Latest Posts by lgclili - Page 3

“please.” she nearly whines.

picture this: lili — a woman who held all the grace and poise in the world in a singular fingernail. now throw all that grace and poise out the window and replace it with contempt and a blood-thirst for revenge then you’d have the xu lili of today, or more precisely, of right now.

she groans as she feels asami pull her up with all the strength she could muster. “these little urchin — i mean gremli — kids thought it’d be funny to give me a nudge,” that was putting it kindly. feeling herself unsteady at the soles, she uses asami’s shoulder to steady herself before letting go of the other woman’s hand with a grim smile — ‘smile’, really, because lili had nothing to smile about because the kids who tried to unalive her were literally standing beside them looking as disappointed as ever at their failed attempt. 

“now that wasn't nice, right, kids?” she asks a bit more sternly than she should before asami’s comment catches up with her and a hand flies to her head, lips dropping open in horror — “what? oh no — what’s wrong with it?” her hand immediately combs through it, hoping that nothing had caught into the strands. 

Here, surrounded by stuffed animals, all Asami could think about was her niece and if her brother had given her the stuffed bear, she got her when she was born. She’s more than six months old now, certainly a kid could be trusted to have one of those without suffocating or something, right?

Helping the kids felt like a good way to practice, to be honest, since Asami doesn’t have a lot of time to go back to Tokyo and actively participate in her niece’s life. She must learn how to me an aunt sooner rather than later, after all, and volunteering, despite not being her first choice for a Saturday activity, wasn’t all that bad. She enjoys being around children, and after the birth of little miss Mayumi, her liking of the little ones has seemed to increase theoretically. With her busy schedule, it’s not like she sees children all that often after all.

Asami is only pulled out of her reverie when she hears someone ask for help, and she wishes it was easier to find the source, but it really wasn’t since the stuffed animals, “Hi, uhm, I just need a second,” Asami says as she tries looking and see if any of the children are of any help. They aren’t. She must definitely look a little too silly, and she definitely looked comical like a cartoon character when she found the person in need because her mouth opened in a perfect O shape. “Lili unnie, my god, how did you end up there?” Asami offers her a hand and pulls her up. Despite her best instincts, Asami lets herself smile a little, “your hair is all over the place. I hope you didn’t land on leftover candy. Can I help you?”

being on her best behavior makes lili a boring girl.

and the last thing lili was — was boring.

maybe that’s why, when mischief springs into play, lili is like a moth to a flame. following her curiosity — to hell with the cat! —she wanted to find out just why this box was walking and who the fuck was hiding underneath it. there had to be a reason, right? what if there was a special prize involved?

phone in hand, lili forgoes the pictures she had been editing — the photobooth snapshots of her and maylin could wait — and follows behind the box, watching it wobble here and there until it finally stops.

and when it does, lili can only laugh as her shutter goes off with a giant, blinding flash! 

oh — was this her special prize?

“oh my god —”

or was this what they meant by good things come to those who wait? who would have known that all her effort — read: no effort — would pay off in such a way. for in her hands now lay the perfect blackmail:

han seunghyun, in all his scandalized glory, dressed up in what lili can only assume is some kind of mario brother parody — but uglier. 

and she was loving it.

“say cheese, seunghyunnie ~ or mamma mia or whatever your character says.” she laughs, taking her chance to get as many pictures as she can. 

✄ ⸻ 𝚂𝙷𝚄𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 ;

@lgclili

Han Seunghyun does not get embarrassed.

He does, however, get so terribly humiliated that he finds his way inside a company costume party from the hidden staff entrance and hides out behind one of the abandoned non-alcoholic punch bowls with a ( confiscated - sorry, not sorry Jino ) box over his head for at least a half hour.

Why he felt so compelled to go along with this stupid bet in the first place is beyond him. This whole having morals and sticking to one's word thing was really starting to get old - Shit, footsteps.

Who dared to encroach upon his hiding place? He found it first! While silence would have been the better option, his curiosity truly does get the best of him. A little peek wouldn't hurt. Particularly if it was one of the model managers, he needed at least to know what kind of story he was going to have to concoct to explain away why he was hiding in the first -

"You."

ONLY HOTTIES SHARE A BRAIN CELL. must lili say more? — @lgcmaylin

time flies and once october comes knocking, lili’s favorite holiday is nearly here — second to her birthday, of course. ( and that’s nearly a month and some away )

shocker, lili loves being a scream queen — it was practically her birthright but with the proposed concept for the party, this time, she finds herself struggling to wrack her head for a costume that would fit the bill. it wasn’t like lili spent her time playing games — not when her grandmother practically left no room in her adolescent schedule to actually enjoy her adolescence with adolescent things like, well, video games.

and while she’s at least heard of the games — she can’t say she can recall a character from the top of her head except that weird italian plummer and lili had already deemed that he was decidedly unsexy and well — she wanted to be the opposite of that.

can you say mamma mia!

“i want to dress sexy this year … is that too much to ask?” her eyes scan the halls, halloweek had chanced upon them without so much of a hello. the white rabbits stuck to miscellaneous things were the crumbs to the game — a bit much considering she had more dire, sexy problems to handle. finding one hidden in the crack of a door, lili rolls her eyes as she reads the ‘take me’, letting the card sway back and forth caught between her fingers. “do you have any idea of who you’re going to be for the party?”

PUBLIC ENEMY # 1 (KIDS: 1, LILI: 0). lili hates kids, that is fact, lili is stuck in a pile of stuffed animals because of her public enemy number one (kids), that is also fact — @lgcasami

just when lili was starting to think she had done enough volunteering to grant her an all-exclusive ticket to heaven, she’s implored to do more — and this time it was with her least favorite type of person: a child.

now, lili was no child-eating heathen a la hansel and gretel but she — for lack of better words — had an aversion to them; much like an allergy. the mere sight and/or thought of them seemed to prickle her skin in the same way a rash would. not only were they gross, saliva-slobbering cretins — they just annoyed the fuck out of her.

( unless they were the ones who showered her in unnecessary compliments then maybe she would give them a pass but it still didn’t stop them from swiping their snot-ridden noses across their stubby fingers and dressing her cashmere sweaters in boogers — all from experience, all that she experienced that very day )

call her heartless — sure, she could be — but despite her smiles and her laughter, falling into a pile of plushies was not how lili wanted to spend her saturday; especially when after being pushed into said pile of plushies, she found herself adept from getting out of this germ-infested pool of stuffed animals. 

a groan escapes her, ready to accept her fate — perhaps, she’ll die here in this engorged display of fluffy opulence and they’ll name a wall after her — choosing to lay in the pit with a hand sticking out as she weakly yelps, “can anyone help me?”

CHALLENGER APPROACHES ❗️❗️ XU LILI AS ❪ BAYONETTA ❫

໒꒱ .  莉莉 ✽ PLOT CALL _ q4

calling for plots because we are always very, terribly late plots juseyo

⤷  TRAINEE MISSION 019

VOLUNTEERING _ open !

SETLIST DUETS _ open for 2 !

lili's duet options are: - close to you by the carpenters - love by keyshia cole - if i were a boy by beyonce - romeo n juliet by clazziquai

⤷  HALLOWEEN 2024

lili is going as bayonetta! i'm open for both despite not collecting points for both, i just would love to see more interactions for this baby !

ET TU, ALICE _ open !

