this is really really really raw and painful but beautiful at the same time.
If you have any doubt about your characterization, then you shouldnt have bc... i think the characterization is one of the best parts of this story.
First off, your sehun. hmm where do i even start? your sehun is not weak by any means. i think he's rather strong and admirable. everybody deals with betrayal differently so you can't impose a set of standardized rules as if there's a right protocol to face a cheating partner, lest alone handle him/her. Everybody wants to think they will remain the bigger person in the whole ordeal, that they will walk away without looking back even once, dignity intact, packing their belongings and poof! just out of the house they go. But truth is, it's easier said than done, especially if your partner is someone you wholeheartedly trust and for all it's worth, is pretty damn perfect in your eyes and even in the eyes of neutral parties. Sehun has very understandable reactions here: first comes shock/denial bc who would have thought, right? then when the truth sinks in, heartbreak and pain. and the ultimate decision, to forgive or not forgive? This is the classic question everyone who has ever been in sehun's shoes must ask him/herself. A 50-50 chance right? But i think not, when the heart is put on the scale, then it's an entirely different matter. You love who you love (this saying ofc isn't meant as a catch-all phrase for forgiving all the shitty things your partner ever do to you). so... does jongin deserve sehun's forgiveness?
Your Jongin.... It's interesting how you chose jongin as the one making the almost unforgivable mistake here. He's always painted as this very ideal guy in sekai fics (or at least in my mind? lol), so to think of him breaking sehun's heart in the most heartless way, i had the same reaction as sehun: no fucking way! But then, jongin after all is just a human being. he's gonna make mistakes, he fall preys to his own insecurities and is in no way infallible. I believe every affair is different, so when i read any infidelity fics, I always attempt to deconstruct the affair, analyze its every detail and facet. And the thing with all infidelity cases is that, the cheating partner is the direct participant in the affair while the one being cheated on remains the bystander, someone looking in from the outside. So the affair here is borne out of Jongin's own demons, it's intricately linked to jongin, not sehun, and as i am also an onlooker like Sehun, I started asking WHY? 2 months, it's not a long time, but it isn't short either. I kept wondering what's going on in Jongin's head. I wanted to know the frequency of jongin and moonkyu's rendezvous, how did they have sex, whether they talked about sehun, what jongin said to moonkyu, what moonkyu said to jongin. (and this is a testament to how invested i was in the story hahaha)
surely, no matter what explanation jongin gives, it would never be sufficiently satisfactory. it's a //if you love him, then you wouldn't do that in the first place// vs //but ppl make mistakes//. and im glad you make jongin's road to redemption filled with agony and regret and sehun's road to regaining trust just as difficult and tentative. Ofc, as a sk shipper, i would prefer they get back together, and i am THRILLED when they do hahaha, but it's actually the journey that makes this story for me, Naz :) (even though it's a goddamn painful journey ughhhhhh)
Anyway, i hope you know you do the characters justice, you do this heavy topic and the story line justice, so kudos to you! And thank you very much for writing this fic. I still harbor hope that you would not stop writing for sekai. :D
this is really really really raw and painful but beautiful at the same time.
If you have any doubt about your characterization, then you shouldnt have bc... i think the characterization is one of the best parts of this story.
First off, your sehun. hmm where do i even start? your sehun is not weak by any means. i think he's rather strong and admirable. everybody deals with betrayal differently so you can't impose a set of standardized rules as if there's a right protocol to face a cheating partner, lest alone handle him/her. Everybody wants to think they will remain the bigger person in the whole ordeal, that they will walk away without looking back even once, dignity intact, packing their belongings and poof! just out of the house they go. But truth is, it's easier said than done, especially if your partner is someone you wholeheartedly trust and for all it's worth, is pretty damn perfect in your eyes and even in the eyes of neutral parties. Sehun has very understandable reactions here: first comes shock/denial bc who would have thought, right? then when the truth sinks in, heartbreak and pain. and the ultimate decision, to forgive or not forgive? This is the classic question everyone who has ever been in sehun's shoes must ask him/herself. A 50-50 chance right? But i think not, when the heart is put on the scale, then it's an entirely different matter. You love who you love (this saying ofc isn't meant as a catch-all phrase for forgiving all the shitty things your partner ever do to you). so... does jongin deserve sehun's forgiveness?
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surely, no matter what explanation jongin gives, it would never be sufficiently satisfactory. it's a //if you love him, then you wouldn't do that in the first place// vs //but ppl make mistakes//. and im glad you make jongin's road to redemption filled with agony and regret and sehun's road to regaining trust just as difficult and tentative. Ofc, as a sk shipper, i would prefer they get back together, and i am THRILLED when they do hahaha, but it's actually the journey that makes this story for me, Naz :) (even though it's a goddamn painful journey ughhhhhh)
Anyway, i hope you know you do the characters justice, you do this heavy topic and the story line justice, so kudos to you! And thank you very much for writing this fic. I still harbor hope that you would not stop writing for sekai. :D
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