Author's Notes: Hi, dear readers. This fanfic is a 10-part special that features individual one-shots using Son Ye Jin's latest BAU photos as visuals and inspo. Some of the stories here are longer than the others, and some also end in cliffhangers. I wrote them as quickly as I could, so please forgive the typo errors. I hope you like them! I made the conscious decision to publish them all in one go, but I'm seriously thinking about turning some of them into multi-chaptered fics. Anyway, please let me know which of them tickled your fancy the most. Thank you, as always, for being here. Much love to you all! xx

Special thanks also to sosseu for proofreading!

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PROMPT: Ri Jeong Hyeok is the humble son of a farmer whose land is owned by the powerful family of Yoon Seri.

When the Yoons decide to commercialise the farm, RJH must do everything he can to save his family from eviction, even if it means talking to Seri herself.
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Ri Jeong Hyeok punches his fist against the table in frustration.

Breathing loudly in quick intervals, he trains himself to let the boiling anger inside him simmer down gradually before he addresses the elderly man beside him.

"I'm sorry, father," he says quietly, forcefully closing his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. But this shouldn't have happened. It's not fair."

"It is what it is, son. The land is theirs, they have every right to do with it what they wish," his father replies somberly. The poor farmer taps his hand on Jeong Hyeok's shoulder, giving his son the reassurance that the Ri patriarch can't give himself.

"But they didn't have to be this heartless."

When they had gotten the demolition order from the government, at the request of the Queens Group, the Ri Family had joined every protest staged by the affected farmers, who all now find themselves in danger of being ousted from the land they had been tilling for many years.

But it was all for naught.

While they were promised sustainable compensation as a result of the conversion of the land from agricultural to commercial, the farmers will still have to find new homes and livelihoods.

"I'll make this right, father," Jeong Hyeok promises, facing the elder man with conviction burning in his eyes. "Even if I have to go to Seri herself."

"Yoon Seri was once your childhood friend, but she is part of them," his father reminds him. "You are Heaven and Earth, son. Besides, I hear they call her the iron lady now. I doubt you can get through her. People change, that's just what they do."

Jeong Hyeok shakes his head aggressively, showing a clear display of his refusal to believe his father's words. "I know Seri. I know who she really is. I know there is no way she had wanted to be a part of this."

"But I don't want to see you begging just for us, son. We do not beg."

"I wasn't planning to," the younger Ri replies, managing a small smile in a bid to assure his father. "I just think she can help us, and I would rather try and fail than not try at all."

Days later, after Jeong Hyeok secures an appointment with the Yoon heiress, he enters the enemy's fortress for the first time, stepping into the lobby of the Queens building, where the pristine walls and shiny floors seem to mock his very existence.

Everything was the complete opposite of who he was and where he lived, for the farmer's son was used to sleeping on wooden planks or canopy leaves under a bed of stars.

Though he watched his childhood friend live in excessive lavishness for most of their lives together, he harboured no ill feelings of envy or anger, for he was taught by his humble parents that real wealth was measured by one's health and happiness.

With that in mind, Jeong Hyeok had grown up to be a fairly-content man who treasured the people in his life and the crops he harvested more than any money or material things.

Instead of praying for riches, he fervently hoped for a good harvesting season, fair weather, healthy crops, and safety for his family.

But even the kindest person on Earth has limits, and Jeong Hyeok was pushed to his when people from the Queens Group suddenly summoned all the farmers on their land, and slapped them with the grim news that, without even so much as a month's notice, the farmland was to be converted as soon as possible into a commercial one.

Seeing his parents' hearts breaking over something he deemed unjust and illegal, Jeong Hyeok had, then and there, resolved to do everything in his power and control to reverse it.

Yes, he was just a farmer.

He was poor, without money, without any real resources, without anything to his name except his hardworking hands and a heart that's always willing to serve.

But he knew one person who could help him, who could somehow make things right.

Seri.

Now, as he is led to the top floor by a man called Manager Hong, who keeps giving him unsolicited tips on how to talk to the boss lady without getting his head chopped off, Jeong Hyeok coaches himself to remain calm and positive, to trust that Seri would listen to him.

Jeong Hyeok merely keeps quiet, his heart beating in his chest with every step he takes. The minutes seem to stretch to forever before they finally arrive in front of a pair of large wooden doors labelled Yoon Seri, CEO.

"Welcome to hell," Manager Hong tells him with pure pity seeping out of his voice before he leads the both of them inside.

There, at the end of the room, standing by her desk where piles of papers await her attention, stands Yoon Seri.

Clad in a business attire that screams power and authority, his childhood friend looks every bit the executive and heiress, far from the lowly status life had bestowed upon him at birth.

"Seri," Jeong Hyeok says immediately the moment he sees her, drawing Manager Hong to look at him in horror. The young heiress closes the folder in her hand shut, and snaps her head up to look at him sternly at the mention of her name.

"I wouldn't be too informal if I were you, Mr. Ri Jeong Hyeok," she says with a hint of warning, and the eerie quiet quality of her voice somehow makes her speak even louder.

Jeong Hyeok blinks a few times before bowing his head in contrition - the Earth yielding to Heaven.

He inwardly scolds himself for forgetting where he was and who he was, for though they had known each other all their lives, the divide between them shall forever put them at separate ends of the world.

The young CEO crosses her arms in her chest, her eyes glaring as she addresses her manager. "Leave us."

As soon as Manager Hong closes the double doors shut, the sound of the click resonating through the room, Seri crosses the long path from her desk to the threshold of her office, and flings herself straight into Jeong Hyeok's arms.

"I'm so sorry," she breathes into his chest.

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she repeats the apology over and over while he rubs her back in soothing circles. Coaxing her to look at him, he cups the side of her face, his thumb padding her cheek softly.

The iron lady, a front she likes to put up to maintain control, is now replaced by the Seri he knows, the Seri he loves, the girl who cries whenever she sees homeless children practically thieving just to feed themselves.

And he knows he's in the right place.

In spite of the dire situation in which they have found themselves, Jeong Hyeok, for the first time in weeks, actually manages to smile a genuine smile. "I know."

"I'll make this right, I promise," Seri says with so much passion and sincerity, her eyes seemingly pleading him to forgive her, Jeong Hyeok can't help but press his lips against the side of her eye.

"No," he replies, tightening his grip around her. "We will make this right."

After a quiet moment, as Seri's breathing finally normalizes and synchronizes with his, the farmer's son releases her, his eyes now ablaze with clarity and resolve.

"Tell me what I need to do."

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Photos via BAU by Bride and You & Dr. for Hair