FACTIONS _ open !

they play their own game of pick and choose — his comments on the masses do little to appeal her to go out of her way to ask for another favor from another person she would rather not spend a second of her time with.

the thought, itself, made her moment here with seunghyun seem the slightest bit more bearable than any of the other options made available. at least she wouldn’t get hit on, proposed to, and/or suddenly arranged to be married. all of things she was trying to avoid with seunghyun’s mother — but her way with words was all too tempting. 

her eyes follow his line of sight to a woman in dangerously tall heels and a purse that looked like it was from marry poppin’s on xanax. “oh, she seems to love you.” then she frowns, eyes redirected to his seemingly nonchalance. “what ish? does she get nicer whenever she gets a touch up on her migrating zyderm?” lili was more preferential to eating her duck rather than seeing it on the face of some over-aged mistress.

Seunghyun snorts. "Nothing? Nothing at all? What a shame..." He knew so little about Lili other than his mother's infatuation with her bone structure - but she was beginning to seem a lot more foolish than she looked. Who would subject themselves to an evening of this willingly?

He bends to swipe at his pant leg with a subtle scowl, rising up to cross his arms over his chest. He eyes the elder waddling this way and that by the terrace's edge, muttering something to himself.

"Do you know who that is?" the model asks with a quirk of his brow. "New appointee on the board of directors at Hanhwa group. Total basket case. If I even so much as say hello I'm going to be stuck listening to him babble on for the next three hours..."

He scans the area for a moment, spying a woman frantically searching through her purse. He can't quite put a finger on it but she seems so familiar... They lock eyes and she frowns almost immediately. Oh, that's right. One of his mother's acquaintances whose shifting filler he just found so interesting ( and often commented on it quite loudly ). "Why don't you ask her? She's friendly. ...Ish."

“hypothetically!” lili adds after the fact. though, despite herself, fiery temperament and all, lili did know how to be professional. and the last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself — and sure, by extension jisoo, as well — in front of people she could very well work with again in the future. one could never know what the future had in store, building roots rather than burning bridges should be her main priority.

( even if lili was too good at burning bridges, today she’ll play nice )

“don’t worry, i’ll be good.”

if being good meant putting her pretty smile, only to complain to jisoo’s ear after the shoot, then yes — lili will be oh so good.

“the face is off limits but who said the ribs or the ankles couldn’t take a kick or two?” she’s joking, now, obviously. lili would rather admit defeat than risk breaking a nail, or worse, getting a scar on any part of her. 

call her surprised; a brow raising in expectation at his words. “is this really the han jisoo? or has some alien taken over your body? or maybe you’re a business-minded double?” anything she wanted? oh, where has this jisoo been all her life? willfully ignoring the 'within reason' addition, she smiles, “really — anything at all?”

if there's anyone that can provoke a reaction out of him, there's two people that up in his mind, and one of them is lili. for sure! headlining the main act : li yifei. congratutions. "now why would you be starting a fight in the middle of a shoot, if not on purpose." there's a finger at his temple, and jisoo allows her to have this sigh that escapes from his throat unwillingly.

there's some silence between them as jisoo simply stares at lili, unsure of how to even entertain or respond to this. comedic reply? or a stern reply? "i'll pull haru out of there myself if i have to, no black eyes allowed for anyone. some arguing back and forth? by all means, get into it emotionally if you have to. makes for better content. or something like that." of course, out of earshot of anyone else, who could hear him encouraging a disagreement. he's sure that neither of the starring parties would let it get that far.

"if there's something that will make you behave, speak it aloud and if i can make it happen, i will. do you want something on set? or off set? i can have it delivered if," emphasis on if, jisoo says with enunciation, "if its within reason."

•  ໒꒱ . CHUSEOK # 2024 、

lili wakes in a bed not her own on september seventeen.

the middle of the week, from below, seoul had become a ghost town; veteraned city dwellers crawling back to their hometowns for the three-day holiday. from where she woke, lili lays in bed, still stuffed in her pajamas and the lush terry-cloth robe afforded by the hotel.

it takes her a moment to react, still trying to figure out how and why she was anywhere but her bed in the dormitory or her bed in her apartment in cheongdam then she remembers and kind of wishes she doesn’t. pulling the covers over her head when she hears the notable knock on the door, the sign of the room service she had requested the night before when she had been left on her own by the end of the day.

ramming her feet into the pair of slippers at the end of the bed, she makes to the door — still not ready to start the day but it was now or never.

and well, lili was never one to dwell on spilled milk, anyways.

( even if the traces of such a thing were still found having run dry on her cheeks )

having promised her september sixteen for her time, lili still could not believe it. it was unheard of, yes, and lili, quite frankly, hadn’t expected her grandmother to be so proactive in scheduling for her time and yet, lili could not help but be excited. 

expected to spend the day, arriving to seoul that very afternoon, they had booked a quiet lunch at a hotel in myeongdong. it had been months since she last saw her grandmother, was it last year that she had seen her last? it had been that long.

with a laundry list of grievances, lili puts it behind her, puts her best ( read: newest ) dress on and rides to myeongdong with a smile that could not be contained. even the driver, who’s known lili since she had arrived in seoul, finds it questionable but doesn’t press her for it, lest it loses its shine from the most minor intrusion.

arriving on time — consideredlate in her grandmother’s book — she rides to the top floor, all the nerves and anguish bundled in her tiny fist as she clutches her fendi to her chest and steps, head held high, towards the hostess.

the expected, “your party has already arrived, follow me.” makes lili’s insides twist but her smile doesn’t fall; keeping in time with the woman as she follows behind to a pair of doors centered at the back of the restaurant, it’s patrons littered to a select few due to the nature of the holiday.

when the other makes a move to open the doors, lili stops her, thanking her for her guidance only for lili to take a hand to the knob herself. she needed the moment to be alone, she needed the breath that she had been holding in ever since she had stepped off the lift.

with a brief one, two — inhale, exhale — she pulls the door away from its hinges, stepping into the room.

and her guise falls.

her expectations have run dry and to no one’s surprise, her smile finally loses its luster.

“so, where is she?” she asks, taking her seat across from one of her grandmother’s lesser-of-importance assistants. one who probably knew korean and wouldn’t have minded the mini-vacation, the one that she had been granted after she took care of the errand her grandmother had sent her on.

the errand?

breaking the news to her beloved granddaughter.

“beijing. they’re awarding her for her work in the eco-development of ….” that’s when lili tunes her out, feeling the grip on her fist loosen as her eyes lose sight of the person in front of her and all she wants to do — all she really can do is wait there until the woman finishes whatever she was ordered to do.

“the chairwoman paid for your stay at the hotel, if you’d like to eat we can also order a meal.”

that’s when lili stands, fingers now digging into the beads of her bag. “no, let’s go to the room, i’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

she watched the assistant round the table and knew the other was counting her blessings; out of all the things lili could do, she was lucky to have found a day lili was too tired to try.

making someone’s life hell could be saved for another day, lili was too busy trying to pick up the pieces of her pride.

they ride down to a different level and lili follows her down the winding hallway to a suite on the far side of the floor. 

a hand waves the key card to its function and the click of the door has it open before lili can slip from her daze.

