face. "See, you're finally smiling. It looked like you wanted to die before," she claimed, sitting next to Jungkook and kicking his legs shot for space. He stubbornly spread them again and forcefully held them like that, laughing at Avyanna's struggle.

"Kook!" Jimin exclaimed before attacking him with tickles. As the three had fun, Taehyung settled down beside Avyanna adjusting his jorts. On the other end of the table was Adrielle with arms and legs crossed smiling and looking at her friends like a mother. "Can y'all stop?" she laughed but they'd just finished with Jungkook and moved to Avyanna who started rolling and tweaking on Jungkook's lap, kicking left and right trying to escape their grasp but it was impossible because Jungkook was holding her arms while Jimin tortured her with the tickles.

"She's going to pee herself like that or have everlasting tensed abs. Stop y'all," Taehyung laughed. They didn't stop until Jimin's mom came and told them to eat.

When Avyanna sat back up, her hair was all messy, she could barely breathe and somehow felt like Jimin's hands were still tickling her. "This was torture. I almost cried," she panted, grabbing a glass of water, "Honestly wouldn't wish on my worst enemy—"

"And yet, the other day you wished for both sides of my pillow to be warm and they ended up being so. Fucking terrible experience!" Jimin exclaimed dramatically, "That's because you brought that disgusting fish too close to me. It was still alive Jimin!" everyone laughed at her because she sounded like someone who'd survived a close call.

"Okay, first: the fish wasn't disgusting else you wouldn't have eaten it. Second: I did the same to Adrielle but she didn't play some voodoo shit against me," the laughs increased. Jungkook almost choked on his bread making Taehyung laugh even harder.

"She didn't do shit because she was traumatized and her mind went into self-defence mode!"

"Okay, hey! Don't underestimate me. I could always do something. You never know when I could hit, Jimin. Be careful," Adrielle playfully warned, laughing at Jimin's disbelief displayed on his face. "Adrielle, my darling. Don't follow in her footsteps. Violence is never the answer," Jimin said.

"Never swing a live fish in someone's face Jimin! Dis.Gus.Ting!"

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

Chapter 7 coming up on Friday!!

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 31.21k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛pick me, choose me, love me❜ - coming soon on Friday

Chapter seven is out now!!! Enjoy!

07| A laurel

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

wc: 4.92k

date: 13/07/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Master Baster (Jammin’) by Stevie Wonder ✫

One could firmly state that a week has an original appearance in everyone’s mind. 

Mondays are blue, tiring, heavy and overall an experience anyone would want to skip after a lazy Sunday. 

Tuesday can be heavy too but they’re bright which enlightens your mood—their weight doesn’t matter because Monday was enough for you to get the cue that the week had started. 

Wednesdays are grey, the chance of rain is so high and the gloomy look of the day dawns upon you draining you of every energy you have but you remind yourself that it’s just Wednesday so you hype yourself up. 

Thursdays. Now Thursdays are like Tuesdays because they’re bright and heavy but the weight is multiplied because you’re genuinely tired and just want to get it over with. 

Fridays might feel heavy too but it’s just because you want them to end soon so you’re, by default, lazy from the moment you wake up. 

On Saturdays, after a good amount of sleep, you have great energy you most likely want to burn in hobbies, parties and overall enjoyment—although it’s not always like that. 

While you can party on Friday and Saturday night, on Sunday you must not do anything that would leave traces till the following day so no parties, no refurnishing or painting a bedroom, nothing that could take a physical toll on you—Mondays are as boring and tiring as they are and must not worsen.

Despite it being just his second week of school, the third for others, Taehyung had already entered this cycle. 

It was Tuesday, a bright day, as aforementioned. The previous week was rainy but now the sun had returned with the lovely breeze that adorns the town in late summer. Yes, it could’ve been gloomy and rainy but it didn’t feel like it to him ever since he discovered the existence of the new town girl in his school. She had the power to brighten the gloomiest of days and make all the stress within him wither by just existing.

An exact week, seven days, has passed since the first time he’d set eyes on her. Last Wednesday was a day of downpours but he still went to school by bus refusing Jungkook’s offer for a ride. He wanted to see that angel again and admire her beauty from afar but like the previous day, his plans were shattered when he didn’t see her get on the bus. He later assumed she got a ride to school when he saw her getting to class in the morning.

Throughout the rest of the week, during break times he’d search for her and his eyes would catch her in front of the same window, eating her snack and leaning on the windowsill looking unfairly pretty.

He’d studied her fashion style. From an objective point of view, it was pretty simple, nothing too extravagant, just good skill at combining colours but, according to him, it was awesome, she’d found what was best for her, what made her feel like herself—but even if she wore rags, he’d still consider her a goddess.

His studies allowed him to conclude that she loved low-rise bottoms whether they were pants, skirts or shorts. She also had a thing for small shirts, not the heavily cropped ones but just enough to expose the lower belly. 

He could also affirm that she probably liked lacy things: she enjoyed wearing shirts with lacy top and bottom edges. She wasn’t shy when it came to dressing. Would expose a little bit of cleavage when she felt like it and cover it when she didn’t but her cleavage wasn’t what made him curious. Whenever she did expose her cleavage, she’d wear nicely combined necklaces that made him praise her fashion style even more.

But let’s not forget his favourite part of her. Her hair which she barely styled. Left down sometimes, held up with a hairpin or a pencil other times. Taehyung loved their waves and felt like they played a big role in her visuals—although he’d still be drooling over her even if she was bald.

Jimin didn’t know all this as he talked to him, ignoring the silence he was receiving. Jimin was the type of friend who enjoyed sending his friends reels and funny videos. Taehyung was the type of friend who wouldn’t keep up with them, occasionally liking some but not all. 

Jimin knew this hence he was talking to Taehyung nonstop, showing him the videos, explaining the meanings behind them and why they were amusing. Taehyung would only glance in his direction and smile when he’d see him laughing his ass out. ‘Oh that’s my cue to react,’ his mind would tell him.

But the videos weren’t always about being funny—or adorable, like cat videos—some were of skaters getting seriously injured or of recipes. Taehyung was like a folder to Jimin. He found discomfort in having to save the videos in a folder so he’d directly send them to Taehyung because, out of all his friends, he was the one he texted the most so he was always the first in the top line of contacts.

“Look at this shit,” he began once again, phone pushed in Taehyung’s face, “Don’t know what he was trying to do but bro set the whole street on fire. Look at that!” he exclaimed in shock, finally capturing Taehyung’s attention as he too was left astounded by it. “Fuck!”

On the room’s left wall, which faced the anteroom, was a row of windows interrupted by a wide sliding door that led to the backyard. There were Jungkook and Avyanna. That was their usual spot in Adrielle’s house. While she and Taehyung studied and did their homework, with Jimin trying to catch up behind them, these two would simply be in a corner playing or smoking.

They loved getting drunk for the simple sake of it, playing cards and punishing the loser with rounds of drinks. If you want to bring out the creativity in them, you’d simply have to bring alcohol and some cards. Voilà.

Currently, they were playing simple Uno cards though.

“Jungkook, I’ve already told you. That’s not how you do it,” Avyanna whined, throwing herself back in exhaustion, “Fuck that!—”

“No! It’s a rule, Kook! Follow it!” she proceeded. “A rule that you brought out of your ass cause I’ve never heard of it”. Jungkook had a leg spread out while the other bent against his chest, permitting his arm to rest on it, hand falling nonchalantly and crowned by various bracelets adding up to the decorations drawn on his skin. He was dressed in a pair of baggy light-blue jeans, and his grey hoodie was on the couch, leaving him in a baggy T-shirt.

“No, I didn’t. In the original game, you play like that,” Avyanna faced him, legs folded allowing her to sit on her heels as she sat up straight to concentrate and play. The top of her thighs was covered by a jean skirt, and a little bit of belly showed because of her red cropped top.

“Anna, this is a table version of it where rules are passed on verbally and exist to make the game more fun…not fairer,” he smirked, enjoying the look of utter disbelief on her face.

“Kook, you can’t be serious,”

“Fuck yes, I am. And anyway from when do you know shit about Uno? It’s just a silly game,” Avyanna’s dramatic gasp made the laugh he was holding back spill out, “What? It’s just a silly game. Funny that you don’t know anything that is actually useful but know a few stupid Uno rules—”

“Kook!—”

“Am I lying? The other time in class you pondered too abnormally long on what is six times eight. Like, Anna, be for real,” now it was Avyanna’s turn to laugh. The event he just referred to was, as she named it, a slight moment of confusion because she hadn’t fully got into the routine of school. “Oh, come on. That was just because my head was still on holiday—”

“But six times eight? Six times eight!?” his dramatic screams made her laugh even more as she recalled the dumbfounded look on his face when it happened. If she had water in her mouth in that moment she would’ve involuntarily spat it on his face for how funny he looked.

“It’s the easiest to remember because it rhymes with eight. In fact, it contains eight!” the look of disbelief she had before had transferred on his face and she was back in the moment when the event occurred for the first time in class. 

“Darling, if you can’t remember what is six times eight, you can’t tell me half shit about how to play this stupid game,” he shook his head as he played his card for the game to continue. “Now I can’t even have a moment to shine. I’m a girl of very few talents. Give me a break,” she confessed, laughter lacing her tone as she also played her card.

“Oh but if I am the one telling you that you don’t know shit you’ll be all like: Kook!” he mimicked her, her eyes bulged out of their sockets at the bad impersonification, “Stop! And shit like that,” she let out a breathy gasp, shocked by his words and how he badly whiny made her sound. A smile prevented her mouth from fully opening.

“You know what? You wanna make the game more fun? Let’s make up these stupid, senseless rules you talk about. The more we stack plus-four cards, the more shots we take,” slamming her deck of cards backwards on the floor, she rushed to open the bottle of alcohol sitting next to them and started pouring in the shots. Jungkook simply smirked, cockily smiling as he felt victory by his side.

Once she was done serving the drinks, she slammed her plus-four card into the game, determination on her face. Jungkook smirked again, slammed his plus-four card and wiggled his brows in her direction, determination on his face as well.

Avyanna wiggled her brows back and slammed another plus-four card. “We’re at plus twelve, Jeon,” she notified. He had only one plus-four card left and by how she sounded, he didn’t know if she was empty-handed or fully loaded but he had to go on.

“Plus sixteen,” he lowly spoke. They kept eye contact like they were two gamblers playing for their lives. 

“Plus twenty,” her voice sounded like the sharp hiss of a snake. His strong demeanour slowly fell off and her smirk grew bigger.

“Oh, fuck you!” he finally gave up, her victorious and evil laugh as the background sound to his failure. “Fuck you, Kook. I fucked you up big time! I’m not that talentless, you see?” she sang, laughter slurring her words.

“Oh, shut up! That’s just luck,” he whined as he counted the cards he had to collect, “The same you have whenever you get a good grade in a subject you only ‘studied’ ten minutes before the test?” his droopy face brightened up, taking the statement as a compliment.

“And? You can’t call it beginner’s luck because I’m well-experienced,” Avyanna rolled her eyes, annoyed that her words had put an end to her moment of celebration. 

“Shut up. Remember that the cards are not the only things you’ll be taking today,” she wiggled her brows again, seeing that his mood changed. “Hmm, interesting. Never knew you always had the intention to take me out, Avyanna. I’m offended. You shattered my heart into tiny pieces,” and she simply laughed, “And regardless, why the fuck out of seven cards you had that many plus-four cards? What fucking game were planning on playing?”

She whole-heartedly laughed again at his dramatic complaints and once she calmed down, she said: “Who gives a fuck? But I can’t let you take twenty shots… would be an unfairly easy way to die. I may not be smart but I can get creative”. His reply was a simple blow of smoke into her face right after he turned the cigarette on. She smacked his leg as payback.

This was the atmosphere lacing Adrielle’s home. 

Right after arriving, the blondie had gone upstairs to get changed and was finally joining her friends. Since the weather wasn’t too cold yet, she opted for simple shorts and a white off-shoulder top.

“Hey, y’all! I’ve been working on something hit since last year”, Adrielle spoke as she walked into the living room. The original aim of this meeting was for study purposes. They didn’t have much to work on at the moment although they felt like a test was at the door and just needed an official announcement from the teacher for it to come in uninvited.

Adrielle, though, had been working on something but, like she stated, not just for the past few weeks of school.

The sunny day outside did justice to her living room, shining light through the many windows that occupied most of the confining walls and reflecting on the light-coloured furniture. She was the only one with soft slippers on while her friends were all in socks, some lying on the couch, others sitting on the carpet. In her hands was a blue ring binder.

Ignoring the lack of verbal response from her friends, she proceeded to the centre of the room and slammed the ring binder on the coffee table, finally getting everyone’s attention.

They didn’t move though, just looked up at her from their phones or the TV—or Uno cards. 

“I want to become the school’s president this year but I need a team before I can run for it,” and everyone froze, brain-processing her words.

“Wait what?” Avyanna asked, clearing her voice after just taking a shot of alcohol. Adrielle repeated her words even more slowly so they could register and let the words sink in. She was firm on her decision.

“Oh, well then. I can join you,” Taehyung immediately offered himself and right back at him was Jimin. Adrielle smiled and accepted their help, happy to get their support. 

“Well… finally. ‘Been thinking about why you haven’t done it yet,” Jungkook simply commented, moving closer to Taehyung who was exploring the blue ring binder’s content.

She rolled her eyes at the statement and simply sat between Jimin and Taehyung as she explained her plans for the campaign. Meanwhile, Avyanna was still astonished.

“All these are easy for you to do, you’ve got the money and the power,” Taehyung explained, simplifying the issue, “Yeah, he’s right. You’ve already won basically. It's giving nepotism a bit though,” Jimin affirmed, making Adrielle initially shily blush but she was soon rolling her eyes at the last words. “Don’t jinx it!” she only replied.

“When are the elections?” Taehyung asked, getting even more serious, “So first, we’ll have to advertise our team—”

“And that’s already done. Are you forgetting who we are?” Jungkook butted in, words coming out messily due to the cigarette between his lips.

 “ First, smoke that shit outside. Second, no, I’m not forgetting Jungkook but we have to make things right and follow the rules so we still need to do things like creating an Instagram profile for our team, printing out flyers and doing practical changes in the school to get more votes,” Taehyung and Jimin nodded as they listened. In the meantime, someone else scoffed and got closer to them. 

“Adrielle? One party at mine and we’re done,” Jungkook’s words disintegrated Jimin’s seriousness as he laughed, agreeing with him, “Taehyung, why are you looking at me like that? Your pretty face, in fact, our pretty faces will have all those naive freshman kids drooling. They’d do anything to get on our good side and what’s better than a party open for everyone? Nothing.” Jungkook spoke, almost theatrically, gesturing with his whole body, expressions decorating his face to enhance his words.

“Jungkook, how you say it is weird. We’re not some bullies or law-breakers so following the rules, as Adrielle said, is the right thing to do,” Taehyung softly spoke, facing his interlocutor.

“Hmm, talking about following the rules,” Jungkook simply side-eyed Avyanna before proceeding with his opinion.

“No, we’re not some evil jackasses who like to expose people’s secrets to instore fear in them but you want to tell me that I’d be lying if I say a party at mine is all you honestly need?” Avyanna rolled her eyes as she listened to him, not moving from her previous position in the backyard. Silence was the reply he got though.

“Damn, didn't know y’all liked to follow rules so bad but anyway, y’all do your shit, I do mine. You do the boring part and I do the fun part. Nice deal, don’t y’all think? We merge the two like they do in politics. One side for the good and one for the bribing,” he laughed.

“I’d want to object to that and tell you to contribute in the ‘boring’ part but it’s better if you don’t so deal! And get that shit out of my house!” and Jungkook loudly cheered. Has been craving to throw a party since he got back from holidays, already fed up with school’s monotonous routine.

“Nana can help me with restoring the school’s garden. That shit looks like a graveyard, but I still have to ask her though” Adrielle proceeded, talking to a serious Taehyung and a giggling Jimin who was trying to pay attention to her words but was focused on laughing at Jungkook’s jokes.

Nana was Taehyung’s grandmother with whom Adrielle was very close. She was his inexistent sister and his grandma’s inexistent granddaughter.

“As I was saying, firstly there will be a day dedicated to the presentations—it’s a not full day but most of it—and then, a week or two later, there are elections. Everything is done between mid and late October so we have like a month to do everything, barely even, so we have to act fast. You guys down for this? Let's all run as a team?” she questioned, looking for agreement in her friends’ eyes—or at least anything at all.

“I can help you with it. Presentations included,” Taehyung calmly spoke, “Me too,” Jimin raised his hand.

“I'll take care of the parties and Avyanna will use her face for clout-chasing—”

“Oh, fuck you, Jungkook! Fuck you and your backhanded compliments,” she hissed at her now-cackling friend. 

Filling the papers contained in the blue ring binder, other than the garden renovation plan,  were also plans of reconstructing some parts of the gym and most especially forming a serious cheerleading team for the school.

So far, the easiest to achieve was the garden revival plan but that would come after creating their social media profile and the flyers for advertisement.

“When are we starting?” Avyanna inquired, arms crossed around her chest, trying to come off as unbothered to Jungkook since he was trying to walk past her and she wanted to hit him without missing her shot.

“Technically it's right now—”

“But practically isn't. We should set up a meeting for us to work on this. A date could be…?” as Avyanna spoke, her eyes glanced in Jungkook’s direction, waiting for the right moment to strike. He knew this and was trying to outsmart her.

“Careful Adrielle, she’s trying to take your spotlight— oh, sorry, she wouldn’t last a second there. Lacks so many things—”

“Oh, fuck you!” she screamed, launching forward onto him but missing just for a little so she didn't give up and ran after him. His loud giggles echoed through the room.

“Friday and Saturday?” Adrielle proposed and all agreed except for Avyanna and Jungkook—too busy being kids.

As they left the room, the topic soon changed—the blue ring binder soon out of sight—moving from campaign preparations to homework and studying for which Taehyung was always down. Jimin on the other hand was already tired of sitting still for too long and wanted to do something more practical and fun than homework: cooking. So he stood up, waved his friends goodbye and went to the kitchen to have his type of fun.

Avyanna and Jungkook soon went back to playing Uno.

Taehyung was sitting on the carpet, opposite Adrielle with his books spread out on the glass coffee table. Headphones covered his ears and isolated him from the curse words polluting the air around him—thanks to Jungkook and Avyanna. In front of him, Adrielle adjusted her hair, rolling it all to one side so she could write and unconsciously covering a bit of the skin revealed by her off-shoulder top.

Less than an hour later, Jimin’s doings started leaving traces all around the house, the perfume moved from the kitchen to the hallways and the living room, stimulating the now rumbling stomachs of Jungkook and Avyanna who made a beeline for the kitchen.

—Now playing: Light by Wave To Earth ✫

Adrielle’s house was a big two-story building that seemed to have contained generations and generations of her family. It was the farthest from school, deeper in the outskirts of town hence the humongous land it occupied with space to park as many cars as they wanted, both indoors, in a garage, and outdoors, space to have a greenhouse, a well-designed green space ornated with hedges, flowers, trees, a swing here and benches there.

The house in question followed a light theme both outside and inside with sand-coloured bricked walls outside and a light-grey roofing. The interior waved between white and honey-coloured shades.

Just the anteroom was very wide but was nothing compared to the living room attached to it, peeking through the wide opening of separation. The light that shone all over the room came from the windows facing the anteroom and the tall ones above it on the first floor.

“Man, I love your cooking. If I were your child and didn’t hit the gym as much as I do, I’d become obese in the blink of an eye. I’d eat nonstop,” Jungkook mumbled as he chewed. “That would happen only if I cooked unhealthy foods but I’m an expert in this field. I know everything I need to know,”

“Not true. You still have things you learn as you grow,” Avyanna said before biting on her piece of food. “Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean. You don’t need to spoil the mood,” he whined, causing her to laugh, happy to have gained the reaction she wanted.

“Anyway, this is a recipe I created by myself,” immediately, his friends’ eyes bulged out in surprise as they hurried to compliment him, trying not to choke on their food. Meanwhile, Jimin proudly let the praise sink in as he nodded and crossed his arms.

Their loud talking soon distracted the students in the living room, mainly Adrielle and as she left, it called for Taehyung’s attention who took his headphones off and followed her to the kitchen. “There they come! My very diligent babies. Come have some of this before these lazy sacks of potatoes eat everything up,” Jimin cheered, gaining groans and eye rolls from the people he just mocked.

“Where I come from, who works the most gets to eat the most. Your lazy asses are still full of energy, don’t need extra. It’s not like y’all will spend it anyway,” he scolded them like a mother, “Oh, you don’t know!” Jungkook began, faking a dramatic cry, “This… t-this atrocious excuse of a human being—”

“Huh, me?” Avyanna looked at Jungkook, a smile across her face as he pretended to be a scared baby hiding behind Jimin’s shoulders and pointing at the perpetrator with teary eyes. Funny cause Jimin is shorter than him.

“She attempted to take me out by forcing me to take twenty shots of alcohol, a strong one at that. Jimin…” he whined, pulling on his arm and exaggeratedly pouting. Avyanna couldn’t hold back from laughing as she tried to defend herself.

“Never forced him. We stacked up to plus-twenty cards. He complained about the game being boring so I decided to spice it up. Sorry,” immediately, Jungkook’s voice went back to serious as he too wanted to clear any misunderstanding and defend himself.

Jimin, in all this, paid close to no attention as he simply smiled at their childish behaviour.

“The game was never boring to begin with but you wanted it to take a boring turn because the original game…” and back he was to impersonating Avyanna in such a vile way that dragged a full-hearted laugh from everyone in the kitchen and a dramatic gasp from Avyanna herself.

“I don’t sound like that, you piece of shit!” she screamed hoping he’d stop but he kept going.

“Avyanna, what’s six times eight—”

“Jeon Jungkook!” she screamed while everyone exploded in a guffaw.

—Now playing: Ditto by New Jeans ✫

They never went back to studying again after the episode. Actually, it ended in a slight fight between Jungkook and Taehyung about who was going to take the last piece left on the plate. Taehyung stood on Jimin’s previous words about the quantity of food he’s entitled to eat since he studied more than Jungkook did. Jungkook called the saying stupid and simply said that since he hits the gym more often than Taehyung, he burns more calories so he’s entitled to have it, in fact, he has to eat more since he has to grow more muscles.

Jimin tried to find a compromise by offering to share the piece in two but the contestants wouldn’t accept. He looked around for back up but he found the girls choosing their fighter and rooting for them, Avyanna for Taehyung and Adrielle for Jungkook.

Both the boys side-eyed the girls at the odd choice. 

“Oh, you know I studied and he didn’t at all,” Taehyung whined at Adrielle.

“Avyanna, we do shit together the whole time. This ain’t the time to betray me,” Jungkook explained to which Avyanna replied: “Thank your god you have anyone rooting for you at all.

In the end, while Jimin tried to share the piece, he quickly chugged it all up and ran out of the room, leaving the boys bamboozled and the girls laughing their butts out.

Jungkook offered Taehyung to ally so they could go search for Jimin and hold him hostage so he could remake the delicious food for them but Taehyung refused and simply said he was tired. Jungkook didn’t back down though as he offered the same to the girls who were down for it just to have some fun.

So, while the three went Jimin hunting, Taehyung excused himself to the backyard for a reason none of them would’ve guessed—at least that he knows of.

He wanted to look for the mysterious girl through Cleo’s profile. That was his only lead for the moment.

With his food in one hand and his phone in the other, he found a seat that wouldn’t have him back-facing the entrance to the backyard and risk getting caught. Only then did he settle down and hop onto the application, wondering why he hadn't done it beforehand.

He doesn't follow Cleo but, luckily, she has a public account so he can do what he wants without disturbing a soul.

She had lots of posts—wasn’t the type to overthink about it—and among the latest ones, he recognised the mysterious girl’s wavy hair pattern. He never clicked on anything so quickly in his life as he did on the post—it went almost instinctively. But his hopes were shattered when he saw that Cleo didn’t tag the mysterious girl’s profile on the post.

A mix of anxiety, disappointment and confusion overwhelmed his sense of reasoning as he went back, attempting to check Cleo’s following but, here too, she wasn’t shy and followed half the app’s users. He almost wanted to give up, a hint of sadness making its way into him when he noticed her highlights. How stupid of him not to have thought about them first.

