thirteen
Hired Girlfriend
Soojung walked to Jinki's flat that Sunday afternoon to chill there and to just see him. Even if she was really tired, she still went there because she was sure that Jinki would only want to sleep all afternoon and thought that he could lessen her weariness with just one smile. It was her first time balancing her studies and work and it sort of shocked her body in someway and her head kept telling her that the only cure was Jinki.
"Oh my, Soojung. You didn't have to come here. You look like you need some sleep."
"I do," Soojung replied and yawned.
"Come here, dear girlfriend. Let's lie down for a second." Jinki put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her to the bedroom.
"I can lie down on your bed, right?" Soojung asked and Jinki smiled. She jumped on his bed and lied on her back.
"Leave some space for me." Jinki said and so Soojung moved a little to the side and let Jinki lie down next to her.
Soojung then tilted her head to the side and it met with Jinki's shoulder. Then they both stared at the ceiling.
"You should sleep." Jinki muttered after glancing at Soojung.
"But I like staring at the white ceiling." Soojung joked and he silently chuckled.
"Ah, your bed is really soft." Soojung wiggled a little.
"Oh, you're still wearing the necklace." Jinki noticed the heart pendant that was touching his shoulder.
"I thought you had stopped."
"I wear this everyday." Soojung grabbed the pendant and stared at it. She always wore it so Jinki would always be close to her heart.
"If you like it that much, why are you hiding it under your shirt? You should show it off." Jinki said before he looked at the ceiling again.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Soojung then let the pendant rest on her chest before she closed her eyes.
"You agree with me?" Jinki was a little surprised.
"Uhuh," she simply uttered.
"Okay. That's nice. Doesn't it feel good to finally be able to rest? Why did you want to rest here anyway when you have your own flat? You just wanted to see me, huh? Tell me the truth. You have a crush on me. I can tell. Soojung, answer me. Why are... you... so.... quiet? Ah," Jinki raised his head a little and found her already sleeping. He chuckled.
"She must've been really tired." Jinki whispered as he moved her fringe away from her eyes to see a better view of her face. She had some make up on. Her eyelids were orangish, her cheeks were pinkish and her lips were shiny. He couldn't understand why she had to put on some make up when she was only meeting him and they were just gonna sleep all day.
"She just wants to look pretty for me." Jinki smirked and just resumed on staring at her calm face. She then puckered her lips and Jinki laughed again.
"Does she want me to kiss her?" Jinki just laid his head again and closed his eyes as well. It didn't take long till he fell asleep.
...
Jonghyun was alone in the studio writing some songs. Since it was a Sunday, his bandmates wanted a day-off from music too. But Jonghyun was just so inclined to music that he couldn't stop himself from going to the studio and write down all the words that were coming to his head. Jinri then arrived. He invited her since Jinki already had plans with Soojung and Taemin wanted to play with his friends and not with him.
"I just finished the song. Wanna hear it?" Jonghyun asked as Jinri sat on the beige couch.
"Of course!" Jinri answered and so Jonghyun grabbed his guitar and started strumming.
오늘이 오길 바랬잖아 I waited for today
은은히 날 감싸줬잖아 You softly embraced me
조용히 내 손 잡았잖아 You quietly held my hand
불을 꺼줘 Woo hoo hoo Blow out the light, woo hoo hoo
널 안기엔 너무 뜨겁고 녹아 내릴 것 같아 You're too hot to hold, like it's gonna melt
내 안에 숨은 향기가 날아갈 것만 같아 The scent that hides in me is gonna fly out
It started slowly then the beat sped up a little. Jonghyun was just having fun as he sang the song and Jinri just found herself staring at Jonghyun's face and her ears were focused on his smooth and y way of singing. She almost choked on her own saliva with her thought.
"Did you like it?" Jonghyun asked as soon as he finished singing.
"Y-yeah. T-that was, that was great. I... I really liked it." Jinri answered with a shaking voice.
"Really? Good 'cause I wrote it for you." Jonghyun smirked and put down his guitar. And once again, Jinri choked.