“would you like me to —”

“actually,” she cuts in, then, hand on the door to stop the other from entering. “i’d like to be alone. please wish my grandmother a happy 中秋节 for me.”

she had the sense to know that, at least, her grandmother would check in whether the assistant had completed her job before she would ever pick up the phone to actually call lili about it — not when the fuse and all the dramatics that come with it had been lit.

leaving lili with the room key, the door closes and the first thing lili does is toss her bag to the bed, noticing the packed suitcase by the balcony door and she can’t help but laugh. the woman really had planned it all despite saying she would make time for her.

and rather than own up to her mistake of ever promising anything, she found a way around it, with a non-apology of money — the stuffed pack had barely fit in her bag — and a paid stay at a luxury hotel hotel. 

lili knew she shouldn’t have held her expectations — 

fuck, but she had already let them run away with her before she could help it, she thinks, sinking herself into the comfort of a warm duvet and the low-lit chandelier. feeling the depths of the silence render her emotional. 

had the quiet ever felt so lonely as it did today? 

she tells herself she’ll allow herself the tears. she’s granted it this one time and after that, she’ll never think of it again for the rest of the year.

what lili doesn’t consider is the way the tears come and never stop.

and lili did not know what she was doing — alas, before she had known it, a day had become five. five had become ten and oh, time in the poisoned gardens had gone so fast that lili hadn’t the slightest clue just how fast it had come to her twentieth day. “is that so …” she trails off, trying to recount just how long she’s been there, only to come up short. had it really been twenty days already? it had only felt like yesterday she had arrived with a sick feeling burrowing deep into her stomach. 

“but it’s nothing bad, right?” suddenly, she feels her heart quicken; there was no telling how much, nor how long the poison had accumulated within her. time had become a construct of a consciousness lili had retired from the moment she had stepped foot into the gardens. “right … i mean, i think i feel fine. don’t i look fine?”

the sap brings her back to the present, if not momentarily; pulling the other along, quick hurriedly around the bend where she had first hid from the girl. the tree from where the sap had come from had risen high above their heads but its branches sagged to their ankles, kissing their feet with their leaves. the sap she had been snacking on the past few days lay from a part of the tree lili had punctured with her zan.

“i do?” the answer comes off a string of her own slurred speech, replying to miyu a beat too late — after having mumbled through her own set of confusion. “i guess i don’t feel well. i’ve been feeling sick to my stomach since i got here but it comes and goes so i haven’t been thinking much of it. oh no — miyu! what do i do, am i going to die?” the panic sets in, a brazen trail of fear striking her heart and running her hands cold as she grasps onto miyu, a mere whisper of her words as she tries to calm herself albeit failing as she looks to the other girl. “is there something we can do?” 

"the most pleasant of surprises," miyu's laughter rings throughout the garden. "it's nice to see you again, promise."

it's hard to keep up with what lili is saying, her words coming out too fast. it's a bit concerning, really. miyu's brow forms a crease.

"you don't know? supposedly after spending twenty days in the garden you develop some kind of poison immunity," she tells lili. "it's not forbidden, but i wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing," miyu frowns, wondering why it seemed like the other wanted to stay in the garden for an extended period of time.

"that must have been the sap i was looking for! you'll have to show me where you found it, but, lili, are you . . . " she trails off, biting her lip trying to find the right words. "are you okay? you seem," she pauses for a moment, looking into the other's eyes. "you seem, off, like something's wrong."

XU LI YIFEI LILI, PERFORMER. ENCHANTED WAVES SANCTUM

she is a girl, just like the rest. her father sees her as such. no different than the others, just like the others, one more daughter to add to the his master plan. her father lacks nothing: daughters, wealth, nor ambition. she was just another one to be used for their father’s egostistic power play. her father, the founder of a well-known informant guild, had married into her mother’s noble family. the li family were well suited to his claims for power: they had both wealth and influence, built from years of triumph and trust; desirable attributes that only aided in her father’s ambitions.

pretty and quiet, this is your cross to bear. one of seven daughters, she is not the eldest, not the youngest, she is just a daughter — pretty and quiet, taught the bare minimum, ready to be sold off like cattle to the highest bidder. she’s seen it happen four times already in her twenty-three years. does she yearn for more? perhaps — there’s no other life she’s known except the one she’s seen within the walls of the li estate. outside was unheard of — a life she could only revere in her dreams. and in her dreams, the outside world is beyond the chains that hold her in this hell she calls home.  ( it is why, when she gets her first taste of freedom; stowing away in the servants' cart had been deplorable but thrilling, all the same, she wonders why had she waited so long to take a step out )

death becomes you. tw: sibling death, death by childbirth. her second eldest sister dies in childbirth. it’s an awful affair — the man was thirty years her senior and had left his wife to die as he held his newborn in his hands. to his dismay, the babe is also a daughter. promised a son, despite the self-evident reality that the li family found their luck in their daughters, he comes to her father with an ire to burn and an even more appalling offer. from this blasphemy comes yifei’s worst nightmare come to life. 

she is just a girl, just like the rest, part two. she’s known since she was five who she was to marry. it had been engrained into her memory with each waking moment and with every trivial interaction. her marriage had been decided for her and whether it be by the grace of god or not, at least, yifei didn’t dislike him. it is only when her sister dies does lili finally see the monster in her father. he is not only calculating, he is also heartless. her sister’s husband wished to replace her — with yifei. a payment for the defective wife he had lost. the night lili learns of this truth, is the night that changes everything.

death becomes you, part two. tw: murder, death by arson. she hadn’t meant for it to happen. at least — not in the way it did. she was to leave the estate in a fortnight, to depart for her new husband’s home and be his wife, bear his children and maybe, live the life her poor sister should have breathed. this is what should have happened. but suddenly the main hall is engulfed in flames and only yifei is there to watch it fall, ashes to ashes. ( she doesn’t remember how she gets out, had someone helped her? had she run off on her own? all she knows is by the time the pocket realm opens up, she’s on the run and suddenly her face is plastered all over posts within the district )

on the run: she is just a girl, unlike the rest, reprise. she changes her name. relinquishes claim of her sisters — prays that they had made it out alive, unlike her bastard of a father — but it’s too late, her new life had begun. a performer in the enchanted waves sanctum was not what she had always dreamed of but surprisingly it was better than what she had always known, if one could believe it. at least it was until one day she chances her face, its distinctive features all dressed up in charcoal, nailed to the post and a fear strikes her. the pocket realm hadn’t been her first choice but it had been the best one at the time. if she was on the run, there was no way they could find her from within, right? she could only hope.

there’s a warmth that blooms, it’s very pit carrying the weight that had carved itself deep into her stomach away — as if it had been all a dream, the stress, the pain; the fear — but it’s no dream, the scar that became of the burn she had received months ago was the very reminder that this was far from some fairytale awakening at the beginning of one of her favorite folklores. 

“a very pleasant surprise, i should hope.” 

she isn’t sure if the constant adrenaline had caught up to her or if the relief had weakened her senses but she feels faint, but the dreariness in her voice is light — akin to a small laugh, one that could be similar to joy, her knees feel heavy.

what had miyu said about the gardens?

“what do you mean by twenty days?” had it already been that long? lili had lost count once her supply had run short and she had fended herself with some herbs she had found in the nearby brush. was there something amiss by staying so long? “is it forbidden to stay longer than so? shouldn’t it be called the forbidden gardens, then?” she laughs, the delirium not quite making sense to her, nor why she suddenly felt as if she was losing grasp of her rationale. 

