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#pandemic relief bill
dreamlogic · 2 months
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2024 year of charlie gets a fucking break (hopefully. maybe. tbd.)
#ctxt#i'm on medication that's reduced my post-hysterectomy pain by about 70%#i have an intake appointment with a physical therapist in march & a referral to start trigger point injections#to hopefully finally recover as completely as possible from the nightmarish neuropathy that's plagued me since uuuhhhh#going on 2 years ago. holy shit. genuinely can't believe i've been surviving & functioning as well as i have for this long#while suffering a disabling & extremely painful surgical complication. fuck my original surgeon for brushing me off during that time#but the new provider i'm working with is so responsive & thorough in her approach & seems genuinely committed#to helping me finally get relief after all this time. she listens to my feedback & is flexible in her approach#and her assistant is a great communicator who's been handling most of the logistics of care coordination for me#and what a huge fucking relief that is. to not have to drag my doctors kicking & screaming towards maybe treating me eventually#i wanna cry. i finally feel like i'm being taken seriously and cared for. and i'm not BETTER yet (might never be the same as i was pre-op)#but i actually feel optimistic for the first time in over a year that i won't just have to deal with this agonizing pain on my own forever#i might actually see enough improvement that i can start to get back to living my life instead of just surviving it#money is tighter than it's been since i got laid off during early pandemic and that's stressing me out#but i promised myself that i would put my health first in 2024 and that means only working the bare minimum needed to pay my bills for now#genuinely i so fucking needed a break. i felt like i was trying to swim through a meat grinder last year#and it wasn't until i ended up in the ER about it that i finally was able to take my own pain seriously enough#to put my foot down & make some necessary changes that are now letting me focus on Getting Well With Myself at last#in hindsight it's like. really freaking me out how thoroughly i was able to compartmentalize & dissociate from how miserable i was#bc nobody who had the ability to help me would take me seriously & my shitty boss was like. extremely textbook emotionally abusive#and on one hand that was a survival mechanism that kept me on my feet during one of the worst times of my life. so props to myself there#but it was also very maladaptive how long & unnecessarily it went on before i snapped out of it & escalated things for my own safety#it was the same helpless frustration i often felt as a kid of like 'well nobody is on my side but me so i gotta suck it up & help myself'#and i think the family trauma shit that was going on last year definitely contributed to that. idk sense of doubling across time?#and things had to get Extremely Bad before they were bad enough for me to realize that although i felt like it#i am no longer an isolated & parentified island of a child who is beholden to the whims of ignorant & indifferent adults#i actually can and should take action to advocate for myself bc i am an adult and i CAN now change my circumstances as needed#instead of just enduring them as if i'm stuck there with no agency or chance to change things#and i have a really solid support system who helped me feel like it was possible to stand up for myself to get the help i desperately need#chronic blogging
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fans4wga · 8 months
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August 4 - Hollywood Food Insecurity Spikes Amid Strikes
The entertainment industry’s most vulnerable workers are increasingly unable to feed themselves amid a historic double strike with no clear end in sight, according to non-profits tasked with addressing the food insecurity crisis. They describe Hollywood’s ongoing work stoppage — prompted by the contractual impasse between the writing and acting guilds on one side and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on the other — as a humanitarian emergency broadly affecting the community, not just striking union members.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which runs pantries for those in need throughout the county, attributes a meaningful portion of its nine percent uptick in year-over-year distribution to the strikes’ impact. “When income stops immediately, the demand rises very rapidly,” explains chief development officer Roger Castle.
“This is happening right after the pandemic, which drained a lot of people’s savings,” observes Keith McNutt, executive director at the Entertainment Community Fund, which has distributed $3 million to more than 1,500 workers as of Aug. 1. “So, you have the financial burden on people who’ve already been depleted.” As a result, his organization — whose donors include Seth McFarlane, Steven Spielberg, and Greg Berlanti — has seen an unprecedented wave of immediate requests for basic living expenses, including groceries. “Before this started, we would do about 50 grants out of the L.A. office a week. Now we’re getting 50 applications a day.”
On July 28, below-the-line unions IATSE and the Teamsters Local 399 held a drive-through food drive for industry members affected by the strikes at IATSE’s West Coast headquarters in Burbank. It drew about a thousand vehicles throughout the day.
According to the relief nonprofit Labor Community Services, which helped to organize the event and is planning another in August, the organization distributed 1,740 food boxes, feeding an estimated 8,700 people, that day.
In California, striking workers are ineligible to receive unemployment assistance, while nationally, they cannot receive SNAP food benefits unless they qualified pre-strike — something Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is aiming to change with a new bill, introduced July 27. One place that striking actors in particular can turn to for help during the work stoppage is the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which offers emergency financial assistance and other resources, including grocery store gift cards, to union members. SAG-AFTRA made a seven-figure donation to the Foundation early in its strike to assist these efforts. (The WGA West does provide its own members with emergency financial loans from its strike fund and Good and Welfare fund.)
Cyd Wilson, its executive director, has seen an explosion in demand for the organization’s help. “People are making these decisions: Should pay my rent, or should I put food on the table? Should I put food on the table, or should I pay my utilities?” she explains. “There’s a great deal of suffering that’s happening.” By Wilson’s estimate, the foundation is now handling 40 times its typical number of applications per week, and it has already distributed as much in grants since the beginning of the WGA’s strike three months ago as it typically would in the span of a given year.
Meanwhile, Groceries for Writers, a direct aid project administered by Humanitas, a non-profit focused on film and television writers, has distributed more than 1,100 gift cards to WGA members since the onset of its work stoppage in early May. Humanitas executive director Michelle Franke says that “many of these writers have left notes indicating they’re in very urgent financial situations. Writers describe struggling with student debt, falling into eligibility gaps with CalFresh and EDD [state unemployment assistance], eviction notices, writing teams splitting low pay, having only just moved to Los Angeles and not having a large local support network as a consequence, dwindling savings.”
Groceries for Writers is hardly alone in addressing the growing need. In July, L.A.’s World Harvest Food Bank founder and CEO Glen Curado estimated to The Hollywood Reporter that his organization, which is offering free food to striking writers and actors, was serving an average of 150-200 members of this group per day. That effort was inspired by The Price Is Right host Drew Carey’s gesture of paying for all striking writers dining at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank and L.A.’s Swingers Diner for the duration of the work stoppage.
THR asked both the AMPTP and the talent unions whether they bear any responsibility for the worsening situation. In a statement, a spokesperson for the AMPTP said: “Like those negotiating on behalf of the guilds, representatives from the AMPTP and its member companies came to the table in good faith, wanting to reach an agreement that would keep the industry working and prevent the hardships caused by labor strikes.” SAG-AFTRA didn’t respond to a request for comment, while a WGA spokesperson said in a statement: “The public knows that working people are putting everything on the line in order to negotiate a fair deal with the studios who have caused this strike and the resultant suffering by refusing to address the reasonable proposals that writers brought to the table over 90 days ago.” Neither the AMPTP itself nor any of its major studio and streamer members responded when THR asked if the companies or their philanthropic arms had made any contributions specifically to address the industry’s food insecurity crisis since May.
Support staffers — early-career workers who fill roles such as assistants and coordinators and tend to be low-paid — are especially at risk at this time. “So much of the compensation that they receive is, no one’s going to say it, but it’s implied to be food-based,” notes Liz Hsiao Lan Alper, the co-founder of advocacy group Pay Up Hollywood and a WGA West board member. Alper says that support staffers are often paid the “bare minimum” but access complimentary food through writers’ rooms, craft services on sets or in agency kitchens and conference rooms. And so, when the strikes occurred, the need was “overwhelming,” she explains: “It’s invisible compensation that just went away when the work stoppages happened.”
For that reason, on June 7 Pay Up Hollywood relaunched its COVID-19-era Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund. So far, the fund has distributed around $45,000 in one-time financial need grants up to $1,000 apiece, according to organizer and support staffer Alex Rubin, who says she’s encouraged support staffers to obtain free food distributed on picket lines. “I think that there is a little bit of embarrassment and insecurity about not being able to feed yourself,” she says. “It is the reason why we give our grants as just like, ‘Here’s a one-time grant. You don’t have to tell us how you want to use this.’”
Helping people in entertainment with food during work stoppages is a “tangible message,” says James Costello, a Teamsters Local 399 driver and an IATSE Local 44 prop master, who was volunteering at IATSE’s July 28 food drive. A second-generation Teamster, Costello still remembers a union strike in the 1980s that prompted his parents to warn their children that their Christmas holiday would be affected that year, and the Teamsters emergency relief that arrived in the fall, offering groceries and a Christmas tree.
As the strikes drag on and both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have yet to formally reprise negotiations with the AMPTP (although the Writers Guild is set to have a preliminary meeting with the studios’ organization on Aug. 4), the non-profits on the front lines of the industry’s food-insecurity crisis are girding themselves for a long period of need. SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Wilson says it’s pursuing a “very aggressive fundraising strategy” to meet the demand. (Already, it’s netted over $15 million in emergency assistance from stars like George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon and Dwayne Johnson, who are donating $1 million or more apiece.)
The Entertainment Community Fund’s McNutt notes that pocketbook pain will outlast the current conflict. “Just because the strike ends, it doesn’t mean the need will end. Everyone doesn’t go back to work the next week. We’re going to be looking at this [elevated] level of need for months afterward.”
Give to the Entertainment Community Fund
Give to Humanitas' Groceries for Writers
Give to the Green Envelope Grocery Aid mutual aid fund
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Universities secretly sold their students to online casinos
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End-stage capitalism’s defining characteristic is making money rather than making things. Think of how Jack Welch destroyed GE by transforming it from a manufacturing company to a financial engineering shop:
https://the.ink/p/like-capitalism-itself-business-journalism
Hospitals are invoice-generating factories with a sideline in medicine. The electronic health record only incidentally records your health. Its primary purpose is to record your billing-codes:
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/physicians-spending-nearly-2-hours-a-day-on-ehr-tasks-outside-work.html
And universities? Ugh. Most universities now have more administrators than faculty:
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2022/08/administrative-bloat-harms-teaching-and-learning/
Much of that “administration” comes down to begging alums for money to funnel into vast endowments, but heaven forfend those endowments would be used to cover payroll and other essentials, even in a pandemic emergency:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/reneemorad/2020/04/21/harvard-under-fire-for-accepting-nearly-9-million-in-coronavirus-relief-funds/
Nor are endowment funds available to pay the education workers who actually teach students, but can’t afford the rent, food, or family:
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/11/14/nearly-50000-university-of-california-graduate-student-employees-launch-open-ended-strike/
The point of the endowment is to increase the size of the endowment — not to improve educational outcomes or research. That’s why Harvard is “A hedge fund that has a university”:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-hedge-fund-that-has-a-university-1510615228
This is the overwhelming logic of capital: capital exists to increase capital, and the underlying mechanism for that increase is irrelevant. This was the reasoning behind the surreal bid to sell the .ORG nonprofit registry to a secretive hedge-fund.
The point of the .ORG registry is to host domain records for nonprofits; incidentally, this throws off some extra money that is turned into grants for public interest projects. The board decided to sell off .ORG so it could make more of these grants, despite the fact that this would compromise the mission of hosting .ORG domain records:
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/org-domain-registry-sale-ethos-capital-rejected-stunning-victory-public-interest
Likewise, this was the reasoning of the Mountain Equipment Co-Op board when they decided to sell off the member-owned co-op (“the most trusted brand in Canada”) to a US private equity fund without consulting the members:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/16/spike-lee-joint/#casse-le-mec
The expand-capital-at-all-costs mindset is a virulent species of brain worms. It’s the basis for surreal movements like effective altruism, which encourages people who want to do good for the world to sell out to the most toxic industries on Earth, amass gigantic fortunes, and then, upon their death, donate them to causes that in some way remediate the harms they themselves wreaked:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earning_to_give
In his new book Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff calls this “The Mindset” — “I need to make vast amounts of money, no matter what the consequences, or I will not be able to afford to insulate myself from the consequences of how I made all that money”:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/13/collapse-porn/#collapse-porn
Once you let people with The Mindset anywhere near your institution, they will take it over and turn it into a paperclip-maximizing killing machine, one that abandons and then betrays its mission to increase its profits, eventually killing its host. Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop:
https://doctorow.medium.com/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-will-eventually-stop-110ba9711133
That’s what’s happened to higher ed. It’s not just the payroll full of starving adjuncts, facilities workers, etc. It’s not just the way that universities join forces with textbook monopolists to gouge their students:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/07/markets-in-everything/#textbook-abuses
Beyond academics having to rely on food-stamps, students going into lifetime debt to enrich predatory textbook monopolies, and the other horrors of financialized higher ed, there’s the special evil of college sports.
Like all finance-bro motivated reasoning, college sports are sold as a way to do well by doing good: “Look! We’re giving poor people a chance at a great education based on their physical prowess, and we’re racking up tons of money for the university!”
But — like all finance schemes — college sports is a self-licking ice-cream cone that destroys the lives of the people who generate value for it, even as it devours its host institution from within.
Did you know that until very recently, college athletes weren’t allowed to make a penny from their labor?
https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/06/in-unanimous-ruling-court-agrees-with-athletes-that-ncaa-violated-antitrust-laws/
Did you know that those same athletes experience lifelong brain injuries?
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2791303
Did you know that college sports are a cesspit of long-term, officially tolerated sexual abuse?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/30/ohio-state-michigan-doctors-sexual-abuse-college-football
Did you know that the highest paid public employee in many states is a football coach at a state college?
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/highest-paid-college-football-coaches-2022/
Did you know that college coaches conspired with the rich parents to steal sport-related admission slots from poor kids and give them to mediocre winners of the orifice-lottery?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsity_Blues_scandal
In many universities — whether public or private — the sports program effectively runs the show. Take the University of New Hampshire: back in 2016, a university librarian named Robert Morin left his life’s savings to the school after 50 years of service. Morin lived frugally for that half century and amassed a personal fortune of $4m.
He believed so deeply in the university’s mission that he turned it all over to the school without any restrictions. Talk about earning to give! The university blew Morin’s gift on a new jumbotron for their sports stadium:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/09/16/university-to-buy-1-million-football-scoreboard-with-thrifty-librarians-money-outraging-critics/
The people who see universities as inconvenient adjuncts to exploitative sports teams know that there are still rivals within higher ed who think the point of the school is to educate students.
