“So… Minyoung, what do you like do when you’re not busy working?” Joonmyun asked me as he carefully sliced a piece of his steak. I kept my eyes on my own food as I answered. I didn’t touch my food. I couldn’t eat it. I didn’t want a salad but Joonmyun thought he’d be the gentleman and order my meal for me.

“I’m always working.”I said, dryly. Joonmyun let out a nervous chuckle.

“Me too. I guess we have that in common.” My eyes flicked up to his face. Joonmyun would try to start a conversation but due my lack of response, he would just pause and continue to eat his own food. It went on like this till Joonmyun finished his food and my salad was still sitting in its bowl, untouched. Joonmyun finally noticed.

“You don’t like the food?” He asked carefully.

“I’m not hungry.”

“If you want something else-” I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. If I didn’t say anything now, we’d be stuck in this room for the next two hours, staring at the wall.

“Look Joonmyun, I’m not interested and I know you aren’t either.” I spoke up. Joonmyun’s eyes widened in surprise as his mouth dropped slightly. Moments later, his eyebrows rose in surprise and his mouth shut close.

“How’d you know?” He asked, amused.

“Because ninety-nine percent of the time, the guys I meet are forced by their parents to come and you happen to look like the type who does anything mummy and daddy tell you to do.”I said, almost mocking him yet he didn’t seem to be offended. Instead, he had a smug smile across his face as he looked at me.

“Well, you do too.” He teased.

“I have no intention of getting married.” I said, ignoring his previous comment. Joonmyun suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

“Neither do I,” He replied with small smile. “I only came here because, just as you said, my parents forced me to. I’m sure you’re a great girl but I really don’t have time for any kind of relationship.” He started to ramble on trying to explain himself.

“I get it. We’re in the same boat. We’re just following orders.” Joonmyun gave me a sympathetic glance when it hit me. The only way that we both could get out of this situation – he just had to reject me. That way I don’t have to worry about my father nagging on how I keep walking out on these arranged meetings.

“I know how we can get out of this.”

“How?” Joonmyun quizzed.

 “Reject me.” I told him. It was plain and simple. His eyes widened in surprise once again. He attempted to hold back a laugh but failed.

“Shouldn’t it be the woman the one to reject the man in our situation?” He questioned; I could sense the slight teasing in his voice.

“If I walk out on you, my father won’t be too happy. I’ve walked out on the past twenty or so previous guys.” I replied. Joonmyun raised his eyebrows in surprise before letting out loud laugh

“That’s a lot of broken hearts,” He joked. I didn’t find it funny. “But, I don’t think my parents wouldn’t be too happy with me rejecting you.” He went on.

“Tell them I can’t bear children.” I replied. “I’m pretty sure if that went around, all the mothers they’d stop arranging dates with my father for their sons to meet with me.”

“Are you sure?” Joonmyun replied hesitantly.

“Yes, so please get this rejection over and done with to save me from the humiliation.” I said sarcastically.  Joonmyun laughed as he stood up from his seat.  

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Minyoung.” Joonmyun stood up from his seat and held out his hand. I got up from my seat to shake his hand.

“Same to you too, Joonmyun.”

I watched as Joonmyun opened the door to exit the private room and walk away. I fell back into my seat as I waited for my father to confront me. I’d give him about thirty seconds before he start storming in to give me one of his infamous lectures. I really thought that he’d given up on the marriage proposal idea by now considering the amount of men I’ve already rejected in the past six months.

Minutes later, I heard Mrs. Kim’s voice through the thin walls. She was asking why Joonmyun left and to get back inside. From what I could hear, it sounded like Joonmyun told his mother that I wasn’t his type. The door slammed wide open and in the doorway stood my father with an unreadable expression but I was so sure that he was beyond the stage of being angry with me. He was beyond pissed and I happened to feel the same way. I got up from my seat the moment he entered the room.

“What the heck was that?!” He yelled at me, walking closer to me. He didn’t bother to keep his voice down. Everyone outside the room could hear us including Joonmyun and his parents.

“I can’t help it if Joonmyun doesn’t like me.” I said, avoiding his gaze as I glanced down.  

“Joonmyun was our last chance since Kyungsoo backed out!” My father roared.

“You know that I don’t want to get married in the first place so why exactly are you forcing me to go to these meetings? Oh wait, I know. You’re just trying to get rid of me, just like the way you got rid of my mother!” I seethed, looking him straight in the eyes. I knew bringing up the topic of my mother would only fuel his anger but he’s not the only one who’s angry.

“Kwon Minyoung! How dare you speak me to like that?!” He yelled with a raised hand. I looked at his raised fist and rolled my eyes.