The first highlight, the one he pressed on first as well, had exactly what he was looking for. 

He didn’t know it but the first picture was the same taken on the first day of school. His pupils expanded, getting glossy as he marvelled at her beauty. “She’s unreal,” he whispered to himself, passing a hand on his face as if her beauty was frustrating him.

The very little tag at the bottom read: ‘4lavrel’. Once the profile opened, his eyes stopped racing up and down the screen as they did on Cleo’s profile. They slowed down, wanting to sip in as many details as they could, brain-storing them immediately in the long-term memory lane.

His analysis of her love for lacy things popped into his mind as he noticed her profile picture. Her profile was similar to his with barely any posts or full-face pictures. She mostly posted pictures of her surroundings from which he deduced that she indeed loved reading.

She undoubtedly had a calm demeanour as he could understand from the overall vibe of her feed and the aura around her in real life. He imagined how it’d be if he was closer to her or even spoke to her. A small tickling feeling rushed through his guts at the simple thought.

4lavrel. That was the name of her Instagram. Oh, he’d just found his new hobby. The only thing missing now was a fake account.

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Double update incoming on Saturday 10 AM CEST

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 36.13k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k (coming soon on Saturday, 10 AM CEST)

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k (coming soon on Saturday, 10 AM CEST)

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in thr bus;

⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

Chapter 9 is up!!

09| En route

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

wc: 5.07k

date: 27/07/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Eternal Sunshine by Jhené Aiko ✫

On a random summer morning, Daphne would've stated that what woke her up was that one ray of light which slid in the cracks between her curtains and landed straight on her face but that morning, things were different.

After crying and falling asleep on the bus, waking up barely two bus stops before hers, frantically gathering her things, pressing the button to request the bus stop, and running under the rain with the scarce protection of her backpack on her head, she reached home, puffy eyes, fortunately for her, nowhere to be found.

No one noticed her come in until she was upstairs heading to her bedroom. Her mom greeted her, welcomed her back and quickly asked about her day while she went downstairs. She didn't know but Daphne was thankful for her inattention because she really didn't want to talk so seeing her mom's satisfaction at her pretty dry response, she sighed in relief and proceeded to her bathroom for a good shower.

After stripping down and before stepping into the shower, she noticed her reflection in the mirror. Others couldn't see it but she could. She could see how much she'd cried and she hated it, despised it. Her eyes surely weren't as puffy as they were right before she fell asleep on the bus but she could still catch a little puffiness, subtle redness around her eyeballs and an overall messy look that made her feel disgusted, ashamed of herself.

To avoid beating herself up more than she was already, she walked into the shower, eyes fixed on the floor. With her head hanging low, she stood under the shower head. Her eyes slowly closed when the water hit her. The temperature was initially low, cold water trickled down her head before warmth followed and eased the discomfort, causing goosebumps to rise.

Once she felt better, she lifted her head and let the water hit her face as well, finally moving and not simply standing still.

As usual, after times like this, a feeling of intense self-care would overwhelm her, pushing her to work on herself with a daintiness that her body enjoyed. No hurry, no overlooking but dedicated and patient gestures as she rubbed her body and combed through her hair.

Indeed, once she was out, her body felt perfect, so good as if she was gliding through clouds on a bright summer day.

With the towel around her body and a smaller one holding her wet hair, she went back into her room to look for the comfiest fit she could wear. Only once she was dressed did she step back into the bathroom to dry her hair and take care of her face to the sounds of calm music.

Once the hair was dry, she softly combed through it, fingers following right after the brush for a flawless result. As she did so, she looked at her reflection, tilted her head a bit looking for traces of her stress only to find none. A quick and subtle smile changed her expression as she was glad to be looking normal while she still felt a bit ashamed for being so dramatic.

She looked so good in the mirror, happy so where did all that come from? She still wondered, refusing to believe that just that stupid school subject made her lose it like that.

Once she was done with the routine, she finally reached for her phone to turn the music off and, while at it, she moved on social media to look for any late afternoon updates from those she followed. That was when she noticed that Cleo had taken a picture at the library and posted it on her stories, tagging all of them.

A sad smile rose as she reposted the story, reminiscing what she labelled as an overdramatic episode of her life she'd gladly delete if given the chance.

Right before exiting the application and turning the device off, she quickly switched accounts, moving on to the fake one she'd recently created for information purposes.

He had posted something on his stories, a video taken in school. It focused on Jungkook and Jimin gripping the same sandwich and fighting to get ownership. Daphne wondered what they thought would happen if they both gripped and dragged on it when she saw them both flying to the ground with roughly cut pieces of the sandwich in their hands.

The thoughts immediately flew out of her mind when she heard Taehyung's laugh in the background which made her unconsciously smile. Smile maybe a bit too much as she caught herself in the mirror and mentally slapped herself back to her senses. But, again, she didn't notice herself smiling when she looked down at her phone and registered the sound of his laugh in her head.

She'd give the world to be the reason he laughs. She'd give the world to be the one making him happy.

Soon the story rolled to an end—better said, after replaying it over and over, Daphne had realised that it was enough and finally let it automatically end and leave her screen.

Done with keeping herself up to date with her crush, she turned the phone off and caught her reflection once again.

Pushing some hair behind her ear, she wondered how she looked in school and whether it was how she liked and how he liked. Last week, she talked to Jungkook who's one of his closest friends meaning that he was close, very close to her so she had to look good, grabbing the chance now rather than later.

Her cheeks caught soft warm shades and she immediately shook her head, slapping herself for behaving like that despite the soft giggles that she emitted. All that was in vain because she finally gave into the fantasy, smiling as she threw herself on the bed, turned upwards and looked at the ceiling like it was the surface for her to project her fantasies, her personal cinema.

Her room was mostly silent if one didn't consider the sounds coming from downstairs, the panting of Loki and Luke walking up and down and the ticking sounds of raindrops hitting her window. Outside was a full downpour making it seem like a random spring day.

Objectively, the view outside is considered sad and depressing but it was exactly what Daphne liked. She couldn't go out to run under the rain because her parents would never let her—and she'd also finished her night routine—but she didn't hold back from drifting off to sleep, letting the soft noise ease her mind to rest.

Her body was spread out on her bed, lying on her blanket hence the new blanket she found on herself in the morning thanks to her father's doing.

She didn't know at what exact time she went to bed. Just knew that she came home very late in the afternoon, spent over an hour in the bathroom, an extra thirty minutes drying her hair and, once her back hit the soft surface of her mattress, her body just wanted to remain like that and rest not caring that he stomach was empty. Again, the rain contributed to making her feel better.

She woke up earlier than usual because she'd gone to sleep just as early. The door to her bedroom was left ajar allowing her to see the sleeping figure of Loki right in front of it. Luke was sleeping in the room.

Sitting up, she stretched her body out, a smile on her face, one that was honestly unwarranted. She didn't have a good reason to be smiling so brightly on a Friday morning, especially after yesterday. She'd just had an incredibly great sleep despite being in school and not on holidays.

Getting out of bed, she silently walked to her bathroom to brush her teeth and ease her uncomfortably full bladder. Once she was done, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled, feeling pretty. She was just so giddy that morning. So giddy she twirled her way back to her bedroom and to her desk to check if she had homework since she'd done nothing school-related the previous night and it was still early.

A quarter to six, she closed her books and prepared her school bag before heading to change. Taehyung was probably very close to her in school. His classroom could be on the same floor. He could see her roaming the hallways so she had to look the best and stun him with her looks. She wanted to look like herself but also good as fuck.

She didn't want to go for skirts or shorts—the weather outside was a warning—so she started going through her pants, looking for the right one.

The look she wanted wasn't anything extraordinary. She just wanted to think about her fit a bit more than usual, look at herself in the mirror and imagine the impression she'd leave on others.

The pants were lowrise so she chose a pair of panties that had a lacy band so if anyone accidentally caught them, they would see something nice. The pants fit her legs perfectly but were just a bit longer on purpose, giving them a flared look despite not being so.

She hopped in front of the mirror still dressed in her bra, the chosen pants and her lacy panties peeking out.

Her excitement caused Loki to bark, wanting to be happy with her. She smiled and told it to keep it down.

The bottom of the trousers crowned her ankles down to her heels, leaving out just her toes covered in grey socks. Looking at herself for a bit longer, she wondered what shirt would top the fit and once something came to mind, she rushed back to her wardrobe.

The chosen shirt was a square-necked ruffle grey and white top which ended in a curve a few centimetres before the band of her panties.

Another smile rose on her face, looking at the result in the mirror and feeling proud of her handwork. She looked like herself and, most especially, good as fuck.

To finish the look, she needed a few accessories, the right pair of shoes—which ended up being a pair of black All-Stars—and a good hairstyle.

She started with the latter, curling her hair and bangs to accentuate their wavy nature.

While she left her bangs in the curlers, she put on a little makeup: some concealer here, soft eyeliner wings with the help of her pencil, a little tint to her cheeks and lips before finishing everything up with some lipgloss.

Looking at the result, she felt like she was good to go. Her hair needed no extra adjustments. Then she went back to her room and rummaged through her jewellery box in search of the right accessories.

She wore a silver necklace with a heart pendant given to her by her grandmother, wore matching earrings and a few silver bracelets and rings.

When she checked the time, she noticed that she was right on time to calmly have breakfast so she grabbed her bag, phone and turned off the lights before heading downstairs—Loki and Luke following her like guardian angels.

"Hey, darling. Had a nice sleep?" her mother chirped, catching her figure in the corner of her eye. Daphne nodded, heading closer to know what she was up to. "Granny made this yesterday and wanted you to try them but you got home and went straight to bed,"

"I didn't go straight to bed. I was tired and had a nice shower and that was probably what made me fall asleep," her mother simply nodded in acknowledgement before serving her the cupcake, reminding her to tell her opinions so she could refer them to her grandmother.

As she dropped the plate on the table, Daphne took a book from her bag to read while eating but, right after opening the page and close to biting on the cupcake, someone rang the bell.

—Now playing: Venus In The Sea by Ha Vay ✫

"I'll get it," the dad said as he was passing right by the door. "Oh, hey, Cleo!" he greeted and the respondent hurriedly greeted back, poking their head inside in search of something or, better, someone. Once her eyes landed on Daphne, her face lit up and she rushed inside messily taking her shoes off and closing the door. All this left the father surprised.

"Hey, Daph," she sang, hopping onto the chair next to her friend's, "Hey, Cleo," Daphne smiled, closing her book and biting the cupcake. Before Cleo could utter a word, Daphne's mom asked if she had had breakfast and, after receiving a nod and greeting the young girl, she left and went upstairs.

"Okay, now you can ask," Daphne encouraged, knowing exactly what Cleo wanted to ask her. "How are you?" the question finally arrived, a shy smile on Cleo's face because her moves had already been predicted.

"Fine, great in fact," Daphne smiled back, withholding her expressions as she bit on the cupcake and enjoyed the taste.

"Oh, that's wonderful. I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean to come off rude or increase your distress. I genuinely wanted you to calm down—"

"You ain't the one that should be apologizing. I am the one sorry for causing trouble and using y'all like my punching bags," Cleo waved her hands in her face, wanting her to seize talking. "What do you mean? Don't be apologizing. You did nothing,"

"I was overdramatic,"

"Girl, you were basically having a mental breakdown. There's no space to be overdramatic," Cleo rolled her eyes, surprised that she was even having such an argument.

"I understand the stress but I fear I came off too rude to Nick. I basically called him dumb because he wasn't studying as he should. I'm like Valerie now—" Cleo almost choked on her spit.

"You've got to be kidding me! Valerie? You don't know that girl and if you did you would never compare yourself to her. You were having a mental breakdown. Valerie mocks people for breakfast, lunch and dinner so," Daphne smiled and didn't utter another word, wanting the topic to die off and, as if she'd read her mind, Cleo changed the topic.

They kept talking throughout Daphne's breakfast, as they walked to put their shoes on and out of the house, as they greeted their family and walked to the bus stop and as they got on it when it arrived.

—Now playing: Cosmic by Red Velvet ✫

Whenever Daphne was talking to Cleo, she could barely pay attention to her surroundings and worse was when Cleo was leading the way in a space where only a person at a time could walk so when Cleo supposedly replied to Daphne by saying "Hi, Taehyung. Hi, Adrielle", her brain almost stopped for a moment, fearing she was losing it and her fantasies were coming to life. The fear increased when she caught the male figure sitting just a seat away from her usual one.

The two people Cleo addressed greeted her back while Daphne remained silent, only smiling at them once she'd sat down.

Cleo proceeded with the conversation mindlessly without noticing the rush of emotions that were making her friend lose it right next to her.

One moment, Daphne was imagining everything, smiling like a fool at images coined by her brain and the next she was sitting just a seat away from the culprit. Cleo didn't notice all this because she was used to just talking and Daphne to just listening so the silence didn't spike any confusion but if she'd paid more attention, she would've noticed how Daphne still hadn't brought her book out, how she still hadn't dropped her bag on the side and made herself comfortable. Maybe she would have noticed how she was rubbing her knees and thighs, how she was adjusting her hair and how she just randomly smiled at her. She would've also noticed her taking her sweater off despite the weather not being hot enough for it since the sky was still grey, covered in clouds, and the air was laced with a mildly chilly breeze.

Don't blame her though because all this happened in a short period before Daphne reset her brain and started acting unbothered.

If Taehyung knew that she was faking it, he would've asked to borrow the ability because he, on the other hand, was having a hard time not checking the corner of his eye every damn second.

The last time he'd seen her was the previous day when school was dismissed as she walked out down into town with her friends and, despite the distance, he felt his blood rush harder than usual but now that she was next to him, he started sweating as he discarded his sweater too.

They were similar in a sense. They were both feeling abnormally hot, they both now had a book between their hands they weren't reading but pretending to and they both had inattentive friends who couldn't notice them.

Adrielle was busy finishing some notes on her tablet and the only time she took her eyes off it was when the girls got onto the bus and greeted them. And, to add to it, she had her Airpods on.

The only difference between Taehyung and Daphne was that the girl was bad at checking people out without them noticing while he was a master at it so Daphne opted to fully invest in her book to avoid embarrassing moments while he could easily multitask and observe her in detail like he's been doing throughout the week.

They both had the same brand of shoes on, hers were black while his were grey. Her jeans were dark blue while his were plain black. She wore a nice top while he had a simple white graphic T-shirt.

Being so close allowed him to notice that her posture was indeed perfect and calming and that her hair was splendid. Their texture was very smooth and they curled around the ends the same way her curtain bangs did.

He sneakily peeked to check the title of the book and read 'A Self-portrait In Letters'.

This time around, she didn't put her headphones on but her legs were still crossed one on the other. It was then that he remembered he didn't know her name nor the sound of her voice. He's been calling her by the name 'Lauri' in his head, a name he coined from her Instagram profile deducting that '4lavrel 'stood for 'a laurel'—also thanks to green plant emoji sitting next to the letter 'D'.

The beautiful girl he was next to went by the name Lauri for him. Now he just had to attach a voice to her image.

He regretted not paying great attention to his surroundings. Only so he maybe would've caught the sound of her voice when she was talking with Cleo. Even if he forced himself to think about it in that moment, the only voice he'd imagine sounded exactly like Cleo's because it was the voice he already knew and could attach to the moment the girls got onto the bus.

Honestly, it would've been a problem if he didn't recognise Cleo simply by the sound of her voice since Jungkook was basically her greatest fan and is frankly always around her.

From the way things were going, it didn't seem like Lauri would be talking until they reached school, especially since he's observed how focused she could get when reading.

Adjusting himself in his seat, he put his Airpods on and smiled. The simple fact of being next to her was enough to excite his teenage heart and have it dancing to a happy tone in his chest.

On the other hand, Daphne had been reading the same sentence over and over again, understanding only the first words, getting distracted and having to restart again. All this because of the ethereal human next to her who has been the lead character starring in her fantasies.

She caught him in the corner of her eye resting his head against the seat with both ears covered by Airpods and eyes closed. He looked so pretty, she thought observing the curves of his side profile that brought his face to life.

Personally, she thought that the look of one's hair played an important role in the overall visuals and he was the perfect example for it. The way the soft curl of his dark hair draped in front of his face, drawing beautiful lines on his cheeks, along with his eyelashes, was graceful.

He had a subtle smile across his lips which left her wondering and envying whatever he was listening to that caused his happiness.

Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to see her as she observed him from the corner of her eyes because of the bangs crowning her face making her eyes invisible from the side but she didn't know this. She just hoped he wouldn't catch her red-handed falling into the temptation to admire him in his majestical beauty.

Her plans, though, were fucked up by the extra presence that decided to place itself in between the two. She immediately regretted the empty seat and hoped she had the balls to sit right next to him—she would've never even if she did.

"Hey, Jimin," Taehyung greeted, Adrielle's voice following next.

It was just Jimin. Another one of his closest friends and yet she still wanted to knock him out for placing himself right there like the seat wasn't empty and right next to his best friends.

Only then did she decide to put her headphones on, sad that her plans were obstructed by a clueless Jimin.

—Now playing: End of Beginning by Djo ✫

"Finally!" Nick and James exclaimed and clapped when the bus opened its doors. Asher simply smiled next to them seeing how flustered they'd made their friends.

Daphne's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she caught red hues on her cheeks while Cleo simply laughed.

"What the fuck? We're right on time," she laughed, grabbing James and Nick with herself, wishing to disappear that instant.

The two followed her up, laughing like naughty kids. Behind them, with an invisible smile—because he obviously couldn't broadly smile in front of his friends—was Taehyung, watching like he always did.

"He's been waiting because baby boy Dominic couldn't sleep this night," James jokingly mocked, dodging Nick's punch to proceed talking, "He felt so guilty after yesterday so he bought you a little snack."

Daphne smile widened, softening at the thought and the action. "Aww, you didn't have to. I don't hold grudges on things like that neither did you do anything."

So, Daphne had a thing when it came to crying. She would never cry in front of others nor tell anyone she did, not wanting to worry anyone but once you asked her how she was fairing, why she was crying or did gestures like Nick's, she would lose it and burst into tears.

And that was how her friends were now in a corner in front of the school gates, making a human wall for coverage and cause no commotion while Nick tried consoling a crying Daphne, feeling bad since he couldn't decipher the cause of her tears.

"I'm sorry... I-I didn't know you cry for... snacks," he hesitated, wanting to make a little joke to ease the atmosphere but still felt bad because he caused her to cry.

"They're tears of joy. I don't just normally cry for any snack, dumbass" she laughed with red and glittering eyes while trying to soothe his worry and clean her tears without messing up her makeup.

Cleo and James laughed. Asher simply smiled again.

Once she was settled, she took the snack and thanked him with a warm hug and, since the only way to confirm that she was indeed happy for Nick was by hearing her laugh, he picked her up and spun her around a bit, gaining a mix of a shriek and a laugh from her.

"Okay, okay, okay. Put me down," she softly laughed, pushing against his shoulders, "And what if I didn't?" he threatened, spinning her a bit more and this time she screamed his name before he finally dropped her.

"God. You're unbelievable, Nick," she giggled, placing the snack in her bag and adjusting her outfit.

"Now that you ain't crying no more, put on your sweater before you catch a cold," Cleo handed it to her smiling, glad she was happy again.

Soon the gates opened and the few students present walked into school.

As Daphne and her friends walked in, so did Taehyung and his friends. He had observed everything, grew a bit jealous for a moment but it all faded into envy which he had for Nick—would do anything to have her laughing like that, to be the reason why she'd be laughing like that in the first place.

—Now playing: See You Again by Tyler, The Creator, Kali Uchis ✫

Thankfully for Daphne, Fridays present no physics classes so the day would lack anything stressful, in fact, Fridays contained pretty boring classes, classes that weren't like maths, physics or chemistry so it was easy for her to get distracted when Cleo created a room for the five of them to play during class.

It was a mobile game of cards and they were playing singularly, everyone for themselves.

Since Asher, Nick and James weren't sitting close to the girls, they kept turning their heads to glare or smirk at each other as they played. It was also funny to hear one of them cuss from time to time in victory or failure.

Their classmates didn't really know the reason. Couldn't understand that the giggling girls were connected to the chit-chattering and cussing boys. They only realised it when the break-time bell rang and a whining James rushed over to the girls, claiming they cheated when it wasn't possible.

"James, it's impossible to cheat. It's a freaking mobile game," Cleo laughed, caressing his arm not in a friendly way but in a pitiful one, jokingly mocking him for being so bitter about losing . He understood right away and swayed his body away from a laughing Cleo. She was laughing like a literal maniac.

"I honestly didn't know Cleo could get this competitive," Daphne admitted, turning her phone off and putting it in the back pocket of her jeans. She wanted to exit the classroom for two reasons: first, she wanted to get some fresh air; second, she had to impress someone. Yes, he was sitting right next to her in the bus but he obviously couldn't catch her outfit well enough and she had no space to sway her hair and stun him.

Oh, only if she knew what already happened...

"She's crazy competitive. It's what makes her good at volleyball—"

"Or any type of sport," Cleo specified. Without any question, they followed Daphne's lead and went to their usual spot by the window and she placed herself in the same position not for any special reason but because she didn't in which direction his classroom was neither was she sure it was on this floor at all.

She let herself be carried away by their conversation until an extra person joined: Avyanna and Jimin walked right past them while Jungkook stopped to hang out, ditching his friends.

If Daphne didn't control her facial expressions as best as she did in that moment, her friends would've thought she was interested in Jungkook and glad to have him present. No, no, no. To her, Jungkook's presence meant that he was close, somewhere around here.

She sneakily looked around absentmindedly, trying to come off as unbothered but Jungkook caught her in the act. He didn't exactly know why her eyes were wandering but her attempt to not make it obvious failed regardless. If he had had any suspicions, this would've confirmed his theories.

Despite how much she checked around though, her eyes didn't land on who she wanted because who she wanted wasn't in the hallways. He didn't leave his classroom. He was still sitting at his desk, listening to Adrielle's to-do list for the campaign.

He wanted to go out and entertain his fantasies but he couldn't just yet until finally Adrielle noticed his body language and deducted that he wanted a break so she turned her tablet off, apologized like there was really something to be sorry about and excused herself to the bathroom.

Taehyung followed right after, grabbing his snack from his bag but he stopped at the door of the classroom. He didn't exit.

Strangely, he started feeling a bit shy especially once he saw her standing in the usual spot. She didn't know, better, didn't believe, that he had studied her outfit but he did thanks to his skills in observing from the corner of his eye without raising suspicions. He'd studied every detail of her and was very quick in recognising her in the hallway.

He thanked the heavens the classroom was basically empty and there wasn't anyone seeing how widely he was smiling because of the bubbly feeling within him.

Only the heavens know how his insides would've been if he knew that she turned around looking specifically for him only to catch Adrielle walking past and to the bathrooms. Only the heavens know how he would've been if he knew that she really wished he was next to Adrielle, really wished to be sitting right next to him on the bus earlier and that she really wanted to show him her outfit and impress him—she felt so pretty that day.

Only the heavens know what she would have done if she knew that he'd already noticed her outfit, that he thought it was perfect, that he also wished her to have been sitting right next to him on the bus earlier, that he was just waiting for the right moment to step up, that he followed her with her eyes while he made his way to Jungkook's car at the end of the day and that he felt like she was dropdead gorgeous, way above pretty.

'Pretty' was just a cute way to label the majestic features that brought her to life.

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

The double update is up!!!

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 47.30k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k (coming soon on Saturday, 10 AM CEST)

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k (coming soon on Saturday, 10 AM CEST)

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in thr bus;

⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

CHAPTER 10 WILL BE UP BY SATURDAY 10 AM CEST!!

🧡Stay tuned🧡

only on @gard3nias

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 47.30k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6k coming soon on the 10th 10 AM CEST

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11

Chapter 10 is out now!!

only on @gard3nias

10| Who we are, what we do

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

wc: 6.01k

date: 10/08/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Promises by Jhené Aiko, Namiko, Miyagi ✫

As already stated, in the city, Daphne used to have many friends, people she talked to and kept a polite relationship with but, like Aristotle said, a friend to all is a friend to none.

