c h a p t e r 6

"Mi-Miss Kwon..."

I got up at the sight of her. The pretty, young, rich heiress that my stupid boss is stupidly turning his stupid back on for the stupid me and the stupid mistake we made. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm taking back the last stupid. If there's anything I'm not regretting, it's my decision to keep my baby. Miss Kwon is everything you could ever want to have or be like. She’s the perfect daughter, perfect friend; and I bet your she could be the perfect wife too. Do you see what Kris is throwing away? He can be a at times.

Miss Kwon cleared before sitting down across me without looking at my face once. Oh crap. Not a good sign. Please, Lord, tell me she's not really thinking of sending her mafia minions to get me. I sat down too.

"Please have some warm coffee. It's low-fat, low-sugar with whipped cream and no extra foam, just the way you like it," I said. She gave a sideways glance to my drink. "What about you? Having an orange shake on a cold day like this..." she mumbled, taking a sip. I scratched my head. Before you judge me, it's the stupid cravings, okay? "Citrus is my best friend nowadays," I laughed nervously. She only nodded her head, stirring the coffee with the small spoon thingies they come with. I took a deep breath. Okay, here it goes.

"Miss Yuri, about this whole engagement thing-----"

"Congratulations!"

Wha...what?

"I'm sorry...?"

"Oh my God, I got you good didn't I? Hahahaha!" She...she's laughing. Someone pinch me. "I wanted to tease you a bit but...oh my freaking gosh, I couldn't take it anymore! I guess I'm just that y of an actress," she shrugged. "That jackass Kris...I was wondering how far he'd take this stupid marriage thing between us until he reaches detonation point and man up to fight for his own feelings." She shook her head and laughed quietly. What. The heck. "But, I gotta admit, he did look slightly cool on T.V last night when he publicly announced his affections for you. You should've seen your face!" Miss Yuri giggled. I don't know if she was already planning to explain it or if it was the demuntified expression on my face, but she was kind enough to dumb it down for me.

"Kris warned me already, that's why I wasn't there at the party last night. He told me his plan and-----well, part of it anywho. So, I asked him how he'd propose to you right? And you know what? He told me to watch the midnight news. That crazy bastard," she paused to take a sip and then looked at my dumbfounded expression."God, this is wrong in so many different levels," I shook my head continuously. "Miss Kwon, you're...you're not going ballistics?" "Nope," She grinned then waved a hand to shut me up but, you know, in a slightly polite manner. I looked at her helplessly. "I...I'm so, so sorry...!" Oh the tears. The freaking tears! They're gonna fall. They're gonna fall...!

"Oh God, Amber, what's wrong?" she reached for my hands across the tables and forced me to look her in the eyes. "It's fine, okay?" Looking her in the eyes like that, I could tell she means it with all her heart. "It's perfectly fine. I'm happy for you both," she smiled. "Even if we did go with the stupid plan to marry for buisness purposes, Kris and I wouldn't have lasted anyways. We've been friends all our lives. Why didn't we find even one second of that 25 years to fall in love with each other? It's 'cause our friendship isn't like that. Plain platonic." She said. "Afterall, there's no way a loveless relationship could work anyways."

That's what I told him.

"Go get married, live a happy life with your baby-----which by the way, I am expecting to be the godmother of-----" she pursued her lips towards my belly. My jaw dropped. How did she...? "So that I'll get jelly looking at you two all lovey-dovey and stuff and go find my own man who'll look at me the same way Kris looks at you, alright?" "The same way Kris looks at me...?" I echoed without thinking. "Uhm, yeah. You know, with warmth and tenderness and the 'How much more beautiful can you get?' look and...love," she shrugged, sipping her coffee.

Love...?

"So," she grinned. "Now that you're Wu Enterprises' soon-to-be first lady, you'll finally call me just Yuri now, right?"

Erm.

"Amber!"

"Ack...! Xing, let go!" I choked. I looked back at the screen. "Argh, you retard! I almost beat my high score!" I placed the mic down on the table and folded my arms, pouting. "Hey llama, what's up? Why are we here anywho? And what's up with the Chukha* Cake?" Krystal sat on the couch. She's already going through the song book. Brace yourselves, young ones. Once Krystal Jung holds the mic within her fingers, she will not let go of it until the last seconds of the noraebang* session was over. She will sing, and sing, and sing. She will sing until your ears voluntarily detaches themselves from the sides of your head. "Look! Krystal has the mic. Now we'll have to sit while she screeches for the next two freaking hours!" That's what happens when you get too dramatic OMG.

