┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ 。˚ ✧

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ 。˚ ✧

So why is there a red heart next to her name? Who the fuck is Ava? Is she the other girl? I bet she's dyin' to date ya and be your entire world. I'm sick and tired of fakin', like I don't see your phone. When I see her name and you can't explain. Who the fuck is Ava? — Natalie Jane, "Ava" (2022)

—

Meredith ended up falling asleep on the beach just outside the house. Cuddled into her cozy zip hoodie she had basically cried herself tired. Johnny and Hyelin had woken up every two hours to check up on the honey blonde girl.

Around three in the morning Hyelin went to the beach with a few blankets and tucked Meredith in. She had sand sticking to her face. Thankfully it hadn't been too cold, but Meredith would feel the pain in her back when she would wake up the next morning.

Hyelin knelt down next to her after she had covered her in the blankets. She looked at Meredith and sighed. Her eyes were swollen and trails of dried tears were sticking to her cheeks. The hair on her forehead was sticking onto her skin and she had a pout on her lips. Her eyes moved rapidly under her lids.

"Poor baby" Hyelin sighed and gently pushed some of her curly hair out of her face. "This dude doesn't deserve her." She looked at Meredith with a sad expression on her face before she stood up and walked back to the house.

Johnny was waiting on the back porch for his girlfriend. He was devastated. Hyelin looked at his face and shook her head. "You can't do anything yet, John" Hyelin warned as she took her boyfriends hands and brought him back into the house. "Meredith needs to break up with him, Hye" Johnny said and Hyelin nodded.

"I know. But we're not in their shoes. We can't force her to break up."

"Didn't you see how he's treating her?" Johnny closed the bedroom door behind them and Hyelin sighed. "I saw it, John. And I am worried as well. But Meredith has to break up with him on her own accords."

"He's abusive, Hye. What if he hits her and I don't know anything about it?"

Hyelin gently put a hand on Johnny's chest. "I know this is hard on you, Johnny. She's your little sister and you promised yourself you wouldn't let her get hurt, but Meredith needs to do this by herself. She isn't a child anymore. Okay?" Johnny looked at his girlfriend and sighed.

"But if I see him do something fishy I'll punch his face so hard he wish he stayed in Australia." Johnny looked at Hyelin and she sighed. "Of course you'd do" she rolled her eyes and hushed the Aquarius back to bed. "Now go to sleep we have a long day tomorrow."

Johnny laid down on his side of the bed and waited for Hyelin to lay down next to him before he turned to her direction. "Promise me to take care of her tomorrow. You know how much she loves Mantas and I don't want this dude to ruin her Manta Ray experience" Johnny let out and Hyelin nodded.

"Mark will be there as well. She'll be fine." Hyelin leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss onto Johnnys face. "We'll both take care of her and make sure she'll have a great day, love." Johnny nodded and turned on his back.

He hated knowing that Meredith was sad, and struggling.

And he didn't really like Han Seokjin. In fact, anger was forming in the pit of his stomach. Anger and dark and hot hatred towards the seemingly toxic Libra.

— ❤️‍🩹 —

Mark couldn't sleep.

He was rolling from one side of his bed to the other. He couldn't get Meredith's expression out of his face. The way she had looked at him, Johnny and Hyelin when she opened the door of her bedroom had broken something inside of him. He didn't like seeing Meredith like this.

He knew she wanted to be alone, but he couldn't help but check on her. He creeped into the bathroom and climbed onto the toilet to sneak a view out onto the beach, where Meredith was sitting. She was crying, he could see it from the way her shoulders were shaking.

When he went back to his room, Choi Yaeeun was standing there. She was wearing her flimsy pajamas once again. One of the thin straps had slipped from her shoulders, exposing her skin even more.

Mark didn't look at her when he entered the room and the blonde lass licked her lips. "You okay?", she asked, putting on her pick-me voice. Mark rolled his eyes and turned around to look at her. "What do you want?", he asked—his tone sounding pressed and annoyed. Yaeeun gulped.

"I wanted to check on you."

"On me?", he chuckled sarcastically. "We barely know each other" Mark let out. "Shouldn't you check on Meredith? She's your best friend." To this Yaeeun chuckled. "Meredith? My best friend?" Mark looked at the blonde woman.

"Seokjin's my best friend. Meredith and I are just friends due to Seokjin."

Mark bit the inside of his cheeks and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So? Even when you're friends... shouldn't you check how she's doing?" Yaeeun pursed her lips and slowly shook her head. "This isn't the first time the two of them are fighting. They're going to make up again." She rolled her eyes. "Y'all making such a big deal out of this." Yaeeun looked at Mark.

"I wanted to check on you because you seemed very tense during dinner..." she bit her bottom lip, "do you want help with easing that tension?" She came closer and Mark glared at her. "Leave my room" he said and Yaeeun tilted her head.

"You didn't mind me coming into your room the last few nights either."

Mark looked at her and chuckled. "What are you saying? Are you delusional or something?" Yaeuun bit her bottom lip. "We didn't do a thing, Choi Yaeeun." Yaeeun snickered. "Because you didn't let me touch you." She rolled her eyes.

"You and Meredith are very similar." With there words Yaeeun turned around and left Marks room. Mark locked the door behind her and went to bed. He didn't like Meredith's college friends.

Not a single bit.

