“I didn’t go home that night. I have always been like that, staying in a bar till the sun rises when I have a problem. I know I shouldn’t do that but I just can’t.”

“I think it wasn’t that serious. You could wait till two weeks and everything is over,” He commented.

“It wasn’t about the two weeks. It was about my parents. I hate it when they start to set me up with someone. I don’t why but I just hate it. I’ve told them to stop but they still did that.”

“Do they do that till now?”

“No. They stopped doing that ten years ago. Can I continue my story now?”

“Minho, is Taemin with you?” said a voice on Minho’s phone. He was in the middle of his sleep when his phone suddenly rang and woke him up.

“Who is this?” He asked lazily. He was answering the call without looking at the screen to see who the caller was, and he felt unfamiliar with the voice.

“Taemin’s mom.” Minho eyes grew larger, making him fully awake. He moved to take a look at his alarm clock; it told him it was 4:37 A.M.

Where the hell is he going? It’s already early in the morning and he hasn’t gone back yet. Damn that little bastard.

Minho knew it was impossible for him to say that he left Taemin at the bar alone. But if he said Taemin was here, he wasn’t with him either.

“Yes,” he lied.

“God, did you two have ?”

“What? No, we didn’t do that.” Minho panicked.

“Ah, I thought you did. What is he doing now? Sleeping?”

“Umm, yes.”

“Ah, okay. Sorry for bothering you, I just worry about him. He always tells me if he comes late, but this time, he didn’t. I’ve tried to call him but he didn’t answer. I’m relieved he’s with you.”

“It’s okay Mrs. Lee, don’t be sorry. Oh, he was just...tired. Maybe he forgot to tell you.”

“Okay. I believe you. You can continue your sleep, baby. Bye.”

Minho dropped his body back on his bed and fell asleep. But it was just about five minutes before he opened his eyes again in shock.

Damn, how is it if he is back to his house alone? What if he is drunk when he’s back? Yes, his parents will kill me.

Minho was about to grab his jacket but suddenly he stopped.

Wait, why don’t I just call him and tell him about staying with me?

Minho grabbed his phone and remembered something.

, I don’t even have his phone number. you,Taemin.

Minho grabbed his jacket and rushed to his car. He was grateful he was sleeping without changing his clothes first. He drove to the bar where he left Taemin earlier.

He looked around for Taemin and sighed when he found him sitting alone in the corner of the bar.

“Why are you still here?” Minho yelled at him. Taemin raised his head and at that time Minho knew he was drunk.

“It’s up to me. Why are you asking-“ he choked before he could finish his words.

“Why? You’re asking me why? Your mom called me because you haven’t gotten back yet and I couldn’t tell her I left you at a bar. So you better go home now. I’ll drive you home.” Minho pulled Taemin’s wrist and was about to go when he realised that the boy still stayed in his seat.

“I don’t want to go home,” he insisted.

“Gosh, just come with me then.” This time, he grabbed Taemin’s waist, dragged him into his car, and drove back to his apartment. Luckily, Minho was living in an apartment. If he wasn’t, his parents would interrogate him about drunken Taemin.

Oncethey reached his apartment, he laid Taemin on his bed before throwing himself beside Taemin and falling asleep in flash.

Taemin opened his eyes slowly, blinking for awhile before groaning because of his hangover.

“So, you finally wake up,” Minho greeted in sarcasm.

“Where am I?”

“Thank me because you’re in my apartment.”

“Oh, thank you very much,” Taemin mocked.

“Take a quick shower. We should go to work.”

At first, it was only Minho who thought that all the people in this building were staring at him with such unusual glances, and he decided to keep it to himself till Taemin whispered to him.

“Is it just my feeling or are they staring at us? If it’s not us, then it must be one of us.”

“I felt it too. Let’s just find this out.”

“What are you looking at?” Minho glared at a staff member that was walking in the opposite direction from them.

“Nothing. But, Mr. Choi, congratulations to both of you.” He smiled before leaving Minho and Taemin.

“Dad,” Minho whispered.

Minho rushed over to his dad’s office. Taemin, who didn’t know what happened but was also discomforted by those weird glances, decided to follow Minho. When they reached their destination, Minho came in rudely without knocking first, gaining a protest from Taemin.

