One Kiss a Day (DareToDream | celestine)

[celestine]

Jieun was pulling everything out of her bag in the cafeteria. She'd grabbed a quiet corner table - her usual - and was shaking everything. Literally. She was trying to find it, the precious keepsake she'd received from her mother before she'd passed away... No one knew just much it was worth to her, much less why, but it was something she'd worn every day! Worry settled into the pit of her stomach.

The Korean girl bit her lip, surveying the multiple textbooks, notebooks, books, and other miscellaneous items she'd strewn about the small table... Where was it? She always kept the ring on a chain that she wore, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to find either. She never took it off the chain unless she was at home, but even then, it was rare that she took the necklace off, much less separate the ring and chain. Usually when she took it off, she had it in its own little box...

"Come on," she muttered to herself, panic slowly starting to build in her chest. She absolutely could not have lost it. She couldn't have! It was her precious treasure, the only thing she had left to remember her mother with! She began turning out her own pockets. Wallet, school ID, driver's license... She checked every pocket she could find not only on her clothes, but her coat, her backpack, the small little bags inside of the backpack... It was frustrating!

"Come on, come on...! Where did I put it?" she muttered, checking the floor and seats in case it might have fallen. No luck. She tried turning the backpack inside, getting a few strange looks from people at nearby tables... Nothing.

She sat, then, merely sat and stared into nothingness for a bit. She felt pathetic... All five foot, seven inches of her. All one hundred and twenty-eight pounds of her. Jieun slammed her head against the table, before finally taking a few deep breathes. Maybe I still have it at home... Maybe I forgot to bring it or something...

She knew her hopes were empty, but without them, she really wouldn't have much to work with. She took another deep breath and slowly sat upright again. Without really paying attention, the Korean girl began to replace all the objects she'd disturbed. Once everything was carefully packed away, she pulled out a small cosmetic mirror - not the kind with make up, but the kind you used to check for things in teeth and make up mars and whatnot.

Her long black hair was still up in its high pony-tail, but her dark brown eyes - almost black, really - were extremely distant. Cold, even. She sighed and put the mirror away, simply staring into the not-so-distant distance... In reality, she was trying not to think about what she should do next... But unfortunately, that was not unlike telling someone not to think of dancing purple elephants.

What was she going to do?

 

[DareToDream]

Tommy was in a good mood as he walked across the quad, whistling a happy little tune. Class had just ended and he and some of his friends were heading towards the cafeteria to grab some lunch. After that, he had a few more classes to go to and then a soccer game to participate in. Piano practice would follow that but he tuned that thought out as he was a little tired of that particular instrument. He was good at it though so he kept at it; one never knew when the need to play might arise after all. It also gave him a good fallback career if business didn’t pan out for him.

A shout from one of his friends turned him around and his eyes widened as he saw the football sail through the air. Running to catch up with it, he reached out and snagged the leather projectile with a shout but then felt his feet hit something hard, sending him sprawling. Tommy’s breath whooshed out of him instantly as his body impacted with the ground, bouncing him along it for a moment. The football fell from his hands as a result and rolled away but he ignored it, focusing to much on how sore he was. Standing up to the laughter of his friends, he dusted himself off and scowled.

“So not funny” he said, glaring at them. “I could have really gotten hurt. What the hell did I trip over anyway?” Looking down, his eyes scanned the ground and saw a large rock nearby. Swearing he walked up and gave it a good kick, sending it flying. It was then that he noticed an object that glinted in the sun. Reaching down, he scooped it into his palm and studied it, noticing right away that it was an interesting black and silver ring with roman numbers on it. Turning it over, he studied it, sure he’d seen it before. As he was looking at it, another hand reached out and snagged it from his palm.

“Hey, give that back!” he said, hollering at his friend who had taken it. Snatching it back quickly, he curled his fingers around it. “I found it so its mine now” he said, glaring at his friend. The other boy nodded and pointed towards it.

“Didn’t that girl you always hated have something like that once? You know, the one from high school? I remember seeing something like that with her one time.” Tommy considered his words and thought back. He knew exactly who he was talking about – Jieun, his nemesis from grade school on up. Man, how he hated that girl back then. Now they attended the same college together and he saw her from time to time. She’d grown up well. If it was hers, he didn’t know if he’d give it back or not.

Tucking it away, he grabbed the football and motioned for his friends to follow him as he headed off to the cafeteria. The rest of the distance was covered quickly and the boys pushed their way through the doors, making all kinds of noise. As they wound their way to their table, Tommy noticed Jieun sitting by herself, frantically going through her bag, her belongings spilled out over the surface. Feeling the ring in his pocket, he knew exactly what she was looking for and grinned, an idea coming to his mind. Slipping away from his friends, he moved to her table and sat down. “Hi Jieun. Looking for something?” he asked, keeping his voice free of emotion.

