The men in the adjacent booth watch the pair leave. Baekhyun attempts to follow, but Chanyeol stops him.

"That's Jackson Wang, right?" Sehun asks, breaking the silence.

"They seem close."

"That's what you're worried about?" Baekhyun scoffs, glaring at Jongin, "What's she talking about?"

"During the reception, Dad saw me with someone and misunderstood us and I didn't explain myself properly." Jongin clarifies,

"Oh." Baekhyun pauses,

"Have you cleared things up with your father?" Yixing asks the CEO.

"Dad and I've talked, but I've been trying to talk to Jongdae and Heeyoung, but neither of them are willing to hear me out." Jongin complains, causing Chanyeol to scoff,

"How do you expect Heeyoung to hear you out, when you haven't even tried contacting her?" The taller scowls at the younger,

"I. I-"

"Why are you so upset though?" Yixing innocently asks Jongdae,

"Hyung knows why I'm upset." Jongdae says, their friends surprised because the younger rarely uses honorifics with his twin,

"I honestly don't, Jongdae. I've been running behind you like a fool trying to understand, but you keep shutting me down." Jongin argues,

"Then rather than clearing things up with me, you should focus on your wife, as*hole." Jongdae spits, storming out the booth,

"Dae." Minseok follows after him with Yixing.

"What's with him?" Kyungsoo muses, facing Jongin, but the CEO walks out before anyone can question him.

~

His feet stop in front of room 1105, Jongin rings the doorbell before he can question himself. He continues pressing the doorbell until an agitated Heeyoung yanks the door open, "What?" She whines, squinting her eyes due to the brightness.

"CEO Kim?" Heeyoung recognizes, a wave of irritation flashes through Jongin as he recalls her words from earlier.

"It's Jongin." He pushes her into the room, shutting the door behind him and shoving her against it

"Can I?" He asks, leaning close with his eyes on her lips.

His wife scowls, "Don't you have someone?"

Jongin chuckles, running the back of his finger against her cheek, "I don't."

"I don't tru-" She's cut off with Jongin crashing their lips together, Heeyoung fights against him briefly, giving in easily with the alcohol in their system clouding their minds.

Two people are currently seated on the couch with a beer bottle watching a soccer game.

"Thank you for taking care of Heeyoung." Baekhyun says, during an advertisement break,

"What are you talking about?" Chanyeol asks, looking over at his oldest friend,

"I know you're taking care of her."

"I have to take care of your little sister." Chanyeol has a small smile, with his eyes on the TV.

"You know I envy the closeness between the two of you." Baekhyun tells him,

Chanyeol gives him a sad smile,

"I know, give her some time, but I just." Baekhyun sighs,

"You siblings are more similar than you know." Chanyeol notes, causing Baekhyun to give him a weird look,

"I know you wouldn't ever betray our friendship, but honestly, is something going on between Heeyoung and you?" Chanyeol spurts his beer out, giving Baekhyun an incredulous look,

"The fu*k Baek, she's my little sister, too." Chanyeol coughs, patting his chest,

"Thank god. I didn't want to be stuck between Jongin and you." Baekhyun jokes,

Heeyoung wakes up with her face pressed into a warm body, she assumes it's Jackson before remembering the latter left after dropping her off. She carefully pulls away from the person, making sure to not wake him up and silently rolling away.

Getting off the bed, she's shocked to see her husband. The male stirs, scaring Heeyoung as she's adamant on avoiding him, the CEO taps around the bed and she's quickly hands him a pillow.

Not wanting to take her chances, she hurries into the bathroom, thankful for Jackson preparing for the morning after. She shoves her pajamas into a shopping bag, and silently searches for the dress she wore last night, shoving that into the bag as well, making sure she has all her belongings, she quickly exits the room, leaving behind her sleeping husband.

~

Walking through the lobby, with her attention on her phone she walks into a hard chest. Hurrying to apologize, she looks up to see Oh Sehun, innocently looking down at her.

