BY GOOD WILL OR GOOD LUCK? Is This Lili Being Nice Or Is It Just Luck? — @lgckyoka

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

angel of mine  ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱  

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

sweet was hardly a word one would use to describe lili but maybe the christmas season had made her into a new person — at least until the carols stopped being sung. (or maybe she was trying to prevent a coal addition in her stocking this year, who really knew what went on inside that gorgeous head of hers)

with a satisfied grin, lili picks up another box — lifting its top to make sure the contents inside matched up with what had been on their lists before starting again with its corners crisp, edges ironed out and ribbons tied; it was a wrapper’s trifecta. something that obviously came with much well-earned practice from all the ‘i’m sorry, please forgive me for being a bitch’ gifts; surely such a thing had put her to work on perfecting her craft.

lili couldn’t agree more — and that was saying something as someone who usually loved spending hours on end in the practice room; thinking the youth center could be her solace had never crossed her mind and yet, here she was — enjoying her time at the youth center. “yeah, it’s definitely a nice change of pace?” lili wasn’t burnt out but there wasn’t any harm in doing something different every now and then; was she evolving — the girl who loathed change? “how is practice going for you, anyways? you’re performing something for the concert, right?”

“you flatter me. it’s hardly professional,” the pristine bow says otherwise but the words are almost automatic — a false sense of humility that never really suited lili falls from her lips and even though she, emi and the world probably know she’s the furthest thing from humble, lili relishes in the compliment. “just a little extra, sure, but it’s christmas. and i’m kind of in a giving mood.”

and lili leaves the reasoning at that.

once she’s secured the ribbon to the box, she makes quick work on pulling the bow into it’s shape and finishing it by curling its ends for the final spiral. “and it’s done!” probably her best accomplishment of the year, but who was really counting.

placing the gift with the rest, she looks to emi and at her own array of dressed up gifts and smiles, “and you were saying i was professional — yours are exactly like the ones i pick up at the department stores for the holidays all crisp corners and all.” the kids probably wouldn't care for the effort — already imagining them ripping the pretty wrapping to shreds — but lili had always appreciated anything pretty, especially when they were gifts.

FILE: XU LILI _ MODEL PORTFOLIO

THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR IMAGE .

chic, cool, luxurious

THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY .

cold, confident, passionate

THREE INTERESTS OF YOURS .

high fashion, nail art, hair care

THREE SPECIAL SKILLS .

crying on command (crocodile tears), nail art,  korean/mandarin tongue twisters

WHICH COLOR WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR AURA .

#5D3FD3, purple

THREE PRODUCTS THAT FIT YOUR IMAGE .

fashion, hair care, travel/tourism

THREE PRODUCTS THAT DON’T FIT YOUR IMAGE .

food products, camping, sports

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

fun fact! did you know that the year of the snake is my chinese zodiac? so, as my zodiac intends, and as the clock strikes on the last hour of my birthday, i declare that this will be my year of transformation, renewal and spiritual growth! 

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

same thing with lili ~ she needs some threads for trainee mission as well as general relationship connections, please like and i'll come to youuuu ~

“and it doesn’t bother you at all?” insane. absolute insanity. country folk were definitely built different, lili thinks.

“a bit.” she mumbles, even if she could still smell the horrible stench of chicken poop, it did help a little — enough that lili couldn’t keep herself from winding her arms around the other girl out of gratitude, as if the smallest gesture had somehow warmed lili’s frozen heart in a matter of seconds. 

she wouldn’t call the other her life savior but it was a start, wasn’t it?

she smiles beneath the cloth, a laugh teetering at the tip of her tongue. “what would i have done without you?” probably suffered the rest of the day and then some, but she cuts to the chase. pulling herself off the other girl as she stabilizes her squat and stares into the dirt. “i just wish there was something i could spray into it, though. maybe it would help it.”

[ ♥ ]

jaekyung was a perceptive person. she could tell that some took to their variety location less enthusiastic than others. if she'd been a born city girl, perhaps she'd been the same. however growing up on a farm on the country side equipped her with skills that fortunately lead her to approach this outing with a feeling of nostalgia and joy while breathing through the tasks with an ease only someone familiar with the tasks could portray.

"I'm used to it," she thus tells lili as the girl falls down into a crouch beside her. exhibit a of classic city girl. "I grew up on a farm. so this isn't anything new for me," the girl continues to reason with a grin on her lips.

she did however take pity on the poor female who was obviously having a bad time. not wanting her to receive potential bad feedback from the moment this went live, jaekyung decided to help her out. "come here. I have an idea." taking her gloves off she made use of the towel that hung close by, sure to do a quick sniff test before she tied it in a way that would allow lili's nose to remain covered and hopefully kill some of the smell. "better?"

໒꒱ . LGC FAMILY CONCERT # 2024  、

she needed this.

what better time of the year to get her mind off of the fact that she was practically an orphan around the holidays. and yes, that was exactly what legacy’s family concert turned out to be: the perfect distraction. 

there is no time for hell raising, no complaints to be said this time — they’ve all been done before and surprisingly, lili had no will to fight them this time around. it’s an oddity, sure, the girl who was so used to having poison for a tongue and fire in her eyes, willingly compliant and obedient to an event she, otherwise, wouldn’t have bat her eyes to. but she was there, day in and day out, practicing like she didn’t already know all the words, repeating each routine and step as if it hadn’t already been engrained into her muscle memory. 

it begs the question:

was something wrong?

it’s a tale she’d never tell. in fact, when questioned by some of her peers, all she does is laugh and reply back:

“what? is it so surprising that i might actually enjoy doing the family concert?”  

because yes — it was surprising.

and perhaps enjoy was too strong of a word.

it was a nice relieve to the mundane and her constant woe is me that came with the autumn holidays. it was just nice to think about something else, really.

when the day comes, lili finds herself lost in the bustle — the craziness of family concert that she doesn’t really have the time to think about how her grandmother had sent her away with a pamphlet of money and her well-wishes typed into a text message read by an assistant who cared enough to take the two hour flight from beijing. 

and with all things considered, as she’s mouthing to so hot, laughing against the crowd’s roars, arms linked with jiah, lili can only think — thank god, i get to do this all over again tomorrow.