In Daphne’s case, this was valid the other way around. All the thousand apparent friends she had weren’t her real friends but just a result of pretty privilege which rather received a lot of envy and jealousy or lots of compliments and favouritism. All her classmates were on good terms with her and most of them believed to be her close friends but to Daphne, only Margot fell under that category—or so she thought.

“You still haven’t heard from her? All this time and she still hasn’t replied?” Dayanne’s voice echoed through the tiled walls of Daphne’s bathroom. After spitting the toothpaste into the sink, the youngest looked at her phone and replied with a nod and a shrug when Dayanne’s face expressed confusion.

“Y’all were freaking glued at the hip in the city. What happened?” she verbalised her perplexity, wanting her sister to give her a verbal response as well.

Saying that they were glued at the hip was a fucking understatement. The way their friendship appeared to both outsiders and Daphne herself made her believe that she’d been the lucky girl to have found herself a real friend.

“I really don’t know. Maybe our type of friendship isn’t the one you can keep from a long distance,” Daphne messily answered with her toothbrush in her mouth. “Honestly, I’m not even surprised. We barely texted even when we were both in the city,”

“So, you’re trying to tell me that Margot never once texted someone in her life? Texting isn’t that hard, DD” 

Saturdays and Sundays were the only days when the two sisters could talk and spend some time together virtually because during the weekdays they’re both busy with school and due to the time zones, whenever Daphne was available in the morning, her sister was already heading to her first class of the day. Now, while Daphne was brushing her teeth, Dayanne was already heading out shopping.

Daphne would do the same later.

“If she really cared, the distance wouldn’t matter and you know that.” Daphne didn’t reply to the words but let the sounds around her fill the silence, from the water rushing out of the faucet and into the sink to the muffled sound of Dayanne’s car as she drove.

Dayanne was telling the truth like she always did, and Daphne knew this. 

Ever since childhood, the youngest had issues with making friends or, better, finding the right person to be friends with. Once she hit 10th grade, she was convinced she had finally found that person in Margot because they immediately clicked and remained so until she had to move out. Daphne would be lying if she claimed that their friendship wasn’t the major reason she didn’t want to move out. What filled her guts was fear. She was scared of losing the only real friend she’d ever had. Everyone believed that except for Dayanne.

Dayanne always felt that her sister’s friendship with Margot wasn’t what Daphne really wanted. She’d seen how dedicated she could get when preparing Margot a gift. She’d seen how much she cared. Daphne was so convinced to have finally found a friend, someone of her age who understood her.

For Margot though, things weren’t the same. She paid Daphne’s 100% effort with barely 50% of hers and Dayanne could see it—their parents couldn't because no one knew Daphne better than her.

Dayanne was just two years old when Daphne was welcomed into the family. Her sister’s birthday marks the day she found her real lifelong friend.

Nothing was better than running to hug her when the day was over in 1st grade or whenever she followed her mom to pick her up at the kindergarten. 

In their case, they both gave each other their 100%. 

Whenever Dayanne wasn’t around, the little one was moody, sad and very reserved but when she was, she’d start smiling and acting excitedly. Anyone looking in from the outside would claim that Dayanne was the spark bringing the fire in Daphne to life.

Whenever Dayanne invited her friends over, Daphne would grow so shy if she needed to approach her sister for something. She’d barely look at the guests’ faces and head straight to her sister.

Dayanne remembers the first time she had to go on a three-day school trip. Daphne didn’t follow her in the car like she usually did because she was busy crying in their mom’s arms but all those tears vanished when Dayanne came back on the fourth day, hopping down from the car and into her sister’s arms.

As time passed, whenever she had to leave, Daphne wouldn’t throw tantrums but one could sense a little shift in her body language. The last time Daphne cried was when Dayanne had to move abroad to study.

Being a sixteen-year-old, the Daphne crying then was obviously more mature than the eight-year-old in 3rd grade: she kept repeating through the sobs that she understood the situation, that she couldn’t hold her back from working on her future but that everything simply hurt regardless and she would miss her dearly.

It hurt Dayanne as well. She cried nonstop in the passenger seat as her father drove across the country.

Only later would she realise that, as she grew up, Daphne’s lone-wolf personality had developed into something else, something not as negative as their mother worried it’d be because she wasn’t desperate for some company but also didn’t mean she’d deny the opportunity to keep it if found some.

Perhaps, this was the first time Dayanne couldn’t understand how her sister was feeling. She took her time to observe her through the phone whenever she’d meet a red light only to see nonchalance written all over the young one’s face.

“Does it bother you?” she asked and Daphne mentally agreed. It did bother her because she didn’t think it would take just this much for all their years of friendship to go down the drain but a part of her still expected it. Dayanne believed that maybe, as she grew up, Daphne had autonomously realised how ungenuine the friendship was and was just waiting for it to die off on its own.

Maybe she did but it didn’t conceal the pain. She hoped her fears would’ve been proven useless but things went just as she suspected, just as she explained to Cleo the first day here.

“I really don’t want to talk about it because I hate getting worked up over things I can’t solve on my own. Things went like that. Yes, I'm a bit offended but here is better than I expected and distracts me very easily from my past city life so I’m good.” Dayanne could tell from the tone that the offence wasn’t just a bit and that Daphne was just good at masking it. She’s always been.

“How are things going with Cleo and your friends in school?” Daphne highly appreciated the change of topic as a smile rose on her face, ready to narrate everything bit by bit—even about her little crush.

“She introduced me to him on the first day of school. Like… she just showed me his Instagram and I don’t know if she could tell but he had me hooked!” she exaggerated, biting her bottom lip to suppress her smile. On the other hand, Dayanne didn’t withhold anything and smiled happily at her sister’s happiness.

“So is he just… I don’t know, virtual or have you also met him?” Daphne’s eyes bulged out of their sockets at the question, recalling the previous day on the bus. 

Gasps and squeals broke the flow of her discourse as she spoke: “Yesterday, we ended up sitting just a seat apart— like… We just got on the bus, Cleo was walking in front of me so I couldn’t see where we were going but it didn't matter because we always sit at the end of the bus but then— then she stopped speaking to greet two people and the first name she uttered was his. His! I almost went feral,” Dayanne’s laughter echoed briefly in the bathroom as Daphne took the phone with herself into her bedroom to sit at her desk, “He’s so fine. Beautiful, in fact. His friends are too but him… him? He’s not from this world— Oh! And he has a majestic voice like— a voice that is deep but not deep-deep like raspy-deep but more like depth-of-the-ocean-deep. It’s coming from his soul! So yesterday when he greeted Cleo back, I almost melted on the spot but— you trust me, I handled it like a pro. No embarrassing moments and ooh! That morning was coincidentally the same morning I decided to put in more effort in my outfit and I dressed up so nicely… so you can already imagine,” Dayanne’s nose scrunched, finding her little sister’s squeals and just everything adorable. 

“Did he do anything or look at you in any way—”

“Dayanne? I said that I avoided embarrassing myself which implies that I did not look in his direction because if I had, hmm. If I had looked in his direction, he would've seen me with not glittering but watering eyes and inhumanely expanded pupils ogling at his surreal beauty, which is extremely embarrassing, so no, I didn't see anything about his body language,”

“Damn, listening to you makes up for all the time I missed since I last read a piece of poetry,” the sister's words simply made Daphne proudly smile.

“Are you going to make any move or… simply step back and admire from afar?” Daphne remained silent, smiling and looking up, thinking about it, “I’d like to— no, no, I want to. It’s a work in progress,” she proudly smirked, feeling a bit shy as her sister cheered for her.

“You’re going to charm him huh? Sway your hair in his face?” They both laughed and as they came down, Daphne loudly sighed and wiggled in the seat like the happy and enamoured teenager she was.

In the meantime, Dayanne had made it to the supermarket and was just getting out of her car.

“Now that I think about it… what if he doesn't like me?”

“Oh, shut up! You're so beautiful and down-to-earth. Unless he likes crazy girls, there's no way he would dislike you. Just your looks are enough for him to pause and look for a little bit longer.” Again Daphne became shy, even blushing a little.

“Ooh! Cleo texted me… She hopes I’m going shopping today,” she read the message out loud before silently typing a reply back.

“Does she know? About your crush, I mean,”

“Not yet. Don’t know when I’ll tell her though,” she replied before moving back to the video call screen, “But what I know is that from today onwards, I’ll be dressing up so nicely whenever I step out because I discovered that the town is so small: everyone knows if you’re new and I could also meet people I know.” As she spoke, she got up and headed to her wardrobe, wanting some fashion advice from Dayanne now that she was available.

───❀───

—Now playing: Lovesong by The Cure ✫

One thing that Daphne started liking since she moved is the routines of each day. 

School had restarted so her everyday routine was something one could already imagine but Saturdays and Sundays were different.

Sunday was family day and, just as the name implies, it was reserved to spend time with your family, postponing your duties and setting your worries aside. It was so even in the city but it has been interrupted somehow because of Dayanne.

Saturdays’ routines were a bit different, something that she'd learned only here. They were meant for house chores and the weekly grocery shopping.

One had to do exactly what Daphne was doing now that she had ended the video call with her sister: decluttering her study desk, filling the laundry basket, changing her bedsheets and tidying up the floor.

One had to do exactly what Daphne's mom was doing: preparing to do the laundry, decluttering and dusting the counters and tables and tidying it up the floors as well—her main focus was the kitchen.

One had to do exactly what Daphne's father was doing which was vacuuming the living room and taking care of the backyard and the garden.

Knowing this, it's easy to guess the type of noise that filled the air in every room of Daphne's home. 

The case was similar in Cleo's home but the housework was done mostly by Cole, while the father was in his workshop and Cleo made sure to clean the kitchen and check for what was missing before going grocery shopping with Daphne.

Exactly. Cleo would go shopping with Daphne around eleven thanks to a lift by Granny who had to cater to her flower stand at Opes Nostras.

Once she had ended the call with Dayanne, it didn't take long before Daphne was on the phone with Cleo as they did so to keep up with each other and know how quickly to do their work before getting ready.

It took them around an hour and a half to be done with their chores before they rushed to dress up.

Unlike Cleo, Daphne's outfit was ready, laid out on her bed, a result of Dayanne’s fashion advice. And, again, unlike Cleo, Daphne was dressing to impress. Nothing too extravagant because, at the end of the day, she was still just going grocery shopping, but it was still what she retained enough to stun whoever knew her and happened to meet her at Opes Nostras.

Cleo was dressing up exactly just to do the groceries as one could tell the moment she left her home, heading to Daphne's. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, no gel to hold the curly baby hair back. She had a pair of old cowboy boots on, a white sundress long till mid-thigh and jean shorts under because she didn't have the patience to look for appropriate safety shorts. To top it off and protect herself from a possibly chilly breeze, she wore an old grey sweater stolen from her brother's closet.

Daphne had a protection of her own too: a brown knit cardigan with ties only at the height of her chest while beneath she wore a white lace tank top to match her white maxi skirt—obviously low-rise. Since she wasn't the most creative person when it came to hairstyles, she simply held half her hair up and let half down and added a few jewels as accessories to top the look off.

“Come on, hop in” Granny spurred, sorting out her flower pots in the back of her four-door pick-up truck.

The two girls hopped into the back with all their plastic and tote bags while Granny was already turning the engine on.

Within minutes, they were happily riding to town with a fresh breeze blowing through their hair and old music resounding for the car set.

───❀───

—Now playing: Supernatural by New Jeans ✫

Daphne once used to journal. No special reason behind it. She just enjoyed it. Enjoyed keeping tabs on her life, noting down every little detail of the day and looking back on it sometime later to thrive in the nice feeling of reminiscing about a good past event.

She stopped for unknown and vague reasons, having issues with pin-pointing things. 

Maybe it was because she felt like her new way of journaling was updating her agenda with exams and watching her schedule get packed as the days went by. Maybe. But she also felt like she'd totally like restarting so she could jot down the feelings of moving to a new, yet not-so-new place and give herself the chance to giggle and smile about it two or three months to come when she'd read them back during times of boredom.

She strongly felt like her life would take a big turn for the best here.

For starters, she really liked the feeling of community that characterised the town, how everyone seemed to be working in sync, unknowingly helping each other out like the pieces of a puzzle.

She liked riding on the road that leads to her home because it is surrounded by green fields occupied by cows, sheep or actively working farmers and she enjoys watching them with her hair floating in the air and her ears covered by the loud sound of the breeze as they sped on the road.

She loved the weather, whether it was raining or just a sunny day. She loved it so much especially when it was windy—had spent afternoons of her childhood running up and down in fields whenever there was any little sign of breeze outside.

One might think that it's boring but she loved the routines. Loved waking up in the morning around the same hours, reading during the holidays or getting ready during school. Loved making herself breakfast—would never miss a mug of latte in the morning—and she also loved having breakfast at the cafe close to school if she had been too late to have some at home.

Now that school had started, her friends gave her more things to love like their simple company, their dark jokes that were hilarious for the simple fact of being coined by their brains, their constant and seemingly unfading happiness and smiles, their love for food and their love for fun. She liked that they were the ones making the first move, initiating things because her introverted self could never—which bothers her because she wants to work on impressing her crush and not just stay in his shadow.

She loved Cleo because she had an everlasting smile, nothing could ever bother her. She saw only the good side in things and people so you really have to have none for her to dislike you and she was also very unserious hence the jokes. Most especially, Cleo has been the only real friend in her life, the only one who the distance didn't bother, the only one to stick around even when she was around. She'd always be indebted to her because of that but she also felt guilty for not realising it earlier and spending nights waiting for a stupid reply from Margot.

She loved living close to her dogs Loki and Luke. Has bonded with them more now than ever.

She loved getting reunited with her grandparents. Loved seeing them fighting against the urge to spoil her with gifts every day.

She loved seeing her mother and Granny bond over flowers. Loved listening to them speaking about them so professionally and, at the same time, poetically and passionately. 

She loved silently reading on the sofa next to her dad who fancied reading magazines and newspapers. 

Another thing she immensely loved was her bedroom for all the memories it enclosed between its walls. She could spend all day there and never get tired. Perhaps, she loved it as much as she loved the whole house because her room contained only a few of the thousand memories of the time she lived here years ago.

She also loved the noisy yet lively spirit of Opes Nostras. Loved watching how creative the sellers could get in order to advertise their goods to the customers. And she also loved watching Granny set up her stand of flowers. 

“You have your lists ready and complete?” Granny asked as she saw the girls ready to take off and leave. After receiving smiley eager nods from the teenage girls, she had them promise to come back to the stand once they were done so they could go home together. 

“Your list is long as fuck! Aren't y'all like three at home?” Daphne gasped, fully stretching Cleo's rolled shopping list.

“Yes, we are and yes, Cole is a big back. Bro eats for two if not for more and also most of it is for the cats,” Cleo nonchalantly explained.

They had perfectly sorted which bag to use for which product: tote bags were for baking products such as bread or biscuits and veggies. In separate tote bags, cleaning products. The stronger plastic bags were to hold meat and fruits.

And, at last, their little personal bags were to hold any little thing they'd want to buy for themselves.  

—Now playing: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper ✫

Daphne probably deducted what she believed from observing her surroundings but it didn't mean that she was necessarily right—or so she thought.

Saturdays followed the same routine for every household in town and on the outskirts. Everyone was tidying up or preparing to go sell their goods at Opes Nostras.

Taehyung could hear the vacuum going off in the room next to his, indicating that his mom was tidying up her room just as he was. 

At the moment, he was occupied picking up all the clothes he wore during the week and putting them in the laundry basket before taking them downstairs to the laundry room. Other than this, his room was never extraordinarily untidy. His desk was always cluttered, but that's his work space and he likes it like that—gives him a feeling of activeness.

His bed was already made. The windows were opened wide to change the air and the only thing left for him to do was to vacuum. 

Outside his window, in the next compound, he could see the neighbour working on his garden, mowing the grass or reshaping his hedges. 

In his compound, instead, he could see his grandmother finishing up with the fruits and vegetables she wanted to sell at Opes Nostras with Adrielle as her right-hand man.

Adrielle never really participated in the tidying-up of her house because she already had a team of cleaners doing that for her and her family. The only place she manually cleaned herself was her room so once she was done with that, she’d hop down to his place to help his grandmother out.

Once he was done with his bedroom, and while waiting for the vacuum cleaner, he grabbed a broom to sweep the hallway, trying to shoo his dog's playful jumps aside.

His agenda for the day wasn’t full, being just the end of his second school week. After cleaning the house, while his grandmother would go to Opes Nostras, he’d help his mother prepare lunch and then study till late afternoon with Adrielle—only if Adrielle hadn’t already planned to work on the campaign.

She was very excited for it. Couldn’t keep it out of her mouth the whole week. Yesterday, they had met at her place as planned. Their group chat had momentarily changed into a platform to communicate just for it. 

Avyanna and Jungkook decided to deal with online advertising and the ‘bribing’, as Jungkook liked calling it. By tomorrow, Jimin will be done with creating their logo so Avyanna can finalise the Instagram profile and ultimately launch it before it gets too late—other teams running for president have already launched theirs. Taehyung had bought a notebook specially reserved for this where he’d note down everything Adrielle wanted in the presentation since he was in charge of its creation.

As he went downstairs with the adorable sounds of his dog's little paws hitting the carpeted stairs, he could hear Adrielle’s happy voice resounding through his living room walls. She was outside helping his grandmother, grabbing the chance to keep her up to date with her plans. Her eyes caught him approaching while she was holding a big basket of vegetables.

“Hey, Tae,” she greeted with a smile across her face. On the other end, Taehyung quickened his pace to help her with the basket, commenting on how she shouldn’t be overworking herself while smiling like it was easy when it wasn't. She still kept her smile, responding with silence before speaking: “Nana just agreed to help me with the school’s garden renovation!” she exclaimed in joy, making Taehyung struggle to hold back his smile, happy to see her happy. 

“And you already have a plan or you’re leaving everything to Nana?”

“She already does. Look at the glitter in her eyes,” Nana commented, pinching Adrielle’s cheeks and proceeding to the front of her house where her truck was parked with the trunk wide open, ready to be filled with her products. 

“I have already drawn it on paper but I’ll show you later so you can tell me if it’s even possible to recreate,”

“Adrielle darling, everything is possible. Especially when you have me as your work partner,” Nana boasted, the loud sound of the wooden basket of fruits echoed through the metal walls of the truck.

“For how long will you stay at Opes Nostras?” Taehyung changed the topic, “We’ll be back around two. Three at the latest,” the grandmother explained before finally slamming the doors closed and heading to the front of the vehicle. Taehyung followed behind her while, on the other side, Adrielle got in, ready to keep the woman company while she sold her goods at the market.

“You help your mom. We’ll be back for lunch,” after caressing his cheek, she finally got in, closing the old car door and turning the engine on. Before she’d start reversing out of the compound, Taehyung rushed to open the gates wide and waved at them as they drove past him, out of the compound and onto the road.

“Nana will be back soon, hurt puppy. Come in and let’s cook,” his mom exclaimed from the front door, arms and legs crossed as she leaned on the doorframe watching her son look at the road like they had just left for another country. He laughed and rubbed his face before closing the gates and walking back in, his dog ran up to him in the meantime.

“What’s in store for lunch?” he asked from the anteroom, taking his shoes off and moving on to his slippers before going to the kitchen where his mom was already rustling with plates and other kitchen utensils.

She turned around with wide-opened eyes and mouth, not having a direct answer to his question. “I don’t really know. Don’t know if to go for some Italian or cook something simple with rice. Or we could make some nice sandwiches, you know? Like burgers?” Taehyung let his dog down, smiling at his mother’s indecision to conceal the indecision within him too.

“Gotta be honest and tell you that I don’t know either but burgers sound nice,” and his mother nodded, feeling proud of her suggestion and commenting on how it wasn’t such a crazy tip.

───❀───

—Now playing: Sticky by Kiss Of Life ✫

“I really think we have to buy a trolley in case of next time because if we always have to do this, I’d rather listen to heavily autotuned metal music for twelve consecutive hours because this is straight-out impossible,” Daphne exaggeratedly complained. 

They had just returned from Granny’s stand for the third time because the bags were too heavy and they couldn’t carry them around as they finished shopping. Granny obviously didn’t mind but was still worried about them and kept the inexistent doors of her stand open for them to come, cool down and regain their strength.

“Oh my God, Daph. I cannot laugh because I need to preserve my energy so please shut up. We’re almost done. We just need to go to the supermarket and then we’re heading home.” Their destination was outside of Opes Nostras, a bus stop before it but they would trek, firstly through the chaotic market and then on the sidewalk leading to it.

As CLeo reminded her friend about their last stop for the day, she sighed loudly again, looking at the chaos in front of her through which she’d have to walk and get out of. 

“Oh God, this is too much I wanna cry,” she laughed as if to mask her tears while fighting the strong desire to drop to the floor on her butt like a kid. Cleo tied arms with her, ready to drag them both through because she wanted to get it over with just as much.

As they walked, they had to ask for people to move sometimes, bite their knuckles to conceal their frustration, anger or the deep desire to smack someone in the face. Nothing surpassed the annoyance walking behind an elderly person brought them and worse was when the elderly person would look at them, irritated for being disturbed so the girls could pass. Daphne had to hold back Cleo from putting some of them in their place. 

“These people cannot be real. They have to be an NPC, a simulation or a fucking social experiment because they literally cannot be fucking real!” she exclaimed, looking at Daphne, as to ask if she’d seen the same thing.

“You’ve got to calm down. If you’re not going to spend your energy laughing, I won’t watch you spend it on some random passerby who doesn’t deserve it,” Daphne firmly spoke, adjusting the bags hanging on her shoulder while simultaneously dragging her best friend along.

After what felt like everlasting moments, they finally made it out of the mass and were simply walking on the calm part of the street that hosted Opes Nostras. That was when a white old truck took a turn and drove into the street. Another seller, they immediately assumed only for a familiar voice to greet them as it drove by, Adrielle’s. 

Cleo immediately greeted back when she recognised the voice but Daphne didn’t have enough time to register her surroundings and just settled with asking her friend who it was.

“Adrielle. The blondie of the rich kids’ group in school. The one from yesterday on the bus, one of Jungkook’s closest friends,” she explained while Daphne looked behind them where the truck had just stopped to park behind a stand.

She wondered why she saw Adrielle get down from the truck to open its trunk and start off-loading it from all the baskets of fruits and vegetables it contained but she never voiced her confusion to her friend. Just looked at how surreal the girl looked with her blonde hair strands flowing with the soft breeze and a peculiar white glow around her figure.

The Instagram pictures weren't fake, in fact, they gatekept a lot. Daphne had never seen such a beauty from up close—other than the boy she was crushing on. There was still a good distance between them but Adrielle’s glow was immense, she thought.

This thought faded to the back of her mind and soon completely disappeared the moment they made it to the supermarket and had to focus on getting everything listed on the piece of paper in their hands.

Since summer was already moving closer to its end, the air conditioners were toned down in the supermarkets but everything was still very pleasing and they felt it the most when they had to leave and come in contact with the warmer air outside.

Right when they were turning the corner into Opes Nostras street, Granny called wanting to know about her whereabouts since she was done selling her flowers and they had to go home for lunch. Again, being on the phone, Daphne was distracted and couldn't greet back when Cleo waved at Adrielle. In fact, she didn’t even notice Cleo waving at Adrielle just as Adrielle barely noticed her since she walked almost in sync with Cleo. They both went on with their lives: Adrielle continued to stay next to Nana as they sold their goods while Daphne and Cleo proceeded into the mass to reach Granny’s now empty stand as she was packing up to go back home.

With a little help, they got everything into the back of the pick-up truck before hopping in themselves and driving off to the outskirts where they lived and to the freshly prepared lunch in store for both families since Daphne’s mom's extroverted self couldn’t hold back from inviting Cleo’s dad and brother over for lunch—it probably would turn into a Saturday routine.

Obviously, the girls had to secure a few things they bought before sitting down to eat such as meat, fish and frozen foods and only after lunch did they finish settling everything they had bought. 

—Now playing: Missili by Frah Quintale, Giorgio Poi ✫

Once they were done with that, Cleo left her home, once again, to go hang out at Daphne's while they did their homework. This plan failed the moment Nick invited them both to a video call where he suggested they meet at Cleo’s to finish the project.

