“Get your hand off me!”

 

 

 

“Come on, we’re supposed to be dating.”

 

 

 

“Pretend dating,” Luhan emphasized. “In a few seconds, we’re about to enter the rotating doors of your office building and the least you can do right now is not cause too much chaos. Everyone will be looking.”

 

 

 

“Fine,” Sehun whispered dejectedly and pulled back his arm which was resting on Luhan’s lower back previously. “We should act convincingly though.”

 

 

 

Luhan had glared at the male standing next to her viciously. “That’s why Park Chanyeol is waiting in your room right now to discuss about this, about us. Remind me why I helped you in the first place…”

Sehun smirked lightly, “Because you love me and you don’t want to see me suffer.”

 

 

 

 

Both of them, accompanied with some guards, walked from the drop off area towards the entrance door of Oh Corp. The sudden gush of cold wind welcomed the CEO and his secretary once they stepped inside the building. Aside from that, they were also greeted with the employees bowing at their arrival which were acknowledged with a nod from the boss.

 

 

Everywhere they go, at least five people would bow to them but Sehun didn’t seem to mind at all as he was already used to this ever since he worked here. Luhan, in the mean time, was busy greeting back to other people. They both waited for the elevator with people staring at them from every direction. Once the lift dinged open, they rode the elevator up to reach the designated floor.

“This is the first time that we go to work together. Other people would really misunderstand,” Luhan murmured as she stared at the reflection on the elevator’s stainless steel door.

 

 

“That’s the point. We let them misunderstand. It would be really fun.”

 

 

 

Luhan pretended not to listen and continued. “Or they would think that we coincidentally met downstairs.”

 

 

 

Sehun chuckled lightheartedly, “but this is the VIP lift, darling. No one can use this except me. You need my fingerprint to make this move.”

 

 

Luhan rolled her eyes and right at that moment, the door opened, signing that they had reached their destination. With a deep breath, Luhan followed her boss out from the elevator and down the tiled floor towards Oh Sehun’s office. As Luhan had predicted, other workers were wide-eyed seeing their arrival. Some had gathered around a corner to talk about it while some other had decided to stay quiet for now.

After dropping her things in her cubicle, the secretary made her way towards Sehun’s office to meet the special guest.

 

 

The first sight that greeted her was Park Chanyeol lying down on the couch while watching a sappy Korean drama with a can of cola in his hand and the remote control in the other. Her boss didn’t seem to mind about the weird position his friend was in as he opted to check the stacking files on top of his table without a care in the world.

 

 

 

“Excuse me,” Luhan spoke.

 

 

“Oh, hey!” Chanyeol replied with a wave of his hand but eyes still glued to the flat TV. “The drama is almost done, why don’t you make yourself comfortable first and I’ll catch up with you guys in a few.”

 

 

‘in a few’ turns into a boring half an hour as Luhan and Sehun began playing scrabble on their own (Sehun keeps a collection of board game in his office in case it gets boring) and left the tall CEO Park to finish his drama. When Luhan won against her boss, Chanyeol turned the television off with red puffy eyes.

 

 

 

“Man, did you cry?”

 

 

 

“Sehun, that ahjumma was so cruel to the girl and her boyfriend didn’t even know she was dying! Why is the world so mean?!” Chanyeol flailed his arms to express his pent up emotions.

 

 

Sehun had moved closer to Luhan and whispered, “I think Baekhyun may have done something to his brain.”

 

 

Luhan nodded in agreement with a tired expression.

 

 

Both of them were surprised when Chanyeol clapped his hands to capture their attention. “Enough of the drama, now, we have a real life drama situation right here.”

 

 

 

“We had been waiting for thirty minutes for this.”

 

 

 

“Shut up, Sehun.” Chanyeol glared at the younger but the young Oh didn’t seem to be phased fazed about it. “Okay now let’s start. But I’m still curious though, I’m not sure that Luhan even agreed to this.”

 

 

“I wish I didn’t,” the secretary replied with a huff.

 

 

“But eventually she did.” Sehun quipped. “This morning to be exact, when we had breakfast together. She said she wanted to help me.” Sehun grinned like a Cheshire cat which caused Luhan to roll her eyes for the umpteenth time that day.  

 

 

Chanyeol seemed surprised by this, pointing his fingers accusatively at the two people sitting across him. “You guys had breakfast together? Sehun didn’t mention the details. Wait, does that mean you guys were…”

 

 

 

“Nothing happened, Chanyeol,” Sehun warned with a growl.