That’s why the universities that arranged to allow sports gambling websites to target the young people in their care did so in secret.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/business/caesars-sports-betting-universities-colleges.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhlSVUZAybfQMMmqBCdnr_EybEnj2XlaTONTixe1KEfDpSc-kHCILdlZsU-xS-aWN5MK_okQ_h2w-BSJAptVwys6NOiqagyHh8U-8i1T39kmNXER6w5-jvnKWDmIe5ymOTn-hvbbzH1XKzbg2lxIVpvvZY2d12t3yMDwKmVFfVnmYUrhYdXDZ54TT8KZiWY7bK_W1glZoLwPlyL4RI2WupZRTnQgdWfjrsCew5TAl7FJ2httSd-sJgPfYNKY9usakIoa8H8gr4OCmd3LYvPBpQ5RILck70Coqf9dPDE9RFVhqXegnp2EK4F
Writing for the New York Times, Anna Betts, Andrew Little, Elizabeth Sander, Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly and Walt Bogdanich reveal the extraordinary corruption and depravity of college administrators who colluded with sports book companies to bring gambling to campus.
Implicated in the scandal are such top schools as Michigan State, U Colorado Bolder, Louisiana State, Syracuse and Texas Christian Univeristy (mission: “to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens”).
On the casino side, the major player is Caesar’s, which is only fitting — Caesar’s was driven to bankruptcy by private equity who managed to financialize a casino into ruin:
https://www.ft.com/content/a0ed27c6-a2d4-11e7-b797-b61809486fe2
Caesar’s offered universities millions of dollars for the right to directly sports betting to students. The MSU deal, brokered by university officials Paul Schager and Alan Haller, was worth $8.4m. That is to say, Caesar’s was asking the university to help it drain at least $8.4m from students’ bank accounts in order to turn a profit.
Louisiana State U did a similar deal with Caesar’s, and then embarked on a direct marketing campaign to sell sports gambling to students who were too young to legally place a bet.
LSU says this was a mistake. Cody Worsham, a university official who holds two offices — associate athletic director and chief brand officer (!!) — said that Caesar’s and LSU “share a commitment to responsible, age-appropriate marketing.”
Meanwhile, U Colorado Boulder struck a deal where it earned a $30 bounty every time a student went from non-gambler to gambler — in other words, Boulder didn’t make money by advertising gambling to students — it made money only if its students started gambling.
These student gambling programs are designed to keep children betting even if they lose money, with teaser offers that refund some losses if students keep placing bets.
This is obviously unsavory stuff. That’s why the architects of these programs went to enormous lengths to keep it secret. The state schools involved funneled their deals through private marketing agencies that were shielded from FOIA requests, specifically to prevent the public from learning how public universities were conducting their affairs.
As MSU executive associate athletic director Paul Schager put it: “With the multimedia rights holder, public institutions like Michigan State no longer have to disclose all those sponsorship deals. This helps with the sponsors being able to spend what they feel is appropriate without having the public or employees or stockholders question that investment.”
The deals themselves are far-reaching. As part of MSU’s Caesar’s deal, tailgate parties before big games would be “Caesarized,” with the casino providing ad-copy for the live announcers to read to attendees. As a figleaf, $25,000 of the millions that MSU received from Caesar’s was earmarked for gambling addiction education.
The deals weren’t just kept secret from the public — they were also hidden from top university oversight. At UC Bolder, the Board of Regents was informed of the deal mere hours before it was announced to the public.
These deals have only been running for a couple months and it’s too soon to chart the long-term harms they’ll create in the student body. But, the Times* notes, there is an one harm that surfaced almost immediately: student athletes are now subject to vicious abuse by their fellow students, who lose money they can’t afford when their peers lose a game.
[Image ID: A gaudy casino floor. In the foreground is a figure in college graduation robes giving a double thumbs-up. His head is a grinning skull with a mortarboard.]
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saywhat-politics · 5 months
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced to prison a former Florida state legislator who catapulted to national attention for being the sponsor of a bill barring classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity that was called by its critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Former Rep. Joe Harding (R-Williston), who plead guilty in March to one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain a $150,000 federal Covid-19 relief loan, was sentenced to four months in prison.
Former Florida Rep. Joe Harding plead guilty to one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. | Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
By GARY FINEOUT
10/19/2023 07:03 PM EDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced to prison a former Florida state legislator who catapulted to national attention for being the sponsor of a bill barring classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity that was called by its critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Former Rep. Joe Harding (R-Williston), who plead guilty in March to one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain a $150,000 federal Covid-19 relief loan, was sentenced to four months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, also sentenced Harding to two years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Court records show that Harding is scheduled to surrender to authorities on Jan. 29.
“The theft of any amount of taxpayer funds is inexcusable,” said Jason Coody, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Florida, in a statement. “However, the defendant’s deceptive acts of diverting emergency financial assistance from small businesses during the pandemic is simply beyond the pale. Today’s sentence both punishes the defendant’s criminal conduct and should serve as a significant deterrent to others who would selfishly steal from their fellow citizens to unlawfully enrich themselves.”
Harding was first elected to the state House in 2020 from a north central Florida seat that includes parts of Marion County. He resigned from the Legislature last December, one day after a federal grand jury indictment against him was unsealed.
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Strange Situation
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Male Reader X Red Velvet Kang Seulgi
Length: 14.7k+
Tags: High school crush, Creampie.
TW; bullying and violence
A/N- This fic took me so much longer than it should have but I finally finished it. It is now my longest fic ever and I'm a little proud of that.
Time flies. Have you heard the expression before? Because it’s honestly true. You can’t help feeling a sense of nostalgia, but it’s quite best to explain why. 
Currently, in life you are comfortable. You had your dream job as a graphic designer, for a top-of-the-line company. Working with such a great company the monetary compensation was quite nice, being able to buy your own dream home. Sure it was not as grandiose as others, but the two-room two bath home was just perfect for you alone. 
Yes, alone. Although you had these great things in your life, there was no one to share them with. The main reason is you’re a dork. Most first dates end up with girls leaving, disappointed with who you were not your looks. Oh well, nothing you can do to change your personality. 
It was an average Friday after work. You just parked your vehicle in the garage and stepped out. Making way to the entrance of your home you stop yourself from entering through the side garage door, remembering the mail. Walking out the garage gate, your legs pull you closer to the black mailbox until you are in front of it. Opening the mailbox you can see its normal grocery store fliers as well as a few letters. Pulling them out you close the mailbox and walk to the front door, entering your passcode as the door unlocks. 
Walking into your home gives you a sense of relief, and relaxation, as you enter the living room. Kicking off your shoes you sit down on your couch as you reach for the tv remote and turn it on. The light from the tv fills the room as you hear the sound of laughter fill the room from your tv. Slowly your hand puts down most of the mail you got as you go one by one opening each envelope. 
Bills bills bills and bills. That’s the one thing you can always count on getting in the mail. After looking through those documents and paying them no mind you see there is a final letter in the pile. In the right-hand corner, the insignia from your old school is present on it. 
A bit of hesitation hits as your hand reaches out for the letter. Pushing through the worries you had, your hand finally picks it up and rips open the white envelope. Pull out the paper inside you see its written document that has a few choice words standing out, HIGH SCHOOL REUNION. 
Greetings Gal Munhee. We here at Seoul Regional High hope you have been well. Five years have quickly passed and it is now time for the high school reunion. We do realize this is a bit earlier than usual but we feel after this pandemic we all might want to reconnect with others and what a perfect way than with the reunion. The reunion will be on July third and we hope to see you there. 
Sincerely, the faculty at Seoul Regional High. 
Just reading that entire letter made your heart nearly explode. The reason? You were an even bigger dork in high school. The constant teasing is what you can remember the most. It’s happened so often that you became numb to it but it still affected your life choices from there forward. 
You got yourself in better shape as well as got a makeover with those little teases always staying in the back of your mind. 
Looking at the date you saw it was June ninth, three weeks before the reunion. Maybe you got this letter pretty late but this was on short notice for sure. The question now was, are you going to go to it? 
Sure it’s been a while and you have done pretty well in life but there was still stuff you can imagine they will mock you for. The main thing that came to mind was the lack of a partner in life after all this time. Should you do it?
That question was answered as you made a quick text to your boss letting him know you will be absent that day from work. Looks like you got a lot of planning to do in the weeks coming up. 
June 16th 
That date just echoes in your head as you take a glance at your phone. A week has passed since you got the letter and you have spent the last few days after work getting new clothes for the reunion. With a brand new suit and such at home. 
The sound of typing could faintly be heard throughout the floor as the work day was coming to its end. 
“Ehm.”
Looking to the side you quickly found the source of the coughing, your best friend and coworker Wendy. 
“Oh noona. Are you all done with your work?” 
“You know me. I’m always ahead of others. Now let’s go eat. I feel like stuffing my face with some chicken and beer.” 
“Eh, I think I’m gonna keep working on the new design for the phone advertisement.” 
“No no no. I don’t want to hear it at all. Get your ass out of the seat and let’s go. You have been working the hardest out of everyone in this department. You need a small break and you're already late either way.” 
The glare that came from Wendy’s face let you know she wasn’t asking, she was telling you what you are about to do. Not wanting to make Wendy wait any longer, you quickly got up from your seat and saved the rest of the work on your desktop. Looking at Wendy you can finally see a smile as she grabs your hand. 
“Let’s go Pabo!” 
Being yanked by your best friend to the elevator just made you laugh. Arriving in front of the elevators you are lucky enough to see a group of people getting off your floor. Entering the elevator your finger presses the button to go down to the lobby. No longer holding your hand, Wendy begins to jump up and down, excited to be out of work. 
The elevator ride from the twenty-fifth floor goes by in a flash as the doors open to the lobby. Wendy begins to run out of the elevator as you follow behind her, running as well. After saying Goodnight to the guard at the desk, you walked over to your vehicle and jumped in with Wendy getting in the passenger seat. 
Stepping on the break, your hand reaches for the start button on your car as it comes to life. Driving didn’t even take any thinking from you as your mind already knew where to go. Wendy was always a big fan of unwinding after work so chicken and beer were a common thing on the menu for the two of you. 
“Peek-a peek-a-boo!” 
Those words could repeatedly be heard in your car as you and Wendy’s sang your hearts out to the song. A few more minutes pass as the song ends and there is silence in the car. 
“Wendy?” 
“What’s up Munhee? 
“I still think you should quit your job and go become a singer.” 
“You know how complicated it can be trying to become one. Hearing the stories of people trying just discourages me from even trying. Plus I doubt I even have a nice voice.” 
“I don’t want to hear shit about you not having a good voice. I have told you time and time again that you have a voice to make you a star.” 
“I’d rather have a more realistic view on how it will probably go.” 
All you can do is shake your head a bit disappointed but you understand what she is saying. 
“Well no matter what I’ll always support you noona.” 
You could see a small nod come from Wendy as you look in your peripheral vision. At that same time, you happen to be parking your car on the street, getting ready to go to your usual chicken spot. 
The walk to the shop was quite uneventful as you both set foot in the busy restaurant. All around you can see servers running like crazy. 
“Wendy, Munhee! Sit down anywhere and I will bring over your usual.” 
“Thank you, Mrs.Choi!” 
Seeing that your usual corner is still open, your legs bring you towards the table as you pull back the chair and let Wendy sit down. Going back to your seat you finally sit down as your body relaxes a bit in the restaurant. At that time a waitress runs over with two big mugs of beer and places them in front of the both of you. 
“Thank you!” 
Wendy was the first to grab the mug of beer and bring it to her face. Grabbing your own you begin to chug the beer until your mug is empty. Looking at Wendy you see she drank her whole beer already as well. 
“Two more draft beers please!” 
“Coming!” 
Not even thirty seconds go by as the waitress brings over 2 more glasses of beer. Thanking the woman you grab your fresh mug of beer and begin to drink from it. 
“Jesus. Is it me or do you just seem more stressed than usual?” 
“I’ve been working on the phone advertisement so much that I barely got time to rest and when I have free time I’m going to the mall to buy things I need.” 
“Ok, you have been so secretive about what it is that you will be doing that day off. Tell me.” 
That serious look from earlier returns as you know this was a demand to tell her, not a request. 
“Ok, Wendy I need you to not freak out when I tell you.” 
“No promises now tell—“
“Here’s your chicken, you two. I threw in a few extra pieces just for you two.”
“Oh thank you, Mrs.Choi. You are always so kind to us.” 
“I enjoy seeing the two of you here all the time. I will let you two eat!” 
“Thank you for the meal!” 
Hoping to use this as a distraction you reach for a piece of the Chicken and bite into the drumstick. The crunchiness of the skin has always been one of your fav parts of the chicken here as you continue to take bites into your meal. Taking a small glance towards Wendy you see she has also started eating but remains staring at you, waiting for an answer. 
“We can be here all night, Munhee. Now tell me what it is you need time off for.” 
“Ugh fine. I got a letter in the mail last week.” 
“Ok and?” 
As Wendy raises her glass of beer and starts to drink some, you finally tell her the news.
“It was from our high school and I got invited to the high reunion, so I’m going.” 
Almost as if it was a scene from a tv sitcom Wendy spits out the drink from her mouth and spits it onto your face. 
All you could do is just stand up and stare at Wendy as she ran up to you with some napkins. 
“I’m so sorry!” 
“It’s ok.” 
With a bit of wiping you both manage to clean up the beer that got all over and sit back down. 
“What do you mean you are going to the high school reunion?” 
“I’m gonna go. It’s in 2 weeks and I have been getting myself a nice suit and dress shirt to go with.” 
“I get what you are saying but why on earth would you ever go to the reunion? I may have been your senior in high school but I always heard of how much you got teased.” 
“Well it’s 5 years later and look at me. I make enough to call myself rich so I’m sure that will account for something when I try to show off a bit.” 
“Munhee, you have nothing to prove to those idiots.” 
“I know I don’t, but this is for myself. I’m doing well in my life and have everything they used to make fun of me for. My older clothes and shoes, not having all the expensive things others did. I have all these things now, well almost everything.” 
“What could you be missing out on?” 
A sigh left your mouth as you picked up your mug of beer. 
“A girlfriend.” 
Just saying that sentence brought your mood down a bit so you chugged your second beer of the night quickly. Slamming the glass down you raised your hand and yelled out for another set of beers. 
Another minute passes by as you munch on another piece of chicken. Wendy follows your lead and eats another piece as she seems to be a bit in thought. When the new mugs of beer appear, Wendy’s takes a sip and looks back at you. 
“I’m just worried if you run into Hwan Minsu. He was the worst of them all and always showed off he was with different girls to rub it in your face.” 
“Knowing him, he will be there ready to try to show off how he is doing. He came from a rich family and didn’t have to work for anything. Plus he will probably have some girl there with him.” 
“Well if being made fun of for not having a partner is your worry then bring a date.” 