"Eh?" Jinri was finally able to clear .
"I said... I wrote it for you. I'm really glad you liked it." Jonghyun smiled so handsomely. Jinri suddenly felt her blood rushing up to her face so she looked at her phone to avoid an eye contact with him.
"Ah, Jjong. I completely forgot. I need to go somewhere important. I'll come back later." Jinri stood up and put her phone in her pocket.
"Oh, okay. Promise me you'll come back."
"Uh, yeah, p-promise." Jinri waved at him as she went toward the door. She pulled the handle but it wouldn't open.
"Choi Jinri, you need to push it." Jonghyun said and she felt so embarrassed.
Jinri ran out. She didn't want to come back there but Jonghyun made her promise. She shook her head. She didn't know why her body was acting up like that.
...
Jinki woke up first. He leaned his elbow on the bed and placed his chin on his palm before he gazed at Soojung again. He felt like she would be sleeping not just throughout the day but throughout the night as well. He scanned her face from her forehead to her lips. His eyes just stopped there. He didn't know why but it seemed that it was pulling him.
"Lee Jinki, what are you doing?" Taemin whispered a shout. Jinki came back to his senses and looked at Taemin who was by the door.
"N-nothing. Let's go and leave her here." Jinki stood up and pushed Taemin out the room.
"Jinki, are you taking advantage of the situation?" Taemin started with his interrogation.
"What? Taem, I'm not that kind of guy." Jinki snorted knowing exactly what Taemin was thinking.
"Then what were you doing earlier?"
"I was just staring, observing." Jinki poured water in a glass and drank some. He then felt his phone vibrating in his pocket so he took it out. He saw Jungsoo's name flash on the screen.
"Hey, Jinki. Am I disturbing you?"
"No, Jungsoo. What can I do for you?"
"You know that we have an important meeting with a special client tomorrow morning, right?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, I forgot the report in my office. It's all done but I haven't proofread it yet. Do you mind getting it and do all the checking and adjustments?"
"No, not at all, Jungsoo. I'll get it right away."
"Thanks, Jinki. Well, goodnight."
"Yeah, goodnight... Goodnight?" Jinki looked out the balcony and saw that it was already getting dark. He hung up.
"It's already 7." Taemin said before he could even ask.
He didn't realize that he slept for over 5 hours. When he napped, it would only be for 1, maximum 2 hours. But sleeping had not been his priority for a while and maybe he needed some rest too that's why he didn't notice the time.
"Taem, I'll just go to the office then I'll pass by your favorite restaurant and take home some food. Is that alright?" Jinki asked as he put on his shoes.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not hungry YET anyway." Taemin answered.
"Where are you going, Jinki?" Soojung suddenly appeared at the bedroom door. She tried to open her eyes a little bit wider.
"To the office then buy some food for our youngest." Jinki responded and grabbed the door handle.
"I want to come!" Soojung then ran to the door and grabbed her sneakers.
"Oookay. Later, Taemin."
...
Jinri had dinner with Qian in a cheap restaurant just one stop away from Jonghyun's music studio. She wanted to get Jonghyun off of her mind even just for a moment and Qian did great on distracting her with the Jinki topic. Yes, the whole time, Qian was yet again talking about Jinki. Jinri just had to bear with it. Although once in a while she would get lost in her own thoughts and think of Jonghyun's singing.
Even if t was against her will, she came back to the studio just as Jonghyun was locking the studio door.
"I came back." Jinri sheepishly smiled.
"Have you had dinner?" Jonghyun asked as they crossed the road towards the bus stop.
"I have, actually. With Qian." She replied as she stood just under the shade and Jonghyun stood next to her.
"Oh,"
The bus arrived and they sat on the free seats in front. Jonghyun sat by the window and Jinri was by the aisle.
"I wanted to ask you out to dinner but there's always next time." Jonghyun scratched the back of his head and grinned.
"Are Jinki and Soojung together right now?" Jinri completely ignored what he said and brought up the Jinki-Soojung topic.