"Do you like, want me to go bald from pulling my hair out of frustration? Where the hell were you?" Okay, I don't think the fact that I payed 7,000KRW to listen to a noise that is a mix of a dying whale and a cat for the next two hours really registered in his peanut-sized brain. "You didn't crash at some hotel again, did you? The last time you did that you came back pregnant. And there's some stupid on the news that you're marrying your boss. Is that even legal? Did that jackass Kris Wu put that up to pressure you into marrying him? I can get you a lawyer for that, Yiyun." I glared at him. "Ew, God, no! No lawyers," I said. They're creepy, okay? "And it won't be necessary anywho because for your information, I didn't crash at just some hotel. There's nothing wrong with sleeping overnight my fiancée's place, okay?"

"Fiancée?!"

I grinned. "Did you guys like, practice that before coming here or something?" I laughed. So in-synch. "That's right; fiancée. That 'stupid ' on the news isn't actually . It's real and legit."

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"Dammit," I cursed under my breath, feeling the tears trickling down my face. This is so lame. I tightened my grip on Kris' black jacket that he made me wear because it was 'cold' and I might 'get sick' since I'm wearing a strapless dress, which he gave me to wear by the way, so technically it's his fault if ever I did get sick. Actually, I'm even more lame for actually feeling touched that he cared enough about me to worry if I got sick or not, even though I knew he was probably just thinking about the well-being of the baby.

Do you love me?

I was still mentally -slapping myself up for the stupidity of the question. Did I really need to ask or was I just really a masochistic little girl who wanted to get hurt?

"Amber," I turned when I felt a hand on my wrist. I looked back at the breathless Kris. I just stared at him. He followed me. "Are you crying?" he asked, his eyes clouded. "No," I replied defensively, wiping the tears away. "Something went in my eye, alright? If you were thinking that I was pathetically crying on the streets of Seoul at night because I'm heartbroken and feeling all that other hurtful stuff because you couldn't answer my simple yes-or-no question a few moments ago well, I'm not, so you can stop flattering yourself now."

Kris sighed before scratching the side of his head. I know it's not really an appropriate moment but God, he looked adorable. "When...when you asked if I...if I loved you or not... I shouldn’t have said nothing. You just got me by surprise, that's all. Actually, I-----" "It's okay. Don't push yourself, Kris," "No, you need to hear this," "Don't say it! I'll marry you, okay?"

Kris withdrew and blinked at me with his pretty, widened eyes. "Wh-what?" he said. "I said I'll marry you," I raised my voice so he has no excuse not to hear the second time around. "I mean, it's not like I have a choice now anyway. You already announced it to the whole world. It could ruin you and your family if I act up and I'm not strong enough to live with that kind of guilt for the rest of my petty life, alright?" I bit my bottom lip and looked up. "So, yeah, I'm thinking that maybe marrying you isn't such a bad thing afterall."

Kris bit his bottom lip and furrowed his eyebrows at me. I know that look. I knew him long enough to know what he wanted to say before he actually says it, so I'll divert it first. "Okay, I take it back. It's not like that," I took his big hands in mine and, of course they were warm because he's the leading man in my life. Typical. "I'm marrying you because I want to and because I believe you when you promised to be a good dad," I swallowed slowly. "When you promised me your protection and a happy family." I looked up at him and tried to give him a sharp look to show him who's boss. "I want you to know that I'm going to try too, so stop making that mucked-up face that doesn't suit you one bit already. I know what you meant in the car before. I went overboard. Sorry," I released his hands. Wow. I unconsciously made one heck of a speech. I feel so boss right now.

Kris put both his big hands around my waist and gave me the most heart-melting smile before pulling me in for a cuddle. All of a sudden, I felt warm in his arms. Not just the normal warm on the outside. It was like...it was like he was giving me warmth from inside.

It looks like I won’t be needing his jacket afterall.

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"O-M-to the freaking-G!" Krystal squealed. Ouch. She jumped over the hurdle that is the table and held my hands dearly. Hey look, I got her to stop singing. A miracle indeed. "You're getting married OMG OMG OMG this means cakes and wedding dresses and more cakes aargh I'm maid of honour right tell me I'm the maid of honour OTL so that's why we're celebrating today OMG so exciting KYAAAAAAAH!" "Erm, Krystal..." I couldn't help laughing at my overly excited friend.

I turned to look at my bestfriend. "Congratulations, Llama." That didn’t sound very sincere.

Something about the hint of desperation in Lay's voice made me worry and Krystal shut up. "So, how did he tell you he loved you?" Krystal mused, trying to change the topic. I said nothing. "He did tell you he loved you, right?" Krystal said slowly. "Erm, not exactly," I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and I wasn’t bothered. Yixing turned to me with creased eyebrows. "But I love him. I'm sure of that now and I've...kinda decided to be selfish. If he doesn't love me now, he'll love me soon enough. I'll do everything I can to make it work." I swallowed hard before looking up again. "It's not completely a loveless marriage if one person loves the other, right?" I smiled.

Krystal nodded with a small smile. Lay...collapsed on the seat, looking out of it. What I didn't but should've realised at that time was the incredible hurt that flashed across his face, like he was being suffocated from inside.