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It was a beautiful summer day, with the birds singing their hearts out and the heat scorching to the point of it being so unbearable, you could call it a melting point. Y/N hurried into the store, sighing in relief as she was hit with the cold air provided by the A/C. Sukoshi Mart was heaven on earth for Y/N, the only place capable of satiating her every need, and the refreshing atmosphere only added to the fact.
Upon entering, she immediately made her way towards the collection of albums, ignoring the lineup of Korean beauty products promising “super white fair skin” and “poreless faces” . Y/N wasn’t like most of the other girls who were in the store, fawning over shirtless men while rummaging through foundations the colour of fresh cocaine. No, Y/N was there for one purpose, and one purpose only; the sacred albums.
Her hands flittered over the familiar names: “ZEROBASEONE’, “BTS”, “TOMORROW X TOGETHER”. She’d held all of them in her hands at one point, gently running the pads of her fingers over the covers and admiring the faces of her beloved boy bands. Today, she would have to decide which of them she would choose to take home with her.
Unbeknownst to Y/N, there were in fact two idols in the store that day, who had immediately noticed her presence upon her arrival. They had volunteered to sign albums at Sukoshi Mart in order to garner more publicity for the store, and had been bored out of their pretty heads.
Until now.
Luckily, it was just about breaktime and one of them decided to approach the mysterious girl. The other, not one to be outdone by his extroverted friend, decided to follow at a safer distance, in case some disaster were to happen.
Y/N grabbed a “couple” of albums. She’d make a decision, but only after she had her arms filled with snacks. This was another way in which she wasn’t like other girls; she never had reservations about her enthusiasm for Korean snacks. And boy, were there a lot of options to choose from.
With her head in the clouds dreaming about the stash she’d be hiding from the Worst Sibling™, (the only member of her family still alive after a tragic car accident) Y/N didn’t even notice the figure standing by the Hi-Chews until it was too late. Y/N collided into the surprisingly tall and lean figure, her albums clattering to the ground along with her Nerd Glasses™.
“Watch where you’re going!” Y/N mumbled in frustration.
She scrambled to pick up the albums scattered across the floor, stroking the ground to locate her glasses.
“I-I’m so s-s-sorry I-” the voice faltered just as Y/N looked up to try and discern who this stranger was. Her hand wrapped around the frame of her glasses but before she could put them on a gentle hand stopped her. The stranger’s palm was warm as it gently wrapped around her wrist.
“Don’t. I don’t want your glasses to hide your beautiful face.” The initial stuttering had been replaced with a smooth, strong tenor voice.
Well, now Y/N most desperately needed to put on her glasses to see who this smooth talker was. The stranger must have read her mind because, with a sigh, he placed her Nerd Glasses™ onto her face, his finger gently brushing a stray lock of her curly hair behind her ear as he did so.
Y/N’s chocolate-coloured orbs widened in surprise as she took in the man before her.
“Sung Hanbin!?!?!?”
At the mention of his name a seductive smirk spread across his face. He lifted his hand, holding the copy of “BLUE PARADISE” that she had dropped.
“I believe you dropped this.” he purred.
Y/N reached to grab the album from him, their fingers brushing and sending sparks through her body. Hanbin stood up, offering his hand for Y/N to take. She battled internally between being a strong, independent woman or feeling those smooth, strong, silky fingers for herself. The strong, independent side won. Unfortunately, Y/N stood up and stepped back right onto "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE: YOUNG FOREVER" causing her to begin falling backwards in slow motion. Just as she resigned herself to cracking her skull on the linoleum floor, someone caught her under her arms.
“Careful there burnt-caramel, falling for me already?” teased a clear, masculine voice.
Y/N looked up. Her eyes widened as she realised it was Zhang Hao who was holding her. Y/N jumped out of his arms, ignoring how (Hao) he smelled like a freshly cut forest and luscious grass. Y/N subconsciously bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ear again.
“Oppa? W-what are y-you doing h-here?” Now it was Y/N's turn to stutter. She probably looked terrible in her baggy jeans, red flannel and artfully messy bun. Definitely not the best outfit for such a hot day, so she should have looked like a horrible, sweaty mess. However, her poor, deceased parents’ genes were no match for the weather, thank God.
“Looking for you.” they said in unison. Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped as they both glared at each other, their eyes resembling storm clouds on a clear day. Zhang Hao pulled Y/N back, her back colliding with his chest.
“Watch it, Hanbin,” he growled. His spicy baby powder fragrance wafted through the air oppressively.
Hanbin’s eyes darkened. “I was here first,” he spat.
Y/N shivered slightly as she found herself trapped between their gazes. She could barely see their expressions because of her tiny stature, compared to the two.
“Don’t you have a fanclub to entertain?” Hao scoffed, gesturing to the crowd of teenage girls salivating and giggling behind them. Y/N turned to look at them for help but the girls only huffed with envy, rolling their eyes and biting their nails. She turned back to see that Hao had taken out a durian from seemingly nowhere and was aggressively biting into it in a show of dominance. The putrid delicious smell filled the store and the fanclub of girls fainted in awe.
“Ok, that’s enough!” she huffed, wriggling out of Hao’s arms like a worm who was still lovable. She then placed her hands on her voluptuous hips, squinted her coffee-coloured eyeballs and glared at them from under her long, flowing lashes. Both men had the audacity to look unashamed and instead simultaneously winked at her. As Y/N proceeded to look around, attempting to find a way of escape, her gaze fell upon the Pockero™ section. Hanbin and Hao creepily turned their heads like two horror movie dolls towards the snack and Y/N would forever swear she saw lightsticks floating above their heads.
“I challenge you, Zhang Hao, to a Pockero duel!” roared Hanbin, causing the entire shelf of snacks to shake.
“You’re on.” Hao grabbed and violently ripped open one of the small boxes, causing some of the Pockero sticks to fly out. Y/N smacked her pretty clear-skinned forehead against her dainty palm, wondering at the stupidity of men.
Placing a Pockero between his teeth, turned towards Y/N, smirking. With a wink, he sashayed towards Hanbin.
“First one to pull away loses.” he snarled, eyes squinted in determination.
“Bring it on,” Hanbin replied, teeth biting down onto the stick.
Y/N watched in fascination as both idols began nibbling on the chocolate covered stick, lips approaching incrementally with each bite. Their gazes were focused on the increasingly shortening stick between them, pupils glazing over as the distance between their lips decreased. With every bite the hoods of their eyes fell lower, pupils dilating as the space between them grew infinitesimally smaller and their faces drew closer. Then, suddenly, Hao paused.
There was only an inch of the Pockero left. Any more and his lips would be grazing Hanbin’s. Hanbin’s bangs had fallen into his eyes, making it almost impossible to tell what he was thinking. His lips had stilled as well and both men were now at a standstill, panting gently for breath. Neither dared to make the winning move. But neither was going to give up.
Hanbin shivered as he felt Hao’s stuttered breath fan across his face. Somehow, during the competition his palm had ended up clutching onto the jut of his challenger’s hip, likely to stabilize himself. His eyes drifted away from the stick between them, noting the light dusting of crumbs on Hao’s lips and the way his head tilted slightly to the left in response to the decreasing distance between their faces. From this close he could count the lashes obscuring his eyes, marvelling at the pink blush emerging on Hao’s cheeks as the moment stretched on.
He averted his wandering gaze before he could do something stupid, like win the competition, but as he looked up his eyes caught those of his opponent. A spark shot through both of them in an instant, a sort of understanding as both their gazes fell onto each other’s lips once more. Except this time, with intent.
Hanbin shifted closer, lips parting slightly as he set himself to make the finishing bite. This time he grabbed Hao’s hips with slightly more force than necessary, pulling him sharply against his hips till they were pressed firmly against each other. Hao let out a breathless gasp in response, eyelids fluttering as the air grew hot between them. His hands reached up to grasp at Hanbin’s shoulders just as Hanbin closed the last distance between them.
Y/N watched in both horror and fascination as the two idols who’d fought for her attention began tonguing each other in the middle of the store.
The world began to crumble around Y/N. Literally. As in, the world itself didn’t turn upside down, but Y/N did. Glass shattered from all around her, people were screaming and dust was billowing in every direction. It seemed that once again, time was turning in slow motion as catastrophe occurred. Y/N however, didn’t read The Hunger Games for nothing.
She crouched low on the ground to avoid the choking smoke and began searching for the exit. As she began crawling on the ground like a cute cockroach, she realized that she had forgotten about the two loverboys. Y/N’s pupils roved over the scene and she saw the shadowy perpetrator of the calamity.
A White Truck™ had somehow driven into the mall, down the escalators, crashing straight into the middle of the store where two globally renowned idols stood, connected by the mouth. The screeching horde of teenage girls had all sprinted away in their high heels, their glossy hair glinting in the far off distance.
Now, only an eerie silence, along with two other bodies remained. Y/N slowly approached the couple, and crouched, putting each of her hands against their necks. No heartbeat from either of them.
If one of them had only parted and left to be with Y/N, he would still have been alive. Alas, poor Haobin, was no more. And all of these events occurred, because Y/N did not have air conditioning at home and chose to spend her money on albums.
As she got up, swaying on her feet, Y/N’s ringing ears heard a rumbling sound to her left. She glanced up towards the headlights that were headed straight towards her. In less than a second, all she could feel was pain. Then nothing. And Y/N’s heartbeat stopped.
THE END
Sike, you thought & yes, this is a fourth wall break.
Y/N listed the facts in her head. Her name was [Insert Name Here]. She had lived - no, lives - on [Insert Address Here]. She was almost [Insert Age Here] years old. And once again, she was in front of Sukoshi mart in the stifling weather of June. Y/N sighed and pulled her hood over her corkscrew curls that resembled the anatomy of a male duck. It was beginning to get hard to pretend to be surprised by the events that would happen. Someone else would usually be the first to approach her. And the annoyance would begin to seep in.
No, Y/N had not died. She was very much not like most girls. By her count, it was day 127 since the time loop had started. She had died 127 times, along with Hanbin and Hao. And no matter what she did, Y/N seemed powerless to stop it. Except, the two of them getting together had never happened before. It had usually ended in a brawl to the death, in which Y/N would be literally caught in the crossfire. So what changed?
Maybe true love was the key. Maybe, just maybe, if she told them about what was happening to her, they would believe it. Or, she would just set them up instead. Whatever worked. And maybe, she could finally go to her birthday party and see her friends again. And maybe, someday, she could watch them on her own TV at home, laughing and in love. Smiling, Y/N pulled the door open and hurried inside.
THE (REAL) END :)