Chapter Text
Dowon’s ranch was familiar to Nayeon yet different in so many ways. The sprawling pasture littered with hay bales and cows made Nayeon’s breath catch in her throat as she stepped out of her car. She popped the trunk and stood by it for a few moments to take in the setting sun drawing shadows across the ground as it sank lower past the horizon.
“You made it without getting lost this time.”
Nayeon rolled her eyes as she turned to face her older brother. Much like Nayeon, he had a radiant smile and a strong personality. He decided the summers on a ranch he’d spent away from the Im family home in the city were summers he’d like to have year round. With help from a few family members, he was able to make his dreams a reality. It was only about fifty acres, but he worked the land like it was hundreds of acres.
“Are you going to get my bag for me, or are you going to stand there and watch me struggle?”
Dowon smiled and walked across the driveway. He hauled Nayeon’s duffel bag out of the trunk and shut it. “What the hell is in this thing? Rocks?”
Nayeon rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Very funny. Yes. I travel with rocks, Dowon.”
“Lefty’s missed you, ya know?” He winked and walked towards his ranch house, opening the screen door for Nayeon before following her. “He told me yesterday how excited he was to see you.”
Nayeon kicked her shoes off beside Dowon’s boots and hung her purse up by the door. She took in the familiar and odd decorations her brother put on the wall the very first night he got the keys to the ranch house. “Dowon,” Nayeon said as she headed for the living room, “I don’t think your ancient cat can speak to you.”
“What are you talking about? He loves you. He told me himself.” Dowon’s voice carried down the hall from the guest room as he set Nayeon’s duffel bag down and picked up his cat. Lefty had three legs, a crooked tail, one eye, and was eighteen years old.
Lefty’s fragile and shaggy body popped around the corner as Dowon held him under his arms and hind legs. “Oh, Nayeon,” Dowon mimed from around the corner, “I missed you so much. I hope you brought those yummy salmon treats I love.”
Nayeon laughed softly and carefully grabbed Lefty from her older brother, cradling the geriatric animal in her arms. “I missed you too, you old thing.” She rubbed behind his ears, earning her a low, gravely purr.
“See?” Dowon pressed a quick kiss to Lefty’s forehead before grabbing himself a beer and sitting down on the couch. Nayeon followed and sat on the opposite end. Lefty made a comfortable nest in the flowing fabric of Nayeon’s pants and drifted off to sleep.
Dowon took his cowboy hat off and set it in his lap as he took a long drink of his beer. Nayeon watched, brushing her fingers through Lefty’s thinning fur. “So,” he said as he licked a stray drop of beer from his bottom lip, “enjoying your time away from the middle of nowhere?”
Dowon’s question was as normal as could be, but it felt heavy. Overall, Nayeon liked having all her favorite restaurants within a ten minute walk and the lack of cows to intimidate her. But, during especially loud nights, she found herself missing the quiet noise of crickets and a rooster to wake her up before the sun rose.
“I am.”
Dowon could sense the hesitation in those two words. He rested his beer bottle against his thigh, the condensation seeping through his grass stained jeans. “Anything you miss?” He glanced up at his little sister before reaching over to pet Lefty.
Nayeon’s hand stilled on Lefty’s fur. He barely lifted his head in weak protest before nestling back into her lap. “The cows,” she mumbled, her fingers moving again.
Although she didn’t have more than a week to spend time on her older brother’s ranch, Dowon knew that Nayeon was scared of the cows. She wasn’t as afraid of them as compared to the first time she visited his ranch a couple years ago, but she wasn’t too keen on getting friendly with them.
“The cows, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Are you sure you don’t miss a person?”
Nayeon’s head snapped up, her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
Dowon held his hands up and shrugged. “I’m just saying. When you were here last time, you said that the rancher you stayed with was really nice.”
“And I say you’re really annoying all the time. So?”
Dowon raised an eyebrow and grinned. He finished the rest of his beer and sat it on the coffee table, lifting Lefty out of Nayeon’s lap. “So,” he grunted as he laid back, placing the old cat on his chest, “you don’t say anyone’s really nice unless you want something from them, or you… you know.”
“Oh my God you’re so annoying.” Nayeon groaned and ran her hands over her face. She shook her head and shot him a glare. “I said Jeongyeon was really nice because she’s just a nice person. Don’t read into this, you ass.”
