My mind felt like it was in a continual state of being blown. Today's celebration may have been for the first 100 days of the Allocation Rotation; although, in all actuality, it was a mini family reunion for many of the Seed Bearers. There were six main family lines in the room—Park, Kim, Choi, Jung, Jeon, and Lee—with the rest of the Seed Bearers coming from other family lines. I was stunned to learn that Seonghwa was Jimin's cousin, with Jinjin and Rocky from Astro being related to them too. Jimin had not met the two Daejeon Seed Bearers before, who were his second cousins.

As my blonde boyfriend caught up with his relatives after the delicious lunch, I wandered around the room. I caught the second glances and poorly veiled whispers that some of the females had as I walked past them. Between my size, my ethnicity and my unusual hair colour, I had expected to be the talk of the town—or at least the basis of the gossip.

I did manage to answer some of my internal questions though as I mingled. First, the two Aussie members of Stray Kids from my universe did not speak the same accent as me in this one. I'd been introduced to them by Seungmin and had been happy to hear that both Bang Chan and Felix had been assigned lovely girls, who were both pregnant. Secondly, like in my universe, the 97-liner group existed here. Jungkook, Eun-woo, Mingyu, DK, and Bang Chan all huddled in a group while they laughed and joked together.

I was strolling around the room while I tried to find a quiet place where I could recharge my social battery. With a soft sigh, I took a seat on a comfy-looking couch in the room adjacent to the one where everyone else was. In the quiet space, my mind whirled around in circles. I still couldn't believe I was in the room with some of the most influential K-POP groups of all time. But my alone time was interrupted when I heard another soft sigh come from the armchair across from me. My eyes widened as I took in a weary Han Jisung... AKA my bias from Stray Kids.

The conversation I'd engaged in with the Busan Seed Bearer started a bit awkward—partly due to me being tongue-tied. A few minutes later, though, Han and I began loosening up as we chatted about our lives. Eventually, our little group of two grew to welcome other shy or introverted people. I had been introduced to them with their real names, but I found it difficult to keep these aligned to the right face. In my head, I used their stage names because that was easier for me since I knew them as those names.

While there were a couple of females who had come with their Seed Bearers, it was mostly males who had congregated here. San, Yeosang and San's shy female made up the ATEEZ portion. Hoshi and his female, along with Woozi and Vernon came over from the Seventeen table. Shownu from Monsta X was chatting to Yoongi and Ari, and Oneus' Leedo also came over to join in with his female. Unlike everyone else I had talked to today, nobody seated in our little 'introvert and shy club' asked me about where I'd come from or how I'd gotten to be here.

꧁♥💜♥꧂

As much as I was having fun here, I started missing Jimin's company. Bowing politely to my new friends, I headed back into the dining room. I scanned the room looking for the man who held my heart, which turned out to be harder than normal since there were many men with blonde hair here. Finally, I found him. I was rewarded with his brilliant eye smile and a soft kiss. Then, he introduced me to Changbin, Minho, and Wooyoung—who was as beautiful here as he was back home. I had to bite my tongue to not say anything about me already knowing the three new Seed Bearers; instead, I bowed and introduced myself. I was relieved that Jimin and I both remembered my cover story to explain how I had come to be in this universe.

Like earlier to signal the lunch being served, the gong rang again to alert everyone. According to Shownu's announcement, the time had come for us to play games in the yard behind the hall. As I expected, none of the games were ones that I had played before. The expansive lawn was split into different spaces, each holding a different game. Jimin explained to me what each game was as we wandered around.

Jegichagi was a game of footwork and balance to keep a 'jegi'—something similar to a shuttlecock—aloft, which I knew from my poor foot-eye coordination would make me a laughingstock. I loved watching Jimin as he juggled the jegi between his feet with skilled dexterity. It was impossible not to giggle when he told me not to make him laugh with my cheering because he couldn't see.

After watching a few of the others try their hand at the game, Jimin and I found ourselves perusing the other options available. Some he had never heard of, so we stopped to have a look. A lot seemed confusing to follow, so we moved on. Neither of us was interested in trying our hands at juldarigi (a tug-of-war type game) or Red Light Green Light, so we continued with our stroll. I didn't care what we did, as long as we were together.