 

[celestine]

"Hi Jieun. Looking for something?"

At that voice, she froze. She recognized it. No matter how she tried to eradicate any memory of him from her mind, it was impossible to forget how much she wanted to abhor him, destroy him, and totally forget him. Still, watching him as he sat before her was... unnerving. He wouldn't have approached her if he didn't have the upper hand in something. They generally ignored each others' existence unless one of them had an ace in the hole. That he had sat down only confirmed it. He had something to hold over her head, and she really wasn't in the mood for it.

"What do you want, Thomas?" she used the name because she knew he hated it. Maybe it was petty, but as a creature that felt threatened, it only made sense that she try to attack first... Especially because she would never run from him. He just wasn't worth it. Well, that and the fact that she'd have to pass him to get away and she really didn't want to get that close to him. His very presence made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand. Still, she was aware that he disliked her just as much as she disliked him, so it was worth knowing that he was probably already feeling the vibes of disgust... Of course, it was possible that he didn't. Especially since, as she'd observed, he'd come to her first. Data gathered from normal chance meetings in the hallway didn't apply here, she reminded herself.

"Did you get lost looking for the little boys' room?" she taunted, reminding him of their youth. It was usually a good way to distract him from whatever comment he was about to make. Certainly, he could get pretty defensive over it... Of course, there were times that he didn't - times that she'd been worried, and with good reason! Times such as those were generally those that she lost a battle in their mutually and silently agreed upon war. Still, to the winner goes the spoils.

Jieun flipped her hair over her shoulder, schooling her expression to one of a cool calmness - something she most certainly wasn't feeling at the moment. She rested an elbow on the table and placed her chin against that, using her other hand to gesture at Tommy in an almost teasing way. "If you don't mind, I'm busy." she said, almost bluntly. It was a total lie, of course, but it wasn't like those mattered when he was involved. She made a shooing motion with her free hand.

Of course even this whole 'go away' setup was an act. She just wanted him out of her hair. She already had one major problem to deal with, and she really didn't want to deal with Thomas on top of that. It usually led to stress, desperation, and a headache. And the resulting pain of their encounters (when he won, anyways) usually had her taking a couple of days away for social activites beyond school to recover... And she couldn't afford that kind of distraction when she was trying to find her precious keepsake.

 

[DareToDream]

The minute he sat down and said those words, Tommy almost regretted it. He hated Jieun, hated her with a passion, or at least he used too back in their school days. Their long standing fight was legendary, almost as famous as the Hatfield and McCoy fight from the western days, and everyone knew to stay away from them when they were spatting…which seemed to happen ALL the time. One would have thought that the move to college would have lessened their hatred towards each other but it hadn’t; if anything, it had made it worse. For all their fighting though, Tommy tried not to badly wound her emotionally and seeing her frantically searching for the very thing he had made him feel a little guilty.

Well, until she reacted to his words and presence with such vehemence and disgust it almost made him burn inside with instant anger. She used his formal name, mocking him with it because she knew he hated it, and let utter disgust at his very existence coat him from head to toe. It was clear that she considered him nothing more than a pile of cow dung that deserved to be stomped on until it was flattened into the ground to serve as fertilizer. Her words, her body language, all of it made that very, very clear and it got his back up quicker than anything she could have done or said. Any thought he’d had of stopping what he was about to do ended there, blown away on the wind of indignation.

Placing his hand into his pocket, he toyed with the ring that he held there and then slipped on one of his fingers. Bringing both hands to the table, he clasped his fingers together so that the ring would be in plain sight, and then leaned forward. “Oh, I know you are busy hating me, Lieun, and trust me, the feeling is mutual but you might want to think twice before you send me away. I know you’re searching for something, something that means a lot to you, and you never know where it might end up.” He shifted his hands then, attempting to draw her attention to what they held, and let a smile cross his face. The idea he had for her would be perfect but it would only work if she went along. A single kiss a day, for the next three months, any time, any place. It would completely humiliate her and make her subservient to him in more ways than one. If she wanted that ring back, it would be the price she’d have to pay, but he told her none of that yet. Bait the hook first, then yank it tight.

 

[celestine]

“Oh, I know you are busy hating me, Jieun, and trust me, the feeling is mutual but you might want to think twice before you send me away. I know you’re searching for something, something that means a lot to you, and you never know where it might end up.”