“Ok, there is a lot wrong with that sentence. First I don’t have any girl to go with. Second, no girl would want to go on a first date to a high school reunion. Third, even if a girl did agree there is always the chance she straight up leaves me there alone.” 
“Ok yes those are all real scenarios but you should still take someone. I would go with you but I have dinner with my family that night. They are visiting from Canada and don’t want to ignore them.” 
“No no. I would never ask you to come when your parents are visiting. Make sure to tell them I say hi.” 
“Of course but I think I have an idea of what you could do for a date to the reunion.” 
Wendy then reaches back and grabs her purse and pulls out her phone. You don’t interrupt her and wait for a minute until you feel your phone vibrate. Pulling out your phone you see Wendy sent you a text to a website, Rentablelove.com
“Wendy. What did you send me?” 
“Well you want to take a date so why not rent a girlfriend to play the part? I swear I saw this in a drama before and it worked.” 
“Noona, that is literally a TV plot you are trying to get me to copy.” 
“Well, tv writers are smart people. I mean you said you wanted a date and you can just get a great girl if you request one.” 
Now the idea is stuck in your head. 
“Only you, me, and the girl will know. If you are going I want you to leave satisfied that the people who teased you can’t do that anymore.” 
That was the goal you were going for. Guess it didn’t take much convincing as you begin to fill out a request for a girl as you finish your meal. The questions were mostly about what type of girls you like, preferences in looks, and such. Compared to others you didn’t care about much, your only request was a dorky, shy girl. 
This may seem like a weird request, but you have a reason why you asked for a girl like this. The shy dorky girls are usually the nicest. Not only that, they usually have some great Senses of humor. 
“Well then Munhee, looks like you have a date then.” 
“Yeah yeah. I just hope this doesn’t turn out bad for me.” 
“I’m sure it will turn out ok for you. So when do you meet her?” 
Finally pressing enter on your screen, you are taken to a confirmation notice that gives you the details. 
“Well, it says she will come to my house in two days. I’m surprised it didn’t ask for payment yet though. All I did was put in my card information.”
“That will probably come later as you discuss with the girl what it is you need and what is required of her for this job.” 
“Well, then I will see the damage when it happens.” 
“I guess you will but if anything goes wrong don’t be nervous to call me for help ok?” 
“I will noona. Let’s just finish our meals now, ok?” 
“Don’t gotta tell me twice. Oh and you’re paying tonight since I gave you a good idea” 
“Figures.” 
Laughter leaves your table as you both dig back into your meals and beer. The rest of the night goes by in a flash as you drink and eat to your heart's content. After all that you both order an Uber and pass out at your own house until the next work day comes knocking. 
TWO DAYS LATER
You currently found yourself in your home relaxing on the couch after your day at work. Today is the day you meet your rented girlfriend and you are nervous. On your living room table, a glass of soju can be found as well as a used shot glass. Taking hold of the soju bottle you pour yourself one more shot and drink it with no regret. 
“Ok, three shots should be fine. Not a lot but plenty to loosen me up. God, why am I even doing this? Maybe I should just cancel.” 
Knock knock knock 
That choice was now out of the question as this was probably her. Standing up, you quickly hide the soju bottle in your cabinet and run to the kitchen and throw the glass in the sink. 
Knock knock knock
Guess it’s time. Your legs shake a bit as you walk towards the door until you are right in front of it. Reaching for the door handle, you hesitate a bit but know you have kept the girl waiting long enough. Turning the knob you open the door and see a girl with a mask. 
“Hi, are you Gal Munhee?” 
“U-Um yes I am. Are you who I was waiting for?” 
“Well, I sure hope you don’t have another girl coming over. Can I come in?” 
“Yeah, please make yourself at home when you enter.” 
Moving to the side the woman walks through your door, over to your living room. Closing the door, you walk over and see the woman just standing there waiting for you. 
“I know you said to make myself at home but I figured an introduction should be first.” 
At that time the woman begins to reach for her mask as you can’t help but admire her simple outfit, White pants with a white blouse. You also see her hair is in a bun that somehow completes the look. As the woman begins to take off her mask you look to the side a bit nervous but look back just in time to see what she looks like. What you were hit with was a surprise of a lifetime. 
“SEULGI?” 
“Oh, you know my name?” 
“I-Um, well we went to the same high school together. You were a year my senior.” 
“Oh wow, small world.” 
Your heart was racing at this moment. You thought you were nervous before but seeing Seulgi took your butterflies to the next level, why? You had a massive crush on Seulgi throughout all of high school. 
Kang Seulgi. The girl of everyone’s dreams. She was dorky but fun. Kind and caring but you do have to admit she was a bit of a clutz. You took plenty of similar classes as her since you were a smart kid. 
As Seulgi keeps looking at you, a look of surprise hits her as she begins to gasp. 
“Wait, weren't you the kid who always sat in the back of the class? You were a year younger and took harder courses than more students.”
“Um yeah, that was me.” 
“Oh my god, you look so different. No more glasses, as well as a different look with your clothes as well. How have you been?!”
“Oh um, I have been ok. Just been working a lot. Why don’t we just sit down first before we talk?” 
“Oh right. Silly me.” 
Sitting down gets you a bit closer to Seulgi as you can admire her face. Time has done her well as her beauty somehow increased.
“So we need to catch up but I have another meeting with a client after this. This was more to get the details of what you need and such since you already have the base payment.” 
“Oh well—“ 
You don’t even finish your sentence as you begin to think about it. People will probably recognize Seulgi so it’s best to let her know ahead of time so she can refuse to do this if she wants to.
“I- Um I need to be honest with you Seulgi. T-This is for the high school reunion I have in twelve days. I need someone to go with me and pretend to be my partner.”
“Oh wow. Well, I appreciate you telling me this ahead of time. I can still help you with that actually, I don’t mind at all.” 
Hearing those words made you happy as you now had for certain, a girl to bring to the reunion.
“Thank you so much! Is there anything else I need to do for this agreement?” 
“Well, we still have to sign the contract. Let me just pull it out and we will take care of that part of business.” 
At that time Seulgi pulled out a lengthy document from her purse and placed it on the table. Once again you can’t help but be enamored by Seulgi’s beauty. Her eyes were always something that stood out to you when she smiled it was almost as if her eyes disappeared and with the smile she is giving you right now, you can only feel joy seeing that familiar sight. 
You notice that Seulgi’s mouth is moving but you honestly are not listening, just staring. 
“New document but how long do you want the contract for?” 
“Yeah, one.” 
Looking at Seulgi the sound of talking just passed by your ears as you continued to admire her. Your brain starts to pick up Seulgi scrolling through many of the pages till she nods and pushes the documents in front of you. 
Seeing Seulgi handing you a pen, your hand just moves down to the document as you see the line to sign and do exactly that. Seulgi then signs the document as well and places it in her purse. 
“Ok Munhee. The business side is mostly done. You will get an invoice for what the payment will be. As I said I have another appointment to head to so I will come by in a few days so we can start to practice for the reunion.” 
“Y-Yeah. Sounds good, thank you.” 
At that time Seulgi stands up and gives you a quick bow. With a bow back you walk Seulgi to the door as she walks out into the street.
“Probably be here in three days. I will call and let you know ahead of time, ok?” 
“Ok.” 
“It was good to see you Munhee. Have a good rest of your night.” 
“You too.” 
With your goodbyes said, Seulgi walks down the street a bit into a car and drives off. Going back to your living room you can’t believe it’s Seulgi who is going to pretend to be your girlfriend. Maybe luck is on your side now in life, but now you need to just wait three days until you see her again. 
As the three days finally pass you find yourself having a day off, just relaxing at home. Nothing beats the feeling of relaxing in your bed after sleeping in. 
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. 
Well so much for relaxing in bed for a while longer. Putting on your slippers you made your way to the front door as a slight knock started again. Opening the door you are met with a man who holds out a document. 
“Hi, I’m dropping off your invoice. The payment will appear on your card in a few seconds. Have a good day.” 
“Thank you.” 
Closing the door, you begin to walk back towards your living room as you open the document. Your eyes shoot open as you look at the price. 
KNOCK KNOCK KNO—
That third knock didn’t even get to be completed as you swung the door open quickly. Right in front of you was Seulgi, with a look of panic on her face as well. 
“We need to talk now!” 
With a push, Seulgi made her way into your home running towards the kitchen. The sound of your fridge opening gets your attention as you run in that direction. The sight of Seulgi chugging down a beer catches your attention as she puts down the bottle and pops open another. 
“Seulgi, what the fuck was that hundred thousand dollar bill?” 
A look of worry shows up on her face. Just as you are about to ask again, a yell hits your ears. 
“I FUCKED UP!” 
Confusion strikes at how panicked she looks at you. The anger you felt earlier is gone as you are just now concerned about your old classmate. 
“Hey, Seulgi. Calm down and just talk to me. What do you mean it’s your fault?” 
After taking a deep breath Seulgi looks at you and puts her purse on the table. Out of her purse emerges the document you signed a few days ago. 
“This is all my fault and I’m so sorry. Look at the document you signed.” 
As she pushes the forms towards you, your eyes shoot wide open reading the words on the top.
“What?”
“I’m sorry!”
The only thing running through your mind right now was those two words on top, Marriage agreement. 
“S-Seulgi what is this?” 
“It’s what you read, a marriage agreement.” 
Pulling out the chair from the kitchen table you take a seat as Seulgi takes one as well. 
“I think I need a lot more information, Seulgi.” 
With a sigh, Seulgi begins to explain. 
“Well ok, the morning when I was at the head office I spilled my coffee all over myself and needed to change quickly so I ran to the restroom. After I changed, they handed out our clients and documents for the day and grabbed whatever was in front of me as I was already running late due to the coffee mishap. Turns out I grabbed the wrong agreement.”
“Well- I mean I guess that could happen to anyone but that still doesn’t explain what I signed. It’s just an agreement so we can-“
“It’s not just an agreement. These agreements also work as marriage certificates and when our company CEO signs off on it the two parties who signed are married.” 
“Oh so, WAIT WE ARE MARRIED THEN?” 
A nod from Seulgi confirms your statement. Sure being married to Seulgi doesn’t sound bad at all but you can only imagine how she might feel right now. 
“So what do we do now? How can we break the agreement?” 
“Um, that’s the thing. You signed the document so fast and I had never done this with a client before so I didn’t know the clause to break this contract. Go to page two, at the bottom.” 
“Dear lord.” 
Those words just left your mouth before you even saw the terms but Turning over the page nearly made you faint. 
“TEN MILLION DOLLARS?” 
“The terms say it’s a hundred times the price you have to pay. Normally billionaires are the ones who do these kinds of agreements, that’s why it’s so expensive.” 
Sure you had money in the bank being wealthy but you weren’t reaching double digits millions in your savings yet. 
“I don’t have that much money.” 
After you think for a bit you smile and look up towards Seulgi. 
“Hey but this was only for one night you have to pretend to be my girlfriend, well I guess wife now but once the reunion is over our marriage can end.” 
“Go back to page one. Go under the term length.” 
Going back to page one the number one could clearly be seen but it wasn’t for one day. 
“One year?” 
“Turns out these agreements have a minimum of one year so when I put one they assumed it was a year.” 
Everything was just overwhelming at this point. What can you even do now? The choice is obvious right now. Standing up you head to the fridge and pull out 3 packs of beer. Without even saying anything you walk over to the living room and sit down on your couch. Somehow Seulgi even knew what you intended as she got up from her seat and joined you on the couch. 
Grabbing a bottle of beer you take your bottle opener and crack it open. Handing the opener to Seulgi she grabs another beer and cracks it open as well. 
Time somehow passes as a couple of beer bottles can be seen empty and on the living room table. Both you and Seulgi seem a bit drunk but able to have a conversation still. 
“Seulgi. I’m so sorry I got you in this situation. I should have looked at what I signed.” 
“No, I should have looked at what I handed you beforehand. I mean this is my job and I messed this up so bad.” 
Silence fills the room as you both are just in thought. 
It might be the alcohol talking but some words just leave your mouth. 
“I guess we can just be married for a year.” 
Seulgi looks at you surprised and a bit confused but you proceed to keep rambling. 
“We are stuck in this situation but you can just take a year off from working at that company. You can stay here with me since I have a spare room and we can just be like roommates. You still help me on the reunion and you can still get paid for this job.” 
At that moment your “wife” seems to be deep in thought but smiles at you. 
“You know what. Fuck it. Let’s do this.” 
It’s quite shocking that she agreed to this so quickly but you are a bit happy. 
“Ok then. I guess we should get to know each other more these next few days, Seulgi. I can take you to go pick some of your stuff up tomorrow ok?” 
“Ok, that sounds good. For now, let’s just drink these beers and relax after this stressful day we had.” 
All you could do is a nod in agreement as the two of you drink as many beers as your bodies can handle, slowly falling asleep on the couch. 
The next day comes as the loud blaring from your alarm causes you to open your eyes. Pressing the snooze button on your phone, your arms wrap around the soft item in front of you. You couldn’t help but notice it was really warm. Funny enough you begin to feel a pair of arms wrap around you and hold you closer as well. It was a great feeling. Well, it was until you were confused about what you were feeling. 
As you open your eyes they begin to slowly adjust to the light as you notice a figure holding on to you. With a slight headache, you finally remember the night before which was just filled with drinking. The sound of a small grunt gets your attention as Seulgi begins to wake up. Moving your hands quickly, Seulgi feels a bit of a commotion which causes her to shoot her eyes wide open. 
“Um, good morning.” 
“O-Oh, good morning Munhee.” 
Pulling back from the embrace she had on you, Seulgi begins to stand up as she begins to feel the hangover from drinking so much. Reaching for your side table you pull out a bottle of pills for the headache. Grabbing a few pills you throw them into your mouth and then hand the bottle to Seulgi. 
Walking to the kitchen you pull out a bottle of water from the fridge and take down the pills. Grabbing another bottle you hand it to Seulgi as she takes her pills as well. 
“I have spare toiletries in the room you're gonna be staying in. I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee in the meantime.” 
“Sounds good, thank you.” 
Giving Seulgi a nod she makes her way to her new room as you pull out your coffee and put it in the brewer. The sound of coffee being made lets you know it’s time to freshen up as you head to your room. After you do your morning routine, your legs bring you back to the kitchen and see Seulgi already drinking her cup of coffee. 
“I just poured your cup. I hope you don’t mind that I started without you.”
“No no. I guess this is your home now so you should never feel sorry about doing anything here.” 
“Right, my home now. Munhee, are you sure you are ok with all of this? I know we said it was fine but we were kinda drunk when we agreed.” 
