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leejungchans · 3 years

Text

— unexpected.

🆕 ask juliet anything!! | juliet’s masterlist

word count: 2.1k

warning(s): mentions of self-doubt, insecurities and intrusive thoughts; someone says some pretty harsh words to juliet here but nothing extreme

disclaimer: please keep in mind that the trainer mentioned in this is a completely fictional character hence why his name is never mentioned!!

set in june 2019; a few days after ateez’s first win for wave

summary: in which the boys help juliet when she gets a message from someone who she never expected, nor wants, to see again.

a/n: putting juliet in a bit of Pain™️ here 😔 as always, you are always welcome to leave feedback or chat with me!! 💕💕

As Seonghwa clears away the dishes after dinner, he notices Juliet curled up on the sofa with her phone in hand. Normally, he wouldn’t think much of it, given the other members are doing the same as they lounge around the living room. But one look at the maknae’s grave expression tells him that something is wrong.

Jongho, who’s been helping Seonghwa take the plates into the kitchen, catches him staring and follows his gaze. The two silently watch as Juliet types something on her phone before furiously tapping on the screen to delete whatever she wrote with a frustrated sigh, her long acrylic nails creating a crisp tapping noise. This draws the attention of the other six boys as they all turn to look at her with concern, though she doesn’t seem to notice from being so focused on her phone.

“Minyoungie, is everything okay?” Hongjoong finally asks, sitting up from his spot on the ground.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, don’t worry,” she reassures with a stiff smile, but it’s evident that something is clearly bothering her.

The leader gets up to sit next to her on the couch. “Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want some time to yourself first?”

Juliet contemplates his question for a few seconds before speaking again. “It’s nothing serious, I guess,” she admits, “but one of my former trainers at SM messaged me just before dinner asking me to meet up with him, and I don’t know how to respond.”

“Oh,” Hongjoong says. The mention of her former company causes the others to pay full attention to their conversation, knowing how unpleasant her experiences with a few of her former trainers were though she never talked about such incidents in detail. “Do you want to, though?”

“No,” Juliet responds immediately, expression turning cold. “Not now, probably not ever.”

“What happened with him?” Wooyoung asks before quickly adding, “you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

Juliet sighs, stuffing her phone into the pocket of her hoodie before hugging her knees to her chest. “No, no. I think it’s about time I told you guys what happened exactly, I guess I never did because it felt like there was never a right time to bring him up, and also because it feels stupid to talk about it when I haven’t seen him in years, and have no intention of changing that.”

Wooyoung pats her knee comfortingly. “Tell us however much you’re okay with,” he says with a gentle smile, “you don’t have to go into full detail if you don’t want to.”

Juliet pants heavily when the music stops, crouching down to catch her breath desperately while cursing the horrible cold she’s been dealing with for the past few days.

She just knows everyone noticed how her movements have gotten more sluggish with every time they go over the dance, and the humiliation sears through her body like a raging fire.

Someone—she can’t see who and is too dizzy to even turn her head in that direction to check—comes up from behind to rub her back soothingly as her chest continues to heave from exhaustion.

“Five minutes,” the gruff voice of their dance trainer says, and the group of girls instantly scramble to where their water bottles are lined up neatly against the wall. “Baek Minyoung, not you.”

At the sound of her name, Juliet looks up to see the man crooking a finger, motioning for her to walk over to where he is in a secluded corner of the practice room. Shakily, she stands up as the other girls murmur quiet encouragements, though they quickly leave her side from the glare the man sends towards them.

Juliet knows that no amount of mental preparation is enough when it comes to this particular trainer, and it makes her heart sink deeper and deeper with every step she takes towards him.

Her head is bowed when he starts speaking, not daring to look into his flaring eyes. “What’s wrong with you?” the man wastes no time in asking accusingly. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice how terrible your dancing has gotten these few days? Do you think slackers have a place here? You looked like a dying slug out there.”

“No, Sir. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to slack off, I have a cold, which is why—”

“I’m not interested in hearing your excuses,” he cuts her off icily. “Do you know what idols do when they get sick? They keep pushing. And that’s the complete opposite of what you’re doing.”

“I understand. I’m really sorry. I will do better,” Juliet replies softly, voice barely above a whisper, hoping that he’ll let her off easy.

But today is not her lucky day. The sound of a dry chuckle sends chills down her spine.

“Do you want to know something?” She doesn’t. In fact, she dreads knowing. But something tells her she doesn’t have the luxury of choosing, so she continues to keep her head down and tries to zero in on her shoes to hold back her tears.