When he'd first started speaking, she'd immediately begun forming a response - but when he'd touched on her search for her keepsake, she immediately froze, any response leaving her mind. She could tell that he was fidgeting with his hands and, almost afraid to look down, she couldn't help herself. Immediately, her entire body was filled with a sense of dread. The ring was on his finger, then chain gone. What had happened? Where was the chain? Her mind whirred. Had he stolen it? She immediately dismissed the idea - they didn't care about hating each other so much that they'd go out of their way to do such things. That meant he'd found it or that someone else had given it to him. Whatever the case, she decided, it didn't matter.

The very fact that he held that ring meant that he'd won this battle... quite possibly the war, depending on how far he was going to push. There was nothing she wasn't willing to concede when it came to her only memory of her dead mother... She just had to act as though it didn't mean anything... Or much at least. she needed to give as little as she could to get the ring back... Because she had no doubt that he'd come to hold the ring over her head - to win something from her...

"You have my ring," she said bluntly, returning her gaze to his face. She did her damnedest to keep her expression cool, but it was hard to fight a losing battle. Still, she'd do her best. They both knew he wanted something for her - the only question was what. "What do you want?"

 

[DareToDream]

Tommy watched her carefully, his gaze studying her face for any hint that she’d figured it out. When he saw her body stiffen, a smile slowly slid into place, which quickly turned into a shit eating grin. Oh yea, she’d figured it out alright and she didn’t like the implications one little bit. His body hummed with that thought, coursing with energy, and it took all his willpower to keep from bouncing in the seat in glee. When she looked down, he knew she’d seen the sentimental hunk of metal and that the trap had been set. The ring felt heavy on his finger in that moment so he moved his hands, idly twirling the ring, sliding it back and forth over his skin. When he realized he was doing it, he almost stopped, but then he knew it was just adding insult to injury and that made him smile more. The power he held over her right then, and how much he liked it, surprised him a bit but he didn’t stop teasing her with the ring.

Her blunt words caused him to laugh, the sound slipping out, rubbing it in even more. “Oh, you mean this silly little thing” he said, holding up his hand and flexing his fingers. He knew it wasn’t silly to her and that the insult would anger her further. “Funny thing about that. I fell while playing ball with the guys and this thing was just lying there on the grass, waiting for someone like me to find it. I know it belongs to you….but I don’t think I’m going to give it back.” He glanced over at the guys as if he was losing interest and then back at her. “Tell you what…I know this ring means something to you so I’m willing to give it back for a price.” He studied her for a moment, letting his gaze fall to her lips and trace them. “One kiss a day, anytime, anywhere, anyway, for the next three semesters. At the end, if you do this, I will give you the ring back. Those are my terms. Accept them or forget about the ring. I’ll be over there when you’re ready to give me your answer.” With that, Tommy stood up and left the table, heading back to his friends. Making her come to him, and tell him yes or no while among his friends, was just icing on the cake in his mind.

 

[celestine]

"A price...?" the words came from quickly numbing lips. He wanted to barter for her only memento?! As he walked away, she couldn't help but feel dizzy, then faint. Her mind whirred as first curses then despairing thoughts filled her mind. What to do? What on earth was she to do? Jieun couldn't help but feel as though she was viewing everything from far away. She knew it was the reality before her very eyes, yet she couldn't help but want to flee it. How could this be happening? No, she told herself. She couldn't afford to worry about that. What she needed to think about was what she was going to DO.

A kiss a day. Anywhere. Anytime. For the next three semesters. She couldn't help but hear a dull roar in her ears at the very thought. She? Kiss him? The very thought was laughable... And there was no way she could do it by herself. No. She'd have to try and tack on her own stipulation... She would make him kiss her. It would be so much less horrifying if she wasn't the one doing it to herself, after all. So much less terrible. Of course, there was little doubt in her mind that it might not work, but at the least, she had to try. What really bothered her, though, was that it could happen anywhere. At anytime. For the next three semesters. Okay, if she admitted it to herself, it was all equally mortifying, but it still inverted her whole universe when she thought of the three semester requirement. That was all the time they had left... Did he plan to chain her to him until the graduated? It was a fearsome and scary thought.

Still, her decision was made. What was a bit of private and public humiliation in comparison to her mother? Absolutely nothing, she thought resolutely. She gathered her belongings and moved to his table. It killed her to have to do this, but there wasn't exactly much she could do about it, was there?

"Okay," she said, announcing herself and giving her response all at once. Her backpack over her shoulder, she couldn't help but nibble on her bottom lip for just a moment nervously. "But... Could... Will... Oh, dammit, can you do it?" She looked at him with beseeching eyes, her previous bravado all but gone. This... What he had this time was too big and she couldn't help but mentally quiver at the strength of what he was holding over her.