"Yup. Taemin just texted me. They are going to Blue Sapphire Architects to get something then they're going to buy some food." Jonghyun didn't know whether she was ignoring the things he was trying to tell her or not but she answered her question to be polite.
"I still don't understand Soojung and Jinki. They obviously like each other. Why are they even pretending?" Jinri sighed.
"Because they are both stupid." Jonghyun said that made Jinri chuckle.
"Yeah, they are. Me, I don't want to have a fake relationship with the guy I like. I want everything to be real." Jinri had a clear idea in her head.
"That's why I'm not gonna be like Jinki. I'll be real. So... Choi Jinri, go out with me." He repeated the thing he was trying to say earlier. Jinri slowly looked at him but as she looked at him, she saw Qian outside passing by. She appeared to be in a hurry.
"Jjong, that's Qian. I think she just got off from this same bus. Do you think... do you think she heard us?" Jinri worriedly asked. They looked at where Qian was going and she was running toward the other side of the road to the other bus stop.
"She must have... I'll call Jinki." Jonghyun grabbed his phone and dialed Jinki's number. He nervously waited for Jinki to answer.
"Hey, Jjong. Are you home already?"
"Almost but Jinki. Where are you right now?"
"I'm in the office grabbing some papers and stuff. Why? Soojung, can you grab those folders for me?"
"Don't be mad, Jinki, okay? Qian is probably on her way there. I'm with Jinri right now and I think she heard our conversation about you and Soojung. We're not sure but..." Jonghyun said with his voice trembling. He was scared that Jinki might get mad at him.
"What?!" Jinki shouted that startled Soojung.
"Jjong, you're dead once I get home." Jinki hung up immediately.
Jinki hurried and grabbed everything he needed. Soojung was weirded by his sudden rush but she just followed him.
"Jinki, slow down." Soojung said as they went downstairs. Jinki was still in a hurry and she was afraid she might trip on his own feet and stumble down the stairs.
"We need to go, Soojung."
Jinki ran out of the the office and Soojung just did the same turning off the lights.
"What is it?" Soojung blocked Jinki once they had put the papers and folders on the backseat.
"Qian is coming. Apparently, dwarf and giant were talking about us and Qian heard them. So she probably knows about us!" Jinki held Soojung's shoulder and shook her really hard.
"Calm down, Jinki. We can just say that we don't know what she's talking about and that maybe she just misheard everything." Soojung thought of an idea.
"Will that work?"
"Jinki?" They heard a faded call from afar. Without even looking at where it was coming from(and even if they looked they wouldn't see anything because it was dark), they knew exactly who it was.
"Jinki, I know this would sound ridiculous but..." Soojung breathed in heavily.
"But you need to kiss me." She finished her sentence.
"Huh? What for?" Jinki was puzzled by what she just suggested.
"It's the only solution I could think of. She will stop suspecting if we kiss. I'm sure of it." Soojung tried to assure him with her words.
"I... I don't think it's necessary." Jinki shook his head.
"Jinki? Soojung? Is that you?" The voice was louder, meaning she was getting closer.
"We don't have to—" Jinki was really hesitant but Soojung just rolled her eyes and grabbed the back of Jinki's neck before she closed her eyes, stood on her toes and glued her lips with his. He was, of course, caught off guard. It was very surprising in a very pleasant way, he thought. He closed his eyes as heard footsteps nearing that soon stopped. That was the signal for Soojung to pull away but it seemed that her lips were perfectly fine with that state that she couldn't pull away so easily. But after a couple of seconds, she tried her hardest to separate her lips from his soft ones and slowly looked at Qian. Once Jinki felt Soojung's lips gone, he opened his eyes and it immediately met up with Qian's.
"Was I disturbing you? I-I'm... I'm sorry. P-please c-carry... Please, carry on." Qian took some steps backward before she walked away.
