It was fairly obvious Mr. Oh was extremely serious about Sehun joining the company within the following week. 

While I was called out to brunch several times and discussing exactly how the pregnancy rumors benefited me and my marriage, Sehun was finishing up university. Although, it remained to be proven if he actually attended classes instead of sneaking off to someone's dorm or somewhere else entirely. I assumed his impending graduation meant he did but I also knew that money talked more than anything. Anyhow, I was more concerned with press damage control than Sehun's schooling.

"Instead of seeing you in what would normally be a bad light, like those girls who tried slandering Sehun's reputation rather than approaching Sehun personally with their 'pregnancy' dilemmas, you'll be judged as, obviously, more reserved and respectful of Sehun," Mrs. Choi was saying one afternoon. Sehun was at the company, signing papers with his father, and I had been invited to have dinner with her since our husbands would be late home. "What more, they'll also see Sehun as responsible for marrying you rather than paying you off for either silence or abortion. The press loves to slander him for negligence. It will also help solidify your public image as a couple. You were just that much more special to Sehun for him to marry you even if he wasn't ready to settle down." 

The conniving grin on my Mother-in-law's face was a bit unnerving and I silently lifted my tea cup to cover the pursing of my lips. There was no doubt that this made sense, put like that. There was also no doubt that it was absolutely wild. I was finally beginning to understand just how much went into the images that not only celebrities but public figures had constantly put on the block. It was tedious, but I quickly remembered just how necessary if I were to persevere for PBC and to keep up my end of the bargain. If I was going to have to play the poor knocked up girl in order to make this marriage and its side effects work and therefore save PBC from shutting down, I would.

Later that night, I had to call my mom and relay a few details of the scheme to her. She had known better than to believe 100% of what the rumors said but even still she had asked if I thought I might've been expecting, possibly as a result from the honeymoon. 

"Although this is the last thing I currently want to be discussing with you, Mom," I said with hot cheeks, "I can assure you that I am the last person on Sehun's list of things to do."

Mom choked on the other end of the line. "Oh, you don't have to put it so vulgarly!" she scolded.

I laughed, picking up my toothbrush. "Goodnight, Mom," I said before hanging up.

I realized I was no longer alone in the apartment as I set my phone aside, brushing my teeth. There were quiet clinks coming from the kitchen, signaling Sehun had finally come home. Stepping out of the bathroom, I glanced at the clock hanging above the tv. I hadn't realized it was already 11PM but it wasn't the first time in the past week Sehun had actually come home so late. On the days he had school, he was usually home before 5 and if he left afterwards to go out with friends, he just didn't come home; it was daylight before he made it back in.

My assumptions that he had been at the office with his father again after finishing up school were confirmed when I found him in the kitchen, tie hanging loosely around his neck and white button down shirt rumpled. He glanced up from digging through the refrigerator to glare at me. His eyes were ringed with tired circles and his hair was sticking up in the back. 

Taking my toothbrush out of my mouth, I stared back at him for a moment before he ducked back into the fridge.

"Have you not eaten?" I asked. I flinched when he suddenly slammed the door and straightened up.

"It's a bit difficult to find a chance to eat when I've got finals and my father on my ," he snapped, holding a bottle of soju. "I don't get the luxury of sitting around having brunches with my mother every day and then doing the rest of the time, do I, princess?"

I finally fixed him with my own glare. "You know, if you ever had anything to nice to say to me, I might actually care enough to have dinner fixed for you even at this late hour, but we can't all be nice people, can we, jackass?" Turning on my heel, I stalked back into the bathroom and rinsed my mouth before returning to the kitchen to retrieve my phone charger.

Sehun didn't glance up from his glass of alchohol when I passed him but I could see the muscle twitching in his jaw as he simmered. His eyes were trained hard on the opposite wall while he leaned over the island. 

I remembered my father coming home late from working at the bottling factory, back when my grandfather was still CEO and my father was still earning his privilege to take that position from him. Some nights I would still be awake finishing homework when he would come in and my mother would be waiting for him in the kitchen, a plate of leftover dinner ready to be heated up for him. The smiles that lit up his face may have been exhausted but were bright nonethless. He would tell me some days that coming home to a warm plate of food waiting for him was all he needed to make a bad day good.

Sehun and I would never be my parents. Most likely, we would never be his parents. I hadn't come here hating Sehun, despising him for everything he is, but a part of me had resented him for being the over-privileged jerk that he is and I hadn't entered this marriage under any illusion that we would get along and that he would make anything easy. None of his moods or attitu