“how funny. it’s so funny that we’re both here! out of all the place to see you.” her eyes flicker to the instrument slung along the other’s arm, “oh? i think i might’ve seen some sap back where i was hiding, i also might have tried it — it kind of tasted like honey water.” 

even though the voice says they mean not to harm her, miyu keeps her guard up still. she's not naive; it could be a trap.

she watches as someone emerges from the bushes, eyes squinting trying to make out the figure's features. she's taken aback by the other girl's rapid movements, startled that she would grab her wrist.

"lili?" it takes miyu a moment to realize who's standing in front of her, eyes widened in shock. they hadn't seen each other in so long. years had passed by since she had last made her acquaintance. "it's been so long. i-" she cuts herself off, shaking her head not knowing the words to say. "this is quite the surprise."

"honestly, i'm not really sure," she chuckles. "i don't know what drew me to the gardens, but something told me to explore them. currently i'm trying to look for a certain kind of tree, one whose sap i can supposedly use to polish my weapon," miyu lifts up her arm, showing lili her instrument. "and you? what brings you here. hopefully you're not trying to stay for twenty days, right? i'm already beginning to feel woozy and i've only been here a couple of hours."

“i bid you no harm!” raised above her head, lili rises from where she had been laying in secret; where the hope of the other passing by her undetected had been all but lost, lili knew it was better to admit quick defeat than harbor another’s ire unto herself — she already had enough of that with the authorities. 

( she could only hope her picture plastered all over the kingdom’s posts did not do her justice )

she emerges from the shadows, slowly. assessing the situation with every dire step she took towards the unknown voice, if necessary, lili would run — there was no knowing how far she would get, but if all else failed, it would be her first prerogative to get the hell out of there.

 in the light, her eyes adjust, blinking for effect as she settles her gaze upon the other girl — and to her surprise, relief floods her, immensely. hands sought unto the girl’s wrist as first chance, nearly pummeling over the other in her rush. “miyu!” she couldn’t believe her eyes, what were the chances? had her luck changed? could miyu her lucky charm, per say? “w-what are you doing here?” the poisoned gardens hadn’t been the first place she would have pegged the other to venture, but then again, neither would lili be caught dead there, as well, if it hadn’t been exactly the place no one would come looking for her. 

━━ gyeseung | blossom ( @lgclili ) 

what drew miyu to the poisoned garden was mainly curiosity. though she had never truly been interested in the art of healing, her parents had tried desperately to teach her the tricks of their trade. seeing the dimension in the pocket realm, something pulled her towards it. she's forgotten most, if not all, of the craft, but is determined.

her journey begins and miyu starts to seek out a certain ingredient that will help restore the shine to her instrument, something to help polish it. it's an act of defiance in a way; using what she'd found in a way that her parents would turn their nose up to. she doesn't intend to stay in the garden for twenty days, not concerned with gaining poison immunity.

in fact, she'd rather get in and out as quickly as possible.

there's no map, no directions, but there's a picture burned in miyu's mind of what she needs to harvest. after searching for what feels like days, she's tired and ready to turn back. until she hears a rustling behind her.

"who's there?" she shouts, eyes darting around the area. miyu listens carefully, waiting for a response, sensing that someone else was in the area. "are you a friend, or are you a foe?"

໒꒱ . LGC FAMILY CONCERT # 2024  、

she needed this.

what better time of the year to get her mind off of the fact that she was practically an orphan around the holidays. and yes, that was exactly what legacy’s family concert turned out to be: the perfect distraction. 

there is no time for hell raising, no complaints to be said this time — they’ve all been done before and surprisingly, lili had no will to fight them this time around. it’s an oddity, sure, the girl who was so used to having poison for a tongue and fire in her eyes, willingly compliant and obedient to an event she, otherwise, wouldn’t have bat her eyes to. but she was there, day in and day out, practicing like she didn’t already know all the words, repeating each routine and step as if it hadn’t already been engrained into her muscle memory. 

it begs the question:

was something wrong?

it’s a tale she’d never tell. in fact, when questioned by some of her peers, all she does is laugh and reply back:

“what? is it so surprising that i might actually enjoy doing the family concert?”  

because yes — it was surprising.

and perhaps enjoy was too strong of a word.

it was a nice relieve to the mundane and her constant woe is me that came with the autumn holidays. it was just nice to think about something else, really.

when the day comes, lili finds herself lost in the bustle — the craziness of family concert that she doesn’t really have the time to think about how her grandmother had sent her away with a pamphlet of money and her well-wishes typed into a text message read by an assistant who cared enough to take the two hour flight from beijing. 

and with all things considered, as she’s mouthing to so hot, laughing against the crowd’s roars, arms linked with jiah, lili can only think — thank god, i get to do this all over again tomorrow.

•  ໒꒱ . TRAINEE MISSION # 18 _ LILI : OFF DUTY 、

something to know about lili was that she was not an early riser.

as someone who loved her beauty sleep — she, more often than not, could be caught snoozing her alarm; it was a sore reminder for the days when she used to room with jiah, and could only rely on the other to wake her up before she left for the day. but without her, relying on herself and her phone’s alarm had made mornings a little harder. 

this particular morning was by far the hardest — waking up early was a bad, waking up even earlier to set up the camera for the most perfect ‘i just woke up like this’ shot was the worst.

blinking the sleep away, a brush of her fist against her eyes as she looks to the camera that she had pointed at her face — a unobscured close up — that lili only smiles to, breathing a rather groggy, “morning.” before laughing and turning away from the camera — pulling the covers up to her nose as she blinks at the time noted in red from across the room on the alarm clock. 6:35, ugh — so early. 

she shuts off the video then, checking the footage first, in the off chance that she’d have to redo that embarrassing display over again — thankfully she does not — and once it’s done with, lili wishes she could just lay back, continue on to dreamland but alas, now that she was up — she was up. 

wandering into the kitchen, lili picks up a banana and a protein shake from the fridge — the initial grimace she usually makes when she takes a gulp of her shake is wiped clean as she remains as passive as possible while going about her morning. 

today’s agenda includes lgc family concert practice — a continuation of some nostalgia stages and others — and her japanese lesson; things she lists off to the camera while finishing off her banana, “and then i get to go home and do my skincare.” she laughs, quietly noting that doing her skincare and makeup may be her favorite parts of her personal time. 

for someone who wasn’t well-versed with documenting every second of her day for someone other than herself to see, lili was quick to fall into ease in front of a camera. propping it against her tumbler; she sits back for her japanese lesson; taking out her usual suspects for the review: her my melody plush pencil case and it’s paired notebook as well as the recording device she usually brought with her to record the teacher’s dictations ( it helps her to repeat the phrases she learned that day when she hears it again spoken by a professional  ); all placed side by side as she waits for the teacher to come in.

it’s kind of funny how diligent lili is in her lesson considering just a couple months ago she had dreaded learning the language all because she had been under the impression that she had been placed in the workshop as a mistake — yet, here she is, almost five months into learning a new language.

maybe it was something she had a knack at — and at this point, after feeling somewhat comfortable in not one, not two, not even three but four languages — lili couldn’t help but feel proud of herself.

she wouldn’t call herself fluent — never, not yet at least — but as she scribbles on her notebook to show to the camera, at the end, she can’t help but feel that she was getting there.