“What is actually happening out there?” Minho glared at his father.

“Hello Mr. Choi,” Taemin greeted and bowed politely to him.

“Oh, hello Taemin. You’re such a polite son; I wish my son was as polite as you,” he praised and Taemin smiled at him cutely. Minho rolled his eyes at the sight.

“Dad, I’m asking you a question.”

“I know, Minho.” His dad walked towards them. “I just want all the people in this building to know about you and Taemin.” He Taemin’s arm when he mentioned the model’s name. “Taemin is very attractive. I often catch some guys and girls flirting with him and it annoys me so much. So I’m just helping you to protect this beauty.”

Taemin smiled at Minho and got an annoyed look from the latter.

“But you also revealed my identity, Dad!” Minho shouted. “Thank you very much for doing this.” He grabbed Taemin’s wrist roughly and pulled him out of his dad’s room, making the younger groan in pain. He didn’t stop till they reached a private corner that no one would pass by.

“You can’t be so rude like that.”

“I’m telling you, no need to be polite to him.”

“Yeah, just burst in like that and be kicked out from here the next morning, or maybe right at the moment,” Taemin mocked.

“Believe me you won’t. He adores you so much. Maybe he would you if he hadn’t married yet.”

“Minho!” Taemin snapped.

“Oh, yes, it’s true. He praises you like you’re the most beautiful and precious creature in this world. But I never thought he would want me to be with you. Maybe because he wanted you as his son, but realised that he couldn’t own you; then he set up that dinner so at least you’ll be his son-in-law. Aish, I should have known about it earlier. I should have guessed it.” Minho stopped, glancing outside through the window as silence start to envelope them.

Taemin didn’t intend to become so quiet, he was just too shocked about what he had just heard to start a conversation with Minho. He stared at the tall black haired person in front of him and drowned in his own thoughts.

How could Mr. Choi want a son like me when he’s already had Choi Minho, the most awesome assistant photographer who makes every female model drool over him?

“I didn’t know that he likes me that much. I thought all his affection for me is just because of my professionalism,” Taemin finally mouthed some words.

“Yeah. You’re the best model he has ever had, assets of this agency.”

Silence floated, again.

“Then what should we do now?” Taemin asked calmly. Honestly, he wanted to whine, to complain, to yell, to protest, but he thought it would just worsen the situation.

“Well, people think that we are in a relationship, and it’s impossible for us to ignore each other like we usually do because it will turn into rumours and gossip, and I hate that. What if we just go back to your father’s room and apologize about our fake relationship so we can go back to our normal lives?” Taemin added when he didn’t get any response from Minho.

“No,” Minho finally responded. Then he was facing the younger boy. “We will go with what I’ve planned. Two weeks, and it will end. We don’t have to stick to each other while we are at the office. I’ll act as busy as possible so it can be an excuse for us not to stay close. You can do this, right?” Minho assured.

“Like I have any other choice.” Taemin sighed.

“So, it was ended like that. Minho played his role very well. He glued himself all day to his desk in his shared room, doing what he called editing. He rarely left his desk except when he had to go straight to the photo shooting spot. Sometimes he got into the same schedule as me and when that happened, we acted how a couple normally would.”

“Was it hard?”

“Hmm, it wasn’t that hard for me but I’m sure it was very hard for him. I did my part as well as him, but mine was easier than Minho’s because I didn’t have to take care of him. Minho told me that my parents straightforwardly asked him to take care of me.” I smiled a little. “He told me not to dream about being taken care of by him. I struck back by saying that I would never ever want to be taken care of by him. I was the one who never forgot to remind him about two weeks only, signalling that I really hated that and wanted to end it as soon as possible. But, one thing that was relieving me was that the issue didn’t spread to the public because my agency kept maintaining our relationship strictly. Somehow, I thanked his dad for it.”

“His dad must love you so much. You and his dad must be like my uncle and me.”

“Maybe his dad is like your uncle but I’m not like you.” He pouted at me. “Aigoo, you’re so cute. I want to pinch your cheek.”

“NO!” He shouted. “Just continue your story,” he said as he covered both of his cheeks with his palms.