Dowon’s grin spread as he rubbed behind Lefty’s ears. “If you have a crush on a country girl, you know you can just say it.”
The bright red blush that quickly crept up Nayeon’s neck was undeniable. She would have thrown every pillow on the couch at her brother if Lefty hadn’t been sleeping on him.
“Nay,” Dowon said, his voice softer and less taunting, “I know you don’t like letting people in, but if you have a connection with someone, you shouldn’t just ignore it. It’s not good for your health. Mom and dad would agree with me.”
Nayeon desperately wanted to prove her brother wrong, but she knew with every fiber of her being that she was wrong. That night in Jeongyeon’s driveway after Jihyo left was so quick and simple yet something that had been on her mind for weeks.
The feeling of Jeongyeon’s lips, slightly chapped but gentle and slow, against hers appeared in her dreams. She thought about that night when she was working or out at dinner with her friends. They asked about the mystery rancher she’d mentioned only once, but when she talked about Jeongyeon, Nayeon’s heart would start to race.
Even now, Nayeon could feel her heart speeding up. The dull ache in her chest that appeared as soon as Jeongyeon’s ranch was out of sight, got worse every day.
“We’re just so… different,” Nayeon finally said. She pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees.
“We’re as different as can be and we still talk to each other,” Dowon stated. He shrugged and sat up, gently lowering Lefty to the floor. The poor old cat rolled onto his side and quickly fell back asleep, tired of being moved around so much.
“Yeah, but the difference is that I have to interact with you.”
Dowon playfully rolled his eyes and scooted closer to Nayeon. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. “Regardless, you should still talk to her. Give her some kind of closure, because it kind of sounds like you just left without really explaining things.”
Nayeon opened her mouth to argue that she has a job in the city and a whole other life, but Dowon pressed a finger to her lips that was promptly pushed away. “Telling her that you have vastly different lives and things to attend to doesn’t count as explaining your feelings. If your heart didn’t say those words, then you didn’t explain anything.”
//
The boots that Jeongyeon had lent Nayeon looked out of place with her acid washed jeans, but they felt right. The coarse dirt beneath her feet and the cows lowing near the edge of the Bloom Ranch gave that dull ache in her chest a little reprieve.
“I told you that damn truck was gettin’ ready to kick the bucket years ago.” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes as she kicked the barn door closed. Her phone was stuffed between her shoulder and ear, her hands preoccupied with two large buckets of horse feed. “Okay. Whatever. I’ll see you next week.”
Jeongyeon dropped the two buckets to the ground, a few pellets jumping in the buckets before they settled back in the piles. “Okay, Terry. Let’s get you fed. Where’s Honey? Thought you were keepin’ track of-“
The first thing that Jeongyeon noticed wasn’t even Nayeon. It was those old boots, and for some reason, she couldn’t help but think how right they looked on a city girl.
“Come back to destroy more fence?” Jeongyeon’s words were rough, her voice holding a bit of contempt from Nayeon’s abrupt departure a few weeks ago.
Nayeon shook her head. She walked closer to Terry and rubbed her hand along his nose, smiling when he pressed against it. “No,” she said softly. “I just… I wanted to explain.”
Jeongyeon blinked a few times and turned when she heard Honey trotting her way. She grabbed one of the buckets and moved it a few feet away from Terry, patting Honey’s side. “Explain what? I don’t even know why you’re on my ranch again. Did Jihyo mess up your car?” Jeongyeon sighed and shook her head as she continued to pat Honey as she ate. “I knew she’d mess somethin’ up one of these days.”
Nayeon shook her head again and watched Terry take a few slow bites. “I was going to say that I wanted to explain my feelings, but that sounds too corny.”
Jeongyeon snorted and nodded in agreement. She kept her eyes on Honey’s sleek coat and shifted her weight, her boots scuffing against the red clay beneath them.
“Every night I go to sleep, I wish I could hear crickets instead of car horns.”
Nayeon took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. She put a hand on the back of her neck and looked up at the side of Jeongyeon’s face, her sharp features making Nayeon’s heart stutter.
“I wish that I was sitting on the porch swing here instead of on my couch writing reports that won’t matter in a week’s time. I wish that I could wake up to the sound of that damn rooster every morning instead of my phone alarm.”