“You called me to suggest we meet at my house? Nick, you’re incredible,” Cleo laughed. She was sitting at the desk on the spare chair Daphne had in her room with the latter sitting next to her, knees to her chest and a wide smile on her face.

On the other three ends of the phone were Nick, who was sitting on the sofa in his living room, James, who was laying on his bed with a hand under his head, and Asher, who was outside, possibly walking on the sidewalk.

“Yeah, yeah, I just did that and so what?” he challenged, gaining a middle finger from his respondent. “Whatever,” Daphne smacked Cleo’s finger out of the camera, “When do we meet at Cleo’s?”

“Hey, why don’t we meet at yours?” Cleo objected, laughing, “What’s the problem with meeting at yours?” Daphne rebutted, her hand still on Cleo’s who simply shook her shoulders gaining an eye roll before Daphne proceeded, insisting with her question.

“Tomorrow.”

“Y’all stop making decisions about my home! James you should say ‘Tomorrow?’, question it not firmly state ‘Tomorrow’. It’s my home!—”

“Tomorrow it is. Wow, Cleo! We love your participation and how much you would risk for the betterment of this group and the project. Your efforts will never go in vain,” Asher joined in the joke.

“You too?” Cleo widened her eyes, “And what do you mean by ‘risk’? Is it a risk to—”

“Tomorrow at what time?” Daphne interrupted her friend’s makeshift soliloquy. “Daphne!”

“After lunch like… by two,” James repeated the mistake Cleo scolded him for seconds ago. “James!”

“Well then. It’s done,” 

“Ash—”

“Everyone, tomorrow at Cleo’s at two o’clock! We won’t be accepting any latecomers!” Nick announced before bursting into laughs seeing how Cleo’s mouth just opened wider and wider the more anyone spoke further.

“Y’all thank your asses my dad isn’t the type of dad who doesn’t like having people over,” she warned, pointing at the boys through the camera. “Not a problem anyway because you’re neighbours with Daphne so we would’ve simply changed route—”

“Hey! Asher!” Daphne warned, making him laugh. “Regardless, it’s a deal. Y’all better not forget shit tomorrow and bring your brains with you. I don’t have spare ones at mine—”

“Neither do I!” Cleo butted in. “And I’m warning y’all in advance, I have a lot of cats. My brother hates noise and a messy environment so please leave your childishness at home to rest. Thank you for your understanding,” and the boys simply smiled—Nick’s smile as the most mischievous of all calling for Cleo to comment on it while Daphne excused herself to the bathroom.

As they were having a very unserious study time, three bus stops away from Daphne’s, just starting to study since they had just finished eating, were Taehyung and Adrielle.

Yes, they had just finished eating but the plates had already been washed and the house had already fallen into silence since Nana had excused herself to get some sleep while Taehyung’s mom had gone into town.

This silence was just what they both needed. The girl, to study, the boy, to fall asleep on his books.

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Chapter 11 is up now!!

only on @gard3nias

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 59.35k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜

❀ 13 ❛from five to ten❜

❀ 14 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 15 ❛holy shit!❜

❀ 16 ❛opposites attract❜

❀ 17

Chapter 11 is up now!!!

11| An overly ambitious hedonistic seductress

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wc: 6.04k

date: 24/08/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Ti vorrei sollevare by Elisa, Giuliano Sangiorgi ✫

Sunday and, just as the name implies, it was a sunny day and the soft breeze of the town never failed to be present. However, as autumn approached, the mornings felt colder, prompting people to grab sweaters and blankets. The chill slowly dissipated as the day progressed, and by noon, temperatures returned to the usual comfortable levels of the summer. Today, unsurprisingly, temperatures rose even further in the afternoon, encouraging everyone to spend more time outdoors to avoid using air conditioners and fans.

Daphne and Cleo's neighbourhood is always silent, having barely any household containing little children who could be playing in their gardens. The only 'disturbance' came from barking dogs, chainsaws, the hammering from workshops or the buzzing sound of tractors from the neighbouring farms.

The neighbours obviously didn't expect they would hear the hysterical laughs of teenagers, the exhausted screams of another teenager and the overall chaos coming from Cleo's home.

She'd laid out her warnings the previous day: "I have a lot of cats"—two cats in reality but she didn't want to specify just to scare them—"My brother hates noise and messy environments" she stated, firmly advising them to leave their childishness at home when coming. Still, everyone knows that giving a piece of advice is useful only if the receiver takes it into consideration.

The five friends were all downstairs in her living room and they were planning on studying outside in her backyard because of the heat so the only thing left to do was take their things outside but suddenly a supposedly five-minute thing started taking way longer than she'd ever wish.

"Damn. The fridge is full as fuck! How many people are living here?" James asked, checking out the contents of the piece of furniture. He was unaware of the mini heart attack his words gave his friend. "Don't!— Don't touch the fridge. If you need anything, tell me. We went grocery shopping just yesterday and my brother eats a lot," she dragged the vowel to enhance the word and seriousness, "So no. If y'all feel hungry, just tell me." The warning was enough for the boys to lift their hands in surrender and back away from the fridge Cleo had just violently closed and was guarding with her whole body.

The girl sighed in relief, glad to have solved the issue only for her eyes to bulge out of their sockets again when she saw Nick approach her fireplace where, upon the sill, were family pictures, most especially, her childhood pictures. Why the fuck didn't she think about removing them earlier?

"Back off, Dominic!" she exclaimed, rushing up to him. The use of his full name had him on alert since it was rare but soon he understood her body language and what she was trying to hide as a mischievous smirk rose on his face. "Oh my God. You don't want me to see baby Cleo's photos?" he excitedly teased, seeing the shift in her as he understood her intentions.

"Nick, I swear to God if you dare— Nick!" she screamed when he made his first attempt to outsmart and pass her. "Nick, please," she begged, her tone wavered between a laugh and a cry because he was laughing at her distress. "They're just pictures and you're cute as fuck now so one can't imagine how cuter you were when you were a baby," he explained in a slightly more serious tone as he tried to understand the real reason behind her worry.

"I don't care and it's not true—"

"It's not true?"

In the meantime, James continued his tour of the floor without attempting to touch any food or object, Asher was tangled in the paws of Cinnamon and Lily while Daphne simply laughed at the scene as she recorded everything.

"I never knew I'd be the heartthrob of cats," he commented, surprised at their grip on his clothes whenever he wanted to detach them from himself. Daphne didn't do anything about it, having no type of experience with cats and most especially, enjoying the new memory that would occupy space in her phone.

"Pose." She finally spoke after laughing for way too much according to Asher. "What do you mean pose?"

"Pose for a picture," she simply repeated like it was obvious. She had to insist a bit more before he complied and posed, forcing a smile through the pain as she compelled herself to take good pictures before bursting into laughs again. This would be good content for her to upload to her Instagram stories and add to her new highlight dedicated to her friends—it already contained a few things thanks to Cleo's tags. And, exactly, she left to do so, leaving Asher in his despair while she lay on the couch to edit the picture with a few doodles and tagging everyone present.

Nick and Cleo had finished their little fight of resistance and the boy was now holding one of the pictures, congratulating Cleo for being a very cute baby while the girl simply stood next to him, checking if the picture was too bad for her, rolling her eyes at the compliments as she held her smiles back and eagerly begging him to stop satisfying his curiosity.

James had finished the tour of the floor and was now bored and that was when he remembered why they were there in the first place. "Hey, guys. Let's hurry and take what we need to study," his words froze the place up. Daphne moved her eyes onto him, Asher stopped struggling with the cats and Nick and Cleo stopped their activity, simultaneously turning around to look at the speaker. "James? Everything all right?" Asher broke the ice.

"Yeah like... you fine?" Daphne joined. Nick and Cleo nodded when the respondent turned in their direction since he was so confused and looking for clarification.

"What?" he asked, receiving no reply for a few seconds before Daphne spoke again, "We're just surprised you of all people suggested that."

"Yep, surprised,"

"Super surprised," Cleo and Nick added right after her. James simply rolled his eyes, realising he was getting worried over nothing.

"What the fuck guys? I thought it was something serious—"

"Oh, he was going to be serious—"

"Asher!" And everyone laughed. James still rolled his eyes and went on with his life while the rest stopped playing around and got up to do what they initially had to do.

"Cleo? Imma need you to come get your fur balls off me. I'm losing my shit. Thank goodness I ain't allergic to their fur. I would've been dead by now."

It was a five-minute thing, taking every book and device they needed. It was almost a twenty-minute thing, taking Cinnamon and Lily off Asher who fought against wailing like a baby in frustration. And that's how they found themselves sitting around the white table they moved to the garden under the protection of the wide white umbrella standing through its centre.

Cleo's home never hosted these many people. Ever since she was a child, the only companion she had with her was her brother, her father and, briefly, her mother. She'd known Nick, James and Asher since middle school but never had she invited them over because the thought never crossed her mind—and also they already spent a lot of time together considering their moments in class and at practice after school. Regardless if she wanted to hang out with them, they would opt for a destination in town, not anyone's home.

Today, when her neighbours peered out their windows into Cleo's garden, they were greeted with an unfamiliar sight: five people sitting around a white table. Usually, when they spotted Cleo in the garden, she would either be playing with her brother, helping him out with something, swinging on the swing hanging from the big tree, or playing with her cats—certainly not whatever she was doing now.

Barely a month had passed since Daphne had moved here permanently so the images of her reading in her garden weren't long-lost memories to the neighbours anymore but rather part of their routine since Daphne had always been reading there since she came back.

When they would look out of their window and into her garden, they'd find her there, sitting and reading peacefully. The only thing changing day by day was her clothing which would get thicker as the temperatures went down and autumn approached.

They didn't know that the five people in Cleo's garden had decided to meet for school reasons although one could deduct it by noticing the books filling the table and the focus painting the expressions of the teenagers.

One could also deduct that James gave no fucks about school and has a hard time staying focused for too long hence the phone in his hands while the rest were working. He had a leg bent over the other with arms crossed and a subtle frown on his face peeking through his blonde hair strands.

They hadn't even studied for an hour and little James was already out of it. He'd sighed many times by now, gaining Asher's side glances the whole time. James couldn't notice that. The only thing he knew was that his friends were boring, this was boring, life was boring and he couldn't bear it any longer. He even looked in Nick's direction, his usual partner in crime, only to find him focused on working, leaving him shocked.

"Isn't it time to like... have a little break?" he suggested only to receive silence as an answer from all of them. They didn't notice him except for Asher who didn't hold back from rolling his eyes. He had to repeat his question a second time before someone other than Asher answered him or, better, looked in his direction at all.

"It's barely been an hour. What are you talking about?" Cleo questioned with an eyebrow lifted. "It's funnier if you remember that he was the one that encouraged us to come out and study," Asher butted in, gaining an eye roll from James.

"Sorry, I can't stay focused for too long. I'm not as braindead as you are," he spoke directly to Asher who took his glasses off, slightly annoyed at the remark.

"You call having a long attention span being braindead? It literally proves that you're the one who's braindead because you don't know what the word itself means and trust me that anyone could appear 'braindead' to you because you can only stay focused for two minutes,"

"Okay, okay. Let's end it there. You wanna take a break? Let's take a break but then you'll have to seriously work later," Daphne interrupted, getting rid of the ponytail that was already stressing her sensitive skull.

James wasn't bothered in the slightest by Asher's words since he'd got what he'd been wishing for so he simply stood up and headed to the kitchen with Cleo running behind him to make sure he wouldn't empty the fridge.

"Be a bit nicer, yes?" Daphne was now speaking to Asher who simply rolled his eyes and got up, leaving her without any reply. She was a bit baffled just as Nick by her right with whom she exchanged looks of confusion before they too got up and went inside.

—Now playing: Beautiful by Lana Del Rey ✫

Once they got to the kitchen, they found James and Cleo arguing about what they could have to eat and, being already a bit annoyed, Daphne made them settle down and excused all of them out of the kitchen so she could handle it herself. Cleo didn't object and grabbed the chance to play outside with only James and Nick because Asher didn't look down for any type of physical activity—maybe only if it meant he could go back home.

He didn't budge from his position, leaning on the counter with legs and arms crossed and staring into nothing. Daphne, on the other end, was busy exploring Cleo's kitchen to understand where to find what.

She wanted to make some sandwiches and was having a hard time finding the pack of sliced bread they'd bought the previous day. She'd already gathered the filling onto the counter ignoring Asher's presence who had stopped staring into nothing and was now looking at Daphne most especially because she had succeeded in finding the sliced bread but it was in the cupboard, a bit too high away—not the cupboard itself because the pack was placed on the top layer.

"They most likely placed it here on purpose 'cause there's no way," she mumbled to herself and she kept jumping, pinching the packet closer and closer to the edge. She'd already jumped a few too many times to her liking especially because she hoped Asher would help her out but it seemed like he was in the mood to hold grudges against her as if she'd wronged him in any way.

She initially felt good because the packet was getting closer and closer and she would manage to get it without his help but her moment of glory was shut down when she accidentally pushed in instead of pinching it closer. When she noticed, she stopped jumping, looked up at the packet and stared in disbelief.

That was when she heard Asher chuckle behind her. Never had she snapped her head around this fast to glare at someone and never had he hid his smile so quickly.

"Were you just laughing?" she questioned, eyebrow slightly lifted and eyes glaring holes in his figure. "Why would you think that?" he questioned back, mirroring her facial expressions.

Daphne wasn't hallucinating, she heard him clearly laughing in her moment of distress and he was now denying it, denying to had been behaving like a bitch because she told him to tune it down.

Yes. She wasn't hallucinating because he indeed was chuckling since he purposely let her struggle for a bit just because he felt like it. He wasn't that immature. Yes, she scolded him a bit and yes, he was a bit harsh but no, he wasn't going to act like a bitch about it. He would've let her struggle even on the best of his days. The only person who could get him back to being annoyed was James and, at the moment, he wasn't there.

Right now, he was staring dead into Daphne's eyes and she did the same with him. The tension between them soon faded away when they both got the cue that it was all in good fun but Nick didn't know this when he walked in to have a glass of water.

The room was so silent and his friends were staring at each other, both with arms and legs crossed and a crooked eyebrow. "Nice staring contest," he thought to himself and he served himself with the glass of water.

Daphne and Asher, on the other end, struggled to hold back their laughs as they could hear Nick's loud gulping sounds. Asher could see it on her face just as she could see it on his that a smile tried to creep up but they would race against the clock to suppress it. They could see it in each other's eyes, the panting, the sweat and the fatigue the race caused them but soon everything resulted to being in vain when Nick let out the loudest burp right after emptying the glass.

Asher immediately burst into laughter while Daphne's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets and rolled onto the floor at the loud sound. Yeah, it was very loud.

"Jesus Christ, Nick. It's just water," she said, laughing at the situation but also Asher's loud laugh and crumbling figure in front of her.

Nick simply smiled as he rinsed the glass and kept it back to where he found it. "Y'all never heard anyone burp before?" he simply asked, seeing how they were losing their shit.

"Nick? That was exceptionally loud especially since you drank ordinary water. Imagine if you had drunk sparkling water," Daphne explained—to be honest, she struggled to explain that because every word that left her mouth would simply increase Asher's laughter's pitch and volume. Nick didn't reply, smiling at how hilarious Asher sounded before going back outside.

"What the fuck?" Daphne asked in disbelief before repeating her question when she saw that Asher had fully turned red and seemed really in need of help.

"Hey, hey! Young man!" she called. His laughter's pitch and volume had vanished as he was silently laughing now, tightly holding onto his stomach—nothing is deadlier than that shit. "This bitch is on the verge of dying, jeez," she laughed, staring at him in hopes he would stop.

He did, a few seconds later but he did and when he came down, he took in a huge amount of air before letting it all out to ease the feeling of his contracted abdomen.

"A burp... almost killed you," Daphne joked, watching him get back up, "Wouldn't have minded anyway because it would have been your karma," she added.

"My karma? For what?"

"For fucking ignoring me and letting me make a fool of myself as I tried to take that fucking pack of sliced bread just because I scolded you a bit before!" she explained, gasping as she saw him start laughing once more.

"Ok. Yes, it's like you're really trying to kill me with laughter and no, I wasn't ignoring you for that. I would ignore you on any day. Your scolding has nothing to do with it. I was having my own type of fun," and Daphne gasped, reaching over to smack his arm as he laughed and finally complied to help her take the packet and make the sandwiches. As background music were the screams and laughs coming from Cleo's garden.

Soon, their conversation moved on to school subjects regarding their project and most especially the campaign. Asher confessed to being interested in running in the campaign but he would only entertain the idea the following year as a senior as he didn't feel ready yet.

Daphne grabbed the chance to ask him what were the requirements for such and even asked if he was interested in becoming the class president.

Their conversation was cut short by the loud scream coming from the garden. It was so loud Asher worried James or Nick had hurt Cleo somehow. Daphne, however, did not share his concern at first, but she still hurried behind him when he dashed out. They both froze when they saw Cleo and Nick wrestling over a ball, with James confused in a corner not knowing if to join in or separate them.

"Erm?" Daphne asked, side-eyeing Asher who simply rolled his eyes again and went back inside.

"Gosh, I thought it was something serious," he said, making it back behind the counter.

"It was obviously nothing serious. Anyone could tell,"

"Yeah, but I'm used to having to medicate Cleo's wounds because of how roughly they play."

"Are they always like that?" Daphne asked, "Like... in compromising positions like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... if an outsider had to take a look at them, they could suspect they are more than just friends, you know," she voiced out, placing the sandwich on the tray. "Were they ever a thing? Because as far as I know, Cleo never told me anything special about Nick."

Her question wasn't a surprise to him. He knew it would've eventually popped up in Daphne's brain and now he just happened to be the person to whom she addressed the question. "Not that I know of," he simply replied, placing his sandwich on the tray.

"Yes, they do look like more than friends and if I'm being honest with you, I always thought that Nick has a crush on her. James too,"

"Really?" Daphne gasped with bulging eyes and he nodded, "But I feel like if Nick does have a crush on her, his has existed for longer. We have known each other since middle school and Nick has always been like this with her. James started only like two years ago if I'm not mistaken,"

"Which was around when Cleo started getting popular and shit, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so,"

"But also, doesn't Nick also behave like this with everyone? I mean, he's not the shy type to worry too much about physical contact,"

"Yeah, he behaves like this with everyone and that's why one can't fully say that he crushes on Cleo because he isn't any different with others but he's just a bit different when it's just us, you know. There is a Nick with Cleo in public and a different Nick with Cleo in private such as hang outs like this. I do think that if James does have a crush on her, she knows and she also doesn't entertain the idea of starting anything serious with him because two years ago I wasn't the only person thinking he liked her. The whole class did,"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, but I think Cleo just sees him as a friend because she never really commented on the issue and it slowly faded, especially with the popularity she gained. It became easy to simply label him as a fanboy and nothing more,"

Daphne nodded and didn't speak further, looking out where her friends were. A part of her felt like her suspicions were true. Nick probably likes Cleo, James included, and it isn't surprising because Cleo is so charming. Like she'd already stated, Cleo could see the good in people, no matter the bad one could commit and she also seemed to never get sad or angry—unless you bring Valerie into the picture. Cleo is always smiling and happy. She seemed to have a social battery that never runs out and her smile was like a tattoo on her face.

Daphne hadn't seen her play volleyball yet, hadn't seen how competitive and just how skilled she was at the sport. However, Daphne knew Cleo's popularity likely stemmed from her talent in volleyball, indicating that she was genuinely good at it. 

There was just something fascinating about people being good at what they like.

All these were hypotheses that she would've changed into theories if she knew that Jungkook too fanboys over her.

"So right now, we're looking at a potential childhood crush from Nick?" she said looking at the scene in front of her.

Right in that moment, from the counter she could see Cleo and Nick going at it again, dragging to get the ball. They caught the attention of both she and Asher because Nick seemed to be giving Cleo a back hug from where he would occasionally lift her off the ground. She, on the other hand, would bend forward causing him to do the same. Another honestly compromising position.

"James is third-wheeling there," she comments before they get back to making the sandwiches.

"Worse it would be if he indeed likes her too," Asher added, gaining a hiss from Daphne as they both laughed.

—Now playing: Chiquitita by ABBA ✫

The boys left around dinner time, giving the girls enough time to finish tidying up. Daphne stayed back just for that reason.

There wasn't much left for them to take care of since they didn't mess up the place too much and the boys also helped a little before leaving to catch their bus home. Upstairs, Cole was still sleeping while noise still came from Cleo's dad's workshop. Been like that throughout the afternoon.

"Let's hurry cause I have to cook dinner,"

"You?" and Cleo nodded before turning around to sweep the kitchen. "Cole has been studying the whole morning and even after lunch. I just went to check and saw that he fell asleep so he's surely tired as fuck. My dad has been working nonstop on the project he wants to sell in his shop so yeah, I'm taking over the cooking." Daphne unconsciously nodded to the information as she adjusted the little pillows on the couch and armchair, picking up a few things from the floor and keeping others back where they belonged. As she did so, they stopped talking and completely focused on finishing their duty.

Since the boys had already helped with tidying up the living room a bit, Daphne was soon done with the work and was just roaming around, exploring the place now that she had the chance. In the meantime, Cleo was still sweeping the kitchen, trashing the packs of finished snacks that littered the counters. That was when a gasp from the living room diverted her attention away.

"Oh my god! You have vinyl records from ABBA?" Daphne exclaimed, taking the object in her hands and admiring it like it was a brick of gold. Cleo rushed to put the broom aside and went over to her overly excited friend.

"You listen to ABBA?" Daphne proceeded, taking the disc out of the packet and going straight to the vinyl player sitting next to the pile of records. Cleo smiled but the smile didn't reach her eyes. It wasn't the usual smile that painted her face, the infamous tattoo. No, Cleo struggled to smile and Daphne didn't notice.

She wanted to stop her friend, take the record from her hand, keep it back and shut everything up but that would require her to explain herself and if she failed to do so, she'd just leave a bitter taste in her friend's mouth or, worse, make her worry that there's something more. There is something more, but that more can stay in the isolated room Cleo had locked it in. She'd also trashed the key, wishing to never see that door open again. But it didn't stop the pain nor the insisting struggles as the door tried to open itself against its hinges and the lock.

Daphne maybe would've noticed this but maybe right now she was too excited to listen to ABBA or to play music from a vinyl player once again. The last time she'd done so was at Margot's place in the city but she didn't ponder much on that memory, especially now that Margot have been outcasted from her life just as she'd done to her. Daphne loved vintage things so she really had a thing for vinyl records—preferred them to the modern album packaging.

She didn't pay any attention to the song she was putting on since she was a great ABBA fan and eats up anything the group has released.

"You know how to use it?" Cleo finally spoke, her voice almost nonexistent. Again Daphne didn't notice this. Later, Cleo would be thankful for her inattention because she would've regretted dearly bringing worry upon her friend.

Daphne eagerly nodded as she backed away from the player, waiting for the music to start and it soon did as the soft sounds of a guitar started feeling the room.

"Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong?" she started singing along, gathering her hands on her chest as if the song had been produced in heaven.

"You're enchained by your own sorrow, In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow." Cleo smiled more now. Chuckled a bit at how fondly Daphne sang along.

Her friend behaved as if she was in a music video, arms spreading out and going back to her chest at each word she sang. "How I hate to see you like this. There is no way you can deny it, I can see that you're oh so sad, so quiet."

Cleo's smile almost faded away, understanding the words, the lyrics. What a choice of song, she thought to herself but, again, Daphne didn't know this so she couldn't show any emotion or any suspicious reaction that could cause her friend to ask questions, to worry. "Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on, your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on." Cleo simply smiled. Laughed seeing how her friend struggled to get on the couch and be even more dramatic. Once she got on it, she spread her arms out again, passionately singing and pointing at Cleo as she sang the next words.

"You were always sure of yourself. Now I see you've broken a feather. I hope we can patch it up together." She didn't know that the words were resonating with Cleo, hitting a very sensitive nerve she's been keeping hidden under her sleeve for a long time now and there was no way she could've known because, unlike Taehyung, Daphne isn't a keen observer but just a good listener. Cleo was the same: different from Taehyung, yes, but she was just good at speaking, with her listening skills not as refined as her friend's. Yes, she is so good at talking but, in that moment, she preferred silence because she was scared of having others worry for her. After all, there is nothing scarier than the sudden extinguishing of the sun—and it's not an eclipse.

