"slow down, darling. keep it lowkey, else you might get disappointed again."
彡 yoon ava, an ambitious girl from the outskirts of cambridge, ends up in the arenas of gumball 3000, carrying a bad temper and a dream over her eyes - to finish first and...
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"you dumbass."
꒰🏁꒱
[t/w: panic attack, mentions of abuse]
ava drops herself on the grass by the lake's bank, leaning her head forward & wrapping her arms around it, as she hides on her lap. she doesn't bother to keep her sobs quiet, nor does she hold back the tears.
the pain was always too much to bear, but today it became unbearable. today, she felt her heart aching as if her own dad grabbed it & ripped it apart, as if he took a knife and stabbed the poor organ to death.
"fuck fuck, fuck!" she keeps muttering under her rugged breath, rocking her body back & forth as the wind blows fiercely and pierces through her body. her fingers fiddle behind her head & her breathing grows abnormal, jaw falling slack.
heeseung's body freezes at the sight, limbs growing numb from the cold & ava's panicky state. he immediately drops to her side & moves his hands left to right, not knowing what to do.
he listens to the girl still mumbling incoherent things. she switches her position, bringing her legs close to her chest and hugging them as she bites on her knee, taking a deep breath.
that's when he realizes, he's supposed to do something. but what? he's never found himself in the very position of having to comfort someone. should hehug her? pat her? talk to her?
suddenly, the girl leans to the front & reaches her hands to the lake's water. his own hands extend to grab her by the arms, her name falling off his lips in a whisper. she shoves her cupped palms in and pours the cold water to her face, then proceeds to do the same a couple of times.
she sits back down and takes a deep breath, exhaling a thick amount of air through her mouth. for some seconds, there's silence, only the roaring of the wind reigning through the green, dull place.
"I'm sorry."
she mutters, and his head snaps to her direction. "what for?" he breathlessly asks, confused as to why she's saying this. "I should be feeling sorry, I didn't even help y─"
"it's okay, really." she gravely replies, her tone indicating that he shouldn't insist. and so, he shrinks on spot, lips pursed as he hugs his knees close to his chest, mirroring her stance.
there's silence once again. while she plays with the grass beneath her, he takes a few moments to rewind what happened the past few minutes.
it took ten minutes for everything to change. the playful aura that clouded over ava while driving here vanished at an instant, her smile was long gone and her eyes, that would usually glint in mischief, now hold sadness & pain ─ heck, even the weather switched up as if competing for who can look any more miserable.