“Seulgi. I am one hundred percent sure about this. Plus this can be a bit of a break from that job of yours. Just help me with the reunion and you can just hang out here for a year.” 
“I mean if you are sure about this then ok. I really could use a break from this job after a bit.” 
You wanted to know more but you weren’t gonna push any further about why she felt like that. Either way, you could assume why. 
“I guess we should get you moved in today then. I have nothing to do today so let’s go get your things from your apartment.” 
“O-Oh there is no need for that. I-I can go get my stuff alone!”
“Nonsense. Let’s go right now!” 
Happy to be able to help your Wife, you stood up and grabbed Seulgi excitedly. Jumping in your car you can’t help but notice the slight hesitation as she gets in. Once Seulgi sits down in the car you begin to back out of your driveway and cruise a bit on the street. 
“Just enter your address on my GPS.” 
Again with a bit of hesitation, Seulgi follows what you say and enters her address in the car GPS. Once the directions begin you just follow what the car told you. The car ride is just filled with silence as you just focus on driving. Another twenty minutes pass as you finally arrive in front of a small home.
Stepping out of your vehicle you see Seulgi is already walking towards her front door so you follow. As you two finally get in front of the door you feel a hand grab your arm. 
“Just wait out here and I will come out with some boxes for you to help me with, ok?” 
“I don’t mind go-“ 
“Thanks, just wait here!” 
You didn’t even get to try To ask again as Seulgi unlocked her door and slammed it right in your face. 
“Well, I guess I will just wait.” 
To pass the time you pull out your phone and begin to go over a few emails from work to see how it’s going in the office today. As you are about to open your next email a large bang hits your ears, coming from inside Seulgi’s home. Worry fills your mind as you grab the door handle and rush in. 
Looking around you can’t help but notice it’s a bit of a rundown apartment. It honestly reminded you of your home growing up. Yes, run down a bit but still looks comfy. Seeing Seulgi on the floor you rush over and see she is picking up something that broke. 
“Seulgi, are you alright?” 
“I’m fine, my lamp fell over and broke.” 
A bit of red is on the floor as you see Seulgi cut her finger on the shards. Running over to the kitchen you grab some paper towels and happen to notice a first aid kit sitting on the kitchen table. Grabbing it you rush back over to Seulgi who is picking up the shards with a cardboard box. 
“Show me your hand.” 
“Oh it’s nothing, please don’t worry.” 
“You are bleeding. Of course, I’m gonna worry so please show me your hand.” 
As Seulgi looks at you she sees you are quite worried so she complied and gave you her hand. With one hand you held the back of hers and with another, you opened the first aid kit. From the looks of it, the supplies were running a bit low but everything you needed was there. 
“Ok, I’m gonna clean it with a disinfectant wipe.” 
Opening the wipe you bring it closer to her cut and begin to clean it. 
“Aish that stings.” 
“Something I think we can all relate to. There I’m all done with the wipe now I’ll just put a bandage on it.” 
Grabbing the bandage you open the package and put it over her cut that wasn’t so bad after it got cleaned. 
“I’m guessing you cut yourself often. The first aid kit seems like it’s well used.” 
“I’m not sure you remember but if that Agreement story tells you anything it’s that I’m very clumsy.” 
“Well, I think it’s a very cute quality on yourself.” 
A small blush appears on Seulgi’s face as you wonder how you were able to say that without stuttering. 
“Thank you.” 
After you finish bandaging up her hand, you help Seulgi stand up and then take a look around her living room. 
“This is why I didn’t want you to come in. I know this is a shitty little home compared to the one you own.” 
“Do you think I’m stuck up? Seulgi, remember how I came to school? Old clothes that were ripping, everyone made fun of me for it. I would never judge someone for how their home looks or how much money they have.” 
With a smile, Seulgi wraps you in her arms as you return her embrace. After a minute you pull back from the hug and see Seulgi’s watery eyes. 
“How about we finish packing and then go get something to eat? 
Once you receive a nod from her, the two of you continue to pack her things and load them into your vehicle. Seulgi now seems much more relaxed as the two of you drive into the city. 
“Any idea what you want to eat?” 
Let’s just pick up some fast food and go back home with it. I still need to unpack all my things.” 
“Sounds good” 
Driving to the nearest McDonald’s, you make your way to the drive-thru and order a variety of different items. After paying and grabbing your items you continue your journey back home, finally pulling into your driveway. 
“Ok, the passcode to enter is 7524. You can bring the food into the kitchen and then you help me bring in the boxes.” 
“Got it!” 
Picking up the food, Seulgi makes her way over to your front door and inputs the passcode, opening the door. As she heads in, you manage to grab two of the five boxes and head towards the front door. At that time Seulgi comes back out and heads to the car to grab boxes. After dropping off the boxes in her room Suelig enters and does the same. With one last trip, you get the final box and place it in her room. 
“Well with that out of the way, LETS EAT!” 
A cheer from Seulgi lets you know she’s on board with that. Arriving at the kitchen table, you both sit down and begin to pull out all the different food you ordered. The sound of crunching is all that can be heard from the crispy fries you got. Maybe this is a good time to talk about the reunion. 
“Seulgi. Maybe we should get information on each other so we can prepare for the reunion.” 
“Oh yeah, that’s fine. I guess I will start talking about myself if you don’t mind.” 
“Go ahead.” 
“Well, this will be my cover-up story. Went to Seoul university and graduated as a business major and now work in a bank in the city.” 
“Ok well, I went to A smaller college in the city just called Royal university. Unlike its name, it was a small and rundown building. It wasn’t the best but I managed to get my degree in graphic design. After school ended some of my professors who had connections to the tech industry showed off some of my work to a major tech company and they hired me because of their recommendation. With a bit of time, I made my way as one of the head supervisors in the company for the design division. That’s all that has happened to me in those years. I’ve been rambling a lot right? I’m sorry for the information overload.” 
“No no. The more information the better. I have such a basic story because when we meet with our former classmates it’s all gonna be about you. I want to keep the focus on you and how you are doing in life.” 
“Oh ok. Then how did we meet since we weren’t at the same college?” 
“Easy, you walked into my bank to do some business. We recognized each other and decided to catch up as I was just about to get off work. Then we go with the typical butterflies filling both of our stomachs and you asked me on a date. After a year and a half of dating, we decided to move to the next step and got married at a courthouse. That will help explain if people ask for wedding photos.” 
“Wow, for not doing the whole marriage agreement thing before you are pretty good at it.” 
“Well, it’s the same when people ask for you to pretend to be their girlfriend. You need to come up with a story.” 
“I see. So now that we got the big information out of the way I’m curious, how did you get into this line of work.” 
The smile Seulgi had before disappeared as she looked down. 
“It all started with the death of my parents, a car accident.” 
“I’m so sorry.” 
“It’s ok. With the passing of my parents, I no longer had someone to pay for my college tuition. I had never gone for scholarships and such so I had to drop out. With time I lost the house and everything else. Desperate for money I went looking for jobs in all places but most people didn’t want to hire a college dropout.” 
“The world can be so stupid like that. There are plenty of hard-working people willing to learn if you just let them.” 
“Yeah, I know. As time went by I was looking for any source of income and one day I ran into an old school senior. Do you remember Irene?” 
“Yeah, I do actually. Kinda short but had quite the temper?” 
“Yep, that's her. Turns out she had a friend who ran the company that I’m at now. When she told me about what I would be doing I was weirded out but needed money. With hesitation, I went to the company and joined. Sure the pay wasn’t the best but enough to be able to start my life again. Time went by and I finally got a raise so we are getting there but still not a lot.” 
“I see. I’m so sorry all this happened to you. Life can be a juggle. You never really know where you will end up later on in life.” 
“Yeah. And listen I just want to say I’m grateful for you taking care of me for a year. I promise I’m gonna help take care of the home and such when you go to work. I guess I’ll be a good housewife.” 
“You don’t need to call yourself a housewife, Seulgi.”
“Well, we are married so that’s what I am. Also, I think we should get used to calling each other husband and wife and maybe some nicknames.” 
“Oh um sure s-sweetie.” 
The blush on her face becomes apparent as she smiles back at you. 
“Sure h-honey.” 
Continuing to eat your meal the two of you finally finished your lunch. Out of nowhere, a thought comes to mind about something you both need.
“We forgot rings.” 
Seulgi’s eyes shoot open as she runs to you. 
“We need to go get rings. Screw unpacking, let's go!”
Knowing this is important, you left all the trash on your table and ran out to your car. Hoping in, you both made it downtown to the nearest jewelry store. Stepping out of the car, Seulgi runs up to you and grabs your hand. 
“Um, I thought we were gonna get cheap fake rings?” 
“Oh no. I’m getting my wife a proper ring, now let's go.” 
Pulling Seulgi, you enter the jewelry store and are quickly met with an employee. 
“Hi, I’m Joy. Can I help you two?” 
“Yes my wife and I got married at a courthouse but we were so happy about it that we forgot to buy rings. Could you help us get our rings?” 
“Oh of course! Congratulations first of all. Now for your wife, is there anything specific you want to give her as the ring itself? The band after will just be matching with your own.” 
“Well, my wife doesn’t like big flashy things so something with a simplistic design would be great.” 
You knew Seulgi would hate it if you got her a big flash ring from just that conversation outside so you figured just something to clearly state she was taken. 
“I have the perfect ring for you. It’s a brand new ring that we just got. Follow me.” 
Making your way over to a counter, Joy then gets behind the employee area and pulls out a ring, and puts it on the display case. 
“As you can see it’s a nice silver band around with a big diamond on top. At both sides of the band, you find two smaller gems, making it look a bit different than other rings yet keeping a simplistic design.” 
“May she try it on?” 
“Of course!” 
Picking up the ring, Seulgi then raises her hand as you put the ring on her wedding finger. It must have been destiny as the ring was a perfect fit. 
“What do you think, s-sweetie?” 
“It’s perfect. It’s just perfect.” 
“Yeah, I think this will be good. Could we just get some matching silver bands joy?” 
“Certainly.” 
Ten minutes pass as you get your ring size taken and find the perfect pair of bands. After paying three thousand dollars for all the rings, you say your thanks to joy and head back to your car wearing the new accessories. 
“Thank you for the beautiful ring. I know it was expensive but it means a lot.” 
“I told you I would take care of you and I will. Plus it’s an important part of the story. It might take a bit of getting used to wearing but I’m sure it will become normal.” 
“Yeah, I’m sure too. Now let’s head home so I can unpack.” 
“Sounds good Seul.” 
You take a glance at Seulgi to see if she’s ok with you calling her that famous smile of hers to let you know it’s fine. 
A couple of days passed as you currently found yourself at work. Sitting down in the break room you pull out your lunch, ready to eat the basic sandwich you always pack but you are hit with a surprise. Inside your lunch box are little containers with rice and a variety of foods. 
“What the. I didn’t pack all this.” 
Inside the containers was a little note. As you pick it up you can see what is written on it. 
I packed you lunch honey. Enjoy! From S
A smile fills your face seeing the effort Seulgi went through. 
“Who’s S?” 
The sudden voice you hear from behind causes you to jump in your seat. Looking over your shoulder you see it’s Wendy. As you hide the note Wendy begins to pull out all of the things from your lunch box. 
“What the hell? Where did all of this come from? Where is your plain sandwich you always eat?” 
“Ok, why are you pulling my lunch out? And second, it’s none of your business.” 
A shooting pain goes throughout your body as you feel Wendy pull on your ear. 
“Yah! Respect your noona and tell me who packed this for you!”
“Ok ok ok Seulgi!” 
A sense of relief hits you as Wendy lets go of your ear, but the loud yell that leaves her mouth makes you jump once again. 
“Seulgi? I only know of one Seulgi and it’s my old friend from high school who you had a massive crush on.” 
“Ok, so when the girl I hired on the website came to my home it was Seulgi.” 
“Holy shit! That’s crazy. So she’s gonna be your girlfriend at the reunion?” 
“Noona this story just gets crazier. Do you remember how much of a klutz Seulgi is? Well, she brought the wrong documents to sign at our meeting and we accidentally got married.” 
“MARRIED!?” 
“Thank god I take a late lunch. Yes, we got married. Long story short it’s for a year and she is staying with me at my home. Once the year is up we will part ways.” 
The room fills with silence for a minute until Wendy speaks up again. 
“That's a lot to take in but are you gonna let her go after a year? I’m one hundred percent sure you will fall deeper in love with her than before.” 
“Yeah well, I can’t force her to stay with me after a year. I’m just gonna enjoy my time with her. She’s been great to get to know more.” 
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt but I trust you. And who knows? Maybe she ends up falling for you as well.” 
“That’s very unlikely but thanks for the support. Now let’s eat, I’m starving.” 
Opening your lunch, you begin to take small bites out of your food. You can’t help but admire how delicious Your wife’s food is. After eating your food and enjoying your small chats with Wendy you returned to work, slowly closing in on your reunion. 
The next few days go by as you continue to bond with Seulgi. It’s almost as if you two were meant to find each other later in life with how much you enjoy each other’s time. 
JULY 3rd
It’s finally the night of your high school reunion. Nervous is the only term you can use to describe how you’re feeling currently. With a quick motion, you put on your suit jacket and stand in front of the mirror. Trying to keep a more cool look you decided not to put on a tie, but still have a suit to look professional.
Happy with your look, you walk out of your room and get to Seulgi’s door. 
“Knock knock knock
“Hey Seul, are you almost ready?” 
“Yeah Munhee! Just wait in the living room and I’ll be out in a minute.” 
“Ok”
Heading to the living room, you begin to go over everything you have learned about Seulgi so you won’t mess up tonight. A squeak from a door gets your attention as you look down the hallway. A figure gets closer and closer as you are met with the beauty that is Seulgi.
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The top part of her dress was a white color, with a small hole near the bottom of her cleavage. The bottom of her dress was a solid black. It was a bit short but helped show off her smooth legs. 
You couldn’t say anything seeing how beautiful Seulgi was. 
“So what do you think? I hope you like it.” 
“A-Are you kidding me? I don’t think I have ever seen a more beautiful woman in my life.” 
With a smile and blush on her face, Seulgi gets closer to you and begins to fix up your suit a bit. 
“Thank you, Honey. I guess we should get going. We don’t want to be late do we?” 
“No, we don’t s-sweetie. After you please.” 
Following behind Seulgi you exit your home and get into your vehicle. The entire ride was spent with the two of you going over information about each other and your backstory. A good twenty-five minutes pass as you finally arrive at your former school. The parking lot can be seen filled with the vehicles of former students, ready for their reunion. 
Parking your car, you turn off the engine and step out. Running to the passenger door, your hand pulls on the handle and opens it. Extending out your hand, Seulgi grabs it and steps out with your assistance. 
