She tried her best to maintain her calm as she applied her lipstick. Her fingers quavered for a fraction of a second and though she tried to recover, it was too late. Nothing escaped his hawk-eyed gaze. She wiped her lips with tissue and pretended to be preoccupied choosing another tube with a different shade. It was her moment to save her pride so no matter how silly and obvious the move was, he let her be. 

Deciding she couldn’t spend forever playing dumb, she nonchalantly picked up the least of her favorite color - scarlet. He tried to stifle a laugh but couldn’t prevent himself from grinning at her. She caught a glimpse of his playful smirk to which she replied with one eyebrow raise. After a round of internal pep talks, she was finally able to apply her lipstick without much difficulty. Taking one last look at the mirror, she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.

She felt his hand on top of hers and though she tried to pull away, she couldn’t find the strength to do so. Just once, she needed this comfort. 

“Are you nervous?” He though there was a faint hint of genuine concern wrapped in the context of his words.

She opened her eyes and looked at him defiantly.

“Of course not. Why would I be?” She retorted.

“I dunno. You spent fifteen minutes changing your lipstick color. Had I known you’d settle for red, I could’ve given you a hand. It would’ve looked more natural too.” He winked. She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Please. You’ve done enough “help” so no thanks. And for your information, this one’s Scarlett, not red.” 

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, same old same old.” He laughed.

“This isn’t the time for your choding antics, Yonghwa.” She snapped.

“Ah, now there you are. Thought it’ll be a while until I’ll meet you again, Seohyun.” He answered.

“It’s Joohyun. My name is Joohyun.” She insisted.

“I know. But wouldn’t it be more convincing to pull this act with me giving you a nickname I created myself? It’s a “couple” thing. Not that you would understand but I’m happy to enlighten you on the subject matter.” He mimicked the last time she used that on him.

“Doesn’t matter. We have to go in now otherwise they’d be more suspicious.” She said while scrambling to take off her seatbelt. Just as she’s ready to get out of the car, he held her hand and gently pulled her back in.

“Wait!” He called out.

“What now?!” She was beginning to be more agitated by every second she spent alone with her nemesis slash instant plus one slash fake fiancee. It didn’t help either that he had that look in his eyes which makes her heart go all erratic and frantic with emotions she wouldn’t dare to name.

He smiled at her so sweetly as he took something out of the necklace chain he hid underneath his perfect clothes. He slid both rings off the chain, wore one on his left finger, and placed the other on hers. The gesture was supposed to be pla