Cleo was still standing by the vinyl player while Daphne had already travelled around the room and was making her way back to it, back to Cleo and once she reached, she grabbed her friend's hands and dragged her into the centre of the living room to dance.

"Chiquitita, you and I know how the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leavin'." Cleo's body was a bit tense but not tense enough to resist Daphne's force as she dragged her around. "You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end. You would have no time for grievin'" Daphne sang without caring to hit the right notes as they started spinning and jumping around. She was unaware that her free spirit at the moment eased her friend's tightened muscles, slowly bringing her to enjoy the song and hop around with her.

"Chiquitita, you and I cry but the sun is still in the sky and shinin' above you."

Daphne didn't know this—again. Not just the song but the whole musical group held a certain weight in Cleo's mind and occupied a certain space in her heart. Space she'd rather give to anything else in this world. A weight she'd gladly go on a diet to lose but this type of weight was particular. Wasn't the type you could lose either by going on a diet or starving yourself.

"Let me hear you sing once more like you did before. Sing a new song, Chiquitita," they both started singing, fingers intertwined, arms spread out and heads thrown back as they spun around, sometimes breaking into a simple dance move. "Try once more like you did before. Sing a new song, Chiquitita."

After parting ways for the verses, Daphne started first: "So the walls came tumblin' down and your love's a blown out candle. All is gone and it seems too hard to handle." And then it was Cleo's turn to become dramatic with her gestures as she started singing along to her own part: "Chiquitita, tell me the truth. There is no way you can deny it. I see that you're oh so sad, so quiet."

Again, unaware, Daphne's actions were like gauze covering the wounds lacing Cleo's body and soul. The smile spread across her face was just what Cleo needed to feel at ease.

"Chiquitita, you and I know how the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leavin'. You'll be dancin' once again and the pain will end. You will have no time for grievin'" Linking arms and running in a circle, they sang their hearts out.

"Chiquitita, you and I cry but the sun is still in the sky and shinin' above you. Let me hear you sing once more like you did before. Sing a new song, Chiquitita." With hands linked like a couple dancing at a ball and making each other spin around, they started singing the post-chorus: "Try once more like you did before. Sing a new song, Chiquitita. Try once more like you did before. Sing a new song, Chiquitita."

As they danced to the instrumentals, Cleo realized that maybe, just maybe, she'd found a possible solution to the weight occupying her mind, to the spot in her heart and to the wounds that were yet to heal.

Daphne had wondered where her mother was the day she came here and saw Cleo surrounded only by her father and Cole at lunch. She wondered what could have happened to her mother. Was she dead? Did the parents go through a divorce? And if they did, were the kids keeping contact with the mother?

Maybe if Cleo had opened up in that moment, she would've had a little answer to all those questions. She would've finally known something. She would've learned that Cleo's mother used to be a great fan of the group, and she was behind the reason why those vinyl records were there in the first place. She would've known that the last time any song from the group was played, the father was who put it on. She would've known that every memory revolving around the group's songs was in black and white in Cleo's head, bereft of any real colour. Cleo was just waiting, hoping, they would fade away completely, with no colours left behind. Not even the outlines. But she has been waiting for years now and her hope is disappearing faster than the memories she despises.

Maybe, with Daphne back in her life, she would be able to take control and instead of waiting for time to do what it does best, she could change her story, change those memories and replace them with something better, something as nice as this: them spinning around to the ABBA song.

But she knew that Daphne's help would be given unknowingly. Cleo would never ask for help but just grab it if it presents itself in front of her. She didn't know this but it was exactly why her healing process was so slow.

All these were uncertainties because Cleo wasn't sure and never would be unless she opened up to someone, anyone. For example, she could open up to her brother: he's always been there for her, through thick and thin but that was exactly why she didn't want to open up to him. He was already doing a lot for her and the last thing she'd want to do is add another weight on his shoulders.

She could also confide in the man watching the girls from outside through a window. He wasn't done with his project which was lying unfinished in his workshop because he rushed outside once he heard the ABBA song. He's the only person in this house listening to any song from that group because they carry a different meaning to each person in his little family. A meaning that revolved around the mother, the one person who had singlehandedly ruined their family, scarring everyone on her way out.

He's been working on his wounds. 'S been trying to turn them into scars and possibly erase them completely but he'd gladly help his children too if only they would let him in.

He was grateful though to have come this far and was also thankful for Daphne's actions at that moment. She was oblivious to the darkness looming around those songs but she managed to shine through and overshadow it allowing his daughter's beautiful smile to come out from its hiding spot.

He smiled too and a tear ran down his cheek as well, but it was a tear of joy. A joy he'd been looking for ever since that day it left their home with their mother. He'd convinced himself that that joy had run away from his family for good but it was slowly making its way back. Maybe the road was too dark, no streetlights present, no guiding star or moon in the sky but thanks to this, thanks to Daphne, a streetlight had restarted working, brightening the way a bit for as much as it could.

He was very grateful for that.

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Chapter 12 will be up tomorrow by 10 AM CEST. You can find the sneak pics on my Instagram and my ko-fi

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 63.84k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts investigating oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k coming son on the 31st, 10 AM CEST

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛from five to ten❜

❀ 14 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 15 ❛holy shit!❜

❀ 16 ❛opposites attract❜

❀ 17 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 18 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 19 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 20 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 21 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 22 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 23 ❛wiggling eyebrows, smirking lips and whistles❜

❀ 24

Chapter 13 is up!!!!!

13| The Titanic

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wc: 7.31k

date: 07/09/2024

quick summary: wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn't go well so her friends work something out for her

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Lucid Dream by Aespa ✫

Two hours away from midday, four from the school's day end. Outside, only metres away, the bus had just parked at the terminal and its driver left all the doors open as they came out to give their body a break from continuously sitting down.

The environment around them was almost quiet. From time to time, the line of its constancy wavered oh-so-slightly whenever a toddler's squeal would escape the kindergarten walls.

As aforementioned, the big building at the end of the road seemed to welcome only silence since it contained teenagers who are expected to be more mature than the preteens in the next building, the kids in the other and the toddlers in the kindergarten but things were meant to be a bit different for now and it's not about their maturity. It has started once again like it does every year.

Finally, someone opened the door and October was warmly welcomed inside. It kindly smiled back and Cold Breeze, Warm-coloured Dry Leaves, Half-naked Trees, Dimly Bright Days and Dark Late Afternoons slowly made their way in as well.

That day, exactly, was dimly bright with clouds coming and going, lowering the town's brightness. The breeze causing their movement was soft and therefore they moved slowly, shying the sun of space to shine. It has gone on like this for over a week now. Every time a television, a radio or just any communication device was turned on, the weather forecast would say the same thing. This year Autumn made its entrance gracefully and beautifully, peacefully even.

The high school couldn't relate though. While October behaved, well, like itself, ambitious teenage students were working with their respective teams to be elected by their fellows and represent their school.

At first sight, one could argue it all revolves around the simple title and the ego boost one gets once they receive it but it was genuinely about the students, about making their wishes come true. They had no blue genie with a funny beard to do that for them. They had to turn themselves into one—or a makeshift—in order to reach the heights that would give them a better overview of circumstances.

The students walked along the hallways with snacks in their hands. Their heads looked up to read the flyers and banners on the walls, and they were mentally collecting the number of people running in the campaign. They still had five minutes to go before the bell would ring and they'd have to retire to their respective classrooms.

It was a bit chaotic: some unserious students were rather minding their business somewhere else or making fun of their fellows' efforts in creating their banners and flyers; other interested students would stop to read and comment with their friends; in the meantime, the ambitious students would be standing next to their banners ready to clear any misunderstanding or answer to any question—and also for simple appearance. This was the school right from the first week of October.

Now, it was the second week and the hectic environment had changed into something more controlled and it stressed the ambitious students a tad bit. Some showed it, others didn't. Adrielle fell under this category and there's nothing Taehyung wouldn't do to borrow that skill.

Because of the campaign, he and Adrielle had to take the bus earlier than usual so they could get to school and have time to set up their stand. Yes, the ambitious students were instructed to create their stands from where they could hand out flyers and handmade merch to gain popularity and therefore more votes. This cooled down the chaos from the previous week.

That morning, Jimin's eyes were puffy, his lips even puffier, when the bus stopped by his house and opened. Adrielle chuckled when she saw how distraught he appeared as he made his way to them. Taehyung couldn't muster enough energy to laugh or react at all because he was in the same situation but instead of having puffy eyes, he had stressed eyes which needed to be taken care of by wearing his glasses also to school and not just at home. Adrielle seemed like the odd one out around them because she was glowing, always smiling.

Thankfully for everyone, Jimin's eyes' puffiness faded away by the time they made it to their school. The place was empty, not fully but noticeably. The gates were opened just enough to let the few interested students in. As they went up the hill, another puffy-eyed person came into their view.

Jungkook was a mess and that is just to put it nicely, a severe understatement. Never in his life had he had to get up so early and do so many things on top of it. In the trunk of his car was everything they needed to set up their stand. Again, Adrielle stuck out like a sore thumb amongst them as she giddily went in, started taking the planks from the trunk and headed to the gazebo set up by the running tracks in the vast green land within the school's fence.

"I can't believe I won't get paid for this," Jungkook mumbled, planks in his arms. When they got to the gazebo, there was just one rival team busy building their stand. They paid them no attention as they stopped for a millisecond to choose the right spot before heading forward. With the tools from the box Jimin carried, within twenty minutes, the stand was set, standing in all its pride. Adrielle was so happy she started clapping and giddily jumping like a baby causing her friends to smile as well despite all the tiredness lacing every inch of their body. "This is the first time I saw you so happy, jeez," Jungkook spoke again as he helped Jimin put the tools back in the box. "Obviously! It looks so pretty. Thank you!" she replied before taking her weighty backpack where she'd placed everything needed to decorate the stand. Jungkook and Jimin momentarily left to keep the box in the car while Taehyung and Adrielle dived into the decoring. They had to hurry up because the clock was ticking, other students were arriving and classes would start soon.

In the meantime, around a week earlier, Daphne was messily bolting down the stairs of her home with her hoodie hanging by her arm, the same holding her backpack and phone held to her ear with the other shoulder. On the other end of the phone was Cleo in a very similar situation, hurriedly clearing the table from everything she used for breakfast and rushing with her things to the entrance so she could put her shoes on.

That morning, there was no adult available to drive them to school and life decided it was the perfect day for time to rush faster and have them stress about missing the bus.

When Daphne succeeded in putting her shoes on, she immediately ended the phone call, slung her backpack over the shoulder and ran out, closing the gate in a chaotic way. A few steps away, Cleo was doing the same thing, increasing her speed when she heard Daphne scream for her to hurry up. In a split second, they were both running down the hill, out of their neighbourhood and onto the side of the road.

The sky was similar to a summer morning. The sun's bright rays enhanced the clouds' shape. Birds were chirping, leaves were moving. The only difference was in the slightly fresher breeze lingering in the air.

"Fuck, it's right there!" Cleo screamed, seeing the bus coming from behind them. The girls increased their speed even further, hair flying in the air, backpacks threatening to fall off their shoulders and legs feeling like they wanted to give out on them. Right at that moment, the bus drove past them but the stop was just a few feet away from them so luckily for them, as the bus slowed down, stopped, opened the doors and other passengers got on, the girls had enough time to catch up and get on before the doors closed once again.

Their self-assigned seats were empty as usual. The girls were breathing heavily and laughing too as they walked down to the back of the bus, trying not to trip and fall since it already started moving. Once they made it safely, they flopped down on the seats with hair strands already sticking to their foreheads and heavy huffs of air coming out their mouths.

"Oh, my God! Never... again," Daphne forced out, chest going up and down to take in as much oxygen as it could. Cleo chuckled, "I don't even know how it happened," she complained before sitting up better. Daphne chuckled back but it caused her to cough, simultaneously making Cleo laugh even harder. Daphne smacked her friend's lap urging her to stop laughing because it was causing her to laugh and cough even more.

When they both calmed down, breathing and body temperature-wise, they got into their hobbies: crocheting and reading. While Cleo stayed focused on her activity with an airpod in, playing soft music, Daphne couldn't focus on hers, lifting her eyes off her book whenever the bus would stop and open the doors.

It's been days since she hasn't Taehyung nor his blonde friend and she was curious as to why. She loves Cleo and her company so much but it's boring compared to all the rush of emotions and butterflies she'd get whenever the boy was there and she was missing it. She'd check a few times and as the bus would get fuller, the number of passengers wouldn't allow her to see well so she'd finally give up and focus on the open book in her hands.

If only she knew what was really going on. Neither Cleo nor her friends were too invested in the electoral campaign. They just knew that it was on from the first week of October but they were oblivious to all the stress it put the ambitious students through.

The tired-eyed friends, Jimin and Taehyung, had been working on the presentation every day since the beginning of the month. Jimin had been sleeping off at Taehyung's for days now. Since the first week, Jimin had been rushing past his home sitting next to Taehyung on the bus as they headed to his home. Once they'd arrived, Taehyung would prepare lunch with his friend, switching between helping him out and playing with his dog. After lunch, they'd have a little power nap because that's what a full stomach does to you. Once awake, they'd immediately get to work, looking for inspiration from the Internet, taking necessary pictures and working on how to set the presentation itself.

Almost on the opposite end of their home, in hers, Avyanna was dressed comfortably with her glasses on, partly lying on her couch as she watched another teen movie about cheerleading on her iPad. On the coffee table by her were various snacks and drinks to her reach so she wouldn't need to get up every minute—unless she had to ease herself into the bathroom. Snuggled between her body and the couch was a little notebook where she wrote down various things she found helpful to her case. At the same time, her phone occasionally buzzed as messages came from a new little group chat she had created with a few other friends of hers who could lead the auditions with her.

At last, a few blocks from her place was Jungkook working on making his house good enough to welcome an important party—yeah, usually his parties were for simple fun but now it was also for an electoral campaign. With help from his father, he'd hired a few people to work on a few parts of the house he didn't find exactly good enough for the party. He planned to share the party into two parts: the first one would go from its beginning to the end of the evening and it would include the welcoming of the guests, a good presentation from Adrielle once all the guests had arrived and dinner; the second part would go from the end of the evening to the end of the night and it comprised everything one does at a teen party like drinking, beer pong, music and hook-ups.

The first part was essentially for Adrielle and the second for Taehyung—him included because he'd never deny himself a good time. He just had to make all the necessary spaces available and back it up with the right staff service. Occasionally, Jimin would pass by his house since he'd offered to help with the food.

—Now playing: The Unforgiven by Metallica ✫

Other than all this activity for the campaign, the first week of October felt hectic to Daphne because she'd have to take her physics test on the very ship-sinking topic she'd been struggling to understand.

In between hanging out with friends and running house chores, Daphne also prioritised her studies—placing physics at the top of the list out of all the subjects.

As October inched closer and closer, she had to pass on various hang-outs with her friends because the anxiety was growing on her. The wall behind her desk was littered with little Post-it notes about the topic—her bathroom mirror was not spared. Everything she did revolved around that topic so much so even the book she reads in the morning on the bus had to be momentarily replaced by her physics notes.

The official day was Friday.

That morning, she woke up an hour earlier than usual just so she could revise everything as she had breakfast. Once the hour hand pointed at six, she went upstairs to shower and get dressed. One can already imagine what she was doing as she took on those tasks. She was mumbling physics formulas and definitions so much it spiked her parents' attention as they asked her what was going on. "Physics test today," she quickly answered before resuming her activity.

Luckily for her, Cleo was just in the same mood to revise, so they both talked about physics as they went to school. Since the test was right in the morning, at the first hour of the day, once they got to class, they weren't the only ones revising. Their classmates were repeating formulas and definitions to each other as they separated the desks and got everything they needed to undertake the test.

Daphne's desk already presented two pens, a pencil, a rubber, a calculator and the paper she'd need to make all her calculations while she revised with Asher. Cleo decided to repeat a few things to the other two because they were so dumb they made her feel smarter—give my girl her little moment to shine.

As soon as the bell rang, Mr Keeley walked in, a bag in one hand while the other held a pile of papers. He waited for everyone to sit down but explained a few rules in the meantime.

Daphne was feeling a bit confident. She'd revised so much for this and from her little moment with Asher, she deducted that she was ready. He told her as well. In fact, he told her that there was no way she'd fail her test. Yeah, she smiled at that but it quickly vanished when she remembered something else: she remembered everything right now for the test but in order to not forget any, she'd have to forget anxiety.

When the test was handed to her, she immediately got into it, writing her answers almost robotically to the easy first questions about the theory. Her head hovered over the test. Nothing could distract her, at least nothing coming from her surroundings. No one could disturb her in that moment if not herself—or something from herself.

She read the score points next to each exercise and noticed how the theory questions weighed less and the exercise with the highest score point was a long one she decided was right to leave for last. So she solved the first one. It was easy. No confusion. No random scribbles in her view. No gibberish. No shuffling of letters. No holes in the ship.

She still had two exercises to go and moved on to the next 'easy' exercise which differed from the previous one for having an extra question, A and B. The first part was easy, she solved it as fast as she did with the first exercise. The second part is when the ship started wavering.

The more she read, the more it got confusing. The answer would come into her mind as fast as it disappeared. It happened the first time, the second and the third time. She knew where this could lead so she stopped for a moment, dropped her pen on the desk and cupped her face, rubbing it to calm herself. Eyes closed and deep breaths. Once she felt ready, once again, she took the pen, another last deep breath and read the second part all over again.

Mentally encouraging herself, she wrote a few things down on her paper to organise her thoughts before connecting everything somehow and starting to solve the problem but as she did so, typing numbers on her calculator, all the connections suddenly broke, leaving out only weak and shattered strings. Her forehead wrinkled as everything slowly started losing all sense.

It took her nothing to start questioning everything she knew. "Was it all a lie? Did I gaslight myself into believing I was ready? But Asher told me there's no way I could fail and that means that I'm ready, right? Right? What happened? What's happening to me?"

What was happening to Daphne was another moment when she let anxiety take control of her senses. As soon as the problem got too complicated and the answer wasn't as obvious, she felt like her brain started malfunctioning and everything she knew disappeared in thin air.

The more she questioned herself, the more blows she got, almost eradicating the bottom half of the ship. It's definitely sinking.

Anyone looking in from the outside could tell that, one, whatever she was reading on that sheet was very complicated or, two, she was trying to recollect her thoughts and struggling to do so. It was most likely the second option.

She lifted her head off the sheet and looked around for her friends. Cleo was busy writing, Asher did the same. Nick was typing on his calculator and James had just stopped staring into nothing to write whatever he was thinking about on his paper. Was she the only one having it hard right now?

She refused to ponder too much on the problem and decided it was right to move on to the next despite it being the most difficult part of the whole test. Eyes closed, deep breaths and she dived in, trying her best to take control of the steering wheel so anxiety wouldn't lead her straight into a brick wall.

Skip to a few days later, it was Wednesday, the second day of the hour, just before break time. The nine o'clock bell had already rang and the teacher left to attend their next class while the students prepared for their next one. The preparation wasn't the usual one where you'd remove a certain subject's notebook and exercise book to bring out another one's. There was a 99.9% chance Mr Keeley had checked the tests and would hand them out—especially considering that Daphne's classroom comprised few students.

Daphne was fidgeting in her seat, seemingly the only person in her friend group worried over it. She sat on the edge of the chair. Couldn't afford comfort because her insides were having an Olympic gymnastics performance, her anxiety being the puppeteer master. She'd fully tied her hair back because if she ever were to be disturbed even by the smallest hair strand, her stress could lead her to make herself bald. Her hands were together between her thighs, occasionally coming out only to rub on them. Her lower lip was partly between her teeth as she picked on the chopped skin or bit her inner cheeks. She wasn't sweaty. Okay, she probably was, but it was certainly cold at least from how one could tell seeing all the goosebumps texturing her arms. Or maybe it could just be the chilly Autumn breeze. Who knows?

The classroom wasn't either too noisy or silent but just as busy as any classroom with anxious students could be. When it totally quieted down, all playful and inattentive students understood that Mr Keeley had arrived. Daphne wasn't among them—she was probably the first to see the teacher.

"Good morning," his dry tone greeted, gaining a similar response, the only difference was that he was his usual self while the students were anxious and momentarily lost their voices.

"As I think all of you suspect, I have graded your tests but before I hand them out, I must say a few things." Daphne, along with a handful of her classmates, gulped down saliva, fidgeted a bit more in their seats and increased their attention.

"It wasn't the best... especially since it's the first test of the year. Just not a good way to start," his dry voice spoke. Dry but surely not as much as Daphne's throat. Right at that moment, flashbacks from the day of the test started overwhelming her brain. "How many mistakes did I make? Are they enough for me to fail the test?"

There was a similar reaction across the classroom. Some hissed or complained out loud, others remained silent just as she was. With that said, Mr Keeley proceeded to sit down and open his register where he'd write the marks as he handed out the tests. "They are not in alphabetical order so..." he spoke again before putting his glasses on and clearing his constantly dry voice.

"Oh, my God," she heard Cleo sigh next to her. Daphne was looking straight ahead at the pile of papers among which was hers with hopefully a sufficient grade marked in red.

She flinched a little when Mr Keeley called the first surname. As the girl went up to his desk, he registered her grade next to her surname and handed out the test. Everyone's eyes moved to the girl's face to see if she'd have a happy or a sad expression. She simply watched the paper in her hands, showing no emotion.

"That can't be good," Daphne thought to herself, sitting closer and closer to the edge of the chair. The next surname was called and that's how it went on till it was Asher's turn. All his friends followed his movement with their eyes as he got up, walked to the desk, and checked his test while Mr Keeley registered the grade. Again, no real reaction.

"Are they all this bad or is it just Asher?" Daphne immediately questioned herself while Cleo verbally asked her friend how it went. The response was: "Not bad but not good as well."

"What do you mean by 'not good'? Is it objectively not good or just not how you usually perform—" Cleo's surname was called. With bulging eyes, she moved her chair back to make way for herself.

Daphne's eyes followed her friend and once the grade was seen, Cleo scrunched her face. "Okay, that's certainly not good," Daphne mentally said.

"I wasn't expecting it to be like this," Cleo admitted once back at her desk. The number sitting in the top corner of her paper was five-and-a-half. Daphne's eyes bulged out, curious as well as to why. She revised with Cleo during their trip from home to school. Cleo was prepared, certainly not as much as she was because she wasn't as anxious but enough to get a good grade. Yes, a good grade, not just a sufficient one. Before Daphne could make all the connections she wanted or try to comfort her friend, her surname was called.

The feeling that settled within her was urging her to stop by the trash can on the right and throw up but she pushed through. By the time she was standing next to Mr Keeley, he'd already marked her grade on his register and simply handed the paper to her without uttering a word or even looking her in the face. She didn't know what force or power flowed through her whole arm and reached her fingers enough to let her collect that paper but she was able not to let the paper drop to the floor. The last thing she'd want to deal with is embarrassment from such a scene—it would hunt her all life long.

Her sight was getting blurry and she was thankful—anything not to see that ugly number in red. With almost nothing left within her, she walked back to her desk and slumped down on the chair as Cleo stretched to see the grade. She didn't mean to gasp loudly hence the hand on her mouth but she also never thought that all that effort she'd seen Daphne put in this topic would be in vain. She didn't speak though, just went on with her life to give her friend the much-needed space.

Daphne's eyes were full of tears, glowing in ugly pride. They were so full but she didn't dare to let anyone slip out. Like muscle memory, her hand went to the back of her head to remove the rubber band holding her hair and all the pins keeping her bangs back so, from the side, no one could see her face. No one would see her break down. No one would see her feel broken and ashamed for letting anxiety get the best of her, again.

It didn't take long before Mr Keeley finished handing out all the tests and was looking at all the grades written on his register.

"As you all know, a lot of you failed the test and it can't remain like that." His voice suddenly changed and became cold as he opened his agenda and took a black pen.

"Since many of you failed it, I'll give you above a month to prepare and that leaves us... in the last week of November. I'm giving you this much time meaning that there won't be any second chances. The study is autonomous but you can always ask me questions. Until then, we'll move on to the next topic."