“Thank you, honey. Are you ready?” 
“I mean as ready as anyone can be heading to their high school reunion. Standing near the school is causing my heart to race. I guess I’m just wondering if I can do this.” 
“Munhee. We have been practicing for this moment for the past few days. Not only that but you are an amazing person whose life has turned out great. Don’t be nervous. I’m here with you.” 
Hearing Seulgi say she’s with you helps the nerves in your stomach relax a bit. Guess it’s time to head in. With a nod towards Seulgi, you extend your arm as Seulgi hooks her own with it. 
The walk to the front door of the school feels like it took an hour, but in reality, it was only a minute. The doors to the school were wide open as the two of you stepped through. The faint echo of music is the first thing you pick up, along with the yellow and blue drawings on the walls. It’s five years later and this place does look the same. 
“I guess this place doesn’t change huh?” 
“You must have read my mind. I was thinking the same thing.” 
Seeing a small table with a woman waiting, the two of you made your way over. 
“Hi, welcome to the reunion for the alumni of the year 2017. May I know your name to check you in?” 
“Yes, my name is Gal Munhee.” 
“Gal Munhee.” 
Looking down at her Clipboard, the woman the. Nods her head and looks back up at you. 
“Ok, I found you on the list. You can make your way to the Gymnasium where the event will be held. I hope you enjoy yourself.” 
“Thank you.” 
With a quick bow, you commence your walk over to the gym. Each step closer and closer causes you to shake a bit. Can you do this? That question got a quick answer as you felt a hand grab your own. 
“You got this. I’m here with you ok?” 
Those words helped as you stepped closer and closer. With one quick motion, you open the door as the loud music hits your ears. Walking inside shows you the gym filled with balloons and decorations all around. 
Despite the loud music, the sound of laughter and chatter is apparent as you see all of your former classmates just interacting. After a few moments, you begin to feel some stares toward you and your wife. Not wanting to be rude you looked around and gave everyone who was staring at you a quick nod as you got to your seat. 
The name tag sitting on the table helped you recognize where you needed to sit, so you did exactly that. As the two of you sit down you can’t help but look around the table and see who else is going to be sitting with you. Most of the names were people who had just seen in passing, but one stood out. 
From behind, you heard the sound of the voice of the person you were most nervous to see. You didn’t even bother to turn around as a figure stood right next to you. 
Looking forwards, you saw the rest of the people sitting at your table take their seats as the figure just stood next to you.
“Gal Munhee. Where have I heard that name before?” 
You know you can’t delay it any longer so you stood up and faced the man. Hwan Minsu was your main tormentor throughout all of high school. 
“Minsu. How are you?” 
“I’m sorry I just don’t seem to remember who you are.” 
“Well, maybe it’s the fact I don’t have glasses anymore. I’m also taller than before. I don’t know if you sure knew who I was years ago in Ms. Kim’s math class.” 
At that moment your former bully’s eyes shoot wide open as he begins to laugh. 
“Now I remember you. The dorky kid who always had harder classes. We somehow had a math class together, not sure how but yeah I remember you. Guys, don’t you all remember my doormat?” 
Hearing the term doormat caused the people at the table to all nod as they began to remember you through that name. 
“Yeah, that was me.” 
“Well, you sure look different. What happened to the dorky look? It suited you.” 
Anger was the main sentiment you felt as you said that. You could almost punch this man here and now. 
“I grew out of it.” 
“Yah Minsu. That's enough. I’m sorry Munhee, my name is Heejin and I am Minsu’s wife.” 
As Heejin extended her arm, you extended your own and shook it. The sound of a chair squeaking gets your attention as a figure stands next to you. The smell that hits your nose helps you recognize your wife. 
“Hi there Heejin, I’m Munhee’s wife Seulgi.” 
It isn’t till Seulgi said her name that the whole table recognizes her now. 
“What? Kang Seulgi? Our senior? How did you end up with him?” 
A scowl starts to form on your wife’s mouth as she hears Minsu’s question. All around the sound of murmurs begins as they all begin to recognize you and Seulgi. 
“Why don’t we all sit down and talk about how it’s been for each other?” 
“That sounds fantastic. Let’s sit Minsu.” 
Sitting down the whole table faces you, ready to hear your story.
“Well, Seulgi and I ended up meeting at her workplace. She works at a bank where I went to do business. She ended up helping me as her last customer of the day but something just sparked at that moment. I asked her to go get a coffee since her shift was done and she said yes. A year and a half later we ended up getting married.” 
“Awe, that's so sweet!” 
You give a quick smile towards Heejin who has been very nice to you so far. 
“Let’s see a wedding photo.” 
Hearing that question so aggressively from Minsu made you nervous but Seulgi responded quickly. 
“We got married at a courthouse. We didn’t want anything extravagant so we just did it there.” 
A small whisper from the other end of the table gets your attention but you can hear what the guy said. 
“Probably too broke to even afford a wedding.” 
You give the man an angry look as you begin to speak again. 
“No, I'm not broke. We just didn’t want a big wedding.” 
“My dear husband is one of the head directors of the graphic design team at the top tech company in the country.” 
A look of shock hits all of the people at the table as they hear where you work. 
“One million a year is pretty good. If I say so myself.” 
Most of the men at the table suddenly look down embarrassed. If they are gonna try to embarrass you, you will do it back to them. The only man at the table who didn’t even react to the amount you made was Minsu. 
“Not bad but I make nearly ten a year.” 
He had you beat on how much your annual income but you still managed to show off how well you are in life so far. 
A sudden screech from the speakers gets everyone's attention as someone stands on the stage. 
“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Seoul Regional high reunion for the alumni of 2017!” 
Claps and cheers fill the room as the woman on stage waits. 
“If you don’t remember me my name is Hasuel and I was your student body president for all four years. On behalf of the school and faculty, we are all honored to have you return to the school and meet up with all of your friends.” 
Huh, friends. That’s really funny. 
“Now we need to have a big round of applause for a certain someone who helped make this whole event happen. Mr. Hwan Minsu!” 
The cheers this time are very apparent but the most noise comes from all of his former friends scattered around the gym. 
“Mr. Hwan paid for all the food for this event as well as a DJ so you can dance your hearts out, so please make sure to say your thanks. Now all of your meals will be handed out to all of you so please just hold on a bit and get ready to fill your belly!” 
Almost like it was timed, the room fills with waiters who bring food to all of the tables. It only takes three minutes for every person to receive a plate of food. A whole lobster was on the plate with various sides to complement the shellfish. 
The sound of cracking becomes apparent as the entire place begins to dig into their lobsters. Following everyone’s lead, you begin to eat your food, enjoying the various flavors from the shellfish and sides. 
As delicious as the food was, you almost had the entire meal ruined just hearing Minsu brag to every person who came to talk to him. A sour look was apparent on your face until you felt a like on your cheek. As you look at Seulgi, your face relaxed and showed how happy you were to just be in her presence. 
“Yeah he’s bragging a lot but you still managed to show that you have a wife and a nice life. That is all you needed to do to show you are ahead and happy with your life. Ignore all his talk.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” 
At that time a tap on the mic got everyone's attention as Hasuel stood back on the stage. 
“I hope you all enjoyed your meals. Now we figured it would be a fun little game to see how everyone is doing after high school so we will do almost like superlatives segments. I will say raise your hand if you have kids already and other things like that and then we will come over and you will talk about it a bit, ok?” 
With a nod from the crowd, Hasuel began to ask various questions, ranging from if you had children to if you were still in school. You hadn’t heard a question that applied to your own life so you just sat there until finally, it was your turn. 
“Who here married their high school crush?” 
You had no intention of standing up until you heard a yell next to you. Looking to the side you see it’s from Minsu. 
“He did! The guy right next to me!.” 
If you were a turtle you would have jumped into your shell at that moment. You had no time to react as a microphone was put in your hand and you had to speak. 
“Well then. Let’s hear your name first!” 
You could have sworn you were about to run away until your wife stood next to you and grabbed your hand. You could see she was a bit shocked at what she heard but she knew you needed help. Taking the mic from your hand Seulgi then steps forward and smiles. 
“Hi. My husband can be a bit shy so I guess I will share our story. His name is Gal Munhee and I am Gal Seulgi, formerly Kang Seulgi’s before we got married.” 
Everyone seemed shocked when they heard Seulgi’s name as they instantly recognized her. 
“Wasn’t she the girl who didn’t date anyone? 
“Everyone would always confess to her and she rejected them.” 
Wait. Wasn’t Gal Munhee the loser who had no friends? How did he marry her?” 
You could almost swear you saw a hint of anger in Seulgi’s eyes as she heard some of the statements. 
“Me and my dear husband met again at the bank I work at when he was my last client. He asked me for coffee after our business was concluded and I saw how nice and good-looking he was so I said yes. A year and a half later we got married and have been together ever since.” 
“Awe, that's so sweet! I’m glad the two of you ended up with each other then. Thank you for your response on behalf of your husband. Now onto the next statement.” 
You couldn’t even hear what the next question/statement was as you felt so embarrassed that Seulgi now knows you liked her in high school. Minsu must have remembered how nervous you were around her always and how you looked at her. 
You couldn’t even face Seulgi right now. So without saying anything you stood up and ran out of the gym. The faint sound of clicking could be heard behind you but the faster you ran, the less you heard it. 
Your legs almost by instinct brought you to the library, your safe place back in your school days. Sitting down in your corner brought back all the memories of things you felt through your years here. They may have been shitty but they helped you become who you are today. 
A few minutes passed as the silence heard through the library was interrupted but the sound of a door closing. 
“Munhee!? Are you in here?” 
You could already recognize Seulgi’s voice but you didn’t want to embarrass yourself even more as you just sat in silence. Seulgi’s calls for you continued from various parts of the library. Soon she started to her closer and closer, and just as she was near you the door closed once again. 
“Munhee? Is that you?”
The sound of running was heard as Seulgi made her way towards the door, but a sound you didn’t want to hear hit your ears. 
“Ah, I was wondering where you went to Seulgi.” 
“Oh, Minsu. I’m just looking for my husband.” 
 "I see. I mean you should just leave him alone for now. He seemed embarrassed just like when something happened in this place.” 
“Well, you didn’t need to shout out for people to hear he had a crush on me before.” 
“Oh come on! He shouldn’t care about that. Plus when he has a smoking hot wife like you, I would be glad to flaunt you to my classmates.” 
Standing up from your spot you began to sneak closer to the voices and see Seulgi and Minsu near the entrance of the library. 
“You know Seulgi. I asked you out back In our school days but you said no. Do you ever imagine what could have happened between us if you had said yes?” 
“No, and I don’t care at all. I just want to find my husband so please leave me alone.” 
Just as Seulgi tried to push her way through the door, Minsu grabbed her arm. 
“Come on Seulgi. Why don’t you stay here with me instead? Your husband isn’t here and my wife isn’t here. Let’s have a little fun.” 
“Let go of me!” 
You aren’t even sure when your legs started moving but before you knew it, your fist hit Minsu’s face. As Minsu hit the ground, you checked on your wife and she seemed a bit surprised to see you.” 
“Seulgi? Are you ok?” 
“Um yeah. Thank you Munhee.” 
“You piece of shit!” 
A hit to the stomach Made you fall back as Minsu stood in front of you pissed off. 
“Looks like I’m still gonna need to teach a nerd a lesson years later.” 
Hearing him talk to you like that should have made you scared but when he hurts the girl you love, you planned on making sure to fight him properly. 
Attempting to stand up, you are quickly tackled to the ground by Minsu as he raises his fist to hit you across the face. Unlike your younger years, you aren’t sédenles anymore so you brought your hands up and blocked the hit. Rolling your body to the side you raised your hand and returned the punch to the gut you got from him earlier. Taking advantage of this you proceeded to punch Minsu in the face, leaving him bruised. 
At that time you heard the door open and footsteps near you but you wanted to keep hitting him Before you could get another hit off you felt a hand grab your own. 
“Munhee, I'm ok. Please stop. His wife is here watching.” 
One glance to the side showed you Heejin, standing there watching. You didn’t want her to see her Husband get hit so you got off him and stood up. 
“I’m sorry Heejin he-“ 
“Oh no I heard everything. I followed behind him when he said he was gonna go looking for you. I heard all of what he said to your wife and put his hands on her. I would have let you hit him more for trying to cheat on me. But hey I got some interesting information for you to hear. Minsu is broke. His family made a risky business move and they lost everything. He just borrowed a shit ton of money from old friends to try to show off. You are doing better in life than him. Be proud of that Munhee.” 
You honestly did feel proud as you heard how he ended up after high school
“Now go ahead. I’ll look after this idiot. I’m sorry he put his hands on you Seulgi.” 
“No no, it’s ok. I think we are gonna head home now. I left you my number so if you ever need to chat just call me.” 
With a nod, Heejin made her way over to her husband who was just laying there embarrassed of what just happened to him. 
“Let’s go home, Munhee. I think we need to talk.”
“Y-Yeah let’s go.” 
Following behind your wife you both made your way back to the parking lot and walked to your car. Pulling out your keys you were ready to drive until Seulgi stole the keys from your hand. 
“I’m driving. Get in the passenger seat.”
You weren’t about to argue with her so you just compiled and got in the seat. The drive back home was just silent. All you were doing is going over in your head how Seulgi would hate you for being so aggressive and keep a secret about how you liked her before you even got married. Maybe she will think you planned on getting her stuck with you when you signed the agreement. 
The sound of the engine turning off gets your attention as you see you are in front of your home. 
“Come on. Let’s go treat that bruise on your knuckles.” 
The pain through your hand was starting to show as you winced when she touched it. Walking inside your home you saw Seulgi point at the living room, so you went to wait there. A minute passes and Your wife walks in with an ice pack and some sort of cream. 
“Being a klutz I have had my fair share of bruises and trust me when I say this freak works miracles.” 
Sitting down at your side, Seulgi then grabs your hand and begins to apply the cream. You wince a bit at the feeling but relax a bit as time passes. Once your hand has the cream applied, Seulgi then puts the ice pack on top and lets it rest for a bit. 
Awkwardness could be felt between the two of you until you both speak at the same time. Noticing this, you both laugh a bit until You feel confident enough to talk to her. 
“Seul. I’m sorry you had to see me like that. I’m not sure what came over me.” 
“To be honest it was a bit scary seeing you be so mad but at the same time, you helped me get out of a dangerous situation. Sure you went a bit overboard but all I can do is thank you for helping me.” 
A sense of relief hits your body as you hear Seulgi isn’t scared of you. 
“So how long was your crush on me?” 