— ❤️‍🩹 —

Meredith woke up to a seagull clicking its beak next to her.

She widened her eyes and stared at the sea bird with wide eyes. The bird clicked its beak once more and Meredith shuffled to the side. The seagull screamed, opened its wings and flew into the bright blue sky.

Meredith sat up. A few blankets had been draped around her and she sighed. "I fell asleep... how embarrassing." She wiped her hair out of her face and brushed the sand off her cheek. She sat there, cross legged, and looked into the ocean.

"What an asshole" she mumbled to herself, when she heard the porch door open behind her. She turned around and saw Johnny walking down the steps of the back porch. He had a tray on his hands and walked up to her.

"Good morning little mermaid" Johnny greeted her and sat down next to his little sister. He tried to ignore the dark rings under her eyes. "Morning" Meredith greeted back and sighed. "How'd you sleep?"

"A seagull screamed into my ear so I guess I was disturbing mother nature or something" Meredith chuckled when Johnny held a mug of tea in her direction. "Good ole English Breakfast tea with a pinch of milk" he smiled and Meredith smiled at her older brother.

"Thank you" she whispered and held onto the mug. The warmth of the mug spread onto her hands. "Hyelin brought you blankets last night", Johnny said and Meredith nodded. "I'll thank her later" Meredith answered.

"I don't want to rush you, or anything," Johnny started and looked at Meredith, "but you need to head out in an hour and I think you want to get a shower before you head to the Mantas, right?"

Meredith nodded. "We're getting a flight to Kona right?", asked Meredith and Johnny nodded. "Yeah. You just need to pack a weekender. Y'all going to stay overnight." Johnny explained and Meredith nodded.

Maybe it was for the best to stay away from Seokjin for two days. Maybe he'd calm down until then. And maybe she can get a clear mind on what to do about this whole body shaming disaster.

After drinking her tea with Johnny, Meredith helped him carry the blankets inside and put them in the washer. Then she walked upstairs. Johnny had asked her if he should accompany her, but she told him she was alright.

Her hands were shaking as she pressed down the door handle to her bedroom. She bit her bottom lip as she saw the blinds were still closed and Seokjin was still peacefully snoring in bed. A sigh of relief left her lips.

She tried to collect her clothes and the stuff she needed for the overnight trip to Kona very quietly. But as always, Meredith made too much noise and Seokjin stirred in bed. "Meredith is that you?", he asked groggily and Meredith hissed at herself.

"I'll be gone in a minute, go back to sleep" Meredith whispered, but Seokjin sat up and wiped his eyes. Meredith rolled her eyes and stuffed her stuff in a weekend bag. Seokjin looked at her. "What are you doing?", he asked confused.

"My Manta Ray experience is tonight and my flight to Kona is in two hours. I need to get ready."

"You'll stay overnight?"

Meredith nodded. "With Mark?", asked Seokjin and Meredith nodded. "And Hyelin." A snicker left Seokjin's mouth. "What?", Meredith asked and looked at him. Seokjin was eyeing her. Scanning her features. He had no idea where she had been last night. The left side of the bed had stayed untouched for the whole night.

"Did you sleep with him?"

"What?", asked Meredith, baffled. "I slept on the beach you dumbfuck." She collected her stuff and wanted to leave the room, when Seokjin called her name once more. "Have you ever thought of dying your hair blonde?", he asked and Meredith turned around to look at him.

"What?"

"Blonde. Have you ever thought about going blonde?"

"My hair is blonde, Seokjin."

"No, Meredith" he stood up from the bed and came over to her. Meredith froze on the spot, when Seokjin grabbed her hair and gently played with a honey blonde curl in his hand. "No, I was speaking about platinum blonde. Just like Yae—"

Meredith took the strand of hair out of Seokjin's hand and shook her head. "Don't you dare" she spoke and looked at her boyfriend. "Don't you dare to compare my hair to hers." She turned around. "I'll leave now."

"Won't I get a goodbye kiss at last?"

Meredith turned on her heel and looked at Seokjin. She didn't want to kiss him right now. She didn't want to give him anything right now. But she still stood on her tip toes and pressed a chaste kiss onto his lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow" she said and slipped out of the bedroom. Her whole body was shaking, while she went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Did he really just ask her to go blonde just like Yaeeun?

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her usual brown eyes weren't sparkling and she had dark rings under them—it looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her cheeks were hollow and her hair was hanging lifelessly off her shoulders.

Meredith looked at her outfit. She was still wearing the mom shorts Seokjin hated so much. She bit her lip and hide her face behind her hands. It was no use. Seokjin was unhappy with her and Meredith hated the fact that she made him unhappy.

That it was her fault that the two of them were constantly fighting.

That it was her fault that she hadn't slept with him yet.

That it was her fault that their relationship was slowly going down the drain.

Meredith promised herself not to cry, but once she stood under the shower, and the hot water ran down her spine, the tears left her eyes without a break. She was tired, exhausted and felt like literal shit.

"I wanna go home" Meredith whispered under the water and felt her body shiver. She didn't like this holiday at all. It had barely been two weeks in Hawai'i and Meredith already felt like she had enough.

She rested her forehead against the shower wall. Hopefully the Manta Ray Experience would calm her down and clear her mind. Mantas were her favorite animals after all. 

— ❄︎ —

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞.

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

—𝕤𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕞𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕠𝕡