𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭

[ 1 ] : linda.

"turn out."

linda adjusted her knee to point outwards.
her stance seemed less stable from before. she started to wobble on her toes as she felt a certain stare coming from her coach.

"end."

linda dropped her souls into a slow and soft descend as she let go of her partners hands. she turned her swollen feet towards the stern woman and put a strong face on.
the dear woman let out a loud sigh. "linda.."

"please," linda interrupted. "i haven't danced in almost 2 months, give it a rest."

"linda, you need to get your act together. you can't slack off for a whole century and act like nothing has deteriorated."

linda looked away sharply.

"competitions are in, what, 2 months? if this is how our best performer puts on a stage, the judges will be utterly disappointed. i mean utterly, disgustingly disappointed."

the woman lifted herself from her seat steadily.

"and roman, i'd like to speak to you outside privately."

linda turned back to her coach and diverted her gaze to roman, who looked as if he were about to bawl his eyes out. nervously, he turned towards linda with pleading eyes and sharply turned his heels to the door. oh shit, linda thought.

linda has always lived under the conditions of her peers. she lives as the ultimate "my daughter is.." card for her family members. all A student, speaking native korean although growing up in the US, healthy and long hair, clear and glowing skin, skinny yet fit figure, "sweet" attitude.
linda learnt at young about the meaning people have birthed and engraved into her character.

don't be fooled - she understands the "i want to live life my way" mentality, she just rejects the thought of giving meaning to life that way. all she wishes is to live to be a family heirloom. however, this mentality comes with an obvious consequence.

"li-li!"
a girl yelled her name, fondly.

a smile began to form on the bridges of her lips. "hi."

linda had always been fond of mei-mei. living in the US had come with its discrimination and racist remarks, so to have another asian friend helped linda. mei-mei had a naturally sweet attitude, unlike linda. she had brown and long hair, was around 5'5, resembled a manhwa protagonist, and had a wide gummy smile that melted anyones hearts. no wonder she baked a place into linda's flawed heart.

mei-mei was extremely close to linda. so close in fact, she knew of linda's real attitude and loved her the way she naturally was. she loved everything about linda, except for her selfless mentality. which came linda's consequence: betraying mei-mei.

"did you get any gummies from the store?"
mei-mei slowly frowned. "nope. i went back and forth 3 times to make completely sure."
"doesn't matter, it's almost dinner. we'll be fine." linda smiled. the two started to walk down the street back to linda's.

mei-mei softened her gaze at linda. "hey.."

"yeah?"

"do you think you'll always be by my side?"

linda turned towards mei-mei.
it was hard for linda to lie to mei-mei, but she had to keep things to herself sometimes. linda couldn't bear to hurt her. never.

"of course." she lied. "why'd you ask?" she diverted the attention.

mei-mei turned back towards the street. "no particular reason." she faintly smiled.

linda knew mei-mei wouldn't depend on linda forever. she'd easily adapt if they were separated. probably find a cute boyfriend, finish college, get married, live a long life.

linda planned to live a long life. linda didn't wish to live a long life.

she hated life. she despised the thought of living up to 100 years old. fuck, she despised living till 40. she hated every inch of the world to the core, unless it were mei-mei. however much she hated it, she couldn't bare to see her loved ones disappointed at her passing, especially with how far she's gotten in life. so, she lived on.

she walked on. the street seemed to quiet down, which signaled that their house would be close-by (hopefully). mei-mei started to ramble on about her future plans after high school, becoming a psychologist and all that.

"oh, and you can be that cool astronaut you wanted to be!"

"for the 928th time, i wanted to be an aerospace engineer. not an astronaut."

"oh come on, i'd go to space if i had the chance!"

linda scoffed. "i'm good on earth."

do people destroy themselves and get used as bragging material on other planets? she didn't want to try to find out, she was fine with trying to survive the hell she lived in. even so, maybe there had been some hope for her in the future. maybe even, now? who knows. everything could change.

with just the click of a heel.

chapter 1: linda.

doves in the wind - sza feat. kendrick lamar