 

 

 

Chanyeol didn’t seem to mind the warning as he continued. “But… that doesn’t make sense! You guys must have…”

 

 

“I STAYED OVER HIS HOUSE YESTERDAY! HAD A PROBLEM WITH THAT?” Luhan burst out. “I know that I’m being an impolite employee right now but could you please get to the point right now because unfortunately I have a lot of things to do and I’m slowly regretting my decision.”

 

 

The two males gaped at Luhan as if she had grown another head but she didn’t seem to care anymore as she crossed her arms angrily at them. Chanyeol cleared his throat awkwardly and breathed hard before continuing.

 

 

“Okay, now we are going to really start our meeting,” the tallest spoke. “Our objective is to make Min Eunjung cancel the engagement. I suppose Sehun had already briefed you about the contract that Madam Oh had made with Media Business about the merging?”

 

 

Luhan nodded.

 

 

“Great. Now all you need to know is the background. Media Business is known for their abundant wealth and good work force but at the same time, they are making many enemies in this industry and hence they need a large backup, cue Oh Corp. We also acquired information that Madam Oh had been promised with a lot of shares from them for this merging and we all know that this is not going to end well. Grandpa Oh still didn’t know about this, he’s still in France.” Chanyeol looked at Sehun for a while too. “Your father does not know about this too.”

 

 

“So, what do we do?” Luhan asked, getting interested in the ordeal.

 

 

“You just need to date each other, simple. But we are going for a totally different approach. Unlike those dramas that you watch, we are not going to scream out to people that you guys are dating. You guys pretend that you’re not pretending and let people investigate your relationship.”

 

 

That is quite confusing, seriously. Luhan was quirking an eyebrow, not getting where Chanyeol was saying. She faced Sehun for some explanation.

 

 

The boss quietly laughed at his secretary’s confused face, “what he meant was this: we don’t immediately tell people that we’re dating. In fact, we just drop hints and let them pick up from there. They’ll get suspicious at some point and then we’ll just confirm it when confronted. You know that we have very talkative workers right? Gossips go around like wildfire here and by the end of the day, the rumors will get to everyone. They do the multilevel marketing for us so we don’t need to do it by ourselves. You get what I mean?”

 

 

 

She nodded, mouthing an O. “So, we don’t let them know verbally?”

 

 

 

“Yeah, for example when we went to the hotel room during the party, people were already making assumptions. We just need to act suspicious. Let me give you another example. If you and I are dating and you hang out with other male employees, I get mad in front of the whole staff because of jealousy. Or I treat you differently from the rest. Of course people would make assumptions about us. Get the idea now?

 

 

“As long as the act is convincing in the office and that’s all?”

 

 

“Yes, but you guys still need to act like a true couple out of the office.” Chanyeol answered. “There’s a huge possibility that Min Eunjung will ask someone to spy on you. Just act like you’re in love twenty-four hours a day and no problem will arise.”

 

 

“TWENTY FOUR HOURS?” Luhan shrieked.

 

 

“Yeah, so that kinda forces you to stay with Sehun for a while. We want to assure people that you guys are dating. There is also a probability that someone will visit the mansion and it would be better for you to be there.”

 

The secretary covered her face with her palms in distress and Sehun patted her back with sympathy. This wasn’t what Chanyeol had said to him during their phone call. Getting help from her was already enough, asking her to stay with him was getting overboard.

 

 

“Fine,” she finally murmured. “I’ll do this but you guys owe me a 6-months leave. Is there anything else I need to know about the contract or this acting thingy?”

 

 

“Have you acted before?”

 

 

“Been in drama club since elementary school until I graduated senior high. You don’t need to worry about my skills, I’m great at it.”
Well, it wouldn’t be hard, she’s already in love with the annoying boss anyway.

 

 

“Okay, you’re done here, thank you for your time.” Chanyeol enlighten. Luhan stood up from her seat and bowed to both of the male before walking out.

 

Staring at the door, Chanyeol and Sehun both breathed out loudly as they had been holding their breaths unknowingly.

 

 

“The time of the month?” Chanyeol asked and Sehun nodded pathetically as he suddenly felt tired.

 

 

“Grumpy all morning and you just had to ruin her mood... She was already waiting patiently for you and you go around asking unnecessary stuff and for that, I hate you.”

 

 

“She’s as creepy as Baek during that time.” Chanyeol continued.