"Heeyoung." The taller exclaims,

"Lawyer Oh."  Heeyoung nods, attempting to side-step away, but the taller grabs her wrist,

"Since we're both here, let's have breakfast." Sehun pulls her to the elevator, uncaring of the eyes watching them.

"I have somewhere to be." She rejects, uselessly as the elevator doors shut close.

Heeyoung grips the railings, but the lawyer doesn't notice as he's answering texts.

~

"How are you?" Sehun starts, once they've been seated and ordered.

"Let's skip the unnecessary talks and get to the point, Lawyer Oh." Heeyoung bluntly says, hurting Sehun a little because he thought the two could be considered friends, at least. 

"You've been avoiding us." Sehun stutters,

"Us? Lawyer Oh, I have been avoiding no one."

"Heeyoung, I'm not the one you need to hear this from, but Jong...IN didn't tell you the entire truth. Please talk it out-"

"Lawyer Oh, how many divorce cases have you seen in your career?" Heeyoung suddenly asks,

The male frowns, answering, "Many."

"How many of those resulted from infidelity?"

"Several." Sehun sighs,

"In those cases, isn't the person who broke the marriage blamed the most. Even if it was the married person who cheated, the fault falls on the third party. I'm unwilling to be that third party. I've seen the damage it does and I refuse to put myself in that position."

"But Jong-"

"I can try to understand CEO Kim pushing through with the wedding as our society doesn't see emotions, rather benefits. However, for him to blatantly lie to me, pisses me off more." She states,

"It's seriously a misunderstanding." Sehun says,

"Lawyer Oh, try to see things from my situation. I married a stranger, who confessed to being with someone else on the wedding day. As a person, regardless of personal feelings, won't you be upset. Especially when your spouse makes no attempt to explain themselves." She says, stunning him silent.

The door opening gets their attention and Jongin walks in, "Maybe if you gave me a chance to explain."

"You have my number and you know where I work." Heeyoung states,

"You're never available when I drop by at work." Jongin scoffs,

"I'm surprised you have free time to visit me, it must be nice being a CEO." Heeyoung remarks,

Jongin's jaw clenches, taking a deep breath to calm himself down,

"I need to get going. I owe you a meal, Sehun." Heeyoung nods at the lawyer, walking out of the room.

Jongin stares behind her, wincing in pain due to the smack on his head courtesy of his best friend.

"What are you staring after? Go after her." Sehun shakes his head at his beanpole of a best friend,

Heeyoung is about to get into her car, when she's pushed against it and finds herself caged between her husband and her car.

"What are you doing?" Heeyoung grits, glaring up at the taller,

"This seems to be the only way to get you to listen." He tells her,

"Name a time & place, and I'll be there." She states, trying to push against him, but the male doesn't budge,

"Home, tonight." Jongin demands, watching her glare intensify,

"Fine.." She squirms against him, but the male stays still,

"CEO Kim, get the fu*k of me." Heeyoung grits, but the male smiles at her pulling her phone out of her hands.

"CEO Kim," Heeyoung yells,

"Insurance." He snatches her car keys, "Just to be safe." Jongin winks, handing her his car key and phone. "It's my father's car, so don't take your anger out on it."

"CEO Kim." Heeyoung fumes,

"It's Jongin!" He yells, stepping into the elevator.

"What's got you in a good mood?" Sehun asks, afraid at the huge smile on his best friend's face.

"Wifey issues, you wouldn't understand." Jongin jokes, Sehun grimaces at the odd behavior,

"Anyways," Sehun shakes the weirdness off, "I thought you two would have talked it out last night?"

The smile is erased off Jongin's face as he recalls the events of last night, Sehun obviously notices.

"Did something happen?" He asks, Jongin scoffs, shaking his head and digging into his breakfast.