There was the other part of the conversation you knew was coming. Better to just be honest. 
“About two and a half years. When we first met in your chemistry class.” 
“I don’t remember much from that time. All I did was focus on my studies to make my parents proud. I’m sorry about that.” 
“No, don't be. I was just the kid in the back who just admired you from afar. The more I saw how kind you were to others and such the more I fell for you.” 
A smile forms on Seulgi’s face as she moves a bit closer to you. 
“While we are on the matter of admiring I need to confess that’s what I have been doing for the past few weeks. You are doing so well in life but you don’t want to show off. The only time you did was to the classmates who treated you badly and no one can argue with wanting to do that. Here I am a broke girl who has done nothing with her life but you still took care of me like I was your wife. I couldn’t help but start to fall for you myself.” 
Hearing that Seulgi started to like you as well made your heart nearly explode. Looking into Seulgi’s eyes you began to draw your face closer to hers. A bit nervously Seulgi got closer to you as well until your lips were just inches away. 
“Stop me if you don’t want me to.” 
The complete opposite happened as you felt Seulgi grab your shoulders and pull you in for the kiss. At first, the kiss is very tame, just on the lips. As time went by your hands reached for Your wife's waist as you picked her up from the couch. A small Yelp leaves her mouth as you begin to walk towards your bedroom. 
Walking inside you dropped Seulgi on top as she began to laugh and look at you with a lustful look. Laying down on top of Seulgi you attached your lips to hers once again, but gone was the timid guy kissing his crush. You had every intention of making her fully yours tonight. Mark her as your wife for real.
Pushing your tongue forward in the kiss, you enter her mouth and begin to wrestle with hers. Quickly you assert your dominance as she submits and lets you enjoy the confines of her mouth. 
After some time you both pull back from the kiss gasping for air, but still craving more. Your lips move to her neck as you begin to pamper it with small kisses and bites. Little moans leave Seulgi’s mouth as you continue to work down her neck.
Moving your hands down, you begin to pull up on her dress. Your beloved understanding of what you want to do raises her body as you yank the dress off of her body, leaving her in just her matching white undergarments. Your kisses continue to live down her body as you begin to pull off your jacket. 
With the help of Seulgi’s your jacket leaves your body as the air begins to hit your chest from the buttons of your shirt being undone. As the last button gets removed, you tear off your shirt and reach down for your pants. 
At an almost superhuman speed, you unbuckle your pants and begin to pull them down. Soon you are left in just your underwear, almost the same as your wife. Leaning back down to kiss Seulgi, you are met with a surprise as you get flipped on your back and Seulgi jumps on top of you. 
A smirk appears on her face as she begins to give small kisses down your chest to your waist getting closer to your underwear. With a forceful pull, Seulgi removes your remaining clothes showing your erect cock to her. You were harder than you have ever been before. The sudden sensation of a hand around your Penis causes you to twitch a bit. A giggle leaves your wife’s mouth as she looks up at you. 
“Fuck this thing is huge. To think my husband was hiding such a nice cock. Let’s see if it tastes as good as it looks.” 
A sudden flick to your tip from Seulgi’s tongue causes you to moan a bit. You are almost embarrassed at the sound that leaves your mouth but Seulgi doesn’t mind at all. A wet sensation begins to move around your length as Seulgi begins to lick up and down your dick. 
“Fuck Seulgi.” 
“Oh, that’s just the beginning.” 
You didn’t even have time to respond as you felt Your wife’s mouth around your tip. At first, all you feel is small sucks which feels great. Then the sudden sensation of you moving down her throat nearly makes you cum. Moving your hands to her head you help her keep a slow pace as she moves her mouth up and down on your cock. 
The slow pace is amazing and lets you make sure you don’t cum quickly, but Seulgi had other ideas. Soon you feel your wife bob her head on your rod faster and faster causing you to begin to shake. As Seulgi moves deeper and dapper on your cock, you know you are close to cumming. 
“Seulgi, sweetie I’m gonna cum.” 
Taking that as an invitation, Seulgi moves her head as fast as possible on your cock making your peak arrive. You couldn’t even warn her as you began to shoot your load into her mouth. Five shots of your cum quickly fill up her mouth as you finally come down from your high. Pulling your dick out of her mouth, Seulgi then opens her mouth wide and shows you the semen just in there. Closing her mouth, your wife then takes a few gulps and opens her mouth again, showing you she drank it all. 
“Fuck Seulgi. That was amazing.” 
“That cock is fucking amazing.” 
“Well you had something to eat but I think it’s time for me to eat you.” 
Laying back down on your bed, you open Seulgi’s legs and begin to give them small kisses. Your hands reach back up for her underwear this time as you pull them down. In front of you is Seulgi's nicely shaved pussy that's glistening. 
You didn’t even give It a second thought as you have her lips a sudden lick. Not that familiar with Seulgi’s body, you begin to give her pussy small licks and see how she responds. Small moans leave your wife’s mouth but you knew you needed to do more to help her achieve an orgasm. 
A large gasp leaves Seulgi’s mouth as you push two of your fingers into her pussy. In a slow motion, you begin to fuck her pussy with your fingers. Wanting to test something out you begin to build up a bit of speed and wait to see how she responds. 
“Fuck. Faster!” 
Fulfilling Seulgi’s wishes you begin to move your hand faster causing her walls to clench a bit on your fingers. Spreading apart her lips with your other hand you notice her little nub just there without any attention. You soon rectify that by licking her clit repeatedly. The moans and swearing continue to grow as the speed from both your tongue and finger continue to increase. 
Soon her walls begin to clench harder and harder around your fingers as Seulgi begins to yell. With all the energy you have left in your hand you fucked her as fast as possible until a rush of Fluids hit your face. Not wanting to waste any of her juices you begin to drink it all, enjoying the west nectar that left your wife’s body. 
Letting your wife relax a bit, you proceed to give her neck small kisses for nice again until you hear a laugh from her. 
“Fuck that was good.” 
Raising her body a bit, Seulgi then unhooked her bra and showed you her beautiful breasts. They weren’t the biggest but you loved every part of her. Without hesitation, you brought your mouth to her nipple and began to suck on it. The sound of moans filled the room once more as you aggressively sucked on her nipple. Moving your attention to her left breast you continued your assault on her nipple as she reached down for your cock, stroking you hard once more. 
As your cock begins to throb once more you feel a warm breath on your ear as Seulgi speaks up. 
“Fuck your wife’s pussy honey.” 
Those five words were the hottest thing you have ever heard and you had every intention of doing what she said. Lining your length up with her lips you begin to push your rod into her cavern slowly, meeting a bit of resistance. 
Stopping for a bit, you look at Seulgi as she gives you a nod telling you to continue. Pushing the rest of your length into her pussy, you are met with the tightest sensation you had ever felt around your shaft. 
“So tight!” 
“Look who’s talking. You’re massive. Start slowly.” 
Not wanting to hurt your wife you pulled back on your hips and pushed back into her walls slowly, letting her adjust to your length. A few minutes of this repeated motion helps Seulgi get used to your cock. 
“Harder.” 
That’s all you needed to hear as you began to move a bit faster. The repeated motion of your cock entering and exiting her pussy caused the two of you to begin to moan more and more as the speed continued. Once you felt you were at a constant speed your hand moved down to her lips as you reached for her clit. Finding it, you begin to rub it and a circular motion as you felt her walls rub your length more and more. 
Picking up speed with your hand, you rubbed her clit faster and faster until the panting from Seulgi got your attention. Known if she was close you moved your hip faster in turn with your hand on her clit. The loud yells and shaking from her body let you know your wife has reached her peak once more. 
The way her pussy was massaging your cock nearly made you cum at that moment but you had one more position you wanted to fuck Seulgi in. Unlike last time, Seulgi quickly looked at you and smiled, kissing you on the lips once more. 
“I think it’s your turn to cum honey. How do you want me?” 
You already knew how. 
“Turn around. Let me see that ass of yours.” 
With a smirk, Seulgi hopped off your dick as she got on all fours. In front of you was one of the greatest asses you had ever seen in your life, and it was yours. 
“This is such an amazing ass. You have no idea the times I admired it.” 
“Well, you can do more than admire it. Fuck me from behind.” 
In one swift motion, you shoved your length back into Seulgi’s pussy. Your wife was finally used to your cock and began to fuck herself without any warning. Both of your hands move to her waist as you grab hold of it tightly. The speed at which you began to fuck Seulgi was unnatural, but somehow you just continued. As your right hand let go of her waist you raised it and slapped her ass a bit aggressively. For a moment you were nervous it might have been too hard but as Seulgi looks back you see that deadly smirk once more, letting you know to keep on. 
The slaps on her ass continued as you thrust nonstop into her cavern. 
“FUCK. KEEP GOING!” 
Wanting to move as fast as possible you grab hold of her waist again with your right hand and increase your speed. Your orgasm is approaching, and Seulgi can tell as well. 
“I’m gonna cum! Where?” 
“In me! Let’s cum together.” 
Hearing Seulgi tells you to cum in her gave you a final boost of energy as you gave it your all; fucking her pussy with all you had left. The yell that left your wife’s mouth nearly left you deaf, but her walls trying to milk you took all your attention as you began to shoot your load into her snatch. 
You aren’t quite sure how long your peak lasted as you fell on top of your wife just breathing heavily. A few minutes pass as you look towards Seulgi and she looks toward you. The smile on her face causes you to return one. Your lips meet hers as you kiss her full of love. 
Pulling back from your kiss you just stare at Seulgi, happy. 
“Well. That was something.” 
“Yeah, it was. Do you regret it?” 
“Hell no. I had fun and the love I felt for you was just amazing.” 
“Because I do love you Seulgi. I know we have only been married for a few weeks and not because you wanted to get married to me but I plan on making you the happiest woman on earth for the rest of this year. I’m hoping that by the end of this you will want to stay with me too.” 
With a small kiss on your lips, Seulgi then rests her head on your chest. 
“I guess only time will tell but I hope I learn to love you as you love me.” 
Slowly you both begin to shut your eyes and drift off into sleep. 
One year later
It was a common day. The sun was shining and the temperature outside was just right. Currently, in a park, a couple could be seen pushing a stroller together and sitting down on a bench. 
“Munhee, Seulgi!” 
Looking to the side you saw Wendy running over with what seems to be a little plush toy. 
“Hi, Wendy. Is that for the little one?” 
“No, it’s for you. Yes, it’s for your daughter.”
Walking past the two of you, Wendy proceeds to get to eye level with your child and hand them the plushie. 
“There you go, Yerim. Just for you from your favorite aunt.” 
The sound of your daughter laughing filled your heart with joy as you looked over at your wife. The same smile that was seen on your face was on hers as well. 
“So Seulgi, Munhee. Have you guys noticed it’s been over a year now since the agreement was signed?” 
“Oh, we noticed. We just didn’t care. Not when we are happy with the little family we have now.” 
All you could do is nod with your wife’s statement as you strongly agreed with her. 
“Yeah, I figured it would end like this, and I’m happy. Anyways let’s go eat, I’m starving!” 
“Sounds good. Let’s go, sweetie.” 
“Yes, let's go honey.” 
“Gesh and I thought I could get sappy.”
Standing up from the park bench the four of you commenced your walk in search of food. 
It might have been a weird and strange situation you both got put into, but you wouldn't change anything that happened ever. 
A/N 2- So yeah i might have dragged it out a bit but i hope you enjoyed. I had a friend ask for this fic nonstop so i hope it lived it this his expectations. im not sure what i will work on next. i have to get back to work on my wattpad book but i will probbaly drop some quckies for the TSR series. Until then thank you again for reading, sorry for typos and see you next time.
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nichenarratives · 5 months
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Hurricane Heller 20
A Niche Narratives fanfiction
Chapter 20: Breaking Point
It's only November, yet the local stores have swapped their Halloween decorations for the traditional, garish reds and greens of Christmas, for it promises to be a good one. With the pandemic restrictions lifted, rationing rumored to relax in early December and the anniversary of the Great War's conclusion on the horizon, even non-Christian communities are filled with seasonal cheer, leaving New York revitalized, rejuvenated and more proud to be American than ever, even as winter rapidly descends upon the city.
Its residents drawn into an icy grip of freezing rain, sleet and an unerring frost that licks the window panes, Mordecai can at least afford to heat his home properly this year. He burns kindling and coal almost constantly when at home, and his landlady often enters to light his hearth before bed to ensure the apartment is not freezing when he returns. In exchange for that simple kindness, he buys the widower a steady supply of coal, ensuring her pension goes on sustenance and essential fabrics rather than just staying alive.
Kosher meat is more readily available once more, allowing Mordecai to reintroduce some much needed variety into his diet. While still rationed for the time being, a little chicken in his soup makes a world of difference. It adds flavour, texture and additional proteins that allow the tuxedo to regain some of the body mass he lost during the Great War. It also adds to his family's diet, ensuring his mother is as healthy as can be as the weather changes and exacerbates her cough.
Regarding his family and restoring relations, it's a tentative process certainly, but they've made steady progress. Esther and Rose adjusted to his return almost immediately, pulling him back into the comforting rituals of Sunday afternoons in an instant. He spends much of his time being shown Rose's newest sketches - which move from animals, to delicately sketched cityscapes and countryside from their father's old books - or helping Esther with chores around the house as mother rests, the morning service having exhausted her.
Reconnecting with his mother is more difficult. While she's obviously happy to have Mordecai back in their lives, former affections return slowly. It takes months to tease more than single word answers from her, numerous more to move from formal discussion to easier conversation. It was the evening she suggested he lead hamotzi he'd finally felt forgiven, an honour he'd willingly split with Esther from that night on. It's also a relief his mother never mentions returning to Temple or speaks of Nataliya, leaving his associating with the synagogue firmly in the past for their present relationship.
Unfortunately, his Mother's health declines as the seasons change; occasional coughing fits become asthmatic attacks, wheezing and persistent malaise that makes housework or cooking almost impossible to maintain. With an unrelenting schedule, Mordecai relies on Esther in particular to keep the house clean, food on the table and accompany their mother to her copious appointments, feeding back the results as he assists with dinner clean-up every Sabbath.
Regardless of the specialist or tests, the outcomes remains consistent; take medications as prescribed, keep the house clean and when possible, move to a quieter suburb.
The constant re-administering of old advice - coupled with a mounting list of ineffectual yet expensive medications - is an exasperating experience for the entire family, but none more than Mordecai. Moving his family to better housing was the main motivation for a foray into the criminal underworld. Yet nine years later, he has a delightful apartment while they fester in rental purgatory, an incessant onslaught of medical bills constantly chipping away at his hard work until he has to add another month to their intended moving date.