 

 

Sehun sighed as he stared blankly at nothing. “Women are creatures full of mystery. Never thought she would lash out like that…”

 

 

 

“Welcome to my life.”

 

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo always liked the rooftop.

 

 

 

This place had been her haven whenever work got too stressful or her head of division is being a jerk. Kyungsoo doesn’t care if it rains or hot as hell, she’ll always manage as long as it was the rooftop. There, no one will try to bother her, try to worsen her mood or do anything that would cause her anger. Being neglected since the new café and cafeteria opened on the ground floor, no employee would come up to the rooftop anymore and it was then taken under Kyungsoo’s care to nurture the plants there.

 

 

Today was just like any other day. There is a certain person that kept on bugging her mind the last few days and she needed time to be alone and the rooftop became one of the best places to be and release stress.

 

 

With a plastic cup of steaming coffee in her hand, Kyungsoo climbed up a few flight of stairs to reach her sanctuary. She untied her bun and the long wavy hair made it down to her waist beautifully. The weather today was just right as the sun was hiding behind the clouds and the wind kept on playing with her black hair. Slurping the now warm coffee, she walked towards the edge to view the city below.

 

 

 

“Do Kyungsoo.”

 

 

 

At that, Kyungsoo stiffen.

 

 

No
This can’t be

 

 

“I’m sorry but you got the wrong person,” she answered with shaking voice and body frozen in place.

 

 

“I know it’s you, soo. Please look at me,” the voice begged sincerely.

 

 

Kyungsoo hated confrontation, but this can’t be postponed anymore. She had been running away from this problem from the start. She placed her coffee at a nearby bench and turned around to face her guest.

 

 

The man was staring at her but she avoided eye contact. Kyungsoo straighten herself and bowed to the man.

“Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?”

 

 

There was pain flashing on the male’s eyes as he took tentative steps closer but Kyungsoo also took a few steps back. “Kyungsoo, listen to me.”

 

 

 

“I’m sorry sir, but I think this is the first time we met and I would prefer to be called with my full name. It’s Do Kyungsoo.”

 

 

 

“Don’t do this to me.”

 

 

 

“You lied to me first, Kai. Or should I call you Mr. Kim?”

 

 

“Kyungsoo, I’m still Kai. The Kai you first met that night and the Kai that became your boyfriend not long after that. There's no difference! I love you!”

 

 

Kyungsoo tried her best not to let the pain show as she spoke. “But I don’t remember dating Kim Jongin…”

 

 

There was silence from both of them as Kai was speechless from her remark. “How do you know I was here?”

 

 

 

Kai didn’t immediately reply. “I followed you.” That was an expected answer and the young female almost laughed at the situation. This was like the first time Kai asked her out on a date but sometimes nice memories turned into bad ones.

 

 

“To actually believe that you work here, I must have been very gullible to you,” she laughed cynically and the man couldn’t feel anything but guilty. “I can’t believe you tricked me twice, kai.”

 

 

“I really do have something to do here!”

 

 

 

“That’s because your father sent you to seal a contract here, not because you’re actually trying to earn money! You’re friends with Oh freaking Sehun and you did not mention that piece of information to me. How do you think I can trust you now, after all the cover ups and lies?!” There were tears threatening to pour but Kyungsoo bit her lips to prevent that from happening. “I told you everything about me, about my past, about my fears. How can you still try to lie to me? That scarred me to life, Jongin.”

 

Kyungsoo laughed out loud, "I dont even know if I should call you Kai or Jongin anymore."

 

 

 

“Let me explain,” Kai said as he took steps forward.

 

 

 

“Don’t.” the girl said, lips quivering. “I think it’s enough. Let’s not meet each other again and even if we do accidentally, I’ll only know you as Kim Jongin, Oh Sehun’s business partner.”

With unshed tears blurring her view and voice cracking, Kyungsoo smiled, “goodbye Kai.”

 

 

 

Kyungsoo walked pass the male and ran down the flight of stairs. Kai was standing in the rooftop area, hand gripping tightly around his phone. He didn’t even realize that it was buzzing as someone had called him. With anger blazing in his veins, he picked up the call before seeing the caller ID.

 

“This is Kim Jongin… Yes, I’m still at the building… Sehun was in a meeting so I couldn’t meet him… I understand… I’ll call you back when there’s progress.”

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

It was already nearing sunset when Suho finished all his paperwork and decided to eat his late lunch (that was really really late, blame his busy schedule). He was about to pick up his coat and leave when a knock on the door surprised him.

