➮ farm.

@✿ k. mingyu just earlier that evening, it felt almost impossible for sohee to step foot out of her car upon arriving at her parents’ home. every visit over the past few months proved to be harder to leave behind yet just as hard to start anew, if not for the guilt to carry her steps up to the front door. the sight of her frail grandmother only added on to the magnitude of her guilt, fissuring any remaining spark to feign glee when in the elder’s presence.

the mention of mingyu’s sick mother naturally made its round to their dinner table later during the night, stringing along an endless stream of praises from her parents for the rugged menace. by all means, the filial piety to course through mingyu isn’t anything to disregard, sohee should know that better than anyone. having sought shelter under the same sunbathe throughout countless seasons of crops, sohee and her family watched him trail after his mother’s shadow only to then morph into his mother’s very own shadow.

sohee hardly let grudges grow to have vines that would have her clamped onto its sprigs, let alone harbor any lingering distaste, she simply learned to let go yet mingyu solidified his position as the sole exempt. this goes without saying, sohee isn’t blameless either. the first time she willingly striked a conversation with the neighbors’ kid was the moment the first tinge of green pricked on his thumb, and it was through a thoughtless slander ― well, towards his deformed radishes, not the young farmer himself. the strain sohee inflicted during their fateful encounter allowed for subsequent taunts to fall through the tear in their cordiality, eventually allowing for bigger tactics. ultimately, it became part of their farming routine to trespass and wreak destruction on each other’s field. the first spectacle to welcome her back almost every time she returns was the blows her seedlings suffered in her absence.

every destruction he wreaked onto her family’s garden digs a deeper hole into the grave of a long dead rivalry that the two families had already buried. mingyu’s shenanigans remained as a source of chuckles for her parents and sohee’s blood boils even further because of how dismissive her parents are towards the hell she lives in, given their proximity to the devil’s spawn who was bestowed upon poor mr. kim and mrs. kim’s care. had the weight of his name not pressed down on her parents’ tongue during dinner earlier, just it always has on her buttons, then she wouldn’t have this not so bright idea of paying his garden a due visit. yet her sense of vengeance only led to the trap that is his field, the reality was none other than an endless expanse with no escape. that is not to mention the darkness that continues to swallow her which then knocks her into its depths the more distance she creates between herself and the threatening presence unveiled before her. even when lodged within a hollow, one that was skillfully dug with farming expertise, sohee hesitantly brings the sharp tip of her knife to the stout radish, as if holding mingyu’s precious beloved hostage. “stay back, or this radish gets it.”

@✿ h. sohee dirt tracked along his dark jeans, barely visible in the still dreary sky as mingyu made his way back home, a garden hoe slung over one shoulder. there was no doubt that the silver car parked in front of mr. han's house belonged to anyone else but han sohee, and this knowledge alone left mingyu with the certainty that there wouldn't be any peace for him in the next few days. the family had been his longtime neighbors, coexisting side by side for many decades with a shared commitment to farming. he genuinely liked the farmer and his wife; they were lovely and kind people. however, their daughter was a different story. mingyu had always wondered how such a beautiful couple could create such a troublesome child— he might even have describe her as the devil reincarnated. the hatred was mutual. since the dawn of time, they had never gotten along. what had begun as exchanging taunting faces across the field had escalated into verbal quarrels at the farmers' market and had now culminated in both parties sabotaging each other's gardens. the many holes he had dug into his neighbor's field just a few minutes ago served as irrefutable evidence of the feud that had been simmering between them.

the sounds of crickets, coupled with his heavy boots pressing into the ground, constituted the sole music to his ears until a distinct thud seized his attention. though small, it was decidedly out of the ordinary in his country home, and he turned his head to see something bobbing behind his radish flats. it could have been dismissed as a coyote passing by had it not frozen to stare at him, clutching a knife, with big doe eyes, as if caught in the act... as if caught in the act of cutting his goddamn precious radishes. the sight of her car was enough for mingyu to set his plan in motion to ruin her father's soil, eager to be ahead of the game; however, it appeared that they both had the same idea as they locked eyes, reveling in being caught in the midst of their deceitful schemes.

"You rascal!" he shouts, letting his dirty garden hoe fall to the ground as he made a beeline for her. he had no idea what he would do once he caught her— if he caught her. he was merely hoping to scare her off. and if she stumbled and fell into one of his well concocted holes, that would be even better.

@✿ k. mingyu with the dead silence that mingyu’s field only has to offer at the crack of dawn, sohee rekindles a familiar touch of relief upon watching the tips of his newly ripened radishes fall lifelessly in defeat. she leans in further into her crouch, right above the spot he learned to routinely check on because of her ploys. a tad way too much confidence was fueling her assumption that he would never catch her in the act as sluggish fingers continue digging the knife into the delicate greens. sohee was sure of one thing amidst all of the overwhelming emotions to drown her: mingyu would not be rousing from sleep for the next forty five minutes. if anything were to go south, the fact that the many bottles of poison she decided not to bring is already an act of mercy ... except sohee did not exactly prepare on how to convey that, just yet, to the farmer currently frozen in his tracks across from her.