𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 ─── ˢˡᵒʷ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ

⁰⁹. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐬

''   ᵗʰᵉ ᶦⁿᵉᵛᶦᵗᵃᵇˡᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳᵐ ʰᶦᵗˢ ''

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Happiness doesn't last forever.

Sunny days are sometimes followed by wild storms. Smiles sometimes slip from faces. Laughter sometimes turns into sobs.

Though people desperately clutch onto their happiness as tightly as they can, sometimes their efforts aren't enough.

Because there will always be someone nearby who's desperate to snatch that happiness away for themselves.

─🌊─

First came the stares.

Wherever the couple went, the eyes of those around them would follow. People's heads turned when they walked through corridors or strolled around the school grounds, and it became increasingly more obvious that the couple was now at the centre of the students' attention. They couldn't make a single move without everyone immediately turning to stare at them.

Then came the whispers.

If there was one thing that Sunoh and Nari's peers loved to do, it was to gossip. Now that there was a new couple on campus, the students simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to discuss their every move and comment on every little thing that they overheard the couple talk about. There was also those couple of students who began to stir up rumours about the two, bringing up stories from the past and making them a big deal even though a lot of time had passed already.

As time went on, Nari became more and more uncomfortable with all of the attention focused on them. She knew that people were gossiping about both her and her boyfriend, but she couldn't help but to feel as though everyone was only judging her. She heard whispers about her not being good enough for Sunoh—not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not cute enough, not nice enough, or just not enough in general. Her insecurities were quick to act up and she began to speak less, eat less and look up from the floor less. She kept her head down when walking through the halls and refused to be alone in school—she barely left Sunoh's side and clutched onto his hand tightly whenever someone approached them.

Sunoh tried his best to comfort her with cuddles and encouraging words, but the small smiles that she sent his way were nowhere near as carefree as they had once been. He didn't know how to help her because he, too, was feeling overwhelmed by everyone's stares as well as the rumours going around the school. He felt as though he was the root of the gossip given his background, and soon he began to blame himself for Nari's discomfort.

The couple tried to get through the difficulties by leaning on one another and comforting one another when things got a bit much.

But they were only human.

They could only take so much.

─🌊─

One day, things took a drastic turn for the worse.

During lunch, students from all year groups swarmed around the couple's table and began to take pictures of them while bombarding them with questions about what their relationship status was and when this development had occurred. There were too many people there at once, too much noise, too many flashing lights, and way too much attention being focused on the couple that had already become used to living in their own little happy bubble where it was just the two of them.

Nari had a panic attack and Sunoh's calm demeanour snapped immediately. He yelled at everyone to mind their own business and not to interfere with their peaceful everyday lives. When some students began to protest while continuing to take photos and videos of a cowering Nari, he smashed their phones and gritted out a warning for everyone to stay away from him and his girlfriend if they didn't want him to ruin their lives. Sunoh then took Nari to her house and spent the rest of the day soothing her while apologising over and over again, blaming himself entirely for what had happened.

"It's not your fault," Nari mumbled into his chest while they cuddled on her couch. She pressed herself closer to him and clutched onto his shirt tightly, afraid that he would suddenly disappear and leave her on her own.

"But it is," Sunoh replied as he rubbed her back gently, his eyebrows scrunched together in worry as he looked down at the girl laying with him. "People always swarm around me because of my background and the jobs that I used to do—they start taking pictures while gossiping about me and anyone that I'm with. It's always been that way—for as long as I can remember, I've been surrounded by people that have nothing better to do with their lives than discuss me and my family. I thought it was just something that happened at work or in the presence of my parents' friends, but now it's happening in school too. It's my fault that you're like this now—"

Nari raised her head to look up at him and pressed a finger to his lips to shut him up. As she pulled her finger away, Sunoh's eyes flickered over her face and his frown only worsened.

Her eyes were red and puffy, tear tracks decorating her cheeks and dried blood on her lips from where she had bitten them a little too hard earlier while trying to control her panic attack.

"It's not your fault," Nari repeated firmly, "It's our classmates' fault. They're the ones that have trouble understanding what personal space is, not you—they're the ones that showed up out of nowhere and started shoving their cameras in my face, not you."

"But if you'd have been with someone else—someone that's not me—"

"They would've gossiped about me anyway," Nari interrupted him before he could go on. "You know what they're like—they feed off of rumours and lies. They're bored because there's no drama happening in their own lives so they go around stirring trouble and watching other people's drama for entertainment."

Sunoh hummed, "I guess you're right..."

As a silence settled between them, both of them thought over what had happened that day. Nari noticed Sunoh's frown worsen again and so she raised a finger to poke his forehead between his eyebrows.

"Stop frowning," she said quietly, offering him a small smile that was a little more genuine than the ones she had been giving him over the course of the past week. "You'll get wrinkles."

"Maybe if I have wrinkles people will stop paying attention to me," Sunoh mumbled, relaxing his facial features to stop his girlfriend from worrying about him more than she already was. "Maybe then we'll be left alone."

"Maybe," Nari agreed, laying her head on Sunoh's chest once again. Her smile crumbled as soon as she knew that he couldn't see her face any more. "Or maybe they won't stop at anything," she added quietly.

Sunoh stroked the back of her head and ran his fingers through her hair in a comforting manner. "We're safe here," he whispered to her, holding her close to him.

Nari nodded, wrapping her arms around him once again and snuggling into his side. "Yeah," she breathed out, "We're safe here."

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those poor, poor beans omg I'm so sorry for popping their happy bubble but unfortunately this is only the beginning of their struggles 🥺 I hope that they'll be okay and that they'll get through all of the hardships that are coming their way 🥺I know that they've already been through a lot but a little drama never hurt anyone (too much), plus they're a lot stronger than they seem so hopefully they should be fine :)

thank you for reading!! apologies for the delay (◞ ‸ ◟ㆀ) and thank you for being so patient with me ❤ 

please vote and comment!! I love you beans ( ˘ ³˘)❤