“Come in,” he voiced out. He wasn’t expecting any guest, at least that’s what his secretary said.

 

 

The door opened to reveal Zhang Yixing, dressed in simple pastel shirt and skirts.

 

“Hi,” she awkwardly waved. “Uhm, your mom is kinda worried that we aren’t making any progress and stuff so she wanted us to have dinner or some sort. If you don’t want to it’s completely okay!” she quickly said with a panicked expression.

 

 

Suho smiled, “it’s okay. I’m hungry anyway, so why don’t we go eat downtown?”

 

 

 

 

 

The car ride was more than awkward and Suho think he should have bought CD music or something. Even though completely silent, Yixing didn’t seem to mind as she stared out from the window to see shops lined up by the streets. The car slowed down as Suho found the restaurant he was searching for.

 

Yixing was simply searching for an ugly looking ramen shack with an old man selling okonomiyaki or something in front of the shop (Suho did say it was going to be Japanese food). But, she found herself gaping at a 4 storey building, with extravagant design on the outside, and a huge artificial ramen bowl on top of the building. There was no other Japanese restaurant than this along the food street. She should have known that Suho is not that type of person to eat at a restaurant with less than 3 stars.

Yixing got down from the car and gulped at the intimidating exterior. “Are you sure this is the place?”

 

 

 

Suho chuckled, “Yep, let’s go.”

 

 

 

 “Do you have any reservation?” the manager said, welcoming them as they stepped inside the restaurant with a professional smile.

 

“Kim Suho,” the male answered stoically.

 

 

With that, the couple was welcomed more warmly by the workers, who bowed 90 degree to them. Being led to the second floor, they were now in front a VVIP room, with a name carved on the door.

 

 

SUHO

 

 

Jeez, did he buy this place or something?

Forget it

 

 

Suho had the decency to let Yixing into the room first before pulling a chair for Yixing to sit in and both of them began checking the menus given. A waitress came in not long after that to take the orders, looking happier than normal. She was checking the male out from head to toe. Suho noticed but he kept quiet and played nice while Yixing was quite uncomfortable with the flirting attempt.

 

 

“What would you like to have, sir?” the waitress asked while fluttering her eyelashes in the most disgusting way.

 

 

“Yixing, what are you having?”Suho asked.

 

 

Even though it still felt weird that Suho is now calling her by the name, it's quite a huge progress compared to their past relationship. “Not sure. But I think I’ll take the Spicy Curry Ramen, and please make the spicy level on 5.”

 

 

 

“Okay, I’ll have what she have.” Suho closed the menu and give it back to the waitress.

 

 

“Would you like any drink? Maybe wine, I presume?” the waitress opened the menu book once again and offered it to Suho. She slid it on the table and stood impossibly close to the man’s shoulder, attempting for some skinship.

 

 

 

 “I don’t drink wine and so does my fiancé.” Suho remarked and the waitress’ expression was priceless. “I’ll repeat myself so you don’t need to repeat it, okay? We’ll have 2 Spicy Curry Ramen with level 5 of spiciness, a pot of Japanese Green Tea and a full set of takoyaki. Now move along and leave.”

 

 

 

The waitress looked disappointed for not able to stall some more time to look at him but she did what she’s told. The waitress opened the door and left. For a second, a figure was walking pass the room and Suho caught sight of the said male before the door to their private room was closed.

 

 

 

“What’s wrong?” Yixing asked as she noticed the confusion on Suho’s face.

 

 

 

“Nothing, I thought I saw Jongdae just now.”

 

 

 

“Sehun’s cousin, Kim Jongdae? What is he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be in Japan?”

 

 

 

Suho shook his head with a reassuring smile, “I was probably hallucinating. That is possible considering that I didn’t eat lunch.”

 

 

“You didn’t eat lunch??”

 

 

 

 

And that was how they dropped the subject and did not mention the male after that. That is quite the irony as the male was sitting right next to their room with a guest of his own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

what a long week!

Oh my gosh, i'm sorry for the super late reply and also for the crappy chapter hahhahahahaha
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR READING! (You guys are so sweet and thank you for the encouragements!!!)

it made me so damn happy whenevr you guys comments, i appreciate it a lot! and for subscribing and upvoting, i can write a long essay for this but that would cost so much space. i just wanted to say thank you to everyone!!!

this chapter is introduction of the possible mr.  kim... nah, just kidding! hahahaha