Our conversation was occasionally paused as we were stopped and pulled into chats with other Seed Bearers and their females. I had to rein in my inner fangirl a few times, especially when Moonbin and his female had come over. I was worried that I had squeezed Jimin's hand too tight in the hope of staving off any tears when Moobin proudly declared that he and Kim Hwa-Young had been successful in their union and were pregnant. There was a part of me that wished that the Moonbin of my time could have been as happy, content and in love as the one standing in front of me. But then my inner voice reminded me that as a fan, I had no idea what his life was like in my universe. As I wished the couple a happy and easy pregnancy, I hoped that Jimin and I could be shrouded in that same pregnancy glow soon.

⋆⁺₊⋆ 💜 ⋆⁺₊⋆

My favourite aunt had always told me since I was a little girl that her favourite animal was the duck. Out of all the different species in the world, I had always wondered why she would choose an animal so ordinary. When she told me the reason why, however, I instantly understood and respected her more. The thing she loved most about the duck was how it was able to look so calm, collected and serene whilst swimming when the reality was that under the water, there would be a flurry of activity.

The whole time we'd been away from my Seed Bearer's house, I had felt like a duck. On the outside, I appeared to be calm and collected. Meanwhile on the inside, I was filled with different schemes and plots to engineer the different outcomes I had.

Each of my advances to try and get my Seed Bearer to spend some time with me had been met with resistance. 100 days in and he only partaken in something remotely sexual once but there was no intercourse. It was during a moment of weakness for him about a month into our time together. Each day that passed made me more convinced that there was something wrong with him.

How could he resist someone as beautiful as me?

Would he be more receptive if I was not a woman?

Hearing a couple of months ago that Seokjin and his female were pregnant had been a hard pill to swallow. But then to hear that both Yoongi and Jungkook had also been successful was like a slap to the face. My friend had confided in me that she was also struggling to get her Seed Bearer to sleep with her. I'd had to school my elation from learning that I wasn't the only one who was having trouble. So far, there were two women that I hadn't heard anything about in terms of pregnancies, so I was going to keep my eyes on them the whole time we were away... especially the witch.

The trip to Daejeon had been long. I was grateful that my Seed Bearer and I were sharing a carriage with Yoongi and Ari. I wasn't that close to the other female; it was nice, though, to have someone else to talk to since the man I was assigned to wouldn't talk to me much. While he and the blue-haired man sat on one side of the carriage with an easy conversation flowing between them, the other female and I were left on the other. I had mentally rolled my eyes so many times from how often she brought up her pregnancy that I was worried they would stay like that. In saying that, I would much prefer the topic of babies compared to her other choice—the bane of my existence... the witch. I learned that the two women had formed a close friendship. While her ramblings had been beneficial for learning inside information, I was tired of how many people were singing the witch's praises.

What was so good about this intruder? She wasn't pretty. She was fat and was taking the opportunity to have babies away from more deserving women. She was a bump in the road for my plans.

When she had walked out wearing that pink monstrosity at the Folk Village, my friend and I had snickered. We shared comments about how we were surprised there was something big enough to cover her. I hated seeing her in our traditional clothes. The hanbok was a special piece of the culture here in the Greater Kingdom of Korea, so to see her wearing one was like she was trying to impersonate the women here. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but the way she tried to impersonate someone from my country was anything but flattering.

I began thinking I was cursed when she was seated beside me at the table of the 100-day celebration. To hear her annoying voice speaking my language and conversing with the man I had plans for grated on my nerves.

Everything the witch did annoyed me. I reminded myself to be like a duck. I made sure I was looking serene, calm and collected as I politely picked at the food placed in the middle of the table like a lady should do. She breathed too loud. Chewed like an animal. Spoke out of turn and was outwardly vocal on things she shouldn't have an opinion on.