She can feel the weight of everyone’s stares on her back, and she wants nothing more than to disappear into thin air.

“There were discussions about adding you to Red Velvet along with Yeri. A few people thought you were too young, others saw potential in you,” the trainer sneers. “Personally, I don’t see any of that, and I’m glad that they ultimately did not debut you, because all I see is an ungrateful, lazy brat.”

Juliet bites down harder on the inside of her cheeks to keep the tears at bay, and it doesn’t take long for her to taste iron.

“You better go back there and get your crap sorted out. Because if I see you not being up to par with the others again, I will not hesitate to go to the higher-ups with this, then you can kiss your future in this industry goodbye. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Look at me when you answer.”

Juliet swears she’s never seen so much hatred and disdain in someone’s eyes until the moment their eyes meet. And it takes everything in her not to burst into tears as she repeats her response in a trembling voice.

The man scoffs, dismissing her with a wave of his hand as though batting away an insect before clapping his hands together to gain the others’ attention.

“Break’s over! Let’s hope some of you actually know what you’re doing this time,” he says scornfully, blissfully ignorant of the fact that every word he said feels like another stab to her heart.

When Juliet looks up at her reflection in the mirror, she barely recognised herself from how hollow and empty her gaze looks, a far cry from the girl who started her journey as a trainee with starry eyes and a fiery passion.

What had she become? is the last thought that comes to mind before the music starts again, and she can only hope that she can make it through the rest of the session without making a mistake or collapsing.

“So... that’s basically what happened,” Juliet chokes out, leaning her head back as she blinks back tears. To be honest, she had to give herself credit for getting through that story without crying, knowing that that incident in particular instilled a new, and much more profound, sense of fear and self-doubt within her. “You can now probably see why I don’t want to meet with him.”

San comes to sit on the armrest of the couch so he can wrap his arms around the girl. “I’m so sorry that happened, but I’m glad you’re not in that situation anymore.”

“Yeah, me too,” Juliet chuckles bitterly, still not meeting any of the boys’ eyes by looking down at her hands. “I don’t think I’ve been the same since then. I mean, not that it’s completely his fault because there were so many contributing factors, but... I’ve never looked at myself so negatively until that day... it suddenly felt like I was the only person who couldn’t see how utterly worthless I was... I don’t know.”

“But what did he text you?” Despite the anger he feels for this man for hurting her in such a way, Seonghwa still manages to stay levelheaded.

Juliet takes her phone out to reread the message. “He said he was watching M Countdown a few days ago and recognised me when we got our first win. He congratulated me and apologised for everything he said to me when I was at SM. Then he asked me if I wanted to meet with him for lunch.”

“But how did he get your number?” Yeosang wonders out loud, frowning deeply. “That’s kinda creepy.”

The girl shrugs. “Who knows? I don’t know what he’s up to now, but he likely still has contacts in the industry and asked around for my number.”

Wooyoung scoffs. “The fact that he only reached out now shows he’s probably not that apologetic, since he’s the one who implied he remembers everything he’s said to you. If he really felt guilty, he would’ve made use of those contacts of his to reach out to you to apologise a lot earlier.”

“That’s what I thought,” Juliet agrees. “The fact that he texted me right after our first win doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”

Mingi huffs. “Maybe just tell him to get lost or something. He’s not worth the time.”

“If she isn’t an idol, she can cuss him out all she wants. But if like you said,” Hongjoong muses thoughtfully, turning back to Juliet, “and he’s either still in the industry or has contacts, then you can’t be too rude to him in case he tries to use it against you to paint you as some villain. You know how some people are.”

The others nod defeatedly. He has a point.

“Then... what do we do? We can’t let her go meet with him,” San says, his arms subconsciously holding Juliet a little tighter protectively.

“Of course not,” the leader assures, “I think the best course of action is to thank him for congratulating you, accept his apology—even if you don’t really want to, it can just be for show—and politely decline his invitation because your schedule is full.”

Juliet hesitates. “But what if he says that I’m lying to get out of it?”

“I mean, it’s not really a lie,” Yunho points out. “Our tour is coming up soon and we’re gonna be busy practising for it, so it really is the truth that you don’t have the time to see him. Plus, you don’t owe him anything, who cares if he thinks you’re lying or not?”

Juliet nods slowly, fingers hovering over the keyboard as she tries to think of a response, but her mind is so overwhelmed from the sudden message and the memories that nothing comes up.