“Go on, hit me!” I retorted as I stepped closer. Moments later, he cleared his throat before slowly bringing his hand back down to his side. I let out a sarcastic laugh before scoffing. My father glared at me with harsh eyes.

“You think I’m doing this for me?” He asked me.

“So, you’re doing this for me?” I scoffed in disbelief.

“I’m expanding the company so you’ll be able to–” I had enough of him.

“Don’t tell me you still think that I don’t know that you changed the heir rights?” I asked him in all seriousness. He may have done everything behind my back but I still know everything that he’s doing. “Father, I’m not stupid.”

At this point, my father was speechless. He really thought that he could fool me like that and keep everything a secret from me.

“How’d you find out?” He asked with wide eyes.

“It doesn’t matter how I found out.” I replied.

“Minyoung,”

“Save it, dad. I’ve had enough.” I mumbled, grabbing my bag from the chair. I stormed past him and slammed the door behind me.

I entered the lift and made my way down to the lobby. As I entered the lobby of the restaurant, I spotted Joonmyun talking (more like arguing) with his parents. His mother didn’t look too happy to see me when she saw me from across the lobby. I bowed my head in her direction out of politeness and she just turned her head in the opposite direction, refusing to acknowledge me. On the other hand, Joonmyun’s father smiled at me before turning his attention to his stressed wife. When I walked past them, Joonmyun ran up to me leaving his parents in the lounge area.

“Did it work?” I asked him. He nodded his head with smile. I could hear his mother spluttering jumbled sentences in the distance.  

‘What are.. we.. going.. to do?’

“What did you tell them?” I inquired, curiously.

“That you’re infertile.”

‘S-she can’t have... children!’

 We could hear Mrs. Kim wailing in the background and her husband attempting to calm her down; other people were beginning to stare and give her weird looks. It seemed like she was having a hard time try to comprehend the situation.

Joonmyun and I shook hands before parting ways. Joonmyun ran back to his mother, attempting to comfort her but only to be shooed away.

When I made my way back to my apartment, my phone was going off like crazy. My father didn’t try to call me instead he got his secretary to check up on me. She left me ten missed calls, three voicemail messages telling me to call my father back because he was tearing up his office.

I noticed a tall, hooded figure standing in front of my door. When he turned around, I soon recognised him as Mrs. Zhang’s grandson. He had his ear up against my door. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He jumped back in surprise, stepping on my foot in the process. He looked genuinely taken back and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. I held back a groan as I stepped away from him.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” He spluttered.

“What do you want?” I snapped. I didn’t realise that I sounded so rude until I saw the expression on his face. His eyes widened as he scratched his neck.

 “Uhh, I heard… clashing noises when I walked past your apartment.” He stuttered in reply. It only occurred to me that I had left Luhan by himself again.

“Oh fuc-” I began to curse under my breath, only to be stopped when we heard another clashing sound from the other side of my apartment door.

“I think there’s someone inside your apartment.” Mrs. Zhang’s grandson said, sounding concerned.

“That must be my d-dog! He’s probably scared since there’s a storm coming.” I chuckled nervously, hoping he’d buy it because a dog couldn’t possibly make that much of a racket unless it was some sort of giant dog.

“Oh, I see.” He pursed his lips together. “I’m Zhang Yixing, by the way. I just moved in 42C.”

Yixing held out his hand as I stared at for a few seconds before returning the handshake.

“Kwon Minyoung.” I replied. His hand was really warm and soft. I didn’t realise that I was holding onto his hand until the friendly, neighbourly atmosphere completely changed into an awkward one. I dropped his hand a little too roughly but Yixing didn’t seem to notice.

There was another loud bang from my apartment. I internally groaned as the thought of how messy my apartment was now thanks to Luhan.

“I think you better calm your dog down before he gets a bit too crazy.” Yixing chuckled. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

 “Yeah, you too.” I watched Yixing enter his apartment and close the door behind him before I turned around to punch in the lock code to my apartment.

Luhan, you are so dead…

Pulling my boots off to the side and dropping my bag onto the kitchen counter, I saw the mess in the kitchen. Most of the food from the pantry was now on the floor, there were dirty dishes in the sink and fridge was wide open.

“Luhan!” I yelled out but no reply. I closed all the cupboards and returned everything back into its place. I tried calling Luhan again but he didn’t answer. As I made my way over to the living room, the pillows were on the floor and the television was on but the volume was muted – he was watching the Lion King. As soon I walked into the hallway and saw one of Luhan’s boxers lying on the floor. I sighed as I picked up and dropped it into the laundry basket when I passed the bathroom. The door to Luhan’s room was shut but the lights went on.

What on earth is he doing?