❮  わたしの ほうが かわいいでしょ？  ❯

i'm cute, aren't i?

giggling, she shows what she’s written to the camera, winking as she points at herself before setting the notebook down.

while the day hadn’t been long, lili was more than happy to be home, already slipping on her my melody headband ( not meant for washing faces but don’t tell lili that because she’ll still wear it regardless ) and reaching for her oil cleanser to remove the bits of her mascara, tone up cream and sunscreen. 

her night routine wasn’t some agonizing 10 step system but it definitely did take a while and would keep lili in the bathroom for longer than she should be; it’s why after she washes her face, with a quick pat, she’s returning to her bedroom to do the rest of her skincare; making sure to dry each layer she places on her skin — whether its her toner, serum or emulsions — they each take their time to dry before she places the next. 

she’s left with just her face mask when she’s met with the camera once again — hand waving as she blows a cute kiss it’s way before saying goodnight. 

“愿你走进甜甜梦乡 ~”

may you enter sweet dreamland. 

lili laughs, a breath pushed forcibly as she straightens up from her end pose. “you’re much too kind, and you’re probably lying but i’ll take it.”

reaching for her towel, she pats along her forehead before letting it drop to the rest of her belongings. “maybe — maybe a partner would be better.” she sighs, still uncertain with the compromise, finally coming back to sit beside rua.

“you literally read my mind,” lili admits, like a breath of relief to finally be speaking her mind to someone who wasn’t all gung-ho about their current predicament. the others couldn’t wait to express themselves creatively, and yet, all lili felt was exhaustion. “like who am i kidding, i think — i’m just not meant to be choreographing”

it wasn’t to say lili wasn’t creative — no, she could be if she put half the mind into it.

but to be frank, even lili couldn’t fake putting her heart into something that she didn’t really care for — and maybe that was why everything was feeling so wrong. her passion was misplaced, it had only taken now to realize that no matter the excuse she put up — it would always feel wrong because lili wasn’t someone who planned and created, at least not in the form she was in now, no — she was the executioner. 

she was the model to the artist, she would breathe life into the idea — not have the idea, itself. 

( at least, in lili’s not-so-humble opinion )

 “how is your stuff coming along?”

་ ⸼ ⸒ ✴ previously、

as long as lili isn't expecting well, concrete and actually helpful advice, rua is happy to watch whatever the other has come up with so far. even if she didn't know much about techniques and styles and all that, she can at least tell if something is pleasing and nice to watch.

when the song starts playing, rua can already picture the kind of dance that's likely to follow. it screams contemporary (she at least knows that much) but the thing about this genre of dance is that, it's very... free and there's not exactly rules or structure to follow or adhere to, or else it wouldn't be considered that style anymore. to her, one of the defining features of this kind of dance is a flowy-kind of feeling, with some powerful moves when the song hits certain notes or peaks - and that's more or less what she sees when lili starts demonstrating what she's put together so far.

part of her is in awe though, that the other had already come up with this much and although lili calls the movements stiff, rua doesn't think she's giving herself enough credit. "i don't think it looks silly," she says with a light laugh. "it's much better than anything i could've came up with honestly." although that isn't saying much, considering her absolute lack of knowledge and ability to choreograph but that's not the focus here!

"maybe you just need to get used to the movements more?" she suggests, wondering if the 'stiff' feeling lili speaks of is because the dance doesn't feel natural to her yet. "i've barely done any dance like this so i think i'd feel really out of place if i tried to suddenly." but she's not sure if that's really the source of the problem, her just guessing, or a personal issue. "or maybe the moves are meant to be done with a partner?"

so much had changed in the scheme of hosting. rather than the direction of lines being read and executed, not only were they expected to improvise, they were also implored to do so with an ease of a natural — even if the language spoken was far from your native tongue.

even more so, in these cases.

all while being as confident as possible when faced with the barrel of a red-lighted camera, airing live to thousands across the nation. and worse — millions across the world. 

it’s these types of pressures that didn’t bother lili — but the fact that they acted like they were doing a service to them. improvisation of a music show scene was beyond a day’s work — unless your goal was to be a host at the end of the day and well, since lili didn’t like to call herself a all-rounder for nothing.

( truly — lili was just complaining to complain )

but in today’s case, as she sits next to kyoka and looks at the other’s notes once more — unprompted and concerned — she tries to tweak the frown on her face, “how did you feel about the lesson?” she asks, after having looked over the other’s notes, and having seen all the question marks. “it was kind of a lot, right?” 

Kyoka’s not a complainer. She happily does what she’s told unless there’s something else that catches her attention, in which she then gets distracted. But that’s beyond the point. Point is, rarely does she ever feel upset or slighted with what’s expected of her.

What that doesn’t mean though, that she never has any negative emotions. Like now, pure confusion and maybe a teensy bit of frustration creeping in too.

What, a whole script for a music show scene? Wasn’t a music show hosting just a simple who what where when why? Who changed that format? What happened to it? Where did this new expectation come from? When did it become a thing? Why?

Ah… too much thinking, not enough answers. Her brain is turning to mush, she can feel it already.

Kyoka is still staring at her notebook, eyes already glazing over when a voice knocks her out of her trance. “Huh? Oh, ummm yes,” she squints at her notes, which really was just a row of question marks and nothing else, “my notes. Yes, they’re my notes.”

she knows what they’re looking for — it was kind of hard not to know. it’s the usual: creative beyond your means, doing what no one has ever done before — that kind of thing, making a mark for yourself out of the box you called home. 

however, for lili — she hardly cared about the creative process. for lili: it was probably beyond her and her expertise. as long as the song or the choreography didn’t make her look like a laughing stock, she was fine doing something that someone else had put their blood, sweat and tears into engineering.

but now, as she puts her own blood, sweat and tears into whatever this could be — it exhausts her, and she’s ready to take a quick way out; but not before making sure that whatever the fuck this came to be didn’t look like she just pulled it from the depths of who knows where. 

“nah, nonsense — all i need is a new eye.” ( and unwarranted, half-hearted praise ) “i’m trying to match the beat but i feel like it’s coming off as stiff.” and it probably is considering this was far out of lili’s line of comfort. 

playing the song from her phone, lili lets lovely filter out into the quiet. with the help — and a healthy bribe — from one of the other trainees who had skillfully isolated the metronome in the song, she was concentrated on hitting with each move is louder than the mellowed songstress who was mumbling in the background but each move she did felt weird — disconnected, and as she does these movements before rua’s eyes, they feel even more amplified as wrong. 

“god, it looks silly, doesn’t it?”

honestly speaking, rua wasn't that interested in choreographing.

thinking about having to come up with different steps and moves then combining them into something that'd be presentable as a full dance is a tall wall she's not sure she wants to try scaling - but as it goes with all things she's taken on since becoming a trainee, she's at least open to trying. she'll never know if she might end up liking something if she doesn't give it a chance so when it was basically a requirement to focus on their personal creative skills, rua chose what she felt were the most appealing to her out of the given options.

still, she wasn't quite confident in what she picked; it showed in how she had absolutely no idea what she should be doing but not wanting to appear like she needed to be hand-held through the entire thing, rua opted for googling choreography tips and looking up videos on youtube for ideas and inspiration in the corner of the practice room she had claimed for herself. no one had to know, right?

that is, until she hears someone calling her name which causes her to look up from her phone in surprise, as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. when she processes that the person--whom she remembers (hopefully, correctly) to be another trainee named lili--who said her name was not trying to expose her and instead, was asking for her advice on something, rua feels a small sense of relief - but only a little bit and the feeling doesn't last for long either.

she's not sure how much valuable input she can give considering she was just searching everything up a mere moment ago but rua doesn't want others to find that out. so she smiles and says, "i don't know how much i can help but sure," before walking over to lili and nodding. "what move are you trying to do?"

