Vernon promptly stood up and grabbed Lynden's wrist, pulling her up with him. "Excuse me," he smiled sweetly at the four parents. He walked out of the kitchen and to his room, all the while dragging Lynden along behind him. At some point of the walk there, Vernon's hand slipped down to hold Lynden's hand. She blushed and suppressed a smile.

The parents, Seungkwan, and Sofia were left in the kitchen. Mrs. Chwe and Mrs. Jwa looked at each other and squealed. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought they were going to refuse marrying each other," Mrs. Chwe breathed out.

Seungkwan, upon seeing Lynden get yanked out of the kitchen, excused himself and ran after them. "Vernon! What are you doing?" he hissed. Sure, Vernon was his best friend, but he couldn't stand seeing his little sister get treated this way. After all, he knew that Lynden liked Vernon, and Seungkwan wanted nothing more than for the two to end up together -- as long as Vernon grew out of his playboy* tendencies, anyways.

Vernon looked back at Seungkwan before whispering, "It'll be fine. Don't worry." This only made Seungkwan worry more and he continued to follow the newly-engaged couple to Vernon's room. As soon as the couple got the the room, Vernon abruptly pulled Lynden inside and locked the door on Seungkwan. From outside the door, Seungkwan rolled his eyes and groaned. Despite his frustration with not being able to make it into the room in time, Seungkwan sat on the ground and placed his ear against the door. He could hear faint mumbling from his best friend and his little sister.

"Alright, look. We've known each other for years, and this may be a little awkward. I'm your brother's best friend, for goodness sake," Vernon spoke, after some silence. "What the hell were they thinking setting us up together? We're close enough to be siblings!" Vernon muttered under his breath. Lynden heard it, unfortunately, and she let out a quiet sigh. So he only thinks of me as a little sister, Lynden thought bitterly.

"Anyways, it'll be fine. We can get married for the sake of our parents, and only act like a married couple around family. When they're not around, we can just see other people and hang out with our friends. No strings attached. What do you say?" Vernon inquired.

"Sure. I mean, we can always divorce later, right?" Lynden replied with a slightly pained smile.

Vernon chuckled and said, "Great! Glad we're at a consensus. Hey, we should probably get back downstairs before our parents' minds start to wander."

Seungkwan managed to hear the entire conversation, somehow. For a while, he sat and tried to decipher what each mumble heard through the thick door meant. When he finally realized, with help from prior knowledge of Lynden's crush and Vernon's indifference to her feelings, he grew upset and a little bit sorry for his sister. He had to conceal his emotions, however, to keep Vernon from becoming suspicious. All of a sudden, Vernon opened the door and stepped out of his room. Not knowing that Seungkwan was sitting there, Vernon stumbled over Seungkwan's body and fell flat on the ground.

Seungkwan cackled and exclaimed, "Ha! That's what you get for locking me out here." When he saw Vernon's glare, Seungkwan stuck out his tongue to tease Vernon even more and quickly got up to run away.

Vernon and Lynden walked back into the kitchen, only to find Seungkwan hiding behind his mother. Lynden giggled and sat back down. The two families continued to talk to each other for another hour until Mr. Boo decided it was time to head home. The Boo family thanked the Chwes for the dinner and left.

When Lynden got home, she threw herself onto her bed, face-first. She screamed into her pillow and kicked her legs around in annoyance. Why was Vernon so set on us just being friends? Why doesn't he realize that I'm crushing on him? Lynden wondered. After releasing all her anger with her quick "kicking therapy," she decided to take a nice bubble bath and then head to sleep.

The next day at school, Lynden and Seungkwan walked to school together in silence. Lynden was quiet because she was overwhelmed, but Seungkwan was quiet because he pitied his sister for her unrequited love. Once at school, the two parted ways and made their way to their respective classes. The day progressed as usual until lunchtime came.

In general, Seungkwan and Vernon sat with their group of eleven other friends, but today, they decided to sit with Lynden and her friends. Right when Vernon sat down next to Lynden, her friends gasped and whispered to themselves. Lynden frowned. She didn't want anything to change her relationship with her friends. Vernon, who was talking to Seungkwan at the time, turned to his right and looked at Lynden. Seeing her frown bothered him, so he took his index fingers and pushed her cheeks up so it would look like she was smiling. 

Lynden's face suddenly turned beet red and she shook his hands off her face. "You guys look so cute together!" Hani, one of Lynden's friends, shrieked. Her scream garnered attention from the majority of the students in the cafeteria. Lynden grumbled and hid her face in her hands. This could not be any more embarrassing, she complained. She could clearly hear the other students gossiping about why Vernon was sitting with her. Despite being nothing but friendly to anybody and everybody in school, Lynden was still seen as a wallflower.

"What's up with those two? They've never been close enough to sit together."

"What the hell?! That is stealing my man."

"Who does she think she is sitting with oppa like that?"

Lynden couldn't help but scoff at the last comment. The girl who said it was older than Vernon. Who was she to call him "oppa"?

Vernon noticed her discomfort and decided to save her from further mortification. After excusing himself from the table, he helped Lynden up and led her to the rooftop. On their way out of the cafeteria, students stared and pointed at them wondering what their relationship with each other was.

*Playboy is meant in the way that Vernon is a player, not an adult magazine worshipper.

What's a fanfic without a rooftop scene, am I right? LMAO just kidding. Aight, so far, nobody at school knows about the marriage. Next chap will be the announcement. :-)

Hope you guys enjoy the story thus far. If you don't, pls unsubscribe. Don't feel obliged to continue reading this lmao i'm a newbie.