Daphne felt very irritated. By her hair, because she wanted it out of her face but also in so no one would see her. By the ugly red number that wouldn't go away from her paper or memory. By Mr Keeley's monotonous voice. How could such a sound be so flat but still deviate and hit sensitive nerves? She was also irritated by the stupid pen in her fingers that refused to function properly. Her tears painted her agenda's page darker than this fucking ink but she didn't like it. In fact, she hated it. Hated that she was crying. Hated that she failed. Hated that everything she did was in vain. Hated that she'd let anxiety write in her stead that day and she fucking hates how this stupid pen just couldn't write properly and, worse, how it looked on the wet spot a tear had just created.

"Mr Keeley, may I go to the bathroom?" she mustered all her energy to ask him the question, hoping he wouldn't look up and just give her the answer she needed. He met her expectations because he simply agreed without stopping whatever he was writing on his agenda.

Daphne got up, trying so hard to be calm. When she asked him the question her voice fortunately wasn't shaking nor her legs now as she was walking to the door, out in the hallway and to the bathroom.

The change of environment seemed to cause her tears to start flowing more and, by the time she made it to a stall and closed the door, her face was soaked. She wasn't sobbing. At least, not audibly. She was just profusely crying, nothing could stop the tears. She closed the toilet lid and sat on it, legs immediately to her chest and arms holding them close.

If anyone walked into that bathroom, they would see an occupied stall but they would never be able to tell what was happening behind the door because there was pure silence. Daphne wasn't breathing hard or loudly sobbing. Her tears were just flowing like a river and it was just a matter of time before even that would start to annoy her. Just a matter of minutes before the infamous shame would dawn upon her.

She couldn't think straight at that moment. Couldn't think about what to do, how to help herself and how to make the goddamn tears stop rushing. She didn't have her phone with her else she would've tried using it as a distraction—not like it would've worked much because she's pretty stubborn, especially when Anxiety is whispering in her ear what to do and how to do it.

That emotion was a monster to her. A monster with a melodious voice to the point that it could have her do anything, anything as in letting it take control. It always had its big hands on her shoulders, long fingers clawing in her flesh whenever she tried to fight it. Daphne couldn't see its face because it was always standing behind her. She could only hear its voice. It sounded like the best things on her earth: the voice of a nice old lady who loves kids, the honey-like voice of powerhouse singers, the pleasing tingling sound of wind chimes, the harmonious result of an orchestra playing a classical song or the sound of birds chirping in the morning. It sounded like one of them but also all of them combined. Almost irresistible. Almost. What hurt was its fingers which were getting deeper and deeper into Daphne's shoulders. It would be easy to stop listening to the voice. The real problem was that painful, strong and bloody grip. It seemed like if Daphne ever were to let it go, it would do anything in its power to scar her. A reminder of how weak she used to be.

Daphne was alone in all of this. Dayanne knew but not enough to really help her. To fall into the ultra dimension where the only existent beings were her sister and the monster. The dimension was empty, null of any life or colour. Just Daphne sat on a chair as if tied to it. The real 'rope' that was tying her was the deeply buried fingers in her shoulders, holding her down. The only fingers out of her flesh were the thumbs used by the monster to rub and ease the pain. To tempt Daphne more and have her succumb to its requests.

In this world, the only life was within Daphne who was aware. Her eyes showed emotions. Her mouth screamed for help but she was weak so her eyes showed nothing to the people around her and her voice wasn't loud enough to breach the end of the dimension and reach out for help.

No one really knew about her struggles. Everybody could generally say that she was an anxious person and that is where it stopped.

Her friends right now, didn't think she was trying to set herself free from the claws of a monster. They simply thought she was sad, as sad as anyone whose efforts resulted in vain. So they were thinking of ways to help their friend.

In their group only Asher's grade was sufficient. He'd taken a borderline 6. Cleo took a 5.5 while Nick and James took a 5.25. Daphne's grade was the lowest. A clean-cut five. For any student not as diligent as her, five would be a nice grade, not too bad but Daphne had bent herself over backwards to study and get a good grade. A five would be good for someone who really didn't put in the effort, someone who isn't Daphne.

The four friends were texting in a separate group created just for this reason. They planned to do something to lift their friend's mood up.

James dropped the first proposal: buying her something from the bar, a sweet snack or a sandwich. Cleo cleared it out of the way because she was certain Daphne wouldn't be feeling hungry.

The second proposal was given by Nick: since they had PE class the last two hours of the day, as they ran on the tracks, they should play with her. Tickles, soft pushes and little pokes in the side. The idea was taken into consideration but Cleo always reminded them it possibly wouldn't work depending on how sad she was.

So Asher brought his to the table: a lunch in the park after school. At first, Cleo wanted to object, thinking that Daphne would want to go straight home but she didn't and they all agreed on that.

Right when they turned their devices off, Daphne walked in, looking normal. Good at masking emotions—a skill she'd already mastered with experience.

───❀───

—Now playing: Ballon d'Or by Gemitaiz ft Nayt ✫

"Which park are we going to exactly?"

Less than five minutes were left before the bell would ring and the day would come to an end for the students. The school gym, which once contained running and jumping students, was now empty and subtly silent. The PE teacher had just opened all its doors and windows to change the air before finishing with a few of their tasks. Adjacent to the gym were the changing rooms, boys on the left and girls on the right from where students would come out one by one, greeting the teacher and heading to the exit.

James, Asher and Nick were already standing by the exit, waiting for their friends to finish so they could leave.

"You gotta give me a minute. I have to call my mother."

Their plan didn't work. Daphne didn't participate in the lesson and just told the teacher she wasn't feeling fine. As they ran warm-up laps around the gym, whenever they'd pass by her, they tried to cheer her up by making jokes or funny faces but the most they would receive was a quick little smile that barely altered her lips. She was very sad and Cleo was very worried for her hence her lack of focus during the last two hours.

Once the teacher dismissed the class and urged everyone to change, the friends concluded they had to go with Asher's plan.

"So, it's not exactly a park. It's just a green field with a good view—"

"It's perfect! Where is it?" The boys were whispering to each other because they didn't know when Cleo and Daphne would turn around the corner and reach them. With his eyes on his phone, Asher scrolled through his gallery looking for the picture of the field and once he did, he called for his friends to see it. Three heads hovered over the device as James and Nick expressed their surprise. "Damn, it's beautiful,"

"Fucking perfect. Is it too far from school? How do we get there?" Nick questioned.

"By train. It's like a stop before the amusement park," Asher looked up at his friends to see if they found the distance a problem and they kind of did.

"How the fuck do we get to the train station? How would we go about the tickets and shit?"

"The tickets ain't a problem and the train station is twenty minutes away by foot. We can... we can do it," Asher had already calculated everything that's why he brought it up at all.

"Then what about the food? How would we go about that?" James was the one to ask this time around.

"We could stop at the mall and buy picnic stuff. It'll be cute. Y'all have nothing to worry about," Nick and James exchanged glances, not fully opposed to it nor fully agreeing.

"You sure?"

"A hundred fucking per cent but I have to call my mother first and at least know if I can take money from the credit card—"

"Then why the fuck are you still here?!" Nick quietly screamed but within seconds, Asher's patience ran out and he didn't even bother to answer. He just rushed outside to call his mom.

"Sorry, Asher just went out to answer a call," James reassured the teacher who heard the door open and close but didn't see what or who went out or came in.

It was a matter of seconds before the girls were exiting their changing rooms. The first one was Daphne who, since she didn't participate in the class, was already dressed, hoodie on and backpack hanging by one shoulder. She was leaning on the wall opposite the changing rooms' entrance waiting for Cleo to finish and join her.

In the meantime, James and Nick were getting nervous because they feared they might not be able to go through with this other plan. Yet again.

"Why the fuck didn't he call his mother before? He had the whole fucking day to do this. We planned this shit in the morning," Nick whispered. James couldn't come up with an answer to that and silently looked outside the glass windows in the gym's door where Asher was walking up and down whilst talking on the phone.

"I don't fucking know," he finally replied, sighing and ripping his eyes off his friend to look at Nick, "I ain't the smart one. He is!" he whispered back in frustration. Nick just leaned on the wall and crossed both his arms and legs, hoping for the best.

"I just know that if this doesn't work, I don't know what could happen to Daph—"

"Why are you talking like she'll kill herself or something? It's stupid physics—"

"Yeah, and I wish she saw it the same way. Did you see her face when she took that fucking paper in her hands? My girl was about to drop dead right then and there," Nick was still silently yelling.

Before thinking of a reply, James moved his eyes to Daphne's figure across the gym. She was still leaning on the wall, curtain bangs preventing anyone from his position to really make out her side profile. She looked like a normal teenage student at that moment: legs crossed, one arm across her torso while the other held her phone. All normal but her friends knew her despite the little time she's been living here. She's been way too normal that day. They knew how hard she studied for the test and they knew, just like anyone else really, how bad it hurts to see your efforts go in vain. But they also knew that Daphne's reaction wasn't the one anyone would expect after such an event.

James remembers what happened in the library, remembers how pissed she was both at them and at the stupid physics topic. He can clearly remember that he wasn't happy to see her walk out of the library but at that moment he thought it was right to let her go, give her peace. Right now... he knew that the apparent peace she was showing was just masking a terrible thunderstorm of emotions within her.

He, just like his friends, would not try to force her to get comfortable and open up to them about everything because it wouldn't be comfortable both for her and them. So their best option was to lift up her mood and get her distracted. If then she'd want to open up, then so be it. Everything has its own time.

"Let's just hope we can go through with this plan—"

"Okay, we're good to go," Asher walked back in, the door slamming close behind him. Nick and James's expressions changed instantly and their mood lit up a bit. They didn't have the chance to celebrate or congratulate their friend before Cleo and Daphne walked up to them, Cleo's eyes bouncing from one to another.

Since it was just a matter of moments before the bell rang, they asked the teacher for permission to leave, and once given, they gave their greetings and left, walking out on the stone path leading to the gates where some of their classmates already were, waiting for the gates to open.

"So... I was hoping that we could hang out today..." Nick started, putting up a little play. His friends immediately got the message.

"I'm down," James immediately agreed. Everything seemed normal: Nick is always the first to ask to hang out and James is always the one to agree first. They just had to follow the normal order.

"I'm free right now so yeah, I guess I'm in too," Asher agreed second. Nothing different, just his usual demeanour.

"I don't really think so," Daphne spoke. Nick's neck snapped in her direction, already fearing for the worst. "I just don't feel like it—"

"Daph, it's just a way to loosen up and forget about this disgusting physics test which has me wondering if Mr Keeley really graded us correctly," Cleo finally joined. James glanced in her direction because he didn't want their motive to be so obvious and, worse, explained to her but indeed the test didn't go well for basically all of them and they all could use a good time too.

"I know right? Like... Asher got a six and almost everyone didn't pass. The highest grade in class today was 6.75 from Valerie. Like what the fuck?" Daphne didn't know what her friends were doing, no suspicions. She didn't know that for as much as the conversation seemed normal, there was more to it. She simply listened, trying to draw sense out of their opinions and look for any source of comfort.

She mentally agreed with them though. She wasn't the only one to fail the test, neither in their friend group nor the class as a whole.

"Surely Mr Keeley is to blame as well seeing the results," she spoke quietly, almost just to herself, unaware of how happy that made her friends because she was participating in the conversation and wasn't putting the full blame on herself.

"Fuck yeah if he's to blame. I told you! Brother doesn't know how to fucking teach and it showed so much this time because the topic isn't so easy to understand," James simply went by what he always believed of Mr Keeley and Daphne nodded to his words. Zero suspicions.

"So, are you down for a hangout today?" Nick was the one to ask. Daphne really wasn't in the mood to hang out but she also knew that if she went home she wouldn't find Dayanne there and therefore no one to talk to about the real problem. She'd still be alone... with her thoughts, with the guilt and with that fucking monster. She'd rather not.

"Cleo you coming?" she replied with a question. Cleo eagerly nodded and with that, Daphne decided to join them, telling them she'd just text her mom about it.

As her fingers worked on the screen, moving from her home screen to Whatsapp and on to her mother's contact, her friends were side-eyeing each other, happy to have succeeded and complimenting each other for their acting skills.

Daphne's mom didn't take long before she replied, wishing her daughter a great hangout and warning her to be safe. A quick little reply from the girl and the phone was turned off and slipped back into her pocket.

"I'm in too." The hardest part of the job was done.

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

Update will be up on saturday

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 71.15k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ 85.7% done coming soon on saturday

❀ 15 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 16 ❛holy shit!❜

❀ 17 ❛opposites attract❜

❀ 18 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 19 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 20 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 21 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 22 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 23 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 24 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 25

CHAPTER 14 COMING UP ON SATURDAY AT 10 AM CEST

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 82.59k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ - 11.44k coming soon on Saturday 1O AM CEST

wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main ⇀ «'Temptare', handle, try, test»

❀ 15 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 16 ❛holy shit!❜

❀ 17 ❛opposites attract❜

❀ 18 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 19 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 20 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 21 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 22 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 23 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 24 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 25

Chapter 14 will be up tomorrow at 10 AM CEST

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 82.59k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ - 11.44k coming soon on Saturday 1O AM CEST

wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main ⇀ «'Temptare', handle, try, test»

❀ 15 ❛bold, red and underlined❜

❀ 16 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 17 ❛hesperiidae❜

❀ 18❛opposites attract❜

❀ 19 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 20 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 21 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 22 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 23 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 24 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 25 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 26

CHAPTER 14 IS UP!!

14| From five to ten

⤎ previous page | ❃ | next page ⤏

wc: 11.44k

date: 21/09/2024

quick summary: wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Nobody by Jeon Soyeon, Winter, Liz (IVE) ✫

The air was fresh and the environment peaceful. The gym doors were slammed closed as they went to the gates that soon opened when the bell rang and pierced through the silence.

Since the weather was gradually getting chillier, hoodies became thicker. Daphne was wearing an oversized pebble-coloured one, dropping almost to mid-thigh and covering most of her hands. Her legs were clad in the jean material of her pants which got wider as they inched closer to her ankles. Her feet, in a pair of old sneakers and her hair, loosely flowing with the wind. She had something slightly more colourful underneath the hoodie but it was too fresh outside and, with it on, her outfit matched her mood so well.

The classes were officially over for the day and students were soon flocking around town going home or hanging out. Daphne and her friends didn’t stop at the terminal to wait for the bus nor was any of their parents there to pick them up. Their first stop was the nearby mall.

The day was very bright thanks to the reflection of the sun's rays through the white clouds. The five friends fully occupied the sidewalk as they approached their destination. Daphne and Cleo were walking right behind Asher with their arms linked and tailing them were Nick and James. Asher was leading the way. Cleo, Nick and James were playing around as usual, trying to include Daphne but she was rather silent, occasionally smiling very lightly. They noticed that but what could they really do?

Soon they were turning on their right to a wide opening where escalators were placed one next to the other. Some went upstairs, others went downstairs. Following Asher’s lead, they went downstairs to the supermarket. To follow through with the boy’s plan, they had to get themselves everything needed for a picnic for which he quickly created a list as they made their way there.

Unlike two months ago, when the sliding doors of the mall opened, the air inside wasn’t noticeably colder but rather the same. Ceiling lights reflected on the tiles and music played through speakers. The mall wasn’t too crowded so the teenagers soon moved to walking on the same line. James, next to Asher and Nick, next to Cleo. Daphne was in the middle subtly feeling out of place.

“Hey, do you think I’m missing anything?” Asher was speaking directly to James, placing his phone in his view. The first word on the list was ‘picnic blanket’. Then came all the ingredients needed to make sandwiches which Asher explained were better because they couldn’t buy hot food like pizza. The list went on with other things and James ended up not adding anything so Asher moved the question to the others.

“We’re going for a picnic?” Daphne’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. This wasn’t the hang-out she was convinced to have agreed to. She was expecting something more… lowkey.

“Do y’all want anything else?” Asher ignored her question and insisted. Cleo simply stated they’d eventually remember everything as they shopped.

As they did so, Daphne tried to wrap her head around how easily her friends were adjusting to Asher’s hang-out idea not knowing it was all a plan. Maybe she was just an overthinker but never in her life would she be able to organize a picnic for five in such a short time.

Her friends were going up and down the store with the little trolley picking food and other necessities, all unfazed so she decided to loosen up and go with the flow. The test didn’t go well for any of them so she couldn’t go on acting like she was the only one hurt—she could do that at home. Now, as they stated, the picnic is supposed to take her mind off it.

“I’m taking this Bluetooth speaker because, without it, it’d seem we’re at a funeral. Music is important, guys,” To Daphne’s surprise—mainly because she wasn’t focused for most of the time—her friends all had a trolley each that they were filling up so her head quickly spun around, hoping she’d just find an empty one abandoned in a corner.

“Y’all? What type of board games should I take?” James called, poking his head into the aisle his friends were in. “Impress me—”

“No, don’t. Just get some cards,” Asher immediately objected to Nick’s words and both the boys chuckled before moving on. Daphne obviously failed at finding an empty trolley so she had to share with Cleo who wasn’t bothered but rather excited. “I have this crazy idea. What if we bought the ingredients for sandwiches and then each of us prepared a customised one dedicated to the other? Creative, ain’t it?”

“Customised?” Cleo nodded, eyes glittering. Daphne just shrugged her shoulders, agreeing with her because she never would’ve come up with it anyway. And, why not?

“Okay then. You get the ingredients and I get the napkins and stuff.”

By the time they were done and at the cashier, the hour hand was minutes away from pointing at three. Knowing that Asher would be the one paying, they didn’t go overboard and all kept a tight budget in mind hence the refusal to buy extra bags for them to carry their goods. As the cashier handed the products out, they replaced them in the trolley and once done paying, they moved aside to place them in their school bags. Cleo ended up putting her things in Daphne’s backpack so hers could contain what they bought and the boys had to squeeze in a few in theirs.

Eventually, Cleo had to give her bag to the guys despite how confident she was about being able to carry it. The walk to the train station wasn’t too long, as calculated by Asher, and it did well for Daphne. Ever since she moved here, she’d never heard of a train station, let alone of going to it.

Minutes in, they were already walking out of the noisy town centre along a peaceful wide road. It wasn’t too busy allowing their eardrums to relax and vibrate less. The road seemed to trail in between the hills. Greenland was everywhere around them but there were just fields. Barely any trees in view.

A few more minutes passed before a familiar sound caught Daphne’s attention. Her friends were too distracted chit-chatting and even if they weren’t, it wouldn’t have bothered them as much since it’s not their first time. Daphne has already travelled by train a few times. Was very familiar with subways but she believed she wouldn’t see a train again unless she went to the city.

A train had just left from its platform heading to its next stop. The sound rumbled through the air, fading the farther it went. The station didn’t look new or as modern as some in the city nor was it not taken care of. It was cute, she thought. As cute and cosy as a countryside train station could be. It didn’t have steam trains obviously—too old—but it also didn’t have bullet-like trains that move at high speeds. Also, it wasn’t too busy, almost silent. Seemed like there was never a moment in the day when it couldn’t be.

“How many stops exactly?” Cleo’s question called for Daphne’s attention, pausing her little sightseeing moment. The station barely had any shelter in the form of a room. Had many glass doors and windows. One of the many forms of shelters was the one above their heads as they went up to a machine and bought their tickets.

Platform number two. Since they couldn’t do much to have her talk and put an end to the nerve-wracking silent show she’s been putting up, her friends proceeded, leading the way as they had their little conversation. Daphne didn’t mind at all because it allowed her to resume her previous activity. There were a few people at other platforms waiting for their train. Some were sitting, others were standing. She checked and, for the time being, there was no incoming train. Quickly, she focused on what was ahead of her so she wouldn’t roll down the stairs, pushing her friends to the same fate. The path leading to their platform crossed the railing from under the ground so they were soon climbing up another set of stairs.

The floor followed a brick pattern and was decorated with various drawings in different colours—the classic warning yellow line, for example. The majority of the platform was sheltered, with pillars shattered here and there along with a few street lamps.

They didn’t notice but the noise running across the station at the moment was from them. Only outsiders could. Exactly, when their train arrived, they boarded and left, the environment fell back into its normal state of silence.

They succeeded and made it to a seat before the train started moving. Three of them sat together in a set of four seats, face-to-face. Daphne sat next to the window. Asher on her right. She didn’t want to be mean but she was happy that he was the one sitting next to her because she knew that her silence would’ve killed Cleo who would’ve done anything to get her to speak or just react. With Asher sitting next to her, having a completely different personality from her curly-headed friend, she could proceed and observe her surroundings without feeling obliged to engage in any conversation for the sake of making someone feel good.

Indeed though, the view outside was very pretty. Stunning for someone like Daphne. While Cleo could only see the good in people, Daphne could see the good in nature. Appreciates every little thing it had—except insects. From this part of town, the sky seemed to have taken a different shape. The clouds were more scattered and seemed to have a firmer structure, crunchy. Right underneath them were chains of mountains in the distance crowned at the bottom by rows of trees, starting by being dense only to thin out and barely be present in the wide field through which the train drove. The railing next to their train was empty as no other one was passing by yet.

They weren’t running at full speed and the noise coming from the vehicle wasn’t bothering Daphne. It was rather calming, the type she’d gladly read to or even sleep to if she was on a long journey. She wasn’t though. According to Asher, they had to ride three stops to their destination but it wasn’t just that. They had to trek up to the hill where the exact spot was.

The seats in front of them welcomed two giggling friends, Cleo and Nick who were trying to hold back from laughing loudly like trumpets. Facing them was James and the seat next to him was occupied by all their bags. Daphne didn’t know how long it would take them to reach the first stop nor did she think about it too much when she dozed off to sleep, head slumping onto her friend’s shoulder. He didn’t mind, earphones plugged in to live an experience similar to the peacefulness of sleep—but also to not hear his noisy friends in the front.

—Now playing: Acquamarina by Ana Mena, Guè ✫

The day was sending messages. Signs here and there. Daphne didn’t know how far away she was from home. It was just far. The sky was different. The clouds weren’t compact but rather thick and dispersed around. The sky was a blend of cerulean and sapphire. The mountains were accordingly arranged: brown or green peaks in the forefront and white peaks in the back. At their feet were green valleys embellished by trees. Leaves moved and danced to the rhythm of the breeze along with the teenagers' hair and clothes.

The train had left, presenting to them a beautiful valley of green life behind it. The students didn’t pay it much mind, at least not as much as Daphne. Asher was on his phone again since he was the leader in the journey. James and Nick ran up to him and soon Cleo joined. Daphne was still in a corner, printing the image before her eyes in her memory, too lazy to take her phone out at the moment.

Once Asher had understood the map, he gestured for them to follow him and they did. Heavy bags on their backs and excitement in their guts. It seemed like they had travelled to a neighbouring town. The train station was even emptier than the one they came from. There was no one but them. Silence was the only welcoming element. They didn’t go down or up any staircase since the exit was on the same floor.

Once out, they were walking along an empty and wide tarmac road that slid through grassland. As they progressed further, the silence started wavering. They were approaching farms. The green field on their right was momentarily interrupted by a long fence while their eardrums vibrated to the bell ringing on a sheep’s neck. Another long fence before they found wide farmland occupied by a handful of horses munching at the grass. Daphne’s eyes sparkled when she recognized a foal amongst them. This time, her laziness didn’t get in her way as she reached for her phone and started taking pics. No one bothered or was bothered by her since she was the last in line. On her left was a two-story rural home. Right next to it, a little workshop and a little tractor.

After taking the pictures, she ran to catch up with her friends and they went on for another few minutes before they had to turn left onto a little path running through the grass. According to Asher’s guidelines, their destination was on a hill so it didn’t surprise her when they changed direction. In fact, she was happy because she saw a few pretty flowers on her way and encapsulated them in a picture with her phone.

For the time being, that disgusting red number in the top corner of her test wasn’t in her mind but happily replaced by a very pretty Daphne Odora peeking from someone’s compound.

The path wasn’t anything official, just a place where people walk on a regular basis. On their right was a wood fence, colour washed out from the atmospheric agents, running through a short bush of overgrown grass farmers couldn’t trim out with tractors. On their left were other green bushes causing them to be extra careful of where they placed their feet. Thankfully, it’s been quite long since it last rained and, since the path wasn’t of stone or muddy, it wasn’t dangerous.