BY GOOD WILL OR GOOD LUCK? is this lili being nice or is it just luck? — @lgckyoka

one would think — if you’ve been through one thing, something similar to it would be a breeze?

well, to lili, she’d say you were dead wrong. 

( because no two things could be the same, there was always something different )

thankfully, this was not one of those times — these were one of the times she’s able to bless her lucky stars for being so god-damned, four-leaf clover lucky. but perhaps luck had nothing to do with it — because, again, if you’ve been through one thing, you’ve been through it all. 

and since lili had painstakingly gone through grueling work to learn japanese just for some mock hosting gig that never saw the light of day — to do it again, but in korean — a language she would say she was a little more than familiar with, well — lili would tell you she just won the lottery.

that is how lucky she thinks such a task is.

a breeze, it would be — despite her initial belief ( read above ) — because wasn’t hosting all about self confidence? and apparently, lili had that in spades.

and by her good fortune — maybe she was feeling nice or maybe she felt bad for kyoka — she saddles up next to the other after an afternoon lesson, glancing over at the other’s notes before pointing at a phrase she notices with her sparkly pink pen. 

“is this what you wrote for the exercise earlier? the one about improvising a music show scene?”

BLANK SPACES. lili hates to bother (she doesn't, in reality, she is the bother) but desperate times call for desperate measures — @lgcrua

her head is blank. a struggle lili has never once encountered before. then again, not once had she ever thought she would be attempting to choreograph something for herself again. it’s been years since ballet school and the recitals and the long nights of endless, frustrated grueling over steps and motions that lili had thought she had put behind her.

and yet —

she stands, with her hands on her hips as she lets the song play again through her airpods; repeating the motion as languidly as possible so that she doesn’t tire herself out like all those years ago when she would just run full-throttle into every move. 

it still didn’t look right — didn’t feel right either — as she does the move thrice over. because of this — she could feel the vein in her forehead ready to pop, frustration bubbling to the surface. lili hated being wrong, but she also hated wasting her time. 

from the side she spots — rua, was it? — plucking a pod from her ear, she waves with as much finesse as she can muster despite herself, “hey — rua, right?” 

“can i get your opinion on something? i keep doing this move but i feel like it doesn’t look right.” 

call it relief or whatever, but when sarang gives her a promise — lili makes due to hold her to it.

( because there was no way in hell lili was going to haul her passed out ass from this bathroom if it comes to it — then again, if she had passed out maybe it would stop all their peers from haa-ing all over the place )

no, no — that would be unkind — to wish someone would pass out, especially if that someone looked close to tears and near death from whatever was going on inside her pretty head. lili couldn’t be the reason for something bad happening — not again.

so, as relief fills her, she trades her sigh of ease to one of a gentle smile, if you could call it that. trying to rack her brain for any words of comfort, kicking herself for being … lili … instead of someone like taeha who was so good at words and comfort. 

settling for a — it’s okay — a shoulder lifts, nonchalantly. “everyone has their bad days,” not lili, per say, but that wasn’t something she could say now. 

“no worries, the worst they could do is make us run around the gym again.” on second thought — “just give yourself a minute — okay? you don’t need to rush yourself.” 

the last thing she wanted, was someone to be worried.

well, someone worrying over her. this was stupid. she was stupid. people got bad comments all of the time, people had bad days. it was her own need not be seen as not perfect. it wasn't just about being perfect, she was wrong. not okay or even unremarkable but wrong. and wrong in front of everyone.

it took a moment to realize that lili was still speaking to her. it was that easy to get lost in her own head. sarang tried to focus on the breathing. she nodded her head to the question, she knew breathing options. it was her own thoughts doing this to her. sarang tried her best to follow, to calm her breathing. more importantly, to forget about what happened.

it was the comment about passing out that managed to get a strangled laugh from her. "p-promise." she muttered out, she was sure she wouldn't pass out. hopefully. she breathed slowly, still counting in her head. when sarang was through the worst of it, she was able to speak again. "i- i-i'm so sorry you h-had to s-s-see that." she was read from the embarrassment. "j-just a bad d-day, you s-should g-go back, i wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

໒꒱ .  莉莉 ✽ PLOT CALL _ q3

calling for plots because we are always very, terribly late plots juseyo

⤷  TRAINEE MISSION 018

HOSTING WORKSHOP _ open !

DAILY VLOG _ solo

CREATIVE LESSONS _ choreography [ hip hop / classic ] _ open !

“i think i passed him briefly in the makeup trailer.” what lili should have done was introduce herself but what happened to being a gentleman? should lili do everything herself? 

before lili could huff at the comment, he’s retracting it and all lili could do was pout — lips formed, whether because she lost her chance to tease him for it or that she was looking for an outlet to rid her of her nerves.

nerves? around jisoo — who knew.

“sure, i suppose that’s what you meant.” she could only believe him at face value, “how do you know we won’t start a fight in the middle of the shoot — strong personalities and all?” wondering where jisoo’s head was at — to put the two of them together, if that had been the case. lili would have thought it be a disaster — strong personalities often were, especially when pitted against another, if not, stronger one. 

if she chooses not to keep it, he thinks it'd be very amusing if a package arrived for her in the mail anyway - which haru and lili likely would be gifted after it was all over, when the shooting wrapped up, but jisoo isn't going to say that right now, as he definitely is no mind reader and cannot figure lili out - even after all these years, tragic. ( or maybe, the better way to say it is, he can figure her out, but its always better to not say it aloud to dispel the moment. )

the corners of his eyes crease as he smiles, nonplussed at her demeanour. it seems... the shoot will run smoothly? permitting that the two mains don't butt heads. "i mean, you know i can if i am in the corner. just don't put me in the corner, and i won't bite,' clearing his throat, he glances in the direction where she is towards and agrees. "perhaps that may be one of the ones selected. we certainly won't only pick one, so there is some variety." everything seems to be coming aligned, unlike the rarity in the sky that will never occur. but for him, the three of them aligning on the same trajectory was enough.

"have you met your co-star yet?" jisoo must inquire, since it is likely that the dual shots will come soon. "i hope neither of you will chase the other away with respectively, strong personalities in very different ways. its a compliment, i swear," he insists, holding his palms out.

once safely escorted from the room and out of earshot of the other girls and their excruciating ha! ha! ha! — god, kill her, it was like the sounds were permanently burned into her head now — lili takes a breath, then pauses — rethinking chaekyung’s words.

“wait — iv drip? needles?”

oh hell no — lili xu did not do needles.

