THIRTEEN

Sehun raised his eyebrow. Girlfriend? Since when? But it wasn’t a time to ask questions – not with his loudmouth coworkers around… He loved Jongin like a brother, but he was more than smart enough to know when to keep quiet.

Kyungsoo smiled to himself as he stared at some files, not focusing on them at all. Seorin was now in on his little act, and it was basically like he had won her from Seungsoo. Yeah, he had lied to her, telling her that he had said they were dating because of Sunyoung… But that wasn’t a big deal – Seorin and Sunyoung would never speak anyway… so Seorin would never find out about his little lie.

What was important now was to just flaunt his relationship in front of his brother… It was obvious that Seungsoo was still trying to spend time with her as much as possible, even though he thought that they were dating.
Does he like that her that much? He wondered. Why? How had his brother’s crush even started? And When? … He had so many unanswered questions, but once again, those weren’t important either… For now, all that mattered was that he had Seorin, and Seungsoo didn’t.

‘Eat dinner with me tomorrow,’ he texted.
He saw her look at her phone, and then look up at him. She had a confused expression on, and mouthed ‘Why?’
‘Just.’

Seorin shoved her phone back into her pocket. Kyungsoo was really taking this fake-dating thing seriously… Dinner together already? She glanced at him from the side of her eye – his eyebrows were furrowed and was biting his lips cutely. She wondered what he was so deeply thinking about and couldn’t help but smile a little.
She felt eyes on her all of a sudden and when she looked up, she realized Sehun was staring at her. He gave her a knowing smirk before returning to his work. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment – does he know about our plan? Or does he think we’re really dating too?
She wondered if maybe she should think twice about this whole pretending plan... It seemed like it could get out of hand.

‘What do you want to eat?’ came another text from Kyungsoo.
She looked at him curiously, surprised that he actually bothered to ask. She smiled. This fake-dating thing had its perks.

###

“We’re going to your house?!” Seorin gawked. She could have sworn that every boy knew that he wasn’t supposed to invite a girl over on the first date… It was like breaking the unwritten rules of dating.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replied coolly. “I have a nice house. Why not?”

“It’s just…” She hesitated. “Nevermind.” There was no point in arguing or explaining. It wasn’t a real date anyway – the normal rules didn’t apply.

She wasn’t surprised at all by the magnificence of his beautiful home – she didn’t expect any less of the house of the Kangdo’s CEO… The marble floors, expensive paintings, silk curtains: those merely made up the standard of what a millionaire should have, right?

“Just put your stuff down over there,” he stated flatly, pointing to his velvet couches. “The maids will hang it up later.”

Speaking of maids, one rushed over immediately to take her bag right away.
“I’m sorry, Doryeonim,” she apologized. “We didn’t know you were coming home for dinner – we haven’t prepared anything yet… We’ll start immediately. What would you and the Agasshi like?”

Kyungsoo waved her away. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll cook for ourselves – just have everyone clear the kitchen.”

Seorin looked at him in surprise and interest. We’re making dinner?

“What? You don’t think I can cook?” He asked with a small smile. “I’m not sure if I told you before, but I’m pretty much perfect at everything,” he joked. “Including cooking.”

She sat by the kitchen counter, watching him skillfully dice the onions, mince garlic, and add it all to the bowl with flair. He looked so concentrated, so enthusiastic – she had to admit, it was kind of charming.

“Are you just going to stare at me, or are you going to help?” He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” She blurted out, half-stumbling off the stool. “Help? With what?”

He couldn’t hide his amused smile and nodded towards the refrigerator. “Grab an egg for me.” He gestured to the pantry. “And some breadcrumbs – i