Don't Fear The Reaper [A Ravi Fanfiction]

A Day With Jia

There used to be only one word that could describe 25 year-old, Chinese-born Jia Meng: careless. Not in a bad way, of course, but just because she lived the present without caring about the future or the past. It was some sort of admirable, and everyone around her always commented on how her attitude was going to come back to bite her in the back someday. She didn’t care, but deep inside she knew from the moment it started that they were right.

She couldn’t let that stop her though. This whole thing had started when, back when she was in high school, she got too attached to someone who said to be her best friend, but dropping her at the tiniest of fights. She let that get to her for a long time, thinking it was her fault, until something in her clicked and noticed there was no single reason why it would be her fault. From then on, she decided to just live, not giving a damn about what the people around her would say.

But it all changed once she met Jang Seunghyun three years ago; owner of a big company, he was only 27 years old, but Jia could’ve sworn that he looked maybe younger than her at first sight. It wasn’t love when it begun, but there was a spark around that none of them decided to ignore. They met in a party, and realized they had a lot of things in common just as soon as they started chatting.

There was only one word to describe her: happy. About five months later, when he asked her to be his girlfriend, she was in ecstasy. He was everything she could’ve ever wished for; he treated her like a princess, he never forgot any important dates, and he never asked anything in return for everything he had done for her.

That was until, a year later, they moved in together. It was all good at first, until he started to arrive very late from work. She’d question him about it, but he’d always say that it was his boss’ fault. She believed him; after all, her father used to come late every night, too. It got worse when one night, for one of their monthly anniversaries, she decided to surprise him by cooking his favourite food: spicy chicken noodles.

“Did you cook this?” he asked, looking at the plate in front of him and back at her with a disgusted look on his face. She nodded shyly, and then he proceeded to get the dish away from him. “Don’t do it again; it tastes horrible. From here on we’re going out for dinner to avoid you touching the kitchen. Get up, we’re going now”

Jia didn’t understand; did those words come out of his mouth? She only faked a smile, trying to cover up the fact that he had used a haughty, almost cruel tone to inform her that, hurting her in the process. Picking up the plates and placing them in the dishwasher, she gave her food a last sad look and then proceeded to go to her bedroom, thinking of what clothes she’d choose.

 

No one really knew what happened behind their apartment walls. The worst thing a neighbour had ever noticed and complained about was just that Jia had her music too loud while cleaning the house. Most of the times he made a snarky remark about something she did or how she was dressed she always dismissed it as him being tired from work, so they never really fought for many things.

She always believed them to be an ideal couple, despite everything wrong there could be in the relationship. She never perceived it as a one-sided relationship, but it sometimes did become something she wished she didn’t have to endure. Their biggest fight had been a few days before their second anniversary, only because she had to work that day.

“You’re always putting work before me, why are you angry when I do the same for once?” she yelled, but backed down when he got menacingly close to her, his face completely red.

“I do it to keep us going, but obviously you don’t care about that!” he said almost hissing and raising his voice as the words flowed out of his mouth. “You’re still so immature, Jia. I don’t even understand how I’ve been keeping up with you this whole time.” Feeling shocked at those words, she took a few steps back until she hit the dining room table, her eyes wide open. Tears were threatening to fall, and she tried her best to keep them hidden.

“Then maybe I’ll just leave,” she replied, trying to sound as determined to do it as possible, “that way you won’t have to worry about me being so immature.”

“Go ahead, I won’t stop you,” he said with a smug smile, looking satisfied with the whole scene, “even you know that you’ll be coming back in no time. You always come back.” She knew he was right, but he wasn’t going to give him that one. She grabbed her keys and ran out the door, reaching for her phone to call one of her best friends, Suzy. Jia spent the night over at her house, but when the next day she didn’t even receive one text or call from Seunghyun she decided it was time to go back.

“You’re putting yourself in a difficult situation,” Suzy said before opening the front door, “get out of it as soon as you can, I don’t want you getting hurt, unnie.” She gave her a sympathetic look and walked out the door to go to what only could be the wrong thing. That week was heavy in her shoulders; neither Seunghyun nor Jia spoke a word to each other for a few days, but it changed when their anniversary arrived and he took her out on an expensive vineyard. She hated how he could fix everything that easy, but she was certain that she wouldn’t stop loving him for a long time.

If there was one thing in the world she wished she wasn’t, was so good at lying. Putting on a show for everyone around her, making them believe that she was okay, became the biggest part of her days, only letting her guard down whenever she was alone at the apartment. But she accepted it, because if it meant to be next to the man she loved and cared for, she’d do it all over again just to end up next to him once again.

There are only three words that can describe Jia Meng: blindly in love. And not even she was sure if it was a good thing anymore.

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Fourth chapter uploaded, late as always, but here it is! Decided to do this in Jia's perspective as I haven't given her much story time. I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I think I did good. It's probably really cliché at some point, but it was most of what I could get from my creativity this week. I've been busy as hell and will continue to be until after the 18th, so after that the schedule for all the updates will be normal once again. Hope you like it and thanks for reading! ♥