I watched as Jimin, Hoseok and Taehyung fawned over her, each offering different dishes for her to try. Did any of them do that for me? No. Did any of the Seed Bearers from other cities come over and talk to me when they saw her? No. Was I jealous? Yes—I was the most beautiful one at the table, so I should have been the one that people were gravitating towards.

I was leaning more towards needing to get another Seed Bearer to impregnate me since the one I was assigned to hadn't shown any interest in me in months. I would have swapped with my friend but that had too many complications for both of us. Therefore, to secure my destiny of carrying a Seed Bearer's child, I needed to enact my plan.

Out of the six remaining Seed Bearers, Jimin was the one my eyes were always drawn towards. His handsomeness would meld so well with my own good looks to create a baby that was the epitome of beauty. Plus, I had seen enough of his kind and caring nature to know he'd be a good father. While he was my first pick, I did have backup plans; Seokjin was my second choice, but I knew he'd be a lot harder to access.

I figured that when everyone was playing games, it would be the perfect time to get the blonde Seed Bearer alone. While he was expertly juggling the jegi with his feet, I was there cheering him on before I stepped up to demonstrate my own jegichagi prowess. But when I looked up, I saw that he had already moved on with her. As I watched his plump lips kiss the back of her hand, the jegi plummeted to the ground.

I tried to convince the red-haired intruder to play juldarigi against me, but she just shook her head and said she wasn't interested. The witch should be so lucky to be asked to play a game with me.

I thought I had a chance to get Jimin alone when she was distracted by one of the other Seed Bearers who was proudly broadcasting his successful union. Although, like all the other times today, he was glued to her side.

As luck would have it, my chance came when Jimin sauntered over to the area where I was about to play gonggi. I was thrilled to see he was alone! I couldn't waste the opportunity that fate had delivered me, so I harnessed all of the skills my Eomma had taught me.

"I need someone to play with me," I said. I made my double entendre sound more innocent than seductive. "Want to play? Best out of five?"

My eyes tracked the movement of his tongue as it slid across his lips. "Sure, but you should know I'm the ace at gonggi."

"That means it will be a fair game," I replied. This time I allowed a hint of seduction into my tone. "In my family, we have a rule when playing gonggi... The winner gets a wish of theirs granted by the loser."

Jimin's laugh was like the most angelic music to grace my ears. "Get ready to grant me a wish then."

I forfeited the first game, but that was always my intention. I needed to gauge his abilities, which I found were quite well-matched to mine. By the end of the third game, I had taken the lead 2-1. A large crowd formed around the two of us. I could hear voices, either saying who they thought would win. Or. they were uttering words of praise when either Jimin or I did something fancy to grab our pieces. One thing I did notice, though, was there was no sign of her at all; it only enhanced my confidence.

The fourth one went to the blonde man, which meant it was all down to this last match. Jimin had a slight fumble on round three; instead of picking up three stones at once, he picked up only two. Rounds one and two for me were smooth but it was the third where I found myself wavering.

Because of her.

The witch had sauntered up to Jimin and came to stand behind him. I had thrown for the fourth round when I heard her uttered words that made me furious.

"If you win, Jiminie, I'll do that thing you like with my tongue," she said, her voice quiet enough that I would have missed it if I wasn't concentrating.

What she meant by that... I had no idea. I'd never used my tongue anywhere near a man, and quite frankly, why would I? Sex was purely for the hands or genitals. My mind was a jumble, which made me falter.

Scowling, I watched her kiss the man I should have been with... 'for luck' as she'd put it. My heart dropped as she cheered him on as he passed round after round. I thought I'd throw up when I watched her fat body bounce up and down as Jimin won the game.

'How the fuck can he find that attractive?'

"Good game," I said, veiling my disgust well. "You earned your wish fair and square. What will it be?"

I wished with everything in me that I was the one who was on the receiving end of his radiant smile, but of course, it was her. "My wish is that you find happiness like I have with Nell."

I smiled and nodded. "I'll work hard to fulfil your wish."

'I'll be happy, though, when the witch is gone and you're all mine.'

* What's your thoughts on the villain now that we're getting to know her a bit more? Any idea who she is?