I knocked on the door before opening so that I didn’t accidentally walk on him changing clothes or anything. When I swung the door open, I was Luhan wrapped up in the blankets as he rocked back and forth on the bed like a madman.

“Luhan.” I called out again, trying to get his attention. When his eyes locked on me, he jumped from the bed, dramatically throwing the blanket away and wrapped his arms around my neck.

“Minyoung! You’re back!” He cried. Luhan looked like he was on the verge of tears?

 “Uhh… There, there?” I said, as I patted his back awkwardly with a series of loud thuds against his back. He was bending on his knees so his head could rest on my left shoulder.

“I was so scared.” He mumbled in my ear. His tears were pooling on my shoulder, seeping into my shirt.  When I attempted to pull out of his hug, he only clung on tighter.

“I told you if something was wrong, you could call me.” I rolled my eyes as I continued to try and wiggle out of his grip.

“The phone wasn’t working.” He said, clutching onto me tighter.

“What happened?” I questioned him. As I looked out the window, the clouds were suddenly darker and the sky had turned grey. I heard distant rumble of thunder and then, it hit me. The phone lines must have gone down from the storm last night.

“Luhan, you’re squeezing me. Ow, too tight.” I said, whacking him on the arm. He didn’t flinch but just kept on repeating the same phrase over and over again.

“I’m scared.” He mumbled. The rumbling of thunder gradually grew louder and louder as rain began to pour heavily outside. I tried peeling Luhan off me but there was no use for that since he clearly wasn’t going to let go of his grip on me. I managed to move Luhan to the living room and sat him on the couch.

“Stay here. I’m going to change clothes.” I told him, pointing a finger at the couch. At this point, Luhan looked very terrified and vulnerable; it was weird seeing him like this. Thankfully, the storm hadn’t gotten wilder while I was changing because I really didn’t need Luhan running on me in my underwear.

When I returned to the living room, I found Luhan in the same position with the blankets wrapped around his head just like when I found him in his room. Suddenly, a loud boom of thunder shook the room and Luhan leaped from the couch and into my arms.

“AHHHHH!!!” He shrilled in my ear.

“Yah!” I yelled back at him.

“Make it stop…”

“I can’t control the weather, Luhan.” I said as I let out a yawn. For some strange reason, I actually felt sleepy for once without the help of sleeping pills. It was only 8:30pm but I already felt like sleeping. Strange. I guess with Luhan around, I’m getting more exhausted than usual. Perhaps, that’s one good thing having him around and maybe my sleeping patterns will be back to normal for once.

“Luhan, I’m going to bed. You should too so you can just sleep through the storm.” I told him as I guided him into his room. I felt like a mother with a problematic child; Luhan is a major pain in the . You’d think an adult man was capable of looking after himself but no, you’re wrong. I managed to convince him to sleep telling him that if he did, he wouldn’t hear the storm. 

The moment I climbed into bed, I felt my body suddenly feel much lighter. I shuffled under the blankets as I stared up at the ceiling. Then, I heard my phone go off. I glanced at my phone and saw the unregistered number; I recognised the number immediately.

“What do you want, Chen?” I asked, coldly.

“I’ve been trying to call you for awhile now.” He didn’t even sound slightly guilty.

“Why?” I retorted angrily.

“We need to talk.”

“We have nothing to talk about so please don’t try to contact me anymore.” I replied harshly before hanging up on him. I blocked his number and turned my phone off.

He still has the nerve to call me after what he did to me. If he wants to explain himself, there was no point but I’m done listening to anything he’s got to say because everything that comes of his mouth are lies. I should have known earlier. Those times when he said he was busy with work and all those business trips. I should have known! That time when I caught him having dinner with some random girl – he said that she was one of his mother’s clients. I feel so stupid believing everything he said but then that’s what they say; you become a fool when you’re in love. You become blinded by that one person and nothing else matters to you.

I’m never letting myself fall in love anymore.

Rolling over in my bed, I had my head faced down on the pillow. Just as loud roar of thunder went by, I screamed into the pillow; cursing Chen for calling me and ruining my mood, cursing Luhan for entering my life and stopping me from jumping off the rooftop that night, cursing my father for being so selfish and marrying wretched woman.

Another loud clap of thunder roared and I heard Luhan screaming at the top of his lungs through the hallway. He swung my bedroom door wide open and came in running with his blanket and pillow under his arm before jumping onto my bed.

“Minyoung, can I sleep with you?!” He yelled.

“No!” I said, trying to push him off the bed. “Go back to your own room!”

“Please!” He said, arranging his pillow neat to mine and began to lie down on my bed, pulling the blanket over his body.

“Fine!” I groaned out loud as I threw a pillow, hitting Luhan right on the face. 

word count: approx. 3k words

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