"Hurry and clear things with Heeyoung. You'll regret it if she goes through with the annulment." Sehun warns,

Jongin clenches his jaw as his mind wanders off to last night,

~

Jongin carries Heeyoung up and she wraps her legs around his hips with their lips still attached. He walks them to the bed, laying her down first and climbing on top of her. They continue making out as Jongin's hands make their way under her shirt, when she suddenly pulls away, with a glazed look in her eyes. She flips Jongin on his back and climbs on top of him, staring down at him with a pout.

"Though I miss you, I still hate you, Ja-" She falls asleep on his chest,

"Heeyoung." He calls her, but she tightens her arms around him.

~

"Jong. Jongin." Sehun snaps him out of his thoughts,

"What?" The CEO snaps, his friend gives him a weird look as the phone beside Jongin rings with an incoming call from Sera.

"What a sister!" Sehun scoffs, answering the phone, "Oh Sera-"

"Oh Sehun?" Sera cuts him off,

"I'm your older brother."

"Why do you have Hope's phone? Oh Sehun, keep your loser friend away from my Hope or I'll hurt you both. Don't even think about showing your ugly faces to her either." Sera hangs up.

"Get a new phone?" The familiar face on the laptop screen suggests, resulting in whines from the person on the other end,

"The as*hole took Jackson's car!" Heeyoung whines, angrily packing her bags.

"Buy him a new car." The male states,

"You're not helping, Taehyung Kim." She huffs, throwing her things into the suitcase.

"I'm providing solutions." Taehyung states,

"Unhelpful ones, Tae. I need to finish packing, Peace." She hangs up, opening the messaging app on her laptop. She texts Chanyeol to let him know she's leaving, since he was gracious enough to let her stay for so long.

Her laptop dings with a message,

If you don't want to return, don't. But I've heard from Jackson and agree that you should hear the husband out. ~ T. Kim.

I'll hear him out, but if I don't like what I hear, I'll ruin Kim Jongmin. ~ H.Park

Kim Jongin*^ ~ H. Park

I thought it was Jongin?  ~ T. Kim

Her laptop rings with an incoming video call from Chanyeol, the male's hair sticking out as he's squinting at the screen.

"You're leaving?" He asks, his voice hoarse and rough indicating he's just woken up,

"Finally, right." She jokes,

"I'm heading over, don't leave." He hangs up.

She sets her packed suitcase close to the door and heads to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Chanyeol walks in, as the rice cooker beeps and the stew is just about done, filling the place with a delicious aroma.

"Why?" Chanyeol asks, as she carries the stew over,

"I ran into CEO Kim at the hotel, and he asked me for a chance to clarify the matter."  Heeyoung answers,

"About that..." Chanyeol tells her what they heard last night during her conversation with Jackson. Though she's upset at them for eavesdropping, Jackson and her should have been more wary of their surroundings. But that does explain how the CEO ended up in her hotel room. She doesn't reveal that fact to her friend, since she doesn't remember what happened after Jackson left.

"Why didn't you tell me? Baekhyun and I would have beaten him up for you." Chanyeol growls, tightly clasping his spoon,

"Would it help you feel better, if I say I kind of expected something like this to happen?" She surprises the taller,

"CEO Kim is notorious for sleeping around and for him to suddenly stop, makes no sense. He might have great self-control, but I'm sure he has needs and no way in hell, am I sleeping with him. So, sooner or later, he was bound to snap." She rationalizes, shocking Chanyeol as he never thought of it like that,

"He's not allowed to cheat on you." Chanyeol voices,

"Apparently, I misunderstood his words or something. I'll hear him out and let you know after." She tells him, focusing on her food.

"Park." Chanyeol calls, as she's headed out of the kitchen after cleaning up

"Don't suppress your feelings with logic." He starts, watching her pause at his words.

"It's okay to admit, you had expectations from this marriage. You hold marriage high and for something like this to happen, it hurts." He adds, hearing her shakily exhale, turning to him with red eyes, though there's no sign of tears.