They weren’t talking as much. Still made jokes but weren’t as loud, the calm environment wearing off on them. Daphne was still the last in the line, one hand on the shoulder strap of her bag and the other holding her phone, ready to take pictures. The more they went up, the more it got windy. Her curtain bangs were soon flying out of her face exposing her forehead further.

“We’re almost there,” Asher notified his friends, encouraging them not to give up. Behind the wood fence on their right was a flock of sheep. The animals were scattered around the wide field at their disposal. Some were munching at the grass, others were walking around and only a few noticed their presence, heads turning.

Peeking out a little, Daphne watched ahead of herself and checked how far they still had to go. She happily found out that the top of the hill was closer and, therefore, they were minutes, if not seconds, away from their destination.

“It’s right here!” Asher was gesturing in front of himself with a hand securing the strap of his backpack. Nick and James leaned further to look at where their friend was pointing. Cleo soon did the same, turning around to see what Daphne was up to. “Nice, ain’t it?” she asked her friend. Her friends’s eager nods were more than enough to answer her question. She stopped in her tracks, waiting for Daphne to walk up to her and, once she linked arms with her, they proceeded together.

“Like… where are we exactly?” Daphne immediately verbalised her curiosity. Her head spun around, eyes moving in all directions trying to catch every little detail in her surroundings. Cleo casually explained that they were in a little neighbouring village composed mainly of farms, as they could see. It was the right place to find some peace and calm. As she answered, she noticed her friend’s face morph into a little smile with almost sparkling eyes.

“You like it?” she asked. In the meantime, they had made it to the top of the hill.

“Yeah.” Daphne’s voice was soft and gentle, almost as much as the feeling seething into her bones as the breeze blew through her hair and the leaves whistled to the wind.

The chosen spot was marvellous, she thought to herself. It gave them a very great view of the little village. They could see the flock of sheep they passed by minutes earlier, how the path they’d just walked on harmoniously swirled through the green land up to the road from where they entered, where the sky ended and the mountains began and how valleys decorated the neighbouring hills.

“This place is really nice. How did you discover it?” Her backpack was sitting on the grass, easing her shoulders of its weight. She wasn’t sitting yet because Nick and James were still spreading the picnic blanket. Her question was addressed to Asher who was busy rummaging through his bag. “I come here sometimes with my family. Yeah… it’s really nice.” He was glad that she appreciated it. Glad that her face showed a different emotion. Glad that she didn’t have a rainy cloud above her head anymore pouring down on her hair, soaking her hair, her clothes and her shoes making everything feel as soggy as her mood used to be.

Daphne was still nodding her head in agreement as she stretched her body to ease her muscles of the uncomfortable contracted feeling. The weather wasn’t as chilly here so when the zip of her hoodie slipped down on its own, she didn’t feel the need to pull it up enjoying the soft and almost inexistent feeling of the breeze hitting her skin.

James and Nick were soon done placing the little blanket properly, securing the corners with their bags. Once instructed to take their shoes off before going on the cloth, they finally settled down. Groans and sighs of exhaustion glided along with the breeze.

“Wow!” Cleo was laying flat on the blanket, head on James’s lap and feet squeezed under Daphne’s thigh. “Asher, how long have you been coming here?” she questioned. The respondent calmly explained that it was a spot he’d just recently discovered with his family but it was still enough for his friends to accuse him of gatekeeping beautiful things from them. He rolled his eyes. They laughed, Daphne included. “How many more things do you know you ain’t telling us?” Nick began, “No, I’m just asking ‘cause maybe the next thing we know is that you have a secret garden of sweets or a chocolate fountain in the backyard, I don’t know.” The teenagers laughed while Asher jokingly promised to tell them whenever that would happen.

—Now playing: Glue Song by Beabadoobee ✫

James’s rumbling stomach brought him back to reality as he called for them to bring out the food. “I’m famished, not gonna lie.” Cleo immediately sat up and she quickly proceeded to express the idea she’d shared with Daphne at the mall. In the meantime, the friend made herself comfortable, bringing her legs up against her chest, arms secured around them and her chin resting on her knees.

“Cool!” James applauded the idea. Nick was silent and focused on understanding. Asher already did and soon complied. “But hey! Before y’all do anything, better wash your dirty and filthy hands!” Cleo’s warning was clear but not the way of going about it.

“Ooh, yeah. You’re so right and correct,” Asher’s tone was sarcastic. Cleo knew this but she didn’t know why he was sarcastic to begin with. “What?” her question was answered with the same question. Asher was confused as to why she didn’t understand what he was referring to.

“What ‘what’?” she insisted, brows almost meeting in the centre of her glabella. He rolled his eyes and proceeded to explain: “You said ‘dirty’ and ‘filthy’ which mean the same thing as if you were saying ‘dirty and dirty hands’. You know what I mean—”

“No, Asher. What the fuck?” James and Daphne were laughing at Cleo’s expression of bewilderment because she obviously didn’t think anyone would’ve ever pointed out something like that. “Since you said that, I tried to make you understand your little mistake—”

“Asher!” Her friends were wholeheartedly laughing, finding them both hilarious. The guy for pointing out such a meaningless mistake—if one could even call it a mistake at all—and the girl for having such an iconic reaction—she looked like a mother in distress after a long day taking care of her naughty toddlers. “I’m too mentally exhausted for this shit, Asher.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to let you know—”

“I don’t care! Let me speak however I want. I could even speak gibberish for all I care. It’s called freewill Mr Know-It-All,” Asher couldn’t take his friend seriously since it wasn’t the first time he was teasing her like that by pointing out insignificant mistakes like this. All of them just like seeing her reactions.

“And anyways… One is just an exaggeration of the other,” she proudly returned to the topic, thinking of her statement as a great way to shut her friend up. “Still doesn’t make sense because it’d mean someone could say ‘bad‘ and ‘worst’ in the same sentence just because the latter is an exaggeration—”

“Okay, okay. Shut up. I get it. All I wanted to say was for y’all to wash your hands. Sorry if the message came across wrongly.” The words came out through gritted teeth to a giggling Asher. Daphne had just recently joined this preexistent group of friends and every living moment she spent with it brought her to discover new things about each of the components and she loved it. Loved how they made her catch up on all those years spent without a friend before Margot. All those years spent without a real friend. Within a month, she felt like she’d lived multiple lives, not just days. Not just simple and friendly hangouts but lifelong experiences and golden memories to secure in a box with a padlock and a key.

“How the fuck would we wash our hands?” James’s question came once he realized there was no fountain around them to supply them with natural water.

“I don’t know. We could use some out of the ones we bought.” Cleo’s suggestion made Nick’s eyes bulge out as he firmly stated he was so against the use of drinkable water in such way. Cleo just rolled her eyes, claiming it not to be a big deal—especially after her little teasing with Asher. Nick insisted they didn’t but Cleo didn’t want to eat with filthy hands so their banter went on till Daphne stepped in and suggested they wash their hands with the water in her personal bottle. The two friends quieted down thinking about the proposal. Nick wanted to object again because it was still drinkable water but once Daphne explained it was a bit old and she hadn’t drank even a drop of it that day, they both complied and they washed hands with the water.

“You see? I won,” Cleo boasted as she washed her hands. Asher held the bottle for her, chuckling. Could she ever lose? Nick squinted his eyes, annoyed. He had already washed his hands and while he was looking for a way to dry them off, a thought crossed his mind. He immediately acted to it and sprinkled water on Cleo’s proud face. She squealed, cussed him out and called him a sore loser while he just ran off, laughing.

They gave each other some time and started preparing the custom-made sandwiches as Cleo had proposed. They didn’t have a huge bank of ingredients to choose from but just a range going from cheese to ham. They bought two types of cheese: Alpine-style, the classic yellow cheese from ‘Tom and Jerry’, and creamy cheese. The ham, or better, the meat, was of various types—the only field where they went in large: baked and raw ham, sausage, salami and mortadella. The last range of ingredients was the veggies where one could find cucumbers, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes and onions. The ingredients were few so they didn’t have enough time to give each ingredient a hidden meaning behind it but it didn’t bother them, especially someone like Cleo who started shaping some in certain ways, almost to impersonate the person the sandwich is dedicated to.

Nick and James were the first to finish and soon Asher joined them. Daphne and Cleo, especially the latter, were getting creative with it. The first one was thinking about the hidden meanings while the second was manipulating the sandwiches. In the meantime, the three boys spent agonizing minutes looking at the preparation of their lunch but the more time passed, the more it seemed the sandwiches would never get in between their teeth.

Before any of them could complain, Daphne was done with her sandwiches and joined the train of people waiting for their lunch. Cleo looked up for a split second and chuckled seeing all of them look at her like she was withholding their freedom.

“Like… when do you intend to finish?” The first question was laid out by James. Asher joined right after promising she could get all creative at his place since they could recreate it with cookies. She agreed and wanted to get into details about what they could do if they actually baked cookies but her friends immediately interrupted her so she could quickly finish the sandwiches. Don’t play with hungry people, they say.

After more agonizing minutes of James and Nick praying for Cleo to wrap it up, Asher sighing in one corner and Daphne laughing in the other, Cleo was finally done, excited to explain the meanings to them.

“Oh, shit. You’ve got! To be kidding me! We also have to explain the meaning?” Nick was on the brink of tears. “Yeah. Why do you think they’re custom-made?” James was baffled, Daphne was laughing and Asher seemed out of it. Nick was still on the brink of tears.

“I’ll start!” Asher raised his hand and brought his creations forward, four distinct sandwiches. “Make it quick.”

“This one is for Daphne. Tomatoes, Alpine-style cheese, lettuce, mortadella and cucumbers. Nothing too extra or complicated because I think you’re a simple person with simple needs. I don’t mean it in any bad way. I just think you’re simple with a lot to offer just like the taste of this awesome sandwich.” He explained, smiling and winking. Daphne mirrored his expression, accepting the sandwich in her hands and thanking him.

“This one is for Mr Bigback. The ingredients are self-explanatory.” The sandwich he handed to Nick was on the brink of collapsing as it was stuffed with every single ingredient they’d bought. Nick didn’t complain but rather joyfully welcomed the food in his hands, pupils expanding and stomach rumbling in preparation. “One bite from this and I’ll see heaven. When can we start eating—”

“When we all have our food. Don’t you know the etiquette?”

“Cleo, I’m so sorry. I must have missed where it said that one has to make customised sandwiches for her friends and watch them die of hunger!” Cleo laughed and playfully hit his shoulder but he didn’t budge neither did his eyes from the sandwich.

“This one is for James. A regular fat sandwich with fewer ingredients than Nick’s but the spreadable cheese is important because while you seem like a normal extroverted kid, there’s a little shiness to you that one can’t notice unless they look a bit more carefully just like the barely noticeable cheese on the bread.” James was confused. Was smiling still but was confused nonetheless. Even in ten years to come, sick or with Alzhemeir, he would never define himself as shy even in the slightest. He didn’t question it though, assuming it was just Asher being Asher. Daphne, on the other end, understood where the reasoning came from.

“And, purposely kept for last…”

“Oh, fuck you—”

“Cuss me out and you ain’t eating.” He warned, Cleo’s eyes rolling to the sky as a response. “I put only warm-coloured ingredients because it’s the tone of colours that suit you, look and personality-wise.” Cleo smiled, cheeks swelling as she took the sandwich and placed it on her plate.

The next person up, voluntarily offering himself since his friends were feeling shy and ignorant that his stomach was brewing gastric juices waiting to consume his food but was now consuming his insides, was Nick. His explanations were quick: he dedicated to Daphne a sandwich made with avocado, lettuce, Alpine-style cheese and baked ham believing that, judging by the cover, avocado and lettuce aren’t a great choice and so was Daphne's apparent boring lifestyle but, just like the avocado enriches one’s body, so does Daphne’s love for reading and studying enrich her and the people around her. Cleo’s sandwich was similar to Asher’s but he made a happy face with the cheese, the tomatoes and the lettuce inspired by the friend’s constant smile. His sandwich for Asher was filled with onions and avocado and very little meat mirroring how annoying Asher could get sometimes. It dragged a laugh out of everyone. James’s sandwich was filled with meat and very little spreadable cheese which didn’t hold the same meaning Asher had conveyed into it with his but still spiked James’s curiosity.

Cleo’s customised sandwiches were self-explanatory since she didn’t opt for hidden meanings behind the ingredients but let her creativity run free as she forged a little thing with the food. In fact, she made a little daisy with lettuce and the alpine-style cheese.

James’s sandwiches were the laziest-looking ones. He barely put any thought behind them because he was starving and wanted to get it over it. He filled up Nick’s sandwich because he had to. It’s Nick’s. Cleo’s sandwich was his favourite sandwich recipe: tomatoes, spreadable cheese, baked ham and lettuce. He believed those ingredients together merged and created a very delicious taste he equated to Cleo’s lovely and bubbly personality. They didn’t know but Asher and Daphne shared a few glances recalling the conversation they had at Cleo’s place. He too gave great importance to onions when making Asher’s sandwich: almost as if he wanted to get back at it for something, he filled the sandwich with onions and cucumbers and just a thin slice of Alpine-style cheese to show his love for his friend. Asher simply shrugged, claiming he was just eating healthy.

Lastly, came Daphne. “This one is for Cleo. I put lots of tomatoes because they’re fruits which grow during summer—”

“Tomatoes are fruits?” James’s whisper interrupted her and she rolled her eyes when Asher smacked his friend to shut up. “They grow during summer and I think you shine as bright as the sun in that season but, other than that, I think tomatoes have a sweet undertone that we don’t necessarily notice unless we’re specifically eating small tomatoes and that goes to symbolise how you notice the good where common people can’t. It’s a peculiarity that makes you stand out. That’s what I believe.” As her sentence inched closer to its end so did the volume of her voice because she grew shy at the utter silence surrounding her. They were all looking at her, listening to every word slipping out of her mouth. She could feel her cheeks gaining a temperature of their own, higher than her body’s but she couldn’t see if they were also getting redder. She hoped they didn’t and pushed through.

Her voice was still tender and low when she began describing the next sandwich. “The next sandwich is Asher’s. I know. At first, it looks plain and it’s not a way to get back at you for the one you made for me. I’m not even offended in the slightest nor was it even made to make me feel like that. I just think that you're strict and follow the rules, word for word so this sandwich is what came to my mind: lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and baked ham. A traditional sandwich recipe, a classic. Almost a rule everyone follows. The first sandwich that pops in your head, y’know.” Silence was still sitting there with them. Maybe leaning its head on Nick’s or James’s shoulder. They didn’t know. They couldn’t see it, just hear it.

“This one is for Nick. I think you have a very common personality and I’m trying to shame you because of that. I believe, though, that there’s a little twist to you for which the onions stand in contrast to the classic ingredients of a sandwich. You’re very outgoing and extroverted and that is what makes you ‘common’ but, just like in Cleo’s case, one thing does make you stand out, a little light that doesn’t shine too bright so it’s hard to notice it. It’s there, just a little hidden.” Daphne was looking at the sandwich before her as she described it so she couldn’t see how shy Nick got to her words. She couldn’t see that he’d just proven her words right. She, as well, was too shy but that everybody could see.

“I didn’t leave you for last for any evil reason. I ain’t like Asher,” she joked to ease the mood and have them make even the littlest noise so she wouldn’t start burning up wholly in timidity. “James, this one is yours. I think you’re the craziest out of us all hence the choice of ingredients. Onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce,” she checked the sandwich as she listed the ingredients, “Avocado, cheese and salami sound crazy at first, especially considered as a whole and that is where your craziness lies. But, despite all that, once you’re done exploring and coming out of your comfort zone, you still seek a form of familiarity, something that will allow you to step back into yourself, not fully but rather as a new version of yourself and that is why I added the salami. Can never go wrong with that, can you?” she softly chuckled at the rhetorical question unaware that James had mentally answered her question, agreeing.

“And that’s all.” She concluded and finally mustered up enough courage to look at her friends. Awkwardly laughing, she brought them out of their apparent trance and thanks to James’s cries for food, they gave in and ate.

—Now playing: Void by The Neighbourhood ✫

They didn’t check the time either when they arrived or when they started eating. The day had slowly changed and resembled a summer afternoon. Temperatures surprisingly went up allowing them to take off a few layers and stay in their short-sleeved shirts.

Her pebble-coloured hoodie was set aside on the blanket while Daphne lied down on it, writing in her journal. Not being a big fan of high-waisted pants, she was wearing a pair of mid-rise jeans and a moss baby tee with pine-coloured sleeves. Her movement was limited because Cleo rested her head on the back of her thigh, peacefully relaxing and feeling her lungs with the fresh and natural air of the environment. Her sweater sat next to Daphne’s and only a brown tank top and a pair of high-waisted black jeans dressed her. Toes clad in the soft cloth of her socks. Right beside them was Asher’s sleeping figure. It wasn’t a deep sleep, just a quick power nap. Away from them, with a hand in their pockets, were Nick and James having their break in a different: while Cleo filled her lungs with good air, they were polluting theirs with cigarettes. All this happened to the soft rhythm of a song playing from their Bluetooth speaker.

“So far so good, huh?” James spoke softly before drawing toxic air from the cigarette. At first, Nick was confused but he soon got the cue and agreed, nodding his head. Their position was strategic in order for the breeze to not blow the smell of cigarettes upon their resting friends a few feet away.

“I feel like she’s good. She’s journaling. The sandwich idea of Cleo went well. Yeah… I believe she’s feeling better.” They remained in silence for a bit, eyes unconsciously closing to the comfortable feeling the environment placed into them.

“Man, I felt so bad when she took that paper. If I remember clearly, I think she literally paled up a bit—”

“Yeah and when she asked to go to the bathroom, her voice sounded almost robotic. Only God knows what happened in the bathroom. I hope she just cried and didn’t have… like… I don’t know… a panic attack or maybe threw up.” James was being sincere with his words. He, just like the rest of them, saw how dedicated Daphne was to her studies. It literally explained why Cleo kept telling them she was very smart when she newly came. He admired her and her discipline, wishing to be similar even just a bit. He’s self-diagnosed himself with ADHD because of his lack of focus but it was a wrong diagnosis because he wasn’t fidgety or restless. He just looked having fun and had a very low attention span. But he also diagnosed Daphne with slight OCD when it came to school. Yeah, his type of fun was observing people whenever he wasn’t busy playing or going crazy and connecting their main personality features to a psychological diagnosis.

He strongly believed that with a determination like Daphne’s one could never fail. He didn’t perform well academically. Scratch that! He sucked at school and he was fully aware. The fault was fully on him and his lack of self-discipline and concentration but he couldn’t help it. He’d be lying if he said Daphne wasn’t washing off on him bit by bit just as Asher had claimed before.

He’d seen it happen to Cleo, the person around her the most. Having Daphne being so studious and always busy educating herself made the friend want to do the same. At first, he believed it was something entirely depending on Cleo and her need to always have something in common with her friends but when it started happening to him, especially after the school project they worked on together, he realised it was all Daphne.

So when he saw her face that morning as she collected that cursed piece of paper from Mr Keeley, his guts dropped to his feet too. Firstly, if the best person in class fails the test, a lacklustre student like him is doomed. Secondly, because of all the effort he saw Daphne put into her studies in order to achieve a good mark, such a result cleared everyone off their feet. He’d heard how well she was repeating the topic to Asher and he was a hundred per cent convinced she would’ve aced the test. He literally was waiting for the entrance of someone who’d clear Asher off his self-made throne but that didn’t happen and he wanted to know why. More specifically, he wanted to know how come. What happened?

For those questions to have their corresponding answers, he’d have to speak with Daphne but he’d rather see her happy and peaceful right now than dead-looking like in the morning.

“I don’t think so. At least, that’s what I believe but let’s just forget about it right now.” Nick was calm. Had finished smoking his cigarette—James, right after—and felt in need to drink some water. As they approached the blanket, the music got louder. Daphne was still journaling, Cleo lying with her eyes closed and Asher was asleep.

“Y’all finally done?” Cleo spoke without opening her eyes. Nick answered with a rhetorical question once he was done drinking and purposely sprinkled water on her face when she cussed him out for his sarcasm.

“Guys, come on,” Daphne whined, checking if water drops had stained her journal. On the other side, James was explaining that the sole culprit was Nick so there was no need for plurals.

“Cleo, let’s get revenge.” Asher was still lying on the blanket but his sleep was disturbed because of Nick’s unfunny prank. Without needing to be told twice, Cleo got up and started wearing her shoes. “Guys! I said that the sole fucking culprit is dickhead-Nick—”

“Hey, who the fuck are you calling a dickhead—”

“Shut the fuck up. Cleo’s crazy and even crazier when there’s Asher. Hey, brother,” he referred to Asher, “I love you.”

“Oh, my God. Are you coming out to us, James? That’s so lovely—”

“Daph shut the fuck up!” the girl was laughing at her friend’s frustration, finding it hilarious how scared he seemed. The relationship between her friends exceeded a normal friendship. They behaved like siblings. “Asher, we’ve been friends for…” he tried recalling the years and failed, “...ages. You know I would never do shit like this—”

“Oh, my God. It’s just water—”

“Daphne!” he screamed before continuing. Daphne laughed even harder. “I. Would. Never! I know what you like and don’t like—” Daphne couldn’t keep her laughing at bay and wondered how Asher really was when he wanted to ‘get revenge’ on her stubborn and naughty friends. Out of all of them, he was the most composed, almost had a fatherly figure in the group so seeing him behaving out of character was one hell of a show.

“But you would make me a sandwich with just onions and stink up my mouth.” He had made up his mind: his revenge would surely fall on James. “Bro, first, you had the choice to eat it or not—”

“The fuck are you saying? You’re not saving yourself that way.” Asher’s feet were secured in his shoes while Cleo was already running after Nick to whom James desperately pointed showing how the real culprit was already paying for their sins. “Asher! Come on, man.”

Daphne was laughing hard now, face into her journal and body softly shaking. She’d occasionally stop to look up and listen to their confrontation until Asher had had enough and started pursuing James who was ready and booked it.

Without noticing, they were soon playing hide and seek, giving Daphne more happy memories to encapsulate in letters in her journal. She sat up, crossed her legs and pinned a few of her strands to the back in order to write more comfortably. From time to time, a scream or a running figure past her would rip her attention off the journal.

She quickly tapped on the screen of her phone and checked the time seeing that the sun was already heading to set, painting the sky with warm colours like it was a painting from the Romantic Age, specifically William Turner’s ‘Sunset’. While in the painting, heaven and Earth seemed to merge into one continuous and colourful surface, the sky in front of her was the only uniform and colourful surface before the chain of mountains. The sun seemed to have lost every shape and melted into a simple soft scarlet stain. Those which were once its outlines had faded into lighter colours going from vermilion to coral to orange. Ultimately, the cold colours of the sky melted with the peach colours of the incoming sunset.

This view was so spectacular that Daphne regretted not having any coloured pencil with her to give life to the drawing sitting in the centre of her page. After trying to perfect her drawing skills, but lacking in the field, she finally closed the journal and set it aside. Her friends were still running around and the Bluetooth speaker was still playing music so she crawled to Nick’s phone which was connected to the device and screamed for him to tell her the pin so she could change the music.

Unfortunately, the answer she sought didn’t come so she had to simply skip songs till she found one she liked: ‘Void’ by The Neighbourhood. Eyes closed, arms resting along her sides, she swayed her head to the beat revelling in the fulfilling part of the song, the chorus.

A scream startled her and her eyes opened to look for the source. Before her, the tables had turned and who was once the seeker was now the fugitive: Nick had caught up to Cleo and he had her in a back hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning around causing the girl to scream louder and plead for him to drop her or, at least, stop spinning. Daphne smiled, deciding not to look into it too much despite finding it very cute.

“Daphne!” Someone yelled her name from beside her but before she could turn and see who it was, James threw himself on her like a child running away from an imaginary monster at night which, in his case, was Asher who was laughing very hard. The last time she saw him like that was at Cleo’s place after Nick’s extraordinary burp. So she decided to play the part.

“Oh, no. What happened?” she spoke with the tone of a loving mother. James insistedly pointed at Asher like a kid, whining and accusing him of attempted murder by tickling. Daphne tried to hold her laugh and proceeded: “Oh, no. That’s so bad. You’re ticklish?” she asked. James, still lying against her and caged in her arms, nodded as in answer, “Where?” and he pointed at his side and his tummy without knowing that she wasn’t so different from who he was running away from.