Jeongyeon finally met Nayeon’s gaze and she didn’t want to be drawn into those dark brown eyes, but it was impossible. She pursed her lips and took a deep breath, letting Nayeon finish.
“I wish I was having coffee at the most godawful hour in the morning instead of waiting in line for burnt espresso at 9am. I wish I wasn’t so scared of how I got so used to things here with- with you in a few short weeks. I just… I just wish that I could love you less.”
The night that Jeongyeon kissed Nayeon felt like it was last night and years ago to Jeongyeon. It felt like God was shining down on her and giving her love she had wanted for years. When Nayeon left, Jeongyeon thought that was it. She thought that Nayeon, despite the intense emotion in those few minutes, was desperate to get back to the city.
“You wish you could love me less?” Jeongyeon tipped her hat back and Nayeon couldn’t help the soft smile that broke on her face — she loved that little habit. Jeongyeon scratched her forehead with her thumb and pulled her hat back down.
“I wish I could love you less and I wish I wasn’t so scared to live the only life I’ve known since I was a kid.” Nayeon knew her words sounded cheesy but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Dowon was right.
A silence fell between them, only interrupted by the quiet sounds of chewing from the horses. Terry glanced up, only mildly interested, before going back to his dinner. “Why didn’t you say all that when you left?” Jeongyeon asked.
Jeongyeon took a step closer to Nayeon and it felt like that night again. Nayeon looked as out of place as she usually did, but something about her this time just… fit.
“I didn’t say it because this is real life. I can’t leave my life just because I have- had you and I don’t expect you to leave your life.”
Jeongyeon kept her heart guarded for years. She lived her solitary life, except for a few visits every month from Jihyo, and she was content enough with that. She loved her job and found peace in the busy silence of her ranch. Once Nayeon blew into her life, it threw everything out of order. Jeongyeon no longer knew how to keep her heart out of things.
Even when Nayeon frustrated the hell out of her running through her fence, there was an undeniable charm to her. It was something Jeongyeon got used to when she had to teach the city girl about the ranch. It was something she was willing to open her heart for.
For the first time in a long time, Jeongyeon let her heart take the lead. She closed the space between them and grabbed Nayeon’s hands. They were warm and soft, something she had missed so much. Memories of the kiss and that night came flooding back as Jeongyeon stared into those dark brown eyes.
“You can be scared. This is scary.” Jeongyeon admitted. She gave Nayeon’s hands a squeeze and flashed her that goofy grin Nayeon had grown to love. “It’s scary, but you don’t have to love me any less. Nothin’ needs to be set in stone. This ain’t somethin’ that works itself out overnight, but I- I’m willin’ to try for you as long as you don’t run away again.”
Jeongyeon’s words weaved their way into Nayeon’s heart, but this time they were warm. They felt like a gentle hug and a promise that things were going to work out. “I still have to go back to my job, Jeong,” Nayeon said softly. She lifted her hands from Jeongyeon’s and gently rested them on her chest.
“I know that. I didn’t mean literally run.” Jeongyeon chuckled and shook her head. “I mean… just don’t run off again without tellin’ me how you feel in here.” Jeongyeon’s hand over Nayeon’s heart was firm and warm. It felt like a promise for as much love as Jeongyeon could give. It felt like her fear wasn’t so real after all.
Jeongyeon lowered her hand, her fingers gently curling around Nayeon’s waist. “I think I’m willin’ to take a chance if you are.”
The distance between them grew smaller as Nayeon stood on her toes. She wrapped her arms around Jeongyeon’s neck, a grin spreading on her face as Jeongyeon tilted her hat back. “I’ll take a chance. Just for you.”
The kiss that night was put to shame. Honey and Terry looked up from their buckets, their tails swishing before they ducked back down. Jeongyeon squeezed Nayeon’s waist as their lips fit perfectly. Jeongyeon brought a hand up to cup Nayeon’s cheek, her tongue swiping against Nayeon’s bottom lip to deepen the kiss.
Jeongyeon laughed breathlessly as she pulled away. She rested her forehead against Nayeon’s before pulling her into a tight hug. “I think you’ll need a new pair of boots if you’re gonna be stickin’ around for a bit.”