“Do you want me to help you type it?” Seonghwa asks tenderly after a while of watching her struggle to formulate anything.

“Yes, please,” Juliet says immediately, visibly relieved as she pushes her phone into Seonghwa’s hand. The oldest member cocks his head to the side while he thinks before typing something down.

A few moments later, he hands her back her phone. “Here. If you’re okay with this, then you can send it to him.”

The other boys crowd around Juliet so they can all read the message Seonghwa typed out. When done, she looks up at Hongjoong for confirmation.

“It’s good, I think,” he says approvingly. “It’s short and concise, polite but not too friendly or curt so there’s no way it can be taken out of context in case it somehow gets leaked.”

Juliet nods, pressing on the “send” button with bated breath. The moment she sends the message, she feels as though a huge weight has been lifted off her, having spent the whole time during dinner silently stressing over how she should respond to the point where she could barely get down her food.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she says, leaping off the sofa to throw her arms around Seonghwa’s neck. “I wouldn’t know what to do if it wasn’t for you guys. I actually contemplated pretending he had the wrong number or even meeting with him once so he’d leave me alone after that,” she admits, “but I’m glad you stepped in before I did either of those things.”

“And I’m glad you told us about this so we could work through it together,” Seonghwa smiles, stroking the girl’s head. “You don’t have to struggle with these things alone.”

“Now that we took care of that jerk, I think we should order chicken to celebrate!”

Seonghwa looks at the younger boy in disbelief. “Yeosang, we literally just had dinner!”

Juliet laughs. “It’s okay, there’s always room for chicken! Besides, I’m paying this time as a thank you!”

“In that case, who am I to complain?”

a/n: that incident was a pretty huge turning point for juliet in terms of her mental health. she already doesn’t feel confident in herself as most trainees are, but to hear from someone directly that she didn’t get to debut because she was apparently all those horrible things made a lasting impact on her, and since then she’s felt even more horrible about herself :( but she’s gotten a lot better at managing those feelings now and of course she has the support of the boys!!

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yeochikin · 4 years

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halloween grump. | p. seonghwa

a/n: thank you anon for requesting this fic! hope you enjoyed this. also, i suck at jealous scenes so uh,,, j just pretend you didn’t see that sdhfjsj

word count: 2.5k+

main focus: seonghwa x fem. reader

warning(s): there might be some inaccuracies in this as i have NEVER celebrated halloween before, so i do apologise for that. also, maybe a really short scene of hwa being protective.

seonghwa never really understood this particular… celebration, you had brought up.

sure, he knows that people of all ages would love to dress up during halloween so they would go trick or treating from door to door in the neighbourhood, along with their friends or families by their sides.

not only that, said male would even notice the variety of decorations being hung up on the walls or windows of their houses, and on their lawns. from fake spider webs hanging on the neighbourhood porches to the carved jack o’ lanterns laying idly on the front lawn he had noticed after making a quick trip from the grocery store with you earlier this week.

but honestly? that was it. the holiday never really excited him in any way possible, thinking it was the same old thing over and over again every year.

however, from the way your eyes glinted a certain excitement in them when you had brought up about the topic while the two of you were cuddling in the living room one day, both of your hands holding the matching mugs filled with hot chocolate, seonghwa knew he couldn’t object the idea of you wanting throw a little costume party during the day of the event with the boys and some of your close friends.

at first, he wasn’t really into the idea that much. imagine the time the both of you have to spend decorating the house to fit the theme, or even worse, cleaning up after the party? heavens above knew full well what could happen every time you would throw a little occasion at your shared apartment with the boys and your friends. honestly, why spend so much time when the two of you could just have a normal gathering for hallo-

“honey, can you please get those balloons up there for me? my hands are quite full.”

your voice interjected his thoughts, shaking his head mentally to regain his consciousness back to reality to see you pointing up at one of the many shelves of the halloween store the both of you had walked in earlier.

he couldn’t help but to release an amused chortle at the sight of your hands filled with the many decorations, wondering to himself just how long has he been in his mind to have failed to notice you picking up every halloween themed decor your eyes landed on. taking some of the decor from your hands to give your tired arms a little relief, your lover reached up to grab on the balloons that you had mentioned, noting how it had little bat patterns from the little picture printed right at the front of the package.

“just how many more decorations do you need to get?” he grumbled, now following you as soon as you started to move once he grabbed the said item in his hands.