He and Esther talk for hours after Mother and Rose go to sleep, discussing potential short term reparations for their situation. Their landlord won't fix the drafts or the broken kitchen window, an act of unsolved vandalism during the Great War, so they've taped newspaper and cardboard over the hole to act as an insulator. They've similarly insulated leaking window frames with paper, hung up dense curtains donated by a kind Temple member for heat retention, and now keep a window situated at each end of the house barely cracked at all times for fresh air ventilation.
Unable to afford a professional chimney sweep, Mordecai had stripped to his vest and boxers and attempted to clear out the chimney with a broom handle topped with a damp cloth. The mess was immense; a white muzzle ended up indistinguishable from black fur, while his undergarments were so badly stained, they were still gray after four washes and had to be thrown out. The throwback from their next fire was definitely reduced however, well worth a pair of boxers and a vest, when their mother could breathe easier.
After noticing the abundance of mold under the window in his mother's bedroom bringing her some tea a few months prior, he began to dedicate an hour each week to removing the mold in every bedroom, before moving on to the worst offender in the house, the bathroom. The first time he scrubbed it clear of mold, his hands were raw and bloody. He'd gotten lectured by both Esther and his mother into investing in rubber marigolds, which have certainly saved his poor paws from further damage, even if he hates how they feel on his bare hands.
Despite these efforts, his mother's cough moves closer to a suffocating moistness that choked his youngest sister on the stairs that awful night. Esther notices too; when cleaning up tjegtehr, they share a worried glance across the kitchen before glancing at the ceiling, ears straining to hear her wheezing breaths afterwards, seeking reassurance their mother remains alive for another week.  
Returning home, Mordecai always counts his savings again each Sunday, willing eighteen months to pass in earnest. 
While loath to admit it even to himself, the unerring forward march of her illness has resulted in some unprofessionalism on Mordecai's part. He's short with his own employees, quick to become irritable in adverse conditions, and even less forgiving with the unlucky souls on the receiving end of interrogation. More than once, he's foregone any calculated discussion entirely for physical torture in a quest for swiftee conclusions, the job remaining in his least favourite line of work under Mr Savage's leadership.
Life continues on mostly according to plan though, until just two days before his twenty-first birthday, when Mordecai jolts awake to a banging on his apartment door. 
"One moment," he mumbles too softly for anyone to hear, then scrabbles on his bedside table to switch on the lamp. Retrieving his pocket watch, he pops it open and squints at the face a long moment before realizing he can't see without his glass. "Briln," he grumbles to himself, clumsily picks the eyeglasses up and sets them on his muzzle. He then peers at the time with bleary eyes, tilting his head to avoid the awful fingerprints he's just left on the glass to read the face.
3:17am. Mordecai groans and presses his face into a pillow, making his pince-nez wonky in its feathery softness as his arm falls to the mattress beside him. He's been in bed for a few hours, likely only asleep for one and a half. Certainly not long enough to be summoned from slumber and tempted to ignore them and roll back over, it's their desperate nature to eventually encourage the man, begrudgingly, to his feet. 
The disheveled tom pulls his robe over striped pajamas and steps into worn slippers, then causally stifles a yawn into a fist while retrieving the Colt from his shoulder holster. Gun in hand, he approaches the door and opens it without thought, the gun hanging at his side more habit than a careful plan. If anyone wanted him dead in that moment, he'd have been a sitting duck in his robe and nightclothes that Sunday night 
As luck would have it, there is no threat waiting on the other side of the door, yet it's somehow immeasurably worse to be faced not with a disgruntled, bankrupt client but Rose in just her nightdress and a thin robe, tears staining her cheeks in fresh streaks and body shaking almost violently. The sight is enough to wake Mordecai up entirely, though before a query can leave his lips, Rose has thrown her arms around him and buried her face in his pajama shirt, sobbing hot tears into the fabric without remorse.
Mordecai stands awkwardly, eyes wide and confused, Colt still hanging uselessly at his side while Rose squeezes him tight enough to knock the breath from his lungs. She should not be walking the streets of New York alone at all, let alone at night. She's hardly dressed for the weather, as if she just grabbed the nearest pair of boots and ran soon after waking up, unruly curls escaping from the dual braids uses to keep it from becoming tangled during sleep. 
Her attire is as bewildering as her presence, however after a number of seconds have passed, his familial instincts finally return. Bringing the hand holding the gun to rest against her lower back, Mordedai places his other hand on her head in an attempt at reassurance and comfort. It seems effective, as her tears redouble into his shirt, her arms so unnaturally cold to the touch through the thin fabric it makes him frown.
Only then does he finally look up and notice his Mrs Kovitz, his downstairs neighbour and landlady, also standing in the hallway. The elderly woman leans against a wall for support, her face smothered in anti wrinkle cream and frame almost skeletal thanks to the stress of losing both her husband and a son in the war, her palm beneath the opposite elbow to steady her hand as she puffs on a cigarette. 
*She say sumzing about motzher going into 'ospital," the elderly woman states between tokes. Her frilly nightgown is like a sea of white on her small frame, making her seem like she doesn't have feet. "I zink it best let her up to speak."
"I appreciate the forethought, Mrs Kovitz," the monochrome tom offers with obvious sincerity on a usually stoic muzzle. He glances down at Rose for a moment, gently stroking the back of her head as she begins to quiet down, before olive eyes rise to meet pale yellows. "Anything with which you require assistance, I would be most-"
She interrupts him with a shoo motion from both hands. "Go be wiv family, narr," she instructs with a sad smile, tired eyes moving to the sniffing girl pressed to his chest. It's her favourite thing to call her peculiar upstairs neighbour, when the man fixates on unimportant things, an affectionate term, even if it sounds somewhat cruel; jester. Mrs Kovitz motions to the girl she hasn't met before. "Time for being man of family, not pester old woman wiv help."
Mordecai nods gratefully before ushering Rose inside, her freezing hands a sure sign her shivering is not just from the expression of intense emotions. She needs a cup of tea to sip while Mordecai finds something suitably warm to pull on over her robe, then they'll go to the hospital together. Until they talk to a professional, Mordecai can only hope there's still something that can be done for his mother's poor health.
oOoOo
Even at six in the morning, the hospital still bustles; around slumbering patients and anxious relatives, nurses move in and out of wards fluidly, taking vitals and checking on their most vulnerable patients with admirable efficiency. Mordecai watches them silently from his chair beside his mother's bed once her cough has been brought under control. Hours flow past for while she and his sisters slumber, he cannot relax. There's no time for rest, not when he has new calculations and risk assessments to run regarding his savings plan.
He reclines in the armchair and stares at the ceiling, fingers entwined in his lap atop a white fedora. With just months left before saving enough to buy them a house, the sudden decline in their mother's health is a kick in the teeth. Doctors expect her to be discharged in three weeks and determined she won't return to a home that's slowly killing her, the time frame for success has significantly reduced to a mere tenth.
This comes with its own slew of problems; there's no way Savage won't notice if Mordecai starts scraping more than one percent off each business under his management. The numbers are simply too high to disguise as unexpected bills or degraded stock, yet Mordecai remains aware his current scheme can't earn the remaining funds in just three weeks, not unless he can exponentially grow his customer base in each consecutive week, unlikely in a post-war climate.
A low wheeze drawing his attention, Mordecai sits up and observes his mother carefully as she struggles to catch her breath, even at rest. The episode thankfully passes just as swiftly as it came when she rolls onto her side, but it's enough to convince Mordecai of his next move; temporarily increasing his embezzlement margins to three percent, and hope he can disguise it well enough to avoid the deception being uncovered.
It's a huge risk, but just two weeks of triple earnings is all he needs to ensure once his mother is discharged, she and his sisters can move into a new home. One without black mold under the windows. I can remain undetected for a fortnight. I have to, for mother's sake.
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cogitoergofun · 1 year
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A former Florida lawmaker who sponsored a bill dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by critics has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.
Joseph Harding entered a guilty plea on Tuesday in federal court in the Northern District of Florida to one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of making false statements, according to court records.
Harding faces up to 35 years in prison, including a maximum of 20 years on the wire fraud charge. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 25 at the federal courthouse in Gainesville.
The former Republican lawmaker shot to notoriety last year as one of the sponsors of a controversial Florida law that outlawed the discussion of sexuality and gender in public school classrooms from kindergarten through grade 3.
The legislation became a blueprint for similar laws in more than a dozen other conservative states.
"This bill is about protecting our kids, empowering parents and ensuring they have the information they need to do their God-given job of raising their child," Harding said when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law last March.
Critics from Democrats to LGBTQ groups took to calling it the "Don't Say Gay" law and condemned Republicans for chilling speech in schools.
In December, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Harding, 35, who was accused of lying on his applications to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which gave out loans to businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. He resigned from Florida's House of Representatives one day later.
Harding fraudulently obtained more than $150,000 from the Small Business Administration, portions of which he transferred to a bank and used to make a credit card payment, prosecutors said.
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follow-up-news · 7 months
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Democrats in Congress are pushing for a new round of money to keep the nation’s child care industry afloat, saying thousands of programs are at risk of closing when federal pandemic relief runs out this month. Legislation introduced in both chambers on Wednesday would provide $16 billion a year over the next five years, awarded as grants to help child care programs cover everyday costs. It’s meant to replace $24 billion in relief that was passed in 2021 in the American Rescue Plan and is set to expire Sept. 30. With no Republican support, the bill faces an uphill battle in Congress. Without a new lifeline, child care programs serving millions of families could close or increase prices. For many, the federal aid only postponed the financial turmoil that threatened their survival before the pandemic.
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arpov-blog-blog · 2 months
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..."PRESIDENT BIDEN’S JOB APPROVAL RATING has plummeted during his three years in office to historic lows—lower than President Obama’s was at this point before he won re-election in 2012, lower even than President Trump’s was in October 2020 before he lost.
The numbers make clear that Biden is a much weaker candidate than he was when he defeated Trump three years ago. It’s unlikely Biden’s approval will recover significantly before November. But—crucially—that doesn’t mean he will lose the election.
There are multiple theories for why Biden remains underwater, with higher disapproval than approval. Most of the electorate has concluded that Biden is too old. As some commentators have noted, in his long career, Biden has never been popular; his initial honeymoon in the presidency was a temporary deviation from the norm as the country basked in the relief of dumping Trump.
Biden’s peak approval registered at about 54 percent in the spring of 2021, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls. There was one big reason: Americans, coming out of the pandemic, had hope. The Biden administration was competently managing the vaccine rollout and most of us had had one or both shots and celebrated a return to normal life.
Biden’s polling crashed to earth that fall, after the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the battle over the bloated and ill-fated Build Back Better bill. By the end of his first year in office, 10 percent more Americans disapproved of his job performance than approved. He lost favor with a majority because he lost the support of his own voters. The centrist Biden inspires no zeal from his base the way Obama did, let alone the way a cult leader like Trump does. He has no buffer.
So the spring of 2021 was a rare time of artificially elevated national mood. It’s hard to imagine a scenario other than a major national emergency in which any president reaches 53 percent approval again. We live in an age of extreme polarization and zero-sum politics, in which entrenched partisans despise a president from the opposing party, and the default dourness Americans naturally revert to (see: current economic data vs. polling about the economy) means the in-power coalition is also likely to be disappointed. Biden polls poorly on nearly all the issues that comprise the umbrella of job approval: inflation/economy, foreign policy, immigration, crime, and his fitness/age. But we can’t know how voters prioritize them (or other issues) when making their choice. And even if Biden manages to stabilize the southern border, help end the war in Gaza, and preside over continuing economic improvements and low inflation, his job approval might not budge.
YET APPROVAL RATINGS MAY NO LONGER BE a useful benchmark in future campaigns, especially if Biden overperforms his polling in 2024 the way Democrats did in 2022 and 2023. An analysis by FiveThirtyEight found that Democrats did so by an average of 10 points in special elections throughout 2023, outperforming the partisan lean of the districts—and the polls—even where they lost.
Before the 2022 midterms, both parties predicted doom for Democrats because Biden’s approval was at 40 percent according to Gallup—lower than previous presidents who had faced massive losses in their first midterms. But Democrats outran Biden’s job approval everywhere, defending Senate seats in swing states like Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia, winning Pennsylvania’s open seat, and losing just ten House seats in what was predicted to be a wipeout.
A year later, the same thing: In 2023, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear won re-election, and Democrats took back control of the Virginia state legislature (ending Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hope of a presidential run) and scored a major abortion ballot victory in deep-red Ohio."
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collegecoward · 1 year
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my dad got laid off and im a college student taking night classes- are there any good ways to work from home that arent scams?
I'm so sorry that your family is going through a rough patch. The first place I might start, just to help you in the short-term, is to check with your college and see if they have any emergency fund grants. Some places you might look for this information/who you can reach out to include your advisor, financial aid, your college's dean of students office, TRIO program, and student support services office.
(Note: If you see emergency grants related to COVID-19 or HEERF funds, those grants might not be available anymore. Many colleges were given short-term federal COVID relief dollars to help students cope at the height of the pandemic.)
On the job reliability front, I'm so glad you're looking out and aware of scams! I like the Better Business Bureau website in general for checking out businesses and brands I'm unsure about: https://www.bbb.org/ and sometimes Glassdoor will have warnings about particular employers from former employees.
@bitchesgetriches has an interesting article about finding remote jobs (as well as tons of other great career advice!). Couple of jobs that came to my mind: medical billing, data entry, and assistant gigs (be careful with the assistant ones, lots of variety and mixed results in my experience; watch those job descriptions).
Lastly, I'd also recommend going through a staffing/temp/talent agency like Robert Half (a reputable company, recommended to me by my old boss who was the best). There can be pros and cons to this depending on the opportunity, but these agencies get hired and paid by by companies to go find employees, which may help you find more legit options!
Best of luck! I'm rooting for you!
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ridenwithbiden · 10 months
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have canceled his plan to forgive student debt.
The measure had been pushed by Republicans, but it garnered a handful of Democratic votes in the Senate as well.
“It is a shame for working families across the country that lawmakers continue to pursue this unprecedented attempt to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents,” Biden said in a statement when announcing his veto.
Despite the veto, Biden’s plan still isn’t secure. The U.S. Supreme Court, which is dominated by a conservative majority, is reviewing a legal challenge that could eliminate the program. A decision is expected this summer.
If enacted, Biden’s plan would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year.
Student loan payments were paused at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they will resume in August for anyone whose debt is not wiped out by Biden’s plan.
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President Biden has vetoed a measure that would have overturned his student debt relief plan, leaving the fate of the program in the hands of the Supreme Court.