"I just. I assumed because CEO Kim is good friends with my brother, he would have enough respect for their friendship and think twice before making mistakes. He also assured me, he would respect our marriage. If I suffered over a misunderstanding. I'm not sure how to react." She tells him,

Chanyeol hugs her, patting her back, "And that's okay. You don't have to be strong all the times."

"I need to, at least until I reach my goal." She mumbles,

"You always have a home here." He assures her, causing her to lightly chuckle,

"I'll keep that in mind."

Heeyoung frowns looking over the building as she leans against Jongin's car.

"What are you doing?" A voice says, close to her ear. She jumps into a defensive position, only to see Minhyuk laughing at her,

"You scared me." She smacks his arm. The male laughs, helping her carry her suitcase up the stairs.

"Gym?" She asks, looking over his outfit,

"Yeah and you're back for good?" He asks,

"Who knows?" She huffs, as they climb up,

"Do you want to come over for drinks later?" She asks, but the male shakes his head,

"Rain check. I need to prepare lunch for the family." He smiles, leaving her staring at her apartment.

Unlocking the door, she rolls her suitcase inside, changing into house slippers at the entrance. She keeps her footsteps light to not alert the CEO, but unfortunately, he's waiting for her at the dining table.

"Welcome home!" Jongin greets,

His wife hands his phone to him, "Your secretary has been calling."

She heads to her room, while Jongin makes a quick call to his office.

She doesn't bother unpacking, wanting to hear the CEO out first. When she walks back to the living room, the CEO is frowning, looking inside the fridge.

Noticing her, he straightens up, "We need to go grocery shopping."

"I can see that." Heeyoung says, disbelief clear across her face, as she comes to stand beside him to take inventory of the fridge. The shock on her face spreads at the sight of the take-out boxes.

"You stocked up the drinks, but didn't think about getting food?" Heeyoung grits, looking over the empty pantry and drinks fridge.

"Sorry." He clears his throat, but she only gives him an exasperated look.

After looking around the pantry, she silently walks out of the kitchen and back to her room, returning with her coat and wallet before grabbing Jackson's car keys. She looks around for her husband, but the male is no longer in sight.

To her surprise, her husband is leaning against his car and seeing her walk down the stairs, he opens the passenger door for her.

"Where to?" He asks,

Heeyoung makes a disbelieving noise before turning on GPS on her phone.

At the store Jongin diligently follows after his wife with a cart, watching her carefully choose and set things in their cart.

"Can we get this?" Jongin asks, holding a bag of snacks, Heeyoung is surprised for a moment before schooling her expression,

"If you want it, just get it." She tells him.

"We forgot meat." Jongin gasps as they're paying for the food,

"I don't eat meat. Get it, if you want."

"Vegetarian or vegan?" He asks, pulling away,

"Vegetarian." She simply answers, not wanting to explain her allergy to him.

"Oh, any specific reason?"

"We're not close enough to discuss it." She bluntly states, leaving Jongin gaping after her.

"Isn't marriage close enough?" Jongin asks, setting the bags in the trunk,

"We're not in a conventional marriage." She answers, once again silencing Jongin.

~

"CEO Kim, if you're not going to say anything, am I free to go? I need to start on dinner." She asks, seated across her husband at the dining table.

After their grocery trip, Jongin helped organize everything after which he asked for a chance to explain himself, but the male has yet to speak.

"I was playing around with a friend and my father saw us in a compromising position. I meant it when I said I will respect our marriage and you." Jongin clarifies,

"If you explained the matter to your father, why did you think you might have caused his ?"

"I. I might have spilled more information than I needed to, in a hurry to clear the matter up." Jongin sighs, warily glancing at her, as he doesn't want to ruin the temporary truce.

"Be mindful of your words." She says, moving to stand but the male makes a loud voice, stopping her.

"Can we put our past issues behind us and start over?" Jongin asks,

At her confused look, he explains, "We've been constantly butting heads over nothing and it's somewhat tiring. Now that we're married, isn't it better if we're at least friends?"