“until we have enough, you grump.” you giggled just before stopping in front of the section just where the many pumpkin shaped candy buckets were displayed, eyes shooting up to meet with seonghwa’s unamused ones.

you knew that the idea of halloween would be at your boyfriend’s distaste, but you had completely understood the reason why due to the fact that he never really celebrated the occasion throughout his childhood. hence, why he had seemed to look rather reluctant to hold the party you had suggested. and with you being a huge enthusiast of the said holiday, you were determined to give him the best halloween he had ever celebrated in his life during the party tomorrow.

so, here you are, in the middle of the store shopping for halloween decorations with your grump of a boyfriend.

seonghwa merely shook his head yet you could see the faintest of smiles playing over his lips as you stuck your tongue in his direction, yet he continued to follow you around the store, eyes busying themselves by looking at the various decor the store had provided. it would be a lie to say he wasn’t impressed with the amount of choices the place had.

it took the both of you a little while more to finally walk out of the store, seonghwa offering to carry the bags in your hands. but the both of you knew deep down, your boyfriend merely wanted to hold your hand in his as the both of you made your way to the grocery store before going home.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“love, i'm going to check on the cookies in the oven for a bit. can i trust you to not fall off the ladder while you do this?”

seonghwa asked, his hands resting on your waist to steady yourself on the small step ladder as you busied yourself by hanging the bat patterned balloons on the wall in the living room. smiling, you leaned down to press a quick kiss against your lover’s lips, to which he returned almost out of reflex.

by now, almost the entirety of the living room somehow managed to look like a haunted house you had initially wanted to do. the window panes were decorated with fake spiderwebs, a couple of big toy spiders being stuck on said webs. the doorway had a huge sticker of some type of graveyard with a haunted manor next to it being stuck along the walls. and the night before, seonghwa and you had decorated the ceilings with the orange and black streamers.

“don’t worry about me, honey. it’s not like i could hurt myself.” you chided, seonghwa deadpanning at your words before slowly releasing his hold on your waist.

“says the one who slipped in the shower earlier.” he retorted, eyeing the little bruise on your skin, just a little above your knee.

seonghwa simply chuckled afterwards upon catching sight of your playful pout as you sulked, mumbling that it was somehow… the tiled floor’s fault for being too slippery in the morning. with a roll of his eyes, your boyfriend lightly gave your bum a light pat before making his way into the kitchen, you watching his retreating figure before moving your gaze to the wall, remembering your initial intent earlier on.

carefully leaning up on your tiptoes, you gently attempted to stick the balloons against the wall with the tip of your tongue peeking out of the corner of your lips, a habit of yours whenever you were placing your full concentration towards something. this one, being the bunch of balloons.

leaning back ever so slightly, your irises were set on the position of the balloon, making sure they were in the symmetrical position as the ones next to it. your lips pursed themselves in distaste as the position was a tad lower than you thought, leaning back in to fix the position to make them hang just a little higher from the current position.

however, you seemed to have leaned a little more than you intended to as you lost your footing on the step ladder, letting out a little shriek as your eyes shut instinctively, waiting for the impact to come. yet, it never came. instead, a pair of hands were quick to rest themselves on your waist, effectively breaking your fall.

“i really can’t leave you alone now, can i?” a deep voice reached within your ears, an eye peeking open to look at your savior.

you merely smiled sheepishly up at your lover, encircling an arm around his neck before pulling yourself up to press a gentle kiss on his lips, murmuring a small apology against his lips. with a shake of his head, seonghwa gently lifted you off of the ladder, setting you down on the floor instead.

“why don’t you decorate the cookies while i finish up here, hm? i know that you’ve been wanting to do so when we started baking them earlier on.” he mused, expression softening up at the sight of your features perking up.

with a playful salute, you made your way into the kitchen, seonghwa shaking his head at your antics as a tiny chortle left his plump lips as he started to fix whatever you had left.

it was after a little over half an hour, that the living room was finally done, filled with the various halloween themed decorations being put up by the both of you while the little snack section in the room had plenty of food the invited guests later on tonight. both of your hands rested on your hips as you stood next to seonghwa to give the living room one more glance, a proud grin spreading itself over your lips at the sight.

“now that this is done, i think it’s finally time we get our costumes on!” you chimed, earning a confused look from your lover.

“but we don’t have costumes?” he asked, tone full of confusion at your sudden claim. but with the way your eyes twinkled with the familiar mischief in them, he knew that you had something hidden up your sleeve.

“i may or may not have bought a matching costume for the both of us tonight.”

“love, i-”

but i swear it’s not anything bad!” you quickly added just before your boyfriend could protest.

clasping your hands together and putting them underneath your chin, you gave your lover your best puppy-eyed look.