 

[DareToDream]

Tommy walked away from the table slowly, sauntering across the room with sureness in his steps. It felt good, this power that coursed through his veins, so good in fact that he couldn’t help the humming that was coming from his mouth. He knew she would hate his proposal, would despise the fact that it brought them into contact more, much less touched their lips together each and every day until they graduated. That part was particularly awesome in his mind, knowing that he’d get to take a little piece of her with him each day; it should have disgusted him, that thought, because he hated her as much as she hated him but he was a guy first and let’s face it, kissing a pretty girl was always a positive thing in a guy’s mind, no matter how much dislike existed between them and Jieun was definitely pretty. He’d have to be blind to not see that and Tommy was far from blind.

Reaching the table where his friends sat, he thumped his backpack on the surface and plopped down between two of them. “Hey Tommy, you’re looking mighty happy now” one of them said. “I saw you talking to Jieun over there. Thought you two hated each other.” Tommy glanced over his shoulder, studying the agonizing look she had on her face as she thought over his plan, and then looked at his friend. “Oh, we do” he said, his fingers twirling the ring on his finger. “I found something of hers today though and I’m going to turn it into the ultimate humiliation for her. A kiss a day for the next three months; if she does it, she gets the item back. Having to kiss me every day is going to positively kill her. I love it.” His friends hooted and congratulated him, seeing the horror of it as well as the positive side, and soon they were chattering away with every day conversation. The entire time they talked, Tommy kept one ear cocked as he listened for the footsteps that he knew would come.

When they finally did, the talk at the table died down, all of them listening intently for whatever she would say. As she started to speak, Tommy turned around in his seat watching her, the grin on his face fairly shining in its brilliance. Oh, she was squirming without a doubt, disgust plain in her body language, but she was doing it, agreeing to his little proposal though he knew she died a little inside because of it. Slowly standing, he studied her for a moment and then slowly nodded. “I think I can do that for you” he murmured, his eyes sparkling “and I’m going to claim that first kiss right now, right here, in front of all of my friends.” Stepping forward, his hands cupped her cheeks and pulled her forward, his head leaning in until their lips touched. The first kiss could have been chaste, a simple brushing of the lips, but where would the fun in that be? No, Tommy made that first kiss a hard one, his lips pressing against hers with force, claiming them as his own for that moment. Hoots rose all around them as he did it and when he pulled away, he licked his lips. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this very much” he said, nodding to her. “Until tomorrow, Jieun. Until tomorrow.”

 

[celestine]

She knew he was reveling in her torment and she couldn't help but loathe him for it. Never had she felt so weak before. While there had certainly been times that they'd grasped each other's weak spots and squeezed for every juicy drop of pain, they'd never really utterly humiliated each other... There had never been an incident so strong as to destroy the other as completely as she felt this particular incident might. Jieun felt suddenly desperate. Even as Tommy's eyes sparkled, she couldn't help but feel her face growing pale. At his words - "I think I can do that for you," - she closed her eyes in something akin to relief. At the following words, though, she froze, her eyes still closed, as her thoughts raced.

Of course, she thought to herself almost bitterly. We're right here in front of his friends and he even went so far as to make me come to him... I should have seen this coming... She gave a small shudder of complete and utter revulsion. Dammit!

And then his lips were on hers and not soft or gentle, but hard and forceful - pressuring, even. In that moment, she hated him. She hated what he was making her do, hated what he was doing to her, hated that he was letting this happen - making it happen - and she hated him from the lips that were pressing against hers to his shod feet. Frustrated, humiliated - feeling nothing positive as the event swept over her, Jieun wanted nothing more than to reach up with her small, but nimble hands to place them around his throat and apply pressure. She hated being in such a situation and it only angered her that she'd been so thoroughly cornered. And by what?

Tommy. And her mother's ring.

And his lips had left hers and she hated herself. If only she hadn't been so stupid, so careless, so absolutely inattentive!

But she had, and now she was being forced to deal with the consequences. She glared daggers at him as he finally pulled away, fighting the impulse to wipe her mouth with a sleeve or something before searching for some sort of mouthwash. She hadn't even heard his friends - fiends, all of them! - hooting.

At Tommy's words, though, she could help the small shudder that ran through her body. "Tomorrow, then," she said, her voice as even as she could make it. She was unaware that her face had gone completely white. Glancing at the ring on his finger only just once more, she turned on her heel and walked away, feeling cold.