Heeyoung muses over his words, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Let's do that."

"Great. Well, It's nice to meet you, I'm Kim Jong..IN, CEO of KJC. We might be married, but I would love to get to know you as a friend first." He internally chuckles, seeing her redden when he stretches his name.

"Heeyoung Park, I hope we can get along." She keeps it short, before heading into the kitchen.

"What can I help with?" Jongin follows her in,

"What do you feel about-" The doorbell interrupts them. The couple share a look as they're not expecting anyone, they turn to the monitor to see a familiar face waving at the camera.

"What's he doing here?" Heeyoung mumbles to herself as Jongin clicks the button, unlocking the door.

"Hope Park." The male greets, walking in with a backpack and a wine basket along with a square box.

"Jackson Wang." She watches him hand the heavy basket to Jongin. He sets the cake on the counter and runs to hug her.

"I missed you." He squeezes her tightly, not caring about Jongin watching them.

"We saw each other yesterday." Jackson pouts at her blunt response and turns to Jongin.

"CEO Kim, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm one of Heeyoung's close friends, Jackson Wang." The male introduces,

"Nice meeting you, too." The two males shake hands, before Jackson turns to Heeyoung.

"I need a place to stay."

"I don't live alone."

Jackson gives her wounded puppy eyes, causing her to click her tongue at him.

"This might be shameless, but can you let me stay at your house for a while?" Jackson asks Jongin, who looks at his wife, but she's looking at him for the final decision.

"We only have two bedrooms and they're both occupied." Jongin scratches his head,

"That's not a problem, I can bunk with Hope." Jackson suggests, throwing an arm around his friend's neck, the lady simply rolling her eyes at him.

"Um." Jongin weirdly stares between the friends,

"It won't be for too long. I've already bought an apartment and it just needs to be renovated. I won't be here for more than a month, promise." Jackson pleads,

"Mr. Wang, Can you excuse us for a second?" Jongin pulls Heeyoung inside the pantry,

"Are you okay sharing a room with another man?" Jongin asks, his wife giving him a weird look,

"Jackson and I have shared a bed many times, in fact his partner is aware of it."

"Partner?"

"Girlfriend, lover, whatever you prefer."

"Oh." Jongin sighs, "But I feel uncomfortable with my wife sharing a bed with another man."

"Are you suggesting?" She asks,

"You move to my room? Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." He says,

"CEO Kim, we just agreed-"

"My bed is huge and I don't move much in my sleep." He says,

"Let's do that." She sighs, walking out of the pantry.

"So?" Jackson looks hopeful,

"You can move in tomorrow, I have to move my things into the master room." She tells him, her friend squeals before rushing over to hug her tight.

"You're okay moving to his bedroom?" Jackson asks,

"Do you think I'll be forced into such decisions?" Jackson gives her a long look, glancing between Jongin and her as an answer to her question,

"Whatever. I'm fine with it. It also saves us trouble if anyone was to find out." She reasons, Jackson nods understandingly.

The couple is laying on the bed, unable to fall asleep.

"Can't sleep?" Jongin starts a conversation.

"You can't either." Heeyoung answers, pulling her headphones off,

"Does that help you sleep?" Jongin asks, seeing her scrolling through her phone,

"Yeah."

"Why Hope Park?" Jongin asks, surprising her with the sudden inquiry.

"My mother's maiden name is Park and I'm not sure how I started going by Hope, but it stuck with me." She calmly explains,

"Do you dislike the Byun name,-"

"It's not the Byun name I dislike, it's Byun Namjin. If there was a way to remove his existence, I would have done it already." She heatedly states,

"It's understandable. You've never introduced yourself as Hope Park, though?"

"Only people close to me are allowed to call me that. It's Heeyoung for everyone else."

"I guess I have a long way to go."

"You do. It's quite late. Good night, CEO Kim." She mumbles, plugging in her headphones.

"It's Jongin."