“Congressional Republicans led an effort to pass a bill blocking my Administration’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in student debt relief to working and middle class Americans,” Biden said in a tweet Wednesday. “I won’t back down on helping hardworking folks.”
“Let me make something really clear, I’m never going to apologize for helping working- and middle-class Americans as they recover from this pandemic, never,” Biden said.
The President’s proposal, which has been a target of Republicans since he first unveiled it, would impact 40 million borrowers, providing $10,000 in loan forgiveness to those making less than $125,000 annually and $20,000 in forgiveness for Pell Grants recipients.
A two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate would be required to override Biden’s veto, a threshold opponents of Biden’s effort cannot reach.
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said he vetoed the solution because he is “committed to continuing to make college affordable and providing this critical relief to borrowers as they work to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic.”
The measure to block the plan passed the Senate this month in a 52-46 vote and cleared the GOP-majority House in a party-line vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans.
In the Senate, Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) joined Republicans in voting to nix Biden’s proposal.
The measure was brought up as a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to nullify newly-placed rules and regulations. Such measures are not subject to the filibuster, so Democrats in the Senate could not block the measure, and a supermajority of 60 votes was not required to advance it.
Biden officially announced the plan in August, after making forgiving student debt a campaign promise and feeling pressure from progressives to act.
While progressives hailed the plan as a good first step toward forgiveness, moderate Democrats and Republicans voiced concerns over the cost to taxpayers, which is expected to be about $400 billion.
When the President announced his plan, he also announced the upcoming end to the pandemic-era student loan payment pause that was put in place in March 2020 under former President Trump and has since been extended several times.
The resumption of payments was locked in with the passage of the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement, which included a hard cutoff date of 60 days after June 30.
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saywhat-politics · 2 years
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In mere days, Mississippi will end its participation in the federal pandemic rental assistance program that has kept people facing eviction in their homes during the past two years of economic turbulence.
The state still has $130 million in federal cash to run the program, but Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said early this month that next Monday would be the last day to apply for assistance. Once Mississippi finishes processing the remaining claims, they will be returning the leftover money to the U.S. Treasury, which maintains oversight of the spending.
The program's end comes as rental prices in Mississippi have skyrocketed and a large percentage of those behind on their rent or mortgage said they are at risk of losing their home in the next two months, according to U.S. Census data.
The Rental Assistance for Mississippians Program, or RAMP, offered up to 15 months of rental and utility bill assistance for those in need. It was funded by two Covid-19 economic bills passed by Congress in 2020 and 2021, which provided billions of dollars of rental relief to states to administer to people economically disadvantaged by the pandemic.
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meandmybigmouth · 1 year
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IMAGINE A REPUBLICAN PARTY HANDING OUT COVID RELIEF FUNDS TO THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY NEEDED IT WITH A THIMBLE AND EVERYONE ELSE? A LADLE! WHETHER THEY DESERVED IT OR NOT!
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newstfionline · 2 months
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Thursday, January 18, 2024
Pacific Northwest hunkers down for ice and freezing rain, while other US regions also battle cold (AP) Parts of the Pacific Northwest were under an ice storm warning through Wednesday morning, threatening to add to the damage brought by a powerful winter storm that hit the region over the weekend. Area of southwest Washington and western Oregon—including that state’s largest cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene—were expecting to see a quarter-inch to an inch (6 to 25 millimeters) of ice, while freezing rain was forecast in the Seattle area. Schools were closed in many places, bus service curtailed and warming shelters opened while officials warned of continued treacherous road conditions and the chance of new power outages, even as crews struggled to restore electricity to thousands who have been blacked out for days.
What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents (NYT) On a Saturday morning last May, Julia Sachdev, a mother of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, woke up to an email from her children’s preschool. The school—which her children adored and had been in operation for over 50 years—announced that it would be closing in a month. In the following days, she and her husband scrambled to find an alternative that was a reasonable driving distance from their home. Most of the places they reached out to had long waiting lists. Some said their waiting lists were full. Some never even called them back. The Sachdevs’ experience is far from unique. For years, American parents—regardless of family roles, paid work status, geography or income—have struggled to find and maintain stable child care. Research shows that roughly half of Americans live in child care deserts, meaning that they have limited or no access to care. In September, federal relief funding put in place to support more than 220,000 child care programs during the pandemic abruptly expired. This steep drop-off in investment, which has been termed a child-care cliff, is projected to lead to the closing of thousands of preschools and child care centers around the country. Some families are already feeling the impact, and many more may soon find themselves in situations like the Sachdevs’.
Trump's rise sparks isolationist worries among US allies (Reuters) As Donald Trump strengthens his lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, some U.S. allies are worried about an American turn toward isolationism, a shift that would reflect an electorate largely focused on domestic issues. That was shown in polling in Iowa where Trump scored an overwhelming victory, with foreign policy the top issue for just one in 10 participants in the state's caucus. National polling provides a similar picture. When Americans have cited matters involving foreigners as the country's top problem, they most often have referred to immigration and not foreign conflicts, Reuters/Ipsos polling over the last decade shows. While domestic concerns have long dominated U.S. politics, isolationism has grown in recent years—particularly within the Republican Party.
French President Macron uses broad news conference to show his leadership hasn’t faded (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of showing his leadership hasn’t faded in more than two hours of answering questions at a news conference in which he promised a stronger France to face the world’s challenges. “I still have three years and a half in office,” he said, describing an ambition to both change the daily life of the French and tackle global crises. The 46-year-old centrist president promised “audacity, action, efficiency” in the hopes of strengthening his legacy through a series of reforms, starting with an economic bill meant to boost growth and tax cuts for middle-class households.
Ukraine needs money from the US and Europe to keep its economy running. Will the aid come? (AP) Ukraine’s hard-won economic stability is under threat again as the government faces a large budget hole and its two biggest allies and sponsors—the United States and the European Union—have so far failed to decide on extending more aid. Without pledges of support by the start of February—when EU leaders meet to decide on aid—and if no money arrives by March, that could risk the progress Ukraine has made against inflation. It has helped ordinary people keep paying rent, put food on the table and resist Russia’s efforts to break their society’s spirit. Ukraine spends almost all the money it brings in through taxes to fund the war. That leaves a huge deficit because there are other bills to keep society functioning, like old-age pensions and salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses and state employees.
Putin says Ukraine’s statehood at risk if pattern of war continues (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s statehood could suffer an “irreparable blow” if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made. Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Putin dismissed “so-called peace formulas” being discussed in the West and Ukraine and what he called the “prohibitive demands” they entailed. “Well, if they don’t want (to negotiate), then don’t!” he said. “Now it is quite obvious, not only (Ukraine’s) counter-offensive failed, but the initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, Ukrainian statehood may suffer an irreparable, very serious blow.”
NATO official warns West: Be ready for ‘anything’ (Politico) NATO countries need to be on red alert for war and "expect the unexpected," the chair of the alliance's military committee of national chiefs Rob Bauer said Wednesday. "We need public and private actors to change their mindset from an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable, focused on efficiency ... to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected," Bauer said. “The tectonic plates of power are shifting,” he added. “And as a result: We face the most dangerous world in decades.”
Deadly Iranian Strikes in Iraq and Pakistan Inflame Regional Tensions (NYT) Iran hit its neighbors Pakistan and Iraq with missile strikes on Tuesday, prompting strong denunciations from both countries and raising fears that upheaval in the Middle East could spiral out of control. In both cases, Iranian officials said they were going after terrorists they accused of being behind recent attacks on its territory that have badly shaken Iranians. This month, suicide bombers killed 84 people at a memorial procession for a revered Iranian military leader, and in December, an attack on a police station killed at least 11 officers. The Iraqi and Pakistani governments rejected Iran’s justifications. Iran’s actions came amid widespread fears that the devastating war in Gaza could become a broader and deadlier regional conflict.
Gaza keeps losing communications (Washington Post) Israel’s war on Hamas has deprived people in Gaza of food, water, electricity and shelter. It’s also disrupted communications. Gaza’s cellphone network had struggled before the conflict. Now, under Israeli bombardment and the mass displacement of Gazans, it’s failing as people are trying to connect with loved ones and secure resources. Communications blackouts have also stymied aid organizations and emergency workers trying to coordinate with the local population and with each other. And for Gaza’s journalists, the blackouts are an impediment as they try to inform the world about suffering in the enclave. Israeli bombing has damaged cellphone networks, according to Mamoon Fares, director of corporate support for the Palestinian Telecommunications Co., or Paltel, one of two providers in the enclave. Most of the internal fiber connections that link to switches and street cabinets “are damaged and need to be fixed,” he said. Cellphone towers had also been damaged. “We have more than 550 towers inside Gaza,” said Fares, who is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “Most of them were partially or completely damaged.”
Qatar and France send medicine for hostages in Gaza as war rages on (AP) A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas was en route to Gaza on Wednesday after France and Qatar mediated the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November. The medicines arrived in Egypt and were on the way to the border. A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. The agreement came more than 100 days into a conflict that shows no sign of ending.
U.S. Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen for a Third Time (NYT) The United States carried out a new military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, but the latest salvo against the Iran-backed group left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade. The strikes on Tuesday, the third overall against the group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage hit dozens of targets last week, destroyed four missiles that the Pentagon’s Central Command said posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and Navy ships traveling through the Red Sea and nearby waters. But the pre-emptive American strike also came on the third day in a row the Houthis have defied the Biden administration and its allies by firing missiles at passing ships, damaging a Greek-owned cargo vessel on Tuesday. The Houthis damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship on Monday after attempting to hit an American warship the day before.
China’s population falls (WSJ) Births in China dropped by more than 500,000 last year to just over 9 million in total, accelerating the decline in the country’s population as women shrugged off the government’s exhortations to reproduce. The number of newborns has gone into free fall over the past several years. Official figures released Wednesday showed that China had fewer than half the number of births in 2023 than the country did in 2016, after China abolished the one-child policy. The latest number points to a fertility rate—the number of children a woman has over her lifetime—that is close to 1.0, a level considered by demographers as “ultralow.”
Invasive fire ants form ‘rafts’ as they spread on Australia’s waterways (Washington Post) An environmental group has issued a warning about the invasive threat posed by fire ants, which have been documented forming “rafts” in floodwaters to access new territory amid ongoing heavy rain and cyclone conditions in Australia’s northeast. Reece Pianta at the Invasive Species Council said the insects were “one of the world’s worst invasive species” and were known to be more active immediately before and after rainfall. They can be seen joining together in buoyant clumps pulled along the current in waters in the Gold Coast region of Queensland state this month, in video footage the council shared Tuesday. “They can form rafts and float on floodwaters and land in new locations to reestablish their colonies once the floodwaters recede,” Pianta said in a phone interview. “Quite remarkable, but also quite scary.” Fire ants are capable of a sting that can be painful for an hour and in rare cases can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction. They often attack in a swarm of ants stinging at once.
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voskhozhdeniye · 8 months
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Today, we say goodbye to four of our popular modules: Basimilus Iteritas Alter, Manis Iteritas, Cursus Iteritas, and Ataraxic Iteritas. 
A little Iteritas backstory: history of the making of the Basimilus
Way back in the early days of Noise Engineering, Stephen needed to choose a CPU for our oscillators. The landscape at that time was quite different and Stephen, being both new to the world of embedded CPUs and opinionated about what he needed in a processor, opted for a model made by a company called XMOS. It was powerful enough to do what he wanted to do with Sinc Iter (our long defunct 4hp oscillator) and the original Basimilus Iteritas. 
One of the other perks of the CPU was that it was on the more affordable side of the options that fit the bill. In this case, affordability went hand in hand with being an older product in the XMOS lineup. This is what is known as foreshadowing.
XMOS had drawbacks too
As time went on, we saw drawbacks to using the XMOS. It’s not a user-friendly CPU. It’s not able to be updated in the field. To use the XMOS, we designed a special daughterboard (that small board that lives on the back of your Iteritas). It requires a special programmer that then has to connect to a custom PCB that we designed. It also requires special software and knowledge of the command line. 
While there were times that we would have liked it to be field updateable, this limitation was really brought into bright relief when we designed the Versio line. With Versio (and now Legio), customers can swap firmwares through a simple USB connection. This has been wildly popular and lots of you have written in to tell us how much you enjoy this ability.
The core Iteritas modules have two different hardwares: Cursus and Basimilus Iteritas Alter share one version and Manis and Ataraxic Iteritas share another. Over the years, we’ve had a handful of people ask if it is possible to swap them out, and we have had to explain that it’s not possible. 
But the thing is that we didn’t have a good alternative, and we could get XMOS, so we lived with the tradeoffs. 
So what changed?
We spent years living in fear that XMOS would one day end-of-life (EOL) our chip. Over the course of the pandemic, we got them in fits and starts and with zero predictability, despite lead-time buys of over a year. We managed to make it work (and a giant shout out to our manufacturer for making it so), but we were starting to see the writing on the wall.
And then one day, the letter came. 
XMOS has officially EOL’d our part. They are gone. Not being able to get the CPU is, to us, a reasonably compelling reason to reassess a product.
What does this mean for the product line?
We have seven Eurorack products that run on XMOS:
The four core Iteritas: Ataraxic, Basimilus, Cursus, Manis
Loquelic Iteritas
Loquelic Iteritas Percido
Cursus Iteritas Percido
XMOS let us know about the EOL at a time when we had a reasonable stock of CPUs, which allowed us to make some spreadsheets (one of our favorite things, as many of you know) and think through options.
The sales velocity of the core Iteritas is high enough that we are concerned about the stock of CPUs. The other Iteritas sell a bit slower. This informed a very difficult decision in a frankly bleak year to cull some of our most popular products. 
The bottom line/TL:DR: We are discontinuing the four core Iteritas, but Loquelic Iteritas, Loquelic Iteritas Percido, and Cursus Iteritas Percido will remain in production for the foreseeable future. 5U (the four core Iteritas) will remain in production as well for the moment. And if you're still in the market for one of the discontinued Iteritas, many retailers still have them in stock, so you've still got time to pick one up.
This option allows us to set aside extra CPUs for warranty repairs. If your module malfunctions, we want to be able to help, and if we don’t have any spare parts, we won’t be able to get them in the future.
Are you going to replace the modules you EOL’d?
Oscillators are one of our favorite types of module in Eurorack, and we have lots of ideas we want to explore in the sound-generator space. We still have plenty of oscillators and voices in our lineup (in additional to the Loquelic Iteritas/Percido and Cursus Iteritas Percido, we also have the Tymp Legio for percussion and Virt Iter Legio for stereo sound design). We hope to eventually have some more direct replacements for you, but for now, we’re working on some other grand things.
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