Jinki and Soojung just watched as Qian walked farther and farther away from them. That was the only thing they could do since they were so embarrassed to even look at each other. Soojung shook her head a little before she turned herself around and tried to find her way to the car door but Jinki was blocking her way. She tried her best not to look up at him and not to have eye contact but her eyes could only see his lips. As much as she didn't want to meet his eyes, she also didn't want to think of the kiss that happened just a minute ago so she looked down. Jinki, on the other hand, finally realized what Soojung wanted to do and so he moved to the side and let her open the door for herself since he was still shaky to do it for her. Jinki rushed to the other side of the car and settled in his own seat. They were both so lost in words that they just the radio and let it cover up the silence and awkwardness that they were creating.
"Drop me off here." Soojung was able to say a whole sentence.
"Okay."
"Thanks." Soojung rushed out the car and into the apartment building.
Jinki just hummed in his car in those 2 minute driving from Soojung's apartment to his.
"What happened, Jinki?" Jonghyun was the first to check when he entered the flat but Jinki seemed lost and couldn't hear what his friend was saying. He just stood motionless at the door.
"Jinki, tell me. Does Qian know?" Jonghyun continued asking but still no answer.
"Earth to Lee Jinki." Taemin spoke.
"Huh? Oh, Taemin, I forgot about your food. Wait here, I'll go to—" Jinki was still lost and confused so Jonghyun stopped him.
"What happened?" Jonghyun repeated.
"N-nothing, nothing. Everything's fine now, I think." Jinki was zoning out again but he just shook his head and smiled at the younger boys.
"If you may excuse me. I have to check this papers." Jinki made his way to their study room.
"What does that even mean?" Taemin had this confused look but Jonghyun just shrugged.
"Just order pizza and I'll talk to Jinki." Jonghyun patted Taemin's back before he went to the oldest.
But as soon as he opened the door, Jinki just muttered "Not now, Jjong. I'm busy." Jinki obviously didn't want to be disturbed.
"Did he say anything?" Taemin was a bit worried of Jinki because he seemed somewhat troubled. Jonghyun shook his head.
"Oh yeah. How are things with Jinri?" Taemin remembered about Jonghyun's plan. Jonghyun just puffed his cheeks.
"I'll just try again some other day."
"Why?"
"Just... It's not the right moment, I guess."
...
Qian was just bewildered the whole time. Yes, she was there in the bus. She heard Jinri and Jonghyun's conversation but merely some words because of the fuss in that same bus. She didn't know if she heard things right or she just really heard what she wanted to hear. Their kiss just messed her head up.
She went to Amber, the only person she knew she could confide to.
"Maybe you just misheard everything. I don't know, Qian." Amber didn't know what to tell her.
"I really thought I heard everything right until... until I saw them kiss." Qian covered her face with her palm.
"K-kiss?" Amber raised an eyebrow.
"I saw Jinki and Soojung lips to lips. How can two people kiss if they aren't lovers?" Qian stated that truly surprised Amber. Her eyes were wide opened and her jaw just dropped. Kibum was just in the kitchen eavesdropping and he was just as surprised as Amber.
"I think I'm being desperate here, Amber. Maybe, I really am starting to like Jinki." Qian heaved a sigh.
"I don't know what's gotten into my head. Like, I really don't want them to be in a real relationship or something. I'm convincing myself that they're just pretending. I don't know." Qian was so frustrated but Amber stopped listening after the kiss part. She was just awed by what she just heard.
"This is so wrong, Amber." Amber was finally back to her senses when Qian mentioned her name.
"It is, Qian." Amber just agreed.
As soon as Qian left, Amber and Kibum looked slyly at each other.
"Maybe, they're really a couple now but they're just hiding it from us." Kibum thought and Amber was sort of thinking the same way.
"She's dead to me tomorrow." Amber smirked thinking of torturing Soojung in school.
"That's my girl." And Kibum had no plan on stopping her.
That song Jonghyun was singing is Son Dambi's Red Candle written by our one and only Jonghyun. When I first heard the song, I could totally imagine Jjong singing to it. I'm in love with Jjong right now. Like, he's not blonde anymore!!!! I hyperventilated so hard the other day when I saw the photos. He's so cute! But Onew forever. hahah Well, SHINee forever actually so okay. haha
Oh, and how did you like the OnStal kiss? hehe
xdorkyx
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