໒꒱ . DATE LOTTERY # 2024 _ THE DECISION 、

it’s almost sickening the way the nerves crawl upon her skin — because what did lili have to be nervous for? it wasn’t like this was some end of it all will she or won’t she a la the bachelorette; it was whether or not she’d like to — as they say — ‘continue the adventure with their current partner’. and if she said no, she could always call minkyu the next day and it'll be fine — right?

( it would all be fine? )

and as nauseating as it did sound — because whoever came up with seriously needed to be re-enrolled in romance 101 — lili couldn’t find it in her heart to deny it.

even if it went against all her principles — and maybe lili liked to think she was a better person than someone who’d reject one of her closest friends and then be fine with spending the day with them as if nothing had happened — she knew deep down that: she wasn’t a better person.

and she was just the type of person to do such a thing.

but when the cameras rolled and she’s asked the dreaded question, lili is answering before she can even tell herself that her mask was slipping.

“i’m glad it was minkyu — if anything, relieved?” she tastes the word on her tongue — as if testing it, the korean phrase a hard sell for a foreign linguist. lili nods, once she’s reassured that that is what she means. “that my date was with him. i don’t normally share much of my personal life — my childhood with many people — but since i’ve met minkyu before, being able to show him something that’s so dear to me was really nice. i think it made us closer.”

and she really did — think — that it had made them closer, rather in the superficial sense that lili usually built her relationships — in particular with minkyu, bolstering him around town with her black card through meals and little gifts — the fact that this had neither to do with any of the above made it different, made it feel different and lili still couldn’t quite describe that feeling other than … nice. it was — it is nice.

“and i think that’s why,” she pauses, licking her lips as a finger catches a stray hair before pushing it behind her ear — building the suspense through a charming grin and a small, gentle hum before she nods. “i’d like to go on another adventure with him, wherever that may take us.” 

because even if lili pretended that she was fine with burning bridges and acting fine, another part of her — the needier part that had spoken in harsh tongues and pleaded her not to — had already shown too much of her real self in the form of a happy childhood memory for all the world to now see. and she couldn’t deny that because of this, lili — whether professionally or personally — didn’t want the world to see her burn a bridge that she had now, despite her initial refrains, cemented in stone. 

“was that so hard?” lili was no professional but she wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the game. she had to do something on those thirteen hour flights from los angeles. sure, lili was probably being a little too forceful in her approach but what better way to show the gameplay than to test out each and every action extended to them. “how many did you end up collecting? i have a couple in my pockets, i think we can make you a flimsy net like the one i have!”

cycling through the equipment in her pockets, each one showing up with a flourish until she settles on the flimsy net that she wanted to show him. “like this one! and if we find a stone we can make an axe!”

the novelty of the game had died on her long ago but for someone like hyuk, it might be interesting since it appeared he had never played this game before.  

“this still looks so shady”, hyuk replied, eyes focused on how lili was playing and she looked skilled enough with her console, while he looked super awkward. he also didn’t know why he acted so defensive about it - it was just a game! - and people watching them would probably enjoy them being like that. “but okay, i will trust you”

in the next few moments, he pressed the controls like lil instructed, shaking a few trees around, but unlike her, he didn’t get a leaf, only fruits and branches. that game looked innocent enough and he was starting to like it.

“now what we do with all of this?”, he asked, his character collecting a branch, then returning to some random point on the screen.

“i suppose,” begrudgingly, lili concedes — as per the rules of this year’s party, going outside of nintendo seemed taboo, staying within the realms of it seemed too safe. this appeared to be a healthy compromise. “better them than another peach and daisy.” nothing against them, but lili did not care for frou frou and petty coats. 

“thank god they’re hot.”

it crosses off at least one of lili’s halloween conditions.

“a prize?” a glimmer finds its way into her eyes, “now that’s something i’d play for.” what was a game with no rewards? but with what usually rolled around halloween with their sunbaes, lili was surprised there wasn’t anything more spooky underfoot for them. “maybe they’ll reward us with a day off or a gift card.” and if she had the choice, a day off would be first on her list. 

maylin didn't say another word as she pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her low-rise jeans. lucky for them both, she had already saved a few photos to her album, saving her the time to try and spell out that name again. "here," holding her phone out for them both. "bayonetta is the one with black hair, and her best friend, Jeanne, is blonde. they were the only interesting ladies out of all Nintendo games… and I'm surprised they let it pass."

from all the videos she watched, the dramatics and overly sexual posing made the dancer laugh with pure amusement. if anything, it screamed them in the best way possible and if they could dress as any character, there was no way they'd get in trouble for the costumes.

locking her screen, and flipping her phone to the back where her own card, 'open me', lay in the plastic case like it was some photocard. "who knows what's going on around here these days? did they say we would get some sort of prize for finding these cards, or is it just for fun?"