“Daphne!” he screamed, trying to run away from her grasp but Asher caught him before he could succeed and his friends started bombarding him with tickles. At some point, he was confident he’d die but they stopped before anything as dramatic could happen. James slumped his body on Daphne's thighs like that of a fallen soldier and tried to catch his breath. Asher was doing the same beside him. “Never thought you’d betray me,” he huffed, addressing Daphne. She laughed again, leaning backwards on her hands.

“Shut up. Don’t try to accuse her but be thankful she was the same person who advised me to stop else I would’ve gone on till you shit your fucking pants.” James swiftly smacked Asher and he struck him back. Daphne, in between trying to break the fight between the two toddlers.

—Now playing: White Mustang by Lana Del Rey ✫

“Hey! Nobody is allowed to blow nasty raspberries in my presence!” she warned her childish friends. “Let’s change the music.” James got serious and grabbed Nick’s phone. Since he already knew the passcode, he opened it and looked for his desired song. “Put this one.” Daphne hurriedly pressed on the song against James’s wish and snatched the phone before he could change it. Her friend was confused because he barely had the time to register everything, especially when Daphne ran off making his head slump onto the blanket.

“Oh, come on. What’s this slow song?” he asked. Daphne gasped, feeling offended at his remark. “Hey! Have some respect! I love this song so fucking much.” Nick’s phone, tightly clutched in her hands.

“Yeah but I can’t dance to this,” he replied in an almost whiny voice. “Huh, you dance?” she laughed almost mockingly and he now was the one to gasp, “Hey, you have some respect! I got a few nice moves here,” and he got up and started break-dancing to the song, making Daphne and Asher burst in a fit of laughter. “Oh, my God. He’s not seriously break-dancing to Lana Del Rey, is he?” Asher laughed while Daphne was already recording the whole thing with Nick’s phone. Only later would James regret not stopping her when Nick would upload the video on his stories.

Nick and Cleo came out of their little world and soon the boy hopped in, promising he could dance worse. Exactly, he started dancing salsa… to Lana Del Rey. Asher soon joined them, giving in to the little competitivity within him and hit the DJ Khaled meme dance… to Lana Del Rey! Cleo walked up to Daphne and watched as she recorded everything, both laughing like it was peak comedy.

Soon having enough of recording, Daphne turned the phone off and dragged Cleo in so they could dance as well. So now, dancing upon the hill, was a group of five friends: one was break-dancing like a novice, the other was messily dancing to salsa, the other impersonated DJ Khaled and the girls were jumping up and down as though they were in a club and techno music was playing. As they hopped around, they couldn’t help but laugh at how comical everything was.

They were all laughing. Until they weren’t.

—Now playing: Always Forever by Cults ✫

Daphne had accidentally pushed Cleo too hard and sent her rolling down the hill. Initially, Cleo screamed in terror but, by the time she started laughing, she was too far away for her friends to hear her. They were just frozen, looking at her in fright and worry.

“Oh, my God. What did you do—” Nick broke the silence.

“I didn’t mean to. It was accidental—”

“You sure she’s okay—”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? She’s still rolling—” Daphne’s frustration grew stronger.

“Guys, shut up,” Asher called for their attention. Cleo had stopped rolling around, reaching the bottom of the hill, but, instead of immediately getting up, she decided to pull a little prank on her friends and lie there for a little bit more—mostly because she felt comfortable. They started freaking out.

“Oh, my fucking God—”

“Daph?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose—” she was on the edge of sobbing.

“She’s fucking hurt! What the fuck?!”

“I’m sorry!” Cleo could hear her friends in distress. Could hear Nick and Daphne's screams. If she was looking in their direction, she would’ve seen James holding his hands upon his head and Asher looking at her attentively.

“Let’s fucking go check on her. Bruh, what the fuck—”

“Guys!” They all froze, heads snapping in the direction of the voice. “I’m fine. Calm your tits, jeez,” Cleo laughed, sitting up and adjusting her hair but her friends were still silent, blinking to know if they were hallucinating or not. “Yoo-hoo?” she called them. “Earth to fucking lovely shitfaces?” still utter silence and just four teenagers staring at her.

She couldn’t hear James when he whispered: “She’s— She’s alive—”

“Of fucking course she is—” Asher whispered back

“Oh, my God, I was so scared—” Daphne’s voice wavered as she sighed in relief.

“Not as much as I was—” Nick yelled.

“Nick, this ain’t a fucking competition—”

“Shut up! You should join her and go check on her. You’re the one who pushed her—”

“It was never my intention— James!” before Daphne could finish speaking, James lifted her off the ground and walked closer to the end of the hill. All the while, smiling brightly but Daphne didn’t know this. She was shitting her pants—figuratively.

“Ain’t we friends?” she asked, genuinely scared. “I really didn’t mean to.” Her friends noticed the change in her voice and James dropped her.

“Hey, we’re just playing around, Daphn. It’s nothing serious”

“You okay? We’re just joking.” Her friends tried comforting her and she didn’t know if to continue sulking around because of the shock or to think about how easily they went back to joking after believing a friend of theirs was hurt. “How can y’all be joking right now?” she questioned, eyebrows almost meeting each other.

“Exactly!” Asher shared the same idea. “We don’t like feeling sad for too long, y’know—”

“Be fucking for real—”

“Okay, you’re talking too much.” She couldn’t even reply to him before he pushed her rolling down. Her screams, a source of entertainment to her friends. At the bottom of the hill, a smiling Cleo was patiently waiting for company unaware of the little dispute they just had. “Fuck you!” she managed to scream as she rolled down and the boys laughed wholeheartedly.

“Okay. Who’s next?” James questioned while Cleo welcomed Daphne. “What the fuck do you mean by ‘next’?” Asher backed up, slightly annoyed at them. “Who’s next?” repeating himself and moving closer to his retreating friends.

“Don’t make another move. Y’all can’t be all happy and jolly after something like this.”

“I suspected already that it was a prank—”

“And that’s sick Nick. And let’s not talk about how you were the loudest so that’s bullshit—”

“Yeah, Nick. It makes no sense. You wanted to combust Daphne with your eyes back there!” At the bottom of the hill was Cleo helping Daphne get rid of any grass in her hair.

“Okay, I got a little scared—” James immediately grabbed Nick, ready to lift him even in bridal style just to get him rolling down the hill.

“Yo! Yo! James, ain’t we like brothers? Why are you betraying me like this? James!” Nick plead. “Asher! Hey, wait, wait!” The girls were laughing looking up and watching their friends struggle. Indeed, they could move from very serious to completely childish in a split second. “Means trauma wouldn’t way on them, right?” Daphne thought to herself.

Nick was in James’s arms and Asher was helping to push them both down the hill but Nick understood and ratted him out to James who didn’t have enough time to react before he was pushed off with his friend still in his arms. Asher was convinced to have won but Nick grabbed onto his T-shirt and dragged him with them so now the three boys were rolling down the hill, screaming, yelping and cussing everything out.

“Oh, my God. They’re so stupid.” Daphne calmly spoke sitting next to an agreeing Cleo as they both observed their friends roll down the hill like bags of potatoes. “Indeed, stupid.”

Once the boys reached the bottom, they immediately sprung up adjusting their hair, clothes and composure to come off as unbothered. Exactly, they did all that hurriedly and simultaneously posed when done causing the girls to laugh like two gossipers.

“Okay, okay. Enough. We look ridiculous. No need to laugh.” Asher was the first to give up while his friends side-eyed him for ruining the play. Tired, Asher slumped down next to Cleo and flicked her head for pulling such an ugly prank on them earlier which reminded everyone of it: James and Nick almost jumped on her with tickles. Asher and Daphne joined in right after.

Most likely, Cleo had to plead with all living beings, including Greek, Christian, Hinduist and Buddhist gods before they let her go and allowed her to catch her breath.

“Yeah but jokes apart, that prank was nasty. Nick was already hating me—”

“That’s not true—”

“Fuck yeah it is—”

“Guys, you all collectively panicked and didn’t think of rushing down to check on me—”

“I told Daphne she was the one who’d have to do that—”

“I’m sorry. I was scared I’d see something too traumatic—”

“Okay. Silence… and let’s go back up.” James was the one to interrupt the banter as he got up. Slowly, all of them followed meekly and started climbing up the hill, hands on their thighs and backs bent to help against the slope. Nick noticed it’d take too much time like that and they all looked like old goats so he decided to spice it up because it’s the only way he functions. “Who gets to the top last is gay!”

“What the fuck?—”

“No worries. I’ve already come out before confessing eternal love for Asher so you all can go on. I’ll take the fall for y’all.” James dramatically explained, making all of them laugh.

By the time they were at the top, there was a different song playing, one Cleo started singing to. Daphne and everyone gradually joined in.

“You and me, always forever! We could stay alone together! You and me always forever! Say you’ll stay never be separate!”

The sky now was very similar to Turner’s ‘Sunset’. The sun was lower, gradually going into hiding behind the mountain leaving traces of warm-coloured rays behind. The breeze had faded away at the moment and the air was mildly warm for it to be October but with the sun exiting the stage, the environment wasn’t as warm as before and a few of them decided it was right for them to grab their hoodies before joining the group and sitting down on the grass to look at the sunset, singing to the song.

“You know you got me in your pocket! You don’t just have to wait around! You know I keep you in my pocket! Just come here and we can settle down!”

—Now playing: Sweet by Cigarettes After Sex ✫

While the sky before the five rolling friends faded from blue to orange, forming an almost invisible line of dull green where the colours met, outside Taehyung’s window, it simply went from a darker to a lighter tone of blue. He didn’t feel as hungry that evening so his leftovers from lunch were more than enough. His homework was done and perfectly placed into his backpack. His body felt fresh after having a quick but nice and warm shower. The house was mildly silent: his mom and grandmother had finished eating. He didn’t know what they were up to but he suspected they’d retired to their bedrooms. Silently lying on his rug was his little dog lounging in a sea of tiredness, waiting for sleep to take its body to the abyss.

Taehyung was drained as well but, while Christians would read the bible or pray before going to sleep, he had to stalk his crush’s Instagram profile—no creepy intentions behind it obviously. The hour hand was midway into the last quarter of the clock. Lauri had updated both her stories and her feed: a new post and lots of stories. He clicked on the five-picture slideshow.

The first picture displayed a picnic blanket lying on a green field and decorated with plates of food and beverages. In the background, he could see someone’s legs, a pair of shows laid aside, school bags and, at the bottom corner, were the legs of who he believed to be Daphne. The second picture was a selfie. Again, something he has noticed, she rarely shows her full face online and, in this case, only her cheek was in view. It was slightly swollen meaning she was smiling as she held a plate of four sandwiches next to her face.

The third slide captured a picture of a flower he couldn’t recognise but still found beautiful—especially because she surely found it pretty enough to take a picture and post it which means she likes it… which implies he loves it.

The following slide was another selfie and this time, she was lying on her stomach. Against her leg was Cleo and, right beside them both, a boy. The same familiar guy whose name he couldn’t remember. Looking at the picture, one could tell they were resting. Again, of Daphne, he could see only the outline of her head and her hair.

The last picture of the post was another selfie. This time around, Daphne’s face was fully visible. She was standing in a train station. The sky was dark and behind her, in a line, were her friends: Cleo, James, Nick and the familiar nameless guy. They were all smiling and funnily posing. It looked exactly like the last picture one takes before their journey comes to an end.

The post had a peaceful vibe and matched her feed. Taehyung fought against the need to like the post and proceeded to her stories.

The first story was a picture taken on the train, a motion-blurred picture. The following story was a repost from Cleo’s story who recorded her friends as they walked along an empty road. Daphne was in the background taking pics. Next up was a repost from James’s, a short video capturing him and his friends—James was standing and his friends were preparing the picnic blanket.

As Taehyung proceeded, on his screen appeared a selfie reposted from Cleo’s. She was posing with Daphne as they bit on their sandwich—he just didn’t know that Daphne was biting on the sandwich Cleo prepared for her and the other way around.

Taehyung forgot to adjust the volume of his phone so he got startled when he moved on to watching the next story because, unlike the previous videos, this one was loud, a repost from Nick’s: Daphne was the one recording and the focus was on her guy friends funnily dancing to a slow song he recognised was from Lana Del Rey. Hilarious. In contrast to the music were Cleo and Daphne’s laughs.

Tapping on the screen, he moved on to the next story, another video. This time around, there was barely any loud sound just the focus starting from a journal, a sunset drawing to be exact, and ending up on the view before the cameraman. Daphne decided to make a little video comparing her drawing with the source of inspiration and it was enough for Taehyung to place his attention on it more than he did with anything else. “She’s also talented,” he thought to himself, admiring her drawing and developing a greater interest in her. “She’s also talented.”

Daphne would disagree, especially when the field in question is drawing. She’s pretty good at writing but she still wouldn’t fully claim to be ‘talented’. The only thing she could full-heartedly state of herself was that she was weak. Took her nothing to give in to anxiety during the test and took her nothing for all the picnic’s happiness to leave as soon as her mother asked her about her day when she got home. She burst into tears as soon as she went down her memory lane. She explained to her mother that all her efforts were in vain so that is what the woman believes. She was unaware that the main reasons behind those tears were guilt and regret. All connected to Anxiety.

Unlike herself, her mother worked magic with her words when it came down to comforting a person so in a split second, she was already blowing out her nose, clearing her tears away and getting into the shower for a warm bones-and-muscle relaxation.

Just like that day, after the library with her friends, she stared into her reflection to look for any traces of her mental breakdown, wondering what she looked like throughout the day. After slipping into her PJs and checking her homework, she dropped onto her bed, the softener scent filling her lungs.

Loki and Luke were sleepy and both lying on the rug, next to her bed. Behind the curtains and outside her window, the sky was darker in one corner and lighter in the other as the moon shone brightly through. The windows were closed, so was her bedroom door. The only light in her room came from the lamp on her nightstand so the environment was warmly dim.

Yes, it is unhealthy and yes, she had it in her hands right at that moment. Before going to sleep, she turned her phone on as she got under the covers. She had uploaded everything from today while on the train but still felt unfulfilled because she still hadn’t had the chance to stalk her crush’s Instagram. Yeah. Obviously. It became part of her night routine. You know how they say… New home, new life. Didn’t it go like that?

If, by chance, her mother’s comforting didn’t work and rewatching her Instagram updates about the picnic wasn’t enough, surely checking on her crush would’ve helped her—only if he actually posted something. She had to postpone her plans when she noticed a new account started following her. The name ended with the initials of her school’s name meaning it had something to do with it. The profile followed a green theme and belonged to one of the teams running in the campaign—didn’t take her long to realise.

What surprised her was finding familiar faces in the posts. First, it was Jungkook. Then came Jimin, Taehyung, the blonde friend and the pretty brunette. They were running in the campaign. A little smirk changed her facial expression when she thought about how they had secured a vote from her because of Taehyung. The blondie’s name was Adrielle—pretty name she thought. The next post presented Taehyung and his role in the group—if Adrielle was the president, he was the vice. Then came Jimin, an assistant of both, Avyanna, in charge of the upcoming cheerleader team and last, but not least, was Jungkook, in charge of ‘the fun’, as stated in the post. Along with their roles, in the centre of the picture was the tag to their profile.

‘Temptation’. The desire to do something, especially something wrong and unwise. The word comes from the Latin word ‘temptare’ which means ‘handle’, ‘try’, ‘test’. According to the Bible, it has three sources: the world, the flesh and the devil. Surely, she had nothing to do with the devil at that moment. What she was pursuing was her love interest, the pretty boy to whom the profile displayed on her screen belonged. Never felt so tempted. Never felt it so strong but before giving in—since Temptation wasn’t being as strong as Anxiety—she thought about all the possible consequences.

What would happen if she started following him from her main? Would it come off weird? No, because he’s not aware of her interest and she thinks is weird just because she likes him. Would he follow back? Holy shit, if he actually did, she’d go bananas. It wouldn’t be seen as stalking, right? No, why? Why would it? Oh, God. She’s going crazy. If she started following him right now, it would make sense because his team started following her first which would mean she’d have to follow everyone in the team. Yeah, yeah! She could totally do that.

And that’s what she did. She pressed on the blue follow button and now the stalking wouldn’t objectively look creepy. It just moved on to a different level. Now, she was indirectly closer to him which makes no sense because the other day, she was sitting a seat away from him in the bus and didn’t have the balls to even look in his direction. Better than nothing, though since it’s been long since she’d last seen him on the bus in the morning.

With that done, she turned the phone off and retired to sleep. Taehyung, on the other hand, was just about to go to bed. Had just eased himself in the bathroom and gave his notifications one last check before going under the covers but he stopped in his tracks. His eyes bulged out of their sockets when he saw a very familiar account start following him. He swallowed hard and unlocked the device.

Yes, she indeed started following him and he had to fight various boxing matches against his will not to follow back immediately. Temptation.

He really wanted to but he felt like it would be weird. The main reason behind her follow was his team’s Instagram profile. He was sure because right below the notification of her follow was the one from his team’s account. It would’ve been crazy if she actually started following him out of the blue. He would’ve jumped out and on his bed, rolled on the floor, happily laughed and sang, waking up his dog, his family and probably the neighbours in the process.

A win is a win though. He still felt excited because he knew it wouldn’t stop there. He’d go crazy if he didn’t at least try. The only time it would be over is if she told him she wasn’t interested point blank. He hoped that would never happen.

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update status: 2.68K, 17.1% done

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 82.59k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ - 11.44k

wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main ⇀ «'Temptare', handle, try, test»

❀ 15 ❛bold, red and underlined❜ coming soon on the 5th October

❀ 16 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 17 ❛hesperiidae❜

❀ 18❛opposites attract❜

❀ 19 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 20 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 21 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 22 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 23 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 24 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 25 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 26

WE HIT 1K READS ON WATTPAD!!

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 82.59k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ - 11.44k

wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main ⇀ «'Temptare', handle, try, test»

❀ 15 ❛bold, red and underlined❜ coming soon on the 5th October

❀ 16 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 17 ❛hesperiidae❜

❀ 18❛opposites attract❜

❀ 19 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 20 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 21 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 22 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 23 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 24 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 25 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 26

update status: 4.05k words, 22.8% done

Amor tam pulcher | KTH - masterlist

❁pairing: taehyung x oc

❁description: if he could, he'd write poems on how pretty she looked, on how perfect she was. He'd probably make the next Catullus or even better, he'd dare say. Everyone would love to read about her and how she makes him feel. He even wonders how she isn't loved, worshipped in fact, by everyone but he's glad he's the only one whom she hops to whenever class is dismissed, the only one to have her cheeks explore all possible shades of red, the only one whose arms she'd willingly fall asleep in between.

❁genre: romance, fluff, smut, angst

❁wc: 82.59k

❁date: 30/03/2024

❁warning: mature content, mdi

❁notes: strangers-to-lovers, teen love story, lots of fluff, smut, senior!taehyung (taehyung is like super smart), junior!oc (academic weapon, she loves herself an excellent academic performance), a lil angst, taehyung is head over heels for oc, nature lovers (oc loves flowers, taehyung loves butterflies), countryside (looks like Italy because that is the only type of countryside I know and love), oc has a lovely family, taehyung has daddy issues, jimin and jungkook are taehyung's besties( they also have other two girls as best friends); oc has a girl best friend (childhood best friend) and three boys as best friends); oc is so fucking prettyyy, like girl pretty (pretty privilege a bit)

❁chapters (status - ongoing) ⇀ updates every two Saturdays, 10 AM CEST

❀ ❛prologue❜ - 1.52k

a memory; taehyung is staying over oc's place and trying not to lose his mind for her ⇀ «A love that drives me crazy, a lovely crazy, a sexy crazy, an amazing crazy»

❀ 01 ❛love is all around❜ - 4.24k

oc moved to town; oc meets her childhood friend, cleo; lovely family lunch ⇀ «If only you knew how special it feels to be special to someone...»

❀ 02 ❛ying yang❜ - 4.28k

oc and cleo hang out all day at a field; oc meets cleo's cats; oc and cleo childhood flashback ⇀ «Always thought my match would look like me but two pieces of the same puzzle can't be equal»

❀ 03 ❛the exploratory stage❜ - 5.48k

oc and cleo go shopping; cleo gives oc a tour of the town; oc and cleo go to jimin's restaurant and cleo gives oc a description of tae and his friends ⇀ «This is who I am now or maybe who I always was but forgot to be»

❀ 04 ❛just like old times❜ - 6.70k

oc's first day of school; she makes new friends and goes home to simp on taehyung through his social; taehyung comes back from his holidays ⇀ «He's pretty. No wait! Heavenly. Gorgeous. God's favourite for sure... and mine too»

❀ 05 ❛a monarch butterfly❜ - 4.17k

tae's back to school; came back home from jk's beach house; he goes shopping with adrielle, his friend; all the friends are driven to school by jk ⇀ «They say mental exhaustion is greater than the physical one and yet I feel dead up there and no different when it comes to my body»

❀ 06 ❛venus❜ - 4.82k

tuesday; tae sees oc for the first time in the bus and admires her from afar; the whole day in school he thinks about her; jk is the only one to notice this is starts 'investigating' oc ⇀ «Whenever she walked in, time would slow down and my pupils would expand, all for me to sip in her majestic beauty without missing anything»

❀ 07 ❛a laurel❜ - 4.92k

tuesday of the following week; tae is hanging out with his friends at adrielle's place; adrielle wants to become the school's president; tae stalks oc's instagram ⇀ «Like you a little, don't want no riddle. Say it, say it back, oh, say it ditto. Can't wait 'til the morning, so say it, ditto»

❀ 08 ❛fuck you!❜ - 6.10k

thursday; daphne is in her physics class and she can't understand shit; she has a little mental breakdown and takes it out on her friends ⇀ «I see her in the back of my mind all the time like a fever, like I'm burning alive»

❀ 09 ❛en route❜ - 5.07k

friday; daphne wants to impress tae; daphne and tae sit next to each other in the bus; ⇀ «If only he knew... if only she knew...»

❀ 10 ❛who we are, what we do❜ - 6.01k

saturday; love for routines; shopping; hanging out with cleo; lunch with the two families; video call between the five friends ⇀ «They say not to believe what you see online. "The beauty you could find there is so surreal that it can't be real", they say. But what happens when it's standing just a few feet away from you, glowing like the moon on a starless night? How do you withstand it?»

❀ 11 ❛an overly ambitious hedonistic seductress❜ - 6.04k

sunday; the five friends meet up for their school project; daphne suspects there is more going on between cleo and nick; little gossip time with asher ⇀ «Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on. Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on»

❀ 12 ❛the butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man❜ - 4.49k

sunday; while the five friends meet up for their school project, tae and his meet for the electoral campaign; jk is so unserious; maknae line interaction; they have dinner at adrielle's place; jk is drunk asf and his friends make fun of him before they go home ⇀ «Life itself has nothing to give you. Lay in your bed all day and you'll get the point. Life starts making sense and having a shape when you start doing something, when you meet the right people»

❀ 13 ❛the Titanic❜ - 7.31k

wednesday; second week of october; the electoral campaign is officially on; tae and his team are stressed out because of it; in the meantime, Daphne undertakes her physics test; it doesn’t go well so her friends work something out for her ⇀ «There's a monster in the water. It clawing into the ship. I'm sinking»

❀ 14 ❛from five to ten❜ - 11.44k

wednesday; second week of october; daphne and her friends have a picnic together; they travel by train; daphne is happy after the failed test; taehyung stalks her Instagram and realises she started following his main ⇀ «'Temptare', handle, try, test»

❀ 15 ❛bold, red and underlined❜ coming soon on the 5th October

❀ 16 ❛it's Daphne!❜

❀ 17 ❛hesperiidae❜

❀ 18❛opposites attract❜

❀ 19 ❛peek-a-boo (boo boo)❜

❀ 20 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 21 ❛monarch and blue morpho butterflies❜

❀ 22 ❛rosy cheeks❜

❀ 23 ❛caramel macchiato❜

❀ 24 ❛butterflies, flowers... and butterflies❜

❀ 25 ❛whistling missile❜

❀ 26