“We almost never talked out of our roles except when it came to our jobs as a model and assistant photographer. If we weren’t trapped in this silly relationship, maybe I would just know him only by name. We never bothered to get to know each other even if it was for a professional relationship. When we were pretending to be a couple, he never drove me home except when we had a family dinner, which was unluckily held once in every two or three days. When we drove back from dinner, I would always complain about how much I hated this stupid thing and I wanted to end this, and he would yell back about how much I annoyed him. Neither one of us wanted to accept each other’s presence at least as a friend.”

“Bad news, Grandma-monthly-visit! Get here, now!” Taemin commanded Minho over the phone.

“What? What visit and why should I be there now?” Minho yelled.

“No time to explain; just get the here now!” Taemin hung up the phone, leaving Minho in anger.

Just in half an hour, Minho arrived at Taemin’s house. He parked his car before knocking on the door and being welcomed by already angry Taemin.

“What took you so long?” He yelled.

“I drove at the fastest speed! Now what?”

“My parents left earlier. Now we have to go there by ourselves.”

“Wait, where are we going? What are we going to do? And why should I do that?”

“Grandma’s house. Visit her. Because it’s family habit.”

“If it’s your family tradition, why I should come? I’m your fake boyfriend, for God’s sake, not your husband.”

“Stop complaining to me, it was my parents who forced me to bring you. Come on, Grandma will nag at us if we’re late and we’re already late.”

“Stop at the florist, Mom said we should bring flowers and food for her as our present,” Taemin said on the way.

“Should we?”

“Yes. We should bring something for grandma, family tradition. Because this is our first visit time as a couple so we should bring a present. But we should bring something when we visit her, though.”

“Are they really serious about us? I mean, inviting me on a family tradition, that’s too much.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Both of them sighed in unison.

“So, what’s her favourite flower?” Minho asked when he stopped at the florist.

“White rose.”

“Okay, wait here. I’ll get it.”

Minho was back in ten minutes and they headed to the nearest restaurant.

“What’s her favourite food?” Minho asked again.

“I don’t know.”

“What?! What kind of grandson are you? Do you really visit her every month?” Minho sent a sceptical look to Taemin.

“I...I really visit her but she never tells me about that. Let’s just pick at random.” Taemin looked at the menu, thinking hard about what food they should bring.

“What about Samgyetang?” Minho suggested.

“Okay. One Samgyetang, please,” Taemin said to the waiter.

“I paid for the flowers, now you pay for the food,” Minho said to Taemin abruptly.

“Eh?” Taemin was confused. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to pay for the food; he just didn’t expect he would hear it from Minho. “Okay,” He replied.

It wasn’t like Taemin hated it, but it was just weird to see Minho easily getting close with his grandma. Well, even Taemin himself wasn’t too close with his grandma. During the Grandma-monthly-visit, Minho talked a lot with Taemin’s grandma and parents, so it meant Minho talked a lot with Taemin’s family, leaving Taemin alone in his own dejection.

How could they talk cheerfully and ignore me? I am ing here! Talk to me!

“I have to go now, Mom,”Taemin’s Dad said. “I have some appoinments to attend. I’m sorry I can’t stay any longer.” Taemin’s dad was apologizing when he and his wife were going to leave.

After saying this and that, Taemin’s parents left the house, leaving Taemin and Minho alone with Taemin’s grandma. The atmosphere suddenly turned into an awkward silence; no one wanted to start a new conversation.

“Taemin, can you get some snacks for us?” His grandma finally said.

“Me? Why don’t you ask the maid to do that?” Taemin replied, gaining a death glare from Minho. “Fine.” He stood up and left unwillingly.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t respect her, but she made me feel discomfort around her. She has, ugh, I don’t know how to explain this but she is special. She is like a mind reader but it’s not just about reading someone else’s mind. She knows what is happening and what is going to happen. She can sense it. But I was surprised because Minho acted very polite to my grandma. At first, I didn’t think he could do that. It was very unexpected.”

“But, your grandma is cool. It’s a really amazing ability. Can I meet her someday?” I swore his eyes sparkled brightly like he had just found a hidden treasure when he asked that.

“Of course. I’m sure she will be happy if you visit her. But, don’t be shocked if she suddenly tells you weird things like what she had told to Minho.”