Jaejoong finally turned his phone on to receive normal calls. It didn’t take five minutes for it to go off like there was an Amber alert. He reluctantly took the call.

 

 

 

       “Jaejoong! What the ? Been calling you all morning!”

 

 

 

       He grunted. “Sup, Junsu?”

 

 

 

       “Sup? The ?! Have you checked your messages?”

 

 

 

       “No. Why?”

 

 

 

       “You and Dara are all over the place, man! Wooohooo! That little speech at the GDAs was pure genius. Got everyone talking. We need a follow-up right away!”

 

 

 

       “Follow-up?”

 

 

 

       “Yeah, we need to set up a date between you and Dara. A proper date. Like dinner or like that.”

 

 

 

       Dinner date? I already balled her, man, and possibly got her pregnant, too.

 

 

 

 

       , why couldn’t he stop thinking about babies with Dara? The more he thought about it, the less it made him feel freaked out now. “I don’t know. Have you talked to Bom?”

 

 

 

       “Sure. I just got off the phone with her. Our teams are meeting up this afternoon to put things in motion. Everything must fit within your respective work schedules.”

 

 

 

       “Wait, does Dara know about this?”

 

 

 

       “Of course, man. Why’d you ask?”

 

 

 

       “Nothing…”

 

 

 

       “By the way, how’d you find her? Did you get to talk last night? Sorry, Bom and I kind of forgot about you guys, but I wasn’t too worried.”

 

 

 

       “Yeah, no problem, man. We were fine.”

 

 

 

       “Well…?”

 

 

 

       “Well, what?”

 

 

 

       “How’d you find the Empress? Is she sweet, charming, feisty, y?”

 

 

 

       All of the above. And some. No. So much more.

 

 

 

       “She’s fine, man. A real pro.”

 

 

 

       “Great! So, you take a rest for the day, do your , sleep, hit the gym or whatever. I’ll call you later to talk more about this.”

 

 

 

       “Okay.”

 

 

 

       “And Jaejoong…”

 

 

 

       “Yeah?”

 

 

 

       “You’re officially Dara’s boyfriend today. Absoinglutely no banging other chicks on the side, publicly or privately. Like nada, zero, zilch model or starlet in the next two months, got that?”

 

 

 

       “Are you ing serious? I can’t last that long! I can’t even last a week!”

 

 

 

       “What, you lost your hands?”

 

 

 

       “ you, .”

 

 

 

       “I’ll order a hot blow-up doll for you. Well, unless you’re bangin’ Dara Park, then you got my big, fat ing meat screaming yes, yes! And Jaejoong, I’m ing serious as 15-mil a pic. Don’t. . My. Game. Ciao, motherer.”

 

 

 

       The line went dead before he could utter, “ me.”

 

 

 

       Or he could be ing Dara Park in the next two months.

 

 

 

       His junior twitched in a resounding ‘yes!’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Her phone went off.

 

 

 

       Dara checked the screen and nearly dropped it.

 

 

 

       Think of the devil and devil calls.

 

 

 

       Jaejoong’ name was flashing on the screen.

 

 

 

       What the hell? She didn’t have his number. Bom must have encoded his digits in her phonebook. But the thought that Jaejoong had her number sent a traitorous thrill running down her spine.

 

 

 

       She ignored the call but her heart was already beating double-time and she hated it. Hated that she was palpitating like a giddy teenager.

 

 

 

       The phone stopped ringing.

 

 

 

       It pealed again after a few seconds.

 

 

 

       She bit her lower lip, resisting the urge to hear his voice. It had been three days since she last saw him.

 

 

 

       No. Don’t pick up. No, no, no.

 

 

 

       She sighed when it stopped ringing. She left the bed and entered the en suite of her bedroom when it rang again. She ran back to the bed and picked it up.

 

 

 

       She swallowed twice before saying, “Hello,” trying to sound casual when she was anything but. God, this is pathetic.

 

 

 

       “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me,” he drawled on the other line, his voice, lazy and amused.

 

 

 

       She could almost picture him grinning smugly. He was both infuriating and…adora— shut up! “I presume Bom gave you my super-secret number.”

 

 

 

       “Super-secret. I like that.” His voice turned an octave lower.

 

 

 

       She rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Jaejoong?”

 

 

 

       “You sitting on my face.”