“please, honey? just this once. if you don’t like it, we don’t have to do it again. i promise!” you pleaded, palms now pressed against your lover’s chest as you still kept the certain gaze on his own serious ones.

seonghwa stared at you in silence for a few seconds before emitting a low sigh out of defeat, leaning down to brush his lips against your forehead with his arms encircling your waist. of course, he just couldn’t say no. especially not when you looked like a kicked puppy with your pleading.

“fine, but if i don’t like it, i won’t do it again.” he grumbled, you giggling in return.

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“woah, seonghwa is one lucky man!” wooyoung exclaimed.

the boys had come surprisingly early to your place. you cooing and giggling at the boys’ costumes. hongjoong as a pirate, mingi, yeosang and yunho as hogwarts students, san as a doctor from his favourite drama that he kept impersonating, wooyoung as a police officer, while jongho went as a zombie.

upon seeing seonghwa all dressed up as soon as they walked in, the boys couldn’t help but to tease him, the woosan duo playfully asking if he was allergic to garlic, much to your amusement.

it didn’t take long after that for the other invited guests arriving.

you couldn’t help but to laugh sheepishly as you felt seonghwa wrapping his arm around your waist while the two of you went around giving the guests the food you had prepared earlier. the both of you were dressed in a matching vampire costume, as cliche as it looked.

yet, no matter how cliche it was, the both of you somehow managed to pull off the costume well judging by the compliments you received tonight as you interacted with the guests.

“might i say that you look good tonight, my love.” you heard him whisper into your ear as the both of you made your way back to the kitchen to refill the snacks, you lightly bumping your hip against his.

“likewise, honey.” you winked, bringing the bowl of chips back into the living room while seonghwa stayed back in the kitchen to work on another batch of punch.

arriving to the little food section you had set up, you made sure to clean up some of the spills that had somehow gotten on the cloth of the table until you heard someone clearing up their throat behind you. turning around, your gaze was met with one of your close friends’ friend, kim hyunjae. the both you weren’t entirely close but the both of you shared a few classes on campus.

“oh, hyunjae! i didn’t know you came.” you grinned after throwing away the used napkin into the little trash can next to the table.

“oh i came with donghyun.” your lips formed into a small ‘o’, realising that this was the friend one of your close friends had mentioned he was bringing on the way here.

“plus, i haven’t seen you much lately.” the male playfully pouted as he nudged your side, causing you to laugh.

“sorry, sorry. been busy with my assignments, ya know?” you retorted.

and with that, the both of you started talking and catching up with whatever had happened before this party. occasionally, the both of you would share a series of laughter at whatever joke he had said.

unbeknownst to you, a certain pair of eyes watched both of you quietly from the side as he kept a close eye on you, smiling faintly to himself at the sight of you enjoying the night. however, he couldn’t help but notice the other’s eyes glancing down at your body.

seonghwa thought that they were only a mere coincidence of some sort but with how many times he caught the other kept glancing a little too often, along with the slight uncomfortable expression on your features as the other stepped a little too close to you yet you continued to ramble whatever the topic you were talking about, seonghwa knew that he needed to step in.

while you were busily talking, seonghwa crept up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, feeling you jump ever so slightly before relaxing as you realised who it was. smiling at the feel of his pair of lips pressing against the top of your head, you tilted your head up as an attempt to meet his gaze.

instead of the usual warm pair of eyes, you were met with serious ones, yet they were focused on the young man in front of you. it was a look you knew too well.

as if feeling awkward, hyunjae excused himself saying that he wanted to find his friend, bowing his head before leaving the two of you alone.

with a roll of your eyes, you turned around in seonghwa’s arms to wrap your own around his neck, seonghwa merely sent you a gentle smile with a shrug of his shoulders, slightly swaying the both of you in place to whatever song that was playing through the speakers.

“are you enjoying the party, honey?” you murmured, a hand reaching out to give his cheek a gentle caress.

turning his head, seonghwa brushed his lips against the skin underneath your wrist. “except for whatever had happened just now, i surprisingly am enjoying the party.”

those words were enough to make you grin brightly, leaning up to quickly press a chaste kiss upon his plump lips that just can’t get enough of, emitting a low squeak from the gentle squeeze on your waist.

it might not be an overly interesting way of celebrating halloween with you, but seonghwa knew just how much halloween meant for you with how your features brightened up throughout the whole remaining hours of the party.

who knows? he might even dress up again next year with you.

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