( not unless you counted the needles needed to press two little holes into her ears — however, lili did not count those ; plus she had been too young to even remember the pain )

“actually,” suddenly standing on her own, patting herself; feeling her pulse, all that and what not — she smiles, shrugging. “i’m feeling much better. no need for an iv drip; i just need to lay down, clear my head, rest — that sort of thing.”

her brows furrowed slightly as she placed her hand on lili's forehead again. she was certain their temperatures were the same. however, if the older female insisted she felt feverish, who was chaekyung to deny it? she couldn't feel what lili was experiencing. chaekyung remained quiet, pondering what to do next. it wasn't until another trainee screamed with a loud 'ha!' that she noticed lili's eye roll. putting two and two together, even a fool could see what was going on.

as dramatic as her friend could be, chaekyung realized lili simply didn't want to continue practicing her scream just like her. hence, she decided to play along to get out of the situation, "omo, unnie, you're right. your forehead is definitely getting warmer. let me take you to the er so you can get an iv drip, stat!"

with that, chaekyung threw one of lili's arms around her shoulder, wrapped her own arm around lili's waist and slowly escorted her out of the room.

໒꒱ . WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY # 002 _ IDOL JAPANESE: THE EVALUATION 、 aka “LILI, CAN YOU TEACH ME JAPANESE?” I SAID 「はい、はい」

the unfortunate thing about all this is that when pushed, lili pushes harder.

and lili wouldn’t call what they did pushing, per say. unless you could call dangling lili over a cliff with nothing but herself and ichika as a safety net below her pushing — then so be it, they pushed her.

because lili did not like to be pushed around.

despite the practices for that nostalgia show the girls were all participating in, she had this on top of it — and lili was no stranger to overachieving and doing too much in order to appear as pristine and as put together as possible. even if it meant, forgoing necessary ailments such as sleep and food, lili was going to prove them why they shouldn’t push lili to do things.

in the grand scheme of things, the evaluation comes in a blur — her prepared speech, ran through and corrected by ichika with alarming quickness is something lili can only warrant from her own neck-breaking determination to get things done right. even if she had gone into this workshop not knowing a lick of the language — she could at least call herself somewhat knowledgable — if not, able to say more than yes. 

she goes through the motions, remembering the sounds of the vowels — trying to not trip over them as she slows her words, carefully, because the more she quickened her pace, the more she stumbled over them. taking a breath, and with another smile, she begins — in a banter with her partner, thank god at least they knew what they were doing, while lili felt like she was still dangling from that tell-tale cliff, searching for a savior. 

the breath helps, it eases the nerves tickling the back of her neck. her smile used like a shield in the midst of a battle against herself and the evils who had put her in such an uncomfortable position. never had lili felt this unprepared — even if she had spent every waking moment of the past three months preparing for just this — she still felt uneasy. 

was this is? 

her fall from grace?

( finally tumbling her from  her overly egotistic, completely arrogant pedestal that no one but she had put herself upon? ugh, the ground would probably hurt from a fall like this, wouldn’t it? )

these are things she keeps in her back pocket for later — for when she’s to complain about her downfalls and her supposed weaknesses to jang insung — a laundry list, really, of her woes and why she still doesn’t quite understand why she was placed for such a workshop. 

sure, she learned japanese — but at the end of the day, lili only did so because she had felt undermined, so really …

who was the winner in all this?

lili wouldn’t think it was she — begrudgingly, least said and never something she’d say out loud, it had put another notch on her otherwise ridiculously overachieving and accomplished belt — at least, she wouldn’t admit to it as so.

໒꒱ . DATE LOTTERY # 2024 _ THE DECISION 、

it’s almost sickening the way the nerves crawl upon her skin — because what did lili have to be nervous for? it wasn’t like this was some end of it all will she or won’t she a la the bachelorette; it was whether or not she’d like to — as they say — ‘continue the adventure with their current partner’. and if she said no, she could always call minkyu the next day and it'll be fine — right?

( it would all be fine? )

and as nauseating as it did sound — because whoever came up with seriously needed to be re-enrolled in romance 101 — lili couldn’t find it in her heart to deny it.

even if it went against all her principles — and maybe lili liked to think she was a better person than someone who’d reject one of her closest friends and then be fine with spending the day with them as if nothing had happened — she knew deep down that: she wasn’t a better person.

and she was just the type of person to do such a thing.

but when the cameras rolled and she’s asked the dreaded question, lili is answering before she can even tell herself that her mask was slipping.

“i’m glad it was minkyu — if anything, relieved?” she tastes the word on her tongue — as if testing it, the korean phrase a hard sell for a foreign linguist. lili nods, once she’s reassured that that is what she means. “that my date was with him. i don’t normally share much of my personal life — my childhood with many people — but since i’ve met minkyu before, being able to show him something that’s so dear to me was really nice. i think it made us closer.”

and she really did — think — that it had made them closer, rather in the superficial sense that lili usually built her relationships — in particular with minkyu, bolstering him around town with her black card through meals and little gifts — the fact that this had neither to do with any of the above made it different, made it feel different and lili still couldn’t quite describe that feeling other than … nice. it was — it is nice.

“and i think that’s why,” she pauses, licking her lips as a finger catches a stray hair before pushing it behind her ear — building the suspense through a charming grin and a small, gentle hum before she nods. “i’d like to go on another adventure with him, wherever that may take us.” 

because even if lili pretended that she was fine with burning bridges and acting fine, another part of her — the needier part that had spoken in harsh tongues and pleaded her not to — had already shown too much of her real self in the form of a happy childhood memory for all the world to now see. and she couldn’t deny that because of this, lili — whether professionally or personally — didn’t want the world to see her burn a bridge that she had now, despite her initial refrains, cemented in stone. 

satisfied with his answer, lili only beams in response. maybe she should call it luck that the cameras were rolling — getting an complimentary answer from minkyu as so has never been easier. 

“alright, alright, picasso. i can’t wait to see what you come up with.” she teases, eyes shining bright as she looks from the set of colors she had already swiped to her side to him. 

every now and then, her eyes briefly glance his way — a mirror of the image she was trying to transfer to the kite itself. unfortunately, lili was no artist — not in this way at least — but she makes the most of her materials and does her best to her strengths.

in the end, her kite looks more reminiscent of those old school shoujo mangas she and taeha used to pour over back in high school in between competitions; how she had remembered such a small detail is beyond her — but here it is, drawn in it’s full length: accented with big yellow stars and overly-drawn pink and blue flowers to surround the image of minkyu in the style of a shoujo protagonist from the 90’s. 

her ears perking when she hears his completion and she immediately snaps up the kite before his eyes could take in what she had made — smile already just that bit triumphant and overall pleased with what she had come up with.

“okay — i’m ready.” she takes a breath before initiating the countdown —

“one …. two …. three!” 

once sung, she spins her kite in time with his only to feel her lips crinkle in amusement; laughter already on the cusp of her tongue as she tries to choke out a — “is that supposed to be keroppi?? or is it kermit?” 

Off-camera, if this were truly Lili and Minkyu in their natural states, her comment about Hollywood actresses would be met with a snarky reply;

Minkyu would likely respond with something along the lines of how she’s pretty cute, but there’s no way she could compare to someone like Anne Hathaway.

This, of course, would all be in playful jest, never serious, always lighthearted. But the cameras are rolling, and while Minkyu always strives to present his most genuine self to the viewers and fans ( slash girlfriends ), he knows this moment calls for sweetness;

it's a moment meant to quicken Lili's heartbeat and those of the audience.

So he gives her a sweet smile, one that seems reserved solely for her, and gently lifts his free hand to fix a stray lock of her bangs. "You should already know you're much cuter than any Hollywood actress." he says, his voice soft and sincere.

