Chapter 16

Confusion

JIYONG'S POV

"Tell me you're not serious."

She was obviously pissed at me.

"Why do I owe you a date?" She continued.

Oh, right. I almost fell over when my father called to tell me about the dinner they have arranged for Dara, Ji Woo and I next weekend. I promised Dara before that I'll fix everything up before this day would come, but I really have no idea as of the moment. Ji Woo needs a lot of hand and honestly I almost forgot about my parents.

When I ended my father's call, I griped and ran my hands through my hair. Dara is going to kill me.

"You know, for invading my bed last night." I said, giving her a penetrating stare.

"E-excuse me?"Dara choked on air as she carefully placed Ji Woo in the crib before whirling around to face me.

"You heard me." I walked to the sofa to sit and leaned my back, acting completely casual. "I wasn't able to have a peaceful sleep last night, not to mention your alarm. For all the stress that you've caused me, you owe me one good time. On my terms."

She rolled her eyes, recovering from her earlier shock. "I really have no idea what you're talking about." She sat on the sofa infront me. "But I don't have the energy to argue with you, so let's hear what you have in mind."

"Next Saturday."

Dara shrugged. "Sure."

"Dinner."

"No problem."

Now here came the tricky part. ing tell him already, Jiyong!

I cleared my throat before I continued, "You don't have to worry about anything."

She nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Just show up where I tell you."

She must have figured already that I was acting a little off. With her eyebrows raised, she said, "Owwwkaaaay..."

"And whatever happens, just go along with it." Holy , this is harder than I thought.

"Wait, wait, wait." She leaned forward, raising her right palm in the air. "What. Exactly. Are you trying to get me into."

. This is the conversation that I am avoiding. I am already trapped and hell there's no way I'm backing down.

"Nothing."

"Jiyong." She warned.

I sighed, slumping heavily. "My parents are back from Paris."

"Oh." Her face looked confused. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I might have agreed to have dinner with them."

"Alright?" She nodded. "So what does that have to do with me?"

"I might have agreed to bring you along."

She stood up. "You're not serious."

"Unfortunately, I am."

Dara came to sit beside me in a brisk and hit me.

"Aww."

"Jiyong, are you serious?"

My resigned expression was enough to tell her that I am. "I'll bury you alive if you don't stop that!" She exclaimed as she shook my arm forcefully. "Why? Why did you do that?"

"I had no choice. I was about to tell him the truth, okay? God knows how much I want to! But as soon as I heard his voice and the finality that he wanted to meet you and Ji Woo, I was lost for words. He will kick me out, Dara. I'm sure of it."

"I don't care if he'll kick you out, Jiyong. Just call him now and take it back!"

"No." I replied flatly. "They want to meet you."

DARA'S POV

If my senses are working properly, my first instinct would be to run out of Jiyong's apartment and forget that we're having this conversation. Instead, I was fastened in this sofa facing him, fully aware that my mouth fell open out of surprise.

When I agreed to pretend as Ji Woo's mom, it didn't occur to me that my brief encounter with his parents weeks ago will have a part two. That was completely out of the terms. I didn't have any intention to lie to them again.

"No way!" I fell flat on the sofa, fighting the urge to kick him. "I'm not helping you this time." I tried to glare at him, but his face was telling me that he had no intention of taking back his lie. "You aren't going to make me."

"Just this time, Dara." He pleaded.

"No." I huffed. "I helped you once, and even until now. They can think of me as your son's mother but I am not going to meet them again. That's a different story."

Jiyong turned his body closer to me. "Dara..."

"No. Not gonna happen." I slowly said to emphasize the words. I wasn't budging on this one.

"Come on. You agreed to do this until they got off my back." He leaned in, widening his eyes a little.

"Please." I snorted. "Your aegyo won't work. That's my trick."

To my surprise, Jiyong shifted closer until our knees touched. He placed both of his hands on either side of my head and brought my face to his chest. His head hovered above mine.

My annoyance turned into confusion. What the freaking hell is he doing? The closeness made me uncomfortable, I can clearly hear his heartbeat against my right ear. Was it nervous I'm feeling?

Judging from the way he put me in this mess. Clearly not.

"Please say you'll agree." He said in an uncharacteristically low voice.

I gulped. His sudden shift of character was surprising. My face grew warm and