Even as they sit down, his perpetual half-smile remains, his eyes scanning the array of tools before quickly picking up the right markers and pens to decorate the kite.

"You'll be surprised. I'm the modern Picasso!" he declares with a playful brow wiggle in her direction, almost charming, before his focus returns to the kite.

He's chosen the same colors as her favorite plushie, even attempting to draw a chibi version of it. Though it hasn’t turned out perfectly, it's recognizable enough.

After a few minutes, he looks back up, a grin on his lips as he hides the result of his craft with his arms. "Okay, let's show what we've created on the count of three!"

໒꒱ . WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY # 002 _ IDOL JAPANESE: PRACTICE 、 aka “LILI, CAN YOU TEACH ME JAPANESE?” I SAID 「はい、はい」

it would be an understatement to say that lili take’s ichika’s words to heart. in fact, after talking to ichika, lili was probably more determined to the learn the fuck out of this language than she had initially wanted to.

it is no secret that she was confused by the assignment. like — hello?

xu lili … speaking japanese? 

girl had sat through the entire briefing thinking that she was sitting on an incredibly long practical joke — and yet, 

the punchline never came.

after the inevitable had sunk in, lili had gone to work. sulking over useless woes would never get her anywhere and lili knew better than anyone that no one was going to go boo hoo, poor little lili.

anchored to her desk, she sits upright and focused. what once was clear-cut legible writing has been reduced to chicken scratch over ever word and phrase she had squeezed out of ichika before she had to leave for her next schedule. the rest is what she picked up from random japanese learning videos she had searched up on youtube.

even though such a evaluation wasn’t going to be televised — hence the mock — the last thing lili was was a half-asser. she’d give them something to laugh about for challenging her like this — they would rue the day they thought they could catch her slipping.

if they wanted her to speak japanese, she was going to speak the best damn japanese she could muster in the three months they gave her to learn this language. 

lili is no big enigma. she is no puzzle waiting to be solved. yet, if you knew her enough — spent a speck of time with her — her tells are all yours to read. the smallest lift of the right side of her grin, the most subtle twitch of her eyes wishing to crinkle — it’s like she’d say: the little things are what mattered most.

even when her personality was as big as the eiffel tower — at least to those who knew her and her own version of crassness. however, she seals such honestly and vulnerability for off cameras. masquerading as a bubblegum girl, covered in glitter and sparkles was hard work but for lili, she’d rather the world think of her as such than demean her for being too honest, too open as they often did to girls who stepped out of line.

it’s unfortunate — if not a bit embarrassing — that this is who minkyu sees in comparison to her usual bickery self. 

( in another world, maybe the audience would find such a version of lili as comical and funny — but no, in lili’s perfect world she was pristine and smiley — not jaded and bitchy )

“do i?” the compliment is like sweet cherry kisses on the tongue, and lili relishes in it — smiling even wider at his words than she knows she should; biting the inside of her cheek to rein it in, if she could. “cuter than those hollywood actors you wished you were on a date with?”

a part of her is glad — that it’s minkyu she’s sharing such a personal part of her with. thankful — was probably the best word to describe such a feeling — at least he knew her, could connect the dots of a story lili usually left untold. 

she hums in thought, hands swaying between them, before she stops right at the table where their blank kites awaited them.

“okay! i like that idea — surprise me with your artistic talent.” she laughs, letting her fingers drift from his so she could take her seat opposite of him; fingers already picking up the paintbrush left beside the kites. 

He notices it instantly, without needing words or any verbal confirmation: he’s known Lili long enough to recognize that genuine, adorable sparkle in her eyes and the way her cheeks lift higher than usual when she smiles;

It might only be a fleeting glimpse behind the public facade ( which he doesn’t judge or mind, understanding the necessity of separating private and business life given how scrutinizing and judgmental netizens can be ). So Minkyu treasures this moment to himself, basking in her warmth and enthusiasm as she shares a fragment of her childhood with him.

"You look incredibly cute when you smile like that," he comments. Their fingers naturally intertwine once their hands are linked as he follows close behind her, voice joined by a light-hearted laugh, his brows raised in playful delight.

This moment is everything he’s dreamed of: his very own romance-themed anime episode, with himself as the main character and her as the perfect co-star. “Though, I feel honored to be the one you chose to share this with.” he adds, his tone shifting to something more genuine as he gives her smaller hand a gentle squeeze.

But true to his nature, his playful attitude returns a moment later. “How about we make the kites for each other? I’ll make yours, you’ll make mine. Then we’ll let them fly together.”

His steps slow as they reach their destination, an expectant grin spreading across his face. The idea of crafting something special for each other adds a layer of intimacy to this date ( and he's absolutely sure the viewers will love it as well ). "What do you say?"

in a perfect world, it would have just been lili and minkyu. just them, no need for lili to act up for anyone, let alone minkyu.

but this wasn’t a perfect world — as reality so helpfully liked to remind lili — and instead of it being just lili and minkyu. it was just lili and minkyu and a handful of cameras that were panning in on their every move and recording their every word. the things she would rather do — the things she would rather say are swept under her tongue and instead replaced with an appropriate, friendly smile rather than the snarky and amused — chagrin, almost — smirk.

a face the public could grow to like — a face she knows like the back of her hand. 

“i suppose you’ve got one thing going for you: good taste.” she laughs, eyes twinkling at the compliment thrown her way. despite of herself, lili knew she couldn’t deny herself the flattery.

( it was one of her weaknesses, ugh — remind her to lock it up later )

she takes his arm for hers to hold, squeezing his arm, gently, as she smiles at him. “ah, you caught me.” she laughs, lightly. “honestly, it was one of my favorite things to do when i lived in beijing. it’s like a whole event — you’d see huge, huge kites flying all around. it’s also about around this time when it’s held and i just wanted to share it with a special someone — thankfully, it’s you.” 

“oh, and we won’t just be flying them,” she’s steering him down the path towards the little workshop she had spent the past week researching. her steps growing hurried as they grow closer that the hand at his arm snakes down to grab his hand instead so they could rush forward. 

and once they do, in a plethora of sparkling hand gestures and a smile practically spilling of sunshine and warmth — god, was it aching her cheeks — “we’re also going to be making the kites!”

In Lili's company, there's an immediate sense of comfort that envelops him. Perhaps it's the deep bond of their friendship or the effortless harmony they share, but filming this reality show suddenly feels far more exhilarating than he had ever imagined.

With her, he doesn't feel the need to conform to any particular persona or mannerisms; he can simply revel in being his authentic self, secure in the knowledge that their natural dynamic will resonate with viewers.

"Who did I expect?" he ponders aloud, pretending to mull it over for a moment, mock-serious, "Some Hollywood celebrity, of course," before breaking into a grin. "Honestly, all I hoped for was someone with a pretty smile and a contagious laugh, and you fit the bill perfectly. I couldn't ask for more." His words aren't just for show or because he knows female viewers will be swooning in this moment; he genuinely means them.

Offering his arm for her to hold on to as they begin to walk, his glance casts up at the sky dotted with kites. "I'm sure flying kites will be a blast, although I've never tried it before," he confesses with somewhat of a sheepish smile. "I can't help but wonder how you came up with such a unique date idea, though. Is there a specific meaning to your choice?" His focus is solely on Lili, every ounce of attention on no one but her